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Trump And Biden's Battleground Blitz; Why Suburban Women Voters are so Important; Why Steelworkers Voted for Trump

CURNOW: The U.S. election is just over two weeks away. President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden are spending what's left of their campaigns shoring up support in key demographics. Now one of the most critical voting blocks in this election are suburban women voters. Right now polls show their leaning more towards Joe Biden. John King explains why, John.</s>JOHN KING, CNN HOST: We've talked about the big Joe Biden lead before. When you look into it, two things jump out. One is stability, two is the gender gap. Let show you what I mean by that. The stability of Biden's lead in this race has been remarkable. We go all the way back to when the Democrats were still in their primaries, Joe Biden had a lead when polled against Donald Trump. Let's stretch from January 2 across the year, you see the blue line, the lead continues and it is double digits now, a little bit bigger than back here. A double digit lead as we head into the final couple of weeks of the campaign. The other thing is that Joe Biden's lead is powered by women voters. This goes back to July. NBC/Wall Street Journal data. July a big gender gap. You move through August and you come to today it's even a little bit bigger. Joe Biden widening the gender gap as we get closer to election day. Now, we know why this matters for Democrats. A little bit of history here. Yes, Hillary Clinton did win among women voters back in 2016 and she won the popular vote. A 13-point advantage nationally among women, of course, she lost the electoral college. Women voted for Democrats by even bigger numbers -- in even bigger numbers. 2018 House races -- a 19-point advantage for Democratic candidates among women voters. That's why Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House. And look at the number for Joe Biden now in that latest NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll. Twice, twice the gender gap Hillary Clinton had four years ago. Now why does that matter? Let's go through the math. Some Republicans will say remember, Hillary Clinton did have that big gender gap and look this is what happened in 2016. We won so no big deal. Well, let's put that to the test. In part it's true. Hillary Clinton won among women by 13 points nationally. And look -- North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin -- Hillary Clinton won although states among women voters.</s>KING: What else is common among all those states? Donald Trump won them all in 2016. So Republicans would say that's ok. We can lose the women and still win the election. But look at the difference. Just match these numbers up side by side and it is simply stunning. Let me move this over a little bit and bring this in. Nationally it was plus 13 for Hillary Clinton among women. Joe Biden again, right now, running 26 points ahead. Double that number. In North Carolina it was plus 7, now it's plus 13. In Pennsylvania it was plus 13 and now it's plus 15. That one relatively comparable. But look at Florida, plus 4 for Hillary Clinton, plus 14 for Joe Biden. Arizona: plus 4 Clinton, plus 18 Joe Biden. Michigan: plus 11 Hillary Clinton, plus 17 Joe Biden. In Wisconsin: plus 10 four years ago, plus 24 now. Which is why if the Biden campaign can keep anything close to these numbers, women will be half of the electorate. More than that -- 50 to 53 percent on election day. If Joe Biden can keep those numbers, forget about this map, we will be much more something like this perhaps even with Florida, North Carolina and more in the Biden column.</s>CURNOW: Thanks to John King for that fascinating stuff. So a "New York Times" reporter has been following a group of steel workers in Indiana for the past four years that works in a factory that was moved to Mexico. Many of them supported Donald Trump in 2016. Well, Farah Stockman detailed their journey in her opinion piece titled, "Why they loved him". Here's why she says their journey has been so important. Quote, "The mess the nation faces is bigger than Donald Trump. And if he's voted out in November the people who cast ballots for him will remain, pining for the policies he promoted. About 40 percent of American voters want tariffs and a border wall. More than half say it's important to deport more undocumented immigrants." Farah Stockman joins me now from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Farah, wonderful to have you on the show. This is a fascinating article. You've spent time with steel workers, with union members, with blue collar folks who have traditionally voted Democrats. And many of them still feel like these issues around tariffs, around immigration, around border walls, about policing will be issues that will still very much relevant again whoever is president. What have they said to you about that?</s>FARAH STOCKMAN, MEMBER, "NEW YORK TIMES" EDITORIAL BOARD: For all of our talk about political polarization in the United States pretty much since Ronald Reagan, presidents of either party, Democrat or Republican, they embraced free trade. They embraced it with open arms. No matter what they promised on the campaign trail, when they got into the White House they furthered this notion of free trade. They embraced greater and greater free trade agreements. So TPP was the very last one that Obama hammered out when he was in office. And he ran against NAFTA. He ran against free trade. And so I think there is a sizable portion of the American electorate who feels left behind by free trade. They feel as though they have been thrown into competition with the poorest, hungriest workers in the world and they're angry about it. And they are tired of it and I think they put Trump in office. And I'm not sure that, you know, those of us who have benefited greatly from globalization and free trade. People like myself frankly, people with a college degree, People with capital, with money in the bank, who can go out there and have so many more opportunities because of it. We don't always get it. We don't always understand why people feel afraid of globalization and free trade and this increasing economic interdependence.</s>CURNOW: With all of these people that you've spoken to and of course, they are voters that you can extrapolate across various demographics and states, is the rebellion, the draining of the swamp that they voted for, has it happened? Is it enough? Or do they want more from Mr. Trump? Particularly when it comes to economic integration and globalism and globalization and all of that. The allure of that original message. Do they want Trump plus and how motivated are they for that?</s>STOCKMAN: Well, let's be honest. This is sort of a half finished economic project, right? So Trump has talked about his broad tariffs. And there has been a very disruptive trade war that has caused manufacturing to kind of come -- come contract. And so people will say well, could he in another four years actually make that trade war go away and come to -- you know, could he actually deliver more on his promises?</s>STOCKMAN: So I think, you know, there are some people who want to give him another four years because they think he hasn't had enough time, right to finish his economic project. But they believe that he has been sticking up for them and their economic interests, when it comes to China. They were begging for tariffs on these goods. and if you look at the manufacturing sector in the United States it's true that after China and trade was normalized with China you watched five million jobs disappear in American factories. And it is very hard if you are a person working in a factory, it's very hard to compete with a country that doesn't have environmental regulations or doesn't have minimum wage standard. And so I think there are people, there are certainly people who want to give Trump time to finish this project that he started. There are others who look and see the real damage he has done. They see that he has done a tax cut that has been largely for corporations. They see that he hasn't been good for unions. And he's -- maybe there were a lot of jobs before COVID, but the quality of those jobs meant you had to work two and three jobs to survive. Yes, sure, unemployment can be low if you have -- if everybody has to work three jobs, just to make ends meet. And so I think that those who look really deeper, you know, much deeper at what he is actually doing can say false promises. He told me what I wanted to hear, but he can't deliver on it. He hasn't actually delivered on it. And so, you know, you hear different things from people depending on maybe one level of education, their level of exposure to information, but the problems that Trump talked about at his rallies, the things that he harped on, the reason he resonated -- those are very real. And they're not just real for the United States, I think they are real for industrialized countries around the world where the blue-collar people, the manual labor people are watching their jobs leave, and saying we don't want this anymore. And you see it in Brexit, you see it in other parts of the world, where people are just saying, put up the walls, we just need to take care of ourselves.</s>CURNOW: With this election coming up with two weeks to go, as you say, you feel like the Democrats underestimated many of these blue-collar workers that you spend time with. Many of them perhaps are a silent majority now. What is -- if you were a betting woman, what do you think the percentage, or the likelihood of Donald Trump being reelected again based on the folks that you voted -- that you've spoken to?</s>STOCKMAN: Like I was saying, before COVID I thought he was going to be president.</s>CURNOW: Yes, so now after COVID -- I mean that's right.</s>STOCKMAN: I think, you know, the economy is really struggling, and people are struggling. You are seeing, you know, you're seeing the bottom fall out. So I do feel like there is a good chance he's going to be -- you know, that our democracy will correct itself, and people will come out and vote for somebody who has the experience to run a country.</s>CURNOW: Farah Stockman, great to get your perspective, fascinating article. Thank you for all the work and conversations you've had over the past few years has been important stuff. Thank you.</s>STOCKMAN: Thank you.</s>CURNOW: Still ahead on CNN, China stands alone in weathering the economic storm the pandemic has created around the world.

China's Economy Grows 4.9 percent in Third Quarter.

CURNOW: Welcome back. So with COVID well under control in China, the economy is showing steady recovery. Now China's gross domestic product grew 4.9 percent in the third quarter although that was slightly weaker than analysts have predicted. Selina Wang is in Hong Kong and has more the details on that. What's the latest takeaway here, I mean from these GDP numbers? They are pretty impressive considering where the rest of the world is.</s>SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Robyn, these numbers couldn't be a more stark contrast than the rest of the world. While the global economy is dealing with the worst crisis since the great depression, these numbers show that China's economy is still growing. In fact, China is expected to be the only major country to post growth this year. Compare that to the U.S. which is expected to have its economy shrink by more than 4 percent; in the eurozone, where it's expected to shrink by more than 8 percent. While China was the first country to implement strict lockdowns, it's also been early to reopen, and get life back to normal. There is, of course always skepticism around China's data, and how much it can be trusted. But the economists I speak to say that when you look at other metrics to measure China's economy, directionally the story of China's recovering economy is strong, and robust. And you see that in the consumption numbers as well. The latest numbers show that spending is bouncing back more than 3 percent in September. We saw that from images over China's mass travel holiday period, the Golden Week holiday, when more than half a billion people of China were traveling and spending within the country. That being said, this recovery we're seeing in China is uneven. China, much like the rest of the world is seeing this pandemic really disproportionately impact the poor.</s>WANG: We know that millions of people in China lost their jobs amid the pandemic, especially those working part time as delivery people in restaurants. And it's unclear from the numbers how many of those people have gotten their jobs back because China's unemployment data, while it is showing an improvement, only captures a portion of the overall workforce. So questions still remain as to how robust China's recovery is going to be in the months, and in the year to come, if there is still pressure on unemployment and on people's incomes.</s>CURNOW: And so then what risks to the U.S.-China tensions and decoupling pose then to this recovery? I mean how much of an impact is all that going to have?</s>WANG: well, over the long term, Robyn, this question of decoupling, U.S.-China geopolitical tensions is certainly going to be one of the biggest, long term risks to China's economy. But In the short term, despite all of this heated rhetoric, the COVID- 19 pandemic has actually made China's importance in the global supply chain even more important and even further cemented. And that is because China has managed to get the pandemic under control, and keep their factories up and running. I spoke to an economist on Oxford economics who made the point that despite this tension, U.S. multinationals are still interested in engaging with China and in fact more direct investment from the U.S. actually increased in China in the first half of this year.</s>CURNOW: Ok. That's interesting. Selina Wang, thanks so much, coming to us live there from Hong Kong. Still in the region, 22 soldiers are missing after a landslide swept through their camp in Vietnam. Heavy rains, of course, the worst flooding in years in the region with some rivers reaching their highest levels in over 20 years. The flooding has killed at least 20 people this month -- with this month with more than 12,000 evacuated from their homes. Well, there's more news after the break. I'm Robyn Curnow. Continue to watch, I'll be right back.

Trump and Biden on the Campaign Trail with Less Than Three Weeks to Go Before Election; Biden Still Leading in the Polls; Second Wave of the Pandemic in Europe

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN HOST: Key states and COVID hotspots, Donald Trump and Joe Biden on the campaign trail with very different messages about the pandemic. European countries cobble together a patchwork of measures to fight COVID as a second wave sweeps the continent. And then Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, describes how it felt to be poisoned with a nerve agent, Novichok. Hi and welcome to "CNN Newsroom" wherever you are in the world. I'm Robyn Curnow. There is just over two weeks to go until Election Day here in the U.S. and President Donald Trump is on a campaign blitz. He spent the weekend crisscrossing the country and will begin - and he'll begin this week with two rallies and Arizona. Now, the president was in Nevada on Sunday evening, and yet again, despite COVID cases surging throughout the country, there was no social distancing, and very few masks as you can see here. The president seems to be going back to his playbook from 2016, holding several rallies a day and making baseless accusations against his Democratic rival. But unlike four years ago, President Trump is also dealing with this pandemic. And right now, the U.S. is averaging more than 55,000 new cases a day. That's up more than 6 percent since mid-September. Now, experts say the country is already in the midst of the autumn surge they have long predicted. And Nevada reported the biggest one day jump in in coronavirus cases on Saturday since mid-August, but President Trump didn't mention that in the rally. Ryan Nobles is on the campaign trail and he has all the details on that. Ryan?</s>RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump is in the middle of a very busy campaign schedule. A campaign schedule that's actually picked up since he was diagnosed with the coronavirus pandemic. The president, just in the past few days, traveling to key states including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin, and he ended the weekend with a trip here to Carson City, Nevada. And it was at that event in Nevada that he talked about its response to the coronavirus pandemic, and actually ridiculed some of the scientists who have been giving him advice when it relates to the virus. Take a listen.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If I listen totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression instead of - we're like a rocket ship. Take a look at the numbers. And that's despite the fact that we have like five or six of these Democrats keeping their states closed because they are trying to hurt us, on November 3rd. But the numbers are so good anyways, they'd be even better.</s>NOBLES: And this torrid campaign pace is expected to continue, the president expected to make stops next week in Pennsylvania and in North Carolina, and of course, he'll travel to Nashville on Thursday for the final debate of the 2020 campaign. Ryan Nobles, CNN, Carson City, Nevada.</s>CURNOW: Thanks Ryan for that. So, Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, is running a very, very different style of campaign from President Trump. Arlette Saenz tells us what Biden has been saying and where he is going next. Arlette?</s>ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Joe Biden travel here to Durham, North Carolina as in-person early voting is underway in the state. The former vice president, holding a socially distanced drive-in style rally, as he encouraged his voters to make a plan to vote in the final weeks of this election. Now, Joe Biden once again, hammered away at the president for his response to the coronavirus pandemic, as he believes this is a central issue in these final weeks before the election. And Joe Biden also talked about how the country needs to overcome division and how he, as a president, he will look out for all Americans. Take a listen.</s>JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Folks, as my coach used to say in college, its go time. I am running as a proud Democrat, but I will govern as an American president. No red states, no blue states, just the United States. I promise you. I will work is hard for those who don't support, me as those who did.</s>SAENZ: Now, North Carolina is one of those states that President Trump won back in 2016 that Joe Biden is trying to flip in these final two weeks before the election. And on Monday, his running mate, Kamala Harris, is returning to the campaign trail. She will campaign in the state of Florida. This comes after the campaign has suspended her travel for a few days after two members of her traveling team tested positive for coronavirus. Kamala Harris tested negative for coronavirus on Sunday, and will resume campaigning on Monday. And later in the week, on Wednesday, perhaps the biggest Democratic political surrogate out there is hitting the campaign trail for Joe Biden. President Obama will campaign in Philadelphia. His first in- person campaign appearance as he is making that pitch for his former VP. Arlette Saenz, CNN, Durham, North Carolina.</s>CURNOW: Tara Setmayer is the former Republican congressional communications director. She's also the host of "Honestly Speaking with Tara." Great to have you on the show. Lovely to see you. So, it's two --</s>TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.</s>CURNOW: -- it's two weeks to go, these candidates are crisscrossing the country as presidential candidates do, but what about itineraries (ph) tell you?</s>SETMAYER: Well, it's clear that the president of the United States is worried about several states that he shouldn't be campaigning in at this point. Ruby red areas that were Republican strongholds at one point like Georgia and Texas, the president is -- and Republicans, are paying attention to that. The president was in Georgia recently, which has been ruby red for a very long time, but Democratic shifts have turned Georgia potentially purple. The fact that he actually was sending surrogates into places like Nebraska or, you know, Arizona and Nevada, Wisconsin. These are places that the president won last time that he is in trouble losing this time. And the margin was razor thin in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. And he is focusing on Pennsylvania, but he is, you know, in areas like Wisconsin and Michigan, that lead is pretty significant for Joe Biden, where the Trump campaign has pulled their ads on television, to repurpose that money elsewhere because they also are running low on cash at this point in the election, which is never a good sign.</s>CURNOW: Yes, I want to talk about that in a moment, but I do want to talk about the issue, the crisis of COVID. And it seems to be a question of what color is the sky in your world because one candidate is ignoring the pandemic, in the other is focusing on it. I mean, it's just like pink or blue or green. I mean, what are the voters and where are voters on the issue of corona? Is it going to change their minds?</s>SETMAYER: I think we've already seen that. Prior to the COVID crisis, the president was in a very good position to win re-election. The economy was doing well and people often vote with their pocketbooks. But once coronavirus, hit that was a real true test of leadership. And the American people have seen the abject failure of Donald Trump's governing and of his administration. We have 220,000 dead Americans. We have over 1 million infections. We lead the world in these areas, and we shouldn't. And it is directly related to the presidents refusal to face the facts that coronavirus was, in fact, deadly and do what he needed to do to protect the American people. He weaponized mask-wearing. He has turned it into an us versus them and blue states versus red states. We have seen his rhetoric create, and embolden some of these domestic terrorist right-wing groups who were recently arrested, threatening a governor in Michigan because of her stance to protect to the people of Michigan by locking down during coronavirus. I mean, all of these things are having a direct impact on the American electorate, and I believe the coronavirus failure by Donald Trump and his cavalier attitude towards it, will be the ultimate demise of his candidacy.</s>CURNOW: That's interesting. But let's also remember, it is still two weeks to go, and at this, time four years ago, many people still just assumed Hillary Clinton had it in the bag. The Trump administration - the Trump then campaign was criticized for going and campaigning in certain areas. Afterwards, it looked like they had very good data, and we're targeting the right areas. So, how much faith do you put in the polls? How much of a path to victory do you think he still has? And do you think fund-raising, not polls, is perhaps the key to identifying where we are going?</s>SETMAYER: So, I will start with the fund-raising first. Joe Biden, 3 months in a row, has raised money in record amounts. Over $360 million in August and September. And then $382 million most recently. Those are incredible numbers. Donald Trump is not raising money anywhere near at that rate. They had a billion dollars and squandered most of it. So, they have about $200 million they are working with, which is not a lot in the last final weeks. So, the fund-raising issue is definitely advantage Biden. As far as the polling, 2016 is very different than 2020 because Joe Biden is not Hillary Clinton. They are completely different candidates. And where Hillary Clinton had a real difficult time connecting with voters, even their own Democrat coalition, Joe Biden does not have that problem. His life, his legacy, is one of compassion and empathy. And the ability to connect with people through loss. What a perfect time for someone like Joe Biden to be in the forefront and to become the leader of the country, and possibly heal this nation. So, the contrast couldn't be any more stark. And as far as polling is concerned, even if the pollsters were wrong on state levels in 2016, but not nationally. They were pretty close. But we all know the national polls don't matter because we don't have a national vote. But the pollsters changed a lot of the mistakes that they made in 2016. And even if all of the fundamentals were the same and they didn't change anything, Biden is leading significantly enough in some of these areas, and is above the margin of error in places like Pennsylvania and Michigan. Both states that Donald Trump won with razor thin margins, and where he is losing considerably now. So, Biden is in a much better position, but his campaign will never admit that and they will continue to tell people it's closer than it appears, so that there's -- complacency doesn't set in because a landslide victory is really what they need. Because if it is close, no one quite knows how Donald Trump will handle that, and possibly throw everything into chaos moving forward, even if he loses.</s>CURNOW: How jumpy is the Republican Party particularly because this party and that its members have supported him or stayed silent. How much of a cohesion is there two weeks before this election?</s>SETMAYER: Well, I spent over 20 years in Republican politics, and I can tell you, the Republicans are in full on five alarm fire. It is a 9-1-1er (ph). They see the writing on the wall. They see the suburban areas in this country were Donald Trump is hemorrhaging voters, particularly with women. Joe Biden is beating Donald Trump by 23 points with women. He is tied 48 48 with men. And the trend lines in 2018, where Republicans lost control of the House, those trend lines are continuing in suburban areas. When Donald Trump is losing by 7 points to Joe Biden in an area like Nebraska 2nd district, which is the Omaha suburb, that is indicative with how poorly Trump is doing in other places like Dallas in Texas, Charlotte in North Carolina. And Republican senators who are running for re-election, like John Cornyn in Texas and in North Carolina, Ben Sasse in Nebraska, they see what that Donald Trump is an albatross and they have already begun to start to warn about a bloodbath electorally. And, you know, people seem to find religion when their electoral fortunes are on the line, and that is what you will probably going to see more of as Donald Trump loses.</s>CURNOW: Tara Setmayer there. Thank you so much for joining us. So, as we have seen at the presidents rallies and elsewhere, Donald Trump is still isn't wearing masks despite having just recovered from the virus himself. Well, America's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, believes it is because the president doesn't want to appear weak. And Fauci says, he also wasn't surprised when the president actually got coronavirus. Take a listen.</s>JONATHAN LAPOOK, CBS CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Were you surprised that President Trump was sick?</s>ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Absolutely not. I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask. When I saw that on TV, I said, oh my goodness. Nothing good can come out of that. That's got to be a problem. And then, sure enough it turned out to be a superspreader event.</s>CURNOW: So, ahead on CNN, the British government is working to control new spikes of coronavirus, but it may not be enough. We'll speak with the doctor working on the front lines of the pandemic in the U.K. Plus, the Palestinian's chief negotiator was rushed to an Israeli hospital with severe COVID symptoms. We'll go live to Jerusalem, that as well.

Israel Eases Some Restriction As Cases Fall; Senior PLO Officials Erekat In Israel Hospital With COVID; Russian Opposition Activist Alexey Navalny Speaks Put About Recent Poisoning Attack.

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN HOST: Welcome back. It's 30 minutes past the hour. I'm coming to you live from CNN's World news headquarters in Atlanta. I'm Robyn Curnow. So I want to take you live to Israel which is easing some of its coronavirus restrictions with cases continuing to fall. Businesses that don't require close contact with customers are being allowed to open along with national parks, beaches and schools for younger children. Meanwhile the Palestinian's chief negotiator Saeb Erekat was rushed to a Jerusalem hospital on Sunday with a worsening case of COVID-19. Oren Liebermann joins us now live from Jerusalem and I want to start with Saeb Erekat, I mean I know he had a lung transplant in the last few years. Have you had any update on how he's doing?</s>OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Correct. He had that lung transplant in the U.S. in 2017 and that's what made him a high risk case when it comes to coronavirus. His office confirming that about a week and a half ago he had tested positive for coronavirus. The latest update we have is from Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center from this morning where they say his condition has deteriorated. He was in serious but stable condition overnight. They said the night passed fairly well but now with his deterioration this morning, they say he has been ventilated and is at this point under general anesthesia in critical condition. This is a situation we'll watch very closely with Saeb Erekat being taken from his home in Jericho to a hospital here in Jerusalem Hadassah Ein Kerem, the Hadassah Medical Center where the hospital says they're doing everything they can at this point to make sure that he remain stable and then we'll see how this goes but improves here as he is under treatment. We'll keep you posted on the latest on his condition here Robyn.</s>CURNOW: Yes, please do and of course that news coming even though we're seeing a lessening of infections in Israel which is seen as pretty good news.</s>LIEBERMANN: It is and this is part of Israel's second general lockdown. The numbers are dramatically improved from where they were just a few weeks ago. According to ministry of health data released this morning, there were about 880 new cases yesterday. Anything under 1000 is a good number especially compared to the record of just a few weeks ago which was more than 9000 cases in one day. Crucially the positivity rate is also significantly down. It was well over 10 percent at the record of the height of the second wave but now at least according to Ministry of Health data, it is right around 3 or 4 percent so again dramatic improvements in the numbers and it's because of those numbers that Israel feels they can begin moving forward with easing of the general restrictions. You mentioned some of those just a moment ago. National parks will reopen, beaches will reopen, some businesses will reopen and citizens will no longer be required to stay within a kilometer of their home. That doesn't mean it's all good news here. The numbers at this point at least are still significantly higher than where they were when Israel came out of its first general lockdown and there are still red cities here as they're called. Those are cities with high infection rates. According to the ministry of health those are ultra-orthodox cities where the tight restrictions will remain in place until the numbers come down there too, Robyn.</s>CURNOW: OK, thanks so much for all those updates. Oren Liebermann there in Jerusalem. Good to see you there Oren. Thank you. So the Russian opposition activist at the center of the poisoning scandal is speaking out to U.S. media. Alexey Navalny became gravely ill during a flight to Moscow back in August, much of the horrifying experience was recorded on camera by other passengers. As his condition got worse, he was transferred to a hospital in Berlin. It was later determined that Navalny had come in contact with the toxic nerve agent Novichok, which he blames on Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin critic discussed his brush with death on the U.S. news show, 60 minutes.</s>ALEXEY NAVALNY, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER: I said to the flight attendant and I kind of shocked him with my statement while I was poisoned and I'm going to die and I immediately laid down under his feet. And every cell of your body just telling that buddy, we're done.</s>CURNOW: So the European Union and U.K. impose sanctions on top Russian officials after the incident this past Thursday. Navalny is hoping the U.S. president will also add his voice.</s>NAVALNY: I think it's extremely important that everyone of course including and maybe in the first row, President of United States to be very against using chemical weapons in the 21 century.</s>CURNOW: Well, despite his ordeal Navalny says he's determined to return to Moscow within months. And then in France, an outpouring of grief and outrage. How a teacher brutally murdered for what he taught is being remembered.

Coronavirus Cases Surge as Nation Closes in on Critical Election

POPPY HARLOW, CNN NEWSROOM: Top of the hour, good morning, everyone, I'm Poppy Harlow.</s>JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: And I'm Jim Sciutto. You may have heard there's a critical election just 15 days away and a lot of folks already voting. Crucial next few months, experts warn could be the darkest so far in this pandemic. Right now, the nation is averaging more than 50,000 new coronavirus infections every day. But the president is still pushing ahead, holding just the kind of events, like this one, campaign rallies with a lot of people crowded together, not a lot of social distancing, there's one in Arizona later today.</s>HARLOW: Yes, none there. It comes as key members of the White House task force are praising a move by Twitter, a move that over the weekend removed a tweet by the president's COVID-19 adviser, Dr. Scott Atlas, for pushing misinformation saying masks don't work, when, in fact, they do. More on that in a moment. Let's get to Martin Savidge though. He joins us in Utah. Good morning, Martin. An alarming spike in new cases in Utah.</s>MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Good morning, Poppy. Yes, the governor here is declaring that Utah is seeing one of the worst outbreaks of COVID-19 that are being seen anywhere in the country right now. He says the numbers are unsustainable. And, in fact, you could argue that the last seven days in Utah have been the worst that they have seen since the start of the pandemic. Sunday marked the fifth day in a row that this state has seen a thousand plus new cases every single day. Let me show you what's going on here. We are at the parking lot of the University of Utah Stadium, huge open air facility, where this morning, they just opened the gates and it is another day of testing here. It's one of the largest testing sites in the state. The process is simple, people drive up to bay two or bay one. The thing to note about this particular testing site in the city is these people believe they have coronavirus, they're symptomatic. There are other sites here where people go where they're asymptomatic. Originally, they had one bay, they've gone now to two bays and it used to be that anybody could show up. Now, they have to do it by appointment because the traffic became so heavy in this area. So it just gets back to the numbers that you're seeing in the state. The positivity rate is extremely high, 15 percent. And you're seeing the roll on effects as to the impact it's having in the medical community. Many of the ICUs by Friday were reporting they were at 104 percent capacity. Other people who were suffering life-threatening maladies were being turned away or their treatment was being delayed simply because medical teams here were so focused and overwhelmed with the COVID cases that they were seeing. And then, nationally, when you take a look at the numbers, 38 states have now seen a 5 percent increase in COVID cases in the last week. And the numbers are only going to increase now, of course, as the temperatures cool down and people spend time indoors. And all of this here is tied to what is going on with schools reopened. They've cracked down and made face masks mandatory across the state but local officials can overrule it. It's just the beginning here of another bad week here. Back to you, Poppy and Jim.</s>HARLOW: Really unfortunate to see what's happening. Martin, thank you very much.</s>SCIUTTO: Well, the president continues an all-out campaign blitz, all these rallies even as cases rise in 27 states, many of the states that he's visiting. President Trump will hold two rallies today in Arizona.</s>HARLOW: Our John Harwood is outside the White House this morning. Good morning, John. We know that he likes the rallies, he gets a lot of energy from them. They helped him in 2016. But they are not safe without everyone wearing masks and being socially distanced. The most the campaign has said on this is that they're handing out masks, but not required.</s>JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. They're not enforcing mask-wearing, they're not enforcing social distancing, the president enjoys conveying an image of normalcy, and that, of course, is of concern to many of the states where he is visiting, including Arizona. Arizona, in Couth (ph) and the city of Tucson, which is one of the places he'll visit today, is concerned about having made progress over the summer from the spike that they experienced. They've now seen an uptick in cases and deaths. And so the mayor of Tucson, Regina Romero, has warned the president that what he's doing in Tucson today is going to be dangerous.</s>MAYOR REGINA ROMERO (D-TUCSON, AZ): We are very concerned that this can become a spreader event, a super-spreader event. And as you've seen with other of President Trump's rallies, the spread can really continue and make its damage here. And so we've made too many sacrifices as Tucsonans to --</s>HARWOOD: And the mayor has raised a financial concern as well, guys. In 2016, security costs for the president's visit ran up to about $80,000, the city was not reimbursed for that. Now, they're saying that the security costs for the president's visit this time is estimated to be about $50,000, and they're hoping to get reimbursed. But given past experience, I think the mayor should not hold her breath on that.</s>SCIUTTO: Well, the security cost and then the health cost too, right? Because there's the track record of these events leading to more infections, sadly. John Harwood at the White House, thanks very much. Let's discuss now with Dr. Larry Brilliant, aptly named Dr. Brilliant, epidemiologist and CNN Medical Analyst. I'm just echoing your mom there, Dr. Brilliant.</s>DR. LARRY BRILLIANT, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: No. It was my dad who gave me the name. You have to talk to him.</s>SCIUTTO: Well, listen, in seriousness, because we're seeing exactly what smart folks like you warned about, right, leading into the fall, which was a second wave. I mean, in effect, we never left the first wave. And you have a combination of forces here, do you not? I mean, both exhaustion with all the steps necessary to take but also deliberate disinformation coming from the White House. I wonder what can put the brakes on that in your view right now given where we're headed?</s>BRILLIANT: Good morning, Poppy, good morning, Jim, and thank you for having me. you know, I'm reminded of what Dr. Fauci said in the summer when we crept up to 70,000 cases a day and he worried that we would reach 100,000 cases a day. Every one of these rallies that the president is conducting has the potential to become and likely, in many instances, to become super-spreader events, that would be one of the contributors that may very well push us over 100,000 cases a day. It may bring us back to 2,500 deaths per day, which is what Chris Murray at the University of Washington has estimated. There's nothing to stop this the way things are going. We're heading into the cold period, we're huddling together inside, and these are all the factors that bring us flu every year. While, I hope this will be a mild flu season, those factors will still be there and they work for all respiratory viruses.</s>HARLOW: Dr. Brilliant, do you agree with Michael Osterholm, who directs the Center for Infectious Disease Research at the University of Minnesota, who said yesterday that we are heading into the next 6 to 12 weeks and could be could be the darkest of the entire pandemic?</s>BRILLIANT: I frequently agree with Mike. I certainly agree with him on this case. This is a frightening moment in time when we have a political process, the election, and the president who is not contributing to stopping the pandemic, is denying its existence, is creating a culture where the things that will help us, which are masks and social distancing and being careful, it's just the opposite of what we should be doing. Yes, I think Mike is right.</s>SCIUTTO: Okay. On the good side, if there is good news here, and the president will often note this, but there's some evidence in the statistics, right, that the death rate among those infected has declined, as doctors like yourself have learned better how to treat this. One, is that true, and what should we take from that? What is the good news that we should take from that?</s>BRILLIANT: Two different death rates. The death rate per capita, comparing us to other countries, has not decreased. The death race per case, in other words, if you do get the disease and you go in the hospital, will you survive, has definitely dropped and it's a tribute to modern medicine. We have tools in our arsenal now, we have Decadron or dexamethasone, which we know works. We have convalescent plasma which we believe works. And we have monoclonal antibodies that we're hopeful works. But even just the way nursing care has improved, doctors are not shoving ventilators down on people's throats quite as quickly. No, that's a wonderful thing. And you're absolutely, right, that's great, good news.</s>HARLOW: On the lockdown question, Dr. Fauci was asked about this last night on 60 Minutes, and he essentially said, it would take a lot for him to support another national lockdown. Are we going to get to a point where that will be necessary or state-by-state lockdowns going to be enough over the next 12 weeks?</s>BRILLIANT: I hope not. But what will drive it isn't the death rate. What will drive it is the hospitalization rate. If people who need cancer treatment or need surgery can't get into a hospital because the hospital is overflowing with COVID patients, that will force everyone to go back to the drawing board. And, look, lockdowns are not something in the public health arsenal as something turned to easily or glibly. We don't want to ever do lockdowns except when the death rate and the hospitalization rate becomes so overwhelming as it did in the past. If we have, again, photos of ambulances and refrigerator trucks filled with bodies, as we did in Detroit and Manhattan, how can you not do a lockdown?</s>SCIUTTO: Makeshift hospitals, right? I mean, that image as well always alarming. Dr. Larry Brilliant, thanks so much.</s>BRILLIANT: Thank you for having me.</s>SCIUTTO: We're getting a look at disturbing new video shown as evidence, we should note, in federal court which shows what prosecutors say are training exercises done in preparation for a plot to kidnap and perhaps even kill Michigan's governor. You'll want to see these images. They're alarming. Plus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that if a stimulus deal is to get through the House before Election Day, it would have to be done by tomorrow. So are the two sides close enough to make that happen?</s>HARLOW: And across the country, long lines are greeting early voters. Turnout in some places shattering records today, more states begin allowing early voting.

Trump, Michigan Governor Trade Attacks in Wake of Foiled Kidnapping Plot

HARLOW: Welcome back. Well, this morning the president and Michigan's governor, Gretchen Whitmer, are trading attacks as we are learning new details about the alleged plot to kidnap her. Over the weekend, the president criticized Whitmer's refusal to open schools at a rally in Michigan. Then the crowd began chant, lock her up, to which the president responded, lock them all up. Governor Whitmer responded by saying, the president's rhetoric is inciting domestic terroristm.</s>SCIUTTO: This comes as the U.S. attorney's office has released stunning new video evidence. It's a video submitted by federal prosecutors which they say were drills in this alleged plot to kidnap. We're going to show a clip of this. They're truly alarming. Joining us now, the former assistant secretary for Homeland Security under President Trump, Elizabeth Neumann, she's also a longtime Republican. Though back in August, she announced she would support Biden in 2020. Elizabeth Neumann, good to have you on this morning.</s>ELIZABETH NEUMANN, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY UNDER PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thanks for me having me, Jim and Poppy.</s>SCIUTTO: I've covered terrorism for years, 20-some odd years. I've seen a lot of terrorist training videos, ISIS, Al Qaeda, you name it. This one in that category for violence, coordination as well. I mean, this is a multiple automatic weapons live fire apparently not just to kidnap the governor but kill or kill her security detail. I just wonder, I asked Representative Rooney of Florida just a few days ago, a Republican, whether he agrees with Governor Whitmer, that by saying things like Whitmer is a dictator, by egging on his crowd to chant, lock her up, is the president giving these groups encouragement? Representative Rooney said, yes. I wonder, given your expertise, do you agree?</s>NUEMANN: I do. In fact, I wrote an op-ed last week about this. I think it's really important that the American people understand that people that study extremism saw back in March when the shutdowns started to happen and we were trying to figure out the right pandemic mitigation measures. Many of us flagged, hey, we're walking into a period where we need to be definitely need to be doing these public health measures but it is going to exacerbate tensions for those that already hold extremist beliefs and it's going to put certain types of people on a path way towards radicalization. And so we looked at, you know, studies that have been done for decades. We looked at various risk factors and everybody kind of came to the conclusion that, yes, sadly, on the other side or as a part of -- side effect of the pandemic, we are likely to have people more radicalized and a smaller portion of those radicalized extremists motivated to carry out acts of violence. So we wrote a proposal asking for the COVID task force to include in their messaging important information that could help leaders and their communities build resilience in their communities so that those vulnerably individuals might be less likely to radicalize, that proposal was never adopted by the White House. In fact, we saw they did exact the opposite of what we asked them to do. Disinformation exacerbates the miscues on do we mask, do we not mask, whether the virus is real or not. All of those things actually have made this worse. And then you add the president's language on top of it, yes, it is definitely inciting people to commit these acts of domestic terrorism.</s>HARLOW: On that note, Elizabeth, I was so struck reading your op-ed, and this part stood out to me in particular. Quote, you write, this is where leadership makes a difference. A good leader can speak to the country, especially those most susceptible to radicalization and contextualize the national worldwide struggle against COVID-19 in a way that unites people and discourages division, anger and grievance. It may sound simple, but when you have many more people out of work with more time on their hand alone, isolated, watching many online videos, for example, and many who have lost completely their stream of income, are these the factors you're talking about that you clearly warned the task force about months ago?</s>NEUMANN: Exactly. And, again, these are not things that policymakers came up with. These are rigorous, academic studies that have identified common factors, behavioral indicators and risk factors in people that have carried out mass attacks. So, sadly, we're all experiencing some of those stressors that increase somebody's likelihood to radicalize. Now, that doesn't mean all of us are going to radicalize. It is thankfully a small subset of our population. But when you have this common experience of all of us experiencing these -- more isolation, loss of job, uncertainty about life, in general, loss of a loved one, all of those can be factors that lead somebody to radicalize.</s>SCIUTTO: Okay. I know there's a lot that come to our viewers in the news and sometimes crazy things the president says. But I want to highlight what you said about the president inciting domestic terrorism, what a sitting Republican member of Congress said in the last hour about the president inciting domestic terrorism and ask you this question. Because in 15 days, people will -- many people are already casting their votes, but Americans have to decide who the next president is going to be. If President Trump is re-elected, is the threat of domestic terrorism greater as a result of the president's response, his rhetoric, his refusal to accept your recommendations at DHS?</s>NEUMANN: I think so, yes. I think on the other side of the election, it's going to be tense no matter what, no matter who wins. I think if you have a Biden presidency, then that tension over time can tamp down a bit. I think if you have a President Trump for four more years, he is going to continue to not condemn and add fuel to the fire of white nationalism, of antigovernment extremism, QAnon, you name it. If they are willing to give him support, he is willing to support them. And it's just going to continue to build this tension that we're all sensing in our country.</s>SCIUTTO: Yes.</s>HARLOW: Well, Elizabeth, we're glad you're here. I would point people to your op-ed because it makes a lot of important points on this. Thanks very much for your time this morning. Ahead --</s>NEUMANN: Thank you for having me.</s>HARLOW: Of course. Will there be a stimulus deal? Will one happen today? We will ask the second most Democrat in the House. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is next.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), White House to Speak Today as Millions Wait for Stimulus Deal.

HARLOW: Welcome back. Well, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says a deal must be reached by tomorrow if Congress wants to ensure that millions of struggling Americans have a chance to receive more stimulus money before Election Day. She is expected to talk to the White House in just a few hours. With me now is House Majority Leader, the number two Democrat in the House, Congressman Steny Hoyer of Maryland. Good morning, sir.</s>REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD): Hi, Poppy. How are you?</s>HARLOW: I'm well. Thank you for being here on such an important day. Is a deal going to be announced this afternoon?</s>HOERY: Well, I hope so. Obviously it will depend upon whether we can come to an agreement. And that will depend upon whether or not we give the assistance to all the people who need it. The conversation has been sort of like we'll save half of the people on Titanic. We won't need boats for everybody because the Titanic won't sink, but, by golly, when it does sink, we'll take care of half the people. That's not what Americans want. That's not what Americans need. That's not what economists tell us is essential. States and locals are a perfect example, where Senator McConnell said, let them go bankrupt. But when states go bankrupt, they're going to drag down the economy with all of us. So I'm hopeful we get to an agreement. I think Secretary Mnuchin and Speaker Pelosi clearly want to get a deal. The problem is they've been dealing with people who I don't think wanted to get to a deal and the president has been all over the ballpark. Now he says, go big and bigger than we suggested in our $2.2 trillion reduction by 35 percent of our original offer. So I think that Nancy and Mnuchin, the speaker and Mnuchin, are going to be trying this today hopefully to get to that deal. And let's hope they do.</s>HARLOW: Okay, certainly. Let's hope they do for the millions of Americans who cannot get by much longer without it. The thing is you said this to Axios on Wednesday. Listen.</s>HOYER: Frankly, we're prepared to go down further.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How low?</s>HOYER: Well, I think they've mentioned 1.8. I think we could work a deal at 1.8.</s>HARLOW: The White House is offering 1.8. You said you could work a deal at 1.8. Why is there no deal?</s>HOYER: Well, because the devil is in the details. They're not offering anything for states and local, which we need. They're not offering anything for earned income tax credits for the people who are most struggling but working. They're not offering to do testing pursuant to a plan. They say they're going to take our number, but then they changed it in terms of they may do this, it's not a requirement --</s>HARLOW: I know some of the language changed and I heard the speaker's interview over the weekend about changing may to shall, et cetera, or shall to may. But you now -- I mean, politically, you've got 56 percent of Democrats in a key state like Arizona -- 56 percent of likely voters, excuse me, in the state of Arizona, blaming Democrats on this over Republicans or the president.

Mixed Messaging on Masks From Trump Administration; Italy to Implement New Restrictions; Europe Struggles to Contain Surging Numbers; France Set a Record for New Cases on Saturday; Greater Manchester Resists Tough New Rules; Czech Republic Sees Record Number of New Cases

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: The mixed messaging doesn't stop there. On Sunday, Twitter deleted a tweet from White House coronavirus adviser Scott Atlas that read masks work, no. Twitter called it misinformation. The U.S. healthy secretary was asked about the contradictions.</s>ALEX AZAR, U.S. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: We have it in our individual control, it's our ticket, to be reconnected to education, to worship to work, to health care and also, to our public and civic life, Chuck, where a face covering when you can't be socially distant, Chuck.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE, NBC NEWS, MEET THE PRESS: So why is that message so difficult for the President?</s>AZAR: I think it's a difficult message for al Western democracies. We're seeing that in Europe. People are tired. The American people have given so much.</s>CHURCH: And earlier I talked about those mixed messages and the importance of masks with Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips. She is the chief clinical officer for Providence Health System. Take a listen.</s>DR. AMY COMPTON-PHILLIPS, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: My advice would be to stick with the science and the science is really vetted by the experts at the CDC. Something we've seen with this pandemic and one of the reasons why we have concerns about the national leadership around the pandemic is that we need to let science speak and not take one person's opinion and amplify that. And that's what's happened. The mixed messaging, you know, the CDC saying one thing, which is where the expertise lies and then I belief for some reason, I still don't understand it that counters what the science says of being promoted by another arm of the government really is incredibly complicated for people to tease their way through. Believe the CDC masks work.</s>CHURCH: Yes, absolutely. It's confusing people though, nonetheless. And of course, the irony is that if President Trump asked his supporters to wear masks, they would do just that and those actions could very well increase his chances of reelection, but he refuses to do it for whatever reason. What impact would a national mask mandate have on the United States if he calls from one right now?</s>COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Well, you know, it would have to slow down the spread of the virus. Because what masks do is they inhibit the person wearing it from spreading the germ to other people and they also ensure that if do you get the virus you get a lower viral load because if you breathe in, you get a less severe, likely a less severe bout of the disease, because you inhale less viral particles. And because of that, it slows the spread, and it makes the condition less bad in people who get it. And so, I would believe that if we were able to have everybody wear a mask, we could within a span of a couple of weeks, really get our level of infection much, much better than where it is today. It's the easy way for us to help getting control of this pandemic.</s>CHURCH: We are currently witnessing the autumn surge in cases that experts had warn us about, and yet we are seeing more reckless behavior at these Trump rallies. No masks or no social distancing. And Dr. Fauci said Sunday night on 60 Minutes that this is exactly why the President's COVID diagnosis came as no surprise to him. How concerned are you when you watch these rallies and how might they impact where the current surge in cases is going?</s>COMPTON-PHILLIPS: I am very concerned, Rosemary. I mean, this kind of behavior and it's so unnecessary. It's easy to wear a mask. It's not that hard. We do it in hospitals, we do it in medical clinics all day long every day. It really is not that hard, it's such a simple solution, all it would take is the President and all the leadership in government to be aligned on saying wear a mask, go protect yourself. We would save countless lives, so I am disheartened when that's not the message that comes across.</s>CHURCH: And that was Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, chief clinical officer of Providence Health System. Well, Europe is the midst of a second wave of coronavirus cases. And Italy, which was one of the worst hit countries at the beginning of the pandemic is struggling to get it under control. The Prime Minister is desperately trying to avoid another full lock down saying it would, quote, compromise the economic fabric of the country. CNN's Ben Wedeman has more.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sunday evening Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced new measures to slow what is clearly a second wave of coronavirus here in Italy. The emphasis of these new measures is on limiting public gatherings, particularly night life. The urgency of the situation was driven home Sunday when authorities announced for the fifth day in a row, record increases in the number of new cases. The numbers, however, don't tell the entire story. Testing is five times what it was during the darkest days of the pandemic last March, and the number of coronavirus patients in intensive care is just a fifth of what it was back then. However, winter is coming, and this second wave is just beginning. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Naples.</s>CHURCH: Officials in the U.K. and France are struggling with that second wave, too. Both countries have seen major spikes in cases, and both have introduced new measures. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is covering the story from Manchester, England, and CNN's Melissa Bell joins us live from Paris. Good to see you both. So, Melissa, what is latest on these record coronavirus cases across France, and the curfews?</s>MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we've seen over the course of the last four days, Rosemary, are rises in terms of the number of new cases every day above 25,000. Tonight, close to 30,000. Of course, a fresh record was set on Saturday, but these are large rises in the number of new cases. And of course, these are going to have a knock-on effect in a couple of weeks nationally in terms of the entry into ICU. Just to tell you where we are nationally here in France, at the moment. More than 35 percent of ICU beds at a national level are already taken by COVID-19 patients. So that is likely to get worse over the course of the next couple of weeks. The positivity rate here in France, 13.2 percent, and of course the problem with those curfews is that even if they have an impact on those figures, it's going to take some time for the impact to be felt. Both in terms of the number of new cases announced daily and of course in terms of the number of people entering ICU. And we remain -- there remains, I'm sorry, Rosemary, here in places like the greater Paris area that particular worry because of the nature of the pandemic that strikes locally very strongly. Here already, 46.8 percent of ICU beds taken up by COVID-19 patients and there's a point at which the system simply can't cope. Because the emergency help, medication, and help that is given in urgency units to other patients gets taken away in favor of COVID-19 patients. That's what authorities are looking at, the number of people in ICU that are COVID-19 patients very closely in the coming days -- Rosemary.</s>CHURCH: Thanks, Melissa. And Salma, what is the latest on the resumption of talks over Manchester restrictions?</s>SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Rosemary, we finally have a breakthrough after this day's long standoff. The mayor of greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has said he has held constructive talks with a Downing Street official. We've also heard from a government official that a larger financial package will be offered to Manchester to help affected businesses deal with tier 3 restrictions. Essentially the argument was over whether or not to raise the alert level of the city. The government in London said the cases are too high here, you need to move into tier 3 restrictions. That means shut down your pubs, your bars, potentially your gyms, ban households from mixing together. The mayor of greater Manchester's, Andy Burnham, response to that was, no. I don't want to raise the restriction levels of my city for two reasons. A, I disagree with Prime Minister Boris Johnson's strategy, I think these limited regional lockdowns simply are a negative impact on businesses without giving much in terms of a reward when you're speaking about how much it would bring the number of coronavirus cases down. And two, his argument is if you're going impose the restrictions on our city, then I want a better deal for my city. He's been calling for 80 percent of wages to be paid by the government to anyone affected. Now the mayor did say that there is nothing planned or scheduled today in terms of talks. But the government has said they are hopeful that they will find a resolution today. But it's important to remember here that Manchester is just one city. Imagine having to negotiate these restrictions town by town, city by city, while the virus spreads through the population. That's why the country's scientific advisers, or at least in part, that's why the country's scientific advisers are saying have a nation lock down instead -- Rosemary.</s>CHURCH: All right, many thanks to Melissa Bell and Salma Abdelaziz joining us there with live reports. Appreciate it. All right, turning to the Czech Republic now and a country that's now among the hardest hit in Europe. Despite spike in case numbers, protesters took to the streets of Prague Sunday. They're unhappy about new restrictions but back in the spring, it was a very different story. And CNN's Scott McLean has been tracking this angle from Berlin. He joins us now live. Good to see you, Scott. So, the Czech Republic showed the rest of the world how masks work to fight COVID-19, and then they stopped wearing them and paid the price. What happened?</s>SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so the spring and the fall in the Czech Republic, Rosemary, really could not have been more different. The country may have been too good at controlling the virus in the spring because Czechs never saw overflowing hospitals, they never saw mass casualties, and it kind of seemed like the virus wasn't that harmful. Only now are they realizing that, well, they may have underestimated it.</s>MCLEAN (voice-over): In this Prague ICU, the sickest coronavirus patients are treated by staff in full hazmat suits. Some are hooked up to ventilators, others placed face down. For now, there's still a bed for everyone.</s>DR. HANA ROHACOVA, HEAD DOCTOR, NA BULOVCE HOSPITAL (on-screen text translation): We have other back up beds prepared in other departments in case the capacity exceeds our current possibilities.</s>MCLEAN: The government is also building a temporary field hospital it expects to need in just weeks. The Czech Republic has more new cases per million people than any other major country on earth. This is technically the second wave of infection. The first was barely a blip on the radar after the government moved quickly to close borders and implement a lockdown. Just like many other countries. (on camera): What set the Czech Republic apart?</s>PETR LUDWIG, DATA SCIENTIST: We were the first country in Europe with the mandate for masks from the government.</s>MCLEAN (voice-over): In mid-March, months before the W.H.O. was recommending masks, Czech data scientist, Petr Ludwig, read the scientific evidence supporting masks and made this video to explain why he was convinced they were the answer.</s>LUDWIG (on-screen text translation): More importantly, masks protect you from spreading COVID-19.</s>MCLEAN: The video went viral and a few days later, the populist Czech Prime Minister, Andrej Babis, made masks mandatory everywhere outside the home. With medical masks still scarce, Czechs started sewing. The mask mandate was unpopular but wildly effective. By late June Prague threw a party to mark the end of the pandemic. Dr. Roman Prymula is the newly appointed health minister. (on camera): Do you think you maybe did a victory lap a little bit too soon?</s>DR. ROMAN PRYMULA, CZECH HEALTH MINISTER: That's true because we had many experts, and those were not epidemiologists, not virologists but they were arguing that, OK, the disease is there but it's very mild. So, they tried to push politicians just to skip out of strict countermeasures.</s>MCLEAN (voice-over): With almost no restrictions the number of cases started to slowly bounce back in late summer. The top government epidemiologists called on the Prime Minister to reinstate the mask mandate. (on camera): Why do you think the Prime Minister said no?</s>LUDWIG: I think it was because we had an election. After the election they started to push some harder rules again, but it was too late because we already had an exponential growth.</s>MCLEAN: The government close schools and bars but the same strict mask rule so effective in the spring still hasn't been fully reinstated. (on camera): You don't think a mandatory mask mandate would have prevented you being in the situation that you are in right now?</s>PRYMULA: I think just now we have a mandate for protective masks but indoor. There is discussion if to introduce it outdoor as well. But it's not only wearing a mask, it's an issue of other countermeasures, and particularly social contact. This is the reason why the situation is still not under control.</s>LUDWIG: I think that one of the main causes is really populism. During the first wave they were convinced that people want masks, so they pushed masks. Now they are convinced that people don't want to wear a mask, so they are against it.</s>MCLEAN: And one Czech scientist that I spoke to said that despite the real success of that strict mask mandate in the spring, Czechs really do not like wearing masks. They don't have the same kind of mask wearing culture that they have in some other Asian countries. At that protest you mentioned over the weekend in Prague, Rosemary, well, there was no social distancing and there were very few masks in sight. The Czech Republic now is reporting three times more new cases per capita than the U.K., four times more than the United States. And with hospitals starting to reach their capacities, the Czech medical chamber and now also the health minister are calling for Czech doctors abroad to come home to help deal with the surging number of patients.</s>CHURCH: And of course, what we're learning from all of that is that masks work, we need to wear them. It's just a matter of getting used to them, right. Scott McLean joining us there live. Appreciate it. And breaking news coming into CNN. Moments ago, Johns Hopkins University reported that the global COVID-19 case total has topped 40 million people. Incredible number there. The United States making up more than a fifth of those, having topped 8 million this week. India is rapidly catching up to that, Brazil and Russia are the other countries with more than a million confirmed cases each, but right now, the figure that shows the virus's relentless spread, Johns Hopkins reporting more than 40 million cases worldwide. Unbelievable. Well, a leading Kremlin critic is speaking out about his horrific poisoning. Just ahead, we will find out how Alexey Navalny thinks President Trump should get involved. Back in a moment.

Alexey Navalny Says U.S. President Must Oppose Chemical Weapons Use.

CHURCH: The Russian opposition activist at the center of a poisoning scandal is speaking out to U.S. news media. Alexey Navalny became gravely ill during a flight to Moscow in August. It was later determined that he had come in contact with the toxic nerve agent Novichok. He says Russian President Vladimir Putin is responsible. For more, let's turn now to CNN's Fred Pleitgen. He joins us live from Moscow. Good to see you, Fred. So, what all did Navalny have to say about his poisoning?</s>FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That was a wide-ranging interview with CBS 60 Minutes. Alexey Navalny did his first with American media. And he talked about what it was actually like to feel when he realized he had been poisoned. He said he did not feel any pain, but he realized that he was dying. Let's listen in.</s>ALEXEY NAVALNY, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER: I said to the flight attendant and I kind of shocked him with my statement of, well, I was poisoned and I'm going to die, and I immediately laid down under his feet, and every cell of your body just telling you that body, we are done.</s>PLEITGEN: One of the other interesting things, Rosemary, was also that Alexey Navalny said he not only believed Vladimir Putin was behind his poisoning but that he was that he was sure that Vladimir Putin was behind his poisoning. Simply because he says no other entity except the Russian state would have been able to get the chemical nerve agent Novichok to conduct such a poisoning. The Kremlin, of course, already responded to this earlier saying they call all of this absurd and of course vehemently deny any sort of involvement -- Rosemary.</s>CHURCH: And Fred, what was the message Navalny had for President Trump?</s>PLEITGEN: Yes, I think it was a pretty important one. Of course, he was asked as well about President Trump's pretty much silence on this case, and certainly not condemning and not blaming the Kremlin either. He said that he took note of that. He was quite surprise bid that. And he believes that the U.S. President, of course, being the most powerful person in the world should take a stronger stance on that issue. Here's what he had to say?</s>NAVALNY: I think it's extremely important that everyone, of course including and maybe in the first row, the President of the United States to be very against using chemical weapon in the 21st century.</s>PLEITGEN: And then of course if you recall when the European Union conducted its sanctions against six Russian individuals and a Russian entity, they also did that, they said, because this chemical warfare agent, because Novichok or a substance similar to Novichok was used in all of this. The Germans and French, of course, on the forefront of all of that. Alexey Navalny says he believes that there should be more said about this by President Trump. But again, the Kremlin is continuing to say they had nothing to do this -- Rosemary.</s>CHURCH: Fred Pleitgen many thanks, as always. Well still ahead, a remarkable rescue, we will tell you about a missing hiker who survived for nearly two weeks in this national park. Back in a moment.

Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL) is Interviewed about Trump's Rallies amid Coronavirus

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. A small number of Republicans have been tentatively distancing themselves from the president as there are fears within the party that he could lose two weeks from now. Texas Senator John Cornyn put some steps between him and the president, some space, rather, when it comes to his relationship with the president. This is how he described it to a Texas newspaper. Quote, maybe like a lot of women who get married and think they're going to change their spouse, and that doesn't usually work out very well. Well, joining me is Florida Congressman Francis Rooney. He also serves the Joint Economic Committee, as well as the House Foreign Affairs Committee and has had some public disagreements with the president. Congressman, thanks so much for time -- taking the time this morning.</s>REP. FRANCIS ROONEY (R-FL): Thank you for having me on.</s>SCIUTTO: You have considered voting for impeachment of this president, although you did not. You differed with him on issues such as climate change. The president's emergency declaration on the wall, on building the wall, as well as the transgender military ban. I wonder, we're 15 days from an important election November 3rd. Will you be supporting President Trump on Election Day?</s>ROONEY: Well, I'm still ruminating about that. You know, this crazy world we're in every day brings some new dialogue, commentary, event. And so I'm going to study everything the next couple of week. But, you're right, there's probably no Republicans disagreed with the president more than me. Those emergency declarations were unconstitutional. The -- the -- the -- I was the only Republican to vote to reaffirm the two-state solution with Israel, which has been our policy since 1948. And I was -- had an open mind about impeachment. I spoke extensively with the speaker about running a more exhaustive process to really get all the information, more like a Watergate program, which would have probably raised the level of concern over what the president had done than just that one phone call.</s>SCIUTTO: OK. Those are enormous differences you're describing there. You're saying the wall funding declaration emergency was unconstitutional. You say that you disagree, you know, on a fundamental issue of U.S. national security and foreign policy, that being two-state solution for Israel and the West Bank. We're 15 days out. We're four years into the president's administration. Isn't that enough -- don't you have enough material to make that decision at this point?</s>ROONEY: Oh, probably do, but I'd prefer not to say right now what it's going to be. And I want to see what happens. I mean who would have thought some of the events of the past week would have taken place. And the more we go down the road resisting masks and distance and tracing and the things that the scientists are telling us, I think the more concerned I get about our management of the COVID situation.</s>SCIUTTO: OK. Well who do you think would better manage the COVID outbreak based on their public statements, the president still denying the science and Vice President Biden who says he will follow the science. Who, Biden or Trump, would better handle the outbreak?</s>ROONEY: I don't think there's any doubt that Vice President Biden has the right approach. And there's a lot of Republicans that would agree with that as well. They're -- unfortunately, there's a few Republican governors who do not, like the North Carolina -- or North Dakota guy that was in the news this morning.</s>SCIUTTO: Yes. Looking at the broader response to this, and I know that, you know, no one's been perfect about it, in no country. But do you believe that the president and this administration has let down the American people on its response to the virus?</s>ROONEY: In many respects, yes. My understanding is that he was briefed by the intelligence services on as early as the 3rd of January and 11 other times in January and February. And the fact that we didn't act on it while countries like Singapore and South Korea were acting on it, and Australia, is a little troublesome because we had the information.</s>SCIUTTO: Understood. The president spoke to your constituents over the weekend in Fort Myers, Florida. And during it, he attempted to strike a more emphatic tone, knowing that there were a lot of seniors there who have suffered through this outbreak. I wonder, in your view, has he already lost them?</s>ROONEY: He will -- he will do well in my area. It's a very strong Republican area. I think he has a lot of support. For whatever reason, they turned out 57,000 more votes for Trump in 2016 than they had for Mitt Romney in 2012. So it's going to be very interesting to see how much enthusiasm there is this time.</s>SCIUTTO: OK. I want to ask about the plot against Governor Whitmer, which, of course, included a plot against another Democratic governor in Virginia. The video of their training, and I think we're going to show a short clip here now, and all the things they were planning here, to kidnap and possibly kill. I've seen a lot of terrorist videos in my time as a national security correspondent, ISIS video, al Qaeda videos. This is as bad as any I've seen here. The governor of Michigan says that by calling her a dictator, by calling her a prison warden, by egging on his crowds to say "lock her up," that the president is, in effect, inciting these groups. And I wonder if you agree?</s>ROONEY: Yes, I do. Yes, I do. I think that a more presidential, compassionate tone, as we've seen out of President Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, et cetera, would calm the fires a little bit and prevent some of these people on both sides of the political spectra from committing violence or threatening violence.</s>SCIUTTO: I mean that's a remarkable statement to say that the sitting president you believe is inciting this kind of violence. And I just -- I just wonder how you could then cast your vote for him in 15 days' time.</s>ROONEY: Well, like I say, I'm -- I've got a very open mind about that, and I'm continuing to study it. And I have some disagreements with the way the administration has conducted things in the last three and a half, four years.</s>SCIUTTO: You've heard some of your Republican colleagues, among them Ben Sasse, in a conversation with constituents, say that they fear a Republican blood bath on Election Day. And I know these things are hard to predict. But you're a politician. You've talked to a lot of voters. Do you have a similar fear coming up in two weeks' time?</s>ROONEY: Well, first of all, I really don't want to be a politician. I like being a business leader. And --</s>SCIUTTO: I know, to your credit.</s>ROONEY: And those are much -- much more interesting careers. But the fact is, we got slayed pretty good in the suburbs and among women and things in 2018. And I don't see anything that's going to change that now. The same positions that got us the thrashing that we got then still obtain.</s>SCIUTTO: Understood. Well, Congressman Rooney, we always enjoy speaking to you on this broadcast. You're always welcome. And if you don't mind, when you've made your decision, you're welcome back here to come on and share it and explain it.</s>ROONEY: I appreciate that.</s>SCIUTTO: All right, best of luck to you. And we'll be right back.

Early Voting Starts in Florida.

HARLOW: Welcome back. Well, a record 27 million Americans have already cast their ballots ahead of Election Day. Today is the first day of early voting in a number of states, including Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho and North Dakota.</s>SCIUTTO: Yes, voter apathy, ain't seeing that this year. Long lines already forming for the first day of in-person voting in a majority of Florida counties. This is the picture in Broward County, south Florida, where people are waiting despite the pouring rain. They're getting out, they're voting. That's good news.</s>HARLOW: I think that picture tells us so much, Rosa.</s>SCIUTTO: Yes.</s>HARLOW: It's a little sunnier, but still raining there. What are we seeing in terms of turnout?</s>ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Poppy and Jim. Yes, we talked to several people who say that they voted here at this location in 2016 and they say that the lines are longer this time. So, walk with me. Let me show you around. You'll see that because of COVID there are markers on the ground to facilitate social distancing. And you can see that the line twirls around. Now, this time around, there are more than 14.4 million registered voters in the state of Florida. That's 1.5 million more than in 2016. The breakdown is very interesting because registered Republicans gained more than 618,000 registered voters here in this state. Democrats gained more than 425,000. And here's the fascinating thing. The no party affiliation bloc gained more than 663,000 voters since 2016. Now we know that Florida is notorious for having elections that are won by razor thin margins. And so that no party affiliation bloc is very interesting to all the political scientists that are following it here in the state of Florida. But, of course, we all know it doesn't matter who registers to vote, it's who shows up to vote. Now, we talked to one woman who tells us why it was important for her to be here on day one.</s>ODALYS PEREZ, FLORIDA VOTER: I want my vote to count. And you hear so much negativity, back and forth about the absentee ballots and stuff that I didn't trust it. I didn't trust the process. Which I've done it before, I just -- for this election, I just figured it's the president, let me just go in, in person and give my vote.</s>FLORES: Now, so far, more than 2.4 million mail-in ballots have been turned in here in the state of Florida. That's only 261,000 shy of all of the mail-in ballots from 2016. Now, here's the breakdown of the 2.4 million that have already been cast so far. Thirty percent of those are from registered Republicans, 49 percent from registered Democrats, and 20 percent from that no party affiliation. And, Jim and Poppy, I spoke to a political scientist who says that that's what Florida needs to look at this year because there is an increasing number of individuals who are turning their backs to both Republicans and Democrats. Jim and Poppy.</s>SCIUTTO: Interesting.</s>HARLOW: Interesting. Yes. Really interesting reporting. Rosa, thank you for being out there despite the rain. We appreciate it very much. Well, the final presidential debate, it's coming. It's later this week. We have special, live coverage starting Thursday evening at 7:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

Interview with Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: You've got a number of Democrats like Congressman Ro Khanna saying, make a deal, it is time to make a deal. And even your colleague in the House, freshman Democrat Max Rose, said this to Wolf just yesterday.</s>REP. MAX ROSE (D-NY): I'm happy to hear he wants a big stimulus. Suffice it to say, that's not where he was two months ago. The Democratic Party needs to learn, to a certain extent, how to declare victory and go home.</s>HARLOW: Majority Leader, he's saying declare victory, go home. We got the Republicans up, let's make a deal. Is he right?</s>REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD): No. The president's rhetoric is good from time to time. When he says, two months ago, some days ago, and he was saying no negotiations. He then changed, well, maybe a little negotiations. Then he said, well, let's talk about --</s>HARLOW: I'm not talking about what the president has said, I know he's all over the map on this stuff. I totally hear you --</s>HOYER: But the point --</s>HARLOW: -- but the deal on the table is $1.8 trillion, and you guys have gotten the Republicans way up. Why not take this deal?</s>HOYER: Yes -- the deal on the table -- the deal on the table is not $1.8 trillion. Why? Because the Senate has clearly indicated they're not interested in $1.8 trillion. McConnell does not want a deal, McConnell indicated that from the beginning. The problem Mnuchin has is, in negotiating with the speaker, I think they could come to a deal. They came to four deals, they came to four deals that passed overwhelmingly, the two of them. They came to a budget deal that passed overwhelmingly. The problem is, yes, the president says $1.8 and the secretary now says $1.8. But then he goes over to Mnuchin's office, and Mnuchin says -- excuse me, McConnell's office, and he says, I can't buy that number.</s>HARLOW: Then -- then let it get -- I guess my question is, should you let it get to that point and let McConnell say, no, I'm not going to take this to the floor? Right now there's not even a deal laid out between Mnuchin --</s>HARLOW: -- and the speaker right now, when 8 million more people, Majority Leader, have fallen into poverty since the beginning of this pandemic, when 41 percent of homes of African-Americans in this country with children don't have enough to eat. That is how dire this is.</s>HOYER: Poppy, we passed a $3.4 trillion bill on May 5th (ph) --</s>HARLOW: I understand.</s>HOYER: -- which would have precluded that from happening. And the Senate simply ignored it. And the House later --</s>HARLOW: I know, but you don't have the majority in the Senate. I mean --</s>HOYER: -- so --</s>HARLOW: -- is half a sandwich better than no sandwich for these people that -- as you rightly put it -- are on the Titanic?</s>HOYER: I agree with you 100 percent. Half of the people are going to go down and drown. Half of the --</s>HARLOW: But right now all of them are. Right now all of them --</s>HOYER: -- taken care of, state employees, teachers, that's not taken care of. Sanitation workers, police, fire, that's not taken care of. So when you say, you know, take half a loaf, what you're doing is leaving half the loaf --</s>HARLOW: For now.</s>HOYER: -- I</s>HARLOW: It's not perfect. But no one's getting anything right now.</s>HOYER: But, Poppy, you say there's a $1.8 trillion? McConnell's going to offer a bill, as I understand it, tomorrow. And then on Wednesday. It doesn't get -- it's less than almost a third of that $1.8 trillion. So don't say that we have $1.8 trillion on the table because McConnell --</s>HARLOW: That's what Mnuchin has on the table, with support from the president. That's what I'm saying.</s>HOYER: Yes, but he can't</s>HARLOW: So nothing gets done?</s>HOYER: I</s>HARLOW: Majority --</s>HOYER: -- policymakers, and they pretend that, oh, we'll take their $75 billion. Well, that's not a deal when they undermine the implementation of a plan. So --</s>HARLOW: Majority --</s>HOYER: -- you can hear my voice, I'm frustrated, others are frustrated -- we need --</s>HARLOW: I hear it, I hear it. I hear it.</s>HOYER: -- an agreement.</s>HARLOW: And I'm glad you're here and I appreciate the time. And you know, I wish Mitch McConnell would join us as well, he's always welcome on this. But there is huge desperation out there so we're wishing --</s>HOYER: Well, he's --</s>HARLOW: -- all sides luck in getting a deal for as many people as they can. I'm sorry we're out of time but you're welcome back.</s>HOYER: -- the American people luck, right?</s>HARLOW: Thank you very much for joining us.</s>HOYER: You bet, thanks.</s>HARLOW: OK, thank you -- Jim.</s>JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Well let's hope they get to a deal. A second wave of coronavirus infections is spreading now throughout Italy. You remember those images from early on in the pandemic? But this surge is much different than the first. We're going to tell you why, we'll have a live report from Naples, next.

COVID-19 Cases Rise in Italy and Britain

HARLOW: Well, Italy this morning is cracking down as a second wave of coronavirus infections have hit that country incredibly hard.</s>SCIUTTO: Yes, remember, it was the epicenter of Europe's outbreak at the start of the pandemic. The images from there, just devastating. CNN's senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman has the story.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Italy is well into the second wave of coronavirus, though it's not immediately apparent in Naples, the capital of the Campania region, which has one of the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases in the country. Infectious disease specialist Alessandro Perrella says it's not just about the numbers.</s>ALESSANDRO PERRELLA, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: We have an increasing number of positive people, positive. Not an increasing number of patients. It's very different.</s>WEDEMAN (voice-over): What's different is the testing. Earlier this year, only those showing COVID-like symptoms were tested. Now, everyone can do it. The majority of people who prove positive are asymptomatic, isolating until recovery. The number of people in intensive care, now approximately a fifth of what it was before.</s>WEDEMAN: Day after day, Italy is reporting record increases in the number of new coronavirus cases. But at the same time Italy is testing like never before at this hospital here in Naples. Seven days a week, at least a thousand tests are conducted, quickly and for free. Five times as many tests are being conducted now than at the height of the first wave in March, a once unwieldy process now routine. How long was the wait? Half an hour, says Abramo (ph). When will you receive the result? I ask. The whole family did it. Tomorrow morning, we'll get a message with the results by phone, he says. There's no air of panic, but there is concern. We're not worried, says Valentina (ph). What worries us is not being able to work. The number of new cases is erupting in Italy, and the peak of this wave is far off. Better prepared this time, Italy is still bracing for a long, hard winter.</s>WEDEMAN: And we're really just at the beginning of this second wave. And if you look at the numbers, they are worrying. At the moment, there are around 126,000 active cases here in Italy. That's about 18,000 more than the peak of the first wave. And as you can see, the weather here in Naples is beautiful and we have months ahead of us of cold, rainy weather -- Jim, Poppy.</s>SCIUTTO: Yes, if it's this bad now, the concern it gets worse. Ben Wedeman, good to have you there, thanks very much. Well, the city of Manchester, England is reporting a sharp rise as well in the number of new coronavirus infections, but the city -- city's mayor is fighting with the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, on whether to impose any new restrictions.</s>HARLOW: That's right. Our Salma Abdelaziz is in Manchester. Good morning, Salma. This dispute has created a lot of confusion.</s>SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: That's absolutely right, Poppy and Jim. The mayor of Greater Manchester has been locked in a bitter battle with the central government in London over their plans to raise the alert level of the city to tier three restrictions. That would shut down pubs, bars, potentially gyms -- and ban households from mixing together. The mayor's argument is essentially one of risk versus reward. He says, under these limited local lockdowns, the risk to local businesses that would be affected is too high in comparison to the reward in terms of how much COVID infection rates would be brought down in the city. That's why he's arguing for a nationwide lockdown. He's not the only one. The country's scientific advisors have also called for a nationwide lockdown, the prime minister's answer though has been a resounding no. But after days of stalled talks, we do have a breakthrough today. The mayor says he has held a constructive dialogue with senior officials. We've also heard from a member of government that the city will be offered a larger financial package to help affected businesses. But it's important to remember this is just one city. Imagine negotiating country -- city by city, town by town as the virus spreads through the population -- Poppy and Jim.</s>HARLOW: Exactly. Salma, thank you for the reporting. Thanks for being there, very much. Back here in the United States, very long lines forming -- especially there, that's Miami this morning -- for the first day of in-person early voting. We'll get the details, next, on whether early voting trends are a predictor at all of where this election is headed.

Supreme Court Will Hear Immigration and Border Wall Cases Next Year.

HARLOW: All right, this just in to CNN, the Supreme Court will hear cases concerning President Trump's border wall funding as well as a controversial Trump administration policy that requires asylum seekers to remain in Mexico.</s>SCIUTTO: CNN's Jessica Schneider covers the court, joins us now with more. Tell us what the timing of this means, right? In terms of the effect on these policies, but when they'll likely come through, decisions will come through.</s>JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and that's the big thing here, Jim and Poppy, is the timing on this. So the Supreme Court, agreeing to hear these two controversial and consequential cases, but they won't actually hear it until likely after the election, and probably early next year, likely February. So it's possible that if the president is not re-elected and some of these policies change, these issues could actually be moot by the time they get to the Supreme Court. But the two cases, they include the Remain in Mexico policy, one of Trump's immigration policies that requires Central American migrants who have crossed the border to actually wait in Mexico while they seek these asylum hearings. Many civil rights groups have spoken out about this, saying that essentially you're sending these asylum seekers back to dangerous conditions that they've been trying to flee. Now lower courts, they have struck this policy down. But the Supreme Court allowed the policy to remain in effect to send these asylum seekers back to Mexico while these appeals were pending. So really, nothing changes in the interim here as we wait for the Supreme Court to actually hear the arguments. The other case that they'll hear regards the border wall. It was back in 2019 that President Trump declared an emergency and siphoned off some of these Pentagon funds to fund the border wall on the Mexican border. It was about $2.5 billion in Pentagon funds. Again, the lower courts struck this down but the Supreme Court allowed this border wall funding to continue as the appeals played out. So really, the timing here is -- the practical effect is that these policies will continue to remain in effect, and we won't actually see these arguments play out until early next year -- guys.</s>SCIUTTO: Yes.</s>HARLOW: Jess, thank you very much on that. Also to early voting, setting records already in a number of states with over 27 million ballots cast so far.</s>SCIUTTO: Listen, it's good to see. People are exercising their right to vote, and we're going to be watching Florida in particular today as in-person early voting starts across the majority of counties in that key swing state, all counties there will start early voting by the end of next week. Early voting also begins in other states today: Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho and North Dakota</s>HARLOW: Our Abby Phillip joins us. Good morning to you, Abby. What should we watch out for in Florida? We've seen some of those lines, even in a lot of rain in South Florida this morning. They're long.</s>ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they are long, Jim and Poppy. Good morning. So this is the story of this 2020 election cycle, long lines, lots of people taking advantage of the new ways to vote. And Florida has always been a state that has a fairly robust mail-in voting program, but this year already 2.4 million voters have already cast their ballots in Florida. That is about 260,000 less than all of the ballots cast in all of 2016 by mail. So you can already see that the enthusiasm for mail-in voting has been extremely high. And now that early voting has started, I think what we can expect to see is more and more people taking advantage of that as well. That's basically the story that we're seeing all over the country.</s>SCIUTTO: President is one of them, as we've noted on this broadcast before.</s>PHILLIP: Yes.</s>SCIUTTO: OK. So we're watching these numbers tick up, enormous interest in this election, a lot of early voting. Do we know if it favors one part or does it favor one party?</s>PHILLIP: Well, yes and no. So in some states, we know about the party affiliation of the people who have cast their ballots. So take a look at this. This year -- look at these numbers of this year compared to 2016. You're seeing an uptick in Democrats who are utilizing mail-in voting. And the disparity between Democrats and Republicans has actually increased pretty dramatically. This is the number of total ballots cast this year, 27 million, which is about 20 percent of the vote total. But we're seeing Democrats voting by mail with more frequency this year compared to four years ago. That's a little bit of a change. But one thing that you should keep in mind with numbers like this is that while some states report party affiliation, not every state does. And some people are not casting Democrat or Republican ballots. Some people could be voting independent or no party registration at all. So it tells you some of the picture, but not all of it.</s>HARLOW: Also, I thought this was interesting, the memo over the weekend from Jen O'Malley Dillon, of course, about the Biden campaign and essentially sending it out and saying the race is far closer than -- she writes -- some of the punditry we're seeing on Twitter and TV would suggest.</s>TEXT: Biden Campaign Urges Supporters to Remain Active: "We cannot become complacent because the very searing truth is that Donald Trump can still win this race, and every indication we have shows that this thing is going to come down to the wire."</s>HARLOW: What should we make of that? Is there internal polling really showing a much closer race than the public polling? Or is this a push to you know, get more money, fundraising?</s>PHILLIP: Well, I think it's a little hard to tell. But what she's trying to say is something that I think we all should keep in mind, which is that the road to the White House is not through national polls, which show a double-digit lead. It's through these state-by- state polls. And Democrats have a lot of PTSD from four years ago when they looked at a picture of the electoral landscape that's pretty similar to what we're seeing today: Hillary Clinton lead, and then of course we know what happened on Election Day. So you're seeing Democrats warning that in the closest states in 2016 -- especially in states like Pennsylvania, states like Florida, the Sun Belt states and the Upper Midwest states, you're going to see a closer race. And of course, we still have a lot of days of voting left. So there's a lot that can change in the 15 days before Election Day.</s>SCIUTTO: No question. Abby Phillip, always good to have you on. Thanks very much. All right, so this is key. If you want to find your polling station, your voter registration status or get information about exactly how to cast your absentee ballot or to vote early, we have all the information in one place. Go to CNN.com/vote. Ignore the disinformation, we have the facts.</s>HARLOW: Thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you back here tomorrow morning. I'm Poppy Harlow.</s>SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto. NEWSROOM with John King starts right after a quick break.

Coronavirus Cases Surge as the U.S. Closes in on Critical Election; Trump Mocks Biden for Believing the Scientists; Michigan Governor Slams "Lock Her Up" Chant at Trump Rally; Coronavirus Hospitalizations Surging in Wisconsin and Utah.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: A very good Monday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.</s>POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Poppy Harlow. Fifteen days before the election, and the nation is in crisis. New coronavirus cases are surging in at least 27 states. The country is now averaging more than 50,000 new cases every single day, and one of the nation's top experts on this says brace yourself.</s>MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: When you actually look at the time period for that, the next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic. What we have right now is a major problem in messaging. You know, people don't know what to believe, and that's one of our huge challenges with going forward is we've got to get the message to the public that reflects the science and reflects reality.</s>SCIUTTO: Reflects reality. Case in point, the president is set to hold two rallies today despite those rise in cases and warnings to stay away from large groups just like this. Twitter has even removed a tweet from the president's COVID-19 adviser, Scott Atlas, which undermined masks. Twitter's decision welcomed by key members of the White House's own task force. That is the contradiction we have right now between what we know and bizarre claims out there. Let's start with the state of cases here in the U.S. CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now. Elizabeth, you know, we watched that map and I suppose this is what experts have been warning about for months that as we come into the fall, particularly as people get exhausted with coronavirus restrictions, we might see a rise like this.</s>ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, Jim, I think we're seeing two things. One as you mentioned exhaustion with the restrictions. It's hard to keep this up month after month. Also the weather is getting colder. Before maybe you could go outside and have a picnic with your friends socially distanced. But now it's hard to have that picnic or that barbecue. It's just getting too cold. People head inside and that means the virus can spread more easily. Let's take a look at a map that we have that shows that the cases are rising or heading back in the direction to the peak that we had last summer. That is the wrong direction. That's not the direction we want to be heading in. And while all of this is happening, the president of the United States is making fun of people who wear masks. And last night Dr. Jonathan LaPook on CBS, he asked Dr. Anthony Fauci about this. Dr. Anthony Fauci, he asked him, what do you think about what the president has had to say about masks?</s>DR. JONATHAN LAPOOK, CBS HOST, "60 MINUTES": He hasn't worn masks consistently.</s>DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Yes, but --</s>LAPOOK: He's pushed back against what you said.</s>FAUCI: See, I think that's less an anti-science that is more a statement.</s>LAPOOK: What kind of a statement?</s>FAUCI: You know, a statement of strength, like we're strong, we don't need a mask, that kind of thing. He sometimes equates wearing a mask with weakness.</s>LAPOOK: Does that make sense to you?</s>FAUCI: No, it doesn't. Of course not.</s>COHEN: And of course wearing a mask being associated with weakness is ridiculous. Masks are what protect people, good, strong people want to protect other people. They want to wear masks. So that whole association with weakness I think Dr. Fauci is right, and it is quite ridiculous. Also Dr. Scott Atlas, an adviser to the president, Twitter had to remove a tweet that he made saying people shouldn't wear masks -- Jim, Poppy.</s>HARLOW: That's a big deal because he's a member of the task force and someone the president repeatedly, you know, cites in interviews, even though this is not his area of expertise. Before you go, you've got new important reporting on Johnson & Johnson and their vaccine trial that was paused. What do you know?</s>COHEN: Well, the trial was paused exactly a week ago. And we asked Johnson & Johnson two very basic questions. We asked them, is this the first pause for your trial? And we asked them, a participant who became ill, that illness is what prompted the pause. The participant who became ill, did they get the placebo or the vaccine? And Johnson & Johnson, the spokesman, would not answer those questions. And we're hearing from public health experts, that's a problem that when questions don't get answered, that makes Americans suspicious about vaccines and we want Americans to roll up their sleeves and get the vaccine. The more suspicious they are the more they will hesitate to get the vaccine -- Poppy, Jim.</s>HARLOW: Thank you, Elizabeth, important reporting. As always, we appreciate it. So as this virus continues to spread, the president is still holding these rallies. Two more rallies in Arizona today, in fact.</s>SCIUTTO: Exactly the kind of events, crowds, not a lot of social distancing or masking, that health experts say are dangerous. CNN White House correspondent John Harwood join us now. President Trump, listen, he's doubling, tripling, quintupling down, I don't know where we are right now, on this attack on the facts and the science, and now mocking Joe Biden by saying he will, quote, "listen to the scientists." Well, what is the strategy here for the president?</s>JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Jim, at this point, the dangerous rallies that the president is having is the -- serving the same function as the dangerous advice he's getting from Dr. Scott Atlas, and that is to say at a time when most Americans are rejecting President Trump's performance as president, they're rejecting his handling of the coronavirus, they provide a pocket of minority view that comforts the president, makes him feel good about having given up on the fight against the coronavirus. He has gone so far away from reason and rationality that's he's actually mocking Joe Biden for listening to the genuine experts on this pandemic.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's going to lock down. He's going to want to us lock down. He'll listen to the scientists. If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression.</s>HARWOOD: Now of course that's false on a couple of levels. Joe Biden has said he would only move to lock down if the scientists recommend it. Secondly, it is understood by all in public health that if you can get control of the pandemic, that's how you have a sustainable recovery. Look at what's happening in China, which is going to have a growing economy this year. That's very hard for the United States to get a handle on the virus, as long as Trump's dividing the country. Joe Biden says he's going to bring the country together.</s>HARLOW: Right, and the question is, how do you do that? If he wins, how do you bring Republicans who didn't support him into the fold for a unified strategy here? Before you go, what is his message on the trail today?</s>HARWOOD: Joe Biden's message on the trail is we're going to end this divide that has caused, as Elizabeth was just saying, a significant chunk of the country to think that mask wearing is a sign of weakness, and get every -- try to get everyone on the same page. Not going to be easy, but that's Joe Biden's goal.</s>HARLOW: Thanks, John, reporting for us from the White House this morning. Let's bring in Dr. Chris Pernell. She is a physician at Newark University Hospital. She's also a volunteer in Moderna's phase three vaccine trial. And Dr. Peter Hotez, professor and dean of tropical medical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. Good morning to you both. Dr. Parnell, let me begin with you because not only are you in the final stages of this vaccine trial, your family members have had this. I mean, I just -- it's heartbreaking what your father went through, and Dr. Atlas, who is on the president's task force tweeting over the weekend that masks don't work. I mean, it's so untrue that Twitter had to take it down.</s>DR. CHRIS T. PERNELL, VOLUNTEER FOR CLINICAL TRIAL FOR COVID VACCINE: Poppy, that anti-science behavior is detrimental to this nation, and I stand by the statement that the public health is really a threat. The White House, this president, this administration has threatened public health. I was just speaking with a high school classmate the other day who lost her husband, who was also a police officer in Glenridge, New Jersey, to COVID-19. So when we continually pose winners versus losers, we're only further deepening the skepticism, we're only further deepening the suspicion and we need to stop that.</s>SCIUTTO: Dr. Hotez, let's look ahead here if we can, 15 days after the election, either you have a second Trump term or you have a President Biden. If you sat down with either one of them to recommend what is necessary to get this growing outbreak under control, what would that be? Would it be a national lockdown, more targeted lockdowns in areas where you have severe outbreaks? What exactly would be on your to-do list for the new president or a second Trump term?</s>DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Well, look, Jim, you know, the first thing I would do is explain to either president or president-elect where we're at nationally. We are seeing now a steep acceleration where yesterday I believe we were over 70,000 new cases a day. It goes up and down on a daily basis, but when you look at the seven-day trends, it's quite ominous. We are -- we'll be easily by 70,000 new cases per day by the end of the week, and who knows where it goes from there. If you look at some of the models of the Institute for Health Metrics or some of the Philadelphia models, in some cases they look almost apocalyptic in terms of numbers of new cases per day and deaths. So we are headed into a very scary place indeed, one of the worst parts of the epidemic as Dr. Osterholm said earlier. So the question is now, what should we be doing? I think, one, getting Americans ready. There is good news. We will have vaccines by the middle of next year or the third quarter of next year. I'm pretty confident of that. We're developing a vaccine as well so we're not asking for Americans to do this forever, but at least get ready for the next few months, and if things go as bad as some of the models suggest, yes, it's possible in some parts of the country, we will have to do aggressive social distancing measures. I would not take that off the table, and remind the president when he says, you know, when he mocks Joe Biden for listening to the scientists. If the president had listened to the scientists this year, we could have averted most of those 200,000 American deaths, deaths of Americans who perished during this epidemic, and averted public health catastrophe, which is now declining further into homeland security threat, because people are so scared and upset. So this is going to be a tough winter, and I've been talking to a lot of Americans about looking for some mental health counseling this winter as well, and think about who you're going to social distance, try to avoid living alone if you can. This is going to be a tough time for us.</s>SCIUTTO: Yes.</s>HARLOW: To your point about the president, let's play for our viewers what Dr. Fauci said last night on "60 Minutes" when he was asked essentially, are you surprised, the president contracted COVID?</s>LAPOOK: Were you surprised that President Trump got sick?</s>FAUCI: Absolutely not. I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask. When I saw that on TV, I said, oh, my goodness. Nothing good can come out of that. That's got to be a problem. And then sure enough, it turned out to be a super spreader event.</s>HARLOW: Dr. Pernell, the thing is after, you know, Governor Christie contracted COVID he had an awakening, right, and he said I should be wearing masks, I made a big mistake. We haven't heard that sort of awakening from the president. What do you think the public health consequences are of that?</s>PERNELL: Those consequences are devastating. I've said this before and I'll continue to say it. It will take some time for us to restore faith in our public institution, some time to restore faith in our public health infrastructure. And that's just deadly and concerning. Right now coronavirus is tracking to be the third leading cause of death in 2020, and if we had followed the science, if we had leaders who exemplify smart leadership and that truth prevailed, we wouldn't be in the predicament that we're in now. So whatever we can do as a public health community to beat back the false notions and the false narratives, it's imperative that we do it.</s>SCIUTTO: And it's going to take the American people, right, listening to those facts, reading those facts, not get snowed by all the disinformation out there. Dr. Chris Pernell, Dr. Peter Hotez, thanks to both of you. Still to come this hour, at the same time that the president is revving up crowds to chant, "lock her up," disturbing new video, evidence appears to show field training exercises in the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan's governor. It's alarming stuff, that video, next.</s>HARLOW: And it's a race against the clock as millions of Americans are waiting for economic aid. Speaker Pelosi this weekend giving the White House a 48-hour deadline to make a deal on stimulus funding before the election. Will she make a deal and will it happen by tomorrow? Also 27 million early voters already cast their ballots. We'll head to the polls.

