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Trump, Biden Storm Trail With 52+ Million Votes Already Cast; Friday Sees Record Number Of Cases In Single Day: 83, 757; Soon: Trump Holds Campaign Rally In Battleground Wisconsin. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired October 24, 2020 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. This is a special edition of The Situation Room and we begin tonight with two numbers that really matter. As of tonight there are only 10 days until Election Day here in the United States until voters choose whether to keep Donald Trump as president or to vote him out and elect former Vice president Joe Biden.

But the second number is also so powerful. The Johns Hopkins University reported that 83,757 new cases of the coronavirus in the United States occurred just yesterday. That's the highest number of new confirmed cases reported in a single day here in the United States since the pandemic began so many months ago.

A truly staggering number and nearly 1000 Americans died from the virus just yesterday. This is a pandemic that now seems to be spiraling out of control, not that you would necessarily know that if you were listening today to the president out there on the campaign trail. Right now, let's go to Wisconsin where are the president will soon give his final remarks of the day on a barnstorming key battleground state.

You know Jeremey Diamond is on the scene for us Jeremy, Wisconsin is one of 14 states that saw their highest seven-day averages for new daily cases just yesterday so what are you seeing there among the crowd at least so far.

JEREMY DAIMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, the situation in Wisconsin is indeed staggering. I mean this is one of the states that is experiencing one of the worst outbreak in the country and yet the president once again as he has been doing in so many of these hotspots across the country is gathering people by the thousands.

Now I will tell you that here where we are in Wisconsin in Waukesha, Wisconsin, I am seeing more people wearing masks than we've seen in previous rallies including last week when we were here, not too far in Janesville Wisconsin but still Wolf, a majority of the people attending this rally are not wearing masks and part of this of course Wolf, you have to think is because of the rhetoric that we're hearing from the President of the United States who is continuing to ignore the reality, not just ignore it but really trying to defy the reality of the surge in cases that we're seeing.

I want you to listen to the president just earlier today, talking about coronavirus in Ohio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know why there's so many cases? Because we test, because we test more than any country in the world, nobody tests like us. Cases, everybody uses the word case because you're trying to scare people, don't scare people, don't scare people. The fact is that we're doing very well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: Wolf, we are not doing very well as you well know, having a record number of cases yesterday is just one metric of course if you look at hospitalizations, they are rising, if you look at deaths, they are rising and the same is happening right here in the state of Wisconsin which is very emblematic of what's happening in the country as a whole.

If you look at the hospitalizations in Wisconsin, they have been rising. There are now about 1200 people who are in hospital in Wisconsin right now with coronavirus. A month ago Wolf, that number was about 300 right here in the state of Wisconsin so clearly, things are not going well in the country as a whole, we are entering the second wave and in the state of Wisconsin in particular we're seeing hospitalizations going up, cases going up and the situation is not improving.

And these events like this Wolf, we know that the White House coronavirus task force has pointed out specifically that these kinds of events will lead to preventable deaths, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, let's not forget Wisconsin's a key battleground state that President Trump nearly won four years ago. Jeremy Diamond on the scene, we'll get back to you soon. The former President Barack Obama meanwhile, he's been stumping for Joe Biden in the critical battleground state of Florida today where he did not hold back at all during a drive in campaign rally.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is following the Biden campaign for us. She's in north Miami for us right now. Arlette, with just what, 10 days to go how's the former president and clearly Joe Biden star surrogate energizing voters in this final stretch.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, President Obama is laying it all out on the line here in Florida, telling and reminding these voters that they helped deliver Florida twice for him in 2008 and 2012 and asking for them to deliver for Joe Biden in November.

The former president even predicting that if Biden were able to win Florida in November that election will essentially be over, that this would guarantee the presidency for Joe Biden and we heard the former president once again take aim at President Trump. This is the second time this week that he issued a scathing review of the president, slamming everything from his handling of the coronavirus pandemic to his behavior in office saying that it is not normal.

And president Obama also brought out that 60 minutes interview that President Trump sat for earlier this week. Take a listen to the dig he made at the president earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: When 60 minutes and Lesley Stahl are too tough for you, you ain't all that tough. Hey, if you got to walk out of the 60 minutes interview, then you're never going to stand up to a dictator. If you're spending all your time complaining about how mean reporters are to you, you're not going to stand up to Putin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:05:00]

SAENZ: And while Obama was here in Florida, Joe Biden campaigned in Pennsylvania today, the two of them essentially tag teaming in those two critical states that President Trump flipped back in 2016. President Obama really trying here in Florida to energize voters during this early voting period, as early voting numbers are incredibly high right now in the state of Florida, more than 5 million voters have already early voted.

