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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Touting New Coronavirus Miracle Cure?; Interview With Atlanta, Georgia, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms; Democratic National Convention Set to Begin. Aired 4-4:30p ET

Aired August 17, 2020 - 16:00   ET

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

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: So, this is going to be a much more serious convention, in the sense that there is not going to be the applause, at least from inside one room.

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But there is still excitement that we saw throughout this primary campaign that led us to this point, that is going to lead us to Joe Biden accepting the nomination here in Wilmington, Delaware, his hometown, on Thursday.

But it is his enthusiasm, they believe, on the united desire to win back the White House and defeat this president. So, that is the enthusiasm.

But there are all kinds of bells and whistles in what essentially is going to be a television show. There are going to be testimonials from average voters, including a Democrat from Pennsylvania, a farmer who voted for President Trump four years ago and says he was conned, he won't do it again. So he will be giving a testimony.

We will see things like that throughout the evening, as well as some musical performances, some readings, as well as Eva Longoria will be the master of ceremonies, if you will.

So this is going to be a virtual convention, hearing from a lot of people. But, Jake, at the heart of it, it is President Trump who provides this enthusiasm for Democrats.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Right, enthusiasm to defeat him.

ZELENY: Sure.

TAPPER: The headliner this evening is first lady Michelle Obama. What are we expecting her to say?

ZELENY: Well, Jake, this is a bit of a continuation, I'm told, from her 2016 speech.

And you will remember, of course, she was the first lady at the time and talking about all the attacks that her family withstood and endured. She famously said, when they go low, we go high. So, I am told she will expound upon that a bit this evening. She's

going to say what exactly going high means. She's going to talk about getting involved and how this summer of protests here was so important. I'm told she's going to be talking about unity.

But, Jake, this is the third convention she's spoken before. In 2008, of course, she introduced herself to the country at the convention, and then in 2012 as well, 2016 -- I'm sorry -- this is the fourth convention.

But this is the first one she does not have the role of first lady. She's not running for anything. So I am told by her advisers she plans to have a very tough and personal speech, unlike any we have heard from her before.

TAPPER: And, Jeff, how is Vice President Biden preparing to accept them nomination on Thursday, the last night of the convention?

ZELENY: Well, Jake, in a sense, he spent his lifetime preparing for this moment.

And it's one that he didn't necessarily think would come. Of course, he first ran for president in the '88 campaign, but didn't make it through '87. His first convention appearance, 1980, when people did not know who Joe Biden was. So, in a sense, he's been preparing for this moment.

But I am told he has already been working on his speech. He is going to be essentially putting this moment in history and explaining again why he's running. It is all again, as he has said again and again, to restore the soul of this nation.

So he is presenting himself as someone who can return this country to a sense of normalcy. Jake, he's also presenting himself as something of a bridge. If you look at his life, he, of course, was part of the Obama/Biden coalition. He literally is that bridge to what he hopes will be the Biden/Harris coalition.

So that is what his moment will be. Jake, I'm told we will not see him tonight, but we will likely see him at the convention virtually before Thursday night, of course, when he accepts his nomination right here -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Jeff Zeleny in Wilmington, Delaware, thanks so much.

Let's discuss this all with Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.

Mayor Bottoms, thanks for joining us.

The focus tonight, the Democrats say, is we, the people, with a focus on the pandemic, the economy and the racial divide here in the U.S. Now, polls suggests that a lot of voters are ready to cast their ballots, a lot of Democratic voters are ready to cast their ballots against Trump.

Do you think Joe Biden needs to do more to explain what he will do as president, other than not be Trump?

KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D), MAYOR OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Well, first of all, thank you for having me.

I think what's most important going into this week and as we go towards November is to remember the lessons that we have learned in 2016.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton was up in the polls going into the election, and Democrats lost. So I think it's important that Joe Biden continue to make the case as to why he is best suited to be president of the United States.

We have heard him say it over the past year. So all he has to do is to continue to be himself, but obviously elevate that message. And, as voters, we have to take very seriously this right to vote.

John Lewis' parting words to us in his moving essay was, if we don't exercise the right to vote, we will lose it. And what we know is that this country cannot stay on the same course that we have been on for the last four years, because, if we do, we will lose this democracy that we call America.

TAPPER: How will we lose the democracy if Trump is reelected?

BOTTOMS: Well, what I'm seeing with Donald Trump is this elevation of this authoritarian reign.

