Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Tropical Storms, Which May Become Hurricanes, Threaten Gulf Coast; Recordings Released Of Donald Trump's Sister Criticizing Him; Postmaster General To Testify Before House Of Representatives; FDA Gives Emergency Authorization For Use Of Convalescent Plasma; Interview With Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL). Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 24, 2020 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bracing for two storms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By themselves, each storm would be considered manageable. But combine their impacts that you're not really sure what to expect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is possible that there could be some spots measuring rainfall in one to two feet instead just in just inches.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The delegates from across the country will formally cast their ballots for Donald Trump and Mike Pence to be the ticket for the Republican party.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unlike the Democrats last week, where there was a lot of complaints, they didn't offer by much by way of policy or solutions, President Trump will lay out real policies, real visions, real solutions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY.

And the Republican National Convention kicks off this morning. It begins with a roll call in North Carolina, the only in-person event of the week. President Trump plans to appear every night of the convention, and the president is promising a more hopeful message than the one he delivered at his inauguration about American carnage.

New this morning, dozens of former Republican members of Congress are endorsing Joe Biden. We'll talk about that.

Also overnight, Kellyanne Conway announcing that she is leaving her post at top White House counselor to the president. So we'll give you the developing details on that. And the president is again pushing an unproven treatment for

coronavirus, this one using convalescent plasma. Top medical experts are expressing concerns this morning.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We do have breaking news. The National Hurricane Center just released an update on the forecast of two tropical storms now taking aim at the Gulf Coast. Tropical storm Marco expected to make landfall tonight in Louisiana with another more powerful storm to follow. That could end up being a major hurricane by landfall. Fears of flooding, potentially dangerous storm surge a big concern along the coast.

So let's begin with CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers on the latest forecast. We just got the 8:00 a.m. update, Chad. What are you seeing?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Marco, we'll start with Marco because it's closest to land, closest to the U.S. We have about 30 more miles before it's going to really start to make impact on southeastern Louisiana. It moved 30 miles closer over the past three hours since the 5:00 a.m. advisory.

But you will notice that all the bright colors, all the convection is north of Marco, nothing down here where Marco actually is. That's why Marco went from a hurricane when she went to bed last night to a tropical storm at only 50 miles per hour.

But due to the fact Marco is going to travel to the west and all of that rain will be north of it, like it is right now, that's the first swathe of rain that's going to come down, four, six inches possible. Then we look at Marco. Didn't change much, still 65 miles per hour, but moving west-northwest at 21 in a hurry to get into the Gulf of Mexico, where it can gain strength.

And this storm honestly could be that major category three or higher hurricane when it makes landfall. Models are doing OK. They're a little settled down this morning. They didn't do very well overnight. But here we go. Watch the cone because there are models south of Houston and there are models all the way to the right of this cone. Two category two, but plus or minus 10 percent is certainly not out of the question, and that would make it into a category three or maybe even stronger. The water is still very warm.

If it's 105, making landfall, let's just say it's perfect forecast, you're still going to see winds of 80 in Shreveport. That's going to bring down trees, power lines, rainfall, very heavy rain, and that's certainly the forecast. Some spots, Alisyn, could pick up at least 10 inches of rain. If it does continue to move this fast, there will also be that threat of significant storm surge. But watches and warnings aren't posted for lower yet for the U.S. because it's more than 48 hours away from right now.

CAMEROTA: OK, we know you'll keep an eye on it for us, Chad, thank you very much.

MYERS: I will. CAMEROTA: Now to the Republican National Convention, we expect President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence to appear on the first day of the RNC, and it all begins with the roll call, just about an hour from now, and it also comes as we hear these secret recordings of Donald Trump's sister talking about her brother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARYANNE TRUMP BARRY: This goddam tweet and lying. Oh, my God, I'm talking too freely, but you know, the change of stories, the lack of preparation, the lying the -- holy -- !"

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Joining us is Washington investigative reporter Michael Kranish who broke this story. Michael great to see you this morning. Thanks for being here. Just give us the backstory, if you would, on what Mary Trump says about why she made these recordings and why they're significant.

MICHAEL KRANISH, CO-AUTHOR, "TRUMP REVEALED": Well, Mary Trump, her father, Fred Trump, Jr., the president's brother, died of alcohol- related disease in 1981, so she had a really interesting family history with the Trump family. There was an inheritance dispute in 1999, a case that was settled in 2001. Donald Trump was among those who basically battled her in court over the estate, so there is a history there.

