now and january, it's estimated 1 in 500 by the end of this pandemic. that is a mass casualty event in the black community. and it's totally unnecessary, totally uncalled for. my public health plan will ensure the needs of communities that are being hit the hardest by this virus are a priority, not an after-thought. we'll have to plan to get our economy back on track. not to get back to where we were, but to build back better, to make sure everyone is dealt in on a full-scale share of the american dream. we're going to address systemic racism. the blinders have been taken off. the american people have seen, they've seen how bad things are.

to make it easier to start a business, to buy your first home, to pursue an education after high school without being burdened without debt, to invest in hbcus that do so much to mold black leaders of tomorrow. i mean it. this is not just talk. i mean it. we're going to act to deliver racial justice in america. i see in all the protests here in philadelphia and across the country, a cry for justice. folks, protesting is not burning or looting and violence must never be tolerated, it won't. but the names of george floyd, breonna taylor, jacob blake, walter wallace jr., they will not soon be forgotten. they will not be forgotten by me. they will not be forgotten by you. and will not be forgotten by the american people. because here's what they're going to do. they're inspiring a new wave of

justice in america. george floyd's little girl, 6 years old, said to me when i went to be with the family, i knelt down to say hi to her and she looked at me and she said, daddy is going to change the world. daddy. that's what she said to me, 6 years old. daddy. look, we can change the world. we can change it. we all know this country has to come together. we cannot afford four more years of anger, hate and division that we've seen under this president. folk, looks, from the moment he announced, from the moment he came down that escalator, what did he say in new york. he said, we're going to go out and get those rapist mexicans. rapist mexicans. he put a ban on all muslims coming to the united states and the way he talked about the

african-american community. the way he talked about the hispanic community. look, folks, we got to come together. i'm running as a proud democrat, but i will govern as an american president for everybody. i will work as hard for those who don't support me as those who do support me. i mean it. that's the job of a president. the duty to care, the duty to care for everyone. and in president biden's america there will be no red states or blue states, there will only be the united states of america. look, our faith in our country is being tested, but our faith in god is helping us through because of all of you. thank you for your commitment to the greatest commandment. love our neighbors as ourselves.

and for our dedication to never grow weary of doing good. being with you all reminds me of that gospel hymn that inspired so many of us. last -- when i last talked to john lewis as he was dying, he reminded me of it. i don't feel tired. i've come too far from where i started from. nobody told me the road would be easy, i don't believe he brought me this far to leave me. he did not leave us. we are not tired! the road hasn't been easy! but we have come too far to stop now. so, please, vote. get everyone you know to vote. we need to get every soul in philadelphia to the polls. your voice, your vote matters. your voice deserves to be heard. and if you still have an

absentee ballot, get it to a drop box as soon as you can. or you can vote on election day, but make a plan. i mean it, make a plan now! help get out the vote. go to iwillvote.com/pa. folks, you know, i've been doing this a while. one of the reasons i got elected in the first place in delaware across the line was because of the folks in pennsylvania. all the media in pennsylvania, all the media in delaware for the first 25 years of my career was all philadelphia television. and i was very happy to have the moniker of being known as pennsylvania's third senator. i know philadelphia well. i married a philly girl, by the way. [ horns honking ]

by the way, i got my eagles jacket on. [ horns honking ] folks, here's what i want to say and i'll conclude, you've been here a long time. i'll never forget when president john f. kennedy said, when he promised that we were going to go to the moon, he said -- he said words my colleagues in the senate always used to kid me for repeating. he said, we're doing it because we are americans. we refuse to postpone. well, i refuse to post phone the incredible opportunities available to the american people. i refuse to postpone what we can do. there's nothing beyond the capacity of the united states of america, nothing. there's no limit to america's future. the blinders have been taken off! the only thing that can tear america apart is america itself. that's exactly what trump's been trying to do, from the very

beginning, dividing america, based on race, religion, gender, national other begin. it's wrong! it's not who we are. this is not who we are. everybody knows who donald trump is. let's keep showing them who we are. folks -- and i mean this. it's not just campaign rhetoric. we choose hope over fear! we choose unity over division. we choose science over fiction. and, yes, we choose truth over lies, the multiple lies he repeats. it's time to stand up! it's time to take back our democracy! we can do this! we're better than this! we're better than what we've been. we can be at our best. this is the united states of america. god bless you all and may god

protect our troops. i love ya. i love ya. you brought me to the dance. thank you, thank you, thank you. god love you all! >> you're watching joe biden wrap up an event in philadelphia. i want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm brianna keilar in washington and we're counting down to election day. two days to go and donald trump and joe biden are barnstorming key battleground states. that was the former vice president speaking there in pennsylvania. i want to get more now on all of this with our cnn chief political correspondent dana bash, our cnn senior correspondent nia-malika henderson and former obama senior adviser david axelrod. to you first, david, as you're watching, there's just this kind of sense. it's a different feeling in the last couple of days before an election that the cake is kind of baked, right?

we're just moving towards really just the final stretch here. what do you see happening right there out in the country right now? >> well, first of all, let me say, i have -- i'm glad to be here with you and not have that lump in my throat that i know the strategists have at this point. a lot of it is out of your hands. what is in your hands is the last-minute efforts to get the vote out. and while 100 million americans may have voted already, in some of these states the people who come out on election day are going to have a lot to say about this. so, it's no coincidence that joe biden is in philadelphia today. he wants to see a big turnout, particularly among minority voters in the city of philadelphia because he's going to need that to assure that he crosses the finish line first here. president trump is hoping that he can overwhelm biden on election day in pennsylvania. and you're seeing these kinds of strategies in all the

battleground states. president obama going down tomorrow to georgia, to south florida. the same principle. now it's not about getting people to early vote. now it's about getting those who haven't voted, out to vote. and that is the essential task that remains. >> dana, what do you think about this closing message we just heard from joe biden as he's trying to get the vote out? >> it's classic joe biden. i mean, it's really actually kind of remarkable that biden's message has been really consistent despite the fact that when he started running, there was no pandemic in this country or in the world. but the consistency is in its core, which is that what we are seeing right now is not america. should not be america. he talks about fighting for the heart and the soul of america. these are really 30,000-foot kind of messages and hopeful? certainly he is very tough on the president saying that he's a

liar, which wasn't that long ago that politicians never said things like that. that is the way that joe biden is trying to get people to the polls. as david said, it's not necessarily -- probably not at all about persuading voters. it's about reminding them, you've got to vote. that's what he was trying to do in that message we heard in philadelphia and all over the battleground states. >> and, nia, i think one of his final lines -- one of his final lines in the final days, he says he's a proud democrat but he's going to be an american president. he's really tacking towards the center here in the final days of the election. >> that's right. that's a message that resonates with a broad swath of americans, particularly independents. a lot of americans just sick of division, sick of the partisanship. in a lot of focus groups, you hear people talk about this. this idea they want a president who's able to work across the aisle. that, again, is vintage joe

