hello, everyone, thank you so much for joining me this sunday. down to the wire. two days to election day, 2020. the stakes are high, and so are tensions. the candidates making their final pushes on the campaign trail. in texas, the biden camp cancels a scheduled stop after this scene showing trump supporters in vehicles seemingly harassing, slowing down a biden/harris campaign bus. [ bleep ] look at that. oh, my god. >> the biden camp calling 911

and canceling its scheduled austin, texas, event out of an abundance of caution. neither biden nor harris were on that bus. trump appearing to endorse these tactics, posting another video on twitter with the words "i love texas." the president's campaign also facing criticism after a rally in must-win pennsylvania. the event happening in near-freezing temperatures. but it's what happened ward, his supporters stranded in the cold again, forced to walk miles back to their own vehicles after the rally. a similar scene happening last week in nebraska, and now new claims of voter suppression in battleground north carolina. [ chants ] >> i said black lives matter! >> a peaceful march to the voting polls turning into disarray. police pepper spraying a crowd after deeming the demonstration

unsafe and unlawful. all this with just 48 hours left for candidates to make their closing arguments. today both campaigns are laser focussed, criss-crossing at least six key states. we have reporters covering all of the key states on the campaign trail today. trump is speaking right now in michigan. first we begin with the biden campaign. cnn's m.j. lee is in philadelphia where joe biden will host his first event of the day in just a few hours. how is the biden campaign feeling about its efforts to turn out the vote? >> reporter: well, fred, joe biden is ending his campaign where it all started, and that is here in the state of pennsylvania. remember, his first-ever campaign rally as a candidate took place in pittsburgh. his campaign headquarters as you know is based here in philadelphia. this is where we are going to see him just behind me at a baptist church speak in just a few hours. of course, you know he was also born in scranton, pennsylvania.

so there are actually a number of reasons why it would make sense for the biden campaign to focus on this state in these final 48 hours. but of course there is also an important electoral reason for this, as well. one of the most obvious paths that the biden campaign sees to getting to 270 electoral votes is through here. the rustbelt states including the state of pennsylvania which, as you know, hillary clinton lost in 2016. we saw this morning senior adviser anita dunn telling rj tapper this morning that she feels good about the number of different pathways that they think exist to getting to that 270 number, but this is what she said is keeping her up at night these days. listen. >> the thing keeping me up is the same thing keeping people up on both sides i'm sure which is how do we get out the vote, how do we get out every single vote we can between now and when the polls close? and then how do we make sure all the votes get kaucounted and a

winner gets called? >> reporter: speaking of counting all the votes, we know that pennsylvania is going to be one of those states where it just might take a while for us to know the full results. we just want our viewers to be fully aware of that. but it is notable, fred, that we have seen the biden campaign in recent days over and over again stressing that they really don't want to be taking anything for granted. and that is why we are seeing them investing time and resources in these final states. also in states that are seeing more challenging, more competitive, we are talking about states like texas, like georgia, like north carolina. and i should note those final two states, that is exactly where we are going to see biden's running mate kamala harris campaigning today. >> what if anything is the camp saying about these efforts of intimidati intimidation, trump supporters, whether in texas or there other cases in which there was a lot of honking, disruptions coming from trump supporters at drive-in rallies for the

biden/harris camp? >> reporter: you know, i think they are just staying laser focused on the job at hand, and that really is getting out the vote, making sure that people are voting, and making sure that as we head in to election day that they feel certain that all of the votes are going to get counted. i do think this is why we saw anita dunn in the sound byte that we played saying this is the one thing that she is concerned about that is keeping her up at night. she just wants to make sure that given all of the efforts that they have put into making sure that voters turning out, that what we see on election day and beyond as these votes are getting counted, they want to make sure nobody is left behind and we see a process where every single person's ballot and in-person voting efforts are being counted. fred? >> thank you so much. president trump holding a rally with supporters right now. cnn's omar jimenez is there with more from the campaign trail. >> reporter: this is one of

multiple stops president trump is making and multiple states today in the final 48 hours leading up to the election. this first stop is in mccomb county, michigan, a county he actually flipped from democrat to republican in 2016 within a state of michigan that he won by less than a percentage point. yesterday joe biden and president trump were campaigning in detroit, but it was a time in texas when a biden campaign bus was surrounded by a caravan of trump-supporting vehicles to the point where campaign officials felt they needed to call law enforcement to help. and president trump seemed to endorse that behavior by tweeting out that video and saying, "i love texas." the main question is how is that going to play with voters? again, we are 48 hours away from election day, and the major question here in michigan is also how many people are still left that haven't voted. we have already seen 2.7 million

people cast their vote. that is more than half of the entire 2016 presidential election turnout. and more than half of the entire 2008 presidential turnout that saw the highest turnout in michigan history. again, as we look into how these votes are going to be counted leading up to election day, they can't start being counted until 7:00 a.m. election day itself. based on a new rule that came into place here in michigan, jurisdictions with more than 25,000 people will be able to start processing some of their ballots at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. fred? >> omar jimenez, thank you so much. early voter turnout is shattering records this year. more than 91 million americans have already voted, including in key battleground states that are critical for either nominee to win the white house. we have reporters in these critical states. let's begin with alexandra field in pittsburgh. pennsylvania is inarguably one

of the most important swing states. >> reporter: critical, indeed. this is also a state that's preparing for the likelihood of a legal challenge to ballots that are received after election day. so the secretary of state is again telling pennsylvanians this morning, get those mail-in ballots in, do it now, do it in person. that's what we're seeing behind me here in allegheny county. people lining up to drop off balleo ballots. statewide, 2.4 million mail-in ballots have been received out of the three million ballots that were requested. and people are being told just do this by hand this close to election day because there are concerns that it could take too long if you put it through the postal service. in central pennsylvania, the postal service there adding more employees to move ballots along a bit more swiftly. you heard my colleague mj lee saying that both campaigns are keeping a laser focus on this critical ballot -- battleground state, that is, of course,

because president trump won pennsylvania by just 44,000 votes. as for former vice president joe biden, recent polling shows that he's holding a narrow lead. for the view from milwaukee, i'll send it over to my colleague ryan young. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: so far we're seeing a lot of voters show up today in terms of the last day of this early voting part. take a look this direction. you see the people who have lined up. this line goes around the building so far. one of the things we also notice is there's a lot of care and handling going on, especially even with the pens being used here. they're being sprayed and disinfected. that's because the coronavirus has had an ill pact on the state -- impact on the state. 500,000 cases as of friday al e alone. 1.8 million people have already voted. that's 62% of the 2016 people who voted at one point. the lines have been very long. we've seen voters who are very excited about getting a part of the process. we've been checking in with the election commission just to see exactly what's going on. so far, no problems have been reported.

that is the good part. yesterday we saw man lines as people -- massive lines as people were trying to get in for the last few hours. today in the largest two counties in the state is the last day for the early voting -- or the in-person voting. there are still votes to be counted that are out there, and you can register on the last day to vote in this state. now over to susan malveaux in north carolina. >> reporter: good morning. well, while many north carolina voters were attending church services either in person or on zoom, we went to a warehouse to follow where these ballots are going, where they've been cast. they're assembling ballot booklets. and north carolina voters have shattered all previous records, talking about 4.5 million ballots that were cast in the early voting process. that's 60% of all registered north carolina voters, and 95% of all those who voted in north carolina in 2016. quite extraordinary. the books being produced to show the 38% of those who have not

actually voted. so when it comes to tuesday, those registration books will be able to get a hold of the discrepancies for those who show up at those polling places. at the same time, we're following an ugly story. this out of graham, north carolina. several hundred people -- it was a rally of get out the vote rally, peaceful, about 200 or so, calling themselves people for change led by a local reverend. they kneeled, a moment of silence for george floyd, before approaching the courthouse. officials, sheriff's deputies warned them, said they had to move out of the street, on to the sidewalk. and then pepper sprayed this group. many different social media and stories showing children throwing up, a woman who actually was in a motorized chair also impacted by the pepper spray. about a dozen or so including the reverend arrested in this incident. the governor, governor cooper, has spoken out against this

saying this is unacceptable behavior. also calling it voter intimidation. there are a lot of people who are following up on this to figure out just what happened, why this happened, and to hold these people accountable. multiple press conferences happening today to sort all of that out, as well. fred? >> wow. extraordinary on this eve to the big election. all right. suzanne, ryan, alexandra, thanks to all of you. appreciate that. from raleigh to denver, tensions so high cities are putting hurricane preparation-like measures into place. boarding up for fortunately post-election unrest. now is more from out macy's iconic flagship store in new york city which was boarded up friday. what more can you tell us about this? >> reporter: yeah, fred, macy's, bloomingdales in new york city, the luxury shopping section of soho, all boarded up. this is something that law