And the Biden campaign really feels that President Obama can help energize black men, Latino and young voters in this final stretch of the election as he is making the case for his former partner, Wolf.

BLITZER: Turn out, turn out, turn out so critical at this stage. Arlette Saenz in north Miami, thank you very much. We'll of course get back to you as well. Joining us now CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, the former Baltimore Health Commissioner and Dr. Peter Hotez, the vaccine specialist and dean of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College.

You know we're seeing very, very different types of campaigning today. Barack Obama stumping for Joe Biden with a socially distance drive-in rally in North Miami as Donald Trump holds three in-person rallies, two of them in states that are seeing a dramatic surge in cases with no social distancing, few masks. Dr. Hotez, first of all what's your reaction?

DR. PETER HOTEZ, PROFESSOR & DEAN OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE: Well, my reaction is profound disappointment that President Trump in the White House. Here we are now looking at the steep acceleration of the number of new cases as was mentioned, 85,000 - 83,000 new cases yesterday and so this is the highest number ever.

But it's not just the cases, the hospitalizations are up, the positivity is up and the deaths we have 925 deaths yesterday so we're hitting that awful 1000 death mark and yes, different health metrics has new estimates. We're looking at 511,000 Americans who will die by February 28 at this current rate and here the president thumbs his nose at it and what does he do, he holds a rally in the worst affected state right now which is Wisconsin.

If you look at the heat map of the country, the darkest brightest red is Wisconsin. It's just so troubling and a continuation of what we've been seeing all year. This refusal to launch a national response, this discrediting of masks, mouthing this disinformation campaign with fake concepts of herd immunity, promoted by people like Scott Atlas, it's beyond discouraging, it's actually a path of death and destruction.

BLITZER: Yes, let's not forget more than 224,000 Americans have died over these past several months from this virus. Dr. Wen, not only is the president flouting all the medical guidance at these campaign rallies, he's also mocking news coverage of the pandemic, listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: That's all I hear. Turn on television, COVID - COVID - COVID - COVID - COVID - COVID. A plane goes down 500 people dead. They don't talk about it. COVID - COVID - COVID - COVID. By the way on November 4 you won't hear about it anymore. COVID - COVID. Please don't go involve COVID.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So Dr. Wen, you know you're a specialist, what's your reaction when you hear the president mocking the coronavirus pandemic?

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, there is a real danger to what President Trump is doing here because he is minimizing this disease at a time when as you heard from Dr. Hotez, this virus is surging out of control all across the country and the danger here is that we're facing one of the most difficult winters that we could have - that we might ever have, we're facing potentially thousands of deaths from COVID-19 from America's every single day.

But that trajectory doesn't have to happen. It's actually up to each of us with our individual actions to turn it around and if we're minimizing this disease, then President Trump is not giving the American people the tools that we need in order to do our part and save lives and I think there's also this false choice that the president and many others are putting which is either you save the economy or you save lives.

Well, that's a false choice. It's not about shutting things down or going back to life as normal and not doing anything. Actually we could be wearing masks, practicing social distancing. That's what we need to do to save lives and save our economy.

BLITZER: Yes, those are important points here. Dr. Hotez, I want you to look at these numbers. We'll put them up on the screen. 34 states are reporting a rise in their case counts. Just yesterday, the U. S. set a new and very disturbing record as we now know nearly 84000 new cases in just one day.

[19:10:00]

I spoke with Rick Bright, a top vaccine expert who resigned from the federal government after filing a whistleblower complaint accusing the Trump administration of mishandling the pandemic from the very start. He had some very sobering words. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK BRIGHT, FORMER DIRECTOR, BIOMEDICAL ADVANCED RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY: President Trump has failed to protect Americans from this pandemic. He's still in denial and until Americans hear the truth and see leaders leading by example, they're not following the best public health guidance and that is why we're seeing the skyrocket in cases and it will translate into more deaths, hundreds of thousands of more deaths over the coming months unless we have strong leadership and everyone takes action now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: He makes very powerful statements Dr. Hotez. The President though is promising, we'll all have a vaccine ready in weeks. He uses the phrase in weeks, is that at all realistic?

