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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Hunting Coronavirus Origins; Navy Firestorm; Prisoners Pleading For Help With Coronavirus. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired April 06, 2020 - 16:30   ET

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

[16:33:58]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: While it seems clear that the coronavirus originated in Wuhan, China, what is less clear is where it came from in that city.

Science continues to point towards wildlife as the most likely original source.

And, as CNN Drew Griffin reports, how it may have spread from bats to humans continues to be a subject of investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Because we don't know where the novel coronavirus came from yet, the conspiracy theories fill the void.

RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I'm telling you, the Chicoms are trying to weaponize this thing.

GRIFFIN: Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, with zero proof, suggesting a Chinese bioweapon lab is to blame.

A Chinese official tweeting: "It might be U.S. Army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan."

But to find the real source of this pandemic, it's best to leave it to science. CNN has spoken to a half-dozen virus hunters, who right now say anyone who claims they know the exact source of the novel coronavirus is guessing.

Did it come from bats? Most likely.

[16:35:01]

Chinese researchers have already determined the coronavirus is 96 percent identical at the whole genome level to a bat coronavirus; 27 public health scientists from across the U.S. and the world wrote this letter in the journal "Lancet" condemning conspiracy theories and citing scientific evidence, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, that supports the theory that overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife, as have so many other emerging pathogens.

PETER DASZAK, PRESIDENT, ECOHEALTH, ALLIANCE: The common thread is wildlife. These pathogens emerged from wildlife.

GRIFFIN: One of those scientists is one of the most preeminent virus hunters in the world, Peter Daszak.

DASZAK: Because we'd been doing this work in China for 10 years, we had a whole series of genetic sequences of viruses we have found with our colleagues. So, when they got a new virus in people because of COVID-19, they could compare it to what they'd seen in bats.

So they knew straight away this is likely a bat origin virus.

GRIFFIN (on camera): And because it has that 96 percent comparison rate to what was actually in a bat, that's why you're saying it's very, very likely this did come from a bat, although we don't know what this -- where this strain actually came from?

DASZAK: We're very confident that the origin of COVID-19 is in bats. We just don't know where exactly it originates. And that's what we need to do now.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): It is a genetic detective story. Researchers will trace the virus that is killing thousands to a yet-to-be-captured bat in the wild, to a potential animal that became the crossover vehicle for COVID-19.

Yes, the virus could have transferred directly from bat to human, but most likely, says Daszak, it was bats infecting farmed animals, the animals brought to market alive, and kept with people in one of the most perfect incubators for viral infection, the Chinese wet market.

DASZAK: This huge diversity of animals lie in cages on top of each other, with a pile of guts that have been pulled out of an animal and thrown on the floor.

And as you walk toward the stalls, you slip on feces and blood. These are perfect places for viruses to spread. Not only that. People are working there. People are coming in and buying animals. They're chopping them up in front of you. And kids are playing there. You know, families almost live there.

GRIFFIN: It's called zoonotic spillover.

Professor Andrew Cunningham, with the Zoological Society of London, has studied them for decades.

ANDREW CUNNINGHAM, ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON: Wet markets, these live animal markets, are certainly a very good way of, if you like, trying to get a virus to spill over into people from wildlife. They're susceptible to getting viruses or other pathogens from the environment or from other animals that they wouldn't naturally come into close contact with, again, because they're stressed.

And then they can become virus factories. And they're in close contact with human beings in the markets, and they're butchered in the markets, and by people in relatively unhygienic conditions.

GRIFFIN: Other researchers point to reports from China that some of the earliest cases were not associated with the wet market.

And then there's this theory, widely debunked, this paper from two Chinese researchers that says it is plausible that the virus leaked accidentally from one of two labs near the Wuhan seafood market. After an uproar and heated denials by the Chinese government, one of the authors told "The Wall Street Journal" the paper had been withdrawn because it was not supported by direct proofs.

Experienced virus hunter Daszak and Cunningham say the theory is bunk.

DASZAK: People don't keep bats in captivity. Complete baloney.

CUNNINGHAM: We don't need to invoke conspiracy theories. It's just basic biology.

GRIFFIN: Tensions between the U.S. and China over the origins of the virus and accusations of misinformation from both sides are slowing the work of the virus hunters, who are grounded by the same travel restrictions that have crippled the world.

That is concerning, because without knowing where it came from, there is still a chance that original host species is spreading it.

