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Trump and Biden in Midwest Battlegrounds with 4 Days Left; 85 Million Plus Early Ballots Cast 4 Days Until Election; Trump Launches New Conspiracy Theory; Thousands In PA Report Not Receiving Mail-In Ballots; Severe Weather Complicates Early Voting In Georgia. Aired 5- 6p ET

Aired October 30, 2020 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:17]

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 THE SITUATION ROOM. We're following breaking news.

We're just four days until the election, President Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden are laser focused on key battleground states with both men crisscrossing the upper Midwest. President Trump will soon be in Rochester, Minnesota, after he slammed local officials for limiting crowd sizes due to COVID. Joe Biden is also campaigning in Minnesota and later tonight night in Wisconsin, where President Trump also visited today. That state sees a surge of coronavirus cases. But as the candidates campaign down to the wire, a record 85 million people have already cast their ballots in early voting.

And we are also following breaking pandemic news. The United States just topped 9 million confirmed coronavirus cases. 1 million of them added in just the last two weeks. And as the number of daily cases across the country hits an all-time high, more than 229,000 Americans have lost their lives to COVID-19.

Let's begin this hour with our chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta in Rochester, Minnesota. He's joining us live right now. The president, Jim, is going to be holding a rally in a little while.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. And President Trump is spreading fear and misinformation in these last four days of the campaign. We have shown you this picture time and again, Wolf, at these rallies where you have Trump supporters packed together, not practicing social distancing and not wearing masks.

But something very different is about to happen here in Rochester, Minnesota. You can see over my shoulder that they have now set up the seating at this venue for social distancing. The seats are spaced apart. This is unlike anything we have seen at a Trump rally up until this point. But that's a key point here, Wolf. Key point.

Minnesota state leaders are forcing the Trump campaign to do this knowing full well this could potentially become a superspreader if all of these supporters are packed together.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): With fight for reelection hinging on his handling of the coronavirus, President Trump is attempting to pull the supporters into a state of pandemic denialism. Falsely claiming that the rising number of COVID-19 cases are due to increase testing.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You tune in to the news. COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID. And you know cases are up. Why cases up? Because we test more than anybody in history.

ACOSTA (voice-over): But that's not true. And neither is the president's other jaw dropping conspiracy theory that doctors in the U.S. are manufacturing a high death toll so they can make more money.

TRUMP: Our doctors get more money if somebody dies from COVID. You know that, right? I mean, our doctors are very smart people.

ACOSTA (voice-over): President warns Democrat Joe Biden will shut down the country even national holidays if he is elected.

TRUMP: There will be no school, no graduations, no weddings, no Thanksgivings. No Christmas! No Fourth of July.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Biden says the president is just making it all up.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm not going to shut down the economy. I'm going to shut down the virus!

ACOSTA (voice-over): The president is back to mocking masks, poking fun at Fox News personality Laura Ingraham for wearing one.

TRUMP: Are you wearing a mask? I've never seen her in a mask. She is being very politically correct.

ACOSTA (voice-over): By contrast, Biden is making masks an essential part of his pandemic battle plan.

BIDEN: This isn't a political statement. It's patriotic duty for God's sake. But still Donald Trump refuses to listen to science.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Another part of Mr. Trump's divisive closing message, attacking female politicians, for Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

TRUMP: She doesn't love our country. That I can tell you. The Biden plan will turn Michigan into a refugee camp.

ACOSTA (voice-over): To Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

TRUMP: I don't think she likes me too much. What do you think? Do you think she likes me?

ACOSTA (voice-over): Both the president and Biden spent the day barnstorming the Midwest, sweeping through states that were crucial to Mr. Trump's offset win four years ago. Biden defended his decision to stop at Minnesota, a traditionally Democratic state.

BIDEN: I'm not concerned. We're going to be in Iowa. We're going to be in Wisconsin. So, I thought I'd stop for Minnesota. I don't take anything for granted. We're going to work for every single vote up to the last minute.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Officials in Minnesota are attempting to force the president to adhere the public health guidelines in order to hold a rally in the state, complete with seating setup for social distancing.

TRUMP: And they say you can only have 250 people. So, they thought I'd cancel. But I'm not cancelling.

ACOSTA (voice-over): The president's eldest son Don Jr. is also complaining about the pandemic's impact on the race with his own lies about the number of cases and deaths in the U.S.