The removing of post office boxes, so that you can domestically interfere with the election process, that's not a democracy. But what's happened over the past four years is that he's began to normalize this type of behavior.

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And when you see democracies in trouble, it's not with one move. It's with a series of moves. And this is the most recent move on behalf of Donald Trump. And it's the reason we can't take it for four more years.

TAPPER: A new CNN poll finds the race tightening, with Vice President Biden leading President Trump by just 4 percentage points among registered voters.

You talked about polls a second ago. In battleground states, including your home state of Georgia, the race is even tighter in aggregate in those 15 states, with Biden leading Trump by only one point. That's within the margin of error.

What message do Democrats need to drive home to draw support away from President Trump and to get people to the polls, beyond the idea of Hillary led last time and she still lost, so you need to get to the polls? How do you get the enthusiasm, so that young voters in Georgia, in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, et cetera, actually go to the polls? BOTTOMS: Again, I think that, as we look at what's going to happen

over the next few days with the convention, it's about unifying our country.

And the reflection of this ticket represents who we are as a country. We have seen the most recent polls that show that, with the addition of Senator Harris to the ticket, that already you're seeing more enthusiasm for this election.

We know, traditionally, people don't really begin to pay attention until after Labor Day. So, as we move from the convention and move towards Labor Day with this traditional campaign period, again, everything about 2020 is different than years past. So it's going to be important that we continue to push the message, but also in ways that we aren't used to having to push messages.

There will probably be an elevation in social media, but that's also an opportunity to reach young people in a way and get young people energized and excited about the opportunity to vote and to see some meaningful change in this country.

They have called out for it in our streets over the past few months. And there's an opportunity to put that into action again by casting a vote in November.

TAPPER: Well, let's talk about that, because a lot of the voters in the streets that have been talking about Black Lives Matter, progressives, African-Americans, other minorities, young people, these are people who want criminal justice reform.

I have heard many progressives criticize both Joe Biden and Senator Harris for their past records when it comes to criminal justice reform, Harris is specifically as attorney general and district attorney.

What do you say to those voters who say, yes, we want criminal justice reform, but Kamala is a cop and Joe Biden wrote the '94 crime bill?

BOTTOMS: Well, what I say is, look at the work that we have done in Atlanta on criminal justice reform over the past several years. And part of the work that we did in Atlanta was incorporated into Joe Biden's criminal justice reform policy.

So, what I know is that he's listened. He sat down at a table, joined by me and other mayors across this country, to hear our concerns. And when he began to push out his policies specifically on criminal justice reform, he sent that to us in Atlanta.

We had an opportunity to review it and give input, based on what we know that is working in Atlanta. We're closing our jail and getting away from mass incarceration, but moving towards a model of -- with proactive services available to people and communities.

We are transitioning our budget, our corrections budget towards more community-based models to help with community programming. I share that with you because he got -- in the same way that he got input from us in Atlanta, I know that he's done it with others across the country, and that's why I know this policy is a real policy.

TAPPER: You're slated to speak on Thursday. Any preview for us on what you plan to say?

BOTTOMS: Well, it's going to be a great night.

Obviously, I'm speaking. I'm excited about that. But to hear the vice president formally accept the nomination is going to be an incredible night across this country.

So, I'm honored. I think about the last convention, where I ended up getting stuck in the Delta lounge overnight, and I never made it to the convention. My flight was canceled. So, four years can make a -- makes a really big difference.

And here I am speaking on Thursday night, and looking forward to four years of meaningful leadership in this country.

TAPPER: Well, you're not going to get stuck in the Delta lounge. I don't think you're probably going to be leaving Atlanta.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, thank you so much for your time. Best of luck. Break a leg on Thursday. We appreciate your time.

BOTTOMS: Thank you.

TAPPER: Tonight, hear from former first lady Michelle Obama, Senator Bernie Sanders, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and many more at the Democratic National Convention.

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CNN's special live coverage will begin at 8:00 Eastern this evening.

Coming up: how President Trump may be giving Democrats a line of attack tonight, after he seemed to push an unproven alleged treatment for coronavirus.

Plus: the emergency approval for a new coronavirus test -- how you could see results from this one in fewer than three hours.

That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our politics lead: the president pushing a new, unproven and potentially even dangerous COVID treatment, as first reported by Axios.

Trump is supposedly enthusiastic about the FDA approving an extract called oleandrin as a possible treatment for the virus.

