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Connect the World
Biden, Trump Offer Starkly Different Visions In Final Debate; Trump: Coronavirus Pandemic Is China's Fault; Trump: The Air In Russia, China And India Is Filthy; Trump Mocks Biden For Empathy, Calls Him "Typical Politician"; Biden Slams Trump For Reaction To 1994 Crime Bill; U.S. Election Will Have Global Effects. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired October 23, 2020 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is "Connect the World" with Becky Anderson.
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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: Good evening. A world of thugs and filthy countries, the final U.S. Presidential Debate reflecting little on
America's place on the world stage. More so on Donald Trump's personal opinion of America's allies and foes. All this just 11 days away from one
of the most consequential elections in U.S. history the outcome affecting not just Americans but all of us around the globe.
While the final debate may have lacked the fire and theatrics of the first it did highlight a stark contrast in how Donald Trump and Joe Biden would
handle major domestic and foreign affairs, whipping through toppings few from COVID to climate crisis it was a much more muted affair sort to speak
with fewer interruptions allowing for a much more civilized discussion.
As you would imagine, both Biden and Mr. Trump managed to land a couple punches. CNN's Jessica Dean wraps it all up for you.
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the second and final presidential debate, President Donald Trump and Former Vice President Joe Biden clashed
over the major issues. With fewer interruptions, the two candidates offered their final pitches to voters, including how they will combat Coronavirus
on a day that saw one of the highest numbers of new U.S. cases since the crisis began. Still, the president repeated lies about the pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It will go away. And as I say, we're rounding the turn. We're rounding the corner. It's going away.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: 220,000 Americans dead. You hear nothing else I say tonight, hear this. Anyone who is responsible for not
taking control. In fact, not saying I take no responsibility initially.
Anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as President of the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Trump also used his own recent coronavirus diagnosis to downplay the severity of the disease.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I was in for a short period of time, and I got better very fast
BIDEN: He had nothing, he did virtually nothing. And then he gets out of the hospital and he talks about, "Don't worry. It's all going to be over
soon." Come on. There's not another serious scientist in the world who thinks it's going to be over soon.
KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS, CORRESPONDENT: President Trump, your reaction?
TRUMP: I didn't say over soon. I say we're learning to live with it. We have no choice. We can't lock ourselves up in a basement like Joe does.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Biden condemning the Trump Administration's Coronavirus response and looked straight to camera, speaking directly to voters impacted by the
pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: You folks home will have an empty chair at the kitchen table this morning. That man or wife going to bed tonight and reaching over to try to
touch there out of habit, where their wife or husband was, is gone. Learning to live with it? Come on, we're dying with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: The president continued to paint himself as a Washington outsider and Biden as a career politician while the Democratic Nominee aimed to depict
Trump as a failed first-term president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: look, there's a reason why he's bringing up all this malarkey. There's a reason for it. He doesn't want to talk about the substantive
issues. It's not about his family and my family. It's about your family, and your family's hurting badly.
[11:05:00]
WELKER: President, 10 seconds.
TRUMP: That's a typical political statement. Let's get off this China thing, and then he looks, "The family around the table, everything." Just a
typical politician when I see that. I'm not a typical politician.
WELKER: Let's talk about North Korea now.
TRUMP: That's why I got elected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Trump criticized Biden's stands on fossil fuel in a move aim to hurt the former vice president in key swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan
and Ohio.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I have a transition from the old industry, yes.
TRUMP: Oh, that's a big statement.
BIDEN: I will transition. It is a big statement. Because the oil industry pollutes significantly.
TRUMP: Oh, I see.
BIDEN: Here's the deal-
TRUMP: That's a big statement.
BIDEN: Well if you let me finish the statement, because it has to be replaced by renewable energy over time, over time, and I'd stop giving to
the oil industry, I'd stop giving them federal subsidies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: On immigration, Biden called out the president on the 545 migrant children who have been separated from their parents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: What happened? Parents were ripped - their kids were ripped from their arms and separated, and now they cannot find over 500 of sets of
those parents, and those kids are alone. Nowhere to go, nowhere to go. It's criminal.
TRUMP: They are so well taken care of. They're in facilities that were so clean.
WELKER: But some of them haven't been reunited with their families.
TRUMP: They have gotten such good - but just ask one question. Who built the cages?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: And when pressed on his record on race Trump made this claim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I am the least racist person in this room. I can't even see the audience because it's so dark, but I don't care who's in the audience, I'm
the least racist person in this room.
BIDEN: Abraham Lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents we've had in modern history. He pours fuel on every single racist fire, every single
one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that just some of what we heard last night. My next guest says he believes Mr. Trump delivered his best night of the entire campaign.
Scott Jennings is in the house he is a Republican Strategist and CNN Political Commentator. It's a real pleasure to have you on, sir.
