blessing. thank you very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." you can follow me on twitter and instagram. tweet the show. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next, breaking news. chris christie, a top trump ally, who spent seven days in the hospital with coronavirus after being in a closed room with the president, says he was wrong to think he was safe at the white house, and wrong not to wear a mask. plus, trump and biden in duelling town halls as kamala harris cancels campaign travel due to coronavirus cases in her inner circle. and clash in california. republican party defying a state order to take down unauthorized ballot drop boxes. the man they're defying is my guest. what is he going to do next? let's go "outfront." good evening. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" this evening, the

breaking news. a top trump advise we are a blistering takedown of trump's handling of the coronavirus. chris christie contracted coronavirus after spending hours in debate prep with the president and his team. almost everyone in that room got it. christie spent a week in the hospital and now released a statement saying, i believed when i entered the white house grounds that i had entered a safe zone due to the testing that i and many others underwent every day. i was wrong. i was wrong not to wear a mask at the amy coney barrett announcement. and i was wrong not to wear a mask at my multiple debate prep sessions with the president and the rest of the team. i hope that my experience shows my fellow citizens that you should follow cdc guidelines in public no matter where you are and wear a mask to protect yourself and others. it's a damning statement. chris christie, again, i want to emphasize, he spent seven days in the hospital with coronavirus. he now knows firsthand how

serious the virus is. and what he's saying is the opposite of course of what we have heard day in and day out from this president, coming out, walking up those white house stairs, whipping off his mask. the first thing he did when he came out to public is take off his mask and here he is today. >> did you see the cdc, that 85% of the people wearing the masks catch it? >> that is completely and utterly false that. is not what the cdc said. we'll explain in a moment. but this complete lie about masks has deadly consequences, at a time when americans need the truth more than efficient. by the way, we've been say thing again and again. but now, just a little bit more, but chris christie said in a statement he says i believe we have not treated americans as adults who understand truth, sacrifice, and responsibility. here is the truth tonight. 35 states now going in the wrong direction with an increase in cases, nearly a thousand americans died from coronavirus

yesterday. unabated about a thousand deaths a day in this country, right now hospitalizations in this country at the highest since august. and the leader of the united states, what is he doing to address a situation that is yet again worsening day by day? he today chose to attack dr. anthony fauci. >> you have my friend, and he's a nice guy, tony. tony fauci. he's a nice guy. so i keep him around. he's a democrat, everybody knows that. he's cuomo's friend. >> okay. let's just be clear here, that was done to demean fauci. he's a democrat. so everything he's saying, when he's telling you things like, wear a mask, this is serious, this is deadly. you know, it's because he's a democrat. let's be clear, fauci served under six presidents, starting with ronald reagan. he was awarded the presidential medal of freedom by president

george bush, and fauci is not registered with either party. now, i say that just because he's confirmed that, but even if he were, it wouldn't matter. he's been saying what he said based upon the science. he's made it clear again and again that is what this is about. >> i have been in the public health arena and advising six administrations for the last, you know, i've been doing this for the last five decades in public service. i have never, ever either indirectly or directly endorsed a political candidate. i want to stay completely apolitical and stay as a scientist, a physician, and a public health person. >> president trump lashing out at one of the most trusted americans when it comes to coronavirus. this behavior by the president at such a crucial time explains why republicans are speaking out. people like chris christie. and i want to emphasize, chris christie is the most senior person who -- in the republican

party who was in that debate room, right, with the president. preparing him for that debate. republicans like him and like senator ben sass, and this is ben sass here on tape. we have a tape for you talking about president trump to his constituents, a republican sitting senator. >> first he ignored covid, and then he went into full economic shutdown mode. he was the one who said, 10 to 14 days of shutdown would fix this. that was always wrong. and so i don't think the way he's led through covid has been reasonable or responsible. or right. >> i don't think the way he's led through covid has been reasonable or responsible or right. fl republican senator ben sasse. kaitlan, this is stinging criticism from the president's own party. >> reporter: yeah, an ben sasse has been a periodic critic of the president, but also in that audio, he says the president