But, as CNN's Ryan Nobles reports, there's no proof that this extract has even been tested on coronavirus patients, let alone that it's something that could help save them.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump is hitting the road.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll be making a pretty big journey today stopping at a couple of wonderful states.

NOBLES: Kicking off his most ambitious campaign travel since the end of June with planned stops in four swing states over the next four days, strategic counterprogramming to the Democratic National Convention.

TRUMP: My message to Minnesota is clear. I'm here to help you.

NOBLES: The stepped up travel comes as polls showing the race against Joe Biden tightening. A new CNN poll shows Trump closing the gap on the former vice president to only four points.

However, the new CNN poll of polls which takes the average of all recent national polling shows the president trailing Biden by nine points. Trump is shifting his focus to his re-election while concerns over the coronavirus pandemic remain.

TRUMP: What do you have to lose? Take it.

NOBLES: The president who still promotes the use of the drug hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of coronavirus, despite warnings from the FDA --

MIKE LINDELL, CEO, MYPILLOW: Hello, Mike Lindell, inventor of the world's most comfortable pillow, MyPillow.

NOBLES: -- is once again considering alternative treatments, including the use of Oleandrin, an extract of a toxic plant promoted to Trump by Mike Lindell, creator of MyPillow and a big Trump supporter.

Lindell told CNN that Trump is enthusiastic about its potential and may ask the FDA to look into the therapeutic, even though there's no medical proof it could work for COVID patients.

TRUMP: Is it something that people are talking about very strongly? We'll look at it. We'll look at it. We're looking at a lot of different things.

NOBLES: Meanwhile, the Trump administration is opening the door to drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, this despite concerns from environmental advocates.

TRUMP: ANWR is a big deal that Ronald Reagan couldn't get done and nobody could get done. Everybody wanted it.

NOBLES: All of this swirling around the president as he prepares to lay his younger brother to rest. Robert Trump died Saturday. And President Trump said today they're considering a memorial service at the White House on Friday to honor his memory.

TRUMP: He was my friend. I guess they say best friend and that's true. And, you know, losing him is not easy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBLES: And the president just left on Air Force One from here in Mankato, this event that took place at this small airport. And every trip the president will take is keyed in on his re-election hopes.

Now, the difference, though, between this trip here to Minnesota and the trips that he'll take the rest of the week. This is a state that President Trump lost in 2016, albeit by a very narrow margin. It is a state where his campaign is on offense. And, Jake, he told the crowd here in Mankato that if he wins Minnesota, he will win the presidency once again -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Ryan nobles, thank you so much.

Let's bring in CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay, I'm sorry I even have to ask you about this. But from a medical perspective, what do we know about this supplement? Is there any data at all showing how it might help or even come in contact with the coronavirus?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No. There's really no evidence of this, as you might imagine. Everyone's doing their homework trying to figure out where this came from. This is a known plant, as Ryan was just talking about, that if you know anything about it, the white oleander, the book, the movie, was based on the fact that this is a toxic plant, can be toxic. So, it was quite concerning when we first heard this.

There was some laboratory studies, Jake, done, again in test tubes putting viruses into a test tube, putting the substance, Oleandrin into a test tube and seeing if it inhibits it. And it did seem to create some inhibition to certain types of viruses. It's been tested not in humans but only in monkey kidney cells.

So we really -- we just don't know enough about this. This sort of came out of nowhere. And I don't even know what the angle is, if this is something that they want to get FDA approval for or sell as a supplement or what. But people need to beware of this one.

We've talked about this before, and I know it's going to sound like a broken record. But there are potential real dangers with this. So be careful. You know, we've said this before.

TAPPER: After president Trump mused about injecting disinfectants as a potential treatment for coronavirus, health professionals even the makers of Lysol had to actually issue warnings, "don't ingest disinfectant." Are you worried that there could be a serious risk to people who decide to go and find out about this supplement?

GUPTA: Absolutely. I mean, there's no question. I actually was surprised at how much of an uptick there was in people actually starting inquiries about Lysol and disinfectants and what's the harm in ingesting it. I thought that certainly people would know not to do that.

With something like this, it's a little bit more nuanced because people haven't really heard of this substance before. What we do know of this is something that can be toxic. We talked about hydroxychloroquine and what we learned about that is is that if you're taking it as a prophylactic, it may be reasonably safe. If you already had this disease COVID, it turned out to be a real problem.

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With this particular substance, we already know that it can have a significant negative impact on the heart, like foxglove, which is another substance out there which is known to cause cardio toxicity. This can do it too. So, you know, I've got to say be very, very careful. This is not something I would go out and buy.

