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Gold Star Family Responds To Reports Trump Disparaged Troops; China Imposes New Visa Restrictions Targeting U.S. Media; Why Biden's True Lead Is Smaller Than It Appears. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 07, 2020 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:32:55]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Reports that the President of the United States made disparaging remarks about U.S. troops, including those killed in combat, has reopened old wounds for family members of those who did give their lives on the battlefield.

Joining us now, former "New York Times" journalist Dana Canedy. Her 2008, "A Journal for Jordan," tells the story of her late fiance, First Sergeant Charles King, and his service in the Army. This is told with the help of notes that he kept -- notes he wrote to his infant son before he was killed in Iraq.

Dana, it's good to have you with us.

It's such a powerful -- such a powerful piece that you wrote and you draw us in right away when you bring us into the moment where your 14- year-old son Jordan first heard the comments that the president had reportedly called fallen soldiers losers and suckers, and it was before you could protect him from it. Just take us back to that moment if you will.

DANA CANEDY, AUTHOR, "A JOURNAL FOR JORDAN", FORMER JOURNALIST, THE NEW YORK TIMES (via Cisco Webex): Oh, I'm getting chills even thinking about it. I, obviously, heard the reports first and was really struggling with the fact that anybody could say that. And he's denied it. I don't whether he said it or not but even the possibility of that is just horrible.

I just started having images of my mind -- in my mind of the funeral and of the first time I was told that he died. And then, I said I'm going to keep this away from Jordan.

A news report was on and he came into my room. I was trying very quickly to turn off the television. He heard it and turned to me with his big, beautiful eyes and said mom, is he talking about my dad? And I thought I have to say something.

HILL: What did you say?

CANEDY: You know, I knew that I had to say something -- I had to speak up publicly because -- HILL: Yes.

CANEDY: -- (audio gap) we know your dad's heroism. Ah, just forget about it, but neither one of us could.

And I have always told Jordan -- and also, I speak with a lot of students in my line of work across the country and I've spoken with hundreds of grieving military families. And I've always had -- one of the messages I like to leave with them is if you're hurting or angry or upset, do something positive with that -- channel it.

[07:35:13]

And so, I had to find a way to do that. And writing, for me, has always been an outlet so I first wrote about it for "The New York Times," my old employer.

I just decided to let Jordan do one interview so he could defend his dad and speak up for his dad. He did and it's been empowering.

I won't let anyone diminish the service that Charles or any other service member gave -- provided for this country. And certainly, those like him who made the ultimate sacrifice.

HILL: I know you've had plenty of reaction come your way --

CANEDY: Yes.

HILL: -- from the piece, but I'm curious, what did your son say when he read it?

CANEDY: He hasn't read it.

HILL: Oh, he hasn't?

CANEDY: No. You know, there's very, very personal things in there that I wanted to share with people.

But mostly, I want him to be a kid, you know. He's surfing this summer and hanging out with his cousins. And I wanted to talk about it with him and give him a chance to express himself, which he did. And then, hopefully, allow him to move on and focus back on the last days of summer and the beginning of his school year.

HILL: As you note in the piece and as you just said, the administration and the president have denied these remarks were made. I was really struck by, though, the advice that you offered and I just want to read some of that.

You said, "Go on television immediately from the Oval Office and speak directly to these Gold Star children. If you want, deny that you said those awful things but tell them you are sorry anyway.

Say that no child should ever think that the commander in chief would utter such hurtful lies. Tell them their mom or dad or anyone who has made the ultimate sacrifice is more of a hero than you will ever be. Humble yourself.

If Mr. Trump had it in his heart to extend his empathy to all the Gold Star adults who are suffering as well, that would be great. But he must speak to our children."

That struck me so much and I don't think it's just as a parent. But reading that moment, you just thought yes, what a message that would send.

CANEDY: I'm still hopeful that he will do it -- I really am. He's a parent, himself.

And I have to say -- you know, people keep asking me how I feel about the upcoming election and who I'm going to vote for. It's completely irrelevant.

HILL: Yes.

CANEDY: Same thing if a Democrat was in the White House. My political views are not at issue here. Who cares what I think about that?

