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New Day

Interference in Elections; Israel Enters Nationwide Lockdown; WHO Warning for Europe; NYC Delays School Reopening; Watching a Depression in the Gulf; Bleacher Report Update. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired September 18, 2020 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

SUSAN GLASSER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Not only is that populist, but literally as sort of the tribune of the people. He uses this line all the time. He was at a rally again last night. He talked about how, you know, when people in the media bubble, when people in politics talk down at regular people, they're actually, you know, criticizing Trump as criticizing them. And somehow it's worked for all this time.

It's interesting because Democrats showed in 2012, running against Romney, that this kind of regular-guy populism generally has played in their favor. And Romney was mercilessly skewed, as you remember, as a sort of out of touch wealthy guy with a car elevator. You know, well, Donald Trump is an out of touch rich guy with even more rich -- richy- rich guy taste than -- than Mitt Romney.

So I've always thought this was a possibility for Biden. As you heard in his voice, his disdain is real and his anger. He used to be (INAUDIBLE) many years the poorest member, if not -- I think the poorest member of the Senate. And -- so he has some credibility on this argument.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, over the last 24 hours, really even over the last few hours, Errol, something fascinating has happened. Donald Trump flying back and forth to his event in Wisconsin was attacking his own FBI director, Christopher Wray. Why? Because the FBI director, in sworn testimony to Congress, talked about current Russian efforts to undermine the U.S. election to hurt Joe Biden.

I want you to listen to the contrast between what Christopher Wray is saying under oath and what we're hearing from the president and also the attorney general of the United States.

Listen.

Oh, we don't have it. Do we have any Christopher Wray sound? OK, here's Christopher Wray.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, DIRECTOR, FBI: We certainly have seen very active, very active efforts by the Russians to influence our election in 2020 through what I would call more of the maligned foreign influence side of things. Social media, use of proxies, state media, online journals -- to -- primarily to denigrate Vice President Biden and what the Russians see as kind of an anti-Russian establishment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, on Twitter last night, Errol, the president was all kinds of upset about that, saying, what about China, what about China? William Barr with Wolf Blitzer the other week just sort of tried to push off the Russia thing and talked about China as well.

This is clearly the FBI director with a firm, solid split, I think.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, absolutely. And this is one example among many. We're seeing it on the public health side where you have the CDC director saying one thing and the president contradicting him. Here we have the FBI director telling us something that I think the public largely already knew, or there was abundant evidence, and, again, the president contradicting him.

And it goes to show a level of turmoil within this administration that ultimately is going to become a political issue in the hands of Joe Biden. What Biden is going to do is say, look, they can't even get their stories straight. They can't figure out how to protect us from the Russians. They can't figure out how to protect our elections. They can't figure out how to protect us from the coronavirus. It becomes part of the central argument of this campaign from Biden's point of view, which is that you've got a White House that is out of control.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Susan, I want to move on to Olivia Troye. Olivia Troye was a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Possibly, more importantly, she was vice president's homeland security adviser. This was no low-level functionary. This was somebody who was plugged in, and she has just left the White House and she is now speaking out, because she was so appalled by the things that she saw there and wants the public to know.

So here is a bit of the video that she put together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLIVIA TROYE, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY COUNTERTERRORISM ADVISER TO VP PENCE: Towards the middle of February we knew it wasn't a matter of if Covid would become a big pandemic here in the United States, it was a matter of when. But the president didn't want to hear that because his biggest concern was that we were in an election year and how is this going to affect what he considered to be his record of success. It was shocking to see the president saying that the virus was a hoax, saying that everything's OK when we know that it's not. The truth is, he doesn't actually care about anyone else but himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So, in the middle of February, they knew it was going to be a deadly pandemic, but the president -- but President Trump didn't want to hear it.

I know you spoke to her. So tell us what she said to you.

