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Erin Burnett Outfront

Trump Says U.S. "In A Good Place," Disagrees With Fauci That U.S. Is "Knee-Deep In The First Wave"; Trump Falsely States U.S. Mortality Rate "Lowest" In World; Trump Vows To "Pressure" Governors To Reopen Schools; National Education Association President: "Parents Should Be Panicked;" Trump's Niece Calls Him A "Sociopath" In Scathing New Book; Brazil's President Tests Positive After Downplaying Virus. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired July 07, 2020 - 19:00   ET

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


WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @WOLFBLITZER. You can tweet the show @CNNSITROOM.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, U.S. closing in on 3 million cases. The virus far from under control as the President in a new interview blames Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Plus, Trump's niece's book. She accuses the President of paying friend to take his SATs. Says his own sister, a federal judge, calls him a clown with no principles. Much more on the book that the White House is fighting against anyone seeing.

And Richard Quest on the symptoms, he's still experiencing nearly three months after he had coronavirus. Let's go OUTFRONT.

And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.

OUTFRONT tonight, spiraling out of control. The nation on the cusp of 3 million coronavirus cases. The President refusing to take responsibility tonight blaming Dr. Anthony Fauci. The nation's top infectious disease doctor came out and said point blank that the United States of America is still 'knee-deep in a first wave' of the pandemic, while the President of the United States is saying this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we are in a good place. I disagree with him. Dr. Fauci said don't wear masks and now he says wear them and he said numerous things, don't close off China, don't ban China and I did it anyway. I sort of didn't listen to my experts and I ban China. We would have been in much worse shape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: OK. So now he's blaming Dr. Fauci. Look, the reality is, is that we're not in a good place. I don't think there's anybody who could make that argument right now. You've got nearly 3 million Americans infected with the virus. You've got cases surging in states across this country. You've got more than 130,000 Americans dead, President's own model and forecast less than half of that just a couple months ago.

Dr. Fauci has explained why Americans weren't initially advised to wear masks at the time, you may remember, right? They were talking about N95s. There was concern there wasn't enough for health care providers. By the way, there weren't enough health care providers, they're still rewearing them.

Fauci though since corrected course said people wearing anything over their faces better than nothing. He now tells Americans to wear a mask every single chance he gets. In fact, he's been doing that for months. But the President of the United States does not do that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don't know, somehow I don't see it for myself.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I want to protect myself and protect others and also because I want to make it be a symbol for people to see that that's the kind of thing you should be doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Right. So the President doesn't care about that symbol and he doesn't do it. But by the way, also, what about that claim about closing off travel to China. Well, to state the painfully obvious that did not save this country from the pandemic. We are now five months after that and the number of people infected continues to rise in the United States at a rapid pace.

Particularly now in the State of Florida, the President is planning to travel there later this week. That state quickly becoming the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States. Yesterday hitting a record high positivity rate on new tests. You want that rate to be well below 5 percent.

Right now in Miami-Dade at 16.3 percent, that's where the President is headed. I'm sorry, for the state it's 16.3, in the county of Miami- Dade 26 percent. That was just on Sunday. So just to give you a comparison, New York City, right, remember the early epicenter, we saw rates of that at early on. But now the positivity right here in New York is 2 percent.

Action speak and President Trump's actions do show a lack of care. His visit to Florida will divert emergency resources from Floridians, but he's going to go anyway. And perhaps maybe if not for Floridians, he would care about his own staffers. But his actions there speak loudly as well.

His past two trips have left his own staffers sick with the virus. He is going to Florida anyway, still moving ahead with that trip as well as another trip after to New Hampshire on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We've been traveling all around the country. We'll be in New Hampshire on Saturday and we believe we can do so safely.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But is the White House worried about more Secret Service agents getting sick if they're travelling there?

MCENANY: We've traveled. We've done so safely and we'll continue to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: To be clear, more than a dozen Secret Service agents and at least two campaign staffers tested positive for the virus after working on the President's last trips to Tulsa and Phoenix, more were quarantined. The number had symptoms. One time GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain also tested positive days after attending President Trump's rally in Tulsa.

