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Trump's Actions Spark Confusion; Biden to Pick Running Mate; Postponing College Football Season; Hong Kong Police Arrest Newspaper Publisher; Azar Visits Taiwan. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired August 10, 2020 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The payroll tax situation will be handled with the deferred payments there. So they've got to figure that all out.

And then there's the legal matter of the constitutional matter or the internally consistent matter, politically speaking, MJ, because. I'm going to read you a tweet from President Trump, mind you, when he was then just Donald Trump. This was from 2014, November 20th. He says, Republicans must not allow President Obama to subvert the Constitution of the United States for his own benefit and because he's unable to negotiate with Congress.

Now, he was talking about DACA then, but it's the exact same situation because he was unable to negotiate with Congress.

So, condemning President Obama then, doing it himself today.

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. I mean this is another example of something that President Trump, according to his own words or tweets in the past, would have condemned this kind of action. And I think, again, it goes to show almost kind of the political desperation that I think we are seeing from the administration. I mean, a big part of the irony here, too, John, is that this is a president who prides himself and has really branded himself as the negotiator, the person who has spent decades in business, making deals, striking deals and negotiating with people.

Well, this is one where after weeks of trying to get a deal with Democrats, this simply wasn't possible. Republicans, the White House, and Democrats in Congress were not able to get to a big spending deal on this, and that is why we find ourselves in this mess of a situation.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: It is certainly a mess, to put it mildly.

Look, there's a lot else going on, as we know. People waiting to see who former Vice President Joe Biden will pick as his running mate, Arlette. There are -- I feel like we've narrowed the list down, right, to a few picks.

Any better sense this morning of when we will get this announcement and who the running mate will be?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, really, this pick could come any day now. And Joe Biden has blown through a lot of his self-imposed deadlines, making it clear that he doesn't feel like he's going to be rushed to make this decision. But we have seen this focus kind of come into shape with a few of the women. One of those being Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who over the weekend we learned actually traveled from Michigan to Delaware to meet one on one with the former vice president within the last week, week and a half, to talk about that possible running mate job. You know, she's one of the national co-chairs of Biden's campaign and she's also caught Biden's attention for the way that she's handled the coronavirus pandemic in her state.

But there's also a big focus on two, particularly, women of color on this list, and that is, one of them, Senator Kamala Harris of California. She is a former rival of Joe Biden's, having run herself. They had that heated debate moment back last summer during the Democratic primary.

And then there's also former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, who is one of the few women on this list who actually has that working relationship with the former vice president since they served together under the Obama administration.

And there's still a few others who are considered to be in the mix, like Karen Bass and Tammy Duckworth and even Elizabeth Warren. But, clearly, Biden is heading into that final stretch of deliberations as he's trying to find what he says is a governing partner for him if he were to become president.

BERMAN: And, MJ, look, we don't know exactly what Joe Biden is doing or thinking as he makes these deliberations. It might just be who he thinks is the best fit. However, there are people raising questions about whether the pick needs to be a woman of color. And that will become an issue, I believe, if he were to pick Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

LEE: It could potentially be an issue. But, look, I think Joe Biden himself and anybody that you talk to around him over the last couple of weeks have made it so clear that what this will come down to is going to be sort of a gut check feeling that Joe Biden has about the person that he would like to spend every day of his potential presidency with. You know, there are lots of highs and lows that come with working at the White House. He knows that better than anybody else. And both he and his wife, Jill Biden, have made very clear that the person that he ultimately ends up choosing is going to be somebody who he feels like he can be entirely in sync with. He has made very clear that he's really trying to sort of recreate this relationship and bond that he had with former President Barack Obama.

So, yes, it is very, very clear that in the deliberations process and the vetting process, the issue of whether he could choose a running mate who is a person of color, a black running mate, that has been a huge factor in this. But we don't know if, at the end of the day, that is going to be the determining factor because, again, for him, for Joe Biden, the biggest thing is going to be sort of this gut feeling of, is this somebody I feel like I can imagine myself working with day in and day out.

[06:35:06]

BERMAN: Arlette, we've got to run, but in 15 seconds or less, night one of the Democratic Convention, as it is, who are we going to see?

SAENZ: We're going to see Michelle Obama, who's an exciting figure for the Democratic Party. Also, Bernie Sanders, who could energize progressive voters to come out and vote for Joe Biden. And also former Ohio Governor John Kasich, which happens to be a Republican. So this is kind of a show of unity as -- as the Biden campaign and Democrats are trying to show the appeal that they could bring to voters heading into the fall.

BERMAN: Right, conventions aren't subtle. So it's a not-subtle message, night one, from Bernie Sanders to a former Republican governor. That's the point they want to send.

Arlette Saenz, MJ Lee, thanks so much for being with us.

SAENZ: Thanks.

