the winners did also acknowledge ruth bader ginsburg. and encouraged people to vote. brianna. >> thank you. our special coverage continues now with kate bolduan. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. hello, i'm kate bolduan, thank you for joining us this hour. need to prepare yourself because the hour ahead has a lot of moving parts and some very important live events that are likely to be playing out for us. first, the senate majority leader moich lead leader mitch mcconnell is expected to speak from the senate floor any moment now. after the fight ahead, what is the case that senator mcconnell will make for holding hearings and a vote on the supreme court nomination just 40 plus days until the election. also president trump is set to leave the white house any minute now and heading to ohio.

and as that often -- and as that often means an impromptu press conference could come shortly. we're tracking his movements as always. and joe biden, he's in wisconsin where he'll be speaking this hour as well. and we're going to bring all of that to you live. we're standing by to stand by because a lot will be happening. this is coming as the united states is on the cusp of possibly just hours away from hitting a terrible milestone. 200,000 americans killed by the coronavirus. 28 states, as you'll see, are now reporting more cases this week compared to last week. that is a lot of red and orange on that map. more than less. eight of the states are seeing an increase of at least 50%. the seven-day average of daily cases is now above 40,000 again. bringing the country to the brink of a point once seen as unthinkable.

200,000 people dead from the virus. the president seemed to share that view in the not so distant past. i want to play for you what president trump said in march about what his measure of a good job would be. >> if we could hold that down as we're saying to 100,000, it is a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000, so we have ten 100,000 and 200,000, we altogether have done a very good job. >> so the trump of march standard he's not done a good job in responding the virus. fast forward to today, the president said he's doing a phenomenal job. >> we're rounding the corner. with or without a vaccine. they hate it when i say that but that is the way it is. we're rounding the corner on the pandemic and we've done a phenomenal job. not just a good job. a phenomenal job. on public relations, i give myself a d. on the job itself we take an a

plus with the ventilators and now the vaccines years ahead of schedule. >> he could say what he wabs but look at the reaction from wall street, one of his favorite markers of success, the mounting death toll and fears of a second wave are sending stocks plunking, falling 800 points and now about 730. and with all this happening, the cdc is once again changing guidance on covid and how it could be transmitted. elizabeth cohen is joining me now and then changing and rechanging or doubling back, i guess, elizabeth. you need to track this closely because it changed and changed back again. you could help us understand what is going on here. >> it is a bit like watching a tennis game. you go like this and like this. it just goes back and forth. so in a nutshell, this is a debate, kate, about how coronavirus spreads. the cdc has always said that it

spreads directly, in other words you're less than six feet from someone and they cough and sneeze on you and spit on, y yo you get a direct hit. but if you cough or sneeze and you have covid do the particles linger in the air. maybe they blow over to somebody who is eight feet away. maybe someone who is 20 feet away walks into your air space and able to breathe that in. it could be done in that way. so the cdc up until friday, they just emphasized the within six feet way. then on friday they changed it to say that there is growing evidence that it could spread in this aerosolized way and this morning they changed it back again and said that was a mistake. we didn't mean to change the guidance, we're going to put it back to the way it was, which didn't go to the aerosolized transmission. now i spoke to a official familiar with the situation and

they said this was not political pressure or anyone from the trump administration, the cdc goofed. the cdc hit publish on guidance before they were supposed to. they hit publish on the guidance before it had been properly reviewed by the cdc. they're still looking into and we'll keep track of the website and see if they make any changes. >> the confusion, regardless if it is a goof or not. and the chief adviser to the vaccine program, he spoke out this morning that we're going to learn about the coronavirus vaccine efficacy as early as october, as late as january. does that fit with everything that you have been tracking with the vaccine timeline? >> if what he meant, if what dr. slouy meant, if this means we could find out, yes, it works

and put it on the market, then no, it does not jive. this gets very wonky and weedy and i'm simplify it as much as possible. to learn about efficacy you need to have a certain number of people in the trial become sick with covid and did we give the person the vaccine or the placebo. so there is a number you want to see get sick. but there are smaller numbers that are set out ahead of time. so if x number gets sick, we'll take a look and see how many were placebo and how many were vaccine. is it possible that we'll hit one of those early markers by the end of october? maybe. every expert i've talked to said that is very unlikely. and they say it is more unlikely that when you do look and see how many of these sick people got the vaccine, and how many got a shot with a placebo, a shot that does nothing. when you look at those numbers that you're going to get a definitive aha, seeing that the vaccine works and that is extraordinarily unlikely. doctors and vaccine-ologist say

