be sure to tune in to cnn thursday night for a live presidential town hall, democratic presidential nominee joe biden joins anderson cooper in scranton, pennsylvania, only on cnn. "erin burnett outfront" starts "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com "outfront," breaking news, the president telling abc news he did not down play the virus. he upplayed it. that is not true. conditions deteriorating along the gulf coast as hurricane sally hours from land fall, growing fears of a devastating storm surge. new video tonight of the two l.a. deputies who were ambushed. are officials any closer to identifying the shooter? let's go "outfront." good evening. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" this evening, the breaking news, president trump says he never down played the

threat of coronavirus. in fact, the inverse. >> why would you down play a pandemic that is known to disproportionately harm low-income families in hi minorities? >> yeah, well, i didn't down play it. in many ways i up played it in terms of action. what i did was with china, i put a ban on. with europe i put a ban on. and we would have lost thousands more people had i not put the ban on. so, that was called action, not with the mouth but an actual fact. we did a very, very good job when we put that ban on. whether you call it talent or luck, it was very important. so, we saef saved a lot of lives when we did that. >> there were holes in the ban and the european ban didn't come for another month. >> if you have somebody in china that's an american citizen, we had to let them in. >> all right. there's a lot in there. let's start with this that he

said he up played, it, never down played it. that is obviously not true. here is president trump's own words on this issue. >> now it's turning out it's not just old people, bob. just today and yesterday some startling facts came out. it's not just old people. >> yeah, exactly. >> it's plenty of young people. i think bob, really -- >> sure, i want you to be. >> -- i wanted to always play it down. i still like playing it down. >> yes. >> because i don't want to create a panic. >> now he says he up-played it. you heard it from him he down played it. we know that. he did so repeatedly. he has criticized the scientists from the start. the cnn is learning, the spokesman for the coronavirus response, michael caputo, may be forced to go. this comes because he was accusing scientists working on the pandemic of quote, sedition.

claiming it is a e are sis tans unit trying to undermine the president during a deadly pandemic, even warning of violence from left wing hit squads related to this. caputo admits to saying all these things, apologizes to staff at the department of health and human services. this may not be enough. this source telling cnn caputo is on thin ice. his baseless conspiracy theories are dangerous. the thing about this, he is blaming stress and health issues for his comments. that may be true in ferm terms of his feelings, those kinds of things are reflective of the sentiments of his boss, president trump. that's the kind of things president trump says and thinks. no surprise it comes from a spokesperson. trump's disdain for scientific things like masks are partly why "scientific" magazine has endorsed joe biden. it's the first time "scientific

american" has endorsed a politician in its entire history. they've never done it and they're doing it now because of trump's assault on science. it's taking a toll on america's reputation. according to pew research, the world's view of america has plunging. 15% saying the united states has handled the pandemic well, lower than china. people across the globe trust trump less than the leaders of china and russia, according to this poll, to leaders who poison journalists and hide coronavirus facts. both of those polled better. yet the united states believes the world envies his response. >> we are an absolute leader in every way. we are the envy of the world. >> the figure i look at is death and death is going up now. it's a thousand a day.

>> if you look at death -- >> yeah, it's going up again. it's going up again. >> take a look at these charts. >> i would love to. >> we're going to look. >> let's look. >> if you look at death -- >> start to go up again. >> right here, united states is lowest in numerous categories. we're lower than the world. >> lower than the world? >> we're lower than europe. >> of course the u.s. lags asia and europe. in fact bill gates who called this the pandemic of the century on day one, who has since donated more than $100 million to find a vaccine tells stat news that, quote, this has been a mismanaged situation every step of the way. it's shocking. it's unbelievable, the fact that we would among the worst in the world. that's what he said. the united states' failure to stop the death toll now putting these words from president trump in deposjeopardy. >> we're going to be respected again. we're not going to be a laughing stock like we have been.

