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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
GOP Paints Trump As Leader To Protect Nation From Democrats; Protests Erupt After Wisconsin Police Shooting; German Hospital Says Russian Opposition Leader Was Poisoned. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired August 25, 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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[05:31:51]
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: The Republicans say vote for Trump or else. The convention begins with fiction over facts on diversity, empathy, and the pandemic.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And protests overnight in Wisconsin and across the country as a family demands to know why a black man was shot in the back seven times by police.
Good morning, everyone, this is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
JARRETT: And I'm Laura Jarrett, about 31 minutes past the hour here.
Republicans began the national convention offering a misleading portrayal of the president's record on coronavirus and race relations, pitching Trump as a leader protecting the country from Democrats who all but want to burn down the suburbs for their so-called socialist agenda.
The GOP put forward two of its most compelling speakers -- former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley; and South Carolina senator, Tim Scott. They argued Trump's policies have lifted up a diverse array of American families.
ROMANS: They also suggested Democrats have gone too far with their claims of systemic racism in the U.S. on the same day people were protesting across the country after another shooting of a black man by police in Wisconsin.
As advertised, Trump made himself the star of the show -- appearing twice, including with front line workers, as part of the party's attempt to rewrite history, portraying this president as a leader who quickly confronted coronavirus.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins is at the White House.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What really emerged from this first night of the Republican convention was one, an attempt to rewrite how President Trump and his administration responded to the coronavirus pandemic, playing this video portraying it as this aggressive, vigorous response. When in reality, we had reporting in real time that showed the president was actually slow to respond to the pandemic, often downplayed it and dismissed it, and seemed, even according to his own aides, to be in denial of what was really going on for some time.
They also tried to put an emphasis on the president's relationship with the black community. You saw several people of color speaking at the Republican convention.
HERSCHEL WALKER, FORMER NFL PLAYER: It hurt my soul to hear the terrible names that people called Donald. The worst one is racist. I take it as a personal insult that people would think I've had a 37- year friendship with a racist. People who think that don't know what they're talking about.
NIKKI HALEY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: In much of the Democratic Party, it's now fashionable to say that America is racist. That is a lie. America is not a racist country.
This is personal for me. I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. They came to America and settled in a small southern town.
My father wore a turban. My mother wore a sari. I was a brown girl in a black and white world.
SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): Joe Biden said if a black man didn't vote for him he wasn't truly black. Joe Biden said black people are a monolithic community. It was Joe Biden who said poor kids can be just as smart as white kids.
And while his words are one thing, his actions take it to a whole new level. In 1994, Biden led the charge on a crime bill that put millions of black Americans behind bars.
[05:35:10]
COLLINS: Of course, many polls have shown the president does not have anywhere near close to a wealth of support with those voters.
It's not clear if the Trump campaign is really hoping to gain any significant kind of ground this late in the game, going up against Joe Biden. But they did say that they wanted to make that appeal and they wanted to have this concerted effort to show diversity in the first night of the president's convention.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: Kaitlan, thank you for that.
One of the featured speakers tonight will be Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. It's a speech that's coming under some scrutiny as it's extremely rare for a top diplomat to take on a political role at a convention, especially while overseas -- his message taped from Jerusalem. And CNN has learned the secretary actually warned his own diplomats not to improperly take part in politics just a month ago.
A State Department spokesperson is defending Pompeo's appearance, insisting he will deliver the remarks in his personal capacity.
ROMANS: Also headlining tonight, Melania Trump. The first lady is looking for redemption after her speechwriter lifted portions of Michelle Obama's convention address in 2016. Mrs. Trump will speak from the newly-renovated White House Rose Garden.
Our special coverage of the Republican National Convention continues tonight starting at 7:00 eastern, live on CNN.
JARRETT: Well, history repeating itself painfully overnight in Wisconsin. Protesters defying curfew late into the night in response to the police shooting of a black man. Officers responding to a separate domestic disturbance call ended up shooting Jacob Blake in the back multiple times in front of his young children.
At least three buildings were on fire in Kenosha overnight, including a Department of Corrections field office.
Jacob Blake remains in intensive care.
ROMANS: Wisconsin's lieutenant governor says Blake was actually trying to deescalate the situation when police arrived.