[08:05:09]

And she was tape recording her aunt, she says, because she wanted to find out what really happened in that inheritance dispute. She was told the estate was worth $30 million, turned out she believes it was worth about $1 billion. So that's why she says she was recording her aunt to find out about that and didn't realize she would say things, as I reported in the story, for example, that her aunt calls President Trump a person you can't trust and a person with no principles.

BERMAN: It's really interesting, and just so people know, Maryanne Barry Trump is a federal judge, or was a federal judge. This is an accomplished jurist who has seen a lot in her day, and also has been sibling to Donald Trump for a very long time, honestly, and has these opinions.

And there are people who are uncomfortable, to say the least, with the nature of how these tapes were made, the fact that a niece was recording an aunt and airing family dirty laundry. But when you hear a sister talk about her brother this way, it is revealing. They talk about the bankruptcies. Listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY TRUMP: It sort of begs the question, like, what exactly has he accomplished on his own?

MARYANNE TRUMP BARRY: Well, I don't know. MARY TRUMP: Nothing, that's the answer.

MARYANNE TRUMP BARRY: Well, he did -- bankruptcies.

MARY TRUMP: Good point. He did accomplish those all by himself.

MARYANNE TRUMP BARRY: Yes, he did. Yes, he did.

MART TRUMP: That is very true.

MARYANNE TRUMP BARRY: You can't trust him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: "You can't trust him," to hear a sister say of that of a brother who is the president of the United States, you can't trust him. What's behind this lack of trust?

KRANISH: Well, Judge Barry, if there's anyone on the planet who knows Donald Trump, you'd think it would be Donald Trump's older sister. She's known him, obviously, since he was born. They've been very close over the years but also had a few rifts that I describe in the story. But clearly she knows her brother very well, had never spoken out publicly, still has not spoken out publicly, hasn't responded to the story in one way or the other.

So to hear her very candid thoughts, you just take those words as you mentioned, John, on their own. They are -- they're not refuted. The president's only response to this story has basically been, he said "I love my brother." He may have been referring to the brother who died a week ago Saturday, Robert. He could have been referring, I suppose, to Mary Trump's father, Fred Trump, Jr., who died in 1981. He didn't say, but in his response, he didn't mention his sister, of course, the stories about his sister.

So it's really interesting. We don't really know at this point what the dynamic is between the two of them, but his sister presumably has more insight than almost anyone else on earth about Donald Trump and the kind of person he is.

CAMEROTA: I'm going to guess the dynamic is now bad. I'm going to guess this doesn't enhance the bad blood, the history of bad blood between the niece and President Trump and the sister now. And I do think we need to look for the sister's explanation of how she feels having been surreptitiously recorded.

Nobody can like that, I would imagine. And so Mary Trump's spokesperson put out a statement as to why she did it. That statement doesn't say as much about the inheritance as it says that she believed Trump family members lied during depositions, so that was sort of her insurance policy.

KRANISH: The deposition had to do with the inheritance dispute. When they settled that inheritance dispute, Mary Trump and her brother hoped to receive something that would have gone to their father, had he lived. They received far, far less than that. There were depositions in that case.

And she now thinks that they basically duped her into signing that. Robert Trump, now deceased, Donald Trump and Judge Barry all were part of an effort a few weeks ago to try to stop publication of Mary Trump's book. That effort was not successful, so the book was published and Mary Trump was able to talk about it.

And now we have these tapes. She says she's secretly recorded 15 hours of conversations of tapes. We've put some of those tapes online with a story on Washingtonpost.com. There are others that we haven't yet and probably will at some point.

CAMEROTA: What's on them? What's on those tapes?

KRANISH: I'm sorry, go ahead?

CAMEROTA: What's the subject matter of those tapes that you haven't put online yet?

KRANISH: Well, that will be perhaps in a future story, but some of it basically is along the lines of what we've heard. I tried to put a representative sample out there, which is very negative, obviously, about President Trump. So I think it's very representative of what we know is in the tapes so far.

[08:10:02]

BERMAN: Michael Kranish, the story is very interesting. Hearing the voices are very interesting, but there's a lot of reporting in there also which I think people need to look at as well. So thank you very for your efforts and thanks for being with us this morning.

KRANISH: Thanks for having me.

BERMAN: Developing this morning, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy will face his second congressional hearing in a matter of hours. He testified at a Senate panel on Friday. He's expected to face a tougher time around in the Democratic-led House today. CNN's Kristen Holmes live in Washington. What are we expecting here exactly here, Kristen?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. We are expecting, as you said, a more hostile reception. Remember, it was just last week that 90 House Democrats called for DeJoy's removal as postmaster general. We have talked to several Democratic lawmakers, and here is what they say they want to hear.

