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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
U.S. Grapples With Surge That Could Foreshadow Deadly Winter; Washington Post: Unmasking Probe Demanded By Trump Ends With No Charges; Trump To Campaign In Iowa, Where Coronavirus Is Surging. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired October 14, 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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[05:30:52]
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A loud wake-up call on coronavirus. Not a single state in the country is seeing cases decrease, while the president gathers big crowds in hard-hit states.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And it turns out the president's repeated claims that he was spied on by President Obama was a hoax. Trump's own Justice Department unable to make the case.
Good morning, everyone, this is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Boris Sanchez in for Laura Jarrett. We are 31 minutes past the hour. Great to see you as always, Christine.
ROMANS: Nice to see you, too, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Thanks.
ROMANS: All right.
Winter is coming and the fall coronavirus surge is clearly already here. This map says it all. Thirty-six states adding new cases in the last week.
Also crucial is what you don't see -- green. Not a single state has seen cases decline in the last seven days. That's the first time that's happened since early April. Also, the seven-day average number of new cases has climbed back above 50,000 for the first time since August 16th. A quarter of states have daily positive test rates above 10 percent.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: We're seeing an uptick in what's called test positivity, which is often and, in fact, invariably highly predictive of resurgence of cases -- which historically, we know, leads to an increase in hospitalizations and then ultimately, an increase in deaths. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: The numbers not looking great. The U.S. hasn't had this many people hospitalized with COVID-19 since August 29th. And these are not asymptomatic cases, these are very sick people. Remember, even scaled back estimates show almost 400,000 American lives will be lost to the virus by next February.
ROMANS: The director of the CDC telling governors that small family gatherings are spreading COVID-19. That's an especially important warning with Halloween and Thanksgiving approaching.
And yet, "The Washington Post" and "The New York Times" both report the White House is leaning even harder into a herd immunity strategy -- that is, to let coronavirus spread among young, healthy people while protecting the elderly and medically vulnerable. But the herd immunity strategy has been denounced by most infectious disease experts, including the World Health Organization, which called it unethical just days ago.
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TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Herd immunities are achieved by protecting people from the virus, not by exposing them to it. Allowing a dangerous virus that we don't truly understand to run free is simply unethical. It's not an option.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Several states have been forced to roll back their reopenings and add visitor quarantine restrictions.
A Long Island, New York venue was fined $12,000 for a super spreader sweet 16 party linked to nearly 40 cases. And look at this in Nashville. Health officials investigating an outdoor religious concert they say took place without a permit, drawing a large and maskless crowd.
ROMANS: All right.
Drugmaker Pfizer says it will start testing its vaccine on children as young as 12. There has been concern about the lack of vaccine testing on kids whose return to school is key to reopening the country.
And the federal government is investing more than $400 million on a new COVID quick test. Slow and, in some cases, expensive testing has hampered efforts to control the pandemic.
SANCHEZ: For more than two years, President Trump and many of his allies have very loudly made the claim that officials in the Obama administration spied on Trump, and it turns out those accusations were apparently just made up. "The Washington Post" reporting the federal prosecutor looking into Obama-era intelligence unmasking has finished his probe and he is not bringing any charges. For months, Republicans, including President Trump, hyped unmasking as
the biggest political scandal since Watergate. They pressed the conspiracy theory even though it's common practice in intelligence work to unmask.
It's when, in the course of conducting surveillance of foreign adversaries, U.S. citizens who might be involved in these investigations get their names blacked out -- redacted in reports, and government officials then request their identities. They unmask the names in order to better understand the intelligence. It happens frequently.
[05:35:02]
In May, Attorney General Bill Barr tapped prosecutor John Bash to investigate and sources tell "The Washington Post" that Bash left the Justice Department last week. They say his findings fell short of what Trump was looking for, so the attorney general chose not to even release them.
ROMANS: All right.
The president back on the road again today. He heads for Iowa for another crowded event where new coronavirus cases and the positivity rate in Iowa are at or near all-time highs.
After the president contracted coronavirus himself, many in his circle tried to spin it as a newly-relatable experience for a candidate trailing in the polls. But instead of adjusting, the president appears intent on ending this campaign the same way he started it, downplaying the virus and sticking with battle cries that got him elected four years ago.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond is on the ground at the president's latest rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Boris.
President Trump began the day on Tuesday attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has been talking about the very same rallies that President Trump hosting on Tuesday night, saying that they are a concern, particularly because of the lack of any social distancing and the very few masks being worn here.
But the president carrying forward with this. He plans to hold a rally every day or perhaps multiple rallies a day in the three weeks between now and Election Day.