biden when he talks about being able to work across the aisle. he's sincere in that and it's something he's done throughout his entire career. this was definitely a 30,000-foot message, talking about african-americans, the black lives matter movement, for instance, mentioning conversations he had with john lewis, riffing on that claims cleveland song from -- that a lot of african-americans obviously hear in church. pennsylvania was a state where you saw a massive drop-off in african-american voters. they were about 13% of the elector rat in 2012. only 10% of the electorate in 2016. if you're a democrat, you want to see that number rise. maybe it won't get to 13%, maybe 11%, 12%. that's what you need. also you think of pennsylvania, a lot of catholics in pennsylvania as well and throughout the entire midwest and rest belt. we know joe biden was a catholic so he was mentioning the first catholic president, john

kennedy, where he's going to look to have a lot of catholics pull the lever for him. you obviously know donald trump mindful of that, campaigning with lou holtz, also a catholic. it was a broad speech but tailored specifically to pennsylvania, a state he wants to block donald trump from winning on tuesday. >> i wonder kind of what you all think -- sorry, david. >> i just wanted to pick up on what both of my colleagues have mentioned. first of all, it is extraordinary, as dana said, the consistency of biden's message. he started off with an ad about the demonstrations in charlottesville and about the soul of the nation. and he has run against divisiveness throughout. he's finishing where he began. and as nia said, he's got a message that reaches across the aisle. he's being rewarded for it, if you look at the polling, with support among independent voters

which is really significant in a country where the parties are so polarized. the kaernd who wins the independent vote often has the advantage in the polling. >> here we are, dana, in this point where it's about getting people out to vote. i don't know that we've ever seen a situation where people are worried about whether their vote is going to count. there's this cloud sort of hanging over this leadup to this election we have not seen before. >> that's right. particularly the former vice president is in pennsylvania right now. that's one of the questions. that's one of the places where it is -- it is a new phenomenon to have mail-in voting. it is a phenomenon that is borne out of this pandemic. it is not something that the electorate is kind of used to in a broad way.

more importantly, it doesn't seem to be something that each of the 60-plus counties in pennsylvania is really kind of understanding of and knows kind of how to get it going fast. to the point where each of them is going to be able to decide on its own when to start the counting. they probably -- many of them won't start until after election day, which is why if pennsylvania really is the key, the commonwealth that is the path through which either donald trump or joe biden must go to get the presidency, it could be a while, which is scaring a lot of people because this is -- this country right now is kind of a tinderbox. there's a lot of anxiety. you know, there's a lot of feeling that the sooner we know whatever way it's going to go, the better. and it might not happen. >> it shouldn't be a partisan issue, right. >> no. >> this ability of people, nia,

to cast their vote and have their vote be counted. it's odd to have to say that. >> it is odd to have to say that. it is a very, very partisan issue. we have one party, the republican party, that wants to prevent people from voting easily. as well as toss out votes, voters who already cast their ballot. they've tried to dough that unsuccessfully, thank goodness, in texas. and democrats want to expand the ballot, make it much easier for people to vote. we sort of used to talk about this in terms of voter id laws versus voter suppression. republicans are the party of of voter suppression. it's very, very clear. if it wasn't before, and we see them making attempts to do that in battleground states. pennsylvania, wisconsin, in, income, and, of course, texas, too, where they have decided these huge counties only need

one drop box. i think, you know, the republican party is obviously shown the world who they are, very anti-democratic in terms of wanting to expand the ballot. you see democrats really wanting to do that. there will be lawyers all across this country on election day arguing about what ballot should count. is this postmark there, you know, on time? is it the right postmark? then, of course, you have a more complicated issue with the mail system which, again, republicans have tried to thwart the mail system. there's some indications they've been able to do that successfully. so, at this point people should go to the polls. they shouldn't be relying on the mail. but we do know there are some ballots that are going to be in the mail that might not make it on time and that's going to be a real battle for these different campaigns once this thing happens on tuesday. >> thank you. >> we shouldn't -- i'm sorry. >> no, david, final word. >> we shouldn't exempt the president of the united states

here. he barn stormed through pennsylvania yesterday and at every stop he warned people that these ballots that are going to be counted after election day are somehow fraudulent ballots. that's not true, it's not right and it's dangerous to hear the president of the united states say that. he is fomenting crisis and we hopes we can navigate it but he bears responsibility for a lot of the anxiety people are feeling right now. >> thank you so much for the conversation. it's great to see all of you here in the home stretch. >> thanks, bri. coming up next, where the candidates stand on the path to the 270 electoral votes they need to claim history. and a major decision impacting 120,000 drive-through votes already cast in a key state. built just for customers 55 andn up. saving 50% vs. other carriers with 2 unlimited lines for less than $30 each. call 1-800-t-mobile or go to t-mobile.com/55.

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i want to go to cnn white house correspondent catlin collins in hickory, north carolina, where president trump will be appearing for his next callie. the president visiting these five states today, what's his push here in the final 48 hours? >> reporter: well, for weeks we have seen the president and his aides try to lay the groundwork for him to dispute the outcome of the election should he lose on tuesday. now we're seeing the strategy for how they're doing that, by saying the votes that are cast after november 3rd should not be counted. that's an argument the president made today, it's one his advisers are making and one his family is making. listen to what he told the crowd in iowa. >> i've seen people where the election got stolen. by the way, we're not going to let that happen to us, you know, with these ballots. how about the supreme court ruling with the supreme court -- no, this was not good news. the supreme court gave them more time, more time. what does this mean? does this mean we go and we

wait? so it's not november 3rd? it's going to be much later? no. we should know the result of the election on november 3rd, the evening of november 3rd. that's the way it's been and that's the way it should be. what's going on in this country? what's going on? >> reporter: now, the president is trying to make it sound nefarious but there's nothing nefarious for counting ballots that were legitimately cast in the election. that's what the president is saying. he's saying we've always known on election night. we have not always known for certain by midnight who the next president is going to be. obviously, it takes a while to count mail ballots. that doesn't mean they're not legitimate. it means it takes a little more time, especially given the year we are living in. that's not the message the president and his aides are trying to send today. instead, they are trying to prepare themselves if things do not go their way on tuesday as trying to cast this as an

illegitimate election when it's not and there's no evidence of that. >> it's clearly revealing they're worried they're in trouble. i think that's evident from what we see there. the fbi is now investigating an incident that was caught on tape. in is something that happened on a texas interstate. the biden campaign says there were a caravan of trump supporters in vehicles surrounding their bus, tried to slow it down and run it off the road. tell us how the. the is responding to this. >> reporter: yeah, this is an ugly closing moment of this race, seeing that happen. today we had the rnc chair on tv suggesting the president would never condone actions like that. the president did not express a similar sentiment and instead claimed those hundreds of supporters in the cars that were surrounding that bus and trying to slow it down to 20 miles an hour on the interstate were instead trying to protect the biden bus. listen to what he said today. >> did you see the way our people, you know, they were

