Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Key Model Predicts 400,000+ Americans Will Die of COVID-19 by January; Trump Mocks Biden for Wearing Mask as Pandemic Worsens; Portland Suspect Killed after Admitting to Shooting Right-Wing Activist; Trump Again Tells Supporters to Vote Twice; DHS Bulletin Warns Russia Amplifying False Claims about Mail-in Voting; Trump Remains Silent on Russian Interference & Aggressions. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired September 04, 2020 - 06:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[05:59:18]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Friday, September 4, 6 a.m. here in New York. John Berman is off. Jim Sciutto joins me.

Jim, great to have you here.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: Nice to be back.

CAMEROTA: OK. It's a very busy morning. We begin with breaking news.

The key model used by the White House coronavirus task force now projects that more than 400,000 Americans will die from coronavirus by January 1. That is more than double the current U.S. death toll.

The model projects that in December, 3,000 Americans will die a day. Can you image a 9/11-level of loss every day? The scientists say that's because of the combo of the flu and the declining vigilance of Americans. The U.S. already averages about 1,000 deaths a day, Jim.

SCIUTTO: President Trump does not want to talk about this worsening President Trump does not want to talk about this worsening pandemic, despite those figures. Instead, last night, he mocked Joe Biden for wearing a mask at a rally in Pennsylvania, even as more and more science shows -- science shows masks save lives.

Overnight, multiple sources tell CNN that President Trump has been ramping up the pressure on health officials to deliver good news about a coronavirus vaccine -- and this is key -- before election day.

The president continues to show that his political future is more important than the nearly 187,000 Americans killed so far by this pandemic.

A very busy Friday morning. There's lots to get to. Let's begin with CNN's Nick Valencia. He is live in Atlanta with our top story.

I mean, these numbers -- and by the way, this model has proven very credible. White House coronavirus task force relies on this model. Now doubling the death toll. More than doubling, by January.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim and Alisyn, that is a significant increase in the IHME model, which as you mentioned, has been reliable so far.

A hundred and eight thousand Americans have died from the coronavirus, and that is projected to hit about 410,000 by January 1. This as the Midwest remains a very big concern for health experts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA (voice-over): This morning, a grim outlook for the United States, as one updated model projects the U.S. death toll could reach over 410,000 by January 1. But also suggests consistently wearing masks could save about 122,000 lives in that time period.

Dr. Anthony Fauci hopes Americans will practice safety guidelines this holiday weekend to avoid similar spikes seen after Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We don't want to see a surge under any circumstances, but particularly, as we go on the other side of Labor Day and into -- into the fall, we want to go into that with a running start in the right direction. We don't want to go into that with another surge that we have to turn around again.

VALENCIA: Health officials like Fauci pleading with young adults to be careful.

In Missouri, the governor reporting nearly 7,000 people between 18 and 24 tested positive in August alone.

GOV. MIKE PARSON (R-MO): As of late, approximately 30 percent of the new cases have been among this age group.

VALENCIA: Students returning to campus turning some college towns into coronavirus hot spots.

In upstate New York, SUNY-Oneonta suspending in-person learning for the rest of the semester. The university reporting over 500 cases since the start of the academic year.

At the University of Georgia, nearly 800 students tested positive last week. And on Tuesday, the Ohio State University reporting 191 new cases in a 24-hour period.

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): To our friends in college, you know, again, we ask you to be careful. Because while all of us, when we were your age thought we were invincible, you can pass this on.

VALENCIA: This as the race to find a vaccine presses forward. Pfizer says it could know if its treatment is safe and effective by the end of next month. Their CEO insisting they will not cut corners before submitting for approval.

Meanwhile, with President Trump consistently saying a vaccine could be ready before the election, one of the researchers leading Operation Warp Speed's efforts to find a vaccine says that's extremely unlikely.

MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF SCIENTIST, OPERATION WARP SPEED: There is a very, very low chance that the trials that are running as we speak could read before the end of October.

VALENCIA: Dr. Fauci agreeing that the timeline will likely stretch into the end of next year.

FAUCI: Most of us project that that's going to be by November, December, by the end of the year. Could this be earlier? Sure. It is conceivable that you could have it by October, although I don't think that that's likely.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: The president continues to repeat that a vaccine could be ready by November, but a federal health official who I spoke to yesterday says that the Trump administration is preparing for four likely scenarios with one that brings a vaccine as late as the back half of 2021 -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Thanks so much.