enforcement, not just here but as you mentioned across the country said they've never seen before an election. this is seriously unprecedented. and what we're learning essentially is these businesses are all taking precautions, unsure of what to expect not only on election day but, of course, following after. law enforcement doing the same. concerns of what you heard, voter intimidation, possible unrest after the election, wide-scale protests happening, extremist groups acting out, possible domestic terrorism incidents that we have seen, particularly over the summer. it's been decades, quite honestly, since we've seen stores board up to begin with. we know that law enforcement, they're working together -- i've talked to sources who say particularly in new york there's not a major concern of major unrest, but more so in the battleground states. and of course, there's coordination on the local, the state, the federal levels, all across this country for anything that could come not just on election day, but of course in the days after awards. in talking to people here in new york, at least i can tell you

that they say there's a little bit of anxiety in the air. one person told us she doesn't expect to leave her apartment on election day and the days after just for fear for what might be on the city streets in those days. there's anxiety, but right now it's all about preparation for the couple days and possibly weeks to come. fred? >> all right. br brynn, thank you so much. two members of the coronavirus task force squaring off as the pandemic gets worse. dr. anthony fauci criticizing dr. scott atlas who just appeared on russia state media. reportedly from the white house. plus, rappers throwing their support behind president trump. will it help in his re-election efforts? and take a look. live pictures now, houston, texas, where trump supporters are holding a car rally. our countdown to election coverage continues. 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. ♪ inflammation in your eye might be to blame.ck, and this town said: not today. looks like a great day for achy, burning eyes over-the-counter eye drops typically work by lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief. ha! these drops probably won't touch me. xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. what is that? xiidra, noooo! it can provide lasting relief. xiidra is the only fda approved treatment specifically for the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. one drop in each eye, twice a day. don't use if you're allergic to xiidra. common side effects include eye irritation,

discomfort or blurred vision when applied to the eye, and unusual taste sensation. don't touch container tip to your eye or any surface. after using xiidra, wait 15 minutes before reinserting contacts. got any room in your eye? talk to an eye doctor about twice-daily xiidra. i prefer you didn't! xiidra. not today, dry eye. will be to get control the of the virus will take that has ruined so many lives. what would joe biden do to beat covid? double testing sites so we can safely reopen, manufacture ppe here in america, restore the white house pandemic office, save the affordable care act and protections for pre-existing conditions. this is not a partisan moment. this must be american moment. ff pac is responsible for the content of this ad. (fisherman vo)ce) how do i register to vote?ential election...

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! (grandma vo) it's the most important thing you can do!

iphone 12 and iphone 12 pro are here on verizon 5g. this new iphone plus verizon 5g... game changer. (vo) with the coverage of 5g nationwide and in more and more cities, the performance of 5g ultra wideband, the fastest 5g in the world. whoa. i downloaded a whole movie in under 30 seconds, how is that possible? (vo) now get iphone 12 on us when you switch. i want this phone. (vo) this is the 5g phone everyone wants on the 5g america's been waiting for. only on verizon.

welcome back. the nation's top infectious disease expert with a grim warning about the months ahead for the u.s. with coronavirus cases surging to record levels across the country, dr. anthony fauci telling the "washington post," quote, we're in for a whole lot of hurt. it's not a good situation. you could not pollen ssibly be positioned more poorly. he criticize dr. scott atatlas r his lack of expertise saying, this is fauci, quote, i have real problems with that guy. he's a smart guy who's talking about things that i believe he doesn't have any real insight or knowledge or experience in,en quote. dr. atlas giving an extensive, jaw-dropping interview on the

kremlin-controlled propaganda tv network, rt, downplaying the pandemic, and according to the footage, atlas did this from the white house. >> lockdowns have been one of -- will go down ads an epic failure of public policy by people who refuse to accept they were wrong, were wrong, refused to accept they were wrong, didn't know the data, didn't care, and became a frenzy of stopping covid-19 cases at all costs. those costs are massive. >> brian stelzer anchor of "reliable sources "with the with us and matthew chance, senior correspondent from moscow. good to see both of you. matthew, first. what is the level of interest for russia in this? >> reporter: oh, well, i mean, i don't think russia does have a stake in what's going in the united states. what it does want to do, according to u.s. intelligence

agencies, remember, who have said this, is use it state media to sow discore, to spread misinformation about covid-19, and to generally sort of make trouble in the world outside of its borders. and russia today is one of the main kremlin-backed television channels that it uses to do this. and so it's extraordinary that somebody of the trump administration given their history with allegations of association with -- with russia, for them to do this from the actual grounds of the white house which is what scott atlas has done, you know, when he appeared on russia in the interview. but it's extraordinary that, you know, if you're from the trump administration, you know very well about the allegations that i've just pointed out. that russia today is one of the means by which the kremlin spreads its propaganda and disinformation throughout the world. so by appearing on that -- that channel, you will sort of -- you are contributing or leaving

yourself open to the allegation that you're contributing to the effort. so why would you do it? well, i listened to that interview. 27 minutes of unchallenged views which are beyond what the mainstream medical community thinks about covid, talking about things like how lockdowns are killing americans, how america was hysterical about covid-19, and dismissing basically estimates of what the death toll could be if more measures are not put in place. this was -- it appeared on any respectable tv channel, dr. atlas would have been challenged by this. >> this was extraordinary, too, because the coronavirus impact is sizable there in russia, as well. so you've got dr. atlas who is discrediting the validity of how hard it is impacting russia. is that in step with what putin, the putin administration leadership is trying to, you know, imbue on russians?

>> reporter: it is. no, what you have to remember about russia today, as well, it's not russian language, it's english language, it's not intended for russians. it's intended for people outside of russia. while you've got someone like scott atlas basically denigrating the idea of mask usage, just the last week in russia there was a nationwide mask mandate imposed in which everybody in this country in any public place in any public transport, inside shops, even in a car park in this country, you have to wear a face mask. so, you know, giving a platform to view the message on the international station, but inside the borders of russia. they're taking strict measures to make sure that they try to keep their pandemic under as much control as possible. >> brian, so extraordinary that you would have dr. atlas, the handpicked doctor from, you know, from -- handpicked from president trump and then

possibly doing this interview from the white house. again, you know, based on the images that are seen, that's the presumption, that it is done from the white house. >> reporter: right. that's the appearance. it's labeled from the white house. and this is happening at the same time that the top medical experts like dr. anthony fauci are worried the white house is going to tell them not to do any more interviews, yet atlas can speak to the propaganda network. why? he's undermining science and telling a story that president trump likes. history will look back on this with so much shame and regret. i think we're going to look back someday and say why wasn't the president holding daily coronavirus briefings when the number of cases in this country were starting at 100,000 or higher. it's shocking on multiple levels. >> it is shocking. all right. brian, thank you so much, appreciate it. and matthew from moscow. all right. our election countdown coverage continues in a moment.

first, president trump is speaking right now in michigan, one of five states he is visiting today. our team coverage from the campaign trail continues in a moment. as we head to a break, 25 seconds that will make you feel good about politics. four governors from three different parties urging people to vote. >> there may not be a clear winner. >> but no matter who wins let's demonstrate the decency that minnesotans are known for. >> there is so much more that unites us rather than divides us. >> let's show the country there's a better way. the most dangerous thing about rheumatoid arthritis is often unseen. because the pain you're feeling could be a sign of irreversible joint damage. every day you live with pain, swelling, and stiffness... you risk not being able to do the things you love.

especially in these times, it's important to keep up with your rheumatologist. schedule an appointment today. i started this campaign saying we were in the battle for the soul of the nation. i believe that even more deeply today. who we are, what we stand for, and maybe most importantly, who we are going to be, it's all at stake. character is on the ballot, the character of the country, and this is our opportunity to leave the dark, angry politics of the past four years behind us, to choose hope over fear, unity over division, science over fiction. i believe it's time to unite the country, to come together as a nation, but i can't do it without you. so i'm asking for your vote. we need to remember this is the united states of america,

and there's never been anything we've been unable to do when we've done it together. i'm joe biden, and i approve this message. with this seal, this restaurant is committing to higher levels of cleanliness. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the expertise that helps keep hospitals clean, is helping keep businesses clean too. look for the ecolab science certified seal. girls are gonna grow up and be about buproud of me for. that my reporter: facebook ceo mark zuckerberg admits a "operational mistake" after the company failed to take down a page promoting vigilante events in kenosha. the complaint says one of the 6 main suspects, adam fox,

live streamed a video on a private facebook group. zuckerberg: i go home and just ask, "will my girls be proud of what i did today?" it's moving day. and are doing the heavy lifting,

jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. it only takes about a minute. wait, a minute? but what have you been doing for the last two hours? delegating? oh, good one. move your xfinity services without breaking a sweat. now that's simple, easy, awesome. xfinity makes moving easy. go online to transfer your services in about a minute. get started today.