What I'm saying is as the mother of a Gold Star child -- and I'm sure there are many -- I don't speak for any other military family but my own, though I have heard from a lot over this weekend. But I would bet there are lots of confused children who would love to hear their commander in chief -- our commander in chief say your daddy was a hero.

HILL: Yes.

CANEDY: There's no (audio gap). Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. And if you somebody led you to believe that I think otherwise, I'm here to tell you that's not true. It would help to heal these kids.

Forget about the adults if you want to. There are plenty of hurting mothers and wives, brothers and sisters of those who have either been wounded or killed in combat, but it's the children -- it's the children that need to hear directly from the president that there's no doubt in my mind -- don't let anybody tell you otherwise that your parent was a warrior, was a hero, was the best America has.

HILL: Without question, and their service and their sacrifice. And yours, as well, you know. You lost your fiance, your son lost his father and none of that should be politicized.

And what an incredible gift that First Sergeant Charles Monroe King left for his son, "A Journal for Jordan." I know you turned it into a book. There's a movie forthcoming as well. And thanks for sharing some of that gift with us.

Dana, thanks for being with us this morning.

CANEDY: Thank you for having me.

HILL: How will the coronavirus pandemic impact the upcoming flu season? We've been talking so much about the two converging. Well, two doctors will tell us, next.

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[07:43:20]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, the Chinese government is imposing new visa restrictions on foreign journalists working for U.S. news organizations in China.

CNN's David Culver is one of them. He's live in Beijing this morning. David, it does sound like this isn't about journalism per se, but it's just one more piece in these rising tensions between the two countries.

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. And, admittedly, John, this is a bit strange to be really at the center of this one -- not only CNN but me personally. I mean, this came at a time when I was supposed to be renewing this -- my press card that the Chinese government issues us and it's supposed to last for about 12 months.

Well, when I went in recently to have that process started, they told me they weren't going to go forward with it right away -- they were delaying that. They didn't outright deny it but they said instead, they would give us an extension of about two months -- until about November sixth -- just after the election.

Now, the reason that they chose that date is because that is when they say that the U.S. have given the Chinese journalists -- those who are working for state media, mind you, in the U.S. who are Chinese nationals -- to get out of the U.S.

Now, before then, there could be a renewal of those journalists' visas in the U.S. -- for those Chinese nationals -- in which case we've been told by Chinese officials that would change for us. But it's not just about us. It's about several other news outlets -- at least five as of now, including "The Wall Street Journal", including "Bloomberg." A list that is continuing to grow.

Now, on the U.S. side of things, they say that the reason that they targeted the Chinese state media employees, going back to May when they decided to shorten their visas to just 90 days and then have yet to decide whether or not to renew it, is because according to some officials in the U.S. it's about Chinese diplomats essentially, not journalists. But those are folks who are working not for journalistic outlets but for state media, which they consider to be propaganda.

[07:45:07]

So it's a back-and-forth here that now is involving journalism and it's feeling a bit too personal right now, to be quite honest, John.

BERMAN: I'm sure -- I'm sure, David.

Look, what's the broader impact here?

CULVER: There is a broader impact. I mean, I go back to our conversations that we had in January -- in mid-January when we were talking about this yet-to-be-identified illness that we were looking at firsthand in Wuhan trying just to understand what exactly it was. We could physically travel down there.

And we had reports early on here on CNN and your show with you talking about this. And we watched this virus unfold first, here. We got a better idea as to what it was going about and what it was doing, and even some of the mishandlings and the cover-ups. I mean, we were able to show that by being here on the ground. So that's the advantage of being here in person.

And on the other side of things, it's not only about the things that were done wrong here but also what China may have been doing more recently that's been effective and that we could, likewise, share. But even beyond something as serious as this, I mean -- journalism here and being able to share these stories and convey them, you're also talking about bridging humanity and trying to find those shared common themes, Erica.

HILL: All right, David. We'll continue to follow it with you. It certainly will be an interesting couple of months, that's for sure.

CULVER: Yes.

HILL: Doctors in the U.S. are bracing for flu season in the middle, of course, of a pandemic.

Elizabeth Cohen joining us now with the latest. Good morning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDIAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Erica.

Erica, this could be a tough fall and winter because we will have flu and coronavirus together. Now, we need to do everything we can to prevent both. You can't get a shot against coronavirus but you can against flu.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Relax your arm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Relax your arm.

