President Trump Holds Rally In Florida; Investigation For Investigators Ended; Mrs. Scalia Tested Positive For Coronavirus
LEMON: Election day just 21 days away and President Trump is trying to fit in as many rallies as possible. I want to you check out this event tonight. This is in Pennsylvania. No social distancing, very few masks. You would never know we're in the middle of a deadly pandemic where the number in the country are going up, but that's really part of the strategy here. Joining me now is CNN's White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins and our Senior Analyst, Mr. John Avlon. Good evening to both of you. Kaitlan, before we get to the rally, we have some breaking news tonight. Here's what the Washington Post is reporting that the unmasking investigation commissioned by the Attorney General Barr is over, no charges, no public report. This is a major development. How is the president going to react to this?</s>KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, he hasn't reacted yet, but Don, you can guess if you've judged his reactions lately it's not going to be a good one because he's already unhappy with the attorney general over that investigation into the beginning of the Russia probe. And this is an investigation that the president and his allies built up, basically alleging that they believe there were Obama officials that had inappropriately requested the identities of people in these intelligence documents, they have been redacted. People like Mike Flynn and others that were already in there. And so, they believed there was this wrongdoing, but according to this report in the Washington Post this federal prosecutor who was looking into this has now finished his investigation and there is no significant allegation of wrongdoing that's going to come out of this, again according to the Washington Post. And that is not news the president wants to hear. He was hoping it was going to be, you know, this kind of political boost that he and his allies were building it up to be with all of this, you know, hoopla around it, and now of course it's not going to live up to what they projected that it was going to.</s>LEMON: Well, they were saying that -- he was saying that President Obama and former Vice President Biden should be put in jail for -- whatever. I feel like we're back in 2016 again. So, John, they were looking at Obama era officials and whether they improperly requested the identities of people named in redacted intelligence documents. According to the Post, they found no wrongdoing. This is all part of their obsession with reliving the 2016 election instead of focusing on the issues that we face right now in this moment.</s>JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST & ANCHOR: A hundred percent. Look, Donald Trump and his supporters in media have been totally fixated on trying to relitigate 2016. We want to be running against Hillary Clinton. But this what he did here, threatening to jail his political opponents, all the hours spent, all the bluster, aided and abetted by hyper partisan media and senators in his own party who floated specific names, after all the slander and all the slurs and all the fear mongering, nothing. It was all a lie. It was all a fraud. Even his own DOJ couldn't bring charges because there was nothing there. And it's just a reminder that especially when someone screams a lot, it's because they're weak. They're in a weak position.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>AVLON: That's what's been revealed today.</s>LEMON: Amen, brother, and it was everywhere. Unmasking, unmasking, the unmasking and unmasking, the scandal, the unmasking. It's like, my gosh, really? Kaitlan's -- Kaitlan, let's talk about something new that's happening tonight. The Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia's wife tested positive for the coronavirus. She was at that Rose Garden super spreader event. This comes as the country is approaching eight million cases now. So how is the president addressing his failure on the pandemic at, you know, at this latest packed rally tonight?</s>COLLINS: Well, he's been defending it, but not in the way that advisers hoped he would coming out of this rally. They assume he would come with this, you know, relatable position of I'm someone who's had COVID-19 and instead he's been touting his own stamina, using those projection of strength than he's been talking about the last two nights. Not exactly what political advisers had hoped the president would approach this. But back to the labor secretary's wife. This is kind of unusual that we found this out in an announcement from the Labor Department tonight telling us that she had tested positive. And so, it doesn't say if they believe it's tied to this event, the event for Amy Coney Barrett in the Rose Garden where so many other officials have also tested positive we know, but she was there. She was seated right behind the first lady and next to Kellyanne Conway, both of those two individuals have tested positive, of course, we know. Though it does say that the labor secretary himself has still tested negative and doesn't not have symptoms. But of course, Don, you know, you're seeing how all of these officials around the president, including himself, got COVID-19, but has not changed the structure of these rallies at all as you were showing in those images at the top of the show. You're still seeing no social distancing and very few people wearing a mask.</s>AVLON: Yes.</s>LEMON: Let's -- Vice President Joe Biden, John, was in Florida today, the day after President Trump was there. Trump is holding packed rallies, few masks, zero social distancing. Biden had a drive-in event. Their campaigning couldn't be more different, don't you think?</s>AVLON: I mean, a hundred percent. I mean, they're fundamentally different human beings, but more importantly responding to this historic crisis in fundamentally different ways. Tone comes from the top. We're seeing it with Donald Trump and the way his entire support base and even his administration still after getting COVID doesn't want to wear masks as the president think it's weak and he keeps telegraphing that. Joe Biden is saying look, it's patriotic to wear masks. We've got to get through this together. And that floats down -- that floats down to the rallies. It's a complete contrast. One is responsible. The other is all about self-glorification at the expense of others.</s>LEMON: These packed Trump rallies, the president loves them. His die- hard supporters love them as well. But are they hurting him with voters who see these, you know, as Trump super spreader events and people who care that they, you know, can't see their family and their friends because of this pandemic, John?</s>AVLON: Look, as you pointed out, he's literally dancing on people's graves, you know, dancing to YMCA when we passed 215,000 deaths. His hard-core supporters love him. It is a matter of belief at this point. It's not a rational calculus. It's part of this identity. But for everyone who's been impacted by this, for everyone who's had family and friends impacted by this it's an insult to their memory. And Donald Trump has always been solely focused on playing to the base and his base doesn't seem to care, but they will when it affects them personally.</s>LEMON: Thank you both. I'll see you soon.</s>AVLON: Take care, Don.</s>LEMON: A second U.S. vaccine trial paused today because of an unexplained illness. A trial for an antibody treatment touted by the president also put on hold. All this as coronavirus cases surge in 33 states. Stay with us.