all right. right now president trump is wrapping up a rally in the first of five states that he plans to visit today. joe biden is focusing on pennsylvania after canceling events in texas after trump supporters swarmed a biden campaign bus, as you see. join me to discuss is brittany shepherd, national politics reporter for yahoo! news, who is in delaware traveling with joe biden, and jeff mason, white house correspondent for "reuters." good to see you. brittany, you first. president trump tweeted out a video appearing to encourage this kind of activity. what is the message that he is sendin sending? >> well, it's hard to get inside the president's mind, but it seems to be that the president and his family and those in the white house orbit is stressed

about texas and that it might be okay to incite his fans and his followers to get in biden campaign staffers' face. i mean, there's been some clamor in democratic circles, worry that at polls on tuesday there will be poll watchers who are favorable to donald trump. they're kind of intimidating voters, and i think what we saw in texas might be a bit of a grim indication of what might happen on tuesday. you know, texas is a state that is largely in play for the first time in a very long time for democrats. trump is up between averages i think one -- only 1% on biden. and i think that, you know, perhaps some of donald trump's most fervent supporters might see his tweet and language from his son that it is okay to get up in the face of biden supporters, especially if that margin is as close tuesday, wednesday, and thursday, and we get into a contested election. >> so jeff, perhaps this is par for the course?

you know, right, for the president. if he sees something like that intimidation, he applauds it or, perhaps, your experience recently of the ribbing that happens when you or others wear masks to protect against the pandemic. here is the moment that you had with the president recent lee my. >> reporter: jeff mason with "reuters" -- >> he's got a mask on, the largest mask i've seen. i don't know if you can hear me. >> reporter: so clearly, jeff, is not changing minds at this point. he is preaching to his choir. the question is when democrats seem to dominate, you know, the early voting numbers in certain states, is this how the president gets republicans out in these final two days to vote for him? >> reporter: i'm having trouble with my ifb, so i'm sure what

the question was. if we're talking broadly about the campaign, i did spend the last several days traveling with president trump in pennsylvania. yesterday he did four rallies that i was at as part of a pool. there's a lot of enthusiasm coming out for president trump. so as we see the polls tightening in that state and in the others that he is fighting to win, i can tell you just -- remember in 2016 a lot of people did dismiss crowd sizes. and the trump campaign at that time said don't dismiss this, that's what they're saying again now. they are seeing a lot of enthusiasm coming out for him. no doubt both candidates are pushing hard in the final couple of days of this race. but the trump campaign is showing quite a bit of optimism because of that momentum that they're seeing in terms of people coming up -- coming out, and in terms of the polls tightening in key swing states. >> jeff, as we are looking estimate images now, we understand these are images coming out of texas.

this time, houston, a caravan of cars there. you can see the flags waving. trump support. brittany, you know, the trump campaign is touting what it says is growing support from black voters. that image not necessarily, you know, exemplifying that, but the president is touting he's getting support even from, you know, black celebrities including, you know, 50 cent, who has spoken favorably about trump's tax policies. listen to this clip from "saturday night live" mocking this kind of support. >> why in the name of all that is holy would you be voting for trump? >> taxes. >> taxes. >> trump's got a new platinum plan. >> that's right. if you got a platinum record, you can plan on him doing photo op with you. [ laughter ] >> all right.

recently lil wayne threw his support behind trump. so is there something, you know, to the white house, you know, latching on to some black celebrities thinking that it can connect with black voters as if there is some, you know, monolithic voting going on? >> well, fred, first i think it needs to be said that all of those reasons that you touted are rich people. if we're thinking about voters as intersectional, they are both black and rich. very likely making over $400,000 in which biden's tax plan would make them pay more money. at the end of the day, people say -- they lead with what impacts them more. i would also say that those voters are not necessarily -- those three rappers are not a good cross section of the black experience across the country, at least when i talked to voters like right here in wilmington. it should be said that donald trump and his campaign is making some gains with black voters. i think last time around they were getting a 9%, 10% favorability. averages now, it's 13%.

3%, not a big number, but it's a little bit of a gain. like jeff was saying, it comes to turnout. even if you get 1,000 more people at one polling place or another, you know, that little difference really matters, especially in states like florida and georgia where black voters can be -- can determine it one way or another. that's why the biden campaign is putting so much money into states that seemed like reaches in previous elections because they think they can get black men to turn out. and frankly, i think the bigger issue is if black men don't vote at all. that's why democrats are worried, and republicans are banking on to deliver a similar result to what happened last time. >> and both camps, you know, really criss-crossing a good portion of the country. georgia, you mentioned, north carolina, iowa, you know, michigan, pennsylvania, dotting the map for biden as well as trump and all of their surrogates and running mates.

thank you so much, brittany shepherd and jeff mason, appreciate it. after a race like no other it all ends here. join us for special coverage the way only cnn can bring it to you from the first votes to the critical count. understand what's happening in your state and across the country. election night in america, our special coverage starts tuesday 4:00 p.m. eastern time. next, the road to 270 votes. we'll have a closer look at voting in the sunbelt, and we're standing by for senator kamala harris who is speaking in gwinnett county, georgia, outside of atlanta. we're all finding ways to keep moving. and at fidelity, you'll get planning and advice to help you prepare for the future, without sacrificing what's most important to you today. because with fidelity, you can feel confident that the only direction you're moving is forward. good morning, mr. sun. good morning, blair. [ chuckles ] whoo. i'm gonna grow big and strong. yes, you are. i'm gonna get this place all clean. i'll give you a hand.

and i'm gonna put lisa on crutches! wait, what? said she's gonna need crutches. she fell pretty hard. you might want to clean that up, girl. excuse us. when owning a small business gets real, progressive helps protect what you built with customizable coverage. -and i'm gonna -- -eh, eh, eh. -donny, no. -oh.

-and i'm gonna -- -eh, eh, eh. it's moving day. and are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. it only takes about a minute. wait, a minute? but what have you been doing for the last two hours? delegating? oh, good one. move your xfinity services without breaking a sweat. now that's simple, easy, awesome. xfinity makes moving easy. go online to transfer your services in about a minute. get started today.

both campaigns are in the south to court voters in the pair of critical battleground states in the sunbelt. president trump will make stops in rome, georgia, and open locka, florida, today. next hour, democratic vice presidential nominee kamala harris will be campaigning in gwinnett county, georgia, outside of atlanta, before heading to north carolina. phil mattingly, cnn congressional correspondent, joining me now. phil, how key is the souunbelt both candidates getting to 270

electoral votes and the white house? >> reporter: one thing i think yanke everybody's trying to remind everybody about is 2020 is not 2016. part of the reason it's a different election is because of the sunbelt. let's go back to the 2016 map. this is largely the pathway that president trump and his team are attempting to reclaim again. and it's largely the pathway that vice president biden and his team are attempting to learn the lessons of 2016 from. and the reality remains the same. the midwest, the rustbelt, that is the pathway to 270 for president trump. blocking that pathway is likely vice president biden's quickest way to 270. however, the folks down here, down here through the sunbelt, underscores a key reality that there are more states in play, at least that democrats think are in play, than perhaps there were in 2016. let's look at the reason why. go through the polling is where things stand now. florida, north carolina, these have been tossup states for the last several cycles, and they continue to be and likely will for the foreseeable future. look at the numbers in georgia.

right now cnn's polls have bye-bye wi-- has bien with the three-point lead. this is very tight. democrats making clear they believe that shows they have a clear opportunity. then you look at the pre-election day vote. the vote by mail, vote in person, as well, i'll add texas in here, too, because the numbers are so bonkers. 109% of the entire 2016 vote in texas has come in. and nobody really has any idea where that surge has come from necessarily. georgia 95%. north carolina, 93%. arizona at 92%. forida, 89%. the reality is the enthusiasm is unparalleled, and a lot of it is coming from this area. not just because of vote by mail but early vote in person. what does that mean for the map? look, if you're the biden campaign, the reality remains the same. your quickest way to 270 based on president trump's 2016 map, you win pennsylvania, michigan, you win back wisconsin, the blue wall is re-established. you're back over 270.

