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New Day
Trump Returns To Oval Office Despite Coronavirus Infection; Prince William Launches Nobel-Like Prize For The Environment; Coronavirus Takes Enormous Toll On U.S. Veterans. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired October 08, 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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[05:32:27]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Developing overnight, a White House source tells CNN President Trump is eager to get back on the campaign trail. Remember, he is almost definitely still contagious, still shedding the coronavirus.
And the president went back to the Oval Office yesterday. And in a new video, he calls his infection a blessing from God.
CNN's Joe Johns live with the latest. Good morning, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
The president is making it clear he wants to get back out on the campaign trail but he's stuck in the White House recovering from COVID-19. He's trying to put the best gloss on it. He says he's feeling great but great is not the word you would use to describe the level of public trust in the administration's pandemic response to far.
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JOHNS (voice-over): As the White House struggles to contain a major outbreak within its walls, President Trump returned to the West Wing despite testing positive less than a week ago. He met with his chief of staff Mark Meadows and his social media director Dan Scavino in the Oval Office.
MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Obviously, with the president, he continues to work. We've got a number of safety protocols with full PPE -- masks, goggles, and the like -- for any direct interaction with the president.
JOHNS (voice-over): An isolation cart stocked with yellow medical gowns, respirator masks, and plastic goggles was placed outside the president's offices for anyone who needs to be in contact with Trump.
A source telling CNN Meadows and Scavino were in full protective gear when they met with the president, who entered the Oval Office from the outside exit. DR. RICHARD BESSER, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, CDC: If you're infected you need to stay away from other people. For someone who has the ability to stay away from other people, they need to do that.
JOHNS (voice-over): Trump posting a bizarre video produced by the White House, framing his coronavirus diagnosis as a net positive.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think this was a blessing from God that I caught it. This was a blessing in disguise.
JOHNS (voice-over): It's unclear when the video was made but in it, Trump called the antibody treatment he received a cure, though there is no cure for the virus. And he said coronavirus patients should receive it for free.
TRUMP: I view these -- I know they call them therapeutic but to me, it wasn't therapeutic, it just made me better, OK? I call that a cure.
JOHNS (voice-over): The treatment the president received has not been approved yet by the FDA and is not widely available to coronavirus patients.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is not even a therapy that has emergency use authorization yet. But there's not a lot of data around this. Two hundred seventy-five people in this first trial and we didn't even really see that data.
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[05:35:07]
JOHNS: Now, about the president's condition -- a little more on that. Two sources in contact with the president say he's had difficulty breathing since he returned to the White House. But the president's physician, Dr. Sean Conley, says he's been symptom-free for 24 hours and has not needed supplemental oxygen since he was initially hospitalized.
One big question is when the president tested positive -- or tested negative last for the virus. Back to you.
BERMAN: They won't answer that question. They won't answer -- they know the answer but they won't tell us because it might indicate that the president was knowingly or at least recklessly communicating with dozens if not hundreds of people around the White House while he was still contagious.
Joe Johns --
JOHNS: You bet.
BERMAN: -- at the White House. Stay safe there, not just from the outbreak, from also --
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: From the outbreak.
BERMAN: -- other stuff. I mean --
JOHNS: Yes.
BERMAN: -- Joe Johns at the White House.
JOHNS: Wildlife, yes.
CAMEROTA: America was very concerned about Joe Johns and applauding him yesterday.
JOHNS: That was a strange morning, but the second strange morning in a couple of weeks. So what do you do?
BERMAN: Stay strong, stay strong. Stay vigilant. Thank you.
All right, joining us now, CNN political commentator and epidemiologist, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. Dr. El-Sayed, thank you for being with us this morning.
The number of new cases of coronavirus in the United States rose by 50,000 in the last 24 hours. We have a graph to show. The number of cases is now rising again, in some cases, steeply -- and the number of hospitalizations. The average daily rate of hospitalizations is also going up. That's the situation the country is in right now.
So, overlay the situation in the country with the president, who is almost certainly still contagious and shedding the virus, deciding to go back to work near -- next to people inside the Oval Office.
DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, EPIDEMIOLOGIST AND PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERT (via Cisco Webex): Yes.
Number one, it is deeply concerning that we're seeing this kind of rise in cases across the country, particularly focused in places like Wisconsin, with even outbreaks in New York City, which got hit hardest way back in the spring. This is really concerning. This is what doctors and scientists have been worried about might happen in the fall.