COHEN (voice-over): Nobody likes getting a shot but this year it's more important than ever because this year we're going to have not just flu but also COVID-19.

ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: I am worried. I do think the fall and the winter of 2020 and 2021 are going to be probably one of the most difficult times that we've experienced in American public health.

COHEN (voice-over): This year, there's not one, not two, but three reasons to get yourself a flu shot. Number one, it will decrease the chances that you'll get the flu or if

you do get the flu, you'll get a milder case. Number two, you won't spread the flu to other people. Number three, you won't end up taking up a hospital bed that someone else, like a COVID patient, would need.

And if you get sick, getting the right diagnosis could be tough.

DR. MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, COVID-19 TECHNICAL LEAD, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: We won't be able to distinguish immediately between whether somebody has flu or whether somebody has COVID.

COHEN (voice-over): Flu vaccine manufacturers have ramped up production, making tens of millions more doses than last season. And there are two new flu vaccines designed to protect older people who are especially vulnerable to the virus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So this child is?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ryan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is Ryan.

COHEN (voice-over): And for children, the Trump administration, last month, authorized pharmacists to administer the flu shot to children ages three and older.

Hopefully, this upcoming flu season will end up being relatively tame. In the southern hemisphere where flu season is now ending, they've had a pretty easy season.

KERKHOVE: Many of the physical distancing and public health and social measures that have been put in place, which keep -- keeps people apart may have actually played a role in reducing circulation of influenza.

COHEN (voice-over): Even if that happens in the northern hemisphere, though, it's still a good idea to get a flu shot to keep you and those around you as healthy as possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: Now, to make things even more complicated in this most unusual year is that many people get flu shots at work. But this year, many people are working from home so they'll have to figure out a different way to get their annual flu shot -- Erica.

HILL: It's like you heard John Berman and I talking, Elizabeth. We were just saying the same thing. We've got to figure out where else we're going to get our flu shots. Thank you.

COHEN: Right. Me, too. Thanks.

HILL: Joe Biden leading in the polls with just eight weeks to go. That lead, though, may be smaller than it looks. We're going to break it down, next.

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[07:53:16]

BERMAN: Just 57 days until Election Day. You've all seen the polls, which show Joe Biden with a clear lead. But this morning is not November third and there's a whole lot going on behind the numbers.

One man has been lurking in those dark secret places. Joining us now is CNN senior politics writer and analyst, Harry Enten. Harry, thank you so much for joining us from those dark, secret places.

Look, it isn't November third but if you look at the polls this morning, as you do, Joe Biden has a fairly clear lead in the Electoral College, correct?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: He does -- he absolutely does. And thanks for making me sound like a penguin underground or something.

Look, if you were to take a look at the Electoral College right now and assign the winner who is leading in the polling averages, what you see is that Joe Biden has 334 electoral votes to Donald Trump's 204.

Biden's leading in all the key swing states that we normally think about. States like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Florida, and Arizona -- the six closest states that Trump won four years ago. And you see it right here on your screen right now, you know.

But this rather key, John. And that is although he leads in all of them, right -- although he leads, that lead is smaller than it is nationally. And that, I think is the key nugget, which is why I say Biden's true lead is smaller than it appears.

BERMAN: Talk about more. Talk about that more a little bit because look --

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: -- if the national lead is anywhere between eight and 10 points, depending on how you look at it, how much is he leading, would you say, in the battleground states -- or how much smaller is that?

ENTEN: Yes. So, you know, one way to easily think about this is you say in the average right now, Biden's ahead by eight. But then we talk about the state -- what is the tipping point state. That is the margin in the state that contains the median electoral vote plus one. And right now, that's Arizona and his lead there is five points.

[07:55:05]

So essentially, what this means is that there's an Electoral College bias towards Trump of three points, which is exactly what it was four years ago whereby Trump was able to win. Despite losing nationally by two, he won in the tipping point state that year, which was Wisconsin, by a point. So essentially, if the race were to tighten significantly, what you could end up in a situation is Trump wins in the Electoral College again while losing in the popular vote.

