signs in the yards as they drive around these neighborhoods. but democrats still remain -- even democrats will tell you they are skeptical about whether or not biden can flip texas. >> we'll see how close it is, 20 days we count them. ed lavandera, see you tomorrow. picking up our coverage now. good day. >> hi there, i'm breonna keeler. i want to welcome i. not a single state in the country is heading in the right direction with coronavirus infectionses, 38 million on record and 200,000 american lives lost. we're seeing 36 with surge in infections. hospitalizations on the rise nationwide as well as are the percentages of people who are testing positive. the situation is so dire in some regions, like in wisconsin, the

state there opening a field hospital on the state fairgrounds. iowa, meantime, where the president is set to hold a rally later today just surpassed 100,000 cases. the positivity rate among those tested there is almost 22% over the last 24 hours according to the state's department of health. despite this, the president is describing a rosy state of play that he doesn't exist. >> we'll beat this virus, and we'll eradicate this pestilence and all of the things that happen to our country, our lives and our planet. our aggressive and early action saved up to 2 million lives. look at the original numbers, projected 2.2 million lives. we're at 210,000. we've reduced the fatality rate 85% since april. >> as we watch these numbers continue to move higher, the president and his administration are embracing the controversial and widely disputed theory of

herd immunity. on a call this week white house officials explicitly supported the approach and cited a recent petition called the great barrington declaration which argues herd immunity will allow those who are at minimal risk of death to live normally, build up against infection while better protecting those at highest risk. president trump echoing that sentiment in front of thousands of supporters at his rally yesterday. >> who has had it here? who has had it? a lot of people. a lot of people. you're the people i want to say hello to, because you're right now immune. >> here is how one health expert summed up what this really is. >> i'm extremely concerned that the president is being advised by people who speak of herd immunity. herd immunity is another word for mass murder. >> dr. nguyen cnn medical

analyst and former baltimore health commissioner. dr. nguyen, thank you so much for coming on. if you can just explain to viewers how herd immunity would look like in this country and what would have to happen to achieve that. >> so herd immunity is not a public health strategy when it comes to covid-19. public health is about protecting the public's health. but trying for herd immunity through natural infection with covid-19 means we would be deliberately, knowingly, purposefully facilitating infections and deaths. that's a worst-case scenario. so what herd immunity means, if you get 60 to 80% of the population infected and they recover and ideally have immunity, you're able to protect everyone else in the community. here is the problem, though. to get to that level, we're talking about 200 million americans who have to get covid-19. even if you have a death rate of 1%, that's 2 million americans

who would have to die. in this case we don't know how long immunity will last. it could be only a matter of months, maybe up to a year. that means to reach this herd immunity concept that's 2 million or more people will have to die every year. that's not a strategy. that's deliberately killing many americans. >> just last month there were reports, i know you're aware of them, the white house coronavirus adviser the white house prefers was advocating for herd immunity. then when he spoke with michael smerconish, he staunchly denied that. let's watch. >> five people at a senior level on the record claiming that you have been arguing for herd immunity within the white house. you told me that's a lie. do you want to underscore that here? >> sure. it's not just a lie, it's an overt lie. it's a disgusting lie and a harmful statement to make. i have never advised the

president to push a herd immunity strategy. >> there seems to be this anetfl affliction coming from the president's advisers but they don't want to admit it. you just described what it is to argue for herd immunity. can you explain this reticence, even for folks who maybe are arguing for herd immunity to be caught outright doing so? >> when we look at what president trump ising to right now, having these massive rallies in areas that are undergoing spread and talking about how he himself is immune and others are immune, he is essentially advocating for that herd immunity strategy. when you hear other top advisers make comments about how children don't get infected, which is not true, or somehow you can wall off older people who are more vulnerable, they are advocating for a herd immunity strategy.

