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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Harris Accepts Historic Nomination, Obama Repudiates Trump; Birx: Top Official Warns Hopeful Coronavirus Trends Could Reverse If Not Careful; Work From Home Burnout And How To Treat It. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired August 20, 2020 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We will speak truths and we will act with the same faith in you that we ask you to place in us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Kamala Harris makes history accepting the Democratic nomination for vice president. Her opening act, President Obama, eviscerating his successor in a way he's never done before.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And it could take thousands of tests a day for colleges to manage the spread of coronavirus. A top official warns hopeful trends could reverse if people aren't careful.
Good morning, everyone, this is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
JARRETT: And I'm Laura Jarrett. About 30 minutes past the hour here in New York.
And on night three of the Democratic National Convention, the most prominent members of the party injecting a fierce sense of urgency for the Biden-Harris ticket. Running mates became the recurring theme of the night.
President Obama, at the convention for his former V.P., delivered a striking takedown of his successor on the same night Biden's own vice presidential pick accepted her historic nomination.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: My mother instilled in my sister Maya and me the values that would chart the course of our lives. And even as she taught us to keep our family at the center of our world, she also pushed us to see a world beyond ourselves. She taught us to be conscious and compassionate about the struggles of all people. To believe public service is a noble cause and the fight for justice is a shared responsibility. ROMANS: Ahead of Biden's own speech tonight, one ally tells CNN so
far, the convention has made Biden look real, decent, normal -- and that, the source says, is exactly what the country wants right now.
More from CNN's Jeff Zeleny.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, Sen. Kamala Harris accepted the nomination to be the vice presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket during a rousing speech last night in Wilmington, Delaware. She made history being on that stage as the first black woman, as the first Indian-American woman to accept a major party's nomination.
If elected in November, she would, of course, reach the highest heights of any woman elected official in this country. She did not dwell on that particularly in her speech. Her presence certainly made that point clear.
But, Sen. Harris also focused on the challenges facing the country. She only mentioned President Trump's name twice but she left no question that she is running, that Joe Biden is running to repair a wounded nation.
HARRIS: So make no mistake, the road ahead is not easy. We may stumble. We may fall short.
But I pledge to you that we will act boldly and deal with our challenges honestly. We will speak truths and we will act with the same faith in you that we ask you to place in us.
And let's be clear, there is no vaccine for racism. We have got to do the work for George Floyd, for Breonna Taylor, for the lives of too many others to name, for our children.
ZELENY: Of course, another very powerful speech on Wednesday night at the convention from former president Barack Obama. He was speaking virtually at this convention from Philadelphia, talking about democracy. The location was picked for a reason. He said, in blunt terms, the democracy of this country is, indeed, at stake.
He almost was delivering a presidential-like address. It was not a convention address because, of course, there was no applause. But he was summoning Americans to come to their better natures and do a course correction in November.
But he did have very strong words for President Trump.
BARACK OBAMA (D), FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have sat in the Oval Office with both of the men who are running for president.
I never expected that my successor would embrace my vision or continue my policies. I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously, but he never did. For close to four years now he has shown no interest in putting in the work, no interest in finding common ground, and no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends.
Donald Trump hasn't grown into the job because he can't, and the consequences of that failure are severe.
ZELENY: And those words were striking in the fact that a former president made them against a sitting president, but nothing has been usual about this relationship. Of course, Donald Trump spent years going after Barack Obama and his family, but that is not what drew the former president to the stage. He came to the stage and gave this type of speech because he believes America is at a turning point.
[05:35:12]
So finally, at the end of the evening, Joe Biden surprised the convention by appearing on stage with his wife Jill Biden and waving across the way to his new running mate, Kamala Harris, who was joined by her husband, Doug. Certainly different than previous years. No balloons were falling but it was that moment of unity.
Now, looking ahead to tonight's speech -- of course, this is the biggest moment of Joe Biden's political life. He's been running for president, really, for three decades or so but has never reached this period.
If he were to win he would only be the second vice president in American history to run and win outside the Oval Office, outside of the presidency, outside of the White House. Richard Nixon, of course, ran after leaving as vice president as well.
But, Joe Biden, I am told, is going to try and deliver an optimistic message, a forward-looking message. This election now less three months away -- Christine and Laura.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: Jeff, thank you so much.
