Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Gunman Kills Son, Wounds Husband at New Jersey Home Of Federal Judge; Trump Refuses To Change Course Despite Virus Worsening; Daycare Centers May Provide Model For Reopening Schools. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired July 20, 2020 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00]
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Judge Esther Salas was home at the time but not hurt in the shooting.
Early law enforcement reports say her husband, Mark Anderl, was standing behind their 20-year-old son, Daniel, who opened the door to a hail of gunfire. The shooter was wearing what looked like a FedEx uniform. It's unclear whether the gunman was, in fact, a FedEx employee or posing as one.
Neighbors and friends say they're just devastated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE MAURO, NEIGHBOR AND CHILDHOOD FRIEND OF DANIEL ANDERL: We went together at the same school and everything and played baseball. It's sad to see him go. I mean, he was a decent kid. Like, you know, was going to be a lawyer just like his dad did -- his father. His father's a lawyer.
MARION COSTANZA, NEIGHBOR OF DANIEL ANDERL: This is an absolute shock. They're just very good-natured, wonderful people -- so hopefully, they'll be OK. And that said, we love them very, very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A source tells CNN law enforcement is unaware of any threats against the judge. Her husband is a defense attorney, so investigators don't know yet the motive or who was the intended target.
In 2011, Salas became the first Latina to serve as a U.S. district court judge in New Jersey.
We're going to bring you more updates as we get them this morning.
JARRETT: Turning now to coronavirus. A national problem is escalating with no national solution in sight. The number of deaths per day is up more than 60 percent in the last two weeks. The U.S. at or near 60,000 cases for 13 straight days.
In Florida, there are no ICU beds at 49 hospitals, and ICUs in Miami- Dade County are at 127 percent of capacity. President Trump, who has minimized the pandemic from the beginning,
still not changing course.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will be right, eventually. You know, I said it's going to disappear and I'll say it again. It's going to disappear --
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR, "FOX NEWS SUNDAY": Does that -- does that discredit you?
TRUMP: -- and I'll be right. I don't think so.
WALLACE: Why?
TRUMP: I don't think so. You know why it doesn't discredit me? Because I've been right probably more than anybody else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So the president continues to blame more testing for more COVID cases, and that is still nonsense. Hospitalizations and the positive test rate are soaring. Cases are up 194 percent. Testing is up only 37 percent.
And a lot of these test results are delayed. That is a big concern for health officials.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. FRANCIS COLLINS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: The average test delay is too long. You are absolutely right. Averages around the country, it's about three days, but in some places it's as long as a week.
And that really undercuts the value of the testing because you do the testing to find out who is carrying the virus and then quickly get them isolated so they don't spread it around. And it's very hard to make that work when there's a long delay built in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: In Texas, the number of coronavirus patients hospitalized has stayed over 10,000 for a week. The ICU at Texas Medical Center in Houston was at 104 percent of capacity this weekend.
Arizona with a record-high death count. Georgia and North Carolina are reporting record numbers of new cases.
Notice the trend here. Metrics are bad and getting even worse for the president in states that he won back in 2016.
The mayor of Tucson, Arizona says parents should be mortified that the governor wants kids to return to school. The state set a record death toll this weekend. And another Republican governor still doesn't support (ph) a mask mandate despite record hospitalizations.
CNN reporters are covering this pandemic coast-to-coast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ed Lavandera in Fort Worth, Texas.
The governor, Greg Abbott here, is announcing that five U.S. Navy medical teams are being dispatched to hospitals in four different cities -- Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Rio Grande City, and Harlingen, Texas.
These are teams designed to be able to help alleviate the pressure on these hospitals that are so overwhelmed by the growing number of coronavirus cases. And this is in addition to the already large number of other military medical teams that have been dispatched to other hospitals in other cities across the state.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Miguel Marquez in Phoenix.
And Arizona hit a grim milestone over the weekend. On Saturday, the state reported the most number of deaths from coronavirus so far, 147. And on that same day, the rate of positivity for tests came back at just over 39 percent. That's the second-highest day that they've had, so far, in this pandemic.
There is some good news, slightly. The hospitalizations are down statewide. Also down is the rate of transmission, just slightly.
But all of this as officials here are wrestling with one very big question. Can they reopen schools in August?
NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Natasha Chen in Atlanta.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves continues to defend the lack of a statewide mask mandate despite the fact that the state is now listed in a so-called red zone.
In an unpublished report prepared for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, 13 out of 82 Mississippi counties have instituted their own mask mandates, yet there is none statewide despite the fact that the Mississippi State Medical Association said this past week the governor should implement one.
[05:35:07]
Reeves told CNN's Jake Tapper that if he thought a mask mandate was the best way to save lives he would have done that a long time ago.
SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I'm Sarah Westwood in Washington.
The negotiations over the next stimulus bill are expected to begin in earnest this week. There could be some problems on the horizon, though.
The White House opposes a push by Senate Republicans to set aside billions of dollars in the bill for the CDC to use to pay for things like more contact tracing and testing. The White House is arguing that there should be enough money left over from the March stimulus bill for the CDC.
Also on the agenda, whether to renew extended unemployment benefits. The money funding those benefits is expected to run out this week.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Polo Sandoval in New York City where authorities are working to crack down on crowds that are disregarding the existing order to wear a mask and remain socially- distant.
This, after this video surfaced on social media showing what appears to be non-compliance. A large crowd gathering in Astoria, Queens over the weekend. Mayor Bill de Blasio calling these images unacceptable.
We know one establishment was suspended for a week as roadway seating closed. The owner of that business telling CNN that there many people dancing and drinking in the streets, though away from his seating area. He does say that he will be working with authorities to try to come up with a solution.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, 36 minutes past the hour. Thanks to our reporters for those reports.
Now, the coronavirus pandemic is still out of control and recovery from the recession is uncertain. But the Dow is back above 26,000 and the S&P 500 is almost positive for the year.
I spoke with billionaire investor Leon Cooperman who laid out the risks for stock investors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEON COOPERMAN, HEDGE FUND BILLIONAIRE (via telephone): I think the market is fully valued. It's not recognizing the risks that we face. The China relationship is deteriorating. The tremendous increase in debt in the system -- you know, certainly, from the election. The virus issues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: It wasn't long ago the stock market moved day-to-day on trade developments with China. It was a big factor in the market. But now, the market appears to be ignoring a deteriorating U.S.-China trade relationship.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPERMAN: I think the market is ahead of the fundamentals. And I believe in economic recovery and I believe we'll get ahead of the virus problem. But I think that the valuations are just too high relative to the uncertainties.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: There is one part of the market that is better than gold, to quote Cooperman -- better than gold, the so-called FAANG stocks.
The Nasdaq has soared to record highs in recent weeks -- up 17 percent this year, boosted by tech stocks like Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft.
JARRETT: Now to a disturbing nationwide trend. Vulnerable frontline personnel, like bus drivers and grocery store workers, are being attacked for trying to enforce mask requirements.
We get more now from CNN's Pete Muntean.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lily Damtew's coffee shop in Alexandria, Virginia is now lined with messages of support. But it's when she delivered the message to a customer that masks are required that things got ugly.
LILY DANTEW, OWNER, ABYSSINIA MARKET AND COFFEE HOUSE, ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA: And I told them, you know, you need to wear a mask to get service. He said, no, I don't have to. I said yes, you do.
He spat on my feet and he went up the street. It was just sad. It was very upsetting.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Her story is just one from across the country of those in the service industry now on the frontlines of enforcing new rules. Damtew was harassed one day after she reopened after being closed for months.
DANTEW: If I knew things like that would happen, I wouldn't be open.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): The Trump administration has not instituted a federal mask mandate.
TRUMP: I leave it up to the governors. Many of the governors are changing. They're more mask into -- they like the concept of masks -- but some of them don't agree.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Thirty-nine states have made some sort of mask requirement.
REBECCA HERNANDEZ, BARTENDER: How about you just leave. Please leave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you smart enough to (INAUDIBLE).
MUNTEAN (voice-over): In California, bartender Rebecca Hernandez found herself on the receiving end of a customer's racist tirade. Hernandez says he refused to wear a mask.
HERNANDEZ: When it comes down to whether or not you want to risk your safety or not, and that's a really hard place to be. But definitely, a federal nationwide mandate or a law would be incredible (ph).
MUNTEAN (voice-over): More than 20 major retail chains, including the Gap, Best Buy, and Dollar Tree, wrote on cnn.com that states must pass laws requiring masks.
Dr. Anthony Fauci is also putting the onus on state and local leaders.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: Be as forceful as possible in getting your citizenry to wear masks.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): A message that Lily Damtew hopes comes through loud and clear for her sake and all those facing fights over face coverings.
DAMTEW: I'm not going to give up. I'm still going to ask you to wear a mask. If you come to my store without a mask I'm still going to ask you to wear a mask. I'm not backing down.
[05:40:08]
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Pete Muntean, CNN, Alexandria, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: It was another night of demonstrations in Portland, Oregon. The city has been dealing with weeks of escalating unrest. A police union building was set on fire this weekend. Militarized units now patrolling the streets, hauling protesters away in unmarked vans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you doing? Use your words. What are you doing?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: At least some of these agents belong to the Department of Homeland Security. An internal Homeland Security memo obtained by "The New York Times" says these tactical teams, quote, "do not specifically have training in riot control or mass demonstration."
