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it is the top of the hour. i'm brianna keilar. this just in. a new cdc report shows how deserve tating the pandemic has been since it started with tens of thousands of what's called excess deaths. quoting the report. estimated 299,028 more persons than expected died since january

26, 2020. approximately two-thirds of these deaths attributed to covid-19. this is the nation reporting more than 58,000 new cases a day. a level that has not been seen since mid-july. that number is 40% higher than last monday's total. over the last seven days, 400,000 people have become infected in this country but the president still is denying reality telling us the crisis is getting better when it isn't. >> what is the plan to live with it while staying safe from it? >> well, we are living with it and we're having the vaccines coming out very soon. with our without the vaccines we're rounding the turn. we will never shut down. >> and how often is president trump meeting with prmember of s coronavirus task force? members of the institute of health had this to say. >> we have not met with the president in some time. i think the president is primarily getting his

information from the vice president, from mr. atlas, and as there was a few months ago, but seems to be a different time with different priorities. >> elizabeth cohen cnn's senior medical correspondent. let's walk through the cdc thubs, because you've got an estimated 299,000, almost 300,000 deaths. more deaths, than were expected. two-thirds of those attributed to covid-19. what about the other third? >> you know, we're actually not sure exactly what that other third is. could be a combination of things. probably is a combination of different causes of deaths. some of them might be because of delayed care during especially in the beginning of the outbreak, a lot of people delayed care, delayed cancer tests all of that. that might be also at play here. interesting here, when you look at these numbers, brianna, what you see is that the age group that's most affected was actually relatively young people between the ages of 25 and 44.

in other words, when you look at deaths in that age group, 25 to 44, for this year, from late january until early october, compare it for the same time period for 2019 or '18 or back five years, the most dramatic difference is for that age group. so compared to previous years, that age group has suffered more than other age groups. also hispanic people have suffered more than other ethnic groups. this sort of gives you a feeling how dramatic this all is. so when president trump tries to say that covid is in effect, no big deal. these numbers say different. >> yeah. it a big deal and it's a bigger deal for groups that maybe you didn't even think of. elizabeth cohen thank you for taking us through that. >> thanks. my next guest spent more than 30 years in public health. james bloomenstock senior vice president for pandemic response and recovery of the association of state and territorial health officials which is the organization that represents more than 100,000 public health professionals across the

country. james, thank you for being with us. and i just want to get your reaction when you hear this cdc study saying that there have been almost 300,000 excess deaths from coronavirus. or, really, two-thirds of those attributed to covid-19. what your reaction? >> hi, brianna. the data speaks for themselves. clearly, we are seeing a serious uptick in cases across the country right now. as you talk about the demographics and populations that are being represented in the data you just shared, you know, i think we can attribute the increase in cases really to two main factors. first, the change of seasons. with the fall coming and colder weather, more people will be recreating and socializing indoors really increasing risk of exposure. the second point, a harsh reality but we have to recognize it, is the fact that we as a society are dealing with pandemic fatigue.

it's real. just as the threat is. you know, we have to recognize it's been a long, hard seven to eight months for everyone and sometimes we let our guard down. especially as we try to return to some degree of ordinary life and activities. but still, we all must be strong and not fall victim to a false sense of security, even more familiar or otherwise safe environments. all have a personal, social bubble we feel comfortable in, but in these times with the data you just shared, clearly, that is not sufficient protection for us to rely upon if we're going to get through this together in a safer way. >> let's talk about the vaccine now, because you actually say that states won't have the money to distribute the vaccine properly. why is that? >> well, states and territories and local health departments are really working 24/7 to build out their plans and divest a state of readiness should and when an

acceptable vaccine becomes available. the level of effort and the money needed to do planning, okay, you know, is minor compared to the amount of resources that will be needed to launch this national, historic complex vaccination campaign that could commence as soon as the next several months. it is hugely labor and technology intensive, and the nation's public health system just does not have available resources in its coffers to support that level of effort to ensure that the vaccine is administered as safely and efficiently and effectively and equitably as possible. >> and, yeah. this is something that it's labor intensive. right? this idea of distribution. it's not a simple task. what more do they need going forward? >> well, our association and others estimate that the resources needed for the