Prominent women dominated the third night of the Democratic Convention. Hillary Clinton reflecting on her 2016 loss and warning this can't be another woulda, coulda, shoulda election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), 2016 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And don't forget, Joe and Kamala can win by three million votes and still lose. Take it from me. So we need numbers overwhelming so Trump can't sneak or steal his way to victory.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Gabby Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman who nearly died after being shot in 2011, made a forceful push for gun safety.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GABBY GIFFORDS (D), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Words once came easily. Today, I struggle to speak, but I have not lost my voice.
We are at a crossroads. We can let the shooting continue or we can act. We can protect our families, our future.
We can vote. We can be on the right side of history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: And, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, famous on the campaign trail for her plans, said Joe Biden has really good plans.
Warren sending subtle messages, too. BLM, for Black Lives Matter, was spelled out in block letters in the background. There was also a U.S. mail shirt hanging to the side -- a nod to protecting the postal service and the people who work there.
JARRETT: Turning now to coronavirus. It would take thousands of tests every day for colleges to stay as COVID-free as possible.
The response coordinator for the White House, Dr. Deborah Birx -- well, she held a call yesterday with state and local leaders. Here is what she said in some audio obtained by the Center for Public Integrity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, RESPONSE COORDINATOR, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: This last trip through the Heartland really brings attention to how each university not only has to do entrance testing, but what we talked to every university about is being to do surge testing. How are you going to do 5,000 samples in one day or 10,000 samples in one day?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Schools are facing mounting challenges as they try to reopen.
Several students at the University of Connecticut were evicted from dorms after an on-campus party. At the University of Mississippi, 15 athletes testing positive, including 11 on one team. And juniors in the nursing program at the Mississippi University of Women shifting to remote learning for two weeks after four students tested positive.
JARRETT: At the same time, the death toll remains stubbornly high. Think about this. Friends and family of more than 1,300 Americans lost a loved one yesterday.
New cases are falling or holding steady in most of the country but the concern is still high in the south. The White House task force recommendation obtained by "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" says Georgia should be doing more to fight this virus.
ROMANS: Georgia, Texas, and Florida lead the country in coronavirus cases per capita despite declines over the last few weeks. The nation's top official in charge of testing says encouraging trends can turn bad quickly.
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ADM. BRETT GIROIR, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: We need to be absolutely diligent about adherence to public health recommendations or else we could have flares and outbreaks. This thing could turn around very quickly if we're not careful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: To put it another way, it's easy for a good trend to turn bad.
One person who spent hours at a bar during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota last week has now tested positive for COVID-19. Hundreds of thousands of people attended that rally and health experts are worried it could turn out to be a super-spreader event.
ROMANS: Massachusetts plans to require flu vaccines for children to stay enrolled in public schools and daycare facilities, becoming the first state to require flu shots for children over the age of five.
In Detroit, teachers just authorized a potential strike over coronavirus safety fears. And the New York City Teachers Union is threatening to strike if safety measures are not adequate.
JARRETT: While this virus is still ravaging the country, President Trump was helping to elevate a fringe movement that's now gaining a foothold in the Republican Party.
[05:40:04]
Take a listen to what the president said when asked last night about QAnon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: At the crux of the theory is this belief that you are secretly saving the world from this satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals. Does that sound like something you are behind or --
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I haven't -- I haven't heard that, but is that supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing? Well, I don't know much about the movement other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: A bad thing or a good thing? It's a conspiracy theory founded in nothing.
Several Republican primaries have been won by candidates touting this conspiracy theory, including one in Florida, Tuesday, who President Trump publicly congratulated. The White House says the president hasn't done a deep dive into candidates with fringe views -- however, he did not congratulate other primary winners Tuesday night.
ROMANS: That's -- wow. (INAUDIBLE) 2020.
All right. As small business owners struggle during the pandemic, big- box retailers are shattering records.
Target reported its strongest quarterly growth ever Wednesday. Digital sales, which included delivery and curbside pickup -- look at that -- up 195 percent from the same quarter last year.
