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New Day

US Accuses Russia and China Of Targeting States' Election Websites; Experts Doubt Moderna Vaccine Will Be Ready By November Election; New Zealand Marks 100 Days Without Community Spread; Paris Imposes Mask Mandate In Tourist Hotspots And Market Areas; UK PM: Keeping Schools Closed Is Morally Indefensible; India: 10 Die In Makeshift Coronavirus Hospital; Ripple Effects To Rollback Of Landmark Fair Housing Act. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired August 10, 2020 - 07:30   ET

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


[07:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is growing concern this morning about the security of the upcoming US presidential election, National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, now accusing Russia and China of targeting state election websites. Well, the nation's top election Intel official warns Russia is working to disparage the Biden campaign. All of this comes as we count down just now 85 days to go until Election Day.

CNN's Alex Marquardt is live in Washington this morning with more. Alex, good morning.

ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Erica. Well in the most recent comments, National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien said what most election officials, all election officials say and that's that Russia, China, Iran are looking to meddle in the 2020 election. But he did go farther than what the Intelligence Community is saying, saying that these countries are looking to attack the election infrastructure.

So how people vote including the websites of secretaries of state across the country. Take a listen to a part of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT O'BRIEN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We've got our cyber teams in place that DHS is working very hard to track down those malign actors, but --

MARGARET BRENNAN, CBS HOST: Is it Russia, again?

O'BRIEN: Well, look, we know it's China. We know it's Russia. We know it's Iran.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tampering with election infrastructure?

O'BRIEN: Well, absolutely, trying to access secretary of state websites and that sort of thing, and collect data on Americans, and engage in influence operations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: So what O'Brian just said there is farther than what the intelligence community said, and really a stunning statement on Friday night in which they detailed what the threats were from various countries. The intelligence community and the Department Homeland Security, both of which oversee the security of the election, say that it is possible that these countries may look to go after the election and infrastructure. So voting databases, how states report their elections.

But for now, that they are targeting essentially people in terms of disinformation campaigns, influence campaigns, looking to sow discord and chaos. The head of elections for DHS has said that that kind of nefarious activity that O'Brien's talking about is far lower this year, in 2020, than it was in the 2016 election.

And, Erica, what was really remarkable about this statement from the Intelligence Committee on Friday was that, they're detailing how these different countries are looking to support the candidates that they would like to see win in the 2020 election. China, for example, they say this is Bill Evanina, the Head of Elections for the Intel Community.

He says, "We assessed that China prefers that President Trump, whom Beijing sees as unpredictable, does not win reelection." And then he goes on to say, "We assess that Russia is using a range of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia establishment." He goes on to say that Iran also wants to undermine Trump. So China is against Russia -- China is against Trump, sorry, and Russia is for Trump.

Now, asked what the White House could do against these countries as they try to carry out these different campaigns. He says that that the White House has made it clear, no uncertain terms that there will be severe consequences. But Robert O'Brien did admit that there's little more that they can do against Russia to counter that threat. Erica.

HILL: Alex Marquardt with the latest source. Alex, thank you.

Joining me now is Ellen Weintraub. She's the Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission, great to have you with us this morning. You know, as Alex just laid out, we heard, they feel there's a little more that they can do, but when we hear about this campaign, not only potentially going after the infrastructure, but also to influence the elections. How concerned should the American voter be?

ELLEN WEINTRAUB, COMMISSIONER, FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION: Well, this has been a long standing concern and the Intelligence Community has been warning us about this for years.

[07:35:00]

If you look at the Muller report, if you look at the bipartisan report of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, we have seen these kinds of influence operations going on, since at least 2014, with the goal of trying to interfere and influence our elections, but also to sow chaos and to undermine democracy.

And I think that everyone needs to be very cautious and vigilant about the kind of information that they are consuming and sharing online. Just because some guy on the internet says something that sounds good to you doesn't mean that it is coming from a reputable source. And some of those guys on the internet may, in fact, be Russian trolls or other foreign actors, or even bots that are trying to influence our elections.

I know that DHS has been working with the state election commissions, state election boards throughout the country to try and beef up their cybersecurity infrastructure over the last number of years. And I believe they think that they are in much better shape now than they were in 2016. But we all need to maintain our vigilance about this, because these kinds of disinformation campaigns, I believe, they are going on right now and will continue.

