Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Joe Biden Accepts Democratic Nomination at Revamped DNC; Democrats Attempt to Energize Voters Ahead of Election; Putin Critic Alexey Navalny in Coma After Alleged Poisoning; Officials Fear Downward COVID-19 Case Trend Only Temporary; Studies Show Kids are More Affected that Previously Thought. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired August 21, 2020 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Great honor and humility I accept this nomination for President of United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: With those words, Joe Biden formally accepted the Democratic Presidential nomination and delivered perhaps the speech of his life.

Welcome to you, our viewers here in the you States and around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, it wasn't the party convention U.S. Democrats imagined at the beginning of 2020, but despite the limitations imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, this year's Democratic National Convention still showcased the ticket, articulated party values and reflected the country's diversity. But instead of balloons, there were fireworks, instead of a crowded convention hall, there was a parking lot packed with socially distanced Democrats. Now officially the Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, drove home a stark message the U.S. now faces a fundamental choice about its future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: America is at an inflection point, a time of real peril and also extraordinary possibilities. We can choose a path of becoming angrier, less hopeful, more divided, a path of shadow and suspicion or we can choose a different path and together take this chance to heal, to reform, to unite, the path of hope and light.

This is a life-changing election. This will determine what America's going to look like for a long, long time. Character is on the ballot. Compassion is on the ballot. Decency, science, democracy, they're all on the ballot. This is our moment. This is our mission. The history will be able to say that the end of this chapter of American darkness began here tonight as love and hope and light joined in the battle join in the battle for the soul of the nation. And this is a battle we will win and we'll do it together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Joining me now is John Phillips is a radio talk host at KABC and political columnist for the "Orange County Register." He joins me now from Palm Springs, California. Also joining me is Caroline Heldman, Democratic strategist and associate professor of politics at Occidental College and she joins me from L.A. So think you very much, both, for being here. First, super quick take on Joe Biden's speech billed by some of the speeches he's been waiting 50 years to give. How did he do?

CAROLINE HELDMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I would think that Joe Biden did exactly what he need today do. He delivered a solid speech. He had a quiet grace. I wouldn't say, you know, he's a great orator like President Obama and Ronald Regan. But the expectations for this speech were so low, right. He just had to come in and show empathy and show that he's a normal politician and he exactly did that.

And I think the GOP really shares a burden here in him doing so well and that they lowered expectations by promoting a false narrative that Joe Biden somehow isn't able to deliver, has some cognitive deficit. And tonight he showed that he is a fine politician. He just showed up, delivered the speech. And I think there was a collective kind of sigh. Because nothing -- you know there were no faux pas. He delivered. He did exactly what he needed to do.

BRUNHUBER: Sigh of relief presumably. So John, he wasn't sleepy.

JOHN PHILLIPS, KABC RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, somebody clearly woke him up and wiped the spit off his mouth and dragged him to the podium so he could give a speech tonight. But they should have woke him up yesterday because we have American major cities that are currently in unrest. We have people being dragged out of cars in Portland and beaten senselessly, couples. We have unrest going on in Seattle, where parts of town are ungovernable. We have violence in the streets of New York, Chicago, major American cities and there was zero mention of any of this.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. This is all under Donald Trump's presidency. It should be pointed out. I'm not sure that Joe Biden can be pinned with that. Sorry, go ahead.

PHILLIPS: Joe Biden is trying to become the president of the United States and he literally didn't mention any of this. It was a speech filled with Democratic Party platitudes. And if you want to know what Joe Biden's agenda is for America, I'm clueless to it. He certainly didn't articulate that message tonight. I guess we have to wait until next week.

BRUNHUBER: All right, so the aim here for this convention presumably for Democrats was three fold.

[04:05:00]

Introduce their nominees to the country, unify the wings of the party and energize the voters in the run up to the election. Did they accomplish any or all of these?

HELDMAN: Well, I think if you look at polling, poll after poll shows that Democrats are energized in the election because they want Donald Trump gone. They want him gone because of the sort of, you know, made up stories that John just shared about like violence when in fact violent crime is down. And Juan Williams, a Republican, actually clarified that today. So this idea of fear and racism that Donald Trump has been promoting for the past 3 1/2 years, that's the playbook of the Republican Party.

So all the Democrats needed to do at this convention was show that they are normal. Because people, decent people are exhausted from a presidency that is self-aggrandizing, that is self-enriching. The largest number of indictments of any sitting president's cabinet and inner circle. We are an international or global embarrassment. We're 5 percent of the population but 25 percent of the COVID cases, and abject failure.

So Trump can't run on the economy. He can't run on his anti-science COVID response. What is he can't run on foreign affairs? So what is he running on? The things that are coming out of John's mouth. Made up ideas that we are suddenly in this state of crisis in American cities when, in fact, violent crime is down.