we have gone from being a laughing stock, we'll go to the exact opposite. we're no longer going to be a laughing stock. >> china polls better. kaitlan collins is "outfront" live at the white house. kaitlan, you've been talking to your sources on this caputo news and big developments there. what more are you learning tonight? >> reporter: basically what we saw happen today was this abruptly scheduled meeting where caputo apologized to other staffers after he went on that rant on sunday where he was basically saying he believed government scientists are actively working against the president, he said, committing sedition and also said that the joe biden if he lost the election he did not believe would concede and there would be political violence that would follow. all of these alarming statements coming during a time of crisis we are seeing with this pandemic going on. but erin, basically what we heard was that he was apologizing for putting the

department in a bad light, embarrassing the hhs secretary, al alex azar. there are others in this administration, even from the president himself, that do believe there are government scientists working in this administration who are actively trying to undermine any kind of effort to produce a vaccine or therapeutics because it could hurt the president. that is a sentiment people in the white house and this administration overall do believe. i believe what we've seen is caputo is he said he would consider taking a leave of absence for physical issues he's going through. it's not clear if he's going to do that. it doesn't seem that a decision has been made. he is someone who was brought on early on during the coronavirus basically to serve as a check on the hhs secretary alex azar when there was distrust of him. he is someone who is a political ally of the president, a long-time friend of roger stone, that kind of person.

the question of whether or not he's staying or going is still to be determined. overall the response on coronavirus here is still being harshly judged. you can see the president now in that abc town hall that you showed at the beginning of this where he is trying to change what he has been saying publicly about this. not only did he admit to privately down playing -- or to privately acknowledging the dangers of coronavirus to bob woodward on those audio tapes, he defended doing so just last week. and now he is trying to say he did the opposite by the action he took when we have seen what the white house did or did not do in the month of february when it comes to coronavirus. >> thank you very much, kaitlan. i want to go to dr. rjha. it's been a huge struggle and a fill your so much of the way. you're doing so much to change that. the foundation run by democrats and republicans to increase

capacity. i really appreciate your time. let me ask you about what the president just said in that town hall. he said he was up-playing the virus by his actions as opposed to his words. obviously we know he down played it and he told bob woodward that. what's your reaction to hear the president say he up-played the virus. >> i don't know how to react to up-playing or down-playing as words. from the very beginning in march the rockefeller center brought republicans and democrats, scientists and industry leaders, public health experts, mayors and governors across the country and issued a plan to get ahead of coronavirus. it was anchors in widespread ubiquitous testing when we were doing 500,000 or 600,000 tests a week and called for getting to 30 million tests a week before the new flu season hit this fall. we've supported 30 cities and states around the country including ten, five led by governors, five by democrats,

five by republicans, that have come together to follow the strategies and technical recommendations we've issued. in my view, what we need is bold leadership and a massive effort around testing and contact tracing because this is going to get much worse if we don't take this even more seriously than it's being taken right now. >> which i think is a really significant thing to say. when you say, this is going to get worse if we don't take it more seriously, the president is telling americans we're rounding the corner. and this news on michael caputo, the hhs spokesperson, is coming, we're learning he's pushing to change the language in the reports by the cdc. you wrote in an op-ed after the cdc changed testing guidelines, and i quote you, the cdc, the federal agency that should be crushing the pandemic, is promoting policies that prolong it. when you hear about fights over the weekly science language and this kind of flip flop on policy

and, you know, how much can we trust the cdc now that we know politics are so much a part of this. >> well, the reality is the cdc has been the world's best centers for disease control for 70, 80 years. it's an absolutely critical global institution. the reason i did that op-ed with harold vargas was to make the point that unless the cdc puts out guidance that allows schools and universities and nursing homes and meat packing plants around this country to test regularly people who do not have symptoms, america is not going to get ahead of covid-19. and i stick by that because the reality is 40% to 50% of all spread is in asymptomatic individuals. we now have, thanks to the work of parts of operation warp speed

and hhs as well as the rockefeller foundation and dozens of partners in industry, we now have new tests that are fast, that are fairly accurate, that are cheap that could help america turn the corner. but we have to prioritize screening people who do not have symptoms to allow schools to be operational, nursing homes to be safe, and america to get ahead of this. that's going to take more investment and more leadership than we're seeing right now. >> you're talking about the tests. people need to wake up in the morning and take a test and get results. wirelessly report to their school or workplace and all of a sudden this would work. you talk about 30 million tests by october. you mention that number in the interview. your foundation released a report saying we need to be doing 193 million tests in schools and nursing homes monthly to safely reopen and keep it open. but yet the numbers now are 21.5 million over the past month. that compares to the 193 million you say we need. why are we so far behind your

