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The Situation Room

Interview with Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; U.S. Coronavirus Cases Pass Nine Million; Presidential Candidates Make Last-Minute Push; Obama to Appear with Biden Tomorrow for First Time this Campaign; U.S. Tops 9 Million Cases after New Daily Infections Hit an All-Time High, 229,000 Americans Now Dead in Pandemic; Georgia's Two GOP-Held Senate Seats at Risk of Flipping to Democrats. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired October 30, 2020 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Tonight, the presidential candidates are dashing across the heartland with only four days until the election. President Trump has a rally scheduled in Minnesota this hour. He's been battling with local officials over limits on rally size, as the COVID-19 pandemic surges across Midwestern battleground states.

Former Vice President Biden, he's in Minnesota now, and then heads for the coronavirus hot spot of Wisconsin, arguing he will shut down the virus, while the president plays it down.

They're competing for a shrinking share of the electorate that hasn't voted yet. More than 86 million early ballots already have been cast, more than 60 percent of the total turnout of 2016. And it's all playing out against the backdrop of the coronavirus crisis worsening across most of the United States right now.

The total number of cases in this country just crossed nine million, after the number of new daily infections hit an all-time high of the pandemic.

Let's start our coverage this hour with our chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta.

Jim, as the president heads to one more Midwestern state tonight, he's attacking local officials where you are. And he's also misleading a lot of voters.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.

And we have talked about this time and again. When the president holds these rallies, he typically has thousands of supporters packed into a venue, not wearing masks, not doing any social distancing. But that is not going to be the case here this evening in Minnesota.

Let me just show you what's happening here. Because of what Minnesota officials are forcing the campaign to do, they're going to be doing, at least for now, social distancing. The seats here are spaced apart, so people aren't going to be on top of one another.

But the big question remains, as we await the president's arrival here in Rochester, Minnesota, and that is this: Has anybody told the president about this?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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

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

ACOSTA: 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: The president warns, Democrat Joe Biden will shut down the country, even national holidays, if he's elected.

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

(BOOING)

ACOSTA: 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: 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 have never seen her in a mask. She's being very politically correct. Whoa. Whoa!

ACOSTA: By contrast, Biden is making masks an essential part of his pandemic battle plan.

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

ACOSTA: Another part of Mr. Trump's divisive closing message, attacking female politicians, from 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.

AUDIENCE: Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up! ACOSTA: To Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

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

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

BIDEN: No, I'm not concerned. We're going to be in Iowa. We're going to be in Iowa, so I thought I would stop in Minnesota. I don't take anything for granted. We're going to work for every single vote up to the last minute.

ACOSTA: Officials in Minnesota are attempting to force the president to adhere to public health guidelines in order to hold a rally in the state, complete with seating set up for social distancing.

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

ACOSTA: 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., SON OF DONALD TRUMP: Why aren't 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.

ACOSTA: That's nowhere near true, as there were nearly 1,000 deaths Thursday and 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 akin to 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?

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: I said, let me at 'em.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And even though Trump advisers know the president is trailing in the polls, they are clinging to the hope that the rallies, big crowds at these rallies, will somehow translate into people heading towards the polls.

[18:05:05]

I can tell you, I talked to one Trump adviser earlier today who said just that, that rallies equal turnout. In the words of this Trump adviser -- quote -- "That's the theory" at least for the campaign at this point.

And, Wolf, just getting back to the how things are set up at this rally in Minnesota, yes, it's set up for social distancing inside the venue. But just as we were heading inside here a short while ago, we saw hundreds of people crowding together in an overflow area, not practicing social distancing, not wearing masks.

And even though people inside this venue for this rally this evening are practicing social distancing, we are not seeing many masks being used tonight -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, we will see what happens.

Jim Acosta, thank you very much.

Let's get some more now on Joe Biden's pitch to voters in these crucial Midwestern battleground states.