DASZAK: If there was a so-called intermediate host, an animal that the bat virus got into, and then allowed it to get into people, the virus might still be in that host. Now, there are hundreds, thousands of these animals and farms, and maybe the virus is still there.

So, even if we get rid of the outbreak, there's still a chance that that virus could then reemerge. And we need to find that quickly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Jake, the answer lies with China.

And with Western scientists still unable to travel in yet, the trail on the hunt for this virus is just growing colder -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, fascinating. Drew Griffin, thank you so much.

Quote: "Death is imminent for us."

[16:40:02]

Why one group of Americans say they are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus, and they are pleading for help, at great risk to themselves.

A special LEAD investigation -- that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: A special investigation for THE LEAD now.

These last few days have marked something of an inflection point for one specific coronavirus-impacted group that few lawmakers or most members of the public talk much about: prisoners.

Last week, we learned about the first federal prisoner to die from coronavirus, Patrick Jones. He was serving time for a nonviolent offense.

[16:45:01]

Prisoners from Lisbon, Ohio, to Oakdale, Louisiana, have contracted the virus behind bars and died from it. Health workers warn that crowded prisons and jails with insufficient hygiene are becoming veritable petri dishes, incubating the virus and spreading it far beyond the walls of the facilities.

Some officials have promoted the release of some prisoners to reduce the chances of what essentially would be or could be a death sentence.

Perhaps nowhere are prisoners more vulnerable to this than in Alabama, where THE LEAD obtained footage of prisoners literally pleading for their lives.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need help.

TAPPER (voice-over): Desperate pleas from behind bars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Death is imminent for us.

TAPPER: Prisoners in the Alabama correctional system fearing for their lives, as the coronavirus pandemic spreads.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fixing to be a mass grave site up in these prisons.

TAPPER: CNN obtained this video from inside state prisons in just the last week, capturing just how deplorable conditions are in the facilities.

The state Department of Corrections, in an internal document obtained by AOL.com, sounding the alarm -- quote -- "21,900 inmates being housed in crowded dormitories creates a very high exposure risk situation."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are not given us hand sanitizer. They're not given us proper soap. They're not given us masks.

TAPPER: Inmates crammed together, overflowing in some spaces.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're stupid crowded. We're super crowded. And it's super days with the coronavirus.

TAPPER: Alabama state prisons are among the most crowded in the country, according to the Bureau of Justice statistics. And the Justice Department found the 13 major facilities in the state were 182 percent past capacity, one even at three times capacity. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ADOC here, they have no preventive measures to

stop coronavirus from coming in. And by the prison being so overcrowded, once it's in this prison, it will flood like wildfire.

TAPPER: Almost no testing of prisoners has been done.

The internal Alabama Department Of corrections document reveals that, in the worst-case scenario, nearly 200 inmates could die, given that conditions will -- quote -- "accelerate the transmission of disease among the inmate population, as well as the Alabama Department of Corrections staff."

Social or physical distancing is not an option.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stretch your arms out again. That's how close we are.

TAPPER: And while some states and Attorney General Bill Barr have released some inmates early to help mitigate the oncoming disaster, Alabama for the most part has not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See, these are the people that they should be letting go due to the coronavirus. What in the world can this man do?

TAPPER: The Alabama Department of Corrections gave us no specific response to our story, directing us to their Web site detailing their response to the outbreak in general, which says in part:

"Rest assured that all inmates in our custody will continue to be provided with the services to which they are entitled, including rehabilitative, medical, dental, and mental health, through the duration of the COVID-19 outbreak," a respond seemingly from a world unlike the one where prisoners say they do not even have basic hygiene needs met.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You didn't bring no hand sanitizer with you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There ain't none.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There ain't none?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm talking about none.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The sinks are very outdated. We cannot wash our hands simultaneously at the same time, you know?

TAPPER: Leading these inmates to risk retaliation to publicly beg you right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My thing to the outside world is help, help, help for the overcrowding, help for sanitary purposes, help for a release mechanism. We need to release some of these people. We need help.

TAPPER: And forcing these men to potentially face a horrific fate no judge or jury sentenced them to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a death sentence. Death is imminent for those in my age category.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: For many, faith plays such an important role during these trying times.

It is Holy Week for Christians. Passover will begin Wednesday night for Jews. Ramadan will start later this month for Muslims. Many places of worship have closed.

But, as CNN's Tom Foreman now reports, some are open, putting their faith over social and physical distancing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the holiest week of the year for Christians, a battle is brewing between some government leaders convinced any churches still open are putting everyone at risk for the virus.