recommendations? >> well, you know, we've actually partnered with the duke center to put the report out that you mentioned. i think it's because we have not had a national priority around asymptomatic screening testing, testing people who do not have symptoms. and a national strategy would involve first and foremost paying for those tests so the local public school systems don't have to bear the brunt of that. we've asked congress for $45 billion for that purpose. we have not yet seen -- although hhs has gone out and pre-procured about 150 million of these rapid antigen tests for use in nursing homes and other critical ins tooutitutions, tha weeks to months away from having impact on the ground. and the new flu season is approaching on the ground. i remain very concerned. and i think it's not too late for america to embrace the massive public investment, the

new clear protocols and guidelines and new best practices for testing, contact tracing and the very basics of a science-based public health response so that frankly our kids can go back to school and we can operate more safely. >> i really appreciate your time. i remind our viewers, admiral gerard said they're doing the right thing to reduce the spread. thank you so much. breaking news, live pictures out of pensacola. hurricane sally already lashing parts of the gulf coast, the third hurricane to hit the area just this season and months to go. life threatening storm surge just hours away. the president deflecting questions about climate change as the u.s. is getting hit with the busiest hurricane season

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of rain. several months worth of rain in just a couple of days. check out these amazing images. this is from space. it's stunning you see those -- i guess appears to be bright thunder and lightning, showing the bubbling clouds and lightning erupting there all around that storm. gary tuchman is on the ground in pensacola beach, florida. gary, three to five feet of storm surge. what is it like? wow, it's certainly -- we can see the gusts. what are you seeing? >> erin, pensacola beach is one of the most beautiful beach in the united states, but right now it's not particularly inviting. the outer wall of sally has arrived here and the rain has been torrential for several hours here. it's expected to continue that way for most of the day tomorrow too. this beach here is on santa rosa island. it's a barrier island. right now many of the bridges around the area are closed down. many of the roads already flooded. once again, this is the

beginning of the event. this is like being on a ski slope. it's the 1,400 foot fishing pier here in panama city beach. excuse me. the water just got in my mouth. that pier is very popular for people to fish. it's almost a third of a mile long. we're concerned about what's going to happen to that pier. a lot of hurricanes we cover, piers like that get destroyed. i remember hurricane katrina i was in louisiana. i was at gulf port at this aquarium, and i said to myself this place is going to be destroyed. sure enough it was. several dolphins got washed into the gulf o-mexico. they were rescued days later. i always think about with a hurricane of this power what's going to happen to the homes and businesses. most of the people are safely in their homes. there are very few people wandering around.

there are few evacuation centers because of covid. a lot of people don't want to be with others during this pandemic. i caught my hat. that's amazing. but the fact is people are taking it seriously. they're staying in their homes. this is not the event we had a few weeks ago with laura, but a lot more rain and it's going to create a lot of flooding. there's no question about that. >> and darius, as you're standing there, how many hours are you away from it hitting. it's amazing. it looks like you're blanketed in snow behind you. all right, gary -- gary, i think you can't hear me. there he is. he obviously can't. he's walking out of our shot here. you start to see these kinds of things with transmission as the weather approaches. i want to go to tom in the

weather center. behind him, it really did look like snow, those sort of white out conditions and just the amount of rain that's coming through. where is the storm right now? how dangerous could it be? >> well, i tell you, as bad as it was in those pictures with gary, it's worse just to the west, areas of orange beach, gulf shores, dauphin island. we're looking at a category 1. it reached its peak last night when it was a category 2. it's moving at two-miles-per-hour. if it stays at two-miles-per-hour, it won't make landfall until tomorrow afternoon. if it picks up in speed just 1 to 2-miles-per-hour, it'll be tomorrow morning. we're not sure. we've lost all steering occurrence in this. new orleans might get a passing light shower. tornado watch in this box until 6:00 in the morning. you can see where the spin is. it's not moving much. it's wave after wave of heavy

rainfall. tornados a possibility. just to the east of the center, all that in purple is rain that has fallen. this is 10 to 20 inches. some areas over 20. that has to move in, pensacola to destine, panama city. they're going to get hit hard as well. wind gusts, they're expected to get 70, 80, 90 in the coming hours as it's still offshore. when you look at what we're forecasting, two days ago it's expected to head over to new orleans. they're not even in the warnings anymore. it's been widdled down somewhat. it does look somewhere around mobile and mobile bay. areas to the east is where it's going to be significant. this model, an outlier, heads towards pensacola. we're not sure. the surge and the possibility of winds, we do have power knocked out. there are piers that are damaged, homes that are damaged. we had two river boat casinos broke away from their security.

