Trump, Biden square off in critical battleground state of Florida
The 'Special Report' All-Star Panel weighs in on Trump and Biden's fight for the Sunshine State
This is a rush transcript from “Special Report” October 29, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Sexy birdbath. That's a new one.
Thank you, Dana.
Good evening, welcome to Washington. I'm Bret Baier. "BREAKING TONIGHT", we are four full campaigning days away from the election. Already more than 80 million of you have voted either in-person or by mail.
Again, 80 million votes already cast, blowing past 2016's early vote of 58 million. And depending on the state, there are still days left. The presidential campaigns focusing on a handful of key states, crucial elements in their formulas to Electoral College victory.
The emphasis tonight is on the south. President Trump was in Tampa earlier this afternoon, spoke to troops at Fort Bragg in North Carolina a short time ago. Joe Biden will make an appearance at a drive-in event in Tampa, Florida at the bottom of the hour. He spoke earlier today in Broward County.
All of this comes in the wake of some dramatic news about the pace of the economic recovery in the midst of surging coronavirus numbers and renewed lockdowns. A huge surge in the country's Gross Domestic Product or GDP, the best measure of how an economy is growing, and that is where we are starting tonight.
Chief White House correspondent John Roberts, leads us off from Tampa. Good evening, John.
JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Bret, good evening to you. For months now, President Trump has been predicting that there would be robust economic growth as the U.S. economy reopens from coronavirus lockdowns.
The president claiming, pent-up demand would lead to a sharp v-shaped recovery. For the moment, at least, that prediction appears to be right on track.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: In Tampa today, President Trump bragging on the new economic numbers. A staggering 33.1 percent annualized growth in the third quarter.
President Trump, saying, I told you so.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are doing great. Do you see the number today? 33.1 GDP, the biggest in the history of our country by almost triple, right? Almost triple.
This explosive economic growth is four times greater than what the experts expected. They expected a number that would be like, seven percent, eight percent.
ROBERTS: The weather so hot, the fire department turned on the hoses to keep the crowd cool. The Democrats throwing cold water on news of the blazing economy. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisting, GDP is still in the hole.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): As if for somebody used an example this morning, as if you lost a hundred dollars in the second quarter. And now you're making up $65? Glory alleluia, no.
ROBERTS: President Trump's event today at the western edge of the I-4 corridor, where elections are won or lost in Florida. For the first time in
14 months, the first lady joining the president on the campaign trail to help sell voters. Melania Trump's slamming Democrats who've been sowing doubt about the viability of vaccines and therapeutics for coronavirus.
MELANIA TRUMP, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: A vaccine is not a partisan issue. If you are not supporting the safe production of a vaccine, you're not supporting the health and safety of the American people.
ROBERTS: Coronavirus becoming a more urgent concern in states President Trump needs to win. Infections up 40 percent in Pennsylvania, 35 percent in Michigan, 33 percent in Florida, Ohio 21 percent, Arizona 16 percent, and
14 percent in Wisconsin.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tying that to a lack of action on a new coronavirus relief bill, even though she has said no to the president's offer of $2 trillion in targeted relief.
PELOSI: So, we have to have enough money to address that, and we still haven't gotten the yes from the White House on that subject.
ROBERTS: Nearly a third of Hillsborough County residents are Hispanic.
President Trump tried to increase his support among Hispanic voters, announcing, the American Dream Plan, aiming to increase Hispanic employment, business creation, school choice, homeownership, and a permanent resolution to the DACA issue.
TRUMP: We're going on to win a record share of the Hispanic American vote.
We are creating the greatest red wave in the history of our country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Because of lingering winds left over from the remnants of Hurricane Zeta as it rolled through the Carolinas, President Trump was forced to postpone an event that should have been taking place right now in Fayetteville. The president will re-add Fayetteville to an already jam- packed schedule on Monday. Bret.
BAIER: John Roberts in Tampa, Florida. John, thanks.
One of the latest polls in Florida has Joe Biden four points ahead of the president among likely voters. The Trump campaign insists their internal numbers have the president leading in his home state.
But Biden is keeping up the pressure in the Sunshine State with two rallies today. Correspondent Peter Doocy reports tonight from Fort Lauderdale.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Five days left folks.
PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: The way Joe Biden sees it, if the Sunshine State's 29 electoral votes go blue, it could make it really tough for Trump to win re-election.
BIDEN: You hold the key. If Florida goes blue, it's over. It's over.
DOOCY: In coconut creek, 201 cars of carefully screened registered guests honked along with the democratic nominee.
BIDEN: I do miss the opportunity to just wander in and shake hands with all of you. But we decided a while ago that we were going to try to be responsible and not be just -- I won't get into it, but just be responsible.
DOOCY: Biden rarely broke away from the script, which included lines about the very specific reason he thinks Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation already matters.
BIDEN: Trump got the Supreme Court justice passed, and he did it for one reason, to try to destroy the Affordable Care Act again.
DOOCY: There are progressives who aren't so keen on Obamacare either, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who tells Vanity Fair, she didn't see a doctor or a dentist for years. And a quote, "The main reason why I feel comfortable saying that the ACA has failed is because it failed me, and it failed everyone that I worked with in a restaurant."
Her bigger issue is with President Trump, though. In this quote, that comes with a bleep. "These are the same people saying that we can't have tuition- free public colleges because there's no money, when this mother, expletive, are only paying $750 a year in taxes."
We learned a lot today from the Biden campaign's calendar, which just added an entry tomorrow in a state, Biden last visited in mid-September, Minnesota.
BIDEN: And I've been here a number of times up in the iron range and it's a magnificent part of the world.
DOOCY: The democratic nominee is also clueing us in about the reason he sometimes sports two masks at the same time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Vice President, how do you --
(CROSSTALK)
BIDEN: It's all right. One mask is the N95, and I don't like it around my ears, but I hope it will not with this match.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOOCY: Biden just left Fort Lauderdale, and he should be on the ground in Tampa for another drive-in event any minute. So far, this week, in four days, he's visited three swing states. But tomorrow, they're going to cram
three: Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin into one. That is the most ground that he has covered in any single day that we can remember on -- in 18 months on the Biden beat. Bret.
BAIER: You're out of Wilmington. Peter, thank you. Markets bounced back after Wednesday's big losses, but not huge gains after that huge boost to the third-quarter GDP. The Dow was up 139, the S&P 500 gained 39. The NASDAQ jumped big 181. Markets still spooked by COVID numbers around the world.
Speaking of which, Dr. Anthony Fauci tells Fox, we may be dealing with the coronavirus through the end of next year. Deaths in the U.S. are climbing in 39 states, and an average of 805 Americans are dying every day nationwide.
Indiana has set a new daily record with more than 3,600 new cases.
Overseas, France is preparing to shut down much of the country for a month to deal with the coronavirus surges there. But schools in France and many businesses will remain open.
The British government, meantime, is insisting, a national lockdown is not the right approach to deal with the resurgence of the virus. On the other end of the spectrum, Taiwan has now gone 200 days without a domestically transmitted case of COVID-19.
France dealing with yet another presumed terror strike tonight. This time, three people are dead, several others injured after stabbings in the Mediterranean city of Nice. Correspondent Benjamin Hall has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BENJAMIN HALL, FOX NEWS FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: France is under attack. Those were the words of President Emmanuel Macron, following the third attack in two months, blamed on Islamic extremists.
It happened in the city of Nice, as a man armed with a knife, shouting Allahu akbar killed three people inside the city's largest church. Among them, the churchwarden and an elderly lady who he decapitated.
The attacker is reported to have arrived in Europe from Tunisia on a migrant boat just last month. He was shot and wounded during his arrest.
President Trump tweeted in part, "These radical Islamic terrorist attacks must stop immediately. No country, France, or otherwise can long put up with it." President Macron visited the site today and was defiant.
EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): If we've been attacked again, it's because of our values, our taste for freedom, the possibility there is here to believe freely, and not to give in to any terror.
HALL: Two other attacks were also foiled in France today, while a guard at the French embassy in Saudi Arabia was also stabbed. Police haven't suggested a motive, but the attacks followed days after protests in several Muslim countries after Macron defended people's right to show cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, leading to anger across the Muslim world.
