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New Day

Scalia's Son Remembers Friendship with Ginsburg; Race for a Coronavirus Vaccine; Long Lines to Vote in Virginia. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired September 21, 2020 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:31:530]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We have a little breaking news.

President Trump says he will announce his nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court this Friday or Saturday. A source tells CNN the president is leaning towards appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a favorite of conservatives.

As Americans mourn Ginsburg's death, we want to take some time to talk about her unlikely friendship with conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. Despite their ideological differences, here is Ginsburg in 2016 paying tribute to Scalia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG, SUPREME COURT: I was once asked how we could be friend given our disagreement on lots of things. Justice Scalia answered, I attack ideas. I don't attack people. Some very good people have some very bad ideas. And if you can't separate the two, you got to get another day job. You don't want to be a judge, at least not a judge on a multimember panel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Joining us now is Christopher Scalia, he's the son of Justice Antonin Scalia, and the co-editor of "Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith and Life Well Lived."

Chris, thanks so much for being here. I've really been looking forward to talking to you about your dad's famous friendship with RBG.

Do you know how it started? How did they become such close friends?

CHRISTOPHER SCALIA, SON OF JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA: Thanks a lot for having me on, Alisyn. It's good to talk to you.

They met in the late '70s but really became friends in the early '80s when they were on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals together. And they developed a friendship in part because they were pretty much the only two judges on that court who liked to give advice on draft opinions and didn't mind receiving advice about draft opinions. So they -- my dad said that they formed a mutual improvement society by reading each other's drafts and kind of reaching out to each other about ways they could improve the other's arguments, even if they were on other sides of those arguments.

But they also had some personal things in common, like they were born in New York around the same time. They loved opera. They liked -- they liked to drink wine. They liked to eat really good food. And Justice Ginsburg's husband, Marty, was a wonderful -- basically a gourmet caliber chef, and my mom was also -- is also a very good cook. And so there was a -- the spouses were also good friends. So they had -- they gathered every New Year's Eve to celebrate, ring in the new year. They just -- and they managed to just focus on the things they had in common.

CAMEROTA: Gosh, it's so lovely, honestly, and such -- they're such role models, I mean particularly in this, you know, hyper partisan time. It's so fun to watch her giggling there along with whatever your dad just said. And, in fact, she talks about -- she talked about how he would make her laugh, even while they were doing their justice stuff. So listen to this moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG, SUPREME COURT: Justice Scalia would whisper something to me.

[08:35:01]

All I could do to avoid laughing out loud so -- and sometimes I'd pinch myself.

People sometimes asked me, well, what was your favorite Scalia joke? And I said, I know what it is but I can't tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: I mean I just love that thought of them on the bench, you know, doing this incredibly weighty stuff and your dad making her laugh.

SCALIA: Yes, it's -- it is -- it is funny to imagine that. And apparently not many people made her laugh out loud as often as my dad did. I think her husband was the other person she said made her laugh out loud very often.

And -- but it -- you know, it's worth -- it's worth pointing out that when they disagreed with each other, they made no bones about it. You know, they -- they let it rip in the opinions. They didn't pull punches and they were very clear about their points of disagreement and they didn't -- so they didn't compromise on their beliefs to kind of save their friendship or anything like that. Their friendship was strong enough to not just survive but really be very healthy in the midst of all those disagreements.

CAMEROTA: I mean and it sounds like something that even kind of transcends friendship. You know you -- you were tweeting this weekend about some personal anecdotes and you shared one that a federal judge, Jeffrey Sutton (ph), had shared, after he went into Scalia's office, your dad's office, and he saw these two dozen roses, red roses, in his office and he said, what's this? And what did your dad say?

SCALIA: Yes, my -- my dad got roses for Justice Ginsburg on her birthday every year. And Judge Sutton was -- started teasing my dad about it and said, wait, what are you doing this for? What good is it going to do you? And Judge Sutton was joking, of course, but teasing my dad saying, when was -- when was the last time she voted with you on a significant 5-4 decision? My dad answered seriously, some things are more important than votes.

So, you know, despite their very significant differences and how often they were on different sides of opinions, my dad saw that their friendship was more important than those differences. Again, he didn't ignore the differences, and he didn't -- he didn't -- neither of them feared kind of speaking out against each other's opinions, but their friendship was more important than that.

