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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

L.A. Schools Launch a Huge Testing And Contact-Tracing Program; U.S. COVID-19 Death Toll Passes 170,000 Mark; Democrats Scramble to Thwart USPS Reductions Ahead of Election. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired August 17, 2020 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: The second biggest school district in the U.S. wants to test all 500,000 students plus staff when they go back to the classroom.

LAURA JARRETT, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: House lawmakers called back to Washington to try to block changes at the U.S. Postal Service before the election.

ROMANS: The Democratic National Convention kicks off in just hours from locations all over the U.S. A convention week unlike anything we've ever seen. Pandemic convention week. 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 Monday, August 17th, 5:00 a.m. here in New York, 78 days to the election. And we begin with America's second largest school district launching what may be the most ambitious plan yet to test students, staff and their families for coronavirus. Los Angeles school district officials say the testing and contact tracing program covers a half a million students and 75,000 staff members.

They say it's a step towards reopening schools. But the infection rate in southern California means that won't be happening any time soon. Nationwide, it took just 18 days for the COVID death toll to grow by 20,000 people, 20,000 people. It now stands at over just 170,000. CNN's Natasha Chen has the latest from Atlanta.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, it is very shocking to see the overall numbers of more than 5 million cases in the U.S., and at least 169,000 people who have died in this country. It's also important to look at the overall trends. The seven- day average of new cases has come down slightly compared to a few weeks ago, but the trend, the seven-day average of newly reported deaths has pretty much stayed stagnant.

And of course, there are pockets of the country struggling with this more than others, especially in places where school districts are having to figure out how to educate students at the beginning of the Fall semester while keeping those kids safe. At the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill this weekend, they reported at least four coronavirus clusters here in the metro Atlanta area we're seeing K-12 public school districts temporarily closing some schools because of positive test cases.

For example, in Cherokee County, they have closed temporarily three schools and will have them closed until August 31st with at least 500 students at one school having to quarantine out of precautions. At Paulding County nearby, also another school starting a hybrid model on Monday. So these are similar to the tough decisions educators are having to make all across the country of how to educate students while keeping them safe and healthy. Christine and Laura, back to you.

ROMANS: All right, Natasha, thank you so much for that. Meantime, Democrats launching this emergency effort to defend the U.S. Postal Service. They say they want to stop President Trump from squeezing the Postal Service in what they warned is an effort to suppress mail-in votes against him in November. Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling house members back to Washington, a step unheard of during the presidential conventions.

Democrats also calling Trump appointed Postmaster, General Louis DeJoy to testify. They want his response to accusations that changes he's ordered at the Postal Service are deliberately meant to slow mail-in ballots for this election. The president keeps making false claims that mail-in voting invites a catastrophe in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are going to have an election that takes place on a beautiful day, November 3rd. And usually, at the end of the evening, they say Donald Trump has won the election. Donald Trump is your new president. Whatever they say, you know what? You're not going to know this possibly if you really did it right for months or for years because these ballots are all going to be lost, they're going to be gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: There's absolutely no evidence that is true. Here's what we know, Mr. Trump admitted last week, he opposed $25 billion in new funding for the Postal Service because it would help expand voting by mail. CNN's Abby Phillip has more from Washington.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, amid a national outcry, the Postal Service appears to be backtracking on two moves that they had made in recent months as part of a restructuring that had led to some delays in mail delivery across the country. The Postal Service is now saying they will no longer remove these postal drop boxes, these blue boxes that you'll see all across the country as part of an effort they had been making to remove boxes that they say were in low usage.

[05:05:00]

They are also no longer going to remove these massive pieces of machinery that sort millions of pieces of mail that had been slated for removal, about 700 of them were slated for removal or redistribution across the Postal Service system. But while a White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows says no more will be removed before the election, we are learning through some internal documents obtained by CNN that about 95 percent of those pieces of machinery have already been slated to be removed by this point.

So it is not clear whether Meadows' announcement will make a substantive difference. Meanwhile, he was pressed this weekend about whether or not he would be willing to come to the table on the issue of Postal Service funding. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK MEADOWS, CHIEF OF STAFF, WHITE HOUSE: I'd be glad to.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, THE LEAD: If this Postal Service issue is one that everybody can come together on, why not have a standalone bill? You seem to be suggesting you don't want to do that, you want it to be part of a bigger package. But let me ask you just a broader picture --

MEADOWS: Well, and don't get me -- don't get me --

TAPPER: You're --

MEADOWS: Yes, OK, don't get me wrong. Here --

TAPPER: Your own folks --

MEADOWS: I'm all about piecemeal. If we can agree on postal, let's do it. If we can agree on stimulus checks, let's do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: That is a reversal of the White House's position on the issue of funding the USPS. President Trump last week said he did not want to fund that organization to the tune of 25 billions of dollars because he believed that, that money would be used to process millions of mail-in ballots. Meanwhile, a significant development on Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will bring the house back to deal with this Postal Service issue.

