another republican breaks ranks with president trump over the rush to replace supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg. we'll dissect what it means for the fight is who's in the running to take her seat. the u.s. approaching a covid-19 milestone as we hear new guidance on how easy the virus can spread. and you're looking at another powerful storm heading for the gulf coast. we'll have details on what else is brewing in the atlantic. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, welcome to our viewers, you here in the united states and around the world. i'm kim brunhuber. this is "cnn newsroom."

well, this may be a sign of just how polarized american politics has become. in the face of a supreme court vacancy, lawmakers are divided not over the nominee, not yet anyway, but over when to start the confirmation process. the battle over replacing the late ruth bader ginsburg begins in earnest in the coming hours when senators return to capitol hill. president trump says he'll name his nominee this week, but democrats don't want to move forward until after the election. presidential nominee joe biden had a message for senators on sunday. >> don't vote to confirm anyone nominated under the circumstances president trump and senator mcconnell have created. don't go there. uphold your constitutional duty. your conscience.

let the people speak. cool the flames that have been engulfing our country. we can't keep rewriting history. >> now, if you're feeling a bit of deja vu, you're not alone. four years ago, the senate refused to confirm barack obama's nominee during an election year, but then it was the republicans who were stalling. cnn's manu raju has more on their about-face. >> reporter: president donald trump is moving quickly to name his supreme court nominee to fill the seat of the late ruth bader ginsburg. >> raise your right hand. >> reporter: according to sources familiar with the process, three female appeals court judges appear to be among the front-runners. amy coney barrett, barbara legoa and allison jones rushing. he has little time to get his nominee confirmed before the november election. trump and senate majority leader mcconnell can only afford to lose the support of three

republican senator in order to get 51 votes to get a nominee confirmed. already two republicans have said the nomination should wait until after the elections. the latest, lisa murkowski of alaska, the lone republican to vote against brett kavanaugh's nomination to the court in 2014. on sunday, murkscy saowski saidd not support taking up a nomination eight months before the 2016 election to fill the vacancy created by the passing of justice scalia. we are now even closer to the 2020 election, less than two months out, and i believe the same standard must apply. but murkowski would not comment whether she would oppose trump's nominee in a lame duck session of congress. similarly, senator susan collins of maine, fighting to keep her seat, said the vote should wait until after the election, but her office has not responded to cnn's questions about whether she would vote against a trump nominee in a lame duck session if former vice president joe biden wins in november. the battle over the nomination comes amid a furious fight for

control over the senate in november. and it has put some republicans like cory gardner of colorado in a difficult spot as he campaigns to keep his seat. in 2016 when republicans refused to move on barack obama's nomination of merrick garland to the court, they argued it was too close to the election. gardner said at the time that the american people deserved a role in this process. he refused to say whether he would stick to that now that there is a republican president and just 44 days before the election. >> there is a time for debate. there is a time for politics. the time for now is to pray for the family. >> reporter: including chuck grassley of iowa have also declined to say if they think the nomination should wait. and the party's 2012 nominee, senator mitt romney, so far has yet declined to comment. several republicans in difficult races are aligning with trump. >> i voted for several hundred conservative judges, including two on the supreme court and another one on the way. >> reporter: tillis sung a different tune four years ago. >> if we're going to let the

american people speak. >> reporter: republicans say times have changed because they know control both the white house and the senate, unlike 2016. >> it's a question of checks and balances. >> reporter: but four years ago, cruz said this -- >> this is for the people to decide. >> reporter: now, donald trump and mitch mcconnell have spoken multiple times through the course of the weekend. and i'm told one person has come up in those conversations, that's appeals court judge amy coney barrett. she's someone that democrats strenuously oppose. conservatives have been trying to get her on the high court for years. she's someone mitch mcconnell said republicans know well, they'd be comfortable with her nomination, and donald trump is seriously considering her, putting her forward. also, we expect this to move pretty quickly. once the nomination comes, as early as this week, republicans will try to see whether or not they have the votes to move ahead. if they don't, they're going to punt it until later, but expect this fight to just intensify on monday when senators get back into town and start to process the monumental developments. manu raju, cnn, capitol hill.

