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Restrictions Re-imposed Across U.S. As Trump Hampers Biden Effort; Obama Claims Trump has Fueled "Truth Decay" in American Politics; Dustin Johnson Makes History By Winning 2020 Masters Golf Tournament. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired November 16, 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]

LAURA JARRETT, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: 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 Monday morning, nice to see you, I'm Christine Romans, it is Monday, November 16th, 5:00 a.m. exactly in New York. We have reports this morning from Wilmington, Hong Kong, Berlin, London, Paris and Cape Canaveral. No matter where you live in the U.S., coronavirus is closing in. The United States has seen more than 100,000 new cases for 13 straight days. The first million cases in the U.S. took three months, the last million took six days. The positive test rate soaring across the country in South Dakota, Kansas and Iowa, more than half of tests are coming back positive.

Now states are being forced to re-impose restrictions that haven't been enforced since the pandemic crushed the country in the Spring. Among them, North Dakota, Ohio, New Mexico, Washington, Illinois, Utah, Oregon and the latest, Michigan. High schools and colleges have gone back to remote learning, and indoor dining, suspended.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): As the weather gets colder and people spend more time indoors, this virus will spread. This is the worst public health emergency our nation has faced in over a century. And our response has got to reflect the same level of urgency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: So that's the governor of Michigan making what should be a non-controversial statement, and yet the White House disagrees or more specifically, Dr. Scott Atlas, the radiologist President Trump looks to for advice on infectious disease urging the people of Michigan to quote "rise up" on Twitter against the new public health measures. Recall that after the president railed against Michigan's pandemic restrictions, the Feds broke up what they said was a plot to kidnap Governor Whitmer. The chief of the American Medical Association, well, he's fed up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN BAILEY, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: This year also has revealed how politics could be corrosive. How misinformation and anti-science rhetoric can impede our ability to respond in a health emergency. Never again should physicians have to fight a war on two fronts, caring for severely ill patients in a raging pandemic while at the same time battling a public relations war that questions the legitimacy of our work and our motives. This is unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Across the Midwest, doctors and administrators reporting people coming in sick with COVID, saying they don't have COVID, and actually arguing that they don't want to wear a mask. Look, on Friday, about two cases were reported every Sunday, every second in the U.S. for a total of almost 180,000. That number is almost double what any other country has reported in a single day. True, other countries have seen spikes, but the U.S. is still far above their worst. The U.S. death rate is now consistently over a thousand per day for the first time since August. I mean, a number of Americans hospitalized, that's a leading indicator for deaths that has climbed to the highest point of the entire pandemic.

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JAMES PHILLIPS, CHIEF OF DISASTER MEDICINE, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: I'm just terrified about what's going to happen with Thanksgiving and the holidays like Christmas and Hanukkah. People are going to travel, people that would normally travel because they don't believe in the science, and then those that are just fatigued, who are willing to take some chances.

JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We'll see hospital ICUs filled. Now, you can make more ICU beds, but what you can't make are more ICU nurses. And we will run out of the capacity in many of these hospitals to care for the critically ill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: President Trump meanwhile effectively ignoring this deepening crisis, instead choosing to tweet out non-stop conspiracy theories about an election he lost. One official confirming the president has not attended a COVID taskforce meeting in five months. Dr. Anthony Fauci says it would be better if government health officials were allowed to start working with the incoming Biden-Harris administration. But with or without that cooperation, members of Joe Biden's COVID taskforce say he plans to emphasize testing and contact- tracing when he takes office.

All right, today, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will speak out about the economy, a recovery of course directly linked to containing this virus. Millions of Americans right now are suffering. Tens of thousands of people lining up for food this weekend in Texas -- look at that line, more than 600,000 pound of food was given away, including turkeys for Thanksgiving. ROMANS: Right there, that is main street. But on Wall Street, a

healthy stock market means congressional Republicans are not feeling much pressure to get more stimulus done. And for the Biden team, an uncooperative White House could make matters worse. Remember, when Barack Obama won in 2008 and Wall Street and the American economy was tanking, Obama asked President Bush to help the auto industry, and Bush obliged. Don't expect the same consideration this time. CNN's Jessica Dean is with the Biden team in Wilmington.

[05:05:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Christine and Laura. With a new week on the horizon for the Biden transition team, they are zeroing in their focus, both on the coronavirus pandemic and also the economy later today. First up, with the coronavirus, we heard from newly named Chief of Staff Ron Klain on Sunday that they will begin meeting with drug companies like Pfizer to talk about the vaccine and its distribution. Take a listen.