CNN spoke to his uncle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTIN BLAKE, JACOB BLAKE'S UNCLE: This is like all the black parents talk about. It's that phone call you don't want to get and we got it. So you have to sort of be strong for each other, let your faith lead the way.
And so, after talking to his mother, she and my brother are asking people in Kenosha and around this nation to protest but to protest non-violently.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: There were protests in several other cities yesterday. Most of them were peaceful.
JARRETT: Dr. Anthony Fauci warning against emergency authorization for vaccines in the United States. He says any vaccine must be proven safe and effective in large trials first.
Two sources telling CNN that White House officials actually raised the possibility of emergency authorization of a vaccine before late-stage trials are finished and that would be ahead of the November election.
ROMANS: Four hundred fifty deaths were reported Monday. The rolling average ticking down very slightly. Only 10 states are now showing an increase in cases. As states like Florida and California begin making progress, concerns remain there, you can see, in the Midwest. Remember what the CDC director said last week.
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DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: So, Middle America, right now, is getting stuck in the Nebraskas, the Oklahomas. We need to see those numbers. We don't need to have a third wave in the Heartland.
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JARRETT: At the same time, 20 states are now reporting cases at colleges and universities. Schools are cracking down on students.
Ohio State University is temporarily suspending more than 200 students for breaking coronavirus regulations there. And at UNC Chapel Hill, the positivity rate has more than doubled in the last week to over 30 percent. And the mayor of Tuscaloosa is ordering all bars closed because of more than 500 cases at the University of Alabama.
ROMANS: Remember, it's not just the students who pay, it's the faculty, the cafeteria workers, the bus drivers, the janitors who don't get paid if school is closed.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced an outdoor learning plan. The city will prioritize 27 of the hardest-hit neighborhoods. More than half a million kids are planning to attend school in person.
De Blasio also says indoor dining may not return until 2021. It could be a fatal blow to restaurants now relying on outdoor dining. And that option, of course, fades as the weather cools.
An extraordinary admission from FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn. He admits he overstated the benefit of using convalescent plasma on coronavirus patients Sunday night. Scientists widely criticized Hahn for claiming the treatment saved 35 out of 100 people.
Now, it turns out the commissioner confused something called absolute risk reduction with relative risk reduction.
Last night, Hahn tweeted "The criticism is entirely justified." He went on to defend the emergency authorization of that convalescent plasma, insisting the decision was the FDA's alone with no influence from the White House.
All right.
[05:40:00]
Tensions between the U.S. and China, of course, have been worsening for months but both countries now say they are making progress on trade. Top representatives for both sides spoke Monday and discussed moving forward with execution of the phase one trade deal.
The two nations have been arguing over a slew of other issues, including the pandemic, technology, and national security.
Now, President Trump continues to blame China for the spread of coronavirus. He has also threatened to ban TikTok and WeChat. But, January's trade deal remains largely intact.
The trade representative at Robert Lighthizer's office said both nations discussed significant increases in China's purchase of American products, as well as future actions needed to shore up that agreement.
JARRETT: Well, after a long back-and-forth on Monday, there was a final verdict on the future of influential evangelical leader, Jerry Falwell Jr.
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ROMANS: All right.
[05:45:00]
Breaking overnight, influential evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr. is, indeed, out as president of Liberty University. After a tumultuous day where his fate lurched back and forth, Falwell now tells "The Wall Street Journal" and ABC News he did submit his resignation letter late last night.
Falwell was put on indefinite leave two weeks ago after he posted a photo on social media showing him and a woman, both with their pants unbuttoned.
JARRETT: Liberty University says Falwell first agreed to resign, then backed out once reports emerged in the press. Falwell tells the "Journal" the university board violated his contract by taking away his responsibilities, bowing to what he calls pressure from self- righteous people.
Falwell has faced a series of public controversies, including an affair a Miami man says he had with Falwell's wife that went on for eight years. Falwell claims the man tried to blackmail him, which the man denies.
ROMANS: All right.
Protests in Belarus are entering their third week following disputed elections that handed a victory to longtime leader Alexander Lukashenko. Demonstrators facing a long slog but have they made any real progress so far?
