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USPS Stops Removing Collection Boxes; Belarus Leader Won't Hold Elections; Outbreak in South Korea tied to a Church; New Poll in Presidential Race; Iran Paid Bounties to Taliban. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired August 17, 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]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: About these sorters that are being taken off line and some of the boxes that have been removed. Allegedly the administration says this will stop.

How much of a problem is that and what's the real problem in terms of the delivery slowdown that many people have seen around the country?

JESSICA HUSEMAN, REPORTER, "PROPUBLICA": Right. You know, I think that people are very focused on these sorters, they're very focused on the boxes being removed. And, in my mind, those are actually not the problem at all. And the Trump administration's pledge to stop removing those items before the election is basically a PR stunt. These pieces of equipment have been scheduled for removal for quite some time. In many cases that predates the tenure of Mr. DeJoy, who is currently running the USPS.

The real problems are the ones that Mr. DeJoy has made himself in relation to the policies of the USPS. So, for example, he has barred people from working overtime, which is very important if you're a mail delivery person, if you can't get all of your packages and all of your mail delivered on your first route, you'll often go back or they will send someone else to complete your route or if mail comes in late in the day that is still delivered that day. And -- or it's still shipped for delivery that day. That is now no longer happening. And you and I can both sort of think about scenarios in our mind in which those things that have yet to be delivered are ballots.

And the USPS has pledged to continue to push forward and make sure that the election can happen, and they have been planning for this since even before Mr. DeJoy got into his position. So the capacity is certainly there. But these policy changes about overtime and about multiple runs could really hamper the ability of ballots to get from point A to point B.

BERMAN: You know, we talk about ballots. And a big part of this and our concern has to do with Election Day, which is now 80 some days away. But there are a lot of people in a lot of parts of the country that depend on timely delivery of mail. We've had Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia, which has got a lot of rural, hard to reach areas, and he's up in arms about people not getting their prescription drugs, about people not getting, in some cases, their Social Security checks, in some cases not getting things they need and can only get through the Postal Service.

HUSEMAN: Right. You know, and I -- I personally relate to this very -- very well. I -- I own property in rural east Texas and, you know, FedEx doesn't deliver there. DHL doesn't deliver there. The UPS doesn't even deliver to my street. So I have to rely on USPS, even when I order something and it's shipped by UPS, the last mile is always done by USPS. So I think that it's really important to remember that even though urban and suburban communities could probably function OK in a situation in which the USPS doesn't exist, rural communities would feel even more isolated than they already are. These founders of these United States envisioned USPS to bind the country together. And I think that the country would still remain bound as long as you live in an urban or suburban area if the USPS were to go away or were to be hampered beyond the point where it was effective, but rural communities would not have that same luxury.

BERMAN: Jessica Huseman, Merry Christmas to you. We invite you to come back over the course of this election and talk to us about the facts of mail-in voting because I think it's so important that people get them. We appreciate your time.

HUSEMAN: Thanks so much.

BERMAN: All right, South Korea scrambling to contain a large outbreak contained to a church -- or tied to a church. Hundreds of churchgoers have tested positive. We have a live report from Seoul, next.

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[06:37:33]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Break overnight, the embattled leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, declaring he will not hold another election, quote, until you kill me. The administration is cracking down on protesters who say last week's election was rigged.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is live in the capital of Belarus with all of the breaking details.

What's the situation on the ground, Fred?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Alisyn.

Well, the opposition, despite that crackdown, is still making a lot of headway here. In fact, yesterday, they had what many people say was the largest opposition demonstration in this country's history, getting about 100,000 people onto the streets, obviously with a message saying that they want Lukashenko to step down and they want new elections.

Now, Lukashenko, at the same time, tried to hold a rally himself but he actually had to bus in protesters to that and that rally was still a lot smaller.

Now, what we have going on today is that there's a general strike going on that was called by the opposition. The place that I'm standing here right now was actually state TV, which is normally a big propaganda arm of Alexander Lukashenko's regime. However, here the anchors have walked off. They say they want to report truthfully on the protesters that are going on and they also want to be able to report on the detentions and that crackdown that have been happening.

