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Pac-12 Players on Athlete Safety; Unemployment below 1 Million; Trump Insults Harris; Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 13, 2020 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: For you not to be playing now. But you've also been very critical of the Pac-12, not for the decision necessarily not to play, but for everything that led up to this moment. Why?

NICK FORD, GUARD, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH: You know, just -- just looking at it from, you know, a group perspective and talking around, you know, locker rooms and other sports. We -- we really figured out that they had about four or five months to really, you know, lock down and figure out a procedure that would be proper to take care of us. And, you know, within that four or five months' time frame, we really didn't come back to a standardized testing or, you know, some type of facilitated testing for us. And, you know, I feel like that should have been in place a long time ago.

BERMAN: And, Treyjohn, to you. You're back with us now. I just wanted to know about you and your own concerns given that you do have an underlying condition.

TREYJOHN BUTLER, CORNERBACK, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: Some of my own concerns basically is wondering, you know, how my body responds. You know, will it be a severe response to the virus? And as well as, you know, (INAUDIBLE) myself and some of my teammates, as well as the other guys in the conference (INAUDIBLE) conditions, you know, to be able to (INAUDIBLE) maintain our health, you know, the best we could and (INAUDIBLE) have a uniform, you know, how they handle our testing and stuff because, you know, we want to play football. That was the ultimate goal but we want to do it safely though.

BERMAN: What do you think, Treyjohn, if I can try to get one more question to you, if the technology allows here, what do you make of the fact that your colleagues, your fellow players, the S.E.C. and the Big 12, at least for now, are going to be able to play? Do you think that's a good call? Does it make you doubt what's going on in your own conference?

BUTLER: I don't doubt anything that's going on in our own conference. I respect their decision. And I think -- personally, I understand where they were coming from, from a financial standpoint and also the understanding their position that every school is (INAUDIBLE) and do, you know, open sports (ph) this thing works out for them. And is (ph) understanding that some stuff may come along the way, but ultimately I am rooting for them. BERMAN: Nick, to you, I want to play you something that Lou Holtz,

Hall of Fame, former Notre Dame football coach said. He wants -- he thinks that everyone should be going back to play. And listen to what he compared it to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOU HOLTZ, FORMER NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL HEAD COACH: You want to play, let's go play. I think that we shut everything down for six months. I'm going crazy about being quarantined. I think other people are tired of it. Let's move on with our life. When they stormed Normandy, they knew that there were going to be casualties, there was going to be risks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: What do you make of that comparison, Nick? He's comparing your college football season to storming the beaches of Normandy where thousands of Americans died. Is that the right comparison?

FORD: You know, a lot of people use different analogies and metaphors. And, you know, that's -- that's up to them. God bless all of the lives that died on that beach that day for the freedom of our country and, you know, to help protect people around the world.

But in my regards to that statement, people for sure have been going stir crazy without football. I mean that -- that's just, you know, football season and it's really just a good season and everyone loves watching it. So -- but there's -- there's a lot of risks right now and a lot of lives that could be altered. And not only just football players' lives, because part of the issue was we didn't want to come back and have the university and the football team become a hot spot for the coronavirus and then have it, you know, wreak havoc throughout our community from us going to the gas station or going to the store and really starting to affect other people and possibly wind up with affecting someone with underlying case of, you know, whatever it is, a heart condition, a blood condition, something, and, you know, ultimately wind up killing them.

BERMAN: Look, Nick Ford, Treyjohn Butler, we appreciate you being with us. I know this is really hard for you. I know you'd love to be out playing football. I know this throws a big wrench in all you have plans, not just for the year, but for maybe the next several years. So we appreciate your honesty and your candor this morning. Thank you.

FORD: Thank you.

BERMAN: Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news. New jobless numbers giving us a snapshot of America's unemployment crisis. So the big question, are things getting better or worse? Christine Romans has that answer, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:38:03]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

HILL: Breaking news.

Unemployment claims falling below 1 million last week for the first time since the pandemic began.

CNN's chief business correspondent Christine Romans joining us now with those breaking details.

Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I think this is an important milestone, 963,000 first time unemployment benefits filed in the week. That is a gargantuan number in normal times, but in current pandemic times, that's the smallest number since the crisis began, the first time below a million, first time unemployment claims since the crisis began. So really important here. We've had 20 weeks of a million layoffs or more a week. Just unheard of. A big job crisis and the first time you're starting to see a little bit of a sign that those layoffs might be slowing.

In terms of continuing unemployment claims, these are people who are continuing to get benefits, it's about 15.5 million. Also a number that is declining. An important decline of 600,000 from the previous week.