well, democrats have raised the prospect of expanding the supreme court if a trump nominee is approved. listen to what the senate's top democrat said about that on sunday. >> if the president's pick is approved and biden wins the election, should he add more supreme court judges? >> well, it will be a decision that is -- comes to the senate. we first have to win the majority before that can happen. but once we win the majority, god willing, everything is on the table. >> so to get a sense of why this fight is becoming so heated, consider the cases likely to go before the court. health care, same-sex rights, immigration, but every time there's an opening that could tilt the balance of the court, well, one issue stands out. joining me now is mary ziegler, professor at florida state university, college of law, and

author of "abortion and the law." thank you very much for joining us here. for years republicans have been chipping away at access to abortion. as far as i'm aware, at least six republican-led states have adopted laws to ban some or all abortions, and those laws could obviously end up in the supreme court and force the justices to decide whether to uphold or strike down the right to abortion. so just give us a quick sense of where things stand right now. what cases are winding their way through the court system and could reach the supreme court in the near future? >> yeah, so i think you could divide the abortion restrictions on their way to the court in two broad categories. they're the kind of absolute bans you talked about which really hit the headlines in 2019, in particular on so-called heartbeat bans which ban abortion around the sixth week of pregnancy when fetal cardiac activity can be detected. and more stealth strategies more likely to end up at the court sooner, which include banning

abortion at 20 weeks, on the theory that fetal pain is possible then. laws spanning what's the most common abortion method and safest abortion method after the first trimester of pregnancy, and laws banning specific reasons for abortion. there has even been a recent push by gop legislators to take medication-based abortion off the market entirely, even though we're in a covid-19 pandemic. any of those, in fact, the covid-19 pill case is -- could come before the court relatively soon, but any of those are important candidates, i think. >> all right. so before i get to the, you know, possible new justice and the composition of the court. i just want to get to something very basic. it's a question i get asked a lot from people who just kind of, you know, dip in and out of the news. they tell me, i don't get it, i thought the supreme court ruled on abortion and made it legal. isn't that the precedent? isn't that the law? so, you know, how can you, you know, change it now? >> well, the court has actually an entirely separate body of law

to deal with if and when you can overturn precedents, because, of course, the court has had to overturn precedent before. in this country it was legal to ban interracial marriage or to ban marriages between people of the same sex or even to forcibly segregate schools. but at the same time, as you mentioned, the court country just want to discard precedent willy-nilly, so it's very politicized in the united states if and when the supreme court can revisit precedent, and one of the fights that's going on parallel to the fight about what happens to roe is what kind of precedent roe is and whether it's the kind of precedent the court should, in fact, revisit. >> a case in which precedent was central was that louisiana abortion law which would have left the entire state with, you know, one single abortion clinic. it was struck down this year with chief justice john roberts casting the swing vote, though he opposed it more on legal grounds than because he supported abortion rights.

but that case seems like a playbook for the anti-abortion cause and with a new trump justice who would presumably oppose abortion rights, there would be six votes against abortion on the supreme court. so does that spell, you know, the end of roe v. wade? >> potentially, right? so chief justice john roberts has emerged as the swing justice on abortion. and as you mentioned, he's not exactly an ally of the liberals. he's already rewritten the rules that apply to abortion restrictions in a way that make it a lot easier for legislators to write new restrictions and get them upheld in the court. at the same time, roberts has made a pretty big deal about his commitment to precedent, which would make it less likely that he would vote to overturn roe in the near term, right? even if he does eventually. of course that all changes if you add one more conservative justice to the court. that likely would make roberts no longer the swing justice and move the court to the right in general on abortion. and, of course, it's worth

remembering that there are other liberal justices who are older. so it's not out of the question that if president trump were re-elected in 2020 you could kind up with two new conservative justices and then you're really talking about a situation where their overruling of roe becomes almost inevitable at that point. but certainly one more conservative justice would dramatically increase the odds of roe being overturned, although i think potentially you'd have brett kavanaugh as a swing justice and kavanaugh might be reluctant to move quickly to. >> on that point, chief justice roberts sent the message that he wanted to steer the court on a middle course, given that a majority of americans polled say time and time again they're in favor of access to abortion. is there any sense that a conservative justice with a more, you know, centrist bone in their body or someone, you know, concerned about the appearance of the legitimacy of the supreme court might sort of swing left on this issue in order to more -- to better reflect the population's actual wishes on this issue?