it doesn't even matter what we call it, it's a matter of what it is that we're doing. the actions in this case speak a lot louder than words. i hope the american people will recognize how dangerous this strategy is. it's not a strategy. this is a worst-case scenario we're trying to prevent. >> let's talk about what it means to have covid and have at least short-term immunity because there are two newly published reports that it can last for months, signals positive news when we're talking about the effectiveness of a vaccine. one of the reports reads this, quote, this study suggests if a vaccine is properly designed it has potential to produce durable antibody response that can help protect a vaccinated person against the virus that causes covid-19. is this promising in your view? >> it's promising in some ways because it means that we can get to a vaccine that provides immunity for at least a

substantial period of time, ideally at least a year. we think about the flu shot, we do get a flu shot every year. maybe get the coronavirus to that level, at least something we can get and anticipate every year. it's a warning, the studies that reinfection can occur. the virus that causes covid-19 is the coronavirus. coronaviruses are seasonal. you can get colds multiple years in a row or every year even. we have to remember that just because you get it once doesn't mean you're protected forever. if you get coronavirus, it's not just a matter of could you die from it, you could recover, even have mild illness but you could have long-term effects on many organs, some of which we're just beginning to understand. >> dr. wen, always a pleasure. thanks for coming on. >> thank you. tomorrow night was supposed to be the second presidential debate but the president's covid-19 diagnosis threw a wrench into that plan sparking a messy debate of its own over

making the town hall debate virtual. the president refused that option, so it was canceled. instead we will now see both president trump and former vice president joe biden in primetime thursday but on separate channels. the candidates will join dueling network television town halls. biden on abc while president trump will be joining nbc at the exact same time. with me now is cnn media analyst bill carter, a former media reporter for "the new york times." bill, you say these dueling town halls are worse than no debate at all. tell us why? >> essentially what they are doing -- disserving the voters. the voters would have seen both guys together. here they are going to be separate. obviously people will make a choice which one they will watch. one of nbc's defenses, well, it's the modern age. people can watch both debates if they record them, watch at different times. they aren't going to do that. they will make a choice.

they are going to say i like biden, so i'll watch him or i like trump. trump is the television person, creating noise and cacophony. he wants it for look at my ratings, how much better i did than biden. they are giving him what he wants essentially. >> is this in your view a candidate bailing from a debate and then being rewarded with a primetime audience at the same time his opponent is on? >> yeah, it essentially is that. nbc can make the point they gave biden a town hall so they can give trump one. the fact that it's at the exact same time is the issue. of course they should have trump on if he wants to do it but why not do it friday night, saturday night. the argument they have to do it at the exact same time makes no sense to me.

there's other avenues to do it. you're obviously disserving the voters by putting them in this position where they have to choose. >> this is what we're going to have. we're going to have two primetime events at the same time. with that in mind, how should these networks be challenging these candidates since there is no town hall debate where they would be challenging each other. >> that is clearly the big question about these debates. you know, people ask questions and the candidates will probably be rather polite to them. even trump when he did a previous town hall on nbc he was deferential which he's not going to be against biden. the moderator has to press them, they can't let him run roughshod over, which is what happened to poor chris wallace. savannah guthrie is doing this for nbc. so many things going out there at the same time that trump is putting out there that she

really should step in and say, wait a minute, that's not the case. it's going to be a challenge. it looks like they made a deal favorable to him. there's real pressure on nbc. they have to step up. >> i am curious. it seems like watching the last town hall there was more intervention on the part of the anchor than there would be in a bt did. we'll be watching and checking in to see how you think, bill. thank you very much. >> nice to be with you, briana. >> votersened tsaing in lines in texas and georgia. we're going to take you there and speak with them. plus it's a conspiracy the president and fox allies pushed for months and months, and now it's gone up in a puff of smoke. weddings, funerals, family gatherings, and now a sweet 16 party being blamed for a covid outbreak. this is cnn's special live coverage. ask yourself, are my bones strong? life is full of make or break moments. that's why it's so important to help reduce your risk of fracture