Our political correspondent, Arlette Saenz, covering the former vice president's stop in Minnesota for us.

Arlette, how much is he focusing in on COVID as he makes his way through these key battleground states?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Wolf, coronavirus pandemic is really a central focus of Joe Biden's messaging in these final days before the election.

And, as he campaigns here in Minnesota, he made reference to the rising cases that the state is experiencing. He is also heading later on in the day to Wisconsin, another state that has seen an uptick in COVID-19 cases.

And he talked about that in his drive-in style events, socially distanced, here in Minnesota. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I know it's hard, folks. I know it's hard. More than 228, I believe it is now, thousand Americans have died because of COVID-19, nearly 2,500 here in Minnesota gone.

We had nine million new cases nationwide. Millions of Americans are out of work, on the edge. They can't see any light. They don't know where it's going. And Donald Trump, he's simply given up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, Biden says he is not taking anything for granted in these final days, and that's why you're seeing him here in a state like Minnesota.

This is a Democratic-leaning state, but one where President Trump has campaigned aggressively over the past few weeks. So, Biden is here trying to shore up that Democratic support. And over the next four days, you will see Joe Biden hone in, zeroing

in on his attempts to reestablish that blue wall. He is campaigning in Wisconsin tonight. Tomorrow, he will appear in Michigan with his former boss and most powerful surrogate, President Obama.

Stevie Wonder is also joining them on that campaign trip to Michigan. And then, in the two final days before the election, all eyes are on Pennsylvania. Biden will campaign in Philadelphia. And, on Monday, the Democratic ticket and their spouses are fanning out across Pennsylvania.

That state is critical to the Biden campaign's path to 270 electoral votes -- Wolf.

BLITZER: It certainly is.

Arlette, stay with us. We're going to continue this conversation.

I also want to bring in our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, and our senior political reporter, Nia-Malika Henderson.

Gloria, with only four days left, both President Trump and Joe Biden, they're crossing these Midwest states tonight. Why is this region so important right now in this race for the White House?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, because it's pretty much a tie, and they both need it really to win.

And when you look at the Midwest, as Arlette was saying, Biden wants to reestablish that blue wall. And the president needs to get out the vote. And if you talk to people in the Trump campaign, they will tell you that, while, sure, the polls show that Joe Biden has an advantage, and that he's had some early voting advantage in states, that they believe that, if they have an explosive turnout on Election Day, that they can match and exceed what Joe Biden has done.

And they believe that the president is a great motivator when it comes to getting out the votes. And the Biden campaign believes that they can also use Joe Biden and his powerful surrogate, like Barack Obama, for example, to help get out the vote in the same way.

Right now, it's not an election of persuasion. It's an election of motivation. It's about motivating your people to get out there and vote on Election Day.

BLITZER: You know, Nia, we really can't talk about campaigning in these critical Midwest states right now without remembering the very awful mistakes that Hillary Clinton's campaign made back in 2016, when they fundamentally ignored, for example, not bothering to visit Wisconsin after the convention, maybe visited Michigan once.

She lost both states narrowly. Does it look like the Biden campaign has learned from those blunders?

[18:10:00]

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: It certainly seems like they have learned from those blunders.

You have, in Biden -- he's going to go to Wisconsin. He's visiting Milwaukee. What happened in Wisconsin in 2016 was a massive collapse in terms of the African-American vote; 75 percent of African-Americans in Wisconsin, 75 percent of registered black voters showed up in 2012. It drops to about 55 percent of registered black voters.

So there was a massive kind of cratering of black support in 2016 for Hillary Clinton. So, you have, in Joe Biden, somebody who wants to go directly to Milwaukee, try to energize those voters, because that's how you rebuild the blue wall. We talk often about white working-class voters, white college-educated voters as well, but African-Americans key to any Democrats' hope of rebuilding that blue wall in those Rust Belt states, places like Wisconsin, places like Michigan as well.

