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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump Pushes Denial AS U.S. Cases Return to Summer Levels; Obama's Closing Argument for Biden; France Imposing Curfews for Paris, Other Cities to Slow Spread; Alabama Coach Nick Saban Tests Positive for COVID-19. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired October 15, 2020 - 05:00   ET

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


[05:00:19]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Progress lost. The coronavirus threat is growing again. We are back to August levels here. The nation is in jeopardy, the president is in denial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT: Just basic competence can end up saving lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And President Obama going all in for Joe Biden, getting ready to hit the trail. And that's not the only big infusion for the Biden campaign.

ROMANS: All right. Welcome to our viewers in the United States, and all around the world. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

And welcome to Boris Sanchez for sitting in. Hi there.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much for having me, Christine. I'm Boris Sanchez, in for Laura Jarrett. It's Thursday, October 15, 5:00 a.m. in New York, and we are just 19 days until the election. The clock keeps ticking.

ROMANS: It is.

And in the meantime, a painful reality in the U.S. once again. Almost 60,000 confirmed coronavirus cases yesterday, more than we have seen in a single day since August 1st. Another 985 Americans are dead with trends headed in the wrong direction in almost half the states. At that rate, another 40 families will lose a loved one during just this one-hour broadcast.

Still, President Trump remains deeply committed to denial and distraction. He's pushing hard for a return to normalcy in order to keep his job. But for most of the country, normalcy is simply not an option.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, notably, Melania Trump revealing yesterday that their son Barron also recently tested positive for COVID. Fortunately, he's now negative.

But his father used that to, again, down play the severity of the disease.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He had it for such a short period of time, I don't think he knew he had it because they're young and their immune systems are strong, and they fight it off, 99.9 percent. And Barron is beautiful and he's free, free.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Remember, health experts say children are less likely to become severely ill than adults, but they can still be infectious and spread the virus to others.

Now, the president clearly feels em emboldened, touting his recovery from COVID, helped by a cocktail of pricey, experimental therapies that are available to almost no one else.

Not coincidentally, Minnesota health officials have traced 16 COVID cases to a Trump rally.

ROMANS: The CDC now posting an optimistic forecast about vaccines, promising something by the end of 2020.

Dr. Anthony Fauci says we should know in the next few months if a vaccine could be widely available early next year as hoped.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASSES: That will likely be within the first quarter of 2021, by let's say April of 2021, but that would be predicated on the fact that all of the vaccines that are in clinical trials have proven to be safe and effective.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Whenever a safe vaccine is approved, only a few million doses will likely be available at first, and Fauci says Americans may have to rethink large family gatherings this Thanksgiving.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, it's going to be a holiday season unlike any we have seen in a long time.

Looking across the country now, Georgia's coronavirus executive orders are set to expire tonight including bans on some big gatherings and mandatory rules for businesses.

North Dakota meantime reporting its highest number of daily cases since the start of the pandemic. This week, the state reporting fewer than 20 staffed ICU beds left available. And officials at Brigham Young University Idaho say they are looking into reports that students have been intentionally catching COVID-19 so they can then sell their plasma with antibodies for cash.

ROMANS: Oh, my. All right. Tonight on TV, it's the election version of anything you can do, I can do better. President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden participating in dueling town halls after their second debate was cancelled.

Biden will be appearing on ABC from Philadelphia, the president on NBC from Miami. Both at 8:00 p.m.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. The president also holding a rally in North Carolina today where early in person voting begins and cases as you can see on your screen are spiking. That's after he took the stage last night in Iowa where cases are also spiking and he did next to nothing to protect thousands of Iowans in this crowd.

ROMANS: The Biden campaign finally playing its much anticipated ace in the hole against President Trump. Barack Obama interviewed by alums from his administration on their Pod Save America podcast. The former president telling the show's progressive audience, the first priority is winning and then to push for policy changes once Democrats hold the White House.

[05:05:04]

He also talked about the pandemic and how governments should be able to respond if competent people are in place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Just basic competence can end up saving lives, and so, you know, one thing I would say to anybody who's skeptical about what government can do generally is to just take the example of when we were in office. You might not have been happy with everything I did, all my policy choices. I didn't, you know, eliminate poverty in America, but when we had a pandemic or the threat of pandemic, we had competent people in place who would deal with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Not a subtle message at all.

