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The Situation Room
Woodward: Sasse "Got Caught Telling The Truth"; Tough New Restrictions On Indoor Gathering In Britain; For Three Years, Feds Chased Suspected Foreign Link To Trump's 2016 $10 Million Donation, With Extraordinary Secrecy; "Ominous" Signs COVID Second Wave is Now Hitting U.S. as Deaths Top 217,000 and Cases Near 8 Million; Trump Claims U.S. "Doing Fine" as New Cases Surge and CDC Projects Up to 23,000 More Deaths by Nov. 7; Trump Falsely Claims Dr. Fauci, Who has Served Under 6 Presidents, is a Democrat; Trump Arrives in Miami as He and Biden Set to Hold Dueling Town Hall. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired October 15, 2020 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[17:00:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: May his memory and the memories of all of those we've lost to this horrible virus be a blessing.
You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter @jaketapper. You can tweet the show @theleadcnn. Our coverage on CNN continues right now. Thanks for watching.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in the Situation Room.
We're following breaking news, ominous signs right now that the United States is entering a dreaded second wave of the coronavirus pandemic as the death toll here in the U.S. now tops 217,000 people and the number of confirmed cases approaches 8 million.
Despite that very grim reality, President Trump says the country is, "doing fine," a claim belied by a new CDC projection of up to 23,000 more U.S. COVID deaths by November 7.
The President is just arriving in Miami to participate in one of two dueling town halls tonight replacing a debate that was cancelled after Mr. Trump refused to take part virtually due to his coronavirus infection.
Let's start off our coverage of our Miami right now. Our Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta is on the scene for us.
Jim the President, he's in clearly in full campaign mode with less than three weeks to go until the election?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. President Trump is on his way to a town hall here in Miami after he backed out of what was supposed to be a presidential debate with Joe Biden. The President is already claiming he's being, "set up in tonight's town hall." Mr. Trump is also attacking one of his administration's top health experts Dr. Anthony Fauci. That's despite the fact that the President was featuring Fauci in one of his campaign ads just a few days ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): On the night of dueling televised town halls with Democrat Joe Biden, President Trump is complaining about imaginary forces conspiring against him from the news media --
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So you're not being set up tonight, right?
And so they asked me if I do it, I figured what the hell, we get a free hour on television.
ACOSTA: -- to Dr. Anthony Fauci from the President's own Coronavirus Task Force.
TRUMP: And yes, my friend and he's a nice guy, Tony, Tony Fauci, he's a nice guy.
He said, this is not a threat. This is not a problem. Don't worry about this. There's no problem. It's the craziest thing.
But he's a nice guy. So I keep him around, right? We keep him around.
ACOSTA: The President is lashing out at one of the nation's most trusted health expert just days after Fauci was taken out of context in a Trump campaign
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I can't imagine that anybody could be doing more.
ACOSTA: After that, the President's attack on Fauci came as Mr. Trump staged yet another rally where many supporters were not social distancing and not wearing masks.
Just like top White House officials traveling with the President, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and advisor Hope Hicks, who weren't using masks as they boarded Air Force One. Even as the virus is raging out of control, the President is insisting his administration has a handle on the pandemic.
TRUMP: We're not doing any more lockdowns and we're doing fine.
ACOSTA: But this is fine? The Centers for Disease Control is forecasting as many as 240,000 deaths by November 7, with 59,000 new cases. And 985 deaths reported Wednesday. Mr. Trump is portraying himself as a warrior against lockdowns blasting Democratic leaders like Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer.
TRUMP: And they ought to open up the states. That's the other thing with the Democrats, maybe more important, open up the stage. She wants to be a dictator in Michigan. And the people can't stand her and they want to get back, and they want to get back to work. ACOSTA: It's not clear how seriously the President has taken the virus as you he conceded he's not being tested every day for COVID-19.
TRUMP: I'm tested not every day, but I'm tested a lot. I was really tested a lot after I got rid of it because they wanted to make sure and I was tested a lot.
ACOSTA: Contradicting what the White House said earlier this year.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President is the most tested man in America. He's tested more than anyone multiple times a day. And we believe that he's acting appropriately.
ACOSTA: President is again raising worries about what he'll do after Election Day, refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses.
TRUMP: I'm not saying anything. I'm saying this, I think everybody says it, you have to have a fair election.