Videos, Photos and Texts Reveal Details of Plot to Kidnap Michigan Governor Whitmer

SCIUTTO: Well, President Trump is amplifying his attacks on the governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, just days after authorities foiled an alleged plot to kidnap her. Governor Whitmer and the president have clashed over her response to the pandemic.</s>HARLOW: Over the weekend, the president compared her to a prison warden, accused her of needlessly locking down the state. That led to crowds breaking out into chants of "lock her up!" It's similar to the language used by those --</s>SCIUTTO: Yes --</s>HARLOW: Accused in the kidnapping plot, and here is a response from Governor Whitmer.</s>GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): It falls on deaf ears every time. They haven't done a darned thing. And in fact, ten days after a plot to kidnap, to put me on trial and then to murder me, ten days later, they're back in Michigan using the same rhetoric I've been asking them to turn the heat down. It is dangerous.</s>HARLOW: Now, we're seeing new evidence in this alleged plot including what authorities say is video of field training exercises as well as encrypted messages laying out the scheme. Our Sara Sidner reports.</s>SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You are looking at evidence that was played in federal court of the field training exercises federal prosecutors say were carried out in a plot to storm Michigan's capitol and kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer. CNN affiliate "WXMI" obtained the video from the U.S. attorney's office after the preliminary hearings for six men federally charged with conspiracy to kidnap a sitting governor. Several pieces of federal evidence were played in court.</s>BRANDON CASERTA, SUSPECTED OF PLOTTING TO KIDNAP MICHIGAN GOVERNOR: I'm sick of being robbed and then enslaved by this state, period. I'm sick of it, and these are the guys who are actually doing it. You know -- so, if you know -- if we're doing a recon or something and we come up on some of them, dude, you better not give them a chance. You either tell them to go right now or else they're going to die, period. That's what it's going to be, dude, because they are the -- enemy, period.</s>SIDNER: The suspects' alleged deeds and words were shown to the federal judge so she could decide if there was enough evidence to go to a grand jury. In this video, the lead FBI agent acknowledged in testimony that the defendant Adam Fox is inside a basement appearing to be speed reloading his weapon to quote, "minimize the time that your weapon is inoperable in case of a gun fight". Prosecutors say the video was taken inside this vacuum shop in Grand Rapids. (on camera): The owner of this vacuum shop says Adam Fox lived here for the last couple of weeks. He says he lived behind this door and down into the basement.</s>BRIANT TITUS, STORE OWNER: Basement where he stayed.</s>SIDNER: OK -- TITUS: And he was only going to stay there to 1 November.</s>SIDNER: Why did you decide it was time for him to go?</s>TITUS: He was buying more like attachments for like an AR-15 than he was buying like food, and I'm not stupid. I was in the Marine Corps, so that -- I told him he had to go.</s>SIDNER (voice-over): Briant Titus says he had no idea what was going on in his business' basement after-hours. The FBI testified this is inside another defendant's basement where you can see an arsenal of weapons in a gun locker, including an illegal short-barrel rifle. Beyond the videos, the FBI says they also infiltrated encrypted chats and text chains laying out the plot. In one encrypted chat, the suspects allegedly used code names and discussed killing Governor Whitmer, not just kidnapping her. The FBI identified the code name Beaker as suspect Daniel Harris who writes, "laying in bed, craziest idea, have one person go to her house, knock on the door, and when she answers just cap her. At this point, f it." Someone with the code name Tex responds "lol, only if it would be that easy." Beaker replies, "I mean, f-ing catch her walking into a building and act like passers-by and fixing dome her, then yourself, whoever does it, why create a manhunt? Do it in broad daylight and then end it." Tex replies, "good point or recon the house and snipe her." The alleged plot was never carried out. The six men along with seven others were arrested in an October FBI raid. Six were charged federally, the rest charged by the state for acts of terror. (on camera): We're now learning that an eighth suspect has been arrested in the state's case, bringing the total number of people allegedly involved in this plot to 14. Now, we did hear back from one of the defendant's attorneys. The federal suspect Ty Garbin's attorney told us as soon as his client learned of this alleged plot, he disavowed it and withdrew from the plot, and he says he's innocent of all charges, and he goes about saying, all of the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Sara Sidner, CNN, Los Angeles.</s>SCIUTTO: The details of this plot truly alarming. Well, experts are warning about what they call lockdown fatigue, but put yourself in the shoes of a doctor treating the surges of new patients infected with COVID-19. We're going to speak to two -- in two major hot spots of the country.</s>HARLOW: We're also moments away from the opening bell this Monday morning on Wall Street. Futures are pointing higher. Investors keeping a close watch on stimulus talks, and if something happens or if they break down, house Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the weekend putting out a 48-hour deadline to reach a stimulus deal. Will she agree to the $1.8 trillion offer from the White House? We'll have a live update next.

Trump Mocks Complaints about Lack of Masks at Rallies.

KING: Masks are a political dividing line in the 2020 campaign. And the president, and his top coronavirus adviser, like it that way. Like it so much they continue behavior the science tells us is dangerously wrong. A weekend tweet by White House adviser, Dr. Scott Atlas, pushed his view that masks are not effective. Twitter removed that post for violating its rules on misleading information. Dr. Atlas has the ear of a president to routinely skips the masks and routinely mocks his campaign rival for wearing one. The Trump campaign knows this position, it's hurting the president. So, it makes sure most of those positioned behind him at Trump rallies now are wearing masks but the majority of those in the crowds do not.</s>TRUMP: They're always complaining, I don't see masks. There's a lot of masks on.</s>KING: With me now is Chris Murray, the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. Chris, thank you for your time today. This issue again sadly back, front and center. Just a yes or no answer, you run the numbers every day, science, data, facts, not political rhetoric. Is there any doubt in the data that masks help?</s>DR. CHRIS MURRAY, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH METRICS AND EVALUATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: There's no doubt at all.</s>KING: There's no doubt at all. So, let's look. I just want to show some of your research, which is fascinating. We can look at May versus September. Now, we put the two studies side by side. Yellow is a very low percentage which is fewer than 20 percent or 21 to 29 percent. The yellow on the left is back in May that's very few people wearing masks. Now if you look to the right, green is certainly better than yellow, meaning a higher percentage of people are wearing masks. But the lighter greens that still means a third to a half of Americans only - a third to a half of Americans wearing masks at the end of September. Now, I want to put up one more. Let's move this forward. And we look at it from this perspective. On the left is your research at the end of September. In a lot of the country, fewer than half -- some big chunks of the country only roughly a third of the people wearing masks. And look at all of those states. 31 states right now increasing positivity. 31 states with increasing positivity. Is there any doubt in your research of that connection, fewer people wear masks, higher positivity, more cases, more spread?</s>MURRAY: No, we find that in the statistical analysis what explains transmission, where we're seeing the surges, masks is really overwhelmingly an important driver of the epidemic. It's our best bet as well to put the brakes on it.</s>KING: And so, listen to the secretary of Health and Human Services. He says, you know what, we're seven months in and people just kind of getting up - giving up, let their guard down. Listen.</s>ALEX AZAR, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Cases are increasing, and we're seeing this happen because we're getting colder weather. We're losing that natural social distancing that happens from being out of doors and people are getting tired. The American people have given so much we're seeing mitigation fatigue right now.</s>KING: Do you see that in the numbers in terms of mitigation fatigue? Do you see ebbs and flows right now in the use of masks and people doing other things they can do to help themselves? Is it consistent? Is it going in the wrong direction?</s>MURRAY: Well, as you dig deeper into not only you know when people wear masks but in which settings, what you're seeing is that people are still wearing masks pretty carefully when they go to the grocery store. But in many other types of activities like indoor gatherings which are so crucial for transmission. At work, we are seeing -- particularly restaurants, where still people are going to dine, mask use is really quite low. And that's some of the targets that we need to get people to really be vigilant and avoid contributing to transmission.</s>KING: Hard to get people to be vigilant when the doctor the president listens to the most tells him it's not important but we'll keep trying with the help of people like you. Chris Murray, thank you for your thoughts today and your important research. Up next for us, the president, what he's doing on the road in a final campaign stretch.

President Trump Attacks Science as COVID-19 Cases Rise; Johnson & Johnson Pauses Vaccine Trial

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: It is the top of the hour, I'm Brianna Keilar. And the pandemic is getting worse just as the experts predicted. One of them now warning that America is about to enter the, quote, "darkest weeks of this crisis" with 8 million infected and close to 220,000 dead. And the U.S., now averaging more than 56,000 cases a day. But today, instead of attacking the virus, the president is going after the leading authority on infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, calling him and other experts "idiots." Today, the president told his campaign staff this on a call, quote, "People are tired of COVID. I have these huge rallies, people are saying whatever, just leave us alone. They're tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. Fauci's a nice guy, he's been here for 500 years. Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths." If the president had listened to Fauci and other medical experts, maybe he would have pushed for folks to wear masks and avoid big crowds. Scientific modelings show us that universal mask-wearing would have saved tens of thousands of lives. Instead, the president continues to hold big rallies where few wear masks and they certainly don't socially distance. One is planned for tonight in Arizona, which is one of 27 states now showing a rising trend in new infections. Just as the weather is turning colder, driving people indoors where the risk of spread is so much higher. It's not clear if Fauci has heard the president's latest slam against him, but today the doctor delivered this call to action for all those he called "defenders of science."</s>ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We have a lot of challenges ahead of us, and I can't help thinking that we're really, you know, going through a time that's disturbingly anti-science in certain segments of our society. That's very troublesome to me. And we really need a group of scientists and physicians and health care providers really stick together in our principles because it is not going to be very easy as we go on with these challenges. This is a very, very difficult period in our existence, and we need to be the steadfast, vocal defenders of the scientific process.</s>KEILAR: Dr. Jorge Rodriguez is an internal medicine and viral specialist. He is a steadfast defender of science, which is why we have him on. And so first, Jorge, Dr. Fauci has been in the president's crosshairs for months now. But these new comments, there's something sort of about them where the president knew that reporters were listening and he called him a disaster and he said that he and other experts are idiots. What is your reaction to this?</s>JORGE RODRIGUEZ, INTERNAL MEDICINE AND VIRAL SPECIALIST: Well, my reaction is I hope I'm one of those idiots because that would really be like a feather in my cap, you know, to be called that. Consider the source. Tony Fauci, Dr. Fauci has been around not just for 500 years, for 2,000. Seriously, he is an icon in both the medical and scientific world, he is the most published researcher in the world. He's been through the HIV crisis and Ebola, so. And he is a man that is really nonpartisan, so he knows what he's talking about. So to refer to him in those demeaning terms, I think, is childish at best and it just creates a greater divide. Unfortunately, all of the things that have been said, all of the statistics that were quoted before this happened have come to pass. So there is no reason to doubt that we are at the beginning of what is going to be a huge surge this fall and winter unless people really buckle down and do what has been recommended, which is social distancing and masks. So you know what, that's just rhetoric. The science is the science, and the science proves that if we're careful we can save probably hundreds of thousands of lives before this is all over.</s>KEILAR: The president also mocked former Vice President Biden for wearing masks and for saying that he would listen to the scientists if elected. I mean, do you worry that there could be a lasting impact on public health, on the country because of the president casting -- I mean, he's politicizing science. Do you worry about a lasting impact?</s>RODRIGUEZ: Oh, absolutely. I think that that is already here, and I think the lasting impact is not just on science but in a lot of the institutions that have basically pilloried this country since its inception. And people now -- and we see it in our patients -- they do doubt what you say. Which is fine, people should question their physicians and their health care workers and we should have answers. But to blindly think that what we're saying, it's false? Listen, we really have no other motivation than to make sure that our patients stay healthy and alive. So I think the damage is done. It's going to take probably decades to repair, and I really salute someone like Biden. You know, I don't think it's a dig on him to say that he's going to listen to scientists. I'm like, yes, that's exactly what people should be doing and politicians should be doing.</s>KEILAR: Yes. No, it's an odd criticism, right?</s>RODRIGUEZ: Absolutely.</s>KEILAR: We did -- I want to listen, Dr. Rodriguez, because we did just get in this sound of what the president said about Dr. Fauci. Let's listen.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (via telephone): People are tired of COVID. I have these huge rallies, people are saying whatever, just leave us alone. They're tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. These people, these people that have gotten it wrong. Fauci's a nice guy, he's been here for 500 years. He's a disaster. I mean, this guy is -- if I listen to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths.</s>KEILAR: And -- OK, so there, I was reading the quote before but now we have it in the president's words. He knew that this would get out, right? This comes on the tails of Dr. Fauci doing "60 Minutes" and raising just kind of normal concerns but certainly the president feels it's negative for him. I do want to ask you about something that a doctor on the task force who the president likes, Dr. Scott Atlas, something he did. His advisor actually put out a tweet about masks, saying that they don't work when they do work, right? This statement is so erroneous --</s>RODRIGUEZ: Absolutely.</s>KEILAR: -- that Twitter removed it. He has been a proponent of herd immunity, though then he's also denied that. Let's listen to something he said last week.</s>RODRIGUEZ: Sure.</s>SCOTT ATLAS, ADVISER, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: We can allow a lot of people to get infected, those who are not at risk to be -- to die or have a serious hospital requiring illness, we should be fine with letting them get infected, generating immunity on their own. And the more immunity in the community, the better we can eradicate the threat of the virus including the threat to people who are vulnerable. That's what herd immunity is.</s>KEILAR: You know, Jorge, two months ago, he was very quick to defend himself to my colleague Michael Smerconish and insist that he was not pushing herd immunity. Which, you know, one other Harvard Medical School professor calls actually mass murder. And here he is now, openly talking about it. What do you make about this transition, this kind of shift, where now he's just unabashedly talking about herd immunity?</s>RODRIGUEZ: You know, this is what -- Brianna, this is what makes this so nauseating to a point, is the fact that you can tell that there are different political agendas at play here. If we had herd immunity with this infection, seriously, there would be millions of people dead in this country. Herd immunity may work with a lesser infectious disease but you still need 70 to 80 percent of the people in this country with antibodies. We don't even know how long antibodies last, so this is a very cavalier -- at best -- thing that he's proposing. And as far as masks, he did something which most scientists would be kicked out of the university for, which is to mine the data. Meaning that he picked and he chose what information he wanted from a study to sort of validate his point, which was completely erroneous. in this study that showed that people that go to restaurants are more likely to get COVID, he basically just said, oh, look, they were wearing masks and they still got it. You know, that's just bupkis. Masks save lives. This is completely irresponsible, and people just need to take care of themselves And you know, let me tell you something, my patients and the people that I (ph) know? Yes, people are tired of this. Women with breast cancer are tired of chemo, but they persevere, all right? We cannot diminish the human spirit and our ability to persevere. SO yes, we are tired but you know, dammit, we're going to persevere. And if that takes wearing masks for another year or so, we're going to do it.</s>KEILAR: Very well put. Dr. Rodriguez, it's great to see you, thank you,</s>RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Brianna.</s>KEILAR: The mayor of Chicago says her city is now seeing its second surge of the coronavirus. CNN's Adrienne Broaddus is in Chicago. Fill us in on what's happening there, Adrienne.</s>ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well good afternoon to you, Brianna. Chicago's mayor Lori Lightfoot said if the city doesn't see a drastic turnaround, she will not hesitate to take action. And by "take action," she's talking about reverting to phase three. Phase three only allows bars and restaurants to be open for delivery, drive-through and pickup. And if you want to get together with your family or friends, no more than 10 people. Indeed, Chicago is one Midwest state struggling to maintain and stop the spread of the virus. Now by contrast, when you look at Chicago compared to, let's say, the state of Wisconsin, the positivity rate here is low in comparison, 5.4 percent here in Chicago whereas in Wisconsin, it topped 25 percent. But the mayor of Chicago said she does not want her city to reach those numbers. Earlier, she said every day, someone in Chicago dies from COVID-19. At the start of the pandemic, health officials thought mass transit would drive up the number of new cases and infections. But that is not what they're seeing. Contact tracing revealed two out of three Chicago residents who were diagnosed with COVID-19 said they likely know the person who infected them.</s>KEILAR: Adrienne Broaddus, thank you so much for that report from Chicago. We appreciate it. And one week after Johnson & Johnson abruptly paused its vaccine trial, there are still critical unanswered questions. But Johnson & Johnson and the FDA refused to answer them. CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has been following this from the beginning. Some of these questions are pretty basic, Elizabeth, so why aren't we getting the answers?</s>ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: They are basic. And, Brianna, I don't know why we're not getting the answers. Johnson & Johnson is one of just four companies in phase three clinical trials in the United States, so every trial that goes on pause is time that is lost to getting us to a vaccine. Let's take a look at those four trials. So Johnson & Johnson started just September 23rd, and they're on pause. They went on pause not even three weeks into their trial. AstraZeneca was just going on for a short period of time, and then they went on pause more than a month ago and still haven't come back. Moderna and Pfizer are the only two that are currently, going; those both started July 27th. So with Johnson & Johnson, I asked the company repeatedly, can you tell me two things? What happened with this trial -- what we know -- is that a participant became ill, a participant in the trial became ill. It was an unexplained illness, and so they paused the trial, which is the right thing to do so you can investigate what's going on. The question is, did that participant get the vaccine or the placebo? because it's half and half, 50-50 chance. And they don't -- they say that they don't know or they won't tell us whether that person got vaccine or placebo, and that's very important. They also won't tell us whether this is the first pause for the trial. Maybe it paused earlier, we just don't know but they won't answer the question -- Brianna.</s>KEILAR: Yes, it seems like they should be able to answer that. The American College of Cardiology has just released an in-depth look at how COVID-19 impacts the heart. What have they found?</s>COHEN: You know, this is not good news. There has been a lot of concern because COVID-19 is known to cause inflammation and it is known to cause damage to the heart. So let's take a look. This is a study that looked at several other studies and summarized those findings. So what they found is that one quarter, about one quarter of hospitalized patients have myocardial injury, which is a type of heart injury. Those patients who had that injury tended to be older, have high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease already, so that's what we know about that. But one quarter is unfortunately a very high number. Those folks, unfortunately, who have that myocardial injury, Brianna, they are more likely to die before they leave the hospital, they are also more likely to need to go on a ventilator. We don't know what the long-term effects are of having that kind of injury. It's one of many things that doctors are trying to study. There are concerns that there are long-term effects not just on the heart but on the lungs and on other bodily systems, even after people recover from COVID-19 infection -- Brianna.</s>KEILAR: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much for all of that information. Packed rallies, few masks and a crowd-surfing politician in the middle of a pandemic? The president's campaign events flout CDC guidelines putting science and common sense on the defense. I'm going to speak to the writer of "Contagion" next. Plus, coronavirus spreads like wildfire in nursing homes, and new research could explain why. We'll have more on that, ahead.

Interview with 'Contagion" Director Scott Burns and Epidemiology Professor Anne Rimoin.

KEILAR: Coronavirus is ripping through the United States. There have been more than 8 million infections in this country, there have been nearly 220,000 deaths. But there's still a segment of the American population that is not taking this threat seriously, and that stems largely from the president who, just days after being treated for coronavirus at Walter Reed, held an event at the White House with hundreds packed together on the lawn. The president held his first campaign rally post-diagnosis in Sanford, Florida. You can see there, folks are cheering, many of them are not wearing masks. There is no social distancing except for maybe the president. Just listen to what some of the president's supporters say about the pandemic.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's all kinds of other viruses out there that could jeopardize your health as well, so can't stop living.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, if I'm going to get sick and die, I guess it's my turn. But I trust God and I'm not scared.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not worried. I figure the sooner we all get it, the sooner we'll be done with it.</s>KEILAR: Then you see other politicians like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, running around a rally maskless, exchanging high fives with the crowds. But this spectacle is probably the most bizarre. Georgia state lawmaker Vernon Jones, crowdsurfing in the middle of a pandemic without a mask. I want to bring in Scott Burns who wrote and directed the movie "Contagion." And Anne Rimoin who is a professor of epidemiology at UCLA. You know, first to you, Scott. I'm curious, I heard some of what you said at the beginning of the pandemic. Now we're several months into it and I'm curious what you think, because you had to conceive of a fictional account -- and clearly you did a lot of research because there were many things that I think you got spot-on about what a pandemic would happen. But in all of your research and in the writing of your movie, did you ever imagine this kind of behavior that we're seeing?</s>SCOTT Z. BURNS, WRITER AND DIRECTOR, "CONTAGION": Absolutely not. I mean, I spent years speaking to public health experts, epidemiologists. And they all told me the same thing, that it wasn't a question of if this is going to happen, it was a question of when. And so I'm not surprised that this is happening. There's a lot of science that would have foretold this. What I would have never anticipated -- and could have never, you know, taken into a studio is the notion that beyond the appearance of a novel virus, there would be a government response anything like this. I think the executives at the movie studio would have sent me back home if they would have -- you know, if I would have walked in there and said that the president of the United States would spread misinformation, that his party would, you know, neglect the people that they're sworn to represent.</s>KEILAR: Yes. And I mean, I even think of kind of your person in the movie who is trying to profit -- Jude Law's character -- off of the pandemic. I mean, even he took it seriously, even he knew that it could spread. And certainly the virus in the movie is more deadly, but never did you have anyone who was kind of denying the way we are seeing coming from the White House. No one can really imagine Matt Damon crowdsurfing without a mask in that movie. So when you look at this, you know, is it almost like a situation where reality has jumped the shark?</s>BURNS: Yes. I mean, you know, it would be a comedy if people weren't dying. I mean, the other part of it that I think is sort of stunning is, you know, if I was going to try and account for the divisiveness we now face, I think I would have pointed out, as Goldman Sachs did months ago, that everybody who wears a mask saves the U.S. federal government $3,000. And so I don't understand why the party that has always been about fiscal responsibility, or a president who wants to get businesses back has decided to be on exactly the wrong side of an issue that would in fact shorten the pandemic, save lives and make it easier for us to get back to work. It doesn't even make sense within the construct of what we've all been led to believe the Republican Party is.</s>KEILAR: And Anne, you know, just this morning the president was on a call and he said that people are tired of hearing about the deadly pandemic. He also referred to Dr. Anthony Fauci and other health officials as idiots. How worried are you that Americans may be losing their faith in science -- or at least some of them are -- as we see even science here and scientists being so politicized.</s>ANNE RIMOIN, PROFESSOR, UCLA DEPARTMENT OF EPIDEMIOLOGY: Well, absolutely. You know, I think I -- having Scott Burns on the show, his movie the tagline was "Nothing spreads like fear." And maybe if you redid it now, you might think it would be "Nothing spreads like disinformation and pseudoscience," and that's exactly what we're seeing. We're seeing the White House, the place that is supposed to be the model of good behavior and taking good scientific information, is spreading information that is dangerous the public, and creating a lot of chaos that we could not have imagined. We are coming into a very dangerous time. Every expert you've had on this show -- Dr. Fauci, Dr. Wen, Dr. Hotez, everybody has said over and over again, we are coming into a very dangerous moment here. People are moving indoors, the virus will spread. We do not have a silver bullet. This isn't a movie, movies end in two or three hours. We have a long way to go. And so all we've got are masks, social distancing, hand hygiene -- things we've been talking about from the very beginning. And when we do have a vaccine, it's not going to just be the next day everything is OK and we move on to the next thing. This is going to be a long haul, and we need good science, good information coming all the way from the top.</s>KEILAR: And you know, Scott, on the issue of the vaccine, when I re- watched "Contagion" at the beginning of the pandemic, that was kind of one of the things that stood out to me. Because you capture in the movie sort of an idea of how one might be ruled out, right? It's almost sort of like a lottery based on birthdays, I think it was, about how people would access the vaccine. And so there was this long waiting game for a lot of people. I mean, we still don't have a vaccine, there's a lot of questions about it. But that was one of the things you found in your research, was that this is something that will take a long time. It's not like the vaccine is discovered and then, bam, everyone gets it.</s>BURNS: Well, and the other -- that's exactly right. And one of the other things about it is you don't actually need to have the vaccine in hand to begin to make a plan. And so we talk about -- you know, or the president has talked about, you know, how soon the vaccine will be here, and I'm sort of stunned that nobody seems to understand, you know, when it does appear, who gets it first, how it's going to be dispersed, who's going to pay for it. And you know, I'm a screenwriter, I'm not a scientist and I'm happy to be here but people like Anne are the people we need to be listening to right now to help us get a plan together for what happens when we do have a vaccine.</s>KEILAR: Yes, I think you might have put more thought into your screenwriting, Scott, than the White House has put into their pandemic plan. Scott Burns, thank you so much. Anne Rimoin, thank you so much. Really appreciate it, you guys.</s>BURNS: Thank you.</s>KEILAR: Utah is in the middle of a major coronavirus outbreak. The hospitals are overwhelmed, they are at risk of running out of room in their intensive care units. We're going to get an update on the front line, next. And the rent plummets in San Francisco after the coronavirus pushes many people out of their tiny and very pricy apartments.

Decision on Subpoena for Trump Tax Returns Now in Hands of Supreme Court

KING: Some important breaking news now about the president's more than yearlong fight to keep his financial records out of the hands of New York prosecutors. The Manhattan district attorney wants those records dating back eight years. The president's lawyers have been fighting this for months. And a new legal wrinkle this morning now sends this conversation, this question, this debate to the United States Supreme Court, just two weeks, of course, before the presidential election. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz joins me now with the details. Shimon, what is the legal maneuver here, and it goes to the high court, do we know how quickly the high court might act?</s>SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We don't know how quickly they will act. There's no deadline, there's no timeframe in terms of when they need to act. But Manhattan prosecutors here have said they need these documents soon, right? They're in the middle of a criminal investigation, a grand jury investigation. And one of the things they've argued is that people's recollections go away. Things they remember go away. And so because they're in the middle of this criminal investigation, they need the documents sooner rather than later and they've been fighting for months to get these documents. And, of course, this is now the second time, John, that the president has gone to the Supreme Court asking for them to step in, the first time around, of course, they denied his initial request not to turn over the documents at all. But they then said, okay, we're going to let some of these other issues be decided by the lower court and the lower court did decide. Remember, the president, again, went to the federal judge here in New York saying that some of this was overreach by prosecutors here, saying some of this was retaliatory. That judge denied the president's claims and it then went to an appeals court here in New York. They too have denied the president's request to further delay this. So now, we are back at the Supreme Court where they will ultimately make the decision. The president's attorney here, in essence, is arguing for a short extension of a stay. There's been this stay in place. I think, ultimately, certainly, what some of the judges here who have decided this, since a lot of the lawyers around this case feel that they're trying to delay this, that the president has been trying to delay this past the election and certainly past January during his presidency. And this has been a delay tactic that's been going on for quite some time now. Manhattan prosecutors arguing that they need these documents as soon as possible at this point.</s>KING: Yes, and it's not just going on in the courts. This is a fight the president has been waging breaking the norms of releasing your taxes, criticizing every time something leaks out, now fighting in the courts before the election. It's on the Supreme Court's plate now. At least it's at its final stop. We'll see when we get an answer. Shimon Prokupecz grateful for the reporting there. Up next for us, vulnerable Senate Republicans in Senate races, some of them now attempting to create a little distance between themselves and an unpopular president.

GOP Tries to Hold onto Its Slim Majority in the Senate.

KING: Two weeks out, and Democrats see improving odds of taking back the Senate majority. Republicans hold a slim three-seat majority now. But there are 23 Republican seats up for re-election. Democrats a net gain of just four Republican seats to flip the chamber. The president's poll struggles are increasing, late campaign pressure on embattled Republicans. Stick with him or try to create some space.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you proud of support for Donald Trump?</s>SEN. CORY GARDNER (R-CO): I am proud of the work that we have done together.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you proud of your support for President Trump?</s>SEN. MARTHA MCSALLY (R-AZ): Well, I am proud and I am fighting for Arizonans on things like cutting your taxes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question is are you proud of your support for President Trump?</s>MCSALLY: I'm proud to be fighting for Arizona every single day.</s>KING: With me now, Jessica Taylor, Senate and Governors Editor for The Cook Political Report. It is interesting, Jessica, to watch these debates, watch the candidates try to sort of kind of before the president, but then and get a little bit of space. When you do the math, if you look at the math right now, Democrats need that net four. Colorado, Arizona and Maine appear to be states where the Democrats are poised, 15 days to go, poised. Now, walk through some of the other key races in this calculation as we go into the final two weeks.</s>JESSICA TAYLOR, SENATE AND GOVERNORS EDITOR, THE COOK POLITICAL REPORT: Well, I'm also factoring Alabama in there too which Republicans are likely to pick up. And so that's when it leaves the tipping point states is most likely North Carolina or Iowa. And, of course, North Carolina has been rocked there by Cal Cunningham, who has this extramarital affair scandal, but even that doesn't seem to be moving the numbers. And Republican incumbent there, Thom Tillis, was one of those that has been positioning himself, saying outright that he would be a check on a Biden administration. So you are seeing these incumbents sort of more subtly than usual say, okay, it looks like this presidential race may be baked, do you want unified government giving Democrats control and possibly eliminating the filibuster or adding seats to the Supreme Court. But I think still differentiating yourself from this president is really tough because he doesn't make it easy. Because if you criticize him, you're going to get a tweet, you're going to get criticism. Susan Collins got that just last week because she has, of course, broken with them on the Supreme Court. But even after that, the fact that we have a dozen Republican House seats that we consider competitive at this point. So after Iowa, you have Montana, that is very much in a margin of error race. You have not one but two seats in Georgia. But, look, they're headed to runoffs in January as well.</s>KING: And one seat we're watching, it would be a wow in a year of wow, it would be a wow, wow, wow, is South Carolina. Because the Democratic candidate there has raised millions and millions and millions of dollars, as have many Democratic candidates this year. But Lindsey Graham, the Republican chair of the Judiciary Committee, in a state you usually think of in presidential year, just forget about it, right, it is ruby red, the poll had him down, I believe, six points, which is close-ish. We'll see what happens. But he is trying to get some late campaign help and he has got a lot of money to put in T.V. ads from the most popular Democrat in the country. Listen.</s>BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: You want a senator who will fight for criminal justice reform, lower college costs and make health care affordable, you've got to vote for my friend, Jaime Harrison. This is the biggest election of our lifetime.</s>KING: Number one, having Obama on your side helps if you're a Democrat. South Carolina is more iffy, if you will. That tells me Harrison campaign realizes they need off the charts African-American turnout if they're going to have a prayer.</s>TAYLOR: They do. And I think that poll you referenced, The New York Times poll that had it down six, I do think it was sort of undersampling African-American voters and still had double-digit African-American undecided. I think those are likely to go to Harrison if we're breaking it down. And both Republican and Democratic internal that I have seen, again, show this as a margin of error race. And I think this one is also that's somewhat uniquely about Lindsey Graham. Of course, I think, more than anyone in the Senate, he has undergone just an amazing transformation from vocal Trump critic in 2016 to loyal Trump ally, that some conservatives still aren't completely sold on that evolution in the state. And then he has also alienated moderates and even some center-left Democrats in the state that would vote for him too. And, again, Harrison with that $57 million that he has brought in over the last quarter which just obliterated the previous fundraising record, he is able to do that. He is able to just blanket the state in ads. They're also hoping that a third party candidate who remains on the ballot despite dropping out, and endorsing Graham could get pick off enough to sort of give him a plurality in order to win.</s>KING: A great reminder. We focus most of our time on the presidential race, but especially there are a lot of races down ballot, especially the ballots apparently in the Senate, incredibly consequential. Jessica Taylor, grateful for your time and your reporting. We'll stay on top of this the next 15 days as well. Up next, the president of the United States goes after his top doctor on infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci. In the president's words, he's a disaster.

Mayor Brandon Whipple (D-Wichita) Discusses Man Accused of Threatening to Kidnap and Kill Him over Mask Mandate

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MICHIGAN): In fact, 10 days after a plot to kidnap, to put me on trial, and then to murder me. Ten days later, they're back in Michigan using the same rhetoric I have been asking them to turn the heat down. It is dangerous.</s>BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And in Kansas, a man has been arrested for allegedly threatening to kidnap and kill the mayor of Wichita because he was upset about the coronavirus mask mandate that requires people to wear face covering in public spaces. Meredith Dowty is charged with making a criminal threat. And the Wichita mayor threatened, Brandon Whipple, joins me now. Mayor, thank you so much. We're sorry you're going through this. Give us some information about how all of this unfolded and exactly what this man allegedly was planning to do.</s>MAYOR BRANDON WHIPPLE (D-WICHITA, KS): Yes, thanks for having me. Really, we were just alerted that this person was interested in causing harm to myself due to some of the precautions the city has done to protect our neighbors in our community.</s>KEILAR: You have received some threats before. You are a public official. There was something about this --</s>WHIPPLE: Right.</s>KEILAR: -- that felt different to you.</s>WHIPPLE: Yes. I signed up for this. This is my job. My job is to make sure the people of Wichita have the necessary information that they need to keep themselves and our community safe, even if that information is negative information, right? So in the past, I think the type of threats that have come my way have been from folks who really couldn't probably pull them off. This person -- there was a text message to someone that he thought would have my address and asked for my address so it could be carried out. Luckily, we have incredible police officers that were able to get this person under arrest and also make sure my family was safe.</s>KEILAR: Yes. It is not just you. It is your family. We're hearing that from so many public officials feeling threatened. To you, did it seem knowing that this was something happening right after we learned about the plot to kidnap the Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer over similar outrage, is this something that because of that you are even more concerned about? Did that sort of up the worry that you would have as a public official about what someone might try to do?</s>WHIPPLE: I mean, to be honest, not really. Wichita has the greatest people in the country. We have the best police chief. We have incredible neighbors that look out for each other. When I look at what happened to Governor Whitmer, that seems more planned out. Here, it seemed like someone that's obviously on the fringe. And here in Wichita, voice of common sense always drowns out the fringe voices that just are loud but not common. So overall, I think the two cases are different. And, again, I live in the best community in the world, so I am never afraid to be in Wichita.</s>KEILAR: Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law, speaking on behalf of the campaign this weekend, and this is what she said about the president's attacks on Governor Whitmer.</s>LARA TRUMP, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S DAUGHTER-IN-LAW: He wasn't doing anything to provoke or threaten this woman at all. He was having fun at a Trump rally.</s>KEILAR: I mean, I hear folks in the president's corner downplaying some of the rhetoric. What do you think of it being characterized as having fun? What do you think about what this rhetoric is doing? Do you think it is contributing to an environment where we are seeing public officials coming under threat?</s>WHIPPLE: Listen, as a dad, I have three boys under the age of seven. I tell them it stops being fun when someone else isn't having fun, right? When someone is at risk of being hurt, that's when the fun stops. I don't think it is so much what our president says as much as also the tone it is said in. And also the environment we're in now. We're in a highly partisan election cycle. And also under a lot of stress. This, for our country, is one of the most difficult times in the last 100 years. We have to take that into account. And elected leaders need to be responsible and set the example, not just the example to keep COVID at bay but the example when it comes to showing each other grace, ensuring we watch out for one another, even at times we disagree.</s>KEILAR: I like what you say to your kids. I'm going to steal that. Mayor Brandon Whipple, thank you.</s>WHIPPLE: Doesn't always work. Thanks a lot.</s>KEILAR: No, I hear you. We can try. Thanks, Mayor. It is now or not by the election. Speaker Pelosi sets a deadline to reach a stimulus deal as China's economy rebounds. Plus, will George W. Bush break his silence, endorse someone before the election? We have new reporting next.

Ex-Bush 43 Aides Endorse Biden with 15 Days to Go; Will George W. Bush Speak Out Before Election?

KEILAR: A group of George W. Bush officials launched a new ad, saying most never voted for a Democrat in their lives. But now they say every last one of them is voting for Joe Biden.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of us never voted for a Democrat in our lives. Never thought about it. Because most of us are lifelong Republicans. But we're Americans first. We understand the character and experience, and, frankly, empathy required for leadership because we've seen it firsthand when we all served with the 43rd president. But come Election Day, every last one of us on this team is voting for Biden.</s>KEILAR: The group is called 43 Alumni for Biden. And it says it, quote, "Seeks to unite and mobilize a community of historically Republican voters dismayed and disappointed by the damage done to our nation by Donald Trump's presidency." Joining me now, CNN special correspondent, Jamie Gangel. Jamie, when you see the ad and those behind it, is this significant? It is something that stands out. Is it significant?</s>JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it is significant in this way. These are loyal Republican -- they may not be household names but these are party faithful. What's interesting is they're not just going to stay home or leave the top of the ballot blank. They feel that they need to actively vote for Joe Biden. I was also struck by the commercial because it is not the Lincoln Project, right? It has a very different feeling. And I would say there are two groups of Bush 43 Republicans. There are some very familiar faces. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has said he will endorse Biden, has endorsed him. Same for secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge. He has endorsed Biden. But what struck me about this group is you won't recognize most of their names but there are hundreds and hundreds of them. And the sense is that they hope to reclaim the Republican Party down the road, that they really have to stand up and not just speak out now but vote.</s>KEILAR: Yes, I mean, they're part of a large group of Republicans, both campaign and in the policy world, who kind of feel they're Republicans without a party, that they feel they can hold onto right now. And it is lending to some speculation which is what about former president George W. Bush, is he going to speak out.</s>GANGEL: When the ad posted this weekend, my phone blew up. I made some calls. There's not going to be an October surprise. I am told by officials very close to former President Bush that he is not going to endorse Biden. This is really not a surprise because he has been saying for quite some time that he has retired from politics. That said, it doesn't take a lot to read between the lines. Just for some context, Former President Bush did not vote for Donald Trump in 2016. We reported he left the top of the ballot blank. He is the last Republican president before Trump. He is not endorsing Trump. And just recently, he announced that he paints a lot now. We've seen the paintings he does. He did them of military soldiers. He has a new book and a new exhibit coming out. And I can't help but think it wasn't exactly an accident when they announced it. It is called "Out of Many, One." And the subject of the new book, immigrants. So there's no building a wall. Quite the opposite. And on a lighter note, Brianna, a former senior Bush administration official reminded me this morning, if you want to know how former President Bush feels about Donald Trump, you might remember that he was quoted after the inauguration in 2016. I can't say the whole thing. But he was quoted as saying, "That's some weird blank." So we know where he stands.</s>KEILAR: Yes. I mean, that was direct sort of caught. We heard him unfiltered. Even the filtered version of him is clear, sub tweeting.</s>GANGEL: Yes.</s>KEILAR: Jamie Gangel, thank you so much.</s>GANGEL: Thank you.</s>KEILAR: Joe Biden and President Trump will face off one last time in the final presidential debate this Thursday. Special live coverage beginning at 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Coming up, President Trump's know nothing defense. The president denying reality with two key words. Then later, crowd surfing during the pandemic. And that's just the beginning. The writer of the movie "Contagion" will join me live to discuss.

Trump's Long Pattern of "I know Nothing" Defenses.

KEILAR: Recently, we showed you the president's "hardly know them" defense, a pattern of him denying he knows someone who is in trouble or at the center of controversy when he clearly knows of them or certainly knows of them. Now he's peddling the "I know nothing" defense.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know nothing about QAnon.</s>SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NBC HOST & DEBATE MODERATOR: I just told you --</s>TRUMP: I know very little. You told me. But what you tell me doesn't necessarily make it fact. I hate to see that. I know nothing about it.</s>KEILAR: It's hard to believe, for many reasons. First, the FBI has labeled the group a threat. Second, Trump endorsed a QAnon supporter running for Congress. And it got a whole heck of a lot of attention on cable news, which the president consumes like air. Third, he's been asked about it at multiple times at this point. So, yes, he knows. But his feigned ignorance on QAnon mirrors the answer that he gave about the Proud Boys, the far-right group with a penchant for violence that has been showing up repeatedly at both protests and Trump rallies.</s>TRUMP: I don't know who the Proud Boys are. You'll have to give me a definition because I really don't know who they are. I can only say they have to stand down. Let law enforcement do their work.</s>KEILAR: That was right after Trump failed to condemn white supremacy at the first presidential debate. And like white supremacy, Trump has used both the "hardly know them" and the "don't know anything" defenses like during his last election when he said this about former KKK grand wizard, David Duke, who had made a competitive run for Louisiana governor in 1991.</s>TRUMP: I don't know anything about him. Somebody told me yesterday, whoever he is, he did endorse me. Just so you understand I don't know anything about David Duke, OK? I don't even know what you're talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So I don't know. I don't know. Did he endorse me, or what's going on? Because you know, I know nothing about David Duke. I know nothing about white supremacists.</s>KEILAR: OK, let's just roll the tape.</s>LARRY KING, FORMER CNN HOST: Did the David Duke thing bother you? And 55 percent of the whites in Louisiana voted for him?</s>TRUMP: I hate --</s>KING: And 400 New Yorkers contributed?</s>TRUMP: I hate seeing what it represents. But I guess it shows a lot of hostility in this country. There's a tremendous amount of hostility in the United States.</s>UNIDENTIFIED NEWS HOST: What do you see as the biggest problem with the Reform Party right now?</s>TRUMP: Well, you have David Duke just joined, a bigot, a racist, a problem. This is not exactly the people you want in your party.</s>KEILAR: Trump also uses the "I know nothing" defense on the reported Russian bounties on the heads of American troops. Serious and credible enough that it was included in his presidential intel briefing. Tough to miss Russia paying to off American servicemembers. But here's what he said, quote, "Nobody briefed or told me, Pence or Meadows, about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by the Russians. Everybody is denying it. And there have not been many attacks on us." But he seems to miss a lot, especially when it comes to the Kremlin.</s>TRUMP: I know nothing about Russia. I know about Russia, but I know nothing about the inner workings of Russia.</s>KEILAR: He also said he was unfamiliar with WikiLeaks, which Russia used to dump hacked e-mails damaging to Hillary Clinton in 2016. But only after he said he was quite familiar with WikiLeaks.</s>TRUMP: I know nothing about WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks. I love WikiLeaks.</s>KEILAR: When the House of Representatives impeached the president, his defenses about pressuring Ukraine's president to dig up dirt on Joe Biden included everything from, quote, "It is a perfect phone call," to this one, his reaction to acting U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine Bill Taylor's testimony that Trump was overheard asked about investigations a day after that call.</s>TRUMP: I know nothing about that. First time I've heard it.</s>KEILAR: When Trump's former top political adviser, Steve Bannon, was charged with fraud over a border wall fundraising scam, the president claimed this:</s>KEILAR: I know nothing about the project, other I didn't like -- when I read about it, I didn't like it. I think it's a very sad thing for Mr. Bannon.</s>KEILAR: The problem is, before Bannon way arrested, Chris Kobach, Trump's anti-immigration ally, who also led his Voter Fraud Commission, that didn't find voter fraud, told the "New York Times" this: Quote, "I talked with the president and the 'We Build the Wall' effort came up. The president said the project has my blessing and you can tell the media that." Duly noted. Thank you. Another time that the president's own officials contradicted one of his "I know nothing" defenses was when Geoffrey Berman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, a top Justice Department official, was fired after overseeing the prosecution of several of the president's allies.</s>TRUMP: That's all up to the attorney general. Attorney General Barr is working on that. That's his department, not my department. But we have a very capable attorney general, so that's really up to him. I'm not involved.</s>KEILAR: But it was also very much up to the president. Just before Trump's remarks, A.G. Barr told Geoffrey Berman in a letter that he had been fired by President Trump. Finally, when it comes to the pandemic, the president was asked why his White House eliminated the office in charge of global pandemics within his National Security Council. He blamed it on Dr. Fauci, who had nothing to do with disbanding that team.</s>TRUMP: I could perhaps ask Tony about that. Because I don't know anything about it. I mean, you say -- you say we did that. I don't know anything about it.</s>KEILAR: Now, we all remember a time when it was good for a president to be informed. Claiming ignorance all the time about all the things wasn't presidential. It certainly wasn't smart. And it wasn't believable. I guess that, at least, hasn't changed. The president is again trashing Dr. Fauci. This time, calling him a disaster and an idiot.

28M Ballots Already Cast With 15 Days To Go Until Election Day

KING: Six more states began early voting today in a campaign that is already shattering records. Look at that number, more than 28 million ballots cast already in the 2020 election. That's according to a survey of election officials by CNN Edison Research, and Catalist. Catalist is a data company that provides data analytics and other services to Democrats, academics, and nonprofit issue advocacy organizations. In person voting begins today as I noted six states Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, North Dakota, and some counties in Florida. This is earlier today in Jacksonville, Florida. Look at that. It's remarkable. You see the line snake around as residents wait and wait and wait patiently to vote. Let's bring in CNN's Kristen Holmes, she's helping us keep track of this early voting, mail-in balloting, and all things challenging in this pandemic election. Kristen?</s>KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. It's really extraordinary what we're seeing in Florida. And while it is just some of the counties, it is some of the most critical counties. We're talking about Broward County, Miami Dade, those counties that we end up talking about on election night, and in the days following it. And I want to show you some video here. This is from over the weekend, in the battleground state of Georgia. Look at these incredible lines here. This is a state that has seen 152 percent increase in voter turnout from the same time back in 2016. Now, as we are seeing all this enthusiasm people heading to the polls, we are learning that Democrats are preparing for a variety of scenarios, some likely some unlikely on Election Day, and in the days afterwards. And I want to go through what exactly we have learned. Essentially, the scenario does fall into one of two categories. One is President Trump disputing the election either in court or on Capitol Hill. And the other one falls into this idea that Biden wins and President Trump says that the results aren't real, that it was rigged. And then again, disputes and refuses a peaceful transfer of power. Now, and the first one as we know, the campaign, the Biden campaign has sent out hundreds of lawyers all across the country, and they're preparing for any sort of situation, including we've learned a Bush v. Gore 2000 situation despite the fact that election officials say that is highly unlikely. Now you have another set of Democratic lawmakers up on Capitol Hill who are studying these arcane election laws just in case this ends up in their lap come November 4th or in the days afterwards. Now, when it comes to the idea of President Trump saying that this is rigged or fraud, the big concern for Democrats is all about their messaging. They have a worry that they don't have enough horsepower to compete with President Trump and his Twitter feed. And so because of that they're working with these social media companies to try and discourage any sort of premature announcement of an election winner ahead of time. And you're also seeing them double down on this messaging. I want to pull this up here. This was a from a report from Senate Democrats on what to expect on Election Day. It says, despite the President's false claims, according to the leading election experts in our country is nearly fraud, excuse me, leading expert, election experts in our country, fraud is nearly nonexistent. In some states, we may not know the winner on election night. That's okay. And that is something we have heard from election officials across the country they want to stress to people just because we don't have the answers, doesn't mean the system isn't working.</s>KING: Amen. It's more than OK. If we don't know on election night, we'll just keep counting the votes until we do know. And the math is what matters in the end. And we'll try to shove aside the chaos. And Kristen Holmes will help us all the way. Kristen, thank you so much for the reporting there. And I want to add this, word this hour, the First Lady Melania Trump will make a very rare campaign trail stop Tuesday in Pennsylvania, her first on the trail in more than a year. The President's children routinely campaign on his behalf. The First Lady, though, has been a notable exception. Melania Trump did give an August speech at the Republican Convention. That event held at the White House, but she has not been out on the campaign trail for an appearance since June 2019. That was at the President's reelection kickoff event in Florida. Up next for us, Dr. Anthony Fauci issuing a new warning on a potential coronavirus vaccine.

Trump Attacks Dr. Fauci On Call With Campaign Staff.

KING: President Trump taking time today on a campaign call with campaign staffers to attack Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert. The President telling staff on that campaign call, quote, people are saying whatever, just leave us alone. They're tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. Fauci is a nice guy. He's been here for 500 years. Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths. That's the President of the United States mocking his top infectious disease expert. With me now, our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen, we all have to choose how to spend our time, Elizabeth, the President decided to mock criticize, call it idiot, and a disaster. Again, I'm not saying Dr. Fauci is always right, but he's given more than 40 years of his life to this.</s>ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John, we all know that when President Trump feels vulnerable, he leashes out, he attacks. He's attacking someone who, as you said, not perfect, but has saved countless lives by telling us to wear masks, by encouraging social distancing, by speaking truth to the President's life, to the President's lives. Dr. Fauci has saved lives. He's been doing this job since 1984. He served six presidents because guess what, when you do your job, well, you get to keep it, John.</s>KING: And Dr. Fauci, to mention Dr. Fauci, he was giving an address taking some questions earlier today and I understand he made some news when it comes to the race for a vaccine.</s>COHEN: He did, actually he said something that was accurate. So gosh, let's listen.</s>DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: One of the problems we'll face is getting people to take the vaccine. It would be a terrible shame if we have and I think we will have a safe and effective vaccine, but we're not able to widely distribute it particularly for those who need it.</s>COHEN: And the problem here is that is, as I said, this is accurate. And the problem here is that this is a problem partly of President Trump's making. When you call your vaccine effort, Operation Warp Speed, that's a problem, it makes people think that you're going too quickly. When your administration and the drug companies keep certain things secret, it makes people get very suspicious. So that really is the problem. I mean, I think it's very clear to the experts that I speak to, that we likely will have a safe and effective vaccine. The issue is, will people take it? Poll after poll shows that many Americans are very hesitant. One recent poll showing that 30 percent of white people don't want to take it, 50 percent of black people don't want to take it, and unfortunately, John, those numbers have gotten worse over time.</s>KING: And the President is just called an idiot and a disaster, the scientist is absolutely critical to helping all of us think it might be safe. The drama continues. Elizabeth Cohen, grateful for the important reporting there. Up next for us in early COVID-19 success story in Europe now reporting one of its highest infection rates.

Experts Warn Of Pandemic Fatigue As COVID-19 Cases Surge

KING: The Czech Republic now among those in Europe facing a dangerous wave of new coronavirus infections. Once in early success story among European countries, the Czech Republic now has one of the highest infection rates on the continent. Despite that, the government says for now it will hold off ordering a full lockdown as it tries to deal with protests against further restrictions, that and more now from international correspondents around the world.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ben Wedeman in Naples in the Campania region of Southern Italy. This was an area largely spared in the first wave of coronavirus here in Italy. But now this region has the second highest number of active COVID-19 cases in the country. Schools and universities have been closed in this region. So there is cause for concern. But it's important to point out what has changed. Unlike in the past, testing is now easily and widely available to anyone. And the number of patients nationwide in intensive care is just around a fifth of it was earlier this year. Now Sunday evening, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced new measures to try to slow this latest surge of cases. The focus of those measures is reducing social gatherings with an emphasis on nightlife. Clearly, there is no appetite at this point to repeat the more than two month crushing nationwide lockdown that nonetheless succeeded at stopping the first wave of coronavirus here in Italy.</s>SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: I'm Salma Abdelaziz in Manchester where we finally have a breakthrough after days long standoff between authorities here in Manchester and the central government in London over their plans to raise the coronavirus alert level of the city to very high. The mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham says he has held constructive talks with senior officials. We've also heard from one official from Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government that the city will be offered a larger financial package to help affected businesses. Now what the mayor actually wanted to see was a nationwide lockdown. He's not the only one. The country's scientific advisors have also called for the same. Now Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government's response to those calls has been a resounding no. Instead, they've been implementing this three tier regional system. Now we do understand that talks are expected to continue today. The government says it is hopeful that a resolution will be reached soon. But while officials beaker city by city, town by town over these restrictions, the virus continues to spread. Downing Street says that the Greater Manchester region could run out of ICU capacity in a matter of weeks.</s>OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem where PLO Secretary General and Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat is in critical condition. He is on a ventilator and is under general anesthesia according to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, where he's being treated. He was brought to the hospital on Sunday afternoon in serious but stable condition, who's taken from his home in Jericho with Coronavirus and brought to the hospital to receive further treatment. The hospital says he got through the night OK. But on Monday morning, his condition began to deteriorate. And again he remains, at this point, in critical condition. His office, the negotiations Affairs Department of the PLO says he tested positive for coronavirus about a week and a half ago. He's a high risk case because he had a lung transplant in the U.S. in 2017. Meanwhile, coronavirus numbers across the region in terms of the absolute value in the Palestinian territories, there were less than 400 new cases. The trouble is the positivity rate stands at 11.5 percent according to the Ministry of Health. In Israel, there were 892 new cases yesterday according the Ministry of Health data, with the positivity rate in the mid to low single digits, that is a positive sign as Israel begins to come out of its second general lockdown.</s>SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Selina Wang in Hong Kong. While the world is dealing with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, China's economy grew 4.9 percent in the third quarter. In fact, China will be the only major economy to grow this year. Compare that to the U.S. economy which is expected to shrink more than 4 percent this year and the Eurozone, which is forecast to contract more than 8 percent. This is a reminder that until a country has contained COVID-19 the economy cannot recover and there are no shortcuts. So far China's strategy of mass testing, contact tracing, and restrictions appears to have worked. People are spending again with retail sales growing more than 3 percent in September. But like other countries, the pandemic has also disproportionately affected China's poor. Millions of people lost their jobs in China during the pandemic and China's numbers do not give us the full picture of how many people are still jobless. Chinese growth also faces risks from high unemployment in further trade tensions with the U.S. Selina Wang, CNN, Hong Kong.

President Trump: People Are Tired Of Hearing Fauci And All These Idiots; President Trump Attacks Dr. Fauci On Call With Campaign Staff; Dr. Anthony Fauci: Certain Parts Of Society "Disturbingly Anti- Science"; President Trump Tries To Hold Onto Key Rust Belt Swing States; Utah Reports Rise In Test Positivity, Hospitalizations.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Hello to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I am John King in Washington. Thank you for sharing a very, very busy news day with us. 15 days now from the November election. And President Trump's top priority today, attacking the scientists inside his own administration. On a campaign call just last hour, the president labels Dr. Anthony Fauci "A disaster." And the president claims without any evidence that had he listened completely to Dr. Fauci, American Coronavirus deaths would number more than 500,000. This is a quote from the President of the United States "People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots." That's what your president says. The president says the pandemic's end is near, but scientists warn the next few months will likely be the darkest weeks of this entire pandemic. Take a look at the numbers. 48,000 new cases recorded on Sunday. The second highest COVID tally on Sunday since back on July 26th. That number is also low, because we know it is missing case totals from six states. The weekend total of new cases from Friday through Sunday just under 175,000 new infections. The United States now growing its case count by 56,000 per day on average right now. The spring spike was driven by the Northeast, the summer surge centered largely on the South. This false tsunami is not regional, it is just about everywhere. Look at the map. 27 states, 27 of the 50 states, that's the red and the orange trending in the wrong direction. 21, that's Beige, treading water. Only two green, two states, only two of the fifty pushing down their case curves right now. 2020, we all know is the pandemic campaign. Thursday night is the final time the president debates Democrat Joe Biden. Every day it seems he squares off against truth and against science.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression.</s>DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I think deep down he believes in science. If he didn't, he would not have entrusted his health to the very competent physicians at The Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Sometimes equates wearing a mask with weakness.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does that make sense to you?</s>DR. FAUCI: No, it doesn't, of course not.</s>KING: Let's go to the White House and CNN's Kaitlin Collins. Kaitlan, a predictable pattern here, the president has again taking the bait. Dr. Fauci does that 60 minutes interview last night, he is clearly critical of the president about the reckless event at the White House to Supreme Court rollout, about the president getting Coronavirus himself right there about how the president somehow thinks masks are weak. And then the president as he often does responds to somebody he sees on television, calling Dr. Fauci a disaster, an idiot. Dr. Fauci has pretty high esteem with the American people.</s>KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he does. And let's remember also that the Trump Campaign recently used Dr. Fauci in an ad, because they know that he can appeal to voters because he does have such a high approval rating. But clearly it didn't take long for the president to respond after that 60 minutes interview. And so, to be clear to viewers, this is a call that the president was doing with campaign staff, staff that's here at the headquarters in Washington and staff throughout the country. And unprompted, the president was supposed to be disputing reports that campaign staff internally and privately believe that the chances of him being reelected are slim. But then unprompted, the president goes after Dr. Fauci, because he was talking about these big rallies that he has been having, and he says that he believes people are getting tired of Coronavirus. And we're working on audio. But right now I'm just going to read you the quote from the president where he said people are saying whatever, just leave us alone. They are tired of it; people are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. He then goes on to say somewhat sarcastically Fauci is a nice guy, he has been here for 500 years, he also claims Fauci is a disaster. And that if I listened to him, we would have a half million deaths, where later going on and upping his own number to say 7,00,000 or 800,000, though of course with no basis for why he is saying he believes there would be thousands or hundreds of thousands of more deaths if Dr. Fauci had been leading the effort. And he said this is a call with staff that the president seemed to know that reporters like myself were on this call, because then he goes, there's a reporter on, you can have it just the way I said it, I couldn't care less. So he knew that people were listening in on this call that he was trashing the nation's top public health official that the campaign is recently used in ads and the president continued with this sentiment. And of course this is coming as over 200,000 Americans are dead from Coronavirus. And as you just pointed out the top of the show, we are seeing cases rise. But the president is saying he believes people do not care about the pandemic any longer.</s>KING: Right, the cases are rising. The president does have a campaign to run. Nobody begrudges in that and it's 15 days away is Election Day. Although a lot of people have already voted and are out voting as we have this conversation right now. But he is calling Dr. Fauci an idiot; he is saying that Dr. Fauci is a disaster at a time we are running up all these new cases,</s>KING: And at a time the radiologist he now listens to most of all in Coronavirus put out a tweet over the weekend saying masks? No. Masks, no. Dr. Scott Atlas, the president's now trusted voice. Mask of course now you see it right there, Twitter took that down, because it defines it as misleading information, especially about a critical public health issue. Kaitlan we know that this has caused a lot of tension. Dr. Atlas coming into the White House has caused a lot of tension. "The Washington Post" is reporting that tension is so high; that Dr. Deborah Berks went to the vice president's office and says this is dangerous, this is counter to what the public health expert's advice should be; Dr. Atlas should be removed from the Task Force. So again, 15 days from Election, yes, but on a critical day, every day is critical. As we go back up to this third peak, conflict, fighting, in-fighting among the president's top advisers.</s>COLLINS: Yes and there's also really been this disintegration of the task force, where they're not meeting that often though. The Press Secretary claimed to severely say they're meeting every single day. We've heard from other people like Dr. Fauci who have said in interviews they're only averaging about one meeting a week now, because that's the vice president is obviously on a road a lot, campaigning, as well as the president. And so, they had a meeting on Friday. I believe they have another meeting tomorrow. But what's really the story here is there are these serious divisions among those members of the Task Force. And Dr. Scott Atlas is a big reason for that, because many of the doctors have been frustrated by what he is telling the president. Because they believe it runs contrary to what their data and their science shows. Dr. Atlas has brushed this off as saying, well, it's just discussions that we're having, and if there's no push back, then it's not a very good discussion. But their concern is that, there's information getting to the president that he is then pushing when he is questioning something like the use of masks like he did last week at that Town Hall with NBC. And Dr. Birx clearly is someone who went from having the president's attention, she was the one that he brought to briefings, she was the one he took on the road with her. And now Dr. Atlas who he watched on Fox News and then brought into the White House as a Coronavirus Adviser has taken that position really. And he is the one that the president is speaking to so often. And so, that's coming into concern of people like Dr. Anthony Fauci. You can see the way that president talks about Dr. Anthony Fauci, trashing him on this call. He has not done similar with Dr. Birx, but he is trashing him saying he is a disaster; meanwhile he is praising Dr. Atlas, calling him one of the greatest doctors in the world and saying things like that. So you can tell who the president is listening to and obviously his frustration with Fauci has been bubbling up for months and now it really has surfaced in a remarkable way. I think people should take a step back to see just how stunning it is. This is the nation's top infectious disease expert, and the president is openly going after him on a staff call meant to bolster campaign staff two weeks before the election, and instead it turned to a trash talking session on Fauci.</s>KING: Right. And he says so, run the country like you ran his business while his campaign right now spending millions to dollars to promote Dr. Fauci in an ad on television, saying something Dr. Fauci says he is taking out of context, but still he's spending millions of dollars to put Dr. Fauci out there and then the person who is running that campaign calls him an idiot and disaster. Brilliant. That's just how they teach it in business school. Kaitlan Collins live with the White House. Thanks so much. Let's continue the conversation now about the pandemic with Caitlin Rivers, the Senior Scholar from Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Caitlin, I hate to put you in this position, but you have the President of United States on a call saying Dr. Fauci is a disaster. Dr. Fauci and those like him in the administration who argue for strong mitigation, who warn about the rising case count, they're idiots, the president says. I want you to listen to a speech Dr. Fauci gave last hour. He doesn't mention the president but--</s>DR. FAUCI: We have a lot of challenges ahead of us. And I can't help thinking that we're really going through a time that's disturbingly anti-science in certain segments of our society, that's very troublesome to me. And we really need a group of scientists and physicians and health care providers really stick together in our principles.</s>KING: Help me as a scientist, someone who has spent months on this. When you hear the President of the United States, I am not saying Dr. Fauci is always right, I am not saying anybody is always right, but Dr. Fauci has spent four decades doing this. This is what he does for a living. For the president to call him a disaster and an idiot, is that I assume you would agree the president is one of those anti-science people?</s>CAITLIN RIVERS, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EPIDEMIOLOGIST: I have to agree with Dr. Fauci that our outbreak has headed in the wrong direction. And it's more important now than ever that people understand how to keep themselves and their families safe. And so, I think that we should be promoting the messages around how to slow the spread of the virus, and keep people healthy to the greatest extent possible. And so, I'd encourage people to listen to Dr. Fauci's message on that.</s>KING: And so, when you look at the case count, 50,000 plus a day on average now, higher than that, 56,000 plus a day on average. Now you look at so many states in double digit positivity, which means not only more cases today, but the likelihood of more infections tomorrow. I want you to listen to Dr. Michael Osterholm here who says the next stretch ahead of us will be the most dangerous. We've been at this for about eight months now, but he says the worst is about to happen. Listen.</s>MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY: The next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic. Vaccines will not become available in any meaningful way until early to third and quarter of next year. And even then, half of the U.S. population at this point is skeptical of even taking the vaccine. So what we have right now is a major problem and messaging. People don't know what to believe.</s>KING: When you look at the period of the next 6 to 10 to 12 weeks, do you see the same thing and the data of the case claim the higher positivity? And if so, what can be done to make it less worse, even if it's going to definitely be bad?</s>RIVERS: I do see difficult times ahead. We not only see rise in case counts, we see those throughout the country which is concerning, it's not a single hot spot, it's really disseminated outbreaks. And we see worsening signs also in test positivity and the number of hospitalizations. And taken together, that gives us a pretty clear indication that we're headed in the wrong direction. And we're also entering flu season which could add on a layer of complexity that could really stress our health care systems and make it difficult to manage this next phase. And so, I think it's really important that people continue to stay home, to wear masks when they spend time in the community and to wash their hands when they get home, and before they eat. All of these things really do help. And I think that they're the tools that we need to rely upon as we go into this next phase.</s>KING: Caitlin Rivers grateful for your insights as always and science, science and facts that's what we'll try to keep at the top of the program. Caitlin, thank you so much. Up next, we return to the campaign trail, and a question being asked in the final two weeks of this campaign just as it was in the final two weeks of the last campaign. Is there a viable path to get President Trump to 270 electoral votes?

COVID Cases, Hospitalization Surge As Nation Nears Critical Election; CNN Reports, More Than 27 Million Ballots Have Already Been Cast; Fauci, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) Get Death Threats As Trump Attacks Continue.

SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: China's growth also faces risks from high unemployment in further trade tensions with the U.S. Selina Wang, CNN, Hong Kong</s>JOHN KING, CNN HOST: I hope to see you tomorrow. Brianna Keilar picks up our coverage right now.</s>BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: HI there. I'm Brianna Keilar and, I want to welcome viewers here in the United States and around the world. We are just over two weeks until Election Day and the pandemic is getting worse just as experts predicted it would. 40 million cases now worldwide, and the U.S. is currently averaging more than 56,000 cases a day. That's about a 60 percent increase from September's low. Ten states just set new records with their highest number of cases reported in a single day since the pandemic started, according to Johns Hopkins data. Overall, 27 states are showing a rising trend in infections. And all of this is happening after weeks of warnings from scientists and doctors to get the case numbers down before flu season hits and the cold weather drives people inside. Now, unlike past spikes, this one is happening as this colder weather is upon us. Indoors is riskier setting for the spread. This outcome was predictable and preventable, but is it unstoppable? Top experts worry that, yes, one even saying, quote, the next 6 to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic. Moment ago, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, also stressed that much of the country is still at risk for having severe sickness from coronavirus.</s>DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: In the United States, about 40 percent of U.S. adults are susceptible to severe COVID-19 disease, on the basis of underlying conditions as well as aging in individuals, even those with overlapping compromised conditions. So the idea of being able to just let this infection go through the community and only be concerned about those in nursing homes clearly is flawed, because there are so many people generally in the community who are susceptible to severe disease.</s>KEILAR: Nine months since the first U.S. cases, there is still no cohesive federal plan to control this virus. And, in fact, the president is heading to Arizona tonight to headline another large rally there. And as he does that, he has launched another attack against Dr. Fauci just as the nation is about to enter this, quote, dark time in the pandemic. I want to turn now to CNN's Kaitlan Collins. Kaitlan, the president called Fauci a disaster and an idiot. Tell us about this.</s>KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And this comes after that 60 Minutes interview last night that Fauci did where he was talking about things like the president's rallies and dismissing the president's idea that the coronavirus, we're rounding the corner on it, things like that. And now the president unprompted in a call that was meant to rally campaign staff in these last 15 days until the election, went after Dr. Anthony Fauci, calling him a disaster, and saying, quote, people are -- he was saying people tired of hearing about the pandemic, saying people are saying whatever, just leave us alone. They're tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. Fauci is a nice guy, he has been here for 500 years. Then he went on with attacks against Fauci saying that Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we would have 500,000 deaths. And later, Brianna, he said it would be 700,000 or 800,000. And even as the president was saying these things, this was a call with campaign staff, reporters were given access to it, including myself. And the president acknowledged that reporters could be listening and said if they're on, I could not care less. And so the president not trying to keep attacks on Fauci private as he has done in the past, now he doesn't mind them coming out into the public view as this tension between the two of them has been building for months. But we should note, this comes as, of course, the Trump campaign is still airing an ad that features Fauci where it seems to be implying that he is endorsing the president's handling of the pandemic, something that Fauci has disputed and said actually in that quote that he was using, he was praising the work of the task force. But, Brianna, as the president is saying that people don't care about coronavirus any more, you really have got to look at the polls for that. Because some CNN polls that were done about two weeks ago, you see that actually voters nationwide rank it as their number two priority, but that changes when you look at if they're likely Biden voters or likely Trump voters. It is 60 about percent Biden voters think it is a number two priority, when it comes to Trumpers, only like 22 percent, I believe, according to our latest numbers, think that the pandemic is a priority when it comes to voting this fall.</s>KEILAR: It is very illuminating, as you point out. Kaitlan, thank you so much for that update. In the midst of all of this, Dr. Scott Atlas, President Trump's handpicked adviser on the White House coronavirus task force, is pedaling disinformation again, this time about masks. This weekend, he tweeted extensively and erroneously about how they don't work, which is refuted by CDC guidelines that are based on science. Twitter took down that tweet. They said it violated the rule that bans sharing false or misleading content on COVID-19 that could lead to harm. Just a reminder now of exactly who Scott Atlas is. He is a neuroradiologist, though notably not an epidemiologist, but his resume looks pretty good at first glance. He attended University of Chicago School of Medicine, he is the former chief of neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center. But as I've said before, on paper, his credentials may sing, but anti- science blathering blows. He is a conservative media darling. He is going on the president's favorite cable news channel to say the things the president likes to hear, like touting herd immunity as a solution to the coronavirus from early days of the pandemic to as recently as last week.</s>DR. SCOTT ATLAS, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS ADVISER: We can allow a lot of people to get infected, those who are not at risk to be -- to die or have a serious hospital requiring illness. We should be fine with letting them get infected, generating immunity on their own, and the more I am immunity in the community, the better we can eradicate the threat of the virus, including the threat to people who are vulnerable. That's what herd immunity is.</s>KEILAR: The problem is you can't do that without killing people. Remember, herd immunity is not a public health strategy. Just letting coronavirus rip through the population is, quote, mass murder, according to Harvard Medical School Professor William Haseltine, which might be why Atlas doesn't want to be caught outright pushing herd immunity. In an interview with CNN's Michael Smerconish, Atlas called claims that he urged President Trump or anyone to adopt herd immunity an overt lie. But I would direct you to the previous that I just played of Atlas urging the adoption of herd immunity. And in that same interview, Atlas downplayed the number of deaths estimated by an influential model the White House uses.</s>ATLAS: The IHME model and all these other models have been so wrong so many times. Just think about the common sense here. Why do we have to keep changing a model every three to five days, every week?</s>KEILAR: The IHME model the White House cites is wrong only and that it consistently underestimates the death toll. A CNN fact check showed the IHME largely lines up with the virus progression in the U.S., and these projections are updated because they're projections, just like weather maps or economic outlooks are updated as real-time data comes in, allowing projections based on real-time data, right, just like presidential polls. And speaking of, when it comes to his boss' recent bout of COVID, Atlas told Fox News there was no need to worry because President Trump is, according to Atlas, a very, very healthy guy and that he's never seen anyone with more energy and vigor at any age, but particularly at his age. The president is 74 years old, he is obese by medical standards, and he's been treated for high cholesterol, factors that put him at elevated risk with the coronavirus, no matter how much Dr. Atlas wants you to believe otherwise. Figuratively speaking, Dr. Atlas puts on his MAGA hat well before putting on his white coat. He is a sycophant more concerned with pleasing the president than making good on his oath as a doctor. He has competing priorities here and they are dangerously at odds. With me now is Josh Dawsey, Washington Post White House Reporter and CNN Political Analyst. And, Josh, I know that you have some new reporting here that there's actually a top coronavirus task force official, Dr. Deborah Birx, who is very much at odds with Atlas. So tell us what you've discovered.</s>JOSH DAWSEY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. We'll start out with just consolidated power among the coronavirus response at the White House. He now is meeting with the president regularly while Dr. Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci are not. Dr. Birx has been so disputed by Dr. Atlas' comments, as she eventually went to the vice president and said that she didn't think Dr. Atlas should be on the task force and did not trust his data and analysis. The vice president basically told the two of them to settle it themselves. But the range of alarm among other doctors on the COVID task force, Dr. Birx, Dr. Fauci, Jerome Adams, the surgeon general, towards Dr. Scott Atlas is quite high.</s>KEILAR: So, in a way, the vice president is allowing Scott Atlas to continue doing what he is doing, saying what he is saying on the task force. He is not taking any action here?</s>DAWSEY: No, the vice president has not. The vice president has essentially let the task force be a place where various medical experts can argue it out. Dr. Birx and Fauci though, they believe that Dr. Atlas is not arguing in good faith he is using faulty scientific models and projections.</s>KEILAR: So, Dr. Atlas has only been an adviser on the task force for two months. He kind of came in, and he was lauded by the president's allies as a counter to Fauci. You write though that he has managed to sideline other doctors while gaining power. How has that happened?</s>DAWSEY: Well, he has been more aligned with the president's position on COVID that it is going to spread, that most people will be fine and healthy, and he reiterates that to the president. He's not a fan of masks. He's not a fan of additional testing. He basically shares a lot of positions that the president holds in many of these cases, and the president has liked that perspective and that opinion. The president said publicly, as he said earlier today, that he does not agree with Dr. Fauci, he called him a disaster on a call with campaign staff earlier today, and he likes that Dr. Atlas brings the perspective he would prefer on the virus.</s>KEILAR: Josh Dawsey, thank you so much for sharing reporting with us. We really appreciate it.</s>DAWSEY: Thank you.</s>KEILAR: I want to bring in CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He is a professor of medicine at George Washington University. And, Dr. Reiner, how alarming is it to you that the president's preferred coronavirus adviser concerning is tweeting stuff that is so erroneous, Twitter doesn't even let it stand?</s>DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Right. When I first saw that tweet, I thought that his account must have been hacked or that he was in some sort of a personal health crisis. It's like having some random passenger invited to the cockpit to land aircraft except we are all riding on that airplane. There is no question -- let me just say this again, there is no question that wearing masks will reduce transmission of the virus. The science is not in doubt. On a countrywide level, look at the countries around the world who have almost universal mask adherence, places in Asia, like Japan, that had a total of 90,000 cases. That's a day-and- a-half of cases in the United States. Taiwan, very, very early, universal mask adherence, they had seven deaths. So this administration brought in basically a libertarian radiologist to tell the president what he wanted to hear. And if you look at the professionals on the coronavirus task force, people like Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx and Robert Redfield, none of them line up with Scott Atlas. He is an unwelcome, unqualified voice basically shouting out all of the other reasonable voices in this administration.</s>KEILAR: And there was a phone call with his campaign and President Trump said people are tired of hearing Dr. Fauci and, quote, all these idiots. He called Dr. Fauci a disaster. What is your reaction to that?</s>REINER: You know, having a quarter of million people dead is the disaster. I think what Americans are tired of is the death and the suffering. You know, we have this new misery index. The new misery index is the unemployment in this country and death rate and case rate from COVID. That's our new misery index. And it is amongst highest in the world. We're tired of that. We're not tired of hearing about COVID. We're tired of the toll the COVID is taking. And when I see the president make a statement like that, it tells me that he is tired of dealing with it. And the one response to somebody who is tired of dealing with it is to bring in a new team.</s>KEILAR: Dr. Reiner, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it.</s>REINER: My pleasure.</s>KEILAR: Just ahead, Johnson & Johnson paused vaccine trial, but why is the company silent over details. Plus, more than 27 million Americans have already voted this year. What that record breaking number tells us about this race. And the president continues to attack the governor of Michigan after the FBI thwarted a kidnapping plot against her as we see new video of the domestic terror group's training. This is CNN's special live coverage.

Update On Coronavirus Responses Around The Country; "Overwhelmed" Utah Hospitals Nearing Capacity, ICUs At 95 Percent

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: There's new research that shows many nursing home victims with nursing home patients, I should say, with COVID-19, show no symptoms at all. For more on that and other coronavirus headlines around the country, let's check in with some of our CNN correspondents.</s>JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: I'm Jacqueline Howard in Atlanta. A new study shows that many COVID-19 patients in nursing homes are asymptomatic, meaning they don't show symptoms which can hide dangerous outbreaks. The study looked at more than 5,000 cases in nursing homes across 20 states. It found that 40.9 percent of cases were asymptomatic. And 39.8 percent did show symptoMs. About 19 percent were pre-symptomatic, meaning they didn't show symptoms around the time they were tested, but eventually developed symptoms later on. The study calls for a universal testing in nursing homes to identify and isolate these of types of cases.</s>DAN SIMON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Simon in San Francisco, where the pandemic is having a dramatic impact on the price of apartment rentals. With companies telling employees they can work remotely, many people appear to be leaving for the suburbs. They're going to cheaper areas in the country. According to realtor.com, the median price for a studio apartment has fallen 31 percent from this time last year. For a one-bedroom apartments, it's fallen 24 percent. Don't expect that trend to reverse any time soon. Tech companies have told employees to expect to work from home well into next year. And many companies like Twitter are saying they could do so permanently.</s>MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Martin Savidge in Salt Lake City, Utah, where, according to the governor, this state is seeing one of the worst outbreaks in the country. This is a testing site that actually was in 2002 an Olympic stadium. Now they're testing people who believe they're symptomatic for COVID- 19. The impact on the medical community in this state is increasing. In fact, ICUs are now fearing they could run out of space. And some medical facilities have put their staff on overtime. They believe the situation is only going to get worse.</s>KEILAR: Thank you so much, everybody. Utah's governor is warning that hospitals in his state are, quote, "getting overwhelmed," and that health care workers are going stretched too thin. I want to bring in Tom Miller, who is the chief medical officer at the University of Utah Health. Dr. Miller, thank you so much for sparing some time to talk with us today. We know you're facing a lot. The University of Utah Health system is one of the largest in the state. The ICU is 95 percent filled. How long can your hospital continue to operate like this?</s>DR. TOM MILLER, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH HEALTH: Thank you for having me, Mrs. Keilar. We're very, very busy, as you might imagine, consistent with all the other stories you are hearing about increasing rates throughout the country. We are managing right now. But if we increase another 20 percent, 30 percent, we'll have to call in all kinds of additional help. Right now, we're managing. We have created extra teams, extra rooms to manage our intensive care patients, and get us through this surge. We are doing OK. But we will work with our sister health care organizations in the state if numbers continue to increase, which we expect they will, to make sure or patients get the best care possible. Yes, our staff are working overtime. My heart goes out to them and their families because they're giving it their all.</s>KEILAR: Do you have a sense of what you can attribute this spike you're experiencing?</s>MILLER: Yes. I think the spike is likely consistent with what you're hearing, people going back -- kids going back to school, colleges getting back together. Those infections generally are in those ages groups don't very often result in hospitalizations. But then there's vertical transmission to those parents and grandparents and then people who are at risk, at risk of developing severe illness. So we're seeing the spike initially in young folks. And then we're also seeing now a tail spike in those 24 to 65 and above. So all age groups are impacted. So I don't want anybody to think that it's just the young that are being infected. The infection is transmitted to family members, people who are older, people at risk.</s>KEILAR: It's going through all the age groups, including into the older ages --</s>MILLER: Yes.</s>KEILAR: -- where folks are certainly more vulnerable to COVID. Tell us, do you have what you need? Is there anything you need from your state or federal officials?</s>MILLER: We have currently enough equipment. What we really need is the public to pick up their ears a little bit and wear their masks. We can get rid of the masks when the infection is over, when COVID is done, or until we have an effective treatment or vaccine. But the mask is our medicine now. We need to focus on wearing our protective gear, especially out in public, and certainly within buildings or inside working. We have to up our game. This will really, really help us control the spread of infection, in spite of some of the things we've heard. We know it works. We've had universal masking within our hospital walls for some time. And we are not seeing infection rates go up between employees or patients. When we do have people who get sick, they get it in the community and get it at home. So wearing masks are very important when you're out in public, shopping and doing other things.</s>KEILAR: You say in spite of some things we have heard. We have a high-profile incident that I think would fit under that category in the last day of one of the president's -- I guess probably his favorite adviser on the Coronavirus Task Force, going on Twitter saying that masks don't work. And that was something that Twitter took down because it was wrong and harmful. What do you do when you're combatting information like that? I suspect you couldn't have even imagined in a pandemic that you would need to combat information like that coming from on high about masks, which you need to keep your employees and your family members safe.</s>MILLER: I think those of us who are in the know and are in the health care industry and our health care providers, we need to stand up and by heard. We need to continually express the importance of what we believe in order to protect the society and those who are vulnerable, as well as others who could be swayed by out continual voice. We should not stand back. We need to stand up. We need to speak to the truth. And the more we message and message in a way that's not punitive or retributive, then I think people will listen to the message. But it's a constant communication that we need to be carrying on with the society, with our citizens and each other. It's very important at this point.</s>KEILAR: We certainly hear you with that message, just wanting people to be healthy --</s>MILLER: Right.</s>KEILAR: -- and obviously, live full lives, even during these tough times. Dr. Miller, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it.</s>MILLER: Yes. The last thing I would say is, please wear the masks. And again, we can take them off when it's over. We don't have to wear them permanently. But we've got to wear them now. Let's do it, if not for ourselves, then for those we care about, our parents, our grandparents, and those who are vulnerable. Thank you for having me on.</s>MILLER: Thank you for coming on, sir. We appreciate it.</s>KEILAR: Turmoil at the "New York Post." The paper's staffers are said to be at odds over its decision to publish a controversial front-page report on Joe Biden's son, Hunter, a report that Joe Biden calls a smear campaign. CNN's Brian Stelter will join me next.

"New York Post" Published Biden Reports Despite Major Doubts; Trump Escalates Attacks On Fauci, Calls Him "Disaster" In Staff Call; GOP Senator Makes Baseless, Evidence-Free Smear Against Biden

KEILAR: A "New York Post" story about Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, has wreaked havoc in the tabloid's newsroom. Staffers are allegedly upset that the story was published at all over credibility and sourcing issues. Some writers at "The Post" reportedly did not want their bylines attached to it. Brian Stelter is CNN's chief media correspondent and the anchor of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES." He's with us now. Just give us the reporting and the context, Brian. You call this a classic example of the right-wing media machine.</s>BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST "RELIABLE SOURCES": That's right. This is an example of Steve Bannon giving a tip to a "New York Post" reporter. Rudy Giuliani handing over the documents. The "New York Post" putting it on the front page. And then FOX running with it for days on end, creating this appearance of a scandal in volving Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden has acknowledged he had poor judgment in working with foreign enterprises when is his father was vice president. This was all litigated last year during the impeachment saga. But the right-wing media wants it back in the news. They view it as a closing argument for the Trump campaign. Trump is out there tweeting a storm about it, claiming it's a giant scandal. But the real story is what is behind the story, these maneuverings by Rudy to try to stir up a scandal. And I have confirmed with "The New York Times" overnight that some "New York Post" reporters -- a newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch, with a right-wing bent. Some of those reporters were so wary of the story, they saw how sketchy it, that they didn't want anything to do it. They didn't want their bylines put on the story. Normally, if we have a hot scope, we want to make sure we want to get credit for it. We want our bylines on the story. But in this case, no. The "New York Post" reporters wanted the opposite. Because they could sense that this was a very sketchy, dubious story.</s>KEILAR: That is so telling, Brian. From a reporter's perspective, that is incredibly telling. I want to note, just moments ago, the president again attacked Dr. Fauci on Twitter and then when he arrived on the ground for his rally in Arizona. Let's listen to this.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think really Dr. Fauci is a very nice man. But we let him do what he wants to do. He loves being on television. He loves being on television. And we let him do it. Sometimes he says things that a little bit off and they get built up, unfortunately. But he's a nice guy. I like him. But he's called a lot of bad calls. He said don't wear a mask. And he said don't ban China. They were bad calls. He admits that. I don't hold that against him. If I did, I wouldn't have him. No, I think he's a nice guy.</s>KEILAR: Just taking a look at that, I mean, the president is full-on now at war attacking Dr. Fauci. Is the point that sort of prompted this Fauci's "60 Minutes" appearance? Also, consider Fauci is incredibly popular. People listen to him for his good information about the pandemic. What do you think has prompted this behavior from the president?</s>STELTER: Another very strange kind of closing argument. He's giving misinformation about Fauci, claiming Fauci didn't want to ban China. That's not true. Fauci wanted it by the end of January. Fauci wanted Trump to go further and ban travel from Europe. We've all been through this history. And it's true Fauci has been restricted from going on TV sometimes. Yes, he was on "60 Minutes" last night. But the White House bars him from interviews. That's indefensible. It's as if President Trump doesn't want the government's experts out there informing people about the pandemic. As you said last week: Where is the task force? It's as if the president does not want health and science experts on TV explaining the dangers. He only wants to focus on his denialism. And he didn't want Fauci contradicting him. I think, Brianna, is at the heart of this. The president does not want the government's top experts contradicting his rosy downplaying of the disease.</s>KEILAR: Let's get back to "The Post" story, Brian. You have Republican Senator Ron Johnson, the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, he seemingly was prodded by FOX to add an even more salacious speculation about the Bidens.</s>STELTER: Yes. This is absolutely appalling behavior by the Senator. But it was prompted by FOX Anchor Maria Bartiromo. Who is channeling QAnon by trying to bring up child pornography and trying to claim that there are these issues with the Bidens that are absolutely invented, imagined. This is a GOP fantasy, the most disgusting kind of GOP fantasy, trying to link Biden to pedophilia. We have seen the president retweeting ideas like that. It is -- I wonder, Brianna, how we can ever get back to a normal political culture when there's so much of this smear, so many of these smears being spread, including by FOX anchors, including by GOP Senators. It was more Bartiromo's fault for prompting Johnson to talk about it yesterday. But it still inappropriate for Johnson to go along with the interview. How do we ever get back to a normal political culture when there's so much conspiracy crap out there? I don't know the answer to that question.</s>KEILAR: It is a question that certainly at some point this country is going to have to reckon with.</s>STELTER: Yes.</s>KEILAR: Brian Stelter, thank you.</s>STELTER: Thanks.</s>KEILAR: After a chaotic first debate, a presidential COVID diagnosis, a controversial debate cancellation and competing town halls, Joe Biden and Donald Trump will face off one last time. The final presidential debate is coming. We have special live coverage starting Thursday at 7:00 P.M. Eastern. A stimulus stalemate on Capitol Hill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's self-imposed deadline is now down to 24 hours to get help into the hands of the American people before Election Day. As the U.S. economy struggles, China's is rebounding quickly. We'll explain.

Italy Tightens Restrictions As Cases Surge Before Winter.

KEILAR: As coronavirus cases top 40 million worldwide, the epicenter of Europe's first outbreak is trying desperately to stop a second surge. Italy reported a record increase in infections over the weekend. And now it is tightening restrictions. But on a better note, the country is making progress on testing and hospitalizations. CNN's Ben Wedeman reports.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Italy is well into the second wave of coronavirus, though it's not immediately apparent in Naples, the capital of the Campania region, which has one of the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country. Infectious disease specialist, Alessandro Perrella, says it's not just about the numbers.</s>ALESSANDRO PERRELLA, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: We have an increasing number of positive people. Positive. Not an increasing number of patients. It's very different.</s>WEDEMAN: What's different is the testing. Earlier this year, only those showing COVID-like symptoms were tested. Now everyone can do it. The majority of people who prove positive are asymptomatic, isolating until recovery. The number of people in intensive care now approximately a fifth of what it was before. (on camera): Day after day, Italy is reporting record increases in the number of new coronavirus cases. But at the same time, Italy is testing like never before. At this hospital here in Naples, seven days a week, at least 1,000 tests are conducted quickly and for free. (voice-over): Five times as many tests are being conducted now than at the height of the first wave in March. The once-unwieldy process now routine. "How long was the wait? Half an hour," says Abramo (ph). "When will you receive the result?" I ask. "The whole family did it. Tomorrow morning, we'll get a message with the results by phone," he says. There's no air of panic, but there is concern. "We're not worried," says Valentina. "What worries us is not being able to work." The number of new cases is erupting in Italy. And the peak of this wave is far off. Better prepared this time, Italy is still bracing for a long, hard winter. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Naples.

