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CNN Live Event/Special

Biden And Trump Entering Final Sprint Of Campaign; Dr. Scott Atlas Apologizes Over Interview With Russian Outlet; Worry Over U.S. Postal Service In Final Week Of Election; Dr. Anthony Fauci Issues Warning On COVID-19; Cities Prepare For Election Unrest. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired November 01, 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]

LEANA WEN, FORMER BALTIMORE CITY HEALTH COMMISSIONER: It's bad for mental health, bad for so many reasons. But at some point, it may become inevitable if our healthcare system is on the brink of collapse.

We want to prevent from getting to that point and that's why we need things like mask mandates. We need for people to be following guidance to not congregate in large gatherings, rallies where people are maskless and shoulder to shoulder.

We shouldn't be having events like that. The more we can do right now in order to suppress the level of coronavirus surge, the more we can prevent lockdowns. And I wish that Scott Atlas would join the rest of the medical and scientific community in speaking the truth to the American people.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, Dr. Wen, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate it.

WEN: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: I want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I am Brianna Keilar in Washington and we are counting down to Election Day. With just two days to go, President Trump and his Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, are barnstorming through key battleground states.

We listened to the former vice president speaking in Philadelphia just moments ago. The president holding five rallies today. He has already been to Michigan and Iowa. North Carolina is scheduled for next hour. Then he is onto Georgia and finally Florida.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden focusing on Philadelphia with Pennsylvania a critical state for him in the race for electoral votes. He's holding two events there, two larger events, including a drive-in rally that is scheduled for this hour.

The frantic last-minute campaigning will not change the votes of the more than 91 million Americans who have already cast their early ballots. That's more than two-thirds of all ballots cast in 2016. But in a troubling development, new court filings revealed for the

third day in a row, the U.S. Postal Service moved fewer ballots on time in critical battleground states than it did in the previous day, so things are slowing down there.

I want to begin our election countdown coverage with our CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins. She is in Hickory, North Carolina, which is where the president will be holding his next rally. Kaitlan, the president is visiting five states today. So, what is his message here in the final push?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, his closing message has been this attempt to undermine what we could see happen on Tuesday, Brianna, which is a delayed counting of the vote because of so many votes that have been cast by mail, as you were just pointing out, given the fact that we are still going through this election year during a pandemic.

And so today this message that you're seeing coming from not only the president but his senior advisers and his family is that votes that come in after November 3rd, they believe should not be counted. This is what the president told the crowd in Iowa just before he headed here to North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've seen people where election got stolen, and by the way, we're not going to let that happen to us, you know, with these ballots. How about the Supreme Court ruling where the Supreme Court -- no, this was not good news. Supreme Court gave them more time, more time.

So, what does this mean? Does this mean we go and we wait? So it's not November 3rd, it's going to be much later than that? No, no. We should know the result of the election on November 3rd. The evening of November 3rd. That's the way it's been and that's the way it should be. What's going on in this country? What's going on?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Now, the president said that's the way it's been, that's the way it should be. That's not true, Brianna. It has not always been known by midnight on election night who the president is. And states are not legally required to tally their votes by then.

Often, it does take longer and usually you actually see media organizations call and determine the election before the final tally is in because they are still going through ballots that have been mailed in and whatnot.

And of course, that's going to be even higher this year given how many people have voted that way. But this is an effort by the president that they've been laying this groundwork for weeks, which is basically, if he loses on Tuesday night, they want to be able to undermine the outcome of that election and question it. So they are already starting to cast doubt on it now even though,

actually, what would be wrong is that they did not count ballots after November 3rd, Brianna, because people have legitimately cast these ballots, they'll be countered and that is what we've heard from state officials that they expect to do in the days following what happens on Tuesday.

KEILAR: That's right. These are ballots cast on Election Day or before Election Day, right? Not cast after Election Day. And I want to ask you, Kaitlan, about something I know the president is now commenting on. The FBI's investigating an incident caught on tape and it's something that happened on a Texas interstate.

The Biden campaign says there was a caravan of Trump supporters surrounding their bus. They tried to slow this down, this bus down. They were able to slow it down. They tried to run it off the road. And tell us what the president is saying about this.

COLLINS: Yes, this is actually so concerning. You saw this bus and hundreds of Trump supporters drove up around it. They slowed it down to 20 miles per hour on the interstate. And today, the Republicans have been asked around the board about this.

