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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Targeting Postal Service?; Democratic National Convention Kicks Off Tonight; Children And Coronavirus. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired August 17, 2020 - 16:30   ET

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

[16:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN learning today vaccine trials in the U.S. are having a tough time recruiting black and Latino volunteers, just 10 percent so far, despite making up more than 50 percent of confirmed cases.

DR. SEEMA YASMIN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting and killing people from communities of color. So, those people do need to be included in the trials.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: And I just want to update you.

We just learned, Jake, that UNC-Chapel Hill -- we told you there been several clusters reported. Well, the school now says all undergraduate classes are moving online in response to that.

And listen to some of these numbers from Campus Health. The COVID-19 positivity rate in just the past week has gone from 2.8 percent to 13.6 percent. And as of this morning, 177 students are in isolation, nearly 350 in quarantine, both on and off campus -- Jake.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: All right, Erica Hill, thank you so much.

CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is back with us to talk about this.

Sanjay, the CDC has seen a steady increase in the number of children testing positive for coronavirus from March to July. And evidence shows that about half of them could be asymptomatic.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

TAPPER: Now, some doctors have argued that children don't transmit the virus as often as adults. Is this changing that thinking at all?

GUPTA: I think it's starting to change the thinking, Jake.

I mean, I think, reporting on this for so many months, there's always been the concern that kids do transmit this virus, but they have largely been at home, especially young kids, since March. So we just weren't seeing as many of their contacts in order to show that.

But, look, other respiratory viruses -- you have kids, I have kids. When little kids get respiratory viruses, they tend to spread them. A little kid in our house got the cold, pretty much everybody would get it at some point or another.

There's really been no reason to suggest that this would act differently. So I think it's been surprising that little kids were not thought to contribute to spread.

And now I think what we're seeing is, kids are out and about more. And we're starting to see that spread increase. And it's -- it can be pretty significant.

TAPPER: I wanted to ask you about the vaccine and Elizabeth Cohen's report that researchers are struggling to recruit minorities to join these vaccine trials.

Only about 10 percent of the people who have signed up, Elizabeth reports that, were black or Latino, though minorities are disproportionately affected by the virus, about 50 percent of those who have it.

GUPTA: Right.

TAPPER: Why is it so critical that minorities be represented in these trials at higher numbers?

GUPTA: Well, it's interesting, Jake.

We have seen that in many cities across the country black America, brown America have been disproportionately affected. In some ways, it was because, while most of us or many people got the chance to stay at home, there were people who were essential workers, and they tended to be overrepresented by black and brown America, so they were just more exposed to the virus.

But we also know there was a likelihood that they were having preexisting conditions or lack of access to health care. The point is that it seemed to unmask, this virus did, all these structural inequalities when it comes to black and brown America.

The reason you need to make sure you are you are testing all groups in equal proportions is because, is there something else going on here? Are people going to respond to this vaccine in different ways? Is it going to work better, not work as well? You don't know. You have to have equal representation in these vaccine trials.

That is a gold standard. I mean, we have always wanted that. Sometimes, it's a challenge to get there. And it's what makes this phase three take a longer time. But it's critical. I mean, to say, we got people who are in their 70s who are volunteering for these trials. Why?

Because a 70-year-old's body may -- is going to behave differently than a 30-year-old's body. So, it's really, really critical. I know Francis Collins, the head of the NIH, basically said Moderna, which is one of the vaccine companies that we have heard about quite a bit -- they have been ahead on this -- is getting a C grade so far for their recruitment of black and brown Americans.

So they have got to do this, Jake, and it's really critical over the next month, if they want to keep that timeline.

TAPPER: Right.

And just to explain, for anyone confused, when you say proportional representation, you mean proportional in accordance with those who get sick from the disease, not with proportion of the population.

GUPTA: That's right.

TAPPER: No, I just wanted to underline the point in case anybody was confused.

GUPTA: Absolutely.

TAPPER: Sanjay Gupta, as always, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

Coming up next: getting answers. Today, the postmaster general agreed to testify before Congress -- the growing questions he will likely face as concerns grow about vote by mail and election security prompted by the president.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:38:53]

TAPPER: Breaking news.

We have just gotten a preview former first lady Michelle Obama's convention speech for tonight. Here is a little clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: And he will govern as someone who's lived a life that the rest of us can recognize.