BERMAN: Developing overnight, President Trump is denying a report in "The New York Times" that someone in the White House reached out to South Dakota's governor last year about adding additional presidents to Mt. Rushmore, namely President Trump. The governor reportedly gave the president a four-foot replica of Mt. Rushmore that included Mr. Trump's face during July 4th celebrations last month. The president denied the story on Twitter, but did go on to say it sound like a great idea to him.

HILL: Hmm, so there's that.

BERMAN: Look, I mean, has he ever -- has there ever been anything he didn't want to put his name or face on?

HILL: Nope.

BERMAN: I -- so --

HILL: Not that I can think of.

BERMAN: There you go.

HILL: And here we are. Happy Monday.

Meantime, so much focus on sports and specifically the college football season. This morning we're learning the entire season may be on the brink. The leaders of the power five conferences, could they actually be about to plug pull the plug? We've got those details for you in the "Bleacher Report," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:41:09]

BERMAN: All right, breaking overnight, we learned the college football season could be in jeopardy due to the coronavirus pandemic. I think this is a huge deal that goes way beyond sports in terms of what it represents.

Carolyn Manno has more in the "Bleacher Report."

What have we learned?

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: You're right about that, John. There's a lot of layers to this.

Right now, multiple outlets are reporting that the leaders of the power five conferences held an emergency meeting over the weekend to discuss a potential postponement of college football and all of fall sports. The ripple effects of this are wide-ranging. No decision has been made yet, but this is certainly indicative of a fall without college football. A source within one of the conference tells CNN the commissioners had been meeting for months and that those talks will continue. One school's athletic director saying to ESPN, the outlook, quote, doesn't look good.

Now, 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. Those include men and women's soccer, field hockey, women's volleyball. You really feel for the scholarships athletes who play these non-revenue generating sports. And the most prominent player in college football is pushing for the season to go on. Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the likely number one NFL draft pick, posting a series of tweets with the hashtag, we want to play. Lawrence saying this, people are at 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 (INAUDIBLE) medical care and expenses will be placed on the families if they were to contract Covid-19.

Now, Lawrence also shared an image with the logos of the major conferences, listing the player's desires, and that includes the creation of a player's association, which is something we've heard over the course of this pandemic.

This as Major League Baseball is postponing the St. Louis Cardinal's three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, which was scheduled to start today. A total of 17 members of the organization, ten players, and seven staff have been infected with coronavirus. The team's president of baseball operations telling CNN that one president and one staff member did go to the emergency room, but neither were admitted. The team now faced with how to tackle playing 55 games in 46 days.

And, you're right, John, there is a chorus of players who want to play college football and this is a huge story that is continuing to develop. There are a lot of risks associated with that, health risks and the like. So it's a decision that's not taken lightly.

BERMAN: Yes, it's -- I -- I think it's fascinating that these schools are getting together and talking, these conferences getting together and talking, after the MAC (ph) conference over the weekend canceled their games. We'll have to see what happens, but it raises a ton of questions.

Carolyn, thank you very much.

And, up next, CNN will speak exclusively with Health Secretary Alex Azar about the pandemic response.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:47:40]

BERMAN: All right, breaking overnight, major news out of Hong Kong. Police have arrested nine people, including the publisher of a pro- democracy newspaper, a man that regularly criticizes Hong Kong's government and Chinese leadership. All of the individuals now charged with violating the territory's new national security law.

CNN's senior international correspondent Ivan Watson is live in Hong Kong with the latest.

As clear of an example as we have had yet of China exerting really authoritarian influence in Hong Kong.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, this was an unmistakable show of force, John, where you had more than 100 police officers raiding the newsroom of this Hong Kong Newspaper, "Apple Daily," which happens to be owned by one of the Chinese Communist Party's fiercest critics here in Hong Kong, Jimmy Li, this kind of tycoon who is just absolutely not ashamed of coming out and criticizing both the Communist Party and the leadership that's allied with it here in Hong Kong. The police say they arrested him and at least eight other people, confiscated dozens of boxes of information, on the grounds of suspicion of collusion with a foreign country, which could endanger national security, conspiracy to defraud, and other offenses.

Now, this is all coming less than a month and a half after Beijing rammed through a controversial national security law on Hong Kong, which gives the Chinese authorities direct power to investigate, search, detain, prosecute people for suspected crimes, like terrorism, subversion, sedition. That was viewed as a real turning point but -- because Hong Kong's supposed to remain largely autonomous from mainland China for a period of about 50 years, up until the year 2047.

The speed of the crackdown here, I think, has really got people surprised because the authorities have barred at least 12 opposition activists from running for elections that were scheduled in Hong Kong next month. The authorities have now postponed those legislative elections for at least a year on the pretext grounds of the coronavirus pandemic, for health and safety reasons, they say.