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RON KLAIN, CHIEF OF STAFF OF PRESIDENT-ELECT, JOE BIDEN: Well, we're going to have meetings between our top scientific advisors and the officials of these drug companies. Not just Pfizer, but there are other promising vaccines as well. And we're going to start those consultations this week. Well, you know, it's great to have a vaccine, but vaccines don't save lives. Vaccinations save lives. And that means that you've got to get that vaccine --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes --

KLAIN: Into people's arms all over this country. It's a giant logistical project.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Now, again, because the General Services Administration has not ascertained or signed off on the transition process on Joe Biden being the president-elect, that means that the transition team still cannot speak with formally, any federal agencies or anyone on the White House coronavirus taskforce, for example. So again, they're having to go about this in several different ways. We know they've been back- channeling also with local government officials, also with people in the medical community and then of course, the meetings they're going to have later this week as Klain said with those drug manufacturers.

Now, later today, we are expecting to see the president-elect and the vice president-elect coming together to talk about the economy. We're told that they're going to give remarks later this afternoon on the economy and how to build back better. That was always Joe Biden's plan on the campaign trail. Now they'll be telling us how they want to put it into action, now that we know he's headed to the White House on January 20th. Laura and Christine.

JARRETT: Jessica, thank you so much for that. Well, former President Barack Obama says a crisis of truth is engulfing American politics and it's being fueled by the rhetoric of President Trump. In his most extensive comments since the election, Obama tells "The Atlantic", "not having a commonly accepted baseline of facts is the biggest threat to our democracy." He then expanded on that to "60 Minutes".

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BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And maybe most importantly, and most disconcertingly, what we've seen is what some people call truth decay, something that's been accelerated by outgoing President Trump. The sense that not only do we not have to tell the truth, but the truth doesn't even matter. I don't see him as the cause for our divisions and the problems with our government. I think he's an accelerant, but they preceded him and sadly are going to likely outlast him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Obama tells "The Atlantic", you can't put the Genie back in the bottle when it comes to how people get their information. He says quote, "I was talking to a volunteer who was going door-to-door in Philadelphia in a low income African-American communities and was getting questions about QAnon conspiracy theories. The fact is there's still a large portion of the country that was taken in by a carnival barker, you're not going to eliminate the internet, you're not going to eliminate the thousand stations on the air with niche viewership designed for every political preference. Without this, a common narrative, it becomes very difficult for us to tackle big things."

JARRETT: Well, the outgoing White House will make life harder on a critical issue for the incoming White House. CNN is live in Hong Kong, it's next.

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[05:10:00]

JARRETT: New overnight, the Trump administration plans to expand its hard line policies towards China in the time it has left, effectively, boxing in Joe Biden on Beijing when he takes over as president. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is live in Hong Kong on more with this. Kristie, nice to see you. What are some of the moves that the Trump administration might actually make here that could box Biden in.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, really interesting developments here. In the next few months, the Trump administration is planning to make this final hard line push against China which Trump administration officials telling CNN that certain actions will be taken that will effectively box in the Biden administration. This was first reported by "Axios". "Axios" reporting that the Trump administration could number one, target forced labor in China's fishing industry or number two, name and add names to an existing U.S. Department of Defense list of companies that do business with the Chinese military.

Remember, it was just last week when the United States banned U.S. investments in about a dozen or so companies that do have links with the PLA. Now, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs of course, aware of these reports and have responded to them. Within the last couple of hours, we heard from a spokesman in Beijing who said this, quote, "China urges the U.S. and China to meet each other halfway to manage differences based on mutual respect, to expand cooperation based on mutual benefit", unquote. Now, managing the relationship with China is emerging as what could very well be the number one foreign policy challenge for Joe Biden.

We are at a critical juncture in the U.S.-China relationship, tensions not seen since the establishment of diplomatic relations in the Nixon era. U.S. and China must work together to handle threats like the North Korean nuclear crisis reigning in North Korea and also the climate crisis. But there are multiple points of unprecedented friction between these two world powers from the tech war, the trade war, the fate and future of Taiwan, assertions of sovereignty in the South China Sea, the silencing of opposition voices inside Hong Kong as well as human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

Now, Biden advisors, they have said that the president-elect plans to work with allies to present an allied front to deal with and to counter China in relation to these issues. Little wonder that China was among the last to congratulate Joe Biden. Back to you.

[05:15:00]

JARRETT: Very tricky for the incoming administration, that's for sure. All right, Kristie, thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right, staying in the region, China and 14 countries have formed the world's largest trading bloc, not part of that deal, the United States. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, that's what's called, RCEP. It covers about a third of global economic output, the leaders called the deal critical for the region's response to the pandemic and important for post-pandemic recovery. Now, most countries in the deal, they already have really strong trade relationships, but this agreement means an even more unified trading system, making it easier for manufacturers to import materials around the bloc without high tariffs.