One, they want more answers on those changes to the Postal Service that really set this whole thing in motion. We're talking about cutting of overtime, limiting of post office hours, the removal of those high-volume sorting machines.

They also want to know why those changes weren't completely reversed. Remember, DeJoy testified on Friday that while he had suspended the changes until after the election so as not to have any appearance of impropriety ahead of the election, that he wouldn't be reconnecting any of those sorting machines. He said they just weren't needed. So expect questions on that.

And lastly, the relationship between Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and the Postal Service. CNN has reported that Mnuchin was briefed by the board of governors on DeJoy's appointment, and we are told that is simply not the norm.

And remember, a lot of this stems from the fact that you have these changes that caused these massive delays coupled with President Trump's rhetoric against mail-in voting, which has fueled allegations that the Trump administration is using the Postal Service in some way to impact the election. So lots of questions about who exactly is talking to DeJoy, even though DeJoy has said he's not talking directly to President Trump.

Now, I do want to note, DeJoy has said over and over again that the Postal Service is completely equipped to handle this influx of mail-in ballots come November. In fact, the Postal Service tweeted this out during his last hearing. They said if all Americans vote by mail this year, 330 million ballots over the course of the election would be only 75 percent what have we deliver in a single day.

And while of course that is definitely reassuring, when you see those numbers, it's less reassuring when you remember why we're here today, which is these massive delays based on the number of deliveries that they have already. So to add to it, even though they're saying it's the same amount, we already know that there's a problem with the regular amount of mail.

And just to quickly note, John, this all comes after Pelosi, Speaker Pelosi, called back the House for an emergency session on Friday. They ended up passing a bill, $25 billion for the Postal Service. And this was not a partisan bill. There were dozens of Republicans who signed on for this, too. But there really is no chance of it going anywhere. The White House has already threatened with a veto. John?

BERMAN: Kristen Holmes, you've been doing terrific reporting on this, way out in front. So we appreciate you being with us here on NEW DAY. Thank you.

HOLMES: Thank you.

BERMAN: This morning, deep concern in the medical community that the president is playing politics with coronavirus treatments. We have new information next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:56]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A powerful therapy that transfuses very, very strong antibodies from the blood of recovered patients to help treat patients battling a current infection. It's had an incredible rate of success. Today's action will dramatically expand access to this treatment. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, so President Trump there is calling it a historic development in the treatment of coronavirus, but leading government doctors including Dr. Anthony Fauci still say the research on convalescent plasma is inconclusive.

Joining us now is Dr. Ashish Jha, he is the Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute. Dr. Jha, thanks for being with us. Convalescent plasma is not some radical notion. This is something that has been used for decades and decades to treat various things.

What it basically is, is you take the blood from someone who has been sick, you convert it into plasma and then you inject it into somebody else.

It's limited in that you can only get so much of it because you need the sick people. It has been effective for some things in the past and some of the research shows that it might have a value.

Now, I think the President is overselling what value the research, even the positive research has shown so far, but what there isn't yet is what Dr. Anthony Fauci considers to be the gold standard of trials, which is a randomized clinical trial which includes placebos, people not getting it and comparing it to people who are getting it.

What's going on here? Was there political pressure? What do you see?

DR. ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: Good morning and thanks for having me on. So I don't know if there was political pressure. It is all a little bit odd, because convalescent plasma is something I've been actually talking about for months, it is something I am optimistic about, but optimistic is not the same thing as evidence and science.

And right now, as a doctor, if the question was, do I know that it works in terms of improving people's lives and health and well-being? Do I know for whom it works? When should I be giving it? Early or later in the disease course? I don't know the answers to any of those questions.

So when people say, oh, you guys are just being academics, you want more research. No, no. Like the fundamental questions about this therapy are still unanswered, and that's what we need to be doing and I just thought yesterday was just way overblown.

There is a lot of misinformation that was unfortunately spread by Dr. Hahn and I expect better from him. It was all a little disappointing, around a therapy that I remain optimistic and hopeful about.

CAMEROTA: Well, in terms of Dr. Hahn of the F.D.A., we just had one of our journalistic colleagues, Jonathan Swan at AXIOS say that he has reporting that there in the room, there was Peter Navarro, who is the top economic adviser to President Trump who told Dr. Hahn as well as -- I mean, the F.D.A. and H.H.S., Alex Azar, he said "You guys are the Deep State. You need to get on Trump time" about like making this happen, the convalescent plasma.

And so, I mean, there you go. That's what they are talking about.