[17:05:00]

The RNC chair, Ronna McDaniel, said earlier that the president would not condone the action of those supporters because obviously if they were trying to harm the people on that bus or interfere with them driving safely down the road, she said they would not condone that.

But that is not what the president himself said. Instead, he embraced it and tried to put this spin on it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Did you see the way our people, you know, they were protecting his bus yesterday, because they're nice. So his bus -- they had hundreds of cars, Trump, Trump. Trump and the American flag. You see Trump and the American flag. Did you ever notice when you see the other side, I don't even see much of the other side. You don't see any -- they have no spirit, they have no enthusiasm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: So the president said they were trying to protect them and be nice. We should note, the staffers onboard that bus called, Brianna, called 911 to actually assist them because they were concerned about what was happening. And as you noted, the FBI is investigating that incident.

KEILAR: Yes. And the president's preferred White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Scott Atlas, Kaitlan, is now apologizing. He's facing backlash for doing an interview with RT, which is Russian state media. What is Atlas now saying?

COLLINS: He's apologizing for doing this extensive interview. It was a 30-minute interview about the pandemic where he criticized lockdowns, he questioned the use of mask. Really, the typical things we've been hearing from Dr. Atlas, but it's notable where he did it because RT had to register as a foreign agent with the Justice Department after that investigation into Russian interference, attempted interference in the American election.

And of course, he says he did not know. But Brianna that is really raising a lot of questions because of course, their name is "Russia Today." They are well-known as Russian propaganda and now he says he did not know and he's apologizing to the national security apparatus in the U.S. for doing that interview.

KEILAR: All right, Kaitlan Collins, where the president will soon be in Hickory, North Carolina. Thank you so much. I want to check in now on the Biden campaign. We have CNN correspondent Jessica Dean tracking that in Philly for us. So Jessica, Biden is focusing here the final days on Pennsylvania. Tell us about what his push is here in the final 48 hours.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Brianna, we saw Biden in Pennsylvania all day today. He, his wife, Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, will all spread out to four corners of Pennsylvania tomorrow.

Remember, President Trump won Pennsylvania by some 44,000 votes back in 2016. And the Biden campaign, look, seeing all of those people here on the day before the election, that tells you they know how critical this state is to their entire strategy on Tuesday.

And look, a Biden campaign aide told us that they really see Pennsylvania as the coalition they're seeking to build nationally. So what does that look like? That looks like suburban voters, specifically suburban women. It looks like working class union voters. It looks like black voters, Latino voters.

These are the types of demographics that they are trying to bring together to get a win on Tuesday. Here's Vice President Biden in Pennsylvania today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need every single one of you to get out on vote on Tuesday. My message is simple. Pennsylvania is critical in this election. I live in Delaware but I'm a Pennsylvania boy, born in Scranton.

I want to tell you, the last time Donald Trump ran, he won this state by 44,000 votes. So, every single vote matters. The power, the power to change this country is literally in your hands. I don't care how hard Donald Trump tries, there is nothing, nothing he is going to do to stop this nation from voting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: The Biden campaign, Brianna, also looking to flip people who may have voted for President Trump back in 2016, but would vote for Biden this time. Again, they're seeking to not just get their base to turn out, but also to expand that, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Jessica in Philadelphia. Thank you so much, Jessica Dean. I want to get more now on all of this with our CNN chief political analyst, Gloria Borger. We have CNN senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson, and Republican former Ohio governor, John Kasich, who is our CNN senior commentator.

Gloria, right now the president campaigning and he has five states today. Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Joe Biden has more of a focused approach as opposed to this blitz. He's really focusing on Pennsylvania. So, what does that tell you here in the final stretch?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think what the president is trying to do is in some way recreate his 2016 victory.

[17:10:00]

And a lot of these states, as you know, Brianna, he is running neck and neck or behind. So what he is effectively trying to do is plug the holes in the dike there that might -- that he really might have.

And what you see with Joe Biden is he is concentrating on getting to 270. The easiest way for him to do that, the campaign knows, is through that northern tier. And Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is the state that looks the closest in many ways, is counted, unfortunately, the latest.

And so he knows if he's going to get people out to vote, this is the time to do it. So, he's got to really make a push for that late voting. But you'll notice that tomorrow he's making a little side trip to Cleveland, Ohio. Maybe the governor can talk about that.

