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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

U.S. Coronavirus Cases Climbing Rapidly, Up 60 Percent in 5 Weeks; Florida Ex-Felons with Court Debts Being Removed from Voting Rolls; European Governments Face Off Against Cities Over Restrictions. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired October 19, 2020 - 05:00   ET

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


[05:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's going to lock down. This guy wants to lock down. He'll listen to the scientists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA JARRETT, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: The president mocks the idea of listening to scientists as the pandemic shows real signs of a devastating come-back in the U.S. We have reports this morning from Nevada. North Carolina, London, Paris, Rome, Berlin and Moscow. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is EARLY START, I'm Laura Jarrett.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: Good morning, everyone, I'm Christine Romans, it's Monday, October 19th, 5:00 a.m. in New York and 15 days now to the election. Early in-person voting begins today in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, North Dakota and some critical Florida counties including Broward, Miami-Dade, Duval and Palm Beach.

JARRETT: More on all of that in just a minute. But remember the chaotic scenes at the start of the pandemic, the desolate city streets, the frantic emergency rooms, lack of medical equipment and no end in sight? Well, the U.S. faces the very real possibility that it will find itself right back there and soon. This is even as the president admits the quiet part out loud that he has no plans to put science first.

The U.S. is averaging more than 56,000 new cases a day, up 60 percent in five weeks. Now, remember cases are what's known as a leading indicator. First, we have more cases, then more hospitalizations and then sadly, more deaths. Nearly the entire country is either trending the wrong way right now or at best, treading water.

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ALEX AZAR, SECRETARY OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: Cases are increasing and we're seeing this happen --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right -- AZAR: Because we're getting colder weather, and we're losing that

natural social distancing that happens from being out of doors and people are getting tired. The American people have given so much. We're seeing mitigation fatigue right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Yes, Americans are fatigued but the virus is not. And easing restrictions before it has been contained ahead of Winter, experts warn that could be devastating. On Sunday, Johns Hopkins University reported 48,000 new cases in the U.S., reporting is lower on the weekend, so comparing apples to apples, this is the highest Sunday total since July 26th. And that number does not even include hard-hit Wisconsin, Wisconsin which is performing system maintenance this weekend.

JARRETT: Coronavirus of course hanging over this election this morning. With just over two weeks to go, Dr. Anthony Fauci was asked about President Trump's handling of the pandemic, and specifically, that White House super spreader event last night on "60 Minutes".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you surprised that President Trump got sick?

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Absolutely not. I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people and almost nobody wearing a mask. When I saw that on TV, I said, oh, my goodness. Nothing good can come out of that. Sometimes equates wearing a mask with weakness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does that make sense to you?

FAUCI: No, it doesn't. Of course not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: White House leadership on the pandemic has sunk to the point where Twitter has removed a tweet by a COVID taskforce member Dr. Scott Atlas for undermining the importance of wearing face masks.

ROMANS: Today in Pennsylvania and North Carolina this week, before the debate Thursday in Nashville, "The New York Times" reports that GOP strategists are deeply concerned Mr. Trump will spend the final -- the final weeks of the campaign only energizing his base. Potentially crippling other Republicans down ballot. That face-off against Joe Biden will likely be Mr. Trump's last chance to change the race. CNN's Ryan Nobles is on the road with the president in Carson City, Nevada.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Laura and Christine, President Trump making good on his promise to be very active on the campaign trail after he recovered from the coronavirus and heading into the election day. The president on a torrid streak moving across the country. And what was interesting is that during this rally in Nevada, the interview on "60 Minutes" with Dr. Anthony Fauci was playing at the same time the president was speaking. Now, the president couldn't have heard what Dr. Fauci had to say, but he did weigh in on what he thinks of the scientists and their assessment of the coronavirus. Take a listen to what he had to say.

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TRUMP: If you vote for Biden, he will surrender your jobs to China, he will surrender your future to the virus. He's going to lock down. This guy wants to lock down. He'll listen to the scientists. If I listen totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression instead of we're like a rocket ship. Take a look at the numbers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:05:00]

NOBLES: The president didn't mention Anthony Fauci by name. But he is of course one of the most prominent scientists dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. So, it's not hard to draw the line between the two. And you know, the way that this rally played out, you can show that the president just has a different view when it comes to the pandemic, much like the others we've been to, very little social distancing, hardly anyone wearing masks, and we talked to quite a few of his supporters here, and they told us they don't wear masks because the president says that they don't need to, and that's going to continue to play out here as we head into the election on November 3rd. Laura and Christine.

