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Actor Matthew McConaughey Discusses His PSA Calling Out The Nation's Divide As U.S. Deaths Rise; Update On Coronavirus Responses Around The World; NYT: U.S. To Warn China About Trying To Hack Vaccine Info; Elon Musk Threatens To Move Tesla Plant Out Of California Amid Shelter-In-Place; "Home Front:" Pandemic Life Mirrors Military Deployment Life. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired May 11, 2020 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:30:00]

MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, ACTOR: So I don't understand how there's a real argument right now about the wearing of a mask or not. Especially when you can spread asymptomatic symptoms and not even know it.

I think it's an image thing. I think part of it, people still think, oh, it's a bit of a retreat or I want to express my freedoms or my independence and I think they are just looking at it the wrong way.

It should be a badge of honor right now about us uniting and every do it. I'm protecting you. You protect me. If we protect ourselves, we protect each other. The best way possible while we let science catch up.

The mask seems unanimously the right thing to do to me right now until I find out different or scientific consensus lets me know different.

BRIANNE KEILAR, CNN HOST: We are watching and we have been talking about this today as we watch the White House, there has not been a lot of mask wearing. And they are now dealing with what appears to be their own outbreak, which perhaps you would expect without mask wearing and without social distancing and other precautions.

You also talk about the importance of not being partisan, right, of coming together. And we have not always seen that coming from the White House coming from the president. What is your message to people on that?

MCCONAUGHEY: Let's not even -- I don't even want to talk about one side of the aisle right now. You know? Let's all of us, together, we were united in the purpose. We are still united in the purpose to beat this virus.

You felt that -- we all felt this, especially in the last month, this little divide started to happen. All of a sudden, the narrative became, if you want to go to work, you must be on the far right and, if you want to stay at home, you must on be on the far left.

That created a false divide and that is not true and created two wars. One against the virus, which is the one we are supposed to be in, and the virus who doesn't give a damn who you voted for or who you're going to vote for. It created the other war between us.

Right now, we are not going to let science catch up and not beat this virus the way that we can if we are fighting each other. We don't have room for two wars right now. I know it's an election year. But both parties, both sides could be more responsible with how they have used this virus for their own partisan political advantage.

KEILAR: We can see in your video that you were enjoying a multigenerational quarantine there with your family. How are you guys passing the time?

MCCONAUGHEY: Well, I got to say, we are quite busy. I have a daughter redecorating rooms and my son is making home movies. We are building a fort on the other side of the property. My mom is reading so many books and we can't give her enough books. We'll take any books you have out there. She has eaten up every single book in the house.

And we are doing a lot of cooking and spring cleaning. And we're spending good quality time together. We had a really good Mother's Day yesterday.

KEILAR: That is wonderful. Happy Mother's Day to your wife and to your mother.

Thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate it.

MCCONAUGHEY: Thanks for having me. See you next time.

KEILAR: All right, Matthew McConaughey, we appreciate it.

China is pushing back on reports that the U.S. suspects it tried to steal information about coronavirus vaccines.

Plus, Disneyland in Shanghai reopens for the first time since January. We will show you what has changed.

And Elon Musk goes on another Twitter rant threatening to move Tesla's headquarters from California after being barred from reopening his factory this week.

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[14:37:19]

KEILAR: Just in. The MLB and the Players Association have started talks to begin the baseball season with the approval of local governments' health officials. But a source tells us there are already obstacles to deal that, which includes how much players would be paid in a shortened season and where games would be played. Updates certainly as we get them there.

In the meantime, world health officials say cases are rising in countries where lockdowns were lifted.

Our international correspondents now with some of the day's major developments around the world. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Clarissa Ward, in the U.K., where, as of Wednesday, workers in manufacturing, construction and those who cannot work from home will be urged to go back out into the workplace.

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson's familiar facing a number of criticisms and particularly confusion about how they get to work with the prime minister saying they should try to avoid public transport and they should try to cycle or walk or even drive. Obviously, that is not an option for many workers.

All of this as it transpires that low-skilled workers are dying in higher rates as a result of COVID-19 than other workers.

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Fred Pleitgen, in Germany, where this country continues to open up. As of this week, larger shops are allowed to open and also bars, restaurants, and cafes, all of this under very restrict hygiene measures.

At the same time, troubling news for the Germans as their Centers for Disease Control say coronavirus has gone up. And that means the virus is spreading again and not getting pushed back anymore.