HOTEZ: No, well it depends how many weeks you're talking about but you know we will have vaccines available to the American public at least I'm pretty confident of that by the middle of next year. The key is trying to save as many lives as possible until vaccines become available in a week.

I put out what I call my October one plan, where we could have really dramatically reduced the likelihood of the surge that we're seeing and that could've bought us enough time to reduce the number of deaths so we wouldn't - so we could have made it to the time when vaccines are available.

Instead we're just jumping off the cliff now onto this horrible - horrible number as I mentioned 511,000 deaths but as Dr. Wen also points out, it's still not too late to do things. One of the other findings that just came out from the Institute of Health Metrics is that if we could get close to 100 percent mask compliance, 95 percent of masks outdoors in public, we could still save 120,000 American lives.

That's pretty substantial and yet without having any leadership in the White House even encouraging this and mocking masks, mocking social distancing, mocking the disease itself, saying it's the flu or and or something equivalent, we won't get there and it's just so disheartening.

BLITZER: It is so disheartening indeed. Dr. Peter Hotez, Dr. Leana Wen, guys thank you very, very much. Remember only 10 days remain until Election Day here in the United States and even amid a pandemic, record numbers of Americans have already voted but one campaign is being warned over what's being called voter intimidation. We have details, new information coming in to the Situation Room. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: In battleground Pennsylvania, the latest CNN poll of polls has Joe Biden at 51 percent to Donald Trump's 44 percent. The president didn't campaign in Pennsylvania today but some of his supporters showed up at a campaign rally for Joe Biden. CNN's MJ Lee has more from Bucks county outside Philadelphia.

VOICE OF MJ LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, earlier today in Bucks county, Pennsylvania in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Joe Biden hosted another driving a rally in this critical state and a notable scene on campus as the former Vice president spoke.

Dozens and dozens of cars and trucks pulling up into the parking lot, many of them waving Trump campaign flags, honking and making a whole lot of noise. Clearly these Trump supporters wanted to put on a show of force on the president's behalf and even though they were outside of the security perimeter and a ways away from the stage where Biden was speaking, it was clear the former Vice President could hear the commotion during his remarks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And by the way, we don't do things like those chumps out there with a microphone are doing, the Trump guys. It's about decency. Look, we got to come together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Pennsylvania is of course a state that President Trump narrowly won back in 2016 but a state that Biden is now hoping to put in his win column. A CNN poll this week showed Biden with a 10 point lead over the president in this battleground state. Wolf.

BLITZER: All right MJ, thank you very much. Let's bring in CNN political commentator Michael Smerconish. He's the host of CNN's Smerconish that airs every Saturday morning 9 AM, Eastern, a truly excellent show.

Michael, you just saw and heard some of that new loud form of campaign counter protesting, sea of horns and this is a sign that things are rolling to get perhaps uglier in these final 10 days of the campaign.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST, SMERCONISH: Wolf, I was born and raised in Bucks county, Pennsylvania so it's nice anytime the county hosts one of the major candidates. It's also a county by the way that Secretary Clinton won by a thin margin.

It's part of that surrounding Philly Berber area where Joe Biden is expected to run very, very strong in just 10 days. To answer your question, yes it's definitely a sign of this ratcheting up. I don't think that it was quite a deplorable moment for the Vice President, you of course remember that reference to four years ago because I would say if you're heckling someone, you are a chomp.

BLITZER: Interesting. There are concerns Michael, about voter intimidation after the Trump campaign actually recorded video of voters taking their ballots to those drop off boxes in your hometown of Philadelphia and in Michigan, gun rights supporters are suing to openly carry firearms at the polls. Are you worried about the risk of voter intimidation this year?

SMERCONISH: I'm more concerned about open carrying at a polling place. To me that's just scary. I don't know why there's a need for any of that. It's a little more complicated in Pennsylvania because this is our first rodeo in being able to vote by mail without cars for absenteeism in a presidential election.

[19:20:00]

And Wolf, 3 million ballots like a 10 time increase over what the norm had been - have been requested by Pennsylvanians and many of them are going to drop boxes to hand them off. Now the rule is you're supposed to hand off only your own and that of someone else, if they require assistance.