BERMAN: Look, this is why I did a whole hour-long special on the Electoral College. People need to know the situation right now. There is probably a three-point bias, at least, in the Electoral College for Donald Trump right now.

All right. For Joe Biden, what's the easiest path to 270?

ENTEN: Yes, so this is something that I just love doing. You know, you can go on the CNN Web site has this and you can sort of fiddle around, right, and try and put in the different Electoral College paths that might be the easiest.

And based off of the polls at this point, it's actually a really interesting map that is the easiest. And that would require Joe Biden not to win Pennsylvania, not to win Florida. But, in fact, it's this map in which he wins Michigan, Wisconsin -- the states that Clinton won four years ago -- and then you add in one electoral vote from the state of Nebraska. Remember, Nebraska, like Maine, allocates its electoral votes and gives a winner to each of the -- to a person -- if they win a congressional district, they get an electoral vote.

So right now, if you just take the polling averages and you say Trump does five points better than the current polling averages, that puts Biden right on the precipice with exactly 270 electoral votes. And what's so interesting, of course, is if you take away Nebraska's second district from Joe Biden, you get a 269-269 tie.

BERMAN: And who gets to decide then?

ENTEN: Then it's the House of Representatives. And what's so interesting about that is it's not that each member of the House gets a vote, it's each state delegation gets a vote. And right now, Republicans control 26 state delegations. You need a majority of those.

So if a state delegation is held, Republicans and Trump would probably get reelected. But, of course, that is reliant on the House of Representatives results later this year in which it's possible coming out of that, that Republicans do not actually control a majority of House delegations given they just have 26 right now, and that's exactly the amount they would need in order to reelect Trump.

BERMAN: But we digress a bit because you raised Nebraska, too, which is the second congressional district there, which President Obama won in 2008 -- Obama-ha, right? Isn't that what we called it back then when he won Omaha?

What is it about that congressional district, where Nebraska almost always goes Republican, that makes it right for Joe Biden?

ENTEN: Yes. I mean, look, Hillary Clinton only lost it by two points four years ago. And what's so interesting about that district is it's really well-

educated. So essentially, if you take a look at the closest contest, right, from 2016 -- the contest that Trump won by four points or less -- take a look at this. This is the citizen age voting population with college degrees or more.

In Nebraska's second congressional district, it's 39 percent. That's considerably higher than any of the closer swing states. So a lot of folks, like myself -- you know, there are people like me who crunch the numbers at other places -- we all agree that Nebraska's second district is a really fine pickup opportunity for Joe Biden.

And as we pointed out earlier in that electoral map, that could be really key because it could mean that Joe Biden doesn't need to win either Pennsylvania or Florida. He can put together a reasonable and realistic electoral map based upon Nebraska, too, plus Wisconsin, plus Michigan, and the states that Clinton won four years ago.

BERMAN: I don't know if we can put that map back up, but one thing that does require is Arizona, correct? Joe Biden would need to win --

ENTEN: Yes, that -- that's --

BERMAN: -- Arizona. Talk to me about where Arizona is right now.

ENTEN: So, Arizona is just a really interesting state as far as I'm concerned because the polling there is sort of bifurcated. That is, there are some polls that show a relatively close race, right -- two or three points. Then you've got a Fox poll -- Fox News poll last week that had Biden's lead in the high single digits to nearly 10 points among registered voters.

And so, Arizona is also really key because we saw it in the 2018 midterms, right, that Sinema -- Kyrsten Sinema was able to win that Senate race.

If Joe Biden can win in Arizona, plus Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nebraska, too, it could remake the electoral map and make the traditional swing states of Pennsylvania and Florida far less important than we might otherwise think them to be.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, delightful to have you on this morning. Thank you so much for joining us. An education each and every time we talk.

ENTEN: I try my best -- and I won't be wearing white after today because I'm a fashionista.

BERMAN: Exactly -- earth tones.

Thank you, Harry. I appreciate it.

NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Health experts say COVID-19 cases could surge after Labor Day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We saw a surge after Memorial Day, we saw a surge after the Fourth of July. So if that's any indication, we're going to see something similar.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We use Labor Day as our way to take the day off -- but unfortunately, the virus doesn't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Record heat and raging wildfires. More than two million acres have burned this year, the most ever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The intensity of the heat is just crazy.