The former president also says if Joe Biden wins, he will have to rebuild the State Department and the rest of America's foreign policy apparatus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: It's not as if Trump has been all that active internationally. I mean, the truth is he doesn't have the patience and the focus to really substantially change a lot of U.S. foreign policy. What he's done is he's systematically tried to decimate our entire foreign policy infrastructure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Obama is expected to be out on the campaign trail for Biden soon, and notably in states where early voting is already underway. Florida, North Carolina there. Former president trying to convert enthusiasm into votes.

ROMANS: All right. Concerns about a possible disputed election apparently have the Biden campaign wondering what to do if President Trump refuses to accept the results.

Biden's running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, addressed it last night in an interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC HOST: Are you working on this kind of contingency plans in the case of a worst case scenario?

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We are, but I also, to your point, I have faith in the American people. But I will say this, our democracy is always going to be as strong as the American people's willingness to fight for our democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Harris did not specify exactly what those legal contingency plans are.

SANCHEZ: Well, if money is any measure, enthusiasm for Joe Biden is sky high as we approach Election Day. The Biden campaign announcing it raised a record breaking $383 million in the month of September. The fundraising haul surpassing it August record of $364 million.

The Trump campaign has not released numbers for September. The august total, though, lagged the Biden campaign by more than 40 percent.

ROMANS: All right. It turns out even in the middle of a pandemic and a recession, some of America's biggest banks are still making money. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and Citi, have all reported impressive third quarter results. JPMorgan reported $9.4 billion in profit. Goldman Sachs profit nearly doubled to $3.6 billion. Even Wells Fargo still dealing with fallout from various scandals, the bank still raked in $1.7 billion.

Now, the profits run counter to what you would think would be a tough time for banks. Interest rates are historic lows, hurting banks' ability to make money lending. People are spending less on credit cards, uncertainty about the recovery, but banks have benefitted from the rebound in the stock market and from stimulus spending. Executives are calling for another stimulus package to help their customers.

SANCHEZ: A CNN exclusive to share with you now. Federal prosecutors including special counsel Robert Mueller spent more than three years investigating whether a last minute $10 million donation Donald Trump made to his 2016 campaign, flowed through an Egyptian state owned bank. Two sources told CNN the FBI first became interested after intelligence including from an informant suggested it was a real possibility. Among the questions prosecutors tried to answer but never did was

whether Donald Trump was indebted to a foreign power possibly because of an illegal campaign contribution.

ROMANS: Ultimately, the Mueller team was unable to obtain the information it needed, nor could the U.S. attorneys in D.C., which investigated into the summer, and decided not to pursue charges. The investigation was one of 11 cases Mueller transferred to other prosecutors when he ended his probe.

A senior adviser to the Trump 2020 campaign, Jason Miller, told CNN, quote, President Trump has never received a penny from Egypt.

SANCHEZ: Well, a curfew is coming to a major country in Europe. We'll take you live to Paris next.

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[05:13:46]

SANCHEZ: France is taking drastic action to slow the spread of coronavirus. President Emmanuel Macron imposing a curfew for Paris and eight other cities of concern beginning this weekend.

CNN's Melissa Bell joins us now live from France.

And, Melissa, I understand this curfew is set to last for at least four weeks. How is it being received?

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Well, it was very difficult for the government to announce simply because France's economy did not need this particular extra set of restrictions taken. So yes, from Saturday, the number of cities including Paris from 9:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m., everything is going to be shut, and you're going to be expected to be at home.

The reason, explained Emmanuel Macron on television last night, that they simply have to bring the surge of COVID-19 figures back under control. This wave he warned is more dangerous than the last, not only because it's spread over the whole of France but because there are no reserve beds left.

So, it was a dramatic speech and that curfew comes into effect on Saturday, but today also we've had the news from our affiliate, BFM, there's been a number of searches conducted in some of these leading the fight against the COVID pandemic, the current and former health officials, the former prime minister.

All this is part of the criminal investigation that was launched by a number of different parties who wanted to get to the bottom of whether French authorities had done enough to treat the pandemic here to try to get it back under control, especially in it early days, Boris.

[05:15:12]

SANCHEZ: Yeah, public health state of emergency now, more than seven months into this pandemic.

Melissa Bell, reporting from Bordeaux, France, thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right. Fifteen minutes past the hour, one of the biggest states threatens to pull funding from local governments not enforcing coronavirus restrictions in hot spots.

CNN has the reporters covering the latest stories coast to coast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brynn Gingras from New Jersey.

Don't follow the rules, don't expect to get state funding. That's the message New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is sending to local governments who are failing to enforce gathering limits and school closures in COVID-19 cluster areas.

Right now, a letter with that message is being sent to five areas in the state, including New York City, a separate letter with the same message will be addressed to schools in red zone areas who are not complying.