According to the polls and I'd actually saw Biden as the clear winner. The debate, look, unlikely to move the needle not a lot anyway from the first
debate the only difference was we could actually hear both of their answers this time. So I just wonder why you believe this was his best night in your
opinion.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, as a first night of the campaign where we actually had a debate on actual issues. In the first
debate the president had a disastrous performance because he never stopped talking. In this particular debate he had to stop, he had to listen, he had
to think about who is going to prosecute the case on issues and time and again he did get Joe Biden on issues that I think play to the president's
benefit.
You mentioned energy earlier in the show just a second ago. That is going to help President Trump in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas which the Democrats
are contesting so there were a lot of issues where we have actually get down to the nuts and bolts of who wants to do what it benefits Donald
Trump. He didn't do that in the first debate. He did it last night. Hence, my idea that it was his best day.
ANDERSON: OK. He did revert to teeing up Hunter Biden and the scandal, failed arguably to make any impact with that. Do you believe we're still
waiting for the so-called October surprise at this point?
JENNINGS: No. And the way we vote in the United States now over a month period makes it unlikely that an October surprise could dramatically change
the election. Plus, one key thing that's different about this race, people don't hate Joe Biden. His image is pretty good.
In the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton had a very negative image and so they weren't willing to give her the benefit of the doubt says when the Comey
letter came out 11 days before the election. Biden has got more protection against that because people trust him and like him more than Hillary
Clinton.
So, an October surprise I think is unlikely to affect this race the way it did against Hillary in 2016.
ANDERSON: Coronavirus, though, is expected to affect or have affected this race because, of course, 50 million people have already voted. The first
question from the moderator was how will you handle the next COVID phase, yet Donald Trump failed to lay out any policies, circling back to this old
nugget. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I take full responsibility. It's not my fault that it came here. It's China's fault.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Joe Biden did lay out policy including masks and restrictions. He didn't go so far as to suggest the nationwide lockdown. I wonder how you
justify Trump as the winner of that exchange, if indeed you do.
JENNINGS: Well, I don't know that he won that exchange because his job approval on that particular topic was very low. But I do think it was the
crispest defense of his administration's actions that he's given in the campaign so far and he mentioned vaccines which is central to the Trump
plan.
[11:10:00]
JENNINGS: So I'm not under any illusion that Donald Trump is going to win on Coronavirus and people to think that's the top issue but for one night
he actually did give I thought a crisp coherent defense on that particular topic.
ANDERSON: Yes, that's interesting, Scott. You say Republicans are reassured by this Trump performance. By which you mean what, I wonder?
JENNINGS: Well, in the public opinion polls here there's a difference between Donald Trump's job approval and what he is getting on the ballots
and a lot of those voters are Republican suburban voters who like all of Donald Trump's policies but they don't like his style or his communication
ways.
Last night he reminded them why they voted for him in the first place because they know deep down even though he is not the kind of Republican
they're used to -- he does executes the policies they like.
I heard from a number of Republican consultants last night who were breathing a sigh of relief that he may have actually help to save a couple
of Senate seats because he reminded voters that at its core the Republican Party is better on policy.
So, I think for those Republican wobbly voters in the suburbs, reminding them on policy especially on economic policy was a good for Trump to do
right here at the end.
ANDERSON: Yes. You made a really good point here because it is not just the president who is up for re-election if indeed that is what happens. There
are an awful lot of congressmen out there who are also up for re-election.
Perhaps that may be more consequential to some degree going forward but although with Donald Trump around. He is of consequence if indeed he is re-
elected. Scott, it is a pleasure having you on. Come again. Thank you.
JENNINGS: Thank you.
ANDERSON: The Republican view there of last night's debate. Still ahead on the show, we'll get the take of one Democrat, a Strategist who worked on
Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign so do stick around for that.
Let's talk through two other major topics that are affecting us around the world this hour COVID and climate. Both are linked and both on what happens
in America does affect all of us. Have a listen to Mr. Trump and Joe Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It will go away. And as I say, we're rounding the turn. We're rounding the corner. It's going away.
BIDEN: This is the same fellow who told you, "This is going to end by Easter" last time. This is the same fellow who told you that, "Don't worry,
we're going to end this by the summer." We're about to go into a dark winter, a dark winter and he has no clear plan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And I think it is important to get a quick fact check hire. The U.S. is not rounding the corner at present not the only place is not
rounding the corner because, of course, there is a second wave, particularly blighting Europe but that wasn't true when Donald Trump said
that.
The country's Coronavirus situation is measured by newly confirmed cases, hospitalizations and test positivity rate is getting worse, not better.
Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joining me now. Donald Trump once again teased a vaccine within weeks. This is what he said last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have a vaccine that's coming. It's ready. It's going to be announced within weeks and it's going to be delivered. We have Operation
Warp Speed, which is the military is going to distribute the vaccine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Elizabeth, you and I have discussed this headline many, many times over the past weeks and months, in fact. It seems to be that tomorrow
that never comes but Donald Trump did list a few companies saying they're in good shape. What is the story on vaccines?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's take them one at a time. So he said that Johnson & Johnson is doing very well. Now
Johnson & Johnson, their trial only on in the United States for about two and a half weeks before they went on a pause because of a participant
became ill.