Americans Tired Of Pandemic Stress

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: "CNN TONIGHT" with the star, D. Lemon right now.</s>DON LEMON, CNN HOST: How bad do you feel about yourself after those kids?</s>CUOMO: I feel great. I feel great that they are not allowing the times to push them down.</s>LEMON: I just meant your contribution.</s>CUOMO: They are rising up.</s>LEMON: Yes. Yes, they are amazing. I just meant about your contribution and mine as well to society when you look at those kids --</s>CUOMO: Well, I would feel terrible --</s>LEMON: -- and leaps and bounds.</s>CUOMO: -- but relatively because I know you exist, I'm feeling OK.</s>LEMON: Was that -- was that -- did you have to do that?</s>CUOMO: Yes.</s>LEMON: I was trying to be nice.</s>CUOMO: You said, how do you feel about yourself in a derogatory way? First words out of your mouth.</s>LEMON: Yes. So how are you feeling?</s>CUOMO: Better than I deserve. And you?</s>LEMON: That's always your answer. How are you feeling?</s>CUOMO: That's how I'm feeling.</s>LEMON: OK. I'm feeling OK. A lot of anxiety out there. Have you encountered that people, my gosh, I don't know what's going to happen?</s>CUOMO: There was a lot. I felt like that when the check came after lunch.</s>LEMON: That's why you need to check on Instagram I just posted --</s>CUOMO: You should have seen Don Lemon --</s>LEMON: OK.</s>CUOMO: -- how long it took him to reach for his wallet at lunch yesterday. The bill comes, this is it. No, wait, no, come on, stop. Really. Please, no. It's -- let me just the -- and I'm waiting. Waiting.</s>LEMON: I'm trying to have a substantive conversation about what's happening.</s>CUOMO: That was substantive.</s>LEMON: people don't care about our lunch.</s>CUOMO: Go ahead. I care.</s>LEMON: OK.</s>CUOMO: But go ahead, what do you want?</s>LEMON: No, I mean, I just think there's a lot of angst out there, and -- but it's nice to have friends who we can have a meal with and talk about things and get away from the news. Because you know everyone talks to us about what's happening in the news.</s>CUOMO: Yes.</s>LEMON: And everyone has the same thing. My gosh, I'm so nervous, whether you're -- whatever side you're on. Right?</s>CUOMO: Yes.</s>LEMON: People are concerned and they are nervous, and the country, everyone is so tense right now.</s>CUOMO: Yes, but I will tell you what. The joke is part of the sav, right? Because the antidote to the anxiety is the recognition that we're all in it together.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>CUOMO: The reason I quoted this poem that, you know, obviously, I got it from my father.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>CUOMO: Like many of the -- anything that I have that approaches, anything like virtue that comes out of my mouth. Most of it came from it or from my mother. And there are bad things, there are ugly words. There are ugly deeds. You have one decision to make. Either you become part of it or you reject it and become something better.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>CUOMO: And the president is in full toxic mode and it's going to make people scared and with good reason.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>CUOMO: The strength is in in the collective.</s>LEMON: I got to say to you, and I have to run. When he says things about you, just ignore it. Don't punch down. That's it. I love you. I got to go.</s>CUOMO: I ignore it, it's the hordes of his followers who act on it.</s>LEMON: All right. Ignore them as well. Thank you. I'll see you.</s>CUOMO: I love you, D. Lemon.</s>LEMON: Thank you. This CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon. Here's our breaking news, OK? Everybody, but seriously and before -- and I mean that -- there is a collective anxiety out there. It's just 15 days left. We are going to get through it. No matter what the results are. But I know you are anxious, I know you're nervous because you are e-mailing me, you are calling me, you're texting me. But om, om, keep calm and carry on. So, let's give you some fact that will help you through these times. I'm -- this is our breaking news right now. There is a big change in the rules for Thursday's schedule final debate. You want to hear about them. well here's what's going to happen. Each candidate's mic, mics will be cut off while his rival delivers his two- minute opening answer to each debate topic. Interesting, right? It's an effort to prevent the chaos of the first debate so you can actually learn something. Remember how that went?</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Wait a minute, Joe. Let me shut you down for a second, just for one second.</s>JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Somehow, it's a fraudulent process.</s>TRUMP: It's already been established. Take a look at Carolyn Maloney's race in --</s>CHRIS WALLACE, ANCHOR, FOX NEWS: I ask you, you had an opportunity --</s>TRUMP: Look at Carolyn --</s>WALLACE: Go ahead.</s>TRUMP: They have no idea what happened.</s>WALLACE: Vice president?</s>BIDEN: We probably would save up to 100,000 lives. It matters. It matters.</s>TRUMP: And they have also said the opposite. They've also said --</s>BIDEN: And no serious person said the opposite.</s>TRUMP: Don't ever use the word smart with me. Don't ever use that word.</s>BIDEN: Give me a break.</s>TRUMP: Because you know what, there's nothing smart about you, Joe.</s>WALLACE: Gentlemen, when we say that's the end of it. This is the end of this debate.</s>TRUMP: Chris, I want to see an honest ballot count. And I think he does too.</s>WALLACE: We're going to leave it there. To be continued.</s>LEMON: How embarrassing. We learned nothing from had that. Right? So, there's also some other breaking news on a big loss for the president at the Supreme Court, OK. The ruling that mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania will be counted if they are received within three days of election day, even if they don't have a legible postmark. All that with election day just two weeks from tomorrow. So, I am sure the president will rant and he is going to rail and he is going to lash out about these developments. Both of them, right? The way he has been all day long, he has been doing it all weekend long, really all presidency long. We are not even one day in to what the president named, guess what, national character counts week. Remember I said that to you last week and I couldn't believe that it came from this White House? National character counts week, which he kicked off by repeatedly attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci for telling America what the president doesn't want you to hear. You know, he doesn't want you to hear fact, facts about the pandemic that has killed more than 220,000 of us.</s>TRUMP: People are tired of COVID. I have the biggest rallies I've ever had and we have COVID. People are saying whatever. Just leave us alone. They're tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots, these people, these people that have gotten it wrong. Fauci is a nice guy, he has been here for 500 years.</s>LEMON: Did you hear that gasp in there when he said that? Whoever did that gasp, that was all of us. We are living in -- we are through the looking glass. It's not even twilight zone. I can't -- it's beyond the looking glass, I have no idea what to call it. He is attacking the doctor who people trust, who actually, the doctor now who needs security because of credible death threats against him and harassment of his family.</s>TRUMP: Every time he goes on television there's always a bomb, but there's a bigger bomb if you fire him. But Fauci is a disaster I mean this guy, if I listen to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths.</s>LEMON: OK. So that is a flat out lie. And the real disaster is this president's negligence that has led to the deaths of more than 220,000 Americans on his watch. Joe Biden who is deep in debate prep putting out a statement today on the president's attacks on Fauci. And I quote here. "Mr. President, you are right about one thing. The American people are tired. They are tired of your lies about this virus. They are tired of watching more Americans die and more people lose their jobs because you refuse to take this pandemic seriously." That's from the former vice president. But the president just couldn't resist. Reusing that tired of the pandemic line that he has been using. Lashing out at CNN at the same time.</s>TRUMP: They are getting tired of the pandemic. Aren't they? Getting tired of the pandemic. You turn on CNN that's all they covered. COVID, COVID, pandemic, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID. You know why they are trying to talk everybody out of voting. People aren't buying at CNN, you dumb bastards.</s>LEMON: Well, interesting. What do you think would happen if we got on television in front of a crowd or if we started calling people dumb bastards, let alone the President of the United States, what do you think the reaction would be? And can you believe the person who is, who inhabits the Oval Office uses that kind of language against journalists? Maybe he doesn't respect the First Amendment? Why is he swimming in the cable news pool when he is the President of the United States? Sad. Desperate? So, let me tell you something, Mr. President. We cover the coronavirus and the pandemic because it has killed more than 220,000 Americans. Maybe you don't care about that that. Americans who have been infected who have died, infected more than eight million people, changed all of our lives in unprecedented ways. Right? People out of work. Economy is tanking. People are dying which is the most important part. All of those things and you are making light of it and you are talking smack at a super spreader event about CNN. Wow. Is there any work to be done as president at the Oval Office in the White House? So, there is -- they -- what -- you are responsible for the botched response to it. It lies at the president's feet. It lies at your feet. As far as voting we have been covering the lies and attacks on your right to vote and more than 28 million of you have already done that. You have already voted. But thank you Mr. President for watching, I appreciate it. This Trump super spreader tour, super spreader 2020, it hit Arizona today for a pair of packed rallies with hardly a mask in sight, except right behind him so those people would end up on camera. And he is so intent on his attack strategy that he launched a twofer, taking aim at Joe Biden, while continuing his fact-free assault on Dr. Fauci.</s>TRUMP: You know, Biden wants to lock it down. He wants to listen to Dr. Fauci.</s>TRUMP: He wants to listen to Dr. Fauci. He is going to lockdown. He is going to lockdown. He'll listen to the scientists.</s>LEMON: Well, Joe Biden does not want to lock down the country, but Joe Biden does want to listen to Dr. Fauci and the scientists. He wants to listen to the scientists rather than suggesting disinfectant or a powerful light may cure the virus. You know, injection inside the body with a disinfectant and a cleaning. Joe Biden wants to faces reality rather than lying about turning the corner on the virus when 23 states are trending up in cases. His campaign is taking the virus seriously rather than taking the Trump super spreader tour on the road for crowded campaign rallies in Arizona. A state that is already had more than 230,000 cases of the virus. This president knows election day is just two weeks from tomorrow. And he is currently behind, Joe Biden out polling him, out raising him. He brought up Biden's money haul, bragged about his own fundraising and then said this.</s>TRUMP: I called the head of Exxon. I don't know, you know, I'll use a call. Hi, how are you doing? How is energy coming? When are you doing the exploration? You need a couple of permits, huh? OK? But I called the head of Exxon I say, you know, I'd love you send me $25 million for the campaign. Absolutely, sir. Why didn't you ask, would you like some more?</s>LEMON: What? OK. Here's what Exxon says, we are aware of the president's statement regarding a hypothetical call with our CEO. And just so we're all clear, it never happened. This is his closing argument. What does any of it have to do, what does it do for you and any of the American people? Lashing out at Dr. Fauci, lashing out at Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer just days after the revelation of the foiled plot to kidnap her, allegedly because of her state's coronavirus restrictions.</s>TRUMP: You got to get your governor to open up your state, OK?</s>TRUMP: And get your schools open. Get your schools open. The schools have to be open. Right?</s>TRUMP: Lock -- lock them all up.</s>LEMON: Wow. Listen to the governor's response.</s>GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): You know, it's incredibly disturbing that the President of the United States 10 days after a plot to kidnap, put me on trial and execute me, 10 days after that was uncovered, the president is at it again and inspiring and incentivizing and citing this kind of domestic terrorism.</s>LEMON: Mr. President, have you no shame? Yet, Trump campaign senior adviser and daughter-in-law Laura Trump when asked about the lock her up chants by my colleague Jake Tapper says, it's all just fun and games.</s>LARA TRUMP, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISOR: Well, look, this is, he wasn't doing anything, I don't think to provoke people to threaten this woman at all. He was having fun at a Trump rally.</s>LEMON: Is that what's fun for this president? Lying and bullying and threatening? Is that what we want from our president? Perhaps we do. I don't know. Is that what we want? Dancing while Americans are dying. Election day is just 15 days away. We will know soon. A lot more in our breaking news tonight. The debate commission trying to put a stop to the chaos by cutting off each candidate's mic off while his rival gives his two-minute answer to each debate topic. Plus, a big loss for the president in the Supreme Court and it involves mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania. Kaitlan Collins, John Avlon here to break it all down after the break.

Commission On Presidential Debates Not Allowing Interruptions; A Loss For GOP Battle In Supreme Court

LEMON: So, we have multiple big breaking news stories tonight. The Supreme Court handing Democrats a victory in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state rejecting an attempt by Republicans to require that only mail-in ballots received by election day would be counted. The court ordering that ballots be counted as long as they are received within three that days of election day. And then there's a Presidential Debate Commission deciding to mute the candidate's microphones during portions of Thursday's schedule final scheduled debate in an attempt to put a stop to the chaos we saw in the first debate. A lot to discuss. CNN's White House Correspondent is Kaitlan Collins. She joins us. Our Senior Political Analyst is John Avlon, he joins us as well. Good evening to both. Kaitlan, Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, it's a must win for the president. And he -- he's railed about claims of voter fraud there. This is one of the reasons why he wants his justice seated ASAP in case of more decisions like this or on around election day, am I correct?</s>KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you are correct. We are seeing what a difference it would be if Amy Coney Barrett was already on the Supreme Court in this decision. Because of course they -- it would take five justices for them to grant a stay here. She was not there to be that other vote for him, and so that's why we are seeing this proceed where they can have these ballots come in three days after election day if it's clearly, they say, not something that was done at the last minute. Basically, saying that you can have ballots come in, look at what the days they were males and whatnot and still have come them in those three days after election day. And this is a win for Democrats. This is not something that White House or the Trump campaign or Republicans wanted to see be able to happen. And it really does go back to this decision about the president putting a justice on the Supreme Court and how that could factor in to further decisions that will look like this had. What are they going to do? And how is it going to work? And so, we'll see how this works with Pennsylvania, it's expected to now be one of the later states to actually report results and of course, as you noted, it's a must win for the president, so we'll see how it plays in to that. But it definitely does make you realize just why the president and Republicans like the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have pushed to get Amy Coney Barrett confirmed as quickly as they have.</s>LEMON: John, I want you to check out this poll out of Pennsylvania.</s>JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST & ANCHOR: Yes.</s>LEMON: We'll put it on the screen here. When you break down how people are going to vote, 87 percent of absentee voters say they are voting with Biden. Whereas, a majority of Trump voters planned to vote on election day. So, this decision it could be a big win for Democrats.</s>AVLON: It could be, but again, it underscores how much how difficult it is that the courts have become politicized. They should be making decisions based on principal.</s>LEMON: Right.</s>AVLON: And thank goodness for Chief Justice John Roberts who sided for the Democrats four-four so it defaulted to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Look, you know, the Trump, the Supreme Court has given the Trump campaign some wins on some of these questions. But you got 300 court challenges right now going on and overwhelmingly the Trump campaign and the Republican Party would seem want to throw more roadblocks in front of people voting. Getting their votes counted, getting their votes cast. And what you hate to see is partisan attitudes infect the judgment of the judges. That's what we see over and over again. Roberts resisted that temptation. But can't we all agree that we should every eligible voter vote and have their vote counted? Why is that controversial? Why it does need to be litigated?</s>LEMON: It should not be. You are absolutely right. Kaitlan, listen, the final Trump/Biden debate Thursday and the debate commission is now planning to mute microphones. When I heard it, I was like, man, what is the president going to say about this? What do we know about that, and how is the Trump campaign responding?</s>COLLINS: So, the president himself hasn't weighed in yet but his campaign did put out a statement after they made this change saying they are still going to show up to the debate, but they don't agree with this last-minute changes as they are calling it from the debate commission. Though this had been long in the making since that first debate where of course they interrupted each other constantly with the president doing most of the interrupting in that debate. And so the changes now are not, that it doesn't appear from what we are reading that they can mute at their will, but it will be that they each have two minutes in the beginning of each segment, each topic they are going to see in these debates where Joe Biden can speak for two minutes uninterrupted and Joe -- and Donald Trump can speak for two minutes uninterrupted and then after that, it will be open, both mics will be open. So, it will try to put some kind of order to this. I mean, we'll see how this actually plays out. Of course, Don, we know how mics work. If there are two people on stage, they aren't that far away. You can hear someone picking up on someone else's mic, so we'll see if they actually make it those two minutes with no interruption.</s>LEMON: Well, it depends, maybe they'll get it. You need a directional, a multidirectional, a (Inaudible). We'll see, but you're right.</s>COLLINS: Yes.</s>LEMON: It's going to pick up something. John, what did you want to say?</s>AVLON: It's just perfect, because it's a perfect expression of the whole problem with this presidency. The Democrat -- the debate commission is saying that they've got to enforce Democratic norms that everyone took for granted before. Candidates wouldn't speak over each other. So now they've got to enforce it with new rules and the Trump campaign sort of saying that this is playing dirty pool because the president hold -- a tactic is to try to talk over other people. This shouldn't need to have to be done. The fact that it does is a reflection of Donald Trump's disrespect for the Democratic process.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>AVLON: This is what you get.</s>LEMON: Well, it's a tactic, you're right, by the president and also for his spokespeople who come on television, right, his defenders, they just keep talking over --</s>AVLON: Yes.</s>LEMON: -- the anchor or the interviewer and so, that's their M.O., that's the president's</s>M.O. AVLON: That's it.</s>LEMON: Thank you very much.</s>AVLON: Thank you.</s>LEMON: Both of you, much, much more on our breaking news. The Supreme Court rejecting a Republican attempt to require mail-in ballots be received by election day in Pennsylvania. That's state's attorney general joins me next.

Coronavirus Surge In 27 States

LEMON: The nation passing another almost unimaginable milestone today in the growing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus has now killed more than 220,000 Americans, 27 states now reporting a rising number of new cases. Let's bring in now Dr. Tom Inglesby, he is the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Good to see you, doctor. Thank you so much for joining.</s>TOM INGLESBY, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR HEALTH SECURITY, JOHNS HOPKINS BLOOMBERG SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Thanks for having me, Don.</s>LEMON: It's Friday, Saturday, Sunday, saw nearly 175,000 new cases in the U.S., doctor. That's highest since July. Why are these cases surging now?</s>INGLESBY: Well, probably a number of reasons. We think certainly there have been regathering in terms of universities, people coming back to schools in some places, I think there's some where people might say a pandemic fatigue, in some places people not really following the advice of the public health guidance that's out there with masking or distancing or telecommuting. There's more people going back to large gatherings, and family gatherings. There are a variety of reasons. But I think the important thing is that it's not a foregone conclusion that it will keep going in this direction and I think we could turn it around.</s>LEMON: Let's talk about Dr. Scott Atlas, shall we? He is on the task force. He's not an infectious disease expert. Twitter removed his tweet falsely, the one that falsely claiming -- claims that masks don't work. He has advocated for herd immunity. His views are at odds with every leading public health expert. Are his views and his role in this administration dangerous?</s>INGLESBY: I do think some of the things that he is saying are quite dangerous. I think the support of trying to encourage herd immunity. He doesn't use those words anymore but has in the past. And he certainly supports others who do use those words. That approach would lead to many more people getting infected and dying. And there's really no evidence that it works. There's evidence that the things that public health experts are recommending are working around the world. And we should stick with those, with those strategies. Those strategies have been proven to work in countries around the world and in the U.S. And to change that and to support people going out and purposefully getting sick so that we can build immunity and a herd, there's just no evidence it's going to work, and we know a lot more people will get sick and die.</s>LEMON: So, listen, we're not even into, barely into the cold and flu season, right? This is the beginning. Hospitalizations are up all across the country, 14 states, peak hospitalizations last week. What does this indicate to you? And what does this mean as the weather continues to get colder, doctor?</s>INGLESBY: So, we do know that being outdoors is much safer than being indoors in terms of being near other people. And as things get colder, people obviously will be moving indoors and you know, moving their businesses or their other activities indoors. And that's going to pose a higher risk of transmission, and we've seen that coming and so we are going to have to do all sorts of other things to try and offset that risk. We're going to have to wear masks. Have less people at work. Less density at work wherever possible, telecommunicating, avoiding large gatherings like rallies or events that aren't necessary, and being careful in people's homes during the holiday season, avoiding large gatherings of families because we've seen a lot of family transmission. So, yes, the numbers are moving in the wrong direction. And we see that happening as the weather gets colder. And it's likely to get, it could get worse. And so, we have to do everything we can to try and reverse that trend.</s>LEMON: I want to look at couple of states. I like to get you to talk more about what you were just discussing -- we were just discussing. States like South Dakota, Wyoming, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, I should say, North Dakota and Minnesota they are all seeing their highest seven-day averages for new cases. Is it because some of these states were lax with their restrictions? And we all remember South Dakota's massive biker rally, remember in Sturgis, South Dakota, could that be part of this?</s>INGLESBY: It could definitely be part of this, and probably is. It's difficult to quantify, for example, the role of Sturgis in all of these states. We know that people from around the country, from every state went to the Sturgis rally and there been many people diagnosed with COVID after returning to their home states. Figuring out exactly what proportion of that was driven by Sturgis, I don't think we'll be able to know because people may not report their illness. They may not get diagnosed. They may spread it without even knowing it. But it definitely had -- there were enough confirmed cases that we know has played a role. And there's also some, there's miscommunication by leaders even now in the Dakotas, for example, we've heard governors in the Dakotas say that the numbers of new cases, the rise in new cases is just because we are testing more. And that's just factually wrong. There are more serious cases, more people in hospitals. More people in ICUs, there is a lot of serious COVID more than there was in the Dakotas. And so it's important for leaders to start really being factual about what's going on so people can react accordingly.</s>LEMON: Doctor, thank you. Be well. I appreciate you coming on.</s>INGLESBY: Thanks so much, Don.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>INGLESBY: I appreciate it.</s>LEMON: Cease-and-desist, that's what legendary musician John Fogerty telling the Trump campaign when it comes to using his music. He is here, and he's next.

John Fogerty's Music Not For Trump Rallies.

LEMON: Take this. The play list at President Trump's super spreader rallies hitting all the wrong notes. Some song choices totally tone deaf to the raging pandemic that has left hundreds of thousands of Americans dead. So, in the air tonight by Phil Collins "My Heart Will Go On," the theme from "Titanic," "Knockin' On Heaven's Door." Other songs including hits from the Village People giving the president a dance break from reality. Victor Willis of the Village People better known as either the police officer or sometimes the navy officer spoke out this summer against the Trump administration's actions following the national reckoning over racial injustice. And here is what he said. He says, I ask that you no longer use any of my music at your rallies especially "YMCA" and "Macho Man." Sorry, but I can no longer look the other way. Now John Fogerty, the founder of the rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival directing Trump to stop using his song "Fortunate Son" by issuing a cease-and-desist order, an anthem for the anti-war movement at the height of the Vietnam War. The song alludes to the rich and powerful being able to avoid the draft and taxes. Sound like anybody you know? Here it is being played last night at a Trump rally in Nevada.</s>LEMON: Well, let's discuss now. John Fogerty, the founder of Creedence Clearwater Revival joins me now. He has an album coming out by the way on November 20th. "Fogerty's Factory." John, I am a huge fan. Thank you so much. I love classic rock 'n roll and I love Credence Clearwater Revival and you as well. So, I really appreciate you joining us.</s>JOHN FOGERTY, FOUNDER, CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL: Thank you, Don. It's great to be here. Thanks for having me.</s>LEMON: So, you wrote this song about a guy like President Trump and he is still using it at his rallies since your cease-and-desist order. Explain why this particular song doesn't belong on that play list.</s>FOGERTY: Well, way back in the '60s, you know, of course I was drafted at that time. That was one of the parts of the dynamics that's different than now. I dare say most 18-year-old males really kind of didn't want to go to Vietnam but we accepted our fate as it would be. So, I was drafted. I went into the army reserve during say, '66, '67, '68. Eventually, you know, with the, my band mates, we became famous and I was writing songs and one of the subjects that really ticked me off was as I began to hear about senators' sons and rich people's sons avoiding the draft or getting cushy jobs they say in the military like, you know, entertainment director or something. And it just, you know, rubbed me the wrong way. I ended up writing this song. You could say I wrote this song about Donald Trump, although I didn't know him at the time.</s>LEMON: John, here you are in uniform. This is last month. We learned that the president called American war dead losers and suckers. And remember what he said, this is what he said about John McCain.</s>TRUMP: He's not a war hero.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is a war hero.</s>TRUMP: He is a war hero --</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five and a half years at --</s>TRUMP: He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured.</s>LEMON: You know, John, he also seemed to suggest that Goldstar families may have given him coronavirus. When you hear that, and you see him using your song, what do you want to say to him?</s>FOGERTY: Well, first of all, stop using my song. And have a little more empathy for veterans, for the guys in the military, guys and gals. I think that's the part he is totally missing. You know, we -- especially the veterans from the Vietnam era went through a long, drawn out time of -- they weren't treated very well. I think our country finally came around and we started to really honor except for this president honor our people in the military. And so, I'm sticking up for my song because it means a lot to veterans especially people from those times. And, also, he's using my voice. He's playing my voice at a rally, an event that I really don't agree with obviously, I don't agree with the president's policies.</s>LEMON: Listen, something that you wrote just resonates with a lot of people. You said the fact that Mr. Trump also fans the flames of hatred, racism, and fear while rewriting history is even more reason to be troubled by his use of my song. Has there been any blowback from fans of yours who may support the president and don't like you speaking out against him?</s>FOGERTY: Yes, there has been actually. You know, Don, I mean, I think in normal times the way it's been for over 200 years we really do need to have two parties. It wouldn't be great if we were all Republicans or all Democrats. You need, you know, a tug of war going on. But it has become way over the top, right, during these times. Yes, some of my fans are upset about it because they like my music but they happen to be Trump supporters and that's really OK with me. I mean, you know, I want everybody to get out and vote. You know, vote. That is what we really need in this election cycle. I've been through fans not liking my opinions before. And that's all right, too. In our beautiful country we are allowed to have our opinion and express it.</s>LEMON: So, listen. You issued the cease-and-desist. Are you going to take any other further legal action? Because he is still using it.</s>FOGERTY: Right. Well, you know, you can get into the, what do you call it, Groundhog Day of issuing a cease-and-desist every day or every half day actually. I'm not quite sure what to do about that. I know I can be very vocal about my position. There may be a lawsuit. You know, that's what we do in our country if things persist. Certainly, I remain the guy that doesn't want the president using my voice in this way. Some of the things he says are really, really scary. And I don't endorse those things and I have a right to express my opinion.</s>LEMON: Well, John, I am excited that your new album is coming out in November. I urge everybody to buy it. It's called "Fogerty's Factory." Listen, people made love, "Fortunate Son," but my two favorites are "Have You Ever Seen the Rain." And of course, I'm from Louisiana so I like "Born in the Bayou." So, I appreciate that. I know probably the most popular is "Bad Moon Rising" but those are my two -- those are two favorites. But I love all of your music and I appreciate you. And best of luck to you. Thank you so much. The great John Fogerty.</s>FOGERTY: Thank you, sir.

Supreme Court Orders Mail-In Ballots in Pennsylvania to be Counted if they're Received within Three Days of Election Day; President Trump Lashes Out at Dr. Fauci, Calling Him Disaster

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: So, 15 days until Election Day and we have multiple breaking news stories tonight that could impact your vote. The Supreme Court handing Democrats a victory in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is a key battleground state rejecting an attempt by Republicans to only allow mail-in ballots received by Election Day to be counted. The ruling means ballots will be counted if they are received within three days of Election Day. And the debate commission tonight moving to mute microphones to prevent interruptions at Thursday's scheduled final presidential debate. Joining me now CNN's White House correspondent John Harwood. Political commentator Amanda Carpenter and Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic. I appreciate all of you. So good to see you all looking dapper and ready to go. OK. So, John, start with you. Pennsylvania is really a critical swing state. How big of a deal is this Supreme Court decision for Democrats?</s>JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Don, in theory it is a very big deal. Pennsylvania could be the tipping point state in the election. The one that decides who gets the 270 electoral votes. Of course, Don, Donald Trump carried it narrowly last time. It was one of the three Midwestern states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin that put him over the top. And so, most of the people who say they plan to vote by mail are supporting Joe Biden. Trump has an advantage in the in-person vote and he is hoping to count as few of those mail votes as possible. But I said in theory because Joe Biden had a pretty significant lead more than six points in the polling averages. He is over 50 percent. So, the election might not be close enough that whatever fragment of mail-in ballots come in after Election Day are going to make all that much difference. However, this is a little security blanket for Democrats that some of those late votes will be counted.</s>LEMON: Listen, Joan, I want you to weigh in on this. This is, you know, this is your bailey wick. Chief Justice Roberts sided with the court's three liberals. Do you think this ruling will set the tone for other pre-election challenges?</s>JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Well, first of all, Don, you are exactly right. This is John Roberts once again siding with the liberals in a way that really matters. I don't know if it is going to set the tone but even if somehow things change when the Wisconsin case comes up there or other ones come to the court and the Democrats don't prevail, this was one very big case simply because it is Pennsylvania and the court was dead locked. Two things on that. First of all it shows that John Roberts is still wielding power over this court trying to steady it rather than have it lunge either to the right or the left amid all the turmoil of the election, the recent death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the expected addition of Amy Coney Barrett, all the attacks by Donald Trump on the judiciary. So this was a very strong institutionalist vote right here again with the left. But to answer your core question, Don, about what it might say about other cases, you know, John Roberts takes them one at a time and he's a well-known for, frankly, alternating so that he is not predictable to go with either the right or left at any given time. And we have a Wisconsin case pending, another one from Alabama and with two weeks to go I can see other ones coming up.</s>LEMON: Let's talk more. Because you mentioned Judge Amy Coney Barrett. This was a 4-4 decision, Joan, which means that if she is confirmed or when she is confirm I should say, she will be a critical vote on election matters.</s>BISKUPIC: That's exactly right, Don. And if this case had come up just a week later with her on the bench as we expect her to be early next week, it might have gone the opposite way. She certainly has a far more conservative record than the chief justice. She might have believed that this was the kind of thing that the state Republicans in Pennsylvania should prevail. So, you know, when she comes on we still have presumably at least seven days before the November 3rd election and her vote could really matter in a way that as I say would be different than the chief justices tonight.</s>LEMON: Hi, Amanda, thank you for waiting so patiently. I want to ask you about -- I want to talk to you about the coronavirus. Cases are surging across the country but instead of leading or even acknowledging there is a problem the president is attacking the country's top infectious disease expert. Why is Trump so focused on going after Dr. Fauci? I don't understand it. Well, maybe I do in a way but go on, sorry.</s>AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR SENATOR TED CRUZ AND THE AUTHOR OF GASLIGHTING AMERICA: Well, he is desperate to be right on this. Correct? And he can't have someone questioning that the approach that he has taken to the virus. He has firmly been on the side of open it up. We'll see what happens. And get it done. Where Dr. Fauci has been warning things are about to get worse. Meanwhile Trump is promising things are getting better. There is a vaccine on the way. I mean, they're just fundamentally at odds on this question.</s>LEMON: And listen, he needs people. He needs -- he's is trying to change the narrative, Amanda. He needs people to think that it is no big deal when it actually it is. It's very, very dangerous what he is doing. I'm surprised that, should I be surprised? I was just going to say that the people come to those rallies and considering what is happening and they are in hot spots, it is really a dangerous strategy.</s>CARPENTER: Yes, and I think if you even looking at those places where he's been traveling to, states like Arizona and Georgia which should be a lock for Republicans. I mean, the coronavirus is taking over everything. And that is having a down ballot effect. Look at the races, Martha McSally, who has stood right next to today. She's pulling worse than Donald Trump. It is because only Donald Trump kind of gets away with the stuff he's been pulling over the past four years. And other people try to mimic it. It doesn't work as well for them. And so there are going to be Republicans that try to draw some separation in the last coming days here before the election but it is too late. Their fates are tied to Trump. They will be judged the same if not worse.</s>LEMON: John, the president is really using a new line on the campaign trail. Listen to it and we'll talk about it.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you vote for Biden, he will surrender your jobs to China. He will surrender your future to the virus. He's going to lock down. He just wants us to lock down. He'll listen to the scientists.</s>LEMON: I mean, what, what, in what world is not listening to the scientists a good thing? I mean, are we living in a world where siding with science is bad?</s>HARWOOD: Every single word Donald Trump said in that sound bite you just played was complete nonsense. But in terms of the scientists, you know, the thing that Donald Trump is doing right now is, he's trying to comfort his own, tortured ego. He sees the country -- the majority of the country rejecting him, rejecting his approach to the coronavirus, siding with people like Tony Fauci who has been in a different place. And as Amanda said, he needs to be right and he needs to be right for -- to reassure himself. He is seeking the comfort of affirmation in the last days of the campaign. He is going to friendly audiences having these maskless rallies even though they probably hurt his campaign because they underscore his casual approach to the coronavirus. He does it because the people there cheer him. He mocks Fauci. They laugh along. They -- he wants people to tell him he's great right now even if the voters are poised not to do that and part of doing that is asserting that scientists are wrong, I'm right and having people cheer that line.</s>LEMON: Amanda, I want to follow up on something that you said. You talked about down ballot, right, because the reason I want to follow up is because President Trump told reporters today that he doesn't think his re-election is tied to Senate Republicans and their re- election and doesn't have anything to do with him. Is this the beginning of his argument, you know, if there is a down ballot disaster, it isn't his fault?</s>CARPENTER: Yes. He's got to blame somebody right? But this is just flawed on the face of it because he demanded the utmost Republican loyalty from every person running. I encourage people to look at the race of Kelly Loeffler. She was asked in her Senate debate today is there anything that you disagree with Donald Trump on about? Anything. Just name one thing. And she says, no. I am very proud of my 100 percent voting record for Donald Trump. I mean, he demands this kind of lock step loyalty. And to say now that he has nothing to do with it, they have nothing to do with each other, I mean, it is laughable and you almost have to pity someone like Kelly Loeffler and Martha McSally who fell for this to begin with.</s>HARWOOD: Almost.</s>LEMON: Yes. Almost. I appreciate all of you. And Joan, rest up because you are going to be very busy in the coming days. I appreciate all of you joining us. Thanks so much. Long lines around the country for early voting and Election Day is still 15 days away. Look at those lines. Whew. Plus the president lashing out at Dr. Fauci who actually needs security because of credible death threats against him and harassment of his family.</s>ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE: That's sad. The very fact that a public health message to save lives triggers such venom and animosity to me that it results in real and credible threats to my life and my safety.

Dr. Fauci's Public Health Message To Americans Resulted to Threats; Rising Number of Coronavirus and Deaths in the United States.

LEMON: Two weeks until the election and with the COVID-19 pandemic getting worse President Trump is trying to make Dr. Anthony Fauci a campaign issue calling him a disaster and claiming Americans are tired of hearing from what he calls these idiots. Let's bring in CNN's medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner. Wow. What a statement. Hi, doctor. How are you?</s>JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Hi, Don.</s>LEMON: Listen. Dr. Fauci is the country's leading infectious disease expert. He is trying to save lives and the president is saying this about.</s>TRUMP: People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots, these people, these people that have gotten it wrong. Fauci's a nice guy. He's been here for 500 years. Every time he goes on television there's always a bomb. But there's a bigger bomb if you fire him. But Fauci is a disaster. I mean this guy, if I listen to him we'd have 500,000 deaths. But Fauci, if we listen to him, we have 700,000 - 800,000 deaths right now. So with that, I get along with him. If there's a reporter on, you can have it just the way I said it. I couldn't care less.</s>LEMON: Geez. And you heard the gasp when he said that. Why is he trashing Dr. Fauci like this?</s>REINER: You know, I used to think that, you know, there was some kind of hidden three dimensional chess going on. I just think he's jealous of the adoration that large portions of the country have for Dr. Fauci and what he has done over his career and what he is trying to do now. But people aren't tired of Tony Fauci. They're tired of the misery. In the 1970s the economist author Okun came up with something they called the misery index, it's a way to quantify something that is pretty you know, subjective which is how much are people hurting at that time during the recession. And what he did, was he basically just added the inflation rate to the unemployment rate and came up with a number. But we have a new misery index and it is very simple. It's the unemployment rate and the COVID positivity rate. And in the United States right now that is 13 percent which is about twice what it is for some European countries. More than that compared to places like Japan, but in different parts of the United States it's much higher. So for instance in Iowa, that number is 26 percent. It's 30 percent in Wisconsin. It's 36 percent in Nevada. Maybe that misery index is why the election isn't going the president's way in those swing states. People are miserable.</s>LEMON: Yes. You know listen. It is pretty disgusting to hear what the president say that but also Dr. Fauci. Someone who -- he has advised six presidents now. He needs a security detail. He's a doctor. He shouldn't have to need that.</s>REINER: No, he shouldn't. And I was thinking today when I was watching a clip from 60 minutes and you saw him walking on the C&O canal not too far from where I live and he had a security guard in front of him, someone walking behind him and he was talking about how his children have been threatened and I was thinking about how angry I would be. Angry. But he seems to hold it together and he goes to work every day. I admire him. You know, I was a medical student a long time ago, and the textbook of internal medicine when I was a medical student he was one of the editors for it. He's been a leader, a medical leader, a scientist, a leader in this country for like almost half a century. He deserves our respect, period.</s>LEMON: Yes. Thank you, doctor. I appreciate it. See you soon.</s>REINER: My pleasure. Sure.</s>LEMON: The numbers are so sad. More than 220,000 Americans dead of the coronavirus. Tens of thousands of Americans who didn't have to die. Cases passing 8.2 million. More tonight from CNN's Nick Watt.</s>NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Chicago is now averaging more than 500 new COVID cases every day, the most since late May.</s>MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT (D-CHICAGO): Make no mistake. We are in the second surge. These numbers are extremely troubling. And are consistent with what we've been seeing across Illinois and, really, across the country and world.</s>WATT: In 14 of our states right now a test positivity rate so high it tells us the spread is out of control. In Utah, average case counts now roughly double their summer surge.</s>FAUCI: You cannot say that we're on the road to essentially getting out of this.</s>WATT: Cruel irony, Connecticut and New Jersey with cases climbing now appear to qualify for the COVID travel restrictions they imposed on other heavily infected states.</s>ALEX AZAR, U.S. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: People are getting tired. The American people have given so much. We are seeing mitigation fatigue right now. You know, I just hope that we have so much promise in the weeks and months ahead.</s>WATT: A vaccine? Well, a week after Johnson & Johnson paused its trial following an illness in a volunteer the company and the FDA won't tell CNN if that volunteer was actually receiving the vaccine or even if this is the first pause.</s>MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY: We do have vaccines and therapeutics coming down the pike but when you actually look at the time period for that the next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic.</s>WATT: This past month nationally the average number of new cases a day exploded, up 40 percent.</s>LARRY BRILLIANT, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: There is nothing to stop this the way things are going.</s>WATT: But there is a silver lining of sorts. The death rate per case has declined.</s>BRILLIANT: And it's a tribute to modern medicine. We have tools in our arsenal now.</s>WATT: But we still do not fully understand the long term impacts of this virus on the millions who make it, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, lung issues.</s>FAUCI: The other thing that we're seeing that's a bit disturbing is that the degree of cardiovascular abnormalities by scans and by other diagnostic tests, it may be insignificant, but I don't know that now.</s>WATT: Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.</s>LEMON: Thank you, Nick Watt. 15 days to Election Day. And despite the polls Joe Biden's campaign is warning President Trump can still win, but does he have a potential path to victory? Plus Republican Senators warning of grim election prospects. I'm going to speak to one Democratic challenger in a close race in Texas.

President Trump Putting Distance with GOP Senators Up for Re-Election

LEMON: Long lines across the critical battleground state of Florida with most counties there opening for early, in-person voting today. More than 28 million Americans already casting their ballots in this election about 20 percent of all the ballots cast in 2016. And there are still 15 days to go until Election Day. Joe Biden using today for debate prep while slamming President Trump over his handling of the coronavirus that after the president called Dr. Anthony Fauci a disaster on a campaign staff call. And claimed he has never felt better about his election chances.</s>TRUMP: This is the single best I have ever been in any campaign. We're going to win. I wouldn't have told you that maybe two or three weeks ago.</s>LEMON: Jim Messina is here, he is a former campaign manager for President Barack Obama's successful re-election bid. Jim, good to see you again. Thanks for joining me.</s>JIM MESSINA, FORMER OBAMA CAMPAIGN MANAGER: A pleasure. Any time.</s>LEMON: So, this is what a source close to the debate commission is telling CNN that the decision to mute mics and allow candidates to speak uninterrupted that it was unanimous and that it was an attempt to make the candidates comply with the rules they signed up for. The president says that he's going to go along with it but how is this going to change the debate?</s>MESSINA: Well, I think it is really good for Joe Biden, right. Because the Trump theory has been they could knock Biden off of his stride by continuing to interrupt him. That won't happen because of this. Is it is going to allow Biden to do what he is best at, look directly at the camera and kind of make his case to the American people. And so, I think it is a clear advantage for Biden. You and I wouldn't think that actually obeying the rules would be a clear advantage for anyone but in this situation I think it is and is going to be very frustrating for Donald Trump to sit there and have to take it while Joe Biden goes at him.</s>LEMON: I'm sure you were shocked by these repeated attacks on Dr. Fauci. Do they make any sense from a campaign strategy perspective?</s>MESSINA: No. They are stupid for two reasons, Don. The first reason they are stupid is because the Trump campaign just finished using Anthony Fauci on their own TV commercials. And so Fauci said he was outraged by. But they just put him on TV. The second thing is every moment Donald Trump is talking about COVID he is losing. You know, his only chance to win this election is get it back to an economic choice. And every time he says things like this he drives swing voters crazy. He continues to remind these kind of swing voters who you know, are 58 percent women that he can't be trusted with COVID. He can't be trusted with the future of his family. He just drives into what is his worst issue. It is kind of you know, political malpractice but as you and I have been talking before there seems to be nothing sort of predictable about Donald Trump's behavior.</s>LEMON: Yes. Jim, let's look at CNN's Electoral College outlook. When you look at that Biden has a clear advantage, the Biden campaign is warning Democrats not to become complacent. Do you think there is a risk of that after what happened in 2016?</s>MESSINA: Never assume. Right?</s>LEMON: Right.</s>MESSINA: I think the Biden campaign is being very smart to continue to just remind everyone what happened last time. To take nothing for granted. Let's be honest. You know, it's hard to get out and vote given some of the COVID challenges, given you know, the average swing voter 2.5 jobs and has kids and they want to make sure that all of their families and voters vote. And so they got to continue to remind people of why this is important. And that's why the numbers you just showed, you know, almost 30 million people have already early voted. That is just huge. And this time four years ago it was only 5 million people. That's a six fold increase. And that is incredibly important to make sure that both campaigns get their votes out.</s>LEMON: Yes. Listen. I want to put yourself in the Trump campaign shoes. OK? So if you were running this campaign, Jim, what is your best path to victory right now? You may not want to offer advice but what is the best path to victory?</s>MESSINA: Look, I think the key has always been in the Midwest and I think, you know, it's why the Biden campaign is being very smart to lock down what you and I used to call the blue wall. Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan are the three states that are going to matter the most here. And so if you're the Biden -- I'm sorry, if you're the Trump campaign, you know, you're going to do what they've done. Which is just park as much your time and money as you can especially in Pennsylvania. You know, where 90 percent of our simulations, Pennsylvania is a tipping ground state, and so, you know, the Midwest is where this campaign is going to be won or lost.</s>MESSINA: Trump won those three states by a combined 77,000 votes last time, really close margins. And he has got to find a way back. I don't think he's going to get there, but that's what you're going to see him and this campaign doing. While he is doing that, he has got to defend a bunch of states he won handily last time like Florida, like Arizona, like Ohio, like Iowa. And so it really is a challenge and a distinct advantage for the Biden campaign because they can keep him running in the states that Trump needs for his own wall and then compete in the Midwest where they got to have it.</s>LEMON: Mm-hmm. You know, Biden has a lot of money. He raised a ton of money in the last quarter in September. He's dumping some of it, $400 million. That is his war chest. He is dumping some it into ads during NFL games, attacking the president over the coronavirus. How big a boost is all of these cash heading into the final two weeks of this election?</s>MESSINA: It's really important. It is important because, you know, the voters who haven't made up their mind, either who they are going to vote for or if they're going to vote, are starting to tune into this election. The average swing voter thinks about politics only about four minutes a week. They're starting to really pay attention and say, hey, this thing is coming up, and I got to figure out what to do. And I think he is being very smart on the NFL buying. It is expensive but especially in the Midwest and the states you and I just talked about. These are football states that they care very deeply about. Politics and football, they're starting to think about it. And having the kind of resources to make the case in both your battleground states and then in some of the expansion states, I mean, who would have thought the Biden campaign would have the kind of money that could start to compete in Georgia and states like that? And again, if you're Donald Trump's campaign manager, you're just pulling your hair out, Don, because you got to say, OK, I don't have as much money, where am I going to put my chips? And they're probably going to put all their money in the Midwest.</s>LEMON: Always a pleasure. Jim Messina, thank you so much.</s>MESSINA: My pleasure.</s>LEMON: Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn distancing himself from the president. But will it be enough to keep his seat? I'm going to speak with the veteran hoping to oust him. That is coming up. And ahead, she's trying to get the vote out, and her message is going viral.</s>BELINDA VANARDO, VOTING TIKTOK VIDEO WENT VIRAL: OK, guys, I'm going over here and get my jush. I got my grown-folks hair on. I got my savage clothes on. I'm ready for this damn heat. I'm ready for these people, because I'm going to vote.

Europe and the United States in Grip of a Vicious COVID-19 Second Wave; Interview with Rick Bright, Former Director, BARDA and Alex Gibney, Director, "Totally Under Control"; Rallies in France Commemorating Samuel Paty and the Charlie Hebdo Attack; Interview With Kara Swisher; Interview With Author Caroline Fourest.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, everyone, and welcome to "Amanpour." Here's what's coming up.</s>DONALD TRUMP, U.S. TRUMP: We have it totally under control.</s>AMANPOUR: Out of control as Europe and the United States are in the grip of a vicious second wave. We look back at what the Trump administration did with one of America's most important documentary makers, Alex Gibney, and COVID whistleblower, Rick Bright. Then, thousands marched for freedom in France as they commemorate a slain teacher, echoes of the Charlie Hebdo massacre. I speak to former columnist, Caroline Fourest, about tolerance and how to fight extremism. And --</s>KARA SWISHER, CO-HOST, PIVOT PODCAST: There's no such thing as big tech. There is a lot of big tech companies. And each in their own way had contributed to problems that we have had in our society.</s>AMANPOUR: The power of sway, our Walter Isaacson speaks to top tech journalist, Kara Swisher, about her new podcast and taking on everyone from senators to CEOs. Welcome to the program, everyone. I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. And tonight, we start with leadership rewarded. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand has become a bit of a local and global hero for her approach to governance. And she's celebrating her landslide reelection victory over the weekend. A vote of confidence in her handling of the coronavirus pandemic. And before that, the massacre of Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch. Consider this visual at a rugby match in Oakland. No masks, no social distancing, just a crammed stadium full of people doing what they used to do. For other country, the nightmare continues. Belgium, the seat of Europe has admitted that it can no longer control the virus. And in the United States, cases are climbing towards a new peak. One of the nation's leading experts says that the next 6 to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic. Over the last five months, the Oscar winning documentary maker, Alex Gibney, has been uncovering a tragic trail of missteps by the Trump administration, that turn the richest most powerful country in the world into a COVID hot zone with the highest number of deaths and counting. The film is called "Totally Under Control." Alex Gibney made it with the help of whistleblowers, some even Trump voters. He's joining me now with Rick Bright who used to be at the Department of Health and Human Services. Gentlemen, welcome to the program. Rick Bright, I wasn't referring to you as a Trump voter and I know that you had to leave your job when you complained and you tried to, you know, raise the inconsistencies over the coronavirus pandemic and it's handling. Let me ask you right now as a medical professional. You've just heard the experts say the next 6 to 12 months are going to be the worst and the darkest and you're also hearing President Trump continue to attack, I mean, in ways we haven't heard before, Anthony Fauci, the leading expert and member of the task force. How is this going to turn out in terms of life and death?</s>RICK BRIGHT, FORMER DIRECTOR, BARDA: Well, firsts, thanks for having me on this show today. It's a really important question. President Trump still is in complete denial that we have a problem with the coronavirus sweeping across our country and across the planet. He has refused to accept this and be honest with the American public from day one. The actions that we're seeing him do now with the rallies and mixed messaging and the irresponsible behavior that he is not only doing, but encouraging others to do, is going to lead for not just a really dark next few weeks and months, the darkest winter that we have ever seen probably, is going to be downright deadly. This is going to translate not only at just in more people being affected, more hospitalizations and the hospitals are going to be overwhelmed, our health care workers don't have the protective equipment they need. It will translate to deadly outbreaks across our country and the world. Our senior citizens, our most vulnerable, we have not protected them yet and there is still no plan from our government to protect the vulnerable, to test or do anything to get this pandemic under control.</s>AMANPOUR: Alex, let me ask you because Dr. Fauci also said that seeing those pictures of President Trump at rallies but also at the -- you know, the famous super spreader event at the White House with no masks and people all jammed together and no social distancing, he said that he wasn't surprise the president got COVID and contracted it, but he's also, you know, in light of all these attacks and the politicization of the health, this is what he told CBS last night. Let's just take a listen.</s>DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: That is sad. The very fact that a public health message to save lives triggers such venom and animosity to me that it results in real and credible threats to my life and my safety. But it bothers me less than the hassling of my wife and my children.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have been threatened?</s>FAUCI: Yes. I mean, like give me a break.</s>AMANPOU: So, Alex, I mean, I put that out there because it leads directly into what you have been uncovering and investigating in your documentary. And it is essentially a story about what Fauci is saying. In other words, threatening the experts and threatening the science, threatening the masks, you know, raising the idea of untested drugs and the like. You talk about a lost month at the beginning of the documentary. Tell me what you mean.</s>ALEX GIBNEY, DIRECTOR, "TOTALLY UNDER CONTROL": The lost month early on when due to a snafu with the Centers for Disease Control, the test wasn't working, the test wasn't properly working. But there were all sorts of things that the federal government could have done to get control of that testing procedure and to put in place a national testing program, because that was really the only chance we had of containing the virus. So, now, we're dealing with mitigation. But to contain it, you needed a vigorous program so you could see where it was to then have those people quarantined and then also contact trace the people they've been in touch with. So, it's all about identifying the virus. And Trump simply refused -- then the Trump administration simply refused to put in place that testing program in a way that would have saved so many lives.</s>AMANPOUR: So, Rick Bright, you know, you complained about what was going on quite early and you talk about, in the documentary, how you ruffled feathers, how when you tried to take certain issues to the task force, to the administration, to your department head at Health and Human Services, you know, it wasn't welcomed, to say the least. Talk to me about what was the main issue. Was -- I mean, Alex has talked about tests, which obviously were a major first issue, but even masks and hydroxychloroquine.</s>BRIGHT: The main issue was President Trump and the White House Task Force and secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, had their own narrative. They wanted to lie to the America population and tell Americans that this virus was not a problem, it was not a threat and they had everything under control. And anything that went against that narrative, any fact or scientific data that informed them that we did not have it under control, that we were short of critical supplies to our health care workers, that we didn't have money to start the vaccine development or the drug development so we could have these medicines and vaccines available as quickly as possible, any alarm that was sounded to them was dismissed and sometimes ridiculed, and they took steps to push those people, like myself, out of those meetings. They did not want to hear that this wasn't under control. They didn't want to hear the truth that this virus was spreading. We did not contain it at all. The containment barrier was breached in January. The virus was spreading person to person across our country. Many people were infected. And they refused to test those people. The guidelines were so complicated at the very beginning. We had so many people who had all of the signs and symptoms of being infected with the coronavirus and they were refused testing because they didn't meet the narrative and guidelines that the administration was putting in place in those early days. All that did was allow the virus to spread further while they were in denial and refused to invite scientists into their meetings.</s>AMANPOUR: So, Alex, let me ask you because that's in sharp contrast with South Korea, and you make a pretty compelling, you know, sort of double screen, split screen of South Korea and the United States, which reported their very first cases on the very same day, and yet, the reaction in South Korea was completely different to the reaction in the United States. I want to play a little clip that takes place -- you talk about an event on January, you know, at the beginning this year, where South Korean experts realize they had to get together. Let's take a listen.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On January 27th, South Korean health officials summoned representatives from more than 20 medical companies to put in place a national testing program. It was such an urgent are request they just met in a conference room at one of the train stations in Seoul. The head of the equivalent of the CDC, he basically said, manufacture me these tests now and forget about the approval process, you know, you start using them, start testing. We will come back to make sure it's accurate, but we'll do that while you're already in the field.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Within a matter of days after that, the first diagnostic test kit was approved and it's a process that typically can take upwards of a year.</s>AMANPOUR: So, it was a completely different set of actions, the politicians got out of the way we hear and experts took over. Let's just read the stats here. Now, the United States has about 330 million people and we know that 220,000 people have died, 8 million have caught it. South Korea, 50 million people, about a sixth of the size. Nonetheless, if I'm not mistaken, about 500 or so people have died. Just give us the -- what accounted for this vast difference of outcome?</s>GIBNEY: Partially, it was learning from experience. South Korea had a terrible experience with the MERS virus, they hadn't handled it well but they learned from that experience and recalibrated it and adjusted thinker thinking. Also, a tremendous trust in not only government but also in scientists and the belief that in an epidemic or a pandemic, you listen to the scientists, not the vague wishes of politicians, who are trying to run for reelection. So, that was critical. And then you have, of course, the side off of industry and the ability to approve a system quickly. Because critical to South Korea was knowing what to anticipate when something like this was going to happen and be able to act on it. The terrible irony though, and it's probably more than an irony, but the terrible irony about the U.S. response was just prior to the pandemic in late 2019, the United States had just finished putting together a report on an exercise that gamed out what it would be like to respond to a pandemic. Dr. Bright was involved in that exercise. It was called crimson contagious. And so, out of that, they developed a very extensive playbook. Put on top of the playbook left to the Trump administration by the Obama administration, so they had all the tools they need to respond quickly and effectively to the virus. But shockingly, they left that playbook on the bookshelf. They didn't even crack it open. And when officials like Dr. Bright came forward to say, we have got to act on what we know, they said - - they simply refused because it was not politically expedient to do so. And that is the gist of the most terrifying thing because they put, what, the cost, hundreds of thousands of lives, as a result of political opportunism.</s>AMANPOUR: Dr. Bright, I just want your take on that. You were involved. I mean, how is it possible to have the playbook and not look at it?</s>BRIGHT: It's interest, when the Trump administration came into office, there was a concerted effort to look at many of the documents and strategies and plans and policies that were left behind by the Obama administration. And to put some of those on the shelf never to be looked at again, to change the title and names of some of those and even some of those that were in draft to delay and hold those until after the end of January so they can put the Trump administration's name or signature on those documents. So, there is just this overwhelming attitude that anything that was left behind by the Obama administration or prior administrations even wasn't going to be used. And that the Trump administration would do better or could do better or would come up with their own plan. And in this situation, the Trump administration failed to do so. What is interesting, as Alex mentioned, is we actually exercised in the Trump administration a full-fledged state level, local level, federal level, industry government level, exercise called crimson contagion in October 2019. And even from that plan, even from that report on the after- action items that we needed to focus on first, whenever we saw such a pandemic emerging, even those ideas were ignored. Those plans were still left on the shelf. There was no discussion of the after-action items. It's interesting that those are some of the very first action items I took into the meetings with Secretary Azar when I was invited in mid-January, I went to that after-action report and our previous playbooks and I made a list of things that I knew that we needed in BARDA to start working on vaccines and drugs and diagnostics quickly. And I laid those things out in very short notes. I was given three minutes to lay out the highest priorities that we needed, were medical countermeasures. I laid those out clearly. I assume everyone would recall them from just a few months earlier, and I was met with indifference, surprise and actually not invited back to the meeting. I upset a lot of people by bringing those facts forward.</s>AMANPOUR: Right. It is extraordinary. And I have to say, I want to play one more clip that we have because it is also very telling. This is Max Kennedy Jr., the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, who decided to join an effort out of civic duty that was to try to get with FEMA masks and other PPE. This is what he recounts of some of his experience.</s>MAX KENNEDY JR.: We thought we would be axillary support for an existing procurement team that just needed to be expanded as quickly as possible and we would, you know, do data entry for contracts. And instead, we were the team. I think when people imagined the federal government response and the war room, they thought it would be this big, you know, energized group of experts, not 10, 20-year-old volunteers.</s>AMANPOUR: So, Alex, you know, Max, you describe also as a bit of a whistleblower. He has talked also in the documentary about how the White House is working largely outside of government to try to, at least at that time, to try to do procurement. And he actually broke a nondisclosure agreement. You describe a real</s>FEMA. GIBNEY: Yes,</s>AMANPOUR: It is an extraordinary tale and I have to it's very alarming that the politicizing of masks still is running rampant across the country. It's very alarming. Thank you both very much, indeed, Alex Gibney, Dr. Rick Bright, thank you. And the documentary "Totally Under Control" is streaming now on HBO Max, part of Warner Media, which is CNN's parent company. Now, tens of thousands of people have rallied in towns and cities across France in tribute to teacher, Samuel Paty, after he was beheaded on Friday at his school near Paris. The killer, an 18-year-old Chechecn refugee was later shot dead by police. Now, France is a nation still shaken from the Charlie Hebdo and the Bataclan attacks in Paris almost five years ago. And Sunday's marchers carried signs, "I am Samuel. I am a teacher." In a deep irony, Samuel Paty was teaching a class introduced in public school after those atrocities and he was geared to help kids understand the cartoons that led to the Charlie Hebdo attack that killed 12 people. Now, that trial got underway last month. Journalist, Caroline Fourest, is a former columnist for Charlie Hebdo. Her latest book is about freedom of expression. It's a warning against extremism in the heart of Europe's most enlightened city. She joins me from Paris to talk about it. Caroline Fourest, welcome to the program.</s>CAROLINE FOUREST, JOURNALIST AND COLUMNIST: Thank you. Thank you for having me.</s>AMANPOUR: You must have been quite emotional, but also gratified to see so many marchers and protesters, individuals across the nation over the weekend. People carrying signs that said "I am a teacher." People really in solidarity with what happened. Tell me just, you know, your reaction to what happened over the weekend.</s>FOUREST: Oh, we need this solidarity. Of course, it's really good to see, good to watch all of the places in the world. But I really do think that after all of this terrorist attack, we need more now. We need more than gatherings, we need more understandings, we need to explain the context of all of this and we need to resist together to the propaganda, to the extremist who try to divide us on those subjects.</s>AMANPOUR: So, that's really interesting. You say you need to explain, you need more solidarity. I guess I want to ask you first because a lot of people, certainly in the West anyway, are asking why France? Why is this happening in France and particularly in Paris, you know, this attack on this teacher, Samuel Paty? With, obviously, Bataclan and before that on your former headquarters at Charlie Hebdo. People now are beginning to ask why is this happening in France, which has a culture, you know, of tolerance and a constitution that the talks about everybody being part of the same republic.</s>FOUREST: First, it's not technically in France. Of course, those attacks have targeted almost all countries in the world. But you're right, Christiane, we had a lot of those. We faced almost a terrorist attack every two months since almost eight years now. It's a lot. Jews have been attacked on the street. Teachers now, before it was policemen, cartoonists, journalists, the priests, businessman has been beheaded a few years ago. First, because we have a lot of radicals, that's a reality. We have almost 8,000 Islamist radicals in France. So, every time there is a campaign of hatred social network as someone is accused, for example, of islamophobia, it can get him killed, because one of those radical can take the target, take the bit and kill this person.</s>AMANPOUR: I was really quite struck by the fact that it looked like this teacher, Samuel Paty's class was kind what came out of some reflection after the attack on Charlie Hebdo trying to explain to students the idea of religion, politics, extremism, versus tolerance and all that. Why was Samuel Paty showing the pictures and talking about it in any event in his class?</s>FOUREST: Because it's part of the program actually. It's the official program. It's part of the mission of the public school to debate in classrooms about critical thinking, context, secularism, blasphemy, especially since the terrorist attack against Charlie Hebdo, we reenforced those programs to help the students to resist to some extremist propaganda that radicalize them, of course, that they can have on their smartphone, that they can find on the internet. So, those propagandas are really destroying citizenship, radicalizing some youngs who join in the past ISIS, and this is why we reenforce in public schools those programs, the fact that we are supposed to have debate to explain to the young generation what is the context of those drawings, why they have been published because there is too much propaganda about that. And Mr. Paty was only doing this, explaining and even -- the took the time to say to his students, if you don't want to be part of the debate, you warm them, you can leave the room. But we are going to discuss about maybe some drawings which can offend you, which can be shocking to you. But we are going to speak about the context and why they have been made. And this is why the students actually were assisted to this, also in shock, because they understood very well that those</s>AMANPOUR: I just want to air a little bit of what President Macros said when he visited the execution site, I mean, I guess we can call it that, on Friday after it happened. This is when he said.</s>AMANPOUR: So, it's really dramatic and it's really dark. Do you believe that it is an existential crisis, an existential fight for France? And, again, people around the world are going to be looking at this and they're going to be saying, yes, it happens elsewhere, but it seems like it's particularly vicious and particularly concentrated certainly recently in France.</s>FOUREST: Again, we can be killed Jihadist because you are just Jew, gay, women anywhere in the world. But it's right, it's true that you are also killed for your ideas in France. Because we have this belief that it's important to not let them speak. The last, do not let them intimidate us. And we really, really think that we cannot be ruled by fear. So, the defense of this teaching, yes, the French president is right, it's part of the history of public schools in France. The figure of the teacher has a long, long tradition, it's the figure of the teacher that resisted to fanaticism in France against Catholic fanaticism centuries ago, is the figure of the teacher that help unify the countries and we have this belief that it is in public schools that you can become who you want regardless your origin, your religion, no matter where you're coming from, you can become who you want thanks to the public school because this is where you're learning the common language. You're learning a minimal common value with the other citizens. This is why this symbol is so important and this is why public schools is teaching critical thinking and</s>AMANPOUR: Can you talk perhaps the profile of this terrorist and others? Because, you know, you call them radicals, yes, obviously, they are radicals. They are violent, they are extremists, in this case terrorists. Who are they? I mean, are they the marginalized? Are they people -- who are they?</s>FOUREST: Actually, there is a shift that there is a difference between the previous terrorist attacks. Many terrorist attacks we face were organized in France by French from Arab origin, radicalized through the internet by sometimes ISIS, sometimes al-Qaeda. The last two terrorist attack we had, recently, the one in front of the former office of Charlie Hebdo and the one against this teacher is different. It's two young terrorists who didn't grow up in France. The previous one was a Pakistani young boy, freshly arrived in France. Actually, probably has been radicalized through international network from Pakistan. And the last one is from Chechnya, is a refugee. So, you know, France, of course, protects the Muslims who were prosecuted by Russia. And this is probably at this -- this is probably the reason why his family has been welcome in France, to be protected. And this is also the irony of this nightmare. You have a country welcome a young Muslim to protect Muslim from persecution by an authoritarian regime, and this young Muslim started to think that a teacher,</s>AMANPOUR: This teacher, Samuel Paty, was trying to sensitize people to what was happening around the trial that has only just started in France of the Charlie Hebdo massacre that took place in January 2015. You were a journalist at Charlie Hebdo. What was it like for you there? I mean, you were there and you had -- you told the story and you reported, you know, what happened. Because this goes all the way back to 2005 with the Danish cartoons. Did you have to get protection? Were you and your colleagues, did you always know you were in danger? What was it like being a journalist?</s>FOUREST: It's becoming more and more difficult to be a journalist those days. Back in 2006 when the cartoons first started, I was already a specialist on religious extremism. When it started, we decided to show the drawings only to inform, to do our job, being journalists, especially in a context where some other colleagues, the Danish cartoonists and a Danish newspaper was under death threats. And you know what follows. You are publishing cartoons to inform and to support other journalists who are under death threats, and, 10 years after, your colleagues are killed for that. And five years after, a teacher trying to explain why some journalists in France had to publish some cartoons to support other journalists in Denmark is killed, is beheaded. We need solidarity. We need the help of all the journalists in the world to explain the context of that story. We didn't start that war. Nobody wanted to start a war. Actually, it was contrary. Those drawings were made to avoid, to answer to death threats and violence and attack and terrorism by hate. This is why we tried, actually, to draw Mohammed laughing about the fanatics to help people to not confuse the Muslims, all the Muslims, with the extremists.</s>AMANPOUR: Yes.</s>FOUREST: It's the extremists who are doing this confusion by killing in the name of Mohammed people who will just try to defend free speech. And it's more and more difficult today, honestly. It's really more and more difficult. Half of my friends are under police protection. Teachers are really intimidated now. They don't know if they can continue to do their job just to have debate with their students, just to explain facts. And we know we are living in a world where there is so many propaganda, so many politician instrumentalization, so many polarization. We just cannot be ruled by them. We have to resist. And the only way to resist is to draw, is to love, is to think. So we continue at any cost, actually.</s>AMANPOUR: You're throwing down the gauntlet there. I want to ask you, though, in this context, obviously, President Macron has sort of -- this happened just as he's trying to introduce new methodology to try to stop this kind of separatism, this kind of incitement. But, on the other hand, you have got your right-wing politicians, Marine Le Pen of the former National Front. I don't know what they call it now. But you have been a target, and you have had public spats with her. This is going to play in to this political division, particularly over immigration and religion and extremism.</s>FOUREST: I understand that people can see that way. And, honestly, I do believe it's the exact opposite. We actually have two options to resist to those terrorist attacks. Again, they're going to continue. Islamism is going to continue to attack us, even if we stop to love, think and draw, because they are attacking Jew, they are attacking gay, they are attacking women. They are attacking everyone in the streets, no matter if they are cartoonists, journalists, or teachers. So, it's going to continue. But we have two option. Or we let the extreme right, that means hate, resisting to it, being the answer to it. And that's my worst fear. I don't want to elect the equivalent of Donald Trump in France. We all want to avoid that. We don't want to live what the Americans have been through these past four years. We don't want Marine Le Pen being elected in France. So, the other option is to show that there is a secularist, alternative left, a "Charlie Hebdo" left, that is resisting our way. And our way is to say, hate is not the answer. Racism is not the answer. But being brave, continue to think continue to defend freedom of speech is the answer.</s>AMANPOUR: On that note, very powerful note, Caroline Fourest, thank you so much, indeed, for joining us.</s>FOUREST: Thank you.</s>AMANPOUR: Now, she talked about social media. Well, of course, in the United States, many, many of the various and sometimes nefarious forces at play in the upcoming election and beyond are under the microscope. Kara Swisher is a fearless and highly respected business technology reporter working tirelessly to shed light on the inner workings of big tech. Swisher brings her expertise to the podcast world as the co-host of "Pivot" for Vox and the host of "Sway" for New York Times Opinion. In a Zoom call from Washington, D.C., Swisher talked to our Walter Isaacson about tech giants and how Facebook is now trying to step up and stamp out the spread of conspiracy theories.</s>WALTER ISAACSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Christiane. And, Kara Swisher, welcome to the show.</s>KARA SWISHER, HOST, "PIVOT": Thanks a lot, Walter. How you doing?</s>ISAACSON: Pretty good. Pretty good. Your new amazing podcast, "Sway," you have just done a two-part series on election security and whether Facebook is making those systemic changes.</s>SWISHER: Yes.</s>ISAACSON: Are they?</s>SWISHER: Well, it was interesting. I interviewed Alex Stamos, who is from Facebook, who was the chief information security officer there for many years, and ran into a little trouble because he wanted more transparency. And so he now has a new thing at Stanford called the Stanford Internet Observatory, where they're looking at these issues, really, with a bunch of graduate students, a whole bunch of data specialists, and trying to figure out from an election -- from a technology point of view, what can be done. And then I talked to TREVOR POTTER, who's a well known Republican lawyer, who has been working with a nonprofit group he started that he -- that -- trying to do cases all across the country. And so we talked about the various cases that he has been involved in.</s>ISAACSON: Yes, but Facebook keeps doing things, it seems to me, like whack-a-troll, where they're saying, OK, we're going to stop this, we're going to stop that.</s>SWISHER: Yes.</s>ISAACSON: Isn't there some systemic problem that should be taken on?</s>SWISHER: Well, I think the difficulty is that they had never envisioned they had this kind of role. And they're not editorial by nature, as you know. I mean, you have dealt with them for many years. And so they don't think of themselves as editorial, when, in fact, they have become one of the largest publishers on the planet. And the word they sometimes use is a weird one called platisher. Have you - - you have heard that. It's a publisher and a platform, and you really can't be both. So, what they what they have done is just suddenly started to take responsibility in kind of a nonsystemic way. And I think that's why they got in trouble last week over "The New York Post" article, which has now been called into question by a lot of people, but, nonetheless, probably shouldn't have been handled the way it was by both Facebook and Twitter.</s>ISAACSON: Tell me what -- "The New York Post" article, why it was handled badly?</s>SWISHER: Well, it's this article of dubious sourcing with Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon. Couldn't have two more dubious sources, I think, on any story, but, nonetheless, they wrote this story about Hunter Biden, which is an issue that the Trump campaign is trying to push rather hard. Now, it's been disproved by lots and lots of reputable news organizations. The story is suspect. And so they put up this story about this hard drive, and it had a really wacky story about how it got to the -- anyway, I'm not going to go into the details of it, because I found it hard to believe myself. And so did some "New York Post" people. In any case, they put it up. And what they did is, they put some personal information in the stuff they put up. And so that's a big ding at Twitter, for sure. And I think Facebook might have taken it down for the same reason. And then there was also -- they had a policy that was very unclear on hacked materials, which I think is problematic, because a lot of big newspapers use materials that they get, such as Trump's tax returns. And so conservatives seized on it, and the Trump campaign seized on it, that it was being censored and this and that, when they were trying to sort of be very strict in following their very confusing rules that they had -- have had in place. So the whole thing blew up. And it was used -- it took sort of a pretty shoddy story, and then made it into this cause celebre for the right wing about censorship, which has been one of their things they talk about without a whole lot of proof. And here, to them, was proof, even though it kind of wasn't, but it looked bad, for sure.</s>ISAACSON: What about taking QAnon? Is that the right thing to do?</s>SWISHER: Well, it's an interesting question. And Alex talked about that a lot, because, unlike white supremacists, who always tend towards saying racist or violent things, which is sort of a commonality for them, according to Alex, or ISIS, which is about violence and -- so it's different things, those are very easy for Facebook to remove or for Twitter to remove. It was Facebook in this case. It's really difficult when it comes to QAnon, because it's a very nebulous, menacing group of people, but, nonetheless, not particularly violent necessarily. It could lead to violence. It's very -- it's a nebulous situation, and they can shade different things they're doing, such as something the president mentioned, which is to pretend what they're really about is trying to combat pedophilia. That is not what this group is about. It's just one of the many crazy conspiracy theories that they have -- that they sort of traffic in. And so the question is, how do you link it to violence or the current rules that Facebook has? The same thing happened with Holocaust deniers. As you know, two years ago, I did an interview, a very famous interview, with Mark Zuckerberg, where he said that Holocaust deniers don't mean to lie, and, therefore, would not take them off, which was sort of a lie in itself. Nonetheless, he didn't take them down, and then, suddenly, they changed their mind on it, because they saw rising levels of anti-Semitic violence. So, it's just a -- it's a -- I think the lack of systemic rules that are transparent and where everybody could see what they're doing in a much more cogent way is the problem. And that's been a problem for years.</s>ISAACSON: Facebook's a private company. Why would anybody try to force them, why should the government try to force him to do anything?</s>SWISHER: They shouldn't. They aren't. The government hasn't been forcing them. They are making threats now. What what's interesting is that now the conservatives are making all kinds of threats of subpoenas, and we're going to do and going to do that to Section 230, which is a law that gives these platforms broad immunity. It's very complex. It's not just that, but it's a complex law that was passed decades ago. And I think they just say it, and they pull it out, but they never do anything about it. And same thing with the Democrats. They say it and they never do anything about it. And so the question is, what do -- how do we want to regulate tech? And how different is each tech company from each other? And I think that's one of the big issues is that they're not -- Apple is not, Facebook is not, Microsoft is not Google. And so each of them requires a different discussion. And then there are some overall ones that we have to do together for all of them, like privacy bills. A national privacy bill would impact the ones at least that have advertising businesses, and all of them really.</s>ISAACSON: You mentioned Section 230, which gives a pretty qualified immunity to any of these platforms like Facebook, so they can't be sued for what gets put on them. There is going to be a strong push to pull back Section 230.</s>SWISHER: Yes.</s>ISAACSON: Shouldn't Facebook be responsible for what gets amplified on it?</s>SWISHER: It's very -- it's a very complex issue. In some parts, yes. In some parts, no. And that's why it needs legislators who are actually cooperating and talking with industry and talking with citizens and talking with citizens groups, talking to the people affected, to understand what's the best way to move forward -- I think it's 30 years' old this last; 30 years hence, things have changed. These are the richest and most powerful companies on the planet owned by the richest and most powerful people on the planet. They used to be start- ups in garages, literally garages. And so what do you do when you were to help an industry, and now it's -- they're monsters? They're monster large, or however you want to describe them. And so we have to sit down and have a cogent discussion, instead of eliminating it, or it'll have massive repercussions on small companies, if they just eliminate it, and probably ensconce the large companies in place, because they have got lawyers coming out their eyeballs. Like, they have got so many lawyers. And so that's -- it's a complex issue, which requires complex legislation, which is not something that's happening in Washington right now, I think.</s>ISAACSON: You saw that congressional hearing on antitrust, which turned also into anti-Section 230. It seemed more like a clown show than serious legislating.</s>SWISHER: Well, actually, that was -- that's actually a year-long investigation, which was cooperative until recently, until it got -- we moved into this election season. And that was a really interesting, actually -- which one? The one you're talking about with Mark Zuckerberg last year was a clown show. The one recently was actually pretty interesting, without them there, when they were talking about -- some of them -- they had various people come and testify, including some of the heads of these companies. Actually, the report was really interesting. It was -- it definitely surfaced a lot of e-mails that were problematic for some of these companies. It definitely had Jeff Bezos admitting that maybe some of the information leaked from one side of the marketplace over to the platform. There were all kinds of interesting avenues for each of these companies to explore. And so that's the beginning of it, an investigation of their behavior. Same thing is happening over at the Justice Department, although, again, tainted by politics, because Bill Barr wants to move forward quicker with the Google investigation. Some of the lawyers do not. Facebook is nowhere to be seen in any of these investigations, because it's close to the administration. And so all of this has been so hopelessly politicized in every angle. And I'm not naive. I understand politics, but, at the same time, there needs to be, as there are for other industries that we value in this country, cogent legislation. We will see if that will happen sometime. I don't know. I have no idea if that will happen.</s>ISAACSON: It seems that the problem is not so much that Facebook and other social media publish certain things, but that they amplify things and, that they have a systemic bias towards enraging people and engaging people. And that has led us to where we are today. Is that something that can be fixed?</s>SWISHER: I'm not sure. I actually think the architecture is problematic. And Alex Stamos and I talked about this quite a bit, this idea of how it's done and how things move in -- within the system. And so, no, actually, the way it's architected, it's for virality and speed and not context. But it's -- I think it's probably virality, speed and an engagement, essentially. And then when it's engagement, it's engagement. So that's -- it just leads to it. If they architected it for speed and context and accuracy, that would be Google. The search engine actually does that pretty well. You don't ever get on Google, the search engine, and get angry about QAnon or be pulled into QAnon. But it does over on YouTube, which is also owned by Google. They have those problems. And they also recently started to ban QAnon on that platform, too. So it just depends on the platform.</s>ISAACSON: You say that these companies say that they're neither a pure platform, like, say the phone company is, or a pure publisher, like "The New York Times," that can decide and then re-decide whether or not it should do a Tom Cotton op-ed piece.</s>SWISHER: Yes.</s>ISAACSON: But that seems in some ways true. Neither category fits for them. Should we try to create another category?</s>SWISHER: Perhaps. Maybe there is. It's just -- the issue is they benefit from the confusion, and their business benefits from it. And so they don't have any of the costs that regular media have to be very careful. Every media, when they screw up, as both you and I know, pay a high price when that happens. Even though libel is difficult to prove in this country, these companies get into a lot of trouble. And so they're they understand there are laws there designed to protect people. In this case, nobody's protected but these giant companies. And so the question is what -- they have been trying to do this themselves. And that's another difficult thing, because Facebook, as you know, is controlled by one person, who keeps saying, interestingly -- and I find this the most interesting -- that he doesn't want to be an arbiter of truth. But he built a platform that requires an arbiter of truth. And, therefore, what do we do? Do we want Mark Zuckerberg being our arbiter of truth? He doesn't want to do it. I don't want him to do it. Who should do it? And that's really the problem. It's architected in such a way that it's impossible for him to do a good job. And it's -- he's not capable of doing a good job. And the job is almost impossible.</s>ISAACSON: Well, one safeguard we have when a company starts, say, centering things we don't like or incenting or amplifying things we don't like is, we can move to another company. But a company like Facebook is so dominant, it really takes up all the oxygen of that ecosystem. Your partner Scott Galloway on your wonderful "Pivot" podcast has been pushing for things like Facebook, I think, to be broken up or more antitrust. How do you feel about that?</s>SWISHER: Well, I think that Scott has talked about that. We both have talked about it. I think the issue is, each company is different. They're their own delicate flower, right? So we have to deal with them in a different way. And so -- none of them are delicate, by the way. But a Google solution about search is a very -- which controls -- which has a dominant search position, is very different than a social media question. It's very different than Apple and the App Store, which is, as you have seen, they have gotten into big fights with the App Store developers. And then you have an Amazon, with its marketplace and its platform. And so each of them requires, whether it's antitrust action -- in some cases, that might be the right thing. Whether it's suggesting they spin things off. That's another answer. Fees that they pay, for example, or fines is another answer. Another answer is regulation. Another answer is legislation that is really -- that is really fresh and new vs. just regulation that we then suddenly enforce. And so that's the problem is that this is a very -- there's no such thing as big tech. There is a lot of big tech companies. And each in their own way have contributed to problems that we have had in our society. And just like the car companies, which are much easier to regulate, because they do the same exact thing, or the airline companies, same thing, we have to figure out a way through to deal with them, because one rule is certainly not going to work for all of them.</s>ISAACSON: You have interviewed both Nancy Pelosi and then the people who run Facebook, and your podcast is about power. Who has more power these days, the people run the tech companies or the people run Congress?</s>SWISHER: The people who run tech companies, but the only people that can stop those companies or to pull them in is government. As Scott has talked a lot about on "Pivot," the only people with the power to deal with these companies is the government. And our government, compared to governments across the world, they have tried different things, but the fact of the matter is, the U.S. government has never tried to rein in these tech companies. And that is the only countervailing force to the power that these companies have, as it has been throughout history, whether it's trains, or planes, or automobiles, or AT&Ts and IBMs or Microsofts. And you were around for that. So that's the only force, is the federal government, to deal with these companies, and hopefully in a way that will not quash innovation and not quash what has been one of our greatest industries of the past 30 years, essentially.</s>ISAACSON: But government regulation in a serious way will require some bipartisanship and nonpartisanship. And it used to be that way, even from the Microsoft, even from the Sherman Antitrust days.</s>SWISHER: Yes.</s>ISAACSON: But now, suddenly, it seems in the past year, it's become wackily partisan. Is that simply because of the election?</s>SWISHER: No, I don't think so. I think there's some -- I think conservatives -- I have had a lot of these discussions, I'm trying to get a couple of them to come on the show to talk about it. But they tend to think there's conservative bias against conservatives on these platforms, when I make the point is, they're the highest-ranking things on Facebook. If you look at Facebook's own list of the most popular posts, they are almost all conservative, which is really interesting. They can podcast. They can get on Twitter. They can mouth anything they want anywhere. And they still persist in the idea that their thoughts are being quashed. And so that hearing on the Hill was really interesting, because the Democrats were, I have to say, correctly focused on power, which is I think this is what it's all about, which is what the "Sway" podcast is about. It was about the power of these companies and the power to rein them in, and the conservatives were quite focused on conservative bias. And, again, President Trump is using it as a cudgel in this election. It's not working particularly well, but he uses it. And at the very same time, Twitter is the savior of him, that he's allowed to -- he's allowed to say whatever he wants, until recently, when Twitter decided perhaps he shouldn't be able to break the rules quite as extravagantly as he does. And then, of course, he started to squeal. And so here we are. Here we are. He finally has to live the rules the rest of us live, and he's angry about it and considers that bias, when, in fact, it's just, you're not telling the truth, such as about COVID, which is incredibly important to tell the truth about. And we're going to -- we're going to either cover you up or point people to correct information or remove you altogether. And so that sets in. Then it becomes political, and then it's hopeless.</s>ISAACSON: Kara Swisher, it's always a delight talking to you.</s>SWISHER: Thank you.</s>AMANPOUR: Kara Swisher setting them straight. And, finally, we started the program talking about New Zealand and how the people there have given an overwhelming vote of confidence to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's leadership when it comes to coronavirus. She hugged supporters after her win. Look at this. It's a surreal sight these days. She's received kudos worldwide for her air of calm competence, a no-nonsense style, and a deep sense of empathy, which I discovered when I interviewed her first at the United Nations shortly after she became prime minister and later in Paris after a white supremacist stormed two mosques in Christchurch, killing 51 Muslim worshipers. We thought we'd end with a few of her observations on governing and gender.</s>JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: I never, ever grew up as a young woman believing that my gender would stand in the way of me being able to do anything that I wanted. And I credit that for -- I credit New Zealand for that. I credit the environment. I credit those women who went before me, and to credit New Zealanders as well for the fact that they did welcome the fact that I had a child in office. The positivity far outweighed any negativity. And so I'm deeply proud of where we are as a nation.</s>AMANPOUR: Are you trying to sort of open up the leadership rule book? And, if so, how?</s>ARDERN: I do think it's time for us to reconsider whether or not we are meeting the expectations of the public and the expectation particularly of that new generation of voters. They're least hierarchical. They're collaborative. They're wanting us to be constructive. And yet probably the old playbook when it comes to politics is that you succeed if you're seen as pretty ruthless. There's a lot of ego and politics. Measures of success are pretty basic. They're mostly aligned with economic markers. I am determined to do things differently. I do think you can be both strong and compassionate.</s>AMANPOUR: You have suddenly become the poster prime minister for, dare I say, enlightened and most definitely compassionate leadership. That's what everybody's saying about you. I wonder how that feels. And I wonder what your instinct was when you went into hospitals, when you went into the mosques, when you went to their community in the immediate aftermath?</s>ARDERN: I'd like to think that actually any words I uttered or actions, even decisions to be amongst those who were grieving at any given time, was actually just the exact same response that you were seeing from New Zealanders. And many people have seen the images in the aftermath, in the days after New Zealanders just instinctively, even if they'd never visited before, went to their local mosque, even if it was just to stand outside and make sure that our New Zealand Muslim community felt safe to return for the call to prayer.</s>AMANPOUR: Of course, there are steep challenges ahead now, not least the economic recession at home, like all around our COVID-battered world, child poverty and housing and the climate, all major issues for Ardern's second term, which she won by following the facts and the experts. That's it for now. You can always catch us online, on our podcast and across social media. Thank you for watching, and goodbye from London. END

There Are Now 40 Million Recorded Cases; Protesters Face Police At Prague Anti-Lockdown Rally; Czech Republic Sees Record Number Of New Cases.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The world past 40 million confirmed cases. 40 million.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Europe is in the midst of a second wave of coronavirus cases.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Czech Republic has more new cases per million people than any other major country on Earth.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An extraordinary act of defiance from the mayor of Manchester.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Imagine having to negotiate these restrictions town by town, city by city while the virus spreads through the population.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The number of new cases is erupting in Italy, and the peak of this wave is far off.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Records being shattered across Europe.</s>ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.</s>BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Tonight, the big number, 40 million recorded cases. That's right, 14 million. Our global disaster gets worse by the day. And it's no coincidence that our complacency is growing amid the pandemic too. They go hand in hand, don't they look we get it. It's draining. It's exhausting. It's exasperating. We all feel the same way. You could almost suggest that this virus preys on our sense of fatigue and confusion spreading to infect even more people. So, just when we get tired and feel like we are flailing, it it seems is just limbering up. Like we know the facts we need to socially distance, we need to wash our hands and wear a mask. That is how we combat this plague. Let's start in Europe for you this hour. Early on the Czech Republic seemed to be getting that message in a big way. The masks were on and the virus was under control. But now it looks like this. Protesters with pandemic fatigue, facing police in Prague on Sunday showing their fury over the latest set of restrictions and there was hardly a mask inside. Even though the Czech Republic is now recording the most confirmed coronavirus cases in Europe by country mile. And that is really shocking because less than two months ago, the Czech Prime Minister was calling his country among the best in COVID. So how did it all go so wrong? CNN's Scott McLean is just next door in Germany. Let's get to him. He's live for you in Berlin tonight. Scott, we are going to get to Italy, and indeed to the U.K. in Manchester, as we travel across Europe this hour. But we are coming to first because of the situation in Prague, we have been showing videos of these protests. Do help us understand exactly what has been going on and what's the situation now.</s>SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Becky. So, the first wave of the coronavirus was difficult for people in every country but especially burdensome for those in the Czech Republic. Not only did they have to deal with lockdown and travel restrictions, but they also had to wear a mask anytime they left the house. The strategy was pretty unusual at the time, but it seemed to pay off. Checks didn't see mass casualties. They didn't see overflowing hospitals and so you might forgive them for thinking well, this virus isn't that big of a deal. Since then, though, well, the virus has made a big comeback. You saw those pictures from over the weekend. The protesters clashing with police, no social distancing, very few masks. The real question here though, is how does Czech Republic go from being the envy of Europe to having more new per capita cases of the virus than any other country on Earth?</s>MCLEAN: In this Prague ICU the sickest coronavirus patients are treated by staff in full hazmat suits. Some are hooked up to ventilators, others placed face down. For now, there is still a bed for everyone. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE</s>MCLEAN: The government is also building a temporary field hospital it expects to need in just weeks. The Czech Republic has more new cases per million people than any other major country on earth. This is technically the second wave of infection. The first was barely a blip on the radar after the government moved quickly to close borders and implement the lockdown. Just like many other countries. What set the Czech Republic apart?</s>PETR LUDWIG, DATA SCIENTIST: We were the first country in Europe with the mandate for masks from the government.</s>MCLEAN: In mid-March, months before the WHO was recommending masks, Czech data scientist, Petr Ludwig, read the scientific evidence supporting masks and made this video to explain why he was convinced they were the answer. LUDWIG</s>MCLEAN: The video went viral and a few days later, the populist Czech Prime Minister, Andrej Babis, made masks mandatory everywhere outside the home. With medical masks still scarce, Czechs started sowing. The mask mandate was unpopular but wildly effective. By late June Prague threw a party to mark the end of the pandemic. Dr. Roman Prymula is the newly appointed health minister. Do you think you maybe did a victory lap a little bit too soon?</s>ROMAN PRYMULA, CZECH HEALTH MINISTER: That's true because we had many experts, and those were not epidemiologists, not virologists but they were arguing that, OK, the disease is there but it's very mild. So, they tried to push politicians just to skip out of strict countermeasures.</s>MCLEAN: With almost no restrictions the number of cases started to slowly bounce back in late summer. The top government epidemiologists called on the prime minister to reinstate the mask mandate. Why do you think the prime minister said no?</s>LUDWIG: I think it was because we had an election. After the election they started to push some harder rules again but it was much too late because we already had an exponential growth.</s>MCLEAN: The government close schools and bars but the same strict mask rule so effective in the spring still hasn't been fully reinstated. You don't think a mandatory mask mandate would have prevented you being in the situation that you are in right now?</s>PRYMULA: I think just now we have a mandate for protective masks but indoor. There is discussion if to introduce it outdoor as well. But it's not only wearing a mask, it's an issue of other countermeasures, and particularly social contact. This is the reason why the situation is still not under control.</s>LUDWIG: I think that one of the main causes is really populism. During the first wave they were convinced that people want masks, so they pushed masks. Now they are convinced that people don't want to wear a mask, so they are against it.</s>ANDERSON: All right. Scott, that's the story in what was -- one of the countries that got it right, but then took its foot off the pedal too early. And look, we get that, people are fed up with restrictions be that a mask, or indeed a mandatory regional or nationwide lockdown. And that is the dilemma that so many countries are facing at present. What's the story in Germany?</s>MCLEAN: Yes, Becky. So the number of cases in Germany continues to rise. Obviously, with really no slowdown in sight. The Chancellor Angela Merkel has tried to bring in a series of new restrictions to get things under control. This weekend, though she was really pleading with people in this country to follow the rules to follow the restrictions. The issue is that Germany's strategy in combating the virus is really relying heavily on testing, contact tracing and isolating people. The problem is, the kind of numbers that they're seeing right now really makes it difficult for that team of contact tracers to actually keep up. And so, these restrictions come -- become that much more important. The issue though, is, well, some of those restrictions like the bars closing at 11:00 p.m. and any virus hotspots, including here in Berlin, well, they're getting challenged in the court and on Friday, at least in this city. Well, that was overturned, Becky?</s>ANDERSON: Scott McLean is in Berlin for you. We are connecting you across Europe this hour as it's the most affected region on Earth at present. I haven't been protest quite like Prague's on the streets of England, for example. But there's been an extraordinary revolt that is essentially a northern rebellion. Take a look at this sign in Manchester from the council over one of the busiest parts of the country. Act now to avoid a national lockdown, it tells people. That says the local leaders there still refusing to accept orders from down south in London, orders that would put tight controls on who can go out when and where. A source telling CNN though ideal could be reached within hours. Connecting all of that is our CNN's Salma Abdelaziz who is live for us in Manchester. And it's not for now to say would say up north, all this sum. A number 10 warning that the city's intensive care units could be overwhelmed in just a matter of weeks. What do the people of Manchester make of all of this and how does it compare to the mood for example that we've just seen out in the Czech Republic?</s>SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Well, here Becky has you've pointed out in the Czech Republic it's people facing off with the police.</s>ABDELAZIZ: Here it's regional leaders facing off with the central government. Now, there has always been tensions between the north of the country and the south. But after months of controversy over Prime Minister Boris Johnson's handling of this coronavirus pandemic, people are fed up. They feel that the central government in London particularly the ruling class that they see as elite is disconnected from those who are doing ordinary working jobs. The mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has really positioned himself as the leader of the common man, the working man, and he says that this is not just about the spread of the virus. He says people's health is bigger than that. And he's now involved in a bitter dispute with Prime Minister Boris Johnson over increasing the coronavirus alert levels of the city. Take a look at how this debate has played out.</s>ABDELAZIZ: After an extraordinary act of defiance from the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.</s>ANDY BURNHAM, GREATER MANCHESTER MAYOR: We have unanimously opposed the government's plans for tier three. They are flawed and unfair.</s>ABDELAZIZ: The city faced an ultimatum from Prime Minister Boris Johnson.</s>BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: If agreement cannot be reached, I will need to intervene.</s>ABDELAZIZ: Downing Street implemented a three tier COVID alert system to curb a second wave of coronavirus cases. Not abiding by these new measures, the government says means more people will die. Afzal Khan, a member of parliament from Manchester says it's the Prime Minister, not the mayor who is putting lives at risk.</s>AFZAL KHAN, BRITISH LABOR M.P.: I'm disappointed. I think they've been incompetent. I've never seen anything like this from the British government.</s>ABDELAZIZ: So why won't you just implement tier three restrictions as the government has requested?</s>KHAN: Of course it's going to help but it will not be what we need. We need more. I think that's my first concern. And second point is the impact economically will be huge.</s>ABDELAZIZ: Take a look around me, this shopping district is absolutely packed. And that's what this debate is about. Even under the country's highest level restrictions, pubs and bars would be shut down. Households would be banned from mixing together but this would still be allowed. That's why some including the country scientific advisors say a nationwide lockdown is needed. A lockdown would also come with more financial support to help businesses survive. Pub owner Tim Flynn says if he closed under the current system, he may never be able to reopen again.</s>TIM FLYNN, PUB OWNER: A local lockdown will not do. It I have no problem with the sharp two-week, three-week lockdown but this local lockdown will not do it. And the packages they're offering the businesses is only peanuts.</s>ABDELAZIZ: Do you support the mayor and him --</s>FLYNN: I do support Andy Burnham 110 percent.</s>ABDELAZIZ: : He is not alone. On the streets of Manchester, it is hard to find support for the prime minister.</s>ABDELAZIZ: We are asking whether you support the mayor or the prime minister on coronavirus restrictions.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the mayor.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mayor. I'm on the mayor's side, definitely. Yes, I'm siding with the mayor.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the mayor, yes.</s>ABDELAZIZ: What's your opinion of prime minister Boris Johnson?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't say it on</s>TV. ABDELAZIZ: And while the government holds drawn out negotiations, infections continue to multiply.</s>ABDELAZIZ: Now as you mentioned, Becky, the ICU capacity of Greater Manchester could run out in just a matter of weeks. We have had a breakthrough though today the mayor of Greater Manchester has said that he's held constructive talks with senior officials. We've also heard from one member of Boris Johnson's government that the city will be offered a larger financial package for businesses that will be affected under these tier three restrictions. But ultimately, this does not quell the rebellion against the Prime Minister, you still have the scientific advisors calling for a nationwide lockdown, you still have each region and autonomous area trying to act on its own. Let me give you just one example. Wales will be essentially going into a complete shutdown. Of course, that is in opposition to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's strategy of a region by region approach, Becky.</s>ANDERSON: Yeah. I'm going to cover Wales in the show in the next hour. Thank you for that. So, we've gone from protests in Prague to revolt in Manchester and now to a sense of weary resignation in Italy, what was once the hardest hit the country in the region, then in called break but for now for the past five days in a row at least it has hit new records again for daily infections. That leaves us with a familiar message from the Italian Prime Minister.</s>GIUSEPPE CONTE, ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): That is hitting not just Italy but the whole of Europe. We cannot waste time. We have to act using all the possible measures to avoid a new total lockdown. The country cannot afford a new stop that would end up seriously harming our economy.</s>ANDERSON: Well, connecting us to this is Ben Wedeman who is in Naples. One of the hardest hit areas in Italy. And Ben, you've been watching us go from to Manchester, help us understand what is going on where you are and how it compares and contrasts to what is going on elsewhere and how decisions are being made.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we're seeing, Becky, here is that people are resigned to the fact that a second wave of coronavirus is well underway, but by and large there is an understanding that measures needs to be taken to try to at least slow down this second wave. And as you heard the Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte saying they do want to avoid the kind of lockdown that went on for more than two months here. It did succeed in slowing down the first wave but certainly now everything is different. Sort of if you start crunching the numbers, essentially, the conclusion you come to is that what we learned in the first wave, we're going to have to unlearn and the second wave because so many of the contributing factors are different. And so, really the people here, nobody is complaining about wearing masks in public, which is now mandatory. The attitude is really we're just going to have to keep calm and carry on.</s>WEDEMAN: Italy is well into the second wave of coronavirus though it's not immediately apparent in Naples, the capital of the Campagna region, which has one of the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country. Infectious disease specialist, Alessandro Perrella, says it's not just about the numbers.</s>ALESSANDRO PERRELLA, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: We have an increasing number of positive people. Positive. Not an increasing number of patients. It's very different.</s>WEDEMAN: What's different is the testing. Earlier this year only those showing COVID-like symptoms were tested, now everyone can do it. The majority of people who prove positive are asymptomatic, isolating until recovery. The number of people in intensive care now approximately a fifth of what it was before. Day after day, Italy is reporting record increases in the number of new coronavirus cases. But at the same time, Italy is testing like never before at this hospital here in Naples. Seven days a week, at least 1,000 tests are conducted quickly and for free. Five times as many tests are being conducted now than at the height of the first wave in March. A once unwieldy process now routine. How long was the wait? Half an hour, says Abramo. When will you receive the result? I ask. The whole family did it. Tomorrow morning we'll get a message with the results by phone, he says. There's no air of panic but there is concern. We're not worried, says Valentina. What worries us is not being able to work. The number of new cases is erupting in Italy and the peak of this wave is far off. Better prepared this time, Italy is still bracing for a long, hard winter. Ben Wedeman. CNN, Naples.</s>WEDEMAN: And Becky, I spent a lot of time crunching the numbers here in Italy. And it certainly is completely different than what we saw before. For instance, as of yesterday, there were 126,237 active cases, that's more than 20,000, then the peak of the first wave. But the death toll yesterday, the daily death toll was 69. We're still in double digits. Whereas, before on the 29th of March, when the number of active cases was lower, you had a daily death toll at its peak of 969. So, really, testing is making a huge difference in allowing the authorities to figure out where there are pockets of new outbreaks. But the problem is we're really -- we're not even into winter yet. The weather here in Naples is lovely today, but wait until it starts to get cold and rainy. You're going to have a lot more cases. And unfortunately, a lot more deaths. Becky?</s>ANDERSON: Yes. Ben, you're making a really good point. And it's very true that more testing may reveal more cases. It is important though to point out is the increase of new cases of COVID infection for people who need ICU support that is worrying governments across Europe and you make a very good point about just how much worse things can be as the weather comes in Southern Europe. Thank you for that. We'll be sticking with showing you how people are feeling this hour just minutes from now. I'm going to speak to Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol who is a French mayor who opposes the new curfews in France.</s>ANDERSON: And the next hour will speak to the First Minister of Wales, just after it declared a two-week lockdown. One of these circuit breaker lockdowns. So, what's the bottom line here? Follow the advice is the bottom line. Don't give up. You want an example? Well, this isn't archive footage. This is New Zealand after following the guidelines and crushing the virus. People out and about, again, Europe isn't a world away -- is a better way to do things. And I'll explain more, a little bit later on. Well, thanks for joining us here on CONNECT THE WORLD from Abu Dhabi. Of course in the UAE this hour, Palestinian Liberation organizations, chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat is in critical condition. The latest on his battle with COVID-19 is ahead. And Donald Trump pulling out the tricks of his trade that got him elected four years ago, but Will that work in 2020? We're going to have a look at that as well. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson, stay with us.