>> maybe. i mean, we have some sense that kavanaugh would be the new swing justice. of all the conservatives who voted to uphold louisiana's abortion restriction this summer, kavanaugh was definitely the most cautious. he essentially wanted to say, you know, we don't have enough evidence to make a decision one way or another, so let's send it back to the lower court. that was still, i think, a quite conservative thing to rule because these laws were exactly the same. so to say there was any daylight between the two definitely suggested that kavanaugh was open to abortion restrictions and arguments for them, but at the same time he wasn't ready to throw down the gauntlet and suggest that roe v. wade was wrong or kind of echo pro-life talking points like his colleagues, justices gorsuch and alito. so it does seem kavanaugh has the same concern for the court's appearance, but it also seems he has more confidence that the court can roll back abortion rights without triggering the backlash that seems to concern both him and justice roberts. >> all right.

seeing so many unknowns on this hugely fraught issue. thank you very much, mary ziegler, for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. the coronavirus outbreak in the u.s., well, it appears to be easing, but the number of deaths is still on the rise and soon it will reach a sobering new total. stay with us. business right now is anything but usual. but we can help make this new normal, feel a little more normal. so you have more ways of selling, and safer ways of getting paid.

we have tools to help you reconnect with customers, and give your bottom line a boost. you can keep your cash flow moving, and get money to move your business forward, too. so while we can't predict the future, we can help you be ready for whatever's next. see everything we can do at square.com ♪ these humans, those humans. groovin, and golden. it's about getting more than health insurance and a partner who listens and acts. humana calls it human care. it's talking to a doctor from your couch, or helping you find a cheaper prescription before you ask. it's helping you fix the rugs so you don't fall, and keeping you social, online or off. it's getting to know you, so you can be your healthiest. that's our superpower. that's human care. from humana. (vwith your next new vehicle? what kind of value are you looking for that's human care. with subaru, you get kelley blue book's 2020 best resale value brand, 2020 lowest 5-year cost to own brand,

and most trusted brand for 6 consecutive years. no wonder kelley blue book also picked subaru as their 2020 best overall brand. a trusted brand and a proven value. it's easy to love a subaru. get 0% apr financing for 63 months on select subaru models, now through september 30th. and all the moments you haven't "hi" love, can't wait -"got the ring!" -"yes!" and with jared it doesn't have to ♪

[ bells tolling ] bells tolled 200 times sunday at the u.s. national cathedral in washington. they rang once for every 1,000 lives lost as the nation nears 200,000 deaths from the coronavirus. the official number right now from john hopkins university is just over 199,500. sadly it's just a matter of time before that staggering death toll has reached 200,000. well, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention is acknowledging covid-19 can be commonly spread through viral particles in the air. the agency's new guidance says

those aerosols are produced when a person talks, sings, coughs, sneezes or even just breathes, and it's believed the particles can hang in the air and be breathed in by others. the cdc had previously said the virus was thought to spread mainly through respiratory droplets between people within 6 feet of one another. now this new update reinforces why masks are so crucial. >> what it means for folks is, number one, those masks are critically important. they're the most important way to stop those aerosols from coming out of our mouths and noses, and then getting into other people's mouths and noses. so everyone should wear a mask, as we've been saying for some time now. but also people should pay attention to what they do indoors. the reason indoors is so important is because those aerosols tend to just hang out there for some time indoors, particularly in poorly ventilated indoor areas. so when you're thinking about whether or not maybe you are going to go eat indoors at a restaurant or god forbid go to

the movies, you really should think twice. lastly, as folks should have been doing this entire time, just ask yourself if it's worth it. all of us know this is the fall. a number of things we want to get and out be doing, beautiful weather. ask yourself, is it worth it? in every given thing you're choosing, ask yourself is it worth the potential risk and if i'm going to do that, how can i keep my family and friends safe? and try to stay outdoors as much as possible. >> the head of the u.s. testing efforts says the country is seeing fewer deaths compared to its peak in july. but as cnn's evan mcmorris-santoro reports, america's death toll is still the highest in the world and the numbers are still rising. >> reporter: projections now show within the next day or so america will cross a grim milestone in this pandemic, 200,000 confirmed deaths from complications of coronavirus. to put that number in perspective, let's go back to

march 29th when president trump addressed the idea of 200,000 deaths. >> if we can hold that down as we're saying to 100,000, it's a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100 ,000 so we hav between 100,000 and 200,000, we all together have done a very good job. >> reporter: that 200,000 number comes even as places like new york city, where i'm standing, are seeing their viral numbers come way down. but this country is still in the grips of this thing. the pandemic is reeking wreaking havoc on the american economy, education and people's lives. admiral brett giroir told cnn he has no real timeline for when a safe and effective vaccine will become widely available here. evan mcmorris-santoro, cnn, new york. protesters in masks faced