protecting his bus yesterday. because they're nice. so, his bus -- they had hundreds of cars, trump, trump. trump and the american flag. you see trump and the american flag. do you ever notice when you see the other side -- i don't even see much of the other side. you don't see any -- they have no spirit. they have no enthusiasm. >> reporter: now, clearly the staffers on that bus did not think they were trying to protect them and the president didn't say from what because they called 911 to actually assist them because they were so concerned about how they were being slowed down on the interstate by these trump supporters. instead of condemning their action, you saw the president embracing what they did and also trying to justify it today by saying they were trying to protect them, which clearly was not happening. the fbi obviously does not agree because they are now investigating what happened on that highway yesterday. >> yes, i do believe i hear the theme song from the "titanic" behind you as well. a weird moment going on as we

discuss the politics of this home stretch here. the president's favorite white house coronavirus task force moment, dr. scott atlas, is now apologizing because he's facing backlash. he did an interview with rt, which is effectively russian state television. what is atlas saying? >> reporter: not just effectively. they are registered as a foreign agent. rt is this network, when the justice department did their probe into russian interference, they helped disseminate russian propaganda trying to interfere in the american election. this is a television site that dr. scott atlas, a member of the coronavirus task force, did an extensive interview with over the weekend, 30 minutes, criticizing lockdowns, talking about masks. we know someone the president listens to greatly. we've seen that play out at the white house over the last several days between dr. atlas, donald trump and dr. fauci. now dr. atlas is apologizing for

going on there saying he did not know they were a registered foreign agent when he did the interview with them. it's hard to know what he thought rt was given it stands for russia today and a well-known kremlin-operated propaganda site. >> yeah, pretty surprising move but he's trying to excuse it away. thank you so much, live for us from north carolina, where the president's rally will be under way shortly. up next, we'll look at the paths for each candidate to get to that key 270 electoral votes. ♪ you can go your own way

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joe biden is holding a pair of events in philadelphia. i want to bring in cnn's mark preston to talk about this with us. walk us through this path. in is the key, right, to 270 electoral votes. show us where things stand. >> sure. let's start with donald trump's path first. this was his path, brianna, back in 2016. a sea of red all across the country, including these democratic states up here in the midwest, traditionally democratic states. it's a different time this year. he is now playing defense in all of these states, brianna, which is why donald trump is on this massive campaign swing of these past couple of days. five events yesterday, five events today. that's why he's out there. let's look at this map. let's assume donald trump is able to maintain florida. he's able to hold that. same thing with texas.

he did very well in a poll in iowa yesterday. let's assume he holds onto iowa as well. now he's starting to climb up. he has about 200 electoral votes. because of florida, let's assume in georgia, where he'll be in a couple of hours, let's assume he take s georgia as well. now he's climbing back up. look where his paths are right now. even up here in maine, we'll give to him, but it's not necessarily going to go his way. still let's look at north carolina. if he picks up north carolina, democrats are bullish on it, what is his path to victory? ohio, we saw his daughter ivanka there yesterday. let's assume he gets that. he's still 20 electoral votes shy of getting 270. that's why we talk about pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin, and then, of course, arizona at the end. now, for joe biden, he's in a much better place, because if you look at it and you look at the same map, where all these

states are on the board, it gives joe biden a lot more time to get through it. so, let's assume he picks up north carolina, joe biden does. let's assume as well that he doesn't pick up ohio but he picks up pennsylvania. he is three electoral votes shy. if he doesn't get pennsylvania, let's just assume pennsylvania doesn't go his way. he still has michigan. do that here. he's only seven away. 273. by the way, one state we haven't talked about and we will next hour is arizona. we'll all the way across the south how joe biden is vying for these states that donald trump shouldn't have to be defending. >> mark preston, thank you so much. it's certainly helpful to see the map. this is the key getting to 270. coming up, important develops in the port fight over

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as we count down to the election, we have some important news coming in from texas where the state supreme court just stopped one republican attempt to throw out more than 120,000 early votes. votes that had been cast already, but another court challenge is looming. let's go right now to cnn's ed lavendera. tell us more about this fight. this is happening at this very moment, ed. >> reporter: hi, brianna. early voting is over. election day is the next time texans can cast ballots. all of this has to do with this bay of essentially voting locations. these are the voting locations set up in a drive-through manner. this is one of ten locations across harris county where you can vote like this. you essentially pull into one of these bays and this will

essentially serve as a polling locati location. there's been a group of republicans working to stop the ballots cast in their drive-through locations from being tallied in the overall general election number here in harris county. the texas supreme court ruled just a few hours ago, has essentially denied the republicans' request to essentially set aside those votes. here in harris county, that accounts for about 127,000 votes of the 1.4 million that were cast during the early voting period. as of now, those votes will count. however, that republican group is still trying in federal court, there's an emergency hearing slated for tomorrow morning. we spoke with the lawyer leading that charge. >> what do you say to those people who say, look, republicans are just scared that texas is this close and they're trying anything they can to get rid of 127,000 votes?

>> i would say this, folks, don't you think it's important to follow the law? if we're not a state based on the rule of law, what form of voting are we going to allow? >> reporter: democrats in sar ris county say republicans are simply desperate at this point. top republicans in the state in texas have not said much about this. there are two republicans that have come out criticizing the efforts to set aside these votes. one a state representative here in the houston area who described this republican effort to set aside these drive-through votes as patently absurd and outright harmful so all of this continues. an emergency federal court hearing slated for monday morning to determine the fate of these 127,000 cast, brianna, in these drive-through locations in ten different areas of harris county. >> ed, thank you so much. ed lavendera in houston for us. president trump campaigning in michigan today, and he's going back tomorrow. it's a sign of just how much he needs to duplicate his victory

there that he secured in 2016. we have cnn's miguel marquez in detroit. tell us the latest there. >> let me show you this. this is where all the action is right now. yet another happy voter here in detroit who's dropping off their vote in a drop box here. the secretary of state expects about two-thirds of all votes will be in. that's why donald trump is coming back here time and again. if he comes here tomorrow, that will be four trips by the president to this state since last tuesday. he won this state by 10,704 votes. that is a number that sticks in the mind of not only republicans but certainly democrats here as well. that was out of 5 million votes cast. joe biden also working this state very hard. he was here yesterday with his former boss, barack obama. they were in flint, then oakland county just north of detroit and detroit itself, getting a little help from stevie wonder as well. both candidates looking to

motivate african-americans to vote. the president today, typically he goes after the coronavirus, people going masks and talks about the media and how it's fictitious and they're rounding the corner. he didn't do that today. he went after joe biden on the economics. he really went after african-american votes. clearly they are looking for votes everywhere they can. >> it's fascinating to watch this drop box behind you. it's getting -- it's seeing a lot of visitors there. they're very engaged. >> reporter: it is. >> miguel, thank you very much. miguel marquez live for us in detroit, michigan. i want to go to florida, which is a key battleground state. it's just a huge prize when it comes to electoral votes. last week joe biden said, if florida goes blue, quote, it's over. cnn's drew griffin is in tallahassee. and joe biden's wife, jill biden, was just campaigning in florida. tell us about this. >> reporter: yeah, the polls are razor-thin close here.

