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New Day

Trump attacks Harris; Coronavirus Pandemic Update from Around the World; Conspiracy Theory Believers Win GOP Races; Big 12 Moves Ahead with Fall Sports. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired August 13, 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]

APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Democratic ticket. But, once again, as you said, Erica, this president likes to go to the issue of nasty. He called me nasty. Strong, black women. Let's go there. Let's not just say, strong women. Strong black women. Senator Kamala Harris is now in that group. He's going to make more attacks. But when he has nothing to say and when he can't find anything in his limited approach to speak, what he will do is fall back on racism and sexism. So that's what we know. So we can't expect that throughout the rest of this campaign, these next 80-plus days until the election.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's interesting to me that the Biden/Harris campaign was ready for that in a way that was a prebuttal from Joe Biden in his part of the speech where he said "we," meaning Democrats, he was saying, have to have Kamala Harris' back there. It was part of the -- to an extent the emotional range in the speeches we heard from both of them, Bakari.

And then the other -- or one of the other truly notable moments came from Senator Harris, when she was talking about her relationship with the late Beau Biden, the former attorney general of Delaware, obviously Joe Biden's son.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D), PRESUMPTIVE VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And let me just tell you about Beau Biden. 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'd you get that? Where'd this come from? He'd always talk about his dad. And I will tell you the love that they shared was incredible to watch. It was the most beautiful display of the love between a father and a son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You know, completely aside from politics, Bakari, I was just watching Joe Biden's face that whole time, and you can see this is still something that's raw for him. He is still struggling with the loss of his son. It's a deeply emotional thing for him. BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, but what you also saw

yesterday is not only that human connection that both of them have, you know, as analysts, people come on TV and they were talking about who Joe Biden was going to pick for vice president. And one of the things I kept going back to was that there was a great relationship between Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, one that dated back to their son -- to his son, Beau.

And even more importantly, the level of empathy and compassion, the love you saw, the kindness you saw, I mean that is something that just, purely without the politics, is the antithesis to the White House. But those are also traits that are necessary for good leadership, to be able to have empathy during moments of crisis, to be able to have compassion, to be able to have love and kindness, that's what was represented yesterday, as well as strength. And so while the president is a very small person who attempts to project strength, you know, at all times, even if it is a false sense of self, you saw yesterday a more complete package that looked like our country. So I think that voters can be excited, which is why they're raising so much money.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: When you talk about that complete package, too, I would say that they are presenting themselves as a package, more so than we have seen, April, from other tickets in the past. This was very clearly Biden/Harris, not, oh, Joe Biden and here's my running mate.

RYAN: Right. The optics -- I mean I -- I just watched the whole piece and just how they were walking in lockstep, how they were speaking in lockstep. This was something that was put together intentionally. Before, you know, as we've seen, other presidential tickets, they've got to know each other. These two know each other. They -- they've been through the gamut together. And now they're going to try to save America together. And it was almost -- it was almost a reminder of how Obama and Biden walked together. They were in lockstep. They thought as one.

And we're starting to see that now. They are starting off understanding the magnitude, the gravity, of what's happening in this nation now, and they've got to come at it from a unified force, from the moment they hit the ground, from the moment that Joe Biden reached out and said, do you want this? Are you ready to work? So they are starting to bring it together to work for the American public and showing what can be done from day one, the moment it started.

BERMAN: Hey, Bakari, can I go back to ask you a follow-up on something you brought up before that's a little bit off the subject of Biden/Harris as a ticket. He brought up college football. And the president's really leading into the idea of, let them play, let them play. I want them to go play.

But there's an article in "The New York Times" today where they went to Ohio and talked to Ohio State fans and they heard from people right in the middle who are beginning to blame the president for the fact that they're not playing. So, looking forward, how do you think this will play politically? [06:35:01]

It's a thing. I mean college football fans -- college football's a big deal to a lot of people in swing states. So how do you think this plays?

SELLERS: Well, first of all, I thought you were going to ask me about Taylor Swift, but I digress.

So college football is a thing. I mean like -- I'm a huge Gamecock fan. I like to sit in the cabooses on Saturday morning before we go out and watch the game for four hours. You know, 90,000 people in the S.E.C. But if you go through all of these places -- and people may not understand this, but in some of these states like North Carolina, Georgia, you know, even in -- even in Florida, some of these (INAUDIBLE) states, this is going to be a problem because now, for a long period of time, while you're listening to like a Clay -- to Clay Travis or you're listening to whomever it may be on right-wing radio, it hasn't hit you because you're not getting the news in a very truthful manner.

But now it does when you realize that you cannot go out on Saturday morning and watch. We can't even have Clemson play South Carolina this year. There's no Georgia versus Georgia Tech. There's no Florida versus Florida State. There's no Alabama versus Auburn, or maybe there will be because they're S.E.C. schools. But there's no rivalry games. I mean this is just taking and ripping at the heart and the fabric of many of us who enjoy this sport, especially during fall season.