notice the surge, it's been reduced down to 3, 4, even 6 but doesn't matter because the surge even at two or three feet is going to act like a wall, keep all of that rain flooding in one area. we may have several regions that could have a one in 100 year flood event. that's how dangerous. and the flooding will go all the way to the carolinas. >> unbelievable. talking these 1 in 100 year events keep happening every year. as we're watching this storm -- by the way, multiple storms behind it now on their way. on the other side of the country, the west coast death toll rising from the wild fires. at least three dozen people killed in california, oregon and washington as firefighters race to control now nearly 90 wild fires. martin savidge is "outfront." >> in oregon, firefighters loading up and heading out, including elite hot shot teams, trying to reign in the massive riverside fire outside portland,

one of three dozen blazes burns in the state. the effects of the historic western wild fire now spreading far beyond the region seen from space, spoke from the fires streaming across the country, reaching the skies of new york. the spoke even forced flight cancellations. schools in northern oregon remain closed as millions shelter-in-place from smoke-choked air classified a health hazard. >> these fires are apom lip tick, going through a couple of towns that had been absolutely incinerated. >> oregon's government says the state is stretched to its limit. last week they were double the number of firefighters and still more are needed. oregon's preparing to use its mobile morgue with a team of 75 forensics specialists. >> we're able to set those trailers up in a central location and take in any fire victims from all the counties

within this facility. >> reporter: with as many as 50 people listed missing or unaccounted for, the state is bracing for a rising death toll. >> we can give families closure. >> reporter: in neighboring california where the fires have been even deadlier, the campos family considers themselves fortunate to be alive. >> there's the fire coming down to burn all my barn. >> first trying to fight the flames on their farm before fleeing. ton outskirts of los angeles at the bobcat fire, a desperate battle is shaping up between firefighters and flames at the historic mount wilson observatory. the next 24 hours could be decisive. >> we've got a lot of dirty brush. it burns deep down in there and climbs through the trees and rolls with the hills. luckily we don't have wind right now. >> in portland, volunteers deliver food to those refusing to leave. >> we all had a pretty grim

outlook, and the fact that the firefighters stopped it, nothing short of amazing. i think it's a miracle. >> across oregon and much of the west, they will need a lot more miracles in the days and weeks to come. >> reporter: out here at the riverside fire, they had another good day. firefighters made good progress. they're trying to build up the containment around this fire and others in the state. they are pressed for time because weather is moving in. it'll bring high winds. it'll bring lightning. it could also bring welcomed rain, erin. >> thank you very much. martin. i want to go to todd whitman, former republican governor of new jersey, former epa administrator under george w. bush. we're seeing this extreme weather across the country. the wild fires, at least three dozen people killed, 90 of them burning across the western part of the country, hurricane sally the 7th of the season. there's on average only 6

hurricanes. and there's three other named storms behind sally and we've got 2 1/2 months to go in hurricane season. do you have any doubts at this point? is this just a variety of different reasons and happening this year, or is this about climate change? >> well, it's largely about climate change but there are other things. with the fires, there's no question forest management could be better in some places. but of course in california, the majority of the forests burning are under federal control. they're federal land. so, that comes back on the federal government. but this is exactly what we have been told to expect from climate change. what scientists have been telling us for ages. by the way, there are more things that come along with this. after you have these fires, after you have temperatures warming, you have different -- you change the ecosystem and different pathogens start to come together. animals interact with one another that didn't before and come closer to humans. they carry diseases for which we

have no immunity. there's a whole lot of reasons why we should take this issue extremely seriously and start to back our scientists when they tell us the kinds of things they can do. we can't stop it. we can slow it. but we can prepare ourselves better. >> the president's aide deflected when he was asked whether he believed in climate change as if it were something to believe or not believe, but he deflected and laughed it off. >> if we ignore science and put our head in the sand and think it's all about vegetation management, we're not going to succeed. >> okay. it'll start getting cooler. you just watch. >> i wish science agreed with you. >> well, i don't think science knows actually. >> as a former chief of the epa, what did you think when you watched that exchange? >> it was mind boggling. it was shameful. it was embarrassing to have the president of the united states be that ignorant and say the