treated the pandemic like it was a news cycle he was covering and not a multiyear public health crisis, which is what ben satss identifies it is. his call was with 17,000 constituents. this is public criticism, but it also comes as dr. fauci has been pushing back on the president saying his rallies, it speaks for them selves what the public health risk is by having a lot of people gather with no mask and no social distancing at these rallies. very few people wearing masks we should note. and you saw the president going after dr. fauci today who we checked the d.c. voter registration records. he is registered as a voter but not registered to any party. he served under presidents from both sides of the aisle. but then we have chris christie tonight coming out with his statement saying basically that he was lulled into a false sense of security coming here to the white house and doing those debate prep sessions with the president, thinking everyone had

been tested, when now we even have the president himself admitting today he was not tested on a daily basis, like his aides were telling us for months. so you've just got this around the clock criticism of the president and his handling of coronavirus, specifically coming from all sides. so this is something he's going to be pressed on by voters in this town hall. so it will be interesting to see how the president handles that question. when it's not coming from someone in the media that he can demonize but a voter who is generally concerned about their way of life. >> i want to go now to dr. sanjay gupta and dr. jonathan reiner. as i was talking about president george bush, the honor he bestob bestowed on dr. fauci, you were there during the bush presidency. chris christie was in the hospital for seven days, contracted coronavirus it

appears, whether it was in that room with the president or at the amy coney barrett announcement, somewhere in there. he said, it's something to take very seriously. the ramifications are wildly random and potentially deadly. no one should be happy to get the virus or cavalier about being infected or infecting others. he said wear a mask. he was wrong. i want to be clear, when you talk about people being cavalier about being infected or infecting othering and not wearing masks and not admitting they were wrong, well, that's trump, right? he's just come out here with a statement and said the exact opposite of the president. >> yeah. i mean, it's pretty clear, you know, he talked about that meeting at the white house, there was a likelihood of spread. obvious hill we knew there was a lot of viral spread at the white house around that time. those two things that struck me, i'm sure that struck jonathan as well. first of all, apparently it takes people getting really sick

and having a firsthand confrontation with this virus sometimes to say what many people we've been saying for months now, and this is not a virus you want, it can cause all these ramifications. we know how many people have already died. but that seems to be the situation sometimes. people have to be confronted with their own mortality in some ways to take this seriously. so i'm glad he's saying it. i wish he had been saying it before and it makes the case, even with the testing, unless you follow the public health practices, testing doesn't prevent you from getting infected, it determines it after the fact. so he's making all these points we've been talking about for some time. >> and chris christie, he's sit thing with president trump in that debate prep room. he's the most visible, the big name in there. he helped him with his debate prep, and now he says this. this is damning. and he says it with just over two weeks until election day. by the way, when he came out, he said you'll hear from me in a few days. he put a lot of time and thought

into this. there isn't a single word in here that wasn't very carefully thought through. >> yeah. he seems to me to be two things -- one, humbled. as any person who spends a week in an icu would be. and angry that he was put in the icu because of the lax precaution at the white house. he seemed angry and humbled. look, i'm glad to see it. but the other important issue is that he issued the kind of statement about masks that we all hoped the president would issue from his suite at walter reed. the kind of humbled, grateful to be alive, let me tell my fellow americans how they can prevent this from happening to themselves. except that's not what the president did. he mused about maybe coming out and showing a superman t-shirt under his jacket. so i'm grateful for governor christie for using his experience for the public good.

i wish we had heard it from the president of the united states. >> chris christie couldn't have been more clear, i was wrong to not wear a mask. the president of the united states got out of walter reed, backed up the stairs of the white house and ripped off his mask. sanjay, the president also, and i said i would get more on this, i want to give you a chance to explain it. he said there's a cdc study that says 85% of people who wear a mask catch the virus. that is not true. what does the cdc say? >> the cdc -- the study they're talking about here was basically looking at where are people most likely to catch the virus, what sorts of situations. it wasn't designed to find whether or not a certain percentage of people who are wearing masks are more likely to become infected or not. it was interesting, because what they were looking at specifically were, are there certain situations like restaurants or bars that might make you more likely to get infected. they found, for example, in the

study people who were infected were twice as likely to have eaten at one of these places or visited a bar or coffee shop. it had nothing to do with that. what is interesting, i think, is that overall, across the country, mask adherence is probably around 50%, 55%, depending on some of these models. so here people are self-reporting, do you wear a mask they are asked? what you find is that the numbers that people typically give, about 70% of them say they wear a mask regularly. another 10, 15% say sometimes. we know masks are designed to try and protect others from the mask wearer and who might potentially be infected. so the real question is, if you want to answer this question, how likely were you to be around people who were wearing masks, if you're frying to get the benefit of masks. >> by the way, i think a lot of people think that wearing a mask