Herman Cain is still in the hospital and President Trump son's girlfriend, top Trump fundraiser, Kimberly Guilfoyle, she tested positive ahead of the President's trip to South Dakota over the holiday.

So it's not just that the President is careless with the lives of the people around him, it is that he is careless or worse in the message that he is sending the world. He tweeted today, "We have the lowest Mortality Rate in the World."

Well, that is just false. It's not accurate. It is not the lowest. When you look at the 20 countries most affected by the virus, at 14 have lower death rates than the death rate in the United States of America.

[19:05:02]

Trump also ignores the fact that the U.S. total death toll is more than double the next highest country, Brazil, where the President just tested positive for coronavirus after insisting on holding rallies.

Trump is not telling the truth on the death rate and his dishonesty on this is giving the public a false sense of security, something that could be deadly for some and something Dr. Fauci says is not OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: It's a false narrative to take comfort in a low rate of death. There's so many other things that are very dangerous and bad about this virus. Don't get yourself into false complacency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And, of course, as we see younger people infected and going into the ICU as it spreads to older populations that death rate will change.

Erica Hill is OUTFRONT in New York. And Eric, among these other dangerous and bad things overwhelmed hospitals which are once again something we did not think we'd see again after New York, we're now seeing again in several states.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Erin. There is a concern in a number of states; Texas, Florida, Arizona, even parts of California concern that those hospitals could become overwhelmed because the number of cases is spiking. In fact just a reminder, 24 states have now paused or rolled back their reopening as cases continue to rise.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILL (voice over): Cases surging in the sunshine state, more than 7,300 reported on Tuesday, 43 hospitals in Florida report their ICU beds are now at capacity. Nearly three dozen more are close. Yet the Governor is pushing forward with plans to open schools next month, touting his State's efforts to prepare for the long haul.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R) FLORIDA: The whole point of the curve, flattening the curve was to make sure we had enough healthcare capacity. We're in a way better position today to be able to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL (voice over): Yet, 43 hospitals in Florida report their ICU beds are at capacity. Dozens more are close. Restaurants in Miami-Dade County told to pull back as hospitalizations there surge. And that curve the Governor mentioned, looking more like a steep cliff. Though it's not just Florida, Arizona now has the highest number of cases per capita in the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. PETER HOTEZ, CO-DIRECTOR, TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL CENTER FOR VACCINE DEV.: In Arizona, the cases are rising so rapidly that we cannot even do contact tracing. The epidemic is out of control in the southern part of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL (voice over): Texas just reported more than 10,000 new cases, its highest single day increase. Houston's Mayor urging the state's Republican Party to cancel its upcoming convention in his city scheduled for July 16th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER (D), HOUSTON: I believe canceling the in-person convention is the responsible action to take.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HILL (voice over): The Texas GOP is still planning to hold the event

adding a mask requirement for attendees. Meantime, the Texas State Fair cancelled for the first time since World War II. The Governor now saying he allowed bars to reopen too soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R) TEXAS: You have to wonder if they should have ever been open at all because bars really aren't made in a way that promotes social distancing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL (voice over): California State capitol closed after at least five assembly members tested positive. And a new study finds so called silent spreaders may account for as many as half of all cases.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. LEANA WEN, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: Even the states that are doing well right now should be on guard because they could be next.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Something else to note, Erin, that remains a major concern is testing. Two of the country's largest labs say that they are seeing a longer turnaround time because there has been such an increase in demand. We've also seen, of course, lines of testing sites and the Department of Health and Human Services today announcing it's adding three new testing sites in the hotspots of Jacksonville, Florida, Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Edinburg, Texas. Those sites are able to do 5,000 tests a day, Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Erica.

And now Dr. Jonathan Reiner, cardiologist who advise the White House medical team under President George W. Bush and Dr. Larry Brilliant, an epidemiologist who helped eradicate smallpox.

Dr. Reiner, you heard the President blaming Dr. Fauci and then proceeding to try to find other things to find fault with him. What do you say to that?