So on one hand you look at this as voter intimidation by the Trump campaign but the Trump campaign says well, wait a minute if people are showing up with more than their own ballot and someone who legitimately requires assistance, then maybe it is the sort of thing that needs to be charted and followed.

BLITZER: Let me show our viewers Michael, some the early voting numbers. Look at this, more than 52 million Americans already have cast their ballots, more than a third of all of those who voted back in 2016 so who do you think that benefits more all this early voting that's going on around the country?

SMERCONISH: I think that it benefits Democrats, Joe Biden for sure especially where the president has tried to disparage voting by mail or absentee voting, he does try to distinguish between the two, I think very deliberately he went to West Palm today to cast his ballot to reinforce the message that he wants people to show up in person.

I'm sure right now it's advantage Joe Biden but you know the real problem for the GOP is if I'm right that's their banked, right? No matter what happens, assume that something in the next 10 days should change the momentum of the race, those people have already registered their vote and you're not going to get them back and you know Wolf, weather sometimes plays a role on Election Day.

So I would rather much rather be the candidate with the edge in the bank than the candidate who requires people to show up on Election Day.

BLITZER: Yes so many people, especially the elderly people with underlying conditions, they don't want to wait in long lines on Election day.

SMERCONISH: In a pandemic. BLITZER: They want - yes, there's a pandemic going on big time here in

the United States, seems to be getting worse. Did the last, the second of final presidential debate Michael, do anything to really change the dynamics of this race?

SMERCONISH: I thought the president had a good night and some will say well yes in comparison to what the first was a disaster but I thought he turned in a strong performance. I thought the Vice President Biden was good enough and by that I mean that I think Donald Trump needed to win that debate.

I think Joe Biden needed to endure the debate. I can't really say that that the nature of the race was changed but clearly, look at the president today. You got to give him credit for the stamina that he's able to exhibit and what he's trying to do now is build on whatever momentum might have come out of the debate so that people look at television, see the crowd showing up and start to feel that it has changed. Has it changed?

I don't know. Got to look at the data.

BLITZER: You know, it's interesting we saw the former democratic President Barack Obama back out there on the campaign stump, campaigning today for the current democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in Miami.

The polls in Florida seems to be rather tight right now yet we have not seen the former Republican President of the United States George W. Bush at all, speaking at all saying anything about the current Republican president of the United States, what does that say to you?

Does George W. Bush, the former president have a responsibility to tell the American people who he would like to see as President of the United States?

SMERCONISH: You know, I don't - there's no love lost right between the Bush family and President Trump. I could speculate but I won't as to what W will do when he goes in and closes that curtain himself but he's really been consistent since leaving the White House in just staying totally out of the fray.

It's different for President Obama because it's so personal between he and President Trump and you know Wolf, I'm sure you were there that night. I'm one of those people who believes that Donald Trump would never have run but for that, I think it was 2011, White House correspondent association dinner.

BLITZER: I was at that dinner when the former president Barack Obama was making some fun of Donald Trump who was sitting at the table by the way right next to my table over there. You could see it was for him an unpleasant moment indeed.

SMERCONISH: There you go.

BLITZER: All right, Michael Smerconish as usual, thank you very, very much up. There's more news we're following hear in the Situation Room after a race like no other, it all ends here. Join us for special live coverage, the way only CNN could bring it to you from the first votes, the critical count, understand what's happening in your state and indeed across the country. Election Night in America, our special coverage starts Tuesday November 3, 4:00 PM eastern. It's going to be a long night.

Coming up, as new cases of the coronavirus surge across the country, one state seeing a daily high in new cases, is already running low on ICU beds and that's putting so many more patients at risk. We'll be right back.

[19:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: As coronavirus cases surge across the United States, medical experts are keeping a very close eye on rising hospitalizations, a trend that could spell a very, very dangerous winter. In Utah for example, a daily high in new cases means ICU beds are running very low. Martin Savidge reports on how that's putting all patients' lives at risk, not just those with COVID-19.

[19:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In Salt Lake City, coronavirus cases are surging and hospitals are in danger of running out of tentative care unit beds. It's so frustrating for Dr. Emily Spivak, she breaks down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. EMILY SPIVAK, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH: I was trying so hard not to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE (voice over): She is upset because we know how to avoid coronavirus: wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands, yet many people don't.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPIVAK: There are frontline providers in the emergency room: our nurses, our doctors, on all of these COVID units in the ICU, working tirelessly. It's kind of like people just are going out and living their lives not realizing that they are exhausting our healthcare system.

