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New Day
Trump On Why Blacks Are Killed By Police; Mary Trump Breaks Silence On Tell-All Book About The President; 12 Members Of New York Times Journalist's Family Contract Coronavirus. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired July 15, 2020 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:30:00]
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, AUTHOR, "MY VANISHING COUNTRY" (via Cisco Webex): That results in death and fatality.
Now, the problem with the president's statement is that he always falls down on the wrong side of history. It seems like you and I are having this conversation often, Alisyn, about the president just not understanding where America is going. And the best part about this country is we can get to where we want to go even without the president being there with us, and that's what it looks like is going to have to happen.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's not the math, it's the message. It's the overall message and the way he chose to address it.
And, David, we saw another example where the president was confronted with issues surrounding the Confederate battle flag, which I want you all to listen very carefully here and listen to see if you can detect an ounce of discomfort inside the president's head with the Confederate battle flag. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CATHERINE HERRIDGE, SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT, CBS NEWS: Would you be comfortable with your supporters displaying the Confederate battle flag at political events?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, you know, it depends on what your definition is. But I am comfortable with freedom of speech -- it's very simple.
HERRIDGE: But you understand why the flag is a painful symbol for many people because it's a reminder of slavery.
D. TRUMP: Well, people love it and I don't view -- I know people that like the Confederate flag and they're not thinking about slavery.
I look at NASCAR. You know, in NASCAR, you had those flags all over the place. They stopped it.
I just think it's freedom of speech. Whether it's Confederate flags or Black Lives Matter or anything else you want to talk about, it's freedom of speech.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: It's the message, David, and how he chooses to deliver it. People love it. People love the Confederate flag, says the president.
DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, AUTHOR, "HOW'S YOUR FAITH?" (via Cisco Webex): Yes. I was thinking as Bakari was talking in the response to the previous question that the president doesn't have a second sentence as a follow-up beyond what happened to George Floyd was terrible, which everyone would agree about. He doesn't have anything else to say other than then jumping to the culture war that he wants to foment for his own political purposes.
He's missing the moment. He doesn't know his history. That's obvious and that's not going to change.
The president is not going to become enlightened about how painful the Confederate flag is and what it represents as white supremacy. He'll touch the nerve for people who think no, it's southern heritage, it's the lost cause, it's all of this stuff. That's what he is interested in fomenting. He just completely misses the moment.
And I'm with Bakari. I mean, we're here every week or so again discussing the fact that we have a president who is woefully ignorant of the pain of our history and that has him deeply out of step with the country.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: I heard something different yesterday. I mean, I know that yes, we are here and we often have this conversation about why the president seems so tone-deaf at this moment.
But I heard something different yesterday in one of his responses to Catherine Herridge. I heard the talking points going haywire. I heard something malfunctioning, Bakari.
And let me just play for you this moment where he's talking about the economy. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. TRUMP: We're starting to do very well in the polls because I'm for law and order, I'm for strong business. Our jobs are coming back at a record level like never -- we've never seen anything like it -- record level.
We're heading up. It's turning out to be the V just like I built it once before -- the strongest economy ever. I'm doing it again. And they don't want that to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: All right, major cities in this country are shutting down today. The hospitals are filling up.
He says I'm starting to do very well in the polls. No, you're not -- not in swing states. Not in all of the latest polls.
Something -- the talking points that he was sticking to weren't landing or working yesterday.
SELLERS: Well, this is -- I mean, listen, when we wanted to elect a reality show president we all end up in survivor, right? And so, this is where we are. And we have a president who doesn't have the necessary level of compassion, empathy, or understanding to tackle this issue.
There are 130,000 people who have died because of this administration's incompetence -- their utter incompetence -- and he can't wrap his head around that.
But let's just -- I mean, I know this is going to be difficult to do but even if you take the president out of this, look at the utter incompetence right below him. I mean, look at the -- look at the Desantises and the Kemps of the world, and the Henry McMasters of the world and how you see these rates just continue to spike up and no one doing anything.
The Republican Party -- and this is Mitch McConnell's problem, and this is going to be Kevin McCarthy's problem as you go into an election cycle -- the Republican Party has become a party that's enveloped itself in incompetence and not being able to navigate our country's issues. And, you know, I just don't think that the president truly grasps where we are.
And to talk about an economy where you still have so many people filing unemployment, the White House's solution and Ivanka Trump's solution is just go out and do better and find another job. Well, that ain't that easy.
And so, this White House and this Republican Party -- no one is speaking up as the antithesis to Trump. They're just -- I mean, again, no other words to describe the Republican of 2020 than utter incompetence.