however, factor in what if president trump wins pennsylvania, what if president trump wins the state of wisconsin? did it in 2016. the polls in wisconsin don't look great for trump, but perhaps he can do it again. perhaps pennsylvania tightens up. you're looking down here, looking at georgia, you're looking at arizona where democrats very much feel like they have a slight edge right now. obviously you're always paying attention to florida and north carolina. what happens if you lose pennsylvania and you're the biden campaign, if you lose wisconsin, you're the biden campaign. but you flip the state of georgia and you flip the state of arizona. right now, fred, it's all about pathways. there's no question about it. the biden campaign looks at the midwest and see that's as their easiest pathway. when you look at georgia and see kamala harris in gwinnett county, vice president biden making visits to arizona, they're trying to keep pathways open because you never know what's going to happen on election night. right now the numbers say, at least at the moment, georgia, arizona, might be in play. >> wow. and then phil, i got to ask you to shift gears. we're learning that biden is going to be in cleveland, ohio,

tomorrow. so what does it say about the strategy, what does is say did ohio? ohio is always in play. but why the attention now from the biden camp? >> reporter: look, it's fascinating. as an ohio an, as an ohioan who's used to ohio being a swing state, let's look at what happened in 2016. donald trump blew hillary clinton out of the water in the state of ohio. ohio is usually a one, two-point race. the clinton campaign was still coming into cleveland in the last couple of days thinking they had a shot. donald trump won by 450,000 votes. where vice president biden is going is important, cuyahoga county, the home of cleveland. looking to boost up urban turnout, looking to boost up african-american turnout, as well. i think the key thing when you talk to democrats and republicans in ohio, republicans feel like they will win. they feel like it will be close. however, they acknowledge it's tighter than they expected it to be. part of the reason why it's tighter than they expected, you come down to cincinnati. you come down here to hamilton county. you start to look at pushing out into the suburbs. it's the same formula the

democrats used in 2018 to win back the house. it's the formula they're relying on in two 200220-- in 2020. you go into cleveland, cuyahoga county, and use columbus to try to run up some vote, push into the suburbs of franklin county, those they believe are real opportunities based on how women and suburban voters have moved away and if they can adopt turnout. can they do it? there's questions about it. the fact biden is going there says they at least believe they've got a shot. >> it underscores the importance of the able to shift gears as they head to the finish line. phil mattingly, thank you so much. appreciate it. still ahead, two key senate seats up for grabs in georgia, and the races are getting hotter than ever. plus, senator kamala harris hits the campaign trail in georgia and will speak at any moment. there live, our countdown to election coverage continues in a moment. (vo) 5g just got real. iphone 12 and iphone 12 pro are here on verizon 5g. this new iphone plus verizon 5g...

game changer. (vo) with the coverage of 5g nationwide and in more and more cities, the performance of 5g ultra wideband, the fastest 5g in the world. whoa. i downloaded a whole movie in under 30 seconds, how is that possible? (vo) now get iphone 12 on us when you switch. i want this phone. (vo) this is the 5g phone everyone wants on the 5g america's been waiting for. only on verizon. this is joe biden. blaci'm not afraid to say it. inequities have to be met head-on.

african-americans need a fair shake when it comes to economic opportunity, healthcare, criminal justice, education, and housing. that's why, if i'm elected, we'll raise the minimum wage to a living wage of $15 an hour. we'll root out systemic racism in our criminal justice system. so i'm asking for your vote. i'm joe biden, and i approve this message. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are getting clearer ♪ yeah i feel free ♪ to bare my skin, yeah that's all me. ♪ ♪ nothing and me go hand in hand ♪ ♪ nothing on my skin that's my new plan. ♪ ♪ nothing is everything. woman: keep your skin clearer with skyrizi. with skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. of those, nearly 9 out of 10 sustained it through 1 year. and skyrizi is 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. ♪ i see nothing in a different way ♪ ♪ and it's my moment so i just gotta say ♪ ♪ nothing is everything.

skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, such as fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or coughs or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. ♪ nothing is everything. woman: now is the time to ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. woman: now is the time to ask who'sgovernor gavin newsom. the governor says prop 15 is, "fair, phased-in, and long overdue reform", that "will exempt small businesses and residential property owners." join governor newsom. vote yes on 15.

who's supkamala harris.5? harris says, "a corporate tax loophole has allowed billions to be drained from our public schools and local communities. no more. i'm proud to support prop 15." vote yes. schools and communities first is responsible for the content of this ad.

all right. live images now outside of atlanta in duluth, georgia. you're looking at congressman hank johnson, he's doing the intro to what will become an intro for senator kamala harris. vice presidential nominee there. of course, we'll continue to monitor the remarks there. the president of the united states also heading to georgia later on today. georgia is clearly a battleground state. we explain why. ♪ >> reporter: it's a problem many republicans did not foresee. two gop-held senate seats in georgia at risk of flipping to the democrats. republican senator david purdue struggling to fend off a candidate less than half his age. >> you're 33 years old. why are you qualified to be a senator? >> when people look at

washington, the last thing they say is that there's too many young people in positions of power. >> reporter: asoff accused purdue of ignoring the coronavirus crisis and seeking to profit from it. >> it's not just that you're a crook senator, it's that you're attacking the health of the people that you represent. >> reporter: purdue spending big on tv ads defending himself over stock trades he said were made without his knowledge. >> i was completely cleared by the bipartisan senate ethics committee, the doj, and sec. the truth matters. >> reporter: as polls show a tight race, purdue stoked controversy by mocking the name. joe biden's running mate, senator coronavir-- senator kams at a rally. purdue abruptly pulled out of this sunday's debate choosing instead to attend president trump's rally. it's consistent with his efforts to avoid the media. his campaign would not disclose his plans this week, but cnn learned he was in central

georgia. his supporters tried to block our camera. and prevent any questions. >> he's not going to do an interview. >> reporter: as he made his way to the bus, cnn tried to reach out. the campaign wouldn't tell us where you were doing, what you were doing. i'm wondering why that was. >> you asked me a question -- >> reporter: yeah, your other -- purdue said his race is closed due to an influx of my voters. he's critical of you and areas saying it was racist. >> that's all he can talk about. he sure can't talk about his agenda. thanks, guys. thanks -- >> reporter: tuesday's winner must receive more than 50% of the vote. if not the top two will compete in a january runoff. that is almost certain an appointed senator will hold georgia's other senate seat. the gop is bitterly divided after congressman doug collins

jumped into that race. >> he's one of the most liberal republicans in the u.s. house of representatives. >> i tell you what it is, you're pretending to be somebody you're not -- >> reporter: as they fight to get into the runoff, they are targeting their base and not swing voters campaigning as trump loyalists. is there any issue in which you disagree with the president on? >> no. look, the president like myself, he's a political outsider. >> reporter: claiming to be unaware of trump's boast to "access hollywood" about sexually assaulting women. >> i'm not familiar with that. >> reporter: the "access hollywood" reporting -- >> no. look, this president is fighting for america. >> reporter: collins also defended trump including on the pandemic. you're not quibbling with his response at all in any way to the crisis? >> i don't quibble -- i don't go back and forth. >> reporter: the fight has left the top democratic faux, rafael warnock, largely unscathed. >> i think that's a bizarre thing for anybody running for the senate to say. that i -- 100% with any

president. >> reporter: both would not say how they would differ from joe biden. i asked them are there any issues in which you break from the democratic presidential nominee, they would not say. they both claimed that they would be an independent voice but did not provide any specifics differences and pushed back that they would be 100% in line with their party's leader, unlike the republicans who are aligning themselves very closely with this president. manu raju, cnn, capitol hill. >> thank you, manu. more countdown to the election after this. our retirement plan with voya gives us confidence. they help us with achievable steps along the way... ...so we can spend a bit today, knowing we're prepared for tomorrow. wow dad, do you think you overdid it maybe? i don't think so... what do you think, peanut? nope! honey, do you think we overdid it? overdid what? see? we don't think so, son. technically, grandparents can't overdo it. it's impossible. well planned, well invested, well protected. voya. be confident to and through retirement.

kisave it slimeball.ting her congestion. i've upgraded to mucinex. we still have 12 hours to australia. mucinex lasts 12 hours, so i'm good. now move! kim, no! mucinex lasts 3x longer for 12 hours.

hello again. thank you so much for joining me. i'm frederica whitfield. down to the wire.