Going to Ohio because they even think they have a shot there. Although, of course, they're not focusing on it, but I guess they think they have enough of a shot to make it worth Joe Biden's time.

KEILAR: Governor, you tell us.

JOHN KASICH, CNN SENIOR COMMENTATOR: No, I think it's very interesting. I'm not surprised they're going to go to Cleveland. Cleveland is the largest media market in the state. And African- American turnout matters a great deal.

You know, a couple of months ago I would have said, no way, no how. But right now I say it's really too close to call. But you think about this, and he is -- Gloria is exactly right about where he's been going. But think about the fact that on Monday before the Tuesday election he's going to Cleveland, Ohio.

And you have Donald Trump going places that should be locked up that right now are not locked up. And the reason why Joe Biden is spending so much time in Philadelphia, not just Joe Biden, but Barack Obama spent a great amount of time in Philadelphia because as Philadelphia goes, in most cases, so goes the state if you have that huge turnout that can come out of Philadelphia. And what we would watch there is the turnout particularly of African-

Americans. It's very interesting Biden is back there again this afternoon, late this afternoon. I'm sure they'll spend more time in Philadelphia, so Pennsylvania matters.

KEILAR: It certainly matters. And Nia, we're seeing in cities across the country, there are businesses that are boarding up. They are preparing for possible unrest in the aftermath of this election.

We were just showing video of a Trump caravan that was following the Biden/Harris bus and had slowed it down to 20 miles per hour on the interstate causing staffers on that bus to be concerned for their safety and call 911.

There's this concern, right. There's this kind of I think fear that we are starting to see. This country is very much on edge.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: It is on edge and we have to be honest here about who is fomenting this fear, fomenting some of the actions that we saw down with that bus. It's Donald Trump.

He's the one who's talking about sending folks to the polls to make sure that there is no fraudulent activity, even though there's no evidence that folks are going to be engaging in fraudulent activity at the polls on Election Day.

This is a dangerous, dangerous thing for the leader of the country to do. And we know that he has a very close relationship with his followers. They take cues from him. And so, you're exactly right. A lot of people fearful about the aftermath.

Here in D.C., I've seen businesses boarded up starting on yesterday. I imagine that will continue to happen all across this country because there is a powder keg situation going on here. And again, we know that Donald Trump doesn't mind lighting a match, talking up violence, praising violence.

He, of course, is now trying to back off of what happened with his supporters and that Biden bus. But it's clear what was going on there. And it's clear that in many ways this is a president who has encouraged that violence, praised some of that violence as well. And we just hope and pray that on election night that there isn't any sort of unrest and violence in the country.

KEILAR: Yes. And it's very clear. Look, he's got a knack for inspiring anxiety and fear and he's leaning heavily into that here in the final hours.

Gloria, I want to ask you about something that we are hearing from a senior Trump campaign adviser who says they're planning to be very aggressive on election night and the president isn't necessarily going to wait for news organizations to project the race before he declares victory. Of course, that is not how elections work.

BORGER: No, it is not. And I think, look, campaigns can always look at their own numbers and their own algorithms and decide where they think their campaign is headed and what state they think they're going to win.

[17:14:53]

And, of course, we all think back to, or at least I do, think back to the election of 2000 when we know that Al Gore was in Tennessee and on his way to concede and then more numbers were coming in from Florida and he said to George Bush, wait a minute, I'm not going to concede. I take back my private concession. I'm not going to give it publicly.

So, we know these things can be very tense. And I think that what the campaign is saying, is at some point, they want to try and project strength because it does play into the president's narrative, of course, that if he doesn't win, it's because the election is rigged and maybe the media is part of that.

You know, I don't know exactly what they're thinking on that point. But I, you know, it would seem to me that neither candidate would want to concede on election night until they know what the numbers are. Declaring victory, I think, is something that you have to be really careful about.

KEILAR: And what's clear we're seeing, governor, is that Republicans are the ones who seem to be trying to, perhaps, change some of the outcome. In Texas, Republicans are pushing to invalidate more than 120,000 votes that have already been cast. They were cast at drive- through voting locations that were permissible under local regulations. What's your reaction to that?

KASICH: It's horrific. Look, you don't want to win elections in this country because you keep other people from voting. And there were a lot of people who bled and died. You know, we think about John Lewis and the marches he was involved with so that everybody would have a chance to vote.