President Donald Trump Holding Huge Rallies Despite COVID Warnings; Joe Biden Pledges To Be A President For All Americans

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.</s>BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: This hour, 40 million people infected by the invisible enemy worldwide. That is 4-0 followed by another six zeros. I'm Becky Anderson. Hello and welcome to what is our expanded edition of "Connect the World", two hours of news for you across the world. COVID-19 infections hitting our globe like a tsunami, Europe blighted by its second wave and getting worse. Meanwhile in America, infections piling up by close to 60,000 a day. That is up some 60 percent since September the Former Head of America's Food and Drug Administration predicting another wave to hit before the New Year.</s>DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: We're in a difficult situation heading into the fall. I think the only caveat is in terms of us being better prepared for this wave is that we have dramatically improved clinical care in hospitals. So I think we're going to have better outcomes overall but we're still going to have a lot of depth in disease between now and the end of the year.</s>ANDERSON: Cases trending in the wrong direction I'm afraid in more than half of the U.S. states, 27 states reporting spikes in new cases today. Some of those are where President Donald Trump is holding huge rallies crisscrossing the country hoping to turn the election his way with polls showing him lagging Joe Biden. You'll notice at these gatherings there's very little social distancing and very few masks. The exact opposite of what nearly every health expert is pleading for. Well, the U.S. president seems un-faced.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If you vote for Biden, he will surrender your jobs to China; he'll surrender your future to the virus. He is going to lockdown. He just wants us to go to lockdown. He'll listen to the scientists. If I listened totally to the scientists we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression instead we're like a docked ship, take a look at the numbers.</s>ANDERSON: Yes, that's the President of the United States mocking his opponent for listening to scientists in the middle of what is a pandemic. Well, speaking of Joe Biden. He's zigzagging the U.S. urging his supporters to not become complacent and to get out and vote.</s>JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So much is at stake for this nation. The very soul of the nation is at stake. Folks, as my coach used to say in colleges it's go time. It's the most important the election in our lifetime going to make all the difference here in North Carolina.</s>ANDERSON: Well, some of Mr. Trump's fellow Republicans seem to be slowly backing away from him as he downplays the Coronavirus. No surprise. He has some frank words for them.</s>TRUMP: The Republicans, I love the Republicans. We have some great ones but they have to learn to stick together better. We have some stupid people. Some of them are gone. But now we have this guy Sasse. He wants to make a statement. Little Ben Sasse, the Republicans have to stick together better. One thing I respect about the Democrats they stick together.</s>ANDERSON: Well, my next guest is urging more Republicans to break away from Mr. Trump. She writes in "USA Today" op-ed "When America's children study the Trump Era they will ask where we stood and what we did to help right what was wrong in our time?" Well, Jennifer Horn joins me now. She is the Co-Founder of the Lincoln Project and Former Chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party. I just wonder what led you to make this plea in this op-ed.</s>JENNIFER HORN, FORMER CHAIR, NEW HAMSHIRE REPUBLICAN PARTY: Well, thank you so much for having me. This has been for me a year's long effort to try to get my fellow Republicans to understand just how damaging Donald Trump is? Not just to our party but to our country and to our position in world. We are facing the most critical moment probably of my lifetime, facing a pandemic that has been horribly managed for political reasons. Hundreds of thousands of American lives have been lost, so many more around the world. And Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the difference between them can be seen just in way that they campaign to the point that you just made. Donald Trump out there drawing thousands of people together, shoulder to shoulder, no masks, every Trump rally is a COVID-19 super spreader event and Joe Biden being out there being responsible, caring about the health and well-being of our nation and showing it in way that he behaves.</s>ANDERSON: Jennifer, you write as a Former Republican State Party Chair I understand well how difficult it is to even imagine voting outside the party but now after years of destruction at the hands of this president, I have to ask my fellow Republicans is this your party? What was your turning point?</s>HORN: Well, I'll be honest with you. The first time I wrote publicly against Donald Trump was in April of 2011 when he was thinking about running in 2012 cycle. I have always been in opposition to Donald Trump and the dangerous narcissism that he brings to everything he does. But I've advocated against supporting Donald Trump from the beginning even when I was Chairman in New Hampshire I spoke out against him. But we have reached this moment where my fellow Republicans have got to be honest with themselves about the damage our party is doing to our country. The only way that the Republican Party has any chance at all of moving forward the from this election with any sort of integrity or credibility is if they fully reject Donald Trump and Trumpism and everything that he has brought to our country, the grief and sorrow and pain that he's inflicted on our country. Otherwise I don't see a future, frankly, a credible future for the Republican Party in the United States.</s>ANDERSON: The Lincoln Project is set up to do exactly that, to get Republicans to understand that this is not a man who represents their party. Very briefly are you actually seeing evidence that this is working, though, that people are turning?</s>HORN: Absolutely.</s>ANDERSON: --for the good of the party as it were?</s>HORN: Well, and look I want people to do this for the good of the United States of America, but across this country we've seen hundreds of current and Former Republican leaders that have come forward and spoken up and put their names on it. We've seen thousands of activists come forward in other organizations in addition to our own to make it very clear. And I do believe that this is a national movement here. That on the Election Day or in days that follow where we see these results we're going to learn that Donald Trump is defeated not just by Democrats and Independents but by an overwhelming number of Republicans as well.</s>ANDERSON: OK. And we're just two weeks out so clearly the result will reveal whether, indeed, that's happened. I just wonder whether America is ready to hear the divide. Joe Biden repeating that idea he sounds for America, not Democratic or Republican, just have a listen.</s>HORN: Right.</s>BIDEN: I'm running as a proud Democrat. But I will govern as an American President. No red states, no blue states, just the United States.</s>ANDERSON: And the reason I ask you the question about whether you think America is ready to heal the divide? Is - this is a tone that some are suggesting given how divided the country is some are suggesting that the nation isn't ready and wanting to heal at this point?</s>HORN: Well, this is certainly they're voting for Joe Biden is the first step. I love to hear him say that because my thought immediately every time I hear Joe Biden say that, is that I get that.</s>HORN: Because I'm going to be voting as a Republican, but for America. I am voting for Joe Biden. That doesn't mean I'm a Democrat. I'm voting for him because I know that he's best for our country that in this moment we need somebody who is willing to start trying to draw us together again. Whether or not we're ready for that, that's going to be on the American people? I do think that there's exhaustion in our country with the anger and division and hatred that has been incited by this president and I think that voting for Joe Biden is the first step.</s>ANDERSON: President Trump's Former Key Strategist told an Australian Newspaper "I'll make this prediction right now. If for any reason the election is stolen from or in some sort of way Joe Biden is declared the winner, Trump will announce he's going to run for re-election in 2024. You're not going to see the end of Donald Trump". He did the other day he just might leave the country if he doesn't win this election. But I wonder what your thoughts are on what Steve Bannon said?</s>HORN: Well, look let's bring it. You know this is what Donald Trump and the hardest of his base has to understand. The Lincoln Project is not going anywhere and the millions and millions of Americans, including Republicans who reject this president's racism and hatred and division and his willingness to literally sacrifice hundreds of thousands of American lives to advance his own narcissistic political ambitions we're not going anywhere either. Once Donald Trump is defeated at the ballot box this November he is not going to have the opportunity to win back the White House in the future, I can promise you that. But that only happens if every American comes together in this moment right now and does what they need to do, what they know is right for our country on Election Day.</s>ANDERSON: We are in final stretch and it's very unlikely that we will get a result on election night but we are in final stretch of this election 2020. Thank you. As we mentioned earlier, 27 million Americans have already cast their ballots for president with two weeks to go until Election Day. So in this last leg of the race, I want to zone in on the Electoral College which to many of us who aren't living and breathing American politics, it seems confusing. Here is Mary Maloney (ph).</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Americans do not vote directly for their president. I'm not talking about a government conspiracy; I'm talking about the Electoral College a system that's been around since the birth of our nation. What is the Electoral College? The Electoral College is not a building or institution, it's just a name given to a designated group of people who cast each state's official votes for president. This group is made up of 538 people. Each state has a different number of electors based on their representatives in Congress. So states like California and Texas have more votes than states like North and South Dakota the only exception the District of Columbia which has three elect electors despite not having any members in congress. How does it work? Each party selects their own group of electors, each state that empowers the electors who represent the candidate who won the most votes except Nebraska and Maine who will award electors based on a combination of state wide results and districts won. The candidate who receives at least 270 Electoral College votes becomes the next president. What if there's a tie? If there is a tie or if somebody doesn't get to 27 the House of Representatives appoints the president and the Senate chooses the vice president. Why does this system exist? In short the Electoral College was created as a compromise of several different proposals by the nation's founders. Critics say the system allows candidates can become president without necessarily securing a majority of voters support. Advocates argue it ensures less populated states aren't completely ignored. How are these people selected? The electors are chosen by their political parties in each state. The only rule is that they cannot currently hold office. Can an elector ignore the popular vote? Yes. It's called a faithless elector. But it's rare and it is never affected the outcome of an election. Some states require formal pledges enforced by fines and possible jail time. But historically speaking members rarely depart from the will of the people.</s>ANDERSON: Now to a developing story for you this hour. Chief Palestinian Negotiator said Erekat is fighting for his life, hospitalized with COVID- 19. The latest from hospital officials is that he is in critical condition and he is on a ventilator. He was admitted on Sunday but his condition deteriorated early on Monday.</s>ANDERSON: We'll get the very latest for you from CNN's Oren Liebermann who is in Jerusalem. Do stay with us for that. And we'll be connecting with Europe as it grapples with a surging second wave. Now it has got another problem new resistance to tighter restrictions taking a short break, back after this.

Italy Imposing Tighter Restrictions As Cases Surge

ANDERSON: Right now, Europe has got a bad case of pandemic fatigue. It is fueling resistance to COVID restrictions. Not just protesters rebelling, some local governments are in intense negotiations with the central government over tighter rules from on high. And that means the continent's second wave of confirmed cases is getting worse. Take a look at this, the EU in red as you can see heading higher and higher, country after country across the continents, smashing daily records. New infections, a hospital wondering how they will cope as winter looms. Well, Italy once the epicenter of Europe's first wave is now heading back into dangerous territory. Again it is seeing a record daily rise in the number of COVID-19 cases. CNN's Ben Wedeman tells us why this second wave is different?</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Italy is well into the second wave of Coronavirus. Though it's not immediately apparent in Naples the Capital of Campania region which has one of the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases in country, Infectious Disease Specialist Alessandro Parrella says it's not just about the numbers.</s>ALESSANDRO PARRELLA, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: We have an increasing number of positive people, positive. Not increasing number of patients. It's very different.</s>WEDEMAN: What's different is that testing. Earlier this year only those showing COVID-like symptoms were tested. Now everyone can do it. The majority of people who prove positive are asymptomatic isolating until recovery. The number of people in intensive care now approximately a fifth of what it was before. Day after day Italy is reporting record increases in the number of new Coronavirus case but at the same time Italy is testing like never before at this hospital here in Naples. Seven days a week at least 1,000 tests are conducted quickly and for free. Five times as many tests are being conducted than at the height of the first wave in March once an unwieldy process now routine. How long was the wait? Half an hour says --. When will you receive the result I ask? The whole family did it. Tomorrow morning we'll get a message with the results by phone he says. There's no air of panic but there is concern.</s>WEDEMAN: We're not worried says Valentina (ph) what worries us is not being able to work. The number of new cases is erupting in Italy and the peak of this wave is far off. Better prepared this time, Italy is still bracing for a long hard winter. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Naples.</s>ANDERSON: A story that's sadly reflected across the continent, across the channel and a quote from a microbiologist and serving Conservative Counselor in the UK who is speaking out against not having a clear mission for restriction, like the economy, the future course of this pandemic, will be uncertain and will develop in ways that we cannot entirely predict. While it's important to chase off the snake oil merchants, we must not forget that the real danger comes from the snake itself. Simon Clarke wrote that commentary is joining us from Reading in England and thank you sir, by which you mean what?</s>SIMON CLARKE, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN CELLULAR MICROBIOLOGY, READING UNIVERSITY: I mean that in UK, at least, there's a lot of commentary at the moment which presumes what's happening today where we are in the UK today will be where we are in weeks time, a month's time. And we need to remember that there is a real danger behind this virus because part of this country is advanced, I think, with an agenda to do nothing and some of that commentary suggests that really there's no risk it's all a bit blown out of proportion and that people really need not worry their pretty little heads when that's not true.</s>ANDERSON: We can see over your article is the need for lockdowns. Where and will be determined by how the NHS is coping? That is the National Health Service in UK. Is the NHS struggling again, sir?</s>CLARKE: It's beginning to struggle in parts of the country where at they have lots of viral infections particularly in Liverpool there are signs that it may begin to strain in Manchester. The rest of the country not so much but, of course, we're in a much slower epidemic than we were in March. So it's going to change in a much more, I hesitate to use the word leisurely but I can't get anything better. It's going to be slower like Italy. And we know that the position in most of the country where the NHS is at risk yet. But that will change.</s>ANDERSON: So that suggests that you don't believe that a nationwide lockdown in the UK is necessary then, correct?</s>CLARKE: I'm not convinced there's a need for one yet. We may end up with a situation where nearly all of the country or all of the country has locked down or circuit breaker whatever you want to call it that's another term being advanced by the government. But we're not at that position yet. To inflict the societal and economic damage this far in advance of a need to do it is troublesome, in my opinion.</s>ANDERSON: I spoke to Hans Kluge who is the W.H.O.'s man on Europe. He clearly in the organization that is trying to provide sensible advice for governments as they struggle with this huge dilemma, lockdown impact on the economy so stringent, don't lockdown, you don't stop this disease from spreading. He says that nationwide lockdowns should be a last resort. I guess that begs the question when is the last resort needed? When is the last resort - ready for it?</s>CLARKE: You're quite right. It's a political judgment. When the toll on health services is going to be so severe that they can't cope I would agree with his analysis. We should not get into this situation in first place but, unfortunately, we have. And that's why lockdowns are probably needed. I view lockdowns as a failure. I want to be clear about that.</s>ANDERSON: You say certainly the pandemic is where about collective responsibility and I'm pretty sure that our viewers around the world would agree with you on that. You'll remember these pictures last call in Liverpool, youngsters everywhere, but with the kind of COVID fatigue that we are seeing from people at the moment, people aren't abiding by the rules. How do we navigate this without a lockdown?</s>CLARKE: We have a distant society a less dense society where our social interactions are less frequent than they were before. This virus as I said time and time again thrives on person to person contact and it is only by denying it that opportunity that we will be able to keep it at bay, unfortunately. It's a bleak assessment, I think, but I can't think of any other way we're going to be able to do without a vaccine.</s>ANDERSON: You have also said that rising infection levels in the young are having a knock on impact in other age groups. Very briefly what's so significant about that, sir?</s>CLARKE: Because in the UK there's an argument that it's not something we need to worry about because it's only in young people and young people don't go the hospital. Well, they may not but they infect older people they could and they do.</s>ANDERSON: With that we'll leave it there. Thank you, sir, for joining us.</s>CLARKE: Thank you.</s>ANDERSON: Well, it is important to get the inside analysis from people who know what they are talking about. Thank you. Still ahead new Coronavirus lockdown is in the pipeline for Wales with officials dubbing it a circuit breaker. You heard Simon talk about that type of restriction. The Welsh First Minister will be with me to explain why he thinks that's necessary. And as Europe tightens restrictions Israel eases them. It seems the country's second nationwide lockdown has indeed paid off. We'll take you live to Jerusalem.

Wales Announces Two-Week "Firebreak" Lockdown

ANDERSON: Lockdown or not to lockdown that's the question for many European leaders as the second wave of Coronavirus sweeps the continent countries, all grappling with how far to go with their restrictions to get control of the outbreaks? Well, across the water in Wales the answer to the lockdown conundrum is, yes, with caveats. Just hours ago the small nation on the western side of the UK announced what it calls a firebreak lockdown. But how is that different from the earlier restrictions and indeed from the UK as a whole? According to the Welsh First Minister, the difference certainly this time around is about being sharp and deep.</s>MARK DRAKEFORD, FIRST MINISTER OF WALES: Between Friday the 23rd of October and the 9th of November everyone in Wales will be required to stay-at-home. This means working from home wherever that is possible.</s>DRAKEFORD: And the only exceptions will be critical workers and jobs where working from home is simply the not possible.</s>ANDERSON: Why? Well First Minister Mark Drakeford joins us from Cardiff to talk more about this new lockdown. Just, if you will, describe in a little bit more detail what was just announced? What have you affected?</s>DRAKEFORD: Well, what we are introducing is a firebreak period of just over two weeks. The virus is spreading rapidly right across Wales. The velocity of its spread is increasing. We are already in difficulties with the number of people in hospital beds or Coronavirus illness. We're seeing that move into our critical care capacity. If we are not able to turn back the tide of Coronavirus, then the outlook of being able to sustain our NHS and to save lives is very difficult. And on the advice of our Chief Medical Officer, our Chief Scientist and the people who look at these things for us, a short firebreak in which we can turn the tide of the virus is the best way to make the impact on our public services manageable between now and Christmas.</s>ANDERSON: Let me just play you some sound from a Cardiff resident. Have a listen.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, there's going to be massive disruption again and I think because the first lockdown people didn't really know what they were in for. But I think we all know what it means this time around? Just to know much more people can take with not being with their families. So with Christmas coming, how much more businesses can cope. These places just not going to survive another lockdown, I don't think.</s>ANDERSON: And you will have heard that message repeated again and again from the people of Wales. Given the disruption that this will cause to their lives, what is your message to them?</s>DRAKEFORD: Well, first of all, that we share all the anxieties that you just heard in that clip. Everybody in Wales is fatigued by Coronavirus. Everybody wishes that we could go back to the way things were before the virus began. And, of course, we are anxious about the stresses and strains and the demands that we're making of people and of businesses. But the choice is not between doing this and doing nothing. If we do nothing then our health service will be overwhelmed, and businesses will not be able to function because the number of people suffering from the virus and needing to self-isolate will mean that businesses aren't able to operate. So we're making this choice because it is the one that's recommended to us as the most effective. If we act together and draw on the reservoir that's still here in Wales, for people to act together and make the difference that we can make by acting in that collective way, then we will be giving ourselves the best chance of avoiding something even worse and that's the ways that I have to make for people here in Wales.</s>ANDERSON: I spoke to the W.H.O.'s man for Europe, the Europe Regional Director Hans Kluge who told me that lockdowns should be last resort and urged everyone to think of the negatives that come with them. Just have a listen.</s>HANS KLUGE, W.H.O. REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR EUROPE: Number one, let's take the lessons into account mental health, domestic violence, inequalities, the minor economic impact and to keep business to open for non-COVID diseases, this is the first one. And the second thing to take into account is by then the time those two, three over weeks to use it to have a best track trace and isolate system.</s>ANDERSON: Do you have a robust track trace and isolate system? It was one of the criteria that Hans Kluge said you must have in place if you're going to lockdown in order to come out of this successfully?</s>DRAKEFORD: Well, I believe we have a very successful TTP system here in Wales. It continues to contact 90 percent or more of the cases and 90 percent or more of their contacts. But as the number of people suffering from Coronavirus rises and the number of contact people have increased, as we have resumed more aspects of ordinary life.</s>DRAKEFORD: So that system has come under more pressure. It's still before me remarkably but we'll use the two weeks to recruit more people to it, to simply find some of the systems within it, to deal with some of the backlog of cases that has built up while we're dealing with this very elevated number of index cases and it will be in a better place still. The other side of the firebreak but that's building on success in Wales. A very different system to the system we see elsewhere with very different levels of contact and isolating people of the need to go into self- isolation.</s>ANDERSON: Sure. I do want to talk about the sort of disunited United Kingdom at present, as you point out that your system works differently from elsewhere. You've said and I quote, the businesses affected by the lockdown will receive the necessary support but you've called on the British government to make more funds available. How much support will Welsh businesses need if you can put a figure on it for me that would be useful? And how much more do you need from the British government?</s>DRAKEFORD: Well, we will put package together of 294 million pounds to support businesses during this two-week lockdown period. The extra support that we need from the UK government is not money to come to the Welsh government but better levels of support for those people will not be able to work during this two-week period, and who need their incomes to be sustained during it. So the Chancellor has two different schemes. In Wales businesses will have to apply for one scheme up to the 30th of October, and then a new scheme from the first of November. I asked the Chancellor to bring new scheme forward so businesses would only need to be able to apply once and to increase the level of replacement of people's wages that he was able to provide. He has replied to me on the first saying that he's not able to do that. That's a disappointment. And the call for a level of waived subsidies to be raised is exactly the same call that is being made in greater Manchester and other parts of England.</s>ANDERSON: Look, the United Kingdom has been really disunited towards its response to all of this. You've said that we should work together more collaboratively. Do you urge England, Scotland and Northern Ireland to do what you have done briefly?</s>DRAKEFORD: Well, Northern Ireland has already done it because they put themselves into this space at the beginning of last week. Scotland has largely been in the central belt with the measures they've got in place there. The siege group advise the UK government four weeks ago now that a short, sharp circuit breaker period was the most likely to be effective in turning back the virus. I asked the prime minister for a COBRA meeting where we could look together at the device and I'm afraid that we haven't had one. I imagine, but it's not for me, but it's too late to do this in England to incorporate the half turn week and we were very much focused on making sure another one or two weeks we would incorporate half term here in Wales.</s>ANDERSON: Correct.</s>DRAKEFORD: Because I think you know very first remarks you asked what is the difference between this time and back in March and April and primarily in Wales it's that we're giving the top priority to keeping schools open as much as we can.</s>ANDERSON: With that we'll leave it there, sir. We appreciate your time, it's really important that we understand why it is that you are implementing the measures that you are, and governments across the UK and indeed across Europe facing very, very tough decisions, thank you sir. Coming up next on "Connect the World," China on the road to recovery with an economy that's continually expanding throughout the pandemic but in the Middle East, well the economy has been hit especially hard. We'll hear from one of the IMF's Directors on the next steps for oil producing countries here.

China's Economy Grew 4.9 Percent In Third Quarter

ANDERSON: Governments everywhere are desperate to save their economies hoping to cushion the blow of this pandemic fuelled recession. Governments across Europe expected to dig deep again, further expending their fiscal support packages as the continent's resurgence in COVID raises fears that fourth quarter growth will be weaker than forecasts. But it seems like China is already on the road to recovery. The world's second largest economy expanded by 4.9 percent last quarter compared to a year ago. The government announced the latest statistics earlier but growth was weaker than expected as previous estimates but growth at more than 5 percent. Let's bring in John Defterios who is here with me in Abu Dhabi. This is not the growth of yesteryear but considering the circumstances how would you rate China's performance in the third quarter John?</s>JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGIN MARKETS EDITOR: Well Becky, I think it's an economy on the mend as you suggested jam in just below 5 percent which is solid. You noted also as well that it's below expectations. But this very important for the world economy because of the growth of China overall, it is going to be a $14 trillion economy by the close of 2020. As representing if you look at the pie chart here 17.5 of total GDP and if we dig into this report a little bit deeper it does show production was just under 6 percent. So that bodes well for future growth if it can hold. Consumers are on the mend with retail sales up nearly 1 percent. But travel is back up pre-COVID levels at least domestically and we saw that during the Golden Week property investments highest in 1.35 years up 12 percent. Now if there's an Achilles heel for China right now let's bring up this bar chart. It is what's happening in the United States and Europe right now. We're looking at losses for the United States, the UK, the Euro Zone anywhere from 4 percent to 10 percent. Now you notice in third quarter China recovered because the export growth to the United States and Europe was solid. As we see the second wave kick into those two major trading blocs, you can see this will not really support China in the infuriate quarter and going into early 2021. If you look at the numbers here China exports $2.5 trillion per year, one- third of that not too surprisingly goes to the U.S. and Europe. So it is still extremely dependent on those two blocs and also in solving the trade dispute with the United States, their exports in 2019 went down 12 percent and we'll have to see what happens after the election for 2021 to see if they can mend those relations? Even their imports from the United States were down 20 percent it is not good for either side, Becky.</s>ANDERSON: No, of course not John thank you. Here in the Middle East we're just learning that the region's economy expected to get even smaller than previously predicted. In just the last few hours the International Monetary Fund released a report estimating that real GDP in the Middle East will fall by 4.1 percent in 2020. That's a slice more than the fund estimated back in April. Well, I spoke to Jihad Azour the Director of the International Monetary Fund Middle East and Central Asia Department who says that COVID-19 crisis has been especially devastating for oil producing nation. Have a listen to our conversation.</s>JIHAD AZOUR, DIRECTOR, IMF MIDDLE EAST AND CENTRAL ASIA DEPARTMENT: This crisis is like no other because it is a double whammy shock in addition to the COVID-19 and its aftermath.</s>AZOUR: The decline in oil price and drop in oil demand hit the region that's dependent on oil. I would say the good news is that all of the countries have reacted swiftly and took strict measures in order to adjust with the pandemic and limit fatality and cases compared to other parts of the world is much less. However, this came with a toll on the economy.</s>ANDERSON: Your boss the Head of the IMF told me that governments need to spend, spend and spend their way through this pandemic. Are countries in Middle East, in a position to do that, especially with oil prices at the loss that they are at the moment?</s>AZOUR: Well Becky, the countries of the region need to do three things. One is respond. Respond to the risk of a second wave by increasing their level of testing, the level of tracing and treatment. They need to also respond and to repair as the economy because there are risks of economic scarring especially for sectors that were highly hit and economies that dependent on oil on one hand and others that are dependent on remedies. And also they need to look to recovery because those economies need to regain the level of growth that's needed to predict the level of jobs that needed for the larger population and also for some to adjust their sustainability in terms of controlling the debt. Of course countries have different level of offers and each country has a different situation. Some have used fiscal, others have used fiscal and monetary like for example Bahrain or UAE and some also have provided wider range of protections.</s>ANDERSON: What's the forecast going forward, sir?</s>AZOUR: There are certain moments, forecast are very difficult. I think the important issue today is to transform this crisis into an opportunity, to lean towards sanctioning a recovery. It's a new global economy that we need to prepare for. This is exciting but also this is challenging at the same time.</s>ANDERSON: It will be a tough road ahead, not the least for a country like Lebanon. Kristalina Georgieva the Head of the IMF was pretty blunt when I spoke to her about Lebanon recently, just saying it is sad what is happening there but in terms of help she told me it takes two to tango and that the IMF needs a reliable partner in government. Now, Jihad I know this cut close to home for you. Back in July 2019 the IMF was negotiating with a government led by Saad Hariri, is he the reliable partner that the IMF is now looking for?</s>AZOUR: I find he is committed to help Lebanon a country that's going through crisis like no other currently. What Lebanon needs, Lebanon needs a program, a government where the comprehensive program of response where ambitious timeline in terms of implementing those reforms. And this program has to tackle four or I would say five priorities. One is to restore confidence, this is an utmost important especially after succession of issues that Lebanon has had. Second is to regain stability, stability in terms of public finances sustainability in the macro. Tackle the issue of the hyperinflation; tackle the issue of high level of fiscal deficit. Three is to prepare the financial sector that was hit hard with this crisis. Fourth, which is really important is how to restore growth in order to create jobs, a country that has all this potential all this qualified labor force need to have growth in order to provide jobs for the young.</s>ANDERSON: Let's just cut to the quick, sir, here with respect. Who is that reliable partner that the IMF wants to work with at this point?</s>AZOUR: It is the decision of the Lebanese on who would represent them. But I think what's important for us, what's important for Lebanon is to move very quickly in a comprehensive reform program.</s>ANDERSON: We hope that there's a reliable partner at some point very soon because the country needs your help. Economics is called the dismal science, sir, for a reason. The Arab youth survey showed that some half of young people in this region when asked want to leave their own countries, many of them permanently.</s>ANDERSON: I know that you've called for a new social contract here in Middle East. Exactly how do you see that playing out?</s>AZOUR: Well, it's the priority of the next decade. We need to create opportunities for the Arab youth in order to transform very low growth economies into fast growing economies. We have the chance in region to have a majority of the population to be well educated. Those need to be opportunities. And without the countries of the region will not be able to grow fast. I'm calling for a new social contract that will put the future of the region in the hand of the future generation address some of the long-lasting issues but also build on what the region has shown over the last few months, the capacity to do. I think we've had some silver linings that could pave the way for what could be a decade of fast recovery.</s>ANDERSON: That's the IMF speaking to us here on CNN. Well, a CNN alert to bring you now. We've learned that a top U.S. official recently met with the Assad Regime in an attempt to free Americans who are presumably being held prisoners in Syria. Two administration officials have confirmed that a top counterterrorism official traveled to Damascus with the support of President Trump. The U.S. has not had diplomatic ties with the regime since 2012. Mr. Trump wrote a letter to the President Bashar Al Assad earlier this year offering direct dialogue over one of the prisoners who is an American Journalist. Up next, the PLO's Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat is fighting for his life against COVID-19. The latest on his condition is just ahead.

PLO Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat In Critical Condition.

ANDERSON: Israel and Bahrain have officially signed a deal normalizing ties between their two countries. Some have called the U.S. brokered Abraham Accords a game changer. And U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was on hand as Bahrain became the latest Gulf States to agree to full diplomatic relations with Israel after United Arab Emirates did the same in September. And more Middle East history was made just hours ago in the first commercial passenger flight from the UAE landed in Israel. Etihad says it looks forward to many more flights ahead. Well, the Chief negotiator for the Palestine Liberation Organization Saeb Erekat is in a critical condition, a high-risk patient struggling with COVID-19. He was admitted to the hospital in Jerusalem on Sunday and was stable but hospital officials say his condition deteriorated in the last several hours. Let's get you straight to our Oren Liebermann with the very latest. Oren?</s>OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as of right now PLO Chief Negotiator and Secretary General Saeb Erekat is suffering from acute pneumonia according to the Palestinian Minster of Health. As you pointed out he is in critical condition at this time. He's being cared for not only by the doctors at Hadassah Ein Kerem but they're consulting with an international medical team to try to get him the best possible medical care especially because he's in this critical condition that according to the hospital as well as Erekat's family members.</s>LIEBERMANN: He was taken to the hospital yesterday in serious but stable condition from his home in Jericho according to the hospital and according to his family members. He remained in serious but stable condition overnight but then this morning his condition deteriorated, he was put on a ventilator and he was put under general anesthesia. And it in that critical condition he remains at this later hour this evening. We know that 2.5 weeks ago or I'm sorry about a week and a half ago according to his department the Negotiations Affairs Department Erekat tested positive for Coronavirus and it is then that he was taken to a - for medical treatment. He returned to his home in Jericho to recover and then in the last 48 or 72 hours he was taken just yesterday to a hospital in Jerusalem where he's being treated right now. Again Becky, he remains at this point in critical condition.</s>ANDERSON: Yes, and we obviously wish him the absolute best. Lockdowns are easing in Israel. You lived through this period of time. What's it like Oren? Was it worth it in the end?</s>LIEBERMANN: Well there certainly nothing enjoyable about the lockdown here for anybody and although I haven't talked to anybody. It's a fairly universal statement here. You saw active defiance against it. Crucially what you saw here was more people abiding by the restrictions and lockdown even though they were incredibly difficult to understand at times. And at least if you look at the numbers the lockdown worked. From a high of 9,000 cases a day a few weeks ago to just 892 cases yesterday according to the Ministry of Health. The Israeli Ministry of Health of course said as well as a reduction in the positivity rate from well over 10 percent to in the low to mid-single digits over the course of the last few days in the rate of positive tests. But what's worrying here is that there are still people flouting rules. Not all of them have been lifted at this point. There are still red cities with high infection rates. And crucially the numbers right now compared to the numbers when Israel came out of its first general lockdown in April or May, the numbers now are much worse when compared to those numbers and that's a chief concern here. Are they simply too high at this point even if a dramatic improvement to ease the restrictions and that's a number we'll know the answer to within a couple of weeks. We're going to see how the numbers change?</s>ANDERSON: So briefly what has the government said at this point about further restriction should these numbers not be kept low enough?</s>LIEBERMANN: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that look if the numbers go back up restriction could be put back in place. He has said that this easing of restrictions will to be done more slowly and more carefully and with more safe guards something he tastily acknowledges didn't happened the first time Israel came out of lockdown. Will it work? Again, we'll know in a couple of week when we see reflection of what's happening today in the community with Coronavirus.</s>ANDERSON: Oren Liebermann is in Jerusalem for you. Once again, it was Hangs Kluge who I was speaking to who is the W.H.O.'s man in Europe who said lockdowns should be a last resort. If you are going circuit break which are these small short sharp lockdowns then ensure you have a track trace and isolate system in place. That's a conversation that we've been having with a number of our guests across the last couple of hours because it's a big dilemma for these governments across Europe and the UK as you've seen in Israel and indeed in the United States. The dilemma is what do governments do when these numbers start ticking up at a rate of which they are ticking up to ensure that people are safe but these economies aren't completely sunk? We'll keep across the latest developments for you on all of this and of course on Saeb Erekat's condition for you right here on CNN. For now, it is a very good evening from the team here in Abu Dhabi and those working around the world. Good evening.

Trump Attacks Dr. Fauci Repeatedly With 15 Days Left In Election; Trump Jab At Biden: "He'll Listen To The Scientists"

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: Perhaps both Trumps should heed the words of their own Christmas message last year. "Together, we must strive to foster a culture of deeper understanding and respect traits that exemplify the teachings of Christ." The news continues. Let's hand it over to Chris for "CUOMO PRIME TIME." Chris?</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST, CUOMO PRIME TIME: Little parenting pro tip for you there, Coop. Don't give Wyatt that instruction about Christmas, that, you know, let the first lady speak for herself. I'd go another way with him about the significance of Christmas, just as a parenting point, when you're teaching him about Christmas. Tell him it's something that matters, something to look forward to, and it's going to be safe. Thank you very much for the questions and for laying it out there for people. I am Chris Cuomo and welcome to PRIME TIME. Absolutely, tonight, this is a call to action. It is time to get after it. COVID is making its biggest move against us since we started fighting it. We need more and better from the federal government, period. Experts across the spectrum, and globe, say this is a pivotal moment. Now, with all this, where is our President's head? Here.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: People are tired of COVID. I have the biggest rallies I've ever had and we have COVID. People are saying, "Whatever, just leave us alone." They're tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots, these people, these people that have gotten it wrong. Fauci, he's a nice guy, he's been here for 500 years. He called every one of them wrong. And he's like this wonderful guy, a wonderful sage, telling us how, he said, "Do not wear face masks." That's a number of months ago. He said, "Do not close it up to China." And yet, we keep him. Every time he goes on television, there's always a bomb. But there's a bigger bomb if you fire him. But Fauci is a disaster, I mean this guy's, if I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths.</s>CUOMO: Look, most of that is a bunch of poppycock. Fauci was wrong about masks early on. So, you know what he did? He changed his guidance, when he figured that out. Mr. President said that COVID would magically disappear. Mr. President told you the virus affects, no one that it was a hoax, not to worry. Then, he got sick, had to be Medevaced over - not Medevac, taken in a helicopter over to the hospital, for experimental treatments. He made the White House a cluster. He did nothing for his friends, who got sick, while he got himself experimental treatments. And now that we need the President to change course, he is insistent on doubling down on dumb. Literally he wants to drive us all off a cliff, hoping that those who survive, what is sure to be a fiery crash, will be enough for him to win the election. By this afternoon, instead of saying that he will do more or better for us, he has been insistent, more than ever, on being his worst. People are starving in this country. They are waiting on line for food. That is our reality. The best deal-maker in history has gotten them nothing. He blames the Speaker of the House? What about the Senate? What about your power, what, your ability to negotiate? You said, "We're negotiating." Where is it getting these people? They're starving, Mr. President. We need tests. The more we count, the more we find trouble. You said you'd get more. Where are they? States need help. They need guidance. They're going to you. Where is it? The help that can be offered is being frozen by him. People are afraid to do things they could because he doesn't want them to. Why? You have to ask yourself that now. Why isn't he attacking this virus the way he did people, who want, to enter the country illegally? His best plan, in the face of the pandemic moving, by any metric, is to attack the man that you trust most, at the federal level, to fight back.</s>D. TRUMP: You know Biden wants to lock it down. He wants to listen to Dr. Fauci.</s>D. TRUMP: He wants to listen to Dr. Fauci. And don't forget, Dr. Fauci, what he said is, "No, no. Don't close it to China." I said, "I'm sorry, Doctor. You're a wonderful man," and he is a nice man. "You're a wonderful man. I'm closing it." I saved thousands of lives. He admitted that two months later. Two months later. And Dr. Fauci said, "Don't put on masks. Don't put" - you see the thing. And now, he says "Put on masks," and they say, you know, he's a wonderful guy, and he is a wonderful guy. I like him. He just happens to have a very bad arm.</s>D. TRUMP: He has a bad arm, but he's a good guy. He is a good guy. A lot of our people don't like him. I like him. You have to understand him. He's a promoter.</s>CUOMO: Project much? He is a promoter? Let's be fair. You're both promoters. What does Mr. President promote? Anger, division, ignorance, even toward a man that he needs. Fauci is a promoter, too. What does he promote? Well, when asked about the venom that the President sends his way, because with all the "He's a nice guy," the guy gets death threats, and threats against his family, on a regular basis, here is how he handles it.</s>DR. JONATHAN LAPOOK, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT, CBS NEWS (voice- over): Once an avid runner, at 79, Dr. Fauci now power walks, flanked by federal agents.</s>LAPOOK (on camera): What's that all about?</s>DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: That's sad. The very fact that a public health message, to save lives, triggers, such venom and animosity to me that it results in real and credible threats to my life and my safety. But it bothers me less than the hassling of my wife and my children.</s>LAPOOK (on camera): They've been threatened?</s>FAUCI: Yes. I mean, like, give me a break.</s>CUOMO: That's from "60 minutes." So, I called Tony Fauci today. I call him on a regular basis. He went right into, as soon as he knew it was me, into the progress that's being made with the vaccine, and the need to do something about the frightening numbers that are coming around in the country, that it's happening too fast, that we weren't as good as we needed to be over the summer, and that's why we're seeing what we're seeing, because it didn't make sense to me. So, I bring up the President's attacks to Tony Fauci. His response, he never even paused, "I'll leave the politics to you guys," he said, just waived it away. Then he says, "Just please, don't stop telling people how to help themselves. Remind we have to be there for one another." I said, "You got nothing else to say about what's going on than that?" And he laughed and he said, "Yes, buy a new suit." No. I'm not going to buy another new suit. But it tells you what you need to know about Tony Fauci. Thank god he can keep a clear head and stay straight on what he needs to do, for us, while Captain COVID spreads toxic talk. Listen to the difference between what's on Fauci's mind and what's on the man who was elected to protect us against something like exactly the thing he's ignoring right now. Here is what he wanted you to know.</s>D. TRUMP: He'll listen to the scientists. If I listen totally to the scientists, we would, right now, have a country that would be in a massive depression, instead of, we're like a rocket ship. Take a look at the numbers.</s>CUOMO: He's lying to you, OK? We lost 22 million jobs. He's saying, "Yes, but we got 11 million back." What does that tell you? We're still down 11 million. The unemployment rate hasn't been like this since the Depression. And he can't even cut a deal. Sure, the Democrats can be held to fault, if you want. Maybe they should take something, get something done for somebody. I say fair criticism. He thinks listening to scientists is a weakness, and that it's a good debate point for him? Let's look at it differently. He'll get this. Assessing the pandemic is not like assessing if Trump is a great businessman. He's great, why, because he knows how to borrow a lot on his daddy's back. Me? I like my great businessmen without a lot of bankruptcies that their father had to bail out with his millions. Now, with the pandemic, we don't have to play that kind of subjective game. We have actual numbers. The numbers show he is as wrong about this pandemic as he is about his net worth. Hospitalizations are up more than 5 percent in 42 states. And they're a lagging indicator. Remember, you get sick. You try to deal with it. Hopefully, the case is mild. If isn't, then you have to go to the hospital. We are in crisis. We need the President to focus on it. And, again, another example, faced with a crisis, this is where his head is.</s>D. TRUMP: He is lucky that we have, in our country, and they don't appreciate, a wonderful human being, and the most fair Attorney General of the United States. (</s>CROWD SHOUTS "YES!") D. TRUMP: Because I know people that would've had him locked up five weeks ago.</s>CUOMO: Had who locked up? Barr? For front-running a BS investigation just to make you happy in the middle of a pandemic? Well, ladies and gentlemen, here is the truth. And I ask the Attorney General to come out, and say otherwise. They looked. Was Obama spying on Trump's campaign, even though he wasn't running? No. No proof, because there was no spying. Even the President's boy, Mr. Barr, could not come up with anything to charge. The best he could do was not put out a report negating their poison premise. Remember Barr? "Yes, they were spying. I call it spying. Spying! Spying! I'm going to look for the spying." No spying! Where is it? And now, no report, right? God forbid you say you were wrong. Listen, the President has to wake up and open his eyes. 8 million Americans are infected. Many are your supporters. Some, you made sick on purpose. 220,000 are dead in this country, and all you can say is, "Oh, if it weren't for me, there'd be more." Well maybe if it weren't for you, there would be less, a lot less. You cannot hide. We will not let you hide. You cannot lie your way out of a pandemic that you will be in charge of, whether you win or lose, for weeks, at the time that the experts say we need leadership most. This is how you will be remembered. It is your last chance to do something, other than pretend you need to do nothing. All you have to do is be like Fauci. Tell the places with case spread, tell your audience, "Wear masks." You got half of it. You said "Fauci said don't wear masks. Now he says wear masks." OK, so you say it, too, because now it's the right thing to do, and you know it. Instead, what do we get? Scott Atlas, the guy has never managed a pandemic response, tweeting something so stupid, "Masks work? No." Twitter pulled it down. Think about how pathetic that is. So wrong that Dr. Deborah Birx, remember her, she was in for a minute, she told friends, over the weekend, there was relief when it was removed. "The Washington Post" says Dr. Birx recently confronted the Vice President's office saying she doesn't trust Atlas, wants him off the Task Force. But Trump says he's great because he says the BS that Trump wants him to say. But here is where the President is right, and I'll leave you with this. We're all tired of COVID. Hell yes, we are. Seven months. But this President is clearly part of the problem. And, again, we must all implore him, let people help us. Let the people in the government do what they can. Stop attacking the scientists and the science, please. Stop telling your people to expose themselves to the virus, please. I'm sure you do want me to get sick again. But all I wanted was for you to get well, and I want others to suffer, because I take no joy in other people's pain, and neither should you. So many can still be spared. So many will listen to you, if you give them the right advice. At the end of the day, Mr. President, there is only one way forward, and it has to be together. It's all that's worked in this country. It is all that will beat this pandemic. Your attacks will lose out to the simple intelligence of science and the sweet instruction of being there for one other in America. We are interconnected and interdependent. Please listen to these words. I know you don't like to read. I'll read them for you. It's a poem called "Outwitted" by Edwin Markham. "HE DREW a circle that shut me out Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in!" Mr. President, you can say what you want, but I know that people in this country can never stop hoping that you will do something with the time you have to make things better for them. And we're going to do that right now by giving people straight information about what is happening, and what can be done, and why we're dealing with what we're dealing with this President politically. People need to see it for what it is. Dr. Michael Osterholm, and Anthony Scaramucci, thank you both, gentlemen, for being patient, while I was doing what I do. Doctor, the reality of the hospitalizations, as a lagging indicator, is a very frightening metric, because there is no subjectivity to it. If you are in the hospital, you've got a problem, unless you are the President, who was there getting experimental treatments. What do you know about the numbers and what do they tell you about what's happening with the pandemic, right now?</s>MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH & POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Well, in fact, you're right, the hospitalizations are going up, and they're going up in many states, not just a few states, like we saw this summer. But you can actually also glean a great deal of information from the testing results. People can say "We're testing more. That's why we're finding more." But when you actually look at the rate of positivity, meaning how frequently is someone found to be infected, there, if you are just testing more, then the rate of positivity is going to go down, meaning if I sample twice as much, for the same number of infections, it will be half the rate of positivity. Our rates of positivity--</s>CUOMO: Well hold on a second, Doc?</s>OSTERHOLM: --are going up and in some locations--</s>CUOMO: Doc?</s>OSTERHOLM: Yes?</s>CUOMO: Say it again. I didn't get it.</s>OSTERHOLM: OK. So yes--</s>CUOMO: People think if you test more, you are only getting more positives because you test a lot, so don't test so much, and you're actually better off that way. Say again what you're saying.</s>OSTERHOLM: Right and - and what I'm saying is, if you test more, but the percentage of people who are positive continues to go up, that means that the size of the pool of people, who are infected, is actually also going up, so that if it was just the same number of people, in the community, and you are testing twice as much, then your rate will be half as much. But if you are testing twice as much, and the rate goes up four times, that tells you there is a lot of new transmission in your community. And that's what we're seeing right now. Even ahead of the hospitalizations, we're seeing an ever-increasing number of people who are infected. And even more problematic than that, in many of our locations, up to half of these people have no known source of exposure, because that's how much virus is floating around, in our communities, right now.</s>CUOMO: So, Anthony, what Osterholm is saying is being told to the President. You and I both know it. He is making a political decision. "Well I'm not going there. I'm not running with that narrative. I'm going to run that they get the science wrong all the time. I did the right things. We're OK." Why?</s>ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, FOUNDER, SKYBRIDGE CAPITAL: Very insecure guy. He doesn't like experts. He's a reflexive guy. Interviewed H. R. McMaster on Friday "You bring the President something, he'll do the exact opposite, because he's so insecure." He's also got this reality distortion field around him, and he's got sycophants now that are feeding that. So, he wants people to believe that he's Captain Courageous out there, fighting the virus with no mask, and having rallies that are super- spreader events, and that's the right way to go. And we all know that it's the wrong way to go. And then he gets super upset that Dr. Fauci is a leader among men, and it's just really telling people what's going on with the science, and just trying to protect them. My heart goes out to the Fauci family. It upsets me to see that on "60 Minutes." You know I'm upset when he goes after you, Chris, when he goes after Governor Cuomo. I'm OK when he goes after me because I can handle the guy. But I'm looking at Anthony Fauci as a scientist, and somebody that's just a dispassionate objective leader, trying to help the American people. But the good news is this is the worst thing that he could possibly do. So, he's disturbing everybody, especially White ethnics, when he goes after somebody like Anthony Fauci. And so, he's going to lose the election. Just look at the parallel lines in the polling. They don't move. They didn't move for Mandel and Reagan. They didn't move for Nixon in 1971, when he beat McGovern. And they're not moving now. And Joe Biden is going to be the next President. And what you said, in your monologue, is something that we have to hope and pray that over the 12 weeks that Mr. Trump, President Trump has the office, he will listen to these experts, to try to save American lives.</s>CUOMO: It's the best play for him, by the way, to win the election, even now, is to say, OK, there's new data, here's what we're going to do. Even now, he could do it.</s>SCARAMUCCI: No chance!</s>CUOMO: Dr. Osterholm? I'll get back to you about why there's no chance. Dr. Osterholm, you, obviously as the Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy, at the University of Minnesota, you know people who are involved with the governmental efforts. I keep being told, I'll make these off-the-record phone calls, "Why aren't you trying this? Why aren't you trying that?" They say, "No, no, no, we got - we would like to do more. We can't," because they are afraid of the political pushback that the motivator is "Keep it as it is. Keep it as it is." Have you heard anything like that? And what kind of danger is it from a policy perspective, if we don't start doing more things and different things to fight this pandemic?</s>OSTERHOLM: Well, first of all, let me just say that my whole career has been spent just calling balls and strikes. I have served roles in the last five Presidential administrations, including as a Science Envoy for the State Department in this Administration. I served two Democratic governors, two Republican governors, one Independent Governor in Minnesota, and no one could tell my partisan politics. I'm a private in the public health army. So, when I say, right now, that I've never seen the federal government in the public health side of the house, in such dysfunction, that is just a balls and strikes call. The CDC has all but been eliminated, as a critical force, in the public health response. FDA has had its challenges. I give Commissioner Hahn great credit. Recently, I think he's really stood up the whole issue around vaccines. But generally speaking, we're not counting on our federal partners for leadership anymore. It's coming from the 50 states, which in and of itself is a problem because some states are doing it quite well. Others are doing it very poorly, and we don't have a unified national response.</s>CUOMO: 10 key battleground states, none of which the President is leading in right now, cases are going in the wrong direction. You don't think the people there, who are Republicans, as they start having this touch their families, it's not going to affect their vote? I mean, come on, Anthony, and yet. Look, I don't care if he says he wants me to get sick again. That tells you everything you need to know about him. I'll tell you what. I'd gladly get sick again, in a second, if it would make a difference for anybody else. The only upside to getting sick is that maybe you can help people know that they should be worried about it. But he is convinced that if he attacks enough people who oppose him it will work. Why?</s>SCARAMUCCI: The Roy Cohn strategy goes back 45 years, "If you hit me, I'm going to hit you 10 times harder. This way, you'll be deterred to hit me again. But it also will scare people." And that has worked for him. He had 52 Republican senators vote to acquit him, and he was a full-on criminal. Just look at the evidence of the case. I mean, he basically was bribing a Ukrainian President, I mean so. But he uses those tactics, those Roy Cohn intimidation tactics. He spittles out all that hate and bullying, and it has worked for him, Chris. But the weird thing about Mother Nature, it can't work in a scientific situation. And this is the reason why he's going to lose the election. It's almost like Mother Nature has come down to settle the score with Mr. Trump. "Sorry. You can't yell fake science. The people know," and a result of which he's going to get voted out of office.</s>CUOMO: Look, I just wish that he would see the opportunity in saying he will do something about this pandemic. I mean, forget about politics of it.</s>SCARAMUCCI: There is no chance.</s>CUOMO: I just - I'm just saying there is so many people who need that message. Dr. Michael Osterholm, thank you very much. Anthony Scaramucci, as always--</s>OSTERHOLM: Thank you.</s>CUOMO: --I appreciate the insight. Be well. Bless the family.</s>SCARAMUCCI: Same, Chris.</s>CUOMO: Bless your family, too, Doc. All right, the President questioned science, questioned scientists, unless they are saying something he wants in the moment. But cases are ticking up. And they're not supposed to be. Not like this. Let's get the perspective of somebody who is in the position to fight back, and is doing so, New Jersey's Governor Phil Murphy. What's the reality in the State? Why is it happening? How are his resources and his ability to respond? Next.</s>TEXT: CUOMO PRIME TIME.

Supreme Court Rejects GOP Attempt To Require Mail-In Ballots Be Received By Election Day In Pennsylvania.

TEXT: LET'S GET AFTER IT.</s>CUOMO: All right, breaking news tonight, impacting a critical state in the presidential race. The United States Supreme Court rejects Republican efforts to require that all mail-in ballots be received by Election Day and counted that night in Pennsylvania. Now, votes will be counted, if they are received within three days of Election Day. Four of the eight Justices dissented. Think about this. The court was split 4-4, OK? Chief Justice Roberts sided with the Court's three liberals. Trump and Republicans already said this is why they are rushing to get Judge Amy Coney Barrett confirmed.</s>D. TRUMP: So, you're going to need nine Justices up there. I think it's going to be very important.</s>SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Now, we may have litigation about who won the election, but the Court will decide. And if the Republicans lose, we will accept that result. But we need a full court.</s>SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): We need a full Court, on Election Day, given the very high likelihood that we're going to see litigation that goes to the court.</s>CUOMO: When they say full court, they mean stacked court, right? There are two big parts of this conversation. You got law and politics. Let's bring in Ben Ginsberg, and Harry Enten, the Wizard of Odds. It's good to have you both. Counselor Ginsberg, if Judge Barrett had been on that panel, she does not have cases on point, but given her assumed predisposition, you would have people in Pennsylvania not getting their votes counted, if they came in postmarked after Election Day.</s>BEN GINSBERG, REPUBLICAN ELECTION LAWYER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, that's probably right, although, these cases are all over the map, Chris. This was a 4-4 split, so it goes back to upholding what the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did. Michigan, and Wisconsin and North Carolina, all have cases that go a different way, at the Appellate level. They're likely to be heard before Judge - Justice Barrett is sworn in. And so, it isn't clear that these are outright victories for the Democrats.</s>CUOMO: Well but should this be partisan? I mean, the idea of limiting when votes can be counted, who does that help?</s>GINSBERG: Well, it's going to help different people in different states is the reality of it. And, look, state legislatures are empowered to make laws for when - for the casting and counting of ballots, the time, place and manner of their elections. And what you do have is different states making different policy judgments about that.</s>CUOMO: Right. Look, obviously, it's up to the states. I'm just saying I don't know how counting things sooner helps people exercise the franchise. That's all I'm saying. But there is obviously law here and then politics.</s>GINSBERG: Yes, right.</s>CUOMO: And the politics, the suspicion would be, Harry, the reason they want to limit how many can be counted is because this early voting isn't exactly a boon to the President's hopes. What are we seeing?</s>HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER & ANALYST: Yes. I mean I think your thesis is borne out in the numbers. I mean take a look at the Pennsylvania poll numbers, by those who say they're going to vote absentee versus vote on Election Day. This is an ABC News/Washington Post poll. Among those who say they're going to vote absentee, look at this margin for Joe Biden. It's nearly 75 percentage points versus those voting on Election Day, Trump is, in fact, leading in that poll by 21 points. So, there is this huge spread in Pennsylvania, larger than the national average, though we do see it nationally as well, where Democrats, specifically Joe Biden supporters say they're going to vote absentee versus those Republicans who say they're more likely to vote on Election Day.</s>CUOMO: Let me throw to a piece of sound from the President about how he says he's doing in the polls, Harry. I want your take on how what he says - oh, we don't have it? All right. So, he says "We're winning in Arizona, in Florida, by three, maybe even four. If you had Election Day - if you had the election today, we win North Carolina. We win Pennsylvania. It was a sleeper last time. We win. And Ohio, too." So Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, if it happened today, and Pennsylvania, Harry, you agree with that?</s>ENTEN: No, I don't agree with that. In fact, I'll tell you this much. Joe Biden has a significant lead in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. In fact, he is leading by more than 5 points, in all three of those states. And, in fact, if you look at this electoral map, what you see is Joe Biden has a significant lead. He has over 270 electoral votes in states. He has over 270 electoral votes in states where he has a lead of at least 5 points in both September and October.</s>CUOMO: Oh man! Oh man!</s>ENTEN: So, even if there was a polling miss, he would still be the winner today, if of course the election were held today. But of course, the election isn't being held today. It's being held in two weeks and a day.</s>CUOMO: We lost Counselor Ginsberg, but a point that I think he would validate, we've discussed it before, but it will work for you, Harry, is this. The thing that makes no sense about this political strategy, you know, legally it's a state's call what you want your rules to be. You have this odd conflation here that we saw in Texas. Federal court says, "Yes, the Governor wants less boxes because he says it will help them keep track better. OK." And the state says, "No, we do the rules here. And" - oh, good, Ginsberg's back. So, let me ask you this, Counselor. The - Texas, federal court says, "Yes, yes, the Governor can do it." State court says, "No, he can't." What does that tell us about how litigation is going to go here?</s>GINSBERG: Well, it tells you that it is, as you said before, all partisan. I mean, look, there is also a long-term problem the Republican Party has, getting case after case, not facilitating people's ability to vote.</s>CUOMO: Right.</s>GINSBERG: So yes, you're going to see a lot of elected officials doing things that they think is helping them in the short-term will actually cause problems in the long-term.</s>CUOMO: A point that you would have made, Harry, we got to go, I'm out of time, is the weird thing about this as a political strategy is that Republicans traditionally vote by mail more than Democrats. So, the President has been sending a chilling message to his own people. He's tried to reverse, in Florida and North Carolina. But he's been saying "Don't do it" for many weeks. Ben Ginsberg, thank you. Thank you for fighting through the IT problems.</s>GINSBERG: Thank you.</s>CUOMO: Harry Enten, there is no problem for you in any realm of life. Nice haircut!</s>ENTEN: Thank you.</s>CUOMO: If you're looking for hope, right now, I've got you a segment right here. I hear you. I know it's tough. I know it matters, but it's tough. Two teens, two Ameri-CANs, wait until you see, why whatever we're messing up, it's not over yet. In these faces, I see us getting to better places. Ameri-CANs, next.</s>TEXT: CUOMO PRIME TIME.

U.S. Coronavirus Cases Climbing Rapidly, Up 60 Percent In Five Weeks; Trump's Response To Pandemic Now Dominating Campaign Dynamic; Biden Blasts Trump COVID Response, Pledges To Be President For All.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's going to lock down. The guys wants to lock down. He'll listen to the scientists.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The President of the United States literally mocks the idea of listening to scientists as the pandemic shows real signs of a devastating comeback in the U.S. We have reports this morning from Nevada, North Carolina, England, Paris, Italy, Berlin, and Moscow. Good morning, this is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.</s>LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Laura Jarrett. It's 30 minutes past the hour here in New York.</s>ROMANS: All right, remember those chaotic scenes at the start of the pandemic -- the desolate city streets, the frantic emergency rooms, the lack of medical equipment, and no end in sight? The U.S. faces the very real possibility it will find itself right back there, and soon, even as the president admits the quiet part out loud -- he has no plans to put science first. The U.S. is averaging more than 56,000 new cases a day now, up 60 percent in five weeks. Remember, cases are what's known as a leading indicator. First, more cases, then more hospitalizations, then more death. Nearly the entire country is either trending the wrong way or at best, treading water.</s>ALEX AZAR, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Cases are increasing and we're seeing this happen because we're getting colder weather and we're losing that natural social distancing that happens from being out of doors. And people are getting tired. The American people have given so much. We're seeing mitigation fatigue right now.</s>JARRETT: Yes, no doubt Americans are fatigued right now. But you know what, the virus does not care and easing restrictions before COVID has been contained only makes matters worse ahead of a winter that experts say could be just devastating. On Sunday, Johns Hopkins University reported 48,000 new cases in the U.S. Remember, reporting is lower, typically, on the weekends so comparing apples to apples, this is the highest Sunday total since July 26th, Christine.</s>ROMANS: All right. Coronavirus, of course, is hanging over the election this morning with just over two weeks to go. Dr. Anthony Fauci was asked about President Trump's handling of the pandemic and specifically, that White House super-spreader event -- he was asked last night on "60 MINUTES."</s>DR. JON LAPOOK, CBS NEWS CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Were you surprised that President Trump got sick?</s>DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: Absolutely not. I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask. When I saw that on T.V., I said oh my goodness, nothing good can come out of that. He sometimes equates wearing a mask with weakness.</s>LAPOOK: Does that make sense to you?</s>FAUCI: No, it doesn't -- of course, not.</s>ROMANS: White House leadership on the pandemic has sunk to the point now where Twitter has removed a tweet by COVID task force member, Dr. Scott Atlas, for undermining the importance of face masks.</s>JARRETT: The president is in Arizona today, then Pennsylvania and North Carolina this week before the debate on Thursday in Nashville. That face-off against Joe Biden will likely be Mr. Trump's last chance to change the state of this race. CNN's Ryan Nobles is on the road with the president in Carson City, Nevada.</s>RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Laura and Christine, President Trump making good on his promise to be very active on the campaign trail after he recovered from the coronavirus and heading into the Election Day. The president on a torrid streak moving across the country today. And what was interesting is that during this rally in Nevada, the interview on "60 MINUTES" with Dr. Anthony Fauci was playing at the same time the president was speaking. Now, the president couldn't have heard what Dr. Fauci had to say but he did weigh in on what he thinks of the scientists and their assessment of the coronavirus. Take a listen to what he had to say.</s>TRUMP: If you vote for Biden he will surrender your jobs to China, he will surrender your future to the virus. He's going to lock down. This guy wants to lock down. He'll listen to the scientists. If I listened totally to the scientists we would, right now, have a country that would be in a massive depression instead of we're like a rocket ship. Take a look at the numbers.</s>NOBLES: The president didn't mention Anthony Fauci by name but he is, of course, one of the prominent scientists dealing with the coronavirus pandemic so it's not hard to draw the line between the two. And, you know, the way that this rally played out, you can show that the president just has a different view when it comes to the pandemic. Much like the others we've been to, very little social distancing, hardly anyone wearing masks. And we talked to quite of few of his supporters here and they told us they don't wear masks because the president says that they don't need to. And that's going to continue to play out here as we head into the election on November third -- Laura and Christine.</s>ROMANS: All right, Ryan Nobles. Thank you so much, Ryan. President Trump ignoring pleas to tone down his rhetoric against Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer after that failed plot to kidnap her -- rhetoric the governor warns is dangerous.</s>GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D), MICHIGAN: You know, it's incredibly disturbing that the President of the United States, 10 days after a plot to kidnap, put me on trial, and execute me -- 10 days after that was uncovered, the president is at it again and inspiring and incentivizing and inciting this kind of domestic terrorism. It is wrong. It's got to end.</s>ROMANS: During his rally in Michigan, the president accused Gov. Whitmer of unnecessarily locking down her state as she fought to contain the virus -- the very same type of claim made by those accused of wanting to kidnap her. That led to this familiar battle cry.</s>TRUMP RALLYGOERS: Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!</s>JARRETT: The chants of "lock her up" with the president egging people on, you can see there -- a scene defended by the president's daughter- in-law and campaign adviser, Lara Trump.</s>LARA TRUMP, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: Well look, this is -- he wasn't doing anything, I don't think, to provoke people to threaten this woman at all. He was having fun at a Trump rally.</s>JARRETT: Fun, she says, but at whose expense? Take one look at this video and you can see none of this is a laughing matter.</s>JARRETT: That right there is evidence of the field training exercises that prosecutors say were carried out as part of the plot to kidnap the governor Michigan. Yet, despite all of this, in Nevada last night, the president kept it up. He says the governor is running Michigan like a prison.</s>ROMANS: All right. Despite leading in the polls, the Biden campaign is urging his supporters to take nothing for granted here. His campaign manager warning in a memo, quote, "We cannot become complacent because the very searing truth is that Donald Trump can still win this race." On Sunday, Biden campaigned in the battleground state of North Carolina. CNN's Arlette Saenz was there.</s>ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, Joe Biden traveled here to Durham, North Carolina as in-person early voting is underway in the state. He held a socially-distanced drive- in-style rally as he urged his supporters to make a plan to vote in these final weeks before the election, as Biden is hoping to turn this state that President Trump won back in 2016 -- hoping to turn it from red to blue in November. And, Biden, once again, criticized President Trump for his response to the coronavirus pandemic and he argued the country is in a moment where they need to overcome the division that they are currently enduring. Take a listen to what Biden had to say.</s>JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Folks, as my coach used to say in college, it's go time. I'm running as a proud Democrat but I will govern as an American president. No red states, no blue states, just the United States. I promise you I'll work as hard for those who don't support me as those who did.</s>SAENZ: Now, later, today, Kamala Harris returns to the campaign trail after the campaign had suspended her travel for a few days after two members of her traveling team had tested positive for coronavirus. But today, she will be in the battleground state of Florida, making stops in Orlando and Jacksonville. And later on in the week, the Democratic Party's biggest political surrogate, President Obama, is hitting the campaign trail for Joe Biden. He will hold an event in Philadelphia, his first in-person campaign appearance as he is making that pitch for his former vice president in these final weeks before the election -- Laura and Christine.</s>JARRETT: All right, Arlette. Thank you for that. The election is two weeks away but more than 27 million ballots have already been cast. That's more than 20 percent of the total amount of ballots cast in the 2016 presidential election. But at the same time, Senate Democrats are urging voters to be on high alert for efforts to undermine the election. They released a report advising patience and warning people to ignore the president's baseless claims about voter fraud. CNN has also learned that Democrats are hashing plans behind the scenes to counter the president's attempts to cast doubt on the election results should he lose to Joe Biden. "NEW DAY" will have more on that in the next hour.</s>ROMANS: All right. China's economy is picking back up. Chinese officials say the world's second-largest economy grew 4.9 percent in the third quarter, building on the 3.2 percent increase in the second quarter when China managed to avoid a pandemic-fueled recession that crippled the world. Two reasons here -- strict lockdown early on contained the virus, and hundreds of billions of dollars from the federal government boosted spending. China now on track, according to the IMF, to be the only major economy to grow this year. China's economy is strong enough that it started buying U.S. soybeans again. That's good news for farmers who were hit hard by the U.S.- China trade war. And good news for President Trump. Farmers have been among his core supporters and could be key in battleground states in the Midwest.</s>JARRETT: New overnight, a federal judge striking down a Trump administration rule that would have stripped food stamps from 700,000 Americans. That rule would have required more food stamp recipients to work to receive any benefits. Nineteen states have sued to stop it and a judge now says that the Trump administration had been, quote, "icily silent" about how many Americans would have been denied benefits during this pandemic. The judge adds that the changes would have radically and abruptly altered decades of practice, exponentially increasing food insecurity across the country. We'll be right back.

U.S. Coronavirus Cases Climbing Rapidly, Up 60 Percent in 5 Weeks; Florida Ex-Felons with Court Debts Being Removed from Voting Rolls

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's going to lock down. This guy wants to lock down. He'll listen to the scientists.</s>LAURA JARRETT, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: The president mocks the idea of listening to scientists as the pandemic shows real signs of a devastating come-back in the U.S. We have reports this morning from Nevada. North Carolina, London, Paris, Rome, Berlin and Moscow. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is EARLY START, I'm Laura Jarrett.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: Good morning, everyone, I'm Christine Romans, it's Monday, October 19th, 5:00 a.m. in New York and 15 days now to the election. Early in-person voting begins today in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, North Dakota and some critical Florida counties including Broward, Miami-Dade, Duval and Palm Beach.</s>JARRETT: More on all of that in just a minute. But remember the chaotic scenes at the start of the pandemic, the desolate city streets, the frantic emergency rooms, lack of medical equipment and no end in sight? Well, the U.S. faces the very real possibility that it will find itself right back there and soon. This is even as the president admits the quiet part out loud that he has no plans to put science first. The U.S. is averaging more than 56,000 new cases a day, up 60 percent in five weeks. Now, remember cases are what's known as a leading indicator. First, we have more cases, then more hospitalizations and then sadly, more deaths. Nearly the entire country is either trending the wrong way right now or at best, treading water.</s>ALEX AZAR, SECRETARY OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: Cases are increasing and we're seeing this happen --</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right --</s>AZAR: Because we're getting colder weather, and we're losing that natural social distancing that happens from being out of doors and people are getting tired. The American people have given so much. We're seeing mitigation fatigue right now.</s>ROMANS: Yes, Americans are fatigued but the virus is not. And easing restrictions before it has been contained ahead of Winter, experts warn that could be devastating. On Sunday, Johns Hopkins University reported 48,000 new cases in the U.S., reporting is lower on the weekend, so comparing apples to apples, this is the highest Sunday total since July 26th. And that number does not even include hard-hit Wisconsin, Wisconsin which is performing system maintenance this weekend.</s>JARRETT: Coronavirus of course hanging over this election this morning. With just over two weeks to go, Dr. Anthony Fauci was asked about President Trump's handling of the pandemic, and specifically, that White House super spreader event last night on "60 Minutes".</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you surprised that President Trump got sick?</s>ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Absolutely not. I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people and almost nobody wearing a mask. When I saw that on TV, I said, oh, my goodness. Nothing good can come out of that. Sometimes equates wearing a mask with weakness.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does that make sense to you?</s>FAUCI: No, it doesn't. Of course not.</s>JARRETT: White House leadership on the pandemic has sunk to the point where Twitter has removed a tweet by a COVID taskforce member Dr. Scott Atlas for undermining the importance of wearing face masks.</s>ROMANS: Today in Pennsylvania and North Carolina this week, before the debate Thursday in Nashville, "The New York Times" reports that GOP strategists are deeply concerned Mr. Trump will spend the final -- the final weeks of the campaign only energizing his base. Potentially crippling other Republicans down ballot. That face-off against Joe Biden will likely be Mr. Trump's last chance to change the race. CNN's Ryan Nobles is on the road with the president in Carson City, Nevada.</s>RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Laura and Christine, President Trump making good on his promise to be very active on the campaign trail after he recovered from the coronavirus and heading into the election day. The president on a torrid streak moving across the country. And what was interesting is that during this rally in Nevada, the interview on "60 Minutes" with Dr. Anthony Fauci was playing at the same time the president was speaking. Now, the president couldn't have heard what Dr. Fauci had to say, but he did weigh in on what he thinks of the scientists and their assessment of the coronavirus. Take a listen to what he had to say.</s>TRUMP: If you vote for Biden, he will surrender your jobs to China, he will surrender your future to the virus. He's going to lock down. This guy wants to lock down. He'll listen to the scientists. If I listen totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression instead of we're like a rocket ship. Take a look at the numbers.</s>NOBLES: The president didn't mention Anthony Fauci by name. But he is of course one of the most prominent scientists dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. So, it's not hard to draw the line between the two. And you know, the way that this rally played out, you can show that the president just has a different view when it comes to the pandemic, much like the others we've been to, very little social distancing, hardly anyone wearing masks, and we talked to quite a few of his supporters here, and they told us they don't wear masks because the president says that they don't need to, and that's going to continue to play out here as we head into the election on November 3rd. Laura and Christine.</s>JARRETT: All right, Ryan, thank you for that. Despite leading in the polls right now, the Biden campaign is urging his supporters to take nothing for granted this time around. "The New York Times" reports campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon warning in a memo that polls can be faulty, and she's saying "we cannot become complacent because the very searing truth is that Donald Trump can still win this race." On Sunday, Biden campaigned in the battleground state of North Carolina. CNN's Arlette Saenz was there.</s>ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, Joe Biden traveled here to Durham, North Carolina. As in-person early voting is underway in the state. He held a socially distanced drive-in style rally as he urged his supporters to make a plan to vote in these final weeks before the election as Biden is hoping to turn this state that President Trump won back in 2016, hoping to turn it from red to blue in November. And Biden once again criticized President Trump for his response to the coronavirus pandemic. And he argued the country is in a moment where they need to overcome the division that they are currently enduring. Take a listen to what Biden had to say.</s>JOE BIDEN, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FOR 2020: Folks, as my coach used to say in college, it's go time. I'm running as a proud Democrat. But I will govern as an American president. No red states, no blue states, just the United States. I promise you, I'll work as hard for those who don't support me as those who did.</s>SAENZ: Now, later today, Kamala Harris returns to the campaign trail after the campaign had suspended her travel for a few days after two members of her traveling team had tested positive for coronavirus. But today, she will be in the battleground state of Florida, making stops in Orlando and Jacksonville, and later on in the week, the Democratic Party's biggest political surrogate, President Obama, is hitting the campaign trail for Joe Biden. He will hold an event in Philadelphia. His first in-person campaign appearance as he's making that pitch for his former vice president in these final weeks before the election. Laura and Christine.</s>ROMANS: All right, Arlette Saenz, thank you so much for that. And the voting is here. It is happening, more than 27 million ballots have already been cast. That's almost 20 percent of the total vote count in the 2016 presidential election. At the same time, Senate Democrats are urging voters to be on high alert for efforts to undermine this election. They released a report advising patients and warning people to just ignore President Trump's baseless claims about voter fraud. CNN is also learning Democrats are hatching plans behind the scenes to counter the president's attempts to cast doubt on the election results if he loses. "NEW DAY" will have more on that in the next hour.</s>JARRETT: Six days into early voting, Georgia has shattered the record number of ballots cast back in 2016 by more than 150 percent. Almost 1.5 million ballots have been cast so far in that state. Meanwhile, in Florida, election officials are now seeking to remove those who were formally convicted from the voter rolls if they still owe court debts. That's according to an e-mail sent to county election officials. In 2018, remember, voters approved restoring rights for more than 1 million Floridians with felony convictions, but Florida's Republican- controlled legislature then passed a bill saying any fines must be settled first. It wound up in the courts, but it's unclear if taking voters off the rolls would now affect the 2020 eligibility.</s>ROMANS: All right, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is putting more pressure on the White House to get a stimulus deal done.</s>REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Forty eight only relates to if we want to get it done before the election, which we do.</s>GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, TELEVISION JOURNALIST: Well, don't you, yes?</s>PELOSI: Yes, so which we do. But we're saying that we have to freeze the design on some of these things. Are we going with it or not, and what is the language? I'm optimistic.</s>ROMANS: Forty eight hours to get the job done after months of on again, off again talks between the two sides. Five months after Democrats passed their own $3 trillion package, there's almost universal agreement more stimulus is desperately needed. But they've been arguing about how much to spend and how to spend it. Economist Diane Swonk on what needs to be in this deal.</s>DIANE SWONK, CHIEF ECONOMIST, GRANT THORNTON: Well, we know now that the most effective bank for the dollar is help and aid to households that supplements in those unemployment insurance checks. We also know there needs to be money for testing and tracing and some aid for business, but more importantly, there needs to be money in transfers for the states.</s>ROMANS: Transfers for the states. That's something that the Republicans have been against. Pelosi has been adamant the controlling -- the virus is a key element of stimulus. The speaker said the White House has watered down the Democrats language on testing during negotiations. Plus, there's still a bloc of GOP senators who don't want to spend $2 trillion. They're going to be hard to convince. More talks today, Laura, but this has been going on for so long. It's hard to see how they can get to yes in 48 hours.</s>JARRETT: Well, and if it doesn't get done before the election, and it seems harrowed to see how it's going to get done during the lame duck, and then people are going to be waiting even longer for help that they need.</s>ROMANS: Yes.</s>JARRETT: All right, well, after a chaotic first debate, we all remember that, Joe Biden and Donald Trump face off one last time, the final presidential debate, special live coverage starts Thursday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

European Governments Face Off Against Cities Over Restrictions.

ROMANS: All right, 14 minutes past the hour. Moments ago, the world passed 40 million coronavirus cases. With the pandemic spiking across Europe, national governments are facing a new problem, several major city and regional governments fighting back against tighter restrictions, where and why? International diplomatic editor Nic Robertson joins us live from London. Nic?</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It's happening all across Europe. You have it in Spain, you have it in Germany, you have it here in the U.K., where those local authorities here in the U.K. for example, the city of Manchester and other areas in the north of the country are pushing back against the government over local lockdown issues. But I think whichever country it is, you know, in Germany, it seems to be the businesses that are pushing back, taking central government to court in Berlin, and saying we want to keep our bars and restaurants open later in the evening. In Madrid and Spain, it is the local courts there saying that the government lockdown restrictions infringe on people's rights, but I think broadly, what you're seeing here is a frustration with -- between central government and the people. Fatigue by the people who, you know, are running out of patience. They want the coronavirus pandemic to be over, and they don't think that their governments are doing a good job. So you have this fatigue. You have this frustration. But that in itself is being driven by this loss of faith in central governments by local leaders, by local people, that the central governments aren't making the right decisions. Here in the U.K., the central government has said -- Boris Johnson's government has said that it will always follow the advice of the scientists. Well, the scientists have now said you need a national lockdown. What we're hearing from those local leaders in Manchester is, if they're going to be pushed by the government into a tighter local lockdown, they need more support for their businesses. Why? Because they fear that those businesses will move to other parts of the country. So again, broadly, it is this frustration in central government's handling that people don't think it's being handled properly. That's the broader narrative here across Europe and of course, it doesn't make it easy for governments with such weighted decisions. It's balance against business and the economy --</s>ROMANS: Yes --</s>ROBERTSON: Against the health and welfare of people. But that trust in government, that's ebbing.</s>ROMANS: That's fascinating. All right, thank you so much Nic Robertson for us in London.</s>JARRETT: All right, new this morning. CNN has learned that a top White House official recently met with the Assad regime in an effort to free American prisoners believed to be held by Syria. Administration officials tells CNN, the senior director for counter terrorism at the National Security Council made the trip with the support of President Trump. The U.S. and Syria of course have not had diplomatic relations since 2012. CNN previously reported that the president wrote a letter to Syria's president earlier this year, offering quote, "direct dialogue about journalist Austin Tice; one of the American prisoners there."</s>ROMANS: All right, 17 minutes past the hour, separated by 2,000 miles and a shade of blue, the 2020 World Series is set. The "BLEACHER REPORT" is next.