JARRETT: All right, Ryan, thank you for that. Despite leading in the polls right now, the Biden campaign is urging his supporters to take nothing for granted this time around. "The New York Times" reports campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon warning in a memo that polls can be faulty, and she's saying "we cannot become complacent because the very searing truth is that Donald Trump can still win this race." On Sunday, Biden campaigned in the battleground state of North Carolina. CNN's Arlette Saenz was there.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, Joe Biden traveled here to Durham, North Carolina. As in-person early voting is underway in the state. He held a socially distanced drive-in style rally as he urged his supporters to make a plan to vote in these final weeks before the election as Biden is hoping to turn this state that President Trump won back in 2016, hoping to turn it from red to blue in November. And Biden once again criticized President Trump for his response to the coronavirus pandemic. And he argued the country is in a moment where they need to overcome the division that they are currently enduring. Take a listen to what Biden had to say.

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JOE BIDEN, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FOR 2020: Folks, as my coach used to say in college, it's go time. I'm running as a proud Democrat. But I will govern as an American president. No red states, no blue states, just the United States. I promise you, I'll work as hard for those who don't support me as those who did. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, later today, Kamala Harris returns to the campaign trail after the campaign had suspended her travel for a few days after two members of her traveling team had tested positive for coronavirus. But today, she will be in the battleground state of Florida, making stops in Orlando and Jacksonville, and later on in the week, the Democratic Party's biggest political surrogate, President Obama, is hitting the campaign trail for Joe Biden. He will hold an event in Philadelphia. His first in-person campaign appearance as he's making that pitch for his former vice president in these final weeks before the election. Laura and Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Arlette Saenz, thank you so much for that. And the voting is here. It is happening, more than 27 million ballots have already been cast. That's almost 20 percent of the total vote count in the 2016 presidential election. At the same time, Senate Democrats are urging voters to be on high alert for efforts to undermine this election. They released a report advising patients and warning people to just ignore President Trump's baseless claims about voter fraud. CNN is also learning Democrats are hatching plans behind the scenes to counter the president's attempts to cast doubt on the election results if he loses. "NEW DAY" will have more on that in the next hour.

JARRETT: Six days into early voting, Georgia has shattered the record number of ballots cast back in 2016 by more than 150 percent. Almost 1.5 million ballots have been cast so far in that state. Meanwhile, in Florida, election officials are now seeking to remove those who were formally convicted from the voter rolls if they still owe court debts. That's according to an e-mail sent to county election officials. In 2018, remember, voters approved restoring rights for more than 1 million Floridians with felony convictions, but Florida's Republican- controlled legislature then passed a bill saying any fines must be settled first. It wound up in the courts, but it's unclear if taking voters off the rolls would now affect the 2020 eligibility.

ROMANS: All right, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is putting more pressure on the White House to get a stimulus deal done.

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REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Forty eight only relates to if we want to get it done before the election, which we do.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, TELEVISION JOURNALIST: Well, don't you, yes?

PELOSI: Yes, so which we do. But we're saying that we have to freeze the design on some of these things. Are we going with it or not, and what is the language? I'm optimistic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Forty eight hours to get the job done after months of on again, off again talks between the two sides. Five months after Democrats passed their own $3 trillion package, there's almost universal agreement more stimulus is desperately needed. But they've been arguing about how much to spend and how to spend it. Economist Diane Swonk on what needs to be in this deal.

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DIANE SWONK, CHIEF ECONOMIST, GRANT THORNTON: Well, we know now that the most effective bank for the dollar is help and aid to households that supplements in those unemployment insurance checks. We also know there needs to be money for testing and tracing and some aid for business, but more importantly, there needs to be money in transfers for the states.

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ROMANS: Transfers for the states. That's something that the Republicans have been against. Pelosi has been adamant the controlling -- the virus is a key element of stimulus. The speaker said the White House has watered down the Democrats language on testing during negotiations. Plus, there's still a bloc of GOP senators who don't want to spend $2 trillion. They're going to be hard to convince. More talks today, Laura, but this has been going on for so long. It's hard to see how they can get to yes in 48 hours.

JARRETT: Well, and if it doesn't get done before the election, and it seems harrowed to see how it's going to get done during the lame duck, and then people are going to be waiting even longer for help that they need.

ROMANS: Yes.

JARRETT: All right, well, after a chaotic first debate, we all remember that, Joe Biden and Donald Trump face off one last time, the final presidential debate, special live coverage starts Thursday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right, 14 minutes past the hour. Moments ago, the world passed 40 million coronavirus cases. With the pandemic spiking across Europe, national governments are facing a new problem, several major city and regional governments fighting back against tighter restrictions, where and why?

[05:15:00]

International diplomatic editor Nic Robertson joins us live from London. Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It's happening all across Europe. You have it in Spain, you have it in Germany, you have it here in the U.K., where those local authorities here in the U.K. for example, the city of Manchester and other areas in the north of the country are pushing back against the government over local lockdown issues. But I think whichever country it is, you know, in Germany, it seems to be the businesses that are pushing back, taking central government to court in Berlin, and saying we want to keep our bars and restaurants open later in the evening.