It has never been in the Republican DNA as long as I've remembered, in fact, I remember in the early '80s when people who had engaged in one way or another who had worked for the Republican National Committee, were told you will never do this again, you will never work in this area again because there was some shenanigans going on.

Now, you have this lawsuit now down in Texas. It's apparently sponsored by a wealthy donor, actually, a sitting member of the Texas legislature and a couple candidates for office.

And what they're saying is, even though the people in this drive-by voting voted legitimately, everything was checked out. Everything was correct. They're now saying that somehow it's unconstitutional. Could you imagine that trying to disqualify 125 -- 150,000 votes in Houston?

I mean, and I tell you, the Republican Party should be speaking out on this. If they do not speak out on this, then it's going to be -- it's going to be a black mark against the party and will represent something that we've never been connected to before.

The other thing that I would say about Election Day, and I've been in a couple of very close elections. My first election to Congress, I never, ever would have attempted to claim a victory until I was told it was legitimate.

My first run for governor, close as a, you know, very, very close in that election. There's no way I would have claimed anything. So what we have to hope is that Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell on election night will simmer it all down and say, no, this isn't over until it is actually officially completed. That's the way this should work.

BORGER: But do you think Mitch McConnell will have any impact at all on this regard with Donald Trump? I mean, why would we even think that?

KASICH: It doesn't matter what he says to Donald Trump. It matters -- it matters what he says -- it matters what he says to the American people.

BORGER: If he says it.

KASICH: Not just McConnell, but other leaders who say, now, we're not going to stand for this.

BORGER: We'll, let's see if they would do that.

KEILAR: All right, it's a very --

HENDERSON: Good luck with that.

KEILAR: -- I mean, very good question. Nia, Gloria, I hear the doubt in your voice over that. Governor, thank you so much. It's been wonderful speaking with all of you.

Just ahead, where President Trump and Joe Biden stand on the path to the 270 Electoral College votes that they need with just two days to go before the election. Plus, how some cities are preparing for possible post-election unrest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:20:00]

KEILAR: President Trump is in the midst of a five-state campaign swing right now. Joe Biden is holding a pair of events in Philadelphia with at least one unscheduled stop. And CNN's Mark Preston is joining us now. So, Mark, here we are. Here we are, right, 48 hours away. Does the itinerary for both candidates tell us anything about the state of this race?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, it absolutely does. You know, last hour we talked about the blue wall. We've been talking a lot about the blue wall, which is up here, Brianna, of course, which is what collapsed for Democrats back in 2016.

Let's talk about where Donald Trump is today and let's talk about the collapse potentially of the red wall. We've seen Donald Trump in Iowa today, right. We also saw him up in Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Now, what's interesting about this right here is what is he doing down

here? Florida has only voted for Democrats four times since 1976. Georgia, three times. North Carolina, two times. So, wondering what is he doing down here?

Well, the problem for Donald Trump is at this point as he's trying to replicate his map, is that this is the latest polling we have right now in the south.

Joe Biden has a lead over Donald Trump in every one of these states right now. So that is problematic right now for the Trump campaign because surely they would rather be up here spending most of their time trying to collect these votes instead of trying to fight them down here.

In addition to that, we should note, Brianna, is that over here is also in play right now. Donald Trump, Jr. is out there tonight campaigning. But in addition to that, let us talk about what happens globally. What happens to the United States Senate, perhaps, if Donald Trump loses?

Let's take a quick look at that because this could be very troublesome. You know, I've talked to a lot of Republican operatives and they are looking right now and saying that the blame, if the United States Senate is lost, will fall at the feet of Donald Trump.

[17:24:59]

And the reason why is look at the map where we are right now. Republicans have a lead, a six-seat advantage over Democrats. That could quickly change. Look at this right here. These are the seats in play right now.

Donald Trump right now, if he is to lose these, if he's to lose Maine, Susan Collins right now if she is to lose to, you know, just a few seats away.

And then as we keep on coming down here, North Carolina again, a seat that necessarily shouldn't be in play. Thom Tillis has been around for a couple of terms. He could lose.

Look at this down here, even Jaime Harrison. We won't give that yet, but Jaime Harrison taking on Lindsey Graham, a well-known supporter of Donald Trump. He's in trouble there.