ACOSTA: Mr. Trump is continuing his war of words with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi even as she is negotiating with administration officials over a new coronavirus relief bill.
TRUMP: She's got a lot of problems. She's got a lot of mental problems. And it's going to be very hard to do anything with her.
She wants to wait till after the election. She thinks it hurts the Republicans and I don't. I think it hurts them.
ACOSTA: Complicating those talks and Republicans want a stimulus package that's far smaller than what Pelosi and the administration are discussing.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R) MAJORITY LEADER: The word discussions going on between the (INAUDIBLE) Speaker about a higher amount. That's not what I'm going to put on the floor.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Now, during his attack on Dr. Fauci earlier today, the President accused the administration's health expert of being a Democrat. There is no evidence that is the case.
More importantly, it's a ridiculous charge because Fauci as we know, Wolf, has served under six presidents from both parties.
[17:05:07]
And when he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the president at that time was a Republican, George W. Bush. Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes. Terrible what he's saying about Dr. Fauci terrible, indeed.
All right Jim Acosta, thank you very much. Let's get some more of the breaking pandemic news. Brian Todd is working on more on this story for us.
Brian, health experts are warning almost -- they've been warning from almost the beginning that the U.S. potentially could face a second wave of this virus certainly seems to be the case. We're seeing elements of that emerging right now.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. Lots of talk tonight about a second wave happening. You've got record cases in Illinois, and other states. You know, new coronavirus cases across America are shooting up to disturbing new levels.
And you've got health officials now warning of new dangers outside of American cities.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: New warnings tonight that this pandemic is taking a devastating toll on rural America. Tennessee's Health Commissioner sounding an alarm for her state.
DR. LISA PIERCEY, TENNESSEE HEALTH COMMISSIONER: That has been very startling to me and the team over the last several days, our death rate in rural population is double that in the urban population.
TODD: In Kentucky, one of at least seven states that have just reported record high hospitalizations for one day. The governor says residents need to be jolted into action.
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR, (D) KENTUCKY: Everybody ought to be concerned and everybody ought to be doing the right thing. And those that are out there that try to confront you for wearing a mask or being a jerk, that's all they are. And they're putting your health at risk.
TODD: Wisconsin just reported more than a thousand hospitalizations. Its highest number for a single day since the pandemic began.
What's behind the spikes in rural areas across the U.S.?
JESSICA MALATY RIVERA, THE COVID TRACKING PROJECT: Some of the bigger mandates that happen in cities like mask wearing and physical distancing are not really transmitting or going as far as rural areas.
TODD: And concerns tonight about other states with large rural populations getting hit harder.
In Georgia, the governor's executive orders requiring social distancing and limiting mass gatherings expire at midnight tonight and so far haven't been extended. This comes as 35 states are trending upward and experiencing new coronavirus cases. And for the first time in months, the U.S. recorded nearly 60,000 new cases in one day on Wednesday.
RIVERA: A lot of reasons that can explain these trends, number one, fall weather usually brings colder temperatures and that means more people are doing indoor activities, which is very high risk when it comes to virus transmission. We're seeing some restrictions loosening in several states.
TODD: Meantime, America's top voice on the pandemic citing the dangers of household gatherings told ABC that this year more Americans may have to forego bringing their extended families together for Thanksgiving.
FAUCI: We really have to be careful this time, and each individual family evaluate the risk benefit of doing that.
TODD: And there's new pushback to the idea of so called herd immunity, letting the virus run unchecked through communities so more people would contract COVID-19. The thought being, some could later develop resistance to the virus. It's been promoted by some scientists and some people in the Trump administration. But 14 public health organizations are condemning the idea.
FAUCI: If you just let things rip and let the infection go, no masks, crowd, it doesn't make any difference. That quite frankly, is ridiculous.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: And there's new concerns tonight that another great fall institution college football could be in some jeopardy. The biggest name in the sport, Alabama head coach Nick Saban has tested positive.
The coach of the University of Mississippi says his team is, "having issues with COVID after playing Alabama last Saturday."
And a big game between Florida and LSU slated for this coming weekend has had to be postponed at least until December after several members of the Florida program tested positive. Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes. Clearly this coronavirus pandemic is escalating, you know, even as we speak. Brian, thank you very much.
Let's get some more on all of this. Our Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is joining us.
