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New Day

Epic Battle Begins to Replace Ginsburg on Supreme Court; U.S. About to Surpass 200,000 Coronavirus Deaths. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired September 21, 2020 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died at the age of 87.

[05:59:37]

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Republican leaders are plotting a full-throated effort to fill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I think it is particularly important that the Senate take it up and confirm this nomination before the election.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Daily COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have been ticking up recently --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe there's COVID fatigue, where people are just letting down their guard.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- as the nation's number of lives lost closes in on 200,000.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to stay strong and do the things that could decrease the spread. And with smart testing, we can flatten the curve and slow the spread.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

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 Monday, September 21, 6 a.m. here in New York.

And as Americans mourn the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the monumental battle to replace her on the Supreme Court is in full swing.

Ginsburg's seat on the bench is draped in black this morning. Over the weekend, Americans laid flowers and paid their respects outside of the high court.

President Trump is vowing to nominate a woman to replace Ginsburg this week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is vowing to move quickly to confirm that nominee, despite his refusal to allow President Obama to fill a vacant seat more than 200 days before the 2016 election.

Joe Biden urges Republican senators to let voters decide who will fill that seat.

So far, two key Republican senators have come out against taking up a nomination before election day.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A new national poll finds that 62 percent of Americans believe the winner of the November election should appoint Ginsburg's replacement.

This morning, we have new information on the president's short list of potential nominees, and we also have other major news this morning. Data that clearly shows the number of daily cases of coronavirus is rising again.

Look at the end of that graph. You can see the average now going up. More than 40,000 new cases a day. This is of huge concern to scientists across the country.

This morning, cases are rising in 28 states. All the states in orange and red there, cases are now rising. In beige, it's flat. Only the green states is it going down. So clearly, there is new concern about the course of coronavirus.

And there is no question the United States will pass the horrifying number of 200,000 people killed some time in the next day or two.

We're going to begin with the battle over the court, though. CNN's Joe Johns live at the White House with the very latest.

Joe, when can we expect a nomination from the president?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, look, we've got about two months -- less than two months to go before the November election. And Senate Republicans appear poised and ready to fill Justice Ginsburg's seat, even though we haven't gotten a formal nomination from the president yet.

But Republicans are singing a very different tune than they were four years ago when President Obama tried to fill a vacancy on the court during an election year, but the recorded statements by many Republicans don't lie.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS (voice-over): A Supreme Court fight brewing on Capitol Hill. Less than 24 hours after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowing President Trump's nominee to replace her will get a vote in the Senate. President Trump says he will put forward his nominee this week.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It will be a woman. A very talented, very brilliant woman. JOHNS: Senate Republicans arguing it is their constitutional duty to

fill the seat.

CRUZ: I believe the right thing to do is for the Senate to take up this nomination and to confirm the nominee before election day.

JOHNS: But Republicans, led by McConnell, refused to give President Barack Obama's Supreme Court pick Merrick Garland a vote, despite that nomination coming nearly eight months before the 2016 election.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): This nomination ought to be made by the president we're in the process of electing this year.

JOHNS: Shortly after his inauguration, Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to the court to fill the seat.

In 2016, Senator Lindsey Graham, who now chairs the Judiciary Committee, highlighted the new precedent.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I want you to use my words against me. If there's a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say, Lindsey Graham said, let's let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination.

JOHNS: And again in 2018.

GRAHAM: If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump's term, and the primary process has started, we'll wait to the next election.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're on the record.

GRAHAM: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

GRAHAM: Hold the tape.

JOHNS: But now Graham, in his own tight re-election campaign, says he will support a Trump Supreme Court nominee.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden imploring Republicans not to move forward with any nominee.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Don't vote to confirm anyone nominated under the circumstances President Trump and Senator McConnell have created. Don't go there. Uphold your constitutional duty. Your conscience. Let the people speak.

JOHNS: Currently, McConnell can only afford to lose three Republican votes to confirm a nomination. And several vulnerable Senate Republicans are in tight re-election races that could change the balance of power in the Senate.

[06:05:10] Senator Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have already said they do not support filling the seat before the election. But it is unclear if that means they will vote against a nominee.

