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More Than 1,000 Coronavirus Deaths in U.S. for 10th Time in Two Weeks; Defense Officials Contradict Trump's Claim Beirut Blast was an 'Attack'; Progressive Democrat Defeats 10-Term Incumbent in Missouri; Kobach Loses to Relief of Kansas Establishment Republicans. Aired 6- 6:30a ET

Aired August 05, 2020 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RON KLAIN, FORMER EBOLA CZAR UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA: You are more likely as an American to die from COVID than you are in almost any other country.

[05:59:41]

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We, proportionately, are lower than almost all countries. We're at the bottom of the list.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our national response to this pandemic should be a national embarrassment. There is uncontrolled spread in over 32 states in the country.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thousands injured, dozens dead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a blinding white flash, a huge noise. All the doors and windows were ripped off their hinges.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was a large amount of explosives stored in a building that caught fire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The pictures from that blast simply stunning. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Wednesday, August 5, 6 a.m. here in New York.

You are more likely to die from coronavirus in the United States than almost any other country in the world. That assessment comes from the former coordinator of the Ebola crisis.

Fourteen hundred new deaths in the country were reported in the last 24 hours. That marks the tenth day in the last two weeks with more than a thousand fatalities.

The nationwide death toll is now approaching 157,000. The United States is on track to surpass 5 million confirmed cases this weekend.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And yet, John, President Trump is trying to claim the rise in cases has not led to a significant rise in deaths. He thinks the U.S. is, quote, "doing great" on testing. Both claims are false.

And for the first time since April, President Trump attended a briefing with his coronavirus task force.

Now as for the economy, President Trump is floating the idea of using an executive order to extend unemployment benefits to millions of Americans after failing to make a deal thus far. Congress and the administration have struggled to find common ground on a massive economic relief package.

CNN's Joe Johns is live at the White House to bring us up to date.

Hi, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

The president continuing to stick to his claim that the coronavirus pandemic in the United States is under control, when it's not under control, despite the warnings of his health and science experts. He made that claim once again yesterday, using data that tends to show the rosiest picture, while ignoring the data that tells the full story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS (voice-over): President Trump again insisting the coronavirus pandemic is under control.

TRUMP: We're seeing indications that our strong mitigation efforts are working, very well, actually.

JOHNS: Cherry-picking data to make his handling of the crisis appear more favorable, while cases and deaths continue to rise across the country.

TRUMP: Thanks to substantial improvements in treatment and the knowledge we have gained about the disease itself, the recent rise in cases has not been accompanied by a significant increase in deaths.

JOHNS: Trump's statement is misleading. While there are now significantly fewer deaths a day in comparison to April, in the past month, the rate has nearly doubled, from about 544 day to 1,056 a day.

DR. ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: We are not winning this game. We have more cases, but more importantly, we have more hospitalizations and more deaths than any other country in the world.

JOHNS: The president also repeating his false claim, saying the U.S. has such a high level of cases because of increased testing. JOHNS: We are testing at a level that no country in the world, and

I've spoken to the leaders of the world, and they'll ask me about it, no country in the world thought it would be -- it's even believable that we're able to test so much.

JOHNS: Many states are still facing a backlog in testing, with some Americans waiting days or even weeks to receive results. Health experts say the United States is not testing enough.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You don't get coronavirus from doing a test. It's to try and find people who are infected, isolate them, quarantine their contacts, and from a public health perspective, bring the numbers down. We've never gotten to that point.

JOHNS: After attacking mail-in voting for the upcoming election, Trump says he'll make an exception for only one key swing state.

TRUMP: Florida has got a great Republican governor. Florida has done a great job, and we have total confidence that if you mail in your ballot in Florida, it's going to matter.

JOHNS: Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the debate over a new stimulus package continues.

STEVE MNUCHIN, TREASURY SECRETARY: If the Democrats are serious on negotiating, we can do a deal.

JOHNS: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin meeting for the seventh time, saying they'll try to make a deal by the end of the week.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We have to have an agreement, and we will have an agreement, but we're not going to do it at the expense of America's working families.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: And the president appears to have attended his first coronavirus task force meeting since April. The president tweeting out four pictures from inside the office, the Oval Office. Those pictures tend to suggest only three people in attendance were wearing masks, including Dr. Deborah Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci. The president is expected to meet with Arizona's governor today at 3 p.m. Eastern Time.