Asian stocks right now all up strongly, that tone is filling into European trade and in U.S. futures. So, Laura, there's some optimism about China and Japan, their economic recovery, soon, they'll be out of recessions. Japan in particular, this trading deal, vaccine news, there's just kind of a lot of by-cues happening in markets to start this week.

JARRETT: Yes, a lot in play right now. All right, after a seven-month delay, history at the Masters for Dustin Johnson, Andy Scholes is in Augusta, the "BLEACHER REPORT" is up next.

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[05:20:00]

ROMANS: All right, just a month after battling coronavirus, golfer Dustin Johnson makes history with a record-setting win at the Masters. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "BLEACHER REPORT" from Augusta. And Andy, one of my sons said, mom -- you know, because I don't follow all the Sunday sports. Biggest stories, Dustin Johnson wins the Masters, Cardinals' hail Marys, Steelers' 9-0, Brees injuries. You can hire him.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Yes, he summed up the day in sports for us, Christine, and you know, what a day it was with just the Masters final round. NFL football first time, you remember had something like that. But this Masters here in Augusta certainly was one of a kind. There was no fans in attendance. So, we didn't have those big roars happening all around the course, and they finished up the tournament early because of football and fittingly in the year 2020, Dustin Johnson wins this tournament with a Masters record of 20 under par.

And D.J. came into the final round on Sunday with a four-stroke lead, a battle through some of those nerves and was able to come away with an easy win by the end of the day. D.J.'s little brother Austin who caddies for him, tearing up on 18 as they were finishing up. His fiancee, Paulina Gretzky running over to give him a big hug and a kiss to congratulate him. You know, D.J., he grew up about an hour from here in Columbia, South Carolina, he dreamed of this moment as a kid of winning the Masters, and he was very emotional when speaking about finally getting to put on that green jacket.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DUSTIN JOHNSON, MASTERS CHAMPION FOR 2020: You know, just growing up so close to here. You know, it's always been, you know, a tournament -- you know, since I've been on tour, that -- you know, since I played my first Masters, it's been, you know, the tournament I wanted to win the most. As a kid, you know, you dream of playing in the Masters and you know, dream about putting on a green jacket. Couldn't be more happy, and, you know, I think I look pretty good in green too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And defending champion Tiger Woods was the one who put that green jacket on D.J. Tiger, meanwhile, had himself a wild day. He hit it in the water on 12, not one, not two, but three times. You know, last year, Tiger survived 12 on Sunday while others found the water, which helped him win the tournament. This time around, not so lucky. Tiger, a 10 on a hole for the first time in his career. But he actually fought back after that, had birdies at five of his last six holes. So, take away that ten, Tiger actually had himself a decent tournament.

All right, to the NFL, it looked like the Buffalo Bills had their game against the Arizona Cardinals, all but wrapped up with 11 seconds remaining. But watch Kyler Murray, one of the best throws of his young career, escapes the pressure, heaps the hail Mary to the end zone, and somehow DeAndre Hopkins leaps through a trail of Bills defenders to make the grab. Just incredible. That gives Cardinals the lead and the win as they shocked the Bills 32-30. Pretty sure that will be the catch of the NFL season, going to be very tough to beat. But Laura, you know, we're not going to have to wait much longer for

another Masters here in Augusta. It's just the 2021 tournament just five months from now.

JARRETT: Wow --

SCHOLES: You know, this one was certainly odd to not have the fans out there on the course. He's hoping they're able to return in 2021.

JARRETT: Here's to hope, and I'm glad you are there for us, Andy. Thank you so much, appreciate it. All right, still ahead, the Secretary of State is overseas this morning, allies looking for any details on a transition he hasn't even acknowledged is happening. CNN is live in Paris.

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[05:25:00]

ROMANS: All right, this morning, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is kicking off an overseas tour in France. His itinerary looks a lot like a farewell tour even if this administration refuses to call it that. Melissa Bell live from Paris for us. I understand he has already met with the Foreign Minister. He will meet with Emmanuel Macron later this morning!

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think one of the things that's so interesting, Christine, about these series of meetings which again will be off camera. And I think that's important is that this one of the great bromances of the early days of the Trump administration is really entering -- ending on something of a whimper. Now, the French have made it clear that these meetings come at the request of Secretary of State Pompeo and have been organized in all transparency with President-elect Joe Biden's teams.

Now, Emmanuel Macron was not only one of the first foreign leaders to congratulate Joe Biden on his victory, but in his tweet and through the words of his minister since the French government has made it very clear that they're looking forward to working with the incoming American administration, not least in a multilateral approach to a number of key issues in the day, for instance, climate change, but also a number of the most burning global affairs issues.

Not really a reminder that when Macron meets with Pompeo today, Christine, there's very little the two men agree on when it comes global affairs. So their disagreements not least on the functions of American democracy go much further than.