Sanjay, based on the growing number of new cases, the growing number of hospitalizations, the U.S. is clearly beginning to see what the experts call a second wave of the virus. Are we headed for another surge in deaths? I hope not, but potentially like the one we saw in the early spring?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, unfortunately, Wolf, it sort of looks that way.
I mean, you know, if you look at the map overall for some time, it was sort of this patchwork, right? You saw this increasing in cases and one part of the country stable or even decreasing other parts of the country. And the wave sort of moved across the country, back and forth and up and down. But as you point out Wolf now, more states than not actually increasing in numbers, none really going down anymore. So, it's starting to really consolidate around this second wave unfortunately.
And Wolf, you know, there's not a lot of context for this, right? Though, call them wave in part because as you mentioned what happened back in 1918, and we can show that again, there were sort of three major waves at that point and it was the second wave. There, if you can see that it's a little bit smaller.
[17:10:11]
If you can see that timeline sort of fits exactly with what's happening now, sort of saw a significant pick. You know the first wave in the spring, they had a much -- more significant leveling off. And then the second wave, which began sort of in October timeframe is the real concern.
Wolf, that's exponential growth that you're looking at, the line that goes straight up. And that's what everyone's talking about and trying to prevent.
BLITZER: Yes. And what was really disturbing, the CDC now forecasting what -- up to 240,000 U.S. deaths by November 7, only in a few weeks, 217,000 deaths right now, that means what, another 23,000 deaths in the next few weeks.
The President claims the U.S. is in his words, doing fine. He says, doing just fine.
Almost a thousand Americans are dying every day. Yesterday, we just checked, 985 Americans died just yesterday. Why is the President of United States saying we're doing fine?
GUPTA: No, I mean, I think he's obviously trying to paint a rosy picture here. You know, the numbers obviously tell a very different story.
And, you know, we look at the overall number of people who are newly infected, and you know, 10s of thousands, 50, 60,000 people a day, it's unbelievable that we just talked about that as if it's a, you know, it's a daily thing now.
I mean, there are countries around the world that haven't had that many cases, near that many cases throughout this entire pandemic. And it's a daily thing here.
The concern though, Wolf, is that, you know, the death rate, you know, the number of infections go up, but we're still seeing, even though younger people may be more likely getting infected, we're still seeing as you point out these tragic deaths. So you know, this idea that if you're young and you're healthy, doesn't matter. It does matter. Because the death rate has not gone down. It's going up and that people are spreading it even if they don't know it.
BLITZER: And nearly 60,000 confirmed cases here in the United States just yesterday, and nearly a thousand deaths.
All right, Sanjay, thank you very much. Dr. Sanjay Gupta always helping us.
Up next, we'll have more on tonight's dueling presidential town halls. We'll also check in on the Biden campaign and what we can expect from the Democratic presidential nominee.
Plus, serious concerns over the coronavirus keeping his running mate Kamala Harris off the campaign trail. And we're just learning that someone on former Vice President Biden's plane has now just tested positive as well. We'll update you on that. Stay with this.
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[17:16:51]
BLITZER: The breaking news this hour, President Trump arriving in Miami for a town hall that will go head to head with the Joe Biden town hall in Philadelphia. The debate that was scheduled for tonight was cancelled after President Trump refused to take part virtually despite his coronavirus infection.
Our Political Correspondent Arlette Saenz is covering the Biden campaign for us. She's in Philadelphia already.
Arlette, so what should we expect from this town hall tonight?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Joe Biden will be taking questions directly from voters as he participates in an ABC News town hall here in Philadelphia. This town hall coming about happening on the night that that second presidential debate was supposed to be held.
The Biden campaign had agreed to a virtual debate, but the President cancelled it. And once he backed out the Biden campaign said that they were going to make other plans, scheduling this town hall. Biden has participated in quite a few town halls over the course of his candidacy, including several with CNN. And his campaign in the past have felt that these have been favorable formats for the former vice president to directly speak to voters.
Now this town hall is being held here in Philadelphia by ABC News. The moderator this morning said that Biden will receive a mix of questions from a mix of people, undecided voters, and some people who've already made up their minds for supporting either Biden or Trump. And everyone inside that room will be tested for coronavirus.
ABC News says the former vice president himself tested negative for coronavirus last night. And this is coming as we are just 8 -- 19 days out from Election Day and Joe Biden is entering that final stretch with a lot of cash.