two days to election day 2020. the stakes are high, and so are tensions. the campaigns making their final pushes on the trail. happening this hour, vice presidential nominee kamala harris speaking in georgia, a state that's become a battleground for both camps. in texas the biden campaign was forced to cancel a scheduled stop after this scene -- trump supporters in vehicles seemingly harassing, slowing down a biden/harris campaign bus. [ bleep ] look at that. oh, my god. >> the biden camp calling 911 and canceling its scheduled austin, texas, event out of an abundance of caution. neither biden nor harris was on board the bus. president trump appearing to endorse these tactics, posting another video on twitter with the words "i love texas." all this with just 48 hours left for candidates to make their closing argument. today both campaigns are laser

focused, criss-crossing at least six key states. we have reporters across the campaign trail covering these critical last few hours of this monumental election. let's start in iowa where the president will be speaking in the next hour. cnn's jeremy diamond is there right now. iowa is a state trump won by nearly ten points in 2016. yet he still feels the need to campaign there today? why? >> reporter: yeah. this state, the race has been tighter here than the president perhaps expected. it does appear to be tilting in these final days of the election back toward the president, one in t-- nonetheless, president trump playing defense in iowa as he is in so many states across the country that he won back in 2016. the president stopped in michigan earlier today, another state that he narrowly won in 2016, and he's got three more stops after he comes here to iowa as he campaigns in this mad dash to election day. now, what we had heard from the president during his last stop

is once again continuing to try and draw contrast with joe biden on this issue of the coronavirus pandemic. we know that the president has been holding events like this one where you have hundreds or sometimes thousands of people closely packed together. very few people actually wearing masks. here in iowa, it appears that about half -- excuse me, about half the folks are wearing masks here at this rally. nonetheless, the president is trying to paint joe biden's position as one where he wants to have a permanent lockdown, which is not at all what the former vice president joe biden has actually described. president trump for his part is trying to really deny reality here as it relates to this pandemic. insisting that the surge that we are all seeing across the country in terms of cases, hospitalizations, and even deaths, the president insisting it is not happening. now we also know that president trump is expected to move his election night party perhaps. he was expected to hold the party at the trump hotel in washington. now sources telling cnn that the

president may instead hold an election night party at the white house. that will allow him to bypass those coronavirus regulations in washington, d.c., and host perhaps dozens if not hundreds inside the white house for an election night party. fred? >> okay. then the president tweeting out a video of his supporters surrounding a biden campaign bus in texas. what more do we know about the message he's sending, why he decided to do that, et cetera? >> reporter: yeah. well, we saw that scene as you were showing that video in your intro there. you know, several trump supporters in trucks and cars surrounding this biden/harris campaign bus in texas. and it appears that federal authorities -- that the authorities in texas are looking into that situation. but the president for his part, he didn't have any words of condemnation or criticism for those trump supporters who appeared to come dangerously close to that biden campaign bus. instead, the president taking to twitter to say "i love texas,"

appearing to almost endorse the actions of the trump supporters who were surrounding that bus. the biden campaign for its part has said that it canceled several stops in texas as a result of that situation. fred? >> all right. thank you so much for that. so the biden campaign now slamming president trump for tweeting out that video of his supporters swarming a biden campaign bus in texas. and the president saying "i love texas." biden's spokesperson responding by calling out the trump team for leaving a large crowd stranded in the cold after the president's pennsylvania rally. partly due to a shortage of shuttle buses, tweeting, the biden camp tweeting this -- maybe you should spend more time worrying about those buses than ours. cnn's m. m.j. lee is in philadelphia where joe biden will be hosting his first event of the day in just a couple of hours, m.j. >> reporter: hey, fred. well, it is not a mistake that we are seeing joe biden ending

his campaign where it really all started. you know that his first event, campaign event as a candidate was in pittsburgh, and his campaign headquarters is based here in philadelphia. just a couple of hours, we'll see the former vice president speak at a baptist church right behind me. and of course you know that he was also born in scranton, pennsylvania, so a lot of reasons, again, why it would make personal sense for biden to spend much of the last 48 hours of the campaign in the state. but of course, there are huge political reasons why his campaign would be focused here, as well. one of the biggest and most obvious paths of the biden campaign can see of getting to the 270 electoral votes. runs through the rustbelt and includes the state of pennsylvania, a state that hillary clinton lost in 2016. and interestingly, biden's senior adviser, anita dunn, told jake tapper on "state of the union" earlier that they are feeling good about the fact that they feel like there are multiple paths of getting to 270

on election night. take a listen to this. >> we feel confident about where we are, and we feel very confident about our pathways to victory. you know, usually at this point in a campaign the number of states where you're competing tends to shrink. you know, the closer you get to election, the smaller the number. >> reporter: and something else that we heard anita dunn saying is that one thing that is keeping her up at night these days is making sure that every vote actually gets counted. and as we have been talking about all week, pennsylvania could be and is expected to be one of those states where it just takes us a little while longer than past election night to know what the actual results are. so we want to make sure that everybody is expecting that and that that is not out of what the expectations are right now. i will also just note that it is interesting that we are seeing the biden campaign, including biden himself, stressing a lot lately that they are really not

wanting to take anything for granted. and a part of that strategy is to make sure that they are campaigning not just in the rustbelt, not just spending their resources and time here, but also making sure that they are pouring time and resources into other places that might be a little bit more difficult, a little bit more competitive. so we are talking about places like texas, like georgia, like north carolina, and i should note, georgia and north carolina are the two states where we expect to see biden's running mate, kamala harris, campaigning today. fred? >> in fact, very soon -- soon there where you are will be biden, very soon in georgia, in duluth, out of atlanta. kamala harris will be there. and right now in the lead up to seeing the vice presidential nominee harris. this is former georgia democratic governor candidate stacey abrams there before that crowd just outside of atlanta ahead of kamala harris' arrival.

all right. early voter turnout this year is breaking records like never before. more than 91 million maryland terps have already voted -- million americans have hear voted in key battleground states. we have reporters this these key states starting with gary tuchman in delaware, ohio. a lot of enthusiasm around early voting this year in the buckeye state included. >> reporter: well, that's right, fred. delaware county is just north of the state capital of columbus. and we can tell you that there's a lot of enthusiasm in this county for early voting. right now at about 60% of their total vote for 2016. behind me are some of the 200,000 citizens who live in this county. this is also the birthplace of the 19th president of the united states, rutherford b. hayes. they share that heritage with the president of the united states. we can tell threw are a lot of days in the state of ohio for early voting. this is a sunday -- one of only

five states that has early voting on sunday. this is the 23rd day of early voting in ohio. tomorrow will be the 24th day. there are lots of days and lots of hours, but not lots of locations. it is law that each of the counties is only allowed to have one location for early voting. now i talked to the republican secretary of state a short time ago. he told me that he would like to see in the future more locations per county. but it's up to the legislature to do that. what they do have in ohio is a lot of tolerance for late absentee ballots. you have to have your absentee ballot postmarked by tomorrow, but you're allowed to have the mail deliver it until november 13th. ten days after the election. i talked to the secretary of state about that. >> every legally cast ballot deserves to be counted and will be counted by our boards of elections and reported as part of the final certified result at the end of november. >> reporter: ten days after election day. without putting pressure on your shoulders as a republican secretary of state, when the president talks about he want the results by november 3rd, you

don't agree with that? >> that's not the way elections work. it's simply not. it's not the way election work in ohio or most any other state. >> reporter: polls show the race too close to call here in the state of ohio. now we go to the battleground state of florida and my colleague randi kaye. >> reporter: thanks, gary. this is the final day of early in-person voting here in the state of florida. and we are breaking records. 8.7 million people have already voted here in the state of florida in the early voting process. that's well over 50% of the registered voters here in the state. if you want to look at what is voting, there's a professor at the university of florida who digs pretty deep on this stuff. and he said that only about 43% of the independent voters or npas as they call them, no party affiliation, have voted. so the question is who did they vote for, where are the rest of them, they planning to sit this out, or will they vote in person on election day since this is

the final hours of early voting. in 2016, those independents who voted on election day did break for donald trump. another thing that professor found is that many young people haven't voted yet. only about 39% of those 18 to 23 have voted compared to 70% of those 65 and over. if you break it down by race, this professor says that african-american and hispanic voters are lagging while voter by 7% points. we spoke to one voter about that. here's what he said -- >> there's definitely great excitement amongst african-american, latinos. it's hard to say, i think a lot, too, has to do with absentee ballot. a lot is going in the mail this year. rather than seeing a lot of folks at the polls in this area. i truly believe a lot of people are still voting. >> reporter: getting that african-american and latino vote is a huge part of the biden strategy. it's why kamala harris made three stops here yesterday. it's why barack obama is coming

back here tomorrow. no republican candidate has won the -- won the white house without the state of florida since 1924, calvin coolidge. no doubt the biden campaign is trying to deny donald trump a win here in this state. so they are trying to eat into those margins. now to paolo sandoval in nashua, new hampshire. >> reporter: hey, so the trump campaign is hoping to do in new york is try to break that 20-year trend. you see not since 2000 have the four electoral votes in new hampshire been awarded to a republican presidential candidate. that is why in fact the president visited the state a week ago, why he continues to send in surrogates to speak to voters. boy, have they been involved in the state of new hampshire. the secretary of state reporting that close to a quarter million absentee ballots were requested. out of those, over 181,000 have already been returned. that is more than twice the amount of absentee ballot ths f