There's so much that can be done by our leaders and they're just not doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE (voice over): COVID-19 nearly killed Stephanie Deer's sister, even though her sister never had it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE DEER, SISTER HAD HEART ATTACK DURING PANDEMIC: Honestly, if you would have seen the look on that doctor's face, he was incredulous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE (voice over): What her sister, 47-year-old Lori Terry (ph), did have was a serious heart attack. At the local hospital, the family says the doctors said Terry needed to get to an intensive care unit to survive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEER: And he told us right away, we're doing everything we can to try and find a hospital that can take Lori, and we can't find one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE (voice over): For hours, nurses called hospital after hospital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEER: They didn't have bed space in a critical care unit to treat my sister because of COVID. I believed we would lose her right there, right there, because she couldn't get medical care in the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE (voice over): Even in a pandemic, medical experts say other life-threatening health disasters still strike without warning, like car accidents and heart attacks. But now those cases compete with COVID when it comes to care.

Eventually, Lori Terry was able to get the expert medical help she needed, but her sister can't forget how COVID-19 nearly killed her and she blames the carelessness of others.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEER: And they need to wear a mask. They need to care about their neighbors, their family, their children, and they need to do it right now. That's my message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE (voice over): Martin Savidge, CNN, Salt Lake City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Martin, thank you very much. So, so heartbreaking. Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama, he was in Florida today

campaigning very hard for Joe Biden, and he didn't hold back at all in his very tough criticism of President Trump.

But will President Obama be enough to help Biden carry that key battleground state? Our own John King, he is at the magic wall. We'll have a closer look when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:37:00]

BLITZER: Former President Barack Obama campaigned in Florida today making a very strong case for his former Vice President, Joe Biden. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The presidency doesn't change who you are, it just reveals who you are. It amplifies who you are.

And for eight years, I saw Joe up close. He was the last one in the room whenever I faced a big decision. He made me a better President.

He's got the character and experience to make us a better country, and he and Kamala are going to be in the fight not for themselves, but for every single one of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: This key battleground state went for Barack Obama twice before Donald Trump flipped it in 2016. Our chief national correspondent, John King takes a closer look at what we can expect perhaps this time.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Florida is always the presidential battleground. Here's a big difference in 2020 compared to 2016, it is now President Trump's home state. He changed his registration from New York 2016, he will vote in Florida in 2020.

Let's use the 2016 map and look at a couple of things that were critical to the President in 2016. It might be a little different as we go into 2020. Look at this back in 2016. Number one, just look. Yes, President Trump won, but only by 113,000 votes, just shy of that. So it was close in Florida as it often is.

Why did he win? Look at the 17-point advantage Donald Trump had among voters over the age of 65, twenty one percent of the electorate, a giant lead, older voters were key to President Trump. So were women in the sense that Hillary Clinton won women with 50 percent to 46 percent. But that's more than half of the electorate.

The President essentially held his own among women. Can he do that in 2020? Polls late in the race do show Joe Biden doing even better than Hillary Clinton among women and Joe Biden turning things around among senior citizens. That will be something important to watch.

When you look at the map, three things about Florida. Number one, the farther south you go, the further north you get. Meaning down here, in Palm Beach County, in Broward County, and in Miami Dade County, you have a lot of retirees who started in the northeast, more liberal more Democratic voters. That's why you see it as blue.

Joe Biden must run it up down here on the Southeast Coast among voters who tend to be Democrats, a lot of them tend to be from the northeast. Number two, President Trump must run it up in Northern Florida. You're in the north, but it votes like the South. Georgia and Alabama, these counties here.

Look at some of these counties from back in 2016. You just pull up some of the margins. Yes, not a lot of votes. But look how big the numbers are. The President must run it up again. The Trump base must turn out in smaller rural working class communities, then you have the competition in the central part of the state, and this used to be called a battle for independents. I would call it now a battle for the suburbs.

What happens in Orlando? Did the Democrats win not only in Orlando, but in the growing suburbs? And if there's one place you want to watch on Election Day, it was key back in 2016, one of the first signs President Trump's voters were coming out, Pinellas County, the home of St. Petersburg to the west of Tampa; again, a suburban area here, key for the President four years ago but it was very close.

