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CNN Live Event/Special

Nation on Edge as Americans Head to Polls in High-Stakes Presidential Election; President Trump and Joe Biden Deliver Starkly Different Closing Remarks; State of Elections in the Three Big Swing States; Key Senate Races That Could Tilt the Balance of Power; Reality Check on State of the U.S. Economy; 12 Million Americans Unemployed, Now New Stimulus; Cities Brace for Election Unrest, Businesses Boarding Up; Dr. Birx Warning U.S. Entering Most Deadly Phase of this Pandemic; U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Warns COVID-19 Deaths Could be Twice as Bad in Second Wave. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired November 03, 2020 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: U.S. in the next four years is going to have to confront this. And if you look at who China prefers going forward, I had the question asked to me, well, some say Trump because he is called here the nation builder. That is his nickname in Chinese, referring to building up the Chinese nation. Others say Biden because he will bring dialogue.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: It is so important, this relationship. We will see what happens. David Culver, thank you for being live for us in Beijing.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to "Election Day in America." It is finally here. I am Poppy Harlow.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: And I am Jim Sciutto. It is here, so much anticipation today, the day, once in a lifetime election certainly, but sadly in its once in a lifetime health crisis for this nation.

President Trump, and Democratic presidential nominee, the former vice president, Joe Biden, issued their closing arguments, hoping their final pitches will sway any remaining voters still undecided. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've been through a lot in this country since we announced America is facing confluence of crises unlike anything in living memory. We're still in the battle for the soul of America: decency, honor, respect. Where has it gone with this president?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are returning power to you, the American people. With your help, your devotion, and your drive, we are going to keep on working, we are going to keep on fighting, and we are going to keep on winning, winning, winning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Well, just an astounding number of Americans have already voted. Look at that figure there. Nearly 100 million Americans have already cast their ballots early, by mail, or in person. An enormous percentage of the total ballots, Poppy, cast in 2016.

HARLOW: Yes. We were worried. People were worried about turnout because this in the middle of a global pandemic. But that number on your screen is 73 percent of the total ballots cast in the last presidential election.

And in just a few hours, polls across the country will begin to open. Millions more of you will make your voices heard with your vote. We have reporters across the country bringing you the very latest before results begin coming in. We begin with our Jim Acosta, who is following the Trump campaign this morning. Jim?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump settled on a dark and divisive message in the closing hours of this campaign, as he warned Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf about that state's process of counting ballots after Election Day.

The president is saying at one point during the day that his administration will be watching, that there will be eyes watching the governor of Pennsylvania. That was just some of the volatile rhetoric the president used on the final day of the campaign. Here's more of what he had to say at this last rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But if Biden and Harris and the radical left gain power, they will collapse our economy and send our nation into a very steep depression. They want to confiscate your guns, Second Amendment --

(BOOING)

TRUMP: -- and indoctrinate your children with hateful anti-American lies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And as we've seen throughout this campaign, the final rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Trump supporters are packing into this venue, not social distancing, not many of them wearing masks.

We will see some of that on election night as the president will be gathering with his supporters at the White House. Some 400 Trump supporters are expected to attend.

Again, we will be watching to see how the president and his team handle that election night event, whether or not people would be social distancing and wearing masks.

Jim and Poppy? HARLOW: Jim Acosta for us in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Thank you, Jim.

Today, Joe Biden will be making two stops in Pennsylvania, trying to make sure that his voters get to the polls. He will first go to his hometown of Scranton and then he will move on to Philadelphia.

SCIUTTO: CNN's Arlette Saenz is in Pittsburgh with more on the former vice president's closing argument to Americans.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Jim, Poppy, Joe Biden came here to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on the final night for the campaign, sending a message of unity as he urges supporters to head out to the polls.

Now, Biden, his wife Jill, Kamala Harris and her husband Dough Emhoff barnstormed the state of Pennsylvania, which the Biden campaign is trying to win as they're looking to re-establish that blue wall that President Trump broke through back in 2016.

And here at this drive-in rally where Lady Gaga performed, Biden predicted that his supporters are coming together for a big win on election night.

[03:05:03]

SAENZ: Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: My message is simple. The power to change this country is in your hands, in your hands.

(HORN HONKING)

BIDEN: I don't care how hard Donald Trump tries, there is nothing, nothing that's going to stop the people of this nation from voting. Period! When America votes, America will be heard. When America is heard, I believe the message is going to be loud and clear. It's time for Donald Trump to pack his bags and go home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, later today, Joe Biden is still keeping his eyes on Pennsylvania. He will hold some Get Out to Vote events in his hometown of Scranton and Philadelphia, before ending election night in Delaware.