WALID TAHA, MEMBER, KNESSET (through translator): To the French president, the racist, the anti-Islam, the hostile to the prophet of Islam, and the hostile to the nations of Islam, we tell him, enough hatred.
HALL: Tonight, France is back at its highest terror alert, and 4,000 more soldiers have been added to the 3,000 already protecting churches and schools across the country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HALL: Just yesterday, ISIS released a new video, urging its followers to continue attacking France. Certainly, authorities there are bracing for more. Bret.
BAIER: Benjamin, thank you. Also breaking tonight, an alarming report out of the Pentagon about threats to American defense officials, possibly, civilians as well. This being linked possibly to Iranians looking for revenge after the death of Iranian military leader, Qasem Soleimani in January.
National security correspondent Jennifer Griffin has the breaking details from the Pentagon. Good evening, Jennifer.
JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Bret.
According to a senior U.S. defense official, an unusual incident involving an Iranian national who trailed a senior defense official in his government-issued black SUV as his security detail left the Pentagon the evening of September 22nd, has raised security concerns for senior military leaders in recent weeks.
The story was first reported by NBC News. The FBI was asked to investigate the incident which involved a vehicle with Virginia plates that trailed the U.S. official driving aggressively. The individual in question had social media posts linking him to Iran and Afghanistan.
Senior U.S. officials tell me there has been an uptick in threats against senior Pentagon leaders in the wake of the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the shadowy leader of Iran's revolutionary guard, Quds Force in January. As a result, greater security has been put in place.
Today, President Trump bragged at a campaign rally in Florida about killing the Iranian general.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We took out the world's number one terrorist by far, the worst in 50 years, Qasem Soleimani is dead. He killed many of our soldiers, he killed many soldiers from many countries. Most feared man in the Middle East. He's gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: U.S. intelligence officials and the FBI do not necessarily agree that this Iranian driver posed a serious threat to the senior Pentagon leader, and the erratic behavior did not appear to be well coordinated.
We have agreed to withhold the name of the senior Pentagon leader involved in the incident for security reasons. A U.S. official tells us that it is not just military leaders, but also civilian leaders who could be the targets of retaliation. Back to you, Bret.
BAIER: Jennifer Griffin at the Pentagon. Jennifer, thank you.
One of the issues President Trump has been mentioning at every stop in the final days of the campaign is the Hunter Biden e-mail story and the lack of news coverage and social media blocking of that.
There's new information tonight about efforts to verify the allegations, your senior political correspondent Mike Emanuel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TONY BOBULINSKI, FORMER ASSOCIATE OF HUNTER BIDEN: He looked at me and he laughed a little bit and said plausible deniability.
MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After Tony Bobulinski, alleged the Biden family laughed-off concerns about its overseas business dealings damaging Joe Biden politically, pressure is building on Hunter Biden's former associates.
James Gilliar is expressing concern about the scrutiny that will come from his former colleague, Bobulinski, going public.
JAMES GILLAR, FORMER HUNTER BIDEN BUSINESS ASSOCIATE: We've got the situation now where it's escalating again because somebody, allegedly one of us three, has qualified the story, and already it's back on the front pages.
EMANUEL: Fox tracked down Joe Biden's brother, Jim on Maryland's eastern shore, but he was not receptive to our questions.
JIM BIDEN, BROTHER OF JOE BIDEN: What are you talking about?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you Mr. Jim Biden? I wanted to ask you about the China deal.
BIDEN: Would you please stop bothering me?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't want to comment, sir?
BIDEN: I don't want to comment about anything to you.
EMANUEL: Bobulinski, spoke at great length with Fox's Tucker Carlson about his alleged face-to-face interactions with Joe Biden when he was CEO of a deal with a Chinese energy firm.
BOBULINSKI: Obviously, I stood up out of respect to shake his hand, and Hunter introduced me as, this is Tony, dad, the individual I told you about that's helping us with the business that we're working on and the Chinese.
EMANUEL: Investigators on Capitol Hill, say their review of Tony Bobulinski's text messages, e-mails, and documents is ongoing. And expanding their understanding of information they already had.