Now, this comes as some schools and religious institutions are still operating despite the shut down order issued by the state last week. Now, according to the state, those designated red zone areas are at over 6 percent positivity rate. Cuomo says this is the final warning.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Lucy Kafanov in Denver.

The city's mayor is warning residents they could face new restrictions if COVID-19 infections continue to rise. He said that recent case counts are as high right now as they were at the height of the pandemic back in May, and that hospitalizations have also soared.

If the trend continues, the city's mayor warns Denver residents that they could go back to level three restrictions which would require businesses and indoor dining to cut their capacity in half.

AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Amara Walker in Georgia.

Coronavirus rapid tests are coming to Arkansas. Governor Asa Hutchinson says that he expects to receive 50,000 antigen tests a week, adding to the current supply of 100,000. Election workers will be given priority to help workers comfort level before and after going to the polling places.

Most of the tests, 55 percent of them will go to K-12 schools for a routine screening, 20 percent to the Department of Corrections, and another 20 percent to the state's human development centers. Health care workers will also get access to these rapid antigen tests.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Thanks to all of our correspondents for those reports. The most famous coach in college football now diagnosed with

coronavirus. What Nick Saban's diagnosis means for the rest of the college football season, next in your "Bleacher Report".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:22:05]

ROMANS: All right. President Trump says he saved the college football season but games keep getting cancelled. And now, the most prominent coach in the country has coronavirus.

Andy Sholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Christine.

So, just a few days before Alabama is set to host Georgia in the biggest game of the college football season thus far, Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban says he has tested positive for COVID-19. Saban immediately left the team's facility yesterday after hearing the news. The 68-year-old who has encouraged everyone to wear masks in PSA's, he says he's asymptomatic and in self-isolation now.

Saban continued to monitor practice yesterday via zoom, and he says he was surprised by his diagnosis, adding that it's a reminder, you can get exposed no matter how safe you think you are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK SABAN, ALABAMA HEAD FOOTBALL COACH: When we're in our own personal bubble here, I think everybody's in a much safer place. I think as soon as you travel you get exposed to a lot more things and a lot more people. I always tell our players, just assume everyone that you come in contact with might be infected, and you might be infected and not know it, and actually, you know, bring harm to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Alabama's athletic director Greg Byrne tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday. He and Coach Saban, the only two in the program to test positive so far. They are going to do more testing today.

For now, second-ranked Alabama still set to host third-ranked Georgia Saturday night.

All right. Ole Miss hosted Alabama this past Saturday, and their head coach Lane Kiffin says his team is now dealing with coronavirus issues for the first time. He didn't specify how many players have tested positive, and he says he's hopeful the Rebels will be able to play Arkansas on Saturday.

Florida's big showdown with LSU in Gainesville, meanwhile, it has been postponed. That game rescheduled for December 12th. A Florida school official saying 21 Gator players have tested positive for COVID-19 over the past several days.

All right. The NFL cancelling the Pro Bowl for the first time since 1949 yesterday. It was going to be played in Las Vegas, but now they're going to host the game in 2022. There have been 12 games pushed back by COVID-19 already this NFL season, and losing the Pro Bowl, it could give the league more flexibility for scheduling down the line.

All right. It's baseball, the Atlanta Braves sometimes just do not like the first inning in the postseason. The Braves giving up 11 runs to the dodgers in the first inning yesterday. That's the most runs in any inning in postseason history. Just last year, the Braves gave up the previous record of ten runs to the Cardinals in the first inning of game five of the NLDS. Atlanta, however, still leads this series 2- 1 over the Dodgers, even though they lost yesterday 15-3.

[05:25:01]

The Astros, meanwhile, living to fight another day in the ALCS. George Springer breaking a 2-2 tie in the 5th with a massive home run to left. Astros hang on to the 4-3 victory. Game five of that series just after 5:00 Eastern today. You can see it on our sister network, TBS. Game four between the Dodgers and Braves at 8:00 Eastern.

You know, Boris, the Astros getting that win, down 3-1. Let's see if they can make it a series.

SANCHEZ: Andy, I'm not going to lie, you can call me a hater, but anytime I see the Astros doing well, I see Astros highlight, I hear the faint clanging of a garbage can somewhere in the background.

Andy Scholes with the "Bleacher Report" this morning, thank you so much.

We are 25 minutes past the hour, and after a chaotic first debate, a presidential health crisis, and a debate cancellation, Joe Biden and Donald Trump will face off one last time. The final presidential debate special live coverage starts next Thursday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

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