Well, amid these dire new projections about how many Americans could die from the coronavirus by January, CNN has learned that President Trump is pressuring the FDA for positive news that he can announce ahead of election day, including possibility of a vaccine that would have to jump start or bypass, even, trials underway.

CNN's Joe Johns is live at the White House with more. You know, I spoke with Dr. Fauci yesterday. He said he's still confident that science will rule the day for the FDA and others. What is the president, from your perspective, trying to do here?

[06:05:05]

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're talking about here is a pressure-cooker environment at the FDA and other federal health agencies, as the president pushes health officials to speed up, to expedite development of vaccines, as well as any other treatments.

Now the idea, of course, as you said, is to send a signal to the voters before election day that there is light at the end of this pandemic's tunnel. We've seen this publicly. We've seen this privately, the president pushing for more good news about development of treatments, as well as vaccines.

And he has essentially been trying to push minor developments and turn them into major announcements. That's been in the headlines over just the last couple of weeks or so.

Now, what our colleagues say is that behind the scenes, the president has even complained that officials at some of these agencies have been seeking to undercut his chances for election by slow walking, if you will, developments.

All of this coming at a time when the president continues his mixed messaging on things like mask wearing, just very recently now, pushing on Joe Biden and essentially denouncing him for wearing a mask. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But did you ever see a man that likes a mask as much as him? And then he makes a speech and he always has it -- not always, but a lot of times he has it hanging down, because you know what? It gives him a feeling of security. If I were a psychiatrist, right? No, I'd say -- I'd say this guy's got some big issues, hanging down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Now, 187,000 people have died so far, and wearing a mask, of course, is something that all of the health experts say saves lives, as well as stops the spread of the virus.

Alisyn, back to you.

CAMEROTA: In fact, Joe, those new models show that, if there were 95 percent compliance with wearing masks, the numbers would plummet. Thank you very much for that report.

Breaking overnight, the suspect wanted in the fatal shooting of a right-wing activist in Portland last weekend was killed by federal law enforcement.

CNN's Lucy Kafanov is live at the scene in Lacy, Washington. What have you learned, Lucy?

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, good morning.

The crime lab investigators are actually still on the scene. We know that Michael Reinoehl, 48 years old, was allegedly involved in last weekend's deadly shooting of Aaron "Jay" Danielson, a supporter of the far-right group known as Patriot Prayer.

Portland police issued a warrant for his arrest on Thursday, but because he lived or at least was located across state lines here in Washington, they got the U.S. Marshals involved. They were sent to locate and apprehend him.

According to the U.S. Marshals' statement, their fugitive task force located him and attempted to apprehend him peacefully. They say, and I'm going to quote from this report, "Initial reports indicate the suspect produced a firearm, threatening the lives of law enforcement officers. The task members responded to the threat and struck the suspect, who was pronounced dead at the scene."

Now, the timing of this is interesting. Although his name had been out there in social media and some local reports, Portland police did not issue this warrants and did not move in until Thursday, the same day that an interview with "Vice" news aired, in which Reinoehl attempted, or at least attempted to take responsibility for the shooting of Aaron "Jay" Danielson, which he says was in self-defense, he says, because he and a friend were about to get stabbed. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL REINOEHL, SHOOTING SUSPECT: I had no choice. I mean, I had a choice, I could have sat there and watched him kill a friend of mine of color. But I wasn't going to do that. That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Lots of lawyers suggest that I shouldn't even be saying anything, but I feel it's important that the world at least gets a little bit of what's really going on, because there's been a lot of propaganda put out there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You feel that it was totally justified?

REINOEHL: Totally justified. Had I not acted, I am confident that my friend and, I'm sure, I would have been killed. Because I wasn't going to stand there and let something happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAFANOV: Now, in the interview, Reinoehl said that he moved into -- or went down to downtown Portland on Saturday to act as security after seeing a caravan of hundreds of Trump supporters in the city.

A lot of questions now about how, actually, the events of last night unfolded and what's going to be the response, because we do have a rally by the far right scheduled for Saturday. And we simply don't know what's going to happen with the continuing protests against police violence in Portland -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: And about why regular people think they're equipped to act as security. Lucy, thank you very much.

[06:10:06]

So there are these dire new projections to tell you about this morning. This is about the U.S. death toll from coronavirus. This key model estimates that more than 400,000 Americans could die by the end of the year. So we explain what the researchers are seeing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Breaking news. The key model used by the White House now projects that more than 400,000 Americans will die from coronavirus by January 1. That's more than double the current death toll.