So it is hard to say that trial - they have been going well for two and a half weeks but obviously needs to go on a lot longer. So they're not really
close to getting any results because they were only up for two and a half weeks and now they're on a pause.
Then he also mentioned Pfizer and Moderna, those trials are going better. Those trials are - have been going on since the end of July and those two
companies say they're optimistic that they will have results late November, in December, depends which one you're talking to but there's and that may
be true but there is a huge but here and I can't emphasize this enough Becky.
Those results might not look good. They might have early trial results, but those results could say the vaccine doesn't work so we just have to wait
and see. And I think Americans want this to be slower because people aren't trusting the vaccine so when he talks about how quickly it is going to
happen I think that actually works to his own detriment, to everyone's determent it makes people nervous this is going too fast and that the
vaccine won't be safe enough. Becky?
ANDERSON: The FDA has now given full approval for the drug Remdesivir. That is despite the W.H.O. saying it has little or no effect on mortality for
hospitalized patients.
[11:15:00]
ANDERSON: When I saw this FDA approval. I was really quite surprised. We have been having this discussion with the W.H.O. on Remdesivir specifically
for some time now. Why is there disconnect do you think, on this information?
COHEN: There is disconnect Becky because we are talking about different studies. So when the FDA gave an Emergency Use Authorization for Remdesivir
back in May it was based on a study that showed not that it saves lives, no one have ever claimed really officially that it saves lives but that it
saved a few days off of a hospital stay, like about four days off a hospital stay.
But then a W.H.O. study came up that said, no, it doesn't. It doesn't save time off a hospital stay and it also doesn't cut down on mortality, it
doesn't save lives. But the FDA says, look, we look at the data given that were given and they gave a full approval.
So basically, you have sort of these dueling studies. Gilead which makes Remdesivir will tell you, oh, this W.H.O. study there are some things that
should be looked at here. They will poke holes in it. Other people will say no, the W.H.O. study was well done. It was certainly larger than the
original study. So, you really have sort of dueling epidemiologists here but that's why you have that disconnect.
ANDERSON: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you. Well, a pandemic is shown us how precariously we are perched here on earth and how we have to live in and
with the natural world, isn't it? It's almost like the climate crisis at super speed. Yet another issue where the candidates as ever couldn't find
common ground it's terrible, it is happening.
We cannot wish it away Mr. Trump though still thinks his decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord was the right one to make. It will be no
surprise to that Joe Biden disagrees but even his articulation of a different vision for getting out of the climate crisis didn't go over so
well. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I have a transition from the old industry, yes.
TRUMP: Oh, that's a big statement.
BIDEN: I will transition. It is a big statement.
TRUMP: That's a big statement.
BIDEN: Because I would stop.
WELKER: Why would you do that?
BIDEN: Because the oil industry pollutes, significantly.
TRUMP: Oh, I see.
BIDEN: Here's the deal-
TRUMP: That's a big statement.
BIDEN: Well if you let me finish the statement, because it has to be replaced by renewable energy over time, over time, and I'd stop giving to
the oil industry, I'd stop giving them federal subsidies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that was Joe Biden last night. Those comments I have to say lit up social media. So, after the debate Mr. Biden took a bit of a back
step.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Get rid of the subsidies for fossil fuels but we're not getting rid of fossil fuels for a long time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: There you go. Let's bring in our Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir who's just written a piece for CNN Digital under the headline "How the
debate on the climate crisis ricocheted from planet earth to planet Trump" by which you meant what? What did you make of that slight backtrack by Joe
Biden, by the way?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Becky, only in America is this statement remotely controversial while the rest of the world is being
pushed by market forces and mortality to reckon with our energy system and the damage it's now doing on real time.
Only on planet Trump is it not happening and ever since Hillary Clinton lost coal mining communities four years ago. The Biden Campaign is very
careful not to scare off frackers in Pennsylvania but it's much more controversial there.
It is not this fracking wonderland that it's painted by some in that party. It is very divisive in that state. The bloom is off that rose for some
people were very excited about it early on. And Methane as a heat-trapping gas is much more damaging in the short term than carbon dioxide.
So when Joe Biden says he tries to ease the political fears that have been sort of infused in this country that it's going to take a lot of time.
There is not a lot of time. He wants to de-carbonize the electrical grid in just 15 years in the whole country by 2050 and that means massive efforts
starting yesterday.
ANDERSON: Yes, absolutely. Well, the president referred to many countries air quality as filthy last night. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Look at China, how filthy it is, look at Russia, look at India, it's filthy, the air is filthy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[11:20:00]
ANDERSON: Clean air is the tag line of any or many discussions on climate by the president. He also makes claims last night. The U.S. has the
cleanest air and water, is that true?