scientists don't know when he is not a scientist when more and more people are understanding this is climate change. this is what happens. we've seen it. it's coming at us as you pointed out earlier. you have the 100 year floods and storms coming more frequently, certainly not every 100 years. this is something that is real. it's not -- and just as he said with covid, it was going to go away. we really believe it's going to suddenly get cooler magically. the man doesn't -- he won't support any kind of science that doesn't support his narrative. and unfortunately, everything he says and his entire focus is about his re-election. whether it's true or not, he puts other people in jeopardy. these rallies he holds indoors where he has the supporters behind him on camera wear a mask but not the rest of the crowd. it may be fun. but they may get sick and infect other people who don't want to

go to rallies, don't want to have part in them. it is so frustrating to see this happen. >> governor, i appreciate your time. thank you. >> my pleasure. next, the man hunt growing more urgent tonight after two jeopardies were ambushed, shot in compton. what do authorities know about the shooter? the sheriff is going to tell you everything he knows next. joe biden fighting back as trump ramps up claims of a rigged election. >> you're going to have problems with the ballots.

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tonight, heroic actions by one of the deputies shot in compton. new video shows deputies taking cover after the shooting. sara sidner has the report. >> reporter: a 30-year-old sheriff's deputy profusely seen bleeding from the face is seen helping her partner. she applies a tourniquet to his arm and moves him to avoid

taking more fire. both have been shot multiple times. >> the female deputy, after getting shot, both of them four or five times, her with a broken jaw in the face stepped out, gave a tourniquet to her fellow deputy who had been shot in the head as well, probably saved his life. >> she and her partner had just become deputies 14 months ago. the mother of a 6-year-old is seen proudly graduating in 2019. as they are recovering from injuries, a callous call for their death by about 5 people outside the hospital. >> [ bleep ] die [ bleep ]. >> the leader of the group says he hopes the shooting is in retaliation for the shooting of black and brown people. the most recent shooting sparked

protests in compton when kizzee was shot in the back. investigation was underway. >> this a start of retribution, then i think this is a very good start. >> everybody is set to go. >> lsad has faced serious controversy over the years. the sheriff convicted of lying was fired and jailed. there was a lawsuit of deputies forming a gang inside the department. the most recent accusation and complaint by a deputy, the whistleblower said the deputies formed a group called the executioners in compton. he said they used excessive force on suspects. >> me being an officer, i'm a supervisor. and i have to report this behavior. >> the sheriff deputy's union responded to those claims. >> the ak zccusations are ridiculous. >> karen bass responding to the

union and the horrific shooting. >> that was horrific that happened, but that gang issue is one that surfaces in the sheriff department every few years. and for the union to say that they don't believe that exists i think is a problem. >> reporter: but they both agree, even the idea of retaliation like this is sickening. >> so, the people, the group that came out here and screamed, we hope you die, that in itself is also pathetic. maybe not as bad as the guy that actually pulled the trig e but it's just as bad. >> reporter: and a long-time compton resident who owns a business here came up to us and said he can't believe anyone would wish for the demise of these two deputies. they are still recovering in the hospital behind me. they are in stable condition. 175,000 dr $175,000 reward is offered for anyone who can give information leading to the arrest of a shooting suspect. >> sara, thank you. i want to go to the los angeles

county sheriff, sheriff villanueva. how are the deputies doing? >> they're still in intensive care. they're in stable condition. they're facing a long road to recovery and a lot of subsequent surgeries because the damage inflicted -- both took a round to the head and multiple shots to the arms. so, there's definitely going to be a very painful path for them. but thankfully no vital organs, so their prognosis is good. >> but a long path. just a horrific act and a tragedy. i mean, i want to try to understand where you are in finding who did this horrific thing. we're hearing there's heavy law enforcement activity after a suspected carjacking near compton now. is this connected to the man hunt for the gunman? >> no, that is a separate carjacking suspect. he's still in a containment

area, supposedly armed so, we're taking all the precautions necessary to bring that person to justice and to a safe part of the community. >> it's been three days since the attack. we know there's $175,000 reward. why do you think it's been so difficult to name, to locate the suspect? >> that award is now increased to $275,000 due to generous donations and commitments to other members of the community. definitely want to thank them for that. there are a lot of obstacles to overcome, but we're getting good information. we're on positive tracks with our homicide investigators. hopefully we're in the right direction and we're making progress. >> so, you've released a photo of the suspect describing him as a black man between the ages of 28 and 30 wearing dark clothing which describes a lot of people. have you been able to use facial recognition tools to narrow anything down about the person's identity at this point? >> we have been getting video