it is not possible that we're going to get that kind of a readout that early and that the fda will have time to look at it and kind of adjudicate the whole thing by election day. t >> the way continues. thank you very much. joining me now. i have more questions than answer. dr. tom englesby. thank you for coming in. first, just, i'd like to get what you make of this confusion over the transmission guidance coming from the cdc? >> yeah, well, i think we just heard really good story about that just a moment ago and i think that all sounded completely right to me. over time we have had very definitive evidence about the spread in short-range, respiratory droplets and i think the general consensus around the world is that that continues to be the dominant form of spread. but there has been some evidence

over time that there are cases that are unexplained by short-range droplet spread. and so i think there has been an assumption in the public health community there is? contribution of longer range aerosol spread, although a much smaller amount compared to respiratory droplets. i think the cdc guidance is important because they're the agency that could judge and put together the evidence and assemble it and make a top line profession professional judgment about how that is contributing. right now we've had so much interference with the science and the recommendation process in the last month that these kind of changes, it sounds like there are some people saying it was just a review mistake. but you can't help -- fault people for wondering whether there was political interference given it is in the last six weeks. so i hope it wasn't and we get clarity soon. i do think we'll see that there is some contribution of aerosol spread but most likely the dominant form will continue to be respiratory droplet.

>> and just the fact that we're about to learn that 200,000 people have died from coronavirus in this country, from a public health standpoint, could you reflect on this for me? >> yeah, i mean, it is tragic. it's incredible in this short period of time we've had 200,000 people die from this disease and that makes it the second leading cause of death in the united states this year. after heart disease and before lung cancer. and hundreds of thousands more have had to be hospitalized. we don't yet know the toll of long-term complications, something that i don't think we focused nearly enough on in the last six months but many people survived the illness to have long-term problems and not feel like themselves or chronically ill and we haven't studied that enough yet.

and -- [ inaudible ]. >> doctor, i think we just lost the connection. thank you, doctor. i really appreciate it always for your insight and guidance and your help. right now we're waiting as we've mentioned to hear from yoojoe bn as he campaigns in wisconsin. and as a new front comes, the supreme court. we'll bring that to you as soon as it happens. we'll be right back. no sweat! try it and love it or get your money back. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair®. we've got the retinol that gives you results in one week. not just any retinol. accelerated retinol sa. one week is all it takes. neutrogena®.

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we're going to go to the senate floor right now. mitch mcconnell is speaking.

>> just a lawyer. no. not just a lawyer, but a leader. from majority decisions to impassioned dissents, her life's work will continue to shape juris prudence and accounts, ju ginsburg loved her work because she loved the law. in a more ordinary life story her courage and continued excellence in the face of multiple serious illnesses would itself be the heroic climax rather than just one more remarkable chapter among so many. on the court, justice ginsburg was a universally admired colleague. no wonder that many americans have taken particularly comfort these past days in remembering her famous friendship with her ideology opposite the late

justice scalia. together they made sure the halls of justice rang with laughter and comedy. they rarely sat on the same side of the high-profile decision but they still sat together at the opera. and most any time they could manage to be together so the legal world is mourning a giant. but justice ginsburg's fellow justices, a legion of loyal law clerks and countless many others are mourning a close friend or mentor. the senate sends condolences to them all. yet justice ginsburg's impact on american life went deeper still. friday's loss feels personal to millions of americans who may have never made her acquaintness. justice ginsburg was a spirited,

powerful and historic champion for american women to a degree that transcends any legal or philosophical disagreement. as she climbed from the middle class brooklyn jewish roots of which she was so proud and the most rare fied era of law and government that future justice many to surmount one sexist obstacle after another. and justice ginsburg did not only climb a mountain, she blazed a trail. through deeds, through words and simply through her example. she helped clear away the cobwebs of prejudice. she opened one professional door after another and made certain they stayed open behind her. directly or indirectly, she helped entire generations of talented women build their lives as they saw fit and enrich our