The model also estimates that in December, nearly 3,000 Americans a day will die. That's as the flu kicks in and the public becomes less vigilant.

Joining us now to help us understand this, CNN political commentator, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. He's an epidemiologist and public health expert.

Doctor, it's great to have you this morning. And so help us understand this. This is a model that's basically a snapshot of where we are today.

[06:15:04]

If everything stays as is today -- the same level of compliance with masks, the outbreak that we're seeing in the Midwest -- this model follows that same course and finds that we more than double our death toll.

DR. ABUL EL-SAYED, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: What these models do, is they extrapolate current trends about how people are behaving and what's coming online in terms of behaviors that could be spreading this disease, and helps us to understand what might happen under different scenarios.

And what's important here isn't necessarily the numbers, although that number is eye-popping and extremely tragic. It's the differences in the numbers of projected cases under different scenarios.

And what they tell us is that, by putting universal -- using universally our masks, as we know that we ought to, and practicing social distancing, that the difference in the number of deaths could be 120,000 deaths.

But they also tell us, from that 410,000 number, if we were to ease our behaviors, that number goes up to nearly 620,000 deaths. You're talking about a 200,000 full difference and over the entire model, 300,000 deaths. That's one and a half times as many deaths as we've had right now.

And so what we do in our future, that will decide how many of our American sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers, may pass from this disease. It really is on us to pay attention and do the things we need to do to protect ourselves and our communities.

SCIUTTO: OK. So let's talk about what that is. When I spoke to Dr. Fauci yesterday, he said that the good news that we've seen in recent weeks, right, is that simple measures make a difference, right? That the mask wearing you talk about, social distancing, not going into crowded indoor places, et cetera, that that, when it's followed, works.

So -- so to turn this around, to keep from more than doubling the death toll from this by the end of the year, is it simple steps like that, or in your view, do you need more drastic steps? Dr. Michael Osterholm, for instance, respected infectious disease expert, he talked about going back to shutdown mode. But what do you think is necessary to turn this around?

EL-SAYED: Right. It is simple steps that all of us have to consistently take. And that's the hard part.

It's kind of like brushing your teeth. Right? Everybody knows that if you don't want get cavities, you need to brush your teeth, but you need to do it twice a day, every day. And all of us need to do that, because of course, it's not just our teeth we're worried about. It's the kind of situation where if I don't do what I need to do, it could affect someone else.

And unfortunately, right now, Americans aren't making those decisions.

To understand how and where Michael Osterholm is coming from, his point is if we don't have shutdowns, people are easing in how they're wearing masks or social distancing, which then leads to this increased spread.

And what's worse in the fall is that we're working against a couple of really hard tides. The first is that people are going back to school.

The second is that colleges and universities are opening.

The third is that the flu is coming onboard, which makes COVID-19 more deadly, because it's overriding with the flu.

And then lastly, because of the changing weather, many of us, particularly in the upper Midwest and the northeast, are going inside a bit more, where -- where the spread is worse.

And so we've got to be more consistent and more diligent, not less consistent and less diligent. And the hard part around these kinds of behaviors is that they tend to wane over time, as people get the psychological push that maybe COVID is less serious than it was. No, it's more serious. The fall is going to be worse, and people have to treat it that way.

CAMEROTA: Well, I mean, I'm so glad that you touched on that, Doctor. Because on an emotional level, I think that it's very hard to kind of digest that everything we've just been through, all of the death -- I'm sure that at this point, everyone watching knows someone who's gotten sick. They may know someone who has died from this.

After everything, for all of these months we've been to, it's about to get worse. That it's about to get worse and it's about to double. That's just so hard to accept.

EL-SAYED: The hard part about big statistics is that they end up worrying on like white noise in the background. And I hope, as people see these numbers, these are not inevitable, right? We don't necessarily, as a society, have to keep barreling forward. The numbers don't have to keep counting up. It is about our choices as a society.

And I hope that folks can personalize those numbers. Every single one of those 185,000 plus people who have died is a person with loved ones. It was a mother or a father, a sister or a brother. Somebody's boyfriend or girlfriend. Somebody's parent.

And if we think about it that way and ask ourselves, can I wear a mask? Maybe can I forego going to that party? Can I choose to eat outside instead of eating inside the restaurant? Is it worth it?

And my argument is that it is, especially when you realize that, on the back end of this fall, we're looking at projections that tell us that we could be losing, at minimum, 110,000 more of our fellow citizens.

And at maximum, more than three times as many people -- three times -- more than three times as many people as have died already. And that is really, really tragic. And I hope that folks can recognize, each one of those is a person and deserves us doing what we can to protect themselves, protect them and protect ourselves.

