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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
U.S. Death Toll Climbs As Trump Minimizes Crisis; Defense Officials Contradict Trump Claim; Trump Campaign Sues Nevada Over Mail Ballots; Miami Marlins Return to the Field After COVID-19 Outbreak. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired August 05, 2020 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:20]
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DAVID HART, LOST HIS HUSBAND, DR. JOSEPH COSTA, TO COVID-19: Get off your ass. Drive 20 blocks and spend 15 minutes in ICU with a COVID patient who is dying.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. death toll levels rarely seen since May but the president remains disconnected from the magnitude of the crisis.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind.
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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, Trump making a very serious claim about a deadly blast in Beirut, though defense officials are contradicting that claim.
ROMANS: And breaking overnight, the latest effort to cast doubt on voting by mail. The Trump administration is suing a state that just made it easier.
Welcome to our viewers in the United States. and around the world. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
Hi, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Hi, Christine.
I'm Boris Sanchez, in for Laura Jarrett. It is Wednesday, August 5th, 5:00 a.m. in New York.
And the days just keep flying by, Christine. We're now just 90 days to November 3rd and the election.
ROMANS: Three months out.
All right. Meantime, President Trump's "it is what is it" approach to the pandemic is divorced from reality as the country struggles with any real progress containing the virus.
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RON KLAIJN, FORMER EBOLA CZAR UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA: You are more likely as an American to die from COVID than you are than any other country. You know, there are more cases, new cases of COVID today in Paris, Texas, than in Paris, France. More cases of COVID in the smallest state in the country than the entire country of Spain.
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ROMANS: Now, the president attended a White House coronavirus task force meeting for the first time since April. CNN has learned other members of the task force agree with the assessment of its coordinator that COVID-19 has become, quote, extraordinarily widespread and the level of concern in the task force does not match the president's rosy assessment.
SANCHEZ: Some 1400 families lost loved ones yesterday, the third highest total since Memorial Day. The U.S. death count keeps trending upward, nearly 157,000 Americans are dead.
There is a promising trend just five states have a significant number of new cases reported week over week but experts warn the backlog in testing may mean that the full extent we're seeing may not be detected.
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DR. LEANA WEN, FORMER BALTIMORE HEALTH COMMISSIONER: We don't have near enough testing. It's quite possible the rest of the states look like they are doing okay actually have ongoing community spread that we're just not picking up.
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ROMANS: Thirty-three states have seen increases in their retail of positive tests. Mississippi, the nation's worst at 23 percent. State health officer issued a mandate for those with the virus to self- isolate or face jail time.
And Mississippi's governor ordering a two week mask mandate and delaying the start in person classes in some hot spots.
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GOV. TATE REEVES (R), MISSISSIPPI: We have seen over the last several weeks that when people participate and wear masks, it helps. We must pump the brakes in hardest hit areas.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: Remember families are losing loved ones day after day. The president saying it is what it is. That's outrage many family members including David Hart whose husband, Dr. Joseph Acosta, died of COVID after treating patients in Baltimore.
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HART: Can you imagine my husband Joe walked into a room of COVID patients and said it is what it is and just shoved their beds into the corner and walked out? I mean, I still can't process that. It is what is it -- it is unbelievable. I mean, I want to say to the president, get off your ass, drive 20 blocks, and spend 15 minutes in ICU with a COVID patient who is dying. Do that.
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SANCHEZ: Schools across the country are now facing hard choices and a ticking clock. They are trying to balance the safety of children and older teachers at the same time that many parents are working at home or out of work. No country has successfully re-opened its schools with the virus, as widespread as it is, in the United States right now.
ROMANS: CNN affiliate WXIA in Georgia reported that some students in one county are being told they must show up for school in person until an online spot opens up.
Nationwide, Clorox says consumers will continue to see a shortage of wipes and other disinfecting products into 2021 because of overwhelming demand.
And New York City's iconic Rockettes cancelled their show this holiday season, first time since the Christmas tradition debuted back in 1933.
SANCHEZ: In the absence of national health, a bipartisan group of seven governors are joining forces on a multistate testing strategy.
[05:05:04]
Maryland's Republican governor, Larry Hogan, negotiating the deal with the Rockefeller Foundation. Maryland, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia and North Carolina plan to purchase 3.5 million fast acting antigen test, quicker results mean quicker isolation for people who can spread the virus without knowing it. More state and the local governments can join this deal soon.
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ROMANS: Wow. At least 100 people killed, 4,000 injured in a gigantic explosion. Right there in central Beirut. The blast so huge it caused 3.3 magnitude earthquake and could be felt hundred of miles away. President Trump says he has been briefed by U.S. military intelligence.
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TRUMP: This was not a -- some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of event. This was a -- seems to be, according to them, they would know better than I would, but seems to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind.