Angel Merkel has warned in the past that Germans need to continue to be adhering to the physical distancing measures or risk a new spike in the measures and possibly a new lockdown.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Paula Hancocks, in Seoul. The reopening of schools in South Korea has been pushed back by one week, after a cluster of new cases in Seoul's nightclub district have raised fears of a second wave.

A 29-year-old man tested positive after visiting a number of clubs on May 2nd. Since that point, 86 more people have been confirmed with the virus all linked to that one case.

Now we understand from the officials that they have 5500 names of people who were in the area over two-week period that they want to test. They have already tested more than 3,000 of them. And they are trying to trace others.

Seoul city mayor saying the next two to three days is critical to try to contain this outbreak.

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm David Culver, at Shanghai Disneyland, the first of their 12 theme parks to open, but in a far different manner.

[14:40:01]

Far limited capacity, well under 30 percent. They have social distancing queues. The staff is reminding guests to keep that separation. They have got hand sanitizer throughout the park. And they are constantly sanitizing every aspect of surface that you may be touching.

All of this to try to get back to business while, at the same time, maintaining that health safety.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: China is denying allegations that it has waged a cyberattack to exploit the coronavirus pandemic. The "New York Times" reports the U.S. is about to warn China about hacking American virus and vaccine research.

The Trump administration has steadfastly blamed the China leaders and withholding important information about the outbreak, especially in its early stage.

Kylie Atwood, CNN's national security correspondent, is at the State Department.

Kylie, China is speaking out here, calling these U.S. claims immoral? Tell us about that.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, China is coming out and denying they had any involvement in what the U.S. is saying is their effort to use cyber efforts to break in and steal this vaccine research from the U.S.

They are saying, as you said, that this is immoral, that the U.S. hasn't provided any evidence.

But our reporting over the last few weeks is that U.S. officials have been very concerned because they have seen these cyberattacks on medical entities in the U.S., that's hospitals, research labs and pharmaceutical companies. And even the Department of Health's Homeland Security services. They have seen those attacks surge in recent weeks.

U.S. officials have told my colleagues, Alex Marquardt and Zach Cohen, they are particularly concerned about the attacks that are coming from China.

As you said, the "New York Times" is reporting that the DOJ and the FBI are going to come out with a warning about these Chinese efforts to steal these vaccine-research efforts here in the United States.

But the bottom here is that the U.S. is seeing this happening and they want to prevent it from happening.

Of course, this is the latest front in the tension between the U.S. and China, which has only grown as this pandemic has spread around the world.

John Demers, of the Department of Justice, was on CNBC earlier today and was asked, why wouldn't U.S. want China to have this vaccine data. He put it pretty bluntly. He said, yes, eventually, China should eventually have that data but, at this point, the U.S. pharmaceutical companies should be able to develop it on their own and then sell it. This is the intellectual property of U.S. companies. And the U.S.

government doesn't want China breaking in and stealing those secrets before we have developed it, before these companies have developed it on their own -- Brianna?

KEILAR: Kylie Atwood, thank you for that report from the State Department.

Just days after United Airlines said it would try to apply social distancing on its planes, a doctor tweets this photo of his packed flight. Hear what the airline is saying in response.

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[14:48:09]

KEILAR: The airline industry continues to struggle during the coronavirus outbreak. More than half of the U.S. airline fleet is now sitting idle. Some travelers are still finding crowded flights.

This picture was taken by a doctor who spent the last several weeks treating coronavirus patients in New York. He was part of a group of about 25 doctors and nurses from the San Francisco area who they were headed home over the weekend.

When they boarded their united flight, many were shocked and scared to find the plane was packed. United recently made middle seats unavailable but decided not to reduce capacity on its flights, leading to this full flight.

United also points out that all of the medical workers on board that plane flew free of charge. And the airline said it's provided complimentary flights to more than 1,000 health workers the past couple of weeks.

In the meantime, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is threatening to pull his company's headquarters from California unless he can reopen his electric car factory quickly.

In a series of tweets over the week, Musk vowed to move to Texas or Nevada where shelter-in-place rules are less restrictive.

CNN's Cristina Alesci is following this dispute that could be headed to court.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN POLITICS & BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, car company, Tesla, is suing a California county that won't let it reopen one of its factories. This comes after months of Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeting debunked claims about the coronavirus and railing against shelter-in-place orders.