from dozens of locations around the area. we're analyzing right now with our forensics specialists that are specialists in this particular area. there are things being developed and paths that we're following and hopefully we're making progress. >> so, i spoke to the mayor of compton last night, asia brown, and she condemned the attack on the two deputies but did speak about the long history of tensions in the community with your sheriff's department. here's part of what she said. >> we can't continue to accept this unfair treatment for people. if it doesn't happen in our communities, it shouldn't happen in ours or of people of color. this is a systemic issue. this is nothing new. >> it comes -- i don't know if you heard our piece before, but obviously people know about the investigation underway into an alleged gang in your department known as the executioners. a former deputy alleges that this celebrated shootings of civilians. what is being done to address

what is clearly deep distrust in your community with law enforcement? >> well, i can say that the distrust is in a very narrow segment of the community. if you talk to the average person on the street, they appreciate law enforcement. they appreciate our presence in the community, in particular compton. we started policing compton in the year 2000. prior to that, it was awash with crimes of violence, homicides, gang-related violence spiraling out of control. we definitely have improved the situation in compton. we're working on the issue of trust, and it's always a concern to us. but we have to go on facts. if you're talking about losses, anything like that, there are no gangs within the department. let's get that off the table. even the term executioner, we've been studying where that comes from. it turns out an attorney that

phrase. it's very inflammatory and it inflames the passions. >> yeah, but you're saying that investigation has concluded and there is no alleged gang. >> no, no. we have not concluded that investigation. we're taking positive action. we did investigation at east los angeles station that resulted in 26 employees being either disciplined or terminated. and that means we're taking steps forward. >> so, you just mentioned a moment ago that there have been members of the community that have come forward, you've been able to increase the reward for any information on the shooter to $275,000. you challenged lebron james and the lakers to match that original $175,000 reward. why do you feel that he should do something about this? >> well, he made some comments about a month ago after the tragic shooting of jacob blake that really, it kind of piqued my interest and i was kind of concerned. but emblem mattic of problems i heard from politicians across

the spectrum, including the civic lode leaders who are jumping on the band wagon. somehow there was a george floyd in every single community and every police department across the nation and there's a massive conspiracy against people of color. and i want to have that nonsense stopped. we want that nonsense to stop. we have bad apples in every organization. we hold them accountable. i'm not going to tolerate anyone crossing the line. but at the same time i'm not going to throw out the overwhelming majority of deputies that are doing the right things for the right reasons. we have to support them just like we have to support these two deputies. what they went through shows the damagers. we recruit from our communities. we have deputies born and raised in compton who are now serving compton and east los angeles and all the other communities throughout l.a. county. so, we are part of the community. >> sheriff villanueva, i appreciate your time. thank you.

>> thank you. all right. next, joe biden knows he has a hispanic voter problem and the head of the largest hispanic group in the united states tonight says biden's campaign has been, quote, lackluster reaching out. trump campaign lawyering up matching signatures. could that be the hanging chad of 2020? popular battery is now even more powerful. the stronger, lasts-longer energizer max.

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tonight, joe biden has a problem with hispanic voters. cnn's senior writer and analyst harry inton looked at 20 polls, went through them, analyzed them, found on average biden is 9 percentage points behind where hillary clinton was with hispanic voters in the final polls from 2016. 9 percentage points. something significant to note. biden admits he still needs to make his case to hispanic voters. >> my case is an easy one. education, health care, immigration, the whole notion of dealing with covid in a way that doesn't so damage the hispanic community, which is being hurt very badly.

>> "outfront" now, the democratic governor of new mexico michelle grisham. i appreciate your time governor. joe biden admitting his numbers with hispanic voters need to be higher. the president of the league of and that they're trying to go to third parties to activate the latino community because the biden campaign is so unresponsive to latino organizations. is this an alarm bell you have been sounding and why is the campaign not doing better with hispanic support right now? >> well, any campaign, erin, that doesn't ask itself every single day what can you do better? how many voters can we reach? is it serious about winning? one of the nthings here that we lost sight of is the fact when you have a really contentious large primary, it changes the

way in which and where you are with segments of voters. instead of sounding an alarm, i re reiterate to the campaign and work on the issues that matter to hispanicish views and voters and they matter with the vice president to florida and no one better to make the case than the vice president to know senator harris was well received and we're seeing those numbers tighten up in states like florida and we'll continue to see exactly that and we'll see the vice president begin to take the lead and i'm going to do my part to make sure that's exactly what happens. >> in florida joe biden going there and there is a must win for him. there is a poll where biden leads trump 58-32 with hispanic voters. that's good news. look at the other polls out there. nbc has it. >> telemundo looks good.