2016. come tuesday, counting those will be a monumental task. that's one of the reasons why we've been seeing multiple efforts here, including this partial preprocessing of all of these ballots. that means that volunteers, election officials for the last several days and will continue to do this tomorrow, have been removing that outer envelope and then putting that other envelope containing the actual ballot aside for tuesday. clerks here telling us that the benefits there are twofold. not only does that -- one less thing to worry about on what will be a busy election day, but it also allows volunteers and election officials to identify ballots that were perhaps improperly submitted or maybe not even signed. and in those cases, those ballots are rejected. those voters are contacted by election officials and given the opportunity to rectifrec rectif issue. every vote is counted. it is a critical state in the primary and a key state or at least a state to watch come election day, as well, fred. >> among many.

thanks to all of you. appreciate it. after a race like no other, it ends here. join us for special live coverage the way only cnn can bring it to you. from the first votes to the critical count, understand what's happening in your state and across the country. election night in america. our special coverage starts tuesday at 4:00 p.m. eastern time. what if you could have the perspective to see more? at morgan stanley, a global collective of thought leaders offers investors a broader view. ♪ we see companies protecting the bottom line by putting people first. we see a bright future, still hungry for the ingenuity of those ready for the next challenge. today, we are translating decades of experience into strategies for the road ahead. we are morgan stanley.

we create high performance, - [announcer] we're fothrive cosmetics, cruelty free, 100% vegan formulas and we love that you love our products. like our award winning liquid lash extensions mascara. plus, with every product you purchase we donate to help a woman thrive. join our movement today at thrivecosmetics.com.

we knew that this was really, really bad. we had ample forewarning. but we did almost no testing, almost no contact tracing. completely ignored the science, completely ignored the warning signs. there were things that could have been done. a lot of people have died needlessly, and there's nothing more frustrating than feeling like you're fighting against someone who should have your back. we are not going to stamp this out unless we have a change of leadership. ff pac is responsible for the content of this ad. i was always comparing myself nefertitito my sisters.irl they were always thin and i wasn't... i ate a lot of food. and then after i had my son it was really difficult

to lose the baby weight, and everything took so much time and energy and i didn't have that. and then i tried noom, it was easy and it was super convenient. it's effective, i'd say it's life changing. my my name is nefertiri and noom worked for me. visit noom.com and lose the weight for good. it's time you make the rules. so join the 2 million people who have switched to xfinity mobile. you can choose from the latest phones or bring your own device and choose the amount of data that's right for you to save even more. and you'll get 5g at no extra cost. all on the most reliable network. so choose a data option that's right for you. get 5g included and save up to $400 dollars a year on the network rated #1 in customer satisfaction.

it's your wireless. your rules. only with xfinity mobile. this just in. just moments ago. white house adviser dr. scott atlas apologizing after he gave an extensive jaw-dropping interview on the kremlin-controlled propaganda tv network rt. and according to the footage,

atlas did this from the white house. >> lockdowns have been one of the -- will go down as an epic failure of public policy by people who refuse to accept they were wrong, were wrong, refuse to accept they were wrong, didn't know the data, didn't care, and became a frenzy of stopping covid-19 cases at all costs. and those costs are massive. >> let's bring in sarah westwood at the white house. so what is being said now about this apology and really about the circumstances of the interview? >> reporter: yeah. after a backlash over the fact that dr. scott atlas did that interview and did it from the white house, dr. atlas is saying he did not know that rt was a russian propaganda arm when he did the interview. he tweeted out an apology that i want to read. "i really -- i recently did an interview with rt and was unaware they are a registered foreign agent. i regret doing the interview and

apologize for allowing myself to be taken advantage of. i especially apologize to the national security community who is working hard to defend us." it's not just the fact that dr. atlas did this interview, but also that he used the interview to peddle some misleading information. he, for example, questioned the predictions of models that are guessing that many more people could die of coronavirus. he also suggested that the lockdowns are more dangerous than the spread of the pandemic. that's the kind of message that we've heard from dr. atlas in the past. but there are others on the task force who are clearly worried about dr. atlas' growing influence, and this is just the latest conversation that he has -- controversy that he has sparked. dr. anthony fauci took aim at dr. atlas in an interview yesterday saying that a lot of the things he says don't make sense. he's also accused dr. atlas of cherry picking data to fit the things that he's telling the president. dr. atlas has caused controversy in the past, as well. for example, recently he posted on twitter questioning the efficacy of masks even though

the pandemic task force obviously recommends that everyone wear a mask everywhere that they are in public. that tweet was removed by twitter for promoting misinformation. so this is just another headache that dr. atlas has caused for this white house as he serves as a close medical adviser to the president, despite we should mention not having experience in infectious disease. >> this makes it more confusing. if atlas is saying that he didn't know rt, when he said yes to the interview, that means there were people in the white house that didn't know as well if he's actually doing the interview from the white house or in his own bubble, no one knee he w knew he was doing an interview with rt? >> reporter: we tried to get an answer from the white house when whether they knew dr. atlas was doing the interview, whether it was approved. some of the other task force members as cnn reported before do have to go through a series of approvals to appear on various media platforms.

some of their requests for normal outlets have been denied by the white house as they seek to streamline and control the pandemic response message coming out of the white house. it's unclear if dr. atlas is constrained by those same approval processes that have been put on other medical advisers. he is the one really with the least amount of experience who's advising the president on his public health response. so that he was able to go on rt, a very well-known kremlin-operated station, really raises a lot of questions about how the white house is vetting dr. atlas' appearances. >> all right. brian stelzer, cnn chief media correspondent, is also with us. so brian, i don't know, what's worse, that he did the interview or that he didn't know about rt? that no one seemed to know that he was doing this interview with rt and at the white house? >> reporter: i think that's worst is that he did not know he was talking to a kremlin propaganda network. fred, every american knows what

russia today is. i just find it unbelievable that he says he didn't know about the background of this network that's been in the news for many years. so it's embarrassing on that level. it also speaks to a story we've been covering for four years which is dysfunction in the white house. the idea that there's not a vetting process. sort of processes that exist in normal white house. as was mentioned, dr. anthony fauci finds himself restricted from going on tv sometimes. yet atlas is out there doing whatever he wants. i suppose it's good that he apologized, but it's embarrassing he was out in the beginning doing this to begin with. >> brian, sarah, we'll leave it there for now. thank you so much. want to go to outside of atlanta, duluth, you see vice presidential nominee kamala harris stumping. let's listen in. >> the seriousness of this. he lied to the american people. and this is now where we are.

and on top of it, he has the gall to be in court with his boy, bill barr, trying to sue to get rid of the affordable care act that president obama and vice president joe biden passed that brought health care to over 20 million people that didn't have it. that for the first time gave protections to people with pre-existing conditions. honk if you know somebody with diabetes. [ cheers ] honk if you know somebody with high blood pressure -- lupus -- surviving breast cancer -- [ cheers ] [ honking ] and they want to take it away. they want to sue to get rid of it. so you have that on the one hand. on the other hand, you have joe biden. joe biden who says we need to expand obamacare, we need to

expand it to the pointy whe we down the cost of prescriptions drugs, bring down the cost of premiums, bring down the age of medicare eligibility to age 60. joe biden who says we understand that when we're talking about health care, the body doesn't just start from the neck down. it includes the neck up, and that's called mental health care. [ applause ] [ honks ] there's a very clear choice in this election. let's look at the crises that we are facing in terms of this economic crisis. over 30 million people filed for unemployment in just the last several months. here in georgia, one in eight households is describing a member of their household if not the entire household as being hungry. here in georgia, one in five households is describing an

inability or concern about their ability to pay rent. here in georgia, one in four small businesses has gone out of business, potentially never able to reopen. and again, georgia, there's a real clear difference. on the one hand you have joe biden who on the subject of the economy when asked about it, how's the economy doing, what joe says is, well, you tell me how are working people doing. how are working families doing? joe says, we need to deal with the -- >> all right. the republican stronghold, now the swing state of georgia. you see vice presidential nominee kamala harris. president trump on his way to georgia later on this evening. we'll be right back.