BERMAN: Yes, it will be interesting to see how it plays out. It will be interesting to see what these other conferences do.

April Ryan, Bakari Sellers, thanks so much for being with us this morning.

RYAN: Thanks.

BERMAN: All right, overnight, you may have missed this, the president proposed the most radical change to Social Security in a generation. He called for the complete elimination of the payroll tax, which funds Social Security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And with the payroll tax, we'll be terminating the payroll tax. After I hopefully get elected, we'll be terminating the payroll tax. So that will mean anywhere from 5,000 to even more per family. And also great for businesses and great for jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Look, to be clear, this is not a temporary deferral. Not the one he just signed an order on. He's calling for a complete elimination of the tax, which generates about $1.25 trillion a year. It funds Social Security and Medicare. He says, instead, he wants to fund the program through general revenue, which is running trillions in new deficits.

There's a lot going on here. It also contradicts what the White House Adviser Larry Kudlow claimed, but the president was unambiguous and persistent about this. He's going to eliminate, he wants to, the payroll tax completely. The White House has to answer for this. They have to explain how this would work. This is not a small thing. This is a radical change. Whether you approve of it or not, it's a radical change and they have to explain this.

HILL: Well, they do. And what's interesting is that the president keeps using I think these words very clearly that he wants to use, he wants to cut it, he wants to eliminate it. We're having officials come out and try to -- try to clean up every time and say, no, no, no, that's not really what he means. He's talking about this deferral. It's something else. And they keep going back, saying, he's not proposing a permanent cut, but his own words tell us that he is, to your point, John. It is muddy, to put it mildly, and it has vast important complications (ph).

BERMAN: Look, I guess, is it possible he doesn't understand what he's saying? Yes, it's possible. But then the White House has to explain that as well.

HILL: Yes. A lot of explaining needed. Imagine that, on a Thursday.

New concerns about a second wave of coronavirus in Europe, as a number of countries are experiencing a spike in new cases. We have reporters covering the pandemic around the world, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:42:29]

BERMAN: Developing overnight, more than a hundred homes have been evacuated in Los Angeles County as a wildfire there grows to more than 10,000 acres. More than 400 firefighters are working to put out the flames. At this point, as you can see from these dramatic pictures, the wildfire is not contained.

HILL: Scary, there.

In France, the country recording its biggest jump in coronavirus cases since it started to ease restrictions. And this comes as a number of other countries in Europe are also seeing a surge in cases.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jim Bittermann in Paris. And both here in France and in Greece, new coronavirus records were set on Wednesday. In Greece, there was the largest daily increase since the pandemic began, 262 new case. And in France, there was the largest daily increase since May 6th, 2,524 new cases since about the time the authorities began to ease up on lockdown restrictions. And in both countries, authorities are noting an increase in the number of young people who are becoming infected with the coronavirus. AL GOODMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Al Goodman in La

Coruna (ph), Spain. Six weeks after lifting a nationwide lockdown that slowed down the coronavirus last spring, Spain is now recording the highest number of new cases in western Europe. Spain has more than 329,000 cases, even more than Britain. There are about 600 outbreaks across Spain, but a top government health official says it's still too early to talk about a second wave. Yet the number of new coronavirus patients in hospitals and in ICUs is on the increase, even from earlier this month.

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Shasta Darlington in Sao Paulo.

The coronavirus has claimed new victims in Brazil, including the grandmother of first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, who died overnight after being hospitalized for weeks with Covid-19. The governor of the state of Sao Paulo, Joao Doria, also announced on Wednesday that he tested positive for the virus, making him Brazil's 11th governor to become infected.

Meanwhile, Brazil reported more than 55,000 new cases in the last 24 hours and 1,175 additional deaths.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Our thanks to all of our international reporters.

A QAnon believer who also peddles racism is now one step closer to a seat in Congress and she has the enthusiastic support of President Trump. A deeper dive, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:48:45]

BERMAN: This morning, top Republicans and President Trump are embracing Marjorie Taylor Greene, the party's nominee for a House seat in Georgia, despite her history of racist anti-Semitic, anti-Muslimism remarks and her promotion of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory.

CNN's Manu Raju takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Q is real. He was not a conspiracy.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's a conspiracy theory born on the dark fringes of the internet, something the FBI contends is a national security threat. But the QAnon theory has been embraced by some House Republican candidates in races across the country. And on Tuesday night, one of them won her Republican primary and is on track to winning a House seat in November.

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I just want to say to Nancy Pelosi, she's a hypocrite.

CROWD: Yes.

GREENE: She's an anti-American.

CROWD: Witch (ph).

GREENE: And we're going to kick that (EXPEL ITIVE DELETED) out of Congress.

RAJU: Businesswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is now the heavy favorite to win a seat representing a deeply conservative district in northwest Georgia. Greene has repeatedly praised the QAnon theory.

GREENE: Q is a patriot. We know that for sure. But we do not know who Q is.