CAMEROTA: Dr. El-Sayed, thank you very much for helping us understand the staggering numbers that we're seeing this morning. Thank you.

EL-SAYED: Thank you for having me.

CAMEROTA: President Trump is denying a report that he called fallen U.S. soldiers losers and suckers. We're going to tell you the reporting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Sign your mail-in ballot, OK? You sign it and send it in. And then you have to follow it. And if, on election day, or early voting, that is not tabulated and counted, you go vote. And then if, for some reason after that -- it shouldn't take that long -- it comes in, they're not going to be able to tabulate it, because you will have voted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:25:12]

SCIUTTO: Well, that's the president doubling down on his call for his supporters to vote twice, which, by the law, is illegal. This while U.S. intelligence warns that Russia is amplifying false claims about, what, mail-in voting? Something the president, of course, himself, has continued to do.

CNN's Evan Perez is live in Washington with more.

Evan, it's good to have you get into the specifics of this, right? Because there have been so many political interpretations of what the intel community is finding. But by the president, outright denial, Bill Barr, et cetera. Tell us what the intelligence is telling us regarding Russian interference here.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Jim.

Look, the intelligence community is essentially warning that the Russians are trying to amplify doubts, are trying to sow doubt about the validity of the 2020 vote by spreading these -- these claims that the fact that there is going to be an expansion of mail voting this fall, that that will lead to widespread fraud.

And it just so happens, obviously, that this is exactly the point that the president and his campaign and his supporters have been making over the last few months. What the Homeland Security Department is doing in issuing this -- this bulletin, which went out to state and local officials over the last couple of days, is saying, essentially, that this is what the Russians are doing to sow doubt, to try to undermine the U.S. -- the U.S. voters' faith in the outcome of the 2020 election.

What we know is this. Is that, you know, there are a number of states that already do mail-in voting. Some -- some states, including Utah and Oregon, do almost the entire election by mail. We know that a number of states are trying to expand that access, because of the coronavirus pandemic. They're trying to make sure that people don't get exposed to the virus.

And so that's what the president has seized on, to try to claim that there's going to be widespread fraud, that because of issues with the postal service. There might be delays that will cause ballots to not arrive in time.

And what the Homeland Security Department is doing here is finding a way to warn people about what the Russians are doing. What is left unsaid is the fact that the president himself and his campaign are the source of this information.

SCIUTTO: It's incredible. And it's not the first time Russian disinformation has been very similar to that shared by the president. Evan Perez, thanks very much.

Well, this is yet one more thing that the president has remained silent on, in terms of Russian aggression, Russian election interference, of course, which he's denied. Bounties on U.S. troops in Afghanistan, which the president has never called out. And now this, a nerve agent attack on a Russian opposition leader. It's -- it's many in a series of things the president will not challenge coming from Russia.

Joining us now, CNN military analyst, Retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. He's retired Army commanding general of Europe, also commanded forces in Iraq.

General, always good to have you on.

Just -- here we are again in 2020. Russia is interfering again. It's the intelligence community's assessment they're doing, so to denigrate once more the president's Democratic opponent here.

And with this whole series of things, the president won't call them out publicly and say, in no uncertain terms, don't interfere, don't pay bounties to kill U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Don't have your aircraft and -- and warships carry out dangerous encounters with U.S. aircraft with warships, abroad. What signal does that send to Russia?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), U.S. ARMY: It is the only country in the world that he doesn't have bellicose words for, Jim. And that's what is so disturbing about this, because they are -- Putin's Russia is the one country in the world that's really undermining our systems to a large degree.

It says a lot about something, I'm not sure what, regarding the president's relationship with Mr. Putin and with Russia. But it's damaging. It has been Russia's desire to do exactly this for at least ten years. It's part of their strategy to divide, not only inside the United States, but between the U.S. and its NATO allies. And it seems to be working, and the president seems to be playing in its hands.

Today, NATO will have a meeting, an emergency session on this very issue. And I'm sure most of the countries in Europe are going to be voting for some type of action against Russia for killing another individual on European soil.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CAMEROTA: General, we want to turn now to a report in "The Atlantic" that's getting a lot of attention this morning. It's by the editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg. We'll have him coming up on our program.

And basically, he -- he says that he got the story of behind the scenes what was happening in that 2018 visit to France where President Trump was scheduled to go to the American cemetery, Belleau Wood, and pay respects, but then didn't go.