there is a bunch of polls. i didn't mean to interrupt. >> go ahead. i mean, there is some that look good, some that don't and i guess maybe the overall point since it's fair, we don't know is that hillary clinton beat trump in florida with hispanics 62-35. we don't see any polls anywhere like that. does that concern you? >> again, polls are a reflection of a moment in time and if you are campaigning to a poll, i would submit that that's a mistake. ignoring any voter particularly hispanic voters, look, it looks to me like biden is really doing the right work with young hispanic voters. looks like he's at 60% in florida and in the state like new mexico, organizations that are young hispanic voters who are really clear about the outdoors, the environment, look, we'll talk about putting hispanic families and hispanic voters back to work. all of our latino community in florida preserving the coastline, reinvesting and

cleaning up the everglades, the $2 trillion in invest 789s in renewable energy and in climate change and when we get to covid and i hope we can do that in this interview, when you talkbility ttalk about for hispanic families, look in further than environmental justice and not having access to health care, affordable coverage, education and a public health system that makes a difference. i think these are going to be the kind of bread and butter issues that will win over and make the case for the vice president in florida. >> all right. governor, appreciate your time. i know you're doing everything you can to do that and thank you for your time in joining us. next -- >> thank you for letting me interrupt you. i was getting excited. >> it's okay. it's hard with the delay. i always appreciate talking to you. next mail in voting. what is going to happen here?

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>> tonight details about trump and biden's campaigns lawyering up for a messy legal battle ahead. pamela brown is "outfront". >> vote, vote, vote is my message. >> reporter: as covid-19 drives more americans to vote by mail in unprecedented numbers, both the biden and trump campaigns are planning to deploy teams of lawyers and volunteers to keep a watchful eye on the vote counting process and battle ground states. these ballot watchers will oversee and potentially challenge ballots if there are issues, an effort that could slow state's ability to count votes and leave an opening for misinformation to take hold if it's a close race. >> the longer it takes to count the ballots, the more of a vacuum for foreign adversaries and others that want to sow disinformation and reduce confidence to fill the void about miss information for voter fraud. >> reporter: the president has

falsely declared if the election is not called that night, it is rigged. >> you won't know the election result for weeks, months, years after. maybe you'll never know the election result. that's what i'm concerned with. it will be fixed. it will be rigged. >> reporter: repeating the debunked lie ballot in ballots that require a signature will lead to wide spread fraud. >> you're going to see a mess on election night that's going to be legendary. >> reporter: this week, joe biden fired back saying he believes it serves trump's purpose to disparage the process. >> i'm confident that trump will try to not have that happen but i'm confident the american public will assist. >> reporter: already this year mismatched signatures have become a flash point. >> i'm not saying that. >> reporter: republicans and democrats drawing battle lines across the country over how signatures are evaluated and whether voters can fix ballots under dispute reminiscing of the

controversy that led to the florida recount in 2000. adding to potential election confusion, the key battle ground states of wisconsin, michigan and pennsylvania all have laws that don't allow mail in ballots to be counted until election day. and several states including wisconsin allow ballot watchers to look over the shoulders of election officials to dispute ballots or voter signatures. >> if it takes just normally a few seconds, maybe 20 seconds to process a mail ballot but there are people unnecessarily challenging a bunch of ballots and that will increase the amount of overall time it will take to process these ballots. >> reporter: republican national committee justin reamer says the purpose of sending challengers is to make sure every vote is accurate and every signature is valid. telling cnn quote, we're not there to obstruct the process. if they're supposed to check signatures, they need to check the signatures. we understand there is an urgency to count the ballots but it needs to be done right. embracing for potential fights

over ballots, both campaigns have beefed up their legal tenee level lawsuits. pamela brown, cnn, washington. >> thanks very much to pamela and to you for joining "ac 360" starts now. welcome, our guest tonight is bob woodward. his book cannot be more timely. the title is "rage." the subject is donald trump's leadersh leadership. more than 195,000 americans died. we're experiencing a steep recession in the presidential election a little more than a month and a half away. bob woodward spoke 18 times to the president in the making of the book. he recorded the conversations and you'll hear many exchanges for the first time tonight. others have already been released and they have become front page news establishing in the president's own words he knew very early on just how deadly and contagious covid-19 was. he did not share that