So, I think Biden very much knows what happened in 2016 in some of these states. He doesn't want to repeat those mistakes. You saw in 2016, sort of in the sort of waning days leading up to the campaign, a cratering of support that Clinton began to see. And she had been ignoring warning signs from people on the ground in these states.

So, Biden is going right to those states. So, he's not leaving anything to chance, even though the polls show him doing much more strongly than Clinton was doing at this point. But, again, polls are polls, and like Gloria said, this is essentially a tied race.

BLITZER: Yes, smart politicians always run as if they're 10 points behind, irrespective of what the polls may show.

Arlette, you have covered the Biden campaign for us. Take us inside that campaign. Give us a sense of how they're feeling about these battleground states, specifically, let's say, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Pennsylvania.

SAENZ: Well, they clearly want to make sure that they are laying it all out on the line in these final days before the election.

And that's why you are seeing them hone in and focus on reestablishing that blue wall. They don't want to repeat any of the mistakes that were made back in 2016. And they want to make sure that their candidate is front and center in those states, wooing those types of voters that Nia talked about, both African-American voters.

Suburban women, that's a key constituency that is gravitating towards Biden at this time, also making those appeals to white working-class voters. You have heard Biden over the course of his several trips to Pennsylvania, really the state he's visited the most in this general election battle, making those appeals to those former Obama, now Trump voters that he's hoping to bring back to the Democratic column.

So the campaign really sees their path to victory running through those three, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, states heading into Tuesday.

BLITZER: Nia, the president, he continues to trivialize the coronavirus pandemic. He keeps saying, COVID, COVID, COVID. He accuses doctors of inflating the coronavirus deaths for profit.

We also heard his son Donald Trump Jr. makes truly outrageous comments about the coronavirus death toll, at one point that suggesting that the death toll from coronavirus, in Trump Jr.'s words, almost nothing.

These are awful statements right now, as more and more Americans are dying.

HENDERSON: That's right, about 1,000 a day dying. That is not nothing to those families.

And, listen, these kinds of comments are why Donald Trump's ratings in terms of how he has handled coronavirus are so poor; 65 percent or so of Americans believe he has done a terrible, terrible job. And this is likely going to be a referendum, this election, on his handling of COVID.

So those statements do not help him. Listen, his base likely agrees with him. But his base is also probably not enough to win him this election come November.

BLITZER: And I just checked today. In the last three days alone, 2,950 Americans died from COVID; 2,950 Americans died from COVID.

Gloria, on 9/11, 2,977 Americans died, 2,977 on 9/11, in the last three days of this coronavirus pandemic 2,950.

How could the president's son say that almost nothing as far as deaths are concerned?

BORGER: Well, look, it's the narrative of the campaign.

The narrative of the Trump campaign is that it's in the rearview mirror or just around the corner, don't worry, be happy, COVID is gone, we're going to bring the economy back, and we fixed COVID, and we're going to get you the vaccine as soon as we can.

We all know that COVID has not gone. But the president has to campaign like it is because he hasn't confronted it and he hasn't managed it. And so what Donald Trump Jr. was doing was trying to sort of minimalize COVID. That just doesn't work.

And I can tell you one thing. When you look at the polling, it doesn't work with women voters.

BLITZER: All right, Gloria Borger, Nia-Malika Henderson, Arlette Saenz, guys, thank you very, very much.

[18:15:03]

Just ahead: As the Trump and Biden campaigns target these Midwestern battleground states, John King is standing by. He will map out the importance of these states in the race to 270 electoral votes.

And a new warning of a silent epidemic in the coronavirus crisis, as the total number of cases now surpasses, here in the United States, nine million.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're following breaking news, as both presidential candidates campaign across the Midwest battleground states, looking for a path to a winning margin of 270 Electoral College votes.

CNN's John King is over at the Magic Wall for us with a closer look at where they're focusing their energy.

John, update our viewers.

