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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

CDC: Prepare for Vaccine Before Election; Biden Heads to Meet Blake Family in Wisconsin; Germany: Nerve Agent Used to Poison Putin Critic Navalny; Rockets Hold Off Thunder in Dramatic Game 7 Finish. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired September 03, 2020 - 05:00   ET

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


[05:00:20]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Planning for a vaccine just before the election. Is the CDC under pressure to give the president a bump before America votes?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And Joe Biden takes his message of healing to Kenosha today. He's meeting with Jacob Blake's family in Wisconsin.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: And I'm Laura Jarrett. It's Thursday, September 3rd. Five a.m. here in New York. The election is exactly two months away.

And this morning the push for a coronavirus vaccine and the presidential election are on a collision course. The CDC confirming it has told public health officials across the country to prepare to distribute a potential vaccine as late as October just in time for the election. Now, that doesn't mean a vaccine will be available by then. In fact, the director of the NIH says that's not likely and points out pandemic planning has long involved getting a distribution network ready.

But this administration has a track record that raises red flags.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: The notion of preparation isn't a problem. That timeline is really aggressive. It's hard to imagine we're going to have the data necessary. But unfortunately, when we've been with the words of the FDA commissioner who has said he may ignore the advice of his own advisory committee and issue an EUA, an emergency use authorization even without phase 3 trials being done, it does, I think, worry a lot of us that there is a rush here.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

ROMANS: Another 1,056 Americans died of coronavirus yesterday. The U.S. is struggling to bring the death rate down. The worrying trend here is the rate of new cases had been falling but

that curve has been distinctly flat for a week now. And these outbreaks in the Midwest are a big part of the reason. The Minnesota Department of Health announcing the first known death stemming from the Sturgis motorcycle rally in early August.

Iowa still seeing dangerous spikes. The number of people hospitalized near levels last seen in the spring.

JARRETT: With that in mind, Iowa State has reversed course. It will no longer allow 25,000 fans at the college home opener. The National Farmers Union says meat processing workers in Iowa are still at an elevated risk of exposure which could threaten the meat supply if things worsen on this.

But the governor is still refusing to mandate masks. And Iowa Senator Joni Ernst was forced to backtrack after peddling a conspiracy theory this week. She said she was skeptical of the official coronavirus death toll and suggested medical professionals had been fraudulently inflating numbers to make more money.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): I can't actually look at that information, but I have heard it from health care providers that they do get reimbursed higher amounts if it's a COVID-related illness or death.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

ROMANS: Again, there's no evidence for that claim. Health care providers across the country were outraged, calling that an attack against the live-saving work they're doing.

Meanwhile, across the U.S., schools are still facing clusters. More than 1,000 students were diagnosed at the University of South Carolina.

Dr. Anthony Fauci warnings those students they need to stay at school and absolutely not go back home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: It's the worst thing you can do. Keep them at the university in a place that's sequestered enough from the other students but don't have them go home because they could be spreading it in their home state.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

JARRETT: Fauci also pleading with Americans to continue mitigation efforts ahead of Labor Day weekend. The U.S. saw big spikes after the holiday outings on Memorial Day and the fourth of July. If you won't listen to experts, listen to the rock, Dwayne Johnson says he and his wife and his daughters are all on the mend after a bout with the virus. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DWAYNE JOHNSON, ACTOR: This has been one of the most challenging and difficult things we have ever had to endure as a family and for me personally too, as well. I've gone through some doozies in the past. I've gotten knocked about and gotten my ass kicked a little bit in the past.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: And, finally, L.A. County health officials allowing K-12 schools to resume limited on-campus teaching for students who are most in need of in-person learning like English as a second language, or specialized in school services.

ROMANS: All right. This stunning report from the Congressional Budget Office showing just how damaging the pandemic has been. The U.S. will owe more money than the country's entire GDP. To save the economy, that's right, we're spending money at a rate not seen since World War II.

The CBO also estimates the federal budget deficit will hit $3.3 trillion this year, more than triple the shortfall in 2019.

[05:05:01]

Now, this estimate assumes current policies stay the same and there's no further legislation affecting revenue or spending.

But it's clear, though, more stimulus is needed, even on top of this huge pile of debt. Millions of Americans are out of work, many of the programs created by Congress to help during the pandemic have run out. Stimulus talks have been stalled since early August with both sides not budging on the price of their plans.

Meantime, the CBO reports recovery from the coronavirus recession could last the better part of the next decade. The CBO now estimates the unemployment rate will stay above pre-pandemic levels until after the year 2030. The 10-year average unemployment rate will be 6.1 percent, the CBO says. It was near a 50-year low of 3.5 percent in February.

JARRETT: Christine, why do you think it would take so long to recover?

