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Dr. Fauci Warns Cases 'Too High' Heading into Winter Flu Season; Thousands to Honor Justice Ginsburg at Supreme Court; FDA Considering Stricter Guidelines for Vaccine Authorization; Russian Opposition Leader Released from Hospital After Poisoning; NYT: Russian Trolls Amplifying Trump's Conspiracy Theories. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired September 23, 2020 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is one of the greatest tragedies. These 200,000 deaths, those deaths were preventable.

[05:59:17]

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: It's unacceptable to not realize that we are entering into a risk period. And we've got to act accordingly.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The FDA is poised to set tough new standards for emergency-use authorization of a coronavirus vaccine.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm getting very close to having a final decision made.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Officials tell CNN Trump seemed very enthusiastic about Amy Coney Barrett.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Leader McConnell's actions may now very well destroy the institution of the Senate.

(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.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Stuff's falling off the ceiling here. I don't know if people heard the bang there. We're OK.

CAMEROTA: We're off to a great start.

BERMAN: We're OK. Nothing has fallen on us.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: Near us, but not on us. CAMEROTA: This is NEW DAY. It's Wednesday, September 23, 6 a.m. here

in New York.

A new warning from Dr. Anthony Fauci. Forty thousand coronavirus cases a day is far too high a level heading into winter.

Here's where the U.S. is this morning. 22 states, those that you see in orange and red, those are the ones that are seeing a spike in cases.

Yesterday marked another day of nearly 40,000 new cases. And almost a thousand more deaths.

And what does President Trump think of the more than 200,000 Americans killed? He now calls it a shame, after you'll remember, he had said, "It is what it is." Yet, he continues to hold rallies that look like potential super-spreader events, and he again mocked Joe Biden for wearing a mask.

Biden, meanwhile, called the American death toll, quote, "devastating and staggering."

BERMAN: All right. Developing this morning, CNN has learned that the FDA is considering tough new authorization rules that could push emergency approval for a coronavirus vaccine past election day. The details here are very important. And we're going to lay them out for you.

It will also be interesting to see if the White House tries to undermine this move.

Also new this morning, we have new guidance from the FBI, raising alarms about disinformation on the integrity of the election. And if you read between the lines here, it almost sounds as if the FBI is saying, Don't listen to the president.

The FBI warns specifically of, quote, "the spread of false information in an attempt to discredit the electoral process and undermine confidence in U.S. democratic institutions." Honest to God. It almost sounds like they're saying what the president is saying, pay no attention.

CAMEROTA: Could that possibly be their message?

BERMAN: Absolutely. All right. We're going to begin our coverage, though, with the very latest on the coronavirus situation in the United States.

CNN's Ryan Young live in Chicago. And the message we're getting from Anthony Fauci and others is really winter is coming.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John. The grim milestone of 200,000 deaths hasn't stopped the president from patting himself on the back. That's despite 40,000 new cases every single day.

The president's own health experts are warning, we're not out of the woods just yet.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG (voice-over): President Trump spoke to a packed campaign rally in Pittsburgh, giving himself top marks for his administration's handling of the pandemic as the nation reached a heartbreaking milestone.

TRUMP: We did an incredible -- we did an "A"-plus job, except we did a "D" job in terms of public relations, explaining it, because we were too busy doing it.

YOUNG: In reality, the coronavirus has killed over 200,000 people in the U.S. since March, and health experts stress it didn't have to be this way.

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: If we had done what a large number of other countries have done -- take the virus seriously, implement public health measures -- 80, 90 percent of those people would be alive today. That is a tragedy. And it's a travesty.

YOUNG: Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden tweeting, "There's a devastating human toll to this pandemic, and we can't forget that. While Trump just said, It could have been worse."

TRUMP: Well, I think it's a shame. I think if we didn't do it properly and do it right, you'd have 2.5 million deaths.

YOUNG: Dr. Anthony Fauci warning people to take safety guidelines seriously as the new cases grow in at least 22 states over the past week.

FAUCI: I would like to have seen the base line of where we are, the daily number of infections come way, way down and not be stuck at around 30 to 40,000 per day, which is where it is right now. That's unacceptable, and that's what we've got to get down before we go into the more problematic winter.

YOUNG: And while some school districts continue to weigh whether students will return to the classroom, one of the nation's largest, Miami-Dade County, announced phased in-person learning will begin no earlier than October 14.

This as the CDC announced new guidelines discouraging parents from allowing their children to trick-or-treat this year, calling it a high-risk activity to spread the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Trump sticking to his promise of a vaccine around election day.

TRUMP: We'll develop and distribute a vaccine very, very shortly, in record time.

