More than 69,000 people infected in a single day. And experts fear it will get much worse in the weeks to come. Still, a defiant President Trump is holding his sixth days of rallies since he was diagnosed with the virus. Downplaying its dangers, threatening to lock up his political opponents and even suggesting hed leave the country if he loses . And his supporters taking their cues from him. Georgia state congressman vernon jones, a democrat, who has endorsed the president for reelection crowd surfs, maskless on a sea of mostly maskless people at a trump rally. The pandemic not stopping voters from turning in their ballots early. In fact, the pandemic may be largely galvanizing the record turnout. This is a live look at voters lined up in georgia. Across the country, already 21 million have cast their ballots. With just five days until lawmakers vote on the u. S. Supreme Court Justice nominee, thousands are marching to the Nations Capital in protest against the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the high court. President trump is set to hold a Campaign Rally in wisconsin today despite officials in his own administration warning about a Record Number of new cases in the key battleground state. Cnns Sarah Westwood joins me from the white house. What more can you tell us . Fred, last night President Trump was reprising some familiar attacks on his opponents, the bidens, saying they should be locked up. And thats obviously an attack we heard him direct quite frequently at Hillary Clinton in 2016. He was heavily criticized for that for advocating for the detention of a political opponent. We heard him do some of that last night. Now that came on the heels of a report from the New York Post that the Trump Campaign promoted aggressively about joe bidens sons contacts in ukraine during joe bidens vice presidency. Theres no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the bidens here. Nonetheless, trump at a rally in macon, georgia, last night was describing the bidens as corrupt. Im telling you that biden family, and others, but that biden family is corrupt. Its a corrupt family. And with me and my kids let me tell you. My kids, ill tell you something, though. Thats right. Lock them up. You should lock them up. Lock up the bidens. Lock up hillary. Lock him up lock them up no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the bidens, no evidence of illegal activity. They are not under investigation for anything here. But that raucous rally in georgia was a real departure from the more somber tone we heard the president strike earlier in the day in florida. He was at an event addressing seniors and struck a more empathetic note talking about the losses many have experienced of loved ones throughout the pandemic. Seniors are a key demographic hell need, especially in florida, a mustwin state for him that he visited yesterday. The president has been on this Campaign Blitz to election day. Later today hes set to head to wisconsin and michigan, two states that are experiencing surges in covid cases, fred. And then lets talk about republican senator ben sasse. His comments through a recording about trump and then now trump is unleashed via twitter, being critical of him. And now you have sasses office responding. Thats right. Some back and forth this morning between President Trump and the office of senator ben sasse. The president describing sasse this morning as an embarrassment to nebraska, calling him obnoxious and stupid the way hes acted. Ben sasse earlier this week was reported during the constituent call criticizing the president. I want you to take a listen to a part of that. Theres a possibility of a republican bloodbath in the senate. Thats why ive never been on the trump train. I didnt agree to serve on his Reelection Committee and why im not campaigning for him. Were staring down the barrel of a blue tsunami. Sasse has criticized the president in the past. The president has also praised the senator, though, so theyve had a love hate relationship, the two of them. Sasse spokesperson responded on twitter moments ago saying that ben sasse is focused on his reelection and didnt say anything in that constituent call that he hasnt told the president privately in the oval office, fred. Sarah westwood, thank you for that. Democratic president ial nominee joe biden issued a statement criticizing President Trumps planned rally in janesville, wisconsin. Biden notes that wisconsin is in the grips of one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the country. Biden reiterated these concerns while campaigning in michigan yesterday. He said we have turned the corner. He has gone around the bend. Turned the corner . My lord. Its not disappearing. In fact, its on the rise again. Its getting worse as predicted. Bidens running mate, senator kamala harris, is returning to the campaign trail on monday after being temporarily grounded when two people on her team tested positive for covid19. And now 17 days until the official election day, but already nearly 22 million americans have cast votes in 45 states and the district of columbia. Take a look at these pictures, live pictures from marietta, georgia, where voters began lining up well before sunrise to cast their early inperson ballots. And take a look here. This was new orleans on friday where thousands lined up for the first day of early voting there. Cnns Marshall Cohen is with me. This is a record year for early voting. I mean, wow. Is it mostly the pandemic that is driving this rush to vote or Something Else . Other things, i should say . You know, its