duration of this campaign is estimated to be at 8.4 billion dollars. you know, we certainly respectfully disagree with secretary azar's assessment that sufficient funding is available. but we do not believe so. nor does the cdc. and the point to be made here is that this is going to be, you know, a tremendous level of effort. we don't want to basically erode all other essential public health services for this campaign. we need to augment this effort while city providing all the other essential services that the communities need, and deserve. the u.s. government has invested in billions of dollars in vaccine research, development and production. that same level of commitment and effort should be applied to the nation's public health system that's responsible for the last tactical mile, as we say, with the vaccines allocated, distributed and administered in communities throughout this country. >> yeah. i mean, it's huge.

right? the vaccine isn't the answer. vaccination is the answer, and states are a huge part of this. james [ bleepbluminstock, thankr being with us. >> my plesh. pleasure. the road to 270 electoral votes. an inside look for the path for biden and trump and the story behind the numbers. later can lawmakers reach a stimulus deal before the deadline? find out what's holding up negotiations. a capsule a day

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voting in the battle grournd state of wisconsin. president trump is looking to win the state for a second time, but coronavirus ripping through wisconsin could complicate things. omar jimenez is on the ground in milwaukee. tell us, omar, how are voting lines looking so far? >> reporter: brianna, the voting lines have shrunk significant since the start of the day. the first opportunity for people to early vote here in wisconsin. at one point the line behind me was two hours long. how long it took to get up front. obviously much shorter at this point. letting people in, three people at a time and, of course, everybody here is wearing masks, because here in wisconsin the voters and citizens are having sew balance trying to fulfill their civic duty of voting, but also trying to be safe in the age of covid and we spoke to one voter who told us it was not

only that but also the fact that he wanted to make sure his vote was counted and not rely on the doubt he felt was in sending his vote by mail. >> i'm a young person. i'm not, you know, immune. i don't vi any immune deficiencies, if i can risk myself, vote in person, free up the mail capacity so other older people that aren't able to do the same or people that are immune compromised can vote by mail, it's kind of like us all doing our part, taking precautions necessary to keep everybody all safe, and making sure that everybody has the ability to get their voice heard. >> reporter: of course, all happening within the backdrop of the pandemic. go back to april here in wisconsin, that's when we had the primaries here and really the first test we had seen with an election happening with the backdrop of the pandemic here in wisconsin, and they tried to move the election back over fears of coronavirus, and at

that time, the positivity rate was under 10%. the daily case count was a little over 150. fast-forward a few months now nap positivity rate here in wisconsin over 20%, cases in the thousands on those daily counts and people still feel they need to come out and carry out this civic duty to vote. brianna? >> omar, thank you for showing us the scene there in milwaukee. with just two weeks until election day nearly 30 million ballots already cast and each day we get a clearer picture what president trump and former vice president joe biden need to do to get to that magic number. which is 270 electoral votes. bring in cnn political director david chalian to take us through this. david, start with joe biden. what is his shortest path to the white house? >> yeah. remember, this is the picture from 2016. where we left off at the end of that election. you see all the red across the map and donald trump victor us with 306 electoral votes.

brianna, critical part of the upper midwest, one of the let region, pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin, all red. donald trump beat hillary clinton very narrowly in the three states. look at the current electoral college outlook we have. look at the same panel. all leans blue right now. upper midwest, rust belt region, right now, this is not a prediction of what's glog to be t -- going to be two weeks from now. they're leaning in joe biden's direction. what has him over that 270 threshold. at 290 in our current outlook. donald trump down at 163. also arizona tipping his way but this upper midwest region that is his easiest path i think to 270 electoral votes. >> and let's pivot to the president. how is his path different than 2016? >> take a look at this. down 163 in the current uoutloo. two rails yesterday in arizona.