[18:20:01]

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, let's overlay today's activity on the trail with the map that matters most, the path to 270.

We already have Joe Biden at 290 electoral votes. That means, if nothing else changed, played out just like this, he'd be the next president of the United States. The president is at 163, meaning he has a steep hill to mount a comeback and get to 270.

So, we will look at a moment all the activity by the two main candidates up here in the Midwest. Let's get to that in a minute. Just want to put this on the table for you.

Senator Harris today is campaigning in Texas, right, Texas. Well, let's go back to President Trump's map in 2016, when he broke the blue wall and became president of the United States. He won easily in Texas. It's been Republican for as long as most people alive can remember.

So, what would happen, though? What would happen? The blue states or the Clinton states, none of them right now anticipated to flip Trump's way this time. So, if Joe Biden just held the Clinton states, and could flip Texas, game over. That's it.

Joe Biden would be president of the United States, Kamala Harris vice president of the United States, if they won the Clinton states plus Texas, meaning the Democrats could win the White House, if they win Texas, without Wisconsin, without Michigan, without Pennsylvania, without North Carolina, without Florida, without Georgia, without Ohio, without Iowa, even without Maine's 2nd Congressional District.

That's how important flipping Texas would be in American politics. It would remake the map in such a dramatic way. That's why the Democrats are trying to compete. It would be a giant prize that would change everything.

Now, assume, though, that doesn't happen, that Texas is not yet ripe to vote Democrat for president. Then we come back to this map, right? Can tell Trump mount a comeback?

Well, for the sake of argument, Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, the president carried them all four years ago. They're our toss-up states, plus Maine's 2nd Congressional District. Let's just assume, for the sake of argument, the president can hold them.

The vice president is out in Arizona today. The demographics are changing. Democrats thinks they have this one this time. But, for the hypothetical, let's just leave that one to Republicans, 279-259. That is why the blue wall comes back into play.

They're Trump red now. The question is, we lean them all to Joe Biden. Can he hold them? That's the contest. Let's do the math, 259 to 279. If Donald Trump could win Pennsylvania, with those other changes, he would be the next president of the United States.

If Joe Biden can hold Pennsylvania, Trump's path to reelection could go through Michigan. That would do it there. That's why Joe Biden has to hold that. Or if the president had to do it this way, this is where it gets a little bit more complicated. Wisconsin's only 10, 269-269, in that scenario, House of Representatives.

We won't get there, but it is a possibility. Or Wisconsin, plus Minnesota, where the president goes today, would get him there.

So that's the math the president's trying to do. It's a much more difficult path. But the key to it is this. That's what the president would have to do, win all the toss-ups, get back something like Arizona or two out of three up here in the blue wall, which is why Joe Biden needs to protect this.

If he can rebuild the blue wall, he's the next president of the United States. That's what they believe in the Biden campaign. That's why you will see so much activity here in the final days -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, nobody does it better than John King for us.

John, thank you very, very much.

Just ahead, former presidential candidate and now Biden supporter Pete Buttigieg, he's standing by to join us live. We will discuss these critical final four days of the campaign.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:27:58]

BLITZER: Both President Trump and Joe Biden are storming the campaign trail in the all-important Midwest battleground states with only four days left to go.

Let's discuss with the former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg. He's now a Biden supporter.

Mayor Pete, thank you so much for joining us.

As you know, the former vice president will be in Michigan tomorrow.

But Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, a Democrat, has warned that she spoken to autoworkers in her state who she thought would be going for Biden, but they're sticking with President Trump. If she's right, how big of a problem will that be for Biden on Tuesday?

PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), FORMER MAYOR OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA: Well, it's absolutely vital that we reach all voters. And that includes a lot of voters in the auto industry and in other industries who are worried about their economic future.

And we have got to make sure we punch through this fiction that President Trump has created that he's a great economics president.