DONALD TRUMP, JR., PRESIDENT TRUMP'S SON: Why are they talking about deaths? Oh, oh, because the number is almost nothing! Because we have gotten control of this thing. We understand how it works.

[17:05:04]

ACOSTA (voice-over): That's nowhere near true as there were nearly a thousand deaths Thursday as the number of cases in the U.S. hit a record high.

But clinging to COVID-19 exaggeration appears to run in the family as the president is claiming the treatment he received, for his own bout with the virus was a kind of being touched by God.

TRUMP: And they gave me something called Regeneron. The next morning, sister, I woke up and it was like God touched my shoulder, right? I said, wrong! Let me at them!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And even though the president is trailing in the polls behind Democrat Joe Biden, some Trump advisers are pointing to these rallies as a show of strength as one Trump adviser told me today these rallies equal turnout. Quote, "That is the theory." That coming from a Trump adviser basically saying, Wolf, that they believe that these rallies and the president is going to be holding a lot of them over the next several days. These rallies will translate into turnout at the polls. They have to cling to something at this point as any kind of ray of light, a bit of hope as they know they have a very tall order coming from behind and defeating Joe Biden on Tuesday. Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes, they do. All right. Jim Acosta, thank you very, very much.

Let's get more on the Biden campaign right now. CNN's Jessica Dean is covering the former vice president for us. Jessica, you're in Milwaukee where Biden will speak later tonight. COVID is ravaging that state as we know. How much of Biden's strategy is focusing in on the pandemic?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is the essence of his closing argument, Wolf. Of course, his larger message of unity of coming together is the overarching theme but he really has been drilling down on the coronavirus pandemic again and again and again as he goes all over the country making his closing argument to voters. And you mentioned Wisconsin where we are tonight.

The COVID cases here setting records. This is something that is becoming more and more and more of an issue here in Wisconsin where they are seeing record rates and you can bet that Joe Biden is going to talk about that in great detail when he talks to supporters in Milwaukee later.

Now earlier today, he made two additional stops. He went to Iowa and Minnesota. And as I mentioned, we were with him in Florida as well yesterday. He talks about the coronavirus pandemic. He talks about President Trump holding what he calls superspreader events. And he makes the case that he has a plan that he is ready to put in action on day one if Americans elect him president on Tuesday. But he is tailoring it to each specific state where he is. Take a listen. This is from Iowa earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Nearly 1,700 dead right here in Iowa. I hear a record number of daily cases yesterday with over 2,300 and a record number of hospitalizations, more than 600. We've now hit 9 million cases nationwide. A tragic milestone and millions of people are out of work, on the edge, and they can't see the light. They don't know. It just looks dark right now for them.

82,000 Iowa jobs lost in this pandemic. And still they have not come back. 70,000 jobs lost in Iowa since Donald Trump became president. Here at the Fairgrounds, the Iowa state fair cancelled for the first time since World War II. And Donald Trump has given up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: You heard Biden there also tying in his economic message to the coronavirus pandemic. Again, he is pitching his plan to voters that Biden campaign betting that Americans are ready for a change in leadership and that they want Joe Biden directing the next steps when it comes to this pandemic, Wolf.

Biden will continue to visit states and try to build back that blue wall. He heads to Michigan tomorrow with President Obama.

BLITZER: Lots of activity going on. All right. Jessica, thank you very much. Jessica Dean reporting.

Let's get some more on all of this. Our senior political commentator, former Obama Senior Adviser David Axelrod is with us, our CNN political correspondent Abby Phillip is with us and our chief political correspondent Dana Bash is with us as well.

Dana, we're down to what, just four days until Election Day. Both President Trump and Joe Biden, they are focusing in on the Midwest. What are the political calculations that these campaigns are making right now in these key battleground states?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Midwest and Pennsylvania I would add that are critical to Joe Biden in particular for the path to 270 to win the White House. And that is where the former vice president's focus is. That is where they hope to get enough electoral votes to win the White House.

They think that those states have the most -- traditional Biden voters. The Democrats -- former Democrats who maybe voted for Donald Trump and because they felt like they couldn't relate to someone like Hillary Clinton, but they can to Joe Biden.

[17:10:07]

And on the flip side you have President Trump who is banking, although he wasn't there today, he was there yesterday, banking big time on starting the night with a big win in Florida. We will see if that happens. And then trying to get to 270.