JARRETT: When it comes to coronavirus, President Trump has said that solutions should be left to the states. Yet, here in Portland, an aggressive federal response to subdue protesters -- the officers there to purportedly assist local law enforcement at the president's direction. But city and state leaders want the feds to get out.
Oregon's attorney general (audio gap) lawsuit accusing federal officers of violating civil rights.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELLEN ROSENBLUM, OREGON ATTORNEY GENERAL: Every American needs to be concerned about what's happening here in Portland. You know, these federal agencies are operating with no transparency and against the will of just about every leader in our state.
MAYOR TED WHEELER (D), PORTLAND, OREGON: And what they're doing is they are sharply escalating the situation. Their presence here is actually leading to more violence and more vandalism, and it's not helping the situation at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Multiple Democratic House committee chairs now demanding a watchdog investigation into actions by those federal officers in Portland and also Washington, D.C. in response to protests spurred by the death of George Floyd and police brutality.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:46:04]
ROMANS: Welcome back.
There are new restrictions in Barcelona, Spain this morning as officials there search to try to get this virus under control.
We have reporters covering the pandemic all around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Atika Shubert in Barcelona where residents have been asked to stay at home to try and control a growing number of outbreaks in the region. But it's not a strict lockdown; only a recommendation.
So, for example, theaters, bars, and nightclubs might be closed, but cafes, restaurants, and shops are still open at 50 percent capacity.
Lots of people coming to the beach, even on a Monday morning. Yesterday, so many people came here that police were actually called in to turn people away.
Now, tourists are also still arriving in Barcelona, Spain's second- largest city, and it's causing a lot of concern because the number of outbreaks has more than doubled in the last two weeks.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Will Ripley in central Hong Kong where people are out on the streets but almost everybody is wearing a mask. The city is expanding its requirements for people to wear masks, one of the socially-distancing measures that are being heightened as it grapples with a third wave of COVID-19.
City leaders say it's not even close to being under control. The number of cases every day has now topped the 100 mark. That's a first in this pandemic.
And non-essential city workers are being told to stay home this week. A lot of businesses are closed and those that do remain open have to conduct temperature screenings at the door to try to make sure the customers are safe and try to keep the virus from spreading even more here.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I'm Nic Robertson in London where the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has likened the possible use of another national lockdown to using the nuclear deterrent.
This comes at a time when he's trying to encourage businesses to get employees back to work and the country's chief scientific adviser says there's no need to change the current work-from-home policy.
The prime minister has given greater powers to local councils across the country to have local lockdowns if there are local outbreaks. That's the future he wants -- not, as he says, the nuclear deterrent.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: Thanks to all of our correspondents for those updates.
School districts across the country here in the U.S. are scrambling, trying to figure out how they can reopen this fall. Well, they may want to look at how childcare centers nationwide have stayed open safely, taking care of tens of thousands of children.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT (voice-over): PS-IS-128 has been closed since March, but every day at 7:00 a.m. it's doors open to over 130 kids in Queens, New York. It's now a child care center like others that have stayed open since the beginning of the pandemic for the kids of frontline workers -- everyone from corrections officers to nurses.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's basically been a Godsend.
JARRETT: (voice-over): The YMCA local daycare and childcare centers have managed to watch over tens of thousands of kids across the U.S. with schools closed, using strategies that could prove instructive for school districts now coming up with their own plans to keep kids safe in classrooms this fall.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We worked in partnership with our communities to create this culture of safety.
JARRETT (voice-over): The local Ys have used space to their advantage and gotten creative.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We use hula hoops to distance ourselves.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last name?
JARRETT (voice-over): At PS-IS-128, as soon as children walk in the door their temperature is checked as they tell their parents goodbye.
Masks, once only worn by adults, are now required for everyone throughout the entire building. Classrooms are also limited in size to only nine kids at a time and sprayed down with an industrial-strength cleaning solution.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We taught the kids how to handwash. As soon as they came in they handwash. Whenever they change activities they handwash. When they leave the classroom and come back from the gym or from the playground, they handwash.
JARRETT (voice-over): If a child becomes sick at some point later on in the day --
[05:50:02]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then we have isolation rooms where we put -- bring them immediately. They've given us COVID kits. And so the nurses will garb up in their gowns and the extra protection, we'll call home, and the student will stay in that room until the parents come and pick them up.
JARRETT (voice-over): And so far, their plan is working.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have not had one COVID case in the whole time that we've been here -- not one.