Look, he's on track to be the worst jobs president since Herbert Hoover. And that's a direct consequence of his failure to manage the pandemic, although, if you really want to dig into the numbers, we were actually in a manufacturing recession under President Trump even before the pandemic hit.

We can't relent on that message, in addition to all of the other reasons why it's so important to have change. In Michigan, in my part of the country here in the Industrial Midwest, but really coast to coast, what we know is that more and more voters are joining that coalition, Democrats, progressive, and moderate, but independents, and even quite a few Republicans, as a matter of fact, perhaps an unprecedented number of Republicans saying that we must vote for the Democratic candidate.

But those numbers are just numbers on a page, unless we actually turn out that vote. And that's why you're seeing Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and all of us supporting him pay so much attention to these crucial states and these crucial voters.

BLITZER: And, tomorrow, former President Obama will be with Biden in Michigan.

When you challenged Biden for the Democratic presidential primaries, you said it's not good enough just to defeat President Trump. You also called for a new era.

Do you believe Joe Biden has done enough to convince voters right now, especially younger voters, that he's the candidate who can actually do that?

[18:30:04]

BUTTIGIEG: Absolutely. And, look, the longer you're planning to be here, the younger you are, the more you have at stake in a bunch of decisions that the winner of this election will make where there's no do-overs. There's not going to be a do-over on climate and four more years of this and it's going to be way too late. There's not going to be a do-over on creating an economy where a new generation can actually thrive instead of being the first in history to earn less than their parents.

These are the moments that will decide not just what the next four years will look like but the next 40. And Joe Biden has made clear his intention to be a transformational president to deliver these kinds of changes that not only our young generation needs but the American people want. The biggest advantage that we have in this campaign is the American people are with us on issue after issue, on expanding rather than destroying the Affordable Care Act, on raising wages, on holding corporations accountable and making sure the wealthy pay their fair share on issue after issue after issue. The American people agree with us.

So much depends on everybody getting out and voting, especially young voters who don't always turn out. But if there was ever a time to do it with lives on the line, it's now.

BLITZER: The turnout is so, so critical.

Earlier today, President Trump told people that deaths from the pandemic, in his words, are way down. But listen to this. Watch what his son, Donald Trump Jr., said on Fox News. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP JR. PRESIDENT TRUMP'S SON: I went through the CDC data, because I kept hearing about new infections. But I was like, well, why are they talking about deaths? Oh, because the number is almost nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Almost nothing, he says. The number 971 deaths were reported yesterday. As I noted, we checked the last three days, 2,950 Americans died from coronavirus in three days alone and in contest of perspective 2,977 Americans died on 9/11. How can the president's son say there's been almost nothing as far as deaths are concerned?

BUTTIGIEG: This is what happens when you're so out of touch that you just don't care anymore. I mean, tell that to the thousand families who are going to be grieving a loss today. Tell that to any of the Americans who are confronting what is literally the worst mass casualty event in this country since World War II. This is destroying lives. It's the reason our economy is in such peril and such painful shape right now.

And, you know, in some ways, it's very revealing that he said that because it reveals just how fundamentally they don't get it. And I'll tell you this, for all of us, no matter your politics, all of us who want our lives back, who want the economy fully open and school back open as normal and to be able to gather with family without worrying for a second about whether it's safe, for all of us who want to get to the other side of this pandemic, there is no defeating it while denying it.

And that's exactly what this president and his representatives, like Donald Jr. have been saying. Why would we trust them to deal with the issue if they, even now, somehow, don't understand how serious it is?

BLITZER: Yes, our deepest, deepest condolences to the mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of those thousands of Americans who are dying and continuing to die, almost 1,000 every single day. In these final days of the campaign, the president is going to be joined by former President Obama in Michigan tomorrow. That's going to be very significant, Michigan, a key battleground state. Mayor Pete, what do they need to do in the final few days, these final few hours, really?