leaning in joe biden's direction. say donald trump can win that back. a reliably republican state, only went democratic in '96 in the last 70 years. say he wins that back. look at the yellow on this map, brianna. what if donald trump wins every toss-up? florida, georgia, north carolina. watch his total go up over there. ohio, let's say he wins. give him iowa, and give him this second congressional district in maine. award their votes by congressional district there. you get him up to 262. he still is shy of 270. where does he go? back to that region up here is probably where he goes to try and flip one of these states. just one would do it at that point. pennsylvania would put him over the top, so would michigan or wisconsin at that point. that means he's got to run the table of the toss-ups, try and get back arizona already leaning in biden's direction. and win one of those upper midwest states. also right now a biden strength,

brianna. >> wow. also, i think a lot of people are wondering when are we going to know who the next president is? if trump wins re-election or biden unseats him? find out election night? >> a good question. because so many more americans are going to be voting by mail, this year, than we've ever seen before, the got to take some time. especially in states that don't have a lot of history of a lot of mail votes. so specifically, pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin. it may take them a little time, brianna, to actually count all of those paper votes by mail. just urge everyone, pack your patience. just because it's taking a while to count the votes doesn't mean anything is necessarily wrong. may have a president on election night. if it's close, imagine a few days. >> pack your patience and snacks. all of those things. david chalian, thank you so much. >> thanks. maria bartiromo once a reputable disjournalist, the first reporter to broadcast live from the floor of the new york

stock exchange. that was then, this is now. and the now, using her platform on fox business to push basisless smears and conspiracy theories. we'll roll the tape, next. ♪ ♪ ♪ i'm dorothy hamill. as i look toward 65,

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the unfair money bail system. he, accused of rape. while he, accused of stealing $5. the stanford rapist could afford bail; got out the same day. the senior citizen could not; forced to wait in jail nearly a year. voting yes on prop 25 ends this failed system, replacing it with one based on public safety. because the size of your wallet shouldn't determine whether or not you're in jail. vote yes on prop 25 to end money bail. republican senator ron johnson of wisconsin is elevating a smear against the

biden family without evidence. cnn and our outlet can't verify the report and u.s. officials investigating if the actually tied to a russian disinformation effort. qanon believing democrats and celebrities of bloods drinking satanic pedophiles aired an fertilized by fox. maria bartiromo, their high-profile business host floated it. part of a pattern as she pushes many other conspiracy theories that can only be described as propaganda. >> could get it done and i got it done. >> against you -- they were so against you. do you think the mueller report was the mueller investigation just a coverup for what they had done? >> do you believe russia and china were spying and knowing our secrets because of hillary's unsecured server? >> it is the -- >> people should go to jail. >> that so-called biggest political scandal they've seen

evaporated into what it was all along. nothing. the justice department under bill barr, we note weathered criticism for acting more like the president's personal attorney than an independent law enforcement official reportedly found no wrongdoing in the obama administration unmasking drama. then there was this -- >> we now know from these documents that john ratcliffe unveiled it was hillary clinton's idea to tie you to russia in some way. >> no. no. director of national intelligence john ratcliffe who was following qanon twitter accounts when trump appointed him released unverified russian intelligence about clinton. key words here. unverified and russian. he wrote in a letter to the senate that the intelligence community "does not know the accuracy of this allegation or the extent to which the russian intelligence analysis may reflect exaggeration or

fabrication." bartiromo is also pushing the conspiracy theory about widespread voter fraud. >> what are you going to do about it, mr. president? if they cheated in 2016, they're going to cheat again. how are you going to stop this and ensure that you have the wherewith all to fight back if it's all ballot lies? >> i know i may sound like a broken record here, but president trump's hand-selected voter fraud commission wrapped up without finding evidence of it. larger numbers of americans will choose to vote by mail this year because we're in the middle of a deadly pandemic and there is no evidence that mail-in voting is more susceptible to voter fraud, despite what the president claims. bartiromo has also perfected the fox art of suggesting something to the president to make it his idea. parents of small children, know this trick well but probably used it to get your kids to eat

their veg gies not fire the fbi director? >> is krit mchristopher wray -- know crimality. >> also the fox technique asking the president about something he did wrong by blaming critics for bringing it up. >> i want you to answer your critics, because your critics are going, really, upset about your event at the white house yesterday. about your rally that you're planning tomorrow. address the criticism, mr. president. the criticism that you removed your mask for a photo op. >> another way to ask the question would be, why did you violate your own cdc guidelines and remove your mask for a photo op during a deadly pandemic? she's acting like the problem isn't that the president hosts superspreader events and doesn't wear a mask when covid positive. it's the so-called critics point it out.