WEIR: No, I think we're ranked somewhere 15, 16 on the list and its going - it is getting worse since Trump's EPA was dismantled basically by former
fossil fuel lobbyists there. He doesn't seem to realize that the reason the air and water in the United States is cleaner, it didn't used to be. It
used to be the air in Los Angeles looked like Beijing and the rivers in the Midwest looked like those in India.
But then the environmental protection agency and the "Clean Air and Water Act" all which is being gutted and rolled back under President Trump and he
conflates pollution at ground level with the heat-trapping gases up there like a dog in a car on a hot summer day. We're the dog.
ANDERSON: Climate crisis is what Bill knows better than most. Bill, thank you for that, a bountiful green background behind you on such an important
beat thank you for connecting us to it more from Bill on this show going forward, believe me.
You are watching CONNECT THE WORLD. Still to come, the U.S. issues an emergency warning for Americans in Turkey. I'm going to get you the details
on what's been called a credible threat and indeed we'll get you the reaction to it. And a prison fire in Lagos is the latest escalation of
unrest in Nigeria.
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ANDERSON: Police security alert is being issued in Turkey warning Americans there to be on guard. The U.S. Embassy says it has received credible
reports of potential terrorist attacks and kidnappings against American citizens and foreign nationals in Istanbul and it has temporary suspended
consular services. Let's bring in CNN's Arwa Damon who is in Istanbul for you. What do we know what more do we know at this point?
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A very little actually, Becky. We did end up asking the U.S. Embassy officials here as to whether
or not this was perhaps somehow linked to an increase in U.S. targeting of Al-Qaeda in Syria or its affiliates that took place in recent days and they
would not respond to that.
But what's quite interesting in the wording of this alert is that they do specifically also mention Istanbul and they mention that the Council
General was also somehow part of this terror warning that they had received.
Now what they're telling U.S. citizens and other foreign nationals is to just be extra vigilant, to avoid crowded places, to be aware of their
surroundings, to avoid areas where foreigners could possibly tend to congregate.
But the other interesting aspect in all of this is that it has been quite some time since we have received this sort of a warning. You will remember,
of course, back in 2015, '16, '17 when there was a prevalence of ISIS and PKK attacks happening in Turkey.
[11:25:00]
DAMON: The U.S. did back then end up evacuating family members of its staff; it did on a number of occasions in the past temporarily suspend
these very same services. But exactly what was behind this specific threat, that at this stage we do not know but also worth remembering that the U.S.
having learned the very bitter difficult and painful lesson of Benghazi right now is much more likely to urge people to err rightfully so on the
side of caution Becky.
ANDERSON: Arwa Damon is in Istanbul and anything further on that we'll get them. Sure, Arwa will get it to you as soon as we get it. Thank you. Let's
get you up to speed on some of the other stories that are on our radar right now.
And the U.N. says mercenaries and foreign fighters will leave Libya within three months. Part of a cease-fire agreement that was signed in Geneva. The
agreement also stipulates the suspension of all foreign military training agreements with foreign military forces and the immediate departure of
those teams from Libyan territories.
Well, sources tell CNN that Sudan and Israel could normalize relations within the next few days. A senior Sudanese official says a high-level
meeting was held in Khartoum on Wednesday between top representatives from the Sudanese government and a high-level Israeli Delegation in the presence
of American officials.
And France has joined the U.S. and the UK in expressing concern over the situation in Nigeria. That's after a prison was set on fire in Lagos, the
latest escalation in what is the ongoing unrest there that's gripped the country. At least 56 people have been killed since the start of anti-police
brutality demonstrations earlier this month France calling on Nigerian security forces to show extreme restraint and for protesters to express
themselves in a peaceful manner.
You are watching CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson for you from our Middle East Programming Hub here in Abu Dhabi with the time just four half
past 7. Coming up earlier, I spoke to a Republican who said President Trump had the best night of his campaign in what was the final debate. Well,
after this break, we'll get a Democrat's view of how Joe Biden fared?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: You're sitting at the kitchen table this morning deciding, "Well, we can't get new tires. They're bald, because we have to wait another month or
so." Or "Are we going to be able to pay the mortgage?" Or "Who's going to tell her she can't go back to community college?" They're the decisions
you're making, and the middle-class families like I grew up in Scranton and Claymont.
WELKER: 10 seconds.
TRUMP: That's a typical political statement. Let's get off this China thing, and then he looks, "The family around the table, everything." Just a
typical politician when I see that. I'm not a typical politician.
WELKER: Let's talk about North Korea now.
TRUMP: That's why I got elected. Let's get off this subject of China, let's talk around - sitting around the table. Come on, Joe. You could do better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that's Donald Trump and, of course, Joe Biden on the right. Does the president have a point there? He is not your typical politician.