JONATHAN REINER, DIRECTOR OF CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION LABORATORY, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: Dr. Fauci is the only person in this administration that seems to speak the truth and to tell the seriousness of this pandemic and also to point a path forward. I listen to Dr. Fauci because he tells it like it is.

And the way it is, is a roaring pandemic affecting large parts of the country now, particularly these south and southwest parts of the country still remain relatively stable. The northeast and midwest seem to be stable and doing well. But what Dr. Fauci says is painfully honest. Everyone needs to wear a

mask. We need to continue to test. We need to put the fires out. This is not going to go away by itself and only when we have leaders like Dr. Fauci we listened to them do we have a chance of limiting the carnage.

[19:10:06]

BURNETT: And Dr. Brilliant, the President point blank said I disagree with Dr. Fauci and the President says, I think we're in a good place. Dr. Fauci says, we are knee-deep in the first wave. What do you think? I mean, it's pretty incredible we're getting these two diametrically opposing views.

LARRY BRILLIANT, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, I think the President is right. We're not knee-deep, we're hip-deep and if we don't do something dramatically, we'll soon be neck-deep. If you think that one out of every three person who gets the coronavirus in the world is an American today and we're only 4 percent of the world. How can anyone in their right mind think that we're in good shape?

BURNETT: I mean, Dr. Reiner, the President then continued not just to say that he disagrees we're in a good place. He disagrees and he says I think we're in a good place. He then said we've really done it right, but now it's time to be open, it's time to stay open and we will put out the fires as they come up. That's a quote from the President of the United States. Is that what they are? This kind of orange and red across the country when we look at cases, these are just fires?

REINER: Well, it's an inferno in some parts of this country. And, look, the President has been trying to make this go away with magical thinking for a long time. He was desperate to open the country in April and his urgency to open the country is really one of the prime reasons we are where we are now. States throughout the south and southwest opened, while cases were not just not declining adequately but were rising.

So the President is really panicking and is so anxious for this to sort of go away and to go back to normal that he parrots this really fantasy world. The truth is we have a lot of hard work to do. We can do this. We absolutely can do this and the governors are starting to get it.

When you start to see governors like DeWine now call for mandatory masks in certain counties, we've seen that in Texas. And when we start to see governors shut down areas where the virus is out of control, then we'll really start to see governors taking control. That's what we need to look for leadership now at the gubernatorial level, not at the federal level. We're not getting it from Washington and we simply won't.

The President can't do this and run for reelection at the same time. It's an irresolvable conflict of interest.

BURNETT: Dr. Brilliant, the White House says that they have traveled safely, they point to all of these places where, of course, not only do you have all these secret service agents and other advanced staff who contracted coronavirus, the President's son's girlfriend contracted coronavirus, but Herman Cain, at that Tulsa rally, he's in the hospital still.

So these aren't just young people who aren't getting sick, it was someone in the hospital for days. Is it wise for the President and all of these people to now travel to go to Florida, which has a positivity rate at the county, he's going to of 26 percent right now?

BRILLIANT: I'm really worried about Florida. I'm looking at Miami and I'm also looking at Houston and you're looking at places that don't have any excess capacity in their isolation wards, in their intensive care wards. I've watched and you've watched, the whole world has watched these doctors in Houston and Miami say that they get eight or nine, 10 people coming to them who should be in an intensive care ward and they've got only one or two beds.

They have to choose which one is going to have rationed bed. What happens to those who can't get into the hospital, who are they? Sooner or later they will wind up someplace and it won't go well for them. To think that you can go there, parade in Florida without a mask and signal to people that it's OK for them to go out and get exposed is irresponsible.

It's not the kind of leadership that we want or that we need to have in order to extricate ourselves and I agree with Dr. Reiner, we can get out of this. We have the tools to do it, but we have to be serious.

BURNETT: All right. I appreciate both of your time very much. To remind anyone watching last night, we had the ICU Director for the largest public health system in Miami saying they are now seeing younger patients and those younger patients in the ICU, they're dying too. Thank you both very much.

And next, President Trump putting the squeeze on schools to open in weeks no matter what. The President of the National Education Association is my guest.

Plus, Trump's niece describes him as a sociopath, accusing him of paying a friend to take his SATs. It is a new tell-all book the White House was desperately trying to block.

