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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Democratic National Convention's First Night Runs Ideological Gamut; President Trump Casts Doubt On Election With USPS Conspiracy Theories; Coronavirus Cases Spike In South Korea. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired August 18, 2020 - 05:30   ET

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


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[05:31:48]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: Let me be as honest and clear as I possibly can. Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: It is what it is, she says. The former first lady comes out with an urgent plea for the country on night one of the Democratic Convention. But a woman outside the political arena may have had the most searing indictment of the president.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And the head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force admits U.S. lockdowns could have been stronger. Now, a major American university is forced to stop all classes on campus.

Good morning, this is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: And I'm Laura Jarrett. About 32 minutes past the hour here in New York.

And we begin with Democrats trying to make their best case for Joe Biden by prosecuting the case against President Trump.

Night one of the Democratic National Convention ran the ideological gamut, featuring Democrats from all parts of the country and party, and even a few Republicans to drive home the point. But maybe the most powerful speech of the night coming from a woman who lost her father to COVID-19.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTIN URQUIZA, LOST FATHER TO COVID-19: Dad was a healthy 65-year- old. His only preexisting condition was trusting Donald Trump -- and for that, he paid with his life. The coronavirus has made it clear that there are two Americas -- the America that Donald Trump lives in and the America that my father died in. Enough is enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Democrats trying to use the socially-distanced convention to highlight the character of the party's choice to take on Trump. For example, pre-produced video included a short discussion led by Joe Biden on racial justice and a video highlighting the rail-commuting former senator's relationships with -- friendships with Amtrak workers.

The agenda capped with stinging rebukes of the president, including one from Michelle Obama.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny is in Delaware.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, it was that speech from former first lady Michelle Obama that really captivated the country on Monday night during the first night of the Democratic National Convention.

Certainly, an unconventional convention held virtually across the country -- no one gathering in one spot because of coronavirus. But it was the speech from Michelle Obama. The words just reverberated and resounded.

OBAMA: Let me be as honest and clear as I possibly can. Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country. He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job but he is clearly in over his head.

He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is. You simply cannot fake your way through this job.

As I've said before, being president doesn't change who you are, it reveals who you are. Well, a presidential election can reveal who we are, too.

If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can and they will if we don't make a change in this election.

[05:35:01]

ZELENY: We have never heard a former first lady speak in such direct, overt political tones against the sitting president. She implored, in perhaps only a way that should could, she's not a politician by trade -- simply implored voters to turn out and pay attention and vote in this election.

Senator Bernie Sanders also delivering a very strong speech, calling on progressives who supported him or other candidates in the primary to get behind Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. He said now is not the time for differences, now is not the time for disunity. Elect Joe Biden and then work on progressive ideas.

So it was an evening certainly unconventional, but the speeches just ran the gamut of ideology.

And now, the second night of the convention is going to feature Jill Biden. She will be delivering a speech from a school here in Delaware where she's a longtime school teacher, herself. Bill Clinton will also be delivering remarks.

This is all building up to Joe Biden accepting the nomination here in Wilmington on Thursday -- Christine and Laura.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: You know, Christine, it's interesting. One party operative told Jeff Zeleny that they wished Michelle Obama could speak every night, and you can see why. She was known as the closer --

ROMANS: Right.

JARRETT: -- on her husband's campaign and she is really making the kind of emotional plea so many Democrats have wanted to see.

ROMANS: Even her necklace with the message V-O-T-E. She says she wants everyone to vote in such big numbers for Joe Biden that there is no question on election night and the day after the election who won and who has the heart of the country.

JARRETT: Yes, and we'll see what happens tonight.

All right, turning now to coronavirus. The country's experiment with reopening schools amid a pandemic seeing some major problems already. At least 17 states that started in-person classes have now been forced to retreat on those programs because of outbreaks.

The latest and most prominent example, UNC-Chapel Hill, where 19,000 undergrads will no longer come to class on campus after about 130 students tested positive in just the first week since in-person teaching began.

ROMANS: The UNC student newspaper summing up the situation in a way that we can't say out loud.

TEXT: "UNC has a cluster**** on its hands."