With just 11 days until the presidential election. What type of candidate do the American people want this year this time around? Let's take a look
at the numbers.
Right now, Joe Biden leading most of the ten battleground states, still the races there do remain extremely close. The White House now hoping Donald
Trump's more muted performance at Thursday night's debate could swing more voters his way but according to a CNN Poll it was Biden who came out on
top, 53 percent of debate watchers say that the Democrat was the clear winner.
Well, there was plenty of he said/he said as it were going on last night with the Presidential Nominees slamming each other on the records and
policies which you would expect in what would be the final debate of this presidential campaign. But both men did take the time to share the very
different visions of America's future. Take a listen to what Donald Trump said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We can't keep this country closed. This is a massive country with a massive economy. People are losing their jobs. They're committing suicide.
There's depression, alcohol, drugs.
I'd like to terminate Obamacare, come up with a brand new, beautiful healthcare. The Democrats will do it, because there'll be tremendous
pressure on them. And we might even have the House by that time.
We have to help our small businesses.
WELKER: You said--
TRUMP: How are you helping your small businesses when you're forcing wages? What's going to happen, and what's been proven to happen, is when you do
that, these small businesses fire many of their employees.
The Paris Accord, I took us out because we were going to have to spend trillions of dollars and we were treated very unfairly.
When they put us in there, they did us a great disservice, they were going to take away our businesses. I will not sacrifice tens of millions of jobs.
Success is going to bring us together. We are on the road to success. But I'm cutting taxes, and he wants to raise everybody's taxes and he wants to
put new regulations on everything. He will kill it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that is Donald Trump. Here's Joe Biden's highlight reel as it were.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: We're about to go into a dark winter, a dark winter and he has no clear plan.
We ought to be able to safely open, but they need resources to open. You need to be able to, for example, if you're going to open a business, have
social distancing within the business.
I'm going to shut down the virus, not the country. It's his ineptitude that caused the country to have to shut down in large part.
What I'm going to do is pass Obamacare with a public option and become Bidencare.
Not one single person with private insurance would lose their insurance under my plan, nor did they under Obamacare.
Climate change, global warming is an existential threat to humanity. We have a moral obligation to deal with it.
Have a transition from the old industry, yes.
TRUMP: Oh, that's a big statement.
BIDEN: I will transition. It is a big statement.
Because I would stop.
WELKER: Why would you do that?
BIDEN: Because the oil industry pollutes, significantly.
TRUMP: Oh, I see.
BIDEN: Here's the deal-
TRUMP: That's a big statement.
BIDEN: Well if you let me finish the statement, because it has to be replaced by renewable energy over time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Let's discuss some of what we have heard with CNN Political Commentator Karen Finney who was a Spokeswoman for Hillary Clinton's 2016
Campaign. She is live in D.C. for us with less than two weeks. Well less than two weeks before the U.S. election, of course. We are in the final
stretch.
President Trump behaving himself last night, in fact, many Republicans say he had the best night of his campaign and many are not just relieved, but
they reassured that they still now have some significant skin in this race. How do you rate Joe Biden's performance last night, Karen?
KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, actually, I thought he was excellent. I thought, certainly he had more of an opportunity to talk and
certainly talk about policy than in the first one, in part because Donald Trump was so much better behaved.
But I thought he was able to make some significant points but I'll tell you I think for those voters who were tuning in last night who may be undecided
at this point I think it's less about specific issue, certainly there are some people who maybe were listening for a climate answer, listening for a
COVID plan from Donald Trump, didn't hear it.
[11:35:00]
But it was about character and, again, I think Joe Biden just walked away with it when it comes to character, understanding what people are currently
going through. You know?
FINNEY: Those were moments where Donald Trump mocked and berated and didn't even seem to understand the inhumanity of the way, for example, those 545
children were treated who now can't find their families. I mean, that is something, a cross-section of Americans agrees with.
ANDERSON: OK. And you believe that he came out on top when it comes to character. One of the rebuttals from Donald Trump when discussing policies,
whether North Korea or whether health care was to ask Joe Biden, why hadn't he achieved his policies, his ideas during his two terms as vice president.
Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He was there-
WELKER: --your response.
TRUMP: --for 47 years. He didn't do it. He was now there as vice president for eight years. And it's not like it was 25 years ago. It was three and
three quarters - it was just a little while ago, right? Less than four years ago. He didn't do anything. He didn't do it. He wants socialized
medicine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Is that a fair accusation? Certainly, his supporters will say it is. How do you believe or what is Joe Biden doing to ensure that the voters
that he still needs genuinely believe that he can get the policies that he talks about through?
FINNEY: Well, I'll tell you. A couple of the most important things and he has talked about this in some of the town halls he did. I think last night
in the format of the debate it was harder to get in all the specifics.
But remember what the economy was like when President Obama and Joe Biden took office. I mean, they saved our economy. Joe Biden single handedly
helped or not, single handedly, but he was in charge of making sure the dollars were getting out the door to various communities.
