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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Kamala Harris: The Case Against Trump; New Coronavirus Warning; Big 12 Moves Ahead with Fall Sports Beginning in September. Aired 5- 5:30a ET
Aired August 13, 2020 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:23]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The case against Donald Trump and Mike Pence is open and shut. Just look where they've gotten us.
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LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Senator Kamala Harris coming out swinging in her first speech as Joe Biden's new running mate.
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DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, CDC DIRECTOR: This could be the worst fall from a public health perspective we've ever had.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A sobering new coronavirus warning from the director of the CDC.
Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
JARRETT: And I'm Laura Jarrett. It's Thursday, August 13th, 5:00 a.m. here in New York, 82 days to the election.
And we begin here with Kamala Harris laying out her first speech as Joe Biden's running mate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Everything we care about, our economy, our health, our children, the kind of country we live in, it's all on the line. We're reeling from the worst public health crisis in a century. America is crying out for leadership. We're experiencing a moral reckoning with racism and systemic injustice that has brought a new coalition of conscience to the streets of our country demanding change.
(END VIDEO CLIP) JARRETT: Harris and Biden making their first appearance together in Biden's home state of Delaware on the same stage but socially distanced. Harris sharply criticized the president's handling of the pandemic and the economic fallout.
CNN's Jessica Dean has more now from Washington.
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JESSICA DEAN, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first look at an historic ticket.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I had a great choice, but I have no doubt that I picked the right person to join me as the next vice president of the United States of America and that's Senator Kamala Harris.
DEAN: Newly named vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris joining the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in Wilmington, Delaware.
HARRIS: I couldn't be prouder to be by his side running to represent you, the people.
DEAN: Biden also taking President Trump's criticism of his pick head on.
BIDEN: Is anyone surprised Donald Trump has a problem with a strong woman or strong women across the board.
DEAN: After the event, Harris and Biden, along with their spouses, headlined an online fundraiser with grassroots supporters.
BIDEN: Yesterday, we had our best grassroots fundraising day of the campaign, more than doubled our previous record, and in doing so we set a single day record for online political fundraising and I think I know why.
DEAN: Today's events come just one day after Biden announced his historic choice.
BIDEN: Are you ready to go to work?
HARRIS: Oh, my God. I am so ready to go to work.
DEAN: A new campaign video showed the moment Biden told Harris she was his pick. Ninety minutes later, his decision was announced to the world.
First of all, is the answer yes?
HARRIS: The answer is absolutely yes, Joe. And I'm ready to work. I am ready to do this with you, for you. I just -- I'm just deeply honored and I'm very excited.
DEAN: Biden's decision to choose Harris followed a month's long vetting process that began with at least 20 women. Over the last ten days, Biden conducted one-on-one interviews with the final 11 perspective nominees, either in person or over video chat.
HARRIS: The attorney general of the state of Delaware, Beau Biden.
DEAN: During her interview, Harris spoke about her relationship with Biden's late son, Beau Biden.
Harris and Beau Biden served as attorneys general together.
HARRIS: I learned quickly that Beau was the kind of guy who inspired people to be a better version of themselves. He really was the best of us. And when I would ask him, where do you get that? Where does this come from? He'd always talk about his dad.
DEAN: Now with his vice presidential search behind him, Biden believes he has the right person by his him.
BIDEN: Kamala knows how to govern. She knows how to make the hard calls. She's ready to do this job on day one.
DEAN (on camera): Joe Biden making the announcement on Wednesday night that his campaign has raised $26 million in the 24 hours since Kamala Harris joined the ticket. And to give you a little bit of context, earlier in this campaign season, that's more than he raised in some months.
Jessica Dean, CNN, Washington.
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[05:05:00]
ROMANS: All right. Thank you for that.
Biden and Harris teemed up against President Trump, calling him out for his decision-making and his demeanor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Donald Trump has already started his attacks calling Kamala, quote, nasty, whining about how she's, quote, mean to his appointee. It's no surprise because whining is what Donald Trump does best better than any American president in history.
HARRIS: The case against Donald Trump and Mike Pence is open and shut. Just look where they've gotten us -- more than 16 million out of work, millions of kids who cannot go back to school, a crisis of poverty, homelessness inflicting black, brown, indigenous people the most, a crisis of hunger inflicting one in five mothers who have children that are hungry, and tragically more than 165,000 lives that have been cut short. It didn't have to be this way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: President Trump claims the selection of Kamala Harris by Joe Biden was very risky. But he appears to be struggling to find a line of attack against the California senator, so he's resorting to the same familiar tactics.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I watched your poll numbers go boom, boom, boom down to almost nothing and she left angry, she left mad. There was nobody more insulting to Biden than she was. She said horrible things about him.