And when we count in all the people getting different kinds of jobless benefits on these roles, that number is now 28 million. That is also down a little bit. And here's why it's down. Some of the emergency jobless benefits programs expired at the end of July. So some people just rolled right off of those. So not necessarily off the roles because they got a job, off the roles because those programs expired, guys.

BERMAN: Oh, that's something. That's something we're going to have to keep watching, particularly as the pandemic numbers seem to have plateaued for a bit to see if that affects employment.

Romans, I know there was a moment yesterday that caught both of our attention's because that's how we roll. It had to do with Social Security. And the president unambiguously saying that he wants to eliminate the payroll tax completely if he is re-elected.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And the payroll tax, we'll be terminating the payroll tax.

[08:40:00]

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)

ROMANS: "Terminate" is the verb there that he used. And this is really, really important. Those payroll taxes fund Social Security and Medicare. These are very important funding sources. And because there are attacks that employers and employees pay, it's this guaranteed funding stream.

Now, in the past, there have been payroll tax holidays meant to get more money in people's pockets and then the money is reimbursed from, you know, from the general funds. But to talk about permanently changing this program that funds Social Security is reaching out and grabbing onto that third rail of politics, John, and saying that he wants to fundamentally change how we do Social Security.

Already there's an ad in Florida, a Biden ad in Florida, telling seniors, hey, the president wants to change how Social Security is funded. It's a very big deal. He doesn't have a lot of support from Republicans. He doesn't have any support from Democrats. The president really going it alone here. But he is on the record, he wants to terminate how those -- how those taxes pay for these important programs.

BERMAN: It's a radical restructuring of Social Security. One of the biggest radical restructurings of Social Security that I've seen in generations proposed. And the White House has got to explain what's going on here. Does the president even understand what he's proposing here? We've got to find out more.

ROMANS: That's my question. It sounds like he wants to get more money in people's paychecks right away because that's important for his re- election, to show people -- show me the money, right? But the bigger picture of paying for Social Security is a very dangerous, political game to be playing right now.

BERMAN: Yes. Yes. And, again, it's a radical restructuring. The question is whether he understands that.

Romans, thanks very much.

Moments ago, President Trump levelled a new insult at Senator Kamala Harris. This really does seem to be the 2016 playbook all over again. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:45:01]

BERMAN: All right, this morning, a day after the rollout of the Democratic ticket where Joe Biden and Kamala Harris talked about the future of the country, and talked about the president's handling of the coronavirus, the president himself is using sexist attacks against Senator Harris.

Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And now you have a -- sort of a mad woman, I -- I call her, because she was so angry and so -- such hatred with Justice Kavanaugh. I mean I've never seen anything like it. She was the angriest of the group and they were all angry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, joining us now, CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. Also with us CNN political commentator Van Jones.

Friends, thanks so much for being with us.

Dana, I know it's not surprising that the president has done this. He used the word "angry" or "mad" like six times in 12 seconds right there. And to an extent, this is the president trying to run 2016 all over again.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, just with a different set of characters and a different geography, if you will.

First of all, calling her "angry" is another version of calling her and other women "nasty." It's particular, I think, when he's calling Kamala Harris angry because it conjures up angry black woman. I mean, it just seems so obvious that that's what he's trying to do. Where, let's be honest, Senator Harris asked tough questions of then Judge Kavanaugh, but so did a lot of people. But the fact that he's sticking on that and using that adjective seems quite intentional.

And then I think what you were referring to, John, is if you go back to 2016 then, you know, from the day that Donald Trump announced, 2015, he talked about Mexicans coming across the border, some being rapists. It's fear. It was fear. And, you know what, that along with a lot of other things, but fear at the top of the list, it worked. And in 2018, he tried it with the caravans. It didn't work because the Democrats, who were running in the midterm elections, focused on healthcare and other issues.

This time around, he's back on the ballot and the fear that he's trying to instill and invoke and stir up is in the battlegrounds that Democrats won in 2018, in the suburbs, warning that their life as they know it is going to change, that low income people are going to come into the suburbs. It is not a dog whistle. It is a megaphone. And it's totally transparent. And it's a really big open question whether it's going to work even close to the way it did for him in 2016.

HILL: What's fascinating too is, you know, Van, I think there is a large fear in this country, and I don't know that it's necessarily people are worried about this idea of this '50s idyllic world that longer exists and I'm not sure ever really existed in the way that people believe it did, but I think there's a real fear among the American people about what's to come because there's so much uncertainty, because they don't know where the pandemic will take this country, because they don't know what it means for their jobs, for their children and for their health. And that's a totally different fear that could be coming Donald Trump's way.

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I'll just say a couple things.