And then as you go across, look at Arizona as well. Mark Kelley right now, the astronaut, has a very good chance of winning there. If you continue to look on here, if you look across, Steve Bullock has a shot up in Montana. He potentially could beat Steve Daines up there.

Look, we even have them, Democrats are playing in the state of Kansas. Not saying that's going to happen, but look what happens if it does. And then of course we saw Donald Trump in Iowa today. Joni Ernst is fighting back a challenge there.

So, put those two maps together right now. Looks good for Democrats, but again, votes haven't been counted yet. People are still voting. We'll see what happens on election night, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. But the fact that we're looking at Kansas and South Carolina and Georgia is -- it's just -- it is wild, Mark. Thank you so much for taking us through that.

And just ahead, an update from the battleground states getting last- minute attention from the candidates themselves or from top-notch supporters like former President Obama. Plus, the U.S. Postal Service warns about delays in moving mail-in ballots through the system.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:30:00]

KEILAR: The clock is ticking now. Both the Trump and Biden campaigns concentrating on the must-win swing states. One of them is Wisconsin, which Trump captured in 2016. That is where CNN's Bill Weir is. He is in Madison. Bill, tell us, the president is going to be campaigning in Wisconsin tomorrow. What should we expect?

BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's going to Kenosha, Brianna, which is still an open wound after the Jacob Blake shooting. Kyle Rittenhouse is of course jailed there awaiting murder charges. And given the president's history, it's doubtful he's going there to heal wounds.

So that just adds to the tension in the state that, you know, is full of worry because COVID-19 is ripping through here at record rates right now. They passed 2,000 deaths. And then there's all this worry about the election.

A judge in Washington State this week ordered the Postal Service, specifically in the Great Lakes region because the return rates of election ballots were so slow to do a sweep, a statewide sweep starting tonight and then report back to him, how many ballots they found and guarantee that they take extraordinary measures.

If they have to overnight those ballots to get them back in time, they must do that. One interesting note today, we did see one of these sort of Trump caravans that we see around the country today. They were circling the capitol here with the flags flying, horns honking.

The police stopped them from sort of interacting with another group that was just generally protesting in front of the capitol, so no real tension here. But in the polls, at least, Joe Biden is enjoying a comfortable lead.

The latest CNN poll has him up by eight. "The New York Times" poll I believe has him by 11 points. But so much will come down to the so -- maybe less than 200,000 absentee ballots that are still out there, if they can make it through the mail.

And then if they can be counted, Brianna, because during the primaries in April, about 23,000 ballots rejected because people didn't know to sign the envelope. Donald Trump won this state by about 23,000 votes.

KEILAR: All right, Bill Weir, thank you so much for putting all of that in the context for us in Wisconsin.

Bill Clinton was the last Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia. And that was way back in 1992. But the Biden campaign is so intent on flipping this state, it's sending former President Barack Obama there tomorrow.

And President Trump is going to be in the state tonight. CNN's Natasha Chen is in Atlanta. Tell us more, Natasha, about what is a really surprising battle, Georgia.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, you can tell how much Georgia is in play here with just less than two days until Election Day. You've got the president visiting Rome, Georgia, tonight. Vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris was here today. As you mentioned, President Obama here tomorrow.

Now, as of last Wednesday, CNN's average of polls shows Joe Biden polling at 49% to Donald Trump's 46 percent. The people across the state aren't just excited to vote for president. They've also got two contentious U.S. Senate seats on the ballot including one of which is a special election.

Now, why is Georgia in this position? If you look at the demographics over the last two or three decades, you can see a significant growth in the percentage of black voters in the electorate.

And according to a study by Pew Research, Georgia has the fastest growth of eligible immigrant voters of any state. Something that's also happened in recent years. The states automatically registered people to vote when they apply for a driver's license.

So you have got more young people on the voter rolls as well. Now, early in-person voting ended Friday. Now, the counties are processing those absentee ballots that can't be tabulated until Tuesday night. And officials say there are still nearly 300,000 absentee ballots outstanding. DeKalb County outside of Atlanta even added nine additional drop boxes just to make it easier for people to get those in by Tuesday night, Brianna.

[17:35:02]

KEILAR: Natasha Chen, in Atlanta. Thank you so much.

There is some big news in the battleground state of Texas and you heard me right, the battleground state of Texas. The Republican Party there just lost one court case that could have invalidated more than 120,000 early votes, but there is another court fight that is set for tomorrow.