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that's the strategy that the president and his favorite cable channel used to make claims stick in the heads of millions of viewers. many times it's complete bs. when the baseless paranoid conspiracy theories proven not to be true, they shrug their shoulders and move onto the next conspiracy theory. today is another example. this one climbed all the way to the tippy top of the department of justice. for months president trump, fox and other republicans have hyped obama era unmasking requests as an enormous scandal. unmasking is revealing withheld name of americans. trump tweeted over and over again that obama era officials spied on his campaign and improperly requested identities

of individuals whose names were redacted in intelligence documents. here is a small sample of what he said on this? >> the obama campaign spied on our campaign and now they were caught. we'll see what happens to them. they have been caught. they have been caught red-handed. it's probably treason. obamagate, it's been going on for a long time. unmasking, it's a massive thing. i just got a list. who can believe a thing like this. this was all obama. this was all biden. these people are corrupt. the whole thing was corrupt. we caught them. we caught them. one of the unmaskers meaning he knew everything about it. >> classified documents with a dozen obama officials involving unmasking of michael flynn. at the top of that list, former vice president joe biden. >> joe unmasked himself and

biden might want to start thinking about getting his story straight if he's capable. they know michael flynn is not a dangerous criminal. if he was a dangerous criminal, they would be working to free him from jail. they wanted flynn crushed because he happened to be in the way of the power they seek. >> trump's department of justice at the request of attorney general bill barr started investigating these investigations and now "the washington post" reports the result of the investigation is nothing. there is apparently of substantive wrongdoing. i should note the investigation ended without a public report. joining me now cnn senior law enforcement analyst to talk about this, former deputy director of the fbi and the author of "the threat." first, andrew, this conspiracy, this one, in particular, has been out there for months. it's not the first of the president's conspiracy theories that has been investigated and resulted in no charges or no

substantiation. you have the clinton foundation, comey. you have you, right, all resulting in no charges, not to mention voter fraud commission that didn't find voter fraud. you've lived this. is the damage from this conspiracy theory already done? >> absolutely. absolutely. this is yet another example of the politicization of the department of justice and this president's ability. the institution of the federal government that we rely on, in this case the doj, to pursue his own political agenda. you can't say it often enough, this is different. we've never seen this happen before. every attorney general is somewhat beholden to the president because they are a political appointee but this is very different. to have people like devin nunes,

chairman of house intelligence committee, rand paul, others, people who know how intelligence works, how the unmasking process works, why it's essential to understanding intelligence, to turn this into some sort of a conspiracy in an effort to support the president's political narrative and for the justice department to pick that up and pursue an investigation on absolutely no grounds, it's disgusting. it's absolutely horrible. >> what does it mean the attorney general's office not releasing the results of this investigation publicly. what does that tell you? >> well, you know, you can very easily assume that we aren't getting a report here, because if they wrote a report about what they didn't find, that report would not support the president's narrative. the president wants the country to believe that the obama administration and intelligence officials and deep staters were

engaged in some sort of illicit spying on him and his campaign and his administration. that never happened. to write a report saying we found no evidence of the crazy things that the president has been saying for years would be, i'm sure, not very well received by this president. instead they slink away into the night. the u.s. attorney who was responsible for the investigation has left the justice department and we near nothing officially. >> where is bill barr in all this. there's no report here. we don't see him as a guest understandably putting his face on this but we haven't seen him on the issue of these domestic terrorist plots that have been thwarted. where is he right now? >> you know, that is a real mystery. with respect to the terrorist plot, i can tell you from years of experience, not just working and overseeing and running

investigations of plots like that but years of experience breaching multiple attorneys general on counter-terrorist operations. this is the exact sort of case the attorney general would be briefed about across the entire investigation. this one started june 6th. this issue has been around for a long time in doj and fbi. there's no doubt the attorney general is fully aware of it. how he wasn't present for the take dpodown and on stage with u.s. attorneys is really very strange. that's not something i've seen before. i think it's probably more understandable he's not out trumpeting the complete failure of the unmasking investigation because i would suspect it's not something he wants to associate himself with especially when the president seems to be already frustrated with him for other reasons. >> andrew mccabe, thank you so much. >> thanks, brianna. >> it is a big story that's