By the way, guys, this walkout here was initiated by the camera operators and photo journalists, but it's one of many walkouts in all sorts of industries throughout the country. Alexander Lukashenko tried to go to an event today and speak to some loyal supporters but even there he was shouted down by the crowd saying, go away, go away. So it seems has though his position is getting weaker by the minute.

At the same time, there's some fear here on the ground that Lukashenko may be trying to draw in Vladimir Putin into all of this. Lukashenko claiming there was some sort of NATO build-up at the borders with Belarus. NATO was quick to reject that. There have been some phone calls between Putin and Lukashenko but so far it doesn't seem as though Russia has any appetite of doing anything here in Belarus, John.

BERMAN: Yes, some dangerous rhetoric from Lukashenko there.

Frederik Pleitgen in Belarus.

Frederik, please be careful. It's important to have you there so we can see what's going on. Appreciate it.

Developing overnight, South Korea reporting nearly 200 new coronavirus cases as the government there scrambles to contain a large, new outbreak linked to a church. More than 300 members of one church have now tested positive.

CNN's Paula Hancocks live in Seoul with the latest here.

You know, people have been told, indoor gatherings at places like churches are problematic, yet, here we go again.

[06:40:02]

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, John. I mean if you feel like we have been here before in South Korea, it's because we have. Back in February and March, that was how this pandemic really took off here with thousands related to one religious gathering testing positive. So this is another church gathering, now more than 300 have tested positive, including the reverend himself.

Now, just a couple of days ago, on Saturday, that reverend went to an anti-government protest in downtown Seoul where thousands of people have congregated. It had been banned by the police because of the virus, but they went ahead anyway. And he gave a speech to the people there and he was not wearing a mask as he was doing that speech. So, clearly, there are now concerns as to whether or not he may have infected others at that protest.

So with this church itself, now health officials say that they are still trying to track hundreds of the congregation. More than 1,000, they say, that they haven't contacted. At this point they've got the police involved to try and track them down, to make sure that they get a test and that they quarantine themselves.

Now, the health minister has said that this has the potential to be massive, if it is not handled correctly. In fact, on Saturday, the number of new coronavirus cases here in South Korea was at a five- month high. So there are concerns that this could turn into what we saw a number of months ago at the beginning of this pandemic, once again, a church being implicated here.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, again, it is increasing in South Korea but still nowhere near the rates or at the levels we're seeing here in the United States. Important to keep that in perspective.

Paula Hancocks, thank you so much for being there. Appreciate it.

So CNN has a brand-new national poll on the state of the presidential race. This is on the morning of the first night of the Democratic Convention. The numbers here might surprise you. That's next.

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[06:45:41]

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, we have a brand-new CNN national poll that shows the 2020 presidential race tightening just ahead of the Democratic National Convention, which begins tonight. We are now just 78 days away from Election Day.

Joining us now, CNN political commentator Karen Finney. She was a senior spokesperson for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. Also with us, Mark McKinnon, he was an adviser for the Bush and McCain presidential campaigns and was a key player in the 2000 and 2004 Republican National Conventions.

Mark, I want to start with you.

The CNN poll does shows the race tightening. What does that tell you and what does it tell you that the Democrats and the Biden campaign need to do in this bizzaro convention week?

MARK MCKINNON, FORMER ADVISER TO BUSH AND MCCAIN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS: Well, it tells you it's not over until it's over. This is a huge lifeline for the Trump campaign. It's been months and months of bad polling. So I think they're out there probably printing millions of copies of this and air dropping it over key battleground states.

But it also testifies to the importance of the convention, John, because this is a -- this is a real opportunity. This and the debates are going to be where people really focus on Joe Biden and -- and his running mate, Kamala Harris. So -- and, subsequently, the Republican Convention. So, you know, the polls are tightening and the message to the Biden campaign is, don't take anything for granted and run like you're 20 points down no matter what the polls show.

CAMEROTA: Karen, speaking of battleground states, let's pull that up right now because they are tied in battleground states. So at the moment, in this new CNN poll, Biden has 49 percent and President Trump has 48 percent.