ROMANS: Covid clusters illustrate the difficulty of bringing your people together during a pandemic.

One state that had to scale back school, Oklahoma. Still, the annual Weedstock Music Festival is set to bring thousands to Stillwater, Oklahoma, starting Thursday, despite protests from the mayor.

The White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator, looking back on the early days of the pandemic in the U.S., said she wishes restrictions had been tighter.

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DEBORAH BIRX, RESPONSE COORDINATOR, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: I wish that when we went into lockdown we looked like Italy. But when Italy locked down -- I mean, people weren't allowed out of their houses. Americans don't react well to that kind of prohibition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Americans don't react well to mixed messages and lack of leadership. And over the past three weeks, the U.S. has averaged more than 1,000 COVID-19 deaths per day. The virus is the number-three cause of death now in the U.S., killing more Americans than Alzheimer's, accidents, or diabetes.

And as more students head back to school, health experts see a concerning trend -- less testing as positivity rates surge. In other words, COVID-19 is still spreading rampantly but there is less testing to find and isolate the cases. Fifteen states conducted fewer tests this past week compared to the previous one, Christine.

ROMANS: Meantime, New York is now reporting its lowest positivity rate since the crisis began. The governor of New York announcing that gyms can reopen starting next week at one-third capacity.

And guess where these pictures are from. This is Wuhan, China -- ground zero for the pandemic. Now, after one of the world's strictest lockdowns, thousands gathered at Wuhan's water park over the weekend for a music festival as coronavirus concerns recede.

All right. President Trump launching his most intensive campaign swing since the pandemic. He's sowing doubt over the election with renewed conspiracy theories about the postal service.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has agreed to testify before Congress next week. Democrats say his new policies are slowing down mail service ahead of what is expected to be a surge of mail-in voting.

Even the Republican attorney general in the critical swing state of Ohio is now calling for President Trump to delay the changes the administration is making at the postal service.

JARRETT: On Monday, the president asked on Twitter, "So who is going to collect the ballots and what might be done to them prior to tabulation?"

All this rhetoric from the president is weighing on American postal workers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK DIMONDSTEIN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION: There's a lot of dismay. Postal workers are extremely dedicated to serving the people of this country. These policies are having a huge impact. Mail is being delayed, mail is slowing down. And, of course, to us, that drives business away, it drives more revenue away, and it's troubling on every front.

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[05:40:00]

JARRETT: President Trump denied encouraging the postmaster general to slow down the mail Monday, despite directly saying just last week that he opposes additional funding for the postal service to aid mail-in voting.

Now, the House is set to return Saturday to vote on $25 billion for the postal service, over the president's objections.

ROMANS: Yes, many blame Jeff Bezos and Amazon for the problems there, not his own administration.

All right, the United States has cut off Huawei's access to vital computer chips, putting its entire business at risk. New sanctions from the Commerce Department restrict any foreign semiconductor company from selling chips developed or produced using U.S. software or technology to Huawei without getting a license first. Huawei relies on foreign-made semiconductors to power its 5G telecom gear.

This is just the latest example of a tech cold war in a deteriorating U.S.-China relationship. In the last three weeks, the Trump administration has threatened bans on TikTok and WeChat and signaled it could restrict Alibaba's operations in the U.S. These new restrictions could mean, though, U.S. companies will also suffer.

"The Wall Street Journal" reports Qualcomm has been lobbying for a license to sell chips to Huawei, arguing the tech giant generates billions in sales for the firm.

JARRETT: All right, a programming note for you. Joe Biden's wife, Dr. Jill Biden, headlines night two of the Democratic National Convention. CNN's special live coverage of the convention continues tonight starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern.

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[05:45:37]

JARRETT: Welcome back.

The South Korean military is banning off-base travel and suspending leaves because of a spike in coronavirus. And government health officials say this week could be a critical turning point determining whether a cluster in Seoul grows into a nationwide epidemic.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is live for us in Seoul. Paula, what more are you learning about what steps the government is taking to try to stem the tide here?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Laura, just in the past hour, the prime minister has announced some new decisions. He has said that from now on, in the greater Seoul area, there will be no in-person church services. From now on, there will only be online services. And this is an attempt to try and contain this latest outbreak. And also, some of the high-risk facilities like clubs, buffet restaurants, karaoke bars -- they will all be shut in the Seoul area and surrounding areas as well.

