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Trump Says He's Likely To Announce Court Pick This Week; Sen. Chuck Schumer And Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Address Supreme Court Vacancy; Nearly 200,000 People Have Died Now From COVID-19 In The U.S. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired September 20, 2020 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[19:00:20]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. This is a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM.

At any moment now, we're about to hear from two top Democrats who are facing a dilemma, how do they stop President Trump from confirming his third U.S. Supreme Court justice when they don't control the Senate or the White House? The Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, they're getting ready to speak.

You're looking at live pictures coming in from New York. They're both going to be speaking from the hometown of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, New York City. They're in Brooklyn right now.

And her dying wish as told to her granddaughter was for the winner of the November presidential election to name her replacement, but she may not necessarily be getting that wish as the president is vowing to push ahead with the announcement of a nominee to the court in the next few days or so. As for who the president has in mind for that very critical lifelong appointment as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, he's not saying just yet. But he did give supporters a hint last night at a campaign rally in North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will be putting forth a nominee next week. It will be a woman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's go to the White House right now. CNN's John Harwood is on the scene for us.

So, John, whoever that person is the president has picked for the Supreme Court, Senate leaders are promising that he or she will get a vote. The president says it will be a she. Some names have emerged as potential nominees. Tell our viewers what you're hearing. JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, there's some

conservatives who wanted the president to hold off, not nominate so fast, keep conservative voters hungry for this fall election, dampen some of the enthusiasm of Democrats once a specific name was out there. That kind of restraint is not in Donald Trump's repertoire. So what we see is he says he's going to announce an appointment as early as this week. It will be a woman and all of them, among the potential names we're hearing represent key constituencies within the Republican Party.

People seemed to think at the top of the list is Amy Coney Barrett. She's an appeals court judge, conservative Catholic, longtime professor at the University of Notre Dame, runner up to Brett Kavanaugh for the last Supreme Court pick. Then you've got Barbara Lagoa. She is a Cuban American appeals court judge in Florida. Cuban Americans are a very important constituency for Donald Trump.

Joan Larson of Michigan, Midwest is a key battleground, another appeals court judge. And then you've got Allison Jones Rushing. She's from North Carolina. She's a federal district judge operating out of Richmond now. North Carolina is also a swing state in the election -- Wolf.

BLITZER: John, stand by because I want to get your reaction from what we hear from the Senate minority leader. John Harwood, reporting from the White House.

And as Republicans look to fast track Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's replacement in the U.S. Supreme Court, the Democrats are fighting a truly uphill battle to delay a confirmation vote. Let's go to CNN's Manu Raju. He's up on Capitol Hill.

We're waiting to hear from the Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer. He's going to be joined by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. They're about to hold this news conference at James Madison High School, that's in Brooklyn. It happens to be Justice Ginsburg's alma mater. So what are you expecting? What are we about to hear? I know you've been doing some reporting, Manu, on this.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we expect Democratic leader Chuck Schumer to be clear and warn Republicans that they should not move ahead with this nomination. He's going to almost certainly refer to their past positions back in 2016 when they urged the Supreme Court seat to be vacant while Barack Obama made his pick when the Republicans said there's an election coming up.

At that point, it was eight months away. Now we're 44 days away. Expect those arguments to be made. Also, the question is going to be, what he's going to talk about in terms of the recourse that Democrats will seek if the Republicans do move ahead and are successful. Yesterday in a private conference call, he said all options are on the table. And he made that very clear.

Some of the options that I've been told by Democratic sources include trying to slow down things in the Senate, objecting to routine business that requires consent to move forward. They could essentially shutdown business in the Senate. That would not necessarily derail the nomination all together, but it could just slow down the process.

Also what will they do if they take back the majority? There's a push among some Democrats for adding more Supreme Court seats to the court. To do that, they would also have to change the Senate filibuster rules, and that would have significant ramifications for the Senate and the country. So those are all major issues that are on the table that Democrats are talking about.

[19:05:03]

We'll see if this sheds any light but expect him to have some very strong words and warn the Republicans not to move ahead here -- Wolf.

BLITZER: I'm sure he will have some very strong words indeed. And Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as well.