Now, let's be clear. The president -- even the president's advisers will tell you that his path to 270 to winning the electoral college is narrower than Joe Biden's. But what they're banking on is turnout. Both parties -- sources from both parties, Wolf, I'm sure you're hearing this too, say this isn't about persuading voters who are undecided at this point. This is about getting out their voters.

And the Republicans think that because they have a very good get out the vote operation which I have seen on the ground in Pennsylvania and in Virginia, very data oriented that they can beat out the Democrats. The Democrats think -- say we have enthusiasm. So, we are going to see which one wins out.

BLITZER: We will find out very soon. Abby, more than 85 million Americans have already cast their ballots and get both campaigns seem to see real value in being on the ground in these critical Midwestern states right now. They're not taking either campaign anything for granted.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: No. And because at this stage, this is actually the time where they have to get people to go to vote physically in most cases because the window for doing mail-in voting and, in some cases, for even casting early votes, has passed. So, this is where it's really important for these rallies, especially for President Trump, to be the vehicles to turn out their voters.

The Trump campaign that is at the core of their strategy. The rallies are where they identify their voters and connect with them so that they can turn them out. The Biden campaign is in a similar position. They have got to gin up enthusiasm in these - in these major population centers. With Tuesday coming very quickly, I think it's important, especially now for these campaigns to identify what is their Election Day electorate going to even look like because in some cases, those are the votes that we're going to see first. It might set the tone for how they understand what is going to happen for the rest of the night.

And I think they want to balance out especially for Joe Biden, balance out what we see in the polls. It's just that a lot of Trump supporters say they are more likely to vote in person. Biden is trying to balance that out by getting his supporters out too.

BLITZER: You know, David, we really can't talk about campaigning in Midwest without remembering Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton campaign's huge mistakes back in 2016, basically ignoring Wisconsin and Michigan and then narrowly losing both of those states. Did the Biden campaign learn from those errors?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Clearly, I think that's why he is in Minnesota now. He is in pretty good shape in Minnesota, but he doesn't want to take any chances. Hillary Clinton you'll remember never visited Wisconsin after the Democratic convention and lost narrowly there. Spent more money in Arizona than Michigan and lost even more narrowly there.

They are protecting their gains in Michigan, in Wisconsin. He is going to spend all day Monday in barnstorming Pennsylvania. Because Abby is right, we don't know how many people are actually going to vote on Tuesday because we may have a hundred million ballots cast before that day. But what they can't afford is a disproportionate vote on the part of the president that is so strong that it overcomes whatever advantage they have in the - in the early voting.

What is interesting, Wolf, is where they are going. The fact is, Joe Biden is campaigning in a bunch of states, Minnesota is an exception, but a bunch of states where Donald Trump won. And Donald Trump is campaigning in a bunch of states where Donald Trump won. Biden is playing offense. Trump is playing defense. And that tells you a little bit about where this race is at.

BLITZER: All right. Guys, stand by, because we're going to be continuing this conversation, David, Abby and Dana.

Up next, how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting the candidates and their paths to the 270 electoral votes they need to claim victory.

Also, there's breaking news. A very grim assessment of the coronavirus pandemic by the White House testing czar who is saying now, and I'm quoting him. "Hospitalizations and ICU admissions don't lie."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:18:43]

BLITZER: Breaking news. Both presidential candidates are campaigning in the all-important Midwest battleground states looking for a path to the 270 electoral college votes they need to win this contest. CNN's John King is over at the magic wall with a closer look at where they are concentrating. John, tell us more.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, four nights from now we fill this in. A mix of red and blue that will tell us, is Donald Trump winning reelection or is Joe Biden the next president of the United States.

Let's go back to the 2016 map. Just want to take a peek at just a few of the recent battleground polls we have just to lay out some of the stakes for us as the campaigning continues today. Senator Harris is in Texas today.

Look at this. Trump 48, Biden 46, in our CNN poll of polls. Meaning slight Trump edge but very competitive. In a state, if the Democrats could win that, that changes everything. Not just for this election. It would change things for future elections as well. That's why the Democrats are pouring money and Harris visit into Texas. A competitive race there. Again, it would be a game-changer.

Vice President Biden is in Iowa today. A dead heat there in our CNN poll of polls. That was a state very friendly to Trump four years ago. If Biden is trying to make inroads across the whole Midwest compared to the 2016 map, if he could win Iowa. Again, small in the electoral college count but that would be a statement. That would mean Trump is losing elsewhere as well.