The Democratic leadership vowing to fight back, even considering increasing the number of judges on the Supreme Court.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): We first have to win the majority before that can happen, but once we win the majority, God willing, everything is on the table.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: Now, about that new poll. It shows 62 percent of respondents, including the vast majority of Democrats and about half of Republicans, say the seat of Justice Ginsburg ought to be essentially filled by the president who wins the election in November.

Right now, we have eight justices on the court. Any 4-4 ties would revert to the decision of the lower court. What does that mean? A lower court decision overturning Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, would be upheld -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Joe, please keep us posted.

This morning, we do have new information on who is on the president's short list. The focus is on three judges who currently serve in the federal courts, although we have four judges up there. CNN's Ariane de Vogue live at the Supreme Court with the very latest on the short list -- Ariane.

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Mourners have been flowing in here all weekend long to pay their respects to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but the country is already looking at this big fight ahead.

And Trump has said he is going to put a woman on the court, and there have always been four sort of at the top of the short list, but the real focus now in on two.

One of those is Amy Coney Barrett. She sits on the Seventh Circuit Court of appeals, so she hails from the Midwest. She has already spoken with President Trump. She has been fully vetted. She's a former Scalia clerk, and he has really emphasized Justice Scalia. And she has big support from the religious right. So you can expect abortion would be a main topic of conversation during her confirmation hearing.

But another judge is Barbara Lagoa. She sits on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. She's a Cuban-American, and here's what's interesting about her. She hails, of course, from Florida, that battleground state that's going to mean so much, possibly, to President Trump.

And another thing is just recently, she voted with the majority in a very controversial voting rights case. So all eyes are on her, too.

And what's important to keep in mind is these women would serve on this court for decades. They would really strengthen the already conservative majority that we've seen here.

And the issues coming up are significant. The Second Amendment. There's a big affirmative action case that's already percolating in the courts below, and of course, Roe v. Wade. On -- and on the docket here is, for this term, is Obamacare.

So Alisyn, there's a lot going on. This is going to be a big fight.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely, Ariane. Thank you so much for setting all of that up for us.

Now to coronavirus. The United States is about to surpass the sad milestone of 200,000 deaths from the virus.

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(BELLS RINGING)

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CAMEROTA: On Sunday, the bells at Washington's National Cathedral tolled 200 times, once for every thousand Americans lost to this pandemic. CNN's Alexandra Field joins now with more.

What's happening today, Alex?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, take yourself back to January 1 when you were celebrating the new year. Imagine learning there would be a crisis in the coming months that would kill some 200,000 people. Let the gravity of that sink in, because that is really where we are today.

And the fact is, this is not behind us. The U.S. added nearly 40,000 new cases just yesterday.

The majority of states across the country are reporting increases. Some 28 states seeing increases in cases by at least 10 percent over the last seven days. All this as we are learning that, back in July, President Trump was already giving himself the highest marks for his handling of a catastrophe.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB WOODWARD, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR: So what grade do you give yourself on the virus for the last six, seven months?

TRUMP (via phone): Other than the public relations, which is impossible, because it's a fake media, fake. They're fake. I know you dis --

WOODWARD: Yes, I do. Yes.

TRUMP: OK. Other than the fact that I have been unable to --

WOODWARD: So what's -- what's the grade, sir? TRUMP: -- media on treating us fairly, I give ourselves an "A." But

the grade is incomplete, and I'll tell you why. If we come up with the vaccines and therapeutics, then I give myself an "A" plus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:10:10]

FIELD: An "A." and John, keep in mind, that some 57,000 American lives have been lost since the president made those comments.

BERMAN: Yes, it's the worst curve in the history of grading, Alex. No question about that. And I'm not sure it matters what grade the president gives himself to the families of the 200,000 Americans who have now been killed from coronavirus. Thanks for that report.

Overnight, Tropical Storm beta crawling toward the Gulf Coast. This storm could produce major storm surge and flooding rain for days. More than 10 million Americans are now under tropical storm warnings. Beta is forecast to make landfall in Texas late tonight or early Tuesday. It is the latest in a record-breaking storm season that does not end until November 30.

All right. So where are we in the court battle? Two Republicans have now come out against taking up a Supreme Court nominee before the election. Will there be two others? That is what it will take to slow the momentum. Next.

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[06:15:13]

GRAHAM: I want you to use my words against me. If there's a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say, Lindsey Graham said, let's let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination. And you could use my words against me, and you'd be absolutely right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Well, that was Lindsey Graham in 2016, inviting critics to hold him to his word, after he opposed President Trump's -- sorry, President Obama's Supreme Court pick, because it was an election year.