Jim and Poppy?

SCIUTTO: Arlette Saenz, thanks so much.

Joining us now are Candy Woodall, political reporter for USA Today Network Pennsylvania Capitol Bureau, Wendy Rhodes, senior politics reporter at The Palm Beach Post in Florida, and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, national political reporter at The Arizona Republic. Thanks to all of you for staying up late with us. Great representation here from three of the big swing states: Pennsylvania, Florida, and Arizona.

Candy, if I can begin with you, just because the candidates have been spending so much time in your state, are there a lot of voters up for grabs there?

I mean, if you look at the data, the lead has been fairly consistent for Biden. And a lot of people have voted early there. You have a lot of mail-in ballots. What's your sense of the campaign's view as to how many votes are still up for grabs there?

CANDY WOODALL, POLITICAL REPORTER, USA TODAY NETWORK PENNSYLVANIA CAPITOL BUREAU: I don't think there are many undecided voters in this race. A lot of the people I have spoken with have said they decided even before the pandemic. And I think what the candidates are doing and why they are leading (ph) in Pennsylvania is because neither of them are sure that they have Pennsylvania locked down.

We will see former Vice President Biden here again today. He will start his day in Scranton, his hometown. That is in the northeast corner of Pennsylvania and that corner of Pennsylvania is the only place Trump has made gains in the last four years. He has actually lost some points in some of the other areas.

But I think that this is a race of margins. And I think that, you know, Biden is trying to keep margins down in those red counties and Trump is trying to drive up anything he can to these counties.

SCIUTTO: Mm-hmm.

HARLOW: Wendy, you're not only in Florida, you are in the president's home district in Florida. I want you to talk a little bit about what you call crossover voters because you said there is likely going to be a significant number of crossover voters in Florida for reasons that are fairly unique to Florida. Explain that.

WENDY RHODES, SENIOR POLITICS REPORTER, THE PALM BEACH POST: Yes. So, crossover voters are voters that are Republican who voted Democrat or Democrat who vote Republican.

So, what we have down here in Florida is that we have a segment of the population called Dixiecrats. Those are Democrats that have been registered Democrats for many generations but their political allegiances are with the Republican Party.

So they vote republican all the way down the ticket. They just never re-registered because it's tradition to be registered Democrats. They're called Dixiecrats. So we have that segment of population.

Then we have a republican segment of the population that is very much fractured. So on one side, we have the mainstream moderate Republicans, and on the other side, we have a segment of the Republicans that call themselves Trumplicans. They are very strong Trump supporters. Now, the difference between the two is a lot of the mainstream Republicans will vote Democrat, and not only will they vote Democrat, but they're actively and aggressively campaigning for Biden.

So, you have those crossover votes on both sides. And in addition to that, we have about maybe 30 percent of our population that are no party affiliation voters. It's anybody's guess which way they will go.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

RHODES: In 2016, they did break for Trump, but we are not sure which way it is going to go this election.

SCIUTTO: It's funny when you laid out that way. People imagine that things are so easily categorized, right, in this country today. It's not always so clear which camp folks fallen. There's more back and forth than many imagined.

Yvonne, Arizona is another battleground, right, in this election. I don't want to get into prognostication because no one knows. But what is driving the electorate in Arizona this cycle?

YVONNE WINGETT SANCHEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC: It depends on who you talk to. I mean, the senior voters, the pandemic is a big motivator for them. I've talked to quite a few of them who were Trump voters four years ago and just can't do it again.

[03:10:01]

WINGETT SANCHEZ: So they are crossing over. A lot of independent voters, particularly members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints, these people tend to live in the suburbs of (INAUDIBLE), they really seem to have a big problem with Trump's character, his morality. So we're starting to see some erosion among them.

And then of course are the Latino voters. We live in a state where Latino voters are rapidly growing. They are a very young electorate. And we've had quite a history of immigration, pretty hard-line actions towards them over the last decade, starting with Senate Bill 1070 that was signed under Governor Jan Brewer. It was one of the strictest -- was the strictest law in the country.

This is a generation of kids and families who understand what's at stake. They have been actively involved in the election process. Some of them have gone on ((INAUDIBLE) they are not sitting down for this. They're not sitting it out. They're very, very engaged.