But then, for all of these people, there are clear signs and guidance about what you ought to do in the circumstance that you have symptoms, that you test positive, that you're convalescing even after you've had symptoms and treatment, and the COVID patient-in-chief is not following them.
And what it does is it just undercuts all of that public health advice that we are going to need people to follow, whether or not they're President of the United States, in order to be able to lasso this latest outbreak down.
And so, it really is concerning because the person that people are looking to for leadership in this time is busy lauding the coronavirus as some blessing from God and failing to pass the very basic test of following the guidelines about what to do when you get sick.
CAMEROTA: Doctor, what about President Trump's proclamation yesterday that he would attempt to get the therapy -- the monoclonal antibody therapy that he used, which appears to have -- I mean, maybe saved his life -- Dr. Fauci was speculating on that -- to get that on an emergency use for all Americans? Is that realistic and would that be incredibly helpful?
EL-SAYED: Well, I'll say this. I will never argue that people shouldn't have more medications accessible to them for free, right?
The challenge here is that you've got Donald Trump, who has got the best government health care you can have anywhere, who is actively trying to take away health care for nearly 30 million people in the context of this pandemic by stripping away the ACA. And then, at the same time, talking about how people should have medications for free.
Yes, we've done that before. That was the entire point of expanding access to health care through the ACA. That's the point of more expansion through either what Vice President Joe Biden is running on -- the public option -- or what Bernie Sanders ran on in Medicare for All. That's the point.
So it's really frustrating to then hear him say well, these things should be for free. Well, there are people who are suffering all kinds of diseases all the time -- and, yes, all of their medication should be affordable, if not free. It's very frustrating to then see him say well, this one helped me so this one should be available for everyone else.
It is just -- it's as if this individual does not have the imagination to ask what are other people facing in this moment and do the thing that the President of the United States should do to empower them.
BERMAN: Look, just as a point of fact, Regeneron has applied now, yesterday, for emergency use authorization for its monoclonal antibody cocktail and hopefully, the decision whether to grant emergency use will be based on the science.
And we don't know if that's what helped the president or not. It could have been the steroids, which we think he's still one. We just don't know. But if the science says it helps, it would be good if all Americans can get it.
[05:40:02]
Something very unusual happened overnight, Dr. El-Sayed, and that's the New England Journal of Medicine -- which is not a political journal -- this is a scientific journal -- one of the most revered scientific journals in the world -- basically said to vote out the president.
This was as part of an editorial in the Journal that came out overnight.
"When it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis of our time, our current political leaders have demonstrated they are dangerously incompetent. We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs." Just how unusual is this for the Journal?
EL-SAYED: It is wholly and entirely unprecedented. The New England Journal of Medicine is not in the business of making political statements. They're in the business of the science, right?
Exactly what you just talked about when it comes to making sure that medications like Regeneron's monoclonal antibody cocktail is, in fact, safe and effective per trials, right? They're the main vessel by which physicians and scientists all over the country get access to the medical literature and have a public debate.
But for them to step up and say this president is, in fact, a harm to the public's health and the goals of which we have pushed for our entire existence -- which is, in effect, what they're saying, right -- that one of the most important medical interventions against COVID-19 would be vote -- to vote Trump and Pence out -- I mean, it really is unprecedented and it does speak to the alarm and the urgency of this moment among doctors and scientists all over the country.
BERMAN: Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, thank you very much for being up with us this morning. Always appreciate your insight.
EL-SAYED: Thank you so much for having me.
BERMAN: All right, Alisyn, I know what you want to know this morning.
CAMEROTA: Is there royal news?
BERMAN: What is Prince William doing to help the United Kingdom amid the coronavirus pandemic? Well, we have an exclusive interview, next.
CAMEROTA: Can't wait to hear it.
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[05:46:32]
CAMEROTA: Coronavirus cases surpassing 36 million globally. Italy and Germany are both showing major increases.
CNN has reporters around the world bringing you the latest developments.
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DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN ROME CORRESPONDENT: I'm Delia Gallagher in Rome.
Starting today, Italy has made it mandatory to wear face masks outdoors throughout the country. There will be a fine of up to 1,000 euros for those who fail to comply.
On Wednesday, Italy registered its highest daily increase in coronavirus cases in more than five months. It's still relatively low compared to other European countries. Italy has also added the United Kingdom to its list of high-risk
countries. Those traveling from the United Kingdom to Italy must now undergo swab tests at airports and other points of entry.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Fred Pleitgen in Berlin, as Germany has seen a massive increase in novel coronavirus infections.