So let's get the details on that from Brian Todd, who is in Houston. What's happening there, Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, a contentious bit of electoral politics going on here in Harris County that centers on the activity that was going on right behind me. This was a drive-through voting station here in Harris County. One of 10 drive-through voting stations here.

A group of Republicans led by an activist and three candidates for state office were trying to get 127,000 ballots that were cast via drive-through voting thrown out. As you mentioned, they have already lost at the Texas Supreme Court.

The Texas Supreme Court comprised all of Republicans, by the way, just today rejected their petition to throw out those ballots. But they have filed a lawsuit in federal court and a federal judge is going to conduct a hearing tomorrow and possibly rule on whether those 127,000 ballots can be thrown out or not. Our colleague, Ed Lavandera interviewed Jared Woodfil. He is an attorney for the plaintiffs, the Republicans. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JARED WOODFILL, PLAINTIFF CHALLENGING DRIVE-THROUGH VOTING: Why is this the first time and why is this the only county that's allowing drive-through voting? It's because what Collins is doing is against the law.

CHRIS COLLINS, CLERK, HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS: We know that we should be protecting these votes, making sure that all of our residents here can have their voice heard, can have their say in our democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Now, as we mentioned, a federal judge is going to hold a hearing tomorrow here in Harris County to determine possibly whether these 127,000 votes that have been cast via drive-through votes will be thrown out or whether they're going to be allowed to stay.

But it's not really clear what options those voters are going to have, Brianna, if this judge rules that they should be thrown out. Are they going to be able to vote again? It's not really not clear what their options are going to be. And of course, they won't have much time to decide what to do if they find out that their votes have been thrown out.

KEILAR: Yes. I think we'll know certainly what would happen with many of them. All right, Brian Todd, thank you so much in Houston for us.

Just ahead, will mail-in ballots be delivered in time to be counted? Tonight there is a disturbing update from the U.S. Postal Service. Also the possibility of post-election violence has some businesses boarding up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:00]

KEILAR: With only two days until the election, the U.S. Postal Service is warning about delays and moving mail-in ballots through the system. Let's bring in CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider to tell us more about this. What key places are seeing the slowdown, Jess? JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, these are some

concerning stats, Brianna, and they're coming from crucial battleground states like Wisconsin, like Georgia, like Florida, like Pennsylvania. Now, the USPS is checking in daily with federal judges around the country.

They're reporting their rate of return for mail-in ballots and return rate has been steadily dropping. The USPS has said in their nationwide numbers that fewer and fewer mail-in ballots are actually getting returned.

So here are the numbers. On Wednesday the on-time score was 97 percent, but on Friday it dropped to 93 percent. On Saturday, dropped to 91 percent. Now, this is a documented daily drop in performance and it's really making election officials concerned that a lot of people who have already put their mail-in ballots in the mail, well, they might not get returned and counted in time.

When you look at the stats from some of the individual regions in crucial battleground states, the numbers of return, it's even more alarming. In central Pennsylvania, 62 percent were returned on time by USPS, 64 percent in the Atlanta region of Georgia, 78 percent of ballots in Wisconsin, the Lakeland region, and then 79 percent of ballots in the Northland region of Wisconsin and Michigan.

And, of course, Brianna, this slowdown really jeopardizes all of those mail-in ballots that people have already put in the mail. Officials are now urging people, if they haven't already, go vote in-person or return their ballots in-person.

But this is very concerning and the federal judges, Brianna, they continue to check in every day to get the latest on these stats and the return rate by the USPS.

KEILAR: Jessica Schneider, thank you so much for that report. Very important.

And just ahead, Dr. Anthony Fauci's new warning to Americans as the country tops 9.1 million coronavirus cases.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:45:00]

KEILAR: All right. President Trump just arriving in North Carolina where he was asked about reports that he is prepared to declare victory if the president -- if he is close to 270 electoral votes even if the networks have not done so. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(Inaudible)

TRUMP: No, no, that was a false report. We'll look at what happens. I think it's a terrible thing when ballots can be collected after an election. I think it's a terrible thing when people are -- where states are allowed to tabulate ballots for a long period of time after the election is over, because it can only lead to one thing, and that's very bad. You know what that thing is.