Unemployment benefits and stimulus checks boosting consumer spending and consumers are spending differently. Online sales from Walmart soared 97 percent. Home Depot and Lowe's, they benefited from shoppers focused on DIY projects and lawn care. Staying home in the pandemic, spending money on your nest.
Tech giants like Amazon seem impervious to the pandemic. Its sales climb 43 percent in the quarter.
And, Apple was briefly worth more than $2 trillion Wednesday. It took 38 years to hit its first trillion and only about five months for the second trillion since the pandemic began.
But the pandemic has not treated the broader retail market the same. Chains that had to temporarily close stores or don't sell food have struggled. Sales for the parent company of T.J. Maxx, Home Goods, and Marshalls fell 32 percent for the quarter. Its stores were closed for nearly a third of the quarter.
We've seen bankruptcies for food service, iconic retail brands, and gyms, movie theaters, cruise lines, ticket hubs, like StubHub all struggling to survive, showing you that in the pandemic there are definite winners and definite losers.
We'll be right back.
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[05:46:38]
ROMANS: California fire crews stretched to the limit fighting hundreds of wildfire across the state. And new evacuations ordered overnight, including a hospital in Napa County. More than 300,000 acres have burned with temperatures in some areas soaring over 100 degrees.
Nearly 11,000 lightning strikes have sparked hundreds of wildfires over the last three days. Twenty-three of the fires are major, including one where arson is suspected.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God. Oh my (bleep) God, it's terrible. I can feel the heat, dude.
(END VIDEO CLIP) JARRETT: I can't imagine driving through that. Flames and smoke on both sides of the I-80 in Vacaville as people evacuated.
Tens of thousands of families at risk of losing homes and businesses. One couple who lost their house said they were told there were not enough fire trucks to use in their neighborhood. The state fire agency has requested 375 fire engines from out of state to assist with this.
ROMANS: All right.
When the pandemic first hit, working from home was something of a novelty. But now, months later, remote work burnout is growing. As CNN's Clare Sebastian tells us, some companies are taking steps to help their employees cope.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, CBS "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Hi, welcome to my bathroom.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Back in the spring, we were still able to laugh about working from home and its potential pitfalls. Five months on, many no longer see the funny side.
STEVEN KHONG, CEO, CURACUBBY: What started off as, like, a vacation from the office, I believe has turned into more of like a -- gosh, I don't want to use the word imprisonment because it sounds so negative, but it's starting to feel like that.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Steven Khong runs Curacubby, a 4-year-old startup that provides I.T. and payment solutions to preschools and daycares.
KHONG: All our employees are amazing and I know they're really resilient -- but when four out of six people come to us and they're like they, there could be an emotional breakdown coming pretty soon. When you're in an environment where there is no physical proximity, everything just feels like there's no end to the day.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): And that is showing up in statistics. The National Bureau of Economic Research estimated in July that working from home means the average person's workday is 48.5 minutes longer based on their analysis of a sample of workers in North America, Europe, and the Middle East.
That's partly due to sending e-mails after hours and for many of us, it isn't a normal work-from-home situation.
PETER CAPPELLI, PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, WHARTON SCHOOL: If you have school-aged kids at home and they're trying to do schoolwork at the same time that you're trying to do office work, then you're trying to do both jobs at the same time and a lot of that is new. It is not a particularly balanced experiment.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Another challenge, convincing employees to take time off. New York venture capital firm Eniac Ventures is shutting down completely for two weeks this month to make sure employees rest.
And some are taking more drastic measures. Elephant Ventures, a software and data engineering company, is now testing a four-day workweek with 10-hour days.
ART SCHECTMAN, CEO, ELEPHANT VENTURES: A four-day week also helps you create a clear boundary between work and life and it helps restore some of that balance for folks when they're working from home, and then added productivity benefits of having a much earlier start.
KHONG: Curacubby team, welcome to another hour of 2000's trivia.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Steven Khong is planning more virtual events, like this trivia night, to help boost morale. He's even looking into partnering with a customer to provide employees with childcare. He's worried for his company's future.
[05:50:10]
KHONG: If we were to hire five people right now, how do you train them? You can't get them all in one room. The sense of cohorts have kind of disappeared. I think that there could be potential delay in our ability to meet certain goals for the company based on the lack of efficiency and scaling.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Clare Sebastian, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: All right, thank you so much for that story. I'm sure it resonates with a lot of people working from home right now. The state of Michigan is expected to announce a substantial settlement in the Flint water crisis. A report suggests it could be as high as $600 million.