a lot of things. People are saying the pandemic is one factor. People are also saying they are a bit worried about the Postal Service so they want to do it in person. So weve been looking at the data across the country. More than 20 million americans have already participated in this election according to our survey of almost all the states and data from Edison Research and catalyst. You mentioned the inperson turnout. That is not a fluke. If you look at some of the most important states here, georgia, north carolina. We look at their turnout for the first day of inperson voting just a few days ago, compared it to four years ago, and its off the charts. Theyve doubled the turnout in north carolina. It was up by 42 in georgia. And not just the battlegrounds, too. Tennessee as well as you can see. So its really something that we think at this point is a trend. Strong interest in inperson participation. You know, doing their part before november even arrives, fred. Marshall, you mention concerns people have about the u. S. Postal service. People worried about their mail which has been so slow everywhere. And now this ruling from an Appeals Court in the critical battleground state of michigan rejecting counting michigans late ballot. The ruling is seen as a major win potentially for republicans. Explain why. Yeah, thats right. So heres what were talking about. Mailin ballots, absentee ballots, when they can arrive in order to get counted. Last night republican judges on the state Appeals Court overturned a previous ruling that would have allowed latearriving ballots to still get counted as long as they were postmarked before the election. So in the old ruling, it would have still been counted if it arrived up to 14 days after election day, november 3rd. But the judges on that Appeals Court reversed it last night. They said in their decision that the pandemic is not compelling enough to change the rules. Theyre going with the original law. Ultimately, fred, this could end up with thousands or tens of thousands of votes not counting. And it was the republicans who brought this litigation to the Appeals Court to stick with that strict deadline. Marshall cohen, well leave it there for now. Thanks so much from washington. Joining me to discuss is margaret telov, a cnn analyst and white house and politics editor at axios. Good to see you, margaret. In addition to all that, cnn has learned that President Trumps former chief of staff, retired marine general john kelly, his disparaged the president in private conversations saying, quote, the deapths of his dishonesty is astounding to me. The transactional nature of every relationship, though its more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person i have ever met in my life. That coming from john kelly. So margaret, what do you make of republicans like general kelly, we heard the audiotape from ben sasse, distancing themselves from the president after, shall we say, for so long being complicitly silent and now to unleash and unload like this . You know, fred, i have talked to a number of republican and democratic friends, sources. And theres sort of two camps of reaction about this. And they meld together in this way. Theres a group that says that what this points to is a growing belief that President Trump is going to lose the reelection and its freeing people up to not only not only freeing people up to say things like this but people scrambling to get on that side of history to say, i have always been concerned about all of this. And it raises those questions that you just mentioned like if you were concerned, why didnt you speak out publicly. But theres another component to it and that is i think, even if you are cynical, as i am to some degree after covering politics for so many years, i think it is true that many, many republicans, both inside this administration and in congress have, in fact, been mortified or deeply disappointed by a lot of these elements and felt trapped and didnt know what to do. Do you you cap see statistically if you fight the president youre much more likely to lose a primary, to be run out of office. Is putting yourself on the line going to change anything anyway . Very few people have run up against the president and won within his own party. So i think to some extent theres a confessional element in this. People finally being freed up to express some of their deep, you know, frustrations with themselves and the situation. And on the other hand, also, it does seem to point to a growing belief inside the white house as well as among formers and in congress that the president is really in trouble. If youve always wanted to say these things, its much less dangerous to now. Then theres the daughter of the president s personal lawyer and former new york city mayor Rudy Giuliani announcing that she will be voting for joe biden and kamala harris. Caroline rose giuliani making her feelings known in a piece for vanity fair writing this in part and putting it now to anyone who feels overwhelmed or apthetsic about this election, theres nothing i relate to more than desperation to escape corrosive political discourse. As a child, i saw firsthand the crucial selfish politics that donald trump has now inflicted on our country. It made me want to run as far away from them as possible but, trust me, when i tell you running away does not solve the problem. We have to stand and fight. The only way to end this nightmare is to vote. There is hope on the horizon, but well only grasp it if we elect joe biden and kamala harris. So in your view, does opining like