Will Joe Biden perform better in the suburbs? That will be a key test in battleground Florida.

[19:40:09]

BLITZER: Very interesting, indeed. John King reporting for us.

For more of the fight for Florida, I'm joined now by CNN political commentator, Ana Navarro. Ana, the former President Barack Obama had some very harsh criticism of President Trump when he spoke in North Miami earlier today. I know you were there yourself, but watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We're not going to have a President that goes out of his way to insults anybody who he doesn't think is nice enough to him. We won't have a President who threatens people with jail for just criticizing him. That's not normal behavior, Florida.

You wouldn't tolerate it from a coworker. You wouldn't tolerate it from a high school principal, you wouldn't tolerate it from a coach. You won't tolerate it from a family member.

Florida man wouldn't even do this stuff. Why are we accepting it from the President of the United States? It's not -- it's not normal behavior.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: So Ana, what was your reaction to the former President's

speech?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, first, I was surprised that Florida man got a shout out.

Look, you know, we haven't heard much from Barack Obama until very recently, and you forget just how good he is. And he was very surgical talking to Florida about Florida.

He mentioned the throwing of the paper towels at the Puerto Rican victims of Maria. And as you know, we have a very significant Puerto Rican community, particularly in Central Florida. He mentioned about how ridiculous this narrative that Joe Biden is somehow going to coddle communist dictators.

He said, you know, if you listen to the other side, they make him out to be more communist than the Castro's. He mentioned, Obamacare and healthcare, the district where you know, where I live has got the highest sign up for Obamacare and Florida as a state has got the highest signups for the healthcare plan.

So he went very specifically at things that affect Florida. He mentioned very interestingly, you know, there's this issue about Donald Trump's machismo and how it is somehow appealing more than usual to Latino men and African-American men. And he talked about that, he made fun of him, he used humor to do that.

So you know, look, if you're not tough enough to withstand "60 Minutes," and Lesley Stahl, you think you're going to be tough enough to withstand a dictator? And so he -- you know, he's just -- he was very, very good at making it very Florida, specific and very relevant for us down here.

BLITZER: The former President Barack Obama, he clearly still has it when he is out there on the campaign trail, very effective, indeed.

Joe Biden, right now at least, is polling much better with seniors than Hillary Clinton did four years ago. You think, Ana, that will be enough for him to actually win Florida, and my suspicion is if President Trump doesn't win Florida, he is not going to be re-elected.

NAVARRO: I agree with you. I think that if Trump does not win Florida, we're going to have an early night and we might have a good night. Look, at least for those of us who are not supporting Trump, I think Trump has a problem with seniors.

You know, he has been attacking Joe Biden relentlessly on being old and being, you know, frail and being incoherent, all of which is false, but in the meantime, attacking the elderly. And also, look, we all know that people over 65 are the most vulnerable when it comes to the coronavirus.

It has affected Florida over proportionately so far, and I think people want to see more leadership and also more empathy and just more realistic maneuvers and measures taken by the President of the United States than just pretending it's not going to be there. We're rounding the corner. I don't know what corner that is we're rounding. That man's curve. What corner are we rounding on coronavirus?

How can anybody who is in one of the vulnerable groups like seniors -- here Donald Trump claim that we are rounding the corner on coronavirus when we see that 75 percent of the country is spiking again.

BLITZER: Today, there was a record number of new cases just reported by the Johns Hopkins University. As you know better than most, Ana, Hispanic voters are a key demographic in Florida. But when it comes to Hispanic voters right now, Joe Biden seems to be polling behind Hillary Clinton's 2016 numbers. Why do you think that is?

NAVARRO: Because I have to tell you, Donald Trump has shown up here time and time again. And from practically day one he honed in on the message that voting for Democrat, X, Y or Z was voting for socialism and voting for communism.

[19:45:18]

NAVARRO: Wolf, there ain't a day I don't turn on my TV and I'm not bombarded by TV commercials that show me images of Ricardo Maduro and Fidel Castro, and Daniel Ortega, and tell me that the Democrat is a socialist and is going to turn America into Venezuela. That's been going on here for the last four years.