Back to you.

BERMAN: The first task force meeting he's attended since April. Think of how many millions of cases in the United States since then and how many tens of thousands of deaths. Joe Johns at the White House this morning. Thank you.

[06:05:11]

Breaking overnight, the death toll is rising after this terrifying explosion in Beirut. Officials now say at least 100 people were killed and that number almost certain to increase. Thousands injured.

Making matters worse, four hospitals in the area have been knocked out of service by the blast. Shaking from the explosion could be felt hundreds of miles away. It felt like an earthquake to many people.

There are questions about what exactly sparked the explosion. The Lebanese prime minister suggests a warehouse of explosive materials, ammonium nitrate, might be to blame.

Now, President Trump claimed it was an attack -- attack, he said a bomb, but did not provide any supporting details, at all. And no one in the region is suggesting that. And three Defense Department officials tell CNN there is no indications they have seen that it was an attack, so what was the president doing there? We're going to have a live report from Beirut coming up later this hour.

CAMEROTA: OK. Now to a storm update. The deadly tropical storm, Isaias, killing at least five people along the East Coast. Several of those deaths blamed on falling trees. And there are preliminary reports of more than 30 tornadoes hitting up and down the coastline. The storm knocking out power to more than three million customers. Look at the aftermath there. New York saw its strongest winds since Superstorm Sandy eight years ago.

Well, the former head of the nation's Ebola response says we are more likely to die from coronavirus in the United States than people in almost any other country. So where's that big federal plan the president promised? That's next.

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[06:11:10]

BERMAN: This morning, 1,400 new coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours. Ten times we've had more than a thousand deaths in the last few weeks. That's a staggering toll, a toll the president somehow spins as success.

The man who ran the nation's Ebola response sees it differently. Now, we should note that Ron Klain also does advise the Biden campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KLAIN: You are more likely as an American to die from COVID than you are in almost any other country. You know, there are more cases of -- new cases of COVID today in Paris, Texas, than in Paris, France.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining us now, CNN medical analyst and professor of medicine at George Washington University, Dr. Jonathan Reiner.

Dr. Reiner, thanks so much for being with us.

The reason this is important isn't just to say the president's making stuff up again. It's always important to note that, and he is. But the reason this is important for the nation's response is, if the administration isn't acknowledging the scope of the problem, which is an enormous and growing death toll, it does raise questions, I would think, about the quality of their response.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Right. If -- if I see a patient in the office who tells me that they smoke two packs of cigarettes a day, and I don't talk about it, you know, that patient might leave the office saying, Well, Doc doesn't seem that bothered by it.

Likewise, when the president tells the public that everything is fine, we have a few hotspots to put out; otherwise, things are looking great, how does that motivate the public around the United States?

Now, the truth is that the U.S. does have more virus than anywhere else on the planet, and we also have more deaths. Based not just on a population basis, on a, you know, per capita basis, but on absolute numbers. We clearly have the most mortality of any other place on the planet.

And we don't have a handle on it. Based primarily on a lack of leadership coming from Washington and a lack of commitment to get the public to do the hard things.

CAMEROTA: And as you say, Dr. Reiner, I mean, one of the reasons for this is because there was no federal plan. President Trump outsourced any plan, as you know, in March and April and May and beyond to governors and states, in a sort of survival of the fittest model, where they all had to bid against each other and outbid each other.

And now, seven governors, as of today, have rejected that survival of the fittest model. They're going to use something called collaboration and cooperation. And they are forming a coalition. And they are going to pharmaceuticals, and here's what we know about it.

Three Democrats, four Republicans, here -- of Maryland, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, they want tests. They want the rapid tests that come back in 15 to 20 minutes. They're hoping to secure three million tests for their states in, you know, this -- they're going to bid on -- I mean, they're going to all band together and hope to get those.

REINER: Yes, I love this. The -- by outsourcing, as you said, not just testing to the states, but also the search for PPE, for example, the federal government has created what basically has been called Darwinian federalism, survival of the fittest, amongst the states.

And many of us have been calling now for quite a while for the states to take the lead. And now you're starting to see that.

I love this plan. What the governors are doing is, they're contracting with two companies who make these, basically, antigen-based tests, which have the ability, like a home pregnancy test, to get an answer, whether a patient has coronavirus, in up to -- in about 10 to 15 minutes.