>> but your colleague in the senate, nancy pelosi in the house and her colleagues say you did not handle covid correctly why them were actually trying to impeach you. did the covid conversation come up at all during the impeachment trial or around that date? >> no. because we were focused on impeachment. >> i see. blame the distraction of impeachment for the government's failed response. planting the seed. >> -- on employment -- >> you've gotten so much done. >> yes. >> economic policy. foreign policy. naming judges, and in the face of all of this resistance, first you had the resistance from inside of your own government. you had the fbi working with the hillary clinton campaign. she paid for the dossier, used it to help entrap your campaign. then you had the media piling on. then you had an impeachment trial with no crimes.

the articles of impeachment abuse of power and obstruction of congress. then china throw the curveball with the virus. democrat mayors and governors refusing to stop crime and vandalism. all your first term. >> ended with his hard-hitting question. >> most dimple and most surprising for you in this last three and a half years, mr. president? >> then fueled the president's favorite attack line on biden's health. >> mr. president, i have reported on fox business before. that my medical sources have told me joe biden had two brain aneurysms. not one but two brain aneurysms. i pray to gots not true but my medical sources are solid on this, that he has had two brain aneurysms. i hope he's okay. do you believe that he should be disclosing that? >> maria, it is true, because

joe biden revealed that he suffered aneurysms decades ago. maybe one of maria bartiromos sources is the biden campaign website. click. it's all on there. two aneurysms in the 1980s and 2014 brain imaging giving him an all-clear. but go on. >> there's this movement now in the media trying to get joe biden to not debate you. >> trump pulled out of the second debate ensuring joe biden would not debate trump. check out this line of questioning -- >> can you explain why the department of defense has set up a ufo tax force? mr. president, as we wrap up up here, are are ufos? >> i have to check on that. i've heard that. heard it two days ago. i'm check on that. take a good, strong look at that. >> threw that one in there just because. of course, maria bartiromo wouldn't be a fox host without a

book plug. >> you told me, interview for my book, people were protective. an interview a couple weeks ago for my upcoming book -- >> and the endings of her interviews always greasing the hinges of the oval office door. >> mr. president, thank you so much for the time this morning. thanks for your leadership, sir. well, i'd like to come back tolt white house soon to do another interview, mr. president. >> we'll do that for you. >> come back to the white house. >> sure that can be arranged. ahead, stimulus stalemate on capitol hill. tonight's deadline is fast approaching's find out what both sides are saying about the negotiations, next.

we have breaking news. a big development in the case of breonna taylor. a judge youer isyou juror is allowed to speak. details on this.

wondering if the grand juror would be successful, shimon. appears they have been. >> they have been and the judge there in basically saying that the veil of secrecy on these grand jury proceedings needed to be lifted, that it was in the interest of citizens and that, "the ends of justice require disclosure." within minutes of this judge's ruling, this juror, juror, still anonymous. it's grand juror number one, release ad statement through thr lawyer. it's really striking. people need to understand how unprecedented something like this, for a grand juror to take this kind of action to come out and publicly speak about something that they disagree and when you read this statement, which i'm going to go ahead and read to you in a second, you understand why this grand juror did this, and what this grand juror says is that questions were asked about additional charges and the grand jury was

told there would be none because prosecutors didn't feel they could make them stick. the grand juror also says that they didn't agree that certain actions were justified nor did it decide that the indictment should be the only charges in the breonna taylor case. the grand jury was not given the opportunity to deliberate on those charges and deliverated only on what was presented to them and the juror writes, i cannot speak for other jurors but i can help the truth be told. that's been the big question here. exactly what did the attorney general present to the grand jurors in this case? he did admit that the only charges he did present to this grand juror, to this grand jury was those wanton endangerment charges. of course, i was out there, we were on the air as this was -- >> to be clear, shimon, wanton endangerment charges that had nothing to do with breonna