Manu, I want you to stand by at the same time.

Once again we're expecting the Democratic leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to begin a news conference any moment now. Our panel of experts are standing by to discuss.

Let's bring in David Axelrod, he's CNN senior political commentator, former adviser to President Obama. Also with us, Dana Bash, our CNN chief political correspondent and Jeffrey Toobin, our chief legal analyst.

Jeffrey, so we're expecting to hear from Schumer and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, what power realistically do Democrats have right now to block the Republicans, assuming only two Republicans are standing in the way of moving forward?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well, if it's only two Republicans, they have no ability to stop it because the filibuster has been abolished for Supreme Court nominations. So the president only needs 50 votes and he has Vice President Pence to break a tie. So they need four Republicans to switch positions. There do appear to be two votes against any sort of nomination before the inauguration of the next president.

But two is not four and two is not enough. The Democrats can insist on a week delay between the vote -- between the conclusion of the hearings in the Judiciary Committee and the vote in the committee. They can insist on 30 hours of debate in the Senate. But other than that, they really don't have much power and it's really up to the Republicans about whether they want to push this through.

BLITZER: Let's see if there are two more Republicans who join these two Republican senators.

Dana, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, the two Republican senators. They say they oppose movement on President Trump's forthcoming nominee. How likely is it, do you think, and you've been doing some checking, you've been doing some reporting, that there will be two more Republicans who will join them? And we all assume all of the Democrats, all 47 Democrats in the Senate will hold firm.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, the answer is, nobody really knows for sure. All eyes are on Mitt Romney who has tended to be more of an institutionalist than somebody who kind of goes knee jerk towards the party or towards the president for sure, and also on Cory Gardner who is a Republican senator from Colorado, probably the most endangered Republican other than Susan Collins in Maine, and we know where she stands. He is endangered in large part because Colorado is such a truly purple state with so many real independent voters there. And so he's in a pickle. And what he does could make a difference.

But beyond the math of the four Republicans that everybody is understandably looking at, my impression in talking to sources today, Wolf, is that when the president makes the nomination and we don't know -- he said maybe this week, one of the X factors is whether or not the White House is going to wait until all of the memorial services are completed and all of the mourning -- official mourning time for Ruth Bader Ginsburg is done.

But once the president does send up the nomination, we expect whether there's a vote in the short term or in the lame duck, that the Republicans are going to start to hold a hearing as soon as they possibly can. For lots of reasons, not the least of which is that it keeps the spotlight on this issue and it helps in the words of a Republican source I talked to, helps to continue to motivate Republican voters in battleground states looking at the Senate and also especially looking at the White House. So I think regardless of when the vote is, expect the Republicans to push to at least have hearings.

BLITZER: And I know a lot of Republicans want to focus on this debate involving the Supreme Court as opposed to the coronavirus.

BASH: You bet.

BLITZER: Which has been a total disaster for the president and for other Republicans as well. 200,000 Americans in the next few hours are going to be counted as dead as a result of this. That's something they clearly don't want to discuss.

So, David Axelrod, how do you see all this playing out over the next few weeks, let's be specific, the next 44 days before the election?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, Wolf, I think you guys are exactly right. This is a -- for the president, an opportunity to change the subject or try to change the subject. And I think he would welcome that and I do think that they believe this is motivational for the Republican base and for conservative voters.

[19:10:09]

You know, the thing is that "The Wall Street Journal"-NBC poll this morning reflected what other polls have said and that is that enthusiasm is already sky-high. The turnout is already likely to be very, very high and the question is whether those people who are motivated by this issue are already sort of in for the Republicans. You hear a lot of Democrats talking about the motivational impact this is going to have particularly with younger female voters, some of whom weren't that enthusiastic about Biden and are very riled up about this issue.

And you saw some of this reflected in fundraising, in the hours after the death of Justice Ginsburg. There was a record outpouring of dollars to Democratic candidates, 100,000 in the first 20 -- $100 million in the first 24 hours. So it's really hard to predict what the political impact on the presidential race will be. It does put some of these swing state Republican senators in a bind. Senator Collins being principally on that list.