BUTTIGIEG: Well, here is what I'm looking forward to. I think they're going not only make a closing case about what we're up against, why the division, the chaos, the dysfunction of this presidency cannot continue, but also remind us what we're for. With Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the White House, we have an opportunity to have a better future that we can actually be proud of.

We'll have a president -- let's leave aside your politics, your party for minute. Just think about the good it will do to have a president who gets up in the morning thinking about how to bring us together rather than looking for ways to drive us apart. That's what we'll have, just a fundamentally decent person in addition to a level of competence that is so important for saving lives.

And the opportunity to make that case directly on the ground in Michigan and the other states where you'll see the vice president campaigning I think is so important to make sure we not only put an end to the cruelty and the divisiveness of the Trump era but to actually open up a new and better era. We can actually -- believe it or not, it's a hard thing to think about, because 2020 has been so brutal, but we could look back on 2020 with pride as the moment that this country chose to come together and chose a better way.

BLITZER: Mayor Pete Buttigieg, thanks so much for joining us. Stay safe out there. We'll be in touch.

BUTTIGIEG: Thank you.

BLITZER: Just ahead, more on the breaking news on the coronavirus pandemic.

[18:35:01]

The U.S. now surpassing 9 million confirmed coronavirus cases adding an additional 1 million cases, get this, in just the last two weeks.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Tonight, another big, alarming number is driving home the enormity of the coronavirus pandemic, the total number of cases here in the United States now surpassing 9 million. This after new daily infections hit an all-time high and the U.S. death toll topped 229,000.

[18:40:05]

CNN's Brian Todd is joining us right now. Brian, most of the country is moving farther exactly in the wrong direction. BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is right, Wolf. With each passing day right now, America is setting horrible new records with this virus. It's got top medical experts pleading with Americans to change their behavior and it's got the people who are running hospitals wondering how much longer they can hang on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: In hard-hit Wisconsin, doctors scrambling to keep up with record-breaking hospitalizations.

DR. PAUL CASEY, ER MEDICAL DIRECTOR, BERLIN HOSPITAL, GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN: We're all tired. The nurses are tired. They work 12-hour shifts. So far, we've been able to keep up. But that is more than likely going to change fairly quickly.

TODD: And no letup in Wisconsin as new cases there hit 5,000 a day. And in one Green Bay hospital, an entire ward is set up just for COVID patients.

CASEY: I have never ever seen a time where we had a single ward devoted to a single disease. You know, that takes back memories of foregone times when we saw things like smallpox.

TODD: America reaches its worst day yet for cases, over 88,000, more than one new case per second.

DR. SAJU MATHEW, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We could hit A 100,000 in a matter of weeks.

TODD: About half the states having their worst week yet of new cases with 43 trending worse and only two trending better. Medical experts blaming a failure to mask up and keep distanced.

DR. ROSHINI RAJ, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: The numbers are rising dramatically. And because of that, you are going to see more people getting sick, more people becoming severely ill and ultimately more people dying.

TODD: In Wisconsin, almost 30 percent of people tested turn out positive, in South Dakota, about half.

DR. MARK MCCLELLAN, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: Which means they're missing a significant number of cases and this is accelerating. The rate of transmission of the virus is almost everywhere in the country.

TODD: A new estimate from the influential model out of the University of Washington forecasts U.S. deaths reaching nearly 400,000 by February 1st, but deaths could reach as high as half a million by then if people aren't following guidelines, including wearing mask.

El Paso County is ordering a two week shutting down of non-essential businesses, including retailers, indoor dining, gyms and salons due to an overwhelming local spike. The Texas state attorney general vowing a legal challenge. And Illinois reporting record cases, all indoor restaurants and bars are closing in most of the state, including in Chicago starting today.

GOV. JB PRITZKER (D-IL): To cut down on the highest risk activities until we bring down the positivity rate.

TODD: But even states with public health restrictions are seeing problems.

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): The problem is that we don't have the right rules in place, it's that people aren't following them.

