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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Secret Service Involved In Shooting Outside White House, President Trump Briefly Escorted Away From Press Briefing; Reports Says 90 Percent Increase In COVID-19 Cases Among U.S. Children Over Last Four Weeks. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired August 10, 2020 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: All right, Pete, thank you very much, and thanks to all of you. Anderson starts now.
[20:00:14]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: Good evening. An unnerving moment at the White House today, shortly after President Trump began his news conference, a Secret Service agent came to the podium and immediately, the President exited. Here is the exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It looks like they are just about going to be will be topping records hopefully soon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, we're going to have to step outside.
TRUMP: Excuse me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to step outside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: We will talk with a reporter who was in the room. President Trump there did resume his briefing and continued to portray the virus is under control, which it clearly is not.
He also spoke about the executive actions he signed at his New Jersey Golf Club over the weekend, executive actions which -- keeping them honest -- don't do anything because there are so many hurdles and caveats.
Unconstitutional slop is what Republican Senator Ben Sasse called the executive actions. In a statement, Senator Sasse said what President Trump is doing amounts to rewriting law and that that is the job of Congress.
There is also serious doubt whether any of it would work as advertised. Unemployment benefits for instance, the executive order that says that states are going to have to pay about a quarter of the up to $400.00 in added benefits per person. Most states don't have that kind of money, they say, and the system that would disburse the money doesn't yet exist. One unemployment expert told CNN the building of the system could take
months.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has said it would happen immediately; economic adviser, Larry Kudlow said quote, "weeks" and when Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany today was asked about a timeline, she said, "I can't pinpoint a timeline," end quote.
So in addition to the confusion and that is putting it kindly - over any money getting to the people who need it, there is also what the executive order doesn't do. It doesn't do anything to reinstate the previous moratorium on evictions which lapsed in July. There is nothing for small businesses or state or local budgets or schools.
Tonight, we'll talk to the aunt of two students who caught the disease at an Atlanta area high school, the school that suspended the suspension of a student for posting a picture that was shared widely online showing few people wearing masks or social distancing.
Nine staff and students have contracted the virus now and in a moment, we'll talk to a doctor with the American Academy of Pediatrics. Their new report, 90 percent increase of cases in children over a four-week period, so it's almost 180,000 new child cases.
The President was asked about that today and here is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Does that give you any pause about schools reopening for in-person learning?
TRUMP: No, because, they may have, as you would call it, a case, there may be a case, but also a case where there is a tiny -- it's a tiny fraction of death, tiny fraction, and they get better very quickly.
QUESTION: So you believe that children are essentially immune?
TRUMP: Yes, I think for the most part they do very well. I mean, they don't get very sick. They don't catch it easily. They don't get very sick, and according to the people that I have spoken to, they don't transport it or transfer it to other people or certainly not very easily.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's not the first time the President has said that and it is untrue today as every other time he said it.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
TRUMP: If you look at children, children are almost -- and I would almost say definitely, but almost immune from this disease.
And I've watched some doctors say they are totally immune. I don't know, I hate to use the word "totally" because the news will say, oh, he made the "word" totally and he shouldn't have used that word.
But the fact is that they are virtually immune from this problem.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If you look at children, I mean, they are able to throw it off very easily and it's an amazing thing.
Again, the children obviously have a very strong immune system, maybe even as strong as yours. They seem to be able to fight it off and not have a problem.
And again, children whether it's the immune system, I guess -- I was watching you one night and you said immune system, whatever it is, they are a lot stronger than we are because it just doesn't have an impact. It doesn't have any -- almost any impact.
So they do say that they don't transmit very easily and a lot of people are saying they don't transmit and we're looking at that.
They don't catch it easily. They don't bring it home easily and if they catch it, they get better fast.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: We'll have more on the content of the President's briefing. First, I want to discuss what we mentioned at the top of the program which provoked a quick and firm response from the White House security both inside and out. Here is the moment again from the Briefing Room.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It looks like they are just about going to be will be topping records hopefully soon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, we're going to have to step outside.
TRUMP: Excuse me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to step outside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:05:10]
COOPER: Jeff Mason is the White House correspondent from Reuters who was in the Briefing Room, can you just describe what you saw?
JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, REUTERS: Sure, Anderson, actually, right before the moment you just played, my seat, the Reuters' seat in the Briefing Room was right across the from the doors and I looked over and saw a Secret Service agent locked the door, which is very unusual obviously and then shortly after that, you saw the agent come up or a separate agent come up to the President and interrupt him.
He had been briefing for all of maybe two or three minutes and obviously seems a little startled that the Secret Service agent would interrupt him while he is talking to journalists and then walked out with him and the doors sort of right behind here.