is okay if other people aren't around them. dr. reiner, quickly on dr. fauci. the president has attacked him repeatedly, calling him a democrat. he isn't a democrat, although i don't think that's relevant. you know, what does this mean, president trump's push to make fauci look political? it does have serious consequences. >> it does. but he's not running against tony fauci, he's running against joe biden. tony fauci is not the president who said he didn't see himself wearing a mask around the white house or who said that he didn't need to wear a mask because he was tested every day, which turns out to be a lie or who blocked the postal service from sending three quarters of a billion mask tols every household in the united states or the person who blocked the cdc plan to require masks on public transport or the person to hold unmasked gatherings every day now. he's not that person. he should. worry about tony fauci, he

should listen to tony fauci. >> thank you very much. next, the stages are set and right now americans are standing by to watch. trump and biden about to participate in duelling town halls, live tonight. both campaigns standing by. we'll tell you what they're ready to do. plus, trump's message to suburban women -- >> the american dream, it is. i let you have the american dream. >> is that working? john king at the magic wall to show you. and california's republican party, defying a state order to remove unofficial mail ballot drop boxes. so what's going to happen? i'm going to ask the state's attorney general. our retirement plan with voya gives us confidence... ...so we can spend a bit today, knowing we're prepared for tomorrow. wow, do you think you overdid it maybe?

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...clothes, electronics to me, rakuten is a great way to get cash back on anything you buy. sign up today and get cash back with rakuten. tonight, president trump and former vice president joe biden about to face voters in duelling town halls. they have events taking place on different networks but at the same time. this was supposed to be the night of their second debate. so we were all supposed to watch them in one place, but now two separate places at one time. senator kamala harris is now off the campaign trail after two people, including her communications director, tested positive for coronavirus. we're going to talk to both campaigns about this unprecedented and crucial night. i want to start with democratic congressman cedric richmond, the national co-chair of the biden campaign. let me start with that news i just shared, as senator harris is suspending travel now until sunday. she was going to be traveling in

north carolina, ohio, pennsylvania, texas, all crucial states. we're 19 days away from election day. you know, obviously now with her communications director having coronavirus, how big of a concern is that and how much of a disadvantage having to stay home? >> look, the campaign is very nimble, and we've learned that to campaign during these different times that we're in. and, look, senator harris is type. we're praying for her, but we're praying for all of the families that have suffered a loss because of coronavirus, lost wages, or have been infected themselves. so i will tell you this, joe biden and kamala harris, they care more about the american people. they care about the janitors that clean up the auditoriums after they have an event. they care about the people who are there waiting on them. and so they're going to make sure they follow the doctor's orders and not even take a chance on contracting it.

but also passing it along to others because this is about us, not just joe biden or kamala harris. >> so biden and trump are getting ready moments away from these town halls. it's fair to assume, because they're on at the same time, that you're going to have biden supporters watching biden, trump supporters watching trump. who is biden trying to reach tonight? >> well, i think the vice president is making his closing argument, that it's the incompetence of the trump administration that caused us to lose over 215,000 people, for over 7 million people to be infected, almost 40 million people to have to file unemployment claims. for us to go through this pain as a country, it's because of his incompetence. he is the first president in 90

years to lose jobs on his watch. barack obama and joe biden created 14 million -- 16 million jobs. president trump lost 4 million. and he claims that he's directing a great economy? it's just not true. so you'll hear facts from joe biden. you'll hear lies from president trump on another network. >> so the supreme court is going to be one of the topics, i'm sure. president trump has suggested, again, that biden would pack the courts with liberal judges if elected. you know, biden has knowledged this question, right? he said he's not a fan of court packing but he's not come out and said what he will do. he said he will not announce his position until after the election to the dismay of many people on the left is. that enough? >> yes, it's enough. he has not dodged the question, he said he's not going to answer the question. i think that is a difference. if you're talking about court packing, court packing is when

you rush through unqualified judges, 50 judges on the circuit court and not one african-american on the circuit court and you want to pretend that you care about poor people, minorities, because you're not -- you're not showing those people in what you do. so without showing that you respect blacks in an intellectual capacity, you can't tell us that you care about our welfare. so, look, we will answer that question at the appropriate time. but the real thing is, we should not confirm a justice with 19 days to go before an election. and i believe the majority of the people in the country grow with that position. >> congressman, thank you very much for your time. i appreciate it. i want to turn now to the communications director for the trump campaign. tim, i appreciate you coming back on. i want to start with chris christie. so he comes out with this statement after seven days in the icu. he says he was wrong not to wear a mask at the amy coney barrett