A spokesman for the Senate Homeland Security Committee tells Fox about the verification process, "The Committee's review to date has shown that these records are consistent with other information gathered by the Committee and we have not found any indication that the records have been falsified."
Joe Biden appeared on a Zoom call with Oprah but wasn't asked about his family's overseas business activities. He did offer this endorsement.
BIDEN: And I had my son, Hunter is the smartest guy I know.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
EMANUEL: The Biden campaign is still refusing to answer questions about the alleged meetings between Bobulinski and the former vice president. A campaign spokesman, saying today, they are not going to waste any time on this, "smear campaign", because it's just another distraction, taking the focus off President Trump's policies and leadership. Bret.
BAIER: Mike, thanks.
Up next, we check in on a key Senate race as Republicans try to hold onto their majority. If they do it, they will likely have to include a win in this Midwest state. We'll take you there.
First, here is what some of our Fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight. Fox 8 in New Orleans, as least, one person is dead in Louisiana, following the landfall of Hurricane Zeta.
Governor John Bel Edwards, says about 460,000 homes and businesses were without power as of midmorning. The state is prioritizing power restoration to polling places and local elections offices.
Fox 2 in Detroit as the FBI, says a man charged in an alleged conspiracy to kidnap Michigan's governor, also made threatening online comments about President Trump. Saying, he wanted to hang the president and other prominent political leaders.
Barry Croft is one of six purported members of an extremist paramilitary group accused of scheming to kidnap Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer.
And this is a live look at Denver from our affiliate Fox 31 out there. One of the big story there tonight, a Colorado ski area has kicked off a limited opening. Wolf Creek beat rivals to become the first in the state to open for the season.
That's good news.
That's tonight's live look "OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY" from SPECIAL REPORT. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BAIER: Federal agencies are warning, cybercriminals are unleashing a wave of data scrambling extortion attempts against the health care system. The aim is to lock up hospital information systems.
The cyber-attacks involve ransomware, which scrambles data into gibberish that can only be unlocked with software keys provided after targets pay up.
Independent security experts say it has -- that has already hobbled at least five hospitals this week and could potentially impact hundreds more in the U.S.
Tonight, we look at one of the big Senate races as Republicans try to hold onto the Senate majority, Democrats seek to obviously regain control. Iowa is a big component of both plans. Correspondent Garrett Tenney shows us tonight from Des Moines.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, hello, Iowa.
GARRETT TENNEY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Iowa is up for grabs. Four years after President Trump won the state by nine points, he's running neck and neck with Joe Biden, who has a narrow one-point lead in the Real Clear Politics Average.
PENCE: Higher taxes, open borders, socialized medicine, a Green New Deal.
Joe Biden would be nothing more than a Trojan horse for the radical left.
TENNEY: At a rally in Des Moines, with Senator Joni Ernst by his side, it was clear the White House isn't the only thing at stake.
SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): We can take the path of prosperity, economic freedom, and opportunity, or we can end up going down the separate road full of pitfalls that the radical left wants to see us on.
TENNEY: Ernst is locked in one of the tightest and most expensive Senate races in the country, which could decide control of the Senate. Ernst and her opponent, Theresa Greenfield are canvassing the state in the final days of the campaign, with Greenfield's team making its final pitch in this closing ad.
THERESA GREENFIELD (D), SENATORIAL CANDIDATE OF IOWA: On the farm, my dad always said, there's no boy jobs or girl jobs, just jobs that need to get done. Well, there's an awful lot that needs fixing, and Washington's too broken to do it. And Joni Ernst, she's become part of the problem.
TENNEY: Despite how close the Senate race is, local political analysts believe the top of the ticket will likely decide the outcome.
ARTHUR SANDERS, POLITICAL SCIENTIST, DRAKE UNIVERSITY: It's a referendum on Trump. The better Trump does, the better Republicans up and down the ticket will do. The worse he does, the worse they'll do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TENNEY: In these last few days, there's going to be a lot of focus on the eastern part of the state, and the 31 counties that flipped for President Trump in 2016, because whether or not those counties once again come out for the president, will likely decide which way Iowa goes. Bret.
BAIER: Garrett Tenney in Des Moines. Garrett, thanks.