[07:35:05]
BERMAN: David Gregory, veteran White House reporter -- and by that, I mean very young veteran White House reporter, you know -- I want to know your take on the 60-minute campaign event in the Rose Garden yesterday.
And then, if we can put it up on the screen, Ivanka Trump, who works in the administration, doing an ad -- a Twitter ad for Goya beans there.
Where does this fall in your sensibilities?
GREGORY: You know, I just think it's become really consistent with a president who just goes off on his own -- whatever his gut tells him, whatever his inclination is.
He doesn't hide from the press by any means. He gives a lot of interviews and gives a lot of fodder for those of us who look at this and analyze it to say what's his message? You know, what is he trying to do? He's trying to do multiple things at once.
And he was just all over the place in that Rose Garden appearance, which is problematic on the substance of what he's saying as to whether it's true or not. Any political professional would look at that and say if this is a president running for reelection, what is he for? What is he -- you know, what's the basis for his own reelection? He looks incredibly erratic.
And I think if we look at this period -- and, frankly, if we look at the last month, at least -- if he is defeated soundly in this reelection, it will all come together. And if he somehow prevails and is reelected, then a lot of people, again, would be confounded about how he was able to prevail despite the polling, despite his own behavior.
And he does seem to offer these kinds of narrow justifications. You know, the economy is showing signs of strength and recovery in certain areas. But as you say, we're also seeing new surges -- not a resurgence, but new surges of the pandemic that, of course, imperil that economy. And he can't hold those two thoughts together.
BERMAN: And, beans, right.
David Gregory, Bakari Sellers, we appreciate you both being with us this morning. Thanks very much.
SELLERS: Thank you.
BERMAN: President Trump's niece, Mary Trump, breaking her silence this morning for the first time. What she says about her uncle in her new tell-all book. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:41:31]
CAMEROTA: President Trump's niece, Mary Trump, giving her first interview about her tell-all book on Donald Trump. She claims her uncle is, quote, "utterly incapable of leading the country."
CNN's Sara Murray joins us now with more. What else is she saying, Sara?
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Mary Trump is finally speaking out. This is her first television interview and she's not holding anything back. In the first clip that we've seen, she essentially says that her uncle, President Trump, is unfit for office and dangerous.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY TRUMP, NIECE OF PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, AUTHOR, "TOO MUCH AND NEVER ENOUGH: HOW MY FAMILY CREATED THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS MAN": And I just remember thinking he seems tired, he seems -- like this is not what he signed up for, if he even knows what he signed up for.
And I thought his response was actually more enlightening than my statement when he said they won't get me. And so far, it looks like he's right.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS CHIEF ANCHOR: And if you're in the Oval Office today, what would you say to him?
M. TRUMP: Resign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Now, President Trump did not want this book to see the light of day. But it was actually his brother, Robert Trump, who took Mary Trump and her publisher to court to try to block the book's release and block Mary Trump from talking about it.
And when you dig into the book you can really see why. She really paints this picture of a very toxic culture in the Trump family and says essentially, this is why Donald Trump is the way he is.
She's a clinical psychologist and so she brings a lot of that to the book and also to this interview. Here is her describing a little bit of how she sees the president's personality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: He once had a spark of kindness.
M. TRUMP: Yes, I think he did.
One of the unforgivable things my grandfather did to Donald was he severely restricted the range of human emotion that was accessible to him, which makes it a --
STEPHANOPOULOS: What does that mean?
M. TRUMP: It means that certain feelings were not allowed.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Like?
M. TRUMP: Sadness, the impulse to be kind, the impulse to be generous. Those things that my grandfather found superfluous, unmanly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Now, in the book, she essentially calls Donald Trump a sociopath and says he can't synthesize information. Says he's incapable of empathy. So certainly, not a very flattering portrait of the president or of his family.
Back to you guys.
BERMAN: Much more of this interview and a full discussion on all of this coming up, Sara. Really appreciate it. Developing this morning, a deadly shooting at a Richmond, Virginia apartment building. Police tell CNN affiliate WRIC that a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed and a 3-year-old girl is in the hospital. Police don't have any reason to believe that they were targeted but they have no information yet on suspects.
These two children -- this tragedy among the latest in an alarming surge of violence across the U.S.
CNN's Brynn Gingras with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fourteen shootings in 24 hours on New York City streets Monday, including the killing of a teenager shot in the head.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are not going for this (bleep). So I'm talking to the streets. You know who's killing who.