He went into the Oval Office, stayed for a few minutes and came back and continued the briefing. And at that point, he actually seemed to enjoy sort of the live drama of it and told us what had happened, at least what he had been briefed on that someone had been shot outside the White House grounds, but that person had been taken to the hospital.
COOPER: I mean, it seems like there was a big response from security forces on the grounds at the White House. What is the protocol when something like this happens?
MASON: Well, number one, they sort of put everyone on lockdown, and so the reporters here were, we had to stay inside the Briefing Room and others inside the White House complex, I am sure would have had to stay where they were and were not allowed to leave.
I didn't get a good look outside of what was happening so I can't really tell you in terms of the response there, but I can tell you that the Secret Service issued a statement saying there had been an officer involved shooting at the corner of or at Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th.
That is roughly a block from where we are right here. The President during the briefing had said that the -- pardon me, that the shooting had occurred basically at the fence that goes around the complex of the White House.
In any case, whether it was right at the fence or whether it was at that intersection, it was very close and it was close enough to have the Secret Service concerned about the President's safety.
COOPER: I should point out, the Secret Service just tweeted out that a Secret Service officer and a male suspect were both transferred to a local hospital and they also went on to say that -- they said at no time was the White House complex breached or was the President in danger.
MASON: In danger -- and the President also made a point of saying that it had not been breached, but nonetheless it was pretty unusual that the Secret Service decided that he wasn't -- that they weren't comfortable with him remaining at the podium and that must be a decision that you make in the middle of a situation that is moving very quickly and that is dangerous.
COOPER: Yes. And so was the Press Corps told to stay in the room?
MASON: Well, we weren't really told anything, but we weren't able to get out of the room because as I said before, they locked the doors.
And then your reporter's instinct of course is to look outside the windows and my photographer colleagues were taking pictures outside the windows.
There were some people outside already when this happened and at least some of them heard the shooting and heard one or two gunshots and were able to report on that.
COOPER: Yes, Jeff Mason, appreciate it. Thanks very much, Jeff.
MASON: Pleasure.
COOPER: More on what President Trump said after the briefing resumed. Our chief political correspondent, Dana Bash joins us, and our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Dana, the president brought up more potential tax cuts in the briefing. What are you learning?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That the President is saying as many things as he can that he thinks are palatable to people who are even potentially considering voting for him for reelection.
He talked about middle class tax cuts. He talked about capital gains tax cuts. It was really unclear, I mean, he suggested they are going to try to get those into any piece of legislation that has been stalled for many, many weeks.
It's really hard to imagine that that will get in there when there are really, really important issues that are directly related to the pandemic. This is classic Donald Trump and it is frankly classic somebody who is up for reelection just trying to figure out anything that will work because they are very low in the polls.
I mean, the other thing that he said, Anderson, is that he is thinking about doing an executive order to make sure that preexisting conditions are the law of the land.
Preexisting conditions making sure that nobody loses insurance because they have preexisting condition is the law of the land. It's called Obamacare.
And he even said out loud, Anderson that when he was questioned about that, well, we're just going to do it just to be doubly safe. It a signal to the people. So he is, again, saying out loud, I'm just saying these things that I'm going to do these things because I'm hoping that people will take it as evidence that I'm trying to help them, never mind the reality of the fact in that case, it's already the law of the land.
[20:10:13]
COOPER: Right, which they are trying to overturn in the courts.
BASH: And there's that.
COOPER: Right, the President is -- I mean, you have the Republicans, you know, Senator Ben Sasse saying it's unconstitutional slop. Is it even clear how this would work? I mean, I know obviously, despite criticizing Obama for executive orders, this President has relied on Executive Orders to make it look like he is doing stuff. How would this work, exactly?
BASH: We don't know. We really don't know the answer.
I interviewed Larry Kudlow, the President's chief economic adviser yesterday morning and he didn't seem to have any answers. Other advisers out also didn't have answers and the reason is because they did it very quickly and it was largely a tactic to get the negotiations, which are completely at an impasse to do it the right way legislatively to try to get them going again.
Having said that, this is something that the President said he was going to do, which is not just causing Democrats to criticize him as you suggested, also Republicans. The President then went back after Ben Sasse who is a Republican from Nebraska.
Sasse put out a lengthy tweet and I'll just read you part of the tweet that he said in his retort. He said, "No President whether named Obama or Trump or Biden or AOC has unilateral power to rewrite immigration law or to cut taxes or to raise taxes. This is because America doesn't have kings."