But Senator Gardner certainly and some of the others, and, you know, for that reason and for the reason that I think that McConnell sees this as a motivational issue for Republicans, I expect that this vote won't be before the election. I think it -- rather than having this thing resolved before the election, I think making this part of the stakes of the election is something that may appeal to Republicans.

BLITZER: It will be amazing, very important to see what Mitt Romney, for example, where he comes down on this.

You know, Jeffrey, we heard from Senator Schumer yesterday. We're standing by for his news conference. Supposed to begin very soon. He said yesterday, nothing is off the table if a Trump nominee is confirmed this election year. Some of those options next year could include, we've been told, mixing the filibuster, even adding seats to the U.S. Supreme Court. What do you think the ramifications of what's going on right now?

TOOBIN: They're enormous because, I mean, if Democrats retake the Senate and of course the White House, and keep the House of Representatives, they will have total control of the government and they're going to have to decide what remedy there is for not one but two Supreme Court seats being stolen from them. And the question will be, you know, does the Democratic Party want to be Mitch McConnell's patsy indefinitely?

And so far basically they have been. And the question is, you know, what sort of retribution, what sort of -- what will they do to take advantage of their majority? Of course if they have one. The filibuster is a grotesque residue of Jim Crow which should have been gone long ago. You know, there is nothing in the Constitution that says there has to be nine Supreme Court justices. That's simply a matter of law.

So Congress can pass a law changing the number of justices tomorrow and the president can sign it and that will be it. They can also increase the number of lower court federal judges which hasn't changed for decades. And they can grant statehood to the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, although that is legislatively more complicated. I mean, they can do things if they are in control. The question is, whether they will do anything at all.

BASH: Which is why -- BLITZER: And we'll anxious -- Dana, stand by for a moment.

BASH: OK.

BLITZER: Because we'll be anxious to hear if Chuck Schumer makes any of those threats during this upcoming news conference. So we're standing by. It's about to begin we're told. I want to show our viewers a live picture coming in from that news conference because you can see on the side there, a picture of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And her dying wish, there you see it posted there, she told her granddaughter, my most fervent wish is that I not be replaced until a new president is installed.

There you see what's going on. We'll have live coverage. Chuck Schumer, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, they're getting ready to make statements, answer reporters' questions. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:18:30]

BLITZER: We're expecting the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to begin a news conference momentarily now. You're looking at live pictures coming in. You see a picture of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with her dying wish that she made to her granddaughter. I'll read it to you if you can't see it on the screen. "My most fervent wish is that I not be replaced until a new president is installed."

As we await for the arrival of the senator and the congresswoman, let's continue our conversation.

And Dana, what do you expect? Are we going to hear some specific threats from Chuck Schumer, what the Democrats would do if the president and the Republican leadership, Mitch McConnell, push through another Supreme Court nominee and get confirmation before the November 3rd presidential election?

BASH: I'm not sure how specific they're ready to get yet on all of the things you and Jeffrey were talking about, from expanding the court to, you know, doing lots of other things in retribution if the Republicans move forward in a way that Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for example, said she didn't want to happen. But what I would expect based on talking to Democrats over the past couple of days but also more importantly listening to what people like Joe Biden are saying publicly is that they are going to talk about the stakes.

And the stakes being health care, health care, and health care. You know, historically in recent times when we've heard a lot of discussion about the court, a lot of it has been focused when it comes to the politics on the question of abortion and "Roe v. Wade." Will it or will it not be overturned.

[19:20:06]

But because the ACA, the -- you know, Obamacare, has been the -- Trump administration is trying to do away with it via the courts because they failed legislatively, that is going to be an argument that is going to be heard, supposed to be heard --

BLITZER: Hold on, Dana. Hold on, Dana.

BASH: Sure.

BLITZER: Looks like Chuck Schumer, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are there. They're getting ready to make a statement. Woah, maybe they're not. They're walking back -- they're looking around at all the, you know -- all the gifts that have been laid there and all the statements. This is at the James Madison High School in Brooklyn where Ruth Bader Ginsburg went to high school. She was from Brooklyn, of course, as we all know.

I think after they look at all these mementos that are placed there in her honor, I think that he's going to begin his statement.