And a tornado with a tail, that's how CNN's Richard Quest describes life right now. He was diagnosed with coronavirus months ago.

[19:15:00]

And he has lasting effects and he's fed up with people who try to minimize those. Perhaps call them harmless. He's OUTFRONT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:18:52] BURNETT: New tonight, President Trump saying he will do whatever it

takes to have schools reopen in the fall despite the coronavirus pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools to get them open and it's very important. It's very important for our country. It's very important for the well being of the student and the parents. So we're going to be putting a lot of pressure on open schools in the fall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, the President of the National Education Association, Lily Eskelsen Garcia. It is the nation's largest teachers and labor union with more than 3 million members. And, of course, I should note, the union has endorsed Joe Biden for President.

I really appreciate your time, Lily. So President Trump says he wants schools to be reopened. I know you've said plans to reopen schools right now, your words are, "An emergency and all hands on deck situation." You've used the word panicked and worried to describe teachers. You've said parents should also be panicked. I am a parent. I am panicked. I want my kids back in school, what's going to happen?

LILY ESKELSEN GARCIA, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: Here's what my advice to all parents including you is please under no circumstances take medical advice from Donald Trump or Betsy DeVos, especially when it comes to the health of your children.

[19:20:07]

I had 39 sixth graders one year in my tiny little classroom with one window. That was not healthy before the pandemic and what I hear President of the United States saying is just open the doors, crowd those kids back in there. My classroom was a germ factory, I knew that I was going to catch someone's cold every year.

This is different. This is a virus that kills people and Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos are making a mockery of the danger that they would be in if you rush to this, if you do it wrong. There is no infectious disease expert and that includes those pediatricians that said, we have to consider the mental health of children.

Of course, we do, but they didn't say at the expense of their physical health and they didn't say that you should do it under all circumstances. They said when it's safe and where it's safe.

BURNETT: Yes.

GARCIA: And it's just absolutely mind boggling to me to have Donald Trump have this press conference, this publicity stunt about saying I'm going to use my bully pulpit and he does mean bully, pressure people to do something before it's safe. BURNETT: So Joseph Allen and I know obviously you've read his op-ed as

well, right? He's a Harvard professor on exposure, assessment science, he wrote an op-ed. The title was yes, kids should be going back to school in the fall. And he said something I wanted to give you a chance to respond because he said whether we open schools will be determined by our risk tolerance as a society.

What will we accept for schools if the answer is zero cases that will require shutting schools for another year, the cost of that approach are too great. What do you say to him? That's a top medical group, top scientists from Harvard saying kids should go back it wasn't Donald Trump.

GARCIA: So listen very carefully, because you can read a lot into this. Here's what I am saying that they're giving us a false choice. Basically, they're saying here's an unsafe school and I'm telling you 39 kids in a class during a pandemic with no hand sanitizer, with no ventilation, this is a recipe for someone being hurt, someone dying.

And they're saying, should we open schools unsafely or keep those unsafe schools closed, why aren't we talking about what we would have to do to open school safely. And what I'm talking about is there are ways you can distance kids and it's not easy, it's complicated.

We do need the PPE, the masks and the sanitation, but no one is talking about, did you hear Donald Trump say and here's what I'm going to give them, here are the resources that will help make this possible to do it safely. No. In fact, quite the opposite. It's like don't even talk about creative ways to space kids throughout the day.

Nope, they all get in there. And to say that some politics that people are playing is so insulting to say that teachers or Joe Biden has some need to hurt kids. What we're asking for is the same consideration they gave Shake Shack.

When a business was looking at laying off workers, when a business was saying how do we keep our business open, Republicans and Democrats saying kumbaya and threw money at them. Why isn't anyone talking about the resources that we're going to need to open schools safely, especially when our funding source just running a public school tax (inaudible) ...

BURNETT: So when Dr. Fauci says and I quote Dr. Fauci. He said, "It's very important to get children back to school for the unintended negative consequences that occur when we keep them out of school." He continued to say, "I feel very strongly, we need to do whatever we can to get the children back to school."

