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U.S. Surpasses 5 Million COVID-19 Infections; New York Marks Lowest Case Rate Since Pandemic Began; Protesters Call for Revenge in Beirut After Deadly Explosion. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired August 10, 2020 - 05:00   ET

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


[05:00:00]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: More than a million coronavirus cases have been reported in just 17 days. New this morning, the entire college football season now in jeopardy.

LAURA JARRETT, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: President Trump's executive power move was meant to support laid off workers and stimulate the economy, but the orders could leave millions of jobless Americans waiting in vain for help from Washington. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world, this is EARLY START, I'm Laura Jarrett.

ROMANS: Welcome back, nice to see you, I'm Christine Romans. It is Monday, August 10th, it is 5:00 a.m. exactly on the East Coast here in New York, 85 days to the election and a grim threshold has now been crossed. The United States has now topped 5 million cases of coronavirus. That is about one-quarter of the world's cases. Now, to put that in perspective, that means the United States has had more infections than Ireland has people. Now, the number of cases also slightly higher than the entire population of Alabama. CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro has more.

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, Sunday was another grim milestone in this country's ongoing pandemic. It was announced that this country has now had 5 million cases of coronavirus and more than 160,000 deaths. Now it took the United States just 99 days to reach 1 million cases back on April 28th. It took just 17 days for America to go from 4 million cases to 5 million. Sunday was also announced that the U.S. reported more than 1,000 daily deaths due to coronavirus for five days in a row.

New York, where I'm standing continues to be one area of good news in the country. The governor announced Sunday, that this one time epicenter of the outbreak had its lowest infection rate since the pandemic began. Christine and Laura?

JARRETT: Evan, thank you so much. Nearly 100,000 children in the U.S. tested positive for coronavirus in the last two weeks in July. That's according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics, and comes just as school districts across the country prepare to get kids back in classrooms later this month. Since reporting began, nearly 340,000 children have tested positive. That's roughly 8.8 percent of all cases in the country, but children do make up less than 1 percent of all coronavirus deaths and 20 states have had no reported child fatalities.

ROMANS: All right, President Trump is defending a set of controversial executive actions he signed over the weekend. And at the same time he suggested he would make or he could make changes in one order requiring states to pick up one-quarter of $400 in additional unemployment insurance. And that money of course is less than the $600 the federal government have been adding to states regular unemployment benefits since late March.

Several governors -- well, they slammed the president's plan, saying that states are financially tapped out dealing with coronavirus and they can't pay any part of the tab. Sunday returning from his New Jersey golf resort, the president said states could apply to have the federal government pick up a 100 percent of the unemployment enhancement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So it may be they'll pay nothing in some instances. It may be they're a little bit like the national guard. You know, the National Guard, as you know, sometimes will pay all of it depending on the tragedy or whatever it may be the disaster. And sometimes the state will pay 40 percent, 25 percent, 10 percent or nothing depending on how it works out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Huge questions over the weekend on how this would work and when people would actually get any money. The president claims Sunday, the response to his executive action has been mostly positive, which is true of Republicans. Democrats have slammed the plans as unworkable, weak and meager. More now from CNN's Jeremy Diamond at the White House.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Christine and Laura. President Trump has been facing criticism for his decision to sign those executive actions on Saturday, including from some Republicans like the Republican Senator Ben Sasse who called this unconstitutional slop. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her part said that this executive actions are quote, unquote, "absurdly unconstitutional". But the president on Sunday as he was returning from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, he was taking a victory lap. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think it actually works better if we do it the way we're doing it. We've got much of what we wanted without having to give up anything, and that's very good. You can't beat that. You can't beat the deal we made. We've gotten much of what we wanted and they didn't get what they wanted.

(END VIDEO CLIP) DIAMOND: And there have also been a lot of questions about those

enhanced unemployment benefits that the president signed in an executive action on Saturday. The president of course described this as $400 that every unemployed American would be able to get.

[05:05:00]

The reality became a lot more complicated when you actually read the fine prints of this executive action, $300 that would come from the federal government's only contingent on the states agreeing to pay the additional $100 to bring it to $400 per week per unemployed individual and their states, and also agreeing to actually administer this program.

Now, amid all of those questions, the president on Sunday said that there could indeed be some cases if states' governors actually make a request of him and the federal government, that the federal government could pay 100 percent of the cost. Not clear yet if that would be for a $300 per week benefit or a $400 per week benefit. And of course, we haven't actually seen details from the White House on that.

And then of course, there is this issue of the payroll tax cut. The president describing it as a payroll tax cut on Saturday when in fact, it's much more of a payroll tax deferral with Americans not needing to make those payments just yet. But ultimately, they will have to do that. The president saying that if you vote for me essentially, if I am re-elected, he was saying that he would actually waive those repayments.

But we should note that is not something that the president can do unilaterally. He would actually need Congress to step in and help him do that. Christine, Laura?