29 electoral votes. it's going to come out to turnout. i want to show you the turnout right now. we've got about an hour and 20 minutes left here in tallahassee to vote. look at all these voters that have lined up in this last hour to come in here and cast their ballots. jill biden was in town earlier today. she was at a souls to polls event. they actually turned it into a parade to come to this polling spot earlier today. a lot of enthusiasm. democrats really need that enthusiasm because, brianna, they are concerned that republicans are really catching up to them in this enthusiasm gap. it's why jill biden was here. it's why barack obama will come back to south miami, south florida tomorrow, trying to especially get every last vote they can out of the black and hispanic communities where democratic strategists fear they are underperforming.

president trump, of course, will be here later on today, almost midnight tonight. but this is a state that is so important and yet like every other time, florida is going to be decided by these very, very thin, thin margins of victory. brianna? >> yes, florida always keeping it very interesting. drew griffin, thank you very much, live from tallahassee, florida. a quick reminder, you can stay with cnn throughout the vote count. our special election night coverage is going to begin on tuesday starting at 4:00 p.m. eastern. coming up, dr. anthony fauci is warning that the u.s. is, quote, in for a whole lot of hurt as the country heads into winter amid a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. plus, the all-important path to 270 electoral votes needed to win the white house. we'll look at where the candidates stand with just two days to go until the election. ♪

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let's go now to philadelphia, where the former vice president was making an unscheduled stop in philadelphia just moments ago.

>> my name is joe biden. i'm joe biden's husband, philly girl. and i am finnegan's -- that's her grandma and i'm grandpa. we have an expression where i come from. you never forget those who brung you to the dance. well, let mel tell you, we owe brendan. we owe brendan a lot, his whole family, his beautiful daughter as well. we need to get another picture when we're able to hug each other again like we have before. it really was the day announced, brendan announced for me, and i think you're the first person in the united states congress to do it, and brought along everything else that's happened. and i really mean it. because, you know, the thing that we used to kid about. when we finished our conversations, i would drive my wife crazy by saying, that's the

irish. but it's all about decency, loyalty. it's all about remembering where you came from. it's all about remembering why you got involved in the first place. we got involved in the same reason. the reason you all are involved. hard class and working class folks built america. they are the ones like my mom and dad, just wanted a shot. all they wanted was a shot. the american people have really been hurt badly. middle class haven't been getting a shot. they've really been hurting. and i was asked once, and i probably shouldn't have said it, but i believe it. you know, how i look at this race from the beginning. i look at it from the perspective of scranton, pennsylvania, and clay momont, delaware, areas i grew up in. a lot of hard-working folks who play by the rules, who have done

everything they can to provide for their families. it's all about families. my first campaign i ran as a local councilman. i had a billboard that said just one thing, for all our families. it's about our families. it's about who we are. that's what makes us who we are. and we're so much better than we've been. we're so much better than we've been under this president. i really mean it. this is not who we are. we're a people who were raised to talk to -- to treat people with respect, to treat people with a sense of dignity. when my dad losted the job, we moving down to scranton. it took a lot -- i realize what it must have done to his pride, to ask his father-in-law, with his wife and three kids at the time, could stay with him, it would be about a year. he would commute every day -- not every day, but every weekend from wilmington to scranton. he had a job down in wilmington.

and every since that time growing up, when we got -- finally got down to wilmington and first had an apartment down there, able to buy a small three-bedroom home, after three years and four kids and a grandpa, a split-level home, my dad used to say, joey, a job is a lot more than about the paycheck. it's when your dignity. it's about respect. it's about your place in the community. it's about who you are. it's about looking your kid in the eye, and this was his word, i promise you, my word, looking your kid in the eye and say, honey, it's going to be okay. and i mean it. so many people can't say that today. i'm not going to make a long speech. but in the midst of this pandemic, the billionaires, and they're listed so you know how many are in the united states, the billionaires have made $300 billion more than they started

with just during the pandemic. because the president looks at everything from wall street, looks at what's going on -- >> you're listen there to the former vice president, joe biden, making a bit of an unscheduled stop between scheduled campaign stops there in philadelphia. pennsylvania, of course, a key battleground state. just two days ahead of one of the most consequential elections in history, the u.s. is being pounded by a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. more than 9.1 million cases, more than 230,000 americans dead. i want to get more on all of this with cnn medical analyst dr. lena wen. i want to read a new warning from dr. fauci who says, we are in for a whole lot of hurt. all the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season with people congregating at home indoors. you could not possibly be positioned more poorly. when you are looking here -- i know we're seeing cases hit

records, but we also know deaths trail cases by two to eight weeks, according to harvard public health. what is a whole lot of hurt, as he puts it, going to look like here as those numbers catch up with us in the next few weeks. >> brianna, dr. fauci is right. we are breaking all kinds of records here. the rate of spread of coronavirus is accelerating and it's getting worse by the day. i mean, we had 1 million new cases in the last 14 days. we're going to reach the next million even faster than that. and we have always known that this winter was going to be hard because as people are getting together indoors, as they're quarantine activity, we knew there would be a surge. we 40e7d we could suppress the level of infection more so we could be entering this winter with under 10,000 new cases a day. now we're entering with 100,000 potentially new cases a day.

the worst part of all of this is that it didn't have to be this way. it still doesn't but we have to take urgent action now. >> and the white house is saying, dr. wen, they're accusing dr. fauci of making his political leanings known by saying the biden campaign is taking the coronavirus seriously, but isn't dr. fauci just stating a fact? biden is tracking with reality about the coronavirus and trump is trying to say that it's going to go away after tuesday. >> all you have to do is look at the numbers because the numbers don't lie. we are seeing rising number of cases. we know test positivity is on the rides, including in some states where it's as high as 30% or 40%. meaning we are missing so many other cases for every one case that's detected. we are already seeing hospitals overwhelmed, hospitals having to divert patients to other places, ambulances being turned away. some states like utah are

starting to discuss crisis levels of care such that we could be rationing care, scarce resources. i mean, this is a breaking point we could be reaching. we're certainly not turning the corner in any way in this pandemic. >> i wonder what you thought of the interview on rt, which is russia today, actually a registered foreign agent. it's essential -- it is state television for russia. and dr. scott atlas, the president's favored doctor on the white house coronavirus task force, appeared on rt and falsely claimed that lockdowns are a failure and the deaths aren't increasing. what is your reaction to that interview? >> well, it's just false. and spreading misinformation like this is extremely dangerous at this time when we need for everyone to be saying the same thing. so be speaking with science and following public health guidance. look, no one wants lockdowns.