HILL: Are these disinformation campaigns, though, coming solely from foreign governments or are they coming from within the United States as well?

WEINTRAUB: Well, there may well be some domestic actors who are engaging in spreading misleading information and that, sadly, has been going on for many years in this country. But there is a law against foreigners, any foreigners, but particularly foreign governments in trying to intervene in our elections. So that's the one that's easier to address. We already have laws against that.

Now, I do believe we could strengthen those laws in a variety of ways. There are bipartisan bills in Congress right now that would, for example, increase the government ability to impose sanctions on foreign governments who sought to interfere in our elections. And I think those are great laws and Congress at best.

HILL: There's been so much talk about the integrity of this election, and whether voters should be concerned about it. And the President is raising a lot of those concerns, specifically when it comes to mail-in voting. He talked about it again yesterday. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: In light of the stories that are coming out about all of the problems with mail-in voting, I hear it's a catastrophe with mail-in voting. We just can't have that. You got to have an honest election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: You got to have an honest election. The President says mail-in voting he hears is a catastrophe. Can you have an honest election with mail-in voting?

WEINTRAUB: Absolutely. The military has been doing it since the Civil War. There are many states that have robust mail-in voting systems already in place in 2016, about a quarter of the votes came in, through mail-in or absentee votes. Voting experts do not really distinguish between absentee voting, which the President and the Vice President have endorsed, and mail-in voting.

And, indeed, if people are concerned about this, mail-in voting actually doesn't need to be mailed in. Usually the ballots are mailed to people at their homes. But then, you can fill them out, you can mail them back, but in many jurisdictions, there are drop boxes. There are safe locations. You can drop them off at the election board. So if people are worried about putting their ballots in the mail, that's another way that people can exercise their right to vote.

But this year, people are going to be using absentee voting as a preferred alternative. This is what the voters are demanding. Look at the state of Kentucky which historically has about a 2% rate of absentee voting in the primary. This year, 70% of the voters chose to vote that way. And both states allow absentee voting. It's been done before. It's safe. There is no substantial risk of fraud involved in absentee voting.

HILL: Are you concerned at all, as you point out, the increase in the number of people who will be voting absentee or voting by mail. Are you concerned that there are enough people in place, that the infrastructure essentially is there, to get all of those votes counted in a timely fashion?

WEINTRAUB: Well, I think what we need to do is get more resources to the states. This is critically important and it has to happen now. The states and localities are going to incur huge extra expenses this year in order to have the kind of ramped up absentee voting program that the voters are demanding. But also to provide for safe in-person voting for those voters who choose to vote this way.

They're having trouble recruiting poll workers. If there are listeners out there who are young and healthy, and would like to do something for their democracy. I encourage you to volunteer to be a poll worker. But the entire operation is going to be much more expensive.

The Brennan Center in New York has estimated that there will be about $4 billion in extra costs involved in this election as a result of the pandemic. And so far Congress has allocated about 400 million.

[07:40:05]

They really need to allocate more money now. I'm very concerned about this. And that is the number one priority right now.

You also mentioned, are they going to be able to do it in a timely fashion? So let me just tell everybody, we're all going to need to take a deep breath and be patient this year because, you know, there's a substantial chance we are not going to know on election night what the results are. Possibly for the presidency, but maybe for many other races that are important to people. And that's OK. If it takes a little bit longer to count all the votes accurately, that's what we need to do in order to ensure that everyone's vote counts.

HILL: Yes. As we always say, it's better to be right than to be first. You want to make sure you have it correct. Ellen Weintraub, I appreciate you joining us this morning. Thank you.

WEINTRAUB: My pleasure.

HILL: President Trump has pushed for coronavirus vaccine, possibly by Election Day. CNN has obtained information, though, that now puts that timeline in doubt. That new reporting is next.

BERMAN: Also breaking news, violence and looting overnight in Chicago, we're now hearing reports of shots fired. We're going to have the latest from the scene in a live report ahead.