[06:50:02]

A growing number of opposition politicians and activists are facing an array of different charges and prosecution. In the end, you've got much less tolerance now for opposition to the authorities, for freedom of assembly, for now we see freedom of press. That all adds up to an authoritarian crackdown.

I've seen versions of this in other countries. The speed here is really remarkable, especially in a city where those freedoms had been protected up until really a matter of months, if not weeks ago.

John.

BERMAN: And the audacity of arresting Jimmy Li in a way that everyone can see. He is so well known in Hong Kong and well known internationally. It's a statement not just there, but to the entire world.

We'll wait to see how the U.S. responds.

Ivan Watson in Hong Kong, thank you very much. Please keep us posted throughout the morning.

Up next, CNN will speak exclusively with Health Secretary Alex Azar about the U.S. pandemic response.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Breaking overnight, Chinese fighter jets briefly crossing into Taiwan amid a high-profile meeting between U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar and Taiwan's president.

[06:55:02]

Beijing has condemned the visit, which is the highest level meeting between Washington and the self-ruled island in decades.

CNN's Paula Hancocks just spoke exclusively with Secretary Azar and she joins us now live from Taipei.

So, Paula, heading to Taiwan in the middle of a pandemic, what more are you learning from Secretary Azar?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, that was one of the first questions I did ask, why do you need this face-to- face interaction in the middle of a global pandemic, but he insisted that it was important to learn how Taiwan has managed to deal with this pandemic.

Now, this is a country of -- an island of some 23 million people. They've had less than 500 cases, most of those imported, and just seven deaths. So, clearly, there is a lot to be learned from the way that Taiwan has dealt with this when it comes to the U.S. and many countries around the world.

I also asked him why the numbers were so high in the U.S. compared to other countries. He did reject comparisons to other countries and said that President Trump, he believes, is doing a good job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX AZAR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: In terms of the president's historic response to the coronavirus crisis, a novel, unprecedented pandemic, we have actually been able to manage to ensure that the disease burden did not exceed our health system capacity. No American died because of lack of a ventilator or lack of an ICU bed. And that's a -- that's a critical, critical factor in terms of how we engaged in mitigation steps to keep, as we say, the curve within capacity. That was the core strategy, initially, to delay and flatten the curve, to keep the burden within the system's capacity.

HANCOCKS: So what would you say to critics of the Trump administration who say your visit here three months before an election is political?

AZAR: My visit here is about supporting Taiwan and supporting Taiwan in the international public health community. My visit is about health. It's about the health of the people of Taiwan. It's about the health of the American people. And it's about the health of the people of the world.

And the way we protect that is by entities around the world being transparent, cooperative, collaborative, compliant with the international health regulations, and Taiwan has been a model of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: So interesting to hear from him.

HANCOCKS: And he also said, as you can see, he was wearing a mask during the --

HILL: I'm sorry, Paula, go ahead.

HANCOCKS: Erica, you could see that he was wearing a mask -- he was wearing a mask during the entire interview. He has been throughout the entire trip, including when he met with -- with the presidents and also with the health minister. And he said, that's one of the key things in the United States, that people have to start wearing face coverings.

I pointed out that the president doesn't always wear a face covering. That's one that -- that he skipped past.

Erica.

HILL: Skipping past an answer on that one.

Meantime, what's the message to Beijing?

HANCOCKS: Well, I asked him that as well because, obviously, this visit isn't happening in a vacuum. The U.S.-China relationship is in dire statists at this point and China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory, a renegade province. So the very fact that he is coming here, in the midst of a pandemic, does give a strong message to Beijing. They have criticized this. They have reacted angrily, as you say. There were also an incidents of fighter jets coming into the air space around Taiwan a little earlier today, as well. But he said that there is no message to Beijing. This is a message for Taiwan, single handedly, and saying that -- criticizing Beijing for politicizing the health system, politicizing the health crisis, saying that Taiwan and other democratic countries have been transparent and open in the way that they are dealing with the pandemic. But, once again, criticizing Beijing for not having -- being open enough. But he did not engage when I asked him specifically, why come now? Why send this message to Beijing?

HILL: Fascinating stuff. Paula, great to have you with that interview. Thank you.

NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over 5 million cases of the coronavirus have now been reported across the country. And the rate of the spread is stunning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If doctors and health care experts are correct, the wave of Covid-19 infections is not even close to over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We failed early on to adopt the testing that was necessary. And even more so we failed to ramp that up to a degree that we're going to need in the coming season.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump, meanwhile, has been touting his new virus relief package, which he unilaterally extended through executive action.

LARRY KUDLOW: We offered compromises. We couldn't get it. So the president decided to take action on his own.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): My constitutional advisers tell me they're absurdly unconstitutional.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

BERMAN: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY.

[07:00:01]

Alisyn is off. Erica Hill with me this morning.

Great to see you.

HILL: Good to be back with you.

BERMAN: We do begin with breaking news.

END