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JARRETT: Apparently the best new attack the Trump campaign could come up with against Harris, senior legal advisor Jenna Ellis tweeting that the senator sounds like Marge Simpson.
ROMANS: I think Marge Simpson has really high approval ratings, too. So, I'm not sure that that's an insult.
All right. One question raised by the pandemic is whether the campaign will be conducted entirely online.
CNN's Arlette Saenz asked Joe Biden about his plans.
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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Will we see you out on the campaign trail in person together?
BIDEN: If the science allows us, you're going to see us campaigning together.
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JARRETT: Kamala Harris and Mike Pence are scheduled to square off at their only debate on the October 7th in Salt Lake City. VP debates really the change the course of presidential elections, but this one will give Senator Harris, a former district attorney, the chance to prosecute the case against President Trump. Pence last faced off in a national debate against Democratic nominee VP Tim Kaine back in 2016. At the time, Pence was widely praised for delivering a steady, focused performance.
ROMANS: Watch CNN's special live coverage of the 2020 Democratic national convention, for all the biggest moments, the most important speeches and insight of what it all means for Joe Biden and the future of the Democratic Party. That starts Monday night at 8:00 Eastern.
JARRETT: Turning now to coronavirus and an urgent plea from the head of the CDC this morning, Dr. Robert Redfield, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, invoking a familiar refrain long attached to the legacy of President Kennedy.
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REDFIELD: When John Kennedy said, don't ask what your country can do for you, ask what you ask do to your country, I'll try to paraphrase that for your country right now and for the war that we're in against COVID, I'm asking you to do four things -- wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands, and be smart about crowds. You do those four things, we we'll bring this outbreak down. But if we don't do that, as I said last April, this could be the worst fall from the public health perspective we've ever had.
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JARRETT: CNN's Athena Jones has more on the state of the fight against coronavirus.
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ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Laura.
We're seeing some encouraging trends nationwide. New COVID infections holding steady or falling in 44 states. The U.S. averaging just under 53,000 new cases a day for the last seven days. An 11 percent drop from the previous week but still far too high.
COVID-19 deaths nationwide still surging, averaging more than 1,000 a day for 16 straight days. Florida and Georgia hitting new records for daily deaths Tuesday. And infections on the rise in states like North Dakota.
Meanwhile, dozens of COVID cases now surfacing in schools in Georgia, Indiana, and Mississippi are affecting plans everywhere. Hundreds of teachers in Elizabeth, New Jersey, refused to return to in-person instruction, forcing the district to begin the school year virtually. The extra caution coming even as the COVID test positivity rate in the Garden State stands at 1.4 percent this week, compared to 10.7 percent in Georgia. In fact, at least three Georgia schools have been forced to temporarily close due to COVID cases, including North Paulding High School, the site of that viral photo in the crowded hallway.
For now, it's moving to a hybrid schedule with students alternating days on campus. And after 59 COVID cases were reported across Georgia's Cherokee County School District, more than 1,100 students and staff are under quarantine -- Christine and Laura.
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[05:10:09]
ROMANS: All right. Athena, thank you so much for that.
Now, Democrats and Republicans are still far apart on a new stimulus deal. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she doesn't want stalled negotiations to drag on until the end of September, she called out Republicans for the impasse.
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REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We have to come to some conclusion, we told them we'll go down a trillion if you go up a trillion for the children. Again, let's meet in the middle. We've said all of that. But until they're ready to do that, it's no use sitting in a room and let them tell us that states should go bankrupt.
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ROMANS: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blamed Democrats.
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SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: The difference between now and March is that Democrats seem to be finished being reasonable.
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ROMANS: So, it is clear stimulus is needed right now. States face layoffs of teachers, firefighters and other public workers without emergency aid to plug big holes in their budgets caused by the pandemic. The president has cut jobless benefits in half. Stimulus checks for everyone has been put on told.
The regional Feds say the recovery needs the stimulus. Boston's Fed chief said as long as the virus poses significant threats to public health, a full economic recovery will be very difficult.
JARRETT: Well, a county sheriff in Florida is ordering people at police stations not to wear masks. That story, next.
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[05:15:31]
ROMANS: So, a county sheriff in Florida is now banning all of his officers and his staff from wearing face masks. Even visitors to the sheriff's office cannot wear a face mask. Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods' new rule on masks comes as the county set a single day record of 13 deaths. The ban does have exceptions, including courthouses, schools, hospitals and calls to nursing homes or those involving high- risk elderly individuals.
Woods says he's banning the masks in interest of clear communication and so that visitors can be identified. He sends off his email to his staff with the phrase, be safe.
JARRETT: A Kansas prison goes into lockdown after an apparent outbreak of coronavirus and concerns are growing about a rising positivity rate in the Chicago area.