It sounds like you're agreeing, but you're saying we need resources. I guess I'm just trying to understand, do you think it is crucial to get kids back in school? Because when we see the numbers of who logged in and who didn't to online learning, putting aside whether online learning was even effective, I'm not even going there. I'm just saying it was the kids who were the poorest who didn't, right?

GARCIA: Right. BURNETT: And they may never catch up. These could be long-term

societal implications if these kids don't get back in school.

GARCIA: Yes. Please, understand, there's no one who wants their kids back in that building more than their teachers. But we know we can do it safely and that's what - we're hearing crickets when it's like and here's what we need for the PPE, for distancing, by the way they're talking about laying off a million teachers.

[19:25:03]

They don't have the money to pay them. How are we going to distance kids? There's going to be 40 (inaudible) in a classroom.

So here's what I know, Republican parents, Democratic parents, socialist parents, tea party parents, they love their kids. They want their kids back in school just like their teachers do. And we know we can do it safe, why isn't the President of the United States, why isn't Betsy DeVos saying here's what we're going to do to make sure schools have what they need to open safely. It's almost like he wants chaos. It's almost like you want it done in an unsafe way.

BURNETT: All right. Lily, I really appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

And next, Trump's niece ripping into him. She calls the President a sociopath. She says he cheated on his SATs and it is all in her new book. We have a copy.

And the disturbing long term effects of coronavirus. Our own Richard Quest tells us why he is clumsier nearly three months after he first tested positive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:30:00]

BURNETT: Tonight, President Trump's niece calling him a, quote, sociopath, who practices, her words, cheating as a way of life. She writes this in a tell-all book obtained by CNN where she says, quote: Donald, following the lead of my grandfather and with the complicity, silence and inaction of his siblings, destroyed my father. I can't lead him destroy my country.

OUTFRONT now, David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist who has covered Donald Trump for more than 30 years.

It's good to see you, David.

And Sara Murray, CNN political correspondent, and Sara has read the book.

So, Sara, let me start with you. You've been through it. This is a rare look from a member of the Trump family. So, what does she say about the family dynamic and Donald Trump? SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, it is an

interesting look from someone who is beyond, you know, the family that we're used to seeing in the White House. And she describes, Erin, extremely dysfunctional family environment.

You know, when she talks about Fred Trump, who is the patriarch of this family, Donald Trump's father, her grandfather, she describes someone who really created a toxic environment that affected the rest of the family and sort of made Donald Trump the person he is today.

You know, she sort of says that Donald Trump became the golden boy in his family, that he took on a lot of his father's worst qualities and that others in the family were sort of neglected, you know, or bullied. And she points to her father as an example of that. Her father was Fred Trump, Jr., who struggled with alcoholism throughout his life and has since passed away.

And that's what she's referring to when she talks about how Donald Trump destroyed her father. She feels like the way the family treated him, you know, a man who didn't want to go in the family business, had a lot to do with how her father struggled throughout his life.

BURNETT: David, she claims Trump paid someone to take the SAT to try to help him get into the University of Pennsylvania. She writes, quote, he enlisted Joe Shapiro, a smart kid with a reputation for being a good test taker, to take his SATs for him. Donald, who never lacked for funds, paid his buddy well.

Trump, of course, initially went to Fordham University before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania. But we all know he brags about his Ivy League education, claims he was a top student, best of the best.

So, what do you make of this, David?

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON, PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING JOURNALIST, HAS COVERED TRUMP FOR 30+ YEARS: Well, the story makes perfect sense. First of all, back in the 1960s, it was easy to have someone go and take your test for you. There weren't IDs and the checks we have today because of the kind of cheating. The idea that a rich boy paid someone else to take the test to people of my generation is no surprise.

Trump claims he was a great student, and yet one of his professors at Wharton describes him as the blankety-blank dumbest student he ever had but he thinks he knows everything. And, of course, there's no record of any academic honors of any kind for Donald Trump at either Fordham or Penn where Trump went to the undergraduate school, not the famous graduate school.