And so I am really going to be watching the Latino vote to see how they break tomorrow and the coming days for either candidate.

SCIUTTO: That's a consistent theme, right, Poppy?

HARLOW: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: There's no sitting out this election just based on the early voting numbers.

HARLOW: Doesn't look like it.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

HARLOW: It doesn't look like it at all. Yvonne, just to follow up on that, I mean, there is a very real chance that at the end of the night tonight, Arizona could have two Democratic senators for the first time since 1950s.

WINGETT SANCHEZ: Yeah. Martha McSally who was appointed to the Senate seat once held by the late Senator John McCain, she lost her first run for the Senate in 2018 to Kyrsten Sinema. And she's considered one of the most endangered members in the chamber.

She has spent the last several days really barnstorming rural Arizona, just as President Trump has done, to really try to shore up vote among rural, more maybe older conservative voters, in an effort to maybe offset some of the deficits that she expects to see in the outskirts of Maricopa County, the communities around Phoenix, and the communities around Tucson where she is from.

She faces Mark Kelly, who is a Democrat. He's a retired astronaut. He is married to former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who survived a mass shooting in 2011. He's done a lot of work in the gun activism realm. He is really well-known nationally for his work on that issue. And so he's been leading the race in every single well-ranked poll over the last several months.

The race does appear to be tightening. But we'll find out what happens tomorrow.

SCIUTTO: Candy, in the state of Pennsylvania, you have the vote today and then you have at least what is threatened to be the legal fight, the president launching this very public campaign on mail-in ballots in the three days that are allowed by law to count those ballots for ones who arrived by Election Day.

How is that going to play out in the late hours tonight and the next couple days? Will state officials be able to withstand that kind of national onslaught as they count these ballots?

WOODALL: I think you could put a lot of focus on Republicans in the state legislator. Republicans control the state legislature. They had a chance in October, the last time they were in session, to do what all 67 county election officials wanted them to do, which was to extend the time period in which they could start processing ballots.

That cannot begin until 7:00 a.m. today and all county election officials just asked for a few days extra to start processing. And the republican state legislator would not budge on that partially because they were in line with what Trump was fighting for, which was he wanted drop boxes removed. So that became a sticking point between Republicans and Democrats. We heard tonight Trump saying that he is watching the governor. And then the governor responding by saying you can watch us count ballots and (INAUDIBLE).

HARLOW: Mm-hmm.

WOODALL: But there have been three million ballots requested. More than two million have been returned.

HARLOW: Let's end on sort of quick, if we can, Wendy, in the Hispanic vote because your reporting is actually that the president's line of, you know, the Democrats are socialists, etcetera, anarchy is working among Hispanic voters down there.

RHODES: I'm afraid with a segment of the population, it is, particularly with Cuban voters. Words like socialism are very, very frightening to people that have come from that kind of regime, Cuba, Venezuela.

[03:15:05]

RHODES: And he has been touting that message home down here. It's not the entire Hispanic community that goes for that, though. There are certainly many, many Cubans that support Biden. Biden is dominating with Puerto Ricans, particularly after the nightmare after Hurricane Maria just decimated that island several years ago and the Trump administration withheld a lot of help they need. There are still people in Puerto Rico that don't have power years later.

So, Puerto Ricans in general aren't a big fan. But he is doing well with the Cuban population. And the Hispanic population is about 25 percent of the electorate now in Florida. So, it's significant and both parties have been campaigning hard for that vote.

HARLOW: Thank you, ladies, for staying up or getting up early, whichever way, being with us in the middle of the night with your important reporting. We appreciate it very much.

SCIUTTO: We do appreciate it.

HARLOW: Yes. All right, all eyes are on this race today for the presidency. But don't forget the Senate. It's hugely consequential. Some key contests could end up altering the balance of power.

SCIUTTO: No question. Plus, the president has been touting a resurging economy on the campaign trail. But with no new stimulus deal in sight on the Hill, what does the future hold for millions of Americans who are still out of work?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: So, obviously, a lot of this is about the White House. But not all of it. There is a lot of stake in key Senate races. Is the republican majority in jeopardy?

SCIUTTO: Yeah. The federal judges, Supreme Court judges among them, go through the Senate. Some GOP senators are locked in highly competitive contest today. Among them are Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine.