ANDREW WARREN, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA, STATE ATTORNEY: Everyone needs to right now, at this moment, act like you have it and thank God that you don't.

[16:50:06]

FOREMAN: And some religious folks who flatly disagree.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to open up, so that people that are in spiritual need right now more than ever. Our churches need to be open.

FOREMAN: Government enthusiasm for cracking down on worship services has been lukewarm in places. Of the more than 40 states with stay-at- home orders, 14 have given churches exemptions, despite outbreaks and fatalities already associated with religious gatherings, such as here in California.

In Florida, where one pastor was arrested after a huge convocation, the governor's office has now defined worship as an essential service, even though someone municipalities strongly object.

WARREN: This is not only undermining our ability to implement social distancing here. It's really undermining the sacrifices that millions of Floridians have been making across the state for the past couple weeks.

FOREMAN: In Louisiana, where the virus is raging, a Baton Rouge pastor is still holding services allegedly drawing hundreds. The governor there?

GOV. JOHN BEL EDWARDS (D-LA): We're not going to enforce our way out of this.

FOREMAN: At the Vatican, Palm Sunday typically draws massive crowds to St. Peter's Square. The view this year, startlingly different.

And, to be sure, many places of worship in the United States have shifted to online services.

CARDINAL TIMOTHY DOLAN, ARCHBISHOP OF NEW YORK: Easter's the easiest day to preach, because all of us long for hope.

FOREMAN: Yet, in some corners of the religious world, that's just not enough.

So, in Arkansas, the Awaken Church continues to hold services, while telling worshipers to spread out and avoid hugging or handshakes. The governor there is also pushing back only lightly.

GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON (R-AR): We don't recommend that, but if it's within the guidelines, then that's understandable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: Perhaps it is understandable to some who are very devout and the politicians who count on them for votes, but health experts also say they have faith, faith that every time people gather in large groups, they're putting us all in danger -- Jake.

TAPPER: They sure are.

Tom Foreman, thanks so much.

Coming up -- quote -- "too naive or too stupid" -- the acting secretary of the Navy blasting a commander for having raised concerns about his crew and coronavirus.

You will hear what he said next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:57:09]

TAPPER: And this just in: President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have now spoken on the phone to discuss the nation's coronavirus pandemic and the response, a source tells CNN.

President Trump earlier today tweeted, "Wondering when this call would happen," after Biden offered to speak with the president about the pandemic.

And breaking news right now. CNN just obtained some audio of acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly blasting Captain Brett Crozier this morning. Crozier, you might remember, was fired as the commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt after he wrote a memo sounding the alarm that much more needed to be done to protect his sailors, his crew from a coronavirus outbreak on board.

Here is the tape of acting Secretary Modly:

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

THOMAS MODLY, ACTING U.S. SECRETARY OF THE NAVY: If he didn't think that information was going to get out into the public, in this information age that we live in, then he was, A, too naive or too stupid to be the commanding officer of a ship like this.

The alternate is that he did it on purpose. It was a betrayal of trust with me, with his chain of command.

The former Vice President of United States Joe Biden suggested just yesterday that my decision was criminal. I assure you, it was not, because I understand the facts, and those facts show that what your captain did was very, very wrong.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN's Barbara Starr joins us now.

And, Barbara, the crew, as we all saw, applauded and chanted for Captain Crozier after he was removed from his command. It was later revealed that Crozier himself has tested positive for coronavirus.

What else did acting Secretary Modly have to say?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, he calls it a betrayal.

And that is so serious, because, of course, in the military, to betray can be a court martial offense. And there's an investigation going on.

But Modly hasn't waited for any of that, calling him too naive, too stupid if he thought disbursing this letter wouldn't result in it coming to the media, who Modly also criticized.

And it may be rich irony that Modly's own audio recording, the recording of Modly's own speech to the crew out in Guam, was widely disbursed as well.

One of the things you hear on that tape are some of the crew members talking back to Modly, saying that the captain was only trying to help us.

This is extraordinary that it has gotten to this level. And the Navy is going to have to do something about it. They are going to have to gain the trust of this crew. They are going to have to get well and healthy.

They are still trying to get hundreds of crew members off the ship, get them into quarantine. There is a long way to go on this controversy. Not entirely clear if Tom Modly will stay in office -- Jake.

TAPPER: Yes, it's amazing.

Modly saying that Captain Crozier was too naive or too stupid, not knowing that the letter would get out.

[17:00:00]