they are bad for the economy. people have lost their livelihoods as as a result, it's bad for mental health, bad for so many reasons. but at some point it may become inevitable if our health care system is on the brink of collapse. we want to prevent from getting to that point. that's why we need things like mask mandates. we need for people to be following guidance to not congregate in large gatherings, rallies where people are maskless and shoulder to shoulder. we shouldn't be having events like that. the more we can do right now in order to suppress the level of coronavirus surge, the more we can prevent lockdowns. i wish that scott atlas would join the rest of the medical and scientific community in speaking the truth to the american people. >> dr. wen, thank you for being with us. we really appreciate it. >> thank you, brianna. i want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm brianna keilar in washington and we're counting down to

election day. . with two days to go, president trump and his democratic rival, vice president joe biden, are ba barnstorming through key battleground states. the president holding five rallies today. he has already been to michigan and iowa, north carolina is scheduled tore next hour. then he is onto georgia and finally florida. democratic nominee joe biden focusing on philadelphia with pennsylvania a critical state for him in the race for electoral votes. he's holding two events there, two larger events, including a drive-in rally that is scheduled for this hour. the frantic last-minute campaigning will not change the votes of the more than 91 million americans who have already cast their early ballots. that's more than two-thirds of all ballots cast in 2016. but in a troubling development, new court filings revealed for the third day in a row, the u.s. postal service moved fewer ballots on time in critical battleground states than it did

in the previous day, so things are slowing down there. i want to begin our election countdown coverage with our senior white house correspondent kaitlan collins, in hickory, north carolina, where the president will be holding his next rally. kaitlan, the president is visiting five states today. what is his message in the final push? >> reporter: his closing message has been this attempt to undermine what we saw happened on tuesday, which is a delayed counting of the vote because of so many votes that have been cast by mail, as you were just pointing out, given the fact that we are still going through this election year during a pandemic. today this message you're seeing coming from not only the president but his senior advisers and his family is that those that come in after november 3rd, he believes should not be counted. this is what the president told the crowd in iowa just before he headed to north carolina. >> i've seen people where the election got stolen. by the way, we're not going to let that happen to us with these ballots. how about the supreme court

ruling where the supreme court -- no, this was not good news. supreme court gave them more time, more time. so, what does this mean? does this mean we go and we wait? it's not november 3rd, it's much later than that? no, no. we should know the result of the election on november 3rd. the evening of november 3rd. that's the way it's been and that's the way it should be. what's going on in this country? what's going on? >> reporter: now, the president said that's the way it's been, that's the way it should be. that's not always true. it's not always been known by midnight on election night. often it takes longer to tally votes. usually you see media organizations call and determine an election before the final tally is in. they are still going through ballots that have been mailed in and whatnot. that's going to be higher this year, given how many people voted that way. this is an effort by the president they've been laying this groundwork this week.

basically, if he loses on tuesday night, they want to be able to undermine that election and question it. they are already starting to cast doubt on it now. what would be wrong if they did not count ballots on november 3rd because people have legitimately cast these ballots, they'll be countered and that's what we've heard from state officials. >> these are ballots cast on election day or before election day, right? not cast after election day. i want to ask you, kaitlan, about something i know the president is now commenting on. the fbi's investigating an incident caught on tape and it's something that happened on a texas interstate. the biden campaign says there was a caravan of trump supporters surrounding their bus. they tried to slow this down, this bus down. they were able to slow it down. they tried to run it off the road. tell us what the president is saying about this. >> reporter: this is actually so concerning. you saw this bus and hundreds of trump supporters drove up around it. they slowed it down to 20 miles an hour on the interstate.

today the republicans have been asked around the board about this. the rnc chair said earlier that the president would not condone the action of those supporters because obviously if they are trying to harm the people on that bus or interfere with them driving safely down the road, she said they would not condone that. that's not what the president himself said. instead, he embraced it and tried to put this spin on it. >> did you see the way our people, they were protecting his bus yesterday, because they're nice. so his bus -- they had hundreds of cars, trump, trump. trump and the american flag. you see trump and the american flag. did you ever notice when you see the other side, i don't even see much of the other side. you don't see any -- they have no spirit, this he have no enthusiasm. >> reporter: the president said they were trying to protect them. the staffers on that bus called 911 to assist them because they were concerned about what was

happening. the fbi is investigating that incident. >> and the president's preferred white house coronavirus task force member dr. scat atlas, kaitlan, is now apologizing. he's facing backlash for doing an interview with rt, which is russian state media. what is atlas now saying? >> reporter: he's apologizing because he did this extensive interview, 30 minutes. he criticized lockdowns, questioned masks. the typical thing we've heard rt had to register as a foreign agent with the justice department after that investigation into russian attempted interference in the american election. of course, he says he did not know. that's raising a lot of questions because their name is russia today. they're well-known as russia propaganda and now he says he did not know and he's apologizing to the national security apparatus in the u.s. for doing that interview. >> kaitlan collins, where the

president will soon be in hickory, north carolina. thank you so much. i want to check in now on the biden campaign. we have cnn correspondent jessica dean tracking that in philly. biden is focusing the final days on pennsylvania. tell us about what his push is here in the final 48 hours. >> reporter: we saw biden in pennsylvania all day today. he, his wife, kamala harris and her husband, doug imhof will spread out to four corners. president trump won pennsylvania by some 44,000 votes in 2016. the biden campaign, look, seeing all of those people here on the day before the election, that tells us they know how critical this state is to their entire strategy on tuesday. the biden campaign aide told us they really see pennsylvania as the coalition they're seeking to build nationally. what does that look like?

that looks like suburban voters. working class, union voters, it looks like black voters, latino voters. these are the types of demographics they are trying to bring together to get a win on tuesday. here's vice president biden in pennsylvania today. >> we need every single one of you to get out on vote on tuesday. my message is simple. pennsylvania is critical in this election. i live in pennsylvania but born in scranton. i want to tell you, the last time donald trump ran, he won this state by 44,000 votes. so, every single vote matters. the power, the power to change this country is literally in your hands. i don't care how hard donald trump tries, there is nothing he

is going to do to stop this nation from voting! >> reporter: the biden campaign also looking to flip people who may have voted for president trump back in 2016. but would vote for biden this time. again, they're seeking to not just get their base to turn out, but also to expand that. >> jessica in philadelphia, thank you so much, jessica dean. i want to get more on all of this with our cnn chief political analyst gloria borger, cnn political reporter nia-malika henderson and former ohio governor, john kasich, our senior cnn commentator. gloria, right now the president campaigning, and he has five states today. michigan, iowa, north carolina, georgia and florida. joe biden has more of a focused approach as opposed to this blitz. he's really focusing on pennsylvania. so, what does that tell you here in the final stretch? >> well, i think what the president is trying to do is in some way recreate his 2016

victory. and a lot of these states, as you know, brianna, he is running neck and neck or behind. what he is effectively trying to do is plug the holes in the dike there that he really might have. and what you see with joe biden is he is concentrating on getting to 270. the easiest way for him to do that, the campaign knows, is through that northern tier. and michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania. pennsylvania is the state that looks the closest in many ways. is counted, unfortunately, the latest. and so he knows if he's going to get people out to vote, this is the time to do it. so, he's got to really make a push for that late voting. you'll notice that tomorrow he's making a little side trip to cleveland, ohio. maybe the governor can talk about that. going to ohio because they even

think they have a shot there. of course, they're not focusing on it. i guess they think they have enough of a shot to make it worth joe biden's time. >> governor, you tell us. >> no, i think it's very interesting. i'm not surprised they're going to go to cleveland. cleveland is the largest media market in the state. and african-american turnout matters a great deal. a couple months ago i would have said, no way, no how. right now i say it's really too close to call. but you think about this. and he is -- gloria is exactly right about where he's going. think about the fact that on monday before the tuesday election he's going to clevel d cleveland, ohio. you have donald trump going places that should be locked up that right now are not locked up. and the reason why joe biden is spending so much time in philadelphia, not just joe biden, but barack obama spent a great amount of time in philadelphia because as philadelphia goes, in most cases, so goes the state.