The president, on Tuesday in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, spending much of his time attacking former vice president Joe Biden on issues like trade and also, of course, on the energy issues that are important here in Pennsylvania, like fracking.
And the president also making a play for an important demographic here in the state of Pennsylvania, and that is suburban women.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Suburban women, they should like me more than anybody here tonight because I ended the regulation that destroyed your neighborhood, I ended the regulation that brought crime to the suburbs, and you're going to live the American dream -- and that's what you're going to do.
Can I ask you to do me a favor? Suburban women, will you please like me? Please, please. I saved your damn neighborhood, OK?
DIAMOND: Now, what the president is referring to there is an Obama- era regulation that sought to desegregate the suburbs. That is the fair housing regulation that President Trump has abolished and that he's now touting in his pitch to suburban women.
But what the president does seem to at least recognize here is that he is struggling with that key demographic, which is so important to this must-win state of Pennsylvania. But the problem is that the main issue on voters' minds, including those suburban women that the president is targeting, is the coronavirus pandemic -- Christine, Boris.
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SANCHEZ: Jeremy Diamond from Pennsylvania. Thanks for that.
Joe Biden, meantime, spent the day courting seniors in Florida, a key voting bloc in a critical swing state. And he used the pandemic to make his case to voters.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And he throws super spreader parties at the White House and Republicans hug each other without concern of the consequences. How many of you have been able to hug your grandkids in the last seven months? Every single day I contact them but I can't hug them, I can't embrace them -- and I'm luckier than most.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right, 20 days to the election. It's time now for three questions in three minutes.
Let's bring in CNN senior political analyst John Avlon. Good Wednesday morning to you.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.
SANCHEZ: Morning, John.
ROMANS: Twenty days to go. The president begging for votes from suburban women -- begging for votes. Recent polls, though, show he's losing in the suburbs, he's losing with women.
Anything he can do to reverse the tide?
AVLON: Well, first of all, probably the best approach is not to sound like an unsuccessful --
ROMANS: Desperate?
AVLON: -- Sally Fields (sic) and sort of say please love me. You know, please like me.
Look, the problem is that what you just heard is him making the case that suburban women should vote for him because he saved their neighborhoods from rising crime that came from -- wait for it -- removing a desegregation policy. This isn't a racist dog whistle, this is a bullhorn. Now, many of the folks in the crowd won't know what he's actually talking about. But just to be clear, that's what he's talking about.
That is old school racial demagoguery and it's done from this position of weakness like he's trying to woo someone in a -- in a -- in a sexist category. It's -- I don't think it's going to be successful. Obviously, suburban people -- women and suburban voters are key but I don't think telling them that you're going to remove desegregation policies and racist appeals is necessarily the best way to seal --
ROMANS: Yes.
AVLON: -- that deal.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
We have to talk about the senior vote.
AVLON: Yes.
SANCHEZ: It's important in every election but especially in this one. Older voters in 2016 largely went for Trump. That appears to be shifting though. Polls showing Trump trailing Biden. Trump hovering just under --
AVLON: Yes.
SANCHEZ: -- 40 percent with seniors -- yes.
Can President Trump afford to lose seniors but somehow still win this election?
AVLON: Of course not because senior citizens have been one of the most dependable Republican voting blocs and it was key to his vote over Hillary -- win over Hillary Clinton.
[05:40:00]
Look, in the latest CNN poll, Joe Biden has a 21-point edge among senior citizens -- voters over 65 -- with Donald Trump. That is a real problem. But it doesn't help that he's campaigning as basically someone who's had COVID but still denies the best practices to contain it. Because senior citizens are disproportionately affected and likely to be fatally ill from contracting COVID. And so, I think that's a real uphill climb for him. Because also, senior citizens have perspective on this president,
something that not all voters do. They know perhaps better than most that this is not normal.
ROMANS: Yes. And you saw Joe Biden yesterday trying to say look, all these seniors haven't been able to hug their grandkids for months now --
AVLON: Big-time.
ROMANS: -- and that's something that really hits home I think.
The president going to Iowa today.
AVLON: Speaking of home, Christine.
ROMANS: Yes, to my home state of Iowa. And look, Barack Obama won the state twice, Trump won it last time. I'm going to be fascinated to see what the message is that can resonate there in the Midwest -- in the Midwest for Iowa voters.
AVLON: Look, you know, Iowa contains many of what are called pivot counties -- these counties --
ROMANS: Yes.