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ROMANS: A bomb, an attack. One big problem, three Defense Department officials directly contradict that claim, telling CNN they see no evidence of an attack. It is a major national security issue and the commander-in-chief says an attack is behind a vicious explosion in the Middle East.
Let's bring in CNN's Jomana Karadsheh.
And, Jomana, what are you hearing from the region? Are there any officials or leaders who are echoing the president's take that this was an attack and not some sort of an industrial accident?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'll tell you, Christine, so many people were shocked to hear that President Trump's statement so publicly, so early on after that blast in Beirut. Some here in this region would go as far as saying it was quite irresponsible of the U.S. president, basically, to pour gasoline on the fire.
This is a region that's rife with conspiracy theories. You know, there's tension in Lebanon and across this region. And we understand from State Department officials, officials raised concerns of the president's use of the word "attack."
Now, Lebanese authorities are still investigating what happened, what caused this massive blast. They are looking at a storage facility where 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate were stored.
Lots of questions about why such a flammable explosive material would be stored for years, apparently, according to the Lebanese prime minister in the heart of the Lebanese capital.
I can tell you that Beirut is a city devastated. This is a city that has seen civil war, wars over the years, terror attacks. But it has seen nothing like this.
By all accounts this was a catastrophic blast, entire neighborhoods that have been he decimated by this blast. According to health officials there at least 100 people so far have been confirmed killed. More than 4,000 others injured.
But officials are warning the death toll, the casualty figures are going to rise. There are still hundreds of people who are unaccounted for. They are missing. Their family members frantically searching for them in hospitals, posting their photos on social media, trying to fine them and the charity, Save the Children, warning that there are children unaccounted for.
Of course, the situation at the hospitals is quite catastrophic. They're already struggling to deal with the country's financial crisis. The COVID crisis, with a surge in recent days. Hospitals were reaching capacity, and then this.
They had to deal with thousands of patients being brought into the hospitals and Lebanon is appealing for help. Lots of countries sending aid and field hospitals right now, Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Jomana Karadsheh, managing that story for us in Istanbul, thank you so much, Jomana.
SANCHEZ: Breaking overnight, the Trump campaign making good on one of the president's tweets filing a lawsuit against Nevada after the battleground state approved a plan to sent absentee ballots to all active voters. That represents a major expansion of mail in voting made to make voting easier.
But something the lawsuit calls it problematic. It's all part of the Trump administration's attempt to sow doubt about the legitimacy of the upcoming election and now after months of trying to undermine voting by mail, an epic rationalization from the president. He's now encouraging it but only in one state where he thinks it's going to help him in November.
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TRUMP: Florida's got a great Republican governor and it had a great Republican governor. Scott -- Ron DeSantis, Rick Scott, two great governors.
[05:10:03]
And over a long period of time, they've been able to get the absentee ballots done extremely professionally. Florida is different from other states.
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SANCHEZ: So he thinks it will boost his chance it's perfectly legitimate, right?
One senior Republican aide tells CNN that Florida Republicans have been pressuring the president to endorse the state's vote by mail system. President Trump himself has even voted absentee in Florida, according to the aide. A high vote turnout is key for Republicans winning in November.
ROMANS: All right. Ten minutes past the hour. Negotiators want a stimulus deal by the end of the week. The economy needs a deal. The impasse a growing insult to struggling Americans.
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ROMANS: The White House and Democrats are working to get some kind of a deal together on a stimulus plan by the end of the week. If Congress doesn't get it done, the president told reporters he is looking at using executive action to extend jobless benefits.
[05:15:02] Now, that impasse in Congress is huge. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants a comprehensive stimulus deal worth $3.4 trillion. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called that ridiculous.
The two sides are still far apart on a number of issues including that extending that now expired federal eviction moratorium and funding for schools and state and local governments.
Outside the beltway, Wall Street's real economy is in shambles. A decade or so of economic growth, the jobs gains have been wiped away by a pandemic that is still raging, a Congress that has the luxury at being an impasse appears out of touch and insult to working and out of work Americans.
Republicans now struggling to get on the same page.
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SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Wherever this thing settles, between the president of the United States and his team, it has to be signed into law and the Democrats, not an insignificant minority in the Senate and majority in the House, is something I'm prepared to support, even if I have some problems with certain parts of it.
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ROMANS: Typical Washington process grinds on. But what Congress does or doesn't do in this stimulus will determine what kind of recovery the economy has if we have one, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, Christine. There is some promising news to report in the search for a vaccine. A third U.S. company says that early results show an immune response.
CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has more details.
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ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Boris, Christine, encouraging results from a company called Novavax. It's one of eight companies that's receiving federal funding from Operation Warp Speed to come up with and to test out a vaccine.
So, this is just phase one results. So, that's just the first phase. In the study, there are 130 subjects, and on average, when people got the vaccine, they developed antibiotics antibodies at four times higher than when people naturally get the disease.