you have huge turnout that can come out of philadelphia. what we would watch there is the turnout particularly of african-americans. it's particularly interesting, joe biden is there late this afternoon. i'm sure they'll spend more time in philadelphia, so pennsylvania matters. >> it certainly matters. nia, we're seeing in cities across the country, there are businesses boarding up, preparing for possible unrest in the aftermath of this election. we were just showing video of a trump caravan that was following the biden/harris bus and had slowed it down to 20 miles an hour on the interstate causing staffers on that bus to be concerned for their safety and call 911. there's this concern. there's this kind of fear that we are starting to see. this country is very much on edge. >> it is on edge. and who-r we have to be honest here about who is fomenting,

this fear fomenting some of the actions we saw down with that bus. it's donald trump. he's the one who's talking about sending folks to the polls to make sure there is no fraudulent activity, even though there's no evidence that folks will be engaging in fraudulent activity on the polls on election day. this is a dangerous, dangerous thing for the leader of the country to do. we know that he has a very close relationship with his followers. they take cues from him. so, you're exactly right. a lot of people fearful about the aftermath. here in d.c., i've seen businesses boarded up starting yesterday. i imagine that will continue to happen all across this country because there is a powder keg situation going on here. again, we know that donald trump sdent doesn't mind lighting a match, talking up violence, praising violence. he is now trying to back off what happened with his supporters and that biden bus. it's clear what was going on

there. it's clear that in many ways this is a president who has encouraged that violence, praised some of that violence as well. we just hope and pray that on election night there isn't any sort of unrest and violence in the country. >> it's very clear, look, he's got a knack for inspiring anxiety and fear and he's leaning heavily into that in the final hours. gloria, i want to ask you about something we are hearing from a senior trump campaign adviser who says they're planning to be very aggressive on election night and the president isn't necessarily going to wait for news organizations to project the race before he declares victory. of course, that snts how elections work. >> it is not. campaigns can always look at their own numbers and their own algorithms and decide where their campaign is headed and what state they think they're going to win. and, of course, we all think back to -- at least i do, think

back to the election of 2000 when we know al gore was in tennessee and on his way to concede and then more numbers were coming in from florida and he said to george bush, wait a minute, i'm not going to concede. i take back my private concession. i'm not going to give it publicly. so, we know these things can be very tense. i think what the campaign is saying, at some point they want to try to project strength because it does play into the president's narrative, of course, that if he doesn't win, it's because the election is rigged and maybe the media is part of that. i don't know exactly what they're thinking on that point. it would seem to me that neither candidate would want to concede on election night until they know what the numbers are. declaring victory, i think, is something that you have to be really careful about. >> what's clear we're seeing, governor, is that republicans

are the ones who seem to try to be trying to, perhaps, change the outcome. in texas republicans are pushing to invalidate more than 120,000 votes that have already been cast. they were cast at drive-through voting locations that were permissible under local regulations. what's your reaction to that? >> it's horrific. you don't want to win elections in this country because you keep other people from voting. there were a lot of people who bled and died. we think about john lewis and the marches he was involved with so that everybody would have a chance to vote. it has never been in the republican dna, as long as i've remembered -- in fact, i remember in the early '80s when people who had engaged in one way or another who forked for the republican national committee, you will never do this again, you will never work in this area again because there was some shenanigans going on.

now you have this lawsuit going on in texas. it's apparently sponsored by a wealthy donor, and a couple candidates for office. what they're saying is, even though the people in this drive-by voting voted legitimately. everything he can whiched out. everything was correct. they're now saying somehow it's unconstitutional. can you imagine trying to disqualify 125,000 -- 150,000 votes in houston? i mean, i tell you, the republican party should be speaking out on this. if they do not speak out on this, then it's going to be -- it's going to be a black mark against the party and will represent something that we've never been -- never been connected to before. the other thing i would say about election day, and i've been in a couple of very close elections. my first election to congress, i never, ever would have attempted to claim a victory until i was told it was legitimate. my first run for governor, close -- very, very close in that election. there's no way i would have claimed anything. what we have to hope is that

republican leaders like mitch mcconnell on election night will simmer it all down and say, no, this isn't over until it is actually officially completed. that's the way this should work. >> do you think mitch mcconnell will have any impact at all on this regard with donald trump? i mean, why would we even think that? >> it doesn't matter what he says to donald trump. it matters -- it matters what he says -- it matters what he says to the american people. >> if he says it. >> not just mcconnell, but other leaders who say, we're want going to stand for this. >> let's see if they do that. >> it's a very -- >> good luck with that. >> nia, gloria, i hear the doubt in your voice over that. governor, thank you so much. it's been wonderful speaking with all of you. just ahead, where president trump and joe biden stand on the path to the 270 electoral college votes they need with just two days to go before the election. plus, how some cities are preparing for possible

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president trump is in the midst of a five-state campaign swing invite now. joe biden is holding a pair of events in philadelphia with at least one unscheduled stop. cnn's mark preston is joining us now. so, mark, here we are. here we are, right? 48 hours away. does the itinerary for both candidates tell us anything about the state of this race? >> it absolutely does. last hour we talked about the blue wall, which is up here, brianna, which is what collapsed for democrats back in 2016. let's talk about where donald trump is today and let's talk about the collapse potentially of the red wall. we've seen donald trump in iowa today. we also saw him up in michigan, north carolina, georgia and florida. now, what's interesting about this right here, what is he doing down here? florida has only voted for

democrats four times since 1976. georgia, three times. north carolina, two times. wondering, what is he doing down here? the problem for dvt trump at this point as he's trying to replicate his map is this is the latest polling we have right now in the south. joe biden has a lead over donald trump in every one of these states right now. that is problematic right now for the trump campaign because surely they would rather be up here trying to collect these votes instead of trying to fight them down here. in addition to that, we should note, brianna, is that over here is also in play right now. donald trump jr. is out there tonight campaigning. in addition to that, let us talk about what happens globally. what happens to the united states senate, perhaps, if donald trump loses. let's take a quick look at that. this could be very troublesome. talked to a lot of republican operatives and they are looking right now and saying that the

blame, if the united states senate is lost, will fall at the feet of donald trump. the reason why is look at the map where we are right now. republicans have a lead, a six-seat advantage over democrats. that could quickly change. look at this right here. these are the seats in play right now. donald trump right now, if he is to lose these, if he's to lose maine, susan collins right now if she is to lose, just a few seats away. as we keep on coming down here, north carolina again, a seat that necessarily shouldn't be in play. thomas tillis has been around. he could lose. look at this down, even jaime harrison taking on lindsey graham, a well-known supporter of donald trump. he's in trouble there. and then as you go across, look at arizona as well. mark kelley right now, the astronaut, has a very good chance of winning there. if you continue to look on here, if you look across, steve bullock has a shot up in mont n

-- montana. he could beat steve dayne. democrats are playing in the state of kansas. look what happens if it does. we saw donald trump in iowa joni ernst is fighting back there. votes haven't been counted yet. people are still voting. we'll see what happens on election night. >> the fact we're looking at kansas and south carolina and georgia is -- it's just -- it is wild, mark. thank you for taking us through that. just ahead, an update from the battleground states getting last-minute attention from the candidates themselves or from top-notch supporters like former president obama. plus, the u.s. postal service warns about delays in moving mail-in ballots through the system. new projects means new project managers.