BURNETT: So, Sara, you know, there's a lot of detail in this book and she also says that Trump's sister, her aunt, Maryanne Berry, who is a federal judge in New Jersey, a federal judge, an incredibly accomplished professional, that his sister called him a clown when he announced his run for president. She was shocked to see evangelicals supporting him. In the book, Mary writes, quote: Maryanne, a devout Catholic since her

conversation five decades earlier was incensed. What the F is wrong with them, she said. The only time Donald went to church was when the cameras were there. It's mind boggling. He has no principles, none.

I mean, the detail in here is, you know, pretty excruciating.

MURRAY: It is. It's really incredible because it does give you a look at Donald Trump from a different perspective. And this is part of the reason I think that the president didn't want this book to see the light of day because you see embarrassing anecdotes throughout this book whether it is the fact his own sister is trash talking him to his niece, whether it's this allegation he paid someone else to take his SATs for him because he knew he wasn't start enough, even the notion it was his sister doing his homework for him.

The overall portrait of the family is extremely unflattering and obviously Donald Trump comes across, I think the worst of anyone in this, perhaps second only to the patriarch of this family, Fred Trump.

BURNETT: Well, I mean, you know, it is fascinating to look at that, because, you know, whatever you think about Donald Trump, the man is not like others. So, it came from somewhere. And I think everybody is looking for color on how he became who he is.

Mary Trump also writes about her father's death, right, Donald Trump's brother, and she says, quote, the ambulance took my father to the Queens Hospital Center in Jamaica. No one went with him. The doctors think Freddy probably won't make it, Linda, Donald told my mother. Would it be all right if I came to the house so I can be there if there's any news? She didn't want to be alone.

When my mother arrived a short time later, my grandparents were sitting alone by the phone in the library. Donald and Elizabeth had gone to the movies.

Do you think -- that's a pretty stunning allegation, David.

JOHNSTON: It's entirely consistent with everything that I know about Donald. He has no empathy or connection to other people, and he would want to run away from situation like this, just as he had the coronavirus and the intelligence on bounties or killing American troops.

[19:35:09]

And remember, this book is written by a woman who has a doctorate in clinical psychology, so she both knows the family intimately as one of the people who were in it. And all families are complicated. But she knows the family well, and she has professional training to tell us what's significant about it.

Everything I've heard from the book -- I won't have a copy until tomorrow. Everything I've heard about the book is consistent with what I know about him and what others who had studied him closely have written about him as well. BURNETT: The White House released a statement saying: Mary Trump and

her book's publisher may claim to be acting in the public's interest but this book is clearly in the author's own financial self-interest. President Trump has been in office for over three years working on behalf of the American people. Why speak out now?

The president describes the relationship he had with his father as warm. He said his father was very good to him. He said his father was loving and not hard on him as a child. Also, the absurd SAT allegation is completely false.

I have to say, Sara, that is where you have to smile as anybody that clearly the president is involved in that, he had to take on that SAT allegation.

MURRAY: Oh, absolutely. I mean, there are a lot of things that Mary Trump put in this book that are going to just dig right under the president's skin. And that is why the president didn't want this book out. Now, granted it was his brother who went to court to try to block its release unsuccessfully, but the president made clear he did not want it to see the light of day. And it's little things like that that tend to really irritate him.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you both very much. Of course, we should say, Mary Trump, as David mentioned, has a doctorate in clinical psychology. Thank you both very much.

And OUTFRONT next, the unexpected toll of coronavirus. Our own Richard Quest says three months after he got it, he is not the same, and there have been changes. And I'm going to talk to him next.

And the Kushner's businesses, Trump's dentist, Devin Nunes's wineries all of them getting loans aimed to help small American businesses.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:40:57]

BURNETT: Breaking news, a study just released finds an increase in stroke, delirium, rare brain inflammation, and other neurological issues connected to coronavirus. We are still learning more about this virus every single day, including the very real and scare reality that many people are experiencing lingering symptoms and we have no idea for how long they will last.

One of them is my colleague Richard Quest, my friend Richard Quest, who contracted the virus is April and still feels its effects nearly three months later.

Richard is with me now.