Both candidates contesting in Wisconsin. This is the challenge for President Trump. In Wisconsin and in Michigan, two states again, you see them red in 2016, right? President broke the blue wall.

[17:20:04]

Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. At the moment, Biden has comfortable leads and not just that he is above 50. Look where the president of the united states is. The third-party candidates are not polling as well this year. 43 percent. 43 percent that Trump is stuck in the low to mid-40s is a giant dynamic for his campaign in the final days.

There's another dynamic, Wolf. We talked about red and blue all the time. There's another dynamic in this campaign that I think we need to think of in the final days. And that the COVID dynamic. This pandemic has dominated our election year but it has also now a rising crisis.

Across the country this national spike in cases up over 80,000 new infections a day but look at this. Never mind red and blue. The deep red is pain from coronavirus, the pink pain from coronavirus. Even the dark orange is pain from the coronavirus. This is county-by-county across the country per capita. COVID cases per 100,000 residents.

Look at all of the red especially again, we just talked about battleground Wisconsin. Look at all that red. Look at all that pink. Look at Iowa. Look at all that.

Senator Harris down in Texas trying to make the case you need a different approach to the coronavirus. Even in Michigan, not quite as bad but the president of the United States fighting with the Democratic governor who believes she has done a pretty good job in shoving down the coronavirus infections. But when you look at the presidential campaign map, we think of red and blue. It is impossible to ignore the pain of this pandemic across the country.

A little bit more of an example of what we mean by that. We are setting case records. In the final week of the campaign the president is going state-by-state saying we have rounded the corner. Well, some of these states are setting records as well.

And nationally one, two, three, actually four of the most painful days in the pandemic going back eight months, four of the highest case counts have been in this final week of the campaign as the president says we have rounded the corner and things are better. That's a tough message to sell in a country that has been through all of this pain.

There's another way to look at it here. Just the states he is visiting today. Positivity rate 5 percent is what the public health experts say. You want a 5 percent positivity rate on COVID cases then push it down more. 6 percent in Michigan. Again, the governor there thinks she has done a good job but the president at war with her.

8 percent in Minnesota. A state where the president will campaign today. A tough one. 10 electoral votes, Republicans always think they can get it if they come close. COVID there.

And in Wisconsin one of the states that has the biggest problems right now. They recorded their highest death total on a single day this week. The final week of the campaign. The positivity rate in double digits above 13 percent.

So, that's one of the challenges for the president. This map here and all of the pain especially in those Midwestern states makes it a lot harder for the president to recreate this map here. Remember, this was the key to his victory and one of the big differences in this campaign is when you come to a race to 270. Those states the president flipped last time, your Pennsylvania, your Michigan, your Wisconsin, we lean them all Biden blue now in part because the president's handling of the coronavirus has turned voters away.

And at the moment, heading to the final four days, it is advantage Biden in the election and when voters are asked, who do they wish would be in charge to handle this pandemic. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. John, thanks very much. I'll be back in the next hour with more analysis over at the magic wall.

Coming up, as a record setting numbers of early mail-in ballots come in and President Trump insist the election should end on November 3rd, we will update you on the latest developments when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:28:25] BLITZER: We are following breaking news as President Trump and Joe Biden focus on the Midwest right now as they swing through those states with only four days left until Election Day.

Joining us now, President Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton. He's the author of the new book, "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir." A major best seller. Ambassador, thanks so much for joining us.

A man you know well the former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coates. You served with him in the Trump administration. He says that Russia is the main threat when it comes to messing with the U.S. elections. So, what do Americans need to be on alert for both in these final days of the race and as the results actually start coming in?

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, I think the Russians and the Chinese and to a lesser extent the Iranians are going to try to do something to undercut American faith in their institution. So, I think one thing everybody that can do that would be beneficial is just take a deep breath and realize that at the national level and at the state and local level, a lot of people are focused on defending the integrity of the election process.

We took steps in 2018 to allow for greater offensive cyber operations by the United States against Russian election hackers and others. And I have every faith that that same thing is happening right now.

So, we are not sitting back simply waiting for this to happen. We're doing things affirmatively to protect the integrity of the process.

BLITZER: So, tell us what is the U.S. Intelligence Community, the FBI, the cyber warriors, if you will, are doing to protect the U.S. elections from a Russian threat, a Chinese threat, or an Iranian threat for that matter.