His campaign announced last night that he raised $383 million dollars in the month of September. A major financial advantage he has at this moment. BLITZER: Yes, a ton of ton of money. All right, Arlette, thank you very much.
Let's dig deeper right now. Our CNN Political Correspondent Abby Phillip is with us. CNN Chief Political Correspondent Dana bash and our Political Director David Chalian -- town halls.
But first, the President is launching a new direct attack, Dr. Anthony Fauci, claiming the top doctor is simply a Democrat. These attacks on Dr. Fauci went almost a thousand Americans are dying almost every day. I got to tell you, frankly, disgusting, but what's been the reaction?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you heard the reaction in the crowd. He was getting some attaboys and applause or maybe the better way to describe it was boos when he said Anthony Fauci's name.
And that is because that he -- they somehow, the Trump White House, the President at times, although he has been a little bit more careful, sometimes tongue in cheek but a little bit more careful than others in the Republican Party to really slam out the Anthony Fauci. They've made him into a Boogeyman, which, as you said, makes absolutely no sense.
It's as if they can't really make the coronavirus the real enemy, which is that's what it is. It is the virus as the enemy. So, they're making Anthony Fauci who does is as careful and as diplomatic as he can be much more than I think anyone else would be in that position.
[17:20:03]
And it is unfair. And you know, I think the person who would be the most surprised to hear that he's a Democrat is George W. Bush, who gave him, you know, one of the highest honors that a president can give to an American citizen to a civilian. And that's what he did to Dr. Anthony Fauci. And it was well deserved. And I think it's an objective statement to say it still is.
BLITZER: Yes. I mean, he's saved so many lives over the years. It's really disgusting.
You know, Abby, right now, we're what, 19 days from the presidential election, we've only seen one debate between President Trump and former vice president Biden. Tonight, instead of facing off as all of our viewers know, the candidates are going to appear in separate town halls at exactly the same time. So what impact you think this is going to have on the contest?
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Wolf, it's really interesting, because the President was the one who backed out of a virtual debate, and is doing this town hall instead.
But based on his own comments, today, his own tweets today, it seems to suggest that perhaps the President doesn't actually want to do this. He has been slamming NBC News, he's been sort of pre spinning the town hall tonight, a town hall with voters and saying that it's going to be, you know, bad for him, or that the audience is going to be stacked against him.
This is a president who does not sound like someone who thinks that this is a golden opportunity to have the stage all to himself to speak to the American public. I think in terms of how this affects the race, it remains to be seen, it is not going to be possible for voters really to watch both of these at the same time. So you're going to see the audience sort of bifurcate itself. And I think that's going to lead to sort of reinforcing people's already preconceived notions, not adding much to the debate. And so I think that's really unfortunate for this race.
But you know, the President's comments and behavior today, it leads me to question what kind of Donald Trump are we going to see tonight? And will he use this as an opportunity to change the narrative around his presidency and his candidacy? And it seems like he's gearing up for it to be just more of the same, which so far has been very, very damaging to him among key groups like women voters and older voters, seniors in particular.
BLITZER: So David Chalian, what is the president need to do starting tonight, 19 days to go to change things around because the polls are not really good for him right now.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: They're not Wolf. And as Abby suggesting, the advice would probably be from his advisors to try and redirect his closing argument here as best he can. Deal with coronavirus head on and then try to highlight some of the good in the economy in the building back in the plan to restore America to sort of a post COVID time. But that's not what Donald Trump does. That's like in some laboratory over here in politics.
And so, what Donald Trump does is he lays out his grievances, he tries to throw mud up and distract away instead of dealing head on with the pandemic that every American is dealing with. And it is because those have been his strategies and his tactics that he is in the position he's in.
These are fleeting opportunities for him now. You noted 19 days left. There's only one more debate.
You don't get this kind of shot at millions of viewers tuning in, where you can really sell your message. There aren't many of those left, Wolf, in this campaign.
And remember, 70 million people have already voted. We're over the 10 percent mark of votes cast and what is it -- in the expected electorate. Time is running out each day for Donald Trump. And these kinds of opportunities should not be squandered.
BLITZER: All right, David, thank you. Dana, Abby, guys, thanks very, very much.