The acting head of Customs and Border Protection, says Twitter temporarily locked him out of his account after he sent out a tweet in support of the wall at the southern border. The Federalist, reports Twitter locked Mark Morgan's account out for violating rules governing what it calls hateful conduct.
The message read, CPB -- "CBP and the Army Corps of Engineers continue to build new wall every day. Every mile helps us stop gang members, murderers, sexual predators, and drugs from entering our country. It's a fact, walls work." Morgan says the move should enrage every American citizen.
Up next, we'll go live to Philadelphia to see if the looting and rioting there is over as the National Guard has called in. First, "BEYOND OUR BORDERS" tonight, a typhoon that officials say was the most powerful to hit Vietnam in 20 years, sets off landslides, sinks boats, and knocks out power to at least 1.7 million people. State media there, says at least 35 people were killed, more than 50 are missing.
Argentine -- police clash with a group of protesters while evicting them from makeshift homes, south of Buenos Aires. Authorities say six police officers were injured; 30 people arrested in that fight.
Poland's prime minister, meantime, appeals for calm after a week of angry protests against a high court ruling, tightening already strict abortion laws. Poland is also experiencing a huge spike in coronavirus infections.
Just some of the other stories, "BEYOND OUR BORDERS" tonight. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BAIER: Big city unrest hitting the nation on this week before the election.
Here in Washington, D.C., there have been two nights of protests over the death of a black moped driver that is being blamed on a police pursuit.
Police are releasing body camera video of that incident.
Federal officers are clashing with protesters in Portland. Dozens of people marched around an immigration and customs enforcement facility. A local television station, saying out there authorities used tear gas to disperse that crowd.
And hundreds of people have taken to the streets in New York to protest Monday's police-involved fatal shooting of a black man in Philadelphia. At least 32 people have been arrested in New York.
Speaking of Philadelphia, authorities there are hoping the worst is over after rioting and looting earlier this week. Correspondent Aishah Hasnie is in Philadelphia tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM MCSWAIN, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY: If you engage in violent civil unrest and you commit a federal crime in this district, we will come after you as hard as we can.
AISHAH HASNIE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Philadelphia will not have a curfew tonight, after a 9:00 p.m. curfew and increased police presence Wednesday night appears to have prevented looters from hitting more than a handful of stores.
Multiple people are in custody after police found a van containing low- grade explosives. Looters have been using explosives to try to break into ATMs, but police have not yet said if that's what these explosives were going to be used for. Officers will get some assistance as Governor Tom Wolf has called up the National Guard to help safeguard property and prevent looting.
More than 50 officers have been injured in clashes over the shooting death of Walter Wallace Jr. Police say two officers shot Wallace seven times each after they say he ignored commands to drop a knife and kept advancing towards them. Wallace's family has now viewed a police body cam footage of his death, not yet made available to the public, and their attorney says it proves police failed Wallace and his family.
SHAKA JOHNSON, WALLACE FAMILY ATTORNEY: I saw a person in a mental health crisis. My auditory senses hurried people shouting, he's mental, he's mental. When someone is telling you that a person is experiencing a crisis, you can't just immediately go to your sidearm.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HASNIE: And the police commissioner has promised to release both the body cam footage and the 911 audio tapes to the public, the mayor tweeting just about an hour ago, Bret, that both will be released soon. Bret?
BAIER: Aishah, thank you.
Walmart says it's removing all guns and ammunition from its sales floors this week. The retail giant says it wants to prevent any potential thefts if stores are looted during social unrest. Walmart says customers can still purchase both upon request.
Tonight we conclude our special series on the big issues in the campaign with a focus on crime. Here is national correspondent William La Jeunesse.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM LA JEUNESSE, FOX NEWS NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Riots and looting, murders spike in U.S. cities, police shot in the line of duty -- how important is it to voters?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very important. We want a candidate that can actually ensure safety in our community.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To me it's not a local thing. This is all the way around.
LA JEUNESSE: But is crime fighter a president's role?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's an issue not just on the local level, the state level, the national level. All eyes are on us right now.
LA JEUNESSE: Crime is typically a local issue, but increasingly, experts say, it's not perceived that way.