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the clock is ticking now. both the trump and biden campaigns concentrating on the must-win swing states. one of them is wisconsin, which trump captured in 2016. that is where cnn's bill weir is, he is in madison. bill, tell us, the president is going to be campaigning in wisconsin tomorrow. what should we expect? >> well, he's going to kenosha, brianna, which is still an open wound after the jacob blake shooting. kyle rittenhouse is jailed there awaiting murder charges. given the president's history, it's doubtful he's going there to heal wounds. that just adds to the tension in the stated that is full of worry because covid-19 is ripping through here at record rates

right now. they passed 2,000 deaths. then there's also this worry about the election. a judge in washington state this week ordered the postal service, specifically in the great lakes region because the return rates of election ballots were so slow to do a statewide sweep starting tonight and report back to him how many ballots they found and guarantee they take extraordinary measures. if they have to overnight those ballots flord to get them back in time, they will do that. we did see one of these trump caravans we see around the country today. it was circling the capitol here, with flags flying, horns honking. the police stopped them from sort of interacting with another group that was protesting in fronts of the capitol, so no real tension here. in the polls, at least, joe biden is enjoying a comfortable lead. the latest cnn has him up by eight, "the new york times" has him up by 11 points. it will come down to the 200,000

absent absentee ballots still out there, if they can make it through the mail, and if they can be counted. about 23,000 people were rejected because people didn't know to sign the envelope. donald trump won this state by about 23,000 votes. >> bill weir, thank you for putting that in context in wisconsin. bill clinton was the last presidential candidate to win georgia. that was way back in 1992. but the biden campaign is so intent on flipping this state, it's sending former president barack obama there tomorrow. and president trump is going to be in the state tonight. natasha chen is in atlanta tonight. tell us more about what is a really surprising battle, georgia. >> you can tell how much georgia is in play here with just less than two days until election day, you've got the president visiting rome, georgia, tonight. vice presidential candidate kamala harris was here today,

president obama here tomorrow. as of last wednesday, cnn's average of polls shows joe biden polli ining 49% and donald trum 46%. the state has two contentious senate seats on the ballot, one of which is a special election. why is georgia in this position? if you look at the demographics over the last two or three decades, you can see a significant growth in the percentage of black voters in the electorate. according to a study by pew research, georgia has the fastest growth of eligible immigrant voters of any state. something that's happened in recent years, the state automatically registers people to vote when they apply for a driver's license so you have more young people on the rolls. early in-person voting ended on friday. now the county is processing those absentee ballots that can't be tabulated until tuesday night. officials say there are nearly 300,000 absentee ballots outstanding.

dekalb county added nine additional drop boxes to make it easier for people to get those in by tuesday night. >> thank you so much. there is some big news in the battleground state of texas, you heard me right, the battleground state of texas. the republican party there just lost one court case that could have invalidated more than 120,000 early votes but there is another court fight that is set for tomorrow. let's get the details on that before brian todd, who is in houston. what's happening there, brian? >> reporter: a contentious bit of electoral politics going on in the county that centers on the activity behind me. this was a drive-through voting station in harris county. one of ten drive-through voting stations. a group of republicans led by an activist and three candidates for state office were trying to get 127,000 ballots that were cast via drive-through voting thrown out. they have already lost at the texas supreme court. the texas supreme court

comprised of all republicans, by the way, just today rejected their petition to throw out those ballots. they have filed a lawsuit in federal court and the federal judge will conduct a hearing tomorrow and possibly rule on whether those 127,000 ballots can be thrown out or not. our colleague ed lavendera interviewed an attorney for the plaintiffs, the republicans. here's what he had to say. >> why is this the first time and why is this the only county allowing drive-through voting? it's because what they are doing is against the law. >> we know we should be protecting these votes. making sure that all of our residents here can have their voice heard, can have their say in our democracy. >> reporter: as we mentioned, a federal judge will hold a hearing here in harris county to determine whether possibly the 127,000 votes cast by drive-through votes will be thrown out or whether they'll be allowed to stay.

it's not really clear what options those voters will have, brianna, if this judge rules they should be thrown out. will they be able to vote again? it's not clear what their options will be. they won't have much time to decide what to do if they find out their votes have been thrown out. >> we'll know what happens certainly with many of them. brian todd thank you in houston. just ahead, will mail-in ballots be delivered in time to be counted? tonight there is a disturbing update from the u.s. postal service. also the possibility of post-election violence has some businesses boarding up. i suffered with psoriasis for so long. i felt gross. people were afraid i was contagious. i was covered from head to toe. i was afraid to show my skin.

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crucial battleground states like wisconsin, like georgia, like florida, like pennsylvania. now, the usps is checking in daily with federal judges around the country. they're reporting their rate of return for mail-in ballots and return rate has been steadily dropping. the usps has said in their nationwide numbers that fewer and fewer mail-in ballots are actually getting returned. here are the numbers. on wednesday the on-time score was 97% but on friday it dropped to 93%. on saturday dropped to 91%. now, this is a documented daily drop in performance. it's really making election officials concerned that a lot of people who have already put their mail-in ballots in the mail, they might not get returned and counted in time. when you look at the stats from some of the individual regions in crucial battleground states, the numbers of return, it's even more alarming. central pennsylvania, 62% were returned on time by usps. 64% in the atlanta region of georgia. 78% of ballots in wisconsin, the

lakeland region. 79% of ballots in the northland region of wisconsin and michigan. and, of course, brianna, this slowdown really jeopardizes all of those mail-in ballots people have already put in the mail. officials are urging people, if they haven't already, vote in person or return their ballots in person. this is concerning and the federal judges continue to check in every day to get the latest on these stats and the return rate by the usps. >> jessica schneider, thank you for that report. very important. just ahead, dr. fauci's new warning to americans as the country tops 9.1 million coronavirus cases. so with at&t, you can pick the perfect plan

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♪ ♪ heart monitors that let your doctor watch over you, just like you watch over your best friend. another life-changing technology from abbott, so you don't wait for life. you live it. all right. president trump just arriving in north carolina where he was asked about reports that he is prepared to declare victories president if he's close to 270 electoral votes even if the networks have not done so. here is what he said.