YOUNG: But the Food and Drug Administration is considering new safety guidelines for an emergency authorization, three sources tell CNN, likely pushing a coronavirus vaccine past November 3.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: The president has been hoping for a magic bullet. Vaccine. But even when we have an effective vaccine, it's going to take many months to really affect the mortality rate in this country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG: Now, despite the president giving himself an "A" or "A"-minus handling the pandemic, in a joint statement, the American Medical Association, American Hospital Association, American Nurses Association said the scale and raw numbers represent a nearly worst- case scenario that is clearly a far cry from an "A"-plus -- John.

[06:05:02]

BERMAN: All right. Ryan Young for us in Chicago.

I have to say, how the president grades himself at this point is not relevant. Two hundred thousand dead Americans don't care what grade the president gives himself at this point. It's the response now going forward that matters the most.

Ryan, appreciate your reporting.

President Trump says he will announce his Supreme Court nominee on Saturday. Sources tell CNN that Judge Amy Coney Barrett is the clear favorite to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

CNN's Joe Johns live at the White House with new details on how quickly this could all happen, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, it certainly sounds like full speed ahead on this nomination. The president indicating that he's going to make his nomination pick public on Saturday.

This is a clear indication that the president and the Senate Republicans have decided that a fight over the Supreme Court in the closing days of an election is a fight they want to have, especially if the president picks a reliable conservative, who has already been vetted by this administration, like Amy Coney Barrett.

Now, the latest sign of where all of this is headed, Senator Mitt Romney of Utah indicating he's onboard with the Senate Republican leadership's position, which all but assures that the president's nominee can be pushed through over the objections of Democrats. The president indicating, in his view, this thing has to move quickly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We need nine justices. You need that. With the unsolicited millions of ballots that they're sending, it's a scam. It's a hoax. Everybody knows that. And the Democrats know it better than anybody else. So you're going to need nine justices up there. I think it's going to

be very important. Because what they're doing is a hoax with the ballots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Now the president's assertions there are unsupported by the evidence. There is no evidence that voter fraud is running rampant throughout the country.

Also, the president's claim clearly suggests that he's looking for some help on the court in the event the Supreme Court has to decide the outcome of a close election -- John.

CAMEROTA: I'll take it. Thank you very much, Joe.

JOHNS: Whoops. Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Thousands of people are expected to pay their respects to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg today. CNN's Jessica Schneider is live for us at the Supreme Court with a preview.

Hi, Jessica.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alisyn, good morning.

Well, when Justice Ginsburg's casket arrives at the Supreme Court this morning, she will be greeted by more than 100 of her former law clerks. They will serve as honorary pallbearers. They will escort her casket up the Supreme Court steps. They will also keep watch and be by Justice Ginsburg's side throughout the next two days of public viewing.

So at 9:30 this morning, there will be a private ceremony inside the Great Hall. That will be attended by close friends and family and the justices. Chief Justice John Roberts, as well as a rabbi, will be speaking.

Then after that private ceremony, Justice Ginsburg's casket will be brought outside here to the portico at the top of the steps of the Supreme Court. That's when the public viewing will begin.

We are expecting thousands and thousands of people, because of the thousands that have already flocked here to the Supreme Court to pay their respects in the days that followed after Justice Ginsburg's announcement of the death on Friday. So thousands and thousands of people will be out here. The viewing will be each night, tonight and tomorrow, until 10 p.m.

And then on Friday, Justice Ginsburg will lie in state across the street at the U.S. Capitol. She will make history as the first woman to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol.

And then we're expecting that a burial will happen for Justice Ginsburg. That will be next week at Arlington National Cemetery. And Alisyn, her beloved husband, Marty, is already buried there at Arlington, so the two of them will be buried together -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Jessica, thank you very much for that preview.

So we have new information this morning on an updated timeline from the FDA for a coronavirus vaccine. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:13:16]

BERMAN: New this morning, a warning from Dr. Anthony Fauci about where we are right now in the fight against coronavirus. And if you listen to him, he seems to be saying, we're in the wrong place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: We're entering into the fall and into the winter. And that means there's going to be more indoor things than outdoor things. And going into that situation, I would like to have seen the baseline of where we are, the daily number of infections, come way, way down and not be stuck at around 30 to 40,000 per day, which is where it is right now.

That's unacceptable. And that's what we've got to get down, before we go into the more problematic winter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: This morning, cases are rising in 22 states. You can see them all right there in red. And where it's beige, they're stable, and stable, Dr. Fauci says, largely in the wrong place.

I want to bring in Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He's a CNN medical analyst and professor of medicine at George Washington University.

And Dr. Reiner, we had just under 40,000 new cases overnight again in one day. And if you look at the seven-day moving average, if you look at the tail end of that graph, you see that over the last two weeks, new cases have started to rise again, as we head into what could be one of the most dangerous periods of the year.