Now, they say that if they don't manage to contain this within the capital, it will become a nationwide epidemic.

And this really all stems from one particular church here in Seoul. More than 450 positive coronavirus cases have come from that one particular church as health officials struggle to contain this latest cluster.

Now, the vice health minister has said that this could be the early stages of a massive recurrence, pointing out that already, this cluster has spread to other churches, to health facilities, and also to call centers.

Meanwhile, officials with the World Health Organization, in a virtual meeting this Tuesday, said that they believe that the Asia-Pacific region is entering a new phase of the coronavirus -- namely, that more younger people are starting to catch the virus. And said that that is worrying because they are less likely to be showing significant symptoms -- Laura.

JARRETT: All right, Paula. Thank you for staying on top of this for us.

ROMANS: All right, 47 minutes past the hour.

Ten months after the NBA season first tipped off, the playoffs are finally underway. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's Bleacher Report. Hi, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (via Cisco Webex): Yes, good morning, Christine.

You know, if they write a book one day about sports in 2020, the NBA is going to be chapter one about how to play during a pandemic. The Bubble there in Orlando continues to be a great success.

And the NBA Playoffs tipping off yesterday. We had some awesome games.

Luka Doncic making his playoff's debut for the Mavs last night and he did not disappoint, pouring in 42 points, which is the most ever by a player in their first post-season game.

Now, he had a little controversy in this one in the third quarter. Marcus Morris is going to grab Luka there after a foul was called, and Kristaps Porzingis goes over to back up Luka. Morris ends up pushing Porzingis. They both get double technicals and it was Porzingis' second of the game, so he was ejected.

LeBron James was watching. He weighed in on Twitter saying, "Man, that was bogus as hell, man! C'mon." Patrick Mahomes chiming in as well with "That's trash, man!"

The Clippers ended up beating the Mavs 118 to 110.

Now, the Nuggets and Jazz, meanwhile, playing a thriller earlier in the day.

Jazz star Donovan Mitchell was just on fire. He went for 57 points. That's the highest single-game playoff total in team history and it was third-most in NBA post-season history. The 23-year-old also the youngest to score 50 or more in a playoff game since Michael Jordan all the way back in 1986.

But it still wasn't enough to overcome Jamal Murray and the Nuggets. Denver winning game one 135 to 125 in overtime.

The playoffs are going to continue with four games on our sister channel TNT. Giannis and the Bucks are going to get things started today against the Magic at 1:30 eastern. LeBron and the Lakers, they take on the red-hot Blazers in the nightcap. That tips off at 9:00 eastern.

All right, the NFL, meanwhile, will kick off its season on September 10th with fans in the stands. The Super Bowl champion Chiefs will host the Texans at Arrowhead Stadium with 22 percent capacity. That's about 17,000 fans that are going to be allowed in.

After consulting with health officials and the NFL, the Chiefs say tickets will be sold in groups of six seats or less. Fans will be required to wear masks at all times unless they are actively eating or drinking. Tailgating will be allowed in the parking lots.

[05:50:00]

All right, college football teams are playing this fall, hitting the field for practice yesterday.

Nick Saban entering his 15th season with Alabama. Saban says they're taking every precaution on the team. And he was asked about students on campus not wearing masks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK SABAN, HEAD COACH, ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE: I think democracy is great and I think people that have all these freedoms, I think that's all great. But I think there's one thing that is probably a common denominator that really makes all that work, and that's that people have great moral integrity in the choices and decisions that they make.

And I'm not criticizing anybody here but a lot of people have asked that we wear masks when we're in public. When we're in crowds, when we're in large groups of people that we keep social-distanced. And I don't think they're doing that just for the heck of it.

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SCHOLES: Yes. So, Laura, if you're not going to listen to your local officials and wear a mask, at least listen to Coach Saban. JARRETT: Yes, some sage wisdom there from him.

All right, Andy. Thanks so much.

SCHOLES: All right.

JARRETT: All right.

