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New Day

Outbreak Threatens Barrett's Quick Confirmation; Biden Kicks Off Florida Push; Inside Russia's Vaccine Lab; NFL Players Test Positive; Trump's Surprise Photo-op. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 05, 2020 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:31:58]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The outbreak of coronavirus in the White House could affect the timeline of the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Two Republican senators who have tested positive sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is live on Capitol Hill with the latest.

So how's this going to go, Sunlen?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, this Covid outbreak in Congress certainly could be a huge problem for Republicans who are hoping to get Amy Coney Barrett through before Election Day. Put most simply, they need these three senators to be back here in Washington to vote. If they remain sick, if they're unable to recover from Covid and if they cannot return to Washington this month, that, put most bluntly, would threaten and potentially derail her confirmation from getting through on that timeline. Now, Democrats up here on Capitol Hill are pushing for the Republicans to delay her confirmation hearing.

Here's the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Even though he has said it's not safe for the Senate to meet in session, but it's OK to have the hearings. And the idea of having virtual hearings, where no one is with the witness, for the highest court in the land, for a life appointment that would have such effect on people's lives makes no sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now, due to this recent outbreak among their own, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he has pushed back Senate floor activity for two weeks to respond to this outbreak. But the confirmation hearing scheduled for a Senate Judiciary hearings, John, that is going on as scheduled. And that starts just one week from today.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Sunlen, thank you very much. Obviously, this has major implications across the board.

Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden talking about implications. He is going to Florida today for campaign stops. His campaign announced he has tested negative for the virus again last night.

CNN's Jason Carroll with the very latest on the Biden campaign plans.

Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, yes, John, Florida, one of those key states in play. The vice president will be making his way down to Miami for a few campaign stops. He'll be speaking to communities of color. He'll be in Little Haiti. He'll be in Little Havana. His wife, Jill, will be joining him, as well. And, of course, later on this evening, he'll be participating in a televised town hall.

Going forward, there have been some concerns about the fact that the vice president shared the debate stage with Trump last week and about testing. His campaign says that, John, he will be tested on a regular basis. He was tested last Friday twice. Remember, he was in Michigan last Friday. He was tested again yesterday. All those tests have come back negative. And his campaign says that, once again, not only will he be tested regularly, but each time he travels, he'll be tested as well.

Looking ahead at the VP debate, some concerns there about Harris and about Pence. The Biden camp raised concerns about the spacing between the two candidates. Initially, the two candidates were going to be about 7 feet apart.

[06:35:01]

Now there's going to be a change there. They're going to be about 12 feet apart.

Also some other changes, masks are going to be required by everyone inside the debate hall with the exception of the moderator and the candidate. But any guest who's in there, John, not wearing a mask and being told to put one on and does not put one on will be escorted out. You remember those images last week of the debate when the Trump family was there, was seated, was asked to put on masks and refused to do so.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, the Trump family, for a photo op, actually made clear they were taking their masks off while sitting in the audience, despite pleas from the Cleveland Clinic.

All right, Jason Carroll, thanks so much. Please keep us posted.

Pandemic news across the globe. Russia, this morning, racing forward with its coronavirus vaccine. CNN

speaks exclusively with a lead laboratory scientist there who now has this new message for the now-infected President Trump.

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CAMEROTA: The Russian scientists behind a controversial coronavirus vaccine say the U.S. should seriously consider the Sputnik-V vaccine in the wake of President Trump's coronavirus diagnosis.

[06:40:07]

CNN gained exclusive access to a Russian lab and Matthew Chance joins us live from Moscow with all the details.

Matthew, what did you learn?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, thanks.

President Trump wouldn't be in the situation he's in now if he had taken the Russian vaccine, and other U.S. officials should consider taking it. Those are the words of scientists from the Gamaleya Institute, which is behind Russia's own Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik-V.

Now, it's a tightly controlled institution. It's funded by the Russian government. And it's at the center of that battle against Covid-19. So it's very sensitive.

But we managed to get through the doors and to speak to some of the key scientists behind what Russia calls its vaccine breakthrough.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE (voice over): It's taken us months to gain access to this secretive Moscow lab where these very scientists helped create Russia's coronavirus vaccine.

CHANCE (on camera): You assess the effectiveness of Sputnik-V in this lab here?

VLADIMIR GUSHCHIN, HEAD OF LABORATORY, GAMALEYA INSTITUTE: Yes. Yes. Sure. Sure. Yes. Yes. Yes.

CHANCE (voice over): Now CNN has been given a brief but exclusive glimpse inside the Gamaleya Institute, a chance to understand how this Russian government facility was able to produce what it says is a working Covid-19 vaccine ahead of the world's biggest pharmaceutical firms.

