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Interview with Anonymous Op-Ed Author Miles Taylor; Florida Is Underreporting COVID-19 Cases; Coordinated Attacks Today Targeted France. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired October 29, 2020 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[10:33:07]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf has now responded to his department's former chief of staff Miles Taylor. Taylor, you'll know now, admitted that he wrote the anonymous 2018 "New York Times" op-ed, highly critical of President Trump. A book later followed.
In a statement, Wolf says, quote, "Mr. Taylor demonstrates that he was clearly pursuing a self-serving, self-promoting agenda while at the Department of Homeland Security rather than pursuing an agenda aimed at securing the Homeland."
Well, Miles Taylor, he joins us now to discuss. Good morning.
MILES TAYLOR, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning, Jim, thanks for having me.
SCIUTTO: Let me begin with timing here. You wrote this op-ed more than two years ago. You resigned from the administration and wrote a book -- published a book -- along the same lines nearly a year ago. Why did you wait until days before the election to publicly identify yourself?
TAYLOR: Yes, it's a good question, Jim. So what I'd said all along, especially in the book, was that (INAUDIBLE) against the (INAUDIBLE) in a way where I would deprive him of the ability to do what he always does, Jim: personal attacks. So even when a secretary of defense like Jim Mattis comes out and criticizes him, the president mercilessly tries to undermine that person's character, and the actual message gets lost.
So I did it so that people would pay attention to the message and to deprive Trump of the opportunity for personal attack.
But let me make one thing clear. At no point was I afraid to subject myself, under my name, to the criticisms and to the scrutiny that I deserve. That's why I came out, months ago, under my own name to say this is what I did in the administration.
Now, why --
(CROSSTALK)
SCIUTTO: But wait, Miles, on that point --
TAYLOR: -- election did I make -- yes, yes.
SCIUTTO: On that point, you may have deprived the president the ability to attack you until this moment, but the fact is the administration attacked others who they speculated were actually Anonymous. And some of them suffered threats. I wonder, do you owe them an apology for, in effect, allowing them to be subjected to that?
[10:35:09]
TAYLOR: That's a good question, Jim. I actually, just moments ago, apologized to someone who was wrongly accused. But at that time, I asked my agents to come out publicly and disavow that any of those individuals the White House was accusing were actually Anonymous, and they did that, and I'm glad that they did that. Because no one deserved the scrutiny but me.
But look, Jim, at the end of the day, this isn't about me. This is about the president. The reason I came out now is because I want to say to the American people, look, there's no one that's going to ride in on a white horse and save you from Donald Trump now. The masks are all off, and any other officials who still believe what they all told me they believed, inside this administration, about this president, need to take their masks off too. Because the American people, it's up to them now to hold Trump accountable.
You started --
SCIUTTO: OK.
TAYLOR: -- this hit (ph), Jim, with a quote from someone who I don't want to name, but a quote from someone from this administration who said they're disappointed because they never heard these things from me when I was in the White House, when I was in the administration? That's completely false.
In fact, it's sad to hear former colleagues say things like that, the same former colleagues who would tell me --
SCIUTTO: OK.
TAYLOR: -- after meetings with the president, they thought he was unfit for office.
SCIUTTO: Let's test that then here, about how you used your voice while in the administration, in a position of some influence.
TAYLOR: Yes.
SCIUTTO: We're learning more about the administration's family separation policy, which took place while you were in DHS. We just learned this morning that there were warnings from inside the administration about a shortage of beds for babies as this family separation was taking place.
Did you voice opposition internally to that policy -- which you now criticize? Did you work to prevent a move like that while you were in that position?
TAYLOR: Jim, let's start off first talking about the policy, OK? This is one of the most inhumane, disgusting things that the Trump administration ever did, OK? This is emblematic of the lack of compassion in Trump's immigration policy.
Behind the scenes, you bet we fought this tooth and nail. In fact, from basically month one of the administration, when the White House wanted to implement an even crueler version of the policy. And then because DHS wouldn't, they went around our backs, worked with the Justice Department and launched it anyway.