Now some background here. California's governor actually issued new guidance on Thursday that allowed some manufacturers to reopen. But it left the ultimate decision with individual counties. Tesla's factory is in one of those counties that has stricter orders in place. In fact, it has a shelter-in-place until May 31. [14:50:02]

Now the Health Department there responded to Musk saying that they look forward to coming to an agreement and an appropriate safety plan with Musk's company. Musk, however, is now threatening to move the California factory to states that have loosened restrictions such as Texas and Nevada.

And just today, the treasury secretary weighed in. Listen

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE MNUCHIN, TREASURY SECRETARY (voice-over): He is one of the biggest employers and manufacturers in California. And California should prioritize to do whatever they need to do to solve those health issues so that he could open quickly and safely or they'll find, as he's threatened, he'll move his production to a different state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Cristina Alesci, thank you so much for that.

And we are learning new details about the scramble behind the scenes to figure out how two White House staffers contracted coronavirus and whether it was safe for others to go back to work there today.

The president is expected to answer questions about that at a Rose Garden briefing a short time from now.

Stay with CNN for live special coverage.

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[14:55:48]

KEILAR: Coronavirus has been especially lethal for nursing homes. One home for veterans in New Jersey is now the site of one of the biggest coronavirus outbreaks in the country, the "New York Times" found. And 60 percent of the patients have been infected. And as of Sunday and 72 deaths have been connected to the virus. State officials are investigating.

And now, on "home Front," our television and digital column where we try to bridge the civilian and military divide, we bring you the Military Spouses' Guide to Surviving a Pandemic.

Worried about your loved ones dying and getting sick, feeling isolated from family and friends, wondering when this will end and if it will happen again in the fall. The ups and downs of pandemic life mirror the ups and downs of deployment life as my next guest can attest. And she's an expert in both.

Paulette Fryar was just named the 2020 Armed Forces Military Spouse of the Year, the first Coast Guard spouse to hold this coveted role.

Paulette, congratulations. Welcome to you. And tell us how you and your family are doing right now as you kind of take some of the skills that you've learned in deployment and use them as you face this pandemic.

PAULETTE FRYAR, NAMED 2020 ARMED FORCES MILITARY SPOUSE OF THE YEAR: Thank you, Brianna. Thanks for having me.

Well, it is a challenging time, but as a military spouse and as military families, this is what we train for. We live all of the time with uncertainty and plans changing and not being able to see our family when we want to and that sort of thing.

So I feel like we are a little more prepared for this type of thing because we deal with it all of the time. It is a unique situation right now. We are getting ready to move to our next duty station.

So, even more so, a few challenges but the Coast Guard has done great in supporting us and everything is moving forward as planned and very thankful for that.

KEILAR: So one of the reasons you are the Military Spouse of the Year is because of the service that you provide. And one of those things is you're a mentor to other moms, to younger moms, to military moms.

And I think there's say lot of civilians out there who they know some of the things are supposed to be doing. And they know they are supposed to be connecting and leaning on people but they don't necessarily know even that simple thing is something that could carry them through the hardest of times.

Tell us about your advice to military moms and folks who maybe that is not their forte communicating, what do you say to them.

FRYAR: I believe it is vital and important to stay connected and that is why I volunteer at a number of military spouse groups and a mentor mom for mom group, mother of preschoolers in the area. I believe it is important in these times to be able to connect to people face-to-face to help provide support, hope, encouragement.

I believe that as military spouses, especially these young moms that may be isolated in homes all of the time with young children, I believe if they feel supported and loved that they are going to be -- have a more stable home environment that allows that servicemember to fulfill their mission better.

So I believe it is just a very important organization to participate and support, and especially in these times.

Thank goodness for Facetime and Zoom and those sort of things because I'm still able to connect with my mommas via Zoom as much as I need to, so we could look in the eye and give them the words of encouragement they may need right now to let them know it is OK and we're going to be OK and that I'm there with them and they're not alone.

KEILAR: Paulette Fryar, thank you. Congratulations again. That is a big deal, Military Spouse of the Year, representing all the Coasties out there. We appreciate you joining us.

And to read our full military spouse head to CNN.com/homefront. If you have comments or a story suggestion, we want to hear from you. So send us an e-mail, at homefront@CNN.com.

[15:00:00]

Special coverage continuing now with Jake Tapper.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.