And I'm just wondering, do you think that the tightening that we're seeing here does mean that President Trump has successfully exploited the unrest that we've seen in places like Portland that he has hit so hard as claiming that that's what Democrats cause?

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't think we know that from voters. What I do think we know, as Mark said, though, is it means Democrats, some of us have been saying this all along, you have -- you can't take anything for granted. And, frankly, I was expecting things to tighten up at some point. And, you know, hopefully coming out of the convention we'll get -- you know, the Democrats will get a bounce. Obviously, Trump will likely get a bounce coming out of his convention.

But the other thing in the poll that I thought was so important was that the enthusiasm was deepening. And that was really important because, you know, at about this time in 2016, you all may remember, we were looking at polls and while Hillary was ahead, that enthusiasm, the depth of that enthusiasm was not quite there. And so to see that -- that's what you really need, people energized and excited and knowing that you're going to make a plan to go vote in this -- in this period of time.

BERMAN: Just so people know, there's an ABC News/"Washington Post" poll out this morning which shows a ten-point spread among likely voters, which is much bigger. There's the NBC News/"Wall Street Journal" poll, which shows a much bigger spread. Different polls show different things. The CNN poll does show= the race tightening.

Karen, I want to stick with you and talk about the convention and talk about enthusiasm. Michelle Obama speaks tonight. She's the biggest name who's going to take -- I don't even -- I keep saying take the stage. I don't think she's going on a stage. Take the whatever, you know?

FINNEY: Take to the Zoom.

BERMAN: Take the living room.

FINNEY: Right.

BERMAN: I don't know how it works in this thing. But -- but how you get the enthusiasm you need to get? What do you think we're going to see from her?

FINNEY: I think -- yes, look, Michelle Obama knows how to bring down the house. She certainly did it in 2016, as you remember. Some people were hoping she'd run on the ticket as the VP. So I think she's going to do a fantastic job. And, you know, tonight is about -- I mean the whole theme of the

convention is about unity. And tonight is going to be a sort of "we the people." And who better than Michelle Obama to start us off and to remind us and reground us. She has such a fantastic ability to reground us into what really matters and our values and what we're fighting for in this moment.

So -- and I think they've done -- you know, the convention folks have done a really fantastic job of trying to create moments in a way that you couldn't do, frankly, if we were all in one place. Sorry, Milwaukee, because we'd love to be there. But they've really tried to take advantage and be creative with the fact that we'll be in different locations and having speakers use those locations to help tell a story.

CAMEROTA: Mark, I know that before this you were ready to retire the conventions entirely, thought that perhaps they had outlived their usefulness.

[06:50:04]

Do you think this kind of reimagines them and recharges them, or is this on its way to extinction?

MCKINNON: Well, you know, I had some responsibility for the conventions in 2000 and 2004. And even then we had discussions about how -- just how anachronistic these things are. You know, the rolling five-day parties and balloon drops and bad speeches and bad entertainment, particularly on the Republican side and that we should reimagine it. And that's exactly what's happening right now. And I think that after we see what happens after the next couple of weeks, everybody's going to say Thank God at least the virus put the conventions out of our misery and they'll be forever changed in a way that's really positive.

So I think what's going to happen is both the parties are really focusing on what matters. That's the key speeches, the key messages and, you know, just something that's a TV show that people are going to watch. And so the -- the -- you know, it's a -- but it's still a big moment for both parties, so they want to maximize it. And they've never done it like this before. It's going to be interesting to see how both parties execute and who does it best.

BERMAN: I'm curious, though, Mark, and I have to say, and I know that you thought that the Kamala Harris roll-out last week was odd to have a vice presidential candidate rolled out with no cheers, but I had a different reaction. I -- you know, I worked with Diane Sawyer, who occasionally used to --

CAMEROTA: Oh, did you?

BERMAN: Who used to speak softly, but you would lean in, right? You would lean in and pay much closer attention sometimes because someone's not speaking as loudly. And I -- it had that effect with me when Biden and Harris were speaking without an audience, you started leaning in a little bit more and paying attention. So how do you reach people tonight, Mark, and who do you want to

reach?