society through professional work. law and politics aside, no friend of equality could fail to appreciate justice ginsburg's determination. finally, while justice ginsburg relish forceful writing and detailed argument, she was also in important ways a uniter. in recent years many who considered themselves her admirers and might wish to claim the justice for their political side have come to embrace reckless proposals to politicize the very structure of the court itself. but justice ginsburg remained unswerving in her public commitment to preserving the neutral foundation of the institution she loved. the entire senate is united in thinking of and praying for justice ginsburg's family. most especially her daughter jane, her son james, her

grandchildren, step grandchildren, great granddaughter and everyone who called her their own. mr. president, i ask consent that the following remarks appear at a different place in the record. >> without objection. >> president trump's nominee for this vacancy will receive a vote on the floor of the senate. now already some of the same individuals who tried every conceivable dirty trick to obstruct justice gorsuch and justice kavanaugh are lining up, lining up to proclaim the third time will be the charm. the american people are about to witness an astonishing parade of misrepresentations about the past, misstatements about the present, and more threats against our institutions from

the same people, the same people who have already been saying for months, well before this, or even saying for months they want to pack the court. two years ago a radical movement tried to use unproven accusations to ruin a man's life because they could not win a vote fair and square. now they appear to be readying even more appalling sequel. this time, the target will not just be the presumption of innocence for one american, but our very governing institutions themselves. there will be times in the days ahead to discuss the naked threats that leading democrats have long been directing at the united states senate and the supreme court itself. the threats have grown louder but they've pre-date this vacancy by many months. there will be time to discuss where don'ts who appear on the

steps of the supreme court and personally threaten a sosh at justices if they do not rule a certain way are ill equipped to give lectures on civics. but today let's dispense with a few of the factual misrepresentations right at the outset. we're already hearing incorrect claims that there is not sufficient time to examine and confirm a nominee. we could debunk this myth in about 30 seconds. as of today there are 43 days until november 3rd and 104 days until the end of this congress. the late iconic justice john paul stevens was confirmed by the senate 19 days after this body formally received his nomination. 19 days from start to finish.

justice sandra day o'connor, another iconic jurist was confirmed 33 days after her nomination. to the late justice ginsburg herself, it was just 42 days. justice stevens entire confirmation process could have been played out twice, twice between now and november 3rd with time to spare. and justice ginsburg herself could have been confirmed twice between now and the end of the year with time to spare. the senate has more than sufficient time to process a nomination. history and precedent make that perfectly clear. others want to claim the situation is exactly analogous to justice scalia passing in 2016 and we should not proceed

until january. this is also a completely false. here is what i said on the senate floor the very first session, the day after justice scalia passed. quote, the senate has not filled a vacancy arising in an election year when there was a divided government since 1888, almost 130 years ago. here is what i said the next day when i spoke to the press for the first time on the subject. you have to go back to 1888 when grover cleveland was president to find the last time a vacancy recrated in a presidential election year was approved by senate of a different party. as of then only six prior times in american history had a supreme court vacancy arisen in a presidential election year and the president sent a nomination that year to the senate of the opposite party. the majority of those times, the

outcome is exactly what happened in 2016. no confirmation. the historically normal outcome, when you have divided government. president obama was asking senate republicans for an unusual favor that had last been granted nearly 130 years before then. but voters had explicitly elected our majority to check and balance the end of his presidency. so we stuck with the basic norm. oh, and by the way, in so doing our majority did precisely what democrats had indicated they would do themselves. in 1992 democrats controlled the senate, opposite president bush 41. then senator joe biden chaired the judiciary committee. unprompted, unprompted he publicly declared that his

committee might refuse to cooperate if a vacancy arose and the republican president tried to fill it. in 2007 democrats controlled the senate opposite president bush 43. and with more than a year and a half left, a year and a half left, in president bush 43's term, the current democratic leader declared that, quote, except in extraordinary circumstances, end quote, the opposite party senate should boycott any further confirmations to the supreme court. that is the current democratic leader a year and a half before the end of the bush administration. so in 2016 senate republicans did not only maintain the historical norm, we also ran the biden/schumer playbook.