hope is the light in all of us that cannot be extinguished. to stir that fire, university of phoenix is awarding up to one million dollars in scholarships through this month. see what scholarship you qualify for at phoenix.edu.

but some things are too serious to be ignored. if you still have symptoms of crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis even after trying other medications, it may be a sign of damaging inflammation, which left untreated, could get much worse. please make an appointment to see your gastroenterologist right away. or connect with them online. once you do, seeing the doctor is one less thing to worry about. need help finding a doctor? head to crohnsandcolitis.com need help finding a doctor? unlike ordinary memory want supplements-ter? neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try our new gummies for 30 days

and see the difference. try optum perks. it's a new way to save up to 80%. and everyone can do it. it's from optum, a health care company that's trusted by millions of people. you don't have to sign up for anything. just go to optumperks.com. and get a coupon to use at your pharmacy. that's it. i opted in. i opted in. you can, too. opt in and save big today.

all across the country, this presidential election has

escalated tensions so high that cities are putting hurricane preparation-like measures into place. boarding up for potential post-election unrest. cnn has more from outside macy's iconic flagship store in new york city which boarded up friday. brynn, what more can you tell us about that move? there you are in the studio actually. sorry about that. >> well, that's okay, fred. macy's is one of those places you showed on the screen. boarded up. bloomingdales, the high-end shopping section of new york city, soho, also landmarks like the empire state building. we saw all of this sort of happen after the death of george floyd over the summer. but before that, it was decades before new york city has seen precautions taken to this level. like you said, we're really seeing this all across the country. and it's private businesses, we're also learning from security consulting firms that they have seen in the last few weeks more and more calls of -- from businesses who are basically asking them help us prepare for the worst case scenario. and i was talking to a source

who essentially said they have never seen this sort of action, this sort of precaution taken when it was surrounding an election. so certainly this is unprecedented. not just businesses were also law enforcement, of course, across the country, preparing for what possibly could come and talking to sources, you know, there are concerns really are anywhere you look in this country, but major concerns or at least they're heightened in states where they're battleground states. also states where the votes may not be decided by tuesday. those are some major concerns. we're talking about widespread protests, talking about voter intimidation incidents which we've already seen. domestic terrorism threats, also extreme groups possibly having feuds with each other in the streets of america. there are so many things that law enforcement has been training for for several weeks to prepare for, not just on tuesday, but possibly the week and weeks after to come. and of course this is only heightened by tension that we've seen play out in social media, also in political speeches, particularly from the president.

you know when i was talking to one person today who said she doesn't even plan to leave her apartment here in new york city on tuesday and afterwards for fear for what she may see on the streets here just in new york city. this isn't even a battleground state. there's just so much anxiety and, of course, tension, that is just rising, boiling up to tuesday and afterwards. fred? >> high anxiety for sure. thank you so much. appreciate it. next hour, president trump will speak in iowa. the second of five states that he plans to visit today. this as vice president joe biden focuses on the crucial state of pennsylvania. joining me now is discuss, ron brownstein, cnn political analyst and senior editor at "the atlantic." and nathan gonzalez, cnn political analyst and editor and publisher of "inside elections." good to see both of you. >> hi, fred. >> ron, what does this tell you about what the candidates are thinking now? you've got trump heading to iowa, which he wouldnn, but oba

won in 2008. then biden who is focusing on pennsylvania. what does this tell you about these campaigns, their concerns about clinching enough delegates and support to win the white house? >> well, in the broad sense, the itinerary is the message. biden is on the offense, kamala harris is in georgia. she was in texas on friday, states that people a year ago could not have imagined democrats would be in on the last weekend of the election. donald trump is in iowa, a state that people could not have imagined that he would be for the other reason. as you say, it was solidly republican. now having said that, i think joe biden is laser focused on what -- what he believes is the shortest path back to the white house for democrats. kamala harris has closed out on kind of a sunbelt tour. she's done arizona, she's done georgia, she's done texas. she's done florida. joe biden is ending where he began in the rustbelt. you know, i think he has believed from the beginning that the best way back to the white house is to recapture the three

states that trump dislodged from the blue wall in 2016, michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania, he hasn't traveled that much. when he has traveled, he has focused on those states. and the fact that he is going to be in southwest pennsylvania for most of monday i think is really revealing of something. they understand that the way you win these states is not only to run up the score where you are strong, but to just slightly reduce the deficits where you are weak. and the big thing he brings to the table for democrats is the potential to just shave off a little bit of trump's margin and those white blue-collar communities so central to his victory last time. >> adding to that is a last-minute -- at least we understand it to be a last-minute decision for biden to go to cleveland, ohio, tomorrow. >> yeah. >> yeah. absolutely. i mean, this is just adding to what ron was saying, this is where biden is on offense. they are going into states that the president won handily four years ago. these weren't even the close states four years ago. and if i could add, you know, pennsylvania being the key, there was about a week ear so

ago, republican congressman mike kelly who reports part of western pennsylvania. he was on a call for the trump campaign, talking i think he thought he was talking about the president, the president's strength in his district, how the president was winning by nine or ten points. in reality, four years ago, trump won mike kelly's district by 20 points. that's not a good sign because that's the kind of district where trump needs to be running up the score to make up for losses in southeast pennsylvania. but democrats are trying to find that balance between making sure they get done what they need to get done but looking ahead and trying to make this not even a close race. >> ron, we saw a lot of president obama over the weekend. and he's not finished. he will be campaigning for joe biden the day before election. i mean, that seems quite extraordinary. listen to what obama had to say yesterday while in michigan. >> what is his obsession, by the way, with crowd size? you notice that?

he's always -- this is the one measure he has of success. he's still worrying about his inauguration crowd being smaller than mine. [ honking ] it really bugs him. trump cares about feeding his ego. joe cares about keeping you and your families safe. >> so ron, a dig there. but the same time, i mean, talk about how extraordinary potentially meaningful or not it is that this past president and they were, of course, partners in the white house, president obama and vice president biden. campaigning the day before the last day of election. >> not only campaigning the day before but campaigning in georgia, as both nathan and i would say. that would not be something you would have seen coming six months ago. look, you know, obama, president obama bit his lip for most of this presidency to a degree that kind of frustrated many democrats. but he has come out and made clear what he thinks at the end. and touching on really a core

vulnerability. it is true that president trump was behind before the coronavirus. he will -- if he loses he'll try to blame the coronavirus. he was losing before. but it is cemented, has solidified the race. most people think he's handled it poorly. former president obama is going right at that. i would say real quick, i mean, you need humility after 2016 about reading the polls. everybody kind of understands that. and democrats royce that even if you believe the polls, biden does not have enough states locked up to be right at 270. if you think that -- if you believe i think the polls tell us that michigan and wisconsin are moving back toward the democrats, that biden is holding all of the states that clinton won and that leaves president trump in a very, very thin ledge, he's got to run the table on every other swing state in all likelihood in order to make this work. >> uh-huh. nathan, obviously this is a very different race than 2016. but you know, the democrats are also trying to take a page from what was learned, you know, from

hillary clinton's defeat. and are you seeing, you know, a sizable strategy change in which states to canvas that really could be very meaningful for the biden/harris campaign? >> i think it's clear that they're not taking anything for granted. they're going across a wide swath of states and trying to make sure that the same thing doesn't happen again. you know, as ron said, that we -- we were supposed to -- we are acting with more humility. but also if we were looking at the same set of data between two completely different candidates, we would be talking about this race very differently. meaning binden has an advantage -- biden has an advantage that we're talking about now. one thing looking ahead is that the president's margins have not only slipped in the battleground states but the solidly red state. throughout election night when the poll closing times come and usually the networks and cable channels call them right away, i think some of those states are going to be close enough that the networks are going to say,

all right, 8:00 closing time, this race is too close to call. i think republicans are going to be surprised by that. >> eat your wheaties. nathan gonzalez, ron brownstein, thank you so much for that. appreciate it. ahead, cruise ships are one step closer to sailing out of american ports for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic. we'll take a closer look at the plan to keep passenger and crew members safe. plus, a sign of voter enthusiasm? a pro-trump caravan on the move in colorado, more live coverage in a moment. priceline works with top hotels, to save you up to 60%. these are all great. and when you get a big deal... ♪ ...you feel like a big deal. ♪ priceline. every trip is a big deal.

when being a fan on a budget gets tough... ...our agents do the legwork,... ...so saving on auto insurance is... easy usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. we're all finding ways to keep moving. but how do we make sure the direction we're headed is forward? at fidelity, you'll get the planning and advice to prepare you for the future, without sacrificing the things that are important to you today. we'll help you plan for healthcare costs, taxes and any other uncertainties along the way. because with fidelity, you can feel confident that the only direction you're moving is forward.