off against police in masks. this was the scene sunday ahead of a new partial lockdown in some of the poorest neighborhoods in madrid. some 850,000 people are under new quarantine restrictions. no one's allowed in or out of parts of the city unless it's for work, school or a doctor visit. residents say the restrictions unfairly target them and not the wealthier areas. >> translator: the measures taken by madrid's regional leader are unfair. it doesn't make sense that you can go to work in a rich neighborhood but you can't go shopping. if you are infected, you can infect at work or get infected at work. it is utterly unfair and discriminatory. >> now the government says it had to take action because of infection rates there are more than five times the national average. meanwhile in the united kingdom, officials will impose fines starting at $1,300 on anyone who doesn't self-isolate after testing positive. the health secretary says people have to be vigilant because they're at a tipping point.

>> if everybody follows the rules, everybody follows the rules, and we'll be increasingly stringent on the people who are not following the rules. if everybody face -- follows the rules, then we can avoid further national lockdowns. but we, of course, have to be prepared to take action if that's what's necessary. >> all right. so to discuss that and other covid issues, let's bring in shawn griffiths who is an amerituss professor at the chinese university of hong kong and a chair into the inquiry of sars back in 2003. she joins me live from oxford, england. thank you very much for speaking with us. i want to start there in the uk. so we heard there about the pocket of a second lockdown, but in england there are already growing protests in the streets, people willing to confront police and get arrested over rules, you know, just about masks, let alone another

lockdown. so you're an adviser with public health england. so from a public health perspective, how do you go about convincing people to accept increasingly stringent measures when so many people are clearly chafing at the rules right now. >> well, i wouldn't put it quite so strongly. i think everybody realizes this is a very serious situation, and if you look at the newspaper headlines in across the uk today, it talks about tipping point. it talks about how close we are to -- to tipping over into a second epidemic. because in the -- in europe we had one spike. lockdown measures brought the rates right down and it was releasing them during the summer that meant rates have started to increase again in countries such as france and spain and the uk. we're a couple of weeks behind france. and we've started to see 4,000 positive tests. that's way more. that's -- we were in the low

tens at some point during the summer. so we've got the disease in the population and the government is very concerned that we don't see a rise in the -- particularly in the winter -- along to the levels we saw in march. i think most people are complying pretty well with the rules, but not obviously well enough, which is why we've got the north -- a lot of the north of england in lockdown, particularly in areas where the rates are high. >> do you think you will actually have to go into a second lockdown? >> when they talk about lockdown, the first lockdown was -- was a very rapid, dramatic, you know, stay at home. this more likely to be more moderated and targeted where the rates are going up. and we know that epidemiology, the rates go up through household spread and they also go up through social pubs and restaurants and clubs. and so the first moves are most likely to be targeted at the

areas where we know the transmission is occurring must. i think everyone has agreed we want to keep the schools open and everyone is aware that there are huge issues with the economy, just as there are across the world. so this will probably be targeted action, but today we're waiting for the chief medical officer to -- and the chief scientific adviser to do an announcement because there's always been a big emphasis on what does the science tell us. and the science tells us at the moment that the rates as they started to go up for many among young people, and we've got universities going back, so there are messages there, but we've also started to see the rates going up in older people. and during the worst of the crisis back in april and may, it was actually our care homes which were hit the worst. so i think there'll be messages about what we need to do to protect the vulnerable. >> there also might be a seasonal influence, right? many areas in the u.s. are reopening, but one influential coronavirus model at the university of washington is

projecting more than 378,000 deaths by january. so here, you know, where i am in atlanta, it's sweater weather now. with that, obviously, more people will be indoors instead of outdoors. so how might the cooler weather affect the numbers of infections and deaths? >> as you said, we'll be coming intoors a indoors and much more close to each other. just earlier on your program, you were talking about the growing scientific understanding of aerosol spread as well as droplet spread, which means if you're in an enclosed environment with poor ventilation and someone has the virus, there is just an increased risk you come into contact with it. which is why i think across the world there air variations on the message. in the uk, it's hands, wash your hands. face, cover your face with a face covering. and space, keep one-plus meter distance apart. those rules are really essential until we get a vaccine because we just need to stop the spread, keep the surfaces clear.