JARRETT (voice-over): The model is working so well it's led some school districts to turn to childcare centers for guidance. But officials on the ground caution that getting kids back in classrooms for a regular school day comes with its own challenges.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have families coming at all different times. That doesn't happen in schools. They all come at the same time. So, imagine the line that would be out the door trying to keep them distanced and checking their temperatures.
So while the safety protocols are awesome -- the cleaning products and just the procedures -- our model, it's not the same as school.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: Christine, you know, one of the interesting things folks there on the ground pointed out to me is that there are only classroom monitors there. They are not actually teachers. And up until recently, they're really just monitoring kids on their tablets. And so while it really does look like a school --
ROMANS: Right.
JARRETT: -- there isn't the same level of instruction happening there. But it could still be a model for how to at least go about some of the hygiene and safety protocols.
ROMANS: And it was interesting to see so many of the kids were accurately, appropriately wearing their masks.
JARRETT: Absolutely.
ROMANS: A lot of will say oh, little kids won't wear their masks. At least there, they were and it seemed not to hold anybody back. JARRETT: Yes, they were vigilant about it.
ROMANS: All right, that's a great piece. Thanks, Laura.
All right.
Trader Joe's is changing the name of some of its international food products after an online petition labeled them racist. The petition objects to names like Trader Ming's for Chinese products and Trader Jose for Mexican goods.
The grocery chain says the branding was a lighthearted attempt to be inclusive but it now realizes it may have the opposite effect.
JARRETT: A high-speed chase of a different kind in Washington. The owner of a Shih Tzu named Astro was in an accident and the pooch was put inside a fire department vehicle but he escaped. After eight tense minutes -- you can see there weaving through traffic -- the little guy was finally corralled on the shoulder of the interstate.
ROMANS: Dramatic, but it ends well, we promise.
A Wisconsin bank is hoping to make a positive change by paying for change. There's a nationwide coin shortage because of the pandemic, so the Community State Bank is launching a coin buyback program that offers a $5.00 bonus for every $100 of coins turned in. The bank says hundreds of people have already traded in their spare change, helping businesses that badly need it.
Let's take a look at markets around the world -- speaking of business -- to start this new trading week. A mixed performance in Asian shares and London, Paris, and Frankfurt have picked up mixed as well.
On Wall Street, futures pretty much directionless here. Stocks closed mixed on Friday. The Dow fell 62 points, dragged down by banks and oil companies. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq finished slightly higher.
It was still a good week for stocks. The Dow climbed 2.3 percent, the S&P 500 finished up 1.2 percent, the Nasdaq fell 1.1 percent.
Earnings are the focus again this week. Coca-Cola, Intel, Microsoft, and several airlines will report their second-quarter results.
Colleges, hospitals, and other non-profits hurting from the pandemic can now borrow from the Fed's $600 billion Main Street Lending Program. It was originally designed to help small businesses. Expanding it highlights the toll the pandemic is taking on the critical sector of the economy that employs millions.
The Fed said the program is limited to organizations that were in sound financial condition before the pandemic.
JARRETT: If Cleo the Labrador actually spoke, no doubt she'd have some story to tell. After disappearing from her family's home in Kansas this month, Cleo somehow turned up at their old home in Missouri, more than 50 miles away. The new homeowners checked Cleo for her microchip and were able to contact her family in Kansas. You might imagine they were stunned and thrilled by the news.
ROMANS: All right, a special delivery for health care workers at a New York hospital.
A Los Angeles-based artist, Michael Gittes, donated 1,800 paintings -- one for every employee at Brooklyn's Interfaith Medical Center. His manager told CNN it's meant to pay homage to frontline workers.
At the height of the pandemic, the hospital was about 90 percent occupied by COVID-19 patients.
That's cool -- a little something to hang on the wall to remember all of your hard work.
Thanks for joining us this --
JARRETT: (INAUDIBLE).
ROMANS: -- Monday morning. I'm Christine Romans. Thanks for joining us.
JARRETT: I'm Laura -- I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:59:08]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Monday, July 20th, 6:00 here in New York.
And we do have breaking news. Overnight, a deadly shooting at the home of a federal judge in New Jersey. A source tells CNN that the gunman appeared to be wearing a FedEx uniform. He opened fire at her front door, killing her son and critically injuring her husband.
The federal judge has presided over several high-profile cases. We will bring you all of the latest details.
Also breaking right now, police firing tear gas at protesters in Portland, Oregon. Protesters want answers about the president's unidentified federal officers in the crowd. A live report from that scene.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also overnight, 61,000 new cases of coronavirus in the United States. The death toll now tops 140,000 Americans. More than 12,000 new cases were reported in Florida where dozens of hospital ICUs are at capacity.