announcement, and debate prep sessions. very clear he said i was wrong. i was wrong. he says "i believed when i entered the white house grounds, i entered a safe zone due to the testing. i was wrong. i was wrong not to wear a mask at the amy coney barrett announcement and wrong to not wear a mask at my debate sessions with the president and the rest of the team." we have heard no such thing from the president of the united states. why? what do you say to chris christie? >> first, i'll answer that question in one second. i want to bring your attention to something the congressman just said, where he said joe biden hasn't dodged the question about court packing, he just hasn't answered it. court packing is when you add more justices to the court to expand the size of the court to preguarantee outcomes of future cases. i just want to be clear -- >> yes, that is the definition

of the term. >> okay. so the president has always made clear that people should wear masks. he said it's patriotic to wear a mask. he also has said that it's very important that people take precautions and be safe. but he also doesn't want us to get to a point in this country where we go back to another society wide shutdown, like joe biden said he would consider if he were president. >> if the scientists recommended it. >> and the president has recommended it, as well. another thing to get to that's very important here is that the president is on a record pace with the -- all of the scientists that are involved in this and the fda in produce thing life-saving vaccine in record time. this is going to save millions of american lives when it's safely and effectively distributed to americans. hundreds of millions of doses. joe biden and kamala harris have spent a lot of time trying to scare people away from the vaccine. their anti-vaccine rhetoric is very reckless. >> senator harris did say she

would be the first to take it if dr. fauci said to take it. >> in the next breath they say if donald trump had the vaccine i wouldn't take it. that is a very cleaver way of saying both things at once but leaving doubt in people's minds. >> let me just say this, it comes back to what chris christie had to say and ben sasse today. it comes back to how the president led on this. krooi chris christie, says, we have not treated americans as adults. ben sasse, on a call with thousands of constituents, says of the president of the united states, i don't think the way he's led through covid has been reasonable or responsible or right. this is pretty damning, because it's coming from your own party. and chris christie was in the debate room with the president, right? there's no one who has been more central to his debate prep and hiss re-election than christie.

>> treating americans as adults is the president's approach. the president wants people to be safe, wear masks, socially distance, use hand sanitizer, wash their hands a all the time. but we also know that people in this country have the right to make their own choices, absolutely. we also know that joe biden, to this day, cannot say that he would do anything differently than president trump has done in fighting the coronavirus, except for the lone thing that we know joe biden would not have restricted travel from china, as president trump did at the end of january. and that saved thousands of american lives. we know that joe biden would not have done that. and if joe biden had been president in january, we as a country would be in far worse position today than we are, and it is thanks to president trump's leadership. remember, the initial estimates were over 2 million people dead. the president has led on this issue. he has marshalled the private sector and federal government. he's done an admiralable job and

joe biden has just sat on the sidelines. >>ly say one thing, and i understand you have to play the hand you're dealt with. but to say that the president encourages people to wear masks -- >> he does. >> when chris christie gets out of the hospital after seven days in the icu, he says i was wrong. i have learned. >> when do you want -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> the president was outside on a balcony, outside on a balcony. the cdc guidelines don't have any restrictions on wearing a mask when you're outside on your own balcony. the president wants -- >> he had coronavirus. he had the eyes of the world on him. tim, you can talk over me all you want. this is one of these objective things that what he did at that moment was awful. and it was inappropriate and irresponsible -- >> no. erin, erin, the president -- the president personifies this fight against the coronavirus. he personifies it. he has firsthand personal

experience -- telling the american people we will not be beaten by the coronavirus. that's his message. >> a thousand more people died today -- okay. thank you, tim. next, former president obama has a new message tonight for the rly voters who are turning out in droves and waiting hours to cast their ballots. and an attack against the president by a republican senator. >> his family has treated the presidency like a business opportunity. he's flirted with white supremacists. on your interestsbased or what's trending. get real-time insights in your customized view of the market. it's smarter trading technology for smarter trading decisions. fidelity. it's a dark, lonely place. this is art inspired by real stories of people living with bipolar depression. emptiness. a hopeless struggle. the lows of bipolar depression can disrupt your life

and be hard to manage. latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly reduce bipolar depression symptoms, and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. now i'm feeling connected. empowered. latuda is not for everyone. call your doctor about unusual mood changes, behaviors or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. elderly dementia patients on latuda have an increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles, and confusion, as these may be life-threatening, or uncontrollable muscle movements as these may be permanent. these are not all the serious side effects. this is where i want to be. talk to your doctor and ask if latuda could make the difference you've been looking for in your bipolar depression symptoms. trump took a good economy and drove it back into the ditch through his failure to get covid under control, his failure to deliver real relief to working people.

