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Republicans Paint Dark Picture Under Biden; Judge Strikes Down Florida Order to Reopen Schools; Protests Turn Violent in Wisconsin After Police Shoot Black Man; Major Hurricane Forecast to Make Landfall in Gulf Coast. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired August 25, 2020 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Biden has had 47 years to produce results. But he's been all talk and no action.
[05:59:34]
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, DONALD TRUMP JR.'S GIRLFRIEND AND FINANCE COMMITTEE CHAIR, TRUMP VICTORY COMMITTEE: 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 fall in Tuscaloosa is in serious jeopardy.
NICK WATT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Outbreaks on college campuses in at least 19 states.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Until there's an effective vaccine, these are the kinds of things we're going to have to deal with.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 25, 6 a.m. here in New York.
Alisyn Camerota, how's your morning going?
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The fact that I was applying lip gloss a millisecond ago before we started, I shouldn't worry you. I'm going to pull this together.
BERMAN: And the computer?
CAMEROTA: The computer's actually now working. Thank you for asking.
BERMAN: Good. CAMEROTA: Things are looking better right now.
BERMAN: Right now, OK.
Stick with us. It's going to be interesting.
So if Ronald Reagan envisioned a shining city upon a hill, the Republican Party of Donald Trump described a burning city on a hill, or a screaming city on a hill or both.
After promising four days of hope, the first night of the Republican convention delivered a dark, dystopian view of America should Donald Trump lose. Lots of claims of socialism, cancel culture, and violence in U.S. cities.
With 170,000 Americans dead from coronavirus, they've largely glossed over the tragedy and the administration's record of inaction and, instead, put forth a revisionist version of the pandemic, as if the U.S. didn't lead the world in cases and deaths.
There was a notable appeal to minority voters, particularly with two headline speakers: Nikki Haley and the only black Republican in the Senate, Tim Scott, who told his own compelling personal story. And it was a program that seemed designed to sway white suburban voters. So how effective was it? We have new reaction this morning. We also have new details about what to expect tonight.
CAMEROTA: Now to coronavirus. Overnight, the FDA commissioner defending the emergency use of convalescent plasma as a coronavirus treatment. But he did apologize for mischaracterizing the data.
Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci warning, in a new interview, that any vaccines must be proven safe and effective before being authorized. But two sources tell CNN the White House may -- has raised the possibility of authorizing a vaccine before late-stage trials are completed.
Good news: the pandemic seems to be slowing in the Sun Belt but accelerating in some Midwest states.
So let's begin our coverage with CNN's Jeff Zeleny on our top story.
Hi, Jeff.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Alisyn.
It was a night of revisionist history here at the Republican National Convention, filled with an alternative reality, particularly on President Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. But all of that was by design, aimed at rallying the president's base, calling home wavering Republicans with ominous warnings about Joe Biden and the Democratic agenda.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC: "PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN")
ZELENY (voice-over): President Trump kicked off the Republican National Convention with a dark outlook of how he sees the United States without him in charge.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I really believe this. This is the most important election in the history of our country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it is.
TRUMP: Don't let them take it away from you.
ZELENY: And that theme continued throughout the opening night, with Monday's list of speakers also warning of a Joe Biden presidency they described as radical. Among them, the St. Louis couple who waved guns at protesters outside their home earlier this summer.
PATRICIA MCCLOSKEY, AIMED GUNS AT PEACEFUL PROTESTORS: They want to abolish the suburbs altogether.
So make no mistake. No matter where you live, your family will not be safe in the radical Democrats' America.
ZELENY: Kimberly Guilfoyle, a top campaign fundraiser and former FOX News host, amplified the unproven charge that Democrats intended to abolish the suburbs.
GUILFOYLE: They want to steal your liberty, your freedom. They want to control what you see and think and believe so that they can control how you live!
ZELENY: Her words echoed by the president's own son, Donald Trump Jr.
DONALD TRUMP JR., DONALD TRUMP'S SON: It's almost like this election is shaping up to be church, work, and school versus rioting, looting and vandalism. Or in the words of Biden and the Democrats, peaceful protesting.
ZELENY: As the coronavirus death toll in the U.S. continues to climb, the convention portrayed Trump's handling of the crisis as a success.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One leader took decisive action to save lives, President Donald Trump.
ZELENY: And showing this video of the president with frontline workers at the White House.
TRUMP: We just have to make this China virus go away, and it's happening.
ZELENY: But there was no explanation how the United States leads the world in total coronavirus cases and deaths, or Trump's repeated downplaying of the crisis from the start.
The first night also featured two prominent Republicans of color, focusing on the national outlook instead of the president's record on race. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley saying the issue is personal.