He also helped save the auto industry. So, I heard him talk about that quite a bit on the trail and when it comes to things like criminal justice,
obviously, that was another issue that came up. He talks about the violence against women act very important piece of legislation and he talks about
the things actually that they did do.
This is where the president was being a bit duplicitous because the number of the things and this should actually come up in the climate conversation
that was accomplished in the Obama/Biden Administration. Trump has actually rolled them back.
So, the fact that some of our clean air and clean water protections are now weaker is not because Obama and Biden didn't do something it is because
they did something and then Trump rolled them back.
And so, I think Biden has been very clear to talk about building on in some cases the work that he and President Obama did, criminal justice reform,
the pattern of practice investigation that he mentioned. By the way that's another thing that Trump has rolled back so that's the way to have that
conversation.
ANDERSON: Donald Trump did zone in on the 1994 crime bill, of course. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: --in 1994, when he did such harm to the black community, and they were called - and he called them superpredators. And he said that, he said
it, superpredators, and they never lived that down. 1994, your crime bill, the superpredators. Nobody has done more for the black community than
Donald Trump.
BIDEN: I never ever said what he accused me of saying. The fact of the matter is, in 2000 though, after the crime bill had been in the law for a
while, this is a guy who said, "The problem with the crime bill, there's not enough people in jail."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Is that a fair swipe from Donald Trump?
FINNEY: No, of course not. It is a fair - I mean, it is a fair conversation to have and Biden has talked about the crime bill itself and he has
apologized for parts of it, he talked about what he would do differently.
And again, it negates the work that's been done that Joe Biden has been part of since 1994 again, through the Obama/Biden Administration and the
things that are in his current plan. It particularly duplicitous for Donald Trump who literally took out a full-page ad against - we call him the
"Innocent Five", "The Exonerated Five".
A young man who was accused in the Central Park and called for them to be executed those young men were innocent. And I will tell you as a black
person in the black community in America people - that is something that people still remember.
And the Birtherism attacks on Obama are something that he just has no credibility when he talks about these issues really people tune him out
because he just - his racism and his racist policies have come through time and time again.
ANDERSON: I think there's still is an argument. I mean, you know we have heard it discussed enough to suggest that Joe Biden is the candidate that
Democrats have and rather than the candidate that a lot of voters might want.
[11:40:00]
ANDERSON: Let me just ask you this one last question. If you had one last thing to say about Donald Trump, what would it be?
FINNEY: You can't trust him. You cannot trust anything that he says. Again, last night when he talked about, he wants this big, beautiful health care
plan, talk about - you have been the president for four years.
You had both houses of congress and you didn't get it done. And time and again he has lied to us; our fact checkers as you know at CNN have said he
actually lied more last night than in the first debate. So, you can't trust anything this man says. So, you don't know what he is going to do in the
future?
ANDERSON: Karen, it is being a pleasure having you on. We started this show with Scott Jennings who gave us a Republican position. Yours is very
valuable to us, as well. We thank you very much, indeed.
Tomorrow it will be ten days. Today it's 11 until the U.S. election. Up next, a week of drama and drastic measures across Europe and the United
Kingdom as COVID does whatever it likes it seems and in fear the 90 minutes the people of Wales will have to go back behind closed doors. We are live
in Cardiff for you there just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Thousands of new cases, daily records and plenty of hand wringing. Europe is desperate to regain control of its surging COVID
crisis. On the continent, different countries are putting faith in different measures.
In the UK, in England for example Greater Manchester is now under the United Kingdom's toughest level of COVID restrictions. This follows the
collapse of angry talks between local leaders in - earlier this week. Take a listen to Greater Manchester's Mayor talking to CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDY BURNHAM, GREATER MANCHESTER MAYOR: We as a city, region, we've always stood up for people, for fairness and we have challenged the London
establishment if you like in some of the ways in which it treats the Northern England.
And this argument became a fight about that. In my view if you are going to lockdown someone's life or lockdown somebody's job, it can't be done on
terms dictated from 200 miles away and actually, you know, on a week like this, though it's been tough, I kind of look back and inside, well, I'm
doing what I said I would do.
And you get a sense of fulfillment from doing that and my message to Westminster is you know I'll do it every single time again if you come back
and try to treat us in this way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Andy Burnham there. Well, up next Wales in just over an hour, its people will have to stay home for two weeks part of what's being called a
"Fire Break Lockdown". CNN's Nina Dos Santos is standing by in the Welsh Capital of Cardiff. How are people coping or getting ready for this, Nina?
[11:45:00]
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you can see behind me Becky, we are in the main district of Cardiff, the Capital of Wales and there are
still lot of people milling about in the streets with just over an hour to go.