CAMEROTA: That one is just so, I think, vivid because, you know, you don't -- you don't give somebody two dozen roses that you're just casual friend with. I mean I think that really shows the level of the friendship, as do the pictures.

So this is them riding camels together in India in 1994, I think. And so -- what? Oh, they're elephants.

SCALIA: Yes, that --

CAMEROTA: Oh, that's an elephant, I think.

SCALIA: Yes, it's --

CAMEROTA: I mean, look, I don't go outside much, but I think that was an elephant.

SCALIA: Yes, it's a remarkable picture that it's -- you know, one of the stranger pictures you wouldn't imagine seeing that. And, yes, they -- they -- they had a wonderful trip together. I don't remember what the purpose of that trip was, but Justice Ginsburg, in her forward to "Scalia Speaks," the book you mentioned, and I think also in the memorial that you're showing a clip from, tells a story about -- another story of that trip about how she -- they went -- they went shopping together and my dad picked out a rug and she respected his purchase so much that she bought the same rug in a different color and still owned it, I think, in her apartment or something like that. So, yes, it was -- I mean it's kind of an odd couple sort of friendship.

CAMEROTA: It sure is. And I really appreciate you bringing all of that to life for us because, as you point out, during this hyper political time, you know, she's being spoken of as though she were just a seat, you know, a seat to fill, but you have helped us understand, you know, just how much more dimensional all of this really is behind the scenes.

So, Christopher Scalia, thank you very much. I appreciate you sharing all of these stories about your dad and RBG.

SCALIA: It's my pleasure. Thanks a lot, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: We'll be right back.

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[08:43:12]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, this morning, the number of coronavirus cases is rising in the country, and we are nearing 200,000 deaths. It makes the race for a vaccine all the more important. There are a number of trials underway involving thousands of people.

Our next guest is one of them. She writes, I begged people. I had to do this.

Joining us now is Molly Jong-Fast. She is the editor-at-large of "The Daily Beast."

You are patient 1133 in the Pfizer study --

MOLLY JONG-FAST, PFIZER CORONAVIRUS VACCINE TRIAL PARTICIPANT: Yes.

BERMAN: And you are also a self-admitted unbrave person.

JONG-FAST: Yes.

BERMAN: So why did you do this?

JONG-FAST: I did it for two reasons. One, because I lived through New York during the March and April period when we had so much death and I had so many friends lose their dads and it was just heart-breaking. And I know a lot of people who got stick and who still have symptoms.

And then the other reason was more recently I've heard smart people, even like not -- you know, very educated people express vaccine hesitancy. And that got me really worried.

BERMAN: Well, vaccine hesitancy, we can put it up on the screen so people can see, the number of people who say they're comfortable taking a vaccine has dropped since August. It's gone down substantially in a very short period of time. So you think that you being part of the study or being someone who engages in this study will make these numbers better?

JONG-FAST: I think that it's really important that a lot of people like me and hopefully -- I mean a good example is Elvis, right, took the vaccine for -- he took the vaccine because he -- to show that vaccines were safe. And we need lots of people. We need like writers and people in the public eye like, you know, actors and movie stars and whatever to show people that it's safe, to go on television, to take the vaccine, to show, because people believe what they see.

[08:45:07] So if they see lots of people taking the vaccine and seeing that it's safe, it will increase confidence. And we need -- this is no longer a race for -- or it is still a race for a vaccine, but it's really also a race for the hearts and minds of the American people. They need to see this is safe.

BERMAN: So, nevertheless, you still had trepidation as you were driving up to Yale to get injected. You were texting with a doctor friend of yours who said, I wouldn't do this if I were you. Talk to me about the anxiety and what it was like to actually get the shot.

JONG-FAST: Well, I was -- you know, because I am a journalist, I know a lot of really smart doctors. And I called a lot of them. And I lot of them, like Eric Toppel (ph), you know, said, this is a very good vaccine with a very high safety profile and this is a smart move and I would do it. But a few people, like one of my actual doctors, was like, I would not do that. And that made me feel actually like it was even more important that I do it.

It's important that people see that this is safe. And we are -- I mean we are still a country with uncontrolled coronavirus spread. We are not a country where this is under control. And so some of us will be -- it's safer to try the vaccine than it is to take your chances with the virus.

BERMAN: Any side effects after getting the shots?

JONG-FAST: So far nothing. I know a couple of other people in the trial, too, and they have all anecdotally had nothing. But I still have another shot. This one -- one shot and then 23 days later another shot.