So when you look at this, what concerns you? Or why is Dr. Fauci so concerned about this also?

REINER: Well, he's concerned, because every public health official expects a spike during the fall and winter, when we move from outside to inside. And we know that the virus is transmitted much more efficiently in indoor environments, where the air -- air flow is less brisk and it's harder to social distance.

[06:15:01]

So we plateaued at 40,000. We've been here all summer. And so we've squandered our opportunities. We keep squandering our opportunities to push the case counts down in the United States and protect lives.

So instead of that, we've plateaued at around 40,000 cases a day. And our deaths are somewhere between 800 and 1,000 cases per day.

So if this doubles, with a winter spike, so we'll be, you know, 80,000 cases a day, 2,000, 3,000 deaths a day. It's -- it's an intolerable toll. Which is why people like Tony Fauci keep stressing that we need to get the numbers down. We're not doing the things necessary to do that.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about what the FDA is announcing in terms of the timeline for a vaccine, because it will now be longer, certainly, than President Trump has made it sound, and than some people had expected. Here's what the FDA says.

"The FDA is expected to tell" -- what is it, this is CNN reporting. "The FDA is expected to tell vaccine makers that they need to wait two months after giving all their study participants their second doses of the vaccine until they can apply for an emergency-use authorization."

And so I guess the point is, it's not just whether you have ill side effects when you get the vaccine. You have to wait a couple of months to see if anything else crops up.

REINER: Exactly. So, look, everyone has a sore arm when you receive a vaccine. That's -- that's just the nature of getting a vaccine. They're not so worried about that.

They're worried about more important side effects, like the kind of side effect that halted the Abbott trial in England and in the United States, the transverse myelitis. They're looking to make sure that not only does the vaccine work, but that it doesn't -- in worst-case scenarios, make it worse for you if you acquire the virus, as previous -- as, you know, some vaccines in the past have done. So potentiation of illness if you get it.

And only when you have a longer time horizon can you get those data points.

So, look, I was -- I was actually cheered by this FDA announcement. Because it shows that what the FDA is doing is stressing safety. You know, approving the vaccine is not just understanding that it reduces cases. It's understanding that it's safe for the public.

Yesterday, I postponed a procedure for hours, because we needed to repeat a critical lab. And when we finally did the procedure, the patient thanked us for stressing safety. And that's what the public hopefully will see by the -- by the FDA's action this week.

BERMAN: And just to be clear about what the timeline here means, in these vaccine trials, you get two doses. The doses are spread out by a month. Our belief is that the first dose in any of these trials was given at the end of July, beginning of August. So if you don't get your second dose until the beginning of September, and then you have to wait two months before we know or determine efficacy, that puts that date into November.

So just to be clear, if the FDA gets this through -- and we don't know whether or not they will go through this with. This is what's being considered. We expect them to make some kind of an announcement. This would make the determination date past election day, almost definitely, which is something that I have to believe is going to upset the president. Which is why -- and I wonder if you are, I'm watching very closely what the administration, what HHS says about this, what the White House says about this new batch of reporting that we're seeing, that the FDA is considering these rules, Dr. Reiner.

REINER: Yes, I agree with you, John. And I sort of am dreading an announcement that, Oh, the FDA released a draft -- a draft response that wasn't ready for the public yet. That was in error. That's -- that's sort of what we've heard from the CDC recently.

I think these kinds of pauses are key. And we need to de-politicize this. We shouldn't be thinking about the vaccine in terms of the timing of the election. That's how far we've dropped, that now when we think about science, we're looking at the calendar and understanding when people are voting. One should have nothing to do with the other.

About half of the enrollees in these trials were enrolled by about the middle of September, about the first week in September. So those patients will have a two-month follow-up, but the rest of them also need the two-month follow-up.

So I don't think there's any way we see a vaccine approved, using those parameters, earlier than some time in December, which is fine. It will be an enormous victory to get it in December.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Well, chances are we may learn more about that less than four hours from now, because the top -- the country's top health officials are going to be testifying on Congress. So we're going to have the head of the FDA, Steven Hahn, also have the CDC, Robert Redfield, Dr. Fauci, we'll hear from, and Admiral Giroir. And so Dr. Reiner, what would you be question for any of them this morning? What do you really want to know?

[06:20:00]

REINER: OK. Why -- why are you planning now to postpone or prolong the approval process? Have you seen any signals in any kind of early analysis from the data from any of the three trials that are underway that give you concern, that would cause you to want to wait two more months? That's -- that's one -- that's a major question for the vaccine manufacturers and the FDA.