if you -- and we're very -- our numbers of tests, we're doing many more testing. okay, there are issues with the capacity of the testing system, as there are in many countries because as people become aware that what they need to do if they get symptoms, they need to isolate, get a test, and then the public health officials can contract trace and make sure you try to break that chain of transmission. that's what we're trying to do. we're trying to stop the spread of that virus. because if we can stop it spreading then we can get on with the more normal life until we've got better mechanisms. >> all right. that's what is so vital for so many people. thank you very much, shaun griffiths. we appreciate you joining us. >> nice to talk to you this morning. still ahead on "cnn newsroom," iran says it won't give into u.s. pressure and bullying. the international community is speaking out after washington moves to unilaterally reimpose sanction on iran. stay with us. ♪ ♪ for all the moments you've missed

and all the moments you haven't "hi" love, can't wait -"got the ring!" -"yes!" and with jared it doesn't have to ♪ when covid hit, i happened futo be the main bread winner. -"got the ring!" -"yes!" sixty percent of my nannies got laid off. i had to furlough my office team. dave is my financial advisor at northwestern mutual. he's like a father to me. he reached out to me. and then reminded me that years of planning with him set me up for success. i was able to rehire my staff. and now i can prepare more for the future. they're going to be paying for this for a long time. they will, but with accident forgiveness allstate won't raise your rates just because of an accident, even if it's your fault. cut! sonny. was that good? line! the desert never lies.

isn't that what i said? no you were talking about allstate and insurance. i just... when i... let's try again. everybody back to one. accident forgiveness from allstate. click or call for a quote today. from maybelline new york. get lasting hydration, fuller looking, glossy lips from our hydrating formula with hyaluronic acid. new lifter gloss in 10 shades. only from maybelline new york.

it's totally not the same without you. we miss your "let's do this" look, the sound of your laugh cry screams, and how you make every day here the best day ever. we can't wait to get you back so we've added temp checks, face coverings, social distancing and extra sanitizing to get the good times going again. we're finally back... and can't wait until you are too. buy now and get two days free at the parks. restrictions apply.

welcome back to you, our viewers in the united states, canada and around the world. i'm kim brunhuber and you're watching "cnn newsroom." we're now on our top story. a source tells cnn that senate republicans appeal to favor appeals court judge amy coney barrett to succeed the late ruth bader ginsburg on the u.s. supreme court. come up in conversations between president trump and senate republican leader mitch mcconnell. the president told supporters he has his short list and should announce his nominee this week. of course democrats don't want to start the confirmation process until after the election. ginsburg's seat at the supreme court is now draped in black, as you can see there.

she died friday at 87. iranian president hassan rouhani says the country will never yield to u.s. bullying. he made the comments sunday, addressing the u.s. move to reimpose sanctions on iran. excuse me. despite having no legal footing to do so. as a result, iran's currency hit a record low against the u.s. dollar on sunday. let's bring in cnn's john de defterios following the story from abu dhabi. so this is a major push for wider u.n. sanctions by the trump administration, but it seems, you know, the world bo bodies basically greeted this with a shrug. is the u.s. on its own here? >> well, it certainly looks that way, and initial three days of the discussions that have taken place, but the tensions have ratcheted up between even allies. you're correct, kim, in saying that 13 of 15 u.n. security council members are not supporting this. perhaps more importantly, three signatories to the original

deal, britain, france and germany say this is legally void. this is giving the confidence to the iranian president, hassan rouhani, to say to donald trump, you're completely isolated in this agreement. now, the u.s. interpretation is very different, not surprisingly, saying it was an original signatory and because iran is enriching uranium at a higher level has a right to call for the snap back u.n. sanctions overall. reuters was reported yesterday, in fact, that we're going to see a long new list of targets by the united states of companies and perhaps even financial institutions that have been supporting iran, even with arm sales, during this period. iran is allowed, by the way, not with regard to the arms sales, but sanctions relief, according to those who remain party to this agreement. >> all right. so is all of this then an empty threat by the u.s.? or can they actually go down that path of -- of unilateral sanctions? >> yeah, it's a path they've followed many, many times, kim.

for example, with tiktok and wechat, for example. but think specifically when it comes to third parties, you can look at the russian pipeline going to germany, the u.s. has targeted the port and even contractors for the billing of that pipeline. against the will of the germans, for example. so you see a case here where mike pompeo is leaning on the europe to come on board, but mohammad -- i think we should single out the unilateral sanctions by the united states have been painful. we're looking at a contraction of nearly 20% over the last three years with oil production cut in half in the same timeframe. very painful, in fact, kim. >> all right. thank you so much, john district derrius in abu dhabi. appreciate it. when we come back, hopefully i'll get my voice back and then we'll go to egypt for a taste of

some of alexandria's best street food. you'll want to see that. ♪ ♪ for all the moments you've missed and all the moments you haven't "hi" love, can't wait -"got the ring!" -"yes!" and with jared it doesn't have to ♪ i'm happy to give you the tour, i lohey jay. it. jay? he helped me set up my watch lists. karl! he took care of my 401k rollover. wow, you call a lot. yeah, well it's my money we're talking about here. help from a team that will exceed your expectations. ♪

turns out, my body wash was the problem. until i tried olay body. which improves skin 3 times better than the leading body wash. better skin from a body wash? you better believe it. with olay body.