In Madrid and Spain, it is the local courts there saying that the government lockdown restrictions infringe on people's rights, but I think broadly, what you're seeing here is a frustration with -- between central government and the people. Fatigue by the people who, you know, are running out of patience. They want the coronavirus pandemic to be over, and they don't think that their governments are doing a good job. So you have this fatigue. You have this frustration. But that in itself is being driven by this loss of faith in central governments by local leaders, by local people, that the central governments aren't making the right decisions.

Here in the U.K., the central government has said -- Boris Johnson's government has said that it will always follow the advice of the scientists. Well, the scientists have now said you need a national lockdown. What we're hearing from those local leaders in Manchester is, if they're going to be pushed by the government into a tighter local lockdown, they need more support for their businesses. Why? Because they fear that those businesses will move to other parts of the country.

So again, broadly, it is this frustration in central government's handling that people don't think it's being handled properly. That's the broader narrative here across Europe and of course, it doesn't make it easy for governments with such weighted decisions. It's balance against business and the economy --

ROMANS: Yes --

ROBERTSON: Against the health and welfare of people. But that trust in government, that's ebbing.

ROMANS: That's fascinating. All right, thank you so much Nic Robertson for us in London.

JARRETT: All right, new this morning. CNN has learned that a top White House official recently met with the Assad regime in an effort to free American prisoners believed to be held by Syria. Administration officials tells CNN, the senior director for counter terrorism at the National Security Council made the trip with the support of President Trump. The U.S. and Syria of course have not had diplomatic relations since 2012. CNN previously reported that the president wrote a letter to Syria's president earlier this year, offering quote, "direct dialogue about journalist Austin Tice; one of the American prisoners there."

ROMANS: All right, 17 minutes past the hour, separated by 2,000 miles and a shade of blue, the 2020 World Series is set. The "BLEACHER REPORT" is next.

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[05:20:00]

ROMANS: All right, the World Series matchup is set as the Dodgers win the pennant for the third time in four years. Carolyn Manno has this morning's "BLEACHER REPORT", hi Carolyn.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Hey, good morning, Christine. You know, fans in L.A. are just getting over the Lakers first title in a decade, now, the Dodgers are trying to do what they couldn't the last two times, and a 32-year championship drought, they're around 11,000 fans on hand last night in the winner take all game 7 between the Dodgers and Braves, L.A. crawled back from a 3-1 series deficit. The Dodgers secret weapon is the home run, and Cody Bellinger proving it again, the 25-year-old's mammoth shot breaking open a tense game in the seventh, proved to be the game winner. Dodgers win the Series, refusing to accept the idea of defeat.

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DAVE ROBERTS, MANAGER, LOS ANGELES DODGERS: It's been a crazy year. Guys away from their families, social injustices, our fans are stuck together, these guys are stuck together, we have a lot of work to do. But for the Dodgers fans that are here, the ones that aren't here, we love you. We're thinking about you, and this year is our year! This is our year!

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: Despite the shortened schedule and expanded playoffs, the teams with the best records meeting in the World Series, how about that? You know what? It's pretty good to be a Tampa fan, too. You've got the Lightning who just won the Stanley Cup, and you've got the Rays and Dodgers in the World Series and the Bucs have Tom Brady. And it was hard not to like the quarterback match up. In this game, last night, six-time Super Bowl champion squaring off against another future hall of famer Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

Brady throwing two touchdowns in the game, including this one to his favorite target from his Patriots days, Rob Gronkowski, that's Gronk's first touchdown since December of 2018 after coming out of retirement to join Brady in Tampa. The Bucs and the Packers, their first loss of the season with a dominating 38-10 win. You know, last few weeks have been a challenge for Brady's old team, Patriots' quarterback Cam Newton back for the first time since week 3 after testing positive for coronavirus. Newton throwing two interceptions and zero touchdowns. The Patriots losing by 6 to the Broncos, dropping their record to 2.

This is the first time the Patriots have had a losing record after five games since way back in 2002. And the Tennessee Titans improving to a perfect 5-0 after another impressive performance from star running-back Derrick Henry, he is 6 foot, 3, 247 pounds and completely and utterly unstoppable. He run wild over the Houston, Texans, 212 rushing yards including this 94-yard touchdown run in the 4th quarter.

[05:25:00]

But he was not done, took a direct snap in overtime as well, ended up punching it in for the game winner, Titans win a thriller by 6. Tennessee now 16-0 when Henry runs for at least 100 yards. He is a beast, Laura. That's the kind of energy we need --

JARRETT: Yes --

MANNO: On a Monday morning. Back to you --

JARRETT: Yes, absolutely, nice to see you this morning, Carolyn, appreciate it. All right, the pandemic reaching dangerous levels in the United States right now. Numbers we haven't seen since the Summer as we face a deadly Winter ahead. And yet, the president seems to think that Joe Biden listening to the scientists is a bad thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He's going to lock down. This guy wants to lock down. He'll listen to the scientists. If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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