On Saturday, this return to Washington to deal with this comes as many members said this is an urgent issue. She is also calling on her members to have a day of action on Tuesday, urging them to go into their districts, to Postal Service offices to bring attention to this issue. Christine and Laura?

JARRETT: Abby, thank you for that. Several states are also considering legal action against the Trump administration to block changes at the Postal Service that could slow the flow of mail leading up to the November election. Given the coronavirus, of course, many voters are expected to rely on mail-in ballots. Sources say, at least, a half a dozen states including Colorado, North Carolina and Virginia are reviewing their legal options against the president and the Postmaster General.

ROMANS: All right, we'll follow all those developments, super important there. Seven minutes past the hour, this is day one of the Democratic National Convention. The virtual gathering will be anything but conventional. Still Democrats are set to make history as the party nominates Kamala Harris, the first black and Indian-American woman as vice president. They also aim to project unity from remote locations across the country. We get more of this morning from CNN's Jessica Dean in Wilmington, Delaware.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, the 2020 Democratic National Convention kicks off this morning, and it is going to be unlike anything we've ever seen when it comes to political conventions. We do know like they normally do, there will be various themes for each day, today is going to be, "We the People". It will include a host of speakers that range the spectrum within the Democratic Party and beyond, including Bernie Sanders, Michelle Obama and Republican former Governor John Kasich of Ohio who actually run for the Republican nomination back in 2016.

So, really a spectrum there. We're also getting a sense of how exactly this is going to work logistically. I'm told that there will be four set stages, Los Angeles, New York, Milwaukee where the convention was originally slated to take place, and then here in Wilmington, Delaware, where we're told that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will both be accepting their nominations.

So, we also are told that there will be speakers spread out all across the country. And they'll be at significant historic landmarks, I'm told that those landmarks will typically tie in with the themes that those speakers will be talking about. And then thirdly, various people within the party, delegates all across America have been sent these broadcasting tips that they can set up in their own living room.

And I'm told that those will be used for both the roll call which we will typically see in person in the convention hall. This time they're going to go to 57 locations for that roll call, which will be quite the technological feat. And then they also will be using those shots for reaction shots like again, you will typically get within the convention hall. So, there will be a truck stationed here in Wilmington, the producers will be able and directors will be able to punch up shots from all across the country.

As those reactions come in, we're also told there will be emcees mostly anchored out of Los Angeles that will be guiding the programming. So, we'll see how it all shapes up tonight, the first night of the Democratic National Convention of 2020. Christine and Laura?

JARRETT: All right, Jessica, as the conventions kick off, a new CNN poll out last night shows the race for president tightening significantly, 50 percent of registered voters now back the Biden- Harris ticket, 46 percent support Trump and Pence. That's right at the polls margin of error, plus or minus 4 points. So really tight as the party's convention get underway 53 percent of voters are extremely enthusiastic about casting a ballot in November. That's a new high in CNN presidential election voting going back to 2003.

[05:10:00] And CNN's special coverage of the first night of the Democratic

National Convention begins tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

ROMANS: All right, lawmakers are on Summer recess with no stimulus deal on the horizon. President Trump said he'll meet with house Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer, quote, "when the time is right".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Will something happen? Possibly. But I want to tell you, the country is doing very well right now. We can live very happily with it, without it. But I'd like to do it because I want to give money to the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: With it, without it, will it happen? Maybe. That is leadership, folks on a really critical issue here. The people need money now. Millions of Americans are still out of work, emergency money has stopped flowing. In a letter, Saturday, Speaker Pelosi said stimulus talks are complicated by quote, "complete disarray on the Republican side". The letter marked three months, three months since the house passed its $3.5 trillion package.

Meanwhile, some states are receiving approval for the $300 a week in extra unemployment benefits that President Trump announced last weekend. But states are noting they're still unsure how that money will be given out. And unemployed South Dakota residents won't see the boost after the governor there turned down the president's executive offer there. The governor said the state's economy has recovered nearly 80 percent of its job losses, they don't need the federal money.

Last week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin vowed the president's end run around Congress to give that money to jobless Americans will be ready to go in most states within two weeks, one week is already behind us. Laura, what's clear, there are still millions of people in this country who are unemployed. Small business loans have dried up. A lot of Americans wondering if there's going to be another stimulus check coming? We know all of that stimulus money helped keep the economy afloat in the Summer, and now it's all gone.