JHA: Yes, you know, it is all to me very confusing because as a doctor and as a public health person, I think what most Americans want is for people like me and others who are out on the frontlines to be using science and evidence and data.

[08:20:12]

JHA: And when we go off of that, we end up doing much more harm than good to our patients. So I don't know what's motivating some of this, but ultimately, if we're going to get through this pandemic and we're going to take care of people the best way we can, we have got to let science drive that, not a political timeline.

BERMAN: What exactly did you think was misleading from Dr. Hahn? There was this claim and the President I think grossly misstated it, where he basically suggested that 35 percent fewer people will die if they only take convalescent plasma.

That isn't even what the rosy research suggests, to suggest that the mortality rate is a little bit lower if people get large doses of the antibodies at three days rather than lighter doses of the antibodies later, so it's not even comparing plasma to nothing at all, but what did you find misleading?

JHA: Yes, actually the comment about the 35 fewer deaths for every hundred people who get the plasma, it's just plain wrong. That's not what the study said. That's a classic mistake that first-year students sometimes of mine will make and if they do, I fail them in a course for misunderstanding relative risk and absolute risk.

The absolute risk reduction is about two percent, which doesn't sound quite as dramatic. And bottom line is, we didn't even compare it to not giving the therapy.

So, look, this is science. We have got to let science move forward and coming out the middle of the data where we don't know the key answers and making proclamations like that. Again, Dr. Hahn knows better. He is a smart guy. He understands this stuff, and so I found it puzzling.

I'm hoping he just misspoke a couple of times and will come out today and walk it back, but it's still really unfortunate to hear that kind of misstatement.

CAMEROTA: We'll see. Dr. Ashish Jha, thank you.

JHA: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: New this morning, two dozen former Republican members of Congress throwing their support behind Joe Biden. So we'll speak to a sitting Republican Congressman about that and more next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:27:00]

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): ... of the pandemic and being apart from each other, fine, but yes, it's a little weird because if you think about it, I couldn't imagine four years ago or eight years ago doing this without some in the party screaming this is -- what would they say -- like an establishment trying to take control or whatever.

But you know, look, I mean, honestly, the platform in the long run it is just kind of, it is what it is, so I don't think it's a huge deal, but it's definitely strange and it would be kind of nice to have a platform this year.

BERMAN: Right, and for a guy like you, who I know you have said you were voting for Donald Trump, you said it last night, but you also made clear you disagree with him on things and you think the party should be elsewhere.

How helpful would it be to be able to say you know what? There are other things that the party believes than just what the President says.

KINZINGER: Yes, this is where our party has to understand, and quite honestly, the Democrats will have to or have to deal with this at some level, too, but especially in the Republicans is you know, look, guys, we are supposed to -- there's two parties in a country of 350 million, so you're going to have a variance of opinion.

And if you ever want to win elections again, you have to allow that variance of opinion and quite honestly, I think we're going to have to redefine what conservatism is and all that.

So, I think going forward, yes, being able to have your own opinion and express your views on a platform is extremely important and you know, again, it's not a huge deal in terms of execution. I just think it's definitely strange and I wish it wouldn't be the case.

BERMAN: I think we're up to 177,000 Americans killed by coronavirus. I'm just wondering, we talk about platforms, we talk about different things the President might say.

Does anything really matter beyond that at this point? We're faced with 5.7 million of Americans being infected by coronavirus. How does the President get beyond that at a convention or should he even bother trying?

KINZINGER: Look, you know, it's walking and chewing gum in terms of the politics of it, right? We have to be able to discuss that, but then you have to talk about a vision for the next four years. So hopefully this won't be front and center for the next four years, but yes, I think continuing to chase after therapeutics as hard as we can, all the things that we need to do to mitigate this and save lives is going to be important, and then we can look back and find out what was done wrong, what was done right.

I even think of like what, Congress stayed open like a month after this pandemic was full and going because I'm not doing this to throw partisan barbs, but Nancy Pelosi for whatever reason didn't want to shut Congress down.

I mean, we all made mistakes. We need to learn from that, move forward, and quite honestly do everything we can to mitigate something like this from happening again and save as many American lives as possible.

BERMAN: You have been an outspoken critic, not just of QAnon, which is a group that the F.B.I. says has inspired violence and is concerned it inspires violence here.

You've been a critic of QAnon and you've also a critic about the lack of Republican response to it. So I want to play you a little bit of a conversation I had with the Vice President on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just -- I don't know anything about that. I've heard about it. We dismiss conspiracy theories around here out of hand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:30:13]