GLASSER: Well, you know, Alisyn, it was very interesting to speak with her. She's the very first person who has served as a White House staff member on the Coronavirus Task Force. She was there from day one. And she said she was speaking out now because of the continued lies and misrepresentations from President Trump about the coronavirus. She's very concerned about the politicization of the virus, for example, before the election. She was working in the White House, attending those Coronavirus Task Force meetings until the end of July.

[06:35:00]

And, you know, what she said was very interesting. She said, most, not all, but most of the people she felt were genuinely -- had American's best interests at heart, but they were continually -- and I was struck by the words she used, derailed by the man at the top. And she saw him as not only focused solely on the election, but there was even several times she said -- not once but several times when Trump would come into the room of the Coronavirus Task Force, they would try to get him to focus on the business at hand, and he would be ranting and raving about Fox News and how they weren't being nice enough to him.

And, you know, you sort of smile because, as I asked her, were you surprised by that, she said, no. You know, in fact, that was exactly what you would imagine he was like, is what he was like in private. But, unfortunately, you know, it's really eerie to me to have this voice from inside the room, now that 200,000 people have died.

CAMEROTA: That's such important information for our viewers and voters to hear.

Susan, Errol, thank you.

LOUIS: Thank you.

BERMAN: So a federal judge has temporarily blocked a wide range of recent policy changes at the U.S. Post Office. The judge accused the postmaster general of engaging in, quote, voter disenfranchisement and suppression. The language, honestly, in this ruling is just scathing. The judge ordered the Postal Service to undo restrictions on late- night and extra deliveries. The judge also called for the Postal Service to treat all election mail as first class and for any equipment that was dismantled to be reinstalled. Now, it's not clear how that can happen. The Postal Service says it is exploring all of its legal options now.

Coronavirus cases surging in Europe and other parts of the world and now one key ally, U.S. ally, is issuing a new, nationwide lockdown today. We have live reports from around the world, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:55]

BERMAN: A developing story in Israel this morning. A resurgence of coronavirus has forced a second nationwide lockdown just as the Jewish new year begins at sundown tonight. It comes as the number of coronavirus cases reached a new high of nearly 5,000 a day.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is live in Jerusalem.

This lockdown goes into effect today, Oren, correct?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This lockdown goes into effect in less than 30 minutes at 2:00 p.m. local time. The number yesterday, 5,200 cases according to ministry of health data. Not a record, but surely an indication that the number of coronavirus cases, the number of daily diagnoses continues to rise. And that is why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this lockdown is necessary.

But when you look at Israel today, it's almost as if there are two different stories. One is the foreign policy, which Netanyahu celebrated on the lawn of the White House earlier this week with Bahrain and the UAE. He pointed out that he was proud to have made peace with two Arab countries in 29 days.

Then, there's the domestic policy and the domestic situation in Israel. In that same 29-day period, from August 13th to September 11th, there were 62,000 new cases in Israel. That's about a third of the total cases since the beginning of the pandemic. And there were 446 deaths within that same time frame. That's about 40 percent of the deaths from the pandemic from the coronavirus.

So there are major problems here domestically as Netanyahu celebrates what he's able to accomplish with his foreign policy.

And it's not just the coronavirus. It's the economy with unemployment at 18 percent according to the Israel Unemployment Service. Protests, thousands of people are protesting on a weekly basis outside the prime minister's residence, calling on him to resign.

And that hasn't even gotten to the prime minister's legal problems. He has been charged with bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. He has maintained his innocence. His trial truly begins in earnest in January when a panel of judges will begin hearing from witnesses. All of that has simply added to the chaos and the confusion domestically within the country.

Meanwhile, those restrictions seem to be changing on a nearly daily basis. In fact, Netanyahu held a press conference last night to announce that despite the high rise in cases, the only change he would make was to loosen one of the restrictions. Everyone could now travel about a half a mile from their home instead of a quarter mile with health experts warning this current wave of restrictions won't be enough to contain Israel's surging coronavirus numbers.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Oren, thank you very much for the status report from Israel.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization warns of, quote, a very serious situation in Europe. Cases there spiking to levels not seen since March.