This is probably the most consistent message that we've heard from any Republican since they were saying the same thing about President Obama.
But so far, Ben Sasse is the only one to speak out as clearly and forcefully to be that consistent.
COOPER: Yes.
BASH: On the Republican side.
COOPER: Sanjay, the President continues to talk about children and this virus, now, nearly 180,000 kids have tested positive for COVID in the last four weeks.
The President -- just to be clear -- he is now saying that kids don't transmit the virus like everybody else. They don't transmit the virus easily to adults or to their grandparents or to their loved ones and they don't even get the virus in a way that like other people do, let alone -- obviously, we know that in general, the way their bodies handle the virus is different.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, I mean, they -- the one thing we can say is they do seem -- children do seem to get less likely to be sick from this virus, and that is data that we originally saw coming out of Wuhan and it has held up for the last six or seven months now.
But the other two points. They certainly can become infected and do become infected. The fact that you're carrying the virus, and they certainly can transmit the virus and they do transmit the virus.
We know -- you know, there's been a couple of studies and the people have been talking about these studies a lot lately, but the South Korea contact tracing study, they traced contacts of over 50,000 and they basically are trying to figure out how likely are different age groups to spread the virus.
And what they said that starting at age 10 basically, you're starting to spread the virus like an adult. When I looked at this data closely and I talked to some sources in Korea, you should also note that children under the age of 10 largely didn't have many contacts.
So out of 50,000 contacts, for example in that study, only 57 contacts were in children ages zero to nine. So I bring that up to say, I think the jury is still out on younger kids.
We know that they can carry a lot of virus in their nose and their mouths. I think, you know, Anderson, I think they are just largely been at home, these younger kids since the middle of March. They are starting to be out and about more and more now over the last couple months. The schools are starting in some place and things like that, but I think kids can get infected and they can spread the virus, which is a concern.
COOPER: Well, to that point, the World Health Organization recently said that the virus -- that the pandemic is starting to move into the younger population globally. Do we know what that's attributed to?
I mean, I guess, just logically, what you just said makes sense which is as kids are going to -- are no longer as isolated and they are going out there, they are more likely to spread and/or get the virus and I guess testing, if it is more widespread, then more kids are going to get tested.
GUPTA: Yes, and to be clear on this because it always gets confused for whatever reason, the virus is out there. People are infected. Testing is picking that up. Testing doesn't cause people to become infected. I think most people understand that.
But I think you're absolutely right. I mean, I could tell you just from my own personal experience and then talking to members from the American Pediatrics Association, it's been hard for kids to get tests.
You know, most of these tests have been reserved for people who have some sort of symptoms and again, kids are less likely to get symptomatic. That part is true.
But now, I think in part because they are thinking about going to school or going to sports, things like that, they are trying to get more tests. That could be contributing to this increase.
But also, you know, I do think, it's just -- there's increased mobility among even younger kids now and that's really, I think contributing to this.
[20:15:12]
GUPTA: If you look at the numbers in the United States, you've had as you mentioned close to, you know, almost doubling of the number of children now confirmed to be infected over the last month -- just over the last month.
So that also tells you something. Again, they were largely at home for a period of time and now, out and about.
COOPER: Yes, Sanjay, thanks so much. Dana Bash, as well.
Still to come tonight, will there be a college football season? New reports suggest there may not be for the big teams, ramifications, but no matter the decision schools make, legendary announcer, Bob Costas will be here to break it all down for us.
And later, inside Joe Biden's vice presidential search, the top picks and when the big announcement may come. More on that when we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: At the top of the program, we mentioned a startling new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association about the sharp recent rise in coronavirus cases among children.
President Trump was asked about the report during his briefing. Here is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Does that give you any pause about schools reopening for in-person learning?
TRUMP: No, because they may have, as you would call it a case, it may be a case, but it's also a case where there is a tiny -- it's a tiny fraction of death -- tiny fraction and they get better very quickly.
QUESTION: So you believe that children are essentially immune?
TRUMP: Yes, I think for the most part, they do very well. I mean, they don't get very sick. They don't catch it easily. They don't get very sick and according to the people that I've spoken to, they don't transport it or transfer it to other people or certainly not very easily.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:20:29]
COOPER: Dr. Sean O'Leary is Vice Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infections Diseases. It was his organization that helped produce that report.
Also, with us is Dr. Peter Hotez, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. He is also working on a potential COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. O'Leary, thanks for being with us. Do we know why there has been this 90 percent increase in the number of COVID cases among kids in the U.S. over the last four weeks? DR. SEAN O'LEARY, VICE CHAIR, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS COMMITTEE
ON INFECTIONS DISEASES: Yes, good question. I think it's probably a combination of factors. You know, one, remember early in the pandemic, we were really only testing people that would have severe illness or were being hospitalized, people in long-term care facilities.