GUSHCHIN: It's team. It's one of the secret.

CHANCE (on camera): Yes.

GUSHCHIN: Platform is another. CHANCE (voice over): Scientists here insist it's their expertise plus

tried and tested technology used on vaccines for other diseases that gave them an edge.

CHANCE (on camera): What else is it? The team, the technology, but what's the secret?

GUSHCHIN: What's the secret? I think -- I think the secret is when your team is really involved in this process, concentration on this process. I think, in many pharma, you have different projects you have involved, but here, when you concentrate on this special task, when people are ready to stay here overnight, let's say, that's --

CHANCE: Everybody's just working on one thing.

GUSHCHIN: Yes. Yes.

CHANCE: Sputnik, the vaccine.

GUSHCHIN: One thing. Yes. Sputnik. Sputnik. Exactly.

CHANCE: Well, this is one of Russia's oldest, most accomplished vaccine research laboratories. But in the rush to create Sputnik-V, critics say this Gamaleya Institute has abandoned normal scientific practice, as well as skipping large-scale human tests before approval. Russian soldiers were used as volunteers in early trials. And the institute's director even injected himself and his staff with the experimental vaccine.

CHANCE (voice over): Now, in a rare interview, the Gamaleya director is defending his methods. The world is at war with Covid-19, he told me, and we must use all available means to defend ourselves.

CHANCE (on camera): But the fact that your vaccine has been registered for use before phase three clinical trials have ended, so before we know if it is safe or effective, you know, is in itself the cutting of a corner.

Are you comfortable with that corner being cut?

ALEXANDER GINTSBURG, DIRECTOR, GAMALEYA INSTITUTE: Yes.

CHANCE (voice over): Maybe we should ask the relatives of those killed by Covid if they would prefer us to wait until phase three trials have finished, he said, or to vaccinate their loved ones with a vaccine that demonstrated brilliant early results. The answer, he says, is obvious.

GUSHCHIN: Now here we have couple of rooms where we purify proteins.

CHANCE: He could be right and the Russian vaccine created here, at breakneck speed, could prove safe and effective. But if it doesn't, reputations and lives could be ruined.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHANCE: A number of lives being affected and potentially ruined here in Russia continues to grow. In the past 24 hours alone, there's been nearly 11,000 new cases recorded. That's the highest level since May. So Russia may have a vaccine that it says works, but it doesn't seem to be having any impacts at all on the rates of infection.

John.

BERMAN: Well, that tells you something, doesn't it, Matthew? And, look, I think the important thing is here, we are at a stage in this pandemic where it is getting worse around the world, including here in the United States. So the race for a vaccine even more important.

Matthew, thank you so much for your reporting.

So more NFL players have now tested positive for coronavirus and that means a double header for Monday night football.

Andy Scholes with more in the "Bleacher Report."

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John.

So the Chiefs and the Patriots were supposed to play yesterday, but the NFL announcing that they were moving that game after a player for both teams tested positive for coronavirus. And the player for the Patriots turned out to be star quarterback Cam Newton.

Now, no further Patriots or Chiefs have tested positive for Covid-19 as they have done further testing, and that's despite a source telling CNN that Cam went through an entire day of meetings and practice before the team eventually learned of his positive test.

[06:45:05]

So the Patriots and Chiefs, they're scheduled to play tonight in Kansas City at 7:05 Eastern. That pushes back the Falcon/Packers game to 8:50 Eastern.

In the meantime, more Tennessee Titans players and staff have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total to 20 within the organization. We've got ten players and ten staff members now. A league source telling CNN that there is an investigation to determine whether the team was following Covid protocols that have been put in place by the league.

And, you know, John, the Titans were supposed to play the Steelers yesterday. That game got moved to later on in the season. The Titans scheduled right now to host the Bills on Sunday, but as more people in the organization continue to test positive, John, that certainly seems like it's in jeopardy.

BERMAN: How could they play? I don't see it. Maybe it will happen, but as we sit here this morning, Andy, it's hard to image them playing. And that will be a game that will have to get postponed as well. Thank you, Andy, so much for that reporting.

Twenty-nine days until the election. How will the president's infection with coronavirus affect the campaign? We're going to speak to former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.

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[06:50:11]

CAMEROTA: President Trump's decision to leave Walter Reed Medical Center for an unscheduled joy ride is raising more questions about President Trump's judgment on the pandemic that has killed 209,000 Americans.

Joining us now, former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.

Anthony, we have so many questions for you.

When the president decides to do something like that, to go for this unscheduled joy ride, he ditched the press. I mean the long-standing protocol of the tight group of press that follows a U.S. president around at all times so the American public can have transparency about where the president is, he ditched them.