NIKKI HALEY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: 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. We are blessed to live in America. It's time to keep that blessing alive for the next generation. This president and this party are committed to that noble task.
[06:05:08]
ZELENY: And closing the night, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.
SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): This election is about your future. And it is critical to paint a full picture of the records of Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
ZELENY: The only black Republican U.S. senator described how he thinks the Democrats could permanently transform what it means to be an American.
SCOTT: Make no mistake, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris want a cultural revolution, a fundamentally different America. If we let them, they will turn our country into a socialist utopia. Instead, we must focus on the promise of the American journey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY: Now, this convention offers the biggest opportunity for the president to reset his campaign and, indeed, his presidency; and they hope to do so with messages like that from Senator Scott.
Now, it is unclear how this is going to play out in the country. We should keep that in mind as we watch this convention all week long. It is designed at rallying the Republicans' base for sure.
Tonight, Melania Trump will be speaking from the Rose Garden, the newly-renovated Rose Garden, as well as back here at Mellon Auditorium in Washington, Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: OK, Jeff. Thank you very much.
Developing this morning, schools in Florida in limbo after a judge blocked a state order requiring schools to reopen for in-person learning. The judge arguing that the state failed to take safety concerns into account.
CNN's Randi Kaye is live in West Palm Beach, Florida, with more. So what's the latest, Randi?
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.
Parts of the country that were facing the worst of the pandemic are now starting to see signs of improvement, but we are also seeing schools reopening and new clusters at colleges and universities. So administrators and school officials are scrambling to contain these new outbreaks. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE (voice-over): After weeks of rising numbers, Sun Belt states are beginning to show some positive signs of improvement. And over the weekend, for the first time since July, the seven-day average death toll nationwide dropped below 1,000.
But new concerns are still mounting in parts of the Midwest, where infections are trending upward.
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): I am increasingly concerned that we're seeing right now, and it's really been over about the last week --
KAYE: As schools begin to reopen, outbreaks at universities are reversing the recent downward trends.
GOV. LAURA KELLY (D-KS): Our positive infection rate from this weekend continues an alarming trend in the wrong direction.
KAYE: The University of Kansas just issued disciplinary actions against two fraternities for hosting parties.
At UNC, Chapel Hill, the positivity rate has more than doubled in just a week, now standing at 31.3 percent. The school has reported 465 positive cases in the last week.
Ohio State University suspending more than 200 students who have violated the university's social distancing regulations.
And in Tuscaloosa, home to the University of Alabama, all bars are closed for two weeks after a spike in cases.
MADDOX: The truth is, is that fall in Tuscaloosa is in serious jeopardy.
KAYE: In Florida, a major win for teachers after a judge blocked the state's requirement that all schools offer in-person learning by August 31. The court finding that the education commissioner, Richard Corcoran, arbitrarily prioritized opening schools statewide in August over safety and over the advice of health experts.
Governor DeSantis's office says it will appeal the ruling.
FEDRICK INGRAM, PRESIDENT, FLORIDA EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: No longer is there a penalty. No longer is there this threat from our commissioner or our governor to haphazardly open our schools.
KAYE: Two sources tell CNN that White House officials are raising the possibility of an early emergency use authorization for a vaccine but before late-stage trials are even finished. Dr. Anthony Fauci telling Reuters that, without knowing the efficacy of the vaccine, it is dangerous to push for emergency use, saying, "We would hope that nothing interferes with the full demonstration that a vaccine is safe and effective."
(END VIDEOTAPE) KAYE: Meanwhile, here in Florida, the state is seeing the lowest
number of new cases of coronavirus since mid-June, and the governor says that hospitalizations are down 50 percent in the last month.
But that is the good news. The bad news is, is that the University of Miami now scrambling to control an outbreak. And health experts are warning that the reopening of schools could reverse all of these positive new trends, John.
BERMAN: Yes, the key is to keep those trends moving in the right direction. Randi Kaye for us in Florida.
Randi, great to have you on. Thanks so much.
Breaking overnight, no real answers, no real explanation for the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. We're seeing the aftermath this morning of a night of protests there. The National Guard has now been called in.
[06:10:05]
Sara Sidner spoke with Blake's uncle. She joins us live from Kenosha with the very latest. Sara, what have you learned?
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, tonight or actually this morning quiet, but there were peaceful protests in the day, which devolved into burning buildings at night. There were several buildings set ablaze, including a probation office, a store that sells furniture, and a restaurant. We watched several cars go up in flames, as well.
Police and protesters squared off here right out in front of the courthouse, with protestors sending fireworks towards a police line, police responding with tear gas at some point.