BRUNHUBER: It should be pointed out murders in major cities are up. John, what do you have to say on this?

PHILLIPS: Yes, the violence is real. But if you're talking about the statistics or the that's video being shown on the news tonight. Juan Williams is a Republican. If you're talking about enthusiasm, poll after poll shows that Republicans would walk across glass to go vote for Donald Trump. And for whatever reason, I'm willing to acknowledge it's a shame that COVID-19 has been politicized. Democrats are more fearful of COVID-19 than Republicans. So if you're trying to spike turnout, if you're trying to get people to turn out to polls, you need to give them a reason to go out besides orange man bad. In this was the convention of orange man bad. They did not give their voters a reason to be enthused to go to polls to pull the lever for Joe Biden.

BRUNHUBER: All right, so in the shopping list of the aims for the DNC, I left out sway undecideds or convince moderates. Is that even possible do you think by having, you know, Kasich or Cindy McCain supporting Biden? In some way did that help. Start with Jon.

HELDMAN: When John says Republicans will walk across glass for this man, we have never seen the number of people from the opposing political party appear at a national convention the way that we just saw in the last four days. More Republicans showing up and saying they will not be voting for Donald Trump. Did the Democrats do a good job of speaking to Republicans and independents? I think they did. And the reason I think they did is because I'm in the left wing of the party. And how much did we hear about faith and God? How much did we hear about military families? That's not appealing to me. That is definitely appealing to independents and some Republicans who are exhausted from the Trump presidency. BRUNHUBER: Actually, let me coming here because I want -- with the

time left I want to make sure we talk about the Republican convention that's coming up. So I'll start with John on this. Shifting to that here. President Trump has criticized the Democrats, you know, the taped segments saying they lack energy. He said the RNC will be more live. You know, if there's one thing Donald Trump knows well, it's how to make compelling television. So what does a successful convention look like, what can we expect?

PHILLIPS: Well, Donald Trump is going to juxtapose his agenda, the agenda of the White House to agenda of the Democrats. There are mayors that are controlling cities like Portland, Seattle, New York City, Chicago and what results in Democratic rule. It is people being shot in the streets, dragged out of their cars, beaten mercilessly, mayors that are incapable of controlling those cities. Cities that are functionally bankrupt and Democrats who at their convention didn't even mention any of this going on in the country. That is their vision.

Joe Biden would be controlled by these people. These people would be the ones making decisions. He tries to portray himself as moderate uncle Joe but he wouldn't be the guy who would be pulling the levers of power. It would be the radicals who are running these cities and the radicals that are supporting him.

BRUNHUBER: All right, I appreciate both of your takes, John Phillips and Caroline Heldman, both in California. Thank you very much for joining me. Appreciate it.

PHILLIPS: Thanks.

BRUNHUBER: And U.S. President Donald Trump appeared in Pennsylvania Thursday afternoon hours ahead of Biden's acceptance speech. Mr. Trump made his remarks in Old Forge near Scranton where Biden was born and lived is a child. But Mr. Trump was relatively low key on Twitter Thursday night. There were no all caps complaints as there were Wednesday.

[04:10:00]

Mr. Trump addressed Biden directly once writing -- in 47 years Joe did none of the things of which he now speaks. He will change, just words.

An update on a story we're following out of Russia concerning a prominent Kremlin critic. Alexey Navalny is said to be in a coma after a suspected poisoning. His spokeswoman says the anticorruption activist became ill on a flight to Moscow which then had to make an emergency landing in the Siberian city of Omsk. A short time ago the chief physician at the hospital treating Navalny said test results show no trace of toxic substances but the tests are continuing.

So let's bring in senior international correspondent Matthew Chance who has following this rapidly developing story. What's the latest?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kim, thanks very much. Well, as you mentioned there, doctors who have been treating Alexey Navalny in that hospital in Omsk have decided that even though his condition has improved over the past several hours, he's still not stable enough to be moved outside of the country.

Because Navalny's supporters and team around him have been trying to arrange a medivac of the outspoken Kremlin critic to a clinic in Germany. Navalny's spokesperson saying that decision not to allow him to be moved is a direct threat to his life. Well course, Alexey Navalny a Russia's most outspoken Kremlin critic. He's a prominent anticorruption campaigner. And he was taken ill on Thursday on a flight back to Moscow after his team say he drank tea in the airport cafe.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE (voice-over): This is how the Kremlin's most prominent critic was struck down, the painful groans are from Alexey Navalny. These medics evacuated him from this commercial flight, forced to make an emergency landing when he was taken ill.

