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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
President Trump Stages Drive-By Photo Op While Hospitalized With COVID-19; Biden To Be Tested More Often As He Readies To Campaign In Florida; Nine New York City Zip Codes May Shut Down After Coronavirus Spikes. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired October 05, 2020 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:30:39]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The nation remains mostly in the dark about the president's battle with coronavirus, but he can't resist a crowd. We'll show you what he did and why it left doctors baffled.
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, this is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans, 30 minutes past the hour the first day of the week -- this Monday morning.
If you want to see a responsible approach to fighting coronavirus, this is not it. Just days into his diagnosis, President Trump staged a drive-by photo op, waving to his supporters outside Walter Reed Hospital, Sunday -- a textbook risk for spreading the virus even if others in the SUV were wearing PPE, as the White House notes they were.
Yet, the scene was familiar. Remember that photo op back in June in the midst of heated protests? The president put himself, Secret Service agents, and members of the public at risk for a hastily-staged photo op across from the White House to hold up a bible in front of a church.
The idea, of course, is the same -- supposed showings of strength and toughness. In other words, optics over the health and safety of others.
Moments before his joyride, Mr. Trump tweeted this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's been a very interesting journey. I learned a lot about COVID. I learned it by really going to school. This is the real school. This isn't the let's read the book school.
And I get it and I understand it, and it's a very interesting thing. I'm going to be letting you know about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: So, seven months into this pandemic, the president now says he's learned quote "a lot." Yet, who is recording all of these videos that the president is posting as he talks without a mask in each one? What about that person's safety?
He says he gets it, but the pandemic occurring on his watch is only getting worse. Cases are down in just four of 50 states with the highest number of cases reported in a five-day period since mid- August.
ROMANS: The president is one of nearly 7 1/2 million Americans who have contracted COVID, but most of them have not received the same level of attention or exceptions to basic health and safety rules. So many of the nearly 210,000 who have died in the U.S. unable even to say a proper goodbye to family members when in the hospital.
We start this morning with senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns, live at Walter Reed. Hi, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine.
OK, so that joyride came at the end of a weekend in which the White House, as well as the president's doctors, spent a lot of time trying to minimize the president's condition. Now, he is the commander in chief, of course. That means his health is a matter of national security.
The doctors are telling us that the president could go home today. He hasn't shown fever since Friday, though it's not clear whether it's medications that's gotten rid of the fever or whether the president has gotten rid of it on his own.
Dr. Sean Connelly, the president's physician, admitted over the weekend not being straight up with reporters about the times -- the two times when the president's oxygen levels in his blood went down. Listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SEAN CONLEY, PHYSICIAN TO PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president, and his course of illness has had. I didn't want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction and in doing so it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn't necessarily true. And so we have -- here -- he is -- the fact of the matter is, is that he's doing really well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Now as for that trip outside Walter Reed here, a veteran Secret Service agent criticized it, calling it reckless, irresponsible, unbelievable. But he also sympathized with the people who have to work closest with the president, saying you just can't say no.
There's also an attending physician over here at Walter Reed who has gone public, essentially, who has said that other people in the car might die for political theater. He says this is insanity -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JAMES PHILLIPS, NON-MILITARY ATTENDING PHYSICIAN, WALTER REED MEDICAL CENTER: I have a hard time believing that without undue influence based on their chain of command that those physicians would have cleared that.
[05:35:02]
When we take care of patients in the emergency department or the thousands of hours I've spent in the inpatient wards and surgery, medicine, and ICU, we don't let patients leave the hospital when they're sick unless they sign out against medical advice.
Masks or no masks, being inside of a vehicle that is hermetically sealed circulates the virus inside and potentially puts people at risk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: And the White House, who are concerned about their own health at this point -- I mean, the White House essentially organizing and staging a super-spreader event there for the Supreme Court nominee.
We understand the White House has sent its first e-mail to staffers, almost now 72 hours after the diagnosis. What are they -- what are they saying?
JOHNS: Right, that's the Office of Management and Budget. They did send out their first e-mail to employees. Employees, frankly, did not know what to do -- whether to go to work, whether to stay home.
And they have sent out some guidance. However, one of the most interesting things is they told people if they have concerns not to contact the White House testing office, Christine.
ROMANS: To go to their own primary care provider -- interesting.
All right, Joe Johns. Thank you so much for that -- Laura.
JARRETT: All right.