I mean, Richard, this has been nearly three months. And I know when you went through it, you know, you were experiencing the newness of it every day. And now three months later, you still have symptoms?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. They come and they go. And that's the awful part in a sense. My virus back in April was on the mild side. I thought that's it, all done.

And then a few weeks later, that COVID cough, that raspy cough, it doesn't cough up anything, it just sort of right in the throat and the upper chest. That came back. Then it went away again. And then last week, it came back again. And this time it really came back for several days. And the fatigue came back. I had to lie down on the sofa after I finished work.

I'm not saying, Erin, that any of this is debilitating to the point where I can't work, but when the clumsiness started and there were questions of neurological issues, because, suddenly, I was falling in the streets, tipping over a pavement stone that was clearly in front of my eyes, dropping a bowl of sugar because when I went to get it, I missed it.

These minor little things which I'm now starting to learn are evidence of some deeper damage as a result of blood clots, possibly, that's going to require more investigation. And I'm not alone. Since I wrote the article, many people have said, hang on, I too have lingering symptoms of coronavirus.

BURNETT: I mean, I know you described those things as minor, but they're not. And they're scary. They're scary, Richard. I'm sure that you feel that.

I mean, you talk about the clumsiness when you say reaching for the sugar and missing the distance or tripping over something right in front of you. You also have talked about digestive changes. What has that been like?

QUEST: Oh, oh! So, during -- when I actually had the virus -- I'm one of these people who can go hours without eating, hours. But when I had the virus, if I didn't eat every few hour, I would get this most incredible craving. It literally had to stop what I was doing and eat.

And then now I have terrible digestion problems, indigestion, the sort of things you don't talk about in polite company, all of which an entire range of symptoms. Again, none of them are so bad that they stop me going about my daily life, but all of them, Erin, create a real unease about what's really going on inside my body.

BURNETT: I'm sure, Richard. So, I know you went to your doctor -- you've been going regularly, went to the doctors this morning.

QUEST: Yes.

BURNETT: I mean, when you discuss this with them, all these unknown things, neurological issues too, do they have any idea of whether it will go away or whether it's permanent or what do they tell you?

QUEST: So, what they say is we recognize something of what's going on. But, quote, we don't know, unquote. This virus is only been around since January that we know of. They're still learning exactly its full ramifications.

And that's the point to make tonight, Erin, to those who are looking and thought like I did. I got the flu. It'll be fine.

No, no, no. You do not know what the long-term damage can and will be. And if the price of this is a mask and the price of this is social distancing -- and I did all of it, by the way. I followed the rules as best I could -- then you're left saying I sat in a doctor's office this morning doing tests to find the -- to find the extremities, if you like, of what might be the damage.

[19:45:03]

And now I've got a load of other tests, MRIs, MRVs and the like that have to be done. Not because I'm incapable or disabled or whatever, but simply because they need to know just what is likely to be the damage from this virus, the tornado with a long tail.

BURNETT: Richard, thank you for sharing. I appreciate it. Thank you.

QUEST: Thank you.

BURNETT: And next, companies associated with Jared Kushner's family businesses, conservative media, Congressman Devin Nunes, just a few who benefited from government loans meant to help small business who is had no other means of survival.

And a world leader and coronavirus denier who refused to wear a mask now testing positive for coronavirus. Wonder if he listened to what Richard Quest just had to say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: New tonight, a big pay day for President Trump's inner circle, getting millions of dollars in taxpayer money for small business bailouts.

[19:50:03]

Sunlen Serfaty is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nonetheless, we're processing loans at a pace never achieved before.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Trump's friends, business partners, and family members grabbing cash, receiving millions in potentially forgivable loans as part of the paycheck protection program, intended to help small businesses keep employees on the payroll during the pandemic.

TRUMP: The kind of jobs that have also been saved incredibly.

SERFATY: The long-awaited data just released by the White House revealing that among the struggling small businesses like gyms and hair salons, the politically well connected, the powerful and those with close links to Trump benefitted greatly. Companies associated with Jared Kushner's family businesses received

several loans totaling at least $8 million. A hydroponic lettuce farm backed by the president's son Don Jr. received at least $150,000.