I think it's a very dangerous, terrible thing. And I think it's terrible where we can't know the results of an election the night of the election in a modern-day age of computers. I think it's a terrible thing. And I happen to think it was a terrible decision for our country made by the Supreme Court.

I think it was a terrible decision for our country. And I think it's a very dangerous decision because you're going to have one or two or three states depending on how it ends up, where they are tabulating ballots and the rest of the world is waiting to find out.

And I think there's great danger to it and I think a lot of fraud and misuse can take place.

[17:50:01]

I think it's a terrible decision by the Supreme Court, a terrible decision. Now, I don't know if that's going to be changed because we're going to go in the night of, as soon as that election is over, we're going in with our lawyers.

But we don't want to have Pennsylvania where you have a political governor, a very partisan guy, and we don't want to have other states like Nevada where you have the head of the Democratic clubhouse as your governor.

We don't want to be in a position where he's allowed to every day watch ballots come in. Here, we can only find 10,000 more ballots. Because we're doing great in Nevada, we're doing great in Arizona, we're doing great all over.

But if you take Nevada or Pennsylvania, and everyone knows what happens in Philadelphia, you don't have to say it, but I've read about it for years. And I don't think it's fair that we have to wait a long period of time after the election.

If people wanted to get their ballots in, they should have gotten their ballots in long before that, a long time. They don't have to put their ballots in the same day. They could put their ballots in a month ago. And we think it's a ridiculous decision. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Let's just be clear what the president is talking about there in North Carolina ahead of his rally. He's talking about not wanting to count ballots that are in on or before Election Day. He was basically saying that people could have cast these a month ago.

Well, Tuesday is Election Day. That is the deadline. And for instance, in Pennsylvania, this is not particularly unusual especially in a pandemic where so many Americans and we're seeing the numbers are going to be voting by mail instead of in person. Why? Because they have concerns about their safety. They have concerns about their health. They have concerns about the

health and the lives of the ones that they live with. And so a lot of people are voting by mail. He said there, it's a terrible thing to count ballots after the election. That happens all the time. We need to be very clear fact checking that. He said to tabulate ballots after the election.

This is something having ballots in on Election Day or before. We're seeing this in a number of states. We're seeing states that are alos extending the deadlines for counting in anticipation of having a huge increase in mail-in ballots.

And as we just reported, having some slowdown in the delivery of the Postal Service. So these are all things that are adjusting for the reality on the ground in a pandemic. The president they talking about disenfranchising voters who have exercised their right to vote by Election Day.

And there is a troubling warning that is coming from Dr. Anthony Fauci as the U.S. surpasses more than 9.1 million coronavirus cases and more than 230,000 Americans dead now in this pandemic. I want to get more now with the dean of Brown University School of Public Health, Dr. Ashish Jha.

Dr Jha, we've heard Dr. Fauci warning that "we're in for a whole lot of hurt." And he says you could not possibly be positioned more poorly going into the winter, which is incredibly scary to hear. How bad will the next few months be?

ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: So, good evening and thank you for having me on. You know, what happens over the next couple of months is wholly up to us. We are going in to the rest of the fall and winter in very bad shape, 100,000 new infections being identified every day, and clearly a wrong trajectory, right.

Things are heading up, hospitalizations are going up. Deaths are going up. But if we are careful, if we avoid indoor gatherings, we limit the number of people that we spend time with indoors. My goodness, if we have a government that ever fixes our testing problems, we really can get through the next few months a bit more safely, but we all have to do our part.

KEILAR: The White House is lashing out at Dr. Fauci after that warning. They say that he's playing politics. How do you see it?

JHA: You know, Dr. Fauci is saying is what every single physician and public health expert who knows anything about this pandemic is saying. So, he's not only not playing politics, he's speaking truth. And this is a widespread agreement among most people who understand what's going on with this pandemic. And it's unfortunate the White House is politicizing this.

KEILAR: And Dr. Fauci also gave a very blunt assessment of another White House pandemic adviser, Dr. Scott Atlas. He said Dr. Atlas is talking about things "he doesn't have any real insight or knowledge or experience in." And at the same, time we're hearing Dr. Atlas go on Russian television

and lie about the state of the pandemic. He's apologized for that because he went on RT, which is it is actually a Russian agent in a way.

[17:55:03]

It is a foreign -- registered as a foreign agent. What do you make of his role right now in this task force?