There was a curfew, of course, that started at 8 p.m., but nobody paid that any mind. They were here because they were so angered, frustrated, upset, and distraught over this horrific video that they watched of Jacob Blake being shot seven times, mostly in the back, by a police officer here. And still no official explanation as to exactly what went on from the police department.
But we were able to sit down are Jacob Blake's uncle. Justin Blake sat and talked with us about the phone call that the family received that their son and their family member had been shot.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JUSTIN BLAKE, UNCLE OF JACOB BLAKE: 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 protest nonviolently. We want justice, and we're going to get justice. We're going to demand justice. But we're going to do that without tearing up our own communities.
SIDNER: What did he say to you when you first talked to him?
BLAKE: That it was going to be all right. And it is. But what's all right when someone's life was just totally changed? Thank God he's alive. So we're just praying for a great recovery, that he may have a great quality of life, and that his father, my brother, can enjoy him.
SIDNER: What is your biggest worry for the health of Jacob, who has lived through being shot seven times?
BLAKE: He's a hell of a young man. He's strong. He's a Blake. He's going to be OK. He's going to be OK.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER: And you can hear the tears there in Jacob Blake's uncle, Justin Blake.
We understand from Jacob's father, who we spoke to, as well, on the phone, that his son has gone through multiple surgeries; that, as they put it, he is pretty torn up from -- from the bullet wounds. But everyone here, all the family members and the folks that have been out here, have been praying that he does recover. He is still in stable condition -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: I mean, Justin Blake just said what any family member anywhere across America would say, that they're praying that he has some quality of life and that his children and father can still, you know, can still be with him.
SIDNER: Yes.
CAMEROTA: So, look, we'll have much more on this story and the investigation throughout the program. Sara, thank you very much.
Developing at this hour, Tropical Storm Laura is now forecast to strengthen into a powerful Category 3 hurricane before making landfall in the Gulf Coast this week.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers joins us now with the forecast. What's it looking like at this hour, Chad?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Looking like a major hurricane making landfall on the U.S. coast, the Gulf Coast somewhere between maybe Houston and Morgan City, Louisiana.
Now, forecasters at NHC said this storm has trended to the west, which means Houston, you need to pay attention big-time here.
We are going to see the continuation of this weather across parts of Cuba for the next couple of hours, but then it gets directly into the Gulf of Mexico, where the water is very warm.
We will watch to see what happens with this. It is still traveling to the northwest, expecting that turn. Sometimes a turn happens, and sometimes it doesn't. But if it does, it's going to be Louisiana, maybe very, very, very close to Beaumont-Port Arthur. And that is a big industrial area with a lot of refineries, a lot of even oil rigs here in the Gulf of Mexico, going to get run over by a Category 3 hurricane.
And it's not out of the question that this still gets bumped up to something bigger than that. The water is very warm. It's something that's in the Gulf of Mexico called the loop current. That's what Katrina got in when she got so -- or it got so very strong, at least briefly down there, and became a Cat 5 for a while. This is a storm to watch, Alisyn.
[06:15:04]
CAMEROTA: OK, Chad. Thank you very much.
So more than 177,000 Americans have died of coronavirus, but there was no mention of that staggering loss on the first night of the Republican convention. We discuss the attempt to rewrite history next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAMEROTA: The Republican Party kicking off their convention with dark warnings about what America would look like under Joe Biden's leadership.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCLOSKEY: They're not satisfied with spreading the chaos and violence into our communities. They want to abolish the suburbs altogether.
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): It's a horror film, really. They'll disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home, and invite MS-13 to live next door.
GUILFOYLE: They want to destroy this country and everything that we have fought for and hold dear.
[06:20:04]
TRUMP JR.: It's almost like this election is shaping up to be church, work, and school versus rioting, looting, and vandalism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: The Republicans also painting a misleading portrait of Trump's presidency and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. We'll get into all of that.
Joining us now is Brittany Shepherd. She's a national politics reporter for Yahoo! News. Also with us, CNN Washington correspondent Ryan Nobles. It's great to have both of you.
Brittany, they had planned to be, you know, shiny, happy people and then went dark and dystopian right away. So what did you hear last night? BRITTANY SHEPHERD, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, YAHOO! NEWS: Yes,
Alisyn, a reminder that officials told us that this was planned to be an uplifting four nights of remarks.
We all know that Trump is out of his element with overtures to unity. There's a reason why we don't hear Trump being a unifier in chief at rallies for the last 3 1/2 years.
I think it's important to understand the task at hand the Republicans have, right? Biden is leading Trump in several battleground state polls, with 50 percent or close to it. So the GOP has to woo these undecideds and kind of pull back voters from Trump.