So we're told the president is being treated with an extensive cocktail of drugs. That list includes two experimental drugs and a steroid that at least one large study shows does help COVID patients. But health experts suggest it also means -- this means his condition is serious since the drug shouldn't be given to anyone who is not ill enough to justify the downsides.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: In medicine, you don't throw the kitchen sink at a patient with an abundance of caution, you sometimes throw it with an abundance of panic -- sometimes when there's nothing else to lose.
So, yes, I think this -- the president might be the only patient on the planet ever to receive this particular combination of medicines. The only conclusion one can make from this triple therapy is that the president's physicians feel that he's in great danger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: The steroid that the president is taking requires careful monitoring. It reduces inflammation, but in doing so it can also impair the patient's ability to fight off infection.
All right. Joe Biden will now be tested more frequently for coronavirus as concerns linger about his possible exposure to the president and the Trump campaign staff. But the former V.P. is staying on the campaign trail for now.
MJ Lee has more now from Wilmington, Delaware.
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MJ LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Christine and Laura.
While President Trump receives treatment at Walter Reed Hospital for COVID-19, Joe Biden is continuing his normal campaign activities. Later today, we're going to see him fly to Florida for a campaign event there.
And what the Biden campaign has recently announced is that Biden is now going to be tested more frequently for the virus. You'll recall that last Friday after the news of President Trump's positive test coming out, Biden himself announced that he was tested twice for COVID-19 and those tests came back negative. And just last night, on Sunday night, the Biden campaign also announced that he had taken another test and that test had also come back negative.
Now, heading into this week, we obviously know that the big political event is going to be the vice-presidential debate in Salt Lake City. This is going to be between Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris. They are going to be facing off for the first time.
And what CNN can report is that the Biden campaign had raised concerns to the presidential debate commission about the amount of space between the two candidates on the debate stage. And after negotiations, where they settled is that instead of there being seven feet between the two candidates, now we are going to see 12 feet.
And finally, the one thing that we're not entirely clear on right now because of the president's status is what is going to happen to the second presidential debate that is slated for later this month.
Christine and Laura, back to you. (END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, MJ. Thank you so much for that.
So, it's 29 days now to the election. Time now for three questions in three minutes.
Let's bring in CNN senior political John Avlon. Great to see you this Monday morning.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You, too.
ROMANS: COVID credibility crisis. Trump has spent months sowing seeds of doubt about this election and his own government. But now, he's asking everyone to trust that he's doing just fine. John, can he have it both ways?
AVLON: No, this is a self-inflicted credibility crisis. The president will always put spin ahead of substance. But now, science gets the last word when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic, and now it's affected the White House personally.
We've seen the credibility gap in just divulging what happened to the president. Allegedly, the timeline in which he admitted to the American people and even people around him that he was exposed and perhaps afflicted. This is a fundamental problem and you're not going to be able to spin your way out of this one.
We wish him the best -- we wish everyone in the White House the best, but this is a credibility gap of their own making and it's going to take a while to climb out of it.
JARRETT: Avlon, put your political strategist hat on for a second. You're Joe Biden's campaign. Does the president's diagnosis change your strategy for campaigning? They've pulled negative ads, at least for now, but he's still on the trail and he's 77 years old.
[05:40:05]
AVLON: Well look, I mean, there's absolutely no reason to go off the campaign trail. This is a problem that the president has, in some way, invited by having a cavalier attitude towards masks, towards basic precautions -- mocking Joe Biden during the debate.
It's uncommonly decent and -- for the Biden campaign to pull negative ads. Notably, the Trump campaign has refused to do the same. There's some question of how long that's sustainable. But, Biden and his campaign should play their own game.
It's going to take a while for the president to get on the trail, no matter how much he may want to do so. You'll see a full-court press by surrogates. But we're 29 days out, people.
ROMANS: Yes.
AVLON: You've got to play your game and play it hard. ROMANS: It's here.
AVLON: Yes.
ROMANS: People are voting.
Flash forward two weeks -- Trump is better. What does the -- what does his weekend look like? Campaign rallies in Florida or the surrogates make the case?
AVLON: Look, I -- you know, the surrogates are going to be playing -- are going to be the tip of the spear in this particular circumstance. The president's going to want to get out there but they are going to be limits to what he can do physically, even if he gets released today.
This is a serious diagnosis for a man of his age and weight. He's got the best doctors in the world on this. But he's not going to be able to hit the campaign trail with the same kind of vigor that he and his supporters are used to.
The big thing to look for is the next presidential debate. After this week's V.P. debate, does the president meet with Joe Biden in person? Is that practical? Is that possible? Is that wise?
JARRETT: Is it safe?
AVLON: Yes.