[06:15:14]

And by banding together, they're telling these companies that they essentially have (AUDIO GAP) power. Make the financial investment to scale up manufacturing. And these seven states have committed to purchasing, as you said, about three million tests.

BERMAN: I want to put up on the screen so people can see what's happening in Mississippi. Because one of the developments that happened overnight is the governor of Mississippi, Tate Reeves, has implemented a two-week mandatory mask order.

And you can see -- and this is P-106 -- the number of cases and people hospitalized in Mississippi continues to rise and stay at a very high level. Is this enough there? What does this order tell you, Doctor, and is it enough?

REINER: Well, it's a start. It's an admission that things are moving in the wrong way in the state.

You know, the question is, how rapidly can you bring down new cases by -- by simply masking up? At some point, when the density of virus is so great, you have to shut down. And a place like Mississippi might have to shut down for two weeks or three weeks and contain the virus. Masking is a start. It's an admission by the state government that things aren't going in the right direction.

But it would be -- it would be great if the federal government gave the state government of Mississippi the political cover to shut down when things are out of control, and it seems to be in that position now.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Reiner, let's end on some promising news or what looks like promising news.

REINER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And that's the third company now to show some promising results with a vaccine. This is Novavax. A hundred and six participants vaccinated. The neutralizing antibodies produced is four times higher than with a natural infection. That sounds good. What do you -- what should we know about this?

REINER: I'm all about optimism at 6 a.m. in the morning. That's great.

Yes, so there are about 150 vaccines in development now. And the United States government is pouring about $1.6 billion into this particular company called Novavax, a company that -- that actually does not get a product on the market.

But the good news from this trial and about 131 healthy volunteers is that the vaccine produced not just these high levels of neutralizing antibodies, that a person afflicted with the virus would produce -- actually, higher than what occurs naturally -- but also produced cellular immunity, T-cell response, that we also want to see.

A companion study in -- in macaques, where they vaccinated the macaques and then challenged them with virus, showed something maybe even more important. That in this animal study, after being vaccinated, none of the animals were infected by the virus.

So very encouraging early data, but tempered, tempering the optimism with the knowledge that all of these studies need to be validated in well-done, careful, large, Phase III trials, which will show both efficacy and safety.

It's very important for the public to understand that this government will not release a vaccine in a rushed way, will not -- will not release a vaccine until we know that it is incredibly safe. I've asked patients whether they'll take the vaccine as soon as it's available, and more than one patient has expressed concern about safety.

So that's where I would start now. Instead of calling this Warp Speed, we need to call it something else that emphasizes that this government will not push a vaccine that's not safe and not ready for the public.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Operation Safe Speed. You're welcome.

REINER: There's the name. You got it. I love it.

CAMEROTA: It just -- it just rolls off the tongue. Dr. Reiner, thank you very much.

REINER: My pleasure.

BERMAN: All right, so we have results coming in even now from a handful of key races, primary races around the country, including a major upset. A live report, next.

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[06:23:27]

CAMEROTA: The results are in from key primaries across the country overnight. The biggest upset, Missouri's 1st Congressional District, ten-term incumbent Democrat William Lacy Clay defeated by progressive activist, Cori Bush.

CNN's Arlette Saenz joins us now with the latest. A lot of headlines from last night.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly, Alisyn. Another primary night in the books. And we'll start right there with Missouri's 1st Congressional District, where Cori Bush, a progressive activist, defeated Congressman William Lacy Clay.

He's been in Congress for ten terms, and in fact, his family has held that seat for over 50 years. So he has had longtime ties to that congressional district, but Bush did defeat him last night. She had the backing of Bernie Sanders, as well as Jamaal Bowman, who was a Democratic candidate who defeated Congressman Eliot Engel in New York earlier this summer.

So should Cori Bush win that congressional seat, that would add to the number of progressive Democrats in the House Democratic caucus.

Now, taking a look at the Republican side, at the Kansas Senate primary in that state, Congressman Roger Marshall picked up a win. He was -- had strong backing among establishment Republicans. He had faced off against Kris Kobach, who is a controversial figure in the state, a hardliner on immigration, who had caused some hand-wringing for Republicans, who were concerned that having him as the Senate nominee could potentially jeopardize that seat.

But Roger Marshall did pick up the win last night. He did not have the backing of President Trump, who last week had indicated that he was not going to publicly intervene in that race, but the president did call him last night to congratulate him and say he had his full support.