CNN's Phil Mattingly is following it all for us. Phil, tell us where it stands.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Poppy and Jim, obviously, everybody going into the states focusing on the presidential campaign, but it's what happens here in the Senate map, the battle for control, the battle for majority, is going to dictate, likely dictate whoever wins the presidency is going to be able to do.

There is no question about it. When you look at this map right now, you see the races that are in play. You see the races that are leaning one way or the other. Democrats feel like they have a very real and multiple pathways to winning back the majority.

Let's take a look at some of those right now. As it currently stands, when you look at CNN race ratings, Alabama is a democratic seat. Right now, leaning Republican Doug Jones won it in special election. The expectation is that Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn coach, is going to win it back. Ruby red state, it makes sense to some degree.

Colorado, the state where sitting Republican senator is, Cory Gardner, the belief right now is that the former governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper, will take that seat back following what Democrats really rest in control of the state over the course of the last several cycles. So, that pretty much even things out, Democrats 47 seats, Republicans 45 seats. Democrats need 51 seats to win control.

So, where do they go and find them? Well, it starts right here, the state of Maine, toughest race, one of the most expensive races in the entire country. Susan Collins, the incumbent, is facing a very real challenge and trailing in much of this race to Sara Gideon. What if Democrats win that race? Pull that out against an incumbent, a battle- tested incumbent, ended up winning that race.

Then you go ahead and take a look at Iowa, Joni Ernst. Republicans think over the course of the last several weeks she started to open up a little bit of a lead after trailing for a lot of this race. However, Theresa Greenfield, no doubt with a lot of money putting up a very strong fight, what happens? Democrats win that seat, as well. That brings even closer, up to 49 seats.

Keep looking around the map. There is no question that the seat the Democrats fill is most in play, is most within their grasps, Arizona. Martha McSally was appointed to the seat after John McCain passed away. Mark Kelly has raised more lines than just about anybody. He believes and Democrats believe that they are on track to win their second consecutive Senate race in the state, give that to Democrats, as well.

So where does that lead things? Pay attention. That puts Democrats at 50. It would be enough if Joe Biden wins the presidency, but they want more than that. Pay attention right here, state of Georgia, state of North Carolina and even the state of South Carolina.

We will go to North Carolina first. Democrats have long thought this was a prime pickup opportunity. Thom Tillis, the incumbent, Cal Cunningham ran into some issues and extramarital affair, many other issues right now. Democrats still think they can pull that out. Maybe he is the 51st.

You go into Georgia. You get two races, two very, very crucial races. David Perdue is the incumbent. Jon Ossoff has been closing fast and leading in some polls. Democrats feel like Ossoff can win this. The big question in both Georgia race is both this one and the special election down here where you see several candidates.

Can anybody clear the 50 percent threshold? If not, one or maybe two races will be going into a runoff, a runoff that could end up deciding the future of the United States Senate.

Then, don't sleep on South Carolina. Jaime Harrison broke every record in the world when it comes to fundraising, raising $57 million in the third quarter. Don't make a mistake. South Carolina is ruby red country. Donald Trump will win the state of South Carolina. But Harrison has put up a fight that nobody thought was even possible, believes there is a real pathway to winning the state.

We will see what happens. More money than anything has flown into the state over the course of last several months. It will be a battle. The bottom line here, Democrats have a very real pathway to 51 or maybe even more seats. But Republicans also have a pathway to maintaining the majority.

Every single race that I've kind of pointed out here is tight, very tight. So, obviously, watch the presidential on Tuesday night throughout the course of the night and to Wednesday, but also pay attention to these races. What gets and acted legislatively, what the president, whoever it is, can do, largely be dictated by these folks.

HARLOW: That is so right. Phil Mattingly, thank you very much for that. It was fascinating. Don't forget to join us tonight for our special election coverage. It all begins 4:00 o'clock Eastern right here on CNN.

[03:24:57]

HARLOW: More than 12 million Americans right now are out of work. Both sides say they have the cure for this economy. We are on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Another thing that makes this Election Day unique beyond the pandemic, of course, is the fact that more than 12 million Americans, perhaps some of you watching right now, remain out of work.

Scenes like this are playing out across the country, other lines, not for voting, but for food banks. They are stretching far and wide. Unemployment lines are similar. Many businesses are shuttered. Some are on the brink of being shuttered. And there is still no stimulus deal in sight to rescue some of those businesses and offer relief to some of those out of work.

HARLOW: That's right. The common phrase throughout the cycle has been vote like your life depends on it. And for many, that really is the case.