We have noticed the police have been back and forth across this road. And that's probably a reminder to people that perhaps it's probably a good time
to start getting home. All of these retail shops behind me will have to shut their doors for the next two weeks until November 9th because the sale
of all nonessential items for instance, like food stuffs will be banned across this part of the United Kingdom.
Also, pubs, restaurants, bars won't be able to serve people say for take away meals and the advice to people here. In fact, it a legal requirement
is to actually stay at home and not mix of other households. Work from home if you can unless you're a key worker.
What's really interesting about what Wales is doing at the moment is influencing a much more stringent lockdown over a time defined period here
Becky in comparison to those local lockdowns you were just talking about in places like Manchester.
I just interviewed Mark Drakeford who is the First Minister of Wales, the head of government here with the power of a health and things like
education. And he said we are going to be sticking to two weeks. There is no question of going over that even if we don't yet have the scientific
evidence.
This is about protecting the NHS in this part of the country, preventing the spread of the virus to other communities where it hasn't gotten a foot
hole and also saving some semblance of the Christmas season. Becky?
ANDERSON: Do people support Drakeford's decision? Do they understand why this decision is being made?
DOS SANTOS: Well, this is a very, very key and good question, Becky, because as you said they're looking across the border and it is a very
porous big land border that Wales has with England in saying how come they're having local lockdowns and we have to have a national lockdown?
People in villages that haven't been very badly affected by Coronavirus in some parts of Wales say a couple hundred miles from where I am now in
Cardiff they may be questioning the sense of having to shut down their business and saying that they may be punished for this.
On the other hand, remember though; remember this, a lot of big tourist hotspots in Wales and this is the full half term holiday. It is a key
season when people come to visit places like Cardiff Castle and the mountains of Snowdonia.
And what Wales doesn't want to do is import cases from those Coronavirus hotspots, say in the Northwest of England that you were just talking about
and having those spread across the whole of Wales. They fear that the NHS, the health system in this part of the country, which they have some degree
of autonomy over in terms of policy could get overwhelmed.
They just want to try and put a pause on things for the moment and that's why they're appealing to people to back them on these measures that are why
they're saying that they're sticking to those two weeks, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yes, that's fascinating. Nina, thank you for that. Nina Dos Santos is in Cardiff for you where Wales has gone its own way and has put
in these "Fire Breaker Lockdown" as it were. Let's see how that goes over the next few weeks. We'll continue to report on that.
Let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories that we're following on our radar right now. Another grim infection record for Russia it is
reporting more than 17,000 new COVID cases in a single day. That's for the first time Russia has seen a surge in confirmed cases since the beginning
of this month breaking its single day records almost every day.
France in a similar situation, a new day, a new record of confirmed infections and there, too, tougher restrictions and with an overnight
curfew being extended covering 46 million people. This comes as the French government says more than 41,000 COVID cases have been recorded in the past
24 hours.
And in the Czech Republic, the Health Minister there refusing to resign after apparently breaking pandemic restrictions the prime minister putting
pressure on him to step down. The controversy erupted as the Czech government tries to cope with the highest number of new infections per
capita in Europe.
Thugs and filthy air, is this how the U.S. Presidential Candidates view the world? We'll take a look at the true colors on display at what was the last
of the U.S. Presidential Debates.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:50:00]
ANDERSON: This hour we have been looking at the state of America following the final presidential debate, specifically the politics of hope versus the
politics of fire. From the outside looking in it can seem chaotic and for many at times quite frankly tiring.
Imagine how it feels for those actually living through it. At the end of the day folks this election will send shockwaves across the globe. America,
after of all, is the most powerful country in the world. Who wins the election could determine the future of its place in the world and how it
leads on the global stage?
While international issues such as North Korea and Russia were discussed at the last Presidential Debate, we saw next to no foreign policy actually
laid out. Nic Robertson has covered effects of U.S. foreign policy in every part of the world. He joins us now from London.
This is an important time, isn't it? I mean, there will be leaders around the world who will be interested or would have been interested to hear what
both candidates' positions are when it comes to U.S. foreign policy. This is the last time both candidates came head to head. What did we learn?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You know, we have learned that President Trump still has the ability to as Vice President
Biden said during the debate to put his finger in the eye of allies by describing India's air is dirty they were in the boat with the Indian Prime
Minister is an important strategic ally of United States right now.
Why, because the tensions are growing with China. So that was an oddity but again I think the sort of - when I say oddity, world leaders have been able
to watch President Trump for four years. They know what he is like. I don't think there were any surprises today.
And they know what Vice President Biden was like because he had eight years as vice president to Barack Obama particularly on foreign policy so perhaps
no surprises there. I think where people will have been watching keenly, economy is important to everyone.
Every world leader knows that how they handle COVID determines how well their economy and how quickly their economy can recover and how badly it is
affected? So to hear Vice President Biden put forward an offer of a plan and an idea and a way out that's different to the way that President Trump
is handling it with a high death rate that the United States is having would be indicative to some world leaders to be able to say.