JARRETT: Jeremy, thank you for that. President Trump is battling against the push-back against the executive orders he signed over the weekend. But back in 2014, he was singing a different tune. Trump took to Twitter back then, encouraging Republicans not to allow then President Barack Obama to -- in his view, side-step the constitution just because he couldn't work with Congress. At the time, Obama issued executive orders shielding undocumented immigrants from deportation.

ROMANS: A lot of questions about how these executive actions are going to play out and when people will actually feel the benefits in terms of those unemployment benefits. All right. So the actions addressed unemployment benefits, payroll taxes, student loans, evictions. There are questions about how quickly people will get the help they need. Analysts say states would have to set up a new system to deliver the aid. That could take months if a state says that it does not have the money or does not want to enter into an agreement with the federal government, the unemployed in that state receive no extra benefits.

They would still receive the normal state unemployment insurance. Forty million Americans are at risk of eviction without a stimulus bill. Trump's action doesn't reinstate the moratorium on evictions which expired last month. Here is what it does, instead, it calls for the Housing and Urban Development and Treasury Secretaries to look for funds to provide temporary relief for renters and homeowners.

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Democrats need to make the next move on stimulus talks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN MNUCHIN, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY: I've told the speaker and Senator Schumer, any time they have a new proposal, I'm willing to listen. But let me just say you're right, we agreed with the Democrats, we both want to send more checks to the American workers. We want to send more PPP to those hardest hit businesses. We've said let's pass legislation on the things we agree on and knock these off one at a time. And they've refused to do that until they get their trillion dollars for the states.

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ROMANS: What Congress does or doesn't do here in the stimulus will determine what kind of recovery we have, if we have one.

JARRETT: Well, Joe Biden's big decision is just days or even hours away. The former vice president is expected to select his running mate this week, and the top two contenders right now appear to be Senator Kamala Harris and former National Security adviser Susan Rice. Though, sources tell CNN, Biden recently met with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and finds her very impressive.

Some Democratic operatives though are concerned about Biden choosing Rice because they fear Republicans and the president would try to use the Benghazi tragedy to attack her. Rice though does not share those concerns, telling "The Atlantic" the president quote, "is all political distraction and in a year when almost 160,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 because of this president's ineptitude and incompetence and disregard for human life, putting his own political interest above the health and wellbeing and the economy of the United States and the ability to educate our kids. They're going to talk about Benghazi, I say fine, let them."

ROMANS: All right, 9 minutes past the hour this Monday morning, grief and anguish has turned into anger and frustration in Lebanon after that devastating explosion. We're going to go live to Beirut next.

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[05:10:00]

JARRETT: Tens of thousands of protesters pouring into the streets of central Beirut over the weekend. Their grief turning into anger over last week's deadly explosion that destroyed the city's port. They're demanding revenge against Lebanon's leaders for allowing it to happen. And this morning, astonishing new video of the deadly blast. Incredible. At least 158 people were killed in that explosion, many people are still missing.

Arwa Damon is live for us on the ground in Beirut this morning. Arwa, so many families still searching for their loved ones. ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They are, and

overnight and this morning, the French and the Lebanese search teams did find two more bodies underneath all of the rubble that is behind us. And we spoke to one family and learned about the length that they went to, to try to find their missing loved one.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON (voice-over): Michelle hasn't slept in three days. Neither has her sister-in-law with whom she shares the same name and a love for Joe, husband and brother. Michelle struggles to form words and sentences in Arabic, never mind in English. Joe is an electrician at the port. And this is the last video she got from him on Tuesday night. Minutes later the entire building he was filming would explode. Jennifer, Joe and Michelle's oldest child was in Beirut.

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MICHELE ANDOUN, JOE'S SISTER: So, she heard the explosion and then she started --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Crying --

ANDOUN: Crying and shouting. This is my dad's (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She knew that's where her dad worked?

ANDOUN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

DAMON: The entire family was frantic, calling Joe nonstop.

ANDOUN: At midnight, Joe opened his phone for 21 seconds. They thought they heard voices, deep voices, that's what he said and then nothing.

DAMON: Another call also seemed to have gone through on Wednesday for 43 seconds, but there was silence on the other end. He must be alive, they thought. They had to get to him. Joe is strong, clever. He would have figured out a way to save himself. They combed through videos shot by others from other angles looking for any clues to give teams locations to search.

(on camera): You think that's Joe?

ANDOUN: Yes, this is one --

DAMON: You think one of those people is Joe?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course.

ANDOUN: Yes, we are sure. Then he was ready to come here.

DAMON: It's the building right in front of the grain silo. A building that is now buried. But they still had hope. There's an operations room deep underground. They heard there are bunkers. Three bodies were pulled out, but no Joe. Maybe he's deeper in, deeper under somehow still alive.

ANDOUN: Yes, and we have to keep searching.

DAMON: Michele was born in the U.S. The children also have American passports. Joe was just about to get his visa. All that now seems like a different reality.

ANDOUN: He loved life. And every day, he wanted to go to America because it's better for his Jennifer and Joy, for their future, but not for him.