MCKINNON: Well, that's a -- it's a great point, John, and we'll see how that works out because, you know, they -- in actuality, really great speeches are not speeches where people are yelling at a huge convention hall but the really good ones are conversations where people draw you in. And people like Michelle Obama do that really well and they've got a good roster of speakers.

But at the end of the day, what people are really going to focus on is the ticket and -- and not all the collateral celebrities and everybody else who's speaking, even though it will be helpful to the Democrats to show unity. And as Karen said, that's the theme. And what they want to show is, we don't have this internal fight, like we always do in the Democratic Party. The progressives are not taking over. It's not this battle between left and right. That we're all together.

And I think that they've done a better job with that than I can remember the Democrats doing in many, many years.

CAMEROTA: All right, Mark McKinnon and Karen Finney, thank you very much for previewing it all for us. We have two of the big speakers. We have Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker on the program today. So, stick around for that. You know, I used to work with Ted Koppel, OK?

BERMAN: Yes, but he doesn't whisper.

CAMEROTA: No, but he does have a really great voice.

BERMAN: The head tilt. When you tilt your head and little bit, you lean in and pay attention.

CAMEROTA: Yes. I think you're referring to his hair, which was also, I feel, attention grabbing.

BERMAN: When you part your hair on the wrong side, you lean in and pay attention.

CAMEROTA: They should never have put us back together.

CNN has brand-new reporting that Iran has paid Taliban fighters to target American and coalition troops in Afghanistan. How will President Trump respond to this? We have details for you in a live report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:56:50]

CAMEROTA: We have some breaking news for you right now.

CNN has just learned that an assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies has found that Iran, in addition to Russia, also paid bounties to Taliban fighters to target U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan.

CNN's Alex Marquardt is live in Washington with the breaking details.

What are you to understand, Alex?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

That's right, not just Russian bounties, as you mentioned, but we're also talking about Iranian bounties on U.S. forces. We've learned that Iran has also been paying Taliban fighters to target American and allied troops in Afghanistan in exchange for bounties. That is the phrasing from the Pentagon.

Now, last year alone, in 2019, U.S. intelligence identified payments linked to at least six attacks. One of them was a highly sophisticated attack in December at Bagram Air Base. That is the most prominent U.S. base in Afghanistan. That attack killed two civilians and injured dozens, including four American personnel. It was so sophisticated that U.S. air strikes had to be called in to kill the Taliban attackers.

Now, the name of the country that made those payments to the Haqqani Network, which is a branch of the Taliban, is classified, but two sources who are familiar with the intelligence told my colleague, Zach Cohen, that it refers to Iran.

So then the question became how to respond to those bounties on American troops. This past March, after a process that lasted around three months, multiple sources told CNN that the decision was made not to take specific action because it could jeopardize the U.S. peace process with the Taliban.

This is how one source described that months-long debate.

The object of concern was the relationship between Iran and the Taliban because it seemed like one that in any other year would have merited pretty concerted action. The overarching element to all of this has been the prioritization of the peace deal with the Taliban and that even going back to December 2019 was a well-known priority in terms of what the U.S. response would be to a potential incentivized attack backed by a foreign government.

Now, according to an internal memo that CNN obtained, the National Security Council did acknowledge that the relationship between Iran and the Haqqani Network posed a significant threat to U.S. interest but responding, that the NSC felt, would negatively impact those peace efforts.

Now, one current and another former administration official, they both tell CNN that the link between Iran and the Taliban was part of the argument for the U.S. killing of the Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani. You'll remember that took place back in January. But the fact that Iran paid the Taliban for that attack at Bagram in December, according to a document from the Pentagon, they said that it probably incentivizes future high-profile attacks on U.S. and coalition forces.

Now, in the days that followed that attack in December, U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, they condemned the attack, but the wounded Americans were never mentioned nor was Iran.

Now, we should note that we did hear back from the -- from the Pentagon, from a spokesman named Major Rob Lodewick.

[07:00:02]

He said in part that the administration has repeatedly demanded, both publicly and privately, that Iran cease its scourge.

END