So now, as testing capacity is increased somewhat, of course, it varies by region, more children are able to get tested. So I think that's one thing.
I also think there probably is some element of more children are getting infected than they were before with increased activity et cetera getting, you know, out and about more often and, you know, the other thing I would point out is what we're seeing in children is really what -- it just reflects what we're seeing in the rest of the country.
When you see a lot more infections in the general population, you're going to see a lot more infections in children and that's what we're seeing.
COOPER: And Dr. Hotez, the President said today that kids don't get very sick. He has repeatedly said that kids are virtually immune and he is now saying that they are not transmitting it, they have a hard time transmitting it to adults. How concerning -- I mean, we talked about this with Sanjay, but I mean, just factually, that's just not the case.
DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Yes, thanks Anderson.
O'LEARY: Yes --
COOPER: Sorry, that was for Dr. Hotez.
O'LEARY: I'm sorry.
COOPER: That's all right.
HOTEZ: Well, what I'll just say is, first of all, I'd congratulate Dr. O'Leary for putting out -- the American Academy of Pediatrics putting out some very important documents now about COVID-19 in children and they are really important and I'd like to just congratulate Dr. O'Leary and his team on getting this out.
Yes, I think they're responsible for quite a bit of transmission in the community. We know this -- we heard it from Sanjay, the South Korea study, kids over the age of 10, but now we know even the little kids from a paper in JAMA Pediatrics, they have lots of virus in their upper airway and their mouth and their nose and even if they are not releasing as much virus particles, they are still accounting for some transmission.
And the point is, Anderson, we know what happens when we open up schools in communities where the virus is either accelerating or even if it's at a plateau, but at a very high level. This is true across the south now. We have seen what's happened in
Georgia when we opened up schools. There's lots of new cases and then the risk, of course, is to the older teachers, those with underlying conditions, hospital staff, bus drivers and teachers will get sick and this has happened in Georgia now, it will happen in Florida when Florida schools open.
It will happen in Texas and other states where you have a lot of transmission and it will fail. It will fail catastrophically.
And so, we still have come back to this problem over and over again where the White House will not lead a containment strategy especially for the states where there's lots of transmission and -- it simply won't happen. We cannot open schools safely and keep teachers safe.
COOPER: Dr. O'Leary, the President is also saying that kids don't get the virus as easily as the rest of us. I understand that kids -- what we do know and Sanjay reiterated this earlier was that, kids may have it and be asymptomatic or more likely to be asymptomatic. That's known.
They respond differently to the virus, but the idea that do kids get it, is it -- can one say that kids -- it's harder for kids to become infected in the first place?
O'LEARY: Yes, I think that science is still being worked out to be honest. It appears perhaps from some studies that younger kids may be less likely. He mentioned the South Korea study and if you look at it, the number of children in that study that were infected was relatively small, right? So I think the science is still being worked out.
The one thing I do want to point out, though, is that we -- it's not fair to say that this virus is completely benign in children. We've had 90 deaths in children in the U.S. already in just a few months, right?
Every year, we worry about influenza in children and there are roughly around a hundred deaths in children from influenza every year, but when we look at, you know, just the short segment, the short -- the small percentage overall of children that have been infected across the U.S., this is not -- we can't say that it's completely benign in children.
Yes, it's much less severe than it is in adults, particularly older adults, but we all have to take this virus seriously including taking care of our children.
[20:25:17]
COOPER: And to that point, does it -- do we know that kids -- I mean, is it fully known sort of any potential long-term effects that kids may have?
I mean, obviously, we're all learning about this virus as we go and, you know, kids haven't had it as long as, I mean, you know, it's only been around for six months. So, is it safe to say that if they get it, there is not going to be
some follow on effect down the road that we don't know about?
O'LEARY: Well, I mean, I think as you pointed out, we're all learning about this virus every day, and we were already surprised by this multi inflammatory syndrome in children where, you know, kids get very, very sick and that seems to happen two to four weeks after a COVID infection.
I think you've probably heard about the COVID long haulers, the adults that have long-term symptoms. We don't really know if that's the case in children. There have been some anecdotal reports of children who have lingering symptoms, but I think there is still a lot to work out on that arena.
COOPER: Dr. Sean O'Leary and Dr. Peter Hotez, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
O'LEARY: Thank you.
COOPER: Sobering milestone was just reached, the global cases of coronavirus has now reached 20 million globally according to Johns Hopkins University. Twenty million cases worldwide.