A fellow passenger also recorded the anti-corruption campaigner appearing unconscious being stretchered into an ambulance on the tarmac outside. Supporters say, they believe he was poisoned having drunk tea before the flight. Russian doctors at the Siberian hospital where he is now in intensive care, say they can't yet confirm what would be an extremely disturbing diagnosis.

ANATOLY KALINICHENKO, OMSK EMERGENCY HOSPITAL PHYSICIAN (through translator): The patient is in serious condition, on a ventilator. But he is stable. Currently there are multiple diagnoses which we are trying to eliminate or confirm. Naturally, poisoning is one of the possible reasons for the deterioration of his condition.

CHANCE: Here's another possible reason. More than any other opposition figure in Russia, Alexey Navalny gets ordinary people out to protest. The Kremlin says it's aware Navalny's in serious condition and wishes him a speedy recovery.

But his unrelenting campaign to highlight corruption in Vladimir Putin's Russia is broadcast on social media have proved immensely popular here, and at times, a real problem for the Kremlin.

It wouldn't even be the first time Alexey Navalny has been attacked. In March and April 2017, he was pelted with green dye by unknown assailants. Resulting in a serious chemical burn and damaged vision in one eye. Of course, it didn't stop him to work against the reign of Putin, he told me, the threat of violence was the price you have to pay.

CHANCE (on camera): Have you accepted that you could be killed for this?

ALEXEY NAVALNY, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER (through translator): Anyone who is engaged in opposition activities in Russian can be arrested or killed. This thought gives me no pleasure or joy, I assure you. But it is a simple choice. You can be silent or you can speak. Taking into account all the risks, I continue my work. CHANCE (voice-over): And in Russia speaking is not easy path.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: All right, well, the authorities say that a German charity has flown an aircraft to Omsk and it's on the tarmac right now in that city. It's fully equipped with a specialized medical team to evacuate Alexey Navalny back to a clinic in Germany. But at the moment, as I said, that permission has not come through. The doctors in Omsk, in Siberia, treating Navalny say he's simply not stable enough to be moved at this stage -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: So, Matthew, you know, those results we spoke of, you know, what then if we are do believe there are no traces of toxins found so far, what is the team suspecting then?

[04:15:00]

CHANCE: Well I mean, look, the wife of Alexey Navalny has given a briefing to journalists out in Omsk. And she said that she has a theory that the police, the police in that Siberian city have found an extremely dangerous toxin inside Alexey Navalny. And the reason they don't want him released from the custody of the hospital is because, you know, they don't want that -- the nature of that toxin to be identified.

The doctors who are treating Alexey Navalny have denied that. They're saying he's tested negative for all the toxins that they've sort of tested him for at this stage. And so, you know, there's clearly a bit of a difference of opinion that's emerged. The doctors saying they can't move him because he's not stable enough. The team around Alexey Navalny saying that the Russian authorities are merely preventing, you know, perhaps the truth of this from coming out -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right, very interesting. We'll keep following this story. Thanks for all of your reporting on this. CNN's Matthew Chance in Moscow.

Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, schools grapple with how to minimize coronavirus infections as Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden previews what he plans to do to contain the spread.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We'll have a national mandate to wear a mask, not as a burden but as a patriotic duty to protect one another. In short, we'll do what we should have done from the very beginning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: The U.S. is reporting yet another milestone in the coronavirus pandemic. Johns Hopkins says the country has now passed 5.5 million confirmed cases of the virus. And although new cases are trending downward overall, right now schools and colleges are reporting an uptick in new infections as they begin the new school year. CNN's Erica Hill has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The good news, hospitalizations and new cases continue to decline in most states. The bad news, that trend may not last.

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: It's not a sprint, it's a marathon. We have to maintain these mitigation efforts if we want to keep controlling this virus.

HILL: The head of the White House's vaccine program Operation Warp Speed said the country could get back to normal if people get vaccinated. He believes a vaccine may be widely available by next spring. While the nation waits the White House Coronavirus Task Force warning Georgia in a report obtained by the "Atlanta Journal Constitution," that it's small gains are fragile.

Thousands of K through 12 students across the country have been asked to quarantine including nearly 2,000 in Mississippi.

GOV. TATE REEVES (R-MS): If we want to keep our kids in school, if we want to keep our colleges open, if we want to have an opportunity to have college football, we have to remain vigilant.

HILL: A considerable number of college students in that state have tested positive, including more than a dozen athletes at Ole Miss.

Notre Dame which has announced hundreds of cases now says five of those are football players. Colleges in at least 17 states now reporting positive cases.

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE RESPONSE COORDINATOR: Each university not only has to do entrance testing, but what we talked to every university about is being able to do surge testing. How are you going to do 5,000 samples in one day or 10,000 sampled in one day?

HILL: Several University of Connecticut students evicted from their dorms after an on campus party where the school says students were not wearing masks, were closely assembled and endangering not only their own health and well-being, but that of others.