street food dominates egyptian dining, and while cairo's often the go-to destination for this, two food lovers from the capital's second city has just as much to offer. here is this look at "dining out in alexandria." ♪ >> reporter: leyla lives and breathes egyptian dining. today they're in alexandria. on egypt's northern coast. home to some of the country's freshest seafood and finest street food, which is their specialty. >> we're going to cross this way, guys. >> reporter: leyla and nia started one of cairo's most successful food tour companies,

teaching visitors about egyptian cuisine and taking them to hidden gems. now they've come to alexandria. >> and we're super excited! >> reporter: with hopes of expanding to a new city for the first time. and putting the city's street food on the culinary map. >> we're really here to teach people about egyptian food. you go to a mediocre place, you're obviously not gonna want to come back, and we really think that could make all the difference between deciding to visit again or representeding egypt to a friend or not. >> reporter: laila and mia research about 30 restaurants for each new tour. here their priority is finding an egyptian staple, liver sandwiches, which vary by city. >> we eat a lot of liver in cairo, but we don't real cook it the same way. their method is they chop is very, very fine little slivers, so that's what makes alexandrian liver very, very special. >> are you ready?

>> yeah. >> let's do it. >> reporter: after sampling half a dozen sandwiches across the city, the ladies land in a residential part of town. >> this restaurant has been around for about four generations. their great grandfather built this place and it's been passed down from son to son. >> it's just like a really, really nice, unknown sort of underrated neighborhood place. this is exactly what we love about it. it's a hidden gem. >> reporter: liver sandwiches are usually made from beef and packed full of garlic, peppers and spices. >> you can see the pepper in there. i'm a bit anxious about those peppers. i remember last time i was here -- fire. but worth it. >> reporter: while wahaba may have been a hidden neighborhood gem for four generations. >> he's the oldest of his siblings. he's going to be next in line after his dad. >> reporter: soon thanks to laila and mia, a steady stream of tourists may be knocking at their door. >> i'm suddenly peckish.

all right. thank you so much for joining us. for our international viewers, "world sport" is next. for our viewers in the united states and canada, i'll be back with more news. we are following another storm across the u.s. gulf coast. tropical storm beta is threatening texas and louisiana, so we'll bring you the latest on that coming up next. stay with us. at fisher investments, we do things differently and other money managers don't understand why. because our way works great for us! but not for your clients. that's why we're a fiduciary, obligated to put clients first. so, what do you provide? cookie cutter portfolios? nope. we tailor portfolios to our client's needs. but you do sell investments that earn you high commissions, right? we don't have those. so, what's in it for you? our fees are structured so we do better when our clients do better. at fisher investments we're clearly different. and all the moments you haven't "hi" love, can't wait

-"got the ring!" -"yes!" and with jared it doesn't have to ♪

in the wake of u.s. supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg's death, cnn has obtained audio recordings that give us insight into the u.s. president's attitude towards the judiciary during interviews with renowned journalist woobob woodd for his book "rage," he repeatedly boasted about the number of judges he appointed to the federal bench, calling them golden nuggets. this comes as he prepares to try to push through a third supreme court nominee. >> i just signed my 187th federal judge. it's a record. 187 judges in less than three years, bob. and two supreme court judges. never been done before.

the only one that has a better percentage is george washington because he appointed 100%, but my percentage is, you know, like, ridiculous. our numbers -- when i get out, i'll probably have more than 50% of the federal judges in the country appointed under trump. >> and lindsey graham has said that there were a couple of those judges that he, himself, didn't care for and rejected them. are you aware of that? >> yeah. and other senators, too. when they don't like them i say, you know, i don't want them. >> does he have kind of -- because, you know, that's his committee and they -- >> yeah, no, lindsey and other people don't like them, i don't put them in. you know why? why do we want -- they don't like them. sometimes they art conservative or they don't believe, they came out with a couple of bad decisions on something. >> now, during a separate interview, this one from july, woodward asked president trump about his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