Into our viewers, stay with CNN tonight. Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris will join our own Don Lemon after the dueling town halls. That's live at 10 p.m. Eastern later tonight. Coming up, is President Trump in denial or is he still trying to downplay the coronavirus pandemic? I'll ask the veteran journalist Bob Woodward who spent hours interviewing the President for his new book "Rage."
Plus, new restrictions in Europe right now. They are emerging as new cases on the continent, our surgeon.
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[17:29:05]
BLITZER: President Trump is in Florida right now after wrapping up a rally earlier in the day in North Carolina.
As with all of his rallies this week, the President made some wild, totally unsubstantiated claims in front of his supporters who ignore social distancing guidelines and despite all this happening, despite a second wave of coronavirus cases sweeping the country.
We're joined now by the veteran journalist Bob Woodward. He's the Associate Editor at the Washington Post. He's also the author of the bestselling brand new book entitled "Rage" about President Trump and his administration.
Bob, thanks so much for joining us. The U.S. clearly now entering a second wave --
BOB WOODWARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, THE WASHINGTON POST: Thank you.
BLITZER: -- so disturbing. The President telling Americans as he did today, everything is fine. He use the word fine. Is the President in denial or is he still trying to downplay the virus like he admitted to you he was doing back in the spring?
WOODWARD: I think it's both. And I want to go back to that January 28 meeting, which is really when this began for him when his national , when his national security adviser Robert O'Brien said this will be, the virus will be the biggest national security threat to your presidency.
[17:30:00]
And then Pottinger, Matt Pottinger, the deputy who'd been in China laid out.
Now here's what's really interesting is we look back on this. Pottinger laid out what was coming. But what he said to the President was, look, China is in trouble because they are in denial officially, that the experts, the health experts, and Pottinger head sources know that this is going to be a pandemic. And the big problem is that the Chinese government will not officially tell the population what is happening.
And so now, we see would have 10 months later, the President doing exactly the same thing. He was warned about by Matt Pottinger saying to him, look, the Chinese lied, this is their habit. This is why they are in trouble. This is why they literally at one point, the next month in February, the Chinese lockdown, half the country amid. And when the Chinese locked down, it's not just, oh, please don't leave your home, they lock you in your home.
So literally, the President had the description of Chinese behavior that's so cat -- was so catastrophic for the Chinese. Now, we're experiencing precisely that. It is Orwellian plus, plus.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And it looks like it's getting worse by the day, as I said, almost 1,000 Americans died just yesterday. According to the New York Times, Bob, early on in the pandemic, Trump administration officials gave private briefings on the virus to wealthy investors that were much more dire than the public message, the administration was sending out there that sort of lines up with your reporting, doesn't it?
WOODWARD: It does. And the idea that there's a secret channel to investors is horrifying and corrupt whether it was intended that way or not. As, you know, as reporters were always looking for inside information, what really happened, business people, investors who have tens of billions of dollars hinge on whether you make a smart move. So information is power and the information is money. And this is a kind of corruption of the system.
And again, you have to go back and put this on President Trump's shoulders. He knew he had the opportunity. He has the bully pulpit. He could have in so many ways, warn the public in the duty to warn is probably the first responsibility a president has.
And so this is turning into a nightmare. I believe it's turning into not only a health nightmare, but a political nightmare, not just for the Republican Party, but for the whole country, because the political system we have, it seems that we can't deal with the reality of what is right before us.
Here we had, what 10 days ago, the President wasn't even that, the President of the United States saying, getting the virus is a blessing from God.
BLITZER: Yes.
WOODWARD: Now suppose you have somebody in your family who died of this. You had to shiver. So I think we're at, just to summarize, in one of the most dangerous periods in American history, because we're not in control of this. The President is not in control. And we have a political system that seems to also be dysfunctional.
BLITZER: In your excellent book "Rage". You interviewed a whole bunch of folks, including people that work very closely with the President, a lot of Republicans. I want to play for you, you know, Bob some new audio that has just emerged of Republican, Republican Senator Ben Sasse talking about the President. I want you to listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[17:35:05]
SEN. BEN SASSE (R-NE): He mocks evangelicals behind closed doors, his family has treated the presidency like a business opportunity. He's flirted with white supremacists. I mean, the places where we differed on COVID, he, at the beginning of the COVID crisis he refused to treat it seriously. For months, he treated it like a news cycle by news cycle PR crisis rather than a multi-year public health challenge which is what it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Remember, that's a Republican senator from Nebraska, Ben Sasse, saying those things. What do you make of that?