Federal prosecutors are charging a former CIA officer with selling U.S. defense secrets to China for more than a decade. The cases unsealed in Hawaii just yesterday, claim Alexander Yuk China Ma was paid tens of thousands of dollars for information about CIA personnel and tradecraft. Ma joins a growing list of former Intel officials accused by the U.S. in recent years of spying on behalf of the Chinese.

ROMANS: President Trump heads to Iowa today for a look at the damage from a storm that ravaged the state last week. Hurricane-force wind gusts over 100 miles an hour damaged or destroyed more than 8,000 homes and 13 million acres of corn. This was, essentially, an inland hurricane here. Ninety percent of customers affected by the storm are expected to have power back by midnight tonight.

JARRETT: In California, no rolling power outages as officials feared on Monday. There could still be power shutoffs this week amid a record-setting heat wave.

Fire crews are also fighting about 30 wildfires in the sweltering heat there. More than 225,000 acres have been scorched.

This extraordinary heat wave is the west coast's hottest in 70 years. Death Valley hit 130 degrees Sunday, Christine, if you can believe that.

ROMANS: Unbelievable -- all right.

Three top producers at "THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW" are out following a report in BuzzFeed last month detailing staffers' claims of harassment, intimidation, and racism. In an e-mail to staff at the time, DeGeneres admitted not being able to stay on top of everything.

Yesterday, according to "The Hollywood Reporter," she apologized in a Zoom call with her staff. She apologized for hurting people's feelings.

The show was distributed by another unit of CNN's parent company, WarnerMedia.

JARRETT: Well, it may have taken 18 years but now, two men are charged in the murder of Jam Master Jay, the pioneering deejay of Run DMC. The hip-hop star whose real name was Jason Mizell, was shot and killed in his New York recording studio back in 2002. Police say the shooting followed a cocaine deal gone wrong.

Both suspects face at least 20 years in prison if convicted.

ROMANS: All right, let's get a check on CNN Business this morning.

On Wall Street, futures leaning higher here. Wall Street seems unfazed by collapsed stimulus talks, the pandemic, and renewed tensions between the U.S. and China.

The Nasdaq hit a record high Monday. The S&P 500 closed just below its February record. The Dow closed 86 points lower.

CureVac, a German biotech company working on a coronavirus vaccine, soared nearly 40 percent.

Up to 300 Pizza Huts will close after the bankruptcy of one of its largest franchisees. NPC International announced an agreement with Pizza Hut's owner, Yum! Brands, to close roughly a quarter of its restaurants and sell their remaining locations. NPC filed for bankruptcy in July.

It's a stark contrast to Domino's, where -- which said it will hire 20,000 new employees as demand surges there.

After filing for bankruptcy for a second time and closing all of its U.S. stores last year, Payless is attempting a comeback. The discount retailer thinks now is a good time to attract budget-conscious shoppers. It sells shoes as low as about 10 bucks a pair. Payless plans to reopen its first U.S. store in Miami, in November.

Soon, you won't have to wait hours at the Genius Bar to fix your Mac. Apple is expanding its independent repair program to allow shops to fix the devices. The expanded program could make it faster and easier for customers to access repairs for out-of-warranty issues. More than 140 independent repair shops are part of this program.

JARRETT: I like this one. After exchanging their vows, one newlywed couple in Ohio grabbed some hairnets and they got to work donating what would have been the food at their wedding party to a women's shelter in Cleveland.

Like so many other couples, Melanie and Tyler Tapajna had to change their wedding plans because of coronavirus and opted to ditch the large party, but not the tux and their gown. After a small backyard wedding, the couple headed over to Laura's Home to serve food to 135 women and children -- obviously making the best of that situation.

[05:55:12]

ROMANS: Really -- what a generous offer. That's fantastic.

JARRETT: Absolutely.

ROMANS: All right, thanks for joining us this morning -- this Tuesday morning. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: In the age of a pandemic, an unusual Democratic National Convention now underway.

OBAMA: You simply cannot fake your way through this job. Being president doesn't change who you are, it reveals who you are.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Joe Biden will end the hate and division Trump has created.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just getting Americans to wear masks has been.

END