[17:30:00]

BOLTON: Well, I'd love to tell you in more detail, but you know, I've been through pre-publication review controversies already. So, I'm not going to reveal anything that's classified. But it's pretty clear that some of the sources for these attacks are well known, others can be deduced. And what our strategy has been is to say to the Russians, in particular, if you try and impose costs on us by undercutting our election, we will impose greater costs on you. This helps create cyber deterrence structures, we're not trying to increase hostility in cyberspace, but to explain to the Russians and others that it's not worth the effort they're about to put into it.

I think that's very important. And people should know that it's -- cyberspace is not a benign domain. It's just like every other domain of human activity, and we have to be capable both offensively and defensively against threats.

BLITZER: But when you were the National Security Advisor in the White House working for President Trump, did he ever specifically issue that blunt warning to Putin? BOLTON: Well, he certainly signed all the necessary documents that we needed to change the Obama administration's decision-making procedure, which was a big handicap. And he authorized the cyber strategies, both the classified and the unclassified versions that were followed in 2018. He did it complaining all the time, but he did it. And, in fact, that the FBI, Homeland Security, the Defense Department, the intelligence community, and state and local, I want to emphasize state and local as well. So, a lot of concerted activity underway, whatever was being said in the Oval Office.

BLITZER: The President is opposed to states that counting ballots received after Election Day tweeted, and I'm quoting now, the election should end on November 3rd. But doesn't the election end when all the votes are counted regardless how long it takes?

BOLTON: Of course, you know, this is -- this particular comment by the President ranks right at the bottom of things he has said about the integrity of the process. And I find this one almost more disturbing than the rest although the competition is pretty intense. Every American has the right to have their vote counted. And just because in states like Pennsylvania, they have a completely crazy rule that they don't even start counting mail-in ballots until Election Day itself. That doesn't mean that they all have to be or can be counted by midnight on November the third.

So you continue to count, hopefully, expeditiously until you're done. If the President thinks that saying this sort of thing will deter people or frighten them or confuse the actual counting of the votes around the country, I think he's sorely mistaken. And I really do believe here strongly, Republicans should speak up and say this is unacceptable on the part of the President.

BLITZER: Do you think the courts are going to have to, in the end, in this election potentially play a role?

BOLTON: Well, it's possible. Look, every state has a different system for recounts, for contest, for canvassing, sometimes it's automatic. If the vote is within a certain percentage, sometimes the candidates themselves can trigger it. But we've been through this before. In Florida in 2,000, I spent 31 days there in the Bush-Gore recap. It was confusing at the time, but we've got experience we can go through this. This is not our first rodeo.

People should remain calm. Even if we don't have a clear winner on election night, we'll get there without too much trouble, I think.

BLITZER: Yes. I remember -- well, I was in Tallahassee covering that recount as well. It took more than 30 days to determine who the winner of that contest Bush-Gore was going to be.

John Bolton, as usual, thank you very much to our viewers. Once again, his best-selling book is entitled, "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir". Ambassador, thanks so much for joining us.

BOLTON: Glad to be here. BLITZER: Up next, today's breaking news in the coronavirus pandemic. As of today, the U.S. has surpassed 9 million confirmed coronavirus cases, just two weeks after passing 8 million faces. And with a spike in cases, is there any way to celebrate Halloween safely? We'll ask our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta, that's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:39:02]

BLITZER: We're following the breaking pandemic news, the United States just top 9 million confirmed coronavirus cases. The number of Americans dead in the pandemic has now surpassed 229,000 people. Let's get some more from CNN's Nick Watt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATSY STALLWORTH, COVID-19 PATIENT: People that don't take COVID serious, I hope they don't catch it because they're in for a surprise.

NICK WATT CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The average daily death toll from this disease already rising might cripple between now and mid- January. Nearly 400,000 could be dead in America by February 1st. This, according to one regularly cited model. And states don't reimpose measures to slow the spread, those modelers say the death toll might top half a million.

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): Our hospitalizations are going up, individuals in the ICUs are going up and sadly, we are losing more people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The problem isn't that we don't have the right rules in place. It's the people aren't following them.

[17:40:02]

WATT (voice-over): In New Mexico, one doctor warns that if nothing else is done --

DR. JASON MITCHELL, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER PRESBYTERIAN HEALTHCARE SERVICES: By December, we would have so many cases, we would be that point where we're in mash tents.

WATT (voice-over): This month, more than half of states have reported record daily case games.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: The viruses all over the country now. It's not limited to New York or Boston, or the Northeast. It's all over the country now.