CNN has reporters covering all of the latest developments.
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OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Omar Jimenez in Chicago.
There are concerns here in Illinois and state officials over what has been a rise in the daily number of coronavirus cases reported especially when it comes to the statewide positivity rate. Now, this comes within the framework of what has been record testing with overall deaths on the decline. But the worry here is that cases can lead to hospitalizations which can lead to more deaths.
Here in Chicago, for example, the positivity rate is running at about 5 percent. It's a number that officials feel broadly in control. However, that's a number that also has seen steady increases as of late. If that number gets up to 8 percent, that's when officials say we're going to have to start imposing more rejections.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPODENT: I'm Stephanie Elam in Los Angeles.
California announcing more than 11,600 cases in a day. However, more than half of those announced are from the backlog issue that the state has been working through. So the positive news out of this is that the number of new cases dropping here, we're seeing that number at 5,400, just above that here.
The governor pointing out that this is what he calls, quote, indication we are turning a corner on this pandemic. Keep in mind that hospitalizations are also down 19 percent over the last 14 days.
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Lucy Kafanov in Kansas.
The Hutchison correctional facility went into lockdown Wednesday after dozens tested positive for coronavirus. According to a Kansas Department of Correction statement, 84 inmates and ten staff members tested positive for COVID-19 this week. A total of 99 inmates and 17 staff members tested positive since the pandemic began. All cases were asymptomatic.
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ROMANS: All right, thank you to our reporters for those.
Now, there's home for some college football fans this morning. More on the major conferences planning to play this fall. That's next.
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[05:22:40]
ROMANS: The Big 12 conference joining the ACC and SEC in moving forward with plans to play college football this fall.
Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report."
Hi, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Christine.
So, the biggest football conference remain split on how to deal with this pandemic. On one side, you've got the Big Ten and PAC-12 saying their medical specialists are advising against playing this fall. And on the other side, you got the Big 12, SEC and the ACC, saying their experts said, well, you can move along as planned.
So, here's how college football stands right now. Who is playing and who is not. Baseball commissioner Bob Bowlsby said, if their medical experts told
them it was not safe to play, they would stop immediately. And he explained their reasoning to move forward.
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BOB BOWLSBY, BIG 12 COMMISSIONER: Reasonable people can disagree on it. But in -- you know, the PAC-12 and the Big Ten are seeing are seeing much of the same information that we're seeing. But our board believes in our scientists and have come to a conclusion that it's different. And so have the leadership of the SEC and the ACC.
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SCHOLES: Now, Ohio State won't be playing this fall but their coach Ryan Day wants them on the field as soon as possible. He wants the Big Ten to put together a plan for a game starting in January. So his guys heading for the NFL will have a chance to play.
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RYAN DAY, OHIO STATE HEAD FOOTBALL COACH: Right now, it's devastating. And, you know, there's this time of mourning, but we're focused on getting this season into spring, or winter, however you call it, going in January. So that's something to work towards. And it's going to be very, very difficult. This whole year's been difficult but, you know, we're going to stick together and work through it.
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SCHOLES: Now the NFL has no blanket policy on fans attending games this season. It's up to the individual teams. Dallas Cowboys under Jerry Jones says the Cowboys will have fans at their games.
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JERRY JONES, DALLAS COWBOYS OWNER: I'm confident that we've got a very educated situation, and that our fans can come and have a safe experience at our stadium. It will be in pods of possibly, five, ten, 15 different people.
[05:25:03]
Our stadium is well-suited to put together numbers of people that have elected to come and want to watch the Dallas Cowboys play. I won't speculate on a number.
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SCHOLES: The DFW area did host the first fans in a major U.S. sporting event since March. That game was last night, an MLS game, just under 3,000 fans were on hand to watch FC Dallas play Nashville. Fans had to wear masks and social distance themselves, but also sign a liability waiver as they entered the stadium. Now, both teams took a knee to protest racial injustice during the national anthem. And some of the fans in attendance were booing them.
FC Dallas' Reggie Cannon called it absolutely disgusting.
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REGGIE CANNON, FC DALLAS DEFENDER: You've got fans booing you for people taking a stand for what they believe in, when millions of other people support this cause. We discussed it with every other team and the league what we're going to do and we've got fans booing us in our own stadium. How disgraceful is that. Honestly, for lack of a better word, it pissed me off.
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SCHOLES: Again, Laura, this is the first time we've had fans at a team sport in a very long time, there are fans there booing players just peacefully protesting, we'll continue to see if this occurs as more events allowed.
JARRETT: All right. Andy, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Senator Kamala Harris has made history as the first Indian American on a major party presidential ticket. CNN speaks to her family in India, next.
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