With that as a backdrop, President Trump also weighing in on reports that the college football season could be cancelled. He said on Twitter, colleges should play even as news outlets, including ESPN and Sports Illustrated report that the top five conferences known as the Power Five are discussing postponing the season.
No decision has been reached. Pressure against cancelling the season is coming not only from the President and Members of Congress, but some players as well.
Joining us is now, Hall of Fame broadcaster and CNN contributor Bob Costas.
Bob, how big a deal would it be if college football gets cancelled all together?
BOB COSTAS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, as we have mentioned before, it isn't just the interest in college football and the revenue that it brings to support what are often gargantuan, almost grotesquely over blown football programs with the salaries of staff and facilities and all the rest.
It seems to have departed from a real student athlete model in too many cases, but what can be said for college football and basketball is that they support the lesser -- I don't mean lesser in importance, but lesser in terms of revenue and general interest. They support tennis and soccer and lacrosse and swimming and crew and whatever else.
So, when that revenue goes and we're talking nationwide about billions and billions, when that revenue goes, there will be a ripple effect on the other programs within these universities. I know that as you mentioned, a number of players want to play and
some 1,000 or more around the country put out some sort of list of demands without which they would not return to play, which included a 50/50 split of the revenue. That is just not going to happen.
I know that there are many people who have said for years, hey, these athletes are uncompensated, but in a true student athlete model, if sanity prevailed, the scholarship could be worth well more than half a million dollars over the course of four years or more in some situations.
So if these are truly student athletes and if the programs don't put such demands on them that they are constantly practicing, constantly traveling there to practice before classes are in session with the case of football in August. If you got back to something proportionate, then the scholarship would have more meaning.
But meanwhile, these players did say, we want to play including Trevor Lawrence, the great quarterback for Clemson. But the bottom line is that these conferences have now decided, the Power Five expected in the next few days to join the Ivy League and mid-American conference and Mountain West, they have decided that it just is not practical. You just can't do it.
There is too many needles to thread. The size of the rosters is too large. If they are going to interact with other students on campus, there is bound to be infection spreading back and forth and if you're going to isolate them the way pro athletes can be isolated in a bubble like the NBA and NHL, then aren't you just declaring this has nothing to do with education, it has nothing to do with kids being on campus? They are here to generate revenues. Isn't that that basically what you're saying if you isolate them?
COOPER: You know, it is interesting, we're hearing from senators: Ben Sasse, Marco Rubio, Jim Jordan, you know, some spoke about a need for football. You know, obviously for people who love football, it's incredibly important. To many in America, it is an incredibly important thing. I guess, the question is, how does the need measure up to a global pandemic?
COSTAS: And especially if you're talking about football or for that matter, basketball outside a bubble. The NBA appears to be successful because they are in a bubble, but playing basketball, you're breathing on each other, you're in close quarters, you're sweating on each other.
But for the moment, that's not the issue. Football is the issue.
[20:30:09]
Try to think of an activity that would be less conducive to containing a pandemic than playing football, the size of the rosters, constant close contact on every play, and a huddle between every play on both sides of the ball. Twenty-two players at a time, offense and defense, let's get in a huddle and talk to each other in a huddle.
COOPER: Also travel -- I mean, traveling teams is a huge task.
COSTAS: Yes. Now most of the conferences when they intended to play and they put out somewhat condensed schedules, they wanted to play only within their conferences, so they cut down on out of conference games, and that's more farflung travel, but still you have to travel. Even within conferences, there's airplane travel involved in some cases, it's just impossible to manage. We've seen that even in baseball with a players are tested regularly where they have all kinds of protocols, where you're talking about a smaller number of players in total, and yet there have been outbreaks on the Miami Marlins and on the St. Louis Cardinals that has disrupted the season. College Football is far more far flung and would be much more difficult to control.
COOPER: Bob Costas, great to have you as always. Thanks, Bob.
COSTAS: Thanks, Anderson.
COOPER: Up next, I'll talk with the aunt of two high school students who've tested positive for coronavirus. They attend that Georgia school scene this now infamous crowded hallway photo We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:35:58]
COOPER: At least 826 students and 42 staff members in a very large Georgia school district north of Atlanta have been quarantined after possible exposure to COVID-19. The district is reporting 38 positive cases among its students and 12 cases among its staff. Now this is ripple effects continue from the viral photo that appeared last week from another Georgia school. The student who took that picture posted on social media was at first suspended then was reinstated not long after.
Now, that school North Paulding High School is closed for a couple of days for deep cleaning.