>> so what grade do you give yourself on the virus for the last six, seven months? >> other than the public relations, which is impossible because it's a fake media, fake. they're fake. i know you disagree. >> yeah, i do, but -- >> other than the fact that i have been unable to -- >> so what's -- what's the grade, sir? >> on treating us fairly. i give ourselves an "a," but the grade is incomplete, and i'll tell you why. if we come up with the vaccines and the therapeutics, then i give myself an a-plus. >> well, it's no secret which presidential candidate is favored in the irish town of bolina. joe biden's family roots go deep there and the town is showing him love as biden steps into the long-simmering brexit debate. nic robertson reports. >> reporter: clips, clean and

freshly hung, no trouble guessing who this irish town backs for u.s. president. >> we did it in a warehouse so nobody knew it was happening. >> reporter: every moment recorded. painting, transporting in the dead of night, hanging with the sunrise. >> the reaction was just, wow, just initially blew people away. >> reporter: part of the attraction, biden has dozens of distant cousins here. >> he's a real family man. you know, we've met a few times now and been in the same room. he's just really nice, genuine, strong family man. >> he quotes yates. he has a real love of his irish heritage. but also has a real strong understanding of the reality of life in ireland right now. >> hi, everybody. >> reporter: when then vp bidenivized in 2016, most of the town turned out. today they love that biden tweeted boris johnson against brexit maneuvers potentially at

the cost of a u.s./uk trade deal. >> to see vice president's tweet reiterating the importance of the good friday agreement, i think here it resonated with a lot of people. >> reporter: biden's concerns are about peace, and it all starts here at the border. the republic of ireland here, northern ireland up here. it's open. just like driving from one u.s. state to another. but boris johnson's proposals could change that, could lead to customs posts. a hard border. and that in turn could lead to violence. north of the border in british northern ireland, pro-british unionists don't like biden's interfering. >> he ought to be ashamed of himself because he's playing with the lives of people in northern ireland to pander to some section of his vote. >> reporter: back south of the border in balinar, former irish

government minister says wilson has it wrong. >> it's not just political. it's not about votes. the u.s. politicians recognize their role in the protecting the good friday agreement. >> you don't want the hard border back again. it was years and years of trouble and, you know, everything is -- everything is going well now and, you know, people are getting on. >> reporter: since biden's tweet last week, president trump's special envoy to northern ireland, mick mulvaney, issued the same warning. even so, balinar's picked its man. >> everybody is for joe biden in this town. i think he's gonna win. >> reporter: if he does, the town will be counting on him to keep his word. nic robertson, cnn, balinar, ireland. millions of people on the u.s. gulf coast are under storm warnings as tropical storm beta heads for texas and louisiana. the system's bringing heavy rain and the threat of big storm

surges. so let's bring in meteorologist tyler malden, who joins me now. tyler, it seems like just more bad news than what's already been a record-breaking hurricane season. >> hey, man, yeah. this is the last thing that they want to see in texas and louisiana. that would be another tropical system. that's what we have. we have a nearly 14 million residents in the northwestern gulf of mexico under a tropical storm warning at the moment. as tropical storm beta makes a beeline towards them. and that is a very slow beeline. it was stationary yesterday. it's now only moving to the west-northwest at 6 miles per hour. and as it takes this jog, it is looking very discombobulated on satellite imagery. despite that, we are still seeing showers and thunderstorms firing up and moving into the gulf of mexico. louisiana is seeing some heavy rainfall and texas is beginning to see some outer bands push in. we've been seeing the showers and thunderstorms come ashore here and there the last couple

of days because beta has just been sitting there in the northwestern gulf for the last couple of days. overall, we've picked up about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch, some areas a little north of that, but notice all the heavy rainfall amounts offshore. all of that is eventually going to come onshore in the days to come because tropical storm beta is moving very slowly towards that coastline and the slower it takes that jog, the more rainfall will accumulate. we could see upwards of 6, 7 inches of rainfall, and some areas could pick up more than a foot of rainfall. again, it's all because of that slow movement. take a look at this. it goes to the west-northwest. it comes ashore some time around 1:00 a.m. on tuesday. and then from that time on monday or tuesday, to thursday night, it has only gone from just south of texas -- excuse me, just south of houston to just -- just northern louisiana.