DANIEL MEARS, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY CRIMINOLOGIST: Oftentimes, it's depicted as the United States, murderers are going on. And really the proper thing to say would be, well, for two-thirds or more of the country there's virtually nothing happening on the murder front, but in some select places they are.
LA JEUNESSE: Carjacking, assault, robbery, murder, all of it amplified by
24/7 news and the Internet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something is popping and it gets big, that would be like the only thing you see for like at least all two days.
LA JEUNESSE: But according to DOJ statistics, nationally violent crime is down 75 percent, near a 25-year low. Yet fear of crime is real.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a lot of fear right now. There's a lot of uncertainty.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is violence and danger in the streets of many Democrat run cities throughout America.
LA JEUNESSE: President Trump turned violent crime into a campaign issue.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You've reached 911. I'm sorry that there is no one here to answer your emergency call.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The police are so important to this country. If you're in trouble, who do you call? You call the police.
LA JEUNESSE: The deaths of George Floyd and other black Americans at the hands of police is also motivating voters.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police officers around the world aren't being held accountable for what they are doing to the African-American community.
LA JEUNESSE: Former Vice President Biden says police need more resources.
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They need when they show up for a 9/11 call to have someone with them as a psychologist or psychiatrist to keep them from having to use force.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It means taking care of the police officers but also taking care of the people in our communities.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LA JEUNESSE: Voters of both parties are concerned about crime. Who they want to solve that problem and how, we find out next week. Bret?
BAIER: William La Jeunesse in Los Angeles. William, thanks.
The Girl Scouts have taken down a tweet congratulating new U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. The post drew outrage from her critics.
Now Barrett supporters are upset that the Girl Scouts deleted that message.
The post featured an image of Barrett along with the other four women who have been justices on the high court.
Up next, the latest on the presidential campaign, where we stand tonight, the panelists give us their Senate races to watch. Keep it here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Proud people of -- my opponent stands with socialistic communists. I stand with a proud people of Cuba and Nicaragua and Venezuela, and their righteous struggle for freedom.
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It's unconscionable that the Trump administration who says it cares so much are deporting hundreds of Cubans and Venezuelans back to their dictatorships. Trump loves to talk, but he doesn't care about Cuban and Venezuelan people.
TRUMP: Five days from now were going to win Florida, we are going to win four more years.
BIDEN: You hold the key. If Florida goes blue, it's over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: Well, a big focus on Florida today, as you take a look at the map of where the candidates and their running mates were today. President Trump with this rally in Tampa, Florida. Eventually he was supposed to go to Fayetteville, North Carolina, but that event was postponed due to weather.
He did talk to some military folks there.
Biden drive-in events in Broward County and Tampa, Florida, Vice President Pence in Des Moines, Iowa, Reno, Nevada, and did not have available a schedule for Senator Harris. She participated in some virtual events today, we're told.
Let's bring in our panel, Kimberley Strassel, a member of the editorial board at "The Wall Street Journal," Susan Page, Washington bureau chief at "USA Today," and Steve Hayes, editor of "The Dispatch."
Kimberley, to have a closing argument, and to have the data of a 34 percent increase in the GDP in the third quarter, is a good launching point for President Trump.
KIMBERLEY STRASSEL, WALL STREET JOURNAL: Yes, and you have already seen him, just within hours he has worked that into the speech. You're going to hear a lot about it in coming days, because it's central to the president's argument, which is this. His closing argument is, look, you can have the choice there of a Biden administration that could shut down the economy again. It's going to raise taxes. Or look what we can get for you if we stay the course, stay open, get this vaccine, and build on the policies of our first administration, first term.
So I think it is a pretty good closing argument, especially because we still have got a lot of people out there who haven't voted.
BAIER: Susan, the closing argument for the Biden campaign is really health care and COVID. And, obviously, their pitch gets a little bit more serious as the coronavirus cases go up across the nation.
SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "USA TODAY": Yes, you really see these two candidates as though they live in different universes because the message from Joe Biden is very much related to this pandemic over everything else. And his argument would be 40 states now see cases increasing, 20 stats have record number of new numbers, 9 million Americans now diagnosed with the disease, and of course more than 225,000 dead from it. That is the argument, the focus that you hear from Vice President Biden.