I interrupted you, Dana. Go ahead and finish your thought.

BASH: Well, we'll probably hear him shortly again talking about the stakes being very high particularly on the issue of health care. That was the motivating issue that really led to the Democrats taking over the House in 2018 and expect that to be something that both of them -- these lawmakers lean on heavily.

BLITZER: All right. Here is the Senator.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Well, good evening, everybody. And I'm honored to be joined by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and we are here because of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's passing. We are here really for three reasons. To show how unified we are, the Democrats are, in trying to make sure that her legacy is protected. And that's the second reason. To honor that legacy.

She was an amazing woman. Incredible. In a male-dominated legal establishment, she pushed her way through, her brains and strength and fortitude, and changed the world for women long before the rest of the world caught up. And when she got to the court, she was able to bring that same equality and strength to so many different people of all different types and kinds. And she was an amazing woman and so the first reason we're here is for unity and the second is to honor her legacy.

To demand that her last wish be fulfilled by the Senate. She said, "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced by -- until a new president is installed." We believe that. So do the American people. Today, a "Reuters" poll came out and said 62 percent of Americans agree with her. So that means, that's such a high number, it has to mean that Democrats, Republicans and independents all agree that it is only right and it is only fair for us to abide by RBG's last wish, that she be replaced when a new president is installed.

But the third reason we're here is the most important of all. So many people's rights are at stake in this election. The right of people to health care. The president is pursuing a policy which would get rid of all protections for pre-existing conditions which would take health care away from seven million people and he will appoint a justice that will enact that in the Supreme Court case that is due only a few weeks after election day.

We are here to protect the rights of women, their rights to their own body, their rights to choose, their rights to health care, their rights to equality, would all go down the drain if that wish were not realized.

We're here to protect the rights of working people. The court, the majority on the court, wishes to undo the rights working people have, to undo labor unions, and make it much harder for working people to get ahead.

We're here to protect the rights of our globe and the people who live on it so that climate is protected. A court with the kind of nominee President Trump will choose will undo all of that and not make global warming less likely, but far more likely, and it will come quicker.

We're here to protect the rights of LGBTQ people which is court recently conferred. My daughter and her wife are here. And over New Year's dinner last night, Rosha Shana dinner, they thought to themselves, could their right to marry and love each other in marriage go away? We're here to protect the rights, voting rights of so many people. We're here to protect the civil rights of so many people and people of color.

[19:25:02]

We're here because the American people want those rights preserved. We do not want to close -- turn the clock back. And we only need two more senators to say that they will abide by RBG's wish. Two have already said it. We need two more.

So, Americans, if you care about all these rights, if you don't want big, powerful, wealthy, special interests to turn the clock back, a hundred years even, please, our fervent plea, our fervent wish, is that you call your senator and say, abide by the wishes of this saintly, brilliant, caring woman. And let -- wait. Let's have an election. Let's see the results and then let us choose somebody on the Supreme Court. Congresswoman?

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): Thank you so much, Senator. And we are here today to make sure that we honor the legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who came right here and as a product of James Madison High School and as a proud New Yorker and Brooklynite. And it's extraordinarily important that we understand the stakes of this vacancy. Our reproductive rights are on the line. Our labor rights are on the line. Our right to health care is on the line.

Labor and union protections are on the line. Our climate is on the line. With an early appointment, all of our rights, the rights that so many people died for, voting rights, reproductive rights, health care rights, all of those rights go right -- are at risk with this appointment. And so we need to make sure that we mobilize on an unprecedented scale to ensure that this vacancy is reserved for the next president.

And we must use every tool at our disposal, from everyday people, especially in swing states. We need everyday people to call on senators, to call on folks on the bubble, to call Republican senators to make sure that they hold this vacancy open. And we must also commit to using every procedural tool available to us, to ensure that we buy ourselves the time necessary. We must commit to allowing and to considering and to utilizing every single procedural tool available to us. Again, to buy that time.