when voters have not chosen divided government, when the american people have elected a senate majority to work closely with the sitting president, the historical record is even more overwhelmingly in favor of confirmation. eight times in our nation's history new vacancies have arin and presidents have made nominations all during the election year. seven of the eight were confirmed. and the sole exception justice abe fortis was a bizarre situation including obvious personal corruption that extended into financial dealings. apart from that one strange exception, no senate has failed to confirm a nominee in the circumstances that face us right now. aside from that one strange exception, no senate has failed

to confirm a nominee in the circumstances that face us right now. the historical precedent is overwhelmingly and it runs in one direction. if our democratic colleagues want to claim they are outraged, they could only be outraged at the plain facts of american history. it was clear precedent behind the predictable outcome that came out of 2016. and there is even more overwhelming precedent behind the fact that this senate will vote on this nomination this year. the american people re-elected our majority in 2016. they strengthened it further in 2018 because we pledged to work with president trump on the most critical issues facing our country. the federal judiciary was right at the top of the list. ironically it was the democratic leader who went out of his way to declare the midterm 2018

elections a referendum on the handle of the supreme court. my friend the occupant of the chair was running that year. the democratic leader went out of his way to declare that 2018 midterms are a referendum on the senate handling of the supreme court. in his final speech before justice kavanaugh was confirmed, he yelled, literally yelled over and over at the american people to go vote. he told americans, go elect senators based on how they'd approach their advice and consent duties over these weeks. unfortunately for him many americans did just that. after watching the democrats tactics, voters grew our

majority and retired four, four of our former colleagues who had gone along with their party's behavior. we gained two seats, they lost four. that is the issue. perhaps more than any other single issue, the american people strengthened the senate majority to keep confirming this president's impressive judicial nominees who respect our constitution and understand the proper role of a judge. in 2014 the voters elected our majority because we pledged to check and balance a second lame duck president. two years later we kept our word. in 2018 the voters grew that majority on our pledge to continue working with president trump most especially on his outstanding judiciary

appointments. we're going to keep our word once again. we're going to vote on this nomination on this floor. >> all right. we've been listening right there to senate majority leader mitch mcconnell laying out clearly and unequivocally when he said we will vote on the president's nomination even saying we will vote on that nomination this year. we're standing by. likely hear from the democratic leader of the house chuck schumer. you could guess he's going to have a very different take on how history played out with supreme court nominations in the senate. we'll be standing by for that. let me bring in dana bash. dana, what stands out to you here? >> well, as you said, his unequivocal promise that the president's nominee is going to

get a vote this year, this year means the calendar year. this year could mean the lame duck. however, the majority leader clearly set up a scenario and gave himself a lot of running room in trying to describe the precedent and the number of days that it took for some very well known supreme court justices to be confirmed, laying out the possibility, i wouldn't say probability yet, but possibility, to actually have a vote before election day. you know, he clearly went down to the senate floor to push back about against a democrat cries that this is completely hypocritical, arguing that he did say and quoting himself back in 2016 that it was about divided government. i don't remember people interpreting it that way. that it was specifically because he was saying that there was a

democrat in the white house and there was a republican leader or republican majority. >> i'm going to cut you off because we're going to head back to the senate floor one more time for chuck schumer. >> -- because god determined they wered until the very end. on friday evening shortly after the sundown on the eve of the jewish new year, we learned that supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg, a woman of great righteousness, a woman of valor, passed away. she was many things to many people. a brilliant mind. a quick wit. a lover of the opera. a friend. a colleague. a workout guru. a feminist icon. she might be the only supreme court justice to become a meme. what began as a joke, the notorious rbg, liking a

legendary rapper to an jurist, struck a chord in american society because ruth bader ginsburg was, in fact, a rebellious force to be reckoned with. in a male domminated legal establishment that wasn't waiting for someone like ruth to wake up the system, she elbowed her way through. her brains, her strength, her fortitude changed the world for women long before the rest of the world caught up. over the course of two decades as an academic and general counsel for the aclu, ruth worked to challenge the foundations of a legal system that long treated women as a group that had to be protected and thus excluded from full participation in american life. not only did she reverse those laws, and convince the majority of the supreme court that the

constitution forbids discrimination on the basis of sex, she was a living, breathing example of how absurd an idea it ever was that women needed additional protections. and when she got to the court, she ruled in a manner that brought the same equality and justice to so many different people from all walks of life. the daughter of russian immigrants who came to this country like my own grandparents, ruth went to the same high school as i did in brooklyn, new york, james madison high school, two decades before i did. i followed her career and her asent to the bench. with that special pride you feel watching someone from your neighborhood make a great difference in the world. the fact that at the end of her long life and illustrious career, young woman and indeed young men across america looked at ruth bader ginsburg with the