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[07:45:25]

BERMAN: We have breaking news this morning on the race for a vaccine. CNN has obtained a document for the biotech firm Moderna, the first company out of the gate with a coronavirus vaccine trial. It reveals that only 4,500 study participants were recruited in the first two weeks of the trial. Now, at that pace, specialists say there's essentially no chance that a vaccine will be ready by fall.

CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us with more. Elizabeth, this is concerning what's going on here.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. President Trump said last week that he is "optimistic" that a vaccine will be ready for the American public by November 3rd. But when you take a look at that number you just mentioned and you take a look at the calendar experts tell us that it's just not going to happen. So let's take a look at those numbers and those dates.

As you mentioned, from July 27th to August 7th, 4,536 participants receive their first shot in the Moderna trial. The Moderna is the first one out of the gate. They need 30,000. So, they expect to get their first shots done for all 30,000 sometime in September, but then they have to give them a second dose 28 days later.

Now, John, there's no question but that Moderna is going to ramp up the rate at which they are giving people shots and enrolling them in this study. They already have ramped up more than they were at the beginning.

But even if they do finish sometime in September, you're going to have to wait 28 days to give the second shot. You then have to wait about two weeks for those shots to become fully effective. You then have to wait for the participants to sort of run into the virus in their daily life. And that's where experts say there is no way that we're going to get the data that we need by November 3rd. Now, a note here, Pfizer started just after Moderna did. They started their clinical trials just after Moderna. And they say they have a much more ambitious timeline. They say they think they're basically going to be done sometime in October and ready to go to the FDA for consideration. But the experts I talked to said that timeline is just completely unrealistic. John?

BERMAN: Just to reiterate that. So Moderna slow, the 4,500 participants, other studies further along?

COHEN: You know, Pfizer has said that they've done more than 2,000 but that was a couple of days ago. So Moderna started first, Pfizer started just after Moderna. It does not appear that Pfizer is ahead of Moderna. So it appears that sort of this is where we are. Pfizer says more than 2,000, Moderna says about 4,500.

BERMAN: All right. Interesting, very interesting, especially given some of the promises or claims that had been made, the science here may make it very difficult at that pace. Elizabeth, please keep us posted.

COHEN: That's right.

BERMAN: All right. Still ahead, the one country declaring victory over coronavirus, lifting all of its restrictions.

[07:48:15]

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HILL: New Zealand marking 100 days without any cases of community spread. CNN has reporters all around the world to bring you the latest developments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: I'm Angus Watson in Australia where the state of Victoria has suffered its worst day on record for coronavirus deaths, 19 people sadly passed away from the virus on Sunday. Some glimmer of hope, however, as daily case numbers appear to be dropping. Still a far cry from neighboring New Zealand, where on Sunday it marked 100 days without a case of community transmission, coronavirus has been eliminated from New Zealand where life goes back to normal with no coronavirus restrictions currently in force.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I'm Cyril Vanier in Paris where rules on face masks are being tightened in the face of worsening coronavirus indicators. Starting today, for those 11 years old and above, masks are compulsory outside in more than 100 streets of the capital, like this little commercial street here.

It's quiet now but it does get packed in the evening, and it can get difficult, even impossible to achieve social distancing when everyone is out shopping here. So to limit the spread of the virus, Parisians must now cover their faces in streets like this one or risk being fined about $160. NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I'm Nic Robertson in London where the British Prime Minister will visit a school today, has made it a priority to get children back in the classrooms by September. He says it's socially intolerable, economically unsustainable, and morally indefensible not to allow children back into the classroom.

Of course, he knows that is a route to getting the economy back up and running. There's pushback from the Children's Commissioner in the UK who says all pupils and teachers should have regular testing. The government says that international analysis shows that infection rates between children and teachers at schools is relatively low.

VEDIKA SUD, CNN PRODUCER: I'm Vedika Sud in New Delhi, at least 10 people have died in a blaze at a hotel on Sunday that was being used to treat COVID-19 patients in Vijayawada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh in India.

Now, the fire broke out on the ground floor of the building and rapidly spread to the first floor. Many COVID-19 patients were rescued from their room balconies. According to officials, the makeshift hospital did not have the requisite fire safety clearances. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed anguish over the incident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Our thanks to our reporters all around the world. So President Trump is taking aim at the expansion of the landmark Fair Housing Act using racial dog whistle, sometimes more than a dog whistle. But what's the impact for renters and homeowners in the suburbs. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich went to Philadelphia to find out.