We need to make sure that we realize and fight this fight with the weight of every person who sacrificed for voting rights. Every person who sacrificed their well-being and their lives to make sure that they could marry whomever they love, to make sure that they could live freely and safely in a workplace, to make sure that they can -- that they can live in this country and make sure that Dreamers can stay in this country, and that families can have the path to citizenship that they deserve.

This is our entire livelihood that could be shaped by the next 60 or so days -- 45, 44 days until the election. A few more until the ACA case is being heard on the Supreme Court. This is one of the most important times that we have had for everyday people to stand up. Not just from everyday working people, but all the way up to the House and the Senate. We all need to be more courageous and we all must act in unprecedented ways to make sure that that -- our rights are stabilized.

And to Mitch McConnell, we need to tell him that he is playing with fire. We need to make sure that this vacancy is protected, that our election continues, and that the American people have their say.

Thank you very much.

SCHUMER: Thank you.

OCASIO-CORTEZ: Thank you, Senator.

SCHUMER: I didn't mention, I too am an alumni of -- alumnus of Madison High School, but we were not allowed in this entrance. This was the teacher's entrance. We had to go around the corner and then enter on the side. But it has a grand tradition. And Madison High School was what America has always been, a diverse group of people of every different background, race, creed, color.

[19:30:00]

Everyone is striving. It was a working class school. People struggled to get ahead, but they needed an ally. The court can be that ally or that court can be an enemy of their progress. That's what we're here to do.

And as the Congresswoman said, if you want to get back at Mitch McConnell's blatant, nasty, hypocrisy, call your senator and tell them not to listen to Mitch McConnell, not to be afraid of Mitch McConnell, to do the right thing, stand up and do just what is fair and right and to heed to RBG's final wish?

We're ready for some questions on this subject.

QUESTION: Senator, I'm curious if you've spoken to either Senator Romney or Grassley about what their decision in the coming days might be in your reaction to this now coming as some people across the country have already started to vote?

SCHUMER: Well, that's the point here, people are already voting. It's just a few days away. I quoted Mitch McConnell what he said a year ago -- four years ago, when Merrick Garland was nominated that it should be when you're close to an election, the next President should decide. We're not close to an election, we are in an election.

And to try and decide this at this last time, at this late moment is despicable and wrong and against democracy. It is shoving the wishes of the hard right, and the Republicans who go along with them down America's throat.

QUESTION: Senator, if the President's take is approved, and Biden wins the election, should we add more Supreme Court Justices?

SCHUMER: Well, it will be a decision that comes to the Senate. We first have to win the majority before that can happen. But once we win the majority, God willing, everything is on the table.

QUESTION: Senator, just to follow up on that, you know, is this time to reconsider abolishing the (INAUDIBLE), sir?

SCHUMER: As I said, we first have to win the majority, because if we don't win the majority, these questions are all moot. But if we win the majority, everything is on the table.

QUESTION: Congresswoman, you mentioned being open to all ideas to buy time. Would you be in support of potentially reviewing the process of an Impeachment Inquiry either against the Attorney General or the President?

OCASIO: Well, you know, I think, I believe that certainly there has been an enormous amount of law breaking in the Trump administration. I believe that Attorney General Barr is unfit for office and that he has pursued potentially law breaking behavior.

That being said, and this is -- these are procedures that are -- and decisions that are largely up to House Democratic leadership, but I believe that also we must consider again, all of the tools available to our disposal, and that all of these options should be entertained and on the table.

QUESTION: Congresswoman, this is in Spanish for Telemundo (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

OCASIO-CORTEZ: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

SCHUMER: One last question.

QUESTION: Senator, do you feel that Judge Amy Coney Barrett (INAUDIBLE).

SCHUMER: I hope she can't. She stands for -- so all the things Ruth Bader Ginsburg was against, and so many things that all the -- that the vast majority of American people are against.

I don't know if she'll be the nominee, but someone of that philosophy does not belong on the court and could cement a hard right conservative court that for a generation could turn the clock back on the rights, the aspirations, the hopes of the majority of American people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, we're good.

SCHUMER: Thank you.

[19:35:10]

BLITZER: All right, so there you have the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez making some very, very strong statements issuing some powerful warnings to the Republicans as well.