TODD: At least one governor not ruling out another shutdown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've done it before, if we had to we do it again. But please, God, I hope we don't have to get to that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: And we have this just in. More pushback to the president's claim that there are more coronavirus cases being reported simply because there are more tests going on, the president's own coronavirus testing czar, Admiral Brett Giroir, pushing back on that a bit. He said that the president is right, that there are more tests going on, but he said, we are seeing increased caseloads.

Admiral Giroir, saying that there was a four-week average in the United States of about 41,000 people in the hospital. He says now that four-week average is up to 48,000, Wolf. And he said, quote, hospitalizations and ICU admissions don't lie. These numbers are real. They are tangible. That is from Admiral Brett Giroir.

BLITZER: Yes, it's getting worst, it's not getting better at all. Brian Todd, thank you very much.

Joining us now CNN Medical Analyst, Dr. Leana Wen, she's an Emergency Room Physician, former Baltimore City Health Commissioner.

Dr. Wen, as you know the U.S. the U.S. just passed 9 million confirmed coronavirus cases. It's an awful milestone. What does it mean for the country and the way we've handled this pandemic?

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, it means that we are seeing escalating spread. Because at the moment, today, we now have one person being diagnosed of coronavirus every second, we have one American dying of coronavirus every two minutes and that number is increasing.

The metric, Wolf, that I'm most concerned about is test positivity. In some states one in two people who are getting tested are testing positive. And that means that we're not doing nearly enough testing and that every person who tests positive is a canary in a coal mine. There are almost certainly to be many more, dozens of other cases that we're not detecting and that escalation is going to increase in the weeks to come.

BLITZER: At a campaign rally in Michigan today, President Trump repeated a really ridiculous conspiracy theory that doctors all over the country are overcounting coronavirus deaths in order to make more money. You're an emergency room physician. What's your response to what the president alleged?

WEN: It's completely untrue and incredibly insulting and offensive. There are those of us, doctors, nurses, respiratory technicians, people all over the country, health care professionals, who have been trying our best with very limited resources.

[18:45:04]

And actually, we have been trying to save lives that are being lost because of the federal government and the Trump administration's lack of action. What we need is support not baseless claims and accusations.

BLITZER: It's so outrageous the president would smear America's doctors the way he did.

The virus is completely out of control in some hot spots, Dr. Wen. The CDC director, Dr. Robert Redfield, just said that a silent epidemic of asymptomatic spread is to blame for the current outbreak. What's it going to take to contain in states like South Dakota where nearly half of the tests, nearly half, are coming back positive?

WEN: The first thing that we need is a national mask mandate. It is beyond time to recognize that masks are a simple intervention that can allow us to keep schools open and businesses open and that can save many tens of thousands of lives and we need to follow actually the White House coronavirus task force's own guidelines when they issued guidelines initially on reopening, they also meant it as a dial, that when things got bad, as they are now, you would increase and dial up the restrictions again, and it's time for us to target those highest risk settings and at the same time also educating the American people.

We have to all do our part. You don't want to be closing down bars and restaurants only to have people doing dinner parties in their homes. Even when the federal government is not doing their part, we as Americans, as individuals still can do ours.

BLITZER: Dr. Wen, as usual, thank you so, so much. Stay safe out there. Appreciate it very much.

Just ahead, the battle for control of the U.S. Senate could come down to Georgia where two Republican-held seats are at risk of flipping to Democrats.

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[18:51:28]

BLITZER: With just four days to go until the election, control of the U.S. Senate may come down to a pair of very tight races in Georgia.

CNN's senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju is digging into this for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's problem many Republicans did not foresee. Two GOP held Senate seats in Georgia at risk of flipping to the Democrats.

RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D), GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: I'll say two for two. Two for two.

RAJU: Republican Senator David Perdue, struggling to fend off Democrat Jon Ossoff, a candidate less than half his age.