And I don't know about you guys, but last night reminded me a lot of CPAC, rather than a fireside chat. At CPAC every year, there's a marrying of fringe parts of the conservative [SIC] party and more mainstream. And there they paint kind of intangible theoretical villains over tangible ones. So we heard a lot about doom and gloom and socialism, which might have worked if Bernie Sanders was the nominee, but Biden and Harris are super centrist.
We heard about defunding the police, something that Biden and Harris are ostensibly not for. We heard a lot about cancel culture, a policy I didn't hear on the campaign trail for the last year and a half.
I think it's an attempt to appeal to fear. And on one hand, I understand why. Fear is an effective motivator. It gets people to donate money. It gets people to be scared to leave their house and vote in November.
But it's kind of a far cry from the "Make America Great Again," again, rhetoric we've been hearing from the White House. And it kind of calls into question, like, under whose presidency did all of these things happen? Almost like an abdication of responsibility, that Trump wasn't president for the last couple of months, that it was maybe coronavirus.
So there was kind of that striking the tone with folks, like Nikki Haley and Tim Scott, who were a bit more measured in their approach to reaching out to voters.
BERMAN: It was interesting. It was internally dissonant. I mean, the target may have been suburban white women. I think that was the consistent target, and they went at that target in a very dissonant way. You obviously had Nikki Haley and Tim Scott telling their own personal stories. But then you had Kimberly Guilfoyle shouting. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: Don't let the Democrats take you for granted. Don't let them step on you. Don't let them destroy your families, your lives, and your future. Don't let them kill future generations, because they told you and brainwashed you and fed you lies that you weren't good enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Get that? Get that? Speak up a little bit next time.
You know, Ryan Nobles, you're here because you cover the Trump campaign. When we talk about the dissonant message, even Donald Trump, the president yesterday, when he spoke at the Charlotte gathering, he, too, wasn't as bright and hopeful as they had promised. What does the campaign -- what did they want out of night one, and did they get it?
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, one thing is clear, John, after what we saw last night, is that all subtlety is gone when it comes to the Trump campaign and the Republican message during this particular campaign.
You know, I do think that the campaign was hoping to frame each and every night under a certain topic and deliver a very specific message, which they attempted to do last night by the presentation of their speakers and the way that you watched this convention unfold.
But what I think we saw more than anything last night is that this is Donald Trump's party, this is Donald Trump's campaign, and that is -- and it's also Donald Trump's convention. And many of these speakers last night were essentially an extension of the president. This is exactly how the president talks on the campaign trail.
You know, he really set the tone yesterday during that speech in Charlotte. As you mentioned, John, we'd heard for days that this was all going to be an uplifting and positive message. And the president walked out on stage and immediately just started listing off a long list of grievances that he has with any number of people that he views as opponents.
So the message right now from Republicans in the campaign is that they've got to find a way to channel Donald Trump. They believe that Donald Trump is the best messenger for this campaign. He is who won this election four years ago. And they're either going to win or lose based on Donald Trump and his message, and that was very clear last night.
CAMEROTA: And Brittany, about coronavirus. Obviously, the illness that has gripped the country, 177,000 Americans dead, they didn't talk about that. I mean, there was a lot of revisionist history. They tried to show the people who weren't taking it seriously at first, but they didn't mention President Trump not taking it seriously for all of these months and what could have been done differently.
[06:25:02]
And so, I mean, do you think that their viewers buy that, hook, line, and sinker?
SHEPHERD: I mean, Alisyn, that -- that's a tough sell. I mean, it's pretty jarring from last week when we saw, I believe on the first, second night of the DNC, someone -- a daughter of a Trump supporter saying that, you know, the -- that supporting Trump cost her father his life. He died from COVID. We heard little to nothing about therapeutic development. We didn't
hear from any voices like Dr. Birx or Dr. Fauci or even references to the coronavirus task force. And during the DNC, we heard from Vivek Murthy, who was the former surgeon general and who briefs Joe Biden. So it was this really strange tonal clash.
And instead, speaking slots were given to the McCloskey couple, who were dog-whistling, and Covington Catholic kid tonight.
You know, I mean, everyone's frame of reference is different. I mean, voters are very aware of what's happening with coronavirus. Like you said, almost 180,000 people have died, and many, many, many more are sick.
I think we have to see if it bears out in the numbers if voters are going to agree with what was slotted by the RNC last night and this week, or if they're going to take their own way.
But of course, it can be damaging. And I think it leaves a lot of people wondering if there's hope, besides economic hope, down the pike just ten weeks from now.
CAMEROTA: Brittany Shepherd, Ryan Nobles, thank you very much for helping us look back at the highlights and low lights.
OK, the FDA commissioner insisting he was not pressured into authorizing emergency use of convalescent plasma as a treatment for coronavirus. So what is he apologizing for? That's next.
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