[07:45:00]
GINGRAS (voice-over): More gun violence is being felt in cities big and small from coast-to-coast, in Seattle --
MAYOR JENNY DURKAN (D), SEATTLE: We're working very hard to reduce the number of shootings here in Seattle.
GINGRAS (voice-over): -- Chicago, Charleston, Philadelphia, Atlanta.
MAYOR KEISHA LANCE-BOTTOMS (D), ATLANTA: I hate to use the word perfect storm but it's where we are in this country right now.
GINGRAS (voice-over): In New York --
DERMOT SHEA, COMMISSIONER, NYPD: There has to be a price for carrying an illegal firearm in New York City and right now, the price isn't high enough.
GINGRAS (voice-over): -- the NYPD points to new recidivism data showing so far this year, police re-arresting 1,452 individuals for major felonies. An offender who police say would otherwise likely be held in jail but due to state bail reform laws, which went into effect this year, were released. That's 771 more arrests of the same group than this time last year.
On top of that, courts in New York and many states have not been fully operational because of coronavirus restrictions.
LUCY LANG, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR INNOVATION IN PROSECUTION, JOHN JAY COLLEGE: In the absence of courts operating and when people are coming through the courts, we're not seeing the same level of debriefings that are traditionally part of the kind of police work that we rely on to be able to respond to violent crime and often enables prevention. GINGRAS (voice-over): A spokesperson for the Brooklyn district
attorney's office, the borough which saw most of the shootings Monday, told CNN, quote, "For us, the biggest issue is there are no grand juries, so we can't indict felony cases."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: March hard, not just for police brutality, do this for this black on black. It could be your child.
GINGRAS (voice-over): In the wake of George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis, protesters cried out coast-to-coast for changes in policing.
On Tuesday, Pennsylvania following in New York's footsteps. The governor signing two measures into law which address the hiring of officers and increases their training, including for implicit bias.
JOSH SHAPIRO (D), PENNSYLVANIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Let me say this very clearly, black lives matter. I'll say it again, black lives matter. But saying it, that's just not enough. We must listen and we must take action.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Across America, the continuous criticism and reform measures said to be weighing on the rank and file.
CHIEF TERENCE MONAHAN, NYPD: If you're out on the streets and every time you turn on the television they're saying how much they hate you and how much they don't need you, and how unimportant you are to the safety of your citizens, it does a lot for their morale.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Over a one-week period at the beginning of this month, NYPD retirements soared more than 400 percent compared to the same week last year.
A detective who is considering retirement told CNN, "Every day, the pension section sends out a notice of who went that day and filed. It used to be a page, maybe two at the most. The other day it was six pages."
Meanwhile, departments are striving to do better, knowing how vital it is to build relationships with the communities they serve. But in the end, experts say it needs to be all hands on deck to turn this alarming trend around from police, to courts, to communities.
Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: Our thanks to Brynn there.
Airlines are losing millions of dollars a day and hopes are fading for a resumption of air travel this summer.
Chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us now. How is it looking, Christine?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT, ANCHOR, "EARLY START": Good morning.
You know, it looks like an aviation industry in crisis. And quarantines in the northeast and the virus spreading across the Sun Belt, that's dampening airlines' plans to start adding flights in capacity.
Delta Airlines reported the worst quarter in more than a decade. It had planned to add about 1,000 flights in August but now is trimming that back.
Delta will keep flying with middle seats empty at least through the end of September. Its CEO says that extra space onboard is the number- one reason anxious passengers are choosing Delta. United and American have resumed filling those middle seats.
For Delta, flying at 60 percent capacity means these flights are losing money. The airline is burning through $43 million a day. Delta's CEO says it will be more than two years -- two years before the industry sees a sustainable recovery.
Other major airlines report their second-quarter earnings next week. It's expected to be a historically bad quarter for the industry.
And billionaire Richard Branson has just secured $1.5 billion to rescue his Virgin Atlantic just days before restarting passenger flights there. That airline has been operating only cargo flights, Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: OK, Christine. Thank you very much for that update.
A "New York Times" reporter returned to his hometown in Texas. He thought he was going to cover coronavirus. He did not know that his immediate family was about to become part of the story. He joins us, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:53:56]
CAMEROTA: A "New York Times" journalist decided to head to his home state of Texas to report on the pandemic. Just before leaving, he learned that five members of his immediate family had contracted the virus. But by the time he arrived, that number had more than doubled.
Joining us now is Edgar Sandoval. He's a reporter for "The New York Times." Also with us is Edgar's 17-year-old nephew, Cris Macias, one of the family members who contracted COVID. Gentlemen, it's really good to have you here.