JARRETT: That's all gone and there's no plan. All right, still ahead, New Zealand's Prime Minister postponing an election amid a new coronavirus surge. A live report for you, next.

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ROMANS: New Zealand's Prime Minister announcing she is delaying September's general election for four weeks following a resurgence of coronavirus in the country. CNN's Angus Watson joins us live with the latest. It wasn't long ago that we were looking at New Zealand as a model and her leadership on coronavirus as a model. Now she's leading again and delaying this election. Tell us about it.

ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: That's absolutely right, Christine. It wasn't so long ago that New Zealand was celebrating over a 100 days in a row without a case of community transmission of COVID-19, now 58 new cases in a week. Nobody is sure how coronavirus got back into New Zealand yet, but the government is so worried that they believe that it's just not safe enough to go ahead with an election which was going to be on the September, the 19th.

Now, it's been pushed to October, the 17th in the hopes that, that will be a time in which it can go ahead. Now, this isn't a decision that Jacinda Ardern; the Prime Minister of New Zealand would have made lightly, of course, no country would push back its Democratic prospect for no reason. But Jacinda Ardern is in politically a very strong position. Her Labor Party would haven looking forward to this election because people in New Zealand feel like generally, she's done a very good job of keeping a lid on New Zealand -- on coronavirus in New Zealand.

As we've said, a 100 days without a case, it's back now, people though, will feel like they're right back to the beginning trying to put a lid on a new outbreak there, Christine.

ROMANS: For us in Sydney, thank you so much.

JARRETT: All right, we're awaiting details on funeral plans for President Trump's younger brother, Robert Trump. He died Saturday in a New York City hospital at the age of 71. The President was able to pay one last visit to his brother in the hospital on Friday. President Trump is expected to attend the funeral, details of Robert Trump's illness have not been released, though, a source tells CNN, he had been sick for several months.

ROMANS: All right, 18 minutes past the hour, his season postponed, a college quarterback refuses to quit on playing this Fall. The "BLEACHER REPORT" next.

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ROMANS: All right, the Big 10 may have postponed its football season, but Ohio state's quarterback isn't giving up just yet. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "BLEACHER REPORT". Hi, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Hi, good morning Christine, yes, there are many people not happy that the Big 10 is not going to be playing football this Fall. And players, parents and fans, they're not giving up just yet. Ohio state quarterback Justin Fields who was one of the favorites to win the Heisman this year creating a petition on Moveon.org to reinstate the Fall football season. He shared it on social media calling it a matter close to his heart.

The petition has more than 200,000 signatures since it was launched yesterday morning. The 21-year-old wants the conference to allow individual teams and players to choose whether or not to participate in the upcoming season, adding they believe that safety protocols have been established and can be maintained to mitigate concerns of exposure to COVID-19. Now, the Big 10 has not commented yet on this petition.

Now, this comes as the NCAA's chief medical officer Dr. Brian Hainline told CNN over the weekend that Fall sports should not be happening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN HAINLINE, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, NCAA: The rationale for postponing the season is a few things really need to get in place, and one is the testing has to considerably shift in the United States. Right now, if testing stays as it is, there's no way we could go forward with sports.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right, PGA Tour in North Carolina over the weekend. Jim Herman stormed back to win the tournament by a stroke. Forty two-year- old saying the win came out of the blue. Herman golfed regularly with President Trump at his golf in New Jersey, and whenever he does golf with the president, he ends up winning a tournament soon after. Herman joking after hoisting the trophy yesterday that he needs to play with the president more often. And President Trump tweeting about the win saying, "great going, Jim. Proud of you."

All right, finally, what a moment for Alex Smith. The Washington football team quarterback getting cleared to practice yesterday, capping off a remarkable recovery from a leg injury that nearly cost him his life. Smith had 17 surgeries since shattering his leg in a game against the Texans 21 months ago.

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But he was determined to play again, and now he's back with his teammates and announces family, such a cool moment celebrating the news with a campaign shower in the driveway. His wife Elizabeth posting the video with the message, "hard work pays off". And I'll tell you what, Laura, I mean, that's a day that many people thought was not going to happen. I remember when he injured that leg, I mean, it was just a horrible injury. Good luck to him as he tries to get back on the field. What a comeback.

JARRETT: Yes, it's so great to see him celebrating with his family there. All right, Andy, nice to see you this morning.

SCHOLES: Right.

JARRETT: All right, still ahead, a coronavirus cluster of hundreds of people has been traced back to a church in South Korea. We have a live report for you up next.

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