[03:30:00]

Ron Foroohar joins us, our global economic analyst. It's good to have you. I wish that we are on, you know, better news, but there is still most stimulus. Congress has still not done its job to reach an agreement for the millions of Americans and this comes as we have 8 million more people in poverty since May.

Forty percent of restaurants nationwide say that they expect to go out of business by March if there is not a stimulus deal and the largest hotel industry group just said this week that two out of three hotels will not last another six months without more help. Whoever wins tonight or a few days from now or a few weeks from now, what is job number one for them on this economy?

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: You know, honestly, Poppy, you said it. It's stimulus. We have got to pass another stimulus bill. And that is of course going to be difficult, even if we work to get say a Biden win unless you have a Democratic sweep that still going to be contentious.

But honestly I don't think we can make it through winter without, you know, possibly some social unrest based on the fact that the economy has collapsed. I mean, you know, it is working on life support right now. And you know, the president and some of his supporters might point to third quarter growth figures and say, hey, look, you know, the growth is so much up in this last quarter. Well, as you know, it's all dependent on where we started.

In the second quarter of this past year, we had the worst GDP drop since the great depression. So, you know, a lot of people are simply out of money. They are operating on loans, on credit cards, on GoFundMe campaigns. You know, I am actually supporting a number of local businesses in my neighborhood that way. We really do need more stimulus to get through the next two to six months.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Part of the politics behind the stimulus not going anywhere is a Republican Senate, calculation among some Republicans senators is that they want to return to fiscal conservatism all of a sudden, expecting the possibility of a Biden presidency there, right.

I wonder where that stance. I'm not asking you to predict what happens today in the election, but do you envision Republicans kind of rediscovering their fiscal conservative roots here, and standing in the way of big spending going forward, even in the face of the pandemic? FOROOHAR: Well, you know, I would start by saying that I think fiscal

conservatism and Republicans, you know, rediscovering their roots is not necessarily the case. If you actually look back since the 1980s, Republicans have often cut taxes, but they have rarely been able to curb deficits because they often actually blow up budgets and if you look at the second term of the Reagan administration, budgets rose the same under a number of other conservative administrations in the last several decades.

So, you know, the only way at this stage, back to growth is to invest, the public sector has to invest, because the private sector frankly is in a period of cost cutting. I mean we are seeing that in the consumer sector already. We are seeing people really buttoning up their wallets, saving, trying to develop a safety net for themselves.

Corporations are absolutely cutting back. They are probably going to replace as many jobs as they can with technology and software. So, we are going to have some public spending.

HARLOW: Rana, on Vice President Joe Biden's tax plan, if he becomes president, he has committed on in his words day one, increasing corporate taxes, significantly, increasing taxes on the wealthy, those who make over $400,000 a year. And he keeps saying he's going to do it right away.

The tax policy centers of bookings in the urban institute calculated that would be about fortunately in dollars over the next 10 years. I know you are a supporter of (inaudible) economic policies but we are in the middle of an economic crisis. Is this really the moment to raise taxes?

FOROOHAR: Yes, you know, I hear you, Poppy. And it's a legitimate question. Listen, I am concerned about debt. But I'm also concerned about the wellbeing of the average person. And you know, there is a time for public spending. That time is now.

HARLOW: Both sides have been borrowing to do that. I mean, the stimulus has just been building up debt and deficits.

FOROOHAR: 100 percent. But at this stage, I think really, the only way to get the growth back, which is ultimately how you cut debt and deficits, right. You've got to grow. I mean, that's one happened during the Clinton administration. Unfortunately, Donald Trump's tax cuts actually increased deficits and his trade policies, to be honest did not help.

You know, they were supposed to bring back investment to the U.S., but instead what happened was corporate tax cuts led to a lot of share buybacks, which was basically companies just paying to buy back their own stocks, artificially increasing the price. It did not really help Main Street, right?

[03:35:07]

So, you know, the last set of policies has not worked. It really hasn't, Make America Great Again. And over the long haul, in order to start cutting that deficit, you are going to have to have some public spending in the short term. I don't see any other way around it frankly.

HARLOW: There are implications on both sides in any way you cut it, Rana. Thanks for getting up in the middle of the night for us, good to have you.

FOROOHAR: Thanks. Good to see you.

HARLOW: I appreciate it.