I was actually one of the individuals who helped write the executive order to end the policy. And then, Jim, I spent every single month until the end of this administration telling the president no when he begged us to reinstate this cruel and inhumane policy. This is going to go down as one of the darkest marks of the Trump presidency --
SCIUTTO: Yes.
TAYLOR: -- and I'm glad the full story is starting to come out.
SCIUTTO: OK. I want to ask you, because a big part of your message in 2018 -- with the op-ed, and then later in the book -- was that you were not alone, right? That you were part of a sort of resistance within the administration, working diligently to slow or stop his agenda here.
I'm not asking you to out them, because that's their choice.
TAYLOR: Yes.
SCIUTTO: I am asking you, though, to back that up. How many, how senior? What did they do? Why aren't they speaking out now?
TAYLOR: Yes. Jim, I think I could count on two hands the number of people around this president that I really think are true loyalists that are mega-MAGA. And just about everyone held these sentiments. But you don't have to hear it from me anymore and thank God you don't, because who the hell cares who Miles Taylor is?
But after I published that op-ed, we have now heard from Donald Trump's chief of staff, communications director, national security advisor, secretary of defense, secretary of state, director of national intelligence, and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all of whom have called into question this man's character and fitness for office.
John Kelly just said the other day that Donald Trump was the single most flawed human being he has ever met in his entire life.
But let's not just focus on them (ph), Jim. I've got colleagues who had way more to lose than those people -- like Elizabeth Neumann and Olivia Troye and John Mitnick who have come out, who were my colleagues, and said the same thing. They've spoken candidly, they've put their lives on the line.
And, look, this is not easy to speak out against a president, Jim. I'm not asking anyone to play the violin for me. This has cost me considerably in my job, my personal life, my marriage, my finances and my safety. And the same thing has happened to my colleagues.
Trump has created a culture of intimidation, but we won't be intimidated and I don't think Americans should be intimidated to speak out against this man.
SCIUTTO: Miles Taylor, thanks for joining the broadcast this morning.
TAYLOR: Jim, as always, thank you.
[10:39:33]
SCIUTTO: And we'll be right back.
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SCIUTTO: Folks, you'll want to listen to this too because it matters. A new CNN analysis shows that a White House push to de-emphasize coronavirus testing -- you've heard the president's public comments blaming testing for the outbreak -- actually coincided with a dramatic drop in testing across the state of Florida, even as the country was careening toward a fall surge in new infections.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And now, critics say Florida is underreporting new cases among school-age children. Our Rosa Flores has more on the lack of statewide testing requirements for students there.
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Face-to-face learning, that's the type of education Florida Governor Ron DeSantis not only pushed for --
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: The risk level to schoolkids is very low --
FLORE: -- his administration, citing an emergency order, pressured some school districts -- including Miami-Dade, Hillsboro and Broward -- to reopen early.
[10:45:07]
PATRICIA GOOD, BROWARD COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER: This is extortion by the Department of Education.
FLORES (voice-over): Since some school districts began to reopen on August 10th, state data shows a 60 percent increase in COVID-19 cases in school-aged children.
AILEEN MARTY, PROFESSOR OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: Absolutely, there is an underreporting of cases in the state of Florida.
FLORES (voice-over): How? At least 13 districts in the state, making up nearly 50 percent of all public school students, say they don't require children who are quarantined due to exposure to COVID to present a negative test before returning to in-person learning.
MARTY: If you do not test the close contacts of the individual that tested positive in the school, you are missing cases, you are underreporting.
CHRISTINA (PH) FINN (PH), HILLSBORO COUNTY SCIENCE TEACHER: Intro to Physics --
FLORES (voice-over): And potentially exposing teachers to a deadly virus, says Christina (ph) Finn (ph), a science teacher working from home for Hillsboro County, a district that doesn't require quarantined students to present a negative test.
FINN (PH): I think it's wrong.
FLORES (voice-over): Christina used to run half marathons. Now, since getting COVID four months ago, she's out of breath just walking her dog. She has heart, lung and kidney issues, no taste, no smell. Her hair fell out in clumps, so much so she had to cut it short.
FINN (PH): If I get COVID again, I may not come back.
FLORES (voice-over): Here she is with longer hair in August, pleading to the county school board to teach from home.