so it is moving very, very slowly. and it's also not gonna -- if there is a saving grace here, a silver lining, it's not gonna strengthen very much over the next couple of days as it comes ashore, simply because there is a lot of dry air in place. and that dry air is already being wrapped into it. that is the reason why it looks so discombobulated on satellite imagery, but don't pay attention to the category. even though it is only going to be a tropical storm as it moves up that texas/louisiana coast, again, it's moving very slowly, so it's going to create a lot of havoc in terms of heavy rainfall, flooding and, oh, yeah, storm surge. by the way, we're already seeing storm surge out there at the moment. and beta hasn't even come ashore yet. beta's not the only game in town, though. we're watching several areas out in the tropics. after all it is the peak of the hurricane season. hurricane teddy a category 2 hurricane at the moment, and it is going to push to the east of bumgarn bermuda and eventually make landfall in nova scotia. kim? >> all right.

thanks so much. tyler malden, appreciate it. all right. well, this next story should brighten your day a little. it's about a little boy with an infectious smile which lights up especially when he hears his mom's voice for the very first time. but it took a lot of work and fraught moments to get to this point. jeanne moos has the story. >> mason? mason? >> reporter: kids often tend to ignore their moms. >> yo! >> reporter: on purpose. but not mason. >> say hi. >> hi. >> reporter: at 18 months he just got his first hearing aids. watch him as he hears mom clearly for the very first time. >> mason? hi! can you hear me? hi, baby. hi! you can hear me? >> reporter: behind the camera his mom, lauren webb, was -- >> bawling my eyes out. the first time he heard me say

his name when his face lit up like that, i almost couldn't keep it together. i think i was definitely happier than he was. >> reporter: reaction online was similar, be right back while i go cry. >> good job! yeah, you can hear me. yeah! >> reporter: but you haven't heard the whole story. mason was born almost four months premature. >> my big boy. >> reporter: after three men broke into mom and dad's place, a random home invasion. >> i ended up getting shot three times. >> reporter: two days later, lauren went into emergency labor. weighing in at 1 pound, doctors thought mason might not survive. might be blind. might never walk. but he beat the odds and has now been fitted with hearing aids at virginia commonwealth university hospital in richmond. they even gave him leo the stuffed lion, like wide fitted with hearing aids. >> he's doing a lot of, like,

yelling and just making noises because now it's kind of like the first time he can even hear himself clearly. >> reporter: but even hearing aids don't help when mom steps away. >> when have i ever left you? why would i start today. >> reporter: some day mason will look back and listen to the first words he clearly heard from his mother's lips. >> do you like how everything sounds? yeah. >> reporter: though audio quality tends to improve when you stick the hearing aids in your ears, not your mouth, macen. >> oh, no, no, no, no, no, buddy. >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> and that smile hard to keep it together. all right. well, that wraps this hour of "cnn newsroom." i'm kim brunhuber. the news continues with rosemary church.

♪ ♪ for all the moments you've missed and all the moments you haven't "hi" love, can't wait -"got the ring!" -"yes!" and with jared it doesn't have to ♪ my wife and daughter had been killed in an automobile crash, and lying in the bed were my two little boys. i couldn't have imagined what it would've been like if i didn't have insurance to cover them immediately and fully. forty years later, one of those little boys, my son beau, was diagnosed with terminal cancer, given months to live. i can't fathom what would have happened if the insurance companies had the power to say, "the last few months, you're on your own." the fact of the matter is health care is personal to me. obamacare is personal to me. when i see the president of the united states try to eliminate this health care

in the middle of a public health crisis, that's personal to me too. we've got to build on what we did because every american deserves affordable health care. i'm joe biden and i approve this message. there's so much to take advantage of. like $0 copays on virtual visits... ♪ wow ♪ uh-huh $0 copays on primary care visits and lab tests. ♪ wow ♪ uh-huh plus, $0 copays on hundreds of prescription drugs. ♪ wow ♪ uh-huh unitedhealthcare medicare advantage plans. including the only plans with the aarp name. most plans have a $0 premium. it's time to take advantage. ♪ wow ittrack my sunday favorite!. now with the ww app, you can use voice commands. get personalized recipes and more! lose weight the way that's easiest for you. join today with the ww triple play! hurry, offer ends september 21st!

hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world. you are watching "cnn newsroom" and i'm rosemary church. just ahead, unity, love, justice, hope and peace. if only art imitated life. as tributes pour in for justice ruth bader ginsburg. and a message outside the white house that's hard to ignore as the u.s. inches closer to a horrifying number. but halfway around the world, in australia, some good news for that country's coronavirus hot spot. we'll take a look.