Joining me now is Angie Franks, whose two nephews attend that school both were diagnosed with coronavirus. Angie, thanks so much for being with us. How are your nephews doing?
ANGIE FRANKS, AUNT OF HS STUDENTS TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID-19: They're actually doing pretty well. They're getting better.
COOPER: Good. And I know your older nephew had symptoms I think after the first day of school, which is just last Monday. Do you know where that where he might have come in contact with the virus?
FRANKS: We believe that he came in contact on the football field, playing football. The same high school.
COOPER: OK. Was that something he was doing over the summer too? I guess for practice, I guess there were practices.
FRANKS: Yes, yes. They started practicing in July.
COOPER: OK.
FRANKS: So I guess (INAUDIBLE) had tested positive. But he was fine. He didn't show any symptoms or didn't mention any symptoms until after school on Monday.
COOPER: And, you know, obviously the pictures of the hallway at North Paulding went viral. I'm wondering when you saw those. What do you think?
FRANKS: Oh, I was pretty mad. I was shocked. I thought that they would have had a plan in place for the kids returning to school and it was anything, but it was just like a regular school day.
COOPER: The -- when writing to North Paulding parents to let them know that there'd be no person -- in person classes today or tomorrow. The superintendent said the health and well-being of our staff and students continues to be our highest priority. Do you -- you're smiling without -- my sense is you don't really see that?
FRANKS: No, I don't. I don't, I don't really think they had a plan in place at all. And it's very disappointing to see that because I really felt like I felt to begin with that the kids started school back in person to soon as it was. I think a lot of parents trusted the school system that they would have a plan in place and quite obviously they did not. So.
COOPER: And I understand, you know, within your extended family, there are some family members who may be more vulnerable to turn, in fact, to a virus like this and have they been exposed, you know, or did the kids have contact with them?
FRANKS: So yes, my husband has multiple myeloma, which is bone marrow cancer, and yes, my -- the younger nephew was here Sunday to pick up a pair of sneakers. I'd gotten him for school and of course we didn't know that he was ill. We stayed outside socially distance. We didn't hug, we didn't touch. He then went over to my mom's house who's also a cancer patient. He did wear a mask in the house, he did not wear one outside. But, you know, (INAUDIBLE) grandchildren in six months, and she just really wanted to see her grandchild and it was a wet birthday. Little party for him before school started.
So, it kind of put us all into a little bit of a panic when we found out that although my husband and I were tested today, we feel fine. My mom feels fine. My dad was fine. No one that was around him that day like his father was around him. He feels fine. So we all feel fine. His dad was tested as well today. His mother was tested. And my mom test on Wednesday.
[20:40:01]
COOPER: Do you know how long it'll take for you for you all to get results?
FRANKS: They're saying three to four days. So -- COOPER: OK.
FRANKS: -- we'll see. It's been quite a while in Georgia, but I have great hopes that they are true to their word and it will be three to four days.
COOPER: Yes. I'm wondering if you have any, you know, obviously, look, these are discussions parents across the country are having and, you know, within families people having and having disagreements, what -- do you have any message for, you know, parents or students around the country?
FRANKS: I do. I mean, I just think people need to take this virus a little bit more seriously than they've been taking it. When you hear 97,000 children tested positive in the month of July. When you think the death rate, you see over 5 million cases in just the United States. The virus is here is alive and simply put on a mask. Just wear a mask. Let's work together and get rid of this. We all want normalcy, and we're not going to get it if we don't help ourselves. It's very frustrating.
COOPER: Amen to that. Angie Franks, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. I wish your mom the best and everybody the best and all.
FRANKS: Thank you so much.
COOPER: All right, you take care.
FRANKS: Thanks.
COOPER: Former Vice President Joe Biden is expected to announce his running mate anytime over the next several days ahead of next week's Democratic National Convention. We'll get the latest from our chief Washington correspondent, next.
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[20:45:27]
COOPER: We know Joe Biden's narrowed down his list of potential running mates. We know the announcement of his pick is expected sometime this week. We'll get the latest now from senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two of the final contenders to be Joe Biden's running mate just happened to be alongside him at the last rally of the primary.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): What's up Detroit.
California Senator Kamala Harris and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, before he clinched the nomination, and coronavirus changed the campaign. His decision is coming any day now ahead of next week's Democratic Convention.
JOE BIDEN (D) PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Every one of the women I've -- we've interviewed is qualified and I've narrowed it down. You'll find out shortly.
ZELENY (voice-over): Aids tell CNN he's narrowing it down from a list of at least 11 women who have undergone extensive vetting. People close to the search believe Harris, Whitmer and former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice are among those he's most seriously considering. With Senators Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth and Congresswoman Karen Bass also in the mix. The choice will be historic marking only the third time a woman will be nominated as a running mate on a major party's presidential ticket. A pledge he made months ago.