TRUMP: He's one right over here. Stand up, Albert. Where the hell are you, Albert? Stand up, Albert.

SERFATY: Trump's dentist and frequent golf partner, at least $150,000.

TRUMP: He's a good golfer but I'm actually a better golfer than him, right?

SERFATY: Conservative website Newsmax ran by Trump donor Chris Ruddy got up to $5 million. "The Daily Caller" co-founded by Fox News' Tucker Carlson up to $1 million. The law firm which helped Trump in the Russia investigation received between $5 million and $10 million, a trucking company founded by Trump's Agriculture Secretary Sunny Purdue received over $150,000.

The family business of Transportation Secretary Eileen Chow and wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell received over $350,000 and two wineries that Republican Congressman Devin Nunes co-owns received at least $1 million each.

More than $520 billion was given out to more than 4.8 million small businesses. Among those, $273 million in loans went to more than 100 companies that are owned or operated by major donors to Trump's election efforts.

But it wasn't just those close to Trump. Among them, a firm linked to Nancy Pelosi's husband and the consulting group founded by former Obama adviser Jim Messina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY: And it's important to point out here there is no indication whatsoever that any of these companies did anything wrong or received any sort of special treatment. And while certainly interesting they, of course, only represent a very, very small portion of the 5 million companies, Erin, who received these loans.

BURNETT: All right. Sunlen, thank you.

And next, the president of Brazil has been mocking coronavirus for months. Today, he tested positive. Our Bill Weir is there on the ground and he's OUTFRONT next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:56:54]

BURNETT: Tonight, Brazil's president posting a video of himself taking hydroxychloroquine after testing positive for coronavirus.

Of course, Bill Weir is OUTFRONT with this report from Sao Paulo, Brazil. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After months at sneering at a little flu and wading in the crowds of unmasked fans, Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro told his country today that he has COVID-19 but there was no sign of a president humbled.

I'm feeling very well he said and gave much of the credit to two doses of hydroxychloroquine, the controversial anti-malarial drug first pushed by Donald Trump and then stockpiled by Bolsonaro but unproven as a treatment for COVID-19 and he insisted that the millions of young people he's urging back to work can still feel invincible.

JAIR BOLSONARO, BRAZIL PRESIDENT (through translator): Younger people take care but if you are affected by the virus, rest assured that for you, the possibility of something more serious is close to zero.

WEIR (on camera): When you were health minister, did you try to warn him, try to get him out of those crowds for his own health.

DR. LUIZ HENRIQUE MANDETTA, FORMER HEALTH MINISTER OF BRAZIL: Everybody did. Not only the health minister, all the other minister, we all advised him.

WEIR (voice-over): Dr. Luiz Mandetta was Brazil's health minister until Bolsonaro fired him for trying to get the nation to stay distant or stay home. But instead of the virus converting the president to science, Mandetta worries it will only amplify a pseudo scientific message of more malaria pills and less quarantines.

MANDETTA: He stands for it and makes a political stand for well, I had the disease. Here, look at me. I'm OK. I'm a super hero. I took this medicine. I really did well. I used to do this also. His message could be a disaster.

WEIR: Meanwhile, the largest cemetery in Latin America is not large enough these days.

And in his 25 years digging at Vila Formosa, Adenilson Costa has never seen fresh graves fill up so fast.

There were four COVID families here this morning and were shocked, he says. Everyone is the same, ten minutes max, no wake, no way to look in the coffin because it is the last greeting they will ever give to the loved one they lost, and there is no time for a ceremony.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEIR: He told me they dug about 8,000 fresh graves just in that one cemetery in Sao Paulo.

The numbers out today, Erin, 45,000 new confirmed cases and about 1,250 deaths. That's twice the amount of the day before and keep in mind, academics at different universities around Brazil believe those numbers could be low by a factor of ten. BURNETT: Wow. By a factor of ten. Well, of course, we hope that

President Bolsonaro not to have complications and we certainly hope he doesn't experience what Richard Quest is experiencing after a mild case.

All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time, Bill Weir.

Thanks for joining us.

"AC360" starts now.