They could have -- Democrats could have nominated Margaret Thatcher, or Anastasio Somoza and Republicans would have still made the same argument. And I think that has been repeated often enough, that it's baked in. It is baked in, in part of the demographic particularly people who fled communism, and who, you know, who have this trauma and pain that gets triggered by those emotions.

Donald Trump has been very effective in knowing how to press -- how to push that button.

BLITZER: Yes, and that's a huge demographic as we all know in Florida right now. You're a Republican, Ana. You live in Florida. But you're voting for Joe Biden. Do you think there are a lot of other like- minded Republicans in Florida right now, who will do the same as you?

NAVARRO: Two things I'm seeing among Republicans. One is that Republicans who were lukewarm on Donald Trump four years ago, and who voted for him holding their nose are much more enthusiastic about him today than they were four years ago.

People who had doubts about him four years ago and voted for him are much more enthusiastic. But there's also a small group of Republicans. The question is, as John King just pointed out to you, in a state where the elections are traditionally decided by such a narrow margin, I am seeing Republicans turn away from him.

I am seeing some vocal Republicans, people whose names you know, and people whose names you don't know, who are voting for a Democrat for the first time. I think there's a certain comfort level with Joe Biden, frankly, that didn't exist with Hillary Clinton. And I also think this idea that some people had that Donald Trump was

going to be changed by the presidency, he was going to become presidential, the weight and gravitas of the office was going to change him. We have seen that that's not the case.

So you've got folks who are more enthusiastic and you've got a small sliver who are breaking away and I think the question is whether those people are going to make the full turn and vote for Biden or whether they are not going to vote.

BLITZER: Very quickly before I let you go, Ana. How's your husband, Al Cardenas doing? I know he came down with coronavirus.

NAVARRO: You know, it's been an eye-opening experience, Wolf. It's made me so much more -- I really can't stop thinking of the people who took their loved ones into an ER room and never saw them again. It's just heartbreaking.

The hardest part of coronavirus is just what a lonely disease it is. What a heartbreaking lonely disease it is. Al is one of the lucky ones. This is a luck of the draw disease and we are blessed and we are lucky he is out of the hospital.

He is doing great. He is feeling great. And he is probably waiting for me to feed him dinner right now.

BLITZER: Well, give him our best, best wishes. A great guy. Ana Navarro. Thank you so much as usual, for joining us. Appreciate it very, very much.

Florida, obviously a key, key battleground state right now, as I've said many times. If President Trump doesn't carry Florida this time, it is unlikely he will get reelected as President of the United States.

Mike Pence by the way, he is speaking in Florida right now in Tallahassee. We'll monitor that for you. All of this unfolding as the U.S. breaks records for new confirmed cases of coronavirus. Many nations across Europe are also seeing record spikes. We have details on how governments are responding.

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BLITZER: Europe, much like the United States now reporting record new coronavirus case numbers as countries race for what is likely to be a very, very challenging winter. CNN's Scott McLean has more from Berlin.

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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Scott McLean in Berlin where Germany has recorded its highest single day COVID-19 death toll since May. Europe is throwing restrictions, curfews and even lockdowns due to the coronavirus, but so far, the numbers continue to rise. France record high cases this weekend and is now extending a 9:00 p.m.

curfew to most of the country now affecting 46 million people. Eastern Europe is seeing a spike in coronavirus deaths that it never saw in the spring. Poland is seeing four times more new COVID-19 deaths now than it did at the peak of the first wave. The Czech Republic is seeing six times more.

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BLITZER: Scott McLean in Berlin, thank you. And in England, meanwhile, the City of Manchester is now under the toughest level of coronavirus restrictions across the country as cases are surging throughout the U.K., CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has more.

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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Wolf, the number of coronavirus cases across the U.K. continues to rise. It is believed infection rates are increasing by more than a quarter each day. That's according to government statistics.

One in every 130 people on the streets of England is believed to have the disease. Again, that's according to government data from last week, October 16th.

Most of those infection rates are among young people. So experts say that will keep hospitalization rates down. One bit of positive news though, the R number, the reproduction rate, that has decreased slightly to between 1.2 and 1.4 -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you very much, Salma Abdelaziz in Manchester.

As the United States reports a new record for daily new cases of the coronavirus, over 83,000 new infections, President Trump is downplaying the spike, falsely claiming more testing is to blame and mocking news coverage of the pandemic.

We're live on the campaign trail when we come back.

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