ROMANS: There is just so much debt, first of all. And, second of all, we know some of these jobs are starting to become permanent job losses. We know the airline industry is preparing for half of the pre- pandemic size. That means big changes and a slow recovery.

JARRETT: I raised it just because the Trump administration has made it seem like there's going to be a bounce back overnight, and it's clearly not it.

ROMANS: A super V recovery. That is a branding and PR tactic, that's not reality. JARRETT: Thank you for that fact check.

All right. Joe Biden's message of healing gets put to the test today. The former VP visits Kenosha, the Wisconsin city where the police shot 29-year-old Jacob Bake in the back seven times, setting off nights of protests over racial injustice. Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, will hold a community meeting and sit down with Blake's father and other family members, two days after President Trump visited Kenosha over the objections of local leaders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I believe the vast majority of the community at -- writ large, as well as law enforcement, want to straighten things out, not inflame things. But this president keeps throwing gasoline on the fire every place he goes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: In an exclusive interview with CNN, Attorney General Bill Barr defended the actions of police, insisting the shooting of black Americans is not racially motivated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I don't think there are two justice systems. I think the narrative that there's a -- that the police are on some, you know, epidemic of shooting unarmed black men is simply a false narrative and also the narrative that that's based on race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Barr also claimed Jacob Blake was committing a felony when he was shot but there's been no evidence released and no charges filed and Blake's attorney denies that.

ROMANS: President Trump is so worried about mail-in voting fraud in November, he appears to be encouraging people to committee election fraud by voting twice. The president said the best way to check a mail-in ballot was counted is to head to the polls, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They're going to have to go to the poll and voting that way because if it -- if it tabulates, then they won't be able to do that. So, let them send it in and let them go vote, and if their system's as good as they say it is, then obviously they won't be able to vote.

The absentees are fine. We have to work to get them. You know, it means something, and you send them in but you go to vote. If they haven't counted it, you can vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: If you take the president's advice, you might be breaking the law. Voting twice is a felony in some states including North Carolina where the president was speaking. Remember, there's no proof mail-in voting leads to widespread fraud. Forty-four states including North Carolina are expecting a surge in mail-in voting.

Because of the pandemic, people are afraid to go to the polls. They want to be safe. Trump's suggestion is already getting push back from election officials in North Carolina and elsewhere.

JARRETT: And, Christine, you know, it's interesting. I did some reporting ahead on this ahead of the last presidential election in 2016, and it turns out you actually can in some states like Wisconsin vote absentee and then show up to the polls on election day and change your vote. But that doesn't mean you get to vote twice. The absentee ballot is nullified before you get to vote in-person.

ROMANS: Oh, interesting.

JARRETT: So, there actually is a way to do this, but not in any way the president says and you can't do it in North Carolina.

ROMANS: All right. Nine minutes past the hour.

A nerve agent was used to poison Vladimir Putin critic and it's not the first time. We're going to go live to Berlin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:13:20]

JARRETT: Welcome back.

Common steroids that are cheap and readily available could be lifesavers for critically ill coronavirus patients.

Here's our CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Laura, Christine, some good news about treatment for COVID-19. That treatment is steroids. We've talked about it before, but now there's a new study.

Let's take a look at the numbers. This large study in the U.K. looked at more than 1,700 patients with COVID-19. When they looked at the 678 patients who were treated with steroids, about 33 percent died. But when they looked at about 1,000 patients who didn't get steroids, they got a placebo or they just didn't get steroids, 41 percent, almost 42 percent of them died.

So, what that tells you is that steroids help. In many ways, this is confirmation of what doctors have been doing anyways. I remember last spring, doctors in New York City telling me they were using steroids on their COVID patients because steroids had worked for patients with other kinds of viral illnesses.

Now, another piece of good news is that hospitals have steroids. They're not hard to get, they're not expensive and doctors are very accustomed to using them -- Laura, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much for that.

A chemical nerve agent was used to poison Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. That's according to the German government. Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders are demanding answers from Vladimir Putin. But once again, there is deafening silence from President Trump.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen live in Berlin with more.

Good morning, Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, good morning, Christine.

You're absolutely. So far, there's been a comment from the National Security Council, no comment from President Trump himself. This even after allies like, for instance, the Brits, the European Union, and, of course, the Germans have commented very sternly on all of this and demanded an explanation from the Russians.

The Germans came out late last night and they said it was the toxicology department of the German military that found out without any sort of doubt, unequivocally they said, that it was indeed a toxin, a nerve agent from the Novichok family that poisoned Alexei Navalny.

Now, of course, Novichok has a devastating history. It was also used in 2018 to then poison a former Russian spy in the United Kingdom. Back then, the Russians were widely held responsible. Many countries expelled Russian diplomats.

And now, Angela Merkel has come out, the German chancellor, and said she wants an explanation from the Russians. She says there are questions that only Russia can answer and Russia must answer.