BERMAN: Put it in the bank! His word is his bond! You can -- you can write that down for the record books. That is some of the most amazing sound I've ever heard.

CAMEROTA: It is. And there's more of it from 2018. It wasn't just 2016. He said the same thing in 2018. But yesterday --

BERMAN: Spine of steel!

CAMEROTA: -- interestingly, he said something different. Now today, with a Republican president picking, Graham and so many

other Republicans have miraculously changed their tune.

Joining us now, CNN political analyst David Gregory and CNN contributor Irin Carmon.

Guys, let's just start first with RBG. Irin, you of course, wrote the book, "Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg." It was a sad day at my house this weekend, a sad night, because my two 15-year-old daughters have always seen her as a feminist icon. And they were really broken up.

And of course, Ruth Bader Ginsburg herself knew -- she saw this coming. I mean, she knew that all of this was possible. And she, you know, in her final days, tried to express what her dying wish would be, but it seems like the Republicans are not listening to that.

IRIN CARMON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, Alisyn, it was a sad day for me, too, personally, and also as somebody who really honors the legacy of Justice Ginsburg substantively, which was equality and justice.

And it was also institutions working together, even across the aisle. Even with the kinds of friendships that she had with the Republican appointees and with Republican senators, even people like Orrin Hatch.

But it's very clear, and it was clear when I interviewed her a few years ago when she talked about how our Congress was not functioning in the way that it was supposed to, and the branches of government weren't. And it was clear that when she became the notorious RBG, because she was dissenting from the voting rights case, that the ideals that she had for this country were not being fulfilled.

So it's -- it's tragic to lose her as a person, and it's even more tragic to lose the ideals that she had for this country.

BERMAN: You know, David Gregory, hearing Lindsey Graham, it really is stunning to hear the hypocrisy now. And I don't even think there's a discussion anymore. Oh, is it hypocritical of Republicans to do this? The answer is, yes! I mean, we can play more sound from other Republicans. It's a closed case at this point.

So the issue now is what happens going forward. And you have two senators. Susan Collins says the next president, whoever is elected in November, should nominate the Supreme Court justice. Lisa Murkowski doesn't want the choice before the election. And what are we waiting on as far as you were concerned, to figure out what happens?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I don't think the president is going to wait for very much, nor are the likes of Lindsey Graham. I think it's full speed ahead on getting a nominee out there, seeing how the nominee plays with the electorate overall, which I think is something to consider, and getting the hearings going.

You do want to look at Mitt Romney, a Cory Gardner, others in vulnerable seats who have been willing to stand up to the president, to see if the numbers start to shift. I think what you're seeing right now is people fudging whether, do you

want to have the hearings before the election and then wait until a final vote to see who is actually elected? That is actually a scenario that, I think, plays to Donald Trump's political strength, because as president, he would love nothing more than to gin up conservative activists on the issue of abortion, on the issue of the court more generally, who may not even like him, but who certainly recognize the stakes there.

And I think Democrats are playing good politics now, too. Emphasizing suburban voters, the loss of healthcare benefits, a sense of fair play, appealing to not just vulnerable senators, but those suburban voters and others who might look at this and -- and care about those issues.

CAMEROTA: Irin, here is how Senator Lindsey Graham yesterday explained his hypocrisy. He said on Twitter, "Democrats chose to set in motion rules changes to stack the court at the circuit level, and they chose to try to destroy Brett Kavanaugh's life to keep the Supreme Court seat open. You reap what you sow."

So that's now how he explains why he's done this complete about-face. And I mean, I think as David was explaining, I think that so many conservatives and just general Republicans did vote for Donald Trump, even if they didn't like his personality, even if they didn't like what he stood for on so many other things, because they thought of this moment. And they thought that he would be able to, as he has, pick conservative justices at the Supreme Court and the lower courts.

CARMON: That's absolutely right, Alisyn. And you know, I think as journalists, it is our job to call out the hypocrisy, and it is our job to look at the shifting justifications, which are frankly bunk. I mean, they made up rules. They changed them. They moved on, made up new rules.

As analysts, I think it's important to note that, if the politics of shame worked on Senate Republicans, calling them out for hypocrisy, then we would have a Justice Merrick Garland. We certainly would not have a Justice Brett Kavanaugh after Christine Blasey Ford testified. We've seen this before.