[07:55:02]

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VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Samera Butler was getting ready to move into her dream apartment.

SAMERA BUTLER, FILED DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT: It's beautiful, it's on a river. It's nice. It's what I wanted.

YURKEVICH: She said she applied without ever meeting the owner, but was approved to rent and sign the lease. Then she got a phone call.

BUTLER: I got a call from my agent that, hey, wait a minute, there is a hiccup. And, you know, we waited and that's when we were told that we were denied.

YURKEVICH: Butler says she was discriminated against once the owner found out she was a black woman with four kids. Even though she says she was financially qualified to rent the apartment.

BUTLER: It was something that I knew wasn't right to do to anyone.

YURKEVICH: So Butler filed a discrimination complaint with HUD. She's able to do so because of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, designed to combat widespread discrimination and segregation. Five years ago, the Obama administration announced a new rule, expanding the Fair Housing Act requiring cities to study and set goals for fair housing in order to qualify for federal funding.

But as housing discrimination complaints like the one Butler filed have reached record numbers in recent years, the Trump administration is repealing the 2015 rule.

TRUMP: We will fight all of their lives to get into the suburbs and have a beautiful home. There will be no more low income housing forced into the suburbs.

YURKEVICH: President Trump, keenly aware he needs the support from suburban America, is positioning the fair housing roll back to those voters.

AKIRA RODRIGUEZ, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, CITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING, UPENN: The idea is that, everyone should have equal access and opportunity to all types of housing. And so, this is not necessarily a win for the suburbs so much as a loss for everyone in their ability to access housing.

YURKEVICH: But suburbia looks different than it did even just four years ago. Counties once reliably right around Philadelphia turned blue in the midterm election. Suburban voters like Terry Baraldi are more progressive, protesting weekly, showing support for her black neighbors.

TERRY BARALDI, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: We've greatly diversified and I like it so much better.

YURKEVICH: Baraldi says she will be voting for Joe Biden and Trump's tweets like this one about the repeal of Obama's Fair Housing Rule have racial undertones.

BARALDI: He said it he just didn't say it. You know, when you talk about suburban housing, you're talking about, you know, low cost housing. You're talking about black and brown people.

YURKEVICH: For lifelong Republican and Trump supporter, Tony Polito, he believes the President's messaging about protecting the suburban lifestyle dream isn't a major issue for voters like him.

TONY POLITO, REPUBLICAN VOTER: It's a non-issue because I know that here, we don't have that problem. You could have an area where people feel that their property values would go down if that kind of housing was there. I think everything has a right to be somewhere, let's put it in the right place.

YURKEVICH: Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Our thanks to Vanessa for going out and talking to the people, and finding out what it's really like on the ground. "New Day" continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over 5 million cases of the coronavirus have now been reported across the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We failed early on to adopt the testing that was necessary.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're only doing about 800,000 tests a day, which is so far below the minimum daily target.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The leaders of the Power Five conferences held an emergency meeting over the weekend to discuss the future of college football.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump, meanwhile, has been touting his new virus relief package with the unilateral extended through executive action.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We often compromises, we couldn't get it, so the President decided to take action on his own.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My constitutional advisers tell me they're absurdly unconstitutional.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is New Day with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

BERMAN: Welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world, this is "New Day." Alisyn is off, Erica Hill with me this morning, big morning in the news.

HILL: That it is.

BERMAN: Not good either. More than 5 million Americans have now been infected with coronavirus, 5 million. That's 4,999,999 more than the one person the President told us there would be in January.

1 million new cases have been diagnosed in the past 17 days alone. A new study finds nearly 100,000 children tested positive in the last two weeks of July. And now, this morning, we are learning that the college football season is in serious jeopardy. It might be postponed or canceled as soon as this week. An official from one of the major conferences joins us later this hour.

HILL: There is also widespread confusion and uncertainty for millions of unemployed Americans. And for businesses are seeking help after critical aid laps at the end of July. A backlash for the President, well, now has been backtracking a bit on the idea of forcing states to help pay unemployment benefits which he had proposed over the weekend.