The German Center for Disease Control says it recorded more than 4,000 new infections in the span of 24 hours. That's more than 1,200 more than the increase the day before. What's even more troubling for the Germans is that the amount of people requiring treatment in ICUs has doubled in the past four weeks.
Now, the German government is saying they believe all this is very troubling. They've put in place some measures to try and curb the increase in novel coronavirus infections. But the German health minister, on this morning, came out and warned about a possible uncontrolled spread of the virus.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: I'm Max Foster in London, where Prince William has been telling me about one of the positives that might have come out of the pandemic, and that's that people have become more environmentally aware.
PRINCE WILLIAM, DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE: If there's any kind of tiny ray of light that could come out of this is that people have been outside more. They've experienced nature -- they've seen it. They've heard the birds because the airplanes have been less and the roads have been calmer. And I hope people had that moment to connect and realize how special the green and natural world around them is.
And so I think if we can find the money and the -- and the collaboration -- the willpower to tackle COVID, as we have done, we can do this for the environment as well.
FOSTER: He made those comments as he launched a $65 million fund for what he claims will be the most prestigious environmental global prize ever. The Earthshot award will be handed out annually to people or organizations who provide solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: Thanks to all of our reporters around the globe.
Meanwhile, thousands of Americans are out of work and now struggling with their mental and physical health. One of the hardest-hit groups, veterans. CNN investigates, next.
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[05:52:27]
BERMAN: This morning, the Trump administration and Congress appear to be no closer to an agreement to get millions of Americans the financial aid they desperately need.
One group that has been hit hard, veterans who are facing an unemployment rate almost double the national average.
CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has more.
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VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Tyrone Roark found himself homeless in the middle of a pandemic.
TYRONE ROARK, HOMELESS VETERAN: I was very terrified.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): He went shelter-to-shelter, afraid he could get the coronavirus with his compromised immune system.
ROARK: I just tried to survive by staying in my bed, sleeping most of the time, and figuring out how I was going to get out of there.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Roark, an Air Force veteran who served the country for 10 years and another 10 with the Department of Veteran Affairs, was out of a job and in poor health. In June, he says the stress put him in the hospital with heart failure. That put him on a walker.
ROARK: The emotional stress is causing a great deal of serious concerns here for my heart.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Last year, 37,000 veterans were homeless in the U.S. Advocacy groups says the pandemic could make it worse.
JAMES FITZGERALD, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, NYC VETERANS ALLIANCE: You had a lot of those homeless individuals that were still dealing with ongoing mental health issues, which leads to high rates of homelessness as well and disproportionate amounts of unemployment.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): The unemployment rate for veterans was 2.8 percent at the end of last year. But when the pandemic hit, that number more than quadrupled. Even today, more than half a million veterans are still searching for work.
Timothy McDonough spent 21 1/2 years in the military. He walked away with a traumatic brain injury, PTSD, and 14 surgeries. Now, he's facing financial uncertainty.
TIMOTHY MCDONOUGH, VETERAN FACING FINANCIAL UNCERTAINTY: I'm one major tire blowout or losing a car away from looking to borrow money from somewhere else. So it's really kind of tight.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Made worse by the fact that his girlfriend lost her job in March, right when they bought their new home. They say the extra $600 in unemployment helped keep them afloat but without it, they rely on his disability checks.
EVA DUNNE, UNEMPLOYED: We're getting back into OK, we have to really start focusing, budgeting, planning because we don't exactly know what the future looks like just yet.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Their hope is that they will both have new jobs as food truck owners feeding homeless vets -- him at the stove, her taking orders. They say the need now is more than ever.
YURKEVICH (on camera): You want to start this food truck. Are you concerned about the economic recovery as well?
[05:55:00]
MCDONOUGH: Absolutely, because again, try thinking of doing it as a non-profit. We would rely on the goodness of other people to give money to help us get it going.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): The V.A. said it paid out $600 million in stimulus to veteran families and placed 15,000 homeless vets in hotels.
The local veteran group finally got Roark into a hotel. Now that he says he has his V.A. pension, he's searching for a permanent home, but it's not easy.
ROARK: I don't understand the system in terms of how it's supposed to work. There's a lot of politicians out there, there's a lot of agencies, there's a lot of folks saying we're here to help -- but I'm in a hotel.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, New York.
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BERMAN: It's so clear this pandemic is hitting the most vulnerable and so many people need help. And look, it's why coronavirus really dominated the vice presidential debate overnight. Fifty thousand new cases reported just yesterday.
We'll bring the very latest, next.
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SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country.
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The American people have demonstrated.