JARRETT: All right, CNN senior political analyst John Avlon. Thanks for getting up with us this morning, John.
AVLON: Always, guys. Good to see you.
ROMANS: Nice to see you, John.
All right, to the jobs crisis now. Laid-off Americans are facing a grim reality -- millions of jobs are simply never coming back. Permanent job losses are rising rapidly from 1.9 million in February to 4.5 million in September. The number of permanent job losses among the unemployed has more than doubled in the last six months, the fastest increase on record and rising still.
Big companies, including Disney, Allstate, and Raytheon Technologies have announced thousands of layoffs. Goldman Sachs cutting hundreds of jobs. It had halted layoffs at the start of the pandemic.
American and United Airlines cut 32,000 jobs on Thursday alone after funding from the CARES Act expired. None of those permanent job losses are reflected in the most recent numbers from the Labor Department yet.
And, Friday's jobs report shows U.S. jobs recovery is running out of steam. The economy added 661,000 net new jobs in September after months where the U.S. was adding millions of jobs. That pace clearly slowing there. The unemployment rate dipped to 7.9 percent -- good news. Still, the economy is down 10.7 million jobs since March.
We'll be right back.
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JARRETT: All right, welcome back.
A huge reopening setback for New York City after battling coronavirus so effectively for months now.
Mayor Bill de Blasio proposing to shut down all schools and non- essential businesses in nine zip codes in Brooklyn, in Queens, where cases of COVID have spiked. The plan, starting on Wednesday, must be approved by New York's Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
CNN's Alexandra Field went to one of the areas of major concern.
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ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this Brooklyn neighborhood, hundreds of thousands of masks are being handed out as clusters of COVID-19 cases in New York City pop up again in Orthodox Jewish communities -- communities already devastated last spring.
LEAH ZAGELBAUM, VICE PRESIDENT OF MEDIA AFFAIRS, AGUDATH ISRAEL OF AMERICA: There wasn't a family that didn't know somebody that was either sick in the hospital or dying. Nobody wants to go back there.
FIELD (voice-over): Back to funerals like this one for a prominent rabbi who died in April, bringing thousands of mourners to New York City's largely empty streets.
But months after New York City bent the curve, holidays, celebrations, and large gatherings may be fueling the newest cluster. This video surfacing from late-September shows a large Orthodox gathering with little regard for social distancing.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: I've said to the local governments we need an all-out compliance effort. It has to be enforcement.
FIELD (voice-over): Stepping up enforcement, the city has already shut down two yeshivas in Brooklyn. Now, state and city officials are urging 200 rabbis and other community leaders to take a more aggressive stance with their congregations.
RABBI YERUCHIM SILBER, AGUDATH ISRAEL OF AMERICA: Look now. I would say almost everybody's masked up if you look -- just look around the streets and just see it over there. There's --
FIELD (on camera): That's what we're seeing, too. Did it look different a few days or a few weeks ago? SILBER: It did, but I think people are getting the message now.
FIELD (voice-over): The city recommends testing for everyone living in a hotspot, but there's no line at a mobile test site in this largely Orthodox community.
ZAGELBAUM: We shouldn't be singled out and certainly, the finger shouldn't be pointed at people who are doing their best because they've gotten sick. Because you don't see that in any other community.
FIELD (voice-over): Community leaders insist there isn't resistance to masks or testing, but they say the spike here is caused by the same complacency they see everywhere else.
ROBERT CARROLL, NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLYMAN: But I do think there's fatigue. I think it's been a long six months.
We haven't beat this disease yet. There isn't herd immunity. Those kinds of things are incorrect. We need to be vigilant for the rest of this fall, winter, and probably next spring until there's a vaccine.
FIELD (voice-over): A reminder to a community that has suffered so much that the virus isn't behind us yet.
Alexandra Field, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Now, there are strict new restrictions in Paris because of a second wave of coronavirus there. Even bars now are closing.
CNN is covering the pandemic around the world.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Melissa Bell in Paris, which will enter a maximum alert category tomorrow. This, as the COVID-19 figures continue to worsen. The country saw another record set over the course of the weekend in terms of the number of new cases. But the greater Paris region has seen things like ICU occupancy rates simply getting too high.
[05:50:10]
Hence the fresh restrictions that come into effect on Tuesday morning. All bars, all cafes will be entirely closed. Fresh restrictions as well on universities and how classes there are run. We had expected restaurants to be shut but pushback from restauranteurs means that they've been spared for now.
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Selina Wang in Hong Kong.