JHA: Dr. Atlas is playing a very unhelpful role, really undermining science and public health at every step. Look, he went on "Russia Today." RT is "Russia Today." He went on RT today, "Russia Today" and really said a whole lot of misleading things.

I personally don't care where he attends, you know, and where he appears. He can do that. That's his choice. But it's the disinformation, it's the constant undermining of masks, of trying to figure out how to protect people that really bothers me, and certainly from someone who's at the White House it's particularly troubling.

KEILAR: President Trump has been downplaying the virus. He says the deaths are way down, but we know that they lag cases. Can you explain that? We know research shows this. You have a spike in cases, it obviously takes time for people to become ill and for some of them to become deathly ill.

JHA: Yes. So, if you just think about the clinical natural history of this disease. Let's say you get an infection today. Maybe in four or five days you'll have symptoms. A few days later you'll get tested. A few days later or maybe a week later you might get sick enough to be hospitalized.

We've gotten good in the hospital of taking care of people. You might go to the ICU a few days after that and might spend two or three, four weeks in the ICU before you succumb and die.

The typical lag is four to six weeks from onset of infections to increases in deaths. And that is what we're seeing now. We are seeing an increase in deaths across the country exactly as we would expect. This is well-known. I don't know why the White House and why Dr. Atlas keeps downplaying this.

KEILAR: All right, Dr. Ashish Jha, thank you so much for being with us.>

We do have some breaking news I want to get to. In New York, there are caravans of Trump supporters who have been blocking traffic on key roads as well as an important bridge that is just outside of New York City. I want to get the very latest on this from Brynn Gingras. Brynn, tell us more. What's happening?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna. We're seeing this activity on social media and we're still working to get the details of exactly what we're hearing. But the New Jersey Turnpike Authority says there was hundreds of vehicles touting, as you can see, Trump 2020 flags, making their way through the highway system of both New Jersey and New York, at times stopping, getting out of their vehicles, impeding traffic, causing major delays. At one point, a five-mile delay.

You can see there, that's the Mario Cuomo Bridge connecting Rockland County and Westchester County in New York. And this is the type of activity that, you know, we've been talking about all day about these security concerns that our law enforcement seriously have leading up to this election.

And now we are two days before it and you're seeing the activity here in New York just now which, you know, talking to my own sources, Brianna, they tell us, you know, New York maybe not so much of an issue, but more the battleground states are going to be a major issue, but right here, we are in New York.

And we are seeing businesses really try to prepare for any activity. And of course, we're going to have to see how the highways prepare as well, but businesses, we've been seeing just in New York alone, boarding up, preparing for any possible unrest.

Of course, we saw this kind of activity in the summer after the George Floyd protest. But talking to a source who told me, it had been decades since they had seen any of this kind of activity to prepare, particularly, they've never seen anything like this when it comes to an election.

So, we also know private security firms have been getting calls after calls from businesses basically asking, how do we prepare for the worst-case scenario? So, the message here really is that there -- law enforcement are out there concerned already, trying to make preparations for what kind of unrest they might see not only on Election Day, but of course, in the days after from extremist groups, from domestic terrorism, to voter intimidation.

A whole host of issues that not only law enforcement and private business owners are concerned about, but I could tell you, Brianna, I talked to one woman today who said she lives in New York, she's not leaving her apartment on Election Day or the days after just from the anxiety she feels in the city right now. And again, this isn't even a battleground state, Brianna.

KEILAR: Well, you know, that's the same thing, Brynn, we're seeing in Washington, D.C. and just talking to people who some of them, look, a lot of people are not going to work, but some of them are going in in a staggered fashion.

And there are folks who just are going to be doing that here in the coming weeks. I wonder if that is something -- it sounds like that's what you're hearing from people who are actually making plans in a way to kind of go into lockdown in their apartments.

GINGRAS: Exactly. And then to think about that and, you know, the fact that it's an election. And that's why you're making those decisions. You're seeing these boarded up businesses. This is what we see for hurricanes and weather events, not for an election.

And sadly, that's what we're seeing, Brianna. And exactly like you said, people having to change their lives just because we don't know how this election is going to turn out, how people are going react to it and what sort of violence we might see either way.

[17:59:58]

KEILAR: All right, Brynn Gingras, thank you so much for the latest on that story out of New York.

After a race like no other, iIt all ends here. Join us for special live coverage the way only CNN can bring it to you.