So what happens around the president in terms of his aides when he decides to do something like that?

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, so it happens all the time. So it's a fairly predictable thing. Obviously, there was some impetuosity in terms of making that decision. He then probably bullied some of the doctors and obviously the aides are, you know, they're easily bullied now because he has nobody left with a backbone. So they said, OK. And then he puts those Secret Service men and the driver in PPE and puts all of them and their families in harm's way to go do that ridiculous stunt. And so he thinks that that stunt is a sign of strength and it's like a great metaphor and a great image.

And it may be for some of his cult members. Maybe they thought it was great. But, in general, the world is actually laughing at that. And, in general, real leadership would have been something more compassionate and something more informative and something more empathetic to the 200,000 plus people that have died.

And so he's getting the best care. He's trying to take care away from other people. I mean the symbolism here is absolutely horrible. But, no, ditching the press, that fits right inside of his narrative about the press being the enemy of the people and all that nonsense that he's been spewing for the last three and a half years.

BERMAN: I mean, as a reporter, I care about ditching the press. I think the bigger issue is putting Secret Service agents at risk. And White House staff, Anthony, that only last night, you know, four days into this, was the first e-mail they received. You worked in the White House, albeit for a short period of time, but

what -- what must the morale be like inside the White House now not knowing if the guy or woman in the office next to mine is positive?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, I mean, the morale is at an all-time low, but it's also an all-time low on Capitol Hill. I mean people do talk to each other and they're -- they're like, OK, what do we do now? He's got coronavirus. He totally ignored the rules and the protocol. He forced all of us to ignore the rules and the protocol. It's -- it's aides inside the White House, John, but it's also aides up on Capitol Hill and it's elected leaders. Like, OK, you know, Ed Rollins called it the party of dumb, OK? So now the GOP represents incompetence and malpractice in addition to all of the other insanity that the president has perpetrated on the GOP.

And so, yes, no, the morale is at an all-time low. The morale in the campaign is on an all-time low. The donors to the Republican Party, their morale is at an all-time low. But I guess because the president's loaded up with steroids, his morale is at a delusional all-time high. I don't -- it doesn't -- none of this stuff makes any sense anymore, so what we have to do is just get out there, good Americans, men and women have to get out there, explain how crazy this is, and work tirelessly over the next 28 days to defeat him.

CAMEROTA: Hey, Anthony, let's talk about those Republican donors. You know, after what may have been a super spreader event of the Amy Coney Barrett nomination celebration at the White House, the president went to various fundraisers and may have been positive and not disclosed it or not known. So what are you hearing from Republican donors about all of this?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, as you would imagine, I was a donor to the Republican Party for 30 years. I wrote my first check to Rudolph Giuliani when I was 25 years old in 1989. And so I know the donor community in New York and most of the donor community around the United States. But they are very sour right now because, you know, what do we know? He only cares about himself. We also don't know where a lot of the money has gone. I mean I think you -- you -- we all realize that. I'm not going to accuse anybody on the air and everybody's presumed innocent until proven guilty, but there's a lot of nefarious activity going on.

So donors are concerned about where the money is, how did they run out of money? He's the incumbent president. Why would he come up to New Jersey when he's not feeling well? And maybe he didn't get tested before, so he didn't definitively know that he had Covid-19 or symptoms related to it. But why is he doing that to the rest of us?

[06:55:04]

And so the money is drying up. His narrative is failing. And he's flailing. And so it's upsetting to watch because he is the American president, Alisyn. And, you know, the world is watching us and they're saying, OK, what is he doing exactly? He got diagnosed with Covid-19. He's on experimental drugs. He's taking massive steroids. And he's forcing the Secret Service to ride around in a hermetically sealed car with him four days after the diagnosis? How does anybody not think that that is crazy. That's -- that's, I think, that's the most resonating thing going on right now in a donor community.

BERMAN: You know, normally when you go to a high-dollar fundraiser, what you get is a photo with the candidate or president. Now you get to leave with a photo and exposure to a potentially deadly virus.

Anthony Scaramucci, thank you very much.

SCARAMUCCI: All right, I'm -- I'm trying to be super serious, John. I mean, you know, come on. (INAUDIBLE) comedy show.

BERMAN: No, I mean, look, I'm being very serious, too. There are a lot of people right now who need to be tested because of the president's actions, Anthony.

SCARAMUCCI: Right.

BERMAN: So I appreciate your time this morning, really.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, Anthony.

SCARAMUCCI: Good to be here.

CAMEROTA: Good to see you.

All right, NEW DAY will be right back.

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