FINN (PH): Please. Think about us.
FLORES (voice-over): Of Florida's five largest school districts, Broward is the only one requiring quarantined students who show symptoms to present a negative test before returning to face-to-face learning.
ROBERT RUNCIE, SUPERINTENDENT, BROWARD COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT: Testing has to be part of that equation.
FLORES (voice-over): Superintendent Robert Runcie says the state pressured -- or, as one school board member put it, "extorted" Broward with threats of losing state aid -- into reopening early after the school board had already voted to continue with distance learning.
RUNCIE: If you go and open too early, you're going to see a spike in cases.
FLORES (voice-over): While Governor DeSantis did not respond to CNN's request for comment --
DESANTIS: You do not quarantine healthy people who have been exposed.
FLORES (voice-over): -- we played a portion of his recent remarks to FIU's infectious disease expert, Dr. Aileen Marty.
FLORES: If a leader doesn't have the complete data to make decisions about public health in the state, what's the result?
MARTY: The result is that you may make the wrong decisions.
FLORES (voice-over): And during a pandemic, wrong decisions can lead to more death.
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FLORES: Now, here is Dr. Marty's main point. She says that when a child has tested positive for COVID-19 and you do not test all of the children that have been exposed by that child, and instead all you do is ask those children to go home to quarantine for 10 or 14 days and you don't require testing, Jim and Poppy, those children could be waiting out their illness at home and not getting tested.
And if you don't test, you're not going to be able to count that particular COVID-19 case. And if you don't count -- imagine, across the state -- then you're making decisions based on incomplete data -- Jim and Poppy.
HARLOW: Yes.
SCIUTTO: I mean, what would you want for your own family? You'd want to know so other people don't get infected. And yet here we are. Rosa Flores, thanks very much.
[10:49:35]
Just an alarming story coming up, a suspected terror attack at a church in France has left three people dead this morning. Just horrendous circumstances to this, we're going to have a live report from the scene.
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HARLOW: Very sad news to report. A church leader in France this morning says that Catholics there will not give into fear. This follows today's barbaric attack at the basilica in Nice.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HARLOW: Police say that a man armed with a knife entered and murdered three people while they were praying. The local mayor says one of the victims was beheaded. France's security alert level has now been raised to emergency following this.
SCIUTTO: Yes, this would be the second time an attack like this has happened in days. CNN international correspondent Cyril Vanier is in Paris covering the story. What are we learning? Do we have claims of responsibility?
CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No claims of responsibility so far, and the investigation is still in this very early stages. We are expecting the counterterrorism prosecutor to give a press conference with more details, that will be in a few hours. But the fact that that press conference will be given by the
counterterrorism prosecutor already tells you something very important, that this is being treated -- this is a terror attack, and is being treated as such by French authorities.
So a little bit more on the chronology and the sequence of events. This morning around 9:00 a.m. local time in the southern Riviera city of Nice, an assailant entered the Notre Dame Basilica, which sits right in the heart of the commercial district of Nice.
[10:55:00]
That assailant, wielding a knife, assaulted, attacked three people who sadly have died: one person whose throat was slit, one person who was stabbed repeatedly, and a third person who actually managed to escape the basilica, but then died of her wounds shortly thereafter.
The law enforcement was called quickly, arrived on the scene quickly, according to bystanders. They opened fire and neutralized the assailant -- did not kill him. The assailant, now receiving medical care.
The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, who arrived on the scene shortly after the attack, says the assailant repeated the words "Allahu Akbar," God is great in Arabic, multiple times as he was receiving medical treatment.
As I said, French authorities dealing with this as a terror attack. The French president spoke just minutes before we came on air -- Poppy, Jim -- saying that France is under attack because of its values, and also drawing a connection between an attack that was also happening thousands of kilometers away in Saudi Arabia against a French consulate at the very same time, a security guard subject to a knife attack there.
HARLOW: It is --
SCIUTTO: Concerning.
HARLOW: -- tragic --
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HARLOW: -- story. Cyril, thank you for the reporting.
Thanks to all of you for being with us today. We'll see you tomorrow, I'm Poppy Harlow.
SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto. NEWSROOM with John King starts right after a short break.
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