As you can imagine, the Russians themselves continue to deny everything. A spokeswoman for Russia's foreign ministry has come out and called all of this anti-Russian propaganda. The Russians are saying they'd be willing to share information with the Germans, but they have not launched any sort of investigation as to what exactly happened to Alexei Navalny.

Because we're standing in front of a hospital where he's being treated, we did also get an update from the authorities here as to how Alexei Navalny is doing. Apparently, his life is no longer in danger but he is still being mechanically ventilated as the German doctors put it, and they say it's going to be a very, very long and protracted illness.

Guys, they say they're not sure whether he's going to be able to make a full recovery at all, Christine.

ROMANS: Wow.

All right. Fred Pleitgen for us there in Berlin, in front of -- in a hospital there where he is being held. Thank you so much for that, Fred.

JARRETT: All right. Still ahead, one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL in damage control after remarks about coronavirus.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:21:07]

JARRETT: Houston Rockets get a dramatic game seven win in the NBA playoffs, thanks to their defense.

Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Laura.

You know, game sevens are usually very intense close ball games. That's exactly what we got from the Rockets and the Thunder last night.

Rockets superstar, James Hardin, he had a night to forget offensively, but with the game on the line, five seconds left, Harden jumping up with the huge block on Lu Dort. Take another look. Harden going way up to get that one. Game-saving play here, the defensive play of his career.

The Thunder did have one last chance down two in the closing seconds. Again, the rockets going to come up with the defensive play. Russell Westbrook going to knock the ball away. Rockets win 104-102.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES HARDEN, HOUSTON ROCKETS: Offensively I felt like (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Excuse my language but I couldn't make a shot, turned the ball over. Just doing everything that was not supposed to happen but I just kept sticking with it. My teammates gave me confidence my teammates gave me confidence throughout the game. Defensively I made the play. I sort of close out to him. Dorn has been knocking out some shots, so I wanted to get out to him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Fans never want to see refs fighting during a game. That's exactly what happened during the Heat and Bucks in game two of their series. Milwaukee was down by 3 under five seconds to go. Khris Middleton takes that three. The refs call a foul on Goran Dragic. Looks like he has his hands straight up. Middleton makes all three free throws to tie the game.

So, we got 4 seconds left now. Jimmy Butler, the shot. No good and the buzzer but the refs did call a foul on Giannis. Butler would step up and make both free throws with no time-out to win the game for the heat, 116-114. They take a 2-0 lead over the Bucks. It's a third time in playoff history the game has ended on a walk-off free throws.

Tonight on our sister network TNT, the playoffs continue. Celtics can take a commanding 3-0 series lead over the raptors followed by game one of the west semis between the Nuggets and the Clippers.

All right. Finally, Vikings quarter Kirk Cousins attempting to clarify comments he made on The Ringer's "10 Questions with Kyle Branch" podcast that was taped back in July. Cousins said he wasn't worried at all about getting coronavirus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRK COUSINS, MINNESOTA VIKINGS QUARTERBACK: If I get it, I'm going to ride it out. I'm going to let nature do its course, survival of the fittest approach.

UNIDENKTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

COUSINS: Say if it knocks me out, I'm going to be knocked out. Even if I die, if I die, I have peace about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yeah. Cousins faced some criticism after those comments and the episode was released yesterday. Now he says he should have been more clear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COUSINS; There's plenty of reasons to wear a mask, social distance and be very vigilant to help stop the spread of the virus so that was the heart behind I was trying to say in July. Admittedly, I didn't say it as clear as I would have liked to. So, I just want to share that same message again and hopefully articulate it a little bit better. That has always been in my heart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yeah. And, Christine, Cousins also said no matter what your views are about coronavirus, wearing a mask is about being respectful to others.

ROMANS: I can't believe there are views about coronavirus. Oh, my God, 185,000 people have died and we're six months into it and it is still not under control. That is just the bottom line there.

Survival of the fittest, that's something.

All right. Thank you, sir. Nice to see you, Andy.

A quick programming note, CNN brings you the stories of Joe Biden and Donald Trump and their fight for the White House. See their triumphs, tragedies and their dramatic journeys.

Don't miss the back-to-back event starting Monday on CNN at 8:00 p.m. on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:29:42]

ROMANS: Planning for a vaccine just before the election. Is the CDC under pressure to give the president a bump before America votes?

JARRETT: And Joe Biden heads to Kenosha today. He's meeting with Jacob Blake's family in Wisconsin.

Good morning. This is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

ROMANS: Good morning, everyone. I'm Christine Romans. It is 29 minutes past the hour this Thursday morning.

And this morning, the push for the coronavirus vaccine and presidential election are on a collision course. The CDC confirms it has told public health officials.