Chuck Schumer saying if the Democrats win a majority in the Senate, and if the Republicans manage to get a Trump nominee for the Supreme Court approved, he says, everything -- everything is on the table.

I want to go to Manu Raju, our congressional correspondent, first Manu, you cover these people in the Senate and the House all of the time, give us your reaction to what we just heard.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that was a very significant statement at the end, when he was asked about whether or not they would move to try to add seats to the Supreme Court whether or not they would eliminate the Senate filibuster, essentially, to do just that.

He said, as you mentioned, Wolf, everything is on the table if they take back the Senate Majority come the fall. Now it would still be difficult to get that through the Senate. There are a lot of people who are not necessarily on board even on the Democratic side with those ideas.

But nevertheless, that is the top Democrat, someone who would be the Senate Majority Leader keeping open those options that would have a major impact on this institution, on the Supreme Court itself and raising the stakes for the November elections, not just for the presidency, but for the Senate Majority as well.

And you heard also his reaction to one of the leading contenders here, the Appeals Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett, that is someone who we understand the President is seriously considering naming or nominating to the seat. He said that she stands for everything that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was against.

So you can see that they're already trying to lay the groundwork for a campaign against her, and they are also trying to encourage Republicans to break ranks. But I can tell you, in covering this institution, Republican senators aren't necessarily going to be listening to what Chuck Schumer says. They will be listening to the pressure they may be getting back home.

And the first thing that Democrats are going to try do is try to pump this into the lame duck session of Congress and then ultimately stop it, still a question about whether they'll succeed though -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, the stakes right now are enormous as Chuck Schumer pointed out on so many critical issues, and whoever is the next U.S. Supreme Court Justice confirmed by the Senate could spend 30, maybe even 40 years on the Supreme Court and have an enormous impact.

Let's go to our White House correspondent, John Harwood. So John, you cover the White House, you cover the President for us, you cover his top advisers. How are they likely to react to what we just heard?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think they're going to try to use some of what Chuck Schumer and AOC said as motivation for their base. You know, the idea that all things are on the table to conservatives that means, oh, you want to pack the court. Oh, you want to add new states to try to change the partisan makeup of the Senate and portray those changes as threatening and scary to people that they want to vote for them?

I don't think that -- you know, it's pretty clear that there aren't a large number of persuadable Republican senators for Chuck Schumer to put pressure on. They're talking about using procedural gambits and appealing as Joe Biden did today to those senators to turn the temperature down, don't do anything divisive, but a lot of those Republican senators, one of their principal purposes in public life is to advance conservatives within the judiciary.

That is something that is not necessarily a Trump goal in any independent way. That's what Mitch McConnell's career is all about. So I'm not sure that those -- what we heard tonight is going to have much effect on Republican calculations.

BLITZER: That's an important point. You know, Dana Bash, it is not often that we see Chuck Schumer and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez jointly making public statements at a news conference.

The Senate Minority Leader said that he wanted to do this with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to show how unified the Democratic Party is right now. Talk a little bit about that.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It was really a fascinating choice. You know, I can tell you that there are some who are very much solidly in the camp of Joe Biden and looking at the landscape of the kind of voters that he is going to need, and they are a little bit nervous about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez being out there so prominently on such a huge issue, worried that the Republicans are going to clearly try to use it against Joe Biden, as you know, proof that he is in the pocket of liberals.

However, there is nobody in the Democratic Party right now who is a bigger motivator for not just those on the left, but younger voters, and that is clearly what Chuck Schumer had in mind in inviting her amongst a lot of other reasons, but that was the biggest reason.

[19:40:11]

BASH: And she said that I mean, she got out there and she said why she was there, we have to get out and vote. We, being people who may not be super thrilled with Joe Biden, because of the fact that they liked, you know, either Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders or pick somebody else who is further to the left than Joe Biden is.

But she is kind of trying to act as a validator here for them and motivator for them to get out and vote and the fact that she said, she used a warning, Mitch McConnell, if you do this, you're playing with fire. That's the kind of really strong talk that a lot of Democrats out there think that Republicans have, Republicans are no holds barred and there is a concern among some Democrats, I talked to that Democrats don't play the way Republicans do, and she is trying to show we do play and we will play that way.