CNN's Fred Pleitgen is live for us in Minsk. You've been watching these protests day after day. What are you seeing there, Fred?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, I do think that they have made a lot of progress, Christine. Certainly, some of the big demonstrations that we've seen over the past couple of days -- the past couple of weeks, as you say, those wouldn't have been possible just a couple of weeks ago here in this country.
At the same time, of course, as all of this drags on it becomes more and more difficult for the opposition to maintain that momentum. You're seeing today that Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the de facto leader of the opposition, is having a video conference call with the European Union.
There were also two leaders of the strikes here who were arrested yesterday as we see Alexander Lukashenko trying to reassert his power and his grip on power, even as the protesters continue to come out.
Now, one of the people that he's turning to for all that is, not surprisingly, Vladimir Putin. And he seems to be trying to use the coronavirus pandemic to do that, as well.
The two leaders had a call yesterday where it was decided that Belarus would take part in some of the tests for Russia's new vaccine against coronavirus, the Sputnik 5 vaccine. And also, that Belarus would become the first country to actually receive the vaccine outside of Russia once that vaccine becomes widely available. Now, of course, all of this despite the fact that there's huge concerns in the international community about whether that vaccine is effective and whether or not it's safe.
And certainly, one of the reasons why you had the opposition gain such traction here in Belarus in the first place was that many people felt that Lukashenko was also laughing off the coronavirus crisis and essentially not caring enough for his people.
So you can feel him trying to reassert his grip as the opposition is trying to maintain that momentum that they've gathered over the past couple of weeks, Christine.
ROMANS: All right. So glad you're there reporting it for us, Fred. Fred Pleitgen in Belarus. Thank you.
JARRETT: The German hospital treating Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says test results indicate he was poisoned, and that raises two questions. Is he safe anywhere and are other Putin opponents in danger?
Matthew Chance is live for us in Moscow. Matthew, what more are you hearing about this?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. The clinic in Berlin where Alexei Navalny, one of Russia's most outspoken critics of the Kremlin, has been treated for the past several days has said that despite what the findings were of the Russian doctors where he was treated here -- that they said that they didn't find any traces of poisoning -- they're saying, like you heard, that he was poisoned.
They're saying that the substance that he's most likely to have been poisoned with is something that acts on the nervous system. He's being treated with atropine, which is a medicine which is an antidote to several nerve agents, but also several pesticides as well. And they haven't established the exact substance as to what could have caused his condition.
There has been a reaction, though, from the German government. The joint statement issued by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her foreign minister calling on Russia to clear up this crime to the last detail and with full transparency. The people responsible for this -- those responsible should be identified and held accountable.
Within the past few minutes, there's been reaction to those findings from the Kremlin. The spokesman telling reporters on a conference call that the decision by the doctors -- that the findings of the doctors in Berlin was perhaps too hasty. Doctors in Russia, as the spokesman said, had not established any kind of poisoning. And they said that Russia would not stop the investigation until the exact substance had been identified by the German authorities, Laura.
JARRETT: Still a lot of questions in this case, Matthew. Thank you for staying on top of it for us.
ROMANS: All right.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy facing serious scrutiny from House Democrats who questioned his motives for taking the job.
With a surge in mail-in voting expected because of the pandemic and the president railing against vote-by-mail, DeJoy claims he played no role in many of the changes that slowed service at the post office, like the dismantling of sorting machines.
And he showed a surprising lack of knowledge about the organization he runs.
[05:50:05]
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REP. KATIE PORTER (D-CA): What is the cost of a first-class postage stamp?
LOUIS DEJOY, POSTMASTER GENERAL: Fifty-five cents.
PORTER: I just wanted to check. What about to mail a postcard?
DEJOY: I don't -- I don't know, ma'am.
PORTER: You don't know the cost to mail a postcard?
DEJOY: I don't.
PORTER: What if I want to mail a -- you said 55 cents for a first- class stamp but what if it's like one of those greeting cards -- it's a square envelope? Then what is the postage?
DEJOY: I'll submit that I know very little about postage stamps.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Congressional Republicans claim any problems plaguing the agency predate DeJoy's arrival.
JARRETT: A lawsuit by the New York attorney general reveals the Trump Organization's financial dealings are under the microscope. The state wants the company to comply with subpoenas and wants the president's son, Eric, to testify.