Trump Holds Arizona Rallies as He Unleashes Attacks Fauci: "People are Tired of Hearing Fauci and All These Idiots"

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, the President tearing into Dr. Anthony Fauci in a whole new way calling him names. Even as one of the nation's top experts warns the United States is about to face the darkest period of the pandemic. Why is Trump's suddenly so focused on making Fauci the fall guy? Plus, Biden and Trump are about to face off in their final debate. Team Trump now crying foul and demanding changes, so what do they want and will it fly with team Biden? And five-time Grammy Award artist Christopher Cross is speaking out, best known for his hits like Sailing and The Best That You Can Do, on how COVID temporarily paralyzed him nearly killed him. Christopher Cross is my guest. Let's go OUTFRONT. And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, the President has a boogeyman for his coronavirus failure, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Trump calling Fauci an idiot today, stepping up his attacks on this nation's top infectious disease expert.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People are tired of COVID. I have the biggest rallies I've ever had, and we have COVID. People are saying, "Whatever, just leave us alone." They're tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots, these people, these people that have gotten it wrong. Fauci is a nice guy. He's been here for 500 years, he called every one of them wrong and he's like this wonderful guy, a wonderful sage, telling us how. He said, "Do not wear a face masks," that's a number of months ago. He said, "Do not close it up to China." I have a list of 15 things this guy and yet we keep him. Every time he goes on television, there's always a bomb, but there's a bigger bomb if you fire him. But Fauci is a disaster. I mean, if I listen to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths. But Fuaci, if we listen to him, we'd have 700,000, 800,000 deaths right now. So, with that, I get along with him. If there's a reporter on, you can have it just the way I said it, I couldn't care less.</s>BURNETT: OK. So that's it now, all out war. I mean, that's the President of the United States trashing the nation's top infectious disease expert who has served every president since Ronald Reagan. Even as today, the U.S. death toll tops 220,000 Americans dead, 42 states now with an increase in hospitalizations over the past two weeks. So why is Trump doing this right now to Fauci? Well, it could be because of this, this interview Fauci did with 60 Minutes.</s>DR. JON LAPOOK, CBS NEWS HOST: Were you surprised that President Trump got sick?</s>DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Absolutely not. I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask. When I saw that on TV, I said, "Oh my goodness. Nothing good can come out of that. That's got to be a problem." And then sure enough, it turned out to be a superspreader event.</s>BURNETT: So who is the President turning to at a time when he's now calling Fauci an idiot and saying good reporters on the call, there you have it? At a time when Michael Osterholm, one of the nation's top infectious disease experts says the next six to 12 weeks could be the darkest of the entire pandemic. Dr. Scott Atlas, that's what he's turning to. The controversial doctor with a history of peddling disinformation on the virus, a doctor slammed by dozens of his colleagues at Stanford is promoting falsehoods and misrepresentations of science. Just this weekend, Dr. Atlas tweeted, "Masks work? No." Well, Twitter took that tweet down. Today, he tried to say that he didn't say what he said with this tweet. "POTUS and I have always stressed all appropriate mitigation measures to save lives, including social distancing extra hygiene and mask wearing when one cannot social distance." This is, of course, obviously blatantly untrue when it comes to Trump, we see him day after day physically. He was never doing the mask and the social distancing, but he got coronavirus. You saw I'm not socially distance with no mask in the Rose Garden. Dr. Atlas supports that. Because here he is defending the President for holding rallies where there is no social distancing and very, very little mask wearing on this show.</s>DR. SCOTT ATLAS, ADVISER, WH CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: The President sets the policy and I have agreed with his policy, which is wear mask when you cannot socially distance, just like I said ...</s>BURNETT: But they're not doing that. They're not doing that there.</s>ATLAS: ... what I've said and I'll say it is the President's policy is exactly right, wear mask, that's his guideline, when you cannot socially distance and it is not the policy to mandate masks.</s>BURNETT: But, I mean, the hypocrisy of saying that you support his policy when his actions are completely against that, that he's showing at the moment that you and I happen to be talking is just extremely hard to swallow. You say you support his policy when everything he's allowing people to do around him is against his own policy. I mean, I feel like I'm kind of talking to a wall here.</s>BURNETT: Dr. Atlas and I were talking about this rally. It was happening live as we spoke. Dr. Atlas would not say that that rally where there was no social distancing and the people who were in front of the President weren't wearing masks was wrong. He just wouldn't say it, that's the fact of the matter. The Washington Post is now reporting the Dr. Deborah Birx contacted Mike Pence his office and said she doesn't trust Atlas. So he's not giving the President sound advice and she wants him off the task force. But it is clear he's not going anywhere. The person that Trump is really focusing his eye on is Dr. Anthony Fauci who's basically said I'd fire the guy but it would make an even bigger set of waves. So I'm making it clear I don't trust him and don't listen to him. But I'm not going to fire him. I want to have the same outcome. Kaitlan Collins is OUTFRONT live outside the White House tonight. Kaitlan, why has the President chosen to turn his focus on Fauci?</s>KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, the President has never liked seeing Dr. Anthony Fauci on television and that 60 Minutes interview that aired last night you saw Fauci speaking to him appearing in that campaign ad, something that's been going back and forth for the last week now. And so the President was unprompted today on that call with his campaign staff, which has been to rally staffers in these last two weeks before the election, but instead turned to this venting session on one of the nation's top doctors where the President was going after him. And then, of course, subsequently went after him for three more times today, leading to him going after him four times. And the President and Dr. Fauci have had this tension building for a while but to see it play out in the open so publicly with just 15 days to go as the President is desperately trying to win over moderate voters is not only raising questions about the fact that this nearly 80-year-old doctor who has worked in government since the 1980s now has have security because of threats against him and his family. But it's raising questions of politically what kind of decision the President is making here and how he thinks this is in any way helpful to him. Because if you look at the new cycle of today, it's not about the President doing two rallies and being on the road and making these appeals to voters. Instead, he's going after one of the top doctors helping sort through this pandemic, as we are still very much in the middle of it. And you're seeing Republicans respond to that and try to distance themselves from the President, which we may see a lot more in the next few weeks. Sen. Lamar Alexander who is retiring, we should note, put out a statement today, distancing himself from the President's remarks calling Fauci a distinguished public servant and saying that if more people did what Fauci said that there will be fewer cases of COVID here in the United States. But, of course, notice that Lamar Alexander does not mention why he is tweeting that today, doesn't mention the President's attacks. Though, of course, no one around the President thinks he's going to slow down those attacks anytime soon, even though politically, they don't think they're smart.</s>BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Kaitlan. And let's go now to Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who was a White House medical adviser under President George W. Bush, our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger and Professor William Haseltine who did groundbreaking research on HIV/AIDS and is the author of the upcoming memoir, My Lifelong Fight Against Disease: From Polio and AIDS to COVID-19. So Gloria, here we are, two weeks before the election and Trump is calling Dr. Fauci an idiot saying to the reporters bring it on. Basically, I'd be even worse if I fired him but I want to have the same essential outcome as firing him by saying this publicly. He wants to make him the villain. So what's the strategy here?</s>GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: There isn't any strategy, Erin. This is just the President full of personal grievance about Tony Fauci, who is more popular than he is who is more trusted than he is, who was asked to throw out the first pitch at the Nationals game and who appeared on 60 Minutes last night saying that he wasn't at all surprised that the President got sick, given the fact that he hosted a super spreader event at the White House. You put that all together and the President is going to attack, because Fauci also said that he was effectively harassed, because they used him in a political that he said was taken out of context.</s>BURNETT: And let me just clear, when you bring up the pitch, the President brought up the pitch today, right?</s>BORGER: Oh, yes.</s>BURNETT: Talking about Fauci and brought up that pitch at the nationals.</s>BORGER: Right.</s>BURNETT: I just want to make it clear, you're not just throwing that in there. He threw that in there, pun intended.</s>BORGER: Right. And no issue was too small.</s>BURNETT: Right.</s>BORGER: Nothing is too small for Donald Trump to be aggrieved about, nothing.</s>BURNETT: And that is the amazing thing that that pitch keeps coming up. It came up last week when he was angry at Fauci as well, Professor Haseltine. So when you see this, how much does it worry you? Clearly, I mean, he's been critical of Fauci for a while, they hadn't seen each other, but I mean this is all outward. This is him saying, I don't like this guy. I don't respect this guy. I don't want anyone to listen to this guy, because I don't do any of those things.</s>DR. WILLIAM HASELTINE, GROUNDBREAKING HIV/AIDS RESEARCHER: Tony Fauci has been the most clear, consistent, proponent of the measures the United States needs to protect itself from a deadly disease. What Donald Trump is doing is attacking the fire department when the house is burning down. This is a very serious time, as you have reported repeatedly. The number of people who are being infected is going much higher, all over the country. The hospitals are filling up, the number of dead is increasing. This is a very dangerous time, especially to be attacking the one person the nation now looks to for clear, consistent guidance on what to do and it's not that complicated, wear a mask and social distance.</s>BURNETT: Dr. Reiner, I want to replay some of what President Trump said about Dr. Fauci in the call. I played part of them. Let me just play this one little specific part.</s>TRUMP: People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. Fauci is a nice guy. He's been here for 500 years. Every time he goes on television, there's always a bomb, but there's a bigger bomb of your fire him. Fauci is disaster. If we listen to him, we'd have 700,000, 800,000 deaths right now.</s>BURNETT: So Dr. Reiner, what does Fauci do in terms of responding to these attacks, because when he does do media and he does try to do media, he's going to have to respond.</s>JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, I think Dr. Fauci should just do what he what he's doing as often as he can, which is to tell the public in clear, unambiguous ways what the public should be doing to protect themselves and what the public needs to do to defeat this virus and he's doing that. Look, I think that Dr. Fauci should disregard any kind of media clearance from the White House and do whatever media he wants to do whenever he wants to do it. I think that would be his public service. I do not think the White House can fire Anthony Fauci two weeks before the election, because he comes out to speak the truth. I would advise Dr. Fauci to just speak out as often as he can. We haven't had a Coronavirus Task Force meeting in months really, a public meeting where the scientists can be could be questioned by the media. We really need that. So in response to this, I'd like to see Dr. Fauci feel unshackled and to speak his mind whenever he wants to.</s>BURNETT: So Gloria, the Trump campaign has used the irony of this right now. Now, the President calls Dr. Fauci an idiot, but he used him in a campaign ad and this is actually kind of what actually made this chasm between the two. Here's part of the ad in question.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump tackled the virus head on as leaders should.</s>FAUCI: I can't imagine that anybody could be doing more.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll get through this together.</s>BURNETT: So that really incensed Fauci, all right? And to the extent that he has made that clear and then on 60 Minutes when he was asked to explain why he said that was taken out of context, he did, he made it clear, he wasn't talking about Trump. Here's what he said.</s>FAUCI: I do not and nor will I ever publicly endorse any political candidate. And here I am they sticking me right in the middle of a campaign ad, which I thought was outrageous. That was referring to something entirely different. I was referring to the grueling work of the task force that god we were knocking ourselves out seven days a week. I don't think we could possibly have done any more than that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did the steam start to come out of your ears?</s>FAUCI: Yes, it did. Quite frankly, I got really ticked off.</s>BURNETT: This is still the most raw we've seen him, Gloria.</s>BORGER: He's mad. As he says and I think he's very clear about this, he was stuck in the middle of a campaign ad. He didn't want to be in the middle of, period. He was taken out of context. He was used in an ad to promote Donald Trump and when he said he didn't like it, Donald Trump said, he's an idiot. He said, all those scientists are idiots and that he's been around 500 years. So what good is he, experienced might matter, but I guess Donald Trump doesn't think so. So Donald Trump just turned around and shot it right back at him. I mean, it was in a way it's predictable. Because if you ever slight Donald Trump, he's going to swing right back at you and that's what he did to Tony Fauci. The problem the campaign has is that you can have it both ways. You can have him in the ad one day and then call them names the next day. Particularly since the public trusts him more than they trust Donald Trump on the issue that is foremost, which is handling COVID. So the President is letting - he can't get out of his own way on this.</s>BURNETT: So Professor Haseltine, what are these doctors to do? I mean, Fauci has made it clear he's going to stay on no matter who is president if allowed. One would imagine given the situation if President Trump wins re election, he would get rid of him. He's making it pretty clear. Two weeks before the election, he might not. You got Dr. Deborah Birx, there's been reporting that she had sort of thought about resigning and has gone to Pence's office to say Atlas is not trustable. This is a problem. What are these doctors supposed to do?</s>HASELTINE: All you can do is carry on, make sure you're doing your best to communicate to the public. Dr. Fauci has made it very clear, 80 percent to 90 percent of his job is creating new medications to help us recover and stop this epidemic. That's what he does for his day job. What he's doing now is a public service to help us understand how to protect ourselves, especially in the case of Dr. Atlas. Dr. Atlas is counseling a course which is going to lead if followed to many hundreds of thousands, if not many millions of Americans' death. It is a very, very dangerous policy that everybody in the public health community worldwide disavows. It's a deadly, deadly policy that is being advocated. Just let it rip. Ask somebody like Chris Christie what these super spreader events are like. And if you could, but you can't, ask Herman Cain, the same question. These are deadly events that the President is holding. He's pouring fuel onto the fire of this epidemic.</s>BURNETT: All right. Thank you all. I appreciate it. Sobering point there. Herman Cain, of course, dead after he attended a Trump rally. OUTFRONT next, President Trump is in Arizona right now, a state crucial to his path to 270 electoral votes. So can he win it? We'll go to the magic wall. Plus, it's one of the most closely watched Senate races, it is tight. I'm going to talk to the man taking on incumbent Sen. David Perdue who has been facing serious backlash with this.</s>SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): Kamala, Kamala, I don't know, whatever.</s>BURNETT: And the man behind the hit songs like Ride Like The Wind and Sailing, Christopher Cross says coronavirus left him temporarily paralyzed. He is here to tell us what he's still dealing with.

The Chinese Economy Grows 4.9 Percent In The Third Quarter; Democrats Just Have Hours Left To Agree To A Stimulus Deal Before The U.S. Election; Italy Announces Tough New COVID-19 Virus Restrictions.

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Live from New York, I'm Julia Chatterley. This is FIRST MOVE and here is your need to know. China's comeback. The economy grows 4.9 percent in the third quarter. Democrats' deadline. Just hours left to agree a stimulus deal before the U.S. Election. And Europe on edge. Italy announces tough new COVID-19 virus restrictions. It is Monday. Let's make a move. Welcome once again to FIRST MOVE. Great to have you with us as always. The FIRST MOVE countdown clock is well and truly on this Monday. Let me walk you through it. Fifteen more days until the November 3rd presidential election here in the United States, four days to the next Biden-Trump debate, and less than 48 hours until all hope of a financial aid bill before the U.S. Election is vanquished, at least according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Wow. There is a lot to come. U.S. futures starting the weak higher, meanwhile as investors I think assess the chances that Congress will finally put people before politics and do something short-term, otherwise, they're assuming, I think, help comes post-election. It is a case of when, not if, not necessarily the same, of course, for struggling Americans. Deals meanwhile are getting done in the embattled oil sector as consolidation continues. ConocoPhillips buying shale oil driller, Concho for almost $10 billion. The consolidation expected to continue, too, but helping sentiment and I've already mentioned it. The Chinese data overnight. GDP in the third quarter growing some 4.9 in China, slightly softer than expected, but that number suggests a full recovery of all the output lost during the desperately bad first quarter amid those COVID-related lockdowns, taken at face value and I'm saying that with some degree of caution, this provides some kind of lesson perhaps and the benefits of both stimulus and controlling the virus, which in turn, dictates the pace of recovery, and we've seen that all over the world. China, currently on track to be the only major economy to post overall growth this year. There may be some challenges to that, and negative consequences which we will discuss shortly. For now, though, The Shanghai Composite up more than eight percent in 2020. That's a better performance as you can see here than the S&P 500. Just. Let's get to the drivers. Selina Wang is in Hong Kong for us. Selina, you've had a look at this data. Good sign from the consumer and the Golden Week Holiday perhaps and people traveling domestically told us this. Walk us through the numbers.</s>SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Julia, we've talked about contrast with China and the rest of the world for several weeks now and these GDP numbers just reinforce that. While the rest of the world is dealing with the worst crisis since the Great Depression, China is posting this 4.9 percent gain in the third quarter. Of course, as you said, it needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but the economists I speak to say that when they look at other gauges and outside data sources, it does directionally point to the significant recovery in China. Compared that to what the predictions are in the U.S. It is expected to contract more than four percent. The Eurozone, expected to contract more than eight percent. If we can just pull up the chart, which shows that the bounce back in 2021 for these advanced economies isn't going to be enough to offset the damage done in 2020. China, as you mentioned, expected to be the only major economy to grow this year. As a result of this, China's share of global GDP is also increasing. China's economy is expected to be worth $14.6 trillion by the end of 2020, roughly equivalent to 17.5 percent of global GDP. Now, all of this is just a reminder, and you hinted about this earlier, that unless a country is able to rein in the pandemic, they can't really post a sustainable recovery, and so far, China's strategy seems to be working when it comes to mass testing, contact tracing and these selective lockdowns. And the consumption does show this recovery as well. We saw more than three percent growth in September. We spoke about the Golden Week Holiday with more than half a billion people in China who were traveling, but there are some risks here as well. For one, like many other countries, China's recovery has been uneven. It's disproportionately impacted the poor. We know that during the height of the pandemic in China, millions of people across China lost their jobs, and China's data does not give us a full picture of the jobless, but we know that there is still immense pressure on unemployment as well as on people's incomes, so that does raise the question of how sustainable is this going to be when people just don't have as much money in their pockets.</s>CHATTERLEY: And this is a challenge all over the world and it is a great point and also, when an economy is growing, can it decouple from the rest of the world when they're still struggling? Huge question still to ask, aside from the validity of the data, Selina. Selina Wang, thank you so much for that update there. All right, here in the United States, with just two weeks until Election Day, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi giving the White House a Tuesday deadline for a stimulus deal to pass a relief package before the election, bringing further pressure for a fast breakthrough. Christine Romans joins us now. Christine, the pressure has never been higher, quite frankly, but we've been wittering on about this for weeks and weeks and weeks. When I look at some of the details and the noises we get from all sides, and there is more than two here, quite frankly, I still don't think a deal is possible given the disagreements. What do you think?</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's going to be tough because they have been going over this familiar ground now for months. I mean, you go all the way back to May 15th. That's when the House Democrats passed $3.4 trillion in their Heroes Act and they came down to $2.2 trillion. Republicans have said they are more interested in $1.8 trillion or even smaller, skinnier deals. There was just a lot of negotiating that has already happened. We know that Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, has said that fighting the virus and winning against the virus has to be central to all of this. So, testing, language about testing and tracing is really important and she says, at least, that negotiators have backtracked some of the promises there. You're right, it's three parties here really. It's the White House. It's Senate Republicans and it's Democrats. So you know, you've got different negotiating teams and different aims here.</s>CHATTERLEY: And the fact that we're debating that we should have the consistent and coherent plan for testing. Tracing has been proven a challenge in other countries as well, where privacy laws play into it as well, but the idea we shouldn't be still ramping up testing to try and enable schools get back online, businesses to get back online. It's sort of heartbreaking that we're still challenged by this particular issue.</s>ROMANS: Well, that should be the first -- I mean, that should be the first thing in a national strategy, right, to corral the coronavirus, it would be testing and we just have not done it. That has not been a real priority. Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are trying to say, essentially, look, we can keep spending borrowed money in this crisis, but you have to tell us how we're going to get out of this crisis. So that's a really important angle here, I think as well. You know what the Republicans like to see is liability protections. The White House has been sort of against giving money to states -- state aid. I talked to the economist, Diane Swonk -- or Diane Swonk who told CNN actually that the state aid is a really important part of this because you're going to see more layoffs soon, you know, think of firefighters, teachers, and police officers. I mean, these are funded by the states and they've seen the revenues just vanish because of coronavirus. That's a really important part of this and we know they have been fighting about that for months.</s>CHATTERLEY: Yes, we'd love to spend less money, but you have to control the virus. The virus has to be in control and then we can spend less, otherwise we should buy the recovery. You can't have it both ways.</s>ROMANS: Right.</s>CHATTERLEY: Christine Romans, yes, thank you so much. We'll keep our fingers crossed. All right, let's move on. Italy's Prime Minister is unveiling new COVID-19 restrictions as daily cases surge to record highs. Giuseppe Conte calls the situation critical. He says he is hoping to avoid another lockdown that could severely hurt the economy. Ben Wedeman is live in Naples for us. Ben, great to have you with us. Just talk us through some of these restrictions and also, if you've got the details, hospitalizations -- cases is one thing, but we also need to track hospitalizations to get a sense of what's going on here. What are we seeing?</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we are seeing is a fairly dramatic increase in the number of people in intensive care here in Italy, sort of nationwide, but it is important to keep these in to sort of the broader context of this pandemic. The first case of coronavirus was seen here on the 21st of February this year, but at this point, there are 750 people in intensive care in the entire country. That's as of yesterday. But that's really just around a fifth of the number who were in intensive care at the height of the pandemic earlier this year, so they've sort of, the curve that is such a cause of concern to medical authorities whereby the medical facilities are overwhelmed is still far away. What we've seen, for instance, is that there has been, for the fifth day in a row and we're expecting it to be the case also today, record numbers in the number of new corona record -- increases in the number of new coronavirus cases, almost 12,000 yesterday, but that is partially a reflection of the increase in testing. Yesterday, we were at a testing facility here in Naples, a facility that tested about a thousand people a day.</s>WEDEMAN: Testing is really sort of gone through the roof here. Now, unlike before when you had to have symptoms of coronavirus, now you just have the desire to get a test. Anybody can get a test for free. So we were speaking with one of the senior specialists in the diseases here who said that, yes, you have this surge in new numbers because of testing, but the actual number of patients is lagging way behind. Also lagging behind is the death toll. Yesterday, 69 people passed away unfortunately from coronavirus, but compare that to the peak of the pandemic on the 29th of March, 969 people died. So it does appear that the Italian government has got a handle of the situation at the moment. Of course, the problem is, we're really just in the middle of October. Winter is well ahead of us and the fear is that you could have a situation similar to what we saw earlier this year, if these numbers continue to climb and if you look at the graphs, the numbers are going like this -- Julia.</s>CHATTERLEY: Yes, this is the key. More testing, which putts the cases in perspective. Just a fifth of the people in intensive care compared to the peak back then, but we have to act now because winter is coming. Ben Wedeman in Naples, thank you so much for that. All right, here are some of the stories making headlines around the world. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators defied the protest ban once again in Thailand over the weekend. At least 70 people were arrested in Bangkok. The protesters calling for a new Constitution and a limit on the King's power. Thailand's government is promising to protect the monarchy. In Colorado, firefighters are struggling to contain the largest wildfire in state history. But it's not the only one. Two new blazes sparked over the weekend in Boulder County, which is already coping with a severe drought. One of them has quickly grown to nearly 3,700 hectares. Wow. All right. Coming up after the break on FIRST MOVE, the roll call of my next guest includes Facebook, LinkedIn, PayPal and too many others to mention. Reid Hoffman tells me integrity is everything in the presidential election. Some strong views and he joins us next. Stay with us.

Coronavirus Cases Surge as 2020 Race Enters Home Stretch; Trump Campaigns in Arizona Today as Biden Preps for Final Debate.

BERMAN: 15 days left to vote in America and we have new reporting on what the campaigns are doing and what might change the trajectory of this race. Joining me now, CNN Political Commentators Paul Begala and Scott Jennings. Also with us, CNN Political Analyst Alex Burns, he's a National Political Correspondent for The New York Times. And, Alex, we woke you up. We got you out of bed for this this morning. Why? Because you have new reporting on what President Trump is doing in these closing days and the concerns in some cases that it's raising. So tell us your report.</s>ALEX BURNS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, John, my colleague, Maggie Haberman, and I have a story describing the sense in the Trump campaign, and I think especially in the broader Republican Party establishment that the president is simply not driving a real focused message at this stage in the race, that he's not doing debate prep in any formal sense ahead of his last debate with Joe Biden, which most Republicans, I think, see as the last real chance to affect a major shift in the race. And there's deepening concern on Capitol Hill that because the president seems to be spending his time on the equivalent of a kind of political joy ride around the country, holding these rallies, just kind of riffing and entertaining and revving up his core supporters without even making, you know, a nominal effort to reach out to new voters, that that could really harm Republicans down ballot, and that the president doesn't seem particularly concerned about the possibility that if the race stays as it is today, he is not just likely to lose himself, but he is likely to drag down a whole lot of other folks in winnable races with him.</s>BERMAN: We just happen to have a Republican with us who talks to people up and down ballot. There you go. Scott Jennings, what are you hearing? So you hear Alex's reporting here. You're talking to people. What do you hear?</s>SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, there is concern, obviously. I mean, anybody can read a poll. The national polls don't look good. State polls are closer, but they don't look good either. And there's also a concern, of course, about the president's television spending, which has eclipsed by Vice President Biden's campaign. So, yes, I mean, there's a lot of concern out there on the tactical front. There's also a lot of concern on the messaging front. The president spends a lot of time talking about things that aren't Joe Biden's record and plans, vis-a-vis his own. And the way you try to run a race where your job approval is under 50 percent is to frame it up as a choice about the future, my policies versus the other person's policies. And right now, the president is talking about anything other than that. It's all sort of collapsing as a referendum on him, which is the frame that the Biden campaign always wanted. So you put all of these things together and, yes, there's a lot nervousness in the party. Now, I think Trump people would tell you that they're driving enthusiasm and interest among people who didn't vote in 2016. They've had success doing voter registration in a lot of the swing states, and I do think that is true. But the question is, is that enough to overcome a polling gap like we're seeing today.</s>BERMAN: Paul, I have to say, as much as I love reading Alex's reporting every morning, when I look at The Times and I see the number of new cases of coronavirus in the country and the trend lines on hospitalizations in the country, and that nearly 220,000 Americans have died, you know, if we were at 70,000 cases on Friday, we could be at 85,000 cases by November 3rd. What on earth else will matter on Election Day?</s>PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, right, that's the challenge for the president. He has been unable to get his arms around COVID. And worse than that, he has persuaded seniors, for example, which is one of his most reliable cohorts in the electorate, he's persuaded them that he's doing a terrible job, maybe because he is. And so he's lost his advantage with seniors. He's losing voters he already had. Scott is right. He seems to be drive his base. He's losing. He's losing his base, he's losing those seniors, he's losing women in the latest CNN poll by 34 points. Not that he has 34, he's losing them by 34. And COVID is driving all of that. And so as he continues this denialism, as he mocks us for wearing masks to protect ourselves and our neighbors, he's just going to continue, I think, to fall.</s>BERMAN: Yes. I mean, Scott Atlas, who apparently is the one guy the president is listening to on coronavirus, medical Rasputin, you might want to call him at this point. Over the weekend, he put out a tweet criticizing masks. There is a report out that he is criticizing the idea of increasing testing. And this morning, Alex, he is quoting George Orwell in a tweet. Scott atlas is quoting George Orwell. He goes, the party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears, it was your final and most essential command. I don't know whether this is irony, I don't know whether it's a little bit too on the nose when Scott Atlas is quoting George Orwell, but it's emblematic, I think, of the president in some cases leaning into the very things that will hurt him politically.</s>BURNS: Absolutely. And that is really the story of this campaign in a lot of ways and of the administration's response to the coronavirus. John, I was talking to a Republican lawmaker last week about exactly this subject, who was saying that, look, the president's hospitalization was handled terribly by the White House, terribly by government medical officials, terribly by the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who according to our reporting is really on the rocks right now. But it was an opportunity for the president himself, if he had been so inclined, to show just this much empathy and self-awareness about what had happened to him and what is happening to the rest of the country and, you know, not necessarily transform the race as a result, but maybe give at least a couple of people out there an opportunity to say, maybe I misjudged this guy, maybe he just didn't get it and it sure seems like he gets it now. But you know what? If based on what the president was saying a month ago, you didn't think he got it on the coronavirus, I don't hear anything from him today. I don't think anybody hears anything from him today that suggest that he has suddenly reached some -- a new level of sensitivity and awareness about this disease.</s>BERMAN: Yes. He literally, we played in the last segment, attacked Joe Biden for following science, as if science is somehow a bad thing here. Paul, there's other stuff that's being said on the campaign trail, and I don't want to play it, because he's attaching Gretchen Whitmer and there were lock her up chants at his rally last night, and Governor Whitmer was concerned, I think, about this, given that there was an alleged plot to kidnap her and maybe execute her, she was concerned. So listen to her.</s>GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): You know, it's incredibly disturbing that the president of the United States ten days after a plot to kidnap, put me on trial and execute me, ten days after that was uncovered, the president is at it again and inspiring and incentivizing and inciting this kind of domestic terrorism. It is wrong. It's got to end.</s>BERMAN: The impact of those words, Paul?</s>BEGALA: Well, she's exactly right. That's simply factual. Right-wing terrorism, right-wing domestic terrorism focused on -- committed by right-wing actors is a real threat. The Trump administration's domestic threat assessment, not his domestic, his homeland threat assessment, 2020, says this. Domestic violent extremists present the most persistent and lethal threat. Now, I used to work in the White House. Scott used to work in the White House. The president is briefed on those threats. His staff is briefed on those threats. And yet he is fanning those flames. It is absolutely reprehensible. I mean, I live in Virginia here. Our governor, Ralph Northam, was also reportedly targeted by those alleged terrorists. This is not playing around. And I saw a spokesperson for his campaign say, oh, he was just having fun at a rally. It's not fun. He is -- he is feeding terrorists. He is encouraging terrorists. And I just, it's certainly reprehensible as a president. I have to say, it's pretty stupid as a political strategy. There are not a lot of pro-terrorist voters in the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. And so it's a terrible political strategy, but even worse than that, he's endangering his fellow Americans, which is violating the first principle of being president.</s>BERMAN: Scott, what do you think of it as a closing message?</s>JENNINGS: Well, I mean, I wanted to pick up on Paul's political strategy point. Everything Donald Trump says that is not casting his future plans versus those of Joe Biden's, I'll cut your taxes, Joe Biden will raise them. I'll do this, Joe Biden will do that. Every time he's focused on anything other than that, he is losing. He needs to frame and cast this race as a choice about the future and who can get the economy back to where it was pre-COVID. That's it, period. That's what he has to do. So whether you're talking about the governor of Michigan or you're attacking Ben Sasse or whatever you're doing out there that is not focused on that framing, it's a lost hour, a lost moment, a lost day, a lost news cycle and it's going to hurt the president. So I would humbly suggest, focus on Joe Biden, focus on your policies and lay out a second-term agenda and cast it against the radical, liberal ideas and you might have a chance.</s>BERMAN: You keep saying, focus on Joe Biden, which makes it all the more interesting, Alex, on what the former vice president is choosing to do over the next few days, which is what exactly?</s>BURNS: Well, it's really to dig in on debate prep. I think that Democrats and the Biden campaign feel that they are comfortably ahead in this race, not as comfortably, they say, as media polls suggest, but that they are sort of in control right now. And so the best thing that they can do to bring this home is to deny the president the chance to retake control. And the last really big opportunity he has to do that is the debate on Thursday. You know, to Scott's point though about focusing on Joe Biden, it also matters how he focuses on Joe Biden. And the Republicans I talked to, and I think based on what he just said, Scott would probably agree with this, that the president going out there and taunting Joe Biden about his son and waving around these stories in The New York Post that have not been substantiated to make personal attacks on Biden and the Biden family. You know, I don't know a whole lot of folks outside the Trump inner circle who believe that that is a winning message. And even some folks in the Trump inner circle would really rather that he focus on the economy. When you talk to Republicans in the states, people who are directing these close Senate races and close House races, they look at the Hunter Biden story and they say, you know, that is red meat for people who are already for you. We would love it if you would talk to some people who aren't already for you about issues like economic recovery.</s>BERMAN: Alex, Scott, Paul, we appreciate you being with us this morning. Alex, thanks for waking up, making a special parachute appearance. Thank you. Hospitalizations on the rise in Texas, so where are things headed in that state? The mayor of Austin joins us next.

Coronavirus Cases Surge as 2020 Race Enters Home Stretch; Trump Campaigns in Arizona as Biden Preps for Final Debate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: COVID cases surging to new levels. There are now more than 8 million cases in the U.S.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are getting tired. We're seeing mitigation fatigue right now.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm extremely worried. You're starting to see spread everywhere.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you vote for Biden, he will surrender your future to the virus. This guy wants to lock down.</s>DR. JONATHAN LAPOOK, CBS CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: How bad would things have to get for you to advocate a national lockdown?</s>DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: They'd have to get really, really bad.</s>JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: So much is at stake for this nation.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.</s>JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Monday, October 19, 6 a.m. here in New York. Alisyn is off. Erica Hill with me this morning.</s>ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.</s>BERMAN: The former FDA commissioner says we are at the beginning of the biggest coronavirus wave yet. One of the most esteemed epidemiologists in the country says the next 6 to 12 weeks will be the darkest of the entire pandemic. Moments ago, Johns Hopkins reported the world passed 40 million confirmed cases. Forty million. That is where we are. Overnight, Dr. Anthony Fauci said definitively, we are not on the road to getting out of this. The United States is now averaging more than 56,000 new cases a day. That's up more than 60 percent since mid-September. Cases are spiking in 27 states. Just look at that map, all the red. Some of these states are exactly the places where President Trump is holding huge mass gatherings. No social distancing, few masks. These are the exact kinds of events the coronavirus task force is warning against. In a new interview, Dr. Anthony Fauci says that, given events like that, he's not surprised that President Trump got coronavirus.</s>HILL: This morning, President Trump is fighting for his political life as concern grows within the campaign and within the Republican Party that the president's focus is on the rearview mirror, specifically his 2016 playbook. Conspiracy theories, attacks on political opponents, rather than focusing on a pandemic strategy and a plan to expand his support in the final push. He continues to demonize Michigan's governor, who of course, was the target of a kidnapping plot. Both his daughter-in-law and campaign adviser, likens the president -- just having fun at his rallies. Meanwhile, the Biden campaign taking nothing for granted, warning its supporters not to become complacent. And this weekend, more long lines in early voting states. More than 27 million ballots have now been cast. That is nearly 20 percent of the total ballots cast in 2016. Let's begin our coverage this morning with CNN's Adrienne Broaddus, who's live in Chicago. Adrienne, good morning.</s>ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Erica and John. The U.S. now has more than 8.1 million coronavirus cases. In the last week, at least 27 states reported an increase in new cases. This as health experts warn our darkest days could be right around the corner.</s>BROADDUS (voice-over): The nationwide coronavirus surge is continuing, the country averaging more than 56,000 new cases day over the past week. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar attributing the recent surge to complacency.</s>ALEX AZAR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: We're getting colder weather, and we're losing that natural social distancing that happens from being out of doors. And people are getting tired. The American people have given so much. We're seeing mitigation fatigue right now.</s>BROADDUS: The Midwest struggling to contain the spread. Wisconsin seeing record hospitalizations this weekend and a positivity rate at nearly 25 percent. Despite having one of the lowest positivity rates in the Midwest, Illinois has seen an uptick in new cases and hospitalizations in recent days.</s>GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): It is dangerous right now. We want people to wear masks. We want people to socially distance. We need to make sure that we have certain mitigations in place. And of course, we've already opened up much of our economy, but we have to maintain certain capacity limits and make sure that our people are safe and healthy.</s>BROADDUS: Even though the country has seen a sharp rise in new cases this month, Dr. Anthony Fauci is not advocating for the country to shut down completely.</s>FAUCI: They'd have to get really, really bad. First of all, the country is fatigued with restrictions. So we want to use public health measures, not to get in the way of opening the economy, but to being a safe gateway to opening the economy.</s>BROADDUS: Concerns also growing again in the southwest. In New Mexico, hospitalizations have more than doubled since the beginning of the month.</s>GOV. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM (D-NM): We're not succeeding at combatting the virus. The virus is now winning.</s>BROADDUS: The governor issuing new restrictions, limiting gatherings to five people and requiring establishments that serve alcohol to have close by 10 p.m. This as President Trump travels to Arizona today to hold two rallies. The mayor of Tucson warning the president must abide by the restrictions in the city, including mask wearing and social distancing. Trump's rallygoers have frequently not worn masks and have not socially distanced.</s>FAUCI: See, I think that's less an anti-science and it's more a statement.</s>LAPOOK: What kind of a statement?</s>FAUCI: You know, a statement of strength, like, we're strong, we don't need a -- we don't need a mask, that kind of thing.</s>LAPOOK: Does that --</s>FAUCI: He sometimes equates wearing a mask with weakness.</s>LAPOOK: Does that make sense to you?</s>FAUCI: No, it doesn't, of course not.</s>BROADDUS: In that same interview, Dr. Fauci said he wasn't surprised President Trump contracted COVID-19. He said he saw the Amy Coney Barrett event at the Rose Garden and thought nothing good could come from it. As it turned out, it was a super-spreader event -- Erica.</s>HILL: All right. Adrienne Broaddus live for us in Chicago, thank you. Meantime, a critical week ahead in the final stretch of the 2020 race, with President Trump and Joe Biden both hitting key battleground states before facing off in the final presidential debate Thursday night. CNN's Boris Sanchez is live at the White House this morning with more. Boris, good morning.</s>BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Erica. Yes, we're entering the final stretch of the 2020 campaign, and the contrast between these two candidates in their messaging and their strategy could not be more stark. Former Vice President Joe Biden casting as wide a net as he can, trying to appeal to a broad span of the electorate, with the message that he is a healer, that he will help the nation unify after a very divisive four years of President Trump. Here's some of what Joe Biden told supporters at an event in North Carolina this weekend. Listen.</s>JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm running as a proud Democrat, but I will govern as an American president. No red states, no blue states, just the United States!</s>SANCHEZ: Meantime, President Trump returning to that bombast that we saw catapult him to the White House back in 2016. He's almost exclusively focused on drawing enthusiasm and support from people already in his camp. The president, though, facing some infighting within the Republican Party, responding to criticism from Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse that the president kisses up to dictators and a number of other things Sasse said on a call with constituents. The president responding to that this weekend with some criticism. Also criticizing Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. She was, of course, the target of a foiled kidnapping plot by a right-wing militia. The president seeming to revel in his supporters, chanting that she should be locked up while at a campaign event in Michigan. Watch this.</s>TRUMP: You've got to get your governor to open up your state and get your schools open. Get your schools open. The schools have to be open, right?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!</s>TRUMP: Lock her -- lock 'em all up.</s>SANCHEZ: As far as the broad picture of the race goes, the Biden campaign is enjoying a decent lead, both nationally and in key swing states. Despite that, they're not taking their foot off the gas pedal, John. The campaign manager for the Biden campaign putting out a memo to supporters, saying that they cannot become complacent. Clearly, the trauma of the upset in 2016 still resonating with Democrats.</s>BERMAN: All right. Boris Sanchez at the White House this morning. Boris, keep us posted throughout the morning. Developing this morning, a federal judge has blocked a plan by the Trump administration to slash Food Stamps to almost 7,000 unemployed Americans. In a scathing opinion, the judge said the Agriculture Department was being, quote, "icily silent" about how many people would be hurt by its plan to increase work requirements for Food Stamps in distressed economic areas. The Agriculture Department had no immediate comment. So the next six to 12 weeks could be the darkest yet in the pandemic. That warning from one of the country's leading epidemiologists. What public health experts are seeing this morning that has them so concerned. That's next.

Early Voting Kicks off in Swing States

BERMAN: So as of this morning, more than 27 million votes have already been cast in the 2020 election. That's almost 20 percent of the total number of ballots cast in 2016. Fifteen days left to cast your vote. Over the weekend, a lot of people, you can see, lining up to vote in person. CNN's Kristen Holmes live in Washington with the very latest. Today, even more states allow in-person early voting.</s>KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And this has been really incredible. As you say, we're still two weeks out from the election. And I want to show you some video here of the lines in the battleground state of Georgia over the weekend. They have seen 152 percent increase in turnout compared to this time in 2016. Now, as you said, there are six more states starting their early voting today. You've got Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, North Dakota, and Florida. All eyes are going to be on Florida. It's only 52 of the 67 counties that will start today, but, John, some of them are the most critical counties we always talk about at the election, Broward County, Miami-Dade, Duvall County. So at of eyes on that state today.</s>BERMAN: And, Kristen, obviously, the president has been trying, I think, inappropriately, to raise questions about the integrity of the election. There's been no reports of mass fraud. Everything has run relatively smoothly at this point. But you have some new reporting on the Democrats' plans to make this clear.</s>HOLMES: That's right, John. So we're looking at an umbrella here of two different scenarios that Democrats are preparing for. One is that President Trump disputes the results in court or on Capitol Hill. The other is that Biden wins, President Trump says it's a rigged election and he refuses a peaceful transfer of power. So, on the first front, that's legal, Capitol Hill, we know that the campaign has put out hundreds of lawyers all across the country. They are studying up on any sort of election law, including a scenario that looked like 2000 with Bush v. Gore, even though election experts say that's unlikely. You also have Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill who are studying arcane election law just in case this ends up on the Capitol. Now, on the other front, when it comes to rigged election, refusing a peaceful transfer of power, that's going to be a messaging war. And Democrats are very concerned that they don't have the same horsepower to combat Trump's messaging and his Twitter account, say, if he were to claim victory prematurely on an election night. So they are working with social media companies to discourage any sort of premature declaration of victory or calling of the election. And they're also really starting to double down on their own messaging, which is, even if there is not a result on election night, which there likely won't be, that does not mean that there is any sort of fraud. They are trying to hammer that home.</s>BERMAN: That's right, we will know who won when the ballots are counted, wherever that is. Kristen Holmes, thank you, as always, for your reporting. Appreciate it. Erica.</s>HILL: New this morning, CNN has learned a top White House official met with members of the Assad regime this fall in an effort to free American prisoners believed to be held by Syria. Administration officials say the trip was made this fall with the support of President Trump and in coordination with the State Department. The U.S. and Syria have not had diplomatic relations since 2012. CNN previously reported President Trump wrote a letter to Assad earlier this year offering direct dialogue about journalist Austin Tice, one of the American prisoners.</s>BERMAN: Raging wildfires are forcing new evacuation orders this morning in Colorado and Utah. A new fire broke out Sunday in Boulder County, Colorado, where firefighters continue to battle the county's largest fire on record that began a day earlier. The Cameron Peak Fire, the largest fire in Colorado's history, has burned more than 200,000 acres.</s>HILL: A missing hiker has been found 12 days after she disappeared. Holly Courtier was last seen entering Zion National Park on October 6th. Search and rescue teams finally located her Sunday after a park visitor told rangers they spotted her. She is hospitalized. No details, though, on her condition. Her family says they are overjoyed she was found safely.</s>BERMAN: The Los Angeles Dodgers heading back to the World Series for the third time in four years. Cody Bellinger with a seven-inning dinger there. That was the difference.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cody Bellinger has done it!</s>BERMAN: Sure did. The Dodgers beat the Braves 4-3 in game seven in the National League's championship series. L.A. trailed the series 3-1, but won three games in a row to advance to the World Series. The Dodgers will face the American League champion Tampa Bay Rays. Game one is Tuesday night. Nancy Pelosi giving the White House until tomorrow to reach a coronavirus stimulus deal before the election. We have new reporting on how close they may or may not be and what's in the deal.

Pelosi Sets Deadline for Deal

HILL: Developing this morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have until tomorrow to reach an agreement if they want to pass a coronavirus stimulus relief bill before Election Day. CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us now. All right, until tomorrow?</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I know. Time really running out here to get critical aid to American families after these months, Erica, of on again, off again talks between the two sides. Five months, actually, after Democrats passed their first $3.4 trillion package.</s>REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Forty-eight (ph) only relates to if we want to get it done before the election, which we do.</s>GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: Well, don't you? Yes.</s>PELOSI: Yes. So which we do. But we're saying to them, we have to freeze the design on some of these things. Are we going with it or not? And what is the language? I'm optimistic.</s>ROMANS: She's optimistic. There's almost universal agreement more stimulus is desperately needed. But they've been arguing about how much to spend and how to spend it. Economist Diane Swonk on what needs to be in this deal.</s>DIANE SWONK, CHIEF ECONOMIST, GRANT THORNTON: Well, we know now that the most effective bang for the dollar is help and aid to households. That supplements in those unemployment insurance checks. We also know there needs to be money for testing and tracing and some aid for business. But, more importantly, there needs to be money in transfers for the states.</s>ROMANS: Swonk says without aid to the states, you can expect layoffs. Remember, the states pay the paychecks for police departments, fire houses, schools. Now, Pelosi is adamant that at the heart of the deal must be stopping the spread of this virus. The speaker said the White House has watered down language on testing and tracing. Plus, there's still a block of GOP senators who don't want to spend $2 trillion. They're going to be hard to convince. More talks, Erica, are scheduled for this afternoon. A phone conversation is scheduled for this afternoon.</s>HILL: Well, as we wait for more information out of Washington, China reporting some really strong economic numbers overnight. So what did we learn there, Christine?</s>ROMANS: You know, Erica, Chinese officials say the economy grew 4.9 percent in the third quarter, building on the 3.2 percent increase in the second quarter. China got the virus under control and avoided the pandemic recession that crippled the rest of the world. And here's why. Really strict lockdowns early to contain the virus, extensive testing, tracing, and monitoring of its citizens, and hundreds of billions of dollars from the government to boost spending. In fact, the Chinese have now begun buying U.S. soybeans again. That's essential for Midwestern farmers hammered by the U.S./China trade war. China, Erica, may be on track to be the only major economy to grow this year. The U.S. economy likely grew sharply in the third quarter. We expect maybe as much as a record 35 percent. But now, here, there are concerns that the virus is not contained, the economy has flat lined again this fall.</s>HILL: Wow. Amazing. All right, Christine, appreciate it. Good to see you. Thank you.</s>ROMANS: You too.</s>HILL: Disturbing new details about the suspects in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan's governor. Those details are next.

Whitmer Says Trump Incites Domestic Terrorism; Kidnapping Plot Training Video.

BERMAN: We have new details this morning about the suspects involved in the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. And it includes new video that appears to show at least one suspect conducting field training exercises. CNN's Sara Sidner has the very latest.</s>SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): You are looking at evidence that was played in federal court of the field training exercises federal prosecutors say were carried out in a plot to storm Michigan's capital and kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer. CNN affiliate, WXMI, obtained the video from the U.S. attorney's office after the preliminary hearings for six men federally charged with conspiracy to kidnap a sitting governor. Several pieces of federal evidence were played in court, including this video of suspect Brandon Caserta ranting about the government.</s>BRANDON CASERTA, SUSPECT: I'm sick of being robbed and enslaved by the state, period. I'm sick of it. And these are the guys who are actually doing it, you know? So if -- if, you know, if -- if we're doing a recon or something and we come up on some of them, dude, you better not give them a chance. You either tell them to go right now or else they're going to die, period. That's what it's going to be, dude, because they are the</s>SIDNER: The suspects' alleged deeds and words were shown to the federal judge so she could decide if there was enough evidence to go to a grand jury. In this video, the lead FBI agent acknowledged in testimony that defendant Adam Fox is inside a basement appearing to be speed reloading his weapon to, quote, minimize the time that your weapon is inoperable, in case of a gunfight. Prosecutors say the video was taken inside this vacuum shop in Grand Rapids.</s>SIDNER (on camera): The owner of this vacuum shop says Adam Fox lived here for the last couple of weeks. He says he lived behind this door and down into the basement.</s>BRIANT TITUS, STORE OWNER: Basement where he stayed.</s>SIDNER: OK.</s>TITUS: And he was only going to stay there until 1 November.</s>SIDNER: Why did you decide it was time for him to go?</s>TUTUS: He was buying more like attachments for like an AR-15 and he was buying like food. And I'm not stupid. I was in the Marine Corps. So that -- I told him he had to go.</s>SIDNER (voice over): Briant Titus says he had no idea what was going on in his business' basement after hours. The FBI testified this is inside another defendant's basement where you can see an arsenal of weapons in a gun locker, including an illegal short-barrel rifle. Beyond the videos, the FBI says they also infiltrated encrypted chats and text chains, laying out the plot. In one encrypted chat, the suspects allegedly used code names and discussed killing Governor Whitmer, not just kidnapping her. The FBI identified the code name "Beaker" as suspect Daniel Harris, who write, laying in bed, craziest idea, have one person go to her house, knock on the door, and when she answers, just cap her. At this point, f it. Someone with the code name "Tex" responds, lol, only if it would be that easy. Beaker replies, I mean f-ing catch her walking into a building and act last passers buy and fixing dome her, then yourself whoever does it. Why create a manhunt. Do it in broad daylight and then end it. Tex replies, good point or recon the house and snipe her. The alleged plot was never carried out. The six men, along with seven others, were arrested in an October FBI raid. Six were charged federally. The rest charged by the state for acts of terror.</s>SIDNER: We are now learning an eighth suspect has been arrested in the state's case, bringing the total number of people allegedly involved in this plot to 14. Now, we heard back from one of the defendant's attorneys. Federal suspect Ty Garbin's attorney told us as soon as his client learned of this alleged plot, he disavowed it and withdrew from it and he's innocent of all charges. Now, it goes without saying that all of the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Back to you.</s>HILL: All right, Sara Sidner, thank you for that reporting. We're going to take a little shift here, take a turn. "Saturday Night Live" taking on the Trump and Biden dueling town halls. Here's a look at your late night laugh.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last week you tweeted that Osama bin Laden is still alive.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't tweet it. It was a re-tweet, which is short for really smart tweet.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, but you -- you can't just do things like that, you're not just someone's crazy uncle, you know?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really? Because this conversation we're having right now is a preview of Thanksgiving dinner at a lot of American households. So crazy uncles, stand back and stand by.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you see, each tree has its own personality, just like America. Does that answer your question, Justin?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I say yes, can I sit down?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's why we're going to have a v-shaped recovery, a deep "v," with rippling pecs and a toned 8-pack. A swimmer's body, basically like I have after COVID, and it's going to be beautiful!</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The question was, why won't you release your taxes?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's simple, because I don't want to go to jail. Thank you.</s>BERMAN: So it happened. I mean I think we have definitive proof that "Saturday Night Live" was on</s>TV. HILL: Yes. Where you going with this?</s>BERMAN: Yes, that's it! I mean I think that's the most we can say about it.</s>HILL: OK.</s>BERMAN: We called it late night laughs. That may be a misnomer in this case. It was on late night.</s>HILL: It was on late. There were some -- some funny lines.</s>BERMAN: There were laughs.</s>HILL: Yes.</s>BERMAN: I'll have to take your word for it. We'll take that under advisement.</s>HILL: Meantime, NEW DAY continues right now.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Health officials from coast to coast are scrambling to contain the rising rate of infections.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Experts worry that fatigue over masks and social distancing could add up to a new surge in coronavirus cases this winter.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're not succeeding at combatting the virus. The virus is now winning.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The light at the end of the tunnel is near. Don't listen to the cynics and angry partisans.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you surprised that President Trump got sick?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.</s>BERMAN: All right, welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. Alisyn is off. Erica Hill is with me this morning in the studio.</s>HILL: It's exciting to be in the studio.</s>BERMAN: Yes. Could have been here for the last hour.</s>HILL: We're here now.</s>BERMAN: We're here now. That's what's important. It's great to be here. All right, I want you to listen to these warnings. Former FDA commissioner, the former FDA commissioner, says the biggest coronavirus wave yet is just beginning. Michael Osterholm, one of the country's leading epidemiologists, says this will be the darkest six to 12 weeks of the pandemic. Dr. Anthony Fauci says we are definitely not on the road to getting out of this. The United States is now averaging more than 56,000 new cases a day. That's up more than 60 percent since the middle of last month. We had 70,000 cases on Friday. Cases rising now in 27 states. All you have to do is look at the map there and see all the orange and red. And the beige, by the way, just means that cases are steady. And, in some cases, steady at a very dangerous level. Some of these states that are most troubled right now.

Texas Sees Rise in New Cases and Hospitalizations; First Week of Early Voting in Texas Tops 2016 Totals

ERICA HILL: CNN HOST: This morning Texas is one of 27 states across the country where new coronavirus cases are on the rise. Hospitalizations also beginning to climb in Texas. Joining us now is the mayor of Austin, Steve Adler. Mayor, good to have you back with us this morning as we look at those numbers. Hospitalizations are an increasing concern in so many areas and I know they are for you as well. Where do things stand this morning in terms of hospitalizations and whether you have what you need based on what could be coming?</s>MAYOR STEVE ADLER (D) AUSTIN, TEXAS: You know I think we're - we're all real nervous about what could be coming. We had that community that drove the numbers down real low but they've started heading back in the other direction. Here in Austin our admissions which were very lower up about 50 percent and the 7-day moving average from where they were just a week or two ago. Now the numbers still low so we don't have the red alarms going off but it's definitely headed in the wrong direction and some of the cities in Texas are nearing crisis. El Paso, Lubbock, Amarillo.</s>HILL: And we saw recently the governor sent extra resources to Election Paso. You bring up El Paso. As we look at what's happening with the different this time around which we're hearing from so many of our medical experts here is that in the beginning, let's say here in New York when we knew that there was going to be a need, you would hear from Governor Cuomo on a daily basis say, send it here and then I'll help you out when it's your turn. The problem is everybody, it could be everybody's turn all at once. How much is that figuring into your planning.</s>ADLER: I think it's going to be everybody all at once if we get to that place. You know the governor gave everybody the ability to be able to open up bars and started putting on pressure for people to do that just a week or two ago but Austin did not do that. Houston didn't do that. Dallas, San Antonio, obviously El Paso. The governor had a tweet a few days ago saying that he might take back that discretion. Also the message is just again, the message is just real mixed. You know the message is not clear and definitive that everybody should be wearing mask, you know that what's coming out of Washington right now with the president, that there is a debate over masks is just absolutely unbelievable to me given what we have seen in terms of what they can do to help. So we are concerned and as we get closer to November, I think it's going to be an even bigger issue.</s>HILL: So just to press a little bit more on that, what we're seeing, I mean Texas obviously a big state but as you point out the governor was - the talk about bars, officials in Austin not too long ago were talking about it, obviously it doesn't seem like you're moving in that direction today. The one thing that's clear though is as you pointed out cases are going up, hospitalizations are going up. What's the impact of those very clear black and white numbers on the folks in Austin. Do you think that is starting to have an impact?</s>ADLER: I did - it needs to have an impact. I think everybody is nervously washing those numbers and ultimately it's going to be a question of a discipline that we have as a community on wearing a mask, maintaining the social distance and washing our hands. Everybody's tired of that measure of discipline, everybody wants to continue to open up the economy. We're trying to get more and more of our children in schools and it is a hard thing to do if we're going to lose control elsewhere and really this is show time for the community. We have to find out where we are and what we're made of. I just wish that the messaging was clear and the things that are scientifically driven like wearing masking, increasingly becoming an election issue, a political issue is just outrageous, it's criminal.</s>HILL: Yes we know as you point out the data is there, the facts are there, the science is there, masks work, full stop. I'm sorry, go ahead.</s>ADLER: I was going to say it could be that it's driving Biden higher in the state. It's been a long time since Texas has been competitive and it's exciting to be in a state where I get to see political commercials again on</s>TV. HILL: I'm sure being inundated with them to that point. I do want to talk a little bit about voting with you because we've all been watching, right? People around the country are watching what's happening in Texas. And the latest ruling for Travis county as I understand it is that in fact multiple drop off location for absentee ballots are OK according to that latest ruling from the judge on Thursday so is it your understanding then that based on that Thursday ruling, that these additional drop boxes can reopen?</s>ADLER: That's my understanding, the anti-defamation league's lawsuit on Thursday turned it back yet again. You know it is - they were open, they were closed. Now they're open. You know what, what we're talking about here is no matter how hard it's made to vote and it's outrageous that a county with 1 million people, me and three, Harris County with 4 million people would be limited to one drop box location for absentee ballot. I mean just outrageous but no matter how hard is way to vote, this is an election where everybody wants to vote and participate. Travis County, Texas, 97 percent of eligible people registered to vote. Of course that doesn't count for anything unless they actually vote but it is exciting to watch. 30 percent of the people voting under 30. 40 percent of the people voting under 40. 20 percent of the people voting right now in Travis county are new people, have not voted here before so there, you can you can feel a sense of momentum in part because there are people that are trying to make it hard to vote.</s>HILL: We'll continue to watch what is happening there. Mayor Adler, appreciate you joining us this morning. Thank you.</s>ADLER: Good to be with you.</s>HILL: Records being shattered across Europe. Up next, we have a live report from Italy. Why the second wave there feels very different the first?

Tucson Mayor Warns Trump Campaign

MAYOR REGINA ROMERO (D) TUCSON, ARIZONA: Ask him and his attendants to please comply with a mask and follow CDC guidelines. We do not want to see a super spreader event. And the other point of the letter was to really ask the Trump campaign to pay their previous bills. Back in 2016, he used the Tucson Convention Center and, of course, it is of utmost importance to us to protect the president of the United States of America in our city, but this is not an official campaign visit. This is a campaign -- this is not an official visit, it's a campaign visit. So what we're asking is that he pay back the Tucson taxpayers for the investment in security and the usage of our convention center in 2016.</s>JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, Mayor Romero, you say there is a mandatory mask order in place for the city. You've also no doubt seen the pictures of every Trump rally over the last month. You know it will not be obeyed, the mandatory mask order. You know that people will not be social distanced and most of them not wearing masks. So what are you going to do about it?</s>ROMERO: Well, and that is one of my biggest concerns, that since we instituted the mandatory mask ordinance, COVID cases here in Tucson, in Arizona, have declined 75 percent. We have seen some peaking, in other words, cases are going up. They're ticking up here in Arizona. Pima County is in a much better place than the entire state. But we are very concerned that this can become a spreader event, a super spreader event. And as you've seen with other presidents -- other of President Trump's rallies, the spread can really continue, and make its damage here. And so we've made too many sacrifices as Tucsonans to allow this to happen. We cannot -- we cannot do much --</s>BERMAN: Will you try to enforce it? Will you try to enforce it somehow?</s>ROMERO: I'm sorry.</s>BERMAN: I was going to ask, is there any way for you to enforce this -- this order, though, the mask mandate?</s>ROMERO: There's not much we can do unless we have a police officer handing tickets. And we're not going to do that. Police officers in this event are going to be protecting the president of the United States. That's our number one concern. But we are asking that the Trump campaign really look at themselves and do this for us, because we cannot be standing in a corner handing out tickets. We're asking for people to practice their -- their judgment and help us here in the city of Tucson.</s>BERMAN: What's the response been from the Trump campaign so far?</s>ROMERO: We haven't heard back. We actually heard that they wanted to expand their rally. We're very concerned about it. They are saying that they're expecting about 10,000 people. And at the beginning of their gathering, we had heard they wanted to have 5,000 people. So maybe my letter, you know, exacerbated their plans to make it bigger, but we are very concerned and, again, I want to very seriously ask the Trump campaign to consider the CDC guidelines and following our mandatory mask ordinance.</s>BERMAN: I've got to let you go, but if there really are 10,000 people there and the virus is spread, will there be any way or how will you contact trace from an event that big?</s>ROMERO: We have had a very good relationship with the Pima County Health Department. They are the department, the health department, that takes care of and plans and contact traces, and is testing for free here in the city of Tucson. And so we're working hand in hand. We are going to do everything that we can to contact trace and make sure that people are following CDC guidelines. But we're, again, we welcome the president to Tucson, but we do ask them to comply with CDC guidelines and the mandatory mask ordinance in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It's very serious. We're very concerned. We've been in this spot before in Arizona, and in Tucson, and we don't want to get back to massive spread of COVID-19 in our community.</s>BERMAN: Mayor Romero, we wish you the best of luck.</s>ROMERO: Thank you.</s>BERMAN: I think it's going to be a frustrating day for you based on what we've seen before.</s>ROMERO: Very, very much so.</s>BERMAN: Appreciate your time.</s>ROMERO: Thank you so much.</s>BERMAN: It is a troubling reality of remote learning during this pandemic. Some students not logging on at all. We have a report, next.

Schools See Drop in Attendance

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Online learning is a struggle for families nationwide. It's a struggle for educators too. But that struggle is a little bit easier when you actually have the resources for it. In California, one school district, where the majority of the students live below the poverty line, is seeing an alarming drop in virtual attendance. CNN's Bianna Golodryga joins us now with more. And this is what a lot of districts were concerned about, Bianna.</s>BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: And, Erica, this is an issue I've been focusing on since the spring. Data suggests that only 60 percent of low income students are actually logging on to classes as opposed to 90 percent of higher income students. And CNN spent some time with one low income school district in California as officials there are struggling to find some of those missing students.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, we're from the school.</s>GOLODRYGA (voice over): On any given week since the start of the pandemic, Lori Butler Enchandia (ph) and Elisa Olmo set out together on a mission.</s>ELISA OLMO, SOCIAL WORKER: The goal of what we're doing today is student engagement.</s>GOLODRYGA: They work for the Robla, California, school district in Sacramento. Like many California school districts, Robla's more than 2,000 students, ranging from preschool to sixth grade, began the year learning virtually. Since the start of the school year, as many as 200 or more haven't logged in, according to school officials.</s>RUBEN REYES, SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT, ROBLA SCHOOL DISTRICT: The circumstances that our families face, unfortunately, are very much characterized by poverty.</s>GOLODRYGA: Ninety percent of Robla's students live under the federal poverty level. According to Superintendent Ruben Reyes, 20 percent do not have permanent housing.</s>REYES: I think the first challenge for us was making sure that when we were up and running with the program, that our children had devices at home. We did have families who did not have Internet, they did not have Wi-Fi in their home or in their apartment. And, unfortunately, we also serve a pretty large homeless population.</s>GOLODRYGA: School administrators are alerted when a student doesn't check in with their teacher for three consecutive days or more.</s>REYES: There's been some very interesting stories, families who are just gone. The instability of poverty is a big part of this. So they were there and now they're not.</s>GOLODRYGA: CNN recently had a chance to accompany Lori (ph) and Elisa as they set out to find three students. We were warned not to get our hopes up.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the most challenging is when our families aren't there that's the hardest, which happens quite a bit.</s>GOLODRYGA: With more than half of the nation's largest school districts offering only virtual instruction, teachers, superintendents and social workers are facing similar crises. Chicago's public schools have had the largest drop in enrollment in decades this fall by 15,000 students. Dallas has reported a 7 percent decline. And Metro Nashville Public Schools in Tennessee saw enrollment decline by more than 4,200 students. Middle and upper income districts are also reporting some declining in online participation. The biggest declines in attendance, however, tend to be in lower income districts like Robla.</s>OLMO: We have some families that are just -- that they are having a difficult time with life in general right now. They're, you know, losing their jobs. They're maybe losing their house. And so school gets put on the back burner. It's no longer a priority.</s>GOLODRYGA: Studies show that student who miss 10 percent or more of school days a year are at greater risks of dropping out in later grades, which is why locating those students is so critical. Out of the three Lori and Elisa set out to find, they successfully spoke to just one parent, a single father who says his 11-year-old daughter has missed classes because he's had difficulty logging her in. Lori and Elisa walked him through it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I appreciate that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really appreciate that, you know, for stepping out, coming out and reaching out, you know, because I do need it because I'm by myself.</s>GOLODRYGA: It's a sentiment shared by Lori and Elisa.</s>OLMO: I'm so appreciative of having -- being in a position and having a job where I can go out to a person's house and say, we are here to help any way we can.</s>GOLODRYGA (on camera): Is your goal to ultimately find them all and bring them back online through the help of these wonderful social workers?</s>REYES: It is very much our goal. We cannot let even one child slip through the cracks. I mean that's a lofty thing to say, but that's -- that has to be our goal. We have to make sure that we're reaching out.</s>GOLODRYGA: And, Erica, among the biggest drops in class attendance for all socioeconomic groups are pre-k and kindergarteners. Now some parents that can afford to are putting their kids into pods, teaching them at home and even sending them to private school, but the majority are among the lower income families that are just not offering them any education at all because perhaps they think that these aren't important years. But as we know, evidence suggests that these are such crucial, foundational years for students, which is why it's so important that these social workers are doing what they're doing. And I have to say this, because it's so frustrating, Erica, there is no federal tracking program. So all of these school districts, all of these states are on their own. And God bless them for all the work they're doing to find these students.</s>HILL: Yes, and thank God they're doing it, as you point out. It's hard enough at those ages without everything else going on. Bianna, thank you. Great reporting, as always. New video evidence in the kidnapping plot against Michigan's governor. We're going to show that evidence to you, next.

New Video of Kidnapping Suspects Training

BERMAN: Prosecutors released new evidence in the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. This is video played in federal court of the training drills that prosecutors say were carried out in a plot to storm Michigan's capital and kidnap the governor. CNN affiliate WXMI obtained the video from the U.S. attorney's office after the preliminary hearings where six men were charged in federal court with conspiracy to kidnap a sitting governor. That's something. Joining us now, CNN contributor Miles Taylor. He's a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security and CNN national security commentator Mike Rogers, the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, former FBI guy, former Michigan congressman. Mr. Chairman, so I'm going to start with you here. Just on that video. That wasn't messing around. I mean that was serious weaponized training for this alleged plot to kidnap a sitting governor.</s>MIKE ROGERS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY COMMENTATOR: Yes, this wasn't a few guys sitting around the bonfire, drinking beer, talking about wouldn't it be great to storm the capital and send a message. This was an advanced plot with advanced training. So they were going through sophisticated weapons training, including magazine load and reload, things that you would normally do if you had some experience in that realm about what it would be like and what that would be is more like a combat situation. Remember, they were talking about storming the capital which means somebody is going to get killed along the way. They have Michigan State Police protection there. So this was a serious plot and I think they -- the FBI followed that through its logical conclusion. And then once they started to test IEDs and other things, they decided, hey, this thing is real. So surveillance, real-time training for a specific target, actually accumulating the weapons and devices that they believe they need to be successful. This was domestic terrorism by its very definition.</s>HILL: It is so scary to look at that. And yet, Miles, what is I think equally frightening for a lot of people is what we're not hearing about this, what we're not hearing from the top, that lack of concern. Based on your experience, any reason to think that that might change?</s>MILES TAYLOR, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, no. I mean so far I think the president has demonstrated that this is a topic he doesn't like to talk about because he's got concerns that some of these extremist groups share the same ideology as his supporters, so he's really reticent to do it. That's not a good excuse, though, Erica. And, in fact, I would look back at my time at DHS and Chairman Rogers knows this, too, from his time monitoring many of the same terrorist plots, this is more serious than a lot of the ISIS terrorist plots that we were monitoring that had a nexus to the United States because we're talk about U.S.-born, U.S.-based individuals that were engaged in this broad network, that were engaged in the pre-operational planning that Chairman Rogers described. But the other element here that I think is significant, and that is eerily reminiscent of the ISIS plot, is the remote radicalization piece. We have a president of the United States who's using rhetoric that is, in some ways, remotely radicalizing these individuals. If that continues, my fear is that you see American backyards become the battlegrounds in the war on terror. Something that neither Chairman Rogers nor I, I think, ever really anticipated and certainly not coming from a commander in chief.</s>BERMAN: I'm glad you both used the words alleged domestic terror plot because the video is very reminiscent of an ISIS training video. That's what it looks like. And if you're talking about remote radicalization, Miles, and I don't want to play it. We can choose, by the way, not to play President Trump and some of the language he uses on the campaign trail when he talks about Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and incites the crowd to chant "lock her up." We don't have to play that because it could be the type of thing that would incite people. But I do want to play for you Governor Whitmer's reaction to what happened to these Trump rallies over the weekend where President Trump attacked her again. Listen.</s>GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): You know, it's incredibly disturbing that the president of the United States, ten days after a plot to kidnap, put me on trial and execute me, ten days after that was uncovered the president is at it again and inspiring and incentivizing and inciting this kind of domestic terrorism. It is wrong. It's got to end.</s>BERMAN: Miles, your reaction to that, and the line between politics and incitement.</s>TAYLOR: Well, it's very clear that the system is blinking red when it comes to domestic terrorism. And worse than covering his eyes and his ears about the threat, in some ways the president is fanning the flames of it. I mean, John, we saw him out there of course telling extremists to stand by. He should be telling them instead that they will stand trial if they engage in activities like this. It doesn't matter if the governor of Michigan is a Republican or a Democrat. The president needs to condemn this. And his own FBI, and I've talked to senior FBI officials that I'm sure Chairman Rogers talks to as well are very concerned that there are more of these domestic terrorism plots around the country and the president's rhetoric could further incite them. So that's a big concern here. We've got to be vigilant against it and we have to make sure that people within the president's own party are calling him out on this rhetoric so that we don't end up in a worse place.</s>HILL: And, really quickly, Chairman Rogers, before we let you both go, we're hearing from Governor Whitmer. I mean since we're not going to hear from the president on this clearly, what if we did hear from more bipartisan coalition, for example, of state and local leaders? What kind of an impact do you think that could have?</s>ROGERS: Well, listen, these groups ideology was there before Trump. Trump has certainly added a little fuel to this fire. They're going to be here afterward. This absolutely needs to be a bipartisan effort. I mean what we're watching is the death of decency in politics in America and our lifetime. That worries me more than anything because we're going to -- somebody will be disappointed the day after the election, one party or the other, and that constant careening to both ditches in the extreme is going to mean that some people are going to act out in ways that we would find unacceptable, including violence, by the way. So, yes, I would love to see a bipartisan effect from every local official to every senior -- federal official coming out and condemning violence of any sort toward the government. Politics needs to get back into the arena of which it is intended, which is debate and sometimes it should be and most times it should be civil debate. And, again, that civil sense of decency we just seem to have lost.</s>BERMAN: Yes.</s>ROGERS: And that (</s>BERMAN: Mr. Chairman, Miles, thank you both for being with us this morning. Have a terrific day. Appreciate it.</s>ROGERS: Thanks.</s>BERMAN: Obviously a lot going on. We're getting new numbers in on the pandemic. And the presidential race, just 15 days left to vote. CNN's coverage continues, next.

Wisconsin Sees Spike in Coronavirus Cases; Adviser to President Trump on Coronavirus Dr. Scott Atlas Makes Controversial Tweet; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin Continue Negotiations over Economic Stimulus Bill.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Meantime over the weekend in early voting states. So far more than 27 million ballots have been cast. That is nearly 20 percent of the total ballots cast in all of 2016.</s>JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: With cases on the rise, no story bigger in this country right now than the pandemic. So joining us, Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean of Brown University School of Public Health and professor of Health Services Policy and Practice. Also with us, Dr. Ryan Westergaard, he's the chief medical officer and State Epidemiologist for Communicable Diseases at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Dr. Westergaard, I want to start with you here, because Wisconsin has been in some ways the hottest of hot spots in the country, the area of biggest concern over the last several weeks. We don't have new numbers from Wisconsin because they've been reloading or reassessing, I think, the computers and the counting there, but just give us a sense of where things stand this morning, new cases, hospitalizations, how are you doing?</s>DR. RYAN WESTERGAARD, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: Good morning, and thanks for asking. Our data have been relatively constant over the past week or two, and they've been constantly at the highest levels we've ever seen. So between 3,000 and approaching 4,000 new cases in a state of just less than 6 million people is one of the worst areas in the country. So that's translating into strained hospital capacity in all of our health care regions. We're hearing places talk about health care worker shortages and we're talking about ICUs that are reaching or were trending toward reaching their capacity.</s>HILL: So when we hear that, it immediately brings you back to the spring and what the concerns were in New York in the early days. The fact that you seem to be stuck in this place in Wisconsin, what is it you think that maybe people are not understanding, because these numbers are out there, and especially when we talk about hospitalizations, Dr. Westergaard, that really tends to put it in perspective for people.</s>WESTERGAARD: It does. And it's a little unclear why the message is slow to take on. We've been dealing with this for nine months, and Wisconsin and many of the Midwest states were spared the initial surge that resulted in a lot of strain on the hospital system. The other thing that's happened which I think makes it challenging is that we've really started to understand the disparity in severe illness among older and sicker people, and younger, healthier people. And so it's become more difficult to get the message out that this is a severe pandemic that affects all of us when people who are in younger aging groups, who are healthier, can appropriately say, yes, but it's not going to be that bad for me. We really need a shared sense of responsibility, and nine months in, that's been hard to steer us into that direction.</s>BERMAN: I think one of the issues, frankly, is leadership at a national level, because people are watching, and I think they're getting mixed signals, to say the least, if not perhaps signals that are sending them in the wrong direction, Dr. Jha. Scott Atlas, who is the president's adviser, I guess at this point, perhaps chief adviser on coronavirus acting like a kind of medical Rasputin, whispering in the president's ear, and you can see it reflected on the campaign trail. Just so people know, he just put out a tweet, Scott Atlas did, quoting "1984," George Orwell, saying "The Party told to you reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." I don't know if Atlas is decrying Orwell or endorsing this. I don't know if he's speaking on behalf of Oceana there, because, Dr. Jha, Scott Atlas over the last week has put out tweets that Twitter had to take down criticizing mask wearing. He has attacked people who want to increase testing around the country. And now you have the president on the stump criticizing Joe Biden for supporting science. So what's the impact of this type of leadership, Dr. Jha?</s>DR. ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: Sorry, I just cut out there. Yes, I caught that, most of that, John. A couple of quick things. First of all, thank you for having me on. We do have a real problem with national leadership, and what's interesting is Dr. Atlas is not somebody who has much experience with infectious disease outbreaks, and he has been spreading a lot of disinformation. And it has been a huge problem. And then of course, when people push back, he acts like the victim who is being censored. He has the biggest platform in the world. He has the White House behind him, and his policy suggestions of no testing, no mask wearing, just sort of let it rip and let the broad population get infected is a recipe for lots of people dying. And by the way, states that have bucked his suggestions, California and New York, are generally doing pretty well. And states that have followed his sort of suggestions and ideas are struggling with lots of infections, lots of hospitalizations, and unfortunately lots of deaths.</s>HILL: As we look at the messaging, the very mixed messaging which we've been talking about for months, what's remarkable, and we hear from Dr. Westergaard, is it's younger people -- and this is not new, right, -- younger people looking at the virus, Dr. Jha, and saying I'm not going to get as sick. I don't really have to worry about it as much. But increasingly no, it's not just younger people who can get the virus, maybe it's not as serious, but they certainly can spread it to people who may have more severe symptoms. But it's also the way it's being spread. I have to say, it feels like on October 19th, I feel like a broken record, but if we take a 30,000 foot view this morning, Dr. Jha, where are your biggest concerns? When we're looking at a map that is just riddled with spikes in cases, 27 states seeing an increase this week, it's certainly not getting any better, and we're heading into the worst of it.</s>JHA: So let's talk about young people first. Again the messaging out of the White House has been let young people get infected. And this has been amplified by a lot of voices in the media. The problem is while it is true, thankfully, that most young people don't get very sick, young people interact with older people. They have parents, they have grandparents, they have uncles and aunts, and they spread it. And that's what we have seen over and over again, that the infections rise with young people, and then eventually spread to the rest of the population, sort of as one would expect. In terms of where I'm concerned, the problem here is so much of the country is going up. There are some pockets of places that are not. And we're heading into the holiday season, where it's going to be very hard for people not to want to see family and friends. And again, this is all predictive. Over the summer we were saying this is coming, and unfortunately the federal policymakers largely decided to ignore it and hope that it would naturally or magically go away. We know that pandemics don't do that.</s>BERMAN: That's the part that concerns me, Dr. Westergaard, is that it's mid-October. It's not winter yet. It's mid-fall. Winter was the time I think people were most concerned about it. It's the idea that as bad as things are right now, they could get even worse. Michael Osterholm from nearby Minnesota to you, he says overnight that the next six to 12 weeks could be the darkest of this pandemic. Why do you think he has those concerns based on what you're seeing, Dr. Westergaard?</s>WESTERGAARD: Well, I agree. I believe that the trajectory that we're on right now is a very dangerous one, because here in Wisconsin and Minnesota, weather is getting colder, people are spending more time indoor, people are watching football, that is the virus in which the virus is going to transmit most readily. So the fact that we haven't started turning a corner now that we're into mid and late October is very concerning. I think there's room for optimism because when we've seen places who have made a concerted effort to turn the corner, we think about New York City in the spring, it doesn't take that long. A concerted effort affecting the whole population of staying home and taking these mitigation strategies seriously can make a difference. But unfortunately, we're not seeing trends in individuals behaviors and we're not seeing trends in our case count that we're doing that yet. But there is still time, I believe, but I think everyone who is concerned that this is likely to get worse before it gets better is right on, unless we do some very dramatically different things.</s>BERMAN: Look, Dr. Westergaard, thank you for the work you're doing. You are right in the middle of the worst of it. We appreciate you being with us. Dr. Jha, as always, we appreciate your insight, thank you. Developing this morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that she and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin must reach an agreement by tomorrow if they're going to pass a coronavirus stimulus relief bill before Election Day. CNN White House correspondent John Harwood joins us now the latest. They've been talking by phone. Where do we think things actually stand this morning, John?</s>JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think a bill is not going to be passed by Election Day. I think what's happening now is Mitch McConnell is going to bring a smaller package to the floor in the Senate. Democrats are likely to block that. Pelosi is playing out the string on these conversations with Steve Mnuchin. The problem is, even though the president has said, well, I want to go big, I want even a bigger deal than Pelosi's talking about, there are big disagreements on the specifics, on money for state and local government, on testing strategy, there are disagreements about liability protections for businesses. And most of all, there is a disagreement between Senate Republicans and the White House on whether it makes sense to go big. Mitch McConnell has said I'm putting a package on the floor that I think is the right size for us. Many Senate conservatives do not want to pass any bill, and those who are up for reelection only have so much ability to push the rest of the conference. There has been pressure from people in contested races for Congress to do something, but that's not most of the caucus. And so I think conversations are going to be had. She has set a deadline which will allow people to make a judgment about a cutoff point for the talks, but I don't think they're likely to yield anything that becomes law before Election Day.</s>BERMAN: You bring up a great point, obviously, on terms of the amount of money. The issue is with Senate Republicans who want less than is on the table right now. They want less than the White House's highest offer right now. So from the money side it's the Senate Republicans that may be the biggest obstacle. On the testing side of it, this is really interesting, because it gets to a lot of the other discussions we're having this morning about Dr. Scott Atlas, this radiologist who now apparently is the puppet master of all coronavirus policy in the country. Atlas does not want expanded testing reportedly. Atlas doesn't think testing helps. He's opposed to it for some reason. So as part of this stimulus or relief deal, the Democrats are asking for more testing. Steve Mnuchin may be willing to give on testing, but if Atlas has the president's ear on it, we don't know where that will go.</s>HARWOOD: John, in the context of the public health discussion, Scott Atlas is a kook. He sent that tweet over the weekend suggesting that mask wearing does not work, was contradicted by Brett Giroir, one of the members of the task force, and contradicted by everyone who works in public health, contradicted, by the way, by Mitch McConnell, who has been a very faithful proponent of mask wearing and the merits of mask wearing. That's why this is a very disconnected kind of conversation. President Trump, as he trails Joe Biden in the polls substantially, has lost his ability to move Senate Republicans. Senate Republicans are not inclined to move, and the president has this strange outlier, fringe outlier in the public health debate in his ear, and all that lends is a completely multisided discussions that is not likely to get to the finish line.</s>BERMAN: He has an audience of one, Scott Atlas does, but that audience is the president who appears to be listening to him this morning, which has public health and, as you say, political implications. John Harwood, always a pleasure. Thank you so much. So we have new details this morning on how both the president and former vice president Joe Biden plan to spend the next 15 days, 15 days left to vote. The very latest on the presidential race, next.

Trump Continues Attacking Dr. Fauci.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. We begin with breaking news. Just moments ago, in the midst of a worsening pandemic, President Trump just attacked the nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, for the third time today.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think, really, Dr. Fauci is a very nice man, but we let him do what he wants to do. He gets a lot of television. He loves being on television, and we let him do it. Sometimes, he says things that are a little bit off, and they get built up, unfortunately. But he's a nice guy. I like him. But he's called a lot of bad calls.</s>TAPPER: Called a lot of bad calls. On the contrary, a long list of health experts say that the truly bad calls, downplaying the virus in February and March, pushing unproven drugs, undermining the wearing of masks as recently as last week, holding rally after rally in the middle of a pandemic, those bad calls are entirely President Trump's. But Trump's latest broadside against the leading infectious disease expert in the nation comes after President Trump earlier attack Fauci on Twitter, and then also on a call with campaign staffers. On the call, President Trump stunningly calling Dr. Anthony Fauci a disaster, and making a completely baseless claim that there would be more than half-a-million deaths if the president had listened to Dr. Fauci's advice on handling the pandemic. To be clear, this claim is nonsense, based on nothing, other than the president's sense of grievance. The president also telling campaign staffers today people are -- quote -- "tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots." You know, idiots like the doctors and scientists who are trying to keep the ship steady and save American lives. As President Trump himself continues to not only acknowledge the reality -- not only deny the reality of the pandemic, refusing to get the U.S. to a safer place with widespread testing and contact tracing, so as to identify and isolate the virus, not only is the president refusing to do that; he's actually doing the exact opposite of what health officials say we should all be doing. He is recklessly holding mass gatherings and rallies, mostly maskless, no distancing. We already know of Trump campaign events where people have caught the virus. At any moment, President Trump will kick off more of these potential super-spreader events, two of them in Arizona today, despite the fact that new coronavirus cases in Arizona are up 15 percent. And across the United States, more concerning science. The three-day total of new cases over the weekend was the highest from Friday to Sunday total since July. Let's get right to CNN's Kaitlan Collins, Kaitlan, this pandemic is getting worse and worse again in the United States, and yet President Trump, instead of focusing his energy on attacking the virus, attacking Dr. Fauci multiple times today.</s>KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake, with 15 days to go before the election, the president's most consistent messaging today has been these sustained attacks on Dr. Anthony Fauci, which are not new, but the president has revived them today after that "60 Minutes" appearance last night, where Dr. Fauci disputed a lot of the president's claims about coronavirus, including when it comes to wearing a mask, things like that. And so the president was on this call today with campaign staff in the headquarters here outside Washington and across the U.S. It was supposed to be a call to rally these campaign staffers in the 15 days before the election. But CNN had access to the call. And the president, unprompted, went after the nation's top infectious disease expert.</s>TRUMP: Every time he goes on television, there's always a bomb, but there's a bigger bomb if you fire him. But Fauci is a disaster. This guy is -- if I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths.</s>COLLINS: So, that was the first time today that the president attacked Dr. Fauci. Then he did so on Twitter, even criticizing what kind of mask he wears. And then he just did so again, as he landed in Arizona ahead of this rally, Jake, continuously going after Dr. Fauci. And some Republicans, Republican senators, are sticking up for Dr. Anthony Fauci, including Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who, of course, we should note is retiring at the end of his term. But he just tweeted a few moments ago, calling Fauci one of the nation's distinguished public servants. He says: "He has served six presidents starting with Ronald Reagan. If more Americans paid attention to his advice, we'd have fewer cases of COVID-19 and it would be safer to go back to school and back to work and out to eat." So, he's saying, if more people paid attention to Fauci's advice, that would be the situation. Instead, what the president is arguing, claiming, if we listened to Dr. Fauci, there would be hundreds of thousands more deaths, a statement the president is making, Jake, with, of course, nothing to back it up.</s>TAPPER: It's zero. It's just invented. It makes no sense at all. I will say, as an observation. Dr. Fauci is a symbol too many Americans have knowledge, of facts, of science, of empathy, of decency. So, I guess, in that sense, it's not a surprise that Trump would come out against him, given that President Trump is at odds with many of those values. It's also not just Dr. Fauci who's concerned about the advice President Trump is putting out there. Dr. Deborah Birx, tell us more about that, and her concerns about Dr. Scott Atlas, who is not an infectious disease expert, who is on the Coronavirus Task Force.</s>COLLINS: Yes. Well, Jake, you will remember, at the beginning of the pandemic, Dr. Birx was someone who was almost always by the president's side. She was at briefings. She was on Air Force One with the president. She was always there. And she was someone who also met privately with the president a lot, and he listened to her when it came to his response to the pandemic at times. And now she has seen that power taken away from her and really consolidated by Dr. Scott Atlas, of course, the newest member to join the task force, who has backed the president's unscientific claims, including you saw all over the weekend he was talking about mask- wearing, something that Twitter later took down because they said it was misinformation, saying that masks do not work. And Dr. Birx has been frustrated by that. And according to "The Washington Post," she went to the office of the vice president to complain about Dr. Scott Atlas being on the task force and saying he needs to be removed, because he is now increasingly the person that the president is listening to. And you can see that in a lot of the president's tweets and public remarks, because they echo things that Dr. Atlas has said, though, of course, the president himself has been saying a lot of these things long before Dr. Atlas joined as well.</s>TAPPER: A great way to start off National Character Counts Week, President Trump attacking the nation's leading infectious disease expert. Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Joe Biden may be leading President Trump nationally, according to polls, but his campaign manager is telling donors, activist, voters that Donald Trump can still win this presidential race. CNN's Arlette Saenz joins us now live from Washington, D.C. Arlette, Jen O'Malley Dillon, the campaign manager for Biden, is telling supporters to campaign like we're trailing. But Joe Biden isn't even on the campaign trail today. What's the strategy?</s>ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: No, Jake, Joe Biden is back in Wilmington, Delaware, keeping a little bit of a lighter schedule at the start of this week, as he is preparing for that next matchup against President Trump. Biden is expected to be working with his advisers in the coming days as he prepares for that now second presidential debate against the president. Biden is a meticulous preparer for these types of debates. So, essentially, the Biden campaign is betting that their strategy of focusing on this debate prep at this time, two weeks before the election, will pay off as he prepares to face off against the president. Now, one thing that the Biden campaign is waiting to hear about is whether the Commission on Presidential Debates will make any changes to the debate rules. That is something that was talked about in the wake of that first chaotic debate. The Biden campaign said that they would welcome any -- some rules changes. I asked the former vice president about that the day after the debate, and he told me that he wanted -- had hoped that there would be a way to have a civil conversation over the course of the debate. So, the Debate Commission is meeting this afternoon to determine whether there will be any changes. It's not guaranteed that there will be, but that is something that's under consideration. And as this campaign is getting into those final two weeks before the election, the campaign is warning its supporters and activists and donors to not become complacent in these final two weeks. A lot of national polls and some battleground state polls have Joe Biden leading. But they want to ensure that their supporters are remaining active and engaged. The campaign manager, Jen O'Malley Dillon, sending out an e-mail to supporters over the weekend, telling them one thing: "If we learned anything from 2016, it's that we cannot underestimate Donald Trump or his ability to claw his way back into contention in the final days of a campaign." She added: "We cannot become complacent, because the very searing truth is that Donald Trump can still win this race." So this is the Biden campaign, really trying to mobilize their supporters in these final two weeks. And pretty soon, they're going to be hearing from one of the biggest surrogates in Democratic politics, with President Obama making the case for his former vice president on Wednesday.</s>TAPPER: All right, it's absolutely true. I mean, if you look at the polling of key battleground states, Biden's ahead, but it's within the margin of error. Anything really could truly happen. Arlette Saenz, thanks so much. Let's discuss now. Seung Min Kim, let me start with you. Right now, experts are warning that the pandemic is going to get worse. Every health expert says that. Is there any sense at all, do you have any idea why he would, the president, spend so much time attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci and other doctors and scientists as idiots? I get that -- well, I don't know. Tell me exactly, like, why. I mean, what is even the purpose of this?</s>SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, they're presenting facts, and they're presenting facts of the situation that the president clearly doesn't like. I mean, he has been, for weeks, if not months, downplaying the severity of the pandemic, especially as the situation gets more severe, as it gets colder and as the pandemic continues to go on. But they are out there presenting facts of -- presenting a reality that the president just simply doesn't like. And that's why you hear him go and attack the messenger so much. You have heard him on the campaign call attack Dr. Fauci earlier today. You also heard him attack the media. And that's kind of his -- weirdly, his closing message for the last couple of weeks. I will point out, as Kaitlan pointed earlier, the pushback coming from Senate Republicans, with Senator Lamar Alexander weighing in, and saying, if more Americans paid attention to Dr. Fauci, the situation would be a little bit better at this point. And you know, if you put Senator Alexander on truth serum, he would be talking directly about Donald Trump himself when he talks about if more Americans listened to Dr. Fauci.</s>TAPPER: Yes. No, and that's one of the odd things about this era, is, I mean, I get that passes for courage, that statement from Senator Lamar Alexander, who's not up for reelection and can really honestly say whatever he wants. He has plenty of money. He's a respected figure. Why not just say, President Trump, stop attacking Anthony Fauci, stop lying about Anthony Fauci? I mean, what is the reason? I get like -- I get that some members and Republicans on the Hill are just complete sycophants, like Congressman Gaetz or whatever. But there are others who know better, Lamar Alexander among them. Why not just say, stop attacking Anthony Fauci, Donald Trump?</s>KIM: That's a really good question and something that we have been asking for the last four years. I mean, talking to Republicans on Capitol Hill who had to navigate Donald Trump for the first term of his office, I mean, they have kind of -- first of all, they don't want to become the target of his attacks. You have seen what has happened to Senate Republicans who have been pretty blunt and aggressive against the president, Bob Corker and Jeff Flake being some of the examples of--</s>TAPPER: Former Senator Bob Corker, former Senator Jeff Flake.</s>KIM: Exactly. And if you do want some sort of I mean, not even necessarily a career in Republican politics after Trump, but just some sort of a legacy or some sort of a history, I mean, it's hard to kind of navigate a president who -- a president of your own party who's so willing to attack you with a tweet or with a comment so easily, and has -- feels no guilt over it.</s>TAPPER: It's perhaps no surprise that the president's remarks about Fauci come after Fauci sat for an interview on "60 Minutes" last night. I want you to take a listen to part of his answer about the president getting coronavirus himself.</s>QUESTION: Were you surprised that President Trump got sick?</s>DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: Absolutely not. I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask. When I saw that on TV, I said, oh, my goodness. Nothing good can come out of that.</s>TAPPER: We saw just their images of the Rose Garden event in which individuals who later got the coronavirus, including former Governor Chris Christie, who is in the ICU because of it, are featured with no masks on, holding hands, touching hands, hugging each other. The president, Seung Min, he must know his behavior, he must know holding these big rallies is reckless for his supporters. So what is the idea here? Is it just his ego needs it, he needs to hear the roar of the crowd, it doesn't matter if people in front of him get the virus?</s>KIM: Well, a lot of it is part of his underlying campaign strategy. I made, if you figure that his rallies are kind -- are his signature a way to campaign and energize his base and collect key data by his campaign of these people who show up to his rallies, is such a critical part of his reelection campaign and a critical part of how he won the presidency in 2016, that it was difficult for him to give that up once the pandemic started raging on. I mean, you saw the campaign try to figure out some alternative ways, like holding tele-rallies, holding smaller events, and it just didn't work. So that's why he is so willing to shun these public health guidelines to try to replicate that magic of four years ago.</s>TAPPER: All right, Seung Min Kim, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Why one expert warns the next few weeks could be the -- quote -- "darkest period" yet for the pandemic in the United States. Plus, 15 days out, more than 28 million votes in. The early voting figures that now rival totals from 2016, that's coming up.