BIDEN: I would pick a woman to be my vice president.
ZELENY (voice-over): He faces rising pressure from several black leaders who have implored Biden to choose a woman of color. Congressman Cedric Richmond, a co-chairman of the campaign says those please have been heard. But the decision is up to Biden.
REP. CEDRIC RICHMOND (D) CO-CHAIRMAN, BIDEN CAMPAIGN NATIONAL: All of those letters, all of the calls, all of the statements are being considered very heartfelty and I believe he's going to make the right decision.
HARRIS: I believe in Joe.
ZELENY (voice-over): Harris has long been seen as one of the strongest potential candidates on Biden's list, but he met face to face last week with Whitmer. CNN has learned as well as at least a handful of other contenders. Whitmer's handling of the coronavirus crisis in Michigan impressed Biden people familiar with the search, say, and the two have grown close. She's been an office less than two years appoint we asked her about earlier this year.
GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MIC): I've never had the call to Washington D.C. But the fact that there's even a conversation about what the future of our country looks like and that I'm included in a conversation that has some phenomenal women leaders across this country is truly an honor.
ZELENY (voice-over): Friends of Biden says intent on finding a governing partner who could help tackle the tremendous challenges awaiting whoever wins the election.
BARACK OBAMA, FMR PRESIDENT: The best vice president America's ever had, Mr. Joe Biden's.
ZELENY (voice-over): Despite its own time as vice president that's guiding and complicating his search. Friends say he's looking for a loyal partner in hopes of building a rapport as strong as the one he forged with President Obama, yet the dynamic of the race and Biden's running mate is different. She will be the history making choice. Appoint Biden also acknowledges. BIDEN: look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else. There's an entire generation of leaders you saw stand behind me. They are the future of this country.
ZELENY (voice-over): Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: There's now an open letter to Biden from dozens of male public figures in the black community urging him to pick a black woman as his vice president. Signers include rapper Sean Diddy Combs, radio host Charlamagne tha God, the lawyer for the family of George Floyd. They are failing to select a black woman means Biden will lose the election.
I want that W. Kamau Bell, host of the original CNN series United Shades of America and Gloria Borger, CNN chief political analyst.
Kamau, what type of message do you think it sends in this climate that we're in that if Vice President does indeed choose a black woman?
W. KAMAU BELL, CNN HOST, UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA: I mean, you know, since Joe Biden started running for president, the country has changed twice, once with COVID and once with the killing of George Floyd. And everything in history is pushing towards a woman being his partner on the ticket. And I just think that it seems like Joe Biden may be overthinking this. But that's what history is pushing towards.
COOPER: Gloria, I mean, as Jeff mentioned, as Jeff Zeleny mentioned, this partly comes down to loyalty for Biden, you've covered him for a long time. How important factory think that is.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Very important, but first of all, let me say Joe Biden overthinks everything. So why should this be any different? This is the way he operates. And this is the way he decides. I think loyalty is really important to him. He believes that he was an incredibly loyal to Barack Obama, you did not hear when he disagreed with Obama on policy decisions. He didn't take it to the media. He didn't take it to senators on the Hill. I think and this is according to my sources in the campaign. The first thing he's thinking about though right now is do no harm. He doesn't want to hurt his campaign in any way. And he wants somebody who he has a comfort level with.
[20:50:00]
His comfort level with Barack Obama grew over the years when he was first picked. They didn't really know each other that well, they served in the Senate together but grew closer over the years. So, I think he understands that, you know, this isn't necessarily going to be a best friend at the beginning, but it wants to be -- he wants it to be somebody that he can really govern with.
COOPER: Well, it's also interesting Kamau, because I mean, he has made clear that, you know, he, I mean, he talks about himself as a bridge. You know, early on, there was some sort of rumblings that he might consider announcing that he would only serve one term, which would obviously kind of make him a lame duck from the beginning and wiser heads prevailed on that. But, you know, a lot of this is about the future of the Democratic Party. I guess. The other side of this is the Joe Biden, you know, might not necessarily want a vice president who then immediately starts focusing on 2024.
BELL: I know, I think he's thinking too much about what his relationship like was like with Barack and nothing about what the country needs right now. And one thing the country needs right now is a vice president who can speak to black people, especially younger black people, and progressive white people, because Joe Biden, there's a problem there when he's talking about black people recently, whether it was Charlsmagne tha God or with Aaron Sorkin, CNN, or with the weird thing about there not being diversity in the black community. Joe Biden isn't connecting with younger black audiences, or even progressive white audiences would talk like that.