People in New Zealand's largest city can return to school and work this week. They can also gather in groups of more than 100 and go to bars and restaurants without physically distancing themselves -- activities that are hard to imagine in much of the world.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there's a 95 percent probability that the cluster of cases in Auckland has been eliminated, but she warned against complacency.
New Zealand, a country of five million people, has nearly eliminated COVID-19 within its borders. It has reported just one imported COVID case on Monday. In total, New Zealand has recorded only 25 COVID deaths.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem.
Over the weekend, Israel saw a dip in the number of daily infections, but this may not be the good news Israel is looking for. That's because according to the Ministry of Health data, the rate of positive tests remains high -- more than 10 percent. And that dip in the number may simply be a function of fewer tests being carried out over the weekend.
Meanwhile, last week was a new record for Israel in terms of daily infections -- more than 9,000 as the country here considers whether to extend the strict limitations in a second lockdown.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: All right. Thanks to all of our correspondents for those updates.
In Texas, two lawsuits are now challenging Gov. Greg Abbott's move to restrict the number of ballot drop boxes to one per county across the state. The governor made the last-minute change in an executive order last week.
If it happens, it would significantly affect the Democratic stronghold of Harris County. Under Abbott's order, the county must reduce its 12 drop-off locations to just one, starting on Friday.
The governor claims his order enhances ballot security but critics say it could sharply limit access for many voters during this pandemic.
All right. Police in Atlanta investigating the fatal shooting of actor Thomas Jefferson Byrd. The veteran actor is known for his roles in many Spike Lee films. Police say 70-year-old Byrd died early Saturday from multiple gunshot wounds to the back.
Spike Lee paying tribute to the actor and a friend in an Instagram post, sending condolences to Byrd's family and saying Tom is my guy.
ROMANS: All right, let's just a check on CNN Business this Monday morning.
Taking a look at markets around the world, markets in China were closed for a holiday. Markets elsewhere are higher on the idea that President Trump could go home this week. That was what his doctors were saying this weekend. On Wall Street, futures are higher here right now. But overall, President Trump's hospitalization has added a new dose of
uncertainty to markets ahead of Election Day.
Meanwhile, resign coronavirus cases and a weak September jobs report further highlight the need for more stimulus from Washington.
Cineworld announced it will temporarily close all of its 536 Regal Cinemas in the U.S. It blamed an increasingly challenging business landscape and long-term closures due to the pandemic.
The news comes just a day after the latest James Bond film "No Time to Die" was delayed until spring 2021 -- the most recent blow to the movie industry. Cineworld will also temporarily close its U.K. theaters starting Thursday.
JARRETT: All right.
The term "Proud Boys" is taking on a whole new meaning after a number of gay men took over the far-right group's Twitter hashtag, flooding social media with photos of their families and messages of love and acceptance. The celebration of LGBTQ pride was an effort to drown out supporters of the group.
Its members are known for espousing misogynistic, Islamophobic, transphobic, anti-immigration, and anti-Semitic ideologies. Remember, the president refused to condemn the group at last week's debate.
The leader of the Proud Boys says they're not offended by the move to swap out their hashtag with gay pride, insisting that the group is not homophobic.
Well, that is certainly one way to take on the hate --
ROMANS: Yes.
JARRETT: -- that is out there.
ROMANS: Absolutely.
All right, 53 minutes past the hour this Monday morning. Have a great day, everybody. Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.
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[05:58:44]
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Questions about how seriously the president is taking the virus, even in the face of his own struggle, getting into that car and doing that drive-by.
JASON MILLER, SENIOR ADVISER TO TRUMP REELECTION CAMPAIGN: President Trump wanted to as a sign of gratitude and show folks that he's still fighting for them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here he has his own protective detail and he's putting them at risk so that he can go out and wave.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The White House doctor is having a difficult time answering very basic questions.
CONNELLY: I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team has had and in doing so it came off that we were trying to hide something.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It shakes the public's confidence and it makes it that much harder to believe.
REINER: In medicine, you don't throw the kitchen sink at a patient with an abundance of caution. I think the president might be the only patient on the planet ever to receive this particular combination of medicines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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, October fifth, 6:00 here in New York.
This morning, the President of the United States is waking up in the hospital with coronavirus and we have no idea how long he intends to stay there or how severe his illness is.
Yesterday, the president took a spin outside of the hospital to wave to his supporters. The White House medical team apparently okayed this drive-by, but other doctors say it put the Secret Service agents that he's with there in the car -- it put their health at risk.
The White House gave no notice to reporters, which breaks longstanding protocol. And the stunt follows a dizzying.