Reason For Pause in Some Vaccine Trials?

TAPPER: We're back with our health lead now. And it's been one week since Johnson & Johnson paused its coronavirus vaccine trial, and we still do not have detailed information as to why. We do know that a participant in the trial became ill, but Johnson & Johnson and the FDA refuse to answer questions about the exact nature of that illness. Joining us now, CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. Elizabeth, transparency is very important. What have you learned?</s>ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Jake, not only do we not know those details that you mentioned about what happened to this patient, what kind of illness. There are even more basic and straightforward things that the company isn't telling us and that the FDA says they are legally prohibited from telling us. For example, we don't know the answer to the basic question, did this recipient get a vaccine or did they get a placebo? We don't know that. Johnson & Johnson says they don't know. But experts I have talked to says that that seems -- that we should know that by now. It's been more than a week. The second question is, is this the first pause for the trial? It's possible that this is not the first pause. When you ask that question, you don't get an answer. And to talk a little bit about why this pause is so important, I want to point out that there are only four phase three clinical trials for COVID vaccines going on in the U.S. right now. Let's take a look at them. Pfizer and Moderna both started July 27. And they have not paused. They are ongoing. AstraZeneca started August 31 and paused September 9, so, as you can see, didn't go on for very long. The J&J trial started September 23 and paused October 12. So, they also did not go on for very long.

President Trump's Path to Victory?

TAPPER: In our 2020 lead: Today, President Trump told his campaign staff that he feels he has never been in a stronger position than he is right now. And he claims he's confident he will be reelected. Now, polls suggest that Biden has a clear upper hand, both nationally and in individual battleground states. But in this environment and with the shadow of 2016, we know anything is possible. So, what are any possible paths to a Trump victory? CNN's resident forecaster, Harry Enten, joins us now live to discuss. Harry, what are President Trump's options here?</s>HARRY ENTEN, CNN POLITICAL SENIOR WRITER AND ANALYST: Right. So I think, essentially, there are two options when I'm looking at the polling data, right? The first option is essentially that he captures either, one, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, or option two is that he carries both Nevada and New Hampshire. Keep in mind, in all these different scenarios, we're assuming that Trump wins all the states he won by at least one point, two points in 2016. But let's talk about option one first, right? Essentially, he just needs to win either Michigan, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin, one of those states in yellow on your screen. But here's why that pathway could be difficult. Take a look at the polling in those states right now. What do we see? We see that former Vice President Joe Biden has a lead of seven to eight points in all those states, and Biden is at 50 percent or greater. Now, here's option number two. Option number two is either is that he carries both Nevada and New Hampshire. And if he does that, then even if he loses in the Rust Belt battleground states, Trump still gets to 270 electoral votes. But, again, here's the problem with that potential path. Look at the polling in both Nevada and New Hampshire. Again, you see, former Vice President Joe Biden with leads at least seven points, and he's above 50 percent in both Nevada and New Hampshire at this point.</s>TAPPER: And, Harry, there are a few states that you're labeling as wild cards right now. Which states are those? And why are they so important?</s>ENTEN: Right. So, essentially, Arizona, Florida, and North Carolina, right? In all the scenarios I just laid out, I gave them to President Trump. But here's what's important to point out. Former Vice President Joe Biden leads in all three of those states at this point by anywhere between three and four points. If former Vice President Joe Biden wins in any of those wild card states, that pathway to Trump really just goes adios, amigos, goodbye very, very quickly.</s>TAPPER: All right, Harry Enten, thanks. And a reminder, of course, polling is not election results. If you're out there, whether you're voting for Trump or for Biden, be sure to vote. A Republican senator running for reelection in the once reliable red tape -- reliably red state of Texas seems to think that his best chance for winning is to distance himself, at least a bit, from President Trump. In an interview with "The Fort Worth Star-Telegram," Republican Senator John Cornyn describes his relationship with the president as -- quote -- "maybe like a lot of women who get married and think they're going to change their spouse. And that doesn't usually work out very well" -- unquote. Senator Cornyn also claiming that he privately disagreed with President Trump on using defense money to build the border wall, despite publicly backing the president's decision for months. Joining us now to discuss this and the future of the Republican Party, longtime Republican strategist Stuart Stevens. And, Stuart, you're no supporter of President Trump. You have even joined The Lincoln Project, Republicans working to prevent President Trump's reelection. But to see a Republican incumbent in Texas try to distance himself from a sitting Republican president, I have never seen anything like that.</s>STUART STEVENS, THE LINCOLN PROJECT: Well, that's because it's never happened. This is kind of personal for me, Jake. I worked in Senator Cornyn's first race for attorney general, his only race for attorney general, and then his first race for the Senate, which was really his only tough race. The person I knew then was very smart, self -reflective, kind. I kind of don't recognize this guy. I don't understand. He's like a lot of these people under Trump. I really don't know what happened to them. What's most striking to me is, well, two things, like you say. He's in Texas, and he's trying to walk away from Trump. But the other thing is, he saying that he gave advice to Trump the Trump didn't take, which is sort of an odd argument for a U.S. senator to be making, like, I'm ineffective with a member of my own party as president. It seems to me to be a lose-lose, and maybe a lose-lose-lose, when you throw in the reference to women. This isn't a confident campaign. I think Senator Cornyn thinks that he's got a tough race. He probably does. It looks that way. And I think pretty much every Republican is feeling this supposed floor of Trump start to creek and probably fall out.</s>TAPPER: Yes. And, look, we don't know what's going to happen. President Trump could very well be reelected. You know, the polls don't suggest that, but we don't know what's going to happen two weeks and one day. But I just want to ask you, as a longtime Republican, watching a party that has historically had just great presidents, great politicians, Eisenhower, Reagan, and seeing this party embrace conspiracy theorists like QAnon, seeing this party embrace just wild allegations, insane allegations being made about Joe Biden and his family, ones that are -- we won't even touch, what do you think when you look at the GOP? I mean, obviously, the guy that you worked for, for the last presidential race that you worked on, Mitt Romney, is trying to do what he can to stand against this tide of just lies and indecency, but it seems pretty alone, where he's standing.</s>STEVENS: Look, I think it's always difficult when you're in the middle of something to realize what's happening, but I don't think we have ever seen in American politics a complete collapse of a party, as the way the Republican Party's collapsed. If somebody held a gun to my head and said, tell me what it is to be a conservative and a Republican in America today, I would say, so shoot me. I have no idea. There's no coherent theory of government, and there's no moral center to it. You know, in the Reagan era, we said that words could change the world, it would help bring down the Berlin Wall. Now we say about President Trump, well, they're just words, doesn't mean anything. The only thing I can compare it to is the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union, where what people -- the party said it was for and what it was for was just so disparate that it just collapsed. And that's what's happening to the Republican Party. It's just collapsing.</s>TAPPER: And it's depressing, because there are a lot of us who are not members of that party who wants there to be -- who want there to be a thriving, smart Republican Party out there.</s>TAPPER: And I just don't even understand what politicians who know better who are Republican officials -- let's just pick one at random -- Marco Rubio of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio, what they're thinking when they watch the party base -- President Trump today is attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci. His goons are out there spreading lies and completely discredited, sleazy stories that nobody thinks are accurate. I mean, what does a Senator Rubio think when he sees this?</s>STEVENS: You would have to ask him. I really don't understand it. I mean, what really breaks my heart is, these politicians are the heir to the Greatest Generation. And courage isn't standing up to some ridiculous figure like Donald Trump. Courage is getting out of the boat when the man in front of you just got shot. And that's their legacy. And that's what tens of thousands of people like my dad did. And they just came back and they thought it was normal and built a life. And these politicians can't even stand up to Donald Trump? Everything that they said in 2016, like Senator Rubio, they know it's -- about Donald Trump -- they know it's true. And it's only got worse. I mean, I was pretty -- I wrote a book that was pretty pessimistic about the Republican Party, "It Was All a Lie," finished it about a year ago. Turns out it was way over optimistic. I mean, I never thought that we'd end up in a situation where there was no platform for the party. There was just an oath of loyalty. It's extraordinary. And I don't see it going to change, except by sheer fear. Trump has proven there's no line of principle that pretty much he can cross that the Republican Party's going to rise up and disagree with. So they have -- I spent decades working in this party. And the only thing I can look at it now is say, burn it down. Just burn it down and start over. And I think that's what's going to happen, same thing that happened to the Republican Party in California, which is now in third place. It may take longer than we think, but it's going to happen. Donald Trump is going to lose. There is a chance he could win. There's a chance I can be drafted by the Eagles. It's not going to happen.</s>TAPPER: Well, we might need -- we might need you on the O line, Stuart, just for the record when it comes to the Eagles. Stuart, The book is called "It Was All a Lie." It's a very heartfelt book about his time in politics and what's happened to the Republican Party. Thank you so much for your time today. Really appreciate it.</s>STEVENS: Thank you.</s>TAPPER: Coming up: how one Republican trying to hold her Senate seat is juggling a complicated relationship with President Trump. That's next.

Joni Ernst in Tough Reelection Battle

TAPPER: Back with our 2020 lead. Democrats think they may have a chance to pick up a Senate seat in Iowa, where Republican Senator Joni Ernst is locked in a tight battle with the Democratic challenger, as CNN's Jeff Zeleny reports.</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senator Joni Ernst was already facing a tough reelection fight in Iowa. And then this:</s>RON STEELE, DEBATE MODERATOR: I don't think you answered my question. What's the break-even price for soybeans in Iowa? You grew up on a farm. You should know this.</s>SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): I think you had asked about corn. And I -- it depends on...</s>STEELE: I asked her corn.</s>ERNST: It depends on what the inputs are, but probably about $5.50.</s>STEELE: Well, you're a couple dollars off, I think, here, because it's $10.05. But we will move on to something else then.</s>ZELENY: An uncomfortable moment in the middle of Iowa's harvest and election season, for a once rising Republican star elected in 2014 by playing off her farming roots in TV ads.</s>ERNST: I'm Joni Ernst, and I approve this message because Washington is full of big spenders. Let's make them squeal.</s>ZELENY: And in the GOP response to the State of the Union address, which she was selected to give during her first month on the job in 2015.</s>ERNST: As a young girl, I plowed the fields of our family farm.</s>ZELENY: This year, a bigger challenge for Ernst could be headwinds from President Trump. He won by 9 percentage points here in Iowa in 2016. But he's now locked in a tight race with Joe Biden.</s>ERNST: It is a tough, tough, tough year. But you know what? I'm going to finish first.</s>ZELENY: Two weeks before the voting ends, Republican fortunes in their Senate majority are tied to the president.</s>MARK MCALLISTER, REPUBLICAN VOTER: That's the real terror of this all, is that Trump takes down the whole ticket, the whole Republican side of the Senate.</s>ZELENY: We cut up with Ernst at a recent campaign motorcycle ride. (on camera): Senator, is President Trump complicating your race?</s>ERNST: No, I would say I'm running my own race.</s>ZELENY: But what about the suburbs? Does that complicate your path there?</s>ERNST: I think -- again, in the suburbs, I have met with suburban women. They're really concerned about law and order, that type of issue. And that actually is an issue that draws them closer to the president.</s>ZELENY (voice-over): That is unclear. Her Democratic opponent, Theresa Greenfield, believes issues like health care are more pressing.</s>THERESA GREENFIELD (D), IOWA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I will tell you, health care is number one. Certainly, during COVID, that has elevated that conversation. And that very difficult health pandemic, coupled with economic crisis, you know, Iowans are concerned, for sure.</s>ZELENY: Greenfield is a real estate executive who also often talks about growing up on a family farm. And her farming facts came in handy during that debate last week.</s>STEELE: What's the break-even price for a bushel of corn in Iowa this week?</s>GREENFIELD: Well, a bushel of corn is going for about $3.68 today, $3.69. And break-even really just depends on the amount of debt someone has.</s>TAPPER: Jeff Zeleny, thanks. Our coverage on CNN continues right now.

FDA Won't Release Critical Details on J&J Vaccine Trail Pause; Stimulus Deadline Is Tomorrow And Still No Bipartisan Agreement

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The J&J trials started to September 23rd and paused October 12th. So, they also did not go on for very long. So, there are two out of the four are on pause, so what public health advocates are telling me is we need to have more transparency about the nature of these pauses given that half of the trials are on pause -- Jake.</s>JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And the public needs to have confidence in these vaccines before we're going to inject this stuff into our arms. J&J is behaving in the exact opposite way it needs to. New York's Andrew Cuomo, the governor, says he and the government has sent a letter to the White House regarding the distribution of any future vaccine. What are their concerns?</s>COHEN: Their concern is, you're asking us to vaccinate essentially our entire population. We need more details from the federal government about how we're going to do that and how we're going to get paid to do that? They say they need more information. What financial help are you going to give us? What about people who are uninsured? Who is going to pay for that? And you say -- you, meaning the federal government -- say that this is going to be free, but hey, the drug Remdesivir which is on the market right now, an antiviral drug for COVID, that was supposed to be free and was free at the beginning, but then people did to pay for it. So, there are a lot of questions about how to execute this kind of an effort to vaccine the entire population or nearly the entire population, and governors feel like they're not getting the answers they need.</s>TAPPER: And Elizabeth, in an interview over the weekend with "60 Minutes," Dr. Fauci called the virus' cardiovascular impact on people who suffer from it, disturbing. And this afternoon there's some new research on how COVID effects the heart. What does this study show?</s>COHEN: So, Jake, one thing that doctors have learned about COVID over past eight or nine months, is that this is a disease that causes a great deal of inflammation, and that's really problematic for the heart. So, let's take a look at a study that came out today that looked at other studies and sort of assessed the cardiovascular injury. What they found is that one-quarter of hospitalized patients with COVID have myocardial injury. That's a fancy way of saying a certain type of heart injury. Those patients tend to be older, have high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease. One quarter is a lot. Those patients have a higher risk of being put on a ventilator. They have a higher risk of dying before they get out of the hospital. There are concerns that they're at a higher risk for long-term heart problems. This virus is very different from the flu and other viruses in that it does seem to cause this inflammation that is problematic not just the heart, for the pulmonary system and other bodily systems as well -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: Yes, it's not just the 220,000 deaths, which are obviously horrible, but millions of people whose health is going to be bad for the rest of their lives. So, Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much. In our MONEY LEAD, the Dow is dropping about 400 points right now with pressure on Washington, D.C. to strike another stimulus bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi setting a deadline for tomorrow for her and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to come to some sort of an agreement after months of stalled negotiations in order to get something passed by election day. And astounding 8 million Americans have entered poverty since May, according to a study by Columbia University. The 8 million, making a deal all the more urgent. CNN's Manu Raju joins me now. Manu, what are you hearing on Capitol Hill. Is there confidence that Pelosi and Mnuchin are going to be able to come up with an agreement by tomorrow?</s>MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's not much confidence about that, Jake. At the moment, at this very moment, Nancy Pelosi is speaking with Treasury Secretary Mnuchin by phone. They have a lot of differences and Nancy Pelosi last hour spoke to her caucus, the Democratic Caucus on a private conference call. And I'm told by multiple sources on that call she laid out the vast differences that continued to exist between the administration and her position. And while she said that she's optimistic, something she's been saying for days, it's a realization that a lot needs to change over the next day for them to get a deal before the election. The reason why Nancy Pelosi has set Tuesday evening as a deadline is because it needs to go through the legislative process of both the House and the Senate, and to get that done in just over two weeks -- or just under two weeks just before the election, that would be very difficult to do unless they get that deal tomorrow night. So, a lot of skepticism, Jake, not just on the price tag but the policy differences, a lot of them, and can they bridge it? Most people don't believe they can -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: And Manu, in the Senate, Mitch McConnell keeps pushing this bill that's a nonstarter that Senate Democrats voted against, it doesn't even attempt to meet Nancy Pelosi halfway. It includes all sorts of poison pill including liability protection for businesses if people are exposed to the virus unfairly in their workplace. What's the thinking there, and is there any talk of him possibly even just allowing a vote on the Mnuchin-Pelosi compromise if there is one?</s>RAJU: Well, he hasn't said explicitly if would allow a vote on Mnuchin-Pelosi deal if there is one. He did say the statement on Saturday, Mitch McConnell did, that he would consider, the Senate would consider a bill -- any deal that is reached. But the the Republicans made clear, Jake, that they are opposed going anywhere near the price tag that Nancy Pelosi's talking about around $2 trillion. What we've heard from the President in recent days, he's willing to go that high. So even if they cut a deal, most Senate Republicans are strongly opposed which explains part of the problems in getting something done by election day -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: Well, President Trump can use his bully pulpit when he wants to, we haven't really seen him do that. Manu Raju, thank you so much. One of the President Trump's Senate allies and one of his chief minions at Fox News are trying to QAnon the race with a disgusting baseless attack on the Bidens. I'll ask a GOP lawmaker whether this is the Republican Party now?

Fox Host And Senator Float Disgusting Claim About Hunter Biden; Interview With Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL) About QAnon Involvement Leveled at the Bidens

TAPPER: In our POLITICS LEAD today with parts of the Republican Party embracing the untethered, deranged conspiracy theory of QAnon that Democrats are running a secret cabal of Satan worshipping, cannibalistic pedophiles in the government. It seemed likely that it would only be a matter of time before someone from the Republican Party and someone from Fox would try to spread that slime all over the Bidens. And that happened yesterday with a deranged segment from Fox host Maria Bartiromo and Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. The clip is so gross and irresponsible, I'm not actually going to air it for you. But suffice it to say, it involves allegations about the most hideous of crimes and zero evidence, none at all, just tons of wildly irresponsible, pathetic and groundless speculation. That segment has not been a assailed by Senate Republicans and Bartiromo's colleagues -- is frankly complicity. I do not know how these people sleep at night or what they think they're doing to the nation or the Republican Party. Joining me now, an honorable Republican, retiring Congressman Francis Rooney of Florida. Congressman, you're a man of honor, of decency. It must disturb you when a Republican Senator goes on Fox and makes an abhorrent suggestion like that on national TV with zero evidence.</s>REP. FRANCIS ROONEY (R-FL): Yes, I just watched the clip and I felt it was, as you said, long on allegations and short on facts. And a little bit disturbing that they would be doing that. It's better to speak from facts. If they have something to say that's based on reality, say it. There's no evidence that the Vice President is weak on China. He's been plenty strong on China. I think everybody's plenty strong on China.</s>TAPPER: Yes, and this obviously, the allegation is of a more personal nature involving illegal child pornography and a member of the Biden family. Again, no evidence, no facts, just wild speculation.</s>ROONEY: I had to turn it off at that part. I couldn't take that part anymore. I stayed through the China part and the ridiculous Burisma stuff, trying to imply that a meeting happened that the Vice President has said did not happen.</s>TAPPER: So, I haven't seen Senate Republicans come out and say, Senator Ron Johnson's comments were wildly inappropriate. Well, first of all, it's a U.S. Senator but beyond that he's the chairman of Senate Homeland Security Committee. Is this just the GOP now? Are we just supposed to accept that people in the Republican Party are going to embrace QAnon and just level the most wild irresponsible allegations and there's no accountability?</s>ROONEY: This is a very strange time, Jake. Certainly, nobody ever gave this blind loyalty to George Bush. If they had, we would have had to work so hard to try to get immigration reform and</s>TAPPER: Sure.</s>ROONEY: -- nothing came of -- and nothing came of it. You say something came of it all day long until you have some facts, but there are no facts.</s>TAPPER: Yes, well look, I mean if members of Congress want to pass a law saying that their relatives are not allowed to cash in on their connections to powerful people, I'm all for it. I don't think that members of Congress are going to passing any laws like that for obvious reasons. Let me tell you --</s>ROONEY: No, I only have 17 cosponsors on my term limits bill that doesn't require a Constitutional amendment.</s>TAPPER: Right, well, there you go. President Trump has repeatedly refused to condemn this QAnon group. Even as recently as last week at the debate. The FBI says it's a potential domestic terrorist group. The National Republican Congressional Committee is openly embracing QAnon candidates and attacking Democrats using similar themes about child porn, child molestation. Why? At what point does -- is there just, like, is power not worth it?</s>ROONEY: Well, the ends aren't supposed to justify the means, right? That's the Judeo-Christian ethic. But we seem to be in the mode now of whatever happens is OK as long as it gets us where we want to get. And I don't think that's good at all. This QAnon thing is just like this business with the poor Michigan governor. I mean we should be deflating these extremists' outbursts, not embracing them.</s>TAPPER: So in an interview with the "Ft. Worth Star Telegram," Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas who has been very loyal to President Trump, but I'm guessing President Trump is not polling particularly well in Texas, and certainly Senator Cornyn, who is up for re-election, could be hurt by that. Cornyn described his relationship with the President as, quote, maybe like a lot of women who get married and they're going to change their spouse and that doesn't usually work out very well. Cornyn's also claiming that he has privately expressed disagreements with President Trump on various issues such as using money meant for the defense to build the border wall, et cetera. If Republicans lose the White House and Senate in a few weeks, do you think it's President Trump's fault?</s>ROONEY: Well, I remember talking to Paul Ryan in 2018 about how are we going to win an election with nobody that went to school, nobody that lives in a suburb, and no women? And so, I think the narrowing of the base, Republican base that we've seen is a very scary thing to me, because I do believe our free enterprise economics are the better solution to that thing. And I believe the Republican Party has historically had a lot to offer in that. Including in the environment, but we don't seem to have it right now. And so yes, I think that the narrowing of the base could really continue to undermine the Republican Party's ability to have part of the government.</s>TAPPER: And I guess the last question I have for you, sir, is, was it worth it? The Republican Party is a great party. America needs a strong, vibrant Republican Party based on facts and truth and principle. Has it been worth it for the judges and the tax cuts?</s>ROONEY: That's a really good question. When you look at the undermining of our base and the threats to our future, and you look at some of the things that have happened -- like, I felt that the tax cuts were a little bit too one-sided and they could have done a better job on being more balanced with individual and corporate tax cuts and few things like that. But there's been a lot of damage. There's a lot of scar tissue there. And I don't know what we're going to do going forward. I mean, I've waged a 4-year campaign with the leadership to try to urge them to broaden our base.</s>TAPPER: Yes.</s>ROONEY: You know, George Bush tried to make the assault weapon ban permanent. He expanded the Clean Air Act as did his father. He got the comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan done. We used to have a foot in the environment world and in the gun world. And now we don't have a foot in any of those worlds and those are very important to young people.</s>TAPPER: Retiring Republican Congressman Francis Rooney, thank you so much and thanks for your decency as always. We always appreciate it. Extraordinarily early voting numbers -- I'm sorry, extraordinary early voting numbers, 28 million ballots already cast with two weeks to go. 28 million. And it's a game on today in a state that's decided it all before. Stay with us.

More Than 28 Million Votes Cast in Presidential Election.

TAPPER: With 15 days to go until election day, already more than 28 million ballots have been cast. Early voting kicked off in five more states today, Florida, lines started forming before sunrise as CNN's Abby Phillip reports in our latest installment of our series, "MAKING IT COUNT."</s>ODALYS PEREZ, FLORIDA VOTER: There's a chance that your voice is not going to be counted, why risk it?</s>ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER (voice-over): Just 15 days to go and many voters are taking no chances. Already more than 28 million votes have been cast nationwide, that number representing almost 20 percent of the more than 136 million total ballots cast four years ago. As of Friday, ballots are now available in all 50 states and D.C. with in-person voting beginning in several key swing states in the coming days. Today it's getting under way in 52 of Florida's 60 counties including the large ones like Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach. Not even rainy weather this morning in South Florida could stop voters from lining up before sunrise. As of midday Monday more than 2.4 million ballots have been cast in the sunshine state. That's only about 260,000 ballots fewer than all of the mail-in ballots tallied in 2016.</s>PEREZ: I did have an absentee ballot, but I wasn't comfortable with everything you hear on the news. So I just decided to come in myself for this election specifically.</s>PHILLIPS: So far, 30 percent of ballots coming from Republicans, 49 percent Democrats, and 20 percent with no party affiliation. Which political experts say is a growing trend in Florida as more voters turn their backs on both parties. In Georgia, early voting continues to shatter records a week in.</s>BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: Over the last seven days plus so far today, we have seen over 1.5 million voters.</s>PHILLIPS: Georgia has seen a massive 653 percent increase in absentee ballots cast by mail over 2016. Over the weekend, early voting kicked off in Nevada as well.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, NEVADA VOTER: My wait time was less than a minute. I just walked in and did what I had to do.</s>PHILLIPS: Today in Colorado, vote counting begins as does in-person voting. Meanwhile, President Trump continues to give Democrats every reason to be concerned about a potential peaceful transfer of power if he were to lose to Joe Biden.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Then they say if you lose, will you have a friendly transition? I say I want a fair election.</s>PHILLIPS: CNN now learning that Congressional Democrats, the Biden campaign and outside groups are working on contingency plans behind the scenes. Coming up with a two-part strategy in anticipation of that very scenario. Preparing for a post-election legal battle and messaging war aimed at combating misinformation about voting.</s>PHILLIPS: And Jake, we are so close to election day but several states are still in limbo about how long voters will have to receive their ballots after election day. Among them, Pennsylvania and now North Carolina's board of elections has said they will be accepting ballots up to November 12th by 5:00 p.m. as long as they are postmarked by election day -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: All right, Abby Phillip, thanks so much. President Trump today unloading on the nation's top infectious disease expert as the President continues to ignore science and hold more rallies. Stay with us.

Trump Continues Attacks on Dr. Fauci

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to the second hour of THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. We are continuing with the 2020 lead, today, the United States nearing 220,000 deaths from coronavirus, the highest number in the world. And the number of new daily cases of the virus is on the rise once again in the U.S. Yet President Trump today has been trashing the nation's top infectious disease expert on Twitter, to reporters, and on a campaign call. The president called Dr. Anthony Fauci a -- quote -- "disaster." And he wildly, falsely claims that the nation would have more than double the number of deaths if he had listened to Fauci advice. It's not true. And it's a stunning, yet, sadly, not surprising attack, given the president's clear disregard for the science on controlling this pandemic and his own reckless attitude toward the virus, as can be seen in the rallies he's holding all over the country. He holds two more big rallies again today in Arizona. Let's bring in CNN's Kaitlan Collins. Kaitlan, it'd be great if the president attacked the virus with the same energy he's attacking Dr. Fauci.</s>KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, two weeks to go, Jake, and the president's main message to voters today, at least, is attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci. He just went after him for the fourth time today. And let's remind viewers, the president is currently on Mountain time, because he's in Arizona, but he's already gone after Dr. Fauci four times today, starting with that call this morning, but just again a few moments ago at this rally in Arizona, criticizing the nation's top infectious disease expert and criticizing Joe Biden by saying he will listen to Dr. Fauci. That's a criticism against Joe Biden in the president's eyes. And he's going after him. Of course, it started with that unprompted comment from him this morning on a call that was meant to rally campaign staff in the last few days before the election.</s>COLLINS (voice-over): With 15 days to go until the election, President Trump is attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci and dismissing the pandemic, as infections are rising in multiple states.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People are saying, whatever. Just leave us alone. They're tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots, these people, these people that have gotten it wrong. Fauci is a nice guy. He's been here for 500 years.</s>COLLINS: In a call meant to rally his campaign staff, the president went after the nation's top infectious disease expert, calling Dr. Fauci a disaster.</s>TRUMP: Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths. We have 700,000 800,000 deaths right now. If there's a reporter on, you can have just done it. I couldn't care less.</s>COLLINS: Reporters were on the call, and the president's onslaught against Fauci came one day after Fauci appeared on "60 Minutes," where he disputed Trump's coronavirus claims.</s>ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: He sometimes equates wearing a mask with weakness.</s>QUESTION: Does that make sense to you?</s>FAUCI: No, it doesn't. Of course not.</s>COLLINS: Fauci told CBS News he thinks, deep down, Trump believes in science, though, this weekend, the president mocked Joe Biden for listening to scientists.</s>TRUMP: He's going to lock down. This guy wants to lock down. He will listen to the scientists. If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression, instead of we're like a rocket ship.</s>COLLINS: While Trump was attacking him today, Dr. Fauci was accepting a leadership award from the National Academy of Medicine, where he said this:</s>FAUCI: We have a lot of challenges ahead of us. And I can't help thinking that we're really going through a time that's disturbingly anti-science in certain segments of our society.</s>COLLINS: Tension between Trump and Fauci has been building for months. But Fauci isn't alone. "The Washington Post" reports that Dr. Deborah Birx is also frustrated because the newest member of the Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Scott Atlas, has consolidated power by backing the president's unscientific views. Atlas was rebuked by Twitter this weekend after he posted, masks don't work, which the social media site labeled misinformation. Trump is ignoring his own administration's guidelines and holding two large rallies outdoors and Arizona today, after offering an upbeat assessment to his campaign staff about the state of the race.</s>TRUMP: Today is the best single day I have ever felt on either campaign. We're going to win. I wouldn't have said that three weeks ago. Three weeks ago, two weeks ago, I don't know, I wouldn't have said it.</s>COLLINS: Now, Jake, the president's attacks on Dr. Fauci have caused another Republican to try to distance themselves from the president today. That's Lamar Alexander, the senator from Tennessee, who was tweeting about Dr. Fauci, praising him as a distinguished public servant and noting that he has served under presidents from both parties. And Lamar Alexander said in this tweet that, if more people listened to Dr. Fauci, there would be fewer cases of COVID-19 in the country. Of course, we do not expect the president to stop these attacks on Dr. Fauci, even as his campaign is currently airing ads using Dr. Fauci in an attempt to appeal to voters -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: Yes, Lamar Alexander not even mentioning, however, why he's tweeting that, not mentioning Trump, not mentioning Trump's attacks on Dr. Fauci, what passes for courage in today's GOP, I suppose. Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. I want to bring in CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, today, President Trump called Dr. Anthony Fauci a disaster, which he obviously is not. He said, people are tired of hearing from Fauci and -- quote -- "all these idiots." Yesterday, Health Secretary Azar suggested there's -- quote -- "mitigation fatigue." People are getting tired of giving so much. Trump's language is obviously harsh, inappropriate, politically ridiculous. But what message are you hearing from the administration? I mean, the idea that Azar is talking about fatigue when it comes to dealing with this virus, is that helpful?</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No, I mean, it's not at all helpful. Obviously, there's a complete loss of civility here. We have been talking for months about the bright line that's been drawn between science and politics, that people keep entangling them. But there's science and anti-science clearly now in this country, more than I have ever seen in 20 years of doing this job. I mean, in terms of giving, what people have had to give up, this idea that the virus spread to the point that it did in this country because simple things weren't done initially, and we have been being been playing catchup for so long, I mean, that's the real issue here. What are the things that people need to do in order to bring this curve downward? I mean, Fauci, others keep saying you don't need to shut things down again. It's five things. It's masks. It's social distancing. It's avoiding bars and large crowds, and it's washing your hands. I mean, is that too much to ask in terms of people have to give so much in order to start returning things to some sense of normalcy? That's not going to do it right away, Jake. And we hope there's the vaccine, and there's some promising therapeutics. But the idea that basic public health behaviors, without shutting things down -- the same people who say we can't shut things down aren't willing to do the basic things to prevent that from happening. That's the problem here.</s>TAPPER: Yes.</s>GUPTA: And it's infuriating.</s>TAPPER: And it's so odd, because we ask -- we're asking a lot of some people. We're asking a lot of our front-line health care workers. We're asking a lot of our first responders. We're asking a lot of our children who have to do remote education. We're not actually asking all that much from adults, although I have never heard so much whining in my life.</s>GUPTA: I know. It's really tough. And I realize, fully realize, as you're saying, that there are people who they don't have the luxury of being able to work from home and do Zoom calls and stuff like that.</s>TAPPER: Right.</s>GUPTA: But we did not need to be in this position. I have tried very hard on your program over the last several months to not look in the rearview mirror, because I just find, as a doctor, that's not really helpful. We have got to fix the problem at hand. But you can't whine -- it's like a patient who says I refuse to do the treatment, and then gets upset several months later when the disease has progressed. What's the doctor to do at this point? Well, you probably need more aggressive treatment, OK? Well, I'm not going to do that either. And I'm upset at you for even suggesting it. What am I to do at this point as a--</s>TAPPER: Right.</s>GUPTA: If the country were a patient, what is the doctor to do at that point? That's the situation that we're in.</s>TAPPER: And, comparatively, I mean, we're just in a worse place than any other Western or wealthy nation. Today, you spoke to Dr. Fauci. You asked him about vaccines. You asked him who should be taking a vaccine, when and if they're shown to be safe and effective. What did Fauci have to say?</s>GUPTA: Well, this question really came about because this idea that there's going to be more than one vaccine, right, and which ones come out first? Will the second, third generation be better? That's what I really wanted to get out with him. I asked him, look, is this going to be like iPhones, like, I will wait for the iPhone 12, not get the iPhone 11? Here's how he answered.</s>FAUCI: We will see a hierarchy of recommendations of who should get the vaccine. And I think you have to factor into that how effective it is, and what risk category you as an individual are in.</s>GUPTA: So, I mean, basically, Jake, no surprise there. If you are considered a high risk, health care workers, people who are elderly, people who have particular preexisting condition are going to be first in line. They probably shouldn't wait. As time goes on -- and we will keep an eye on this, obviously, through the beginning of next year into the summer -- there will likely be other vaccine candidates that come out. And some may be better for different reasons. I will give you a quick example. Some vaccines may be very, very good at preventing disease, preventing illness, I should say, in people who are predisposed to that. But, for children, the goal is to prevent disease, obviously, but to also really make it so they have lower virus counts in their nose and their mouth, so they don't spread as much.</s>TAPPER: Right.</s>GUPTA: So, there may be different options for different people depending on the situation.</s>TAPPER: Dr. Scott Atlas is a neuroradiologist. He is not an expert on infectious diseases. But President Trump saw him on FOX spewing his nonsense that the president likes, and so he's now on the Coronavirus Task Force, alienating all the other actual doctors on the force, doctors who are experts on infectious disease. I can't think of anything more emblematic of this era that Twitter had to remove a tweet from Dr. Atlas because it was false. It was against masks.</s>GUPTA: Look, it -- right. It was false. He wrote "Masks? No." Unbelievable. The guy who has the presidency around coronavirus, one of the most basic public health measures we can and should take, data shows that it could save tens of thousands of lives, and he's saying, masks, no. So he's not helpful. He's harmful at this point. And I can tell you this as well, Jake. Members of the task force called me over the weekend. They don't -- they don't want to be named because everything's a fight nowadays. But you probably saw some of the response tweets to Dr. Atlas' tweets, even from the members of the task force. Masks? Yes. I mean, it's ludicrous. No wonder the country has whiplash on this sort of thing. But I think we can definitively say, Dr. Atlas may be a smart guy. We should not be listening to him at this point. It is harmful. It is dangerous at this point. He's going to be upset that I have said this, but how can he possibly -- the science around masks decreasing transmission at this point is very clear. When you wear a mask, you decrease transmission roughly six-fold. That's according to literature that came out in April. In the beginning, it wasn't clear that asymptomatic people would spread this as much. Once that became clear, masks became a necessity. There were 69 percent roughly -- and that's self-reporting. I mean, the numbers may be lower than that. But look at that Jake, 74,000 deaths if we increase mask-wearing to 95 percent. Everyone watching could be part of a movement that could save 74,000 lives just by putting two ear loops on your ear. And a third of the country is still saying, no thanks, I will pass. Ain't going to do it.</s>TAPPER: Yes.</s>GUPTA: Dr. Atlas does not help this.</s>TAPPER: Well, it's worse than that, right? I mean, the AMA should get involved. He is violating his Hippocratic oath. First, do no harm. He is doing harm. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Coming up next, breaking news: what Joe Biden just said about Dr. Anthony Fauci, after the president's repeated, bizarre attacks on Fauci today. Plus: why one health expert says our darkest days of the pandemic are yet to come. Stay with us.

COVID-19 Pandemic Escalating; Biden to Trump: Americans are "Tired Of Your Lies About This Virus".

TAPPER: Breaking news, in our 2020 lead, Democratic nominee Joe Biden is slamming President Trump's handling of the pandemic in the wake of President Trump's repeated attacks on Dr. Anthony Fauci today -- bizarre, out of control attacks. CNN's MJ Lee is live for us in Wilmington, Delaware. MJ, what does Biden have to stay in the statement?</s>MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, everything of course this week is leading up to Thursday night's debate, and I will tell you Joe Biden is off the campaign trail tonight. He is here in Wilmington, Delaware, doing debate prep. So, we'll see if they add any public events going into Thursday. But when you talk to the Biden campaign, the one thing they will consistently to say is what they feel good about is the continued contrast that you see between the president and Biden and how they have talked about COVID-19. Obviously, as you have been talking about all day today, the president going after Anthony Fauci and continuing to say that the country is turning the corner when it come to the coronavirus pandemic. A very different tone of a message we have seen from Joe Biden. And, in fact, he just released a new statement, and I just want to read a part of it. It says -- Mr. President you're right about one thing: the American people are tired. They're tired of your lies about this virus, they're tired of watching more Americans die and more people lose their jobs because you refuse to take this pandemic seriously. So, again, just honing in on that contrast the Biden campaign believes. It's critical heading into Thursday night. I should just note, even though this sounds obvious, one of the areas where we also continue to see that contrast is the campaign rallies that the president and Biden's campaign are holding. Obviously, the president continue to hold these crowded, not socially distance events. Whereas the Biden campaign is talking about the protocols and the precautions that they're taking at their events. And one more important thing, of course, they're continuing to be forthcoming when it comes to the test results for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on all the COVID-19 tests that they have been taking recently, Jake.</s>TAPPER: All right. MJ Lee, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Let's discuss with Jeff Zeleny and Abby Phillip. So, Abby, I have to say, it's obviously stunning and indecent that President Trump continues to attack in personal terms and with smears and lies Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert. Is there any strategy to it, or is it just his sense of grievance and his unhinged nature as we get closer to Election Day?</s>ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think if you talk to Trump advisers, they would always -- they always come back to Trump being the counterpuncher. And in this case, he's counterpunching against Dr. Fauci just simply saying, leave me out of this political debate. The problem for the president's campaign is that they are trying to use Fauci as a source of credibility in their campaign ads while the president is also attacking him. That's the part where there seems to be really not much political strategy at all and it just seems to be the president giving into his own instincts and his own grievances when it comes to wanting to downplay what -- how Fauci is respected, frankly, by the American public in general.</s>TAPPER: And, Jeff, the Biden campaign is warning Democrats to not be complacent, that this race is closer than public polls suggest, and there is a real fear among Democrats there could be a repeat of 2016. They're going to election night thinking they got it in the bag and he knows what's going to happen. It is not outside the realm of possibility that Trump could end up winning some of these key states where, right now Biden is up, but it's in -- it's within the margin of error.</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It absolutely is within the margin of error. We should start every conversation, really every day for the next 15 days saying most presidents, most sitting presidents win re-election. So, this is still the president's -- a re- election that he has, you know, the whole -- you know, controls of the federal government, and he's using many of them to his extent, the cabinet secretaries are blanketed across the country, the Trump family is blanketed across the country. And you saw MJ there. Joe Biden is preparing for the debate. So, Democrats are campaigning in a very different way here. So, we should point out the Democrats do believe they're in command of this race, but there was the campaign manager, Jennifer O'Malley Dillon sending out a message over the weekend, really warning Democrats to not be complacent. They need them to vote. They need them to go out and wait in lines and there is still a worry about litigation, there's a worry about, you know, people getting turned away at the polls. So, really what all this boils down to, Jake, is the ghost of Hillary Clinton still hangs over this race, particularly the end of this race, the final couple weeks. So, there -- the Democrats do not want the take anything for granted. But you're right, in these battleground states, it is the a margin of error race. That's why President Trump is talking like he's talking about Dr. Fauci. He's trying to get out his base, bring every single person who may not have voted four years ago, who like him personally to come out and vote. But what he's also doing, he's motivating the other side as well. Everything he says also motivates Democrats and certainly independents who are just quite frankly disgusted by all of this.</s>TAPPER: Yeah, it's not tough to think about -- imagine a suburban Republican woman outside Pittsburgh hearing Trump attacking Fauci and saying, ugh, that's it. I'm with Biden. Abby, President Trump on a campaign call today trying to project confidence. Take a listen.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As of today, this is the single best I have ever been in any campaign. We're going to win. I wouldn't have said that three weeks ago.</s>TAPPER: And we should note, three weeks ago, the president was infected with coronavirus and perhaps battling for his life, so I believe that three weeks ago, he wouldn't have said it. He was probably more focused on trying to breathe. But what do you make of that?</s>PHILLIP: Well, I don't think that that jibes with what, you know, we're seeing publicly, but also even what his own campaign is seeing. I mean, three weeks ago, shortly before the president contracted coronavirus, they were going into trying to push a Supreme Court justice, and that actually could have been something that would have been helpful to motivating the conservative base in some ways. It could have been something that potentially changed even the topic of this campaign. But it was overshadowed by a massive coronavirus outbreak within the White House. So the president is actually in perhaps a more precarious position now than he was then. But he wants to project confidence to his campaign because of a slew of stories that have indicated that inside the campaign, there's a lot of finger pointing going on, there's a lot of back-biting happening, and a lot of questions about how they can use the little time they have, 15 days and the little money they have most effectively to get as close as they can in some of these key states. But as Jeff pointed out, this is not in the bag for either candidate.</s>TAPPER: Yeah.</s>PHILLIP: There's a lot of time left and a couple of few key swing states could a huge difference in terms of how close the president gets to that critical 270 votes.</s>TAPPER: Yeah, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, all within the margin of error.</s>PHILLIP: And Florida.</s>TAPPER: Yeah, and Florida obviously. Jeff, one advantage that Biden has going for him is he has a lot of money. The Biden campaign is up with ads during five NFL games, all with this focus on the pandemic and the president's mishandling of it. Biden's campaign clearly sees it as perhaps the closing message.</s>ZELENY: They absolutely do, Jake. They see it as the top issue on the minds of voters, and it's just getting worse. This is happening. I mean, as the coronavirus numbers are going up really in states around the country. So, people are living this in their own lives, as they are seeing the president out there saying it's not a problem. They are not seeing that. So, that is what's so unusual about this campaign. I can't recall a closing message that is so dovetailing with something that's happening in real life here. So, that's what the Biden campaign is doing. There's no question, the money advantages that they have is something nobody ever would have expected. So, after all this is over, regardless of who wins, there's going to be examination on how the Trump campaign spent all this money, you know, because they certainly had a big advantage at the beginning. But Democrats also warned and Jen O'Malley warned in that memo that Republicans can write a check, some big super PAC donors can write to -- you know, basically to put it on parity. So, we don't know how the financial advantage is going to be two weeks from now. But right now, it's advantage Biden.</s>TAPPER: Yeah, and look, the other side from Biden, the Trump side, they're willing clearly say or do anything to win in terms of the allegations they're willing to make. Jeff Zeleny, Abby Phillips, thanks so much. From the president to the pandemic, how an alarming number of new coronavirus cases may forge an entire region of the United States to change rules on who must quarantine. Stay with us.

Trump Blasts Dr. Fauci; U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Passes 220,000; Johnson & Johnson And FDA Won't Reveal Critical Details On Pause Of COVID-19 Vaccine Trial

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.</s>WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. We're following breaking news. The United States just topped 220,000 coronavirus deaths, as we're heading into a potentially devastating phase of this national crisis, a top infectious disease expert now warning that the next six to 12 weeks here in the United States could be the darkest of the entire pandemic; 27 states are seeing a rise in new COVID-19 cases, as the second wave is worsening. And yet President Trump has spent a considerable amount of time today repeatedly attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci, calling him a disaster and an idiot. The president lashing out, as he campaigns in Arizona, forced to defend a longtime red state only 15 days before the election. A Trump adviser telling CNN that time is running out for the president to turn things around and that attacking Dr. Fauci is simply not smart. We will have an up-to-the-minute look at the race -- at the state of the race. That's coming up this hour. But, first, I want to go to our chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta. Jim, tonight, the president has launched yet another line of attack, going after Dr. Fauci and Joe Biden at the same time.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. President Trump has been blasting Dr. Anthony Fauci all day long. The president told campaign staffers today that Fauci is a -- quote -- "disaster," even though the doctor is much more trusted on the coronavirus than Mr. Trump is. Some inside the campaign are questioning the president's decision to pick on Fauci, with one adviser telling me time is running out -- quote -- "Time is running out" for Mr. Trump to turn things around for his campaign. Yet the president is attacking Joe Biden, saying he will listen to Fauci. Biden is responding to that by saying, yes, he will.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): With Election Day fast approaching, President Trump sounds like he's running not against Democrat Joe Biden, but against the man who's arguing the nation's most trusted health expert on the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't want to hurt him. He's been there for about 350 years.</s>ACOSTA: The president began his day of attacks on Fauci on a call with campaign staffers.</s>TRUMP: People are tired of COVID. I have the biggest rallies. People are saying, whatever. Just leave us alone. They're tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. Fauci's a disaster. If I listen to him, we would have 500,000 deaths.</s>ACOSTA: Fauci got under the president's skin, appearing on "60 Minutes," where the infectious disease expert said he wasn't surprised when Mr. Trump contracted COVID-19.</s>DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask. Nothing good can come out of that. That's got to be a problem. And then, sure enough, it turned out to be a super-spreader event.</s>ACOSTA: Drawing thousands of supporters who aren't wearing masks, the president is on an anti-science crusade at his rallies, accusing Biden of siding with the experts on the virus.</s>TRUMP: Biden wants to lock it down. He wants to listen to Dr. Fauci.</s>TRUMP: He will listen to the scientists. If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression.</s>ACOSTA: Biden responded to that charge of listening to the scientists with one on Twitter: "Yes." Contrast that with Fauci, who says he's been muzzled by the White House.</s>FAUCI: You know, I think there has been a restriction, Jon, but it doesn't -- it isn't consistent.</s>ACOSTA: The president snapped back at that remark too.</s>TRUMP: He gets a lot of television. He loves being on television. We let him do it. Sometimes, he says things that are a little bit off, and they get built up, unfortunately.</s>ACOSTA: But sources have told CNN for weeks that the president has opted to listen to the questionable advice coming from another doctor on the Coronavirus Task Force, Scott Atlas, who tweeted a post that said: "Masks work? No" -- a comment removed by Twitter basis because it violated the social media platform's rules, as most experts believe masks are effective. Atlas has become such a lightning rod, "The Washington Post" reported, task force coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, complained to the vice president's office about him. The meantime, the president is escalating his attacks on Joe Biden.</s>TRUMP: Joe Biden is a criminal, and he's been a criminal for a long time. And you're a criminal and the media for not reporting it.</s>ACOSTA: Biden is asking voters to reject the president on character grounds.</s>JOSEPH BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The words of a president matter. The words this president has used, that our children have heard, our sons and our daughters, have been despicable.</s>ACOSTA: A Trump adviser questioning the president's decision to attack Fauci two weeks before the election, saying the campaign is already struggling to keep up with Biden's massive spending advantage, adding: "Time is running out. Being outspent is a problem. No one ever thought we'd be outspent. Time is our enemy." The president is more confident.</s>TRUMP: We're going to win. I wouldn't have said that three weeks ago. Three weeks ago, two weeks ago, I don't know. I wouldn't have said it.</s>ACOSTA: Now, a Trump adviser also said the president's attacks are not smart on Dr. Anthony Fauci, as they remind Americans of the pandemic. That's the one issue campaign officials don't want to talk about right now. And, Wolf, let's take you out to what's happening in Tucson, Arizona, right now, the president about to hold a rally there as well. As you can see, it's a familiar sight, once again, most of his supporters there not social distancing, not wearing masks. And, you know, Wolf, we heard the president say earlier today he wants to hold multiple campaign events between now and Election Day. That means multiple potential super-spreaders -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Yes. The mayor of Tucson just told us a little while ago maybe between 5,000 and 10,000 people will be a crammed into that spot there in Tucson. Very worrisome, indeed. Jim Acosta, thank you very much.</s>ACOSTA: That's right.</s>BLITZER: And now to the ominous new warning about the coming weeks of the pandemic here in the United States. CNN's Nick Watt is covering the coronavirus crisis for us. Nick, the United States and the world are seeing alarming new numbers right now, as the worst may be yet to come. What's the latest?</s>NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Wolf. Now worldwide, more than 40 million cases and more than one million deaths, and way too many of them here in the United States. And now we're being told by health experts that our darkest days might be just ahead in the next couple of months. And, meanwhile, another inkling of how we are spreading this. Officials in Chicago say that two-thirds of the people who have caught this virus in the city caught it from someone they know.</s>WATT (voice-over): Chicago is now averaging more than 500 new COVID cases every day, the most since late May.</s>LORI LIGHTFOOT (D), MAYOR OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Make no mistake. We are in the second surge. These numbers are extremely troubling, and are consistent with what we have been seeing across Illinois and really across the country and world.</s>WATT: In 14 of our states right now, a test positivity rate so high, it tells us the spread is out of control. In Utah, average case counts now roughly double their summer surge.</s>FAUCI: You cannot say that we're on the road to essentially getting out of this.</s>WATT: Cruel irony, Connecticut and New Jersey, with cases climbing, now appear to qualify for the COVID travel restrictions they imposed on other heavily infected states.</s>ALEX AZAR, U.S. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: People are getting tired. The American people have given so much. We're seeing mitigation fatigue right now. And, you know, I just hope that we have so much promise in the weeks and months ahead.</s>WATT: A vaccine? Well, week after Johnson & Johnson paused its trial following an illness in a volunteer, the company and the FDA won't tell CNN if that volunteer was actually receiving the vaccine or even if this is the first pause.</s>DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH: We do have vaccines and therapeutics coming down the pike. But when you actually look at the time period for that, the next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic.</s>WATT: This past month nationally, the average number of new cases a day exploded, up 40 percent.</s>DR. LARRY BRILLIANT, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: There's nothing to just stop this, the way things are going.</s>WATT: But there is a silver lining of sorts. The death rate per case has declined.</s>BRILLIANT: And it's a tribute to modern medicine. We have tools in our arsenal now.</s>WATT: But we still do not fully understand the long-term impact of this virus on the millions who make it, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, lung issues.</s>FAUCI: The other thing that we're seeing that's a bit disturbing is that the degree of cardiovascular abnormalities by scans and by other diagnostic tests. It may be insignificant, but I don't know that now.</s>WATT: And, meanwhile, here in California, the governor has created a scientific safety review work group that will review any vaccine approved by the FDA before it is distributed here in California, a sign, Wolf, of just how little California's leaders trust the FDA right now and the Trump administration on this crucial, crucial issue -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Yes, and so many lives are at stake in all of this as well. Nick Watt reporting for us, thank you. Let's bring in our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, let me begin with your reaction to the president's disgusting attacks on Dr. Fauci today. You spoke with Dr. Fauci earlier today. You have known him for years. I have known him for years. He is the most respected infectious disease expert in the United States, has been so for at least 40 years, and now the president is calling him a disaster, an idiot. What was your reaction when you heard that?</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's really disturbing, Wolf, at this point. There's so many different things that come, but there's so many different things that come to mind, but you have always had this sort of this science and anti-science sort of factions. Usually, the anti- science is small groups of people who didn't believe certain things, no matter what. Now it's being really fueled by the president, sort of saying, what are you going to do, listen to scientists? I mean, it's -- and then obviously to call Dr. Fauci these things is pretty vile. And I can tell you the reason I was talking to Dr. Fauci earlier, because we're at the National Academy of Medicine meeting, a nonprofit organization, a nongovernmental organization widely considered to be the most authoritative, objective, scientifically balanced science organization really in the world, gives out medical knowledge, really moves medical knowledge forward. And he was getting an exemplary leadership award there, Dr. Fauci. So, at the same time, the president of the United States was calling him an idiot and a disaster. So it couldn't be a greater contrast, Wolf, in terms of what we're hearing about him. Obviously the scientific community, they respect Dr. Fauci. He's been in that job for 40 years. And, you know, I don't know what else to make of this, except we should continue to listen to him, because what he is saying is scientific and evidence-based.</s>BLITZER: It absolutely is. And when you spoke to Dr. Fauci, you also spoke to him today about vaccines. What did he have to say about whether people should take a vaccine as soon as one becomes available? It might even be available under some emergency use authorization by the end of this year.</s>GUPTA: Yes. You know, so there's two important points here. One is the trust that people have in the vaccine. And, as you know, Wolf, as Nick Watt was just talking about, about half the country right now says they would, and that means half the country says they wouldn't take a vaccine. That's obviously very concerning. But the other issue is, there's going to be probably more than one vaccine, and they may come out at different times, and they may work slightly different ways. So how do you start to think about that, your own decision tree? I asked him. Here's how he said it.</s>GUPTA: There's going to be different versions of the vaccine. You're going to -- kind of like, I don't know, an iPhone. You have the iPhone 10, iPhone 11. That's the way somebody framed that question to me recently. But should everyone go out and get the first iPhone, if they can, if they qualify, or should -- or would people be reasonable to say, hey, look, I'm going to wait for version two to come out, which is likely to be more effective or safer, whatever?</s>FAUCI: We will see a hierarchy of recommendations of who should get the vaccine. And I think you have to factor into that how effective it is and what risk category you, as an individual, are in.</s>GUPTA: And, Wolf, it may be one of these situations where for people who are particularly vulnerable, at risk of developing serious disease, they're going to be first in line for this vaccine. They may take the first one. People, like young people, they're not at risk necessarily of having serious disease as much as they are of transmitting it, it may be a different vaccine that works better for them. So, there's going to be -- right now, we just talk about the vaccine. But we're going to start to get more and more information about which vaccine and what they do, I think, over the next few months, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: You agree with these experts who are warning that the next six to 12 weeks here in the United States could be a total disaster; we could see thousands more deaths?</s>GUPTA: Yes, I mean, Wolf, I hate to say it. I mean, and I get no joy in saying it at all, but we are trending upward right now, going into this season. I mean, this is the exact -- we wanted to be at a much lower level and be going down at this point. Instead, we're at a very high level of viral transmission and we're going up. And I worry, because, obviously, there will be many more people who become infected and people who will get sick. But, also, Wolf, if you look at hospital occupancy, conversations that you and I had back in March and April, that's a real concern, that so many of these hospitals are already starting to get increasingly full, and we're having this twindemic of both flu and coronavirus happening over the next few months.</s>BLITZER: All right, Sanjay, let's hope it doesn't happen. But it looks pretty sad right now. Dr. Sanjay Gupta helping us, as always, thank you very, very much. Just ahead: As President Trump plays defense in Arizona tonight, what are his chances of getting the 270 electoral votes needed to win? We're going to map out the state of the race with just 15 days to go -- when we come back.

Intel Chief Says He's Seen No Intelligence Recent E-mails About Joe Biden's Son Are Russian Information

BLITZER: The director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, is rejecting claims by the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee that a Russian disinformation effort targeting the Biden campaign is behind recently published emails dealing with Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden. Let's discuss with Congressman Jim Himes. He's a key member of the House Intelligence Committee. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. Director Ratcliffe said there's no intelligence, his words, no intelligence that would indicate that this smear against Hunter Biden is part of a Russian disinformation campaign. Last week, the House Intelligence Committee chairman, Adam Schiff, told me exactly the opposite, so how much stock do you put into what the director of national intelligence is now saying?</s>REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): Well, not a lot. Not a lot, Wolf, because, you know, sadly, Mr. Ratcliffe, who used to be one of my colleagues, has demonstrated that his interest is largely in supporting the president, and the president's political fortunes. We've seen that through the declassifications that the -- that he has ordered and then the conveyance of that declassified material to Ron Johnson in the Senate who, of course, has not made any bones at all or been at all ambiguous about what he's doing in terms of trying to stop Joe Biden. So what I can tell you, Wolf, it is always possible that the chairman of my committee has seen information that I have not, because he is a member of what's known as the gang of eight, which does, in fact, see some of the most sensitive intelligence. But if you just think about the case to be made, we now know from the New York Post the source of that whole idea were Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon. Rudy Giuliani, in particular, long known to have associated with the Ukrainian lawmaker, Andrii Derkach, who is an operative on behalf of the Russians and, of course, who was emailing precisely this kind of information to people around the government, including to the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes. And so I have not seen the evidence that makes this case, you know, beyond any conceivable doubt, but when you consider who is involved here, when you consider that this is precisely the playbook that they ran in the last go-around, it is -- I would approach Mr. Ratcliffe's statement with a great deal of skepticism.</s>BLITZER: The Washington Post, Congressman, as you know, reported the other day that President Trump was actually warned that Russia was trying to use Rudy Giuliani for its own influence operations. Is it plausible that the director of National Intelligence would be unaware of that concern?</s>HIMES: That is certainly not plausible. You know, that sort of warning made to the president of the United States would absolutely probably be made by the director of National Intelligence but certainly not without his -- without his knowledge. And two things about that. One, that should surprise precisely no one if you ever watched Rudy Giuliani make statements and go on television. You know that this is a man who has allowed his attack dog advocate for the president in particular to do all you can to dig up all sorts of dirt on the president's opponents, a role that he has been playing for a very long time, and you know who his associates are. Remember, the last gang was Lev Parnas and Lev Parnas' partner, both of whom now have been indicted. So it wouldn't surprise me one iota if the president, in fact, had been given that briefing and it wouldn't surprise me if the president had simply brushed that off. As we know, when the word Russia comes up, he has no interest in knowing what is happening.</s>BLITZER: Yes, he doesn't want to hear about it. Let me quickly turn while I have you, Congressman, to the pandemic. What does it tell you that the president is personally, brutally mocking and attacking Dr. Fauci in this, the final stretch of the campaign?</s>HIMES: Well, I guess I have two thoughts about that, Wolf. Number one, it's hard to imagine an individual who has given more of his life in ways that have saved countless lives, not just here in the United States but around the world in addressing the HIV epidemic globally, in every pandemic that has arisen and to date been handled well partly because of his efforts than Tony Fauci. He has the most broad political respect I can imagine, but he does something inconvenient for this president, which is offer a narrative which is rooted in science, and, by the way, rooted in the experience that we have as Americans every single day, but that is inconsistent with what the president believes. And so what the president -- you know, I mean politics too. I know what he's doing here. It's going to be a catastrophe. But I know precisely what he's doing here. He has made Fauci one of the villains in his, you know, nursery school good versus evil tale. So now, Anthony Fauci joins Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden and all of those people who he perceives as antagonists. And, sadly, in this case, you know, Tony Fauci didn't sign up for politics. Those of us who do, we know that we're going to take that kind of incoming. But Tony Fauci is a professional who is based in science and who does not deserve the scorn of any president. In fact, he deserves the accolades of every president.</s>BLITZER: And as he said on 60 Minutes last night, Dr. Fauci, as a result of all of this, he's getting death threats, his family is getting death threats, he's got Secret Service protection right now. He didn't sign up for that either when he became the nation's top -- the nation's leading infectious disease specialist. All right, Thanks so much, Congressman, for joining us. We'll continue this conversation down the road.</s>HIMES: Thank you, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Just ahead, I'll speak to a leading health expert about crucial details emerging right now, details that are being withheld about problems with the coronavirus vaccine trial. Much more right after this.

California Officials And Republican Party Clash Over Unauthorized Ballot Drop Boxes.

BLITZER: Early voting is setting records tonight. More than 28 million ballots already have been cast, a little over two weeks before Election Day. In California, unauthorized ballot drop boxes installed by Republicans are a source of concern for state officials. We're joined now by the attorney general of California, Xavier Becerra. Attorney General, thank you so much for joining us. What's the latest in your investigation into those unauthorized ballot drop boxes that were placed by the state's Republican Party?</s>XAVIER BECERRA, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Wolf, thanks for having me. We last week took action to try to remove any unauthorized ballot collection boxes. We will continue to watch over that. We're asking for people to report anything that looks suspicious or wrong. We want to make sure every person's vote counts. And we will continue to enforce the law. We have some outstanding subpoenas against the Republican Party. We're hoping they'll respond. And we'll go from there.</s>BLITZER: The unofficial ballot drop boxes were set up in various parts of the state where Republicans are in competitive House races. Did their location alone raise red flags? Do you know how many ballots were actually dropped into those boxes? And whatever happened to all those ballots?</s>BECERRA: Well, remember, Wolf, that in California, only county election officials can determine the how, the what, the when, the where for ballot drop boxes authorized by law. And when we got reports that that was not being complied with, we took action. We are requesting -- insisting that the party provide us with the information to explain what they did so we can in fact determine what ballots may have been collected, make sure those ballots have been turned in to make sure that person's vote if they dropped off a ballot in one of these unauthorized locations understands that their vote will get to count.</s>BLITZER: Well, do you have confidence that all those ballots that people innocently dropped off in those Republican boxes are actually going to be counted?</s>BECERRA: Stay tuned. We are under way with this investigation. We are as I said requesting information from the party and its local affiliate parties, and we'll see how they respond. But we will take action where we need to to try to ensure that anyone in California who took the time to vote actually has that vote counted.</s>BLITZER: Is the Republican Party cooperating with your investigation?</s>BECERRA: Well, let's just say they're responding in some kind -- in some fashion, and we hope that make sure they're giving us all the information that we've requested. Otherwise, we'll have to go to court.</s>BLITZER: Well, do you suspect there was some criminal activity there?</s>BECERRA: I don't want to speculate. But what I will tell you is that we expect the Republican Party to comply with the subpoena so we can get the information we need and we'll enforce that subpoena if we have to.</s>BLITZER: The coronavirus pandemic, as you know, attorney general, has led to an historic interest in mail-in and early voting. More than 28 million Americans already have voted and we're only, what, 15 days away from Election Day. The president is trying to sow doubt in the mail-in voting effort. Can Californians have confidence in the process that's unfolding in historic numbers all across the country right now?</s>BECERRA: Well, we want folks to have confidence in our elections and the integrity of the voting process here in California. That's why we're taking swift action when we get credible reports. And I believe that the more than 3 million Californians who have already voted is a testament to the fact that not only do people want to vote but they want to make sure their vote will count. And so, we want to continue to do everything to let folks in California know that if they're going to take the time to vote and learn the candidates and the issues, we want to make sure their vote will count.</s>BLITZER: The California Attorney General Xavier Becerra -- as usual, thank you so much for joining us. Good luck out in California. Stay safe out there as well. We appreciate it very much.</s>BECERRA: Thank you, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: And we're going to have much more news right after this.

U.S. Coronavirus Surges With Deaths At 220,000; Trump Attacks Fauci And Biden; Rep. Val Demings (D- FL) Is Interviewed About Trump Repeatedly Lashing Out Fauci

RON STEELE, KWWL DEBATE MODERATOR: What's the break-even price for a bushel of corn in Iowa this week?</s>THERESA GREENFIELD (D), IOWA SENATE CANDIDATE: Well, a bushel of corns go on for about $3.68 today, $3.69, and break-even really just depends on the amount of debt someone has.</s>JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Jeff Zeleny thanks. Our coverage on CNN continues right now.</s>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 are following breaking news. The U.S. Coronavirus death toll has now just topped 220,000 people with more than 8.2 million confirmed cases. And tonight, one health expert is warning that the darkest weeks of the pandemic still lie ahead. But even as the country moves into this second wave, President Trump is repeatedly lashing out a top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and mocking him, slamming his media appearances and calling him, and I'm quoting the president right now, "a disaster and an idiot." The president campaigning right now in the critical battleground state of Arizona where Republicans have won every presidential election over the last 70 years except one, but it's now actually up for grabs and a Trump campaign adviser tells CNN, and I'm quoting him now, "time is running out." We are tracking the race to 270 electoral votes with the election just two weeks from tomorrow and more than 28 million ballots already cast here in the United States. Let's get straight to the White House first. Our chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, is on the scene for us. Jim, 220,000 Americans dead in this pandemic and the president is actually stepping up his attacks on one of the country's most respected health experts. It makes no sense at all.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It really doesn't, Wolf. With a little more than two weeks until the election, President Trump is blasting Dr. Anthony Fauci. The president told campaign staffers today that Fauci is a "disaster" even though the doctor is much more trusted on the coronavirus than Mr. Trump is. Some inside the campaign are questioning the president's decision to pick on Fauci with one adviser telling me, "time is running out for Mr. Trump to turn things around for his campaign," yet the president is attacking Joe Biden saying he will listen to Fauci. Biden responded to that earlier today by tweeting one word, "Yes."</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): With Election Day fast approaching, President Trump sounds like he is running not against Democrat Joe Biden, but against the man who is arguably the nation's most trusted health expert on the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATESS: I don't want to hurt him. He has been there for about 350 years.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): The president began his day of attacks on Fauci on a call with campaign staffers.</s>TRUMP (via telephone): People are tired of COVID. I have the biggest rallies. People are saying whatever. Just leave us alone. They are tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all of these idiots. Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we have 500,000 deaths.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Fauci got under the president's skin appearing on "60 Minutes" where the infectious diseases expert said he wasn't surprised when Mr. Trump contracted COVID-19.</s>ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask. Nothing good can come out of that. That's got to be a problem. And then sure enough, it turned out to be a superspreader event.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Drawing thousands of supporters who aren't wearing masks, the president is on an anti-science crusade at his rallies accusing Biden of siding with the experts on the virus.</s>TRUMP: Biden wants to lock it down. He wants to listen to Dr. Fauci. He'll listen to the scientists. If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Biden responded to that charge of listening to the scientists with one word on twitter, "Yes." Contrast with Fauci who says he has been muzzled by the White House.</s>FAUCI: You know, I think there has been a restriction, John, but it doesn't -- it isn't consistent.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): The president snapped back at that remark too.</s>TRUMP: He gets a lot of television. He loves being on television. We let him do it. Sometimes he says things that are a little bit off and they get built up, unfortunately.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): But sources have told CNN for weeks that the president has opted to listen to the questionable advice coming from another doctor on the coronavirus task force, Scott Atlas, who tweeted a post that said, "Masks work? No." A comments removed by twitter because it violated the social media platform's rules as most experts believe masks are effective. Atlas has become such a lightning rod "The Washington Post" reported task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx complained to the vice president's office about him. In the meantime, the president is escalating his attacks on Biden.</s>TRUMP: Joe Biden is a criminal and he has been a criminal for a long time and you're a criminal and the media for not reporting it.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Biden is asking voters to reject the president on character grounds.</s>JOE BIDEN (D) PRESDINTIAL NOMINEE: The words of a president matters. The words this president have used that our children have heard, our sons, and our daughters, have been despicable.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): A Trump adviser questioned the president's decision to attack Fauci two weeks before the election saying the campaign is already struggling to keep up with Biden's massive spending advantage adding, "Time is running out. Being outspent is a problem. No one ever thought we'd be outspent. Time is our enemy." The president is more confident.</s>TRUMP: We're going to win. I wouldn't have said that three weeks ago. Three weeks ago, two weeks ago. I don't know. I wouldn't have said it.</s>ACOSTA (on camera): A Trump adviser said the president's attacks on Fauci are "not smart" as they remind Americans of the pandemic. That's the one issue campaign officials don't want to talk about right now as polls show the public has largely rejected Mr. Trump's handling of the virus. The president's campaign is also complaining about some of the subject selected for Thursday's debate with Joe Biden. One of those topics being the coronavirus and campaign officials are also unhappy that the debate commission is considering some rule changes for the debate, Wolf, saying any move to mute the president's mike on Thursday evening would be, quote "completely unacceptable." And of course, as we all remember, Wolf, it was the president who did most of the interrupting at that first debate with Joe Biden. Wolf?</s>BLITZER: Yes. That debate is scheduled for Thursday night. We'll see if it actually happens between now and Thursday. Lots could change. Jim Acosta at the White House, thank you. Let's get some more on the breaking pandemic news that we are following. CNN's Brian Todd is working this part of the story for us. Brian, experts, they are voicing very serious concern about the coming few weeks where they anticipate it could get a whole lot worse.</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. One of the nation's top experts, Michael Osterholm, says the next 6 to 12 weeks will be the "darkest days of the entire pandemic." A former FDA commissioner is saying something similar saying there is really no backstop against the threads of the virus that we are seeing right now. Tonight, Americans are getting some serious warnings that their behavior has to change as we get deeper into the fall.</s>TODD (voice-over): In Denver, people playing pickup basketball in a city park not wearing masks. Despite the mayor's new orders that city residents now have to wear masks even in outdoor settings if they are with anyone who is not in their household.</s>MICHAEL HANCOCK, MAYOR OF DENVER: We are higher than we have ever been over the course of this pandemic.</s>TODD (voice-over): Colorado is one of 12 American states now seeing their highest seven-day averages. Another is Illinois where Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot has a warning for residents if they don't see a dramatic turnaround in their numbers and soon.</s>LORI LIGHTFOOT, MAYOR OF CHICAGO: We will not hesitate to take the steps that are necessary to save our city, to save our residents, and even if that means going back to some of our phase three restrictions.</s>TODD (voice-over): Experts say the fall surge of coronavirus has arrived and the numbers bear that out. Twenty-seven states now trending up in new cases reported. The number of new cases per day is up 40 percent over the past month with the U.S. averaging more than 55,000 new cases each day.</s>JORGE RODRIGUEZ, INTERNAL MEDICINE AND VIRAL SPECIALIST: The virus has now seeded every part of the country so it is going to be very difficult to completely stop it, but what we need to do now is seriously to hunker down more than ever in the things -- with the things that we know that work, which are to wear masks, wash our hands, and socially distance.</s>TODD (voice-over): On of Americas top experts spares nothing in his assessment of the period the country is entering.</s>MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: The next 6 to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic. Vaccines will not become available in any meaningful way until early to third quarter of next year. And even then half of the U.S. population at this point is skeptical even taking the vaccine.</s>TODD (voice-over): In Wisconsin, still experiencing devastating spikes. A top health official says many residents of the state still don't get the danger.</s>PAUL CASEY, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, BELLIN HEALTH EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT: Unfortunately, there is an alarming lack of understanding about this disease and, unfortunately, a lot of people still think it's a hoax. So, 50 percent of the population refuses to wear a mask.</s>TODD (voice-over): In Houston, this morning, young children arrived at school as the district begins a phased approach to in-person learning.</s>GRENITA LATHAN, INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT, HOUSTON INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT: What was most impression is our students getting off the bus with their masks on as you can tell, and some of them had masks that we have provided or some of them had their own masks.</s>TODD (voice-over): But in Atlanta, school officials citing unfavorable trends in the virus are postponing in-person learning until January. Despite precautions like that, America's top voice on the pandemic said today one of the reasons America has been the country hardest hit by this virus is because it didn't shut down as early or as strictly as European countries did.</s>FAUCI: We know now that we are living through a historic pandemic, the likes of which we have not experienced as a civilization in the last 102 years.</s>TODD (on camera): Still, Dr. Anthony Fauci says a nationwide lockdown is not the way forward unless he says the pandemic gets "really, really bad." He says we should put the idea of a shutdown away for now and instead have a nationwide resolve to use the recommended public health measures, get the nation back on track and bring some of these horrific fall numbers down, Wolf. It's got to start now.</s>BLITZER: Yes. It certainly does. Brian Todd, reporting for us. Thank you. Let's get some more on all of this. Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is joining us. Sanjay, you had a chance to speak with Dr. Fauci earlier today. The same day, it's hard to believe that the president of the United States was attacking him, calling him, and I'm even reluctant to use these words, a disaster, saying people are tired of hearing, Fauci -- this is a quote, "and all of these idiots." Can you believe, the president of the United States is calling the nation's most respected infectious disease expert an idiot? What is your reaction to that? You've known Dr. Fauci for years.</s>SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, I don't even know if it's disbelief any more, Wolf. It would have been disbelief a few months ago. I mean, this is -- it's obviously just totally ridiculous and uncivil. You know, I was speaking to Dr. Fauci today because we were at the National Academy of Medicine meeting, that is a nonprofit organization that is wildly considered to be one of the most authoritative, objective, scientifically balanced medical organizations in the world and Dr. Fauci was getting an exemplary leadership award from that organization. SO, on one hand, the nations, really the world scientists are awarding Dr. Fauci this really, you know, important honor, giving him this honor, and at the same time, the president is referring to him as an idiot. I mean, I don't know how much more stark you can get than that in terms of actually where we are in this country. From a scientific standpoint, politically, sure. But science and non- science, I don't think I've ever seen it so divided as I see it right now, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Doesn't he realize that the medical community in the United States as well as the public at large trust Dr. Fauci? They certainly trust him a lot more than they trust the president when it comes to the coronavirus.</s>GUPTA: Yes. Right. And, you know, when I was speaking to Dr. Fauci today, there is this I think false narrative that, you know, say the scientists are all saying you got shut everything down. He's not as Brian Todd was just reporting. It's not what Dr. Fauci is saying. But what he is saying is that if you do five things, you know, which don't involve shutting things down, wearing masks, maintaining physical distance, staying away from crowded indoor places like bars, washing your hands, basic things like that you could start to bend this curve down. I mean, it's pretty remarkable that the same set of people who say we absolutely don't want to shut things down again won't be willing to do anything to prevent that from happening. So, it's scientifically based, Wolf. I mean, this is a novel virus. Nobody knew everything about this virus from the very start. That is why it's a novel virus. But, you know, the data is pretty clear in terms of how effective these things can be now. I mean, there are places around the world, Wolf, as you well know, we talk about it on your program a lot, that count their cases in the hundreds, not the hundreds of thousands or millions. So, it's totally doable without a vaccine to be in a very, very different, much more normal looking state of affairs than we are now and it would not have been that hard. Problem is that the disease has spread. The infection has spread. So it does require a more aggressive treatment. The sicker the patient is and in this case the country is the patient.</s>BLITZER: Let's talk about the big picture, Sanjay. Here in the United States, many states are reporting record high new cases. When you spoke to Dr. Fauci earlier today about these surges, did he suggest that we be in this position if we had just followed the White House's own criteria, the White House's own criteria for reopening the economy?</s>GUPTA: Right. No. That is exactly right. He said that we could be in a very different position. I think we have the gating criteria. Wolf, do you remember the gating criteria? I mean, they came and went just like that because no one really paid attention to them. But basically, it was this criteria by which you could start to reopen things. We're going back to March now. If we have it, we can show it. But basically, lowering cases for 14 days in a row, downward trend. Hospital visits going down 14 days in a row. Making sure that you have, you know, adequate testing in place and that you're not in a crisis situation in the hospitals. If we had done that two weeks, Wolf, just two weeks of that -- and why is that so important? Because, you know, if you have an overall amount of virus, if you follow those gating criteria you bring the amount of virus to a manageable level. We have always been using this term mitigation, which means to slow things down. What we are describing there is containment where you feel you can actually get your arms and hands around the virus. We just never did it. So the virus continued to spread and we can't even really dream about containment at this point. We are still just trying to keep up with things.</s>BLITZER: Yes, 20 percent of the deaths in the world from coronavirus here in the United States even though we are what, 4 or 5 percent of the world's population, we have more deaths than any other country in the world. It's so, so sad. Sanjay, I know you'll be back with us. Don't go too far away. Up next, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's deadline for an economic stimulus deal is approaching as millions of Americans grow increasingly desperate. Plus, as the president campaigns in Arizona, Tucson's mayor is pleading with the Trump campaign to comply with the city's coronavirus guidelines. She is standing by live and we'll discuss what's going on. Lots of news happening right now right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Early Voting Shows High Numbers

BLITZER: Only 15 days until the November 3rd election here in the United States. More than 28 million Americans have already voted and millions more will be voting the next 15 days. This is a record across so much of the United States. Let's get the very latest from CNN's Pamela Brown.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a chance that your voice is not going to be counted, why risk it?</s>PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just 15 days to go and many voters are taking no chances. Already more than 28 million votes have been cast nationwide. That number representing almost 20 percent of the more than 136 million total ballots cast four years ago. As of Friday, ballots are now available in all 50 states and D.C., with in-person voting beginning in several key swing states in the coming days.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.</s>BROWN (voice-over): Today, it's getting under way in 52 of Florida's 60 counties including large ones like Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach. Not even rainy weather this morning in south Florida could stop voters from lining up before sunrise. For those voting by mail, by mid-day Monday, more than 2.4 million ballots have been cast in the Sunshine State. That is only about 260,000 ballots fewer than all of the mail-in ballots tallied in 2016.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I did have an absentee ballot but I wasn't comfortable with everything that you hear on the news so I just decided to come in myself.</s>BROWN (voice-over): Thirty percent of ballots coming from Republicans. 49 percent Democrats and 20 percent with no party affiliation, which political experts say is a growing trend in Florida as more voters are turning their backs on both parties. In Georgia, early voting continues to shatter records a week in.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over the last seven days, plus so far today, we have seen over 1.5 million voters.</s>BROWN (voice-over): And Georgia has seen a massive 653 percent increase in absentee ballots cast by mail over 2016. Over the weekend, early voting kicked off in Nevada as well.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My wait time was less than a minute. It was just -- I just walked in and did what I had to do.</s>BROWN (voice-over): Today in Colorado, vote counting begins as does in-person voting.</s>TRUMP: They say this is very incorrect --</s>BROWN (voice-over): Meanwhile, President Trump continues to give Democrats every reason to be concerned about a potential peaceful transfer of power if he were to lose to Joe Biden.</s>TRUMP: Then they say if you lose, will you have a friendly transition? I say I want a fair election.</s>BROWN (voice-over): CNN is now learning that congressional Democrats, the Biden campaign, and outside groups are working on contingency plans behind the scene, coming up with a two-part strategy and anticipation of that very scenario, preparing for a post-election legal battle and messaging war aimed at combating misinformation about voting.</s>BLITZER: Pamela Brown reporting for us. Let's discuss what is going on in the state of the U.S. presidential race. Joining us now, our CNN political correspondent Abby Phillip and our chief political correspondent Dana Bash. Dana, with just, what, a little bit more than two weeks from tomorrow -- exactly two weeks until Election Day. The president is actually attacking Dr. Fauci calling him a disaster, saying the death toll would be much higher if he had actually listened to Dr. Fauci, which is totally crazy to hear that coming from president of the United States. Is that really his closing message right now to go on the attack against Dr. Fauci?</s>DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly the message that he wants out there, given the fact that the president did this, as you said, on a call with members of his campaign staff, but kind of, you know, said on the call, reporters, if you're listening, you can report that I'm saying this. I mean, there is no other way to read this other than the president wants this out there in a very aggressive way. And I can tell you in talking to some people around him, they are not happy about that because there is very little chance that people who are not already decided, not a lot of people are decided to vote for Donald Trump that will hear that message and say you know what? I also think Dr. Fauci is terrible. I'm going to vote for Donald Trump. I mean, it's not logical and it certainly is not supported by any basis of fact when it comes to the data that people I'm talking to are looking at. Never mind that. I spoke to one source who is familiar with some of that data who says that if you go back to the beginning of the heart of this pandemic in mid-March when the president would come out and "play doctor" on TV, it always hurt him. And there is no other way to interpret him other than playing doctor when he trashes the guy who is the real doctor and has been considered a national treasure by a lot of people who are not part of the core of the Trump base.</s>BLITZER: Yes. It was only a few days ago, Abby, when the Trump campaign was actually using a sound bite from Dr. Fauci to try to help the president get re-elected even though that sound bite was taken totally out of convex. And as you know, one adviser to the president says this attack against Dr. Fauci is not smart and that for the president, time is running out right now to turn things around. Yet, the president is doubling down, warning that Joe Biden would simply listen to Dr. Fauci. Joe Biden says, of course, he would listen to Dr. Fauci. So what's going on from your perspective?</s>ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The president seems to be hell bent on making the case for Joe Biden by using literally the argument that the Biden campaign is trying to get out there. The Biden campaign is saying Biden will listen to the scientists. He'll listen to Dr. Fauci. That's the argument that they think will be the strongest for Biden going into this election. But it's because President Trump is always trying to appeal to the people who are already there for him, who already support him and love him. They are with the president in pushing back on Dr. Fauci. The problem is that's not representative of a majority of the electorate. Never mind all of the people in the middle, the suburban women voters and others who have actually been really turned off by the president's handling of this virus. President Trump is doing these rallies, which are potentially superspreader events because they make him feel good, they make his supporters feel good, but again, it's another case where it's totally out of step with what the persuadable chunk of the electorate wants. You can only come away from all of this by seeing this president as acting mostly in his own interest and based on his own instincts especially as we go toward the last couple of weeks of this election, which is something he typically does when he feels like his back is up against the wall.</s>BLITZER: Yes, it makes no sense at all from a political, from a campaign perspective to go on the attack against Dr. Fauci. Abby, thank you very much. Dana, thanks to you as well. > There is more breaking news we are following here in THE SITUATION ROOM. I'll speak with the mayor of Tucson, Arizona, who is warning the Trump campaign to follow the city's social distancing and mask mandates during the president's upcoming political rally there. People are waiting for the president. Clearly those people aren't honoring those guidelines. We will be right back.

Despite Warning From Mayor, Few Masks, No Social Distancing At Trump's Tucson Rally.

BLITZER: President Trump will be holding a rally soon in Tucson, Arizona. And take a look at this. These are live pictures coming in. A few people are wearing masks, apparently no social distancing at all. Even though Tucson's Mayor wrote a letter to the Trump campaign asking for compliance with the city's coronavirus guidelines, which specifically include a mask mandate. The mayor of Tucson Regina Romero is joining us right now. Mayor, thank you so much for joining us. And as you know better than anyone, Tucson saw a huge surge of the virus over the summer. But new cases have come down significantly from their peak. Do you worry though, that this presidential rally in your city, potentially, God forbid, but potentially could erase all that progress?</s>MAYOR REGINA ROMERO (D), TUCSON, ARIZONA: Absolutely, Wolf, thank you so much for inviting me. And Tucsonans have really suffered tremendously. And we've worked very hard to bring down the cases of COVID-19 in our city, as you will know and just mentioned, we were a hotspot, Arizona was a hotspot in the world of cases of COVID-19 cases. And so we've worked too hard, a lot of sacrifices done by families here in Tucson and restaurants and entertainment venues and small businesses so that we get a super spreader event here in our community and COVID-19 cases come out of that rally and into the community. And we see cases spiking again.</s>BLITZER: So what's been your interaction with the Trump campaign over this rally, Mayor, and the issue of social distancing, masks, what do you say to them? And what did you hear in reply?</s>ROMERO: Well, my letter to President Trump, Trump and his campaign, were first to welcome him to the city of Tucson. And to tell him two things, one, that we need his leadership and for him to lead by example and wear a mask and to ask the attendance in the rally to do the same and to comply with CDC guidelines. In the city of Tucson, we passed a mandatory mask ordinance. After the governor had preempted mayors throughout Arizona, he did come in, he did come in and allowed us to pass mandatory mask ordinances. After we passed those ordinances, 75 percent of the cases came down. And so we have worked too hard as Tucsonans, too many sacrifices to have a super spreader event and see those cases rise up. We are already seeing cases throughout the country and here in Arizona. We're seeing spikes up, and so that's one. Two, that the Trump campaign came to Tucson in 2016. They used our convention center and left a bill of about $85,000. And so we welcome the President to Tucson, Arizona. But this is not an official presidential visit. This is a campaign visit. And as you all well know that federal elections, commission rules, and laws prohibit governments to either support or contribute to a candidate or candidate's campaign. And so we do not want the taxpayers of the city of Tucson paying for an event that is purely campaign related. And so that's what the second point in my letter to the President was for. And unfortunately, I have not heard back. And as a matter of fact, contrary to my recommendations to the President and his campaign, we are seeing crowds of five, we're hearing maybe even 10,000 people in -- at the Tucson airport. And unfortunately, not a lot of mask wearing is happening right now.</s>BLITZER: No. We were showing our viewers live pictures, thousands of people gathering. You hear the President of the United States, no social distancing, few mask, and potentially, God forbid, it could be a super spreader event. All these folks are going to go back home and potentially, look at these pictures coming in, potentially spread this virus. We hope it doesn't happen. But it is so, so concerning. Good luck, Mayor Romero, thanks so much for joining us.</s>ROMERO: Thank you so much for having me. Really appreciate it, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Thank you. Stay safe out there. Coming up, new coronavirus restrictions in Europe as the number of faces across the continent are surging right now. We'll get to COVID headlines from around the world. That's next.