unfolding three weeks before election day, early voters standing in huge lines. we're going to take you there. plus after florida's football coach said he wanted to see 90,000 fans in the stands, a cluster breaks out on his team. under way now the second round of questions to the supreme court nominee, but it's the questions that she is not answering that are making headlines. when i was in high school, this was the theater i came to quite often. the support we've had over the last few months has been amazing. it's not just a work environment. everyone here is family. if you are ready to open your heart and your home, check us out. we thought for sure that we were done. and this town said: not today. ♪ ahe can't write you a letter.. she can't give you a hug.

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up to eight hours of standing and waiting, that is what some georgia voters are enduring in order to cast their ballots early. they are far from alone. there are thousands of folks across the nation in countering these long lines as voters are coming out in droves. they are setting records, doubling, even tripling in some states the early voting numbers seen in 2016. in georgia watching all of this, eight hours to vote, amara, that is a considerably long line? >> it's wild, isn't it? so that eight-hour wait time in

gwinnett county. on tuesday down to six hour wait times. now the wait time there in gwinnett county is two hours. here at fulton county at this particular polling site this morning, people are lining up starting at 6:00 in the morning. the wait time about three hours. now it's down to about 45 minutes. part of the reason why we've been seeing such long lines around the state, brianna, is that many polling site are still having problems related to the electronic poll pads. that's basically electronic check-in system, verifies voter registration and generates id card to vote on the touch screen machines of the secretary of state today said in a news conference, yes, this is a statewide issue we're seeing that we're seeing slowdowns in the system because there's just not enough bandwidth. all of these polling sites are logging onto digital record data

system for the state at the same time. in fact, in gwinnett county north of here, a spokesperson there told me yesterday the system crashed for about a half hour. this morning starting at 8:00 a.m., they were getting complaints from voters saying the system was moving way too slowly. but hey, you know what the story also is, the determination of the voters, brianna. i've been talking to voters all day today and yesterday. they said, look, we don't want to wait but we're willing to wait because to them the stakes are just too high. take a listen. >> i'm standing in the line because my life depends on it. this presidential election is so important because we have someone in office who is just showing no effort or care for people that look like me. we need someone -- won't even recognize systemic racism in the country. >> georgia seeing a record turnout.

10% of georgia's voters have already cast their ballot in person or by mail. let's head now to my colleague ed lavandera in plano, texas, where early voting is also under way. >> amara, across the state of texas, we saw records being shattered on the first day of early voting. to put it in perspective, more people, over 130,000 people voted in harris county where houston is than in the entire state of georgia yesterday. that enthusiasm continues. we're at a polling location in plano, texas, which is one of the areas that is going to be intensely watched here in this election cycle, because this is one of those suburban counties in the dallas area where the departure from trump supporters is being watched and monitored closely and could very well determine the outcome of the election here in this state. the president understands that. in fact, he was at a rally last night essentially urging

suburban women to like him, to continue their support for him. as we've talked to voters here in colin county, we have gotten that sense that there are many people simply who have been turned off by the tone of the politics during these last four years. now, the question becomes is that dissolutionment with the state of politics enough for joe biden to take texas? there are many people that remain incredibly skeptical in the state of texas given this state has been controlled by republicans for 25 years. a democratic presidential candidate had not won this state since jimmy carter did back in 1976, but many of the voters we have talked to, even if they are skeptical of the tide turning here in texas say do not fall asleep on tech, pay attention to what is happening here, brianna. >> ed, yeah, we'll be watching, too. ed lavandera, amara, walker, thank you so much to both of you. wisconsin is opening up a field hospital as cases are surging there. denver is considering new restrictions as cases grow

there. plus as the president courts seniors, he mocks joe biden as elderly and disabled. and what house speaker nancy pelosi refused to answer in a contentious interview with our wolf blitzer. how will we do it, at a time like this?

we've been asked that before.