WATT (voice-over): There's a spike in Illinois, a record today and today, Chicago closed all indoor restaurants and bars. There's also a spike in El Paso, Texas.

JUDGE RICARDO SAMANIEGO, EL PASO COUNTY: And if we don't respond, we will see unprecedented levels of deaths. WATT (voice-over): So that Judge just closed all non-essential services for a couple of weeks. But the Texas Attorney General is now exploring legal action to reopen everything.

No statewide, mask mandate up in North Dakota but a memorial to the dead created by Carl Young. He's running for State Assembly, lost his mother to COVID. Now, begging everyone to mask up.

CARL YOUNG, FOUNDER, COVID MEMORIAL PROJECT: It started because of my mom, but it's so much bigger than my mom. It's about humanity. You know, we're losing our humanity because we're being selfish.

WATT (voice-over): In California's bay area, there first confirmed double whammy, a patient with COVID-19 and the flu, at the same time. In Wisconsin, hospitals are filling fast with COVID patients.

DR. PAUL CASEY, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT, BELLIN HOSPITAL, WI: It takes back memories of the forgotten times when we saw things like smallpox, that kind of thing where we had a single disease over running the hospital.

WATT (voice-over): There was a Trump rally in Green Bay this afternoon. CNN has analyzed the data in 17 counties after mega rallies. In 14 of them, infection rates rose in the aftermath.

CASEY: It's particularly mind-boggling when we have leadership setting a bad example.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: You know, the President also still likes to say that rising case counts are just more testing. Well, this just in from his own testing are, Admiral Brett Giroir, hospitalizations and ICU admissions. Don't lie. That's real, that's tangible and going up. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Nick Watt in L.A. for us in Beverly Hills actually, thank you very much.

Let's get some more in all of these. Our Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is joining us. Sanjay, more than 9 million cases now have been reported in the U.S. So what is that very, very grim milestone mean for our country?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it means that we didn't act as early as we should have, we didn't act as aggressive -- we should have as aggressively and the numbers are continuing to go up, Wolf. I mean, it's -- it is grim. I mean, you know, it's still hard for me to believe that the best that we could do in this country is be the worst in the world when it comes to these cases.

But, Wolf, you know, I mean, I think there's still so much to be done going forward. I mean, people have these artificial markers in their head, the end of the year, the election. The virus doesn't care, the virus is the virus, and it's going to still do what it does. But there's ways that we can, you know, try and regain control. Wolf, let me give you an example, Arizona, because we talked about a lot of countries around the world, but Arizona sort of found themselves in a similar situation earlier this year. Numbers are just going out of control, 150 percent increase in the cases, after they lifted the stay at home orders. It was looking like a real disaster. They took action. They did three things primarily, mask requirements for a while, limited public events, you know, large public gatherings, and certain business closures, mostly bars, indoor locations where you couldn't wear a mask.

And, Wolf, look what happens. 75 percent decrease over three weeks following those efforts. Wolf, that should inspire people. Right now, the numbers are going straight up. We're sort of looking at this exponential growth. If we could even stall it, so the numbers stop going up. That would be a very, very significant accomplishment, and it's within our power still. So, you know, it's grim. But there should be hope through what we've already seen.

BLITZER: You know, the CDC Director, Dr. Robert Redfield, just said that a silent epidemic of asymptomatic carriers is fueling this current outbreak, when hotspot states are reporting testing positivity percentages, Sanjay, a 40 percent or even 50 percent. How difficult is it to find those asymptomatic carriers, especially young people in the first place?

GUPTA: It's really challenging, Wolf. I mean, what is 40 percent to 50 percent positivity rate mean? I think most people know this, but test 100 people, and 40 to 50 of them come back positive. What that means is there's a lot more people out there that you missed, it's kind of like the fishing metaphor that I've used with you, Wolf. You put a net down, get a bunch of fish, come back in the net, you think, there's a lot more fish down here.

Get just one or two fish, you think I've pretty much gotten them all, there's not probably a lot more there. So we're missing a lot of people. They don't know that they have the virus because they don't have symptoms. They're not getting tested, and they continue to spread.

[17:45:04]

So Dr. Redfield is talking about, I mean, he's -- I interviewed him back in February, where he talked about the concern about asymptomatic spread. And, you know, remind you, Wolf, quickly, 40 percent roughly of people are asymptomatic, 40 percent. Another 40 percent just have minimal symptoms.