The settlement would be used to pay claims and several lawsuits seeking damages for lead poisoning and Legionnaire's Disease that has been pending in court for years. However, details still need to be worked out because of the large number of defendants and cases.
ROMANS: Seven hundred fifty million genetically-engineered mosquitoes have been approved for release in the Florida Keys. Many local residents and environmental advocacy groups are opposed to the plan. The project is designed to test whether a genetically modified mosquito is a viable alternative to insecticides to control the species of mosquito that carries several deadly diseases.
JARRETT: Well, grandma's advice may be backed up by a new study that finds honey may be better treating cold and coughs than over-the- counter medicine. (Audio gap) found honey to be more effective in relieving those symptoms. Researchers encourage doctors to recommend it as an alternative to antibiotics, noting it's cheap, readily available, and has virtually no side effects.
Well, a treasure trove of rare artifacts discovered under floorboards in the attic of a moted mansion in Norfolk, England. The items include manuscripts, handwritten music, and a prayer book dating as far back as 600 years. An archeologist working alone during the pandemic made the discoveries during restoration of Oxford Hall, a popular tourist attraction.
ROMANS: Well, that's something.
All right, let's take a look at markets around the world. Asian shares are closed for the day. European markets have opened and everything's down a little bit here.
On Wall Street, looking at futures this morning, futures down as well here but the Dow still solidly above 27,000. Stocks closed lower Wednesday following minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting. The Dow finished 85 points lower. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both fell slightly one day after hitting record highs.
So the central bank reminded investors that the recovery is fragile and its path depends on how well leaders deal with the virus.
Americans nervous about the economy are keeping their money in the bank and in treasury bonds that earn basically nothing. The average interest rate generated by a standard savings account is just 0.1 percent. The 10-year treasury rate is hovering around 0.68 percent.
Still, Americans have set aside over $3 trillion in savings. The personal savings rate was 19 percent of disposable income in June. Now, that's down from the peak in April but still higher than where it was last year. There is hope -- some hope for savers. If consumer prices continue to rise, bond deals should go up, too.
Airbnb is moving ahead with plans to go public, even as the pandemic has devastated the travel industry and forced the company to lay off a quarter of its staff. The startup said it was profitable in 2017 and 2018, setting it apart from other unicorns that bled money before and after going public. But it started losing money last year and then the pandemic hit, rattling many of the hosts who power business.
Airbnb had been valued at $31 billion. Its IPO will test investor appetite for a tech company trying to survive in a changed travel landscape.
All right, can't figure out what to watch? Netflix may have found a solution to your endless scrolling. Netflix is testing out a shuffle button allowing users to have the service randomly select a movie or T.V. show for them based on viewing history and preferences. The feature could help viewers overwhelmed by choice and set Netflix apart from a growing list of competitors.
JARRETT: I feel like we spend more time scrolling through trying to figure out what to watch than we actually watch because we usually watch for two seconds and then fall asleep.
ROMANS: I think what I -- what overwhelms me is just the sheer amount of content to watch.
JARRETT: Choices. ROMANS: I mean, I'm now on -- subscribing to four different streaming services and sometimes I just lose track of how much is out there. And, of course, not enough time to watch it all.
JARRETT: Of course.
ROMANS: Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.
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[05:58:57]
CLINTON: If Trump is reelected, things will get even worse.
OBAMA: What I know about Joe, what I know about Kamala, is that they actually care about every American.
HARRIS: We must elect Joe Biden.
ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: College move-in day, 2020 style -- masks, staggered arrivals, mandatory testing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To young people -- to children and young adults, you are not invincible to this virus.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: You could test everybody before they come in. If you can't, it will be more problematic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Thursday, August 20th, 6:00 here in New York.
And we begin with an historic night. Kamala Harris accepting the nomination for vice president, becoming the first black and South Asian woman ever on a major party ticket.
And that was only one of the historic moments. Another was President Obama breaking with tradition to rebuke his successor and list the failings of President Trump -- and to give a stark warning to the American people. He said that America's democracy is at stake.
END