Now, of those 106 study subjects, five did develop severe side effects, muscle pain, nausea, joint pain and other side effects. But on average, those lasted two days or less.
As I mentioned, there are eight companies getting federal funding from the U.S. government to develop and test out and manufacture a vaccine. Now, two of them, Moderna and Pfizer, are already in phase three trials. That means that they are on their way to including 30,000 people in those studies.
The head of Operation Warp Speed, that's the government effort to get a vaccine tells me that he thinks the vaccine could be 90 percent effective. He expects there to be a vaccine ready by December of this year or January of next, and he says that they will start by offering it to the elderly, to people who have underlying health conditions because those people are high-risk and he said he thinks by the end of next year, we'll be able to vaccinate everyone in the United States -- Christine and Boris.
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SANCHEZ: Elizabeth Cohen, thanks for the update.
A quick programming note for you, millions of Americans working several jobs in the new gig economy and this week, Kamau Bell goes to Austin, Texas, to find out how it works and how it doesn't. An all-new episode of "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA", Sunday night at 10:00, right here on CNN.
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[05:22:41]
ROMANS: All right. The Miami Marlins are out of quarantine now and back on the field for the first time in eight days after a COVID-19 outbreak swept through the team.
Andy Scholes has more on this morning's "Bleacher Report".
Hey, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, good morning, Christine.
You know, the Marlins had 18 players test positive for COVID-19 after that opening series and even when first pitch rolled around last night, they apparently still weren't able to go out there and play. So they had a game against the Baltimore Orioles and ended up being postponed for 41 minutes because they were waiting on test results.
According to multiple reports, there was a round of inconclusive test on the marlin. Several players reportedly had to leave the ballpark, go back to their hotel after getting tested. When they finally did get started Marlins had 17 new players on the team. They ended up winning the game 4-0.
All right. Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford has been taken off the NFL reserve class COVID list after what turned out to be a false positive test.
Stafford's wife Kelly said the whole ordeal has been a nightmare. In a lengthy Instagram post, she said even after they knew it was a false positive, their kids' school wouldn't let them come back. She was told she was endangering others in a grocery store. And her kids were harassed and kicked off a playground.
Stafford's wife says she blames the NFL and testing labs should be absolutely sure before telling the world someone has COVID. Now, the NFL says the new reserves COVID list does not necessarily mean a player has tested positive for COVID, but may have just come in to contact with someone who did.
All right. Some of the WNBA's biggest stars meanwhile wearing support Warnock shirts last night. The Reverend Raphael Warnock is opposing Senator Loeffler this November. Before the season started, Loeffler who is a co-owner of the Atlanta Dream wrote a letter to the commissioner opposing plans to honor the social justice movement.
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COURTNEY VANDERSLOOT, CHICAGO SKY GUARD: I'm not sure why she wants to be a part of the WNBA. She doesn't support for anything we stand for. We're very clear and very open about what we are about here.
CHENNEDY CARTER, ATLANTA DREAM GUARD: We definitely decided to wear it because he's for Black Lives Matter. He supports the league and movement, and we support him.
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BRIANNA TURNER, PHOENIX MERCURY FORWARD: We want to publicly show our support for him and encourage people to get out and vote in Georgia and obviously across the country as well.
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SCHOLES: Now, Warnock tweeted that he was humbled by their support, adding this movement gives us the opportunity to fight for what we believe in.
In the meantime, Loeffler says she remains opposed to the Black Lives Matter movement because of its radical ideas and Marxist foundations, that's from "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution".
Loeffler adding in a statement, this is just more proof that out of control cancel culture wants to shut out anyone who disagrees with them. It's clear that the league is more concerned about playing politics than basketball.
All right. The Indy 500 will be held without fans for the first time in its 109-year history. Track officials had hoped to have 50 percent of fans in the stands in late June but positive cases in Marion County have tripled since then. The race was originally scheduled for May 24th but now run August 23rd.
Rafael Nadal is not going to be defending his U.S. Open title at Flushing Meadows. In a tweet, he said, the COVID-19 pandemic is very complicated worldwide and it looks like we still don't have it under control.
Nadal won't be there. Roger Federer also not going to be there. He's out with injury.
And, Boris, I mean, it's just going to look so different this year at Flushing Meadows. No going to be those rowdy crowds. Of course, all of the matches taking place without fans in the stands, and of course, some of the base names in tennis not going to be playing.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, and Nadal creeping closer to Federer's grand slam title record.
SCHOLES: Yeah, one way.
SANCHEZ: It's going to be -- yeah, it's going a painful thing to miss.
Andy Scholes, thank you so much for "The Bleacher Report". Appreciate that.
SCHOLES: All right.
SANCHEZ: For the tenth time in two weeks, 1,000 Americans are dead from coronavirus. And task force members are not sharing the president's sunny outlook.
Plus, the death toll rising from a massive explosion in Lebanon. The president's response could make matters worse. We'll explain.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God!
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