But here's the point, 50 percent of transmission is occurring before any of those symptoms develop. You don't know you have it. But you do, you can get tested, and you can still spread it.

BLITZER: And we had a statement from Admiral Giroir that the hospitalizations and ICU admissions don't lie, he says, no matter what the President or his son may say. And you look at those statistics, Sanjay, things are so dire. For those who think it's getting better, it's getting a whole lot worse. GUPTA: Yes, I mean, I think what the Admiral draw was saying about that is that, look, who's getting infected now is different than what we saw in the earlier stages of the pandemic in this country. When we early reporting on this, we know people are -- there's a larger percentage that's under the age of 50 less likely to get sick, less likely to get hospitalized. But when you have such large numbers, as we're seeing now, it's going to lead to increase hospitalizations. That's why the hospitalization number is so critical to look at. That's the true metric that doesn't lie to you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Certainly doesn't. All right, Sanjay, thank you very, very much.

Standby for more breaking news on the presidential race. We're about to get updates from our correspondents in the al-important battleground states. We'll be right back.

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[17:51:58]

BLITZER: With more than 86 million votes already cast in just four days to go until the election, CNN is on the ground in key battleground states that will decide the winner of the presidential race. Let's start in Michigan right now where the battle for the state's 16 electoral votes is intensifying.

Our National Correspondent Miguel Marquez is on the scene for us. Miguel, what are you seeing?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is Oakland County just north of Detroit. It's where the President was today. It's a county that is filled with suburban voters, some of them early voting in-person right now, what you can do here, most of it is absentee. The President lost this county in 2016 to Hillary Clinton then went on to win the state by 10,704 votes.

This county in this state being hard fought by both candidates. This is the second time the President has been in Michigan this week. The Vice President was here. He had several of his kids here as well throughout the week, Betsy DeVos was also here. Joe Biden and Barack Obama are also coming to Michigan tomorrow. It'll be the first time that the former Vice President and the former President have appeared together this campaign cycle.

Jill Biden was here in Michigan earlier in the week. So, both sides working very hard for votes that are already coming in a little like this, most of them being dropped off at different clerk's offices or in drop boxes. The state says that some 5 million Michiganders will vote in this election. They believe that two-thirds of that vote will be in and those candidates trying to change the minds of people voting now and who will vote on Election Day, Wolf.

All right, Miguel, thank you. Miguel Marquez reporting.

Let's go to Pennsylvania right now where mail-in voting has hit a snag in one county. Our Sara Murray has details. Sara, what's the issue?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we have a little bit of a mystery around some missing ballots in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Earlier this week, officials said they sent out about 40,000 mail-in ballots and just over 21,000 have been returned. Meanwhile, they said they've received more than 10,000 phone calls from people saying that they applied for these mail-in ballots, and they haven't received that. Now, people could be calling more than once, so they're not exactly sure how many might be missing.

The Post Office says it's not aware of any ballots that have gone missing. And union officials in Butler County say they don't have any record of these ballots ever arriving at the Post Office and being scanned in, but this is something Pennsylvania officials are taking very seriously. State officials here say they've been in touch with the U.S. Post Office and that local post offices have been scanned. The Pittsburgh sorting center has been scanned looking for these missing ballots.

In the meantime, though, they are focused on telling everyone you can still vote, you can go to your local elections office, you can request a replacement ballot. And, of course, you can still show up on Election Day. Back to you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, we can. All right, Sara, thank you very much. Sara Murray reporting.

Severe weather has certainly complicated early voting in Georgia. Let's go to CNN's Nick Valencia, just outside of Atlanta. So, Nick, what's the situation there?

[17:55:01]

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, after three weeks, early voting comes to a close here in Georgia today and contributing to the long lines according to county officials is a storm that came through the state on Wednesday night leading up to a million people without power. More than half of those have had their power restored. But it did cause some delays and even closures in 15 of Georgia's 159 counties. Addressing the issue, the Secretary of State said that any county officials that are looking to extend voting hours would have to petition to the state. Actually, there's been record setting voting already with early voting. 3.7 million Georgians have cast their ballot, roughly 90 percent of the total of 2016. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Nick, thank you very much.

There's breaking news next, President Trump and Joe Biden make a full court press in the Midwest with just four days to go before the election. Campaigning into the night. We'll check in on all the developments when we come back.

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BLITZER: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in "The Situation Room". Tonight, the presidential candidates are dashing across the heartland with only four days until the election.