BAIER: Steve, meantime, we are back to Washington not working, and the whole negotiations between the administration and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seem to have just fallen apart. Here is Larry Kudlow on their take of their side of that story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KUDLOW, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL DIRECTOR: Our team now believes that the speaker has no intention of compromising on key issues. She is going to hold up key assistance like the PPP, small business assistance, and unemployment assistance. She is stringing us along.
I don't think this recovery depends on the assistance package per se, but I do think, Sandra, I do think, unemployment assistance, PPP, small businesses assistance, helping the schools, that could have helped a lot.
And it's not going to happen. The Democrats have been completely intransigent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: Steve, they've been talking every day, and today the speaker sends a letter to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin which ends up at "Politico" before it gets to the Treasury Department.
STEVE HAYES, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, well, not surprisingly, there's a lot of posturing going on here. And I think that, look, to the extent that any negotiation is taking place, they're just trying to score political points before Tuesday. These negotiations have effectively been over for a month. The problem in part I think was that Nancy Pelosi came in too high.
Another problem was that the White House designates Steve Mnuchin as their main interlocutor with Democrats, which made skeptical Senate Republicans unenthusiastic about what might be produced by these negotiations. So it's been sort of a mess all along.
I think there was very little prospect that this was likely to happen. I think Nancy Pelosi saw the potential of a deal helping Donald Trump and was determined not to get one. But Senate Republicans didn't want one anyways.
BAIER: All right, let's talk about some Senate races. You all made some choices. Kim, you chose the Arizona Senate race, Mark Kelly versus Martha McSally. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK KELLY, (D) ARIZONA SENATE CANDIDATE: After four space flights and 39 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm, I never expected to be running for office. But I see the selfishness and fighting in Washington. I've got to step up and answer the call.
SEN. MARTHA MCSALLY, (R-AZ): If you want to continue to have a fighter who is proud to work with President Trump for the great American comeback, and strong military and to secure our borders, and your Second Amendment right, then I'm your girl, Arizona!
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: Kimberley, this has closed. This has closed to a very tight race in Arizona.
STRASSEL: Yes, and that's why I'm watching it and paying special attention, because the dynamics of that race in between the two candidates hasn't changed much in terms of the issues. But what has changed is that you have seen Donald Trump also narrowing the odds in that state. The polls are getting much, much closer.
And to the extent these days we talk about this that presidential candidates -- candidates for presidency are closely tied, how they do to how Senate candidates do in the close states, too. He might be having an effect on that Martha McSally race. And if so, you've got to wonder if that same thing is happening in other battlegrounds like Iowa and North Carolina where Republican incumbents are also on the line, and where the president is doing better.
BAIER: Yes, Susan, Kansas is not a traditional swing state at all, in any shape. But you chose the Kansas Senate race. Let's take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. BARBARA BOLLIER, (D) KANSAS SENATE CANDIDATE: As a doctor, I care deeply about making health care more affordable. And I fought for common sense ways to do it, like lowering drug costs and ending surprise medical billing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Among the first to sound the alarm on COVID, Dr.
Marshall deployed to the front lines to help. Service before self, ever since the Army.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: Two doctors head to head, Roger Marshall and Barbara Bollier. It looks like Marshall is up in the latest poll. Your thoughts on this race, Susan?
PAGE: I chose Kansas, my home state, because we never have competitive Senate races. The state of Kansas has not elected a Democratic to the Senate since 1932. And yet this is now a margin of error race. And that says to me that if Kansas happens to go Democratic, not likely but possible, that is not going to be the tipping point race in the Senate's giving it to Democratic control. If Kansas goes Democratic, that is a sign of a big wave across the country.
BAIER: Finally, Steve, you picked Georgia. There's actually two races in Georgia, but you picked the Perdue-Ossoff race. Let's take a listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON OSSOFF, (D) GEORGIA CANDIDATE FOR SENATE: Can you look down the camera and tell the people of the state why you voted four times to allow insurance companies to deny us health coverage.
SEN. DAVID PERDUE, (R-GA) COMMITTEE: I voted against the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, because it was taking insurance away from millions of Georgians.