same sense of pride and hope -- >> we're going to continue to listen to the senate floor and listen to the democratic leader of the senate chuck schumer. but right now we need to go to wisconsin. joe biden taking to the microphone. let's listen. >> -- it was made worse because, and i've had people tell me this and close family, close friends of the family tell me, because they were unable to visit their elderly parent or grandparent in a nursing home just before they passed away. don't know how many stories i've heard about a nurse saying they held up a cell phone to the patient on a ventilator in the bed about to pass, mr. mayor, and that is all they could speak to. and so the fact that people weren't able to hold funeral services where family and friends could pray together and remember the loved ones they lost and place them as they place them in the hands of god. and so many of the rituals we've come to help us cope with pain

and loss, to help us honor the lives of those we've loved, to help us come to closure, just unavailable in the middle of this pandemic. what worries me now is we've been living with this pandemic for so long, i worry we're risking becoming numb to the toll that it's taken on us and our country and communities like this. we can't let that happen. we can't lose the ability to feel the sorrow and the loss and the anger for so many lives lost. we can't let the numbers become statistics of background noise, just a blur that we see in the nightly news. 200 moms, dads, sons, daughters, grand parents, uncles, aunts, friends, co-workers who are no longer with us. and so many of them didn't have to lose their lives to this virus. quite frankly, if the president had acted sooner.

back in may columbia university released a study that said if the president had acted just one week sooner, we would have saved 36,000 lives. today the leading model being used to track the virus, one which the white house and many others rely on, that model said between now and the end of this year, while we're waiting for a vaccine, between now and the end of the year, we're going to lose up to 200,000 additional lives. it ranges from 178,000 to 200,000. and points out as well that if we act by doing what you're doing here in wisconsin, wearing masks and making minimal requirements to meet this, we could save, we could save over 115,000 of those lives. so i hope to god we'll not learn the same lesson, have to learn the same bad lesson we learned

the first nine months. due to donald trump's lied and incompetence in the past six months have seen one of the gravest losses of american life in history. in history. but sadly it is not over. as awful as the past 180 days have been, the next 90 days could be twice as bad. just pause and think about it. we could be looking, as i said, between 178,000 and 200,000 lives lost and all the president does is deliberately change the subject. which is especially infuriating once again when we're told that we could save lives, this time as many as 110,000 lives if we just take a simple step, chief among them wearing masks and still the president refuses. in fact, we just watched him hold an indoor rally with thousands of people. many of whom weren't wearing masks despite the clear evidence that wearing every one of those people's lives at risk. the president knew of these

dangers back in february. and he hid it from the american people. you could actually hear his own voice recorded by bob woodward's interview with him saying he understood how bad it was. we hear him privily saying this is a deadly virus, far more deadly than any flu. but that's not what he was saying publicly. publicly he told us it was just like the flu and it would disappear in the warm weather. it was all a lie. he knew it. and what is his explanation? he said he didn't want to see the american people panic. didn't want to panic them. trump panicked. the virus was too big for him. all his life donald trump has been bailed out of any problem he faced. and with this crisis, a real crisis that required serious presidential leadership, he just

wasn't up to it. he froze. he failed to act. he panicked. and america has paid the worst price of any nation in the world. still in support and understanding wlaf donald trump was saying, and by the way the american people don't panic. we don't panic. understand what he was saying. because it crystalized his whole world view. when donald trump said he didn't create -- didn't want to create a panic, he wasn't just talking about a health panic, he was focussed on the stock market. he was worried if he told the public the truth, there could be a panic on the financial markets and that would hurt his chances of being re-elected. that is how donald trump views the world. he sees the world from park avenue. i see it from where i grew up in a town like this from scranton, pennsylvania. hard scrap and hard working town

just like this and so many more across wisconsin. when i look at the world from -- i look at world from park avenue, basically all i can see is wall street. and you think wall street built this country. well let me tell you, you think that donald trump as donald trump does, that handing out a $101.5 trillion tax give way primarily for large corporations and qualifiers is an economic plan. you think like trump that $15 an hour is too much for america's essential workers. you eliminate overtime pay for millions of american workers. you try to take away health care from 20 million americans in the middle this pandemic. he's in court today trying to get that done. you try to take away protections for pre-existing conditions for 130 million americans. you propose a plan that in order to make it look good, you're