People believe that Q is someone very close to President Trump.

RAJU: The movement sprung to life in early 2017, based on a belief that there is a high-level government official, Q, who sprinkles clues on Internet message boards about a series of massive deep state conspiracies at work in the country.

[06:50:11]

In 2019, the FBI raised concerns over the potential for violence linked to such fringe theories.

Greene also won despite a history of racist and incendiary remarks against Muslims.

GREENE: We have an Islamic invasion into our government offices.

They want to put their hand on the Koran and be sworn in? No, you have to be sworn in on the Bible.

RAJU: About Democrats.

GREENE: They're trying to keep the black people in a modern-day form of slavery. It's a slavery system to keep their vote.

RAJU: About blacks and confederate statues.

GREENE: If I were black people today and I walked by one of those statues, I would be so proud because I'd say, look how far I have come in this country.

RAJU: And trumpeting a conspiracy theory about the liberal mega-donor George Soros, echoing an erroneous anti-Semitic attack against the Holocaust survivor, that he collaborated with Nazis.

GREENE: I will not apologize for standing up against George Soros, even when they want to call me an anti-Semite.

RAJU: Her comments put House Republican leaders in an awkward spot, with the House GOP's campaign arm refusing to endorse her on Wednesday. When videos of her past comments were first unearthed by "Politico" in

June, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise vowed to back her primary opponent and called her remarks "disgusting." A spokesman for House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said they were "appalling." But President Donald Trump was quick to herald her victory, saying in a tweet Wednesday morning that she's a future Republican star and a real winner. A couple hours later, a McCarthy spokesperson said, we look forward to Greene and other Republicans winning in November.

Asked on Wednesday about Greene's victory in Georgia and embrace of the fringe movement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN that Republicans seem comfortable with it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: Now, as Republican leaders were mostly silent yesterday, one Republican congressman spoke up, that's Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. He tweeted that there is no place in the halls of Congress for these conspiracies. He called it a fabrication. But that actually drew a rebuke from a top Trump campaign official who went after Kinzinger on Twitter and said that he should be focusing instead on Democratic conspiracies. So it just goes to show you that this debate, while the Republican leaders doesn't want anything to do with it, it could soon be coming to the halls of the Capitol if this candidate wins in November, as she's favored to do.

John and Erica.

BERMAN: I think that exchange with Adam Kinzinger is so telling. Not only is the Trump campaign and the president backing QAnon, a QAnon candidate, they're going after anyone who questions them now as well. So that is very significant, Manu. Thanks for that.

So there will, we think, at least as of now, be part of a college football season. Not for everyone. Who's playing? Who's not? How are the players reacting? The "Bleacher Report" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:57:04]

HILL: The Big 12 Conference joining the S.E.C. and ACC in moving forward with plans to play college football this fall.

Andy Scholes has more in the "Bleacher Report."

Andy, good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Erica.

So the country's biggest conferences remain split on how to deal with the pandemic. On one side, you've got the Big Ten and the Pac-12 who say their medical experts are advising them not to play football this fall. And then, on the other side, you've got the Big 12, S.E.C. and ACC who say their experts are telling them they can play safely. Now, take a look at this. This is where college football stands right

now. Who's playing, who is not. Now, Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said yesterday that their medical experts told them that if it wasn't safe, they would stop immediately and he explained the reasoning to move forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB BOWLSBY, BIG 12 COMMISSIONER: Reasonable people can disagree on it, but -- and, you know, the Pac-12 and the Big Ten are seeing much of the same information that we're seeing. But our board believes in our scientist and has come to a conclusion that's different. And so have the leadership of the S.E.C. and the ACC.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right, Texas hosting the first fans at a major U.S. team sporting event since March last night. Just under 3,000 fans were on hand to watch FC Dallas play Nashville.

Now, fans had to not only wear masks and socially distance themselves, but also had to 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 those fans in attendance were booing them. And FC Dallas' Reggie Cannon called those boos absolutely disgusting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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 and we've discussed 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. I want to say, it -- for lack of a better word, it pissed me off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, and, again, Erica, this was the first team sporting event here in the U.S. that had fans in attendance and, of course, this is the first one since all -- everything that's transpired in our country since March and the players heard boos. It will be worth watching moving forward.

HILL: Interesting (INAUDIBLE) say and good to hear from Reggie there as well.

Andy, thank you.

NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Covid-19 hot spots are only growing hotter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mask wearing should be mandatory. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can have major outbreaks in one part of the

country and you can have very few cases in another. We have to figure out how to deal with this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kamala Harris joining the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, the first look at an historic ticket.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I watched her poll numbers go, boom, boom, boom, down to almost nothing. There was nobody more insulting.

KAMALA HARRIS (D), PRESUMPTIVE VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The case against Donald Trump is open and shut. Just look where they've gotten us.

[07:00:01]

It didn't have to be this way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

BERMAN: All right, welcome to our viewers in the United States.

END