this move the needle at all . And she did support Hillary Clinton, too, so this isnt like an epiphany right now. But its pretty remarkable. Her dad is besties with the president and that she would try to separate herself from giuliani and this administration, this president. I think shes already separated herself from her dad. Hes at the tip of a lot of the misinformation that came out this week. But ill say this. To some extent its like the adult version of Kellyanne Conways daurkts using your position as the children of prominent parents to try to put out there in sort of for stark public consumption these issues to have the sounding board and to attempt to effect turnout on the democratic side is really what this is about as you said. She backed Hillary Clinton and barack obama in 2008, although i dont think she was old enough to vote, but she was an obama supporter. Its not a political shift on her part but her opportunity to use her unique voice to impact turpout now. You mentioned the white house seemingly very desperate. The president desperate. Quite remarkable for the president to say, and if i lose, while rallying, you know, just yesterday, if i lose i might leave the country . I mean, that is extraordinary coming from the incumbent presidency. And there are other things, too, perhaps that underscore moments of desperation as you just mentioned. But how do you assess this . Our reporting over the last couple of days, my colleague Jonathan Swan has done some remarkable reporting. I think really like in the last 36 hours. Two things to flag. One is reports from insiders about the Campaign Manager bill stepiens private assessments which many of them walked away feeling that what he was signaling was a belief that they probably cant win. He has not said that. He told us for the record the opposite, but and it all does come down to turnout. No election is over until its over. But a real feeling of resignation. And Jared Kushner and the rnc chairmans move to bring back in the final days of this campaign a woman named katie walsh shields, republican, a key part of the 2016 operation who was kind of exiled from the white house early in the administration to bring her back in now just to try to figure out what can be done to reset this dynamic in the closing days. And some of the president s own moves, campaigning in places like georgia does give you a sense that hes very much at this point the campaign is feeling hes playing on defense trying for anything to turn the dynamics in the closing weeks of this race. Perhaps even another indicator. This refrain from really talking policy in detail. Any ideas or flushing out what his ideas are moving forward . He just says its going to be better. Its going to be great. But hes not give anything details about whats going to replace Affordable Care act or what are you going to do specifically about making a dent on these coronavirus numbers. Well, thats right. He was going to have the alternative to the Affordable Care act in two weeks, like several months ago and every time it comes up, its two weeks later. I wouldnt expect to see any meat on the bone about any of these issues, before the election and honestly, over the course of the presidency. Hes not been a detail heavy in terms of this sort of thing. But now is the time if you want to keep your gig, right . I think the president has signaled this is going to be much more about trying to turn out his base, trying to depress the democratic base, democratic turnout, and to push not for a popular vote win but an Electoral College win following trying to follow the same road map as 2016. All right. Still lots of uncertainty. Anything can happen, right . Margaret talev, thank you. 8 million cases and counting. The number of coronavirus cases soaring in the united states. Will the country have to shut down again . Dr. Anthony fauci answers that key question straight ahead. 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Such as high blood pressure,ve pdiabetes, and asthma. S because why be like everyone else . This administration and Senate Republicans want to overturn laws requiring Insurance Companies to cover people with preexisting conditions. Theyre rushing a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court to change the law through the courts. 70 of americans want to keep protections for preexisting conditions in place. Tell our leaders in washingtn to stop playing games with our healthcare. A troubling spike in coronavirus cases across the country has Health Experts warning that we could be in for a very long and difficult winter. The u. S. Has now surpassed 8 million covid cases and is averaging more than 50,000 new infections every day. More than half the state in the u. S. Are seeing a surge in cases over the past week. For more on this, lets bring back polo sandoval. The u. S. Added more than 69,000 new cases friday. Thats the largest oneday total since the end of july. This is very frightening. Its deeply concerning when you hear from experts including one covid modeler weve heard from who said whats happening now is exactly what we expected for these spikes and many of these threshold numbers weve been following that determine what parts of the country are able to reopen. And that includes, of course, infection rates and death rates as well. And then we look at the map below. Up to 10 states, at least ten states reported their highest number of new daily covid cases since the start of the pandemic. Thats certainly telling here that those numbers are certainly not going down, especially wisconsin, showi