WOODWARD: What I make of it is he got caught telling the truth. And as I know, there's other Republican senators who feel exactly the same way. And they have not yet been caught, and more catastrophically, they won't share with the public the conclusion, the private collusion conclusion they have.
And so, you know, I am sure more people are going to get caught on this. And I want -- what does Sasse I said, I haven't heard.
BLITZER: You know, they -- his office confirmed that it's an authentic audio clip of what he said in a private conversation that has emerged now. But it's obviously, you know, what I've heard from a whole bunch of Republicans who are refusing to go public and saying things like this, privately, they will say these things, but they're afraid of the President. They don't want to say anything like this publicly. I'm sure you've heard that as well.
WOODWARD: Yes. But step back on this and the horror of it, that we have the world of private truth and public untruth. The job of public officials is to find some way to get the private into the mainstream. It really is almost a crime against every voter in this country to not somehow break down that barrier.
You know, in our business in the media, we tried to break down that barrier. We try to get behind it and say what's -- what are the real attitudes? What's going on? What are the real motivations? And we have a gigantic breakdown here. It's very dangerous.
BLITZER: It's very dangerous indeed. Bob Woodward as usual, thank you very much. And once again, his bestselling book is entitled "Rage", there you see the book cover definitely worth reading.
Coming up, a look at the global coronavirus headlines, including leaders announcing very harsh new restrictions, as the new wave of cases is sweeping across Europe. Plus, exclusive CNN reporting and a just concluded government investigation into the money trail for the 2016 Trump campaigns in a turn up anything, we'll be right back.
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[17:42:40] BLITZER: United States isn't the only country dealing with a second wave of the coronavirus, cases are also surging right now across Europe forcing leaders to tighten restrictions big time. Let's begin with CNN's Phil black he's joining us from London right now. So Phil, what are you seeing over there?
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, tough new restrictions on people's personal lives are set to kick in here from Saturday. It will be illegal for people from different households to spend time together. Indoors so no hanging out in bars, restaurants, cafes, even homes making it much harder for people to maintain and draw support from some of their most important relationships it will still be possible to socialize outside in groups of up to six but that's going to become less practical as the winter deepens. London's Mayor Sadiq Khan says there's no choice but to implement these restrictions. Because it is now clear he says the virus is spreading rapidly in all parts of the capital, Wolf.
BLITZER: Phil Black in London. Thank you. New restrictions meanwhile, going into effect this weekend in hardest cities across France right now CNN's Melissa Bell is there. Melissa, tell us more.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf here in France, the system of curfews announced by the French President yesterday on television, eight French cities plus the greater Parisian region will see a curfew from 9:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. from this Saturday.
Also from Saturday, this country enters a state of sanitary emergency which really gives local authorities a great deal of power. If they need to enforce fresh restrictions should they prove necessary for the time being? The figures have been growing with several records set over the course of the last week, Wolf.
BLITZER: Well, all right Melissa, Melissa Bell in France for us.
Meanwhile, a dramatic new surge in cases across Italy is producing some of the worst numbers of the entire pandemic. CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Rome for us. Ben what's the latest there?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, for the second day in a row, Italy is recording record high increases in the number of COVID-19 cases, numbers far higher than we're seeing at the height of the lockdown earlier this year. Now most of the cases or rather the largest number of cases are in the Lombardy region in the north of the country, which was hardest hit by the pandemic earlier this year.
What's different at this time, is that the number of cases reported in Campania where Naples is located in the southern part of the country are dramatic, far higher than in the past. And this is an area that doesn't have the resources to deal with COVID-19. And also has Italy's highest population densities. Also worrying is the fact that the death toll reported Thursday is almost twice that from the day before. Wolf?
[17:45:30]
BLITZER: All right, Ben, thank you, Ben Wedeman in Rome.
Coming up, details of a federal investigation into a suspected foreign link to President Trump's 2016 campaign cash. It's a CNN exclusive. Plus, the President claiming his town hall later tonight is a quote setup. We'll be right back.
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[17:50:43]
BLITZER: Now for an exclusive new report, CNN has learned that federal prosecutors, including special counsel, Robert Mueller, spent more than three years investigating whether money flowing through an Egyptian state owned bank could have back million, millions of dollars that Donald Trump used, that the Trump campaign used in the 2016 campaign.