hey while the guys aren'tcatch yolistening. confident we need your help. your platforms are toxic to women who lead. we are targeted with ugly and violent language, with threats of sexual assault, coordinated bots attack women for political gain. we have asked facebook to do better, our freedom, our democracy is at risk. we are fighting back, and we're asking you to join us. we've got your back, do you have ours? you know, lean in. traffic and air pollution will be even worse after the pandemic. that's why we support measure rr to keep caltrain running. which is at risk of shutdown because of the crisis.

to keep millions of cars off our roads, to reduce air pollution and fight climate change. and measure rr helps essential workers like me get to work and keep our communities healthy. relieve traffic. reduce pollution. rescue caltrain. [all] yes on measure rr.

president trump just leaving michigan there heading toward the campaign rally. next stop in iowa. the president criss-crossing five states today. more live coverage in a moment. new cases of coronavirus continue to soar. there were more than 81,000 new covid-19 cases on saturday alone. the total number of cases in the u.s. has now passed 9.1 million. and more than 230,000 people have died. and today, a very candid admission from republican senator rick scott of florida, telling cnn's jake tapper that the fight against the coronavirus is far from over. >> we haven't beaten it. let's all agree on that. i think we have to all of us, all of us, need to wear a mask,

we need to social distance. i think that the fda, i think the fda's done a great job working on therapeutics. i think we've made a lot of progress there. hopefully we're making a lot of progress on the vaccine. but we still have a lot of work to do. especially work on testing. everybody's got to take this seriously. you should wear your mask, you should social distance. but it's your responsibility to make these decisions for yourself. >> joining me now dr. jeremy faust, emergency physician at brigham and women's hospital in boston. and the editor-in-chief of "brief 19." good to see you. >> thank you. >> so how meaningful potentially influential is it to hear scott say, you know, we haven't beat it? >> it's influential, but also when you think about the tone with which we've heard him and others use over the summer, i just say, oh, my goodness, i wish you had come to this a

little sooner. i hate to say this -- we're not saying ha, ha, we told you so. we're saying, oh, no, we told you so. we're not trying to scare people. we're trying to inform people so they know what to do. i think there business been unfortunately during a political season a politicization of the virus and lives have come at the expense of that choice. >> and now in new york, governor andrew cuomo announcing that most people traveling there will now have to get a covid-19 test before and after they arrive. how do you see that being carried out, and how practical could that be? >> i'm in favor of anything that increases testing. new york had obviously one of the worst springs in any jurisdiction in american history. new york lived through something in april and may that was actually 70% as bad as 1918 h1n1 or spanish flu. they don't want to go through that gain. they're trying everything they can to stop that of the testing is a big part of it.

we have to do other things. clearly there's logistical issues there in terms of rollout. but i think it's worth a try. i think anything you can do to make access to tests increase is to the benefit. >> you think it could be medically sound? >> well, what i would say is it's not foolproof because you can have negative tests that are falsely negative. so you have to put things into perspective. i think that what the governor is probably trying to do is make it so they can keep track of things as they go. yeah. one of the big problems is that we are connected. my problem is not devoid -- not separated from your problem even though there are state lines. we move and we spread this virus. so i think that anything we can do to remember that we are all actually one country with borders that you can almost not even notice practically is important. >> dr. faust, also starting today the cdc letting cruise ships take the first steps verdict single sailing with passengers once again. first they'll have to mock --

they'll have to have to mock voyages. and they will have to build testing capacity on the ships. how do you see that potentially cruise ships are really interesting. i wouldn't get on one myself, but people can make their own decisions. they are essential little laboratories. we learned a lot about this virus from the "diamond princess" back in the spring, which is this virus can spread like wildfire through an enclosed space like a cruise ship. so if anything goes wrong, it's a complete disaster. so if they can find a way to prove that they can contain that, more power to them, but that's a tall order. when people hear about cruise ships, public health experts think in terms of what can we learn about this when there is an outbreak. when there is an outbreak, that's one epidemiologists descend, because we can look and learn from it, but who wants

another laboratory for this? no one wants that. i think it's important people want to get back to life, but we need to do things that are safe. >> dr. jeremy faust, thank you so much. be well. >> thank you. president trump is expected to speak in dubuque, iowa, next hour, second stop of his five-state swing, and ballots could be tossed out in texas. how county officials are desperately trying to stop it. one day we'll look back and remember the moment that things, for one strange time in our lives, got very quiet. we worried over loved ones, over money, over our planet, and over takeout. let's remember this time when so many struggled to feel secure, and build a future where everyone can. because when the world seems like it's standing still... that's the perfect time for us to change it.

the department of veterans affairs home loan benefit has helped millions of eligible veterans and service members buy a home. today, the va home loan means lower than average interest rates, limited closing costs, and no down payment is required! the va home loan may save you thousands of dollars! for more information, please contact va or talk to a lender of your choice. don't let anyone talk you out of using the benefit you have earned! choose va!

it's moving day. and are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. it only takes about a minute. wait, a minute? but what have you been doing for the last two hours? delegating? oh, good one. move your xfinity services without breaking a sweat. now that's simple, easy, awesome. xfinity makes moving easy. go online to transfer your services in about a minute. get started today.

in texas, republicans are seeking to toss out nearly 127,000 ballots cast at drive-thru voting locations in harris county, texas. a judge is set to hear the case tomorrow morning. kristin holmes is following the developments for us, but what's also confusing is there is a texas supreme court ruling or decision as it relates to this entire case as well? >> yeah, that's right, fred. let's break the whole thing down. start a big closer to the beginning. because of the pandemic harris county, which is the largest county in texas that includes

the houston area, they installed drive-thru voting. they thought it would be safer, social distancing. republicans challenged this, broke the it up to the texas supreme court, who said last week said that drive-thru voting was in fact approved. a group of republicans filed a petition in which they said theshld hat 9 practice and all 127,000 ballots should be cast out. they put that petition in front of the federal judge, and also in front of the texas supreme court. just moments ago the supreme court of texas denied that petition. so all that's left on this pathway right neoit appears is this hearing tomorrow in front of a federal judge, but it really is mind-boggling to think about this idea, even though the courts have ruled that this is approved that they are still seeing challenges to it. i want to read you a statement from the harris county clerk who

defeated this after they filed the petition-drive-thru voting is a safe, secure and convenient way to coat. texas code allows it. the secretary of state approved it, and 127,000 voters have used it. our office is economied to counting every vote cast by registered voters in this election. we have talked a lot about texas, how it does look like it's shift are more purple. we've seen a lot of early votes, mail-in votes. this is a particularly left-leaning county, harry county. 2.4 million registered voters. 9% drove through to vote. >> thank you so much, kristin. and this breaking news now. cnn is learning that the coronavirus task force doctor scott atlas did not have clearance to speak to russia state media from inside the white house.

a senior white house officials said atlas, quote, did it on his own without approval by the white house. atlas took to russian air waves to download the pandemic in the u.s., questioning the need for masks and social distancing. atlas has since apologized earlier in this hour. all right. meantime, joe biden just made an unannounced stop in chester, pennsylvania, for a canvass kickoff at a local labor union. according to the campaign, the kickoff is for state senator john cain and the biden/harris team. joe biden is mainly concentrating on pennsylvania, with a planned stop in cleveland, ohio, while his running mate is now in georgia, spent some time in north

carolina as well. all of this while the president of the united states continues to canvass the country, making stops in iowa, north carolina, georgia later on today, and of course florida as well. it's down to the wire for these candidates, their running mates and surrogates all crisscrossing the nation, just two days away from election dady. of course, cnn will continue to covering the election. we hope you'll be with us. thank you so much for being with me. much more straight ahead. you are live in the "cnn newsroom." i'm ana cabrera in new york. thank you for joining for our special coverage, countdown to

election. at this point it's all about turnout. who will vote and the fight over whose vote will be allowed to stand. the candidates are blitzing the battleground states, just a shorts time from now president trump will speak in iowa, the second of five stops he's making today. he's already been to michigan. later it's on to north carolina, georgia and florida. so five different states in one day. also next hour joe biden is in the critical state of pennsylvania. he'll be at a get out the vote in philadelphia, one of two events his has planned. in the final hours it's less about changing hearts and minds, but really more about getting people to show up, especially in the key battleground states. make no mistakes, this is still anyone's rate right now. a series of new polls have shown extremely tight races in florida, north carolina and arizona. jeremy dimon