does he not understand and see the tens of millions of people who've had to file for unemployment this year, so far? the people who lost wages while the cost of groceries has gone up dramatically. donald trump has been almost singularly focused on the stock market, the dow, the nasdaq -- not you, not your families. my plan will help create at least five million new, good-paying jobs and create them right here in the united states of america. let's use this opportunity to take bold investments in american industry and innovation. so the future is made in america. i'll be laser focused on working families. ♪ i'm joe biden, and i approve this message.

breaking news. president obama telling voters to be patient amid historic turnout and what are very long lines to vote already, he tweets "nobody should have to wait 11 hours to vote, but we're all grateful that you and those in line with you stuck it out. keep making your voices heard, everybody. our democracy depends on it." those lines, like those you see in north carolina, on your screen, nearly 230,000 votes cast as of 5:30 p.m. tonight on the first day of early voting.

this as puresident trump makes another plea to win over suburban women, speaking to them during a rally in the key swing state. >> the radical democrats will confiscate your guns, destroy your suburbs. i keep hearing about the suburban women. [ cheers and applause ] the american dream, it is. i let you have the american dream. >> the polls, though, show major warning signs for president trump with women. chief national correspondent and the host of "inside politics" john king is "outfront." >> erin, joe biden's lead looks overwhelming, as you enter the final days. when you look deep into the numbers, two things stand out. number one, stability. joe biden has led and for a long time. number two, a giant gender gap. if this map holds up and joe biden becomes president, he will

have women voters to thank. let's walk through the numbers. first, it's just the stability of the race. 2016 was volatile. clinton and trump jumping all over the place. this race has been steady, all year long. these are nbc numbers. joe biden led in january, he leads now in october and he leads by double digits now and it stretched out from the middle of the year to now. joe biden with the lead. what is powering that lead? women. yes, always a democratic constituency. but look, this goes back to july. joe biden with a steady gender gap. it is growing as we get closer to election day. joe biden's support with women as we get closer to election day. this matters for democrats and we know the size of the gender gap is a big deal. hillary clinton had a big gender gap in 2016. she won by 16 points with women, but lost the electoral college. it was 19 points in 2018, that's democrats voting in house elections. democrats had a 19-point

advantage for women. now 26 points is joe biden's lead among women in that new nbc/"wall street journal" poll heading into the final stretch. now, some republicans will say hillary clinton had a gender gap back in 2016, and look, the president won. and that is true. so let's bring that up and show you. hillary clinton did have a big gender gap, she won the facial women's vote by 13 points over president trump. she won among women by several points in north carolina. hillary clinton wins among women in all of those states. guess what? she lost all of those states. all of those states went to trump. so republicans say so what, joe biden has a gender gap too that we can beat. look at the difference between 2016 and 2020. nationally, it was 13 points for hillary clinton. joe biden's gender gap is twice that right now. north carolina was 7, 13 points right now. pennsylvania 13, 15 right now. that's the only one that's even close to the same.

florida, hillary clinton won with women by four points. 14 points is joe biden's lead. in arizona, four points for clinton. 18 points for joe biden. in michigan, 11. it's up to 17. wisconsin was 10 points for clinton among women. joe biden has a 24-point lead among women in wisconsin. so democrats look at that map and say if that gender gap holds up, this will disappear and we'll get to this and maybe each more, because joe biden is in play in florida and north carolina. women, the single biggest driving force in american politics. women, erin, the reason joe biden is winning heading into the stretch. >> wow. and you see those huge increases in wisconsin stands out there. let's go now to our political correspondent abby phillip and ryan lizza. so thanks to both. so ryan, you see john lay it out. hillary clinton wins women voters by 13 points. not enough to get the electoral college. joe biden right now is a much more significant margin, 26 points, and that holds in the

swing states. pennsylvania was the only one that looked about the same, right? all those other ones, wow, four times clinton's edge in arizona, more than triple than what she had in florida. you were at the trump rally in pennsylvania where it's closed. that's where he asks suburban women will you please like me. is that resonating more there? >> i've never seen -- that doesn't sound like a winning message, just will you like me? most voters want results, and the issue that is driving those numbers down is his handling of the pandemic. and it's difficult to see what he can do between now and election day to, you know, emerge -- to do better on that issue. i think the question is, is this election more like 2016 or 2018, right? not a lot has changed in these numbers from 2018, right? that was the election as john pointed out that handed nancy

pelosi the house of representatives. it looks a lot like that. republicans are struggling in exactly the same way from the beginning of the biden campaign, they have taken the lessons of 2018 and been driving the same messaging and demographic goals. and president trump has just not been able to dig out from the deficit he's found himself in for the last two years. >> oh so abby, this comes as you have president trump being slammed by chris christie and republican senator ben sasse, the washington examiner obtaining this audio of a call he had with voters. now, kaitlan pointed out there were tens of thousands of people that could listen to this call. so sasse is not speaking thinking that it would remain a secret, but he's calling the response on coronavirus

irresponsible and unreasonable. >> the way he kisses dictator's butts. the way he ignores the uighers who are in concentration camps. he hasn't lifted a finger on behalf of the hong kongers. the united states regularly sells out, the way he spends like a drunken sailor. i criticized president obama for that spending. i criticize president trump, for. he mocks evangelicals behind closed doors. his family has treated the presidency like a business opportunity. he's flirted with white supremacists. >> i mean, abby, it went on and on. sasse is a republican, he's criticized the president in many ways other republicans haven't. does sasse speaking out like this say something? >> i think it's a reflection of sasse no longer having to deal with a republican primary. that's the first thing. but i think you're going to see more republicans perhaps behind the scenes wanting to figure out

ways of distancing themselves safely from president trump. i don't think you're going to see them doing it quite the way that sasse is doing here, because basically if you listened to this -- this commentary, you might as well be listening to a joe biden campaign ad. i mean, this is exactly the same thing that you would hear on the democratic side. republicans in tight races and in tough re-election battles are going to have a much more tailored or narrow path to distance themselves from president trump just enough on specific things, especially the coronavirus response. but not so much that they kind of raise up sort of, you know, a pro trump, you know, supporters who are so loyal to the president that they won't support someone who is viewed as an enemy of the president. so look, ben sasse is in a bit of a situation. but with the numbers the president is showing nationally with women and seniors, you'll

see more republicans doing that delicate dance to get away just to survive in november. >> you could see some right before the end if they see the polls -- they're going to try to jump ship so they can say they did it before he lost. but senator sasse went on and said something really important, ryan, which is he thinks president trump ask going to have a long lasting and negative impact on the entire republican party. here's sasse. >> in my defense, from president trump or not, only about policy, but it's also a political question about whether or not he's driving the country further to the left. that is what i think is going to happen because of donald trump. this has been my fear for five years. why i campaigned for everybody not named trump in 2016. donald trump didn't win the presidency because america wants more reality tv around the clock stupid political obsessions. i just don't think that's what

my neighbors want. it's not what i hear when i travel the state. >> ryan? >> these were considered remarks, as you point out. sasse has been a barometer about how safe it is for republicans to criticize president trump. early on he hit him hard when president trump got popular and sasse was worried about his re-election, he retreated. now the writing is on the wall, he sees the polls. trump is likely to lose this election and coming out much more forcefully with his criticism and it's a harbinger of the post trump debate in the republican party. >> all right. thank you both very much. coming up on cnn after the town hall, kamala harris will join don lemon on cnn tonight starting at 10:00 eastern. next, president trump doubling down, refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses. >> i'm not saying anything. i'm saying this -- i think

everybody says it -- you have to have a fair election. plus, older americans were key to trump's victory four years ago. but his handling of coronavirus is putting that support in jeopardy this time around. knowing who we are is hard. it's hard. eliminate who you are not first, and you're going to find yourself where you need to be. ♪ the race is never over. the journey has no port. the adventure never ends, because we are always on the way. ♪ ♪ i will send out an army to find you in the middle of the darkest night it's true, i will rescue you