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saturday's s.e.c. showdown with florida tigers is in jeopardy. they are pausing activities after uptick in coronavirus tests including 19 of its players. before the news broke, the gaitegate gators head coach was calling for 90,000 fans to pack the stadium, known as the swamp, for the game. >> i know the governor passed the rules, hopefully university administration let's us pack the swamp. 100%, that crowd was pa major factor in the game. i hope our administration follows the governor. the governor has passed a rule we're allowed to pack the swamp. we had the advantage that texas a&m had today. >> i'm joined by florida's commission of agriculture and consumer services nicki freed.

she's florida's lone statewide elected democrat. you have 19 football players testing positive for coronavirus. the governor dropped attendance restrictions on stadiums. do you think something like this will change his mind? >> no. unfortunately we have seen the governor dig in even deeper on his response to covid. we just saw what he did two nights ago up here in the state of florida, which is absolutely appalling. packed area here in stanford, florida, waving high five, high fiving everybody and touching his nose. i don't think it's going to make a difference and it's unfortunate. i was past student body president of florida, bleed orange and blue. i understand the magic of packing the swamp and having all of our fans, especially home game against lsu but really coach should be focused on getting a new defensive coordinator because we are being slammed in our secondary and going through our front lines and the run, that's where our

focus should be not putting all of our fans and visitors to the stands and into the swamp at risk for the not only getting covid but spreading it across the state and the country. >> what to you say to people who might look at this and say, yes, 90,000 people, that is a lot. that's a lot in the middle of a pandemic. they will say, they are outside. we've seen gatherings. i know there are people who will say we've seen large gatherings of people. we've seen protests and haven't seen spikes of people outside. what is the big concern here. what do you think the consequences are of packing 90,000 people together in the middle of a pandemic. >> we have been seeing spikes. here in the state. the governor opened up the state. we're seeing our spikes go again. just recently i was told we have over 1,000 individuals, senior citizens, who have died in our assisted living facilities and long-term care facilities because now that they are open and our reduction of testing.

what happens is even though you are outside, it's still hot here in the state of florida. everybody is sweating. even when you're kind of going through the stands and going through the concessions and waiting in line at the bathrooms and getting in, you have the opportunity to be spreading this virus. a lot of our fans are 65 and older. people that are going to be coming to the games are not going to be taking those precautions. certainly i would discourage anything of this magnitude. again, we understand how important it is to get football season, especially s.e.c. football back into where it used to be packing the stands but not at the risk of so many people across the state and our country. this is really a poor decision and an opportunity to really spread this virus and put a lot of people's lives at risk. >> commissioner, i can tell, though, you miss your football. >> i certainly do, especially my home games. >> thank you so much for being

with us. nikki freid, we appreciate it. >> thank you. even before he was elected, the trump campaign's playlist raised a lot of questions. we got used to the lack of irony and contradictory messages but his recent music selections are taking a different turn. we're going to roll the tape. and a sweet 16 that was anything but. the punishment for the party turned super spreader event. i didn't choose this job because it was easy.

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abounds, often ironic or unmistakably pertinent to the time we're living in. this tune when the president made the return to the campaign trail for his first rally after being sidelined by the coronavirus ♪ macho man i've got to be a macho man ♪ >> "macho man" by all male disco group the village people. makes sense mocking weakness comes up in the middle of a pandemic. even the way he does it is anti-science and a danger to public health. for trump acting like you're in a pandemic is weak. pretending you're not in a pandemic strong. wear a mask weak, as he sees it. not wearing a mask, strong. i should note the following songs apparently without intended irony have been played at the president's rallies during this deadly pandemic.