OK, look perhaps this guy Biden is going to be at a sort of - get out of this faster, get the U.S. economy back on track. And of course, that's so -
because the U.S. economy is so important globally that's a key issue.
ANDERSON: Yes, Joe Biden accusing Trump of cozying up with thugs and poking his finger at friends when discussing the president's relationships with
America's foes and allies, even going as far as to say this, Nic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: We had a good relationship with Hitler before he, in fact, invaded Europe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: What do you make of those comments?
ROBERTSON: You know Vice President Biden is not above saying things that can sound you know, perhaps, perhaps off putting to some people. There are
slips that he makes for sure. You know? I think the point that he was making there was, you know, President Trump's made a friend out of Kim
Jong-un in North Korea.
And you know is no good President Trump saying hey, we got along great. I mean, look, listen to what the U.S. defense expert said last week. They
said that look at the new ballistic missile that North Korea is been able to develop. That's under President Trump.
You know? There's a sense that President Trump has been played by Kim Jong- un. Kim Jong-un has played for time. Joe Biden said I'll only sit down with Kim Jong-un if he guarantees, you know, getting rid of his nuclear weapons.
So they're very different positions but I think what he was trying to say there was President Trump, there's no point in saying that Kim Jong-un
seems OK because you don't know what is going to happen around the corner.
[11:55:00]
ROBERTSON: And he is making every move at the moment under the Trump Administration to continue to develop nuclear weapons and to continue to
develop ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States carrying those weapons even to the point of putting them on public and international
display at a big parade just last week so I think that's Biden's point there.
ANDERSON: Finally, Joe Biden not last night but in a town hall just a week or so ago was asked whether he would concede to agreeing and this was a
member of the audience, agreeing with this member of the audience when they said that Donald Trump has had some foreign policy successes.
And the normalization agreement between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain, for example, was one of the issues that this audience member brought up. And
Joe Biden actually said, look, a little bit. You know? I would concede that he's had a little bit of success and I'm just being told as we speak that
Sudan, in fact, has announced that it's just normalized with Israel. If anything, there is some success out there for Donald Trump, isn't there?
ROBERTSON: Yes. I think we have just heard from the State Department, as well, if I read the emails crossing just a couple minutes ago correctly.
The State Department taking Sudan off the list of state sponsors of terror. So yes, you know?
There have been some successes. There is no doubt about it. And I think you there's an understanding and view around the world particularly amongst the
United States allies and particularly here in Europe that China's trade practices violate international norms.
You know they want access to intellectual property, they want to have Chinese business partners and this is something that also Vice President
Biden said that he wouldn't put up with either. So there's a sense that, yes, Trump's got it right on some issues is the way that he said about it
that I think has made it hard for a lot of world leaders to stomach because there has been a lot - there has been consequential knock-on effects.
It has been erratic and hasn't brought allies together. That's what Vice President Biden says there he will do. You know President Trump again was
trumpeting he will what he's been able to get out of NATO over the past few years during this administration.
ANDERSON: I just want our viewers to get a little bit more of what you and I are discussing here. But specifically, what we have just broken on air
while you and I have been discussing. Sudan and Israel agreed to normalize relations. This according to the White House, and let me just give you
specifically what we have here?
President Donald Trump announcing Friday that Sudan and Israel have agreed to normalize relations of foreign policy win for the incumbent president
less than two weeks before the U.S. presidential election.
This from the White House Spokesperson Judd Deere on Twitter, "President Donald Trump has announced that Sudan and Israel have agreed to normalize
relations, another major step towards building peace in the Middle East with another nation joining the Abraham Accords".
This announcement coming shortly after the White House said that he had informed congress of his intent to remove Sudan from the state sponsor of
terrorism list. This is something that you confirmed that you saw from the State Department just before you and I started talking.
The rescission of that 27-year-old designation was widely seen as being tied to this deal with Israel. And this deal with Israel, Sudan is brokered
by the U.S., a classic case of transactional foreign policy by the U.S. President, Donald Trump, Nic.
ROBERTSON: Yes. And a lot of people actually in the region would say that Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, his Special Expert on the Middle East, has
really played the major and significant role behind the scenes that President Trump has really only sort of got involved at the last minute.
It certainly what Trump was looking for, he has been looking for international foreign policy win. And he'll certainly chalk this up as that
and I think for some people you know they will see that President Trump has succeeded in the Middle East where other presidents have failed.
Of course what he hasn't been able to do is to bring a lasting peaceful solution between Israel and the Palestinians and that's, you know, would
have been the really big goal and the really big thing to achieve.
But that's not to undermine what has been achieved now because whoever becomes president next, whether it's President Trump with another four
years or Vice President Biden, what's been achieved will be built on in terms of that relationship between the United Arab Emirates and Israel,
between Bahrain and Israel, between Sudan and Israel. This is this is going to change and reflect differently on how the Middle East is viewed?
END