[06:25:12]

Now, one race we are still waiting for results on is Michigan's 13 congressional districts. The Democratic primary in that state, where Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is trying to hold onto her seat. She is the member of the so-called Squad, that four -- group of four women, women of color who won back in 2018. So we are still waiting for those results to come in -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. At a presidential level, for the presidential race, we learned overnight about this aggressive and, it sounds like, expensive new campaign strategy from Joe Biden.

SAENZ: Yes, that's right. The Biden campaign is betting big on their paid media strategy. They are going to invest $280 million in TV and digital ads in 15 states, heading into this general election.

You've seen a lot of those ads from Joe Biden over the past few months that have hammered away at President Trump for his response to the coronavirus pandemic. That is something that the campaign plans to continue, heading into the fall, as they say they are leaning into an offensive strategy.

BERMAN: All right. Arlette Saenz, thank you very much for that.

So what does this tell us about the political situation in the country now and maybe in November? We're joined by CNN political director David Chalian.

David, always a pleasure to see you at 6:26 a.m.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Good morning.

BERMAN: Arlette ran through the races. And each one of those races she highlighted, I think, tells us a different thing. So when you look at Missouri and see progressive Cori Bush defeating William Lacy Clay, what does that tell us about the Democratic Party this morning?

CHALIAN: It tells us the old guard is on warning here. Right? We saw this also in New York with Eliot Engel, a longtime incumbent. Jamaal Bowman defeated him. There's a new generation of Democrats coming up and -- that are

largely informed by this moment of a quest for racial justice, the protest movement.

Cori Bush had the backing of Bernie Sanders, so there's the progressive, sort of more moderate, ideological battle here. But I think it is more, also, generational and -- and of a moment in time.

And what Cori Bush sort of came into her public life in the aftermath of the killing of Michael Brown and being a protester in Ferguson, Missouri. As Arlette noted, I mean, this seat has either been held by Clay or his father, John, since before you or I were alive.

And so I think there is this -- this movement inside the Democratic Party to be looking for the new generation of Democrats and some new faces.

BERMAN: Alisyn is just wondering why you didn't include her. But we'll leave that aside for a second.

CAMEROTA: I hope no one's very good at math.

Let's talk about Kansas. Kris Kobach's big loss. What do we glean from that?

CHALIAN: Well, this is a huge sigh of relief for Republicans, Alisyn. I mean, Mitch McConnell and his political aides really believed, had Kris Kobach won this primary, that this seat could really be in danger to falling to the Democrats in Kansas. You know, Kansas hasn't had a senator -- Democratic senator, I think, since the 1930s.

And so this is a sigh of relief now, because Roger Marshall is the more sort of establishment conservative, mainstream kind of Republican that Republicans feel can really keep this seat safely in Democratic [SIC] hands this fall. And as you saw, the president was quick, even though he didn't endorse, to rally around Marshall to consolidate all forces inside the Republican Party behind Marshall's effort.

BERMAN: The third race we're looking at this morning is in Michigan, the congressional race of Rashida Tlaib, who is running for reelection there. And she's leading right now, but we have not called the race yet.

And what's interesting about this isn't the margin. It's that we don't have a declared winner yet, David. What does that tell us about what we might expect in November?

CHALIAN: This probably tells us more than anything else that happened last night, which is, buckle up. This is -- this is what elections in the COVID era are going to look like. It's just going to take localities and jurisdictions a longer time to count. An influx of mail ballots, of paper ballots, and it is going to take longer than we are used to to count the vote.

You noted this is a Detroit area seat. I think about a quarter of the vote may be in. Obviously, that's not nearly enough to make any kind of projection, no matter the margin that you see right now. We just need to see what that outstanding three quarters of the vote looks like, or some portion of it.

And I think that is what election night in November is going to look like, too. We're going to have a lot of outstanding vote that still needs to be counted that is going to be very determinative. Until we find out what that outstanding vote looks like in those ballots yet to be counted, it's going to be tough to be able to make projections in a lot of these races.

BERMAN: People are going to need to be patient.

CAMEROTA: Yes. John Meyer already doing our calisthenics to prepare for that election night.

BERMAN: It does mean, by the way, that election night may end up being election morning, which mean --

CHALIAN: Yes. You guys are going to be in the prime-time election slot.

BERMAN: Exactly.

END