SCIUTTO: Full is no matter what happens over the coming days, cities across the U.S. are bracing for the possibility at least of unrest. Up next, here from business owners on how exactly they are preparing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:40:00]

HARLOW: Well, this morning as voters go to the polls and the nation anxiously awaits the results to one of the most divisive elections in modern history, cities across the country are bracing for a potential civil unrest.

SCIUTTO: Well, let's hope not. CNN's Stephanie Elam has more of what some cities and businesses in those cities are doing to prepare.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As if a hurricane is coming, businesses across the country are boarding up. The perceived threat is far from normal for a modern American election. After a season of charged political rhetoric --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Biden remains silent in his basement.

JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2020 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've got the worst president in America has ever had.

ELAM: And months of protest including looting in some places. It is the uncertainty of how people will react to the results of the presidential election that has business owners on edge yet again in 2020.

NANA BUSI, PARTNER CASPI'S JEWELRY: I think it's just precautionary.

ELAM: Caspi's Jewelry has been in this Los Angeles location since 1948. They are closing up shop until sometime after the election.

Do you ever remember a time when you are concerned about an election result?

BUSI: Never in my life. This is such a surprise. This is incredible chaos everywhere. ELAM: Chaos that Beverly Hills wants to avoid.

Ritzy Rodeo Drive is completely blocked off until at least Thursday.

MAX SUBIN, BEVERLY HILLS POLICE: We are not mandating any businesses to board up, we hardly recommend that you harden the target.

ELAM: In Portland and Chicago, the police departments have canceled officer's time off for Election Day.

MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT (D-CHICAGO): The city has been in close communication with our business community.

ELAM: Plywood cover store front doors and windows in Raleigh North Carolina, as it does in Denver. Where the city is activating its emergency operation center. The first time for an Election Day.

MURPHY ROBINSON, DENVER PUBLIC SAFETY DIRECTOR: 100 percent heightened awareness.

ELAM: The nation's capital is doing the same.

MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER (D-WASHINGTON D.C.): We know of course that first amendment activities have the potential to disrupt business operations.

ELAM: The closer to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the more palpable the concern.

ANGELA ALLRED, MANAGER, IMPERIAL WINE AND SPIRITS: I think that people want to get closer to the White House to be able to express their concerns and their feelings.

LEVY: And in New York City, officials are preparing for protests.

BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: If anything turns violent we are going to move to stop that immediately.

ELAM: The big apple should be gearing up for the now reimagined Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade due to COVID-19. The windows of Macy's flagship Manhattan store, usually a draw on to themselves. Instead, the store is all boarded up. In the time of coronavirus --

WILL COOK, PRESIDENT OF HOWARD LORTON FURNITURE AND DESIGN: We are really hoping that everybody does not protest violently.

ELAM: A different kind of protection during an unprecedented election. Stephanie Elam, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Let's hope for peace and calm. Ahead for us, White House coronavirus task force member, Dr. Deborah Birx is now warning the U.S. is entering the most deadly face of this pandemic, and her recommendations for aggressive action, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:45:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back, this Election Day. As America votes, the coronavirus sadly is surging in this country. The U.S. is now averaging more than 80,000 new infections every day. And added more than 84,000 new cases just yesterday.

HARLOW: That's right. And now Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force is warning this crisis could get much worse. The Washington Post obtain a task force report where she warns the U.S. will see more than 100,000 new cases per day as soon as this week.

Let's talk about this headlines with Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, he is an internal medicine and viral specialist. Let me read you two other lines from this internal White House report from Dr. Birx that are just so striking. She says quote, we are entering the most concerning, most deadly phase of this pandemic, leading to increased mortality's.

She goes on to say, this is not about lockdowns. It hasn't been about lockdown since March or April, it's about an aggressive balanced approach that is not yet being implemented. The significance that she has to call out the White House and her own team on this saying we are not yet implementing what we need to do to deal with what will be the most deadly face of this.

JORGE RODRIGUEZ, INTERNAL MEDICINE AND VIRAL SPECIALIST: I agree 100 percent in what she is saying. And with what Dr. Anthony Fauci said recently in the Wall Street Journal. We have entered the most dangerous phase of this pandemic. And the statistics unfortunately have not been wrong up to this point, and we are going to be seeing up 100,000 new cases a day, and if we do not take precautions immediately, perhaps upwards of 2,000 to 3,000 deaths a day.