Trump Holds Rally in Battleground State Pennsylvania

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a slice of the electorate. It's not necessarily predictive of how this is going to swing. But clearly both parties have work to do with this very passionate, reliable voter -- these voters, black women.</s>ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Well, all right, thank you so much, Kate. And thanks very much to all of you for being with us. AC 360 starts now.</s>ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: Good evening. With the President down in the polls two weeks to Election Day and the pandemic just a week away from a quote, "rapid acceleration" according to a former F.D.A. Commissioner, we begin with the question: is the President of the United States on that and other subjects just saying and doing whatever he wants instead of what actually might help him win? Whether deliberately or because he just can't help it, is he going scorched earth in the closing days? As we look at the President's rally tonight in Erie, Pennsylvania, I want to read you some of what Republican pollster, Frank Luntz just said on the subject. It is he says, " ... the worst campaign I've ever seen. They're on the wrong issues. They're on the wrong message," he said, and he is not alone among conservatives. In a column today titled "Trump is giving up," conservative "New York Times" columnist, Ross Douthat accuses the President of disregarding what he called the obvious fall campaign strategy. Quoting now, "Push more relief money into the economy, try to ostentatiously take the pandemic seriously and promised the country that mask wearing and relief dollars are a bridge to a vaccine and normalcy in 2021." Instead, Trump has ended up with the opposite approach, which is what you're seeing here in Pennsylvania. The President ostentatiously not taking it seriously, even though the First Lady pulled out of this appearance tonight because she is still sick. Not even that and certainly not regarding his own illness, nothing is deterring him from holding yet another potential super spreader event in yet another state where cases are climbing. None of it is stopping him from saying what he loves to say about the pandemic, even though new polling suggests it's -- he is simply not trusted on the subject.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The recent poll just came out, 56 percent of the people want to be here, not four years ago, they want to be with us in what we're calling -- we're rounding the turn on the pandemic, 56 percent and it's a record, epic job growth, safe vaccines that quickly end the pandemic -- and the normal life. That's all we want. You know what we want? Normal life. [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]</s>TRUMP: Normal life will finally resume and next year will be the greatest economic year in the history of our country.</s>COOPER: This was Pennsylvania's 15th straight day of more than a thousand new cases. In Ohio just next door, hospitalizations today hit their highest rate since the pandemic began. In Wisconsin, where the President held a rally over the weekend, authorities reporting nearly 4,600 new cases, and on that polling, which actually was reported today, it shows that even after the President's bout with COVID, 70 percent of Americans have little to no trust that he will provide them accurate information on the subject. And they are right. He just keeps talking about it though and he just keeps bad mouthing the country's most trusted expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci.</s>TRUMP: He is a Democrat. He is actually a very good friend of the Cuomo family. He is a -- but he has been there for a long time. I'll leave him there. And he's a nice guy, but he's been wrong. Reporters like him because they think he is against me. He's not really against me.</s>COOPER: Well, it's true. He is not really against the President. Dr. Fauci has always gone out of his way to not be partisan. He has gone out of his way not to attack the President. He has been doing the same job for 36 years under Presidents in both parties. So if winning trust on the central issue in most people's lives is what the President wants to do, attacking a trusted scientist doesn't seem like the way to go. Yet, he keeps doing it and keep saying the same things that lead to greater distrust. People can see that we're not rounding the turn, as the President likes to say. The country is climbing toward a third peak. As we mentioned at the top, a former F.D.A. Commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb says we're about a week away from a period of rapid acceleration in cases. All the estimates show that by February, another 200,000 or so people will die. He adds, there really is no backstop. Yet, in the face of that the President keeps saying things that are obviously not true.</s>TRUMP: And we've saved millions of lives by the decisions I've made. We closed up our country in the midst of the greatest economic boom in history and saved millions of lives. Now it's opening. So we did -- we did the right thing, and we're doing much better than Europe and we're doing much better than everyone else, and our recovery is the strongest in the world.</s>COOPER: Everything you heard flies in the face of what you can see for yourselves in your own lives, which can't help but undermine the President's credibility whenever he says it. Yet, he still says it, just as he keeps hammering away on Joe Biden's son, Hunter and calling on the Attorney General -- calling on the Attorney General of the United States to go after his Democratic rival right before the election, just like he asked Ukraine's President to go after him.</s>TRUMP: We've got to get the Attorney General to act. He's got to act. And he's got to act fast. He's got to appoint somebody. This is major corruption and this has to be known about before the election. This has to be done early. So the Attorney General has to act.</s>COOPER: Getting back to what Republican pollster Frank Luntz said about the campaign being stuck on the wrong issues and messaging. He says, quote, "Hunter Biden does not help put food on the table. Hunter Biden does not help anyone get a job. Hunter Biden does not provide healthcare or solve COVID. Donald Trump spends all of his time focused on that, and nobody cares." Now he is also picking fights with reporters, calling them criminals yesterday, attacking the moderator of the next debate and today, after reportedly abruptly ending a "60 Minutes" interview, he is now going after Leslie Stahl, more on that shortly. First, let's go to CNN's Kaitlan Collins at the Trump rally in Erie. We played a little bit there in the intro. Anything else the President particularly has been talking about tonight?</s>KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, you've heard the President talking about coronavirus, telling the people of Pennsylvania to get their governor to open up the state because he says that they want to get back to normal life and his policies, the President, is saying are going to be the ones to bring that about. And of course, he repeated that claim that he has made so many times that he believes we are rounding the corner when it comes to coronavirus, even though that is something that Dr. Anthony Fauci, another person that President has picked a fight with this week, also recently disputed. So, of course you've just the President disputing his own medical experts there, continuing to repeat that and he is also talking about that "60 Minutes" interview that he did with Leslie Stahl, encouraging his supporters on that, though, Anderson, you know, when you speak to the President's political advisers, that is not the closing message they had planned with two weeks left to go.</s>COOPER: Yes, I mean, there's still no talk about healthcare plan, I mean, which, you know, Americans seem to want -- care about. People seem to care about their healthcare and be concerned about it. No talk about that. He is talking about Leslie Stahl of all things. The First Lady was supposed to be there tonight. She is not because of lingering symptoms from COVID. Certainly, wish her the best. What's the latest from the President on her health?</s>COLLINS: Well, the President hasn't said anything about it. He didn't speak to reporters as he left the White House and he hasn't mentioned it yet tonight. But Anderson, it is unusual, because we got a statement from the First Lady last week saying that she had tested negative, talking about the symptoms she had previously. And then today, only hours before this rally, that's when her Chief of Staff announced that she was canceling them. She was no longer going to attend the rally with the President and didn't announced that they're going to come to any of the subsequent rallies which of course the President has multiple of them planned and they said that was due to a lingering cough that she had from recovering from coronavirus. Though, we don't believe she was expected to have a significant speaking role here tonight. And Anderson, it is unusual because the President is trying to build up support with women voters, something that he has suffered from, of course over the last several years, and his wife Melania Trump is not someone who often joins him on the campaign trail and actually hasn't since July 2019, I believe.</s>COOPER: Kaitlan Collins, appreciate it. Thank you. Perspective now from CNN political analyst and "New York Times" White House correspondent Maggie Haberman, who wrote recently about the President's closing tactics under the headline, "Trump runs the kind of campaign he likes but not the one he might need." Also with us, CNN chief political analyst, Gloria Borger; and CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. So Maggie, what is the atmosphere in the White House these days given the direction President Trump has decided to take the campaign? And I'm wondering where your sense of -- where his head is at or is it all just -- I mean, is he thinking about this as -- is there a strategy here? Or is it just rage and grievance?</s>MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It's very rarely a strategy, Anderson and we've seen that repeatedly over the years now. Within the White House, there is an attitude of mixed of resignation and frustration, some are still hopeful that they can see him pull this out the way he did in 2016, that the polls will be wrong. But the knives are out for each other among staff, which is, frankly, what happened last time right before the President's surprise victory. Look, the President is very angry, and I don't think that that's a surprise. If you'd look at his Twitter feed, you can see how angry he is. He is lashing out at the media. He is lashing out at his critics. He is calling on the Attorney General to take criminal action against his political opponent ahead of Election Day, which I don't think we should let get lost in this torrent of things that he is saying. Look, the race is not over. People should not call the race. But all the polling suggests this is not the same as 2016, where he didn't have this level of early voting and absentee balloting going on. Roughly a quarter of the 2016 vote has already been cast at this point in this race and that's a very different feel.</s>COOPER: Yes, I mean, Gloria, to Maggie's point. The idea that the sitting President of the United States is publicly saying that his Attorney General has got to do something to stop Joe Biden and he has got to bring charges against them and make an announcement about it.</s>COOPER: Just as he asked the President of Ukraine to do it, which has led to his impeachment. It is extraordinary. I mean, it just seems normal and people -- it just seems like oh, yes, there's just another of those tweets and there are the things that he says. But I mean, that's -- I mean, that's like something from, you know, some country where they change leadership every couple of months at the point of a gun. I mean, that's nuts.</s>GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. He says the quiet things out loud, doesn't he? And there's so much coming at you every day from Donald Trump, that you're almost tempted to kind of pass it over. But you shouldn't pass it over. This is a President of the United States, asking his Attorney General to effectively set up some indictment, if you will. I mean, we don't know if it would get to that. But he wants to announce an investigation into Joe Biden because he feels that's the last arrow in his quiver, almost. And what we're seeing here is really remarkable, because if you go back to 2016, when he won, he was talking to American voters about their grievances. He was talking to them about well, you feel left behind. You feel that the Democratic Party has become too elite. They have negotiated bad trade deals. They've let in too many illegal immigrants and they shouldn't have done that. But he was talking to voters. Now, he is talking to voters about his own grievances, not theirs. He is talking to voters about his grievances against Joe Biden, you know, his grievances against Democrats who tried to impeach him, and who did impeach him. He's talking to them about a rigged election. He is talking to them about the way he has personally been treated by the media, by scientists, by Tony Fauci. But the question is, where are the issues the voters care about as you were talking about earlier? Or as Frank Luntz was talking about earlier, about healthcare? About what's going to happen with COVID? About what's going to happen with the economy? That seems to be missing because it's all about him.</s>COOPER: Sanjay, infectious disease expert, Peter Hotez, Dr. Peter Hotez said today that we're likely to see up to 70,000 cases a day here in the next two weeks, and that Americans should take steps to protect their mental health, as well as their physical health. We heard former F.D.A. Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, said the U.S. is about a week away from what he calls a period of rapid acceleration. The estimates show by -- you know, Chris Murray estimate shows as many as you know 400,000, dead by February 1st. I mean, we're not rounding a turn.</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean -- no, but you know, I think when you hear this sort of, we're rounding the turn, that's the expectation. And then at the same time, we see the numbers going up, that's part of the mental distress that people have. I mean, you know, this is obviously a terrible situation. But being clear, on the expectations, I think, is part of actually helping allay some of those anxieties that understandably come with this. You know, I look at those rallies, you know, and I think, you know, 14 days away now, this is one incubation period essentially away now from a diagnosis, right? There are people at those rallies now that will be diagnosed after the election. Now, it's -- I mean, that's the reality of this. As far as the acceleration goes, I mean, what Dr. Gottlieb said -- what Scott Gottlieb said, it's interesting, because we can show the United States compared to the European Union, there's all these comparisons that people make. But if we show that if you go back to, you know, April, sort of timeframe, you'll remember, we were sort of looking at that graph and looking at Italy, I don't know if you can tell there, but the green is just about a week ahead there.</s>COOPER: The green is the European Union. The orange is the United States.</s>GUPTA: The United States. That's right. And so remember, we were watching Italy and seeing those numbers go up thinking is that going to happen here? And certainly it did. And then the European Union was able to bring the numbers down for quite some time. But look to the far right of the graph. Now, the European Union has once again, jumped over in terms of case numbers the United States, and they are about a week or two ahead. So that's why Scott Gottlieb is saying that, you know, we're sort of tracking the European Union and there's a significant acceleration of growth when we go into exponential growth. And at the same time, everyone says, okay, the number of cases, but is that translating into hospitalizations? And it is. I mean, we're seeing many hospitals -- many hospital systems now around the country that are far more full at this time of year than they typically are. And we're about to go into flu season. We're about to have worsening COVID disease, that sort of twin-demic. So that that's the concern here, Anderson, going over the next several months.</s>COOPER: Maggie, have you heard anything? I mean, or under what scenario do you see the President accepting -- I mean, if the President does not win the election or you know, through the vote, you know, electoral -- through Electoral College, do you see the person accepting the results of the election if he loses? I mean, there's been so much talk about that. Is that -- is there a scenario you see?</s>HABERMAN: I have personally been of the opinion, Anderson that not much about the President's body language suggests that this is a job that he actually wants to do for four more years, at least at many points in time. He seems fairly tired of it. And so I think that that's a factor and I think it would depend on what the conditions are like. And I think it would depend on how much he lost by. I think that part of the reason that Republicans will privately say that, if he loses, they hope that it will not be a close election, they hope it will be a pretty big margin for Joe Biden, because it makes it easier for the Republican Party candidly, to step away from their President and from their party leader. So I think it's a hypothetical. It's pretty hard for me to answer. But I do think that there is an irresponsibility by the President of the United States saying -- leaving open the idea of whether he would accept the election results.</s>COOPER: Gloria, you know, the President is saying we're rounding a turn, I guess that's his message just to get him across the election line, and then if he remains President, and there's, you know, and the death toll, you know, 200,000 more people die by February 1st, he'll just say, well, this and that happened. We were rounding the turn, and then we weren't. You have reporting that the President's friends tried to get him to use his illness to his benefit?</s>BORGER: Right. When he was ill in the hospital, he was called by friends, and I was told by a source familiar with the conversations that one of them said to the President, at least one of them said to the President, look, you know, we want you to get well and now you can come out of this. And you can tell the American public that yes, you understand COVID better now, and you know what they are feeling and that you can take this because the public, of course, doesn't trust him on COVID. They know the polls -- and turn that around. And they talked to the President about that. But then the moment he walked up those steps on the balcony at the White House and ripped off his mask, like it was a sticky Band-Aid and turned to the American public and breathed heavily. They knew that of course, he doesn't have the ability to reset. He has never done that in his life. And of course, he didn't do it this time.</s>COOPER: Yes. Gloria Borger, Maggie Haberman, and Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much. Appreciate it. One quick programming note, our coverage of the second and final presidential debate begins Thursday night seven Eastern right here on CNN. Next tonight, the President is -- well, he watches "60 Minutes" all the time, but apparently not all went the way he wanted in interview he just taped with "60 Minutes'" Leslie Stahl. What he said about it just moments from now. And later, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on how close or how far lawmakers in the White House are from a stimulus deal that so many Americans desperately need.

Sources Say Donald Trump Abruptly Ends 60 Minutes Interview.

COOPER: Breaking news tonight. The President has been known to walk out of press briefings when the questioning is not to his liking. He abruptly ended the "60 Minutes" interview he was doing with CBS' Leslie Stahl. A short time later, he taunted her online and just moments ago, he talked about it at his rally in Erie.</s>TRUMP: Oh, and you have to watch -- you have to watch what we do to "60 Minutes." You'll get such a kick. You're going to get a kick out of it. Leslie Stahl is not going to be happy.</s>COOPER: CNN's chief media correspondent, Brian Stelter joins us now with the latest. So Brian, what more are we learning about why the President abruptly left this interview?</s>BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The President cut his interview short according to sources at CBS, first reported by CNN's Kaitlan Collins. He walked away and did not do the walk and talk, the usual video segment where Leslie Stahl would walk with the President. Then he started taunting her on Twitter, as you mentioned, posting a video -- a short video snippet showing Stahl not wearing a mask at the White House. Well, there's an obvious explanation for this Twitter video. It's that she wore a mask right up until the interview, took it off to conduct the interview, and then had to go back to her bag to put it back on afterwards. But the President is trying to portray her as the latest media enemy. And it's worth remembering, Anderson that Leslie Stahl said in 2018, the President once said to her, "Why do I pick fights with the media? Why do I attack you? Or why do I just credit you? So that people won't believe what you say." And yet of course, he always wants the attention from the press. He wants the attention from Leslie Stahl, so he tries to have it both ways.</s>COOPER: We should also point out, I work part time also at "60 Minutes." Do you know -- did he actually like cut the interview short? Like did he actually walk out of the interview or is it just he didn't show up for the walk and talk?</s>STELTER: Yes, it was a lengthy interview. But he did cut it short. CBS will not say whether that moment was captured on camera. Trump is claiming he might release the video himself. But CBS says the White House only recorded the interview for archival purposes. So if they suddenly publish the interview online, they would be breaching that agreement. Look, Trump is telling a deep story here. It's about Trump against the elites, the elite media, right? And as much as he wants the attention from "60 Minutes," he also wants to rail against it. But he knows, as you know, Anderson, "60 Minutes" is the most watched news program in America with lots of people, including lots of senior citizens watching. Trump needs this attention, which is supposed to air this Sunday, by the way. There's a Biden interview and a Trump interview. Both will air this Sunday. So we will see what actually happened. In the meantime, though, the President rails against elites, but there is no one more elite than the American President.</s>COOPER: Yes. Brian Stelter. Appreciate it. Thanks. The President's tactics continue to drive away big name Republicans. Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele today endorsing Joe Biden. He joins the former head of Special Operations Command retired Admiral William McRaven. John McCain's widow Cindy McCain, obviously, another longtime Republican, including former Republican senator and Obama administration, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who joins us now along with CNN chief political correspondent, Dana Bash. Dana, first of all, I just want to get your reaction to whatever this was -- the President pulling with Leslie Stahl, what do you make of it?</s>DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That it's classic vintage Donald Trump. As you mentioned, we have seen him walk out of press briefings when he gets a question he doesn't like. Back in the day, when he was still doing interviews as a candidate before he became President, I've had the experience of him walking away from me during a gaggle after a debate, and I'm not alone.</s>BASH: This is the way he operates, and then on top of that, a big reason why the President has been going after Anthony Fauci the way he has, is because of the words that Fauci used on "60 Minutes."</s>COOPER: Right.</s>BASH: And so we don't know exactly the content of what happened. But he is obviously in a very bad place. He is lashing out. That is been evident in public, but it's also been some of my reporting from people to talk to him in private.</s>COOPER: It's also possible he just wants to drive up the ratings for "60 Minutes" for his segments so that his ratings will be better than Biden's ratings in "60 Minutes." That's entirely within the realm of possibility, in my opinion. Secretary Hagel, despite serving the Obama-Biden administration, you're a registered Republican. You served as a Republican in the Senate. When you see other longtime members of your party, particularly those who have served in the military or worked in National Security saying they're voting for Joe Biden, urging the defeat of President Trump, do you feel like the Republican Party you knew is gone?</s>CHUCK HAGEL, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Anderson, the Republican Party I knew and cast my vote -- my first vote in 1968, when I was in Vietnam for is no longer the party we have. It's the Trump Party. And I think most of us feel pretty strongly that this business of politics, yes, it's a tough business. But it's an honorable business, and when you have a national leader, our national world leader, who has left dignity behind, decency behind, honesty, integrity behind them, that's where you start. The character. Yes, you can get into policies and you differ. When I was in the Senate, I differed all the time. Whether it was with Joe Biden, or Barack Obama, other Democrats, but we made things work, because we put the country first. And I think this latest episode with President Trump with "60 Minutes," as Dana just said, is so typical. It's all about distract and distort. And to me, this is a very clear picture of a very desperate candidate who knows he is losing.</s>COOPER: Yes, I mean, you're not talking about healthcare, you're talking about "60 Minutes." You're not talking about your actual plans and what you're going to do in a second administration, you're talking about, you know, Hunter Biden, or, you know, Leslie Stahl again. Secretary Hagel, what do you think will happen? Say Joe Biden becomes the President, what do the Republicans in the Senate or what is the -- what happens then? Is it -- does it continue to be the party of Trump? Is this the way it just is now? Is there a period where, you know, people sort of pretend like it never happened, and try to go back to some other way? Will there be a possibility of bipartisanship? Or is that -- you know, are those days done?</s>HAGEL: Well, the first part of the question, Anderson, what happens to the Republican Party? There is going to be some severe reckoning and review, and a top-down, break it all down and asking themselves, who are we? What do we believe in? What do we stand for? Are we bigger than just one person? Isn't the party bigger than a President or any one individual? Yes. That's going to happen. I've talked to some Republican senators about this, as a matter of fact. They're going to have to redefine who and what the Republican Party is. And it's been coming, Anderson, it isn't just Trump, but it's been coming over the years. As to the second part of your question, I know Joe Biden pretty well. I've worked with him. I've been all over the world with him for 25 years. I know how he thinks and how he governs. He is going to try to build a governing coalition, which will require some Republicans. All Democrats won't be happy, I suspect. But Biden is a uniter. He's not a divider. He is someone who understands you've got to bring the country together. There will be differences as should be. That's a democracy. But in the end, you've got to make a work. You've got to compromise and do what's right for the country.</s>COOPER: Dana, the President claimed yesterday that all these tight senate races are not tied to him, connecting him to them is quote, "highly overrated," he said. I mean, A, that's ridiculous. B, we've seen some of his G.O.P. Senate allies start to inch away from him. What do you -- what did you make of his comments?</s>BASH: That it's ridiculous. And Senator Hagel, as he said, talks to some of his old Republican colleagues, and knows that as well and has been in an environment and speaking of environment, that's kind of the code word that that some of the Senate Republicans who are in tough races and certainly the operatives who are trying to get Republicans elected, that's what they refer to this right now as, as a bad investment. That is code for Donald Trump is killing us right now out there. And in so many of these incumbents are in tough races not because they don't have good name ID or they haven't kind of delivered for their constituents the way they promised, but because they have been in this position for the past four years of having a feeling that they have had to toe the line because they didn't want to make their base mad because their base equals Donald Trump's base. But now they're in a position of still having that situation but not reaching out to any people who they also need to, you know, actually win in their state, especially some of the purple states, or some of these centers are out there. And I just want to tell you one example of how frustrated these Senate Republicans are. I was told that a republican ally of the President called him today and said that attacking Anthony Fauci the way he is the dumbest thing in the history of politics. Anderson.</s>ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Dana Bash, thank you. Secretary Hagel, a pleasure. Thank you very much. Up next --</s>CHUCK HAGEL, FMR SENATOR: Nice to see you Anderson.</s>COOPER: -- our breaking news from Capitol Hill. Can Democrats and the GOP agree to a new stimulus bill before Election Day? Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer joins us with his tape when we continue.

Explanation of the Electoral College; Reports on Corona Virus Cases in Europe; Three Space Headlines

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Exactly two weeks away from Election Day, the U.S. presidential candidates are out and about on the campaign trail and that`s where we`re starting today`s edition of CNN 10. It`s great to see you. I`m Carl Azuz. Millions of early votes are in. In fact, a survey of ballot data that CNN participated in found that more than 27 million votes have been cast so far. That count stretched across 45 states and the District of Columbia. Traditionally though, the biggest day for U.S. politicians is Election Day itself and as November 3rd approaches, they`re doing everything they can to get their supporters to the polls. On Sunday at an in-person rally in Carson City, Nevada, incumbent Republican President Donald Trump spoke to supporters.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And the best is yet to come. It`s happening. The best is yet to come. Proud citizens like you help build this country and together we are taking back our country. We`re returning power to you the American people. So with your help, your devotion and your drive, we are going to keep on working. We are going to keep on fighting and we are going to keep on winning, winning, winning.</s>AZUZ: Also on Sunday, at a drive-in rally in Durham, North Carolina, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden spoke to supporters in their cars.</s>JOE BIDEN: Folks, as my coaches used to say in college, it`s go time. I`m running as a proud Democrat but I will govern as an American president. No red states. No blue states. Just the United States. I promise you, I`ll work as hard for those who don`t support me as those who did.</s>AZUZ: But it`s not just the presidential candidates who are working to get votes. As we reported last Thursday, every voting seat in the U.S. House of Representatives is up for election. Democrats currently control that chamber with 232 seats to the Republicans 197. There`s one Libertarian and five vacant seats in the House. In the Senate 35 seats, just over a third are up for election. Republicans currently control that chamber with 53 seats to the Democrats 45. There are two Independents who vote with the Democrats. And in addition to all that, thousands of state and local officials are trying to win the vote. So Americans have seen dozens of signs and ads for candidates not named Biden or Trump. But unlike those elections and the ballot measures, when voters themselves get to decide a law or issue. The vote for the presidency is not direct. It`s for electors, members of the Electoral College who ultimately decide who sits in the White House.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Americans do not vote directly for their president. I`m not talking about a government conspiracy. I`m talking about the Electoral College. The system that has been around since the birth of our nation. What is the Electoral College? The Electoral College is not a building or institution. It`s just a name given to a designated group of people who cast each state`s official votes for president. This group is made up of 538 people. Each state has a different number of electors based on their representatives in Congress. So, states like California and Texas have more votes than states like North and South Dakota. The only exception, the District of Columbia, which has three electors despite not having any voting members in Congress. How does it work? Each party select`s their own group of electors. Each state the empowers the electors who represent the candidate who won the most votes except Nebraska and Maine, who award electors based on a combination of statewide results and districts won. The candidate who receives at least 270 Electoral College votes becomes the next president. What if there`s a tie? If there is a tie, or if somebody doesn`t get to 270, the House of Representatives appoints the president and the Senate chooses the Vice-President. Why does this system exist? In short, the Electoral College was created as a compromise of several different proposals by the nation`s founders. Critics say the system allows candidates to become president without necessarily securing a majority of voter support. Advocates argue it insures less populated states aren`t completely ignored. How are these people selected? The electors are chosen by their political parties in each state. The only rule is that they cannot currently hold office. Can an elector ignore the popular vote? Yes. It`s called a faithless elector but it`s fair and it has never affected the outcome of an election. Some states require formal pledges enforced by fines and possible jail time. But historically speaking, members rarely depart from the will of the people.</s>AZUZ: One big reason why 27 million of those people have made their will known ahead of election day, concerns about coronavirus. They`re trying to avoid crowded public polling places on November 3rd even though they`ve been waiting in some very long lines to vote early. The number of COVID cases has been increasing in most U.S. states but a top infectious disease specialist says another nationwide lockdown is not the answer, at least not at this point. Instead, he`s urging Americans to avoid crowds, gather in small groups outdoors and wear masks. In Europe however, there are countries considering closures once again.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I`m Ben Wedeman in Naples. Sunday evening Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced new measures to try to slow the second wave of coronavirus here. There were, however, fairly modest measures simply limiting some forms of social gatherings. For the last five days in a row, Italy has reported record increases in the number of new coronavirus cases. Increases the likes of which we never saw here during the darkest days of the pandemic earlier this year.</s>SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I`m Salma Abdelaziz in Manchester where we finally have a breakthrough after a days` long stand-off between the authorities here and the government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson over plans to raise the alert level of the city. The mayor says that he has had constructive talks with the government. We`ve also heard from the housing secretary that a larger financial package will be offered to the city to help affected businesses. The government says, it is hopeful that a conclusion will be reached today. But it`s important to remember, Manchester is just one city. Imagine having to negotiate these restrictions city by city, town by town. That`s part of the reason why the country`s scientific advisors are calling for a nationwide lockdown.</s>SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I`m Scott McLean in Berlin where the Chancellor is urging Germans to abide by coronavirus rules, as the number of infections continue to rise. Meanwhile in nearby Prague, people protested the new restrictions there over the weekend with no social distancing and few masks in sight.</s>MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I`m Melissa Bell in Paris. Here in France, the daily rises in new coronavirus cases for the fourth day in a row above 25,000. This as the curfews into effect in 10 French cities including here in Paris from midnight on Friday. It`s going to take some time though for those to have an impact if they do on the number of new cases. And of course, all eyes are very much on what these massive rises in new cases are going to mean for the number of ICU beds taken up by COVID-19 patients. Already nationally, it is above 35 percent and in places like the greater Paris region, 46.8.</s>AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. What or who is 2018 VP One? An asteroid, a comet, Mike Pence, or the first "Masked Singer". It`s a bird. It`s a plane. No, it`s an asteroid that`s headed toward Earth as you watch this show. And it could hit the Earth one day before the U.S. election but it probably won`t. Scientists have known about this asteroid since 2018. It`s about the size of a refrigerator and they say there`s a chance of one in 240 that it will enter Earth`s atmosphere in November 2nd. But even if 2018 VP One is on a path to do that, astronomers say it will disintegrate and burn up in our atmosphere before it hits the ground beneath our feet. Many of them are far more interested in another asteroid named Bennu. NASA has a $1.16 billion mission in which a spacecraft is going to try to touch down on Bennu, collect a sample of its surface and bring it back home to Earth in 2023. It`s taking so long because the asteroid and the spacecraft are 200 million miles from Earth. But if it works, it will be the first time a sample from a rock in space is brought back to our planet. NASA should know by Tuesday if the sample collection successfully took place. Well the moon is said to get a 4G network and it may be more reliable than ours. There won`t be any trees, buildings or TV signals to get in the way. But Carl, you might be asking? There are no people on the moon. Why do this? So glad you asked. NASA`s hoping to build a moon base by 2028 and they figure it will need wireless technology. So they gave Bell Labs $14 million to build out a 4G network on the moon and it will be upgradeable to 5G. Though 2028 is many moons from now. 5G technology may no longer may be out of this world by then. Technology buffs might "5Geer" at is saying putting something so dated on the moon is sheer "lunarcy". Maybe E.T. can phone home but it might be to dial up a complaint about a slow connection. I`m Carl Azuz. Hey, speaking of planetary connections, it is great to see the students of the American Embassy School in New Delhi today. Thank you for watching from the Indian capital. Come on back tomorrow for more CNN. END END

Coronavirus in the United States as New Cases in Past Week Versus Previous Week; Merkel Urging Germans to Stay Home, Avoid Gatherings; Europe Tightens Virus Restrictions as Cases Soar; President Trump Campaign with Dirty Attacks; Ireland Facing Six Weeks Lockdown; Boris Johnson Fed Up with Officials Bickering.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching CNN Newsroom. And I'm Rosemary Church. Just Ahead.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They're getting tired of the pandemic, aren't they? They're getting tired of it.</s>CHURCH: Downplaying the pandemic, U.S. President Donald Trump rallies in states with rising case numbers. Ignoring the science that's meant to keep people safe and attacking anyone supporting it. Plus, cities across Europe see COVID-19 restrictions take effect, this as record cases of hospitalizations sweep across the continent. And later, China is offering an experimental vaccine to select members of the public. We will have a live report from Hong Kong. Good to have you with us. And we start with a major problem for the U.S. President. With two weeks to go until election day, Donald Trump needs to convince Americas that he has the coronavirus under control. But the numbers tell a very different story. In 27 states the number of new COVID cases has risen by more than 10 percent versus a week ago. And hospitalizations are also on the rise and nearly every state. But the pain being felt by victims is not the story the president wants to talk about. In fact, this was the scene in Arizona on Monday. People sitting shoulder to shoulder, many without masks as they turned out to hear Mr. Trump tell them everything would be fine. And his message has been clear. Trust me, don't trust doctors and scientists.</s>TRUMP: You know, Biden wants to lock it down. He wants to listen to Dr. Fauci.</s>TRUMP: He wants to listen to Dr. Fauci. He's going to lock down. This guy wants to lock down. He will listen to the scientists.</s>CHURCH: And we get more on the president's day from CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: With the election day fast approaching, President Trump sounds like his running not against Democrat Joe Biden but against the man who's arguably the nation's most trusted health expert on the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci.</s>TRUMP: I don't want to hurt him. He's been there for about 350 years.</s>ACOSTA: The president his day of attacks on Fauci on a call with campaign staffers.</s>TRUMP: People are tired of COVID. I have the biggest people are saying whatever. Just leave us alone. They are tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths.</s>ACOSTA: Fauci got under the president's skin appearing on 60 Minutes where the infectious diseases expert said he wasn't surprised when Mr. Trump contracted COVID-19.</s>ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people and almost nobody wearing a mask. Nothing good can come out of that. That's got to be a problem. And then sure enough it turned out to be a super spreader event.</s>ACOSTA: Drawing thousands of supporters who aren't wearing masks, the president is on an anti-science crusade at his rallies, accusing Biden of siding with the experts on the virus.</s>TRUMP: Biden wants to lock it down. He wants to listen to Dr. Fauci. He'll listen to the scientists. If I listen totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression.</s>ACOSTA: Biden responded to that charge of listening to the scientists with one word on Twitter, yes. Contrast that with Fauci who said he's been muzzled by the White House.</s>FAUCI: You know, I think there has been a restriction, John. But it doesn't -- it isn't consistent.</s>ACOSTA: The president snapped back at that remark too.</s>TRUMP: He gets a lot of television. He loves being on television. We let him do it. Sometimes he says things that are a little bit off and they get built up unfortunately.</s>ACOSTA: But sources have told CNN for weeks that the president has opted to listen to the questionable advice coming from another doctor on the coronavirus task force, Scott Atlas, who tweeted a post had said masks work? No. A comment removed by Twitter because it violated the social media platforms rules. As most experts believe masks are effective. Atlas has become such a lightning rod, the Washington Post reported task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx complained to the vice president's office about him. In the meantime, the president is escalating his attacks on Biden.</s>TRUMP: Joe Biden is a criminal and he's been a criminal for a long time. And you are a criminal in the media for not reporting it.</s>ACOSTA: Biden is asking voters to reject the president on character grounds.</s>JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Words of a president matter. The words this president has used that our children have heard, our sons and our daughters, have been despicable.</s>ACOSTA: A Trump advisor questions the president's decision to attack Fauci two weeks before the elections, saying the campaign is already struggling to keep up with Biden's massive spending advantage. Adding, time is running out. Being outspent is a problem. No one ever thought we would be outspent. Time is our enemy. The president is more confident.</s>TRUMP: We're going to win. I would've said that three weeks ago, three weeks ago, two weeks ago. I don't know, I would've said it.</s>ACOSTA: A campaign advisor said the president's attacks on Dr. Fauci are ill-advised as they remind Americans of Mr. Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a subject campaign official desperately want to avoid. Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.</s>CHURCH: Joining me now is CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He is a professor of medicine at George Washington University. Thank you, doctor, for being with us.</s>JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: My pleasure.</s>CHURCH: Now I do want to start by getting your reaction to President Trump repeatedly lashing out at Dr. Anthony Fauci Monday, calling him a disaster and an idiot. What do you say to a U.S. president who attacks this country's top infectious diseases expert in the midst of a pandemic?</s>REINER: Yes, it's indescribable. I don't understand the politics. And there is no way to understand the public health benefit for that. It's kind of like being on an airplane in a thunderstorm and hearing a fight going on in the cockpit. It's very disquieting to see this kind of chaos coming from the White House. Anthony Fauci is a preeminent scientist and physician. He's been that way for 40 years. He understand what -- he understands very well what needs to be done now. The president just doesn't want to hear it. And he is lashing out at Dr. Fauci. I wonder sometimes whether what bothers him most is that the public's perception of Dr. Fauci as substantially more favorable against the public's perception of the president? I wonder if that is what bothers him the most.</s>CHURCH: Right, and of course Dr. Fauci says U.S. COVID cases are high because this nation hasn't shut down as much as other countries. Not early enough, and not for long enough. But he's not advocating a national shut down just yet. He wants to see every American wear a mask. If they did that right now, could that avoid a shutdown? And at the same time, can it turn this around, if of course, in conjunction with that we had better testing in place?</s>REINER: Absolutely. Look, the goal is in any pandemic, the goal is to achieve some form of herd immunity. Now the usual way to do that, the most efficacious way to do that is with the vaccine which I think we'll have very, very soon. But another way to get herd immunity is for 80 percent of the population to wear a mask. Masks are effective at preventing transmission. Masks also prevent the person wearing them from acquiring the virus. And if more than 80 percent of this country wore masks, we would effectively have herd immunity. Now the way the president's now principal adviser Scott Atlas wants this country to attain herd immunity by basically letting the virus rip through large portions of this country, essentially unabated, would result in the deaths of probably at least two million people in this country. So why don't we start with the masks? Let's start with something simple like that and very effective. And let's see where it takes us before we start shutting down. Why not do what's easiest first?</s>CHURCH: yes. It does seem to be the easiest and the most obvious solution here. But medical experts are very concerned about the weeks ahead, expecting the darkest days to be in the next 6 to 12 weeks. The U.S. death toll already makes up 20 percent of all global deaths. How bad are you expecting this to be by the end of 2020?</s>REINER: Well it's already getting bad. If you look at the most recent seven-day moving average of cases in the United States, it's now at 57,000 cases per day. We're averaging about 700 or so deaths per day. If we start to take up from here, if we get to, let's say, 70,000 cases per day, that's going to equate to about 1,500 deaths per day. And then you can really start to get a sense for how the deaths continue to mount. So, we've been through dark times. This winter is going to be difficult. But I am very optimistic that we are going to have, probably, at least two vaccines available. Maybe the next one is or the first one is as early as next month. But we have to get there. It's going to take a long time to vaccinate this country. And we have to protect ourselves until that point. And the easiest way to do that is to social distance, wear a mask, wash your hands, avoid crowds. And then we'll get through this period of time. And next summer should be much better than last summer.</s>CHURCH: That is such great advice. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, thank you so much for joining us.</s>REINER: My pleasure.</s>CHURCH: Well COVID cases are rising across the world. We will start in South America. Argentina is the 5th country to report more than one million coronavirus cases. It follows the U.S., India, Brazil, and Russia, according to Johns Hopkins University. Meanwhile, in Europe, the World Health Organization says about half of European countries have seen an increase in cases. And you can see those countries with the highest rate of increase in red on this map we have up there for you. Increased cases usually come before a surge in hospitalizations and eventually deaths. And the WHO is worried about those weekly trends.</s>MICHAEL RYAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WHO HEALTH EMERGENCIES PROGRAMME: Going back to even a couple of months, we would have had maybe 2,000 to 3,000 deaths per week even as much as -- even as much as two months -- two months ago. But now we are seeing a very large increase in the number of deaths per week. And it's now approaching something like 8, eight and a half thousand deaths per week across 48 countries.</s>CHURCH: And CNN is covering this pandemic from every angle. We have reporters across Europe and the U.K., France, and Germany, looking at new restrictions and significant pushback. We're also in the Middle East and in Hong Kong examining China's progress with vaccine experiments. But first Manchester, England is a flash point in the lockdown battle. Local leaders face a deadline to reach a deal with U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Or be forced into England's toughest restriction category. While England argues, Wales has decided on a two-week lockdown beginning Friday. Everyone will stay home except critical workers and those in jobs where work from home is not possible. And in Ireland, from Wednesday, no social gatherings in homes or gardens and no dining out. And for the latest on all these developments, Sam Abdelaziz is in Manchester, England. And Nic Robertson is in London. Good to see you both. Nic, let's go to you first. These are very extensive restrictions for Ireland. How is this being received?</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: These are the tier five restrictions. I think there is wide acceptance in Ireland that people were expecting and feeling the need, if you will, to -- for these restrictions to come in. The government is trying to ameliorate the economic impact by providing money for those whose businesses will be closed down. All but essential retail stores will close. Everyone who can work from home must work from home. People should not travel on public transport unless they have a very compelling reason to do so, or are effectively emergency workers. The government has been under pressure for the past two weeks from scientists who have been saying you need to move to the highest level of restrictions. One of the reasons is the health capacity in Ireland. When you look at the sort of the statistics for how many coronavirus cases there are in Ireland, it's about the middle of the pack in Europe, 261 per 100,000. But their hospital capacity is limited. They have 298 people with COVID-19 in hospital already, another 20 were admitted yesterday, 34 of those are in ICU beds, 131,000, rather, 1,031 people were tested positive registered for coronavirus yesterday. So, the statistics have been mounting up. Micheal Martin, the prime minister there, Taoiseach in Ireland announced these restrictions and appeared to do it with somewhat of a heavy heart. And gave people the goal of Christmas, six weeks these restrictions will be in place. The idea being that by Christmas some better Christmas maybe enjoyed by the population of Ireland. This is how he phrased that.</s>MICHEAL MARTIN, IRISH TAOISEACH: It won't be the same Christmas that we've enjoyed in years past. But if we all pull together and follow the spirit of these new rules, it will be a special time. And we give us all some respite from the horror (Ph) of the last seven months. If each of us does what is asked of us, for a period of just six weeks, we will suppress this virus and we will emerge from these restrictions on the first of December.</s>ROBERTSON: But this is a government that is fully aware of the impact, not just economic. He spoke also about the mental, psychological impact on people. And the government will be trying to help in that capacity as well.</s>CHURCH: OK. Thank you so much, Nic. Salma, let's go to you now. And what's the latest on negotiations over restrictions in Manchester?</s>SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Rosemary, after 10 days of talks, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government says they are fed up. They are saying that they will impose tier three restrictions on the city of Manchester unilaterally if a deal is not reached by midday today. This is, of course, a very dramatic conclusion to this political bickering that we've seen between authorities here in Manchester and the government over their plans to impose the highest level of restrictions on the city. They would shut down pubs, bars, potentially gyms, and ban households from mixing together by and large. The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, is arguing against this has essentially been that, a, he disagrees with the strategy of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He wants to see a nationwide lockdown. But short of that he's been arguing that he stands for low paid workers here in Manchester. He says if the government wants to impose these restrictions it needs to provide a financial package strong enough to help affected businesses. He's been calling for 80 percent of wages to be paid by the government to anyone affected under these restrictions. There did seem to be signs of progress yesterday. Of course, those now are half fallen. We are waiting for that midday deadline. But it's important to remember Manchester is just one city. Yes, it is a large city but it is just one city. While these politicians bicker over restrictions, we've already heard from the House Secretary Matt Hancock that they've started negotiations with other areas and other regions over raising their restriction levels. So, while these politicians are bickering over measures and what to do, the virus is continuing to spread. Just to give you an idea, here in Greater Manchester, Downing Street says that the region will run out of ICU capacity in just a matter of weeks. Meanwhile, of course, the United Kingdom's four nations are each acting independently. Wales, for example, will be imposing a nationwide lockdown for a couple of weeks, that of course is again in opposition to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's regional strategy. Rosemary?</s>CHURCH: All right. Nic Robertson in London. Salma Abdelaziz in Manchester. Thank you to both of you for joining us. Well just two days to go until the second and final U.S. presidential debate and two weeks until the election. President Trump's message to voters when we come back.</s>TRUMP: You can go and vote today they say. Today, go out and vote.

Chinese City Offers Experimental COVID-19 Vaccine; Discussion on Coronavirus Stimulus Relief; U.S. Stocks Sink on Dashed Hopes for Stimulus; U.S. States Say they have their Vaccine Plans Filed; U.K. Signs First Contract for First Virus Human Challenge Trials; Palestinian Negotiator Battling COVID-19; COVID-19 Paints a Grim Scenario for U.S.

CHURCH: The United States reported more than 54,000 new COVID infections on Monday and that's according to Johns Hopkins University. And that takes the country passed 8.2 million cases. More than half of U.S. states are reporting an increase in infections compared to last week. Hospitalizations are also on the rise with states like Colorado seeing their highest number of patients since may. CNN's Brian Todd has our report.</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Denver people playing pickup basketball in a city park not wearing masks. Despite the mayor's new orders that city residents know have to wear masks even in outdoor settings. If there was anyone who is not in their household.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are higher than we have ever been over the course of this pandemic.</s>TODD: Colorado is one of 12 Americans states now seeing their highest seven-day averages. Another is Illinois, where Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has a warning for residents if they don't see a dramatic turnaround in their numbers and soon.</s>MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT (D-CHICAGO): We will not hesitate to take the steps that are necessary to save our city, to save our residents and even if that means going back to some of our phase three restrictions.</s>TODD: Experts say the falls surge of coronavirus has arrived and the numbers bear that out. 27 states now trending up in new cases reported. The number of new cases per day is up 40 percent over the past month with the U.S. averaging more than 55,000 new cases each day.</s>JORGE RODRIGUEZ, INTERNAL MEDICINE AND VIRAL SPECIALIST: The virus has now seeded every part of the country. So, it is going to be very difficult to completely stop it, but what we need to do now is seriously to hunker down more than ever in the things -- with the things that we know work. Which are to wear masks. Wash our hands and socially distance.</s>TODD: One of America's top experts spares nothing in his assessment of the period the countries is entering.</s>MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY: The next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic. Vaccines will not become available in any meaningful way until early to third quarter of next year. And even then, half of the U.S. population at this point is skeptical even taking the vaccine.</s>TODD: In Wisconsin, still experiencing devastating spikes. A top health official says many residents of the state still do not get the danger.</s>PAUL CASEY, MEDICAL DIRECTOR BELLIN HEALTH EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT: Unfortunately there is an alarming lack of understanding about this disease. And unfortunately, a lot of people still think it is a hoax, so 50 percent of the population refuses to wear masks.</s>TODD: In Houston on Monday, young children arrived at school as the district begins a phased approach to in-person learning.</s>GRENITA LATHAN, INTERIM SUPERINTENDENTSCHOOL DISTRICT: What was most impressive is our student getting off the bus with their masks on as you can tell. And some of them have masks that we have provided or some of them had their own masks.</s>TODD: But in Atlanta, school officials citing unfavorable trends in the virus are postponing in-person learning until January. Despite precautions like that, America's top voice on the pandemic says one of the reasons America has been the country hardest hit by this virus is because it did not shut down as early or as strictly as European countries did.</s>ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE: We know now that we are living through a historic pandemic. The likes of which we have not experienced as a civilization in the last hundred and two years.</s>TODD: Still, Dr. Anthony Fauci says a nationwide lockdown is not the way forward unless the pandemic, he says, gets quote, really, really bad. He says that we should put the idea of a shutdown away for now. And instead have a national resolve to use the public health measures that were recommended. Get the country back on track and bring some of those horrific fall numbers back down. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.</s>CHURCH: Millions of Americans are waiting to see if U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, can agree on an economic stimulus plan to help people hurt by the pandemic. Pelosi said today as the deadline to agree on a deal if it is past before Election Day, but with no deal insight all three major indices ended Monday sharply lower. And it was a wild ride for the DOW which swung more than 570 points between its highs and lows. Well, CNN's John Defterios joins us now from Abu Dhabi to discuss this. Good to see you, John. And it has to be said, I mean, with millions of Americans thrust into poverty due to this pandemic, how is it possible that the U.S. politicians can't agree on a stimulus plan, and with this deadline just hours away, how likely is it that this will be done?</s>JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, as you say, Rosemary, it is really surprising they can't move the ball forward or down the court if you will. And people are getting lost in this political high stakes game. Nancy Pelosi trying to put some urgency into the matter here by putting their 48 hour deadline. But it doesn't seem to be moving the needle because there is fundamental differences and on philosophies as well. But let's look at the three major players. Pelosi, Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary and Mitch McConnell, the House Democrats under Pelosi are at $2.2 trillion. Our sources for CNN and Washington are saying that the president is willing to go to $2 trillion. If you think about the Senate Republicans, it never budged off of a half a trillion dollars and then another core issue is Democrats wanting to bail out city and states, because they have very strained pension systems with very high union membership as the political issue. Republicans are saying we just don't want to go for this, so we have that shakeup if you will on Wall Street on Monday. We have the Asian markets largely higher with the exception of the Nikkei Index which is trending lower, but no shock to the system. And if you look at U.S., futures are trading higher as well by as much as nearly two thirds of 1 percent. So, we have that shock on the anniversary of the 1987 crash which was yesterday, but stability today. But the fundamental issue that is really at the core of all this, Rosemary it's the White House under Republican control and the Senate Republicans, the president and Steven Mnuchin unable to close that gap. It shows you the divisions within the party right now. That so many Senators out for reelection and with their anchor tied to President Trump, they are trying to create some distance between the two.</s>CHURCH: There is a lot of politics involved in this. In the meantime, so many Americans hurting so very much. John Defterios, thank you so much for joining. I appreciate it. Well, we all know a vaccine is needed to help in the pandemic, but here in the United States there is still have no idea how they are going to pay for vaccine distribution once a drug is approve, according to state officials. Well, Friday was the deadline for states to submit their plans to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC gave $200 million to states for preparedness and planning, but in association representing them says that is not nearly enough money. It is asking Congress for $8.4 billion to help distribute and administer vaccines once they are available. Well, China says it has the coronavirus mostly under control and its economy is starting to bounce back. And now one city is offering an experimental COVID 19 vaccine to select members of the public. People started getting injections over the weekend. Two doses for about $60. The vaccine hasn't been fully tested, but there's clearly a demand for it anyway, of course. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins us now live from Hong Kong. Kristie, I mean given this experimental vaccine has not being fully tested. Is China tracking the people, it's selling this to in order to ensure they don't experience negative reactions or perhaps worse?</s>KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, that is a critical question. The answer is in this case, yes. The company behind this experimental vaccine that was distributed in Yiwu, is SinoVac, and SinoVac isn't testing for any possible effects, negative side effects from this vaccine. CNN sent a team to Yiwu, this eastern Chinese city to look into these reports from over the weekend that the city was giving out experimental coronavirus vaccines to the general population. They found out that yes indeed that was happening. One clinic was offering these vaccines from the Chinses pharmaceutical maker SinoVac. Children were not being vaccinated here. You had to be an adult between the age of 18 or 59 to get one of these vaccines. You had to purchase it. Two doses for 60 U.S. Dollars, around 400 Renminbi and they were being distributed at a first come first served basis. So by the time David Culver and his team arrived at the clinic they had already run out of vaccines. But what they found instead was fascinating. They encountered a group of Chinese nationals who even flew from neighboring provinces to rush into Yiwu to be able to spend money to get vaccinated with these experimental vaccines, not because of the threat that the coronavirus poses inside China, but because of a desire to travel internationally again. Now, inside China, there is demand for experimental vaccines, and there is trust in these vaccines. Since July, hundreds of thousands of people in China have been vaccinated with these experimental coronavirus vaccines under an emergency use ordinance and it was authorized by the Chinese government. These individuals include frontline medical workers as well as border patrol agents. But disease experts have been warning that there could be harmful side effects to these experimental vaccines. And not only that, even coronavirus vaccines that would pass human trials could pose a risk. Now listen to what this Hong Kong based virologists of Hong Kong University School of Medicine said on that point.</s>JIN DONG-YAN, VIROLOGIST, HONG KONG UNIVERSITY: In the history of vaccine developments, there are many examples that even if the vaccine has passed the phase three trials, still there might be problems. Whether there might be (inaudible) in this case of SARS COVID 2, it is still unknown and we have to find out. And only after completion of the phase three, can we have a definite answer to that. Otherwise, it is risky.</s>LU STOUT: A coronavirus vaccine that would past human trials would still be risky. Not only that China's vaccine industry has a troubled safety record, over the last decade has been hit a number of scandals, including vaccine scandals involving vaccines intended to be used by children. But nevertheless, despite all these points of risk, a number of people inside China are clamoring to take an experimental coronavirus vaccine. The demand apparently is there. Rosemary.</s>CHURCH: It is a very disturbing way to test a new vaccine. Kristie Lu Stout joining us live from Hong Kong. Many thanks. Well, the U.K. will conduct a first human challenge trials for potential COVID-19 vaccines at the beginning of next year. The British government is working with Irish pharmaceutical company Open-Orphan (ph) on the trials to determine whether vaccine candidates will be effective in fighting the virus. The challenge trials involve deliberately infecting a participant with the disease under controlled conditions. Now some critics call the process unethical, since there is no proven cure for COVID-19. And CNN's Phil Black is following the story from London's Royal Free Hospital. Good to see you, Phil. So, what more are you learning about these COVID-19 vaccine human challenge trials?</s>PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Rosemary, the way it will work is that you will take a small number of volunteers. The scientists are running the program. They will give them a potential vaccine, one that seems promising. And then a few weeks later they will bring them here to the London's Royal Free Hospital. Lock them up in a secure felicity, and deliberately dose them with the coronavirus. And then essentially, see what happens. Assess. Do they fall ill? Assess whether or not the vaccine is effective? The idea is this is a more efficient way of assessing the many vaccines that are being developed around the world and getting a quicker sense of which ones are most promising and deserving of further research and investment. It is believed to be, advocate say, more efficient because you're dealing with a smaller number volunteers. You get data relatively quickly and crucially, you have certainty that those volunteers will be exposed to the virus. And that is really where it (inaudible) us from large scale field trials, because in that situation, you are giving vaccines to large numbers of people, thousands -- possibly tens of thousands of people. Then releasing them into the wild to live their normal lives in the hope, perhaps the assumption if the virus is in high circulation, that they will then be exposed to it. This is supposed to be sure of sharper, does not necessarily replace phase three trials in that way. But the government believes, the British government which is plowing money into this, believes that this will be another tool for helping to identify the best vaccines sooner. It is as you touched on controversial, partly because to minimize risk you have to use young, very healthy volunteers who do not represent those most at risk from the developing serious COVID-19 consequences. They don't represent those who most need to be protected by an effective vaccine. And of course the other controversial factor is that you are deliberately exposing people to a potentially deadly virus. So, it will need to be closely monitored and assessed by regulators and an ethics committee. For those regulators, and for that ethics committee, the question will be one of risk versus reward. In whether or not they decide to allow this to go ahead and grab their approval. The scientists behind it will have to make the argument that the risks behind it are smaller, if you like, then the potential rewards of actually conducting these trials at all, Rosemary.</s>CHURCH: Some very brave volunteers there. But this pandemic has brought us to this point. It is extraordinary. Phil Black, bringing us the latest there news from London. Many thanks. Well, he is used to tough fights, but now the Chief Palestinian negotiator is battling COVID-19. We will have a live report on his condition. That's next.

French First Lady in Self-Isolation

CHURCH: Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat is in critical condition at an Israeli hospital. He was admitted Sunday after testing positive for coronavirus two weeks ago. Officials say his condition has deteriorated. Erekat is considered high risk because he had a lung transplant in 2017. And CNN's Oren Liebermann is following this story. He joins us now live from Jerusalem. SO, Oren, what is the latest on the condition of Saeb Erekat?</s>OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORESPONDENT: Rosemary, at this point Saeb Erekat, PLO's chief negotiator and Secretary General remains in critical condition at Hadassah in (inaudible) hospital here in Jerusalem where he is being treated of course by hospital staff, but also with consultations with international medical experts according to members of his family. As you point out, he was brought to the hospital on Sunday afternoon in serious but stable condition. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance from his home in Jericho. And there he is being treating -- been treated ever since then. On Monday morning, his condition deteriorated. And those of course were tense moments as are essentially all of these moments, because at this point Erekat remains in serious condition. There was one update yesterday from his family in the hospital with him. They say that his oxygen levels have tipped up to 92 percent. So that they say, it's a good sign. They are looking for many more of these good signs as he remains in critical condition here. We have not yet gotten an update from the hospital on his condition today. So the condition, so the update from yesterday is the one that at this point still stands. He is in critical condition with messages of support from around the world coming to him wishing for his recovery here. Rosemary?</s>CHURCH: All right. Many thanks to Oren Liebermann bringing us up to date on that situation from Jerusalem. We appreciate it. Well, Intensive Care Units and France are under pressure. For the first time since May, there are more than 2,000 French patients in ICU's. And this news comes as we learn France's first lady is now self-isolating. The Elysee Palace says Brigitte Macron met Thursday with someone who later tested positive. So, even though she has no symptoms she will self-isolate for seven days. CNN's Melissa Bell joins us now live from Paris. So, Melissa, COVID infections are rising across France. ICUs are under pressure here. And now the first lady has been put in isolation. What is the latest in all of this?</s>MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The French rules were changed a few weeks backwards. To change that quarantine period for 14 to seven days. So, it is a seven-day isolation period. She will be facing and then a test to make sure that she has not been infected. Even if she has no symptoms. And then she'll be able to get back to life as normal. But it is a reminder that of course this is a virus that could affect everybody. And of course here in France there really is a problem in terms of the positivity rate which continues to rise. It now stands nationally, Rosemary, at 13.4 whether you mentioned that particular strain on the ICUs with more than 2,000 COVID-19 patients now inside them. And here in places like Paris already, some of those emergency procedures that the health care system had vowed to keep going as it tried to (inaudible) the second wave already having to be canceled in order to protect some of those COVID-19 beds. All eyes very much now. Whether those curfews are going to make the difference that the authorities hope that they will. For the time being, we have to understand that they are being widely respected. We heard from the France's interior ministry yesterday in an interview on French television, he said that although more than 3,000 fines had already been given out for people breaking that 9:00 p.m. till 6:00 a.m. curfew that is in place in 10 France cities including here in Paris. He did say that he thought that it was being fairly widely respected. It's going to be in place, Rosemary, for the next four weeks as authorities wait to see whether that is enough to bring down these numbers that as you say are putting such pressure already on France's ICUs.</s>CHURCH: All right. Melissa Bell, joining us live from Paris. Many thanks. And just ahead here on CNN, Germany's chancellor wants people to avoid social gatherings to stop a second wave of COVID 19. But there is backlash. We will have a live report for you from Berlin, next.

Trump's Continued Attacks On Fauci. Trump Tells Supporters Virus Rounding The Curve; Stock Market's Wild Swings With Relief Bill Uncertainty; Trump Rallies, Trashes Fauci as COVID-19 Cases Surge

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, again. Welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm John Vause. Coming up this hour on CNN NEWSROOM. Donald Trump defying one of the most basic rules of politics; when in a hole, stop digging. Instead ramping up baseless attacks on the one man Americans trust more than any other when it comes to dealing with the pandemic. Learning the lessons of the first wave. Many countries across Europe moving quickly and decisively to re-impose pandemic restrictions as the number of confirmed cases surge and hospital ICUs begin to fill. And with one day left to make a deal to help millions of Americans, to boost a faltering economy and to save millions of jobs it has next to no chance of happening. The U.S. coronavirus death toll has now topped 220,000, more than 8.2 million confirmed cases. And a leading health expert is warning colder temperatures and winter weather mean the darkest weeks are still ahead. And given President Trump's clear disregard for the science on controlling the pandemic and his own reckless attitude towards the virus, he held two big rallies again on Monday.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The pandemic, it's rounding the turn, vaccines are coming -- and I look fine, don't I? You know.</s>CROWD: (Applause)</s>VAUSE: It's not rounding the curve, the vaccines are still months away and this is not about the president and his health. It's about flattening the curve. And Trump following his own administration's guidelines and listening to the science.</s>DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We have a lot of challenges ahead of us and I can't help thinking that we're really going through a time that's disturbingly anti-science in certain segments of our society. That's very troublesome to me.</s>VAUSE: On Monday, certain segments of society described Dr. Fauci as "a disaster." Mr. Trump went on to say Americans are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. We have more details now from CNN's Jim Acosta.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: With election day fast approaching, President Trump sounds like he's running not against Democrat, Joe Biden, but against the man who's arguably the nation's most trusted health expert on the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci.</s>TRUMP: I don't want to hurt him, he's been there for about 350 years.</s>ACOSTA: The president began his day of attacks on Fauci on a call with campaign staffers.</s>TRUMP (VOICE OVER, CAPTIONED): "People are tired of COVID. I have the biggest rallies... people are saying whatever. Just leave us alone. They're tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. Fauci's a disaster. If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths.</s>ACOSTA: Fauci got under the president's skin appearing on "60 Minutes" where the infectious diseases expert said he wasn't surprised when Mr. Trump contracted COVID-19.</s>FAUCI: I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people and almost nobody wearing a mask. Nothing good can come out of that. That's got to be a problem. And then sure enough it's turned out to be a super spreader event.</s>ACOSTA: Drawing thousands of supporters who aren't wearing masks, the president is on an anti-science crusade at his rallies. Accusing Biden of siding with the experts on the virus.</s>TRUMP: Biden wants to lock it down, he wants to listen to Dr. Fauci. He'll listen to the scientists. If I listened totally to the scientists we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression.</s>ACOSTA: Biden responded to that charge of listening to the scientists with one word on Twitter, "Yes." Contrast that with Fauci who says he's been muzzled by the White House.</s>FAUCI: You know, I think there has been a restriction, John, but it doesn't -- it isn't consistent.</s>TRUMP: The President snapped back at that remark too.</s>TRUMP: He gets a lot of television, he loves being on television. We let him do it. Sometimes he says things that are a little bit off and they get built up, unfortunately.</s>ACOSTA: But sources have told CNN for weeks that the president has opted to listen to the questionable advice coming from another question on the coronavirus task force, Scott Atlas. Who tweeted a post that said: "Masks work? NO." A comment removed by Twitter because it violated the social media platform's rules as most experts believe masks are effective. Atlas has become such a lightening rod "The Washington Post" reported task force coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, complained to the vice president's office about him. In the meantime, the president is escalating his attacks on Biden.</s>TRUMP: Joe Biden is a criminal and he's been a criminal for a long time. And you're a criminal and the media for not reporting it.</s>ACOSTA: Biden is asking voters to reject the president on character grounds.</s>JOE BIDEN, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT AND DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The words of a president matter. The words this president has used that our children have heard, our sons and daughters, have been despicable.</s>ACOSTA: A Trump advisor questioned the president's decision to attack Fauci two weeks before the election, saying the campaign is already struggling to keep up with Biden's massive spending advantage. Adding: "Time is running out. Being outspent is a problem. No one ever thought we'd be outspent. Time is our enemy." The president is more confident.</s>TRUMP (VOICE OVER & CAPTION): We're going to win. I wouldn't have said that three ago. Three weeks ago, two weeks ago -- I don't know, I wouldn't have said it.</s>ACOSTA: A campaign adviser said the president's attacks on Dr. Fauci are ill-advised as they remind Americans of Mr. Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. A subject campaign officials desperately want to avoid. Jim Acosta. CNN, the White House.</s>VAUSE: Joining us now from Washington is CNN political camp and Democratic strategist, Maria Cardona, and in Louisville, Kentucky, CNN political commentator and former special assistant to President George W. Bush, Scott Jennings. It is great for you both to be here with us. We appreciate it. Let's start off --</s>MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good to see you, John.</s>VAUSE: Let's start off with a little bit more from that phone call President Trump held with campaign staffers. Here it is.</s>TRUMP (VOICE OVER, CAPTIONED): People are tired of COVID. I have the biggest rallies I've ever had, and we have COVID. People are saying whatever, just leave us alone. They're tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots.</s>UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Oh.</s>TRUMP: These people. These people that have gotten it wrong. Fauci's a nice guy, he's been here for 500 years. He called every one of them wrong."</s>VAUSE: Scott, you heard that woman gasp when he talked about Fauci. And people may be tired of the pandemic but how much is that actually born of a failure or a non-existent response by the Trump Administration? And do presidents get to be tired and say "whatever" during a crisis?</s>SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well -- I mean, look, he's probably right. There are people that are certainly tired of the pandemic. Unfortunately, the coronavirus is not tired of us. And it will continue to attack us as long as we're not willing to do the things that are necessary to defeat it. And until, frankly, we have a vaccine which is still several months into the future. I think the president, obviously, is mad at Dr. Fauci right now because they used a clip of Dr. Fauci in a campaign commercial and Dr. Fauci spoke out against that. So I'm sure Donald Trump is reacting to that. But as a strategic matter, if you want to try to throw a strategic frame on it, I do think there's a cohort of American voters, probably low political information voters, maybe they didn't participate last time, not terribly politically engaged, who would agree with the president. And so he needs those people to vote. So there's a whole lot of stuff going on here. By the way, none of it is good for the public health.</s>VAUSE: Yes.</s>JENNINGS: He might think it's good for his campaign, it's not great for the public health, of course.</s>VAUSE: So Maria, there seems to be a trend here. Don't like the polls then the polls are wrong, don't like the science then the science is all a conspiracy. Don't like what the experts say, trash the experts. Find another expert -- and in this one with zero experience in pandemics --</s>CARDONA: Right.</s>VAUSE: -- and infectious diseases to tell you what you want to hear. And as Scott just said, this is not good for public health.</s>CARDONA: That's exactly right, John. What the president said is actually true; we are all sick and tired of the pandemic. But mostly what we have is people still getting sick and 220,000 Americans dead from the pandemic that this president has been unable and unwilling to confront by using exactly the advice from the most well-respected infectious disease expense that there is right now in the world right now, and that is Dr. Fauci. The ironic thing, John, is he could use Dr. Fauci to his good. And I don't think -- Scott is saying that he's probably doing this to get some voters that he still needs to get out to vote. But I'm telling you from every number that I have seen, what Trump desperately needs to do is to expand his base, to bring in more voters for his re-election, to try to get more pathways to get to the 270 electoral votes that he needs to win. And what he does when he goes on these rants, John, is exactly the opposite. He's turning away and turning off more voters than what he's bringing in.</s>VAUSE: Yes. And just as an example for the kind of reporting that's been about Anthony Fauci. Here's some of the headlines over the last couple of months. From "The New Yorker," "How Anthony Fauci Became America's Doctor." Then there's an up close look at "America's Doctor," on "NPR." "France 24": "Dr. Anthony Fauci: A Lifeline for Americans through Pandemics and Presidencies." So, Scott, back to you. The president's just not telling the truth when he says Fauci called every one of them wrong. And, again, putting aside the harm which is being done here to public health. FDR during the darkest days of World War II never said the Nazis are too hard, let's give up on fighting fascism. JFK never gave up on the space race even though the Soviets were the first to put a man in orbit -- in space, rather. And Reagan never gave up on the Cold War, he didn't saying Gorbachev's wall is too big, let's just leave it where it is. I mean, presidents don't get to give up like this.</s>JENNINGS: Yes. And I think that one thing the president has never understood is that there's actually a lot of forgiveness in the American electorate. When we're facing an unprecedented issue like the coronavirus, I think people actually understand that government officials are going to try things, they're going to make decisions with imperfect information and that it may not all go perfectly. And that's certainly been true of some Republicans and some Democrats at the state level. But if you're earnest and you're honest and you're showing the American people empathy and that you're earnestly trying to get it right with the information that you have, there'll be a lot of forgiveness in this. I don't think the president has never fully understood this. And obviously he doesn't want this to be the dominant issue of his presidency or of his re-election campaign. But we all don't always get to choose what those dominant issues are. He would love to talk about the economy, he'd love to talk about anything but this. But this thing is dominating our lives here in the United States.</s>VAUSE: Just very quickly, Scott. As a Republican, does it turn you off, the president, when you hear that sort of stuff?</s>JENNINGS: Well, yes. Because as a Republican strategist, one thing Maria said is true. If he is picking up people out here who are sort of rejecting of the coronavirus measures, well, he's losing, say, senior citizens.</s>CARDONA: Yes.</s>JENNINGS: Donald Trump is much softer on senior citizens this year than he was in 2016. And it's because they don't think he's taking their health seriously. And so yes, it bothers me because being an incumbent president means you're having an on-the-job interview for your next promotion, which is your reelection campaign. And if is the dominant issue and your job approval is as low as it is on coronavirus, it obviously doesn't portend well for the politics of the party.</s>VAUSE: Maria?</s>CARDONA: You know what, I completely agree with everything that Scott just said. If Donald Trump would listen to Scott Jennings, he'd be in a much better position right now. But here's the problem. Scott mentioned that if a leader shows empathy, shows humanity, shows honesty, the American public is very forgiving especially in the face of a virus that the world had never known before a year ago, right? But the problem is, is that Donald Trump is unable and unwilling to show any kind of empathy, any kind of honesty, any kind of humanity. And that has been apparent not just with this coronavirus pandemic but with every issue where he has needed to show empathy, honesty and humanity.</s>VAUSE: OK. We've got two weeks until election day and now we're finally seeing many congressional Republicans trying to put a little distance between themselves and President Trump. Here's a sample.</s>UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Are you proud of your support for Donald Trump?</s>UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I'm proud of the work that we have done together.</s>TED SIMONS, MODERATOR, "PBS," ARIZONA: Are you proud of your support for President Trump?</s>SEN. MARTHA MCSALLY (R-ARIZ): Well, I'm proud that I'm fighting for Arizonans on things like cutting your taxes.</s>SIMONS: The question was are you proud of your support for President Trump?</s>MCSALLY: I'm proud to be fighting for Arizona every single day.</s>VAUSE: Also, Republican Senator John Cornyn told the "Fort Worth Star Telegram" that privately he's confronted Trump -- (inaudible) not publicly, on issues like debt, trade, border security. He went on to describe his relationship with the president as: "Maybe like a lot of women who get married and think they're going to change their spouse, and that doesn't usually work out very well." Maria, is there a reality check underway right now for Republicans and is it sort of too late?</s>CARDONA: Yes. I think, yes, there's a reality check that could have happened a whole lot sooner than now. And yes, I do think it's too late. Because you know that all of those senators wanted to scream from the loudest and the highest rooftop that no, they're not proud of their support for President Trump. And they shouldn't be. And the thing is, is that they could've come out a long time ago and been able to look themselves in the face but then we know what would have happened, right? The few people who did try that, they are no longer in politics. That is what you get for confronting Donald Trump. But that is also get when you try to put country before party. These senators have not been willing to do that. And we'll see what happens in the election in less than two weeks or two weeks from now. We will see if those senators are going to start regretting that they did not come out and call Donald Trump out sooner.</s>VAUSE: So very quickly, we're almost out of time. If Donald Trump continues to talk about this rosy -- the big win, bigger than last time. And these polls which don't exist that show him way in front. There is a narrative he's setting up here for absolute total shock and disbelief by those among his supporters who only listen to him and don't actually read a newspaper or listen to any other news source. And that is when you have problems post election, isn't it?</s>JENNINGS: Well, look, I think we're going to have a clear winner. It may take a few days, it may take a couple of weeks to count all the ballots. So regardless of how people view it today, one of the -- the greatness of American democracy and our republic is that we have durable institutions. One of those institutions is free and fair elections, every two years we re-elect or elect a new president every four years. And it's going to happen and -- whether Donald Trump wins or loses. And the country will move on, and we'll do it all again. So I believe in the durability of American institutions. And so, regardless of who's getting their information from where, I don't think we're going to have a problem no matter who wins after this election.</s>VAUSE: From your lips to God's ear. And we'll see what happens. Because I still think the jury's out on that one. But Scott and Maria, thank you both. Really appreciate it.</s>CARDONA: Thank you, John.</s>JENNINGS: Thank you.</s>VAUSE: Well, stocks took a wild ride on Monday surging on hopes of a coronavirus relief package being passed by congress, plummeting on word (ph) that was unlikely to happen. The Dow swung more than 570 points between its highest and lowest parts of the day. At the end of the day, though, there was red across the board. If a stimulus package is to be passed before election day, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has set a Tuesday deadline for agreement with the White House. CNN's John Defterios is live in Abu Dhabi with more on this. John, if you look at the Democrats and the Republicans, they're not just billions of dollars apart, there are also very wide differences in many policy areas. If they haven't been able to get a deal by now and it's been months, it does beg the question what difference does another day actually make?</s>JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, it may bring it to a very end, John. I think that's the difference here. It's like a chess match, right? This is a political move by Nancy Pelosi who's the speaker of the house. Democrats, as you're saying, let's just bring it to an end and then we'll talk after the election if we can't get a deal. But this political drama is not playing well on Wall Street nor global markets. Because it's been hovering now for nearly two months on the table. And now we have these three players, Pelosi, Mnuchin as the treasury secretary, Mitch McConnell, the Republicans. Let's just break it down for our viewers. $2.2 trillion is the offer from the House. Apparently, the White House, according to our sources in Washington said $2 trillion dollars is possible but the Senate Republicans are still at a half a trillion dollars. They just have a huge division in the U.S. Congress right now and the White House is not able to bridge that gap. And then the finger-pointing comes, right? Here's the chief of staff for president Trump, Mark Meadows, who by the way, was a former congressman on Capitol Hill.</s>MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: We thought that they should have been a 48-day deadline 48 days ago. And it's been really the speaker that continues to be very rigid in her negotiation. It's her way or the highway, it's all or nothing.</s>DEFTERIOS: Classic finger-pointing I would say, John Vause, right? So this is how it is playing for Asian markets. They're all in the red. I wouldn't say a severe sell off because they see this as a political chess move as well. Tokyo suffering the most. And the U.S. futures after seeing that drubbing of 1.4 to 1.6 lower on Wall Street Monday are trending higher. This political move by Nancy Pelosi actually landed on the 33rd anniversary of Black Monday back in 1987 which I covered in my early days on Wall Street, so it wasn't perfect timing because of the valuations and that anniversary. But it seems like the markets and investors kind of powered through it, let's put it that way.</s>VAUSE: That must have been for your high school newspaper, John, when you were just starting out. You can see the dynamic between the chief of staff and McConnell right now though. I think that was more interesting than the dynamic between the Republicans and the Democrats. But one interesting thing here is that the Democrats passed their bill, what, back in March I think it was in the lower house. But it's been so long a lot of the provisions have now lapsed. So what does that mean in terms timeline? Does it have any significant impact?</s>DEFTERIOS: Well, they passed the first one in March and then they came back for the second package, John -- in fairness to Nancy Pelosi, in June. And the senate Republicans didn't even start talking until August then they had to sit at the negotiating table in September. And that's been the fundamental issue. So some things have lapsed but there's two key points that the Democrats are not giving ground on. One is city and state bail outs, John, we've talked about it for the last two months. This is something that Republicans say it's not the role of the federal government to bail out cities or states that are mismanaged and have very high pensions for union workers. That's a very key issue. The other one which I tend to agree with the house leader is testing and tracing. She wants it earmarked for that spending which is something the White House is not doing. But then let's take a step back, John. This is something -- having worked in Washington for years. You take a look at it and say isn't it the job of a White House Republican leader to bring together the senate Republicans, close the gap and negotiate with the House? The Trump White House is saying it's willing to go to $2 trillion, the Senate Republicans have not budged. That is the role of the president and his treasury secretary -- who, by the way, is here in the Middle East so it's going to make negotiation very difficult on this very last day. And they have not delivered the party. The party's under strain, that's for sure.</s>VAUSE: Yes. And that's a good point, I'm glad you got to t. Because that to me is the real interesting part of the politics here.</s>DEFTERIOS: Yes.</s>VAUSE: Not so much the Republicans and Democrats but the White House and the Republicans. Mitch McConnell is running for the exits, perhaps. John, good to see you. Back to that student newspaper. Good to see you. Appreciate it.</s>DEFTERIOS: Thanks.</s>VAUSE: When we come back, new lockdowns in parts of Europe as governments try to contain a second wave of COVID-19.

Urgent New Restrictions Hit Europe

VAUSE: Urgent new restrictions are being imposed on countries across Europe as a second wave of the coronavirus begins to take its toll. All the areas marked on this map marked with orange and red represent countries where infections are on the rise. About half of Europe is seeing a 50 percent increase in case numbers in the past week, according to the WHO. And as surely as night follows day, hospitalizations and death tolls are also starting to surge. A sudden spike in October in both infections and hospitalizations has meant the Czech Republic is once again making masks mandatory in urban areas and for anyone within two meters of another person and for anyone in a car unless alone or with people from the same household. Starting Wednesday, Ireland will impose some of Europe's strictest measures. No social gatherings in homes or gardens and restaurants and bars will offer only take out service. Wales will see a new two-week long lockdown beginning Friday. Everyone will be forced to stay home except for critical workers and those in jobs where working from home is not possible. All non- essential businesses will shut down until November 9. And in France, First Lady Brigitte Macron is self-isolating after possibly being exposed to the virus. She is reportedly not showing any symptoms but met with someone on Thursday who later tested positive. Ann Rimoin is an epidemiology professor at the University of California and she is with us this hour from Los Angeles. Professor Rimoin, it's good to see you again.</s>ANNE RIMOIN, PROFESSOR EPIDEMIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: Nice to be here.</s>VAUSE: Now back in March, we had this dire prediction. It came from the Imperial College, it was picked up by the White House, by everyone. That by October, by this point in time right now -- "an unmitigated epidemic, we would predict approximately 510,000 deaths in Great Britain and 2.2 million in the U.S. not accounting for the potential negative effects of health systems being overwhelmed on mortality." March seems like a dozen lifetimes ago. But how important is it to remember that by changing our behavior on a scale the planet has never seen before we avoided this mass tragedy and how important is it to remember now as we head into this northern winter?</s>RIMOIN: Listen, John, we have done an amazing job of, in general, around the world in various places being able to really mitigate the spread of the disease by wearing masks, social distancing, hand hygiene and avoiding crowds. That is the way that we're able to stop this virus. We still don't have a vaccine, we don't have other measures that are going to be able to help us at this point. So we are still beholden to the things that were really important in March as we are right today. These models are projections of what could happen but it just shows you that human behavior can make a difference. And so it's very, very important to remember we have all of the tools in our hands right now to really push down on these rising cases. We just have to be able to really have good strategies and everybody has to buy in. It's really good to see that Europe is moving into mitigation phase again --</s>VAUSE: Yes.</s>RIMOIN: -- as we're seeing cases rise.</s>VAUSE: That's the point. This is all about behavior and buying in and everyone being part of it. Because while the worst has been avoided in the U.S., it seems -- it should not have been as bad as it has been. And it's interesting when you compare other places like Taiwan with New York State, for example. Taiwan has a population of around 24 million. Total confirmed cases there, 540. Total deaths so far, just seven. Days under lockdown, none. New York State has a slightly smaller population, about 20 million. Confirmed cases, almost 485,000, more than 33,000 dead. More than 30 days under lockdown. Taiwan and the U.S. have had pretty much the same resources, these non-pharmaceutical interventions, if you like. So what was Taiwan doing and what are they doing now heading into this winter that the U.S. is not doing but should be doing?</s>RIMOIN: Well, this is the point. That if you get -- if you have a national strategy where people are wearing masks, they're social distancing, they're avoiding crowds and it is enforced on a national level and that you have good buy in from the community, you can reduce the spread of this virus significantly. And this is what the point is that I was trying to make. Is that we're seeing several examples of countries doing a very good job at this, the countries that you've mentioned. The countries that have not had a good national strategy or who have eased up on their mitigation strategies are seeing rises in cases and deaths as well that will follow. These things are very preventable. We have the tools that are necessary to be able to prevent further spread.</s>VAUSE: It's interesting what's happened in the Czech Republic. Because they mandated face masks early into the pandemic, had a lot of success. Until now. Numbers have surge there, there are more cases per capita there than any other major country right now. CNN reports in the first 17 days of October, more people have died of the virus than in the previous eight months of the epidemic combined. So what went wrong there? And how do you dissuade those who are the cause and effect belief, who point to the Czech Republic and say hey look, they did masks, it didn't work.</s>RIMOIN: Well, there's not one thing that's going to be a silver bullet here. You have to have masks, you have to have social distancing, and you have to avoid crowds. And what happened in the Czech Republic as has happened in many countries is that restrictions are eased. People start to relax, people start to interact with each other. Households tend to -- will start to mingle, people will go out to dinner. We have all -- and all of these things provide opportunity for this virus to spread. It is also getting colder so as people start to move indoors, we're going to be providing more opportunities for this virus to spread. And we should note that most of these countries in Europe, while cases were low, they were not non-existent. The virus was still spreading. And so, if we do have virus spreading in a community, it will take every opportunity to spread to vulnerable people. Most of the world does not have immunity to this virus. And so any opportunity, the virus is going to take it.</s>VAUSE: "Constant vigilance, Harry Potter," I like to say. Professor Rimoin, thank you for being with us. It's appreciated.</s>RIMOIN: It's my pleasure.</s>VAUSE: Two candidates, two very different plans for the pandemic, the economy and racial divisions. Does policy actually matter this election? Let's pretend it does. When we come back.

Chinese City Offering Experimental COVID-19 Vaccine to Public.

VAUSE: The Chinese city of Yiwu has become one of the first to offer an experimental COVID-19 vaccine to the public. The emergency use vaccines comes in a series of two shots. There have been long lines, high demand and supply is running dry. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout, live for us in Hong Kong. This vaccine it wasn't free of charge. There was a cost associated with it --</s>KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.</s>VAUSE: -- it has not been fully tested and yet, no shortage of demand.</s>STOUT: No. There is definitely demand for an experimental vaccine so much so that people are willing to pay for it. This is what a CNN team found when we sent them to Yiwu, this Eastern Chinese City upon this reports that it was distributing these experimental coronavirus vaccines to the public at around $60 U.S. or 400 renminbi for two shots. They found it was happening from a single clinic, that there was an age limit, no children were being vaccinated. You had to be between the ages of 18 and 59. And also, it was distributed at a first come, first serve basis. So when David Culver and his team finally arrived to the scene, all these vaccines had already been distributed, much to the dismay of quite a number of Chinese nationals who had gathered there. In fact the CNN team found in Yiwu a number of Chinese nationals who flew in from as far as neighboring provinces to be able to take and pay for this experimental vaccine. Not because of the pandemic inside China, China largely has that situation under control for months now but because of their desire to be able to travel again internationally. I want you to listen to this exchange between David Culver in Yiwu with a woman there who is an international business woman from Guangdong Province. She flew in the night before. She spoke to him in fluent Spanish.</s>DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And so they told you they don't have any and you have to go find another place?</s>STOUT: Now to be able to travel internationally again people like Anna, who you met just now on the screen, they're willing to take this experimental vaccine to pay for it but they also trust this vaccine. Since July hundreds of thousands of people in China had been injected with experimental coronavirus vaccines, under an emergency use ordinance that's been authorized by the Chinese government. You know, people have been injected again with this experimental vaccine include frontline medical staff, as well as border patrol agents, international business people but there have been warnings, you know, warnings about the safety of such vaccines that it could cause unintended symptoms or consequences. And there have been warnings from virologists about the safety of vaccines that have already passed phase 3 trials. Listen to this warning from virologist based here in Hong Kong.</s>DR. JIN DONG-YAN, VIROLOGIST, HONG KONG UNIVERSITY: In the history of vaccine development, there are many examples that even if the vaccine has passed the phase 3 trials, still there might be problems. Whether there might be ADE (ph) in the case of SARS COVID 2, it is still unknown and we have to find out. And only after completion of the phase 3 can we have a definite answer to that. Otherwise, it's risky.</s>STOUT: You know, not only that Chinese.</s>VAUSE: Just a little bit of more on Chinese tainted history when it comes to vaccines. Right now, this vaccine is untested. It's being offered not in one city but three cities on a limited basis but still this seems to be a very risky strategy with some very significant consequences should something go wrong.</s>STOUT: This is a very risky strategy as you point out and this is something that Xi Jinping has said is a government priority for months now. So much is at stake in this race for a vaccine for China. China needs to shore up its international standing in the wake of a number of countries, especially in the West, slamming China for the origin of the pandemic, for its initial response to the pandemic. China is hoping that it can also use this as a way to leverage its diplomatic relationships with different countries around the world, including third world nations that have participated in trials for these vaccines. But in the end, China wants to consolidate its position as it sees itself as a global superpower. But that will only work if they have a functioning, safe vaccine that is also accepted by the international community, John.</s>VAUSE: Kristie, thank you. Kristie Lu Stout there joining us from Hong Kong. Appreciate it. Well, forced apart by this pandemic for seven long months, one couple married for decades finally back together. Their story in just a moment.