CNN's Scott McLean is live in London with more.

What's happening there, Scott?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alisyn.

This summer, some normality started to return to the U.K. And for a while it seemed like maybe we were out of the woods. But then as restrictions eased, the virus started to come back with a real vengeance. Now it's starting to show up in older segments of the population and even in care homes, as well.

Hospitalizations are now doubling in the U.K. every eight days, just as the government faces a shortage of tests, despite the fact that it does more testing than any other country in Europe. So it's having to prioritize. More than a third of the tests are having to be set aside for care homes alone.

In parts of northeast England, the government has also effectively barred almost all in-person socializing with anyone outside of your own household. And if these measures can't effectively tamp down this second wave of the virus, well, the health secretary, he's not ruling out the nuclear option.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT HANCOCK, BRITISH HEALTH SECRETARY: But a national lockdown is the last line of defense. It is, you know, as we saw in the spring, it is the thing that we can do to keep people safe, if that's -- if that's needed. So we're watching vigilantly, but we can see this number of cases accelerating, as you say, and we're prepared to do what it takes to -- both to protect lives and to protect livelihoods. And -- and, of course, both are so important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: And the WHO said yesterday that these latest numbers out of Europe ought to be a wake-up call. The second wave of the virus has eclipsed the first one, though this time around it's been a lot less deadly. In France, for instance, they're seeing two or three times more daily cases than they had in April, but only a sixth of the hospitalizations.

[06:45:05]

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Well, that's a relief. And we're going to talk to the World Health Organization later in the program.

Scott, thank you very much.

So New York City, the nation's largest public school district, just pushed back its plans to reopen in-class learning. Details on why, what happened, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: The nation's largest school district, New York City Public Schools, pushing back its timeline for getting students back into the classrooms.

CNN's Bianna Golodryga joins us now with more.

So what happened, Bianna?

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Alisyn, you can imagine, this is not sitting very well with many New York City parents and the local media. Just three days before New York City was set to reopen schools for Monday, the mayor announced that there would be a two-week delay, that they would be slowly integrating students back in as opposed to all K-12 public school students returning.

So here's what's going to happen. On Monday, Pre-K and special needs students will be returning back to school. Then next week, September 29th, you're going to have elementary school students returning.

And then, October 1st, two days later, middle school and high school students will be returning. And here's why. There has been a ton of pressure from the teacher's unions, from the principal's unions, saying that they need more testing, they need more buildings to be better equipped for ventilation properly.

[06:50:05]

They need more PPE and they need more teachers. The mayor had initially said they would hire 2,000 more teachers. Now he's saying, in addition to those 2,000, another 2,500 teachers will be hired.

But Mayor de Blasio was just on CNN with Wolf Blitzer the other day and said that this was the gold standard. We're set to go. So you can understand the frustration for many parents saying, listen, you've screwed up our schedules now. This is the second time you've delayed reopening. And this is only a matter of days, so what really can be done in a matter of five or six days.

So this is a pressing issue here in New York City. All eyes are going to be on New York City as it reopens.

But we know the rest of the country, the majority of the school districts are online. And that doesn't mean things are going smoothly, as well. There was a startling revelation from the CEO of the Baltimore Public School District who said that fewer than two-thirds of students there were able to fully log on for instruction a week and a half into classes being reopened and the semester starting. And this is really troubling. Some were not using official accounts and that hasn't been factored in. But it does send a message that a lot of students have fallen through the cracks and what's happening now is they're going to have public workers go out and try to find these students and have them log on once again and get back into the school system. It's not just in Baltimore, it's happening in many cities across the country. BERMAN: Look, Bianna, obviously, it's complicated, but I know a lot of

the frustration from parents in a lot of cities is, there's been months to get ready for this.

GOLODRYGA: Right.

BERMAN: And they feel as if that the city should be prepared at this point and should have come back with a more complete plan now.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

BERMAN: Bianna Golodryga, thank you very much.