going to get a little bump in your pay but not take out with holding for your social security. but guess what? in actually social security said if does he that, social security will be bankrupt by the middle of 2023. you might get that out of your paycheck, a little more than your paycheck, but guess what? go home and tell your mom and dad, say good-bye to social security they worked for their whole lives. you think being tough with china is a trade deal that opens the door to big banks to make money in china. that is basically all we got out of it. a lot of dairy farmers and farmers and manufacturing went under. but guess what? starting a trade war that leads to a surge in farm bankruptcies and american manufacturing into a recession. but you know what happened? i didn't know this at first. i couldn't understand why he was so excited about it.

america's banks, citibank got to open up in beijing. they weren't able to before. they scuttled a deal to lower prescription drug prices. he apparently had a deal. but he wanted the pharmaceutical companies before they lowered the prices to do something that they thought was unethical. he asked them to send out $100 checks with his name on it to social security -- to the elderly saying that that is the down payment. they said we're not going to do that. they weren't going to do it so the deal fell apart. and now some 30 million americans are on unemployment. you think the way to get the american economy back is to give a tax cut to the very wealthy. and here is what they're doing. the tax rate you all pay in here is going to be higher than

billionaires who make their money on investments. this is not an exaggeration. he wants to lower again costing $30 billion of the treasury, lower the capital gains tax to 15%. while someone who makes their money off the market is paying the 15% rate, you're paying it at 24%, 26%, 28% depending on your tax bracket rate. it's not right. workers here pay close to twice that amount. almost 30%. trump's tax cuts for the wealthy is going to cost billions of dollars a year and those -- and whose hide does it come out of? it comes out of your hide. the simple truth is donald trump ran for office saying he would represent the forgotten men and women of this country and then once he got in office, he forgot us. not only did he forget them, the

trust, the truth is that he never really respected us very much. oh, he loves his rallies. and the next time he holds one, look closely. trump keeps his distance from anyone if the rally. the folks who come are packed in tight as they could be, risking disease, mostly without masks. but not trump. he safely keeps his distance as a reporter though showed a couple of days ago, a reporter trying to come up or someone comes up, and he said, no, no, you got to keep your distance. i don't get close to these people. let everybody else in the crowd risk their lives but not him. and now we know what hely thinks of the people who comes to his rallies from someone who saw it up close and wrote about it. up close in the white house. the former employee said he calls his own supporters, quote, disgusting. he said one of the benefits of

this pandemic is he doesn't have to shake their hands. he doesn't have to shake their hands. that is a good thing about the pandemic. for trump, these rallies are about entertainment, adoration and not respect. but you don't kid yourself, this is a one-way street. of all of the things that trump has said and done, nothing is more offensive than the way he's spoken about many of you and the brave women and men who served in the nation in uniform. those who have given their lives in service to this nation. it has been confirmed by every outlet that he referred to them as losers and suckers. that's what trump calls those who served and made the ultimate sacrifice. let me tell you something, my son beau served to go to iraq for a year. won the bronze star, came home decorated, came home with stage four glioblastoma and died of

cancer. he wasn't a loser. he wasn't a sucker. he was a patriot. and all of those people who served, volunteered, are patriots as well just like your sons and daughters and many of you, your moms and dads. frankly i've dealt with guys like trump my whole life. guys from the neighborhood would look down on us because we didn't have a lot of money or your parents didn't go to college. guys who think they're better than you. guys who inherent everything they've ever gotten in their life and skaunder it and stiff electricians an plumbers and contractors working on their hotels an casino and golf courses to put more bucks in their pocket. guys to do everything they could do to pay taxes because the rest of us, the little people, we could pick up the tab for the country. do you have any doubt that the reason that we haven't seen

trump's tax returns is because they want to know what he paid. they've only seen four trump tax returns in the last 45 years. and i don't think there had as about any since he's run for president. he had to turn some of them over to start a casino in new jersey. he had to show his taxes. and they showed that he paid zero. you talk about the billion dollars, he paid zero. nothing. that is a fact. and when he was asked about it, you know what he said? this is why i really don't like guys like this in my neighborhood. he said, it makes me smart. or i'm not a sucker. why should i pay when i could figure my way out. zero. wall street is a long way from scranton, pennsylvania, but you get to see the world more

clearly there. i grew up understanding as i believe all of you did that wall street didn't build this country. hard working people giving a kans to middle class built this country and unions built the middle class. union labor like the folks in this room. i've learned a few simple lessons from my parents that i've never forgotten. one is from my mother she used to say, this is the god's truth, joey, remember, nobody's better than you. but everyone is your equal. nobody's better. but everyone is your equal. it is pretty simple. we're all equal. the way i was raised. and we should be treated that way. have to admit, i got my back up recently about something that i saw and was on national television about the race. some of the national -- and i don't think they meant but i don't think they though how insulting it is. joe biden, if elected, will be

the first president would didn't go to an ivy league school in a long time. but somehow that meant i didn't belong. how could a guy who went to a state school be president? my actions have been the same my whole life and i have to admit it, i'm not proud of it, but you close the door on me, because you think i'm not good enough. guess what? like all of you guys, i'm going to bust down that door. my guess is a lot of you feel the same way about a lot of slights you've had because of our standing, quote/unquote. i say it is about time that a state cool president sat in the oval office. because you know what? if i'm sitting there, you're going to be sitting there too. another lesson i learned from my dad. and my family heard this all of the time. my dad lost a job when coal died

up in scranton. we had to move. he to go to my grand pop, his father in law, and say, can jean, my mom, can jean and the kids stay with you about a year. i'll make it up to you. i have to move to delaware where there is a job. i'm going to come home every weekend. talk about pride. well, he used to say, joey, remember, a job is about a lot more than your paycheck. it is about your dignity. it's about respect. it's about your place in the community. it is about being able to look your kids in the eye and say, honey, it's going to be all right. the dignity of work, what you do matters. you matter. that's not going to -- to change the tax code. i don't want to punish anybody, but instead of the wealth in this country, it is about time we start to reward work. under my plan nobody making less

tan $400,000 and i don't make it and you don't make it i think, in this country will see their taxes but if you make more than 400,000, you're going to start to pay more. i want not looking to punish anyone. i just think about the time, it's about time the wealthiest and the biggest corporations, most profitable companies begin to pay their fair share. a lot of them are paying zero. they make billions of dollars and pay no tax at all. zero. how can that be fair? the president talks all the time about how great the economy is. well, i don't know what you all think, but where i come from and a lot of places it's not so great. and in the middle of this pandemic, now the billionaires in this country are seeing their wealth increase by $800 billion. all the billionaires in america

during the pandemic, their net worth combined according to studies have increased by $800 billion. and the rest of us? well, 30 million people are unemployed, 20 million americans are at risk of losing their home because they can't make the rent payment. 7 plus million americans are working part-time who want to work full-time. evictions are on the rise. and for a lot of families the kids are at home, not at school. i believe it's the working people of this country that need a tax break. under my plan they're going to get one, whether you're buying your first home, paying for your health care premiums or childcare or caring for an aging parent, you're going to be able to afford it. we need to do more than just praise our essential workers. we need to pay them. we need to make health care affordable for every american. my plan will lower prescription

drug costs by 60%. i'm going to make sure we keep protections for pre-existing conditions that obama and i put in place and make it a lot more affordable to have that health care. we need to empower labor unions in this country. fair labor standard act didn't say back in the '30s you can't have labor unions. it said we should promote labor unions. now i will. and one more thing. under my build back better plan, we're not only going to build infrastructure we need in this country with union workers and prevaili prevailing wage. we're going to rebuild manufacturing in this country. and we'll do it by enforcing an american plan. look, the federal government has spent $600 billion a year in purchasing power. that the federal government has every year from tax dollars and determines how it's used. when i'm president of the united states, god willing, american companies with american workers

building american products using american supply chains are going to be the only ones who get the contracts. that means aluminum for infrastructure, for wind and solar and hydroelectric power. we have one of the largest increase in the world, the federal government. they're going to shift them all to electric vehicles. and guess what, that means you're going to be providing much more lighter frames, most are aluminum for automobiles, they can reduce by 15% even with a combustion engine. 1.5 million new affordable homes and housing. we're going to build, and this is require a lot of work and increased work at home. we're going to make sure that we transfer 40 million buildings around america to make them weather-resistant so that they are -- change the windows, the