TAPPER: Yeah, don't listen to the president and don't listen to the MyPillow guy.

Let's turn to testing of what Admiral Brett Giroir says is a major development. The FDA giving emergency use authorization to a saliva test for coronavirus that could give results in fewer than three hours. How much of a difference could that test make?

GUPTA: I think it can make a really big difference here, Jake. I mean, clearly, testing has been a problem. It continues to be a problem. I know the admiral doesn't like to hear that, but it is true. We are still not doing nearly enough testing here.

Here's why this is potentially better. One of the challenges has been -- this is a little bit of how the test has done. When you do the swab, you've got to use this particular reagent, then pull the genetic material off the swab. In this case you're using saliva. So that particular reagent was often in short supply. You don't need that reagent for this particular test.

It still has to go to a lab. It's more easily done as part of pool testing so you can put lots of samples together and then sort of figure out if they're all negative, you've rolled out a bunch of people very, very quickly. So it's a big deal. But I'll tell you, Jake, I still think it's an incremental big deal in the sense that ultimately what is this going to look like, widespread available at- home testing that you get results back very quickly, more like a pregnancy test than even a test like this.

So much better I think if this becomes widely available than what we have now. But the end game I think has to be even better than that.

TAPPER: Yeah. We still are not at a point where going into school every kid, every teacher can be tested going into work, every employee can be tested. How much of a difference might a saliva test make versus a nasal swab? GUPTA: Well, what was interesting is that they initially thought that

the saliva test, the accuracy and the sensitivity may not be as good as the swab. But these tests have been validated pretty well. I mean, this is not the first saliva test. There was another one by a company called Vault that was done in conjunction with Rutgers. This is a similar sort of test.

I think it's much easier. One of the challenges for people has been if they're self-administering the swab, are they doing it well enough to get a good sample? If you -- if you -- I don't know if you've had it done. I've had it done, the swab test, Jake. It's uncomfortable. And if you're self-administering, it's not likely that people are going to get an adequate sample. With this, with saliva, much easier.

GUPTA: All right, Sanjay, stick around. I want to get to the rise in coronavirus cases among children and how this is having a domino effect on schools nationwide. We're going to talk about that next. Stay with us.

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TAPPER: In our health lead today, more than 170,000 dead in the U.S. from COVID-19, the case count nearing 5.5 million. In 17 states are reportedly performing fewer tests than they were before, according to the COVID tracking project. This as CNN's Erica Hill reports, we are already seeing the early impact of schools re-opening with some schools already shutting down in-person classes after mass outbreaks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New York, once the nation's epicenter, is now moving forward.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Right now, New York has one of the lowest infection rates in the country.

HILL: New cases over the past week trending down in 20 states. But at least a dozen of those are also reporting a decline in testing.

WILLIAM HASELTINE, FORMER PROFESSOR AT HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL AND HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: We're probably missing eight out of ten people who are contagious. And any decrease in testing is worrisome because we're already not doing well.

HILL: The number and rate of coronavirus cases in children, meantime, steadily increasing since March. Positivity rates in nine states topping 10 percent, including Georgia, where over a thousand students and staff are now quarantined. Outbreaks in Cherokee County just north of Atlanta forcing three high schools to suspend in-person learning through at least the end of the month.

In Arizona, more than 100 staff members in one district called out sick. School there canceled for the day. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was glad that they have decided to kind of

take a pause from Monday because this is going to impact our community as a whole.

HILL: Multiple states in two Florida districts also adding quarantine orders as others worry they could be next.

JIMBO JACKSON, PRINCIPAL, FORT BRADEN SCHOOL, FLORIDA: We do all types of drills for emergencies and tornados and fires, and even an active school shooter. But there is no foolproof way to have a drill to avoid COVID-19 infection.

HILL: College campuses, not immune. UNC Chapel Hill reporting several clusters less than a week after starting classes. An entire sorority house at Oklahoma State is now quarantined. And these images from a crowded party near the University of North Georgia sparking concern that school could be next.

ANDY SLAVITT, FORMER ACTING ADMINISTRATOR, CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES: We're setting them up to fail. And then we're going to blame them for being irresponsible. And I think we are the ones that are, quite frankly, being irresponsible by allowing that kind of thing to happen.

HILL: CNN learning today vaccine trials in the U.S. are having a tough time recruiting black and Latino volunteers, just 10 percent so far.

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