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new tonight, president trump once again refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses to joe biden and still trying to raise doubts about the results, as states are already seeing historic turnout numbers. pamela brown is "outfront." >> they always talk about the friendly transition. >> reporter: the president is doubling down on his refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses to joe biden. >> i'm not saying anything. i'm saying this -- i think everybody says it -- you have to have a fair election. >> reporter: with the outcome of the election possibly not known on election day, the president is trying to sow doubt in the election. also, falsely claiming the ballots are being thrown out only because they're votes for him. >> they don't want to send in the ballots and have the ballots

thrown away into a dumpster. who are you for? trump. get rid of them. this is the craziest thing. and we're watching very closely, where they came from, where they went, how did they get there, right? all this stuff that's going on. >> reporter: at this point, there isn't any evidence that ballots with those for trump are intentionally being tossed, with most states taking extra states to assure voters they are doing everything they can to protect the integrity of the election. but a new court ruling is causing election officials in north carolina to scramble, as early voting there is now under way. a federal judge handed democrats a win. upholding a policy allowing ballots that arrived through november 12th to be counted if they were mailed on or before election day. the same judge also is handing republicans a win in a ruling that makes it harder for voters to fix absentee ballots with missing signatures. both rulings may be appealed.

with just 19 days to go, nearly 18 million americans have already voted. this, according to data from 46 states. so far the state with the most ballot returns, florida, texas, and california. where republicans have until the close of business today to remove up official ballot drop boxes set out in four counties. but the state republican party says it will ignore a cease and desist order from the state attorney general to remove them. >> we hope to comply with the cease and desist orders, but we're inviting people to submit information if they continue to see these very problematic, fake drop boxes. >> reporter: now republican official are also saying they're going to appeal the judge's ruling of the deadline to receive ballots. we're now less than three weeks away from election day, and there is still outstanding litigation in key battleground states, like pennsylvania and wisconsin, over which ballots

should be counted. erin? >> pam, thank you very much. i want to go now to the democratic attorney general of california. i appreciate your time. i'm trying to understand this. people have been asking about these ballot boxes in this state. you sent a cease and desist letter about the unofficial ballot boxes, telling the republican party the deadline to remove them and they are refusing to do so. what are you going to do now? >> let's clarify something. there are only official ballot boxes, there are no unofficial ballot boxes. if anyone is urging you to drop your ballot off in what is not the official ballot box, you should be concerned. so the purpose of our work is to make sure that no one's vote is tampered with and no one's vote is excluded on election day. the only way we can gaurn fuara that is from your hands, the ballots get to the county

registrar's office. we're just trying to protect everyone's vote, make sure that ballot is safe and secure and we'll do everything we have to, to make sure no one is getting in the way of your let me just show people these boxes, okay? your official state drop box is on the left. you can see it. on the right you see one that is, well, you don't want me to use the word unofficial, which i understand, but it actually says on their "official ballot drop-off box," which is false. but the california gop says that there's not a state law prohibiting this, and they say we're not trying to, you know, get people to put in ballots that then won't be counted because they're put in there. they say that it's called ballot harvesting where a third-party organization collects all the ballotl ballots out of that box, right, and basically turns it in in a clump and they say democrats do this, too. so is that what this is? >> erin, what they say, whether

it's the republican party or anyone else, doesn't matter. it's what the law says and how a court interprets what the law says. the law's pretty clear. the only ballot box that is official is one that is placed by the county registrar for that county. and the county fixes the time and the place for that box. no other box is considered official for collecting ballots. there's no other way for the county to be able to assure people that that ballot hasn't been tampered with. there has to be some form of chain of custody between the time you leave a ballot or the ballot leaves your hands. >> yes. >> and the time that the county starts -- >> for sure. >> getting ready to count it. >> okay. so then what are you going to do now? they say that you're wrong. they're going ahead with this. they're not removing the boxes. so what are you going to do? >> we're going to enforce the law. we issued a cease and desist letter to them. we gave them until october 15th, which is today. we've been in conversations with

representatives of the republican party. they have made indications of some of the things that they would do. at the end of the day, we issued a letter that had some demands so that they would comply with the law and we've instructed them to do what's right and we'll take whatever action we need to take if anyone is violating our election laws. >> but i'm trying to understand what is that? i mean, are you literally going to go and collect the boxes and put them away? i mean, what do you do? >> well, it depends on what the republican party decides it's going to do as of the end of october 15th today. >> so you're giving them a few more hours? >> i can't speculate what they'll end up doing. it really depends on what they decide to do. i will say this, to voter or otherwise, if you see something, please say something. we want to make sure every voter's ballot is counted. >> all right. attorney general, i appreciate your time, as always. thank you. >> thank you. and next, why some seniors who voted for trump are now

turning on him. >> he's still dishonest about it. he keeps saying it's getting better and it never is, it's getting worse. 133 million americans have pre-existing conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and asthma. this administration and senate republicans want to overturn laws requiring insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions. they're rushing a lifetime appointment to the supreme court to change the law through the courts.