Trump Rachets Up Anti-Science Rhetoric Ahead of Election; The Strategy Behind Trump's Attacks on Fauci; U.S. Stimulus Deal Hangs in the Balance

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM, and I'm Rosemary Church. Ahead, just two weeks until election day, President Donald Trump goes on the attack against Dr. Anthony Fauci. Why the President described the country's health experts as idiots. Plus, the clock is ticking, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have hours left to reach a deal on a critical stimulus plan if they want it passed by November 3rd. And would you take an experimental coronavirus vaccine. That's what these people are doing in China as the country offers one to some members of the public for the first time. Good to have you with us. So, with just two weeks to go before the U.S. election, President Donald Trump is ratchets up his anti-science rhetoric at packed campaign rallies, this as he keeps downplaying the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Trump's latest strategy, attacking the nation's top infectious disease expert. On Monday, the President called Dr. Anthony Fauci a disaster and other health officials idiots. Meanwhile, coronavirus cases are spiking in dozens of states across the country. Hospitalizations are up too. It is a problem for the President. One that will certainly come up during the Presidential debate later this week. Mr. Trump is already saying he thinks the moderator will be unfair. We get more on the President's day from CNN's chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the election day fast approaching, President Trump sounds like his running not against Democrat Joe Biden but against the man who's arguably the nation's most trusted health expert on the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't want to hurt him. He's been there for about 350 years.</s>ACOSTA: The president his day of attacks on Fauci on a call with campaign staffers.</s>TRUMP: People are tired of COVID. I have the biggest rallies ... people are saying whatever. Just leave us alone. They are tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths.</s>ACOSTA: Fauci got under the president's skin appearing on "60 Minutes" where the infectious diseases expert said he wasn't surprised when Mr. Trump contracted COVID-19.</s>ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people and almost nobody wearing a mask. Nothing good can come out of that. That's got to be a problem. And then sure enough it turned out to be a super spreader event.</s>ACOSTA: Drawing thousands of supporters who aren't wearing masks, the President is on an anti-science crusade at his rallies, accusing Biden of siding with the experts on the virus.</s>TRUMP: Biden wants to lock it down. He wants to listen to Dr. Fauci. He'll listen to the scientists. If I listen totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression.</s>ACOSTA: Biden responded to that charge of listening to the scientists with one word on Twitter, yes. Contrast that with Fauci who said he's been muzzled by the White House.</s>FAUCI: You know, I think there has been a restriction, John. But it doesn't -- it isn't consistent.</s>ACOSTA: The President snapped back at that remark too.</s>TRUMP: He gets a lot of television. He loves being on television. We let him do it. Sometimes he says things that are a little bit off and they get built up unfortunately.</s>ACOSTA: But sources have told CNN for weeks that the President has opted to listen to the questionable advice coming from another doctor on the coronavirus task force, Scott Atlas, who tweeted a post had said, masks work? No. A comment removed by Twitter because it violated the social media platforms rules. As most experts believe masks are effective. Atlas has become such a lightning rod, "The Washington Post" reported task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx complained to the vice president's office about him. In the meantime, the President is escalating his attacks on Biden.</s>TRUMP: Joe Biden is a criminal and he's been a criminal for a long time. And you are a criminal in the media for not reporting it.</s>ACOSTA: Biden is asking voters to reject the president on character grounds.</s>JOE BIDEN, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Words of a president matter. The words this president has used that our children have heard, our sons and our daughters, have been despicable.</s>ACOSTA: A Trump advisor questions the President's decision to attack Fauci two weeks before the elections, saying the campaign is already struggling to keep up with Biden's massive spending advantage. Adding, time is running out. Being outspent is a problem. No one ever thought we would be outspent. Time is our enemy. The President is more confident.</s>TRUMP: We're going to win. I would've said that three weeks ago, three weeks ago, two weeks ago. I don't know, I would've said it.</s>ACOSTA (on camera): A campaign advisor said the President's attacks on Dr. Fauci are ill-advised as they remind Americans of Mr. Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a subject campaign official desperately want to avoid. Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.</s>CHURCH: Democrat Joe Biden doesn't have any campaign events scheduled today but his wife does. Jill Biden has four stops scheduled in the crucial swing state of Michigan, which Mr. Trump won four years ago. Meanwhile, the President has a rally planned in Erie, Pennsylvania. First daughter Ivanka will be campaigning in Wisconsin, then North Carolina. Donald Trump Jr. has two events in Pennsylvania, and the President's daughter-in-law, Laura Trump will campaign in Nevada and Arizona. Joining me now via Skype is Chris Kofinis. He is a Democratic strategist and former communications director for John Edwards. Good to have you with us.</s>CHRIS KOFINIS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Thank you. Good to be here.</s>CHURCH: So, President Trump was clearly not happy with Dr. Anthony Fauci's "60 Minutes" interview Sunday. Attacking him Monday, calling Dr. Fauci an idiot and a disaster, and saying people are tired of the virus. All this coming as infections surge. And two weeks before the election, he is picking on this most respected doctor. Why would the President be doing this? How dangerous is a strategy like this?</s>KOFINIS: Well, I mean, if there is any logic to the strategy, it's that he is targeting his base. There is no question that, you know, in our research, the research that we've done, Republicans have a very different view of the virus. Of the various measures to address the virus than Democrats do. And so, in a weird way, and now it's not logical. It's definitely not presidential. But it is strategic as much as Trump can be strategic because he has clearly come to terms or come to the terms with the simple fact that if he doesn't get his base out, he doesn't have much of a path to victory. So that's the only logical reason because on the flip side of that, you know, those kinds of attacks alien out -- alienate independents. They alienate the undecided voters. So, there is not a lot of, you know, strategy there to try to win over new voters. This is about bringing his voters out as much as this can.</s>CHURCH: And his rival Joe Biden put out this statement warning his party and supporters not to get complacent, and this despite polls showing Biden in the lead. When you look at all these reputable polls, do you understand though why you, Democrats, are still very wary because of what happened in 2016? And do you see any path to victory for Donald Trump? Or you're just not willing to accept that you've got this in the bag?</s>KOFINIS: Well, the ghosts of 2016 are pretty hard to exercise. I mean, they are -- they still haunt the Democratic Party and the country, you know, and it's almost four years later. So, I think when people look back in 2016, what they saw were a lot of missed signs, a lot of missed signs in terms of the base where the president had at that time. I think a lot of signs in terms of the level of dissatisfaction that there was towards both campaigns. But we really focused on Trump especially in the media and others. So, I think when you boil it all down, it's really hard to forget, you know, how this happened in '16. So, I think people are, you know, understandably and rightfully concerned and nervous about 2020. You know, is this going to be a repeat of 2016? There are some obviously profound differences. He's running as an incumbent. He's got a record. I think people have seen his schtick for about four years now. And there is, you know, clear evidence in our research that voters are tired even his own supporters.</s>CHURCH: Chris Kofinis, thank you so much for joining us.</s>KOFINIS: Thank you so much.</s>CHURCH: The final debate of the U.S. presidential election will take place Thursday night in the U.S. Our coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, which is Friday morning in much of the world. Well, millions of Americans are waiting to see if U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasure Secretary Steven Mnuchin can agree on an economic stimulus plan to help people hurt by this pandemic. Pelosi set today as the deadline to agree on a deal if it's to pass before election day. She has blamed Republicans for holding up the deal while the Trump administration blames her.</s>MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, obviously there's more than just the White House that's negotiating, the 48-hour deadline is certainly welcomed by us. We thought that there should have been a 48- day deadline 48 days ago, and it's been really the Speaker that continues to be very rigid in her negotiation. You know, it's her way or the highway. It's all or nothing. The American people don't understand that. Many of her Democratic colleagues don't understand that.</s>CHURCH: And they continue to play politics. CNN's John Defterios joins us now live from Abu Dhabi. Good to see you. Millions of Americans have been plunged into poverty due to this pandemic, and they are relying on these politicians to come up with a stimulus deal. How likely is it that they'll do this?</s>JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Seems very unlikely by this deadline, Rosemary. We have a case here where the benefits are dropping because they were extended but at a lower level, and the COVID caseloads as we saw in the reporting that we've had in the first block here of the show, are spiking. You would think those issues alone would break this political log jam. But we have three major players. Let's take a look. Nancy Pelosi -- who was mentioned by Mark Meadows, the chief of staff at the White House -- Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary negotiating on behalf of the White House, according to our sources in Washington said they're now willing to go to $2 trillion. But Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republicans have never budged off of a half a trillion dollars. So, the issue is not really Nancy Pelosi. Yes, she's maintaining a tough line, but we have a division between the White House and Senate Republicans. This is a Republican led White House, by the way, so not a clear good line of support for the President that he cannot rally his own party who are very worried about the election, number one and their own seats in the Senate because of this spending. Also, another case about city, state bailouts, the Democrats want it because there's large pensions that need to be funded, namely for union members. So, Senate Republicans are against that. So, you can see the politics at play here. How did this play in the markets? We have the Asian markets after that juggernaut on Wall Street, pretty stable with the exception of Tokyo which has been trading lower. And if you look at U.S. futures, again, after 1 1/2 percent drop mainly across the board on Monday on Wall Street, you see them trending higher. So, it's a good sign that they're trying to shut out the noise. And one other caveat here, Steven Mnuchin is in the Middle East where I'm at, Rosemary, it makes it very difficult for him in the last 24 hours or last 12 hours, however you want to count it, to negotiate with Nancy Pelosi. They're very far away on numbers, and far apart geographically.</s>CHURCH: Yes, you don't feel like there's the political will for this. We'll see what the outcome is. John Defterios joining us live from Abu Dhabi, many thanks. And when we come back, a grim warning from the top health official in the U.S. What he says about family gatherings for the holidays in just a moment.

COVID-19 Cases Spiking Across the U.S.

CHURCH: A scary and sobering message from the top health official in the U.S. on Monday. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar made it very clear that one way to control the spread of COVID-19 is to practice social distancing, even from your family. His message coming just weeks before the holiday season that traditionally brings U.S. families together.</s>ALEX AZAR, U.S. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: And we've seen a great deal of community spread from household gatherings. So, just people having friends and neighbors and family members over and not practicing the precautions of, you know, washing your hands, watch your distance, and wearing your facial coverings, when you can't watch your distance because you think in your home you're safe, you think people know you're safe. We try to remind people that you can get disease from people that you're related to, as well as the people you're friends with, as well as from neighbors.</s>CHURCH: And that warning comes as cases are spiking all across the United States. CNN's Nick Watt has the details.</s>NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chicago is now averaging more than 500 new COVID cases every day, the most since late May.</s>MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT (D) CHICAGO: Make no mistake. We are in the second surge. These numbers are extremely troubling. And are consistent with what we've been seeing across Illinois and, really, across the country and world.</s>WATT: In 14 of our states right now a test positivity rate so high it tells us the spread is out of control. In Utah, average case counts now roughly double their summer surge.</s>FAUCI: You cannot say that we're on the road to essentially getting out of this.</s>WATT: Cruel irony, Connecticut and New Jersey with cases climbing now appear to qualify for the COVID travel restrictions they imposed on other heavily infected states.</s>AZAR: People are getting tired. The American people have given so much. We're seeing mitigation fatigue right now. And you know, I just hope that we have so much promise in the weeks and months ahead.</s>WATT: A vaccine? Well, a week after Johnson & Johnson paused its trial following an illness in a volunteer the company and the FDA won't tell CNN if that volunteer was actually receiving the vaccine or even if this is the first pause.</s>MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY: We do have vaccines and therapeutics coming down the pike. But when you actually look at the time period for that the next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic.</s>WATT: This past month nationally the average number of new cases a day exploded, up 40 percent.</s>LARRY BRILLIANT, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: There is nothing to stop this the way things are going.</s>WATT: But there is a silver lining of sorts. The death rate per case has declined.</s>BRILLIANT: And it's a tribute to modern medicine. We have tools in our arsenal now.</s>WATT: But we still do not fully understand the long-term impacts of this virus on the millions who make it, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, lung issues.</s>FAUCI: The other thing that we're seeing that's a bit disturbing is that the degree of cardiovascular abnormalities by scans and by other diagnostic tests, it may be insignificant, but I don't know that now.</s>WATT (on camera): Several studies show that this virus can attack the blood vessels, the lungs, and the muscles in the heart, that could lead to fatal consequences further down the line. Meanwhile, here in California the governor has created a scientific safety review workgroup to look at any vaccine that's approved by the Food and Drug Administration before it is rolled out in California. A sign of just how little California trusts the federal government in the Trump administration. Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.</s>CHURCH: Joining me now is CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He is a professor of medicine at George Washington University. Thank you, doctor, for being with us.</s>DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: My pleasure.</s>CHURCH: Now I do want to start by getting your reaction to President Trump repeatedly lashing out at Dr. Anthony Fauci Monday, calling him a disaster and an idiot. What do you say to a U.S. president who attacks this country's top infectious diseases expert in the midst of a pandemic?</s>REINER: Yes, it's indescribable. I don't understand the politics. And there's no way to understand the public health benefit for that. It's kind of like being on an airplane in a thunderstorm and hearing a fight going on in the cockpit. It's very disquieting to see this kind of chaos coming from the White House. Anthony Fauci is a preeminent scientist and physician. He's been that way for 40 years. He understands what -- he understands very well what needs to be done now. The President just doesn't want to hear it and he is lashing out at Dr. Fauci. I wonder sometimes whether what bothers him most is that the public's perception of Dr. Fauci as substantially more favorable than the public's perception of the president? I wonder if that is what bothers him the most.</s>CHURCH: Right, and of course Dr. Fauci says U.S. COVID cases are high because this nation hasn't shut down as much as other countries. Not early enough, and not for long enough. But he's not advocating a national shut down just yet. He wants to see every American wear a mask. If they did that right now, could that avoid a shutdown? And at the same time, can it turn this around, if of course, in conjunction with that we had better testing in place?</s>REINER: Absolutely. Look, the goal is in any pandemic, the goal is to achieve some form of herd immunity. Now the usual way to do that, the most efficacious way to do that is with the vaccine which I think we'll have very, very soon. But another way to get herd immunity is for 80 percent of the population to wear a mask. Masks are very effective at preventing transmission. Masks also prevent the person wearing them from acquiring the virus. And if more than 80 percent of this country wore masks, we would effectively have herd immunity. Now the way the President's now principal adviser Scott Atlas wants this country to attain herd immunity by basically letting the virus rip through large portions of this country, essentially unabated, would result in the deaths of probably at least two million people in this country. So why don't we start with the masks? Let's start with something simple like that and very effective. And let's see where it takes us before we start shutting down. Why not do what's easiest first?</s>CHURCH: Yes, it does seem to be the easiest and the most obvious solution here. But medical experts are very concerned about the weeks ahead, expecting the darkest days to be in the next 6 to 12 weeks. The U.S. death toll already makes up 20 percent of all global deaths. How bad are you expecting this to be by the end of 2020?</s>REINER: Well it's already getting bad. If you look at the most recent seven-day moving average of cases in the United States, it's now at 57,000 cases per day. We're averaging about 700 or so deaths per day. If we start to tick up from here, if we get to, let's say, 70,000 cases per day, that's going to equate to about 1,500 deaths per day. And then you can really start to get a sense for how the deaths continue to mount.</s>CHURCH: Dr. Jonathan Reiner, thank you so much for joining us.</s>REINER: My pleasure.</s>CHURCH: Well, here in the United States, there's been record turnout for early voting in the presidential election. We will look at who's casting these ballots. Also, ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, a pointed message to the Trump campaign. John Fogerty is standing up for his song and taking action to keep it from being played at the president's rallies.</s>JOHN FOGERTY, MUSICIAN, SINGER, AND SONGWRITER, (singing Fortunate Son): Ooh, their red, white and blue And when the band plays "Hail to the Chief" Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord

Fauci Restricted by White House, Attacked by Trump; Republicans Distance Themselves from Trump; Obama to Campaign for Biden in Philadelphia; Crowd at Trump Rally Chants 'Lock Her Up' About Gov. Whitmer.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause. Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, Donald Trump defying one of the most basic rules of politics: when in a hole, stop digging. Instead ramping up baseless attacks on the one man Americans trust more than any other when it comes to dealing with the pandemic. Learning the lessons of the first wave. Many countries across Europe moving quickly and decisively to reimpose pandemic restrictions as the number of confirmed cases surge and hospital ICUs begin to fill. Online and dropping out, the disturbing number of school students who've checked out of virtual learning.</s>VAUSE: It has been 1,368 days since Donald Trump took office and now with two weeks before Election Day, it seems the president of the United States is making a closing argument not based on what he's done, nor is it about what he would do with another four years in office. Instead, Donald Trump is ending his campaign for reelection with a schoolyard tactic of insults and name calling directed at one of the most respected medical experts in the country, Dr. Anthony Fauci. On the same day the coronavirus death toll in the U.S. passed 220,000, confirmed cases reached 8.2 million, the president called Fauci a "disaster" and said, "Americans are tired of hearing from Fauci and all these idiots." Insults were made on a conference call to campaign staffers and was followed by a rally in Arizona, one of 27 U.S. states where there are more infections this week than last.</s>TRUMP: By the way, you get it. Like I say, here I am. I'm here. I'm here and now I'm immune. I can jump into this audience and kiss every man and woman. I'm immune. Right? They say, it used to be you're immune for life. if you're a president, one thing you're guaranteed, lots of doctors. They would grab me at A, grabbed me by every part. They had hands all over me. I said, "Get the hell out of here. I just don't feel good." We ended up, I used the drug Regeneron, which nobody ever thought about six months ago. I woke up the next morning and I was like, I felt like Superman.</s>VAUSE: More details now on the president's day from CNN's chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: With the election day fast approaching, President Trump sounds like his running not against Democrat Joe Biden but against the man who's arguably the nation's most trusted health expert on the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci.</s>TRUMP: I don't want to hurt him. He's been there for about 350 years.</s>ACOSTA: The president his day of attacks on Fauci on a call with campaign staffers.</s>TRUMP: People are tired of COVID. I have the biggest people are saying whatever. Just leave us alone. They are tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths.</s>ACOSTA: Fauci got under the president's skin appearing on "60 Minutes" where the infectious diseases expert said he wasn't surprised when Mr. Trump contracted COVID-19.</s>ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people and almost nobody wearing a mask. Nothing good can come out of that. That's got to be a problem. And then sure enough it turned out to be a super spreader event.</s>ACOSTA: Drawing thousands of supporters who aren't wearing masks, the president is on an anti-science crusade at his rallies, accusing Biden of siding with the experts on the virus.</s>TRUMP: Biden wants to lock it down. He wants to listen to Dr. Fauci. He'll listen to the scientists. If I listen totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression.</s>ACOSTA: Biden responded to that charge of listening to the scientists with one word on Twitter, yes. Contrast that with Fauci who said he's been muzzled by the White House.</s>FAUCI: You know, I think there has been a restriction, John. But it doesn't -- it isn't consistent.</s>ACOSTA: The president snapped back at that remark too.</s>TRUMP: He gets a lot of television. He loves being on television. We let him do it.</s>TRUMP: Sometimes he says things that are a little bit off and they get built up unfortunately.</s>ACOSTA: But sources have told CNN for weeks that the president has opted to listen to the questionable advice coming from another doctor on the coronavirus task force, Scott Atlas, who tweeted a post had said masks work? No. A comment removed by Twitter because it violated the social media platforms rules. As most experts believe masks are effective. Atlas has become such a lightning rod, the Washington Post reported task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx complained to the vice president's office about him. In the meantime, the president is escalating his attacks on Biden.</s>TRUMP: Joe Biden is a criminal and he's been a criminal for a long time. And you are a criminal in the media for not reporting it.</s>ACOSTA: Biden is asking voters to reject the president on character grounds.</s>JOE BIDEN (D-DE), FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Words of a president matter. The words this president has used that our children have heard, our sons and our daughters, have been despicable.</s>ACOSTA: A Trump advisor questions the president's decision to attack Fauci two weeks before the elections, saying the campaign is already struggling to keep up with Biden's massive spending advantage. Adding, time is running out. Being outspent is a problem. No one ever thought we would be outspent. Time is our enemy. The president is more confident.</s>TRUMP: We're going to win. I would've said that three weeks ago, three weeks ago, two weeks ago. I don't know, I would've said it.</s>ACOSTA: A campaign advisor said the president's attacks on Dr. Fauci are ill-advised as they remind Americans of Mr. Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a subject campaign official desperately want to avoid -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.</s>VAUSE: Joining us now from Washington is CNN political camp and Democratic strategist, Maria Cardona and in Louisville, Kentucky, CNN political commentator and former special assistant to President George W. Bush, Scott Jennings. It is great for you both to be here with us. We appreciate it. Let's start off --</s>MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good to see you, John.</s>VAUSE: Let's start off with a little bit more from that phone call President Trump held with campaign staffers. Here it is.</s>TRUMP: People are tired of COVID. I have the biggest rallies I've ever had and we have COVID. People are saying whatever, just leave us alone. They're tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots.</s>UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Oh.</s>TRUMP: These people. These people that have gotten it wrong. Fauci's a nice guy, he's been here for 500 years. He called every one of them wrong."</s>VAUSE: Scott, you heard that woman gasp when he talked about Fauci. And people may be tired of the pandemic but how much is that actually born of a failure or a non-existent response by the Trump Administration? And do presidents get to be tired and say "whatever" during a crisis?</s>SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well -- I mean, look, he's probably right. There are people that are certainly tired of the pandemic. Unfortunately, the coronavirus is not tired of us. And it will continue to attack us as long as we're not willing to do the things that are necessary to defeat it. And until, frankly, we have a vaccine which is still several months into the future. I think the president, obviously, is mad at Dr. Fauci right now because they used a clip of Dr. Fauci in a campaign commercial and Dr. Fauci spoke out against that. So I'm sure Donald Trump is reacting to that. But as a strategic matter, if you want to try to throw a strategic frame on it, I do think there's a cohort of American voters, probably low political information voters, maybe they didn't participate last time, not terribly politically engaged, who would agree with the president. And so he needs those people to vote. So there's a whole lot of stuff going on here. By the way, none of it is good for the public health.</s>VAUSE: Yes.</s>JENNINGS: He might think it's good for his campaign, it's not great for the public health, of course.</s>VAUSE: So Maria, there seems to be a trend here. Don't like the polls then the polls are wrong, don't like the science then the science is all a conspiracy. Don't like what the experts say, trash the experts. Find another expert -- and in this one with zero experience in pandemics --</s>CARDONA: Right.</s>VAUSE: -- and infectious diseases to tell you what you want to hear. And as Scott just said, this is not good for public health.</s>CARDONA: That's exactly right, John. What the president said is actually true; we are all sick and tired of the pandemic. But mostly what we have is people still getting sick and 220,000 Americans dead from the pandemic that this president has been unable and unwilling to confront by using exactly the advice from the most well-respected infectious disease expense that there is right now in the world right now and that is Dr. Fauci. The ironic thing, John, is he could use Dr. Fauci to his good. And I don't think -- Scott is saying that he's probably doing this to get some voters that he still needs to get out to vote. But I'm telling you from every number that I have seen, what Trump desperately needs to do is to expand his base, to bring in more voters for his re-election.</s>CARDONA: To try to get more pathways to get to the 270 electoral votes that he needs to win. And what he does when he goes on these rants, John, is exactly the opposite. He's turning away and turning off more voters than what he's bringing in.</s>VAUSE: Yes. And just as an example for the kind of reporting that's been about Anthony Fauci. Here's some of the headlines over the last couple of months. From "The New Yorker," "How Anthony Fauci Became America's Doctor." Then there's an up close look at "America's Doctor," on "NPR." "France 24": "Dr. Anthony Fauci: A Lifeline for Americans through Pandemics and Presidencies." So, Scott, back to you. The president's just not telling the truth when he says Fauci called every one of them wrong. And, again, putting aside the harm which is being done here to public health. FDR during the darkest days of World War II never said the Nazis are too hard, let's give up on fighting fascism. JFK never gave up on the space race even though the Soviets were the first to put a man in orbit -- in space, rather. And Reagan never gave up on the Cold War, he didn't saying Gorbachev's wall is too big, let's just leave it where it is. I mean, presidents don't get to give up like this.</s>JENNINGS: Yes. And I think that one thing the president has never understood is that there's actually a lot of forgiveness in the American electorate. When we're facing an unprecedented issue like the coronavirus, I think people actually understand that government officials are going to try things, they're going to make decisions with imperfect information and that it may not all go perfectly. And that's certainly been true of some Republicans and some Democrats at the state level. But if you're earnest and you're honest and you're showing the American people empathy and that you're earnestly trying to get it right with the information that you have, there'll be a lot of forgiveness in this. I don't think the president has never fully understood this. And obviously he doesn't want this to be the dominant issue of his presidency or of his re-election campaign. But we all don't always get to choose what those dominant issues are. He would love to talk about the economy, he'd love to talk about anything but this. But this thing is dominating our lives here in the United States.</s>VAUSE: Just very quickly, Scott. As a Republican, does it turn you off, the president, when you hear that sort of stuff?</s>JENNINGS: Well, yes. Because as a Republican strategist, one thing Maria said is true. If he is picking up people out here who are sort of rejecting of the coronavirus measures, well, he's losing, say, senior citizens.</s>CARDONA: Yes.</s>JENNINGS: Donald Trump is much softer on senior citizens this year than he was in 2016. And it's because they don't think he's taking their health seriously. And so yes, it bothers me because being an incumbent president means you're having an on-the-job interview for your next promotion, which is your reelection campaign. And if is the dominant issue and your job approval is as low as it is on coronavirus, it obviously doesn't portend well for the politics of the party.</s>VAUSE: Maria?</s>CARDONA: You know what, I completely agree with everything that Scott just said. If Donald Trump would listen to Scott Jennings, he'd be in a much better position right now. But here's the problem. Scott mentioned that if a leader shows empathy, shows humanity, shows honesty, the American public is very forgiving especially in the face of a virus that the world had never known before a year ago, right? But the problem is, is that Donald Trump is unable and unwilling to show any kind of empathy, any kind of honesty, any kind of humanity. And that has been apparent not just with this coronavirus pandemic but with every issue where he has needed to show empathy, honesty and humanity.</s>VAUSE: OK. We've got two weeks until election day and now we're finally seeing many congressional Republicans trying to put a little distance between themselves and President Trump. Here's a sample.</s>UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Are you proud of your support for Donald Trump?</s>UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I'm proud of the work that we have done together.</s>TED SIMONS, MODERATOR, "PBS," ARIZONA: Are you proud of your support for President Trump?</s>SEN. MARTHA MCSALLY (R-AZ): Well, I'm proud that I'm fighting for Arizonans on things like cutting your taxes.</s>SIMONS: The question was are you proud of your support for President Trump?</s>MCSALLY: I'm proud to be fighting for Arizona every single day.</s>VAUSE: Also, Republican Senator John Cornyn told the "Fort Worth Star Telegram" that privately he's confronted Trump -- (inaudible) not publicly, on issues like debt, trade, border security. He went on to describe his relationship with the president as: "Maybe like a lot of women who get married and think they're going to change their spouse and that doesn't usually work out very well." Maria, is there a reality check underway right now for Republicans and is it sort of too late?</s>CARDONA: Yes. I think, yes, there's a reality check that could have happened a whole lot sooner than now. And yes, I do think it's too late. Because you know that all of those senators wanted to scream from the loudest and the highest rooftop that no, they're not proud of their support for President Trump. And they shouldn't be. And the thing is, is that they could've come out a long time ago and been able to look themselves in the face.</s>CARDONA: But then we know what would have happened, right? The few people who did try that, they are no longer in politics. That is what you get for confronting Donald Trump. But that is also get when you try to put country before party. These senators have not been willing to do that. And we'll see what happens in the election in less than two weeks or two weeks from now. We will see if those senators are going to start regretting that they did not come out and call Donald Trump out sooner.</s>VAUSE: So very quickly, we're almost out of time. If Donald Trump continues to talk about this rosy -- the big win, bigger than last time. And these polls which don't exist that show him way in front. There is a narrative he's setting up here for absolute total shock and disbelief by those among his supporters who only listen to him and don't actually read a newspaper or listen to any other news source. And that is when you have problems post election, isn't it?</s>JENNINGS: Well, look, I think we're going to have a clear winner. It may take a few days, it may take a couple of weeks to count all the ballots. So regardless of how people view it today, one of the -- the greatness of American democracy and our republic is that we have durable institutions. One of those institutions is free and fair elections, every two years we re-elect or elect a new president every four years. And it's going to happen and -- whether Donald Trump wins or loses. And the country will move on and we'll do it all again. So I believe in the durability of American institutions. And so, regardless of who's getting their information from where, I don't think we're going to have a problem no matter who wins after this election.</s>VAUSE: From your lips to God's ear. And we'll see what happens. Because I still think the jury's out on that one. But Scott and Maria, thank you both. Really appreciate it.</s>CARDONA: Thank you, John.</s>JENNINGS: Thank you.</s>VAUSE: Lessons from a recent past as COVID-19 casualties soar, parts of Europe are reentering lockdown as they confront a second wave of the pandemic. Details when we come back.

Chinese City Offering Experimental COVID-19 Vaccine to Public

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Just gone half past the hour, welcome back, everybody. I'm John Vause with an update on our top news this hour. Donald Trump going after the nation's top infectious disease expert as U.S. COVID cases continue to rise. The president told campaigner staffers Dr. Anthony Fauci is a disaster, and he said Americans are tired of hearing Fauci "and all these idiots." European countries are ordering tough new coronavirus curbs as infections soar. Wales and Ireland will become the first countries to reenter lockdown. A World Health Organization expert says the high numbers are largely due to self-isolation numbers measures not being enforced. And two weeks before the U.S. election, more than 28 million Americans have already cast their ballot, with record turnout for early voting this year. According to a CNN analysis, the total number of ballots cast so far represent almost 20 percent of the total ballots cast four years ago in the 2016 presidential election. Well, the Chinese city of Yiwu has become one of the first to offer an experimental COVID-19 vaccine to the public. The emergency-use vaccine comes in a series of two shots, with long lines, high demand, and supplies of the vaccine running dry in parts. Well, for more, CNN's Kristie Lu Stout, live for us this hour in Hong Kong. You know, one of the issues for China's healthcare system has been the cost of this vaccine and have they been able to make it free of charge to the entire population, not just this one in particular, just in general. And it's been sort of being looked out, and they don't believe they can. So what are they doing with this experimental one? Is there a charge? How are they going about it? And who's actually getting it?</s>KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's what's really interesting. And that's why we sent a team from CNN to go and investigate, given these reports coming out of Yiwu. So these reports out of Yiwu, saying that the city in eastern China was giving out experimental coronavirus vaccines at a nominal fee for the general public. So the team, led by David Culver, they went to the ground. This is what they learned. That No. 1, there was only one clinic that was distributing these vaccines. No. 2, that there was an age limit for the vaccine. Contrary to a lot of reports out there, children were not being vaccinated with this experimental vaccine. There was an age limit: for adults only between the ages of 18 and 59. And it was also being distributed on a first come, first serve basis. So by the time that David Culver and his team got to this clinic, they already ran out of the vaccine. But what they found instead was really interesting. They found a number of Chinese nationals who traveled even from neighboring provinces rushing into Yiwu to have an opportunity to take this, again, experimental vaccine. Not because of the status of the pandemic inside China. It's largely under control. But because of a desire to be able to travel internationally again. I want you to listen to this exchange between David Culver and a business woman named Anny Ku who traveled from Guangdong province to Yiwu. And she speaks fluent Spanish. Take a listen.</s>DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: OK.</s>CULVER: You said they told you they don't have any and so you have to go find another place?</s>KU: Mm-hmm.</s>STOUT: Now, to be able to travel internationally again, a number of Chinese nationals, including Anny Ku, they are clamoring to get vaccinated, even with this experimental vaccine. They want it and, critically, they trust it. You know, since July, an estimated hundreds of thousands of people in China have been vaccinated with these experimental coronavirus vaccines under an emergency use provision that's been authorized by the Chinese government. These individuals include frontline medical workers, border patrol agents, and international businesswomen and businessmen, as well. And some experts worry that these experimental vaccines may have unintended and perhaps harmful side effects. And not only that, one virologist I spoke to recently here in Hong Kong said, even if this vaccine passes Phase 3 or Stage 3 trials, or human trials, they still pose a risk. Listen to this.</s>DR. JIN DONG-YAN, VIROLOGIST, HONG KONG UNIVERSITY: In the history of vaccine development, there are many examples that, even if the vaccine has passed the Phase 3 trials, still, there might be problems. Whether there might be a D.E. (ph) in the case of SARS COVID 2, it is still unknown, and we have to find out. And only after completion of Phase 3 can we have a definite answer to that. Otherwise, it's risky.</s>STOUT: And not only that. China's vaccine industry has a spotty and troubled safety record over the last decade. The vaccine industry has been hit by a number of scandals, including scandals involving vaccines for children. That being said, a number of people, hundreds of thousands in China, and those interviewed by David Culver in Yiwu are willing to take experimental vaccines. And China, at the moment, in the vaccine race, stands out in front. Four out of the 10 experimental coronavirus vaccines that are now undergoing Phase 3 trials are being developed by Chinese manufacturers. Back to you.</s>VAUSE: It almost sounds as if they're charging the public to take part in a human trial. But that wouldn't be possible. That couldn't happen, could it, Kristie. Thank you. Kristie Lu Stout there, live for us in Hong Kong. Well, the second and final presidential debate before the U.S. election is this Thursday. This time, when Donald Trump or Joe Biden are answering a question, the other candidate will have the microphone muted during that response. It's meant to avoid the chaos and constant interruptions we saw from the first debate, mostly from President Trump. The Trump campaign already criticizing the change by the debate commission, calling it, without evidence, an attempt to provide advantage to their favorite candidate. CNN's coverage of the debate starts at 7 p.m. Eastern Thursday night, and it's Friday morning in much of the world. Be sure to tune in. Still to come, kids dropping out of school by not clicking on. We'll tell you what educators are doing to get kids back online.

Educators Search for Students Missing from Virtual School

VAUSE: In one California school district, 10 percent of the students have been missing from virtual lessons during this pandemic. But now educators and social workers have a plan to get them back into the virtual classroom. CNN's Bianna Golodryga finds out how.</s>ELISA OLMO, SOCIAL WORKER: We're from the school.</s>BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (voice-over): On any given week since the start of the pandemic, Laurie Butler Enciandia (ph) and Elisa Olmo set out together on a mission.</s>OLMO: The goal of what we're doing today is student engagement.</s>GOLODRYGA: They work for the Robla, California, School District in Sacramento. Like many California school districts, Robla's more than 2,000 students ranging from preschool to 6th grade, began the year learning virtually. Since the start of the school year, as many as 200 or more haven't logged in, according to school. Officials</s>RUBEN REYES, SUPERINTENDENT, ROBLA SCHOOL DISTRICT: The circumstances that our families face, unfortunately, are very much characterized by poverty.</s>GOLODRYGA: Ninety percent of Robla students live under the federal poverty level. According to superintendent Ruben Reyes, 20 percent do not have permanent housing.</s>REYES: I think the first challenge for us was making sure that when we were up and running with the program, that our children have devices at home. We did have families who did not have Internet. They did not have wi- fi in their home or in their apartment. And unfortunately, we also serve a pretty large homeless population.</s>GOLODRYGA: School administrators are alerted when a student doesn't check in with their teacher for three consecutive days or more.</s>REYES: There's been some very interesting stories. Families who were just gone. The instability of poverty is a big part of this. They were there, and now they're not.</s>GOLODRYGA: CNN recently had a chance to accompany Laurie (ph) and Elisa as they went out to find three students. We were warned not to get our hopes up.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the most challenging is when our families aren't there. That's the hardest, which happens quite a bit.</s>GOLODRYGA: With more than half of the nation's largest school districts offering only virtual instruction, teachers, superintendents, and social workers are facing similar crises. Chicago's public schools have had the largest drop in enrollment in decades this fall, by 15,000 students. Dallas has reported a 7 percent decline. And metro Nashville public schools in Tennessee saw enrollment decline by more than 4,200 students. Middle and upper-income districts are also reporting some declines in online participation. The biggest declines in attendance, however, tend to be in lower-income districts like Robla.</s>OLMO: We have some families that are just -- that they are having a very different difficult time with life in general right now. They're, you know, losing their jobs. They're maybe losing their House, and so school be -- gets put on the backburner. It's no longer a priority.</s>GOLODRYGA: Studies show that students who miss 10 percent or more of school days a year are at greater risk of dropping out in later grades, which is why locating those students is so critical. Out of the three Laurie (ph) and Elisa set out to find, they successfully spoke to just one parent, a single father who says his 11-year-old daughter has missed classes because he's had difficulty logging her in. Laurie and Elisa Walker walked him through it.</s>FLOYD LEE SR., FATHER: I appreciate that. I really appreciate that. For stepping out, coming out, reaching out, you know. I do need it, because I'm by myself.</s>GOLODRYGA: It's a sentiment shared by Laurie (ph) and Elisa.</s>OLMO: I'm so appreciative of having -- being in a position of having a job where I can go out to a person's House and say we are here to help any way we can.</s>GOLODRYGA (on camera): Is your goal to ultimately find them all and bring them back online through the help of these wonderful social worker?</s>REYES: It is very much our goal. We -- we cannot let even one child slip through the cracks. I know that that's a lofty thing to say, but -- but that's -- that has to be our goal. We have to make sure that we're reaching out.</s>GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Bianna Golodryga, CNN, New York.</s>VAUSE: An elderly couple in Florida has been forced to live apart for more than 200 days because of COVID-19.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who's waiting for him? Who's waiting for him over here?</s>VAUSE: During seven months in rehabilitation for an illness, Joseph Loreth was limited just phone calls and window visits with his wife of 60 years. That all changed this past weekend.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at him.</s>EVE LORETH, WIFE OF JOSEPH LORETH: Aww. I miss you!</s>VAUSE: A happy ending and some good news we can all do with right now. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. WORLD SPORT is next.

Trump Confirms Participation in Thursday Debate with Biden; Trump Insults Fauci, Calls Biden and Journalists Criminal; Record Number of Early Votes Transforming Election; John Fogerty Latest Artist to Ask Trump to Stop Using Song

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: The President's team has confirmed he'll take part in Thursday's debate with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. But Mr. Trump, and his campaign are already claiming the debate will be unfair based on the topics. A rule change that will allow microphones to be muted and what they call a biased moderator. Well, President Trump is on a campaign sprint across the country holding packed rallies, despite a surge in COVID-19 cases. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more now from the campaign trail.</s>JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: While President Trump continuing his mad dance to election day on Monday, barnstorming the state of Arizona with two stops, one in Prescot, and one right here in Tucson, Arizona. Now this is a state that President Trump won by four points in 2016. But now, according to the most recent polling averages the President is down, trailing Biden by an average of the same margin. Four points once again. And so, this is certainly a must win state for the President. And again, what we are seeing from him familiar lines of attack throwing out red meat to the base and attacking the Biden family calling them a criminal enterprise at this rally here in Tucson by focusing on those unsubstantiated and false allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden. So, it's clear that while the President is appealing to the base, not quite clear yet how he is appealing to those voters turned off by him, particularly the issue of the coronavirus pandemic. President Trump on Monday really continuing to downplay the pandemic, attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci who is the most trusted public health expert and the government's leading expert on this virus and on infectious diseases. But the President seems to have decided at this point that he is just going to focus on himself and on doing what he wants to do as it relates to the virus. And that certainly includes continuing to have these large-scale rallies where thousands of people attended as they did in Tucson, Arizona on Monday. Now what's interesting here is that the President's advisers, including his campaign manager Bill Stepien and the RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, back in July when coronavirus cases were surging then, they advised the President not to resume his rallies. But now as cases are surging once again the attitude seems to be that there are just two weeks left until election day. And therefore, the president just needs to carry on. Jeremy Diamond, CNN in Tucson, Arizona.</s>CHURCH: More than 28 million Americans have cast ballots in this election, shattering early voting records, and later today, voters in Hawaii, Louisiana, Utah, and Wisconsin will get their chance. CNN's Pamela Brown has our report.</s>ODALYS PEREZ, FLORIDA VOTER: There's a chance that your voice is not going to be counted. Why risk it?</s>PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Many voters are taking no chances. Already more than 28 million votes have been cast nationwide. That number representing almost 20 percent of the more than 136 million total ballots cast four years ago. Ballots are now available in all 50 states and D.C. with in-person voting beginning in several key swing states in the coming days.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.</s>BROWN: Today, it started in 52 Florida counties. And rain this morning in south Florida didn't stop voters from lining up before sunrise. For those voting by mail by midday Monday, more than 2.4 million ballots have been cast in the Sunshine State. That's only about 260,000 ballots fewer than all the mail-in ballots tallied in 2016.</s>PEREZ: I did have an absentee ballot, but I wasn't comfortable with everything that you hear on the news. So, I just decided to come in myself.</s>BROWN: Thirty percent of ballots coming from Republicans, 49 percent Democrats, and 20 percent with no party affiliation, which political experts say is a growing trend in Florida as more voters are turning their backs on both parties. In Georgia, early voting continues to shatter records a week in. A massive 653 percent increase in absentee ballots cast by mail over 2016. Today in Colorado, vote counting begins, as does in-person voting.</s>TRUMP: Say this is very incorrect --</s>BROWN: Meanwhile, President Trump continues to give Democrats every reason to be concerned about a potential peaceful transfer of power if he were to lose to Joe Biden.</s>TRUMP: Then they say, if you lose will you have a friendly transition? I say I want a fair election.</s>BROWN: CNN is now learning that Congressional Democrats, the Biden campaign, and outside groups are working on contingency plans behind the scenes, coming up with the two-part strategy in anticipation of that very scenario. Preparing for a post-election legal battle and messaging war into combating misinformation about voting. Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.</s>CHURCH: The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a Republican attempt to require mail-in ballots be received by election day in Pennsylvania. The court says officials can count these ballots if they're received within three days of election day, even if they don't have a postmark. Lawyers for the Republicans tried to argue that accepting ballots after November 3rd would inject chaos into the election process. Pennsylvania of course is a key battleground state in this election. Well, campaign rallies are all about creating as sense of excitement and energy around a candidate, often using music. And the President's events are no different. But now John Fogerty of Credence Clear Water Revival is demanding the Trump campaign stop using his song, Fortunate Son. The lyrics talk about avoiding the draft and paying taxes. Take a listen.</s>JOHN FOGERTY, MUSICIAN, SINGER, AND SONGWRITER, (singing Fortunate Son): It ain't me It ain't me I ain't no fortunate one, no Some folks are born, silver spoon in hand Lord, don't they help themselves, y'all But when the taxman comes to the door Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yeah It ain't me It ain't me I ain't no millionaire's son, no, no</s>CHURCH: Released in 1969, Fortunate Son became an anthem against the Vietnam War. Fogerty told CNN he doesn't support the current President. He also says he wrote the song to be critical of people just like Mr. Trump.</s>FOGERTY: One of the subjects that really ticked me off as I began to hear about Senators sons, and rich people's sons avoiding the draft or getting cushy jobs, they say, in the military, like, you know, entertainment director or something, and it just, you know, rubbed me the wrong way. I ended up writing this song. You could say I wrote this song about Donald Trump, although I didn't know him at the time.</s>CHURCH: Well, one city in China is offering some people an experimental vaccine for COVID-19. Now many are race to go try and get it without even knowing if it's safe. Back with that in just a moment.

Chines City Offers Some People Experimental COVID-19 Vaccine; U.K. Signs Contract for First Virus Human Challenge Trials; Russia Reports New Record in Daily COVID-19 Cases.

CHURCH: The Chinese city of Yiwu is offering an experimental COVID-19 vaccine to select members of the public. There are two doses for about $60 but the supply is limited, and demand is apparently very high. CNN's David Culver is following the story from Shanghai. Good to see you, David. So, any concern that selling this experimental COVID-19 vaccine to the public without being fully tested could result in negative side effects or worse, and will they be monitoring these people?</s>DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Rosemary, good to see you as well. You know, you hear the word experimental, and I think you and I both would be a bit uneasy to jump in on getting this vaccine. But the reality is we're seeing a mix of emotions here. There's hesitation for some, no question, but then you have an eagerness, you have a desperation, a determination from others who want this vaccine. They want immunity against COVID-19 here. And you've got to understand, this is not about the concerns within China because the reality is here most people are even taking off their masks. Life has come back to near normal. It's about leaving China. It's about these folks who want to be able to return to international business and education, and for that reason, they are tracking down any opportunity to get this vaccine.</s>CULVER (voice-over): They arrived early from all over China, folks lured to the international manufacturing hub of Yiwu city, specifically to this small community hospital. This is one of the first public locations where China's rolled out an experimental COVID- 19 vaccine. They began injecting people over the weekend. The cost, about 60 U.S. dollars for two doses. Word spread quickly. Some showed up Monday thinking they would get a shot. Annie Choo among them. This is something important to you. Isn't it? I asked her. Yes, she replied. Adding, because, well, if you have the vaccine it's much safer to leave the country. For more than twenty years Choo's worked in import/export, in Chili and returned home to China amidst the outbreak. She flew to Yiwu the night before we met her. It's a two-hour flight from her home in southern China. Either and admittedly a bit desperate for immunity. (on camera): And so, they told you they don't have any and so you have to go and find another place. (voice-over): Hospital staff confirmed to CNN they had run out. Local officials later announced this distribution was only for those with specific foreign travel needs and preapproval. Choo was not the only one disappointed. Notice the groups of people waiting around the hospital parking lot. Some of them traveled in from neighboring provinces, wanting the vaccine. (on camera): Yes, would you take the vaccine? (voice-over): Originally from Syria, we met Anas Chahouta, as he pulled up with his young daughter and wife in the backseat of their car. He was curious, if not also a bit hesitant. (on camera): If you were to walk in there, and they had it, would you take it today?</s>ANAS CHAHOUTA, YIWU RESIDENT: Actually, I don't know, I don't have the answer.</s>CULVER: As you kind of go through this main interest here, we do know folks are going in to inquire about how they might be part of this trial, essentially. Because you've got to remember, this is part of the emergency approval use granted by the Chinese government. This is not an actual release of an approved drug as of yet. (voice-over): The vaccine distributed at this Yiwu hospital is made by Sinovac Biotech. CNN took you through the Beijing-based biotech company in August. It is more than a dozen Chinese companies working on a coronavirus vaccine. At the time of our visit in late summer, they were construct a new facility to meet the production demands, while still going through phase 3 clinical trials which have not yet concluded. It all seemed to be happening at rapid speeds.</s>HELEN YANG, SINOVAC YOU BIOTECH: None of the staff is sacrificing any quality of our vaccine. Because Sinovac's goal is to provide a vaccine that's good quality, good safety, good in</s>CULVER: China has been trying to push past the early allegations of mishandling, cover ups and silencing of whistleblowers surrounding the initial outbreak in Wuhan. And instead, officials here have highlighted their swift and seemingly successful responses to many cluster outbreaks. The most recent Qingdao, last week following a major travel holiday. After only a handful of confirmed cases surfaced health officials began strict contact tracing and tested more than 10 million people in less than a week, and life it seems quickly returned to near normal again. But that's mostly within China, a bubble of sorts. For some whose livelihood is rooted in other parts of the world where cases are surging once again, their only hope may be the vaccine. Annie Choo and others on to the next location to track one down.</s>CULVER: And it's not just Yiwu, that city that we took you to there. We've also learned that Shaoxing, a city about 90 minutes away from where we are here in Shanghai is likewise rolling out a similar vaccination opportunity for folks. They're having a preapproval process, Rosemary, so essentially, they're trying to find people who have international travel needs, mostly for business. So, that shows how important the economy is in all of this. But to your question as to, are they just giving it to these folks and not tracking them? The companies behind these vaccines and there's about 13 here in China alone -- are certainly monitoring those who are receiving the vaccine, and they're also trying to determine if they have issues going forward. In fact, right now there is a news conference underway in Beijing in which two companies are discussing the current progress of these vaccine. And they say as of now they've have had no serious issues. So, there moving forward with it.</s>CHURCH: Wow, that is amazing. We'll watch it very carefully. It's extraordinary how this pandemic has pushed us to do remarkable things, hasn't it? David Culver, many thanks for bringing us to up to date on the situation. Well, urgent new restrictions are being imposed in countries across Europe as a second wave of coronavirus begins to take its toll. A sudden spike in both infections and hospitalizations has meant the Czech Republic is once again making masks mandatory. The rule applies in urban areas and for people in cars with other people who are not part of their household. Starting Wednesday, Ireland will impose some of Europe's strictest measures. No social gatherings in homes or gardens and restaurants and bars can only offer takeout. Wales will see a new two weeklong lock down beginning Friday. Everyone will be forced to stay home except for critical workers and those in jobs where work from home is not possible. The U.K. will conduct the first human challenge trials for potential COVID-19 vaccines at the beginning of next year. The British government is working with Irish pharmaceutical company Open Orphan on the trials, which involve deliberately infecting a participant with a disease under control conditions. Some critics call the process unethical since there is no proven cure for COVID-19. Let's turn to CNN's Phil Black. He's following the story from London's Royal Free Hospital. So, Phil, human challenge trials, very controversial. How is this going to work exactly?</s>PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So Rosemary, a small number of volunteers will receive a potential vaccine, and a few weeks later, they will be brought here to a secure facility at London's Royal Free Hospital, and then they will be deliberately dosed with the virus. And doctors will essentially assess, watch, see what happens, and determine whether or not that potential vaccine is effective. The idea is that this is a more efficient way to assess and identify the most promising of the many vaccines that are being developed around the world. More efficient because you're dealing with fewer volunteers and because you know with certainty that those volunteers will be exposed to the virus. And that's the key difference between a challenge trial and regular large scale field trails where thousands, many tens of thousands of people are given a vaccine, and then released to go about their everyday lives in the hope and the assumption that they will then at some point be exposed to the virus, and that data can then be assessed. It is controversial though, as you say. Because critics will point to the fact that the volunteers are young and healthy. They do not represent those in the community who most desperately need protection from an effective vaccine, and it is potentially risky. Because there's no guaranteed treatment for COVID-19. All of this will be closely assessed by an ethics committee. And they'll be looking at a simple calculus of risk versus reward. They will need to see that the potential reward of these trials outweighs significantly the potential risk to the volunteers who are taking part -- Rosemary.</s>CHURCH: and they are some very brave volunteers too. Phil Black, many thanks for brings us up to date on that. Well, officials in Russia believe they can avoid another full lock down despite a surge in coronavirus infections. A live report for you from Moscow next.

Fauci Restricted by White House, Attacked by Trump; Europe Tightness Virus Restrictions; Czech Republic Mandates Masks in Urban Areas; U.S. COVID-19 Cases Hit 8.2M; Music Artists Ask Trump to Stop Using Songs.

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Coronavirus cases are surging in much of the world. We'll have live reports around the globe. Plus, in the U.K., an attempt of a second wave is being made by some resistance with one major city pushing back. A live report coming up. In the U.S., President Trump slams Dr. Fauci, the country's most trusted infectious disease specialist, calling him a "disaster" after he bashed Trump's superspreader event. We will have the latest from the White House. Hi, welcome to CNN. I'm Robyn Curnow.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow.</s>CURNOW: We are now exactly two weeks away from Election Day here in the U.S. The coronavirus death toll has now topped 220,000 people, with more than 8.2 million confirmed cases. So instead of outlining its plan for fighting the virus in a second term, Donald Trump is resorting to name-calling, attacking the most respected medical experts, Dr. Anthony Fauci. He called him a "disaster." He said Americans are "tired of hearing Fauci and all those idiots." Meanwhile, we have new details on Thursday's second and final presidential debate. Donald Trump and Joe Biden will have their microphones muted during parts of the contest. President Trump says he thinks it's unfair but he will take part. Let's get the latest on the president's attack on Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of his own Coronavirus Task Force. Here is Jim Acosta -- Jim.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: With the election day fast approaching, President Trump sounds like his running not against Democrat Joe Biden but against the man who's arguably the nation's most trusted health expert on the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci.</s>TRUMP: I don't want to hurt him. He's been there for about 350 years.</s>ACOSTA: The president his day of attacks on Fauci on a call with campaign staffers.</s>TRUMP: People are tired of COVID. I have the biggest people are saying whatever. Just leave us alone. They are tired of it. People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths.</s>ACOSTA: Fauci got under the president's skin appearing on "60 Minutes" where the infectious diseases expert said he wasn't surprised when Mr. Trump contracted COVID-19.</s>ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people and almost nobody wearing a mask. Nothing good can come out of that. That's got to be a problem. And then sure enough it turned out to be a super spreader event.</s>ACOSTA: Drawing thousands of supporters who aren't wearing masks, the president is on an anti-science crusade at his rallies, accusing Biden of siding with the experts on the virus.</s>TRUMP: Biden wants to lock it down. He wants to listen to Dr. Fauci. He'll listen to the scientists. If I listen totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression.</s>ACOSTA: Biden responded to that charge of listening to the scientists with one word on Twitter, yes. Contrast that with Fauci who said he's been muzzled by the White House.</s>FAUCI: You know, I think there has been a restriction, John. But it doesn't -- it isn't consistent.</s>ACOSTA: The president snapped back at that remark too.</s>TRUMP: He gets a lot of television. He loves being on television. We let him do it. Sometimes he says things that are a little bit off and they get built up unfortunately.</s>ACOSTA: But sources have told CNN for weeks that the president has opted to listen to the questionable advice coming from another doctor on the coronavirus task force, Scott Atlas, who tweeted a post had said masks work? No. A comment removed by Twitter because it violated the social media platforms rules. As most experts believe masks are effective. Atlas has become such a lightning rod, the Washington Post reported task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx complained to the vice president's office about him. In the meantime, the president is escalating his attacks on Biden.</s>TRUMP: Joe Biden is a criminal and he's been a criminal for a long time. And you are a criminal in the media for not reporting it.</s>ACOSTA: Biden is asking voters to reject the president on character grounds.</s>JOE BIDEN (D-DE), FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Words of a president matter. The words this president has used that our children have heard, our sons and our daughters, have been despicable.</s>ACOSTA: A Trump advisor questions the president's decision to attack Fauci two weeks before the elections, saying the campaign is already struggling to keep up with Biden's massive spending advantage. Adding, time is running out. Being outspent is a problem.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): No one ever thought we would be outspent. Time is our enemy. The president is more confident.</s>TRUMP: We're going to win. I would've said that three weeks ago, three weeks ago, two weeks ago. I don't know, I would've said it.</s>ACOSTA: A campaign advisor said the president's attacks on Dr. Fauci are ill-advised as they remind Americans of Mr. Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a subject campaign official desperately want to avoid -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.</s>CURNOW: First lady Melania Trump will be campaigning with her husband on Tuesday. Her first campaign appearance in over one year. It will be in the battleground state of Pennsylvania for a rally. The first lady is also expected to attend the next presidential debate, according to a White House official. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump says he may hold 5 rallies on the last 2 or 3 days before the election. And Democratic nominee Joe Biden does not have any campaign events planned on Tuesday. He will be at home in Delaware. But Mr. Biden reacted angrily to President Trump's attack on Dr. Fauci on the pandemic. He said, "President Trump even criticized me yesterday for listening to the scientists. That's not an attack. That's a badge of honor," he said. Early in-person voting in the U.S. is breaking records. People are lining up for hours waiting to cast their ballots in the presidential race.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously seeing what is going on in Georgia and other places where the lines are pretty long --</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to make sure that my vote gets counted. I'm putting it in here. And I wanted to get done early.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have been waiting for a long time to cast my vote. and I think it's about time America stood up and said what they wanted to say.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I support President Trump.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my son. He is also voting for Biden.</s>CURNOW: We have more now from Pamela Brown.</s>ODALYS PEREZ, FLORIDA VOTER: There's a chance that your voice is not going to be counted. Why risk it?</s>PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just 15 days to go and many voters are taking no chances. Already more than 28 million votes have been cast nationwide. That number representing almost 20 percent of the more than 136 million total ballots cast four years ago. Ballots are now available in all 50 states and D.C. with in-person voting beginning in several key swing states in the coming days.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.</s>BROWN: Today, it started in 52 Florida counties. And rain this morning in south Florida didn't stop voters from lining up before sunrise. For those voting by mail by midday Monday, more than 2.4 million ballots have been cast in the Sunshine State. That's only about 260,000 ballots fewer than all the mail-in ballots tallied in 2016.</s>PEREZ: I did have an absentee ballot, but I wasn't comfortable with everything that you hear on the news. So I just decided to come in. Myself.</s>BROWN: Thirty percent of ballots coming from Republicans, 49 percent Democrats and 20 percent with no party affiliation, which political experts say is a growing trend in Florida as more voters are turning their backs on both parties. In Georgia, early voting continues to shatter records a week in. A massive 653 percent increase in absentee ballots cast by mail over 2016. Today in Colorado, vote counting begins, as does in-person voting.</s>TRUMP: Say this is very incorrect --</s>BROWN: Meanwhile, President Trump continues to give Democrats every reason to be concerned about a potential peaceful transfer of power if he were to lose to Joe Biden.</s>TRUMP: Then they say, if you lose will you have a friendly transition? I say I want a fair election.</s>BROWN: CNN is now learning that congressional Democrats, the Biden campaign and outside groups are working on contingency plans behind the scenes, coming up with the two part strategy in anticipation of that very scenario, preparing for a post-election legal battle and messaging war into combating misinformation about voting -- Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.</s>CURNOW: For more on this very important race, stay with CNN. And save this date. The final debate of the presidential election will take place on Thursday night. Our U.S. special coverage begins at 7 pm Eastern time, which is Friday morning in the rest of the world, at least. Where some of you are. All over Europe and many other parts of the world, COVID-19 infections are soaring. This week, the global number of cases passed 40 million according to Johns Hopkins University. On Monday, Argentina became the 5th country to report 1 million infections. Ireland is adopting some of Europe's strictest measures starting on Wednesday. No social gatherings at homes or gardens. Restaurants and bars can only offer takeout. Italy's Lombardy region, which was once Europe's ground zero in the pandemic is also facing a new curfew. It kicks off on Thursday.</s>CURNOW: In Belgium, where a curfew is already in place, the health minister says the COVID-19 situation is close to a tsunami. He's calling on all Belgians to protect themselves and their relatives. We have reporters covering the angles from all around the world, in Hong Kong, Israel and Colombia. We start with our reporters in Germany and the United Kingdom. Let's go to Salma Abdelaziz in Manchester, England. That is where local leaders face a deadline to reach a deal with prime minister Boris Johnson or be forced into toughest restrictions there. What is the latest there?</s>SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: Robyn, after nearly 10 days of back and forth, the government says they are essentially fed up. They say if they cannot reach an agreement by midday today with local leaders in Manchester, they will impose unilaterally tier 3 restrictions on the city. These 2 sides have been locked in a bitter battle for days now over prime minister Boris Johnson's plan to raise the alert level to tier 3 that would shut down pubs, bars, potentially gyms and ban any households from mixing. The prime minister's arguments is the cases are too high here. Something needs to be done to stem the rising surge. The mayor of Greater Manchester's argument is, if you are going to put us under a punishing lockdown in the middle of winter, you need to provide the financial package to help the businesses that will be affected under these restrictions. But it's important to remember here that Manchester is just one city in England. What we are really seeing play out here is a region by region system, each area negotiating its own system with the government. Meanwhile, the virus continues to spread through the population. Just to give you an idea, here in Manchester, Downing Street officials say that, in a matter of weeks, the city could run out of ICU capacity. We're also seeing other towns and regions rebelling against prime minister Boris Johnson's strategy. They're not the only ones. The country's scientific advisers have also said that a nationwide lockdown is better than this regional approach. We also have the four nations, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales also acting on their own. Wales have said, for example, that they are going to go through a 2- week lockdown. That, of course, is again a contradiction with prime minister Boris Johnson's strategy -- Robyn?</s>CURNOW: Thanks so much. Meanwhile, as Salma was saying, Wales is heading into lockdown starting Friday evening. Everyone in Wales has been asked to stay home for 2 weeks. Bars, restaurants and retail stores are being shut down; only essential businesses will be allowed to remain open. Government officials say it's the only way to combat the coronavirus there.</s>MARK DRAKEFORD, WELSH FIRST MINISTER: Everybody in Wales is fatigued by coronavirus. Everybody wishes that we could go back to the way things were before the virus began. Of course we are anxious about the stresses and strains and the demands we are making of people and of businesses. But the choice is not between doing this and doing nothing. If we do nothing, then our health service will be overwhelmed. Businesses will not be able to function, because the number of people suffering from the virus and needing to self isolate will mean businesses are not able to operate, either.</s>CURNOW: Out to Berlin, where Scott McLean is standing by. The German chancellor Angela Merkel is urging people to avoid social gatherings to stop a second wave of the virus there. What else do we know, Scott? What's it like at the moment?</s>SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Last Wednesday, the chancellor imposed new restrictions on virus hotspots, which includes Berlin; the bars have to close early. There are limits on social gatherings. And she said that the government would wait about 10 days to see how things are going. This weekend will be that gut check moment when Merkel has to decide whether to ultimately push for more stringent rules to get this virus under control. Since that announcement was made, the 7-day average of new cases has gone up by almost 25 percent. Over the ,weekend she put out this appeal to Germans to follow the rules and to avoid these large social gatherings to get the virus under control, saying how Christmas is this year will ultimately be determined by the actions of people over the coming days and weeks. The German system relies heavily on testing and tracing and isolating people. But when the numbers get too high, the system does not work too well. That is what she's trying to avoid. The much bigger story in this region is what is happening in the Czech Republic. In that country right now, they are reporting more new cases of the virus per capita than any other major country on Earth. Czech Republic was super successful in the spring in tamping down the virus, it had the lockdown and the travel restrictions. But what set it apart was that every person had to wear a face covering anytime they left the house. The trouble is they got a little bit complacent over the summertime and when cases started to rise, the populist prime minister, which had once been an advocate for this mask mandate, said no to reinstating it. Things have obviously changed since then. The health minister announced yesterday that that mask mandate would be coming back, not quite as strict as before but pretty close.</s>MCLEAN: Masks would have to be worn in any built up urban areas. They will also have to be worn in cars, with people outside of their own household. They were already required in indoor settings like in many other countries. So the health minister told me last week that he expected the cases to continue to rise until the end of this month. Obviously, after that, they are hoping that these new, stricter mask measures will ultimately make the difference in bringing down cases.</s>CURNOW: Thanks for that update. Good to see you, Scott McLean, live in Berlin. France is now the eighth country in the world to report more than 900,000 cases of COVID. It has seen a steep increase in hospitalizations as well. Melissa Bell is in Paris. Melissa?</s>MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The French first lady, Brigitte Macron, is having to self isolate for 7 days as per French regulations after coming into contact with someone who is COVID positive on Thursday. Nationwide, meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 patients in French ICUs is now above 2000. That is the first time that has happened since the month of May. The number of daily cases, however slightly down, we've seen 4 days in a row of rises above 25,000 on Monday, the number was just about 13,000. All eyes very much on the curfews that were placed in 10 French cities, including Paris, will have the desired effect. The French interior minister said they are being widely respected, although he did say that more than 3,000 fines had already been given. Over in Belgium, the health minister is warning of a possible tsunami that he says could leave the country unable to cope with a second wave that has hit the south and Brussels particularly hard -- Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.</s>CURNOW: I want to take a closer look at what is happening in Argentina. Here is journalist Stefano Pozzebon.</s>STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Argentina, just across the 1 million COVID-19 cases, the threshold, the second country in South America to reach the number after Brazil and only the fifth country all over the world. The vast majority of the Argentinian cases are confined in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area. And the intensive care units' occupancy rate is at 64 percent. Perhaps the sole positive news are of what COVID-19 is inflicting on Argentina, not only in the health section but also as an economic catastrophe. And Argentina is not the only country in South America where COVID 19 is growing and growing fast. Colombia is also approaching the 1 million cases figure -- for CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.</s>CURNOW: He's used to fights but now the chief Palestinian negotiator is battling COVID. And a Chinese city is one of the first offering an experimental vaccine to the public. But is it safe? We'll have live reports from Hong Kong and Jerusalem. Stay with CNN. We will be right back.

PLO Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat in Critical Condition

CURNOW: Welcome back. I'm Robyn Curnow. China says the coronavirus is mostly under control and the economy is starting to bounce back. Now one city is offering an experimental COVID-19 vaccine to the public. People started getting injections over the weekend, two doses for about $60. Now the vaccine hasn't been fully tested but there is clearly a demand for it anyway. I want to talk about this now with Kristie Lu Stout. Kristie joins us from Hong Kong. What do you make of this and what are people saying?</s>KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: There were these incredible reports over the weekend that this eastern Chinese city was distributing to the general public an experimental coronavirus vaccine. We sent a team led by CNN's David Culver to check things out. This is what they found. They found there was a single clinic that was distributing these experimental vaccines for about $60 U.S. or 400 renminbi for 2 shots. No children were being vaccinated here but you had to be an adult between the ages 18 and 59 to take this experimental vaccine. It was also being distributed at a first come, first served basis. By the time David Culver and his team reached the clinic in Yiwu, they had already run out. But what they discovered was interesting. A number of Chinese nationals, even from nearby provinces, had traveled and flown into Yiwu for a chance to pay for take the experimental vaccine, not because of the coronavirus inside China -- China largely has that situation under control -- but because of their desire to be able to travel internationally again. So for these individuals, they want the vaccine. They are willing to pay for this experimental vaccine. They trust the vaccine, even at the stage. Since July, hundreds of thousands of people inside China have been injected with a coronavirus experimental vaccine under an emergency use provision that is authorized by the Chinese government. These individuals include frontline medical workers as well as border patrol staff, even international business men and business women. But many people have cautioned that taking an experimental vaccine may have some unintended or harmful side effects. Not only that, even a vaccine that passes human clinical trials could be risky as well. I want you to listen to the thoughts from this virologist based here in Hong Kong University. He is currently working on a second stage vaccine. He says even when that passes phase 3, it's still quite risky. Take a listen.</s>JIN DONG-YAN, VIROLOGIST, HONG KONG UNIVERSITY: In the history of vaccine developments, there are many examples that, even if the vaccine has passed the phase 3 trials, still there might be problems. Whether there might be ADE in the case of SARS-CoV-2, it is still unknown. And we have to find out. And only after completion of the phase 3, can we have a definite answer to that. Otherwise, it is risky.</s>STOUT: Not only that, Chinese vaccines, the entire industry, has a spotty and troubled safety record over the last decade. A number of vaccines have been hit with scandals, even around vaccines intended for children. Despite all of these risks, quite a number of people inside China are clamoring for and willing to pay for an experimental coronavirus vaccine -- back to you.</s>CURNOW: Thank you so much for that update. Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat is in critical condition at an Israeli hospital. He was admitted on Sunday after testing positive for coronavirus about two weeks ago. Officials say his condition is now deteriorated and he is considered high-risk, because he recently had a lung transplant. I want to go straight to Jerusalem, Oren Liebermann is joining me now. Oren, hi. I had the back of Kristie's head for a while but we've got you. It's a good thing. We have concern around the world for Mr. Erekat. Do you know how he's doing?</s>OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We haven't gotten an update this morning from the hospital in Jerusalem. The, latest update we have is that he remains in critical condition. He came in the hospital on Sunday afternoon in serious but stable condition and brought there by ambulance from in Jericho. He's being treated at the hospital with the consultation of international medical experts. On Monday morning his condition deteriorated. There were tense moments and there remain tense moments. He was in and remains in critical condition.</s>LIEBERMANN: His wife, from the hospital, posted a short update last night, saying his oxygen level had gone up to 92. That was a positive sign. But there is a need for many, many, more positive signs. As you say, the world is watching and we have seen on Twitter, many of those he worked with and negotiated with, former U.S. ambassadors to Israel, former members of negotiating teams, reaching out and saying their thoughts and prayers are with him. They hope for a speedy recovery for him. It gives you the idea of the impact that he has had over his long career of negotiations, dealing with many people from many different countries.</s>CURNOW: All of this taking place in the wider context in the region in Israel; the number of infections have gone down, which has led to loosening of restrictions.</s>LIEBERMANN: It has. The latest update from the ministry of health is that there were about 1,500 cases yesterday throughout the country and a positivity rate of 3.5 percent. Those are very good numbers, especially compared to what they were just a few weeks ago, where there were more than 9,000 cases in one day and the positivity rate well over 10 percent. It is that improvement that has led the country's leadership to begin easing restrictions. But it comes with a warning. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says, if these numbers go up, we could go back to closures. We could go back to a second full and general lockdown. It is worth noting that, if you could compare the numbers right now to the numbers when Israel came out of its first general lockdown in April or May, numbers now, though better than they were a few weeks ago, are not nearly as good as they were when Israel chose to come out of that first general lockdown. That could very well end up being a worrying point.</s>CURNOW: Thanks for the update, Oren. Thank you. New concerns over future COVID vaccines and heart damage caused by the virus. Details ahead. Also, a new study shows an alarming trend in U.S. nursing homes when it comes to COVID. We will be right back with these stories.

Experts: Coronavirus Could Cause Long-Term Heart Damage

CURNOW: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Robyn Curnow. The number of people infected with COVID-19 worldwide has now topped 40 million, cases are spiking across Europe. Many nations are being forced to fight the virus with lockdowns and curfews. Italy's Lombardy region is set to start a curfew on Thursday. Slovenia also has had a curfew in place as it declares a 30-day state of emergency there. Ireland is now set to move to a 5 alert level, the highest level of restrictions, for 6 weeks. Wales has ordered a mandatory 2-week lockdown for all but essential businesses. In Belgium, the health minister says the situation there is close to a tsunami. The U.S. is dealing with more than 8.2 million COVID cases.</s>CURNOW: Still by far the most in the world. Some vaccine candidates in late stage trials are showing promising signs. But states have no idea how they are going to pay for them once approved or if people will actually feel safe taking. Them. Meanwhile new studies show long term heart damage is highly likely in some survivors as Nick Watt now reports.</s>NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Several studies show that this virus can attack the blood vessels, the lungs and the muscles in the heart that could lead to fatal consequences further down the line. Meanwhile, here in California, the governor has created a scientific safety review work group to look at any vaccine that's approved by the Food and Drug Administration before it is rolled out in California, a sign of just how little California trusts the federal government and the Trump administration -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.</s>CURNOW: A new study also finds many nursing home residents who tested positive for the virus actually did not show symptoms prior to testing. Jacqueline Howard breaks down the research.</s>JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH CORRESPONDENT: This new study shows that many COVID-19 cases in nursing homes are asymptomatic. They don't show symptoms, which can drive dangerous outbreaks. The study looked at more than 5,000 COVID-19 cases in nursing homes across 20 states. The study found that 40.9 percent of cases were asymptomatic; 39.8 percent did show symptoms. And about 19 percent were presymptomatic, meaning they did not show symptoms around the time they were tested but eventually developed symptoms later on. The study calls for universal testing in nursing homes to really help identify and isolate these types of cases -- back to you.</s>CURNOW: Thank you so much, Jacqueline Howard. For more, I'm joined by Dr. Esther Choo, a professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health and Science University. Doctor, lovely to see you again. I would not mind you commenting on those stats that we just heard Jacqueline lay out. What does that tell you, particularly because nursing homes, in many ways, particularly here in the States and Italy we know as well, really kickstarted the spread of this.</s>DR. ESTHER CHOO, OREGON HEALTH AND SCIENCE UNIVERSITY: It is absolutely true, what you say. It is hard to underestimate how much nursing homes really played a role in the pandemic here. In some states, close to 50 percent of the deaths were in nursing homes and other long term care facilities. It really is a setup for the spread of disease. You have the most vulnerable population, older people, many with chronic diseases. You have a pretty enclosed space, not a lot of ability to spread people out. Then, of course, you have a lot of congregated social settings and staff going from room to room. And I think the critical element of this virus spreading like wildfire in these facilities has been how readily it is able to spread when people are not symptomatic. Some of them will never become symptomatic, just as was laid out in that study. So I think we are starting to understand a little bit more about the conditions that allow virus to spread so readily in nursing homes. And I think really only a universal testing process and very rigorous contact tracing will allow us to get on top of the spread in nursing homes. Of course, when vaccines come out, nursing homes and other congregants living in facilities like correctional facilities will need to be at the very top of the list to get a vaccine so that we could hope to gain control of those settings.</s>CURNOW: You make a good point there. We also heard from Nick Watt and also Dr. Fauci earlier on in the show, how long term heart damage seems to be a concern. We've spoken about this before, all the various different parts of the body that seem to be attacked by this virus. What do you make of this, also the study of the heart damage?</s>CHOO: So fascinating that, the information that is coming out. We are now seeing about a quarter of hospitalized patients have some evidence of heart damage. That can be caused through a number of mechanisms. There could be thrombosis directly in the coronary vessels. There also appears to be a direct effect on the myocytes on the heart muscle cells by the virus. All that could lead to fibrosis in the heart muscle and heart failure. I think some of the extended symptoms in these long-haul patients who are having symptoms like fatigue and shortness of breath many months after the initial infection, may be due to the cardiac damage. But we don't completely understand it. We don't understand the extent of heart disease in patients with COVID who had mild symptoms or had very serious symptoms.</s>CHOO: I think we just need to continue watching the data as it comes out so that we know what to expect long term in terms of care needs and comorbidities after</s>COVID. CURNOW: That is key as well. When we talk about the sickest of the sick, in many ways, their blood could also be the one solution for others, which is in terms of these plasma treatments. What do you make of that?</s>CHOO: Not totally surprising but it is good to have this information that validates what we suspected, which is that patients who are very sick have severe COVID and require hospitalization seem to have the most vigorous response in terms of neutralizing antibodies. So that holds the most promise in terms of developing convalescent antibodies and therapies for other patients, who may be unable to mount their own immune response effectively. So especially, while we wait for a vaccine, identifying those kind of elite antibody manufacturers, those patients who are having the most vigorous immune response, may be the most promising bridge therapy.</s>CURNOW: We have also heard that men seem to get COVID more than women or at least seemed to suffer -- the outcomes seem to be worse with men, they're longer in ICU. Why is that?</s>CHOO: Another thing that we are just starting to understand. Immunologists are looking at how men are able to respond and, in general, men have a weaker response. Their T-cell response is not as vigorous as women's. Part of COVID has been how we develop auto antibodies that can impede our body's natural immune response to COVID-19 in a way that is harmful and actually keeps us from being able to fend off the virus and its more serious consequences. Men seem to have more auto antibodies. And aside from the biologic reasons why men may fare worse, there are probably social behaviors that make men more likely to get a high viral inoculum and get sick. So it's kind of notorious how we assume that men have more risk taking behaviors. But that seems to be true in the case of viruses as well. They are less likely to obey things like recommendations for wearing masks. They may be in more conditions, in social conditions, where there is a lot of exposure. So it's no doubt a combination of exposure to virus due to social behaviors and then also a very different biological response that seems to put men at more risk.</s>CURNOW: OK, thanks for. That all the questions I wanted to ask this Monday. Really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Have a lovely week.</s>CHOO: You, too, Robyn.</s>CURNOW: Next on CNN, a pointed message to the Trump campaign. John Fogerty is standing up for his song and taking action to keep it from being played at the president's rallies.

Fauci: States Skipping Over Reopening Benchmarks To Blame For Surges; U.K. Wants To Pay People To Be Exposed To Virus For Vaccine Trial.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: -- in what risk category, you, as an individual are in.</s>JOHN KING, CNN HOST: What you find most significant there?</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, everyone's talking about the vaccine as a single entity. And I think what's becoming increasingly clear, John, is there's going to be many, at least a few different vaccines, they may come out at different times. There's clearly people who should be at the front of the line, high risk healthcare workers, people who are vulnerable. What I think is interesting is that, let's say you're a young person -- for an older person, the vaccine should really reduce the likelihood that you get very sick, obviously. For a younger person who should do that as well, but the larger concern with the younger person is that they are going to transmit this virus as we're just talking about, even if they don't get sick, or even have any symptoms. So, the effectiveness of a vaccine for a different population, a younger, healthier population, maybe to decrease viral load in the nose, in the mouth, even more than reducing illness. Ideally, they should do both. But the point is that different vaccines may be more appropriate for different people at different times. And that sort of scheduling is something that they need to work on now because that demand is going to happen right away within the next couple of months, John.</s>KING: Another interesting thing from that conversation you had most recently yesterday with Dr. Fauci was this idea of how did we get here, right? You mentioned beginning back in April, the conversations, well, if you go back, you know, first there were the 14 days to stop the spread. And the White House extended that, then they put out very detailed guidelines for reopening that most public health experts said pretty good. You had this tiered system go through, wait two weeks. If you pass the test, go through. A lot of states blew through them, though. And that was a concern of Dr. Fauci. Listen.</s>FAUCI: When things began to open, they skipped over the benchmarks and the gateways and the different phases, and in some areas, essentially let it fly as it were. So, we wound up getting these surges. And when you get a surge, Sanjay, you have such a level of community spread, that it makes containment and control very, very difficult.</s>KING: That's in the context of the summer surge. When you could apply that right now, Sanjay, if you look at the positivity map across the country, you look at the case counts of new infections every day. We're at another very dangerous spot.</s>GUPTA: Yes, John, I mean, it is interesting to go back and sort of think about that time period, initially with these gating criteria which is, you know, I mean, that was released from the White House, from the task force and almost immediately thrown out the window. Really, as we went back and dug into this, there was really not a single state that really did abide by the gating criteria. You just mentioned, we can show you again, 14-day downward trend of cases. Why is that so significant? Because if you did the modeling on this, you realize no matter where you started, if you went down two weeks in a row, 14 days in a row, it would bring the viral transmission down to a containable level in your community. You add on to that testing and enough hospitalization and flu-like illness or COVID-like illness going down for 14 days as well. And all of a sudden, you were in a containment situation, as opposed to a mitigation situation. We never got there. And as a result, we've been playing catch up all along. Lowest we get was, what, 20,000 cases per day. And as you mentioned, we're now going back up and it's, you know, obviously a bad season in terms of clustering of people and likelihood of exponential growth. So, gating criteria would have worked. The five basic pillars of public health would have made a difference and can still make a difference, you know, wash hands, wear a mask, socially distance, avoid large indoor cluster areas such as bars. If we still do that, John, within a few weeks, Dr. Fauci says four or five weeks, just do those five things for four or five weeks, we could bend the curve. That's not a vaccine, that's not a new therapeutic. That's no magical or miraculous sort of intervention, it's those five things you see on the screen. Can we do that as a country? Because if we can, we could turn this thing around.</s>KING: We could, and back to those gate line -- the gateway put up by the White House, you had a green light, a yellow light, and a red light. Within days of announcing them, again, they were widely praised by public health experts within days of announcing the President said pay no attention to them, and urged states to reopen. Another conversation you had, this is with Dr. Fauci back in August, where he takes a personal experience of yours and relates it to where we were in fighting the pandemic. Let's listen.</s>FAUCI: You are a real world example of why we've got to do better. I mean, to say, and I know I've been in situations like that, I can get things done medically. So, fast, it'll spin your head. There you were in the operating room having to put on PPE, because you didn't know what your pay -- I mean, that is totally unacceptable. And for me to say anything different is distorting reality.</s>KING: Explain the personal story there, but especially the end there. For me to say anything different is distorting reality, that has been the trademark of Dr. Fauci through this even though the President keeps attacking him for telling the truth.</s>GUPTA: Yes, he was very blunt there. I mean, you know, the situation was, and I just shared it with him, was that I had been operating the day before. Typically, when you're operating, you want to make sure the patient that you're about to operate on doesn't have COVID, get a COVID test. We were able to get a CT scan, a cardiac echo, we're able to check coagulation profiles in this patient, we were about to remove a brain tumor, and yet we couldn't get a COVID test on that same patient. And this was, you know, I think it was sort of July, even maybe August timeframe. What was -- what had to happen then, John, was that all of us in the operating room had to go into full personal protective equipment, wear the N95 masks, the shields. We always wear, you know, gowns in the operating room. But we were using personal protective equipment that are typically reserved for COVID patients because we couldn't get a $5 COVID test, despite the fact that we're about to do brain surgery on somebody. So, it was absurd. At that point in the pandemic, clearly, even in a hospital, a patient about to have surgery, couldn't get a COVID test. I shared it with Dr. Fauci and he agreed. We are still nowhere close to where we need to be on testing. Maybe a million tests a day, which is a lot more than we used to. But some experts say 4 million, 5 million, even 20 million a day are what's necessary. It's a long ways away still, John.</s>KING: Long ways away at a very difficult moment. Dr. Gupta, appreciate your insights, looking back and forth. Thank you. Up next, we go live to Wisconsin where early in-person voting begins today.

Early In-Person Voting Begins Today In Hawaii, Utah And Wisconsin; Chief Justice John Roberts Sides With Liberal Justices On Pennsylvania Mail-In Ballots Ruling

KING: Breaking news just into CNN, the First Lady Melania Trump will not travel to Pennsylvania with the President as plan. Melania Trump was to attend her first rally in more than a year in Erie, Pennsylvania today. Remember, she just recovered from coronavirus. Her spokeswoman saying First Lady is recovered but she has a lingering cough and out of just caution, precaution she will stay at the White House and not attend that rally. We'll continue to track that story. Today, early in-person voting begins in Hawaii, Utah, and in Wisconsin. A big battleground states. CNN Omar Jimenez is with us now live from Milwaukee. An important day in a critical state, Omar.</s>OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, for starters, the balance of COVID safety and the duty of voting as an American is perhaps being balanced. No more so than anywhere else in the country than here in Wisconsin. You see this line here in downtown Milwaukee. It's a line that's actually shrunk significantly from what we saw in the early morning hours where some people were waiting up to two hours when the polls first open. Lines again have gone down but, you know, people came prepared, chilling, out in their chair, masked up. That's a 2020 move if I ever seen one. And everybody here coming to pay their civic duty and two voters we spoke to earlier spoke about the significance of making sure they came out and had their voices heard on this first day of early voting in Wisconsin.</s>ERIN SCHULER, BIDEN SUPPORTER, FIRST-TIME VOTER: What happens in this election is just so consequential. I think we've seen with the pandemic, with racial issues, with women's issues, the Supreme Court, I mean, anything and everything is on the ballot in this election.</s>KENT CARLSON, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I surprised to see early voting first day, pretty much lines around the block. It was more excitement, enthusiasm than I expected.</s>JIMENEZ: And, of course, this is all happening within the backdrop of the pandemic. If you remember back on April 7th in the primary here in Wisconsin, there were concerns over the COVID situation then but then the positivity rate was a little under 10 percent. Now, months later, that positivity rate is well over 20 percent. But people still coming out masks up, coming to make their voices heard. John?</s>KING: Big day in Wisconsin. Grateful, Omar Jimenez on the ground for us watching it all play out. Omar, thank you so much. President Trump today calling crazy, that's the President's word, a Supreme Court ruling that gives Pennsylvania more time to accept and count votes. The High Court ruled ballots can be counted if they are received up to three days after Election Day, even if the postmark is not legible.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Pennsylvania's pretty even. We got a ruling yesterday that was ridiculous, where they can count ballots after the elections over. What kind of a thing so? So, that does that mean, we're going to wait --</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Roberts.</s>TRUMP: -- we're going to wait after November 3rd and start denouncing states. It's crazy. But we got a strange ruling from the Supreme Court yesterday that was very strange.</s>KING: It was a split 4-4 decision. The Chief Justice John Roberts siding with three liberal justices. With me now is CNN Supreme Court Analyst Joan Biskupic. Joan, the Chief Justice taking some shots again today from conservatives.</s>JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST: That's right, John. And, you know, the President referred to it as a ridiculous ruling. But that was a decision that affirmed essentially let stand a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that said that because of the pandemic, because of more people voting by mail and because of mail delays, they had to extend the deadline for up to three days after Election Day. And they did it under their -- under the Pennsylvania State Constitution. So, it -- that court grounded it pretty securely. But here what you had a familiar picture, John, of John Roberts siding with the liberal side of the court to produce this deadlock that lets the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision stand. And as I said, we've seen this before. He is still a true conservative in many ways, but in some of these highly visible, partisan drenched cases, with lots of Americans watching to see what the Supreme Court will do, he will shift to the left and produce these kinds of outcomes. It's not going to be a long lasting pattern, though, John, because the Chief Justice has had unprecedented control as both the chief and at the center of the ideological spectrum that -- but that will all change next week when Amy Coney Barrett, presumably will be approved by the Senate and come on. And she has a record, John, that is far to the right of the Chief Justice. And President Trump himself has said that he wants her on the Supreme Court, just in case an election dispute goes to the justice system. He says there should be nine there. So these are very important issues, and we could be headed for a very decisive Supreme Court ruling that could affect whether President Trump can fight off challenged by former Vice President Joe Biden. John?</s>KING: Without a doubt. More cases in the pipeline. We will see, a, how many make it to the court and then, b, how it all turns out. Joan, grateful, the important insights there on the chief. Up next for us, the U.K., get this, wants to pay its citizens to expose themselves to coronavirus.

Trump Calls SCOTUS Ruling on PA Mail-In Ballots "Very Strange"; Melania Trump Cancels Travel to Rally, Cites COVID Recovery; Biden Adviser: Biden Preparing for Trump to "Bully & Deflect" and Attack His Family in Debate; Obamacare Premiums Decline for 3rd Year in Row as Trump Looks to Kill

KEILAR: Fourteen days to Election Day. The final debate is 48 hours away. Joe Biden is in Delaware, off the campaign trail. President Trump tonight holds a rally in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania. The president's visit follows a Supreme Court ruling that Pennsylvania's mail-in ballots can be counted if they're received up to three days after the election, even if they don't have a legible postmark. The president, not happy about it this morning.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (voice-over): We got a ruling yesterday that was ridiculous, where they can count ballots after the election is over. What kind of thing. What does that mean?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FOX HOST: John Roberts.</s>TRUMP: We're going to wait until after November 3rd and start announcing states? It's crazy. But we got a strange ruling from the Supreme Court yesterday. It was very strange.</s>KEILAR: Kaitlan Collins is our White House correspondent. She is in Erie, Pennsylvania ahead, of the president's campaign stop there tonight. And M.J. Lee, our political correspondent, is covering the story from Wilmington, Delaware. Kaitlan, to you first. Melania Trump was supposed to join the president. Now she is not. What happened?</s>KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we just got a statement from her chief of staff saying that the first lady will not be joining the president here in Pennsylvania today as scheduled to do. She said in the statement it is out of abundance of caution. But she did say Melania Trump still has a lingering cough after her recent bout with coronavirus, of course, which she announced last week that she tested negative for. And said she pursued a much different treatment route than the president did. Instead, not taking any of those aggressive treatments that the president took, that steroid and the antibody treatment from Regeneron. And instead relied on herbs and teas and vitamins, she said, for her treatment. But she will not be coming here to Pennsylvania. And this is noteworthy, Brianna. It would have been the first time we saw Melania Trump joining the president on the campaign trail since 2019 when there was a rally to kick off the president's re-election swing last year. She was there in Florida. We were there for that. But she will not be here on the campaign trail with the president just two weeks before Election Day. And that's notable, of course, as the president is trying to build support with suburban women voters who helped him win states like Pennsylvania in 2016. Now of course, he is trailing Joe Biden. And they're not expected to meet again until Thursday when they're on the debate stage, given that Joe Biden is not out here campaigning in Pennsylvania. So it is likely the president may reference that tonight. And also, of course, that monumental Supreme Court decision to allow the state of Pennsylvania and their counties to take the ballots up to three days after Election Day. Something that you heard from the president he wasn't happy about on that phone interview with FOX News this morning. But then we've also heard from surrogates as well. They do see it as a major win for Democrats. You're seeing how Democrats are out-registering Republicans in Pennsylvania and requesting more absentee ballots by a sizable margin than Republicans are -- Brianna?</s>KEILAR: Kaitlan, thank you. M.J., you have new details. Because, as we look towards the next debate, of course, both candidates should be preparing. But I know you have details on how Joe Biden is preparing.</s>M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brianna. This is the second day in a row that we have seen Joe Biden off the campaign trail. He is here in Wilmington, Delaware, today meeting with advisers. And we were just talking to a Biden adviser about what the campaign is expecting heading into Thursday night. One of the things they said was that they fully expect President Trump to, quote, "bully and deflect" on the debate stage. And also, not only is the former vice president expecting attacks on him, but he is again expecting President Trump to attack his family members as well. Of course, in the first debate, we saw President Trump going after Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden. And in terms of what the Biden campaign is hoping in terms of Biden's overarching goals for debate night, they say they're not so different from the first debate. He wants to talk directly to the American people. He obviously wants to talk a lot about COVID-19 and bringing the economy back. As part of that, we are obviously going to see Biden, as he has been doing the last few weeks, point out the fact that President Trump has not been painting a realistic picture about how serious the virus is. In terms of the new Debate Commission rule that was announced about muting mics for two minutes while each candidate gets two minutes to speak uninterrupted, this Biden adviser said they expect the similar kind of performance from President Trump. And as for enforcing the rule that each principal has to get tested for COVID-19 before the debate, they said that's up to the commission and the Cleveland Clinic. We'll see what happens on that front. Before I go, I just want to note that tomorrow we are going to see a very high-profile surrogate campaign on Biden's behalf on the campaign trail. Former President Barack Obama is going to be in Philadelphia at a drive-in rally. This is a kind of event that's become a signature Biden campaign event in the middle of the pandemic -- Brianna?</s>KEILAR: All right. We'll be watching. M.J., Kaitlan, thank you to both of you in Pennsylvania and Delaware for us. For the third year in a row, premiums for the benchmark plans sold through the Affordable Care Act federal exchange, it's getting cheaper. Even as President Trump railed against Obamacare and pledged to scrap it and replace it with a new but yet-to-be-announced Republican health care plan. His administration is taking credit for making the Obamacare plans more attractive to consumers. I want to bring in CNN senior writer, Tami Luhby. Tami, we're in the midst of a pandemic. There's record unemployment. Why are premiums going down?</s>TAMI LUHBY, CNN POLITICS SENIOR WRITER: Well, the Affordable Care Act is becoming a little bit more affordable. Premiums for 2021 will go down 2 percent, on average, for the benchmark silver plan. Which means a 27-year-old will be paying, on average, about $379 while a family of four will be paying just under $1,500. Now this is the third year in a row that premiums are going down. The total is 8 percent. Why is that happening? Because when insurance first came on the market, when the market was first created in 2014, they didn't know how to price their premiums. It ended up that people were a lot sicker than they expected and insurance lost a lot of money. So over the first few years, they increased their premiums a lot in order to make up for the huge losses they were experiencing. But now finally, insurers have figured out how much to charge consumers. And for the last three years, they've been dropping premiums slightly. As I said, total of 8 percent. And they're now finding the market to be pretty attractive and, for many, profitable.</s>KEILAR: Can you fact-check the claim by the Trump administration that they're making this more attractive for people to purchase Obamacare? Is that true?</s>LUHBY: Well, in one way, they are. They have actually passed a lot -- they've approved a lot of state applications for what we call reinsurance, which shields insurers -- what we call reinsurance, which shields insurance from high-cost patients. Through these waiver approvals, states have been able to lower the premiums for the plans. So in that respect, it is helping lower premiums.</s>KEILAR: Very interesting. Tami, we will be watching with you to see what happens with Obamacare as the administration wants to dismantle it, even as there are things they're doing to make it more popular. It is very odd. Tami, thank you very much for walking us through that. Just ahead, a lawmaker from South Dakota is going to join me live. He's going to talk about his personal battle with coronavirus. And he says it was so bad, he went to the emergency room twice this month. Plus, health officials in one state are blaming white people who refuse to wear masks for the big outbreaks they're seeing there. We'll have details ahead.