So, Edgar, let's just start at the beginning. You moved to the Rio Grande Valley as a teenager, in Texas. And so when the coronavirus hit there you said to your editors at "The New York Times" I know this area. I would like to go cover it.
Then tell us about the text that you got just before you got on the plane to go cover it -- what your sister said. EDGAR SANDOVAL, CRIMINAL JUSTICE REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES (via Cisco Webex): Well, thank you for having me, first of all. I appreciate the opportunity.
Yes, it was a surreal experience. I volunteered to cover the story because I know the area pretty well and I've been here before to cover immigration.
And each time I come back we have a big family dinner and I get to see family members. And I was thinking about the same experience this time around.
[07:55:07]
But the day before I boarded the plane is when I got this text that really froze me in place. She said brother, everyone has COVID. I mean, I thought she was joking for a minute and then I had to call her and find out what's going on.
CAMEROTA: And ultimately, how many of your family members came down with COVID?
SANDOVAL: We counted about a dozen family members that came in contact with each other from the original patient zero, so about 12.
CAMEROTA: Cris, are you patient zero? Were you the first person in the family to have it?
CRIS MACIAS, TEXAS TEEN WHO UNKNOWINGLY INFECTED HIS FAMILY WITH CORONAVIRUS (via Cisco Webex): Yes, ma'am.
CAMEROTA: And what happened?
MACIAS: Well, it really started with me just getting some symptoms. I just got some headaches and -- some headaches and like, I felt nauseous. So I really didn't think much of it but it turns out I really had it and I started infecting family members.
CAMEROTA: That must make you feel horrible. I mean, tell me about how many people got infected. And when you found out that you had unknowingly spread it, what did you think?
MACIAS: Yes, it's a mix of emotions, really. Really guiltiness (ph) and sadness because you know everybody can get affected differently. And, yes --
SANDOVAL: And I think what happens is this is actually the norm in the border, which is why I included him in my story. Because a lot of people go into the community and unwittingly return home and spread the virus to their parents or grandparents, and that's how it spreads quickly.
CAMEROTA: Yes. I mean, in fact, I hear you talk about the culture and that there are these big family dinners and they're prized by the family members because the grandparents get a chance to interact with the grandkids. I mean, everybody looks forward to these. But they ended up being really dangerous for your family.
SANDOVAL: Yes. Well, in my case, it was a road trip -- family trip that caused the spread of the virus. It was about six family members in two different cars rotating passengers to Houston. And then they met some relatives in the Galveston area and they also got infected. That's how it spread.
But there is a culture of backyard barbecues in South Texas and Texas, overall. And I think that's how a lot of people end up meeting each other unwittingly and spreading the virus and infecting their elders.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
I know you were particularly worried about your mom. She had recovered from cancer and then suddenly, she came down with this and had to be hospitalized.
You write, "Two attendants arrived with a stretcher to transport her into a COVID wing at another location where she would not be allowed to have visitors. My throat tightened. The beeping sound of the monitors echoed around the small room.
Suddenly, I panicked. What if this was the last time I would see her alive?"
Obviously, so many family members have had that experience in these past months.
So how are all of your family members doing?
SANDOVAL: They are recovering slowly. My mother is still requiring artificial oxygen to breathe. But she's home now and she's getting better slowly.
CAMEROTA: Edgar, what is the upshot of your reporting here? What's the message for the rest of us?
SANDOVAL: The message is that the pandemic is not over. I think when the government started reopening, there was a collective mindset of let's go back to normal. This is over -- we won. And I can attest that personally, the virus is not over. It's not done with humanity yet.
CAMEROTA: And, Cris, how about you? Have you gone back to normal?
MACIAS: No, ma'am. I really haven't gone out as much -- not at all, to be honest. I'm not close to being normal at all.
CAMEROTA: And, I mean, in terms of, Cris, your family members, are you able to see them?
MACIAS: Not -- well, my immediate family, yes. But my other family members, no. I haven't seen them at all.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
SANDOVAL: This is the first time I've seen him this close. MACIAS: Yes.
SANDOVAL: Usually, I have a mask on and we just don't see each other unless we have to.
CAMEROTA: Yes. I mean, look, your family is just a microcosm. I mean, it's a big microcosm because of how many people in your immediate family got infected. But it just shows how quickly it spreads. How unknowingly it can spread.
Well, Edgar Sandoval and Cris Macias, thank you very much for sharing your personal story with us.
SANDOVAL: Thank you for having us.
CAMEROTA: NEW DAY continues right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
BERMAN: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY.
And this morning, once again, we ask what is the plan? More than 67,000 new cases of coronavirus reported.
END