BLITZER: You know, David Axelrod, what jumped out at you from what we just heard?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, certainly that. I said earlier, that I thought that the effect of this may be to galvanize some of these younger voters who weren't that keen on Biden necessarily, but are very motivated by this issue.

Someone tweeted in the past couple of days that they may not love Biden, but they love her, and they'll vote on that. And having AOC there, I think was -- as Dana said, a direct appeal.

The other thing is the leading with the ACA, which by the way, Joe Biden did as well, earlier today in his own remarks and stressed what the impact might be of a reconfigured court on the future of the Affordable Care Act, which is before it.

Now, you're going to hear a lot of that. I saw some polling over the weekend that suggested that this is the most powerful argument and it makes sense in the middle of a pandemic, when people are so deeply concerned about their healthcare. So I think you're going to hear a lot about this.

One thing on the issue of structure and what Democrats might do after the election, Joe Biden is going to have something to say about that. Schumer said everything is on the table, presumably, the President of the United States is going to have quite a bit of influence over whether they move forward or not and that will be interesting, because Joe Biden is a creature of the Senate 36 years there. He's an institutionalist.

When he was asked about this during the primaries, he was not very keen on the notion of restructuring the court or adding Justices to the court. So that is a next level concern and I think Schumer wants to leave that out there. But I don't think he wants to be too specific about it, because he doesn't really know where the leader is on this and that is what they're going to have to resolve if in fact Biden becomes President, there is a Democratic Senate, and there's a Democratic House --

BLITZER: Yes, those are huge ifs right now; if Biden is elected, and if the Democrats become the majority in the Senate.

You know, Jeffrey Toobin, on November 3rd, the election, presumably, we're not going to know for a few days, at least, until there's a winner, unless it's a landslide, one way or the other.

On November 10th, the U.S. Supreme Court is supposed to hear arguments on the future of the Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act, eight Justices right now. Talk a little bit about this because the stakes for a lot of people out there, millions and millions of Americans are enormous, especially those who have some underlying health conditions and they want to make sure that they could get health insurance.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You know, the ACA at this moment with the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the ACA is hanging by a thread, because, she was in addition to everything else, a sure vote to uphold the ACA.

So now, there are only three votes left on the Supreme Court that are virtually sure votes to uphold the ACA. Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, presumably John Roberts, who has twice voted to uphold the ACA would vote it -- would vote to uphold it again. But that's only four to four.

And if it's a four to four decision, the lower court opinion which was against ACA is going to be upheld. That's how it works with four to four decisions at the Supreme Court.

So you know, even before there is a new Justice named to the court by Donald Trump, and obviously we don't know whether that new Justice will be confirmed. But if they put this case over, sometimes what they do in cases where they're divided four to four, is they just delay the argument until a new Justice is seated.

This case is a mortal threat to ACA. I mean, the government of the United States, the Solicitor General's Office has argued in the Supreme Court that the ACA should go. Preexisting conditions should go. Lifetime limits on how much you can spend on healthcare, keeping your kids on your health insurance until they are 25. All of that goes out the window if the administration's position is upheld in the Supreme Court, and their position with Ruth Bader Ginsburg's departure looks a lot stronger today.

BLITZER: Yes, it certainly does, and the President keeps saying he supports maintaining the right of preexisting conditions to be part of any healthcare plan that he wants to put forward. He has been talking about a Trump healthcare plan for a few years now.

He keeps saying it's about to be released, about to be released. He's about to sign it. Nothing has happened. At least not yet, 44 days until the election. Everybody standby we're going to continue to follow these dramatic developments. We'll have much more on the fight shaping up over the U.S. Supreme Court.

But we're also following the coronavirus pandemic as the death count here in the United States nears a once unthinkable number of 200,000 people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is updating guidance on how the virus is spreading. We have new information. We will be right back.

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BLITZER: As the U.S. nears right now 200,000 coronavirus deaths over the past seven months, the C.D.C. has just issued some new guidance saying the virus can spread through small particles in the air meaning it doesn't just take a cough or a sneeze to get the virus in the air, all we have to do is simply breathe.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is an epidemiologist, a public health expert. He is joining us right now. Dr. El-Sayed, thanks so much for joining us. So what does this new guidance from the C.D.C. mean to people who are trying to go about their daily lives?

DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, this C.D.C. guidance formalizes their recommendations around science that we've kind of had now for some time. But what it means for folks is number one, those masks are critically important. They're the most important way to stop those aerosols from coming out of our mouths and noses and then getting into other people's mouths and noses. So everybody should wear a mask, as we've been saying for some time now.

But also people should pay attention to what they do indoors. The reason indoors is so important is because those aerosols tend to just hang out there for some time indoors, particularly in poorly ventilated indoor areas, and so when you're thinking about whether or not maybe you are going to go eat indoors at a restaurant, or, God forbid, go to the movies, you really should think twice.

And then lastly, as folks should have been doing this entire time, just ask yourself, if it's worth it. All of us know that this is the fall, a number of things that we want to get out and be doing in the beautiful weather, but ask yourself, is it worth it? And every given thing that you're choosing, ask yourself, is it worth the potential risk? And if I'm going to go ahead and do that, how can I keep my family and myself safe? Put on that mask and try and stay outdoors as much as possible.

BLITZER: You know, right now, as we speak, Dr. El-Sayed, 199,474 Americans have died over the past seven months. That's more than any other country in the world and that number could actually double according to some of the projections by January 1st.

How did we get into this mess worse here than any other place?

EL-SAYED: Wolf, let me tell you. Basic public health is about blocking and tackling to prevent exposure and to make sure that folks who are exposed don't expose other people. In our country, we have failed to do the basic things right, whether

it's getting testing from the jump, and then also supplying testing at scale, even right now, in so many communities across the country, whether it's setting up a contact tracing system to make sure that we can identify who has been exposed and make sure they are exposing other people, basic things like listening to the science around masks, and around treatments.

These are the basic things that we ought to have been doing right from the very beginning. And if you look at the differences between what has happened in our country and what has happened in other countries, it's that basic public health blocking and tackling that we're not getting right and that explains why we have so much more mortality than other countries sadly.

BLITZER: It's so awful. So awful, indeed, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. Thanks. Thanks for everything you're doing. Thanks as usual for joining us.

I'm Wolf Blitzer here in Washington. To our viewers, thanks very much for watching. I'll be back tomorrow, 5:00 p.m. Eastern in THE SITUATION ROOM. A special edition of "Anderson Cooper 360" is coming up next.

But before we go, our nightly tribute to the victims of the coronavirus pandemic. Pamela Harris was a beloved guidance counselor teacher at a school in Kentucky. The school principal said she was known for lifting up others with her smile, her encouraging words and her jokes.

Heidi Hussli was a high school teacher in Wisconsin. She passed away from complications of COVID-19 after a brief hospitalization. Her family released a statement thanking hospital staff and said they are totally devastated by her loss.

Adeline Fagan was a doctor in Houston. Her sister said she tested positive after treating patients in the emergency room. Her father wrote and I'm quoting, "If you can do one thing, be an Adeline in the world. Be passionate about helping others, less fortunate and have a smile on your face." Adeline was 28 years old.

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BLITZER: And also tonight, we would be remiss if we did not mark the passing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday at the age of 87 from cancer.

She may have been only five feet tall flat, but she was truly a giant by any measure. I covered President Bill Clinton for CNN and was in the Rose Garden 27 years ago when he introduced the Justice Ginsburg as his choice for the Supreme Court.

It was such a moving moment in U.S. history, marking only the second time that a woman would be on the U.S. Supreme Court. The Senate would go on to confirm her by a vote of 96 to three and I remember, she closed that news conference in the Rose Garden by thanking her late mother with these stirring words. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUTH BADER GINSBURG, U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: I pray that I may be all that she would have been had she lived in an age when women could aspire and achieve and daughters are cherished as much as sons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: She certainly was that so much more a truly wonderful woman who made our country better for women and men.

We will all miss her, may Justice Ginsburg and all those wonderful people we have lost to the coronavirus, rest in peace, and may their memories be a blessing.

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