taylor's death. these were wanton endangerment charges that had to do with bullets from an officer that went an adjacent apartment to breonna taylor where it would have endangered other people. not her life. >> that's right. none of the charges that have been brought against the former detective, hankison, have anything to do with the death of breonna taylor. and that was the big controversy in all of this. you can see by reading this statement from this grand juror that they wanted to consider these other charges. they actually based on this statement, i'm mystified whether or not they were never given the opportunity and in reading this you can see why these jurors have all of these questions now, because also they argue that the attorney general, when he came out and publicly spoke about this case in that press conference, he wasn't truthful. he didn't give all the fact. that is wa this juror is ultimately saying. we were nevin given the opportunity to consider what we

thought we should consider. the law. the crime. never xplarn xplained any of th homicide, or self-defense and how maybe perhaps they wouldn't charge any of these officers because there was a claim of self-defense. simple what this juror writes and the pretty much -- just unprecedented, brianna. in the sense that this juror says that basically that prosecutors didn't bring any of these other charges or have them consider it, because they didn't think that it would stick. ultimately, part of this is what happens is prosecutors need to bring charges they think they can ultimately prove in a court of law and perhaps that could be their argument here from the prosecutors. this is just an unprecedented step in this entire investigation. . yeah. kentucky a.g. didn't make it clear at his initial press conference. really a lot of this was put on the grand jury whack tht de did did not return. weren't given all the options,

apparently is what this grand juror is saying. appreciate the report. hours way from house speaker nancy pelosi's deadline to reach a stimulus deal. hanging in the balance, millions of americans who desperately need relief. after months of debate speaker pelosi and treasury secretary steve mnuchin need to resolve significant policity put if they want to pass a relief bill before november 3rd. the two expected to speak in minutes. president trump weighed in this morning saying he'd like a bigger stimulus deal than even democrats want. >> i want to do it even bigger than the democrats. not every republican agrees with me but they will. but i want to do it even bigger than the democrats, because this is money going to people that did not deserve what happened to them coming out of china. now, to just put it very simply. we want to do it, but nancy pelosi doesn't want to do it. >> cnn's senior congressional correspondent manu raju is on capitol hill for us.

where do the talks stand? a reason for people who's need help to be hopeful at this point? >> reporter: they're still ongoing and difficult to get anything accomplished before election day just because of the significant differences that are still outstanding between the two side. nancy pelosi has said they have come closer on some sticking points such as the amount of money provided for testing for the coronavirus, with contact tracing, but a whole host of other issues. lic liability prebz like t like t like l

li liability protections. senate republicans aren't going on the level the president is. $2 trillion range. if a deal was reached between the administration and nancy pelosi had woe at leae would pu snoot floor for a vote. >> i'm aware discussions continue between the president and speaker about a larger package. obviously if that were to come over, we'd have to consider it, and would consider it. if a presidential supported bill clears the house at some point we'll bring it to the floor, yes. >> reporter: so i asked him, what about that price tall? $1.8 trillion? $2 trillion the president saying he wants a bigger deal? mcconnell pointedly were not e say he was comfortable. even if the deal is reached so um hurdling getting it across the finish line and across the presidential desk in just two weeks. >> and a report how republican

lawmakers are preparing for election day? >> reporter: a lot of republicans fearful that the president is poised to lose on election day looking at polls. a number saying they still believe he can pull it off. already a debate ongoing within the republican party what exactly a post-trump world would look like. some saying go back to the more med rit image, court younger voters, women voters, and others dig into the populous style of campaigning and don't go back tolt old ways. a number of republicans on the hill talking about that and some also concerned about the president's message up to ele z election day. attacks on dr. fauci, calls joe biden a criminal. arguing against the democrats and differences in policies. quit attacking the media. stay away from personal attacks, quit attacking fauci and focus on issues's one republican critical of the president, mitt