GOLODRYGA: Sure.

BERMAN: New trouble in the tropics this morning. A depression churning in the Gulf of Mexico is forecast to become a tropical storm later today.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar tracking it all for us.

Allison.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good morning.

And there's a lot actually out there. I mean take a look at all these systems coming off the coast of Africa, just sitting in the eastern Atlantic.

But, yes, the more imminent threat at least for us is going to be Tropical Depression 22, currently sitting in the Gulf of Mexico.

So let's get to that forecast, brought to you by Jared, because love can't wait, and with Jared it doesn't have to.

Now, the specifics of Tropical Depression 22 right now, it's only moving at sustained winds about 35 miles per hour. That forward movement to the north-northeast of just about six miles per hour. But it's what does it do from here? Because, again, you'll notice it just kind of meanders throughout much of the Gulf of Mexico.

What this means is that a lot of states are at play here, especially when it comes to rainfall because it's going to hover along the coastline and, again, none of the models really have much consensus. Some have it going to Mexico. Some have it go to Texas. Some have it go to Louisiana. But, at the end of the day, we do expect a pretty tremendous amount of rainfall right here along the Gulf. Widespread, we're looking at four to six inches of rain. But you'll notice there could be a couple of pockets here, 7, 8, if not even as much as potentially 10 inches of rain as this storm finally edges close. So it's going to be a close one for us to keep an eye on where that goes.

We're also watching Hurricane Teddy. Now, this one is a strong category four hurricane, sustained winds of 130 miles per hour. This particular track takes it up towards Bermuda. If it does impact Bermuda, John, this would be the second hurricane to hit Bermuda in less than two weeks.

BERMAN: Yikes.

All right, Allison, keep us posted. Thank you very much.

So fresh off her huge win at the U.S. Open, Naomi Osaka making a big announcement about what she plans to do next. Details in the "Bleacher Report."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:58:12]

BERMAN: The Miami Heat now just two wins away from the NBA finals after another thrilling, yet dispiriting comeback against the Boston Celtics.

Andy Scholes has more in the "Bleacher Report."

If I'm not going to get any sleep, Andy, I at least want to not get any sleep for a good reason, and this wasn't a good reason.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, sorry about your Celtics, John. But, I mean it's been -- what a turnaround for the Miami Heat. They didn't make the playoffs last year, but you add Jimmy Butler, make some great draft picks and trades, and, hey, now they're six wins away from another NBA championship.

Game two of the Eastern Conference finals, the Celtics had another big lead, up 17 in the second quarter, but Butler just relentless. Down three. Look at this steal. Amazing save and he gets the slam on the other end to cut it to one.

Under two minutes to go and then Goran Dragic, step back three here, with a dagger. The Heat hold on to win 106-101. The Celtics, they could be heard having a loud exchange in their locker room after the game. Jayson Tatum saying the team, just frustrated.

All right, week two of the NFL season kicking off with the battle of Ohio. Former Heisman winning quarterbacks Baker Mayfield taking on top pick Joe Burrow. About 6,000 fans were in the stands to watch the Browns take on the Bengals. And we had a rare sight in this one, Baker Mayfield hooking up with Odell Beckham Jr. for a 43 yard touchdown in the first half. One of his two touchdown passes in the game. Burrow kept the Bengals in. He threw three touchdowns himself, but it wasn't enough. Cleveland would win this one 35-30 on the NFL's 100th birthday.

All right, less than a week after winning the women's singles title at the U.S. Open, Naomi Osaka's pulling out of the French Open, which is set to kick off at the end of the month. Osaka posting on Twitter, my hamstring is still sore, so I won't have enough time to prepare for the clay. These two tournaments came too close to each other for me this time.

Osaka, she had her thigh wrapped the entire time during the U.S. Open in New York after suffering the injury before the tournament had started.

[07:00:04]

So she'll definitely be missed there at the French Open.

Justin Thomas, your leader, John, at the