You know, the election that really shaped the court as it is now was in 2016. And the election that is going to shape in court in the future, that's really up to Democrats at this point. There's no doubt in my mind that the Republicans will come home. They were always going to, whether Justice Ginsburg passed away now or after the election.

The real question is, how are Democrats going to hold them accountable, whether that's Democratic electeds or Democratic voters? And will that change the very Constitution of the Supreme Court moving forward.

BERMAN: Irin, to your point about Lindsey Graham's hypocrisy, the -- half of his justification for his spine of steel breaking in half or splintering was the decision that was made in 2013 by the Democrats, before he made his two "you can write it down" statements, saying that he would let the voters decide. So Lindsey Graham, you know, is making up justifications at this point.

And one other thing, David, to Irin's point, it's not clear to me. I think people for two days, have been, Oh, Donald Trump is getting what he wanted with the Supreme Court. Conservatives will come home.

The numbers right now tell a different story, that this may energize Democrats more. A hundred million dollars raised by Act Blue since Friday night. Harry Enten has run some numbers here who find that 59 percent of Biden voters say that appointing the next Supreme Court justice is important in their vote, just 51 percent of Trump voters.

And among those who are persuadable voters right now, and there aren't that many left. They prefer Joe Biden. They want Joe Biden to pick the next nominee by 49 to 31 percent. So it isn't clear what the politics are. We don't know, and obviously, not much has changed the politics of this race for months.

GREGORY: No. I agree with that. And that's why I said, I think there's a lot of good politics on the Democratic side right now for people who might be softly supporting Joe Biden. And then they say, Hey, look at the stakes here on naming a Supreme Court justice, if it comes to that. So I totally agree with that.

I just mean that for an incumbent president, who is down in the polls and who would love nothing more than to change the focus away from handling the coronavirus, there's nothing better than a fight about social activism and the Supreme Court for him, at this juncture. It doesn't mean that it doesn't help Democrats.

But the larger point about Lindsey Graham's hypocrisy and his lack of principle is that there's something that's deeply wrong with what's happened in the institution, going back to 2013, when it was Democrats who changed the filibuster rule on circuit court nominees, and then Republicans responded by including the Supreme Court on that.

The incentives to reach compromise have disappeared. And this is some of the reality that we're living with now. That you can -- I was sitting on the couch with my daughter yesterday. We were watching and she was listening to Lindsey Graham, and I said, This is why people hate politics. How could you, as a young person, not be incredibly cynical about the views of somebody like this when you hear it, you know?

So we know that former President Obama said, look, even if you're going to invent a standard, which is totally invented, which is, well, if it's anywhere near close to the election, like even within a year, then the current president shouldn't be able to choose a successor to a Supreme Court justice, then stick with that.

And of course, Republicans are not doing that. So there's no principle here. It's simply power. It's simply votes, and that's Washington at the moment.

CAMEROTA: David Gregory, Irin Carmon, thank you both very much.

So coronavirus cases are spiking this morning in more than half of the U.S. Why is this happening and what can be done today? That's next.

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[06:28:42]

CAMEROTA: Breaking overnight, federal officials arresting a woman suspected of sending a poisoned letter to President Trump. According to law enforcement, the woman was carrying a gun as she tried to enter the U.S. from Canada at a border crossing in New York. They say the letter was mailed from Quebec, addressed to President Trump and contained the poison ricin.

BERMAN: New this morning, the number of daily cases of coronavirus is rising. You can see it on that graph there. This is the seven-day moving average of new cases. And if you look at the end, you can see clearly trending upwards. More than 40,000 new cases a day at this point, which is a very high number. Cases are currently rising in 28 states, all the states in orange or red there.

Joining us now is William Haseltine. He's a former professor at Harvard Medical School and author of "A COVID Back-to-School Guide." and Professor Haseltine, again, if you just look at that one graph and see the number of daily cases rising again, that is an alarming sight.

WILLIAM HASELTINE, FORMER PROFESSOR, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL: It is, indeed. And it's not just the United States. If you look at what's happening in France, in Spain, in the U.K., in Israel, it's even worse. And I think that's a harbinger of what can come if we don't change some very fundamental aspects of how we're handling the pandemic.

CAMEROTA: In fact, you say that even the places that were bad in the beginning.