Prosecutors are trying to determine whether the president improperly inflated and deflated his net worth to obtain tax benefits and favorable loan terms. The investigation was launched based on testimony from the president's former personal attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen.
ROMANS: All right, to California now, where these wildfires have burned more than 1.4 million acres. That's roughly the size of Delaware.
More than 600 fires have been burning the last week and a half. Two of them are among the three largest wildfires in the state's history. Seven people have been killed.
You know, the change in climate is partly driving these fires. Hotter temperatures and droughts mean drier land. That's left vast forests of dead trees, which have become tinderboxes.
JARRETT: A 20-year-old woman discovered alive and breathing at a Detroit funeral home after paramedics and a doctor had pronounced her dead. An attorney for the family says the woman was about to be embalmed when the funeral home staff realized her eyes were open.
The city of Southfield claims its fire and police departments all followed proper protocols. An internal investigation is underway.
ROMANS: OK, that is really creepy and terrifying.
All right, let's get a check on "CNN Business" this morning. First, a look at markets around the world. Asian stock markets closed mixed; Europe opened higher.
On Wall Street, looking at futures, higher as well here after a rally Monday. The Trump administration approved a potential coronavirus treatment. The Dow closed 378 points higher. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit record highs -- records in the stock market.
A reminder here -- your daily reminder. The stock market is not the real economy. Millions of people are out of work, emergency stimulus has expired.
And the worry now, a so-called K-shaped recovery -- think about that -- that widens the gap between winner and losers. Some people with stock market investments will come back sharply. Others who rely on a service-sector job, they will suffer.
Another blow to jobs in the airline industry. Delta is planning to furlough nearly 2,000 pilots in October. Airlines have struggled to rebound because of this pandemic. Funding from the CARES Act prohibited airlines from laying off employees and involuntary furloughs and pay cuts, but that money runs out at the end of September.
United and American Airlines have also warned employees of potential job cuts.
A Delta executive said it may be able to avoid or reduce the furloughs if cost reduction agreements are made.
Two tropical storms hitting the Gulf Coast would normally send gas and oil prices soaring. Not this year. Average gas prices are only up one cent from a week ago, starting at $2.19 for a gallon of regular.
Past storms like Hurricane Katrina and Harvey came when demand was high and there was much more limited supply that pushed gas and oil prices higher. Now with record oil production in the U.S. and a sharp drop in demand because of the pandemic, there is record excess supply.
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KFC commercial.
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ROMANS: OK. So, KFC hitting the pause button on the finger-lickin' good thing, the iconic slogan, because of the coronavirus. The chain said it doesn't feel quite right because health officials have recommended everyone stop touching your face to help stop the spread of coronavirus. It's a clever marketing campaign with good intentions baked in.
KFC released an ad with the slogan blurred out of an old billboard and its buckets of chicken. KFC said the menu isn't changing. The slogan will return when the time is right.
And that makes me hungry. I'd really love some fried chicken.
JARRETT: It's probably the responsible thing to do but I feel like you could wash your hands before you eat and still lick them. I don't know.
Well, we could all use a taste of the holidays right now, but Starbucks is really pressing the seasons, bringing back the pumpkin spice latte earlier than ever -- and by that, I mean tomorrow. Starbucks will begin selling pumpkin spice lattes across the United States and Canada. Last year's fall menu launched on August 27th.
I don't know about you, Christine, I'm not really ready to go to fall yet.
ROMANS: Yes. I never liked the shamrock shake or the pumpkin spice latte. I never got in for the seasonal ones, anyway.
JARRETT: Yes, you just want the classics.
ROMANS: I know.
Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans. JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.
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[05:59:25]
REP. VERNON JONES (R-GA): Joe Biden has had 47 years to produce results, but he's been all talk and no action.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST, TRUMP CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISER: They want to destroy this country and everything that we have fought for and hold dear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Most of the people who spoke tonight think Joe Biden is an existential threat to the country.
MAYOR WALT MADDOX (D), TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA: The truth is is that all of Tuscaloosa is in serious jeopardy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Outbreaks on college campuses in at least 19 states.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Until there is an effective vaccine, these are the kinds of things we're going to have to deal with.
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ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Tuesday, August 25th, 6:00 here in New York.
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