COOPER: Yes. So Gloria, I mean, that if that is the case, and it certainly seems to be I mean, you know, there's you want a vice president who can campaign and reach out to audiences that you may not be able to reach out to various, you know, voters in states that you may not, you know, have as great a following in. How does that play into this calculus?
BORGER: Well, I think it plays into it in a very large way. I mean, don't forget, this isn't a traditional campaign. You're not out there on the campaign trail, going around the country with tens of thousands of supporters at your rallies. But this is somebody who has to speak a different language from Joe Biden, I think, in some ways, Joe Biden talks about reaching across the aisle very often talks about the old days and how it used to work in the old days --
COOPER: Malarkey. I tell.
BORGER:-- I think he needs somebody with him. Malarkey. I think he needs somebody who can, as Kamau was saying, who can talk to younger people, and who can say, this is what Joe and I want to do for this country. And he also understands that it was black voters and black women in particular, who helped him win in South Carolina, which catapulted him to the nomination. And I don't think Joe Biden is going to forget that looking at a general election.
COOPER: Kamau, when you said you think he's overthinking it, do you think it's not as important as he's making it to be? Or he's -- how do you how do you mean that?
BELL: I mean, I'm not running for president, but I would pick a black woman because clearly that's the way the wind is blowing. And I think that when you hear him in a meeting with Gretchen Whitmer not only is that weird because we all believe you should pick a black woman. Also Gretchen Whitmer is not that popular with the black people in her state. So to me, it feels like what are you seeing in her that you're not seeing black and black women candidates?
COOPER: And Gloria, I mean, you know, we all remember that early debate exchange, Vice President Biden, Senator Harris had on busing school desegregation. You know, the Biden campaign says, look, he doesn't hold grudges, you know, he's a human being and human beings have feelings. And, you know, for --
BORGER: Sure.
COOPER: -- better for worse. What -- is he says whether that relation, is it known whether that relationship has been repaired?
BORGER: It's really hard to know about Joe Biden personally, I can tell you from my own reporting, that there are people in that campaign who were still smarting over that, which he said to Biden, I know you're not a racist, comma, but when they were talking about busing and desegregation in Wilmington, and I think he was personally hurt by it, because not only did he like Kamala Harris, but he knew that she was a very close friend of his now deceased son, Beau Biden.
So, I think it kind of stung him. But he's a big boy. He's been in politics an awfully long time. And generally people will tell you, Biden is not someone who holds a grudge. Will people who work with him hold a grudge? Yes, maybe, but they want to win, above all else. And if they think that Harris can help them do it, she'll be the vice presidential nominee.
COOPER: Kamau, you know, Kamala Harris, obviously, as a prosecutor, you know, did not -- you know, the fact that she was a prosecutor has not, you know, engender her well, with the Black Lives Matter, some of the Black Lives Matter movement. So I mean, it's, it's a complex decision for him it -- you know, just because somebody, you know, he may think, you know, I need a -- I want a black woman. Everybody comes with their own baggage in one form or another.
BELL: Yes, I mean, I'm not here to tell him who to pick but it should be about which black woman it's not about any black woman. You know, I'm not going to recommend you pick Candace Owens just because she's a black woman. I think it's about picking the black one that gives you the best chance to connect with black people and white progressives.
[20:55:08]
In the middle of this moment in the country where we're turning over how we think about structural and institutionalized racism, and you want somebody who can speak to that. It's not about it shouldn't be about Joe Biden, it should be about who gives this country the best chance to recover from Donald Trump.
COOPER: W. Kamau Bell --
BORGER: Right. And -- but one more --
COOPER: Go ahead Gloria.
BORGER: Well, one more thing, you know, it's a shotgun marriage. And so, Biden needs somebody he is comfortable with. And that person has to be comfortable with him in front of the entire country. It's not easy. COOPER: Gloria Borger, thank you, W. Kamau Bell, always thank you. Be sure to catch United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell Sundays 9:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.
Also another programming note don't miss Full Circle. It's our digital news show that gives us a chance to dig in some topics, have in depth conversations. You can catch it streaming live Monday, Tuesday and Friday 6:00 p.m. Eastern at cnn.com/fullcircle. You can watch it there anytime. And on the CNN app at any time On Demand. And you get alerts about every episode.
Up next, the President's back to spreading more misinformation about COVID and kids tonight, they'll try and downplay their risks. As a new report shows a 90% increase in the number of kids getting the virus in the last four weeks. We'll have more on that ahead.
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