AVLON: -- that voted twice for Obama-Biden, once for Donald Trump. You know, Trump won it by almost 10 points last time around. Now it's neck-and-neck in some polls.
The Senate candidate -- Sen. Joni Ernst is actually down to her Democratic candidate by a handful of points.
One thing Trump has tried to do is pump in millions and billions of dollars to farmers to alleviate the impact of the trade war. But I think at the end of the day, it's going to try to say look, I stood up to China, I'll stand up for you. I've got the farmers' backs and I've given you a lot of cash to boot. It still might not be enough because that's a serious erosion from a state he run -- he won going away last time around.
ROMANS: There's also this Iowa nice, you know?
AVLON: Iowa nice -- you and I talked about this.
ROMANS: Trump does not try to appear nice.
AVLON: No.
ROMANS: And so maybe that will work against him -- who knows.
SANCHEZ: Decency certainly something that attracts voters, right?
Bonus question, John. We're doing four for four --
AVLON: I love bonus questions. SANCHEZ: -- today -- yes.
This is on the Supreme Court. Amy Coney Barrett refusing to say yesterday whether Roe versus Wade is a super precedent. She sort of argued against it. A decision that is --
AVLON: Yes.
SANCHEZ: -- so fundamental that it can be overturned, right.
She also refused to say much about the president's more controversial statements like -- about a peaceful transition of power or voter intimidation.
On this day two of questioning, what should we be looking for?
AVLON: Look, I think doubling down on things like that. Look, it is significant that she said that Roe was not a super precedent but frankly, it should not be surprising.
Look, she is clearly smart. She is well qualified, according to the American Bar Association, and that matters.
But she didn't declare -- decide -- decline to comment on the president's statements. She declined to say whether a president could suspend an election. Whether voting intimidation was illegal -- it is. And whether or not -- you know, there should be a commitment to a peaceful transfer of power. These are not tough questions.
Also, they're using -- they're already embedded in precedent -- in existing law. So that deferral to them by treating them like something controversial that could come across her desk, I think hurts her credibility. Those are not tough questions, those are obvious.
SANCHEZ: John Avlon, CNN senior political analyst, grab some coffee. Thanks for joining us.
ROMANS: Thanks, John.
AVLON: Yes, please -- more of that.
SANCHEZ: The Supreme Court has approved the Trump administration's emergency application to stop the census early while litigation continues in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Civil rights groups fear that cutting off field operations now will cause an undercount and leave major funding gaps for critical services in areas that need it the most.
The census was supposed to run through October 31st but the White House has repeatedly tried to end it early, claiming it has to start the processing of data sooner to have a final count before Trump leaves office.
ROMANS: All right, to business now.
The CEO of JPMorgan Chase urging Congress for more stimulus to help the economy avoid another recession -- a so-called double-dip recession. During a call with investors Tuesday, Jamie Dimon said a decent stimulus package would be helpful and that a double-dip recession would cause considerable pain and suffering.
Democrats and the White House still locked in a stalemate over stimulus. Both Senate Republicans and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have rejected a $1.8 trillion proposal made by the president last week.
Despite economic concerns, though, JPMorgan slightly upgraded its economic forecast and opted not to ramp up its cushion for loan loss reserves. Analysts had expected the bank to set aside billions to cover defaults and bankruptcies.
At the same time, the International Monetary Fund lowered its global growth forecast for 2021. The group now says a 5.2 percent increase in global growth next year. The IMF estimates the economy will shrink by 4.4 percent in 2020, a less severe contraction than it forecast in June. The IMF warned of a long, uneven recovery that will cause a rare increase in extreme poverty.
We'll be right back.
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SANCHEZ: The coronavirus sidelining a famed cultural institution for the first time in its 178-year history. CNN has that and other pandemic developments from coast-to-coast.
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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Stephanie Elam in Los Angeles.
The United States Postal Service is saying that 18 of its employees have tested positive for the coronavirus at its Las Vegas processing center. The center employs about 800 people.
And they say they continue to push CDC protocols, including social distancing and washing their hands, and also wearing masks. They're saying despite the number of positive tests that have come in since September 26th that it's had no impact on their operations.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I'm Bianna Golodryga in New York.
After Michigan reported its highest seven-day average of COVID-19 cases since April, officials there are focusing on school.
[05:50:00]
The state's Department of Health and Human Services reported 26 new outbreaks Monday in both K-12 schools and colleges. The largest, at Kalamazoo College, included 21 reported cases. In total, more than 80 schools across the state are currently experiencing outbreaks. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer reminding residents that, quote, "If we drop our guard, we're going to see a community spread, and we're already seeing that a bit."
ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Erica Hill in New York.
For the first time in its 178-year history, the New York Philharmonic is canceling its entire season. That goes through June of 2021. Noting mandatory city and state health guidelines that just make indoor concerts basically impossible, the president and CEO calling the health and financial challenges profound and said the cancellation itself is dreadful.
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ROMANS: Yes, just something, isn't it?
All right, 15 new countries have been elected to the U.N. Human Rights Council and seven of -- several of them are accused human rights abusers, including China, Cuba, Pakistan, Russia, and Uzbekistan. The body of 47 countries is responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe.
The Trump administration pulled the U.S. out in 2018 claiming an alleged bias against Israel and a pattern of corruption and repressive regimes in its ranks.
SANCHEZ: Veteran film and television actress Conchata Ferrell has died. Her career as a deadpan comedian and dramatic actress spanned five decades, starting off on Broadway and on the sitcom "MAUDE" in the mid-1970s. She's probably best known for her role as the housekeeper on the T.V. series "TWO AND A HALF MEN."
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CONCHATA FERRELL, ACTRESS: OK, listen to me, Zippy. If that's all it took to make a marriage, I'd have a husband for each one of my tattoos.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Ferrell was a three-time Emmy nominee, including twice for "TWO AND A HALF MEN."
She died from complications following a heart attack. Conchata Ferrell was 77 years old.
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KYLE BURGESS, HIKER FACING COUGAR: Go away! Go away! Please, go away. Holy (bleep).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Yes, that's right. This may have been the longest six minutes of Kyle Burgess' life. While hiking on a trail in Utah, he came across a mother cougar and her cubs. He quickly pulled out his phone and started recording it and then ended up being stalked by this angry female mountain lion.
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BURGESS: Really, she was just doing what she's supposed to do. She was protecting her baby cubs. And so, I felt like if I did anything sooner, she probably could have felt like I was attacking her baby cubs and I think it would have ended a lot differently.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Yes, it certainly could have. Cougars are a protected species in Utah and according to state wildlife officials, they're typically very shy.
ROMANS: Wow, that one was not shy.
SANCHEZ: True.
ROMANS: All right.
Looking at markets around the world right now, let's take a look at what's happening in Asian shares. They closed mixed. Europe has opened slightly higher.
And futures in the U.S. for this Wednesday morning are pointing higher ahead of earnings from Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America. Stocks fell Tuesday after Johnson & Johnson halted a COVID-19 vaccine trial and Eli Lily paused its antibody trial. The Dow down 157. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also down slightly on the day.
Delta Airlines reported losing billions in the third quarter and warned investors it may take two years or more for air travel to recover.
A contested election could harm Americans' faith in democracy and the country's perfect credit rating. Fitch Ratings said it will closely watch the November election for any departure from American's history of orderly transfers of power. A downgrade could affect investors' confidence and set off more uncertainty in financial markets. It could also make it more expensive for the U.S. to finance its mountains of debt.
Thousands of Amazon workers are petitioning for paid time off for all the employees to vote. The petition calls for eight hours of paid time off for employees to use until Election Day for voting-related activities, including registering and volunteering. More than 3,000 employees have signed this petition.
Companies, including Walmart, Starbucks, and Twitter, have announced they would give workers some additional paid time off so they can vote.
This has been a really interesting wave I've seen in corporate America where they want -- they want people to have time and space to vote however they're going to vote for this 2020 election.
SANCHEZ: Yes, a lot of folks have called for it to be a national holiday.
ROMANS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: It will be an interesting argument moving forward seeing what happens in 2020.
ROMANS: All right, that's it for us this Wednesday morning. Thanks for joining us. Have a great rest of your day. I'm Christine Romans.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Boris Sanchez in for Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.
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HILL: More than seven months into this pandemic, the U.S. is sliding backwards.
FAUCI: Of resurgence of cases historically leads to an increase in hospitalizations and then ultimately, an increase in deaths.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to be a horrible winter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With exactly three weeks to go until Election Day, Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett in the hot seat.
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D-VT): Are you able to commit to recuse yourself from disputes that arise out of the 2020 presidential election?
JUDGE AMY CONEY BARRETT, NOMINEE, U.S. SUPREME COURT: I can't offer legal conclusion right now about the outcome of the decision I would reach.
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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 Wednesday, October 14th, 6:00 here in New York.
And the national map of coronavirus cases looks different this morning. For the first time since early April, not a single state in the U.S. is in green -- meaning no state is seeing a decline in cases. Thirty-six states this morning are seeing an increase in coronavirus cases.