He will talk about anything except his own accountability. He still hasn't owned up to the China accusation, which is in the public record.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: It was a fiery debate. It's a close one, too, Steve.
HAYES: You also have to pay attention, it was a good debate for them, and the fact that the race is that close I think tells you the Republicans are playing on a tilted battlefield here. David Perdue won this race in 2014, a good year for Republicans, by nearly eight points. The fact that it's neck- and-neck with Republicans having a spending advantage in this Senate race, which is something that's not true across the country, I think makes it a competitive race and makes it really interesting to watch.
BAIER: It's a competitive race in Georgia, and the presidential field, too, which is hard to believe, but it is.
All right, panel, stand by. When we come back, the coronavirus surge here and around the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES:
We don't want to shut down completely. That's almost radioactive now when you say that because of the situation of not wanting to hurt the economy.
If you don't want to shut down, at least do the fundamental, basic things, which are really the flagship of which is wearing a mask. It almost becomes a political statement. We've got to get away from that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: Dr. Anthony Fauci talking about what to do about this coronavirus surge here in the U.S., as we take a look at the numbers, 8,900,000 plus cases, 228,000 deaths. Globally, you see those numbers. But here's the increase that people are watching very closely, and that his hospitalization just in the past week from the COVID Tracking Project, 40,000, 45,000, a change of about 4,700 just in that week.
Back with the panel. Kimberley, it factors in, as we mentioned in the last panel and the final days of this campaign about the economy and what to do.
But you're looking at Europe, and they had some serious issues over there.
STRASSEL: Well, yes. And I think what Anthony Fauci said was very revealing, which is that we can talk about these case numbers, and we can worry about what's happening in hospitals. We can also worry that there may be a spike in deaths that follows this as well too. But then there is also the economic reality. And you see some of the European countries shutting down, but there is an attitude in the United States that that cannot be the answer anymore, not just given the economic harm it causes, but the attendant harms as well, on kids who are not going to school and suicides and alcohol abuse.
So this has become a little bit of a politically toxic issue on the campaigns, but one in which I would notice that even Joe Biden is very cautious about the going the lockdown right again because it's just not something that Americans seem willing to agree to anymore.
BAIER: Steve?
HAYES: Yes, I think that's right. I think this presents a big challenge for the president, though, because of disapproval of his handling of coronavirus is at 57 percent according to FiveThirtyEight, at precisely the time that cases are surging, the hospitalizations are getting worse, that we have more cases. We've been able to handle -- deaths haven't come. We haven't seen the attendant spike. But as Kimberley mentions, there is reason to believe that there's a lag. The more this is in the news, the more difficult it is for the president, I think.
BAIER: Yes, Susan?
PAGE: And, of course, we're worried that as we get the colder weather, people being indoors more, that we're going to see cases go even higher following in Europe's footsteps by a couple weeks. That's one thing that has everybody concerned.
BAIER: It is an amazing thing to see the GDP go up 34 percent, the highest ever, and then the surge of cases, Kimberley, 10 seconds here, that's the final close of these two campaigns.
STRASSEL: Yes, and I think the final close is going to be depending on can the president convincing everybody that staying open is the right thing, or does Joe Biden convince everyone that we are in for a winter of doom?
BAIER: OK, panel, thank you very much.
When we come back, something lighter. We'll take you to the car wash.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BAIER: Finally tonight, cleaning up for Halloween. At car washes across the country, costumed teams are using spooky lighting and fog machines to provide some socially distanced scares. Soapy Joe's haunted car wash in St.
Paul, Minnesota, offers a seasonal experience that will also leave your vehicle looking spotless.
With four days to go until the presidential election, a car wash is West Lake, Ohio, is doing its part to clean up dirty politics. Westlake Laser Wash designated a car line for each candidate, left for Democrats, right for Republicans. There you go.
Thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. That is it for this SPECIAL REPORT, fair, balanced, and unafraid. Tomorrow we're going to do a big what-if scenario on the big board, lay out the presidential race and the fight for control of the U.S. Senate. We'll see how that goes.
THE STORY hosted by Martha MacCallum starts right now. Hey, Martha.
Content and Programming Copyright 2020 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2020 ASC Services II Media, LLC. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of ASC Services II Media, LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox