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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Georgia Election Meltdown; Human Coronavirus Vaccine Trials Set to Begin; Coronavirus Cases Surging in Some States; Brother of George Floyd Testifies on Capitol Hill. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired June 10, 2020 - 16:30   ET

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

[16:30:01]

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And when he talked about it, he said he pleaded for it to stop. And he wants justice to be served.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILONISE FLOYD, BROTHER OF GEORGE FLOYD: He pleaded for his life. He said he couldn't breathe. Nobody cared, nobody.

People pleaded for him. They still didn't care. You don't do that to a human being. You don't even do that to an animal.

His life mattered. All our lives matter. Black lives matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And, Jake, what he's asking for is to stop hiring corrupt police officers. Those were his words.

But the debate on Capitol Hill going forward on how to do that will continue. Democrats have their own plan. A lot of it would set national standards in dealing with trying to crack down on police tactics.

Republicans want to force that to let states make a lot of those decisions, incentivize states to ban things like choke hold. So that debate we will continue.

But the House Democrats, Jake, want to pass their bill before the end of the month -- Jake.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: All right, Manu Raju on Capitol Hill, thanks so much.

CNN political commentator Angela Rye and CNN legal analyst Laura Coates join me now.

The tone of this hearing, I have to say, was less combative than we're used to between Democrats and Republicans. I want you two to take a listen to some of the House Republicans today. Let's roll that tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARTHA ROBY (R-AL): Today is the day to set our politics aside and focus on sound policies for our country.

REP. STEVE CHABOT (R-OH): Hopefully, we can have both parties working together to actually accomplish something here and not just point fingers.

REP. DOUG COLLINS (R-GA): This committee has a history of working together. Let's do this. And let's get with the president and the Senate and make a difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Angela, let me start with you.

Are you optimistic that this might be a sign that Democrats and Republicans can actually work together and come towards some solutions?

ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, Jake, I think the proof, quite frankly, is in the pudding.

Folks have been yelling black lives matter since the death of Trayvon Martin. And we know how those cases turned out. We know that not much has changed. And we have seen reform take place little by little. And even with some of those reforms in place, Jake, police departments tend to run afoul of the rules.

And so the question really becomes not just, will this measure be bipartisan? But the question really is, are there enough well-meaning people in city governments, in state governments and at the federal level who are willing to ensure that police officers are held accountable, that department funding is tied to some of the solutions that are put forth?

And I think, on a larger level, there is a groundswell right now, Jake, about defunding the police. Are people willing to divest from police departments and pour much-needed resources into investing into marginalized communities and black communities?

That is where the rubber will meet the road here. I know there are plenty of activists, many of them friends of mine, who are saying that this particular measure doesn't go far enough. It is the beginning of a conversation. But it is exactly that, because a lot more needs to be done.

TAPPER: And, Laura, I want you to take a listen to one of the president's top defenders on Capitol Hill, Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida, talking today about working with Democrats on this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): There is not a legitimate defense of choke holds or lynching or bad cops that get shuttled around, and you will be able to count on Republican cooperation as we hone these ideas and hopefully pass them and get them to the president's desk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Where do you think this ultimately ends up, given the fact that, even if there is some bipartisan agreement in the House of Representatives, this is going to have to go to the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans?

And though there's an effort there, and Senator Tim Scott's been active in a lot of these issues when it comes to body cameras and the like, there is going to have to be bipartisan agreement for anything to actually happen?

LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: There will be.

And, of course, the idea of there being a bipartisan support for this is going to be a very important step, because, as we know, as much as we'd like to have well-meaning people and people who say what they'd like to have happen, we're going to have to have legislative buy-in. But it's going to be more than that.

It will have to require the executive branch to buy in, and also the judicial branch, because they're going to have to have a holistic and comprehensive approach here. It's going to have to include perhaps tying funding in order to have some national standards and using the power of the purse.

It's going to be about that national registry. It's going to be about having to track those officers who are problematic and about the state and local levels and individual police departments doing what they need to do to enforce.

And, finally, qualified immunity will have to be looked at, as is the standard by which officers are judged in the use of force they use. That falls in the lap of the Supreme Court.

And so while I want there to be buy-in, it's got to be holistic across all branches of government.

[16:35:03]

TAPPER: All right, Laura Coates and Angela Rye, thank you so much. Always good to have you on.

Up next: several states seeing a major surge in coronavirus hospitalizations since Memorial Day, forcing one state to activate its emergency plans.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Alarm bells are going off in our health lead today.

A spike and coronavirus ICU patients in Arizona has officials warning hospitals there to prepare to activate emergency response plans. At least a dozen states are now seeing significant increases in hospitalizations for coronavirus since Memorial Day.

[16:40:01]

So far, no direct correlation has been established, but, in May, a number of states did relax their social distancing and stay-at-home guidelines.

There are currently more than 112,000 deaths in the U.S., with a race for a vaccine speeding up, as CNN's Erica Hill explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sobering new data about coronavirus-related hospitalizations, up in at least a dozen states since Memorial Day weekend.

In Arizona, 79 percent of the state's ICU beds are currently in use. The director of Health Services asking hospitals to activate their emergency plans and reduce or suspend elective surgeries.

DR. RICHARD BESSER, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: What concerns me is, do we have the systems in place to ensure that a case in a community doesn't lead to a cluster, doesn't lead to an outbreak, doesn't lead to a health care system once again getting overwhelmed?

HILL: Hospitalizations also up in Utah, where Republican gubernatorial candidate and former Ambassador Jon Huntsman today announced he has tested positive.

Across the country, 19 states reporting a rise in new cases over the past week, including Florida, Georgia and South Carolina among the first to reopen, much of the Northeast seeing a decline.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): It has to be done right. And we have to stay disciplined. And the evidence is all around us what happens if we're not.

HILL: The push for a viable vaccine is gaining speed. The U.S. government says it will fund and study three experimental vaccines this summer, including one from Johnson & Johnson set to begin human trials next month.

BESSER: Even with a vaccine, there may be other steps that we have to continue to take to control coronavirus.

HILL: Face coverings and social distancing likely here to stay, as the nation's top infectious disease expert warns the old normal won't be back anytime soon.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: And when you open, that doesn't mean that everything is OK and you just can just do whatever you want. You still have to practice a degree of caution.

HILL: New CNN polling shows Americans are split on returning to their regular routines and whether the worst is behind us. Women are more likely than men to exercise caution. Just 38 percent

say they're ready to resume those routines.

NASCAR is ready for fans to return this weekend in Homestead, Florida. Major League Soccer will be back on the pitch July 8, as the MLB Players Association proposes July 10 for opening day of a shortened season. And new cases are reported among football players at Florida State and the University of Central Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Jake, we also just learned from Governor Jim Justice of 24 cases in West Virginia that he says are now linked to four different churches in his state, an outbreak of between five and eight cases in each one.

The governor asking the congregations to please keep up with social distancing and wearing masks at their services -- Jake.

TAPPER: Erica Hill in New York, thank you so much.

With human trials with the coronavirus vaccine starting next month, we're going to take a look at what that might mean for the public availability of the vaccine. That's coming up next.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:47:31]

TAPPER: Continuing in our health lead: The United States will pay for and conduct studies on three specific experimental vaccines for coronavirus this summer, one by Moderna, one by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, and the third by Johnson and Johnson. "The Wall Street Journal" was first report this news.

Dr. Anthony Fauci says he hopes a viable vaccine will be ready for the public by January.

Let's bring in CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

Elizabeth, why the focus on these three particular vaccines?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, the first two makes some sense, according to the experts I have spoken with.

Moderna and AstraZeneca are sort of leaders, two of the leaders of the pack in this. They're already well into their clinical trials, and so their phases one and two. And so for them to start phase three in July or August, that makes sense. They are also two different platforms, two different types of vaccines, which is really important because, as we have heard so often, we need lots of shots on goal.

Johnson & Johnson is a little bit more of a mystery. They are not among the leaders of the pack. There are several others that are ahead of them. Also, their platform is essentially -- their vaccine technology is essentially the same as AstraZeneca.

So it is unclear why they're in this group, but there may be others added to this group. So I don't think we should take these three and say, all right, that's it, no others. There may be others to follow.

TAPPER: When will we know if any vaccines are effective?

COHEN: I think, by the end of the summer, we will have some idea on AstraZeneca and also on Moderna.

It may not be the answer that we want, and I want to be up front about that. These vaccines might not work or might not work terribly well. It may take a couple of tries until we do get to one that works. And there's a lot of concern that the Trump administration is going to put pressure to just accept the first one that comes along, to say, all right, that looks good, let's go.

And that's really a concern, because the first one may not be the best one.

TAPPER: The FDA has now authorized the first coronavirus test that also looks for mutations of the virus, though it's my impression that there has been no indication that the coronavirus is mutating.

So, explain more about this. How significant is it?

COHEN: Right.

So, well, actually viruses mutate in little insignificant ways all the time. What we look for are sort of those big mutations that would make us say, huh, we need to get a different kind of vaccine or we need to be handling this differently.

[16:50:02]

It's always good to be on the lookout for it. You never know. I mean, it could happen. No one thinks that this virus is any -- is particularly susceptible to mutating. But there's nothing wrong with being on the lookout for it.

TAPPER: And, right now, we are seeing these dramatic increases in hospitalizations since Memorial Day in at least 12 states, including Arkansas, Arizona, California, Oregon, Utah, Texas, South and North Carolina.

Is this simply a matter of, OK, we reopened, so hospitalizations were bound to increase? Has anyone established why this is happening?

COHEN: That's what all the experts are telling me, Jake, that there is no mystery here. They said it the minute that everything reopened.

They said, wait a few weeks. We are going to see an increase in cases, an increase in hospitalizations and likely an increase in deaths as well. It is super simple. You do not need a Ph.D. in immunology to understand this. Viruses travel from person to person.

The closer people are together, the more it will travel, the more cases you will have.

TAPPER: A study analyzing 2,000 hospitalized patients in Italy and Spain found that those with type A blood seemed to have an increased risk of respiratory failure because of the virus. Patients with type O blood seem to have more protection.

What do you make of that?

COHEN: You know, it's interesting. So this is a study of 2,000 people, which is really relatively small. It also hasn't been peer- reviewed. So other scientists haven't sort of put their stamp of approval on it.

We would want to see this in more people to say, yes, this is a thing. Just because one study in 2,000 people saw it does not mean that it is a thing. It would be interesting to know if there was a correlation between blood type and susceptibility to COVID-19. But, right now, we just don't know.

TAPPER: Right. Such -- so many mysteries remain about the novel coronavirus.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much. Always good to have you on.

Coming up: It's being called a complete meltdown, people standing in line for hours during a pandemic to cast their votes. And the problems could spell disaster for November, people worry.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:56:45]

TAPPER: We just got a preview of what voting might look like in November during a pandemic, and, frankly it's not pretty.

In Georgia, some voters waited for hours in the heat to cast their ballots. State officials blame coronavirus, saying that many poll workers were afraid of getting sick, so officials had to close voting sites and scramble to get new workers.

Voters tell CNN there were multiple cases, however, of voting machines not working. The bulk of the issues happened yesterday in counties where minorities make up nearly half of the population.

CNN's Abby Phillip joins us now live to discuss.

And, Abby, Republican officials statewide say that these problems largely occurred in counties led by Democrats. What are the Democrats saying in response?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, they're right to some extent about that.

But Democrats are saying that the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, is the official responsible for managing elections in the state, and that, ultimately, the buck stops on his desk.

But, as you know, Georgia is a state that Democrats want to flip in 2020. They believe that that state is moving in their direction. And there's been a lot of attention going back many years, but especially in 2018, about voting irregularities that they say disadvantage and disenfranchise minority voters.

Ultimately, Jake, the blame goes all the way around. There are a lot of people who are deserving of some blame for what happened here. It comes down in large part to poor planning and the inability to have contingency plans for some of these coronavirus-related problems.

But also, notably, this surge in mail-in votes that we saw in Georgia, there was a disparity. Minority voters were less likely to request mail-in votes, so they were going to show up in person. And in those parts of the state, there were just simply not enough voting locations, not enough ballot boxes, and that's why we saw some of those long lines.

TAPPER: And we're less than five months away from the November elections.

What kind of solutions are being proposed to make sure this doesn't happen again? Two Senate races, a presidential race. A lot going on in Georgia.

PHILLIP: Yes, the November general election is the Super Bowl of voting in this country, essentially.

And I spent the day talking to election officials, who basically say, more money is needed. The head of the Commission on Election Assistance, a Trump appointee, actually said to me, the federal government needs to step up very quickly and get more money, to these states, because it's very expensive to procure more locations to offer more options for people who are voting, to hire a lot more staff or bring in more volunteers to deal with all of these ballots.

There are a lot of practical things that need to be happen -- to happen. They also say questions about absentee ballots, whether or not voters and election officials can track where they are in the system, is a huge problem.

So many voters in Georgia told me they never received their absentee ballots, they weren't sure if they were ever received by the state. And right now, there's not a great way to track where they are in the system to make sure that they get in and are counted.

TAPPER: Abby Phillip, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Our coverage on CNN continues right now. Thanks so much for watching.

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