"knocking on heaven's door," "my heart will go on" president movie "titanic," of course about a giant ship hitting an iceberg and sinking and "losing my religion" which is about being at the end of your rope. the most ironic song he plays is this. ♪ ♪ >> "fortunate son" by credence clearwater revival, an anthem for anti-war movement at the height of the vietnam war. but i won't explain the lyrics. let's have lead singer john fogerty do it. >> recently the president has been using my song "fortunate son" for his political rallies, which i find confounding to say the least. i wrote this song in 1969. back in those days we still had

a draft. something i was very upset about was the fact that people of privilege -- in other words rich people, or people that had position -- could use that to avoid the draft and not be taken into the military. i found that very upsetting that such a thing could occur, and that's why i wrote "fortunate son." that's the whole intent of the song, the inspiration for the song. >> the president, born of privilege, famously avoided serving in vietnam, receiving five deferments to not have to serve, one of which cited bone spur. so technically based on fogerty's explanation "fortunate son" is about someone like president trump. nothing fogerty said he could have written the song about today's

events. >> very first lines, some people born of the flag, red, white, and blue. when the band plays "hail to the chief" they point the cannon at you. that's exactly what happened when the president decided to walk across the park. he cleared out the area using federal it's a song i could have written now, and so i find it confusi confusing, i would say, that the president has chosen to use his songs for the political rallies, when it seems like he probably is the fortunate son. and considering the president's proclivity for not playing taxes, these lights are particularly odd to play at a trump rally.

quote -- some folks are born silver spoon in hand, lord, don't they hem themselves. when the tax man comes to the door, the house look like a rummage sale. fogerty joins a group of musici musicians up objecting to the president playing some of their songs. in june, singer victor willis, who you would recognize as the police officers, sometimes the navy office in the village people said -- i ask you no longer use any of my music, especially "ymca" and "macho man." he was talks about the administration's response to black lives matter protests.

the president is still using these songs. the president is pushing an alternate reaity of coronavirus himself. that's apparent even on thinks playlist. to borrow from those tunes, what the president, this fortunate son, is acting like a macho man who wasn't just staring down the possibility of knocking down heaven's door less than two weeks ago. a big ban of chain smokers. plus a backlash of dual town has, after trump refused to debail. debate. hmm!.. hmm!.. hmm!.. (woman on porch vo) can we vote by mail here? (grandma vo) you'll be safe, right? (daughter vo) yes! (four girls vo) the polls! voted! (grandma vo) go out and vote! it's so important! (man at poll vo) woo!

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new york state is slapping a $20,000 fine on the promoter of the musical group the chain smokers. large crowds at a july concert were seen ignoring public health guidelines like mask wearing. the town itself has also been sanctioned and can no longer issue permits for gatherings without state approval. let's check in with our correspondents for the latest pandemic headlines. >> reporter: i'm outside milwaukee hospital where a field hospital is opening to help hospitals deal with severe covid cases. it has the potential to house

530 patients. it's not your traditional hospital. you can't walk up if you're experiencing covid-like symptoms. you must be referred by a health care provider, this as wisconsin sees an explosion of new cases. more than 3,000 confirmed new cases yesterday, and 34 people died in 24 hours. i'm lucy kavanoff in denver. he said recent cases are as high now as they were back in may, and hospitalizations have soared. defer health officials sit it's 120 cases per day, and they have climbed 30% in the last week. if the trend continues, the city's mayor warns denver residents that they could go back to level 3 restrictions

which could require businesses and indoor dining to cut capacity in half. >> reporter: on long island, a cluster of covid cases is being connected to a super spreader sweet 16. the party happened back on september 25th. 81 people were there in violation of the state's restrictions on nonessential gatherings. as a result the venue has been slapped with a $12,000 fine. 29 people at that party tested positive. eight different schools have reported positive cases as a result of that party, and some 270 people were put under quarantine. i'm bian-- the state's

department of health and human services reported 26 new outbreaks monday in both k through 12 schools and colleges, the largest at kalamazoo college. in total, more than 80 schools across the state are currently experience been outbreaks. an emergency order went into effect last week, requiring all k through 12 schools to report new cases one 24 hours. governor whitmer reminding residence, quote, if we drop our guard, we're going to see community spread. we're already seeing that a bit. it is the top of the hour. i'm brianna keilar, we're seeing a disturbing trend. no states are trending in the right, as 36 states records surges of new case. the nation has reported nearly 8 million total infections, more than 216,000 people hav