DR. PAUL OFFIT, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: They're used to doing things like partying, drinking, I mean, you know, gathering together whether on or off campus and to ask them not to do that is to ask I think too much of these young adults who basically at that age, consider themselves to be invulnerable.

HILL: Massachusetts will now require flu shots for all public school students starting in kindergarten up through college.

A teachers' union in Detroit approved a safety strike, as New York City's warns it schools are ready for a return. The mayor pledging more detailed safety measures in response to mounting pressure.

MAYOR DE BLASIO (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: We are going to make sure these schools are safe and ready. And if we don't think they're safe and ready, they won't be open.

HILL (on camera): As many areas wonder what will happen to the fall football season in Mississippi, the governor announcing new measures and restrictions for outdoor stadiums in his state. There will be social distancing. Just 25 percent capacity allowed in the stadium. Those 6 and over need to a wear masks. And tailgating and rallies outside the stadiums will be prohibited.

In New York, I'm Erica Hill. CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Dr. Raj Kalsi is a board certified emergency medicine physician and joins me from Naperville, Illinois. Thanks so much for taking the time to join us tonight. I'd like to start with a view from the E.R. on the front lines. How are things looking at the hospitals you work at?

DR. RAJ KALSI , BOARD CERTIFIED EMERGENCY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN: So resume know, I work at small hospitals and big hospitals. Today I finished a 10 hour shift and work is extremely busy. We're busy with the stuff that we always see, traumas, psych patients, which are coming in in the droves these days unfortunately. People are having a hard time dealing with things like coping. And you know, everything from heart maladies to cancer but also COVID. And in particular in the Hispanic population in my community.

BRUNHUBER: From a national perspective there is some more good news as well, both the number of cases and the positivity rate seem to be on a slight decline. So that's the good news. The bad news is infections seem to be rising in young people in general and in schools specifically.

So I'd like to ask you about a study in the Journal of Pediatrics, which found that infected children have a significantly higher level of virus in their airways than adults hospitalized in the ICU for COVID-19 treatment.

[04:25:00]

Which you know, suggests that in the words of one of the authors, children may be susceptible as adults but just not as visible. What do you make of the growing body of evidence that children might be silent spreaders here?

KALSI: It's scary. I read the article and of the most important things and take away from that article is that it seems like based on all the sciences and the studies done on pediatrics -- and this is out of Harvard, this is out of Mass General Hospital, a well renowned institution. That kids have less immunoreceptors to the virus and here's what that means. Kids, children under 18 are less likely to take the virus and turn it

into COVID-19 syndrome, which is the cytokine storm, the inflammation, the swelling of the lungs, the clots and all of the terrible things you're hearing about. However, because of that, they're able to procreate and increase the amount of virus in their body and when they breathe out, when they cough, when they touch other human beings, they are just as likely to transmit the virus as an adult. So the scariest thing is the littlest people in the world are the ones that are probably the most dangerous to us adults.

BRUNHUBER: Wow. Well that's certainly worrying when we're talking about having so many kids go to school and then also the fall, you know, we have to cope with the seasonal flu. So authorities are trying to step up efforts to get people to get their flu shot this year. They're letting pharmacists give the shots to kids 3 to 18. But the take up for the flu shot is so low and quite low for children. So how important is it for young people to get the flu shot? And how do you encourage people to get them? I know the state of Massachusetts, for instance, is mandating them for students. But is that the answer here?

KALSI: You know, this is America. Mandating anything is going to be a challenge, right? We're going to have two opinions on every single topic. For years and decades people have been up in arms about debating vaccinations. And this is not going to be any different. Maybe with the insight that preventing one more fever-causing illness that would cloud the situation when a parent has to face whether or not their kid has COVID.

Maybe that's going to encourage more people to get this vaccination, which is very safe. Something that us in health care, we're required to get it and we welcome it. And certainly, I think it's absolutely necessary. I will go on the lines saying that everybody should get a flu shot who's not allergic to it or whose doctor says that this is something that safe for them to do that. As far as a mandate, I can't play politics here, but I certainly know that it would save more lives and it would help the health care industry, absolutely. I already got one.

BRUNHUBER: All right, well listen, I really appreciate all of your time, Dr. Raj Kalsi. Thank you very much for joining us.

KALSI: Thank you, Kim. Take care.

BRUNHUBER: Well the 2020 Democratic national convention now in the history books so we'll talk to a presidential historian about how it stacked up to others in the past and show you how rising Democratic stars honor the life of civil rights icon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D) ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Congressman Lewis would not be silenced and neither can we. We cannot wait for some other time, some other place, some other heroes. We must be the heroes of our generation because we, too, are America. Our votes can be our voice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END