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he's harming our basic values, giving rise to hate, and he's selling out america to big corporations. i'm working to protect immigrants, women, communities of color, and lgbtq people. and i'm making corporations like pg&e and insurance companies play by our rules. we need experienced leadership to wipe away trump's stain on america for good.

tonight the latest cnn poll showing that biden is ahead of trump among seniors. right now with 60% of the vote of seniors, according to the poll. now, keep in mind, trump won that group handily in 2016. they were important to his victory. so what's happening now? jeff zeleny is "outfront." >> let's go joe. >> reporter: these florida seniors are fired up for joe biden. but it's not only democrats taking their stand. a bigger threat to president trump's re-election may come from voters like tommy and rody johnson. they are lifelong republicans who supported him four years ago but won't again. >> i feel he's responsible for thousands and thousands of deaths. because of his attitude about it. he's still dishonest about it. he keeps saying it's getting

better and it never is. it's getting worse. >> reporter: their frustration at the president turned to fury with his handling of coronavirus. >> that we voted for him. and, of course, the virus, covid has been terrible. >> reporter: three weeks ago his son tested positive for covid-19. >> i was mad because he had it. and it was, you know, and i kept thinking, that's mr. trump's fault because this thing should never have gotten as far as it had. >> reporter: seniors were key to trump's victory in 2016. yet falloff from this critical voting block had the president sounding the alarm this week at a rally here. >> biden's agenda would be a catastrophe for florida's seniors. >> reporter: during his own florida visit biden turned the subject back to coronavirus. >> so many lives have been lost unnecessarily because this president cares more about the stock market than he does about, you know, the well-being of seniors. >> reporter: toby is a nurse who

is going door to door for biden where she hears the stories. >> they can't hug their grandkids. so it's been huge. that's. a huge factor. >> reporter: the pandemic and the fear of a close election drives these senior volunteers. >> that's maybe two houses, three houses. i don't want to wake up this year, the day after the election and say, what more could i have done? >> reporter: signs of an exceedingly tight race are plentiful here with passionate support for trump on display from flags to front yards. >> there's more people out supporting him now because he's had so many people going against him. and i don't feel he's been treated fairly by the democrats at all. >> reporter: the question is just how many trump voters have soured on the president. the johnsons live in a county that's still deep red, but they're no longer shy about showing their affirm tissue support for biden. >> mr. biden is a nice man.

and there was a time i didn't like him at all. i love him. >> reporter: but it's trump that's driving them and this race. >> he is so dishonest. and the worst is that whenever he is caught in a lie, he blames it on somebody else. it's always somebody else. he's impossible. >> jeff, you know, pretty incredible just to hear all the -- and to see those signs. obviously president trump is in florida tonight. he knows this vote is crucial, right? he's honed in on suburban women. he is honing in on seniors. >> reporter: erin, there's no question. these are the most 29 critical electoral votes that he needs for his path to re-election. as you said, he's doing a town hall tonight in miami. another rally tomorrow in of o'calla. he knows he needs to sort of distract and change the subject from coronavirus. erin, the voters we talk to here

this week say every time they see him at a rally that they, you know, are reminded of this. the key here is, are the voters who may not have turned out in 2016. that's where all the senior volunteers were out door-knocking trying to get those voters engaged. no question the president has so many strong supporters here still. it is the question, though, not winning the senior vote, but a narrower senior vote could be a joe biden win. >> all right. thank you very much, jeff zeleny. thanks to all of you. anderson starts now. good evening. thanks for being with us. one of the president's staunchest supporters and closest campaign advisers, the man who prepped him for the debate in cleveland and caught covid soon after has broken with the president on it. former new jersey governor chris christie did not directly fault the president for his contracting the vierts, he takes serious issue, as you'll see, with the president's conduct in the face of what was once again a rapidly-growing pandemic. no one should be happy to get the virus, governor christie said in a statement obtained by cnn, and no one should b