>> no, no, that was a false report. we'll look at what happens. i think so it's a terrible thing when ballots can be collected after an election. i think it's a terrible thing when states are allowed to tabulate ballots for a long period of time after the election is over, because it can only lead to one thing, and that's very bad. you know has that thing is. i think it's a very dangerous, terrible thing. i think it's terrible where we can't know the results of an election the night of the election in a modern day age of computers. think it's a terrible thing. i happen to think it was a terrible decision made by our country made by the supreme court. i think it's a terrible decision, a dangerous decision. you're going to have one or two or three states depending how it ends up, where they are tabulating ballots and the rest of the world is waiting to find

out. i think there's great danger to it, and i think a lot of fraud and misuse can take place. i think it's a terrible decision by the supreme court, a terrible decision. i don't know if that's going to be changed. we're going to go in the night of, as soon as that election is over, we're going in with our lawyers. but we don't want to have pennsylvania where you have a political governor, a very partisan guy, and we don't want other states like nevada where you have the head of the democratic clubhouse as your governor, we don't want to be in a position where he's allowed every day to watch ballots come in. here we can only have 10,000 more ballots. we're doing great in nevada, great in arizona, great all over. if you take nevada or pennsylvania, and everyone knows what happens in philadelphia, you don't have to say it. i've read about it for years.

i don't think it's fair that we have to wait a long period of time after the election. if people wanted to get their ballots in, they should have gotten their ballots in long before that, long time. they don't have to put their ballots in the same day. they could put their ballots in a month ago. we think it's a ridiculous decision. thank you. >> let's just be clear what the president is talking about in north carolina ahead of his rally. he's talking about not wanting to count ballots that are in on or before election day. he was basically saying people could have cast these a month ago. tuesday is election day. that is the deadline. for instance, in pennsylvania, this is not particularly unusual, especially in a pandemic where so many americans we're seeing the numbers are going to be voting by mail instead of in person. why? they have concerns about their safety. they have concerns about their health. they have concerns about the

health and lives of the ones they live with. a lot of people are voting by mail. he said there, it's a terrible thing to count ballots after the election. that happens all the time. we need to be very clear fact checking that. he said to tabulate ballots after the election. this is something having ballots in on election day or before. we're seeing this in a number of states. we're seeing states extending the deadlines for counting in anticipation of having a huge increase in mail-in ballots. as we just reported having some slow down in the delivery of the postal service. these are all things that are adjusting for the reality on the ground in a pandemic. the president they were talking boult disen fdisenfranchising vo have exercised their right to vote by election day. there is a troubling warning coming from dr. anthony fauci as

the u.s. passes more than 9.1 million americans, and nearly-of-nearly 230,000 dead. dr. jha, we've heard dr. fauci warning we're in for a whole lot of hurt. he said you could not possibly be positioned more poorly going into the winter, which is incredibly scary to hear. how bad will the next few months be? >> good evening. thank you for having me on. what happens over the next couple of months is bhowholly uo us. we are going in in bad shape, 100,000 new infections identified every day, clearly the wrong trajectory. things are heading up, hospitalizations heading up. if we limit gatherings, the number of people we spend time with indoors. my goodness, if we have a

government that ever fixes our testing problems, we really can get through the next few months a bit more safely, but we all have to do our part. >> the white house is lashing out at dr. fauci after that warning. they say he's playing politics. how do you see it? >> what dr. fauci is saying is what every single physician and health expert who knows anything about this pandemic is saying. he's now not only playing politics, he's speaking truth. this is a widespread agreement with most people who understand what's going on with this pandemic. it's unfortunate the white house is mipoliticizing this. >> dr. fauci gave a very blunt assessment of another white house adviser dr. scott atlas. he said dr. atlas is talking about things he doesn't have any insight or knowledge or experience in. at the same time we're hearing dr. atlas go on russian

television and lie about the state of the pandemic. he's apologizing for that, because he went on rt, which is actually a russian agent in a way. it is a foreign -- registered as a foreign agent. what do you make of his role right now in this task force? >> dr. atlas is playing a really unhelpful role, really undermining science and public health at every step. went on russia today, rt russia today and really said a whot lot of misleading things. i personally don't care where he attends and where he appears. he can do that. that's his choice. it's the disinformation, constant undermining of masks, of trying to figure out how to protect people that really bothers me and certainly from someone at the white house it's particularly troubling. >> president trump has been downplaying the virus. he says the deaths are way down. we know they lag cases.

can you explain that? we know research shows that. you have a spike in cases, it obviously takes time for people to become ill and for some of them to become deathly ill. >> yeah. if you just think about the clinical natural history of that disease. let's say you get an infection today. maybe four or five days you'll have symptoms. a few days later you'll get tested. a few days later you might get sick enough to get hospitalized. we've gotten good in the hospital of taking care of people. you might go to the icu a few days after that and might spend two or three weeks in the icu before you succumb and die. typical is four to six weeks between infections and deaths. that's what we're seeing, an increase in deaths across the country exactly as we would expect. this is well-known. i don't know why dr. atlas and the white house keeps downplaying this. >> dr. jha, thank you for being with us. we have breaking news.

caravans of trump supporters have been blocking traffic on a key road as well as an important bridge just outside of new york city. i want the latest on this from jen. tell us what's happening. >> we're seeing this on social media. the new jersey turnpike authority said there was hundreds of vehicles, you can see trump 2020 flags, making their way through the highway system of new jersey and new york. stopping, get out of their vehicles, impeding traffic. you can see there that's the mario cuomo bridge in westchester county, new york. this is the type of activity we've been talking about all day about these security law enforcement has. talking to my own sources, brianna, new york maybe not such an issue but more the battleground states are an

issue. right here we are in new york. we are seeing businesses really try to prepare for any activity. of course we're going to have to see how the highways prepare. businesses, we've seen in new york alone, boarding up and preparing for possible unrest. of course we saw this kind of activity after the george floyd protest but talking to a source who said it had been decades since they had seen this kind of activity to prepare. particularly they had never seen anything like this when it comes to an election. private security firms have been getting calls after calls basically asking how do we prepare for the worst-case scenario. the message here really is law enforcement are out there concerned already trying to make preparations for what kind of unrest they might see not only on election tay but, of course, in the days after from extremist groups, from domestic terrorism, voter intimidation. a whole host of issues that not only law enforcement or private

business owners will tell you about. brianna, i talked to one woman who said she lives in new york and not leaving on election day or the day after just from the anxiety in the city. again, this isn't even a battleground state. >> that's the same thing, brynn we're seeing in washington, d.c., a lot of people not going to work. some of them are going in in a staggered fashion. there are folks that will be doing that in the coming weeks. sounds like that's what you're hearing from people who are making plans to in a way go into lockdown in their apartments. >> exactly. to think about that and the fact it's an election. that's why you're making those decisions. you're seeing those boarded up businesses. this is what we see for hurricanes and weather events, not an election. sadly that's what we're seeing. people having to change their lives just because we don't know how the election will turn out, how people will react to it and

what sort of violence we might see either way. >> brynn gingras, thanks for the latest on that story. it all ends here. join us for specialized coverage as only cnn can bring it to you. from the first critical votes, can you understand what's happening in your state and across the country. that is election night in america. special coverage at 2:00 in the afternoon at 4:eastern. i'm brianna keilar. we're picking up coverage on countdown to election day right now. special addition of "outfront" next. two days to go, a frenzy of activity in key starts as we're learning the trump campaign plans to be very aggressive on election night preparing to declare victory if trump is close to 270 electoral votes but still shy. plus global security experts issuing a warning about a bitterly divided america, about