romney, of course, was the president's nominee in 2012. told me that i think our party is in trouble with young people increasingly with older people, minorities and those people in trouble fish years ago are now voting we have work to do. already, brianna, the election is not here yet. the party is bracing for potential loss and debating how to move ahead in case that happened. >> the damage with those groups is not the kind you just undough overnight. seeing, manu, for instance, vulnerable republicans sta are the to distance themselves from president trump. if he does lose, do you see in a way that sort of internal debate that you were talking about playing out as a schism in the republican party? >> reporter: no question about it, yeah. one senator, josh holly of missouri still thinks the president will win but a fight wirth the party no moot ematter

happens. not on the side of mitt romney. not go back to trade without limit. side with wall street in this view, nerd, don't endorse the pro-business policies really the hallmark of republican policies for so many years, when president trump came into office. you'll see that debate play 0ou. republicans running in 2024 and republicans coming to grips find themselves in the senate minority how do there is restructure post-trump. that debate, brianna, will happen and happen intensely publicly and privately should the president dougo down novemb 3rd. >> thank you. up next, mississippi's second surge. first big cities. now outbreaks are popping up in rural america and experts say race is playing a key role. plus, a significant step in reopening disneyland. employees are ready to return to work but this is not a done deal just yet.

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months after the pandemic shut down the so-called happiest place on earth, workers in disneyland in california say they are ready to return to work. for that and more coronavirus headlines from around the country, let's check in now with our cnn correspondents. >> i'm nick watt in california. it looks like disneyland employees are ready to go back to work. the union is going to find out about the safety measures they've been working on.

they say they're ready to go to orange county when it moves into a better tier. last month disney laid off 28,000 workers connected largely with the resort division. i'm dan simon. the number of people currently hospitalized in colorado with covid-19 has reached its highest point since may, which, of course, is a concerning trend for the state. health experts point to a variety of factors, including cooler weather, more people staying indoors, school and college reopenings, as well as general covid fatigue. in terms of hospital beds available, though, right now things appear to be okay with about 77% of the icu beds in use. in the meantime, the state has been feverishly working to increase the number of free testing sites available. right now there are 50 scattered throughout colorado. i'm adrian bronis in chicago. here in the midwest a kansas nursing home is reporting 62

residents contracted covid-19. among the 62, ten people died and one person is in the hospital. the others are receiving treatment at the facility. a representative with the nursing home says they are taking steps to prevent a future outbreak. i'm andy scholes in arlington, texas. a rocky regular season showed outbreaks with the marlins and the cardinals. major league baseball has made it to the world series. the dodgers and rays will face off at global line field. it will serve as the first ever neutral site for the world series. just like the national championship series, about 11,000 fans will be allowed to attend these dagames. they'll have to wear masks and be separated throughout the stadium in order to keep a safe distance. in georgia a key state in the race, voters are setting records with each passing hour. plus the man that oversaw the obama raid, he is endorsing

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cnn's amara walker is in georgia with more on record turnout. >> it is day nine of early voting and voters are continuing to turn out in record numbers. as of 8:00 p.m. monday, more than 1.7 million votes had been cast. that's according to the secretary of state. compare this to last year when about 7,000 ballots had been cast. that's a 142% increase in total turnout. georgia also seeing a 15% increase in the number of absentee ballots seen so far. now, reports are that the wait times have gone down as well. the band width is related to the poll pads that check in voters have been fully fixed. brianna? >> amara walker, thank you so much. after a health crisis and

cancellation in competing town halls, joe biden and donald trump will face off one last time. the final presidential debate is coming and special live coverage starts thursday at 7:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn, and our special coverage today continues now with jake tapper. welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. we begin today with the 2020 lead. two days ahead of the final trump/biden debate and two weeks out from election day. president trump doing all he can in this final sprint to rally his base. he's calling into his favorite television channel, continuing his reckless rally spree. today in erie, pennsylvania, coronavirus pandemic be damned and already downplaying expectations for the debate by criticizing the moderator, chris wallace, and the topics. plus there are new enforcement rules of debate rules, sayin