I'd also want to get a better handling on the logistics of administering a vaccine once we're lucky enough to have one approved. You know, what is truly the realistic time frame for distributing this? What kind of venues are we going to use? Do we have enough disposables, syringes? Have we manufactured enough sterile glass vials for vaccine? What's our cold storage, our cold chain?

You know, those details are crucial to get the vaccine out into the public. And there hasn't been a lot of transparency about that. We've just been told, Oh, yes, we'll have a hundred doses of vaccine available. It's meaningless, unless you can get it into arms. And those are some of the details I'd like to know from the public health officials.

CAMEROTA: Those are some really good questions. You're right, John, we should have asked him that. That was a good question for him. We wouldn't have thought of those questions.

BERMAN: You're giving me credit for something that happens off-camera. This is first time. Mark down this -- mark this down.

CAMEROTA: That one is a good one.

BERMAN: Alisyn gave me credit.

CAMEROTA: Well, it's -- I'm giving you credit for something, because it is the first time you deserve it.

BERMAN: Dr. Reiner, we're sorry you had to listen to this, but thank you for being with us. Appreciate your time.

CAMEROTA: Thank you, Doctor.

REINER: My pleasure.

BERMAN: So we reported on the CIA assessment that Vladimir Putin is probably directing Russian attacks on Joe Biden. This morning, there is even more new reporting on how, for Russian intelligence, President Trump might be making their job all the easier. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

All right. We have breaking news this morning. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been discharged from a German hospital after more than a month. Doctors say he was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent. The Kremlin this morning is reacting to this news.

CNN's Matthew Chance live in Moscow with the breaking details.

Matthew, what have you learned?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, first of all, John, that statement from the clinic in Berlin where Alexei Navalny has been treated for suspected Novichok poisoning, that chemical nerve agent, saying that doctors there believe that a complete recovery of Alexei Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition figure, remember, is possible.

He was discharged yesterday, we're told in a statement that was released today by the clinic.

There's some bad news, though, because the statement goes on to say, "It remains too early to gauge the potential long-term effects" for -- of his, what they call severe poisoning. And that's been accompanied by images posted by Alexei Navalny himself outside of the clinic. He's sitting on some kind of park bench in the German capital. And he's been sort of posting, as well, about how he feels, talking about the good news that he could make a full recovery. But also, sort of indicating that he's still undergoing daily

physiotherapy and that, you know, there's still lots of moves for him to make before he's fully rehabilitated. He was talking in his post how he couldn't throw, for instance, or catch with one of his hands. And so there's obviously been some damage, whether temporary or permanent, to his brain in some way, which is trying to work through right now.

Now, that poisoning, which has been identified as that chemical nerve agent by German authorities, has been roundly condemned, particularly by western leaders.

But I think the interesting perspective from the United States is that President Trump, he's one of the few western leaders that's called out [SIC] President Putin, called out the Russians directly, demanding an explanation or an investigation into that. In fact, it's fueling that whole idea that President Trump is unwilling to criticize Russia, unwilling to directly criticize Vladimir Putin himself.

Take a listen to the recent exchange a couple of days ago when President Trump was asked about the Navalny poisoning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who do you think poisoned Alexei Navalny in Russia?

TRUMP: Uh, we'll talk about that at another time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: Well, there you are. That sort of noncommittal response. We're going to talk about it later. I'll say something later. Sort of fueling that suspicion that there is some kind of, you know, kind of hold, perhaps, that the Kremlin has over President Trump. It's something that's dogged his administration, really, since the outset, since the campaign, in fact, in 2016.

In terms of Alexei Navalny, he says through his spokespeople that he wants to come back to Russia and continue his anti-Kremlin work. There's been a statement from the Kremlin this morning, saying that he's welcome back to Russia, because he's a Russian citizen. They said he's glad he's getting better, and they wish him a speedy recovery. But they're not planning to meet him directly, they say, unless he's got some information for Russian law enforcement.

CAMEROTA: I'm not sure returning is a good idea, but in any event, the bigger question is, why is that question always so hard for President Trump to answer?

Matthew, thank you very much.

There are new details this morning about Russian efforts to interfere in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. "The New York Times'" David Sanger reports in, quote, "In interviews, a range of officials and private analysts say that Mr. Trump was feeding many of the disinformation campaigns they were struggling to halt. And rather than travel the back roads of America searching for divisive issues, as three Russians from the Internet Research Agency did in 2013, they are staying home, grabbing screen shots of Mr. Trump's Twitter posts, or copying his misleading statements and then amplifying those messages."

Joining us now is CNN political and national security analyst, David Sanger. We also have Anna Palmer. She's "Politico's" senior Washington correspondent.

David, your reporting on this is so stunning. Sometimes I think that all the Russian interference can kind of fall into a morass for, you know, Americans mentally. We've heard it before. It's hard to know what the nuances are.