Ultimately, the Mueller team was not able to obtain all the information it needed nor could the U.S. Attorneys in Washington, who continued the investigation until this year, and decided not to pursue charges. Our senior justice correspondent Evan Perez is joining us right now. Evan, this is not something that was publicly known before today.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. This was an investigation that was conducted with utmost secrecy. It started soon after Trump won the presidency back in 2016, continued until this summer and has never been described publicly.
We spoke to more than a dozen sources familiar with the effort. In addition to what we learned from newly released court documents, some of the hints that we saw from public records. Two other sources told CNN that FBI investigators first came, became interested in the case after intelligence came in, including from an informant that suggested that Trump's last minute $10 million injection into his campaign less than two weeks before the 2016 election could have been backed by money that came from overseas through an Egyptian state owned bank.
Now it's not clear that the investigators ever had concrete evidence solid evidence of a relevant bank transfer. But multiple sources told us that there was sufficient information to justify seeking a subpoena in court and to keep this investigation going even after Robert Mueller ended his investigation last year. The investigation was looking into a potential campaign finance law violation. And it began with the FBI and the U.S. attorney here in Washington before Mueller took it on, and it was largely conducted by Mueller's investigators.
But when Mueller was done, it went back to the prosecutors here in Washington, who soon afterwards told the court that it was quote, a still a robust probe, but they never felt that they got enough records from the Egyptian bank. Now it's just this summer that the case was officially closed and no charges were filed.
Now the big questions that prosecutors were trying to answer but, Wolf, they never did was whether Donald Trump was supported by or indebted to a foreign power. Robert Mueller's office declined to comment and a senior adviser to the Trump 2020 campaign, Jason Miller told CNN quote, President Trump has never received a penny from Egypt.
BLITZER: You know, it's very interesting, because was there ever discussion as far as you know, Evan, of trying to get to the bottom of this by actually subpoenaing the President's financial records?
PEREZ: Yes, that's one of the more interesting things that we discovered, Wolf, multiple sources told us that last year, as recently as last year, federal prosecutors here in Washington were pushing for the President's financial records to be subpoenaed. The decision went then to the then U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu, who spent weeks looking over the investigative records and she decided to reject the subpoena requests.
Were told by sources that Liu decided that they just hadn't met the standard for the subpoena but interestingly, she did not close the case. As for the Justice Department, here's what we were told by a senior justice official for this reporting, quote, the case was first looked at by the special counsel investigators who failed to bring a case, and then it was looked at by the U.S. Attorney's Office and career prosecutors in the national security section, who also were unable to bring a case. Based upon the recommendations of both the FBI and those prosecutors, Michael Sherwin, the acting U.S. attorney, formally closed the case in July.
BLITZER: The special counsel's office I understand, Evan, was known for keeping their various investigative threads under wraps. But there were never any leaks about this even after the case was formally closed. How did they go about keeping all this secret?
PEREZ: Yes, I mean, we we've covered this investigation for so long, Wolf, and very few details ever came out. They never mentioned it in the Mueller report. It was listed among 11 cases that Mueller transferred to other prosecutors when his investigation ended. But that entry was redacted. The only indication was this secretive court proceedings over the subpoena that Mueller's team issued to a unnamed foreign company for records.
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Now the Mueller's team was going to the extent of actually locking down an entire floor of the federal courthouse so that attorneys could come in and leave without being seen. Now neither the company nor the details of what prosecutors were looking for was ever being, was ever publicly released. But CNN was told that it was this fight over this with the state owned Egyptian bank.
By the way, Wolf, the spokesman for the Egyptian President declined to comment for this story.
BLITZER: And Evan, now this investigation continued under Bill Barr's Justice Department, the Attorney General. Did prosecutors actually explain why?
PEREZ: Well, we know that the court, they told the court that the investigation was continuing robustly and quote, they said, very much alive issue. We know about the fact that they were looking to issue a subpoena and they got it rejected. But that's about it until the case was closed.
The fact of the matter is, even to this day, the case was closed because investigators never really got an answer to their ultimate question, which was, was Donald Trump supported by or indebted to a foreign power, Wolf?
BLITZER: Evan Perez, excellent, excellent reporting. Thank you very much.
Coming up, as a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the U.S., President Trump claims the country is quote, doing fine.
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