First of all, they do not know how to deal with Kamala Harris. I mean, bottom line, that is just not effective calling her a mad woman when you just saw yesterday she's anything but that. It definitely -- what they're about to do is create such a backlash of support for Kamala, because once you go down the angry black woman thing, even African- Americans who might have been a little bit -- you know, holding back, well, what about her criminal justice piece, now you're creating a wave of sympathy and empathy and solidarity for her.

[08:50:00]

And, frankly, don't forget, this summer was demonstrated by the millions that it's not just black people by ourselves. You have tens of millions of white Americans that don't like the way black folks are being treated and shown. And so it's very interesting.

When Donald Trump was being impeached, suddenly he had support from Republicans he never had before. There was a sense that he was being persecuted. He now thinks he's going to be able to persecute Kamala Harris with these, you know, you know, crazy, mad woman, this type of stuff. He is going to -- I don't want to use the wrong language here, he's going to offend an awful lot of people and consolidate more support for her than he does -- than he mobilizes against her. So it's, you know, it's just not a smart strategy.

The other thing I would say is, yes, there is a lot of anxiety in the country, as you just pointed out. But what you need is somebody who can come on the stage and who can reassure people that they understand and begin to move us in a positive direction. If you -- if you have not seen Kamala's speech from yesterday, at a commercial break, don't stop watching us right now, but look at it on a commercial break because that speech lays out a vision of the country, but also shows Kamala with tremendous empathy. A new weapon for her. Empathy for Joe Biden's son. Empathy for the people who were -- don't know where to send their kids to school. I just think he's playing off the wrong playbook that's going to probably help her more than hurts her.

BERMAN: Let's play that moment. It's not the break. We'll do it right here, because when Senator Harris did talk about Beau Biden, I was watching Joe Biden the whole time and it was hard for him to hear it.

So let's listen to that.

(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 did you get that? Where did 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: Look, take politics out of it completely. Take the election out of it completely. You're watching Joe Biden there and he just loved his son and he misses him so much and that's all you could think about when you were watching that.

JONES: Yes.

BERMAN: I wanted to play it because you talked about it.

There's some other sound that I want to play because this has to do with the interview the president just did. And the president, not just with the attacks on Kamala Harris, the last 24 hours he's been incredibly unsubtle. He's just said this stuff, crystal clear. And he did an interview this morning when he was talking about mail-in voting and the Post Office and he made clear -- I think he just stated explicitly that he doesn't want to get the Post Office new money because he doesn't want the Post Office delivering ballots through the mail.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, they need that money in order to have the Post Office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots. Now, in the meantime, they aren't getting there. By the way, those are just two items. But if they don't get those two items, that means you can't have universal mail-in voting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Wow. Again, I think that was unambiguous, Dana. I think he just said, I don't want the Post Office to have the money to deliver mail-in ballots.

BASH: That's exactly what he said. We knew that that was where he was going and what his -- the postmaster general that was a donor to him and is his hand-picked person has been heading. But to hear him say that is a whole different thing.

This is a very, very big story. It is so important. And there's so much going on with the pandemic and everything else, it's -- it's very understandable that maybe if this isn't getting the spotlight it deserves but maybe with the president saying the quiet part out loud again it will.

And I have talked to so many Republican governors who have said -- Republican governors who have said, no, there is no problem with fraud as long as we have proper people to watch and make sure that it is not done -- that it is done well, it's OK. We want to do that. We want to encourage voting. And he is explicitly trying to discourage voting by using the Postal Service to do so. HILL: Also he's once again saying that there's this universal mail-in

voting. It's important to point out too, and to fact check the president, that despite his claims that hundreds of millions of ballots are being sent out universally, that is not the way it works. There are a handful of states where ballots are mailed out.

Van, we're a little tight on time, I'm just curious your take on that because, to Dana's point, this is once again saying the quiet part out loud, but this is central to our democracy.

[08:55:05]

JONES: Well, I don't have more to add on that because it's unbelievable to see a president attack the Postal Service, which has been a part of our country for a long time.

I do want to point out, this attempt to connect Kamala to Kavanaugh is a play around grievance and, you know -- the Kavanaugh moment played very differently on the right and people felt like he was being persecuted as a -- as a white guy and that kind of thing. So the attempt to try to connect Kamala to Kavanaugh goes beyond just the kind of tropes around angry black women. It's also part of a strategy to remind people, hey, you know, a good white guy almost got taken down by these Democrats. So he's trying to do a number of things. I just think the way he's doing it is likely to backfire.

BERMAN: Van Jones, Dana Bash, thanks so much, both of you, for being with us this morning. Great to see you.

HILL: CNN's coverage continues after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:00]