(on camera): You're 33 years old. So, why are you qualified to be a senator?

JON OSSOFF (D), GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: When people look at Washington, the last thing they say is that there's too many young people in positions of power.

RAJU (voice-over): Ossoff has accused Perdue of ignoring the coronavirus crisis and seeking to profit from it.

OSSOFF: It's not just that you're a crook, Senator, it's that you're attacking the health of the people that you represent.

RAJU: Perdue spending big on TV ads, defending himself over stock trades he said were made without his knowledge.

SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): I was completely cleared by the bipartisan Senate ethics committee, DOJ and SEC.

RAJU: As polls show a tight race, Perdue stoked controversy by mocking the name of Joe Biden's running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, at a Trump campaign.

PERDUE: Kamala or Kamala, Kamala-mala-mala, I don't know.

RAJU (on camera): Was it a racist attack?

OSSOFF: Unquestionably.

RAJU (voice-over): Purdue abruptly pulled out of this Sunday's debate, choosing instead to attend President Trump's rally. It's consistent with Perdue's efforts to avoid the media. His campaign would not disclose his plans this week, but CNN learned he was in central Georgia. His supporters tried to block our camera.

RAJU (on camera): This guy's trying to block us.

(voice-over): And prevent any questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's not going to do an interview.

RAJU: As he made his way to his bus, CNN approached him.

(on camera): We've reached out to your campaign but they weren't telling us what you were doing. Wondering why that was? PERDUE: You asked me a question?

RAJU: Yeah, I'm asking you, your other opponent --

(INAUDIBLE)

RAJU (voice-over): Perdue said his race is close due to an influx of new voters.

(on camera): Jon Ossoff was very critical about you, he also called your comments about Kamala, he said they are racist. What's your response to that?

PERDUE: That's all he can talk about because he sure can't talk about his agenda.

Thanks, guys.

RAJU: Do you regret what you said mispronouncing her name?

(voice-over): Tuesday's winner must receive more than 50 percent of the vote. If not, the top two will complete in a January runoff. That is almost certain in a pointed GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler's race to hold Georgia's other Senate seat.

But the GOP is bitterly divided, after Congressman Doug Collins jumping to that race.

SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER (R-GA): He's one of the most liberal Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives.

REP. DOUG COLLINS (R-GA): I tell you what it is, you're pretending to be somebody you're not.

RAJU: As they both fight to get into the runoff, they are targeting their base, and not swing voters, campaigning as Trump loyalists.

(on camera): Is there any issue which you disagree with the president on?

LOEFFLER: No, look, the president, like myself, he's a political outsider.

RAJU (voice-over): Claiming to be unaware of Trump's boast to Access Hollywood about sexually assaulting women.

LOEFFLER: I'm not familiar with that.

RAJU: Collins also defended Trump, including the pandemic.

(on camera): You're not quibbling with his response at all in any way to the crisis?

COLLINS: I don't quibble, and I don't go back and forth on his response.

RAJU: Their fight has left their top Democratic foe Raphael Warnock largely unscathed.

WARNOCK: I think that's a bizarre thing for anybody running for the Senate to say, that I'm 100 percent with any president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: And I asked both Democratic candidates if there are any issues which they would break with Joe Biden on. They did not identify any.

[18:55:02]

They claim that they'll wait to see Joe Biden's agenda, should he be elected president. But, Wolf, they may have to wait some time to get their Senate seats. Whoever may win, this -- if no one gets 50 percent on Tuesday, it could extend into a January runoff. That means the balance of power in the Senate could potentially be waiting for weeks until these races are resolved -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Manu Raju reporting, thank you.

More news just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram, @wolfblitzer, tweet the show @CNNSitRoom.

I'll see you tomorrow, 5:00 p.m. Eastern, as we count down to Election Day.

CNN's special coverage of the presidential election begins Tuesday, 4:00 p.m. Eastern.

Until then, thanks very much for watching.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.