BERMAN: So the part of this that always makes me crazy as a mind game is what it must be like to not know whether or not you actually got the vaccine or the placebo. That's the part that I can't get my head around. So what's that like?

JONG-FAST: You know, it's funny. I thought that would bother me more, not knowing, because it's 50/50, right, and it's a blind trial, so no one, not even the study doctor knows if you got the real thing. Only these double blind nurses know.

I thought it would make me more nuts, but I feel kind of like -- I know that I'm doing the right thing and I'm trying not to get too in the weeds about it. But, yes, it's a bit weird. And with this study it seems like if you got the placebo, you'll be able to get the real vaccine after it gets approved. So that's good and I'll definitely take it if I haven't already gotten it.

BERMAN: Well, I'm going nuts on your behalf, if you're calm about not knowing, and I'm doing it for you.

Molly Jong-Fast, thank you for joining us. Also, you know, thanks for doing this. This is putting yourself out there for the benefit of everybody. So thank you for taking this risk so we can learn whether these things work. All right, huge lines as early voting is underway in Virginia and several states now. We have a live report on whether or not the enthusiasm or the situation for these voters has changed with the Supreme Court vacancy.

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[08:52:13]

CAMEROTA: High turnout and long lines this morning in Virginia for day two of early voting. In the state's largest county, voters were met with pro-Trump supporters rallying right outside polling places. Now how is the Supreme Court battle playing into all of this?

CNN's Kristen Holmes is live in Fairfax, Virginia, with more.

So what are they saying, Kristen?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, we spoke to a lot of voters who said that they were already so excited to vote.

Now, I want to talk a little bit about what happened over the weekend because I do think it's important to touch on.

This area right here, we were here on Friday, there were thousands of people for that first day of in-person voting. On Saturday, a group of Trump supporters came and stood right where I am, actually right behind me here, in front of the voters chanting "four more years" among other things and it forced the election officials to actually move people inside. Several voters saying that they felt intimidated.

And it is important to note this is a very Democratic area and so it's not surprising that protesters or supporters would pick this area. Some voters, one in particular, was asked to be escorted out because they felt uncomfortable. But that is not stopping voters here today.

I want you to take a look at this line. And we talked to voters, as you said, about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, does that have any impact on why they are here. Keep in mind, Alisyn, this is hundreds of people long. This is day three. I mean they have an entire month to vote but they chose to be here.

This is what they said as to why they were here today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY PATCHETT, FAIRFAX COUNTY VOTER: We came on Friday and the line was probably a thousand people here, but we decided to come this morning early.

You see the number of people here right now, it's showing that people are interested in voting and having their vote's counted.

BETTY CHARLES, FAIRFAX COUNTY VOTER: It's democracy in action and for me it helped me to understand how people in areas where there are so many -- so few polling places that they have to stand in line for four or five hours. It gave me a whole new perspective.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So it's really important to keep this in mind, they were already planning on being here to vote. They tried to come on Friday. Too many people were here, so they got here some as early at 6:45 this morning. The place doesn't even open until 8:00. So not that impacted by the fact that there was the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and now this looming Supreme Court nomination. They say they were already so enthusiastic, they wanted to vote and they wanted to make sure that their vote counted.

John.

BERMAN: Kristen Holmes, that line is extraordinary. Thank you so much for this report and showing us that. And a reminder to people -- everyone's going to say, oh, this is going to help this candidate or that candidate. The fundamentals of this race have changed like zero for months and months and months. So we just don't know if it will have any impact at all.

[08:55:00]

Time now for "The Good Stuff."

Gabby Huddleston is eight years old, but her age, no handicap, get it, on the golf course.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GABBY HUDDLESTON: I love driving and I love putting and I love golf.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: She's had a ton of practice. She started playing when she was two.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One, two, three. Yeah!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Gabby's father knew right away she was a natural.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GABRIEL HUDDLESTON, GABBY'S FATHER: I got her the toys and she just started swinging. I just -- it was a natural swing. So I just knew that I could teach her more and kind of just take it from there. It was amazing how natural the swing was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Gabby drives a crowd wherever she plays. She hopes to go pro some day. Right now, she's qualified for the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship.

CAMEROTA: Maybe she should try to gain 40 pounds.

BERMAN: I think that was Michael Jordan she was with right there.

All right, new reporting on President Trump's likely pick for the Supreme Court. CNN's coverage continues right after this.

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