DAMON: The women are trying to shield the children from their grief.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(LAUGHTER)

DAMON: Jennifer doesn't know daddy is missing. Joy is thankfully too young to fully understand. Maybe they will never have to tell the girls their daddy is dead. That night, the fourth after the explosion, crews were searching around the clock, searching the area where the family believed Joe would be found, clinging to the hope that he would still somehow be alive. At 4:00 a.m., they sent us a heart broken message. Joe's body had been found.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON: And throughout the last decades, the Lebanese have perfected the art of soldering through war, but this, the kind of pain that has been caused by this, that's not something that this population can just power through.

JARRETT: Arwa, thank you so much for that incredible story, such heartbreak for that family. Thanks.

ROMANS: All right, 18 minutes past the hour this Monday morning, the college football season now in serious jeopardy along with other Fall sports. The "BLEACHER REPORT" is next.

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[05:20:00]

ROMANS: All right, the upcoming college football season could be in jeopardy due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Carolyn Manno has more in this morning's "BLEACHER REPORT". Good morning, Carolyn.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Good morning, Christine. Multiple outlets are now reporting that the leaders of the Power Five Conference has held an emergency meeting over the weekend to discuss the future of college football and also all Fall sports in an ongoing pandemic. No decision has been reached yet, but this is certainly indicative of a Fall without football. A source in one of the conferences telling CNN that the commissioners had been meeting for months, and that those talks will continue.

One school's athletic director telling "ESPN" that the outlook, quote, "doesn't look good". On Saturday, the mid-American conference became the first league from the NCAA's top tier to postpone all of the conference's Fall sports, which include men and women soccer, field hockey and women's volleyball. The most prominent player in college football is pushing for the season to go on. Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence is the likely number one NFL draft pick, posting his series of tweets with the hash tag, we want to play.

Lawrence saying people are just as much if not more risk if we don't play. Players will all be sent home to their own communities where social distancing is highly unlikely, and medical care and expenses will be placed on the families if they were to contract COVID-19. Lawrence also sharing an image with the logos of the major conferences, listing the players' desires including the creation of a players association which a number of players have been calling for in this pandemic.

Major League Baseball has postponed the St. Louis Cardinals three games series against the Pittsburg Pirates which is scheduled to begin today after more positive coronavirus test result, a total of 17 members of the organization's 10 players and seven staff have been infected. The team's president of Baseball Operations told CNN, one player and one staff member went to the emergency room, but neither were admitted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE SHILDT, MANAGER, ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: I mean, this is real. And people are experiencing a lot of symptoms that we hear about that are associated with this, a variety of them. Most of them are experiencing multiple ones, like they feel like they're rotating with them. And again, nobody is in any closely any critical shape, but people all having to deal with some things that aren't comfortable at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:25:00]

MANNO: The Cardinals have now had 13 games postponed. They haven't played since back in July 29th. Baseball did have its first big brawl of the season over the weekend after getting hit by a pitch for the second time in the A's game against the Astros. Ramon Laureano had enough, little back and forth on his way to first base, and then he started screaming at the Astros dugout, throws down his batting helmet, the maylay begins.

This is exactly the kind of scenario that Major League Baseball is actively trying to avoid. Tensions have been brewing all weekend after former Astros, and now A's pitcher Mike Fiers brought Houston's sign- stealing scandal to light. The two teams facing each other seven more times this season.

And Collin Morikawa hit a life-changing shot Sunday at the PGA Championship. The 23-year-old earning his first major title -- now, normally, a drive like this, this one on the par four 16th would have been met with a deafening cheers. He laid it perfectly on the green and rolled to it in 7 feet of the hole. Still heard around the world though as the California native made the eagle putt to seal the first major of the year in San Francisco. A two-shot win over Dustin Johnson and Paul Casey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLIN MORIKAWA, PGA CHAMPION FOR 2020: I'm on cloud 9, I don't know about you guys. But yes, you know, I believed in myself since day one, but any time you're in the conversation of the greats, you know, Jack, Rory, Tiger, no matter who it is, you know, if you're in that conversation, you're doing something well. You know, it doesn't stop here. This -- I got a very good taste of what this is like, what a major championship is like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: An overwhelming moment for anybody, let alone golf's newest star. And Morikawa didn't exactly know that the top of the trophy that he earned wasn't attached. That was maybe the only mistake that he made all week, and you can't blame him. He was in college 15 months ago, Laura, a very big moment for him. And of course, like we mentioned at the top, college football and its future is a huge story, so we're following that all morning, updates in the next hour as well, a lot of layers to this story.

JARRETT: Yes, but you can't blame him for the excitement he was feeling in that moment, just the rush of it. All right --

MANNO: That's right --

JARRETT: Carolyn, nice to see you this morning, thanks so much. All right, still ahead, the Georgia high school seen in this photo of a packed hallway now has a cluster of COVID-19 cases. We have the details for you.

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