[03:50:07]

The equivalent really of eight jumbo jets crashing every day. And yes, it has been said for a long time that we need to take precautions like masks, and in my opinion, to be quite honest, there should be a national mask mandate. It's time we stop kidding about this and realize how dangerous this is going to be, and we can really ameliorate it just by that one simple step.

SCIUTTO: The sad fact is that the president has made his approach clear. Right? He will misinform, right? He will say that the country is turning the corner when the data points the other way and has refused to this point unless he surprises us to endorse things like mask mandates.

Given that even if there is a new president-elect after today, it will be three months before a President Biden will take office. Where does that leave the U.S. chances to get this second wave under control? I mean, the numbers are already bleak. I mean, but in the prospect of inaction makes it even bleaker. RODRIGUEZ: But you know, what we are doing right now, Jim, we keep

informing people. We keep telling them the truth. The fact that Dr. Fauci has come out and been sort of a maverick in this. Which is actually I rated the White House over the last few days, which has created even more of a disinformation campaign.

The U.S. populous has to realize that we have to take care of ourselves. Because if Trump wins, he may fire Fauci because he can. And if he loses, he may just have a scorched earth policy because he doesn't care.

So, at the end of the day, every American has to be responsible for themselves and for everyone they come into contact with for family members. And that includes, you know, the holy trinity, which is wearing masks, six feet of separation and washing their hands all the time.

HARLOW: One thing that we do know, though, is the president can't at least directly fire Dr. Fauci. That would have to come from the head of the NIH. He make his feelings even more known, but he doesn't have that power to significant given that he is the most trusted doctor in America.

We'd like us to (inaudible) children because the American academy of pediatrics just came out overnight and said that the number of COVID cases in kids is rising to quote, unprecedented levels, 61,000 new COVID cases in children last week. Larger than any previous week. I know they generally don't get severe symptoms and they don't die at the rate that older Americans do, but what is this about? What is causing this and what should we take away from these numbers?

RODRIGUEZ: Well, what's causing this is that a lot more kids are going back to school and have gone back to school. I think, you know, this sort of fatigue that people are talking about, to be quite honest, it doesn't really wash with me. Because we do just have to sort of buttoned down and persevere. So, kids are socializing and even though right now, the deaths and the illnesses in children are not as severe as an adult. We don't know what's going to happen to these children in the months or years to come.

And secondly, they are going to be in contact with adults, with older adults, with people that are immune compromised. So, it is important that nobody get it so that nobody spread it. But again, we don't know what's going to happen to these children in the years to come with these exposures.

HARLOW: That's a good point. We had on a 13 year old girl the other day with a long haul syndrome. You know, symptoms from this. So, you make a good point. Thank you, doctor. Good to have you.

RODRIGUEZ: Good night.

HARLOW: All right you too. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the new surge of COVID cases throughout England could be twice as bad as anything in the spring. Tomorrow, parliament will vote on the second nationwide lockdown. It would go into effect at midnight on Thursday.

SCIUTTO: CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in London. So, Nick, the Prime Minister Johnson says there was no alternative to this lockdown. I mean, warning of it being even worse than the spring. So, what that going to look like there?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it will be allowing schools, universities and colleges to remain open. That's different from what we saw in March, April and May. But the same stay at home unless you have to in closing the bars, restaurants and nonessentials shops. That's the key to it. The problem really here is how the public goes along with it.

Now, in the parliamentary vote tomorrow, Boris Johnson will likely have to rely on some votes from the opposition party who've long been calling for a lockdown like this. Because he is seeing a rebellion within his own ruling parties ranks. That is echoed by a rather divisive debate in British politics, where parties have even sprung up, being the anti-lockdown party.

And frankly anecdotally, there's a lot of people who talk to who don't want these measures. They see the damage to the economy and somewhat callously think that some people are going to die. So, perhaps that should play out.

[03:55:06]

Obviously, the public health thing here is that everybody has to work together to reduce the transmission, but here in the U.K., the debate about it and the numbers too that Boris Johnson even cited or on the front page of the national newspaper yesterday, others suggesting that different projections perhaps should be being used. It may not be as bad. The numbers are terrifying, I saw myself in a hospital in the northwest, how they've lost a third of their patients in just one weekend in an ICU there.

It is potentially very bad in the weeks and months ahead as is this the divisive nature around this lockdown here. Yes, the economy is suffering. Yes, that could be worse than the disease in the long run, but still all the same. Measures have to be taken. Jim, Poppy?

SCIUTTO: Nick Paton Walsh, we will be watching. Thanks very much.

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