doors, the walls, the whole range. building back better means forging ahead in america. i want to spend just a few moments talking about those who voted for donald trump last time. when i was out here in our administration, you voted for us and then an awful lot of people in this county changed and they voted for trump last time. i know many of you are frustrated and you're angry, you believe we weren't seen, you weren't being seen, represented or heard. i get it. it has to change and i promise you this. it will change with me. you will be seen, heard, and respected by me. this campaign isn't about just winning votes. it's about restoring the basic dignity in this country that every worker deserves. basic dignity that we all have. just a few days ago when i was asked about the death count

approaching 200,000, the president said, and i quote, he said, i won't quote him. the president said if you take out the blue states run by democratic governors and just look at the red states, republican governors are doing quite well. now, of course, it's a simple factual matter, it's just not true. if you discount all the deaths in the red states, we are number two in the world in deaths just behind brazil. but more fundamentally, it reflects on the part of donald trump that he has a deeply flawed and divisive view of the united states. this nation and the job he holds. think about what he's saying. he's saying if you live in a state like wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, states with democratic governors, you're not his problem, he has no obligation to you, he's not responsible for you as president, your family or your

well-being. i don't see the presidency that way. i don't pledge allegiance to red states of america or blue states of america. i pledge allegiance to the united states of america, one nation, indivisible, under god, for real. i'm running as a proud democrat, but i'm not going to govern as a democratic president. i'm going to govern as president. i get criticized for saying that sometimes, but that's not what i'm going to do. i'm going to fight as hard for those who supported me as those who did not support me. this is not a partisan moment, for god's sake. this has to be an american moment. in the next few weeks we have a chance to put anger and division and the darkness that has overtaken this country behind us. we got to put it behind us. i know i've been criticized since i entered the primaries about saying about wanting to unite the country. this is not who we are, and we

can. we've done it so many times in our history. we've begun anew. if we get control of this virus, we can reward work, we can fix the health care system. we can be a safe and just nation. we can deal with the existential threat of climate change, which aluminum is going to be a gigantic part of. we can be what we are, one under, one people, one america. we just have to remember who in god's name we are. this is the united states of america. in our long history, there has been nothing we have been unable to do, nothing we've been unable to overcome when we've done it together. and i'm confident going all over this nation we can do it again. the american people are hungry. we have to bring the nation

together. that's going to be my primary job. and i want to thank you all. god bless you for what you're doing and you all stay safe and may god protect our troops. thank you so much, mr. mayor. [ applause ] ♪ >> welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. you've been listening to democratic presidential candidate joe biden making his pitch to voters in battleground state wisconsin, focusing on the deadly pandemic, which has killed almost 200,000 people, not to mention jobs as the economy continues to suffer. the dow closing just now down hundreds of points. biden today largely ignoring the new battle on the horizon, the vacant seat on the supreme court with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell saying minutes ago that president trump's pick will get a vote this year. cnn's arlette saenz is live.

that's a notable approach from biden today not talking about the supreme court vacancy, which he did talk about yesterday, but instead focusing on the health care and economy arguments to voters in a battleground state and focusing also, arlette, on his number one focus as president will be uniting the country. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, jake. joe biden steered clear, stayed away from commenting on the supreme court vacancy and the fight that is playing out regarding that. and instead kept his focus squarely on the coronavirus pandemic and the economy. that is a message that biden and his campaign has stressed for months and something they plan to do going forward. he criticized the president's handling of the coronavirus saying that he panicked, that he froze, and that the was too big for donald trump to handle. he also talked a lot about health care. i am told by aides that that is something that biden will be pushing in the coming weeks with

the supreme court vacancy, warning about how health care and pre-existing conditions are at risk under president trump's administration. biden talked a little bit about how he will protect pre-existing conditions going forward, hoping that that's something that could play with voters, particularly as this coronavirus pandemic continues to grip the country. you saw biden in that speech wearing a mask here in wisconsin where cases have burjed. biden also appealing to voters who might've voted for trump back in 2016 saying that biden will work for them and unite the country. >> arlette saenz in wisconsin, a key battleground state for the 2020 presidential election. i want to bring in our chief political correspondent dana bash. biden's approach today, very middle of the road saying he can work with republicans and democrats, talked about how he wants to bring the country together. he is clearly running from the center or at least attempting to. >> absolutely. and t