When he was a kid, Joe's father lost his job. When he was a young senator Joe lost his wife and his baby daughter. And when he was vice president, he lost his beloved son. So, Joe knows the anguish of sitting at a table with an empty chair, which is why he gives his time so freely to grieving parents.

Joe knows what it's like to struggle, which is why he gives his personal phone number to kids overcoming a stutter of their own.

His life is a testament to getting back up. And he is going to channel that same grit and passion to pick us all up, to help us heal, and guide us forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Joining me now to discuss, CNN's Dana Bash and Nia-Malika Henderson.

[16:40:00]

And, Dana, let's start with this.

Beyond Joe Biden's political history and four decades in public life is that personal side that those of us who have covered him know is true. I mean, what the former first lady says there is -- it's accurate. He does give his number to kids who are struggling with stutters of their own.

He is very moving when dealing with people who have lost somebody, who have experienced grief. And so telling the story seems interesting and important.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Incredibly important.

Look, the former vice president likes to say ,the good news is, people know me; the bad news is, people know me.

But that's not really true, if you talk to his political advisers and also the Trump campaign and aides over there, which is why they're so aggressively trying to define Joe Biden the way that they want to.

Any convention, when people are talking about any presumptive nominee, you hear their personal stories. But in these times, for this candidate, it takes on a whole new level, because he's leading with empathy and normalcy.

And for people to -- maybe who don't know a lot about Joe Biden, even though he thinks they do, to hear those stories, especially from a messenger like Michelle Obama, whose approval ratings are sky-high, is something that is invaluable to the Biden campaign.

TAPPER: Although, Nia, I have to say, I know those stories from covering him. The two of you know the stories from covering him.

I bet the American people don't know about that, about how helpful he is to people who are grieving, his personal touch with kids who are trying to overcome a speech impediment.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right.

And that's why you have, in Michelle Obama, a perfect messenger, somebody who -- and Dana talked about this -- who is so wildly popular and reaches into all different segments of society. She's obviously popular with African-Americans. She's popular with young folks.

She's somebody who is sort of at the tail end of the baby boomer generation. She's also part of Generation X. She has kids who are Generation Z. So, she has this kind of broad appeal. So, to hear that, I think from her in that setting, this very

intimate, sort of living room, very warm setting, is, I think, perfect for Joe Biden. If you think back to 2008, her role in 2008 for her husband was humanizing her husband. Same role in 2012.

And I think he or she is doing the same thing for Joe Biden, who does do well in terms of the empathy kind of metric. People see him and know these stories in some ways, but to hear them with a kind of emotion coming from Michelle Obama, someone who has also seen him up close working as a partner to her husband, amazingly, I think, effective for a kickoff for this very important convention.

TAPPER: And, Dana, tonight, we're going to hear from other top Democrats, including the House majority whip, Congressman Jim Clyburn, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senators Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, and so on.

What are you -- what are your expectations as to what the Democrats are going to do tonight in terms of the overall tone?

BASH: The overall tone and theme is uniting the Democratic Party.

You put on the screen there some of the former vice president's rivals, including the last other man standing in the race for the nomination, Bernie Sanders.

And we all remember what happened four years ago. Despite Bernie Sanders campaigning for Hillary Clinton, despite him saying that he was behind her, we were all on the floor of the Democratic Convention. And there was still a lot of turmoil, a lot of tumult, and a lot of Bernie Sanders supporters who said, uh-uh, we're not going for this.

And many of them didn't, and that hurt Hillary Clinton. So, in hearing Bernie Sanders tonight, listening to his tone and tenor, trying to clearly pull those people in, you can expect him to say what he said on the campaign trail over and over, that there is, from his perspective, an existential threat to this country with Donald Trump in the White House, which is why his supporters must go out and vote for Joe Biden.

It's that kind of unifying, all-hands-on-deck kind of message that the Biden campaign and the DNC are looking for tonight.

TAPPER: And, Nia, about an hour, hour-and-a-half ago, Miles Taylor, who had served as chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security under Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, endorsed Joe Biden. Here's part of his message from an ad for Republican voters against Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILES TAYLOR, FORMER DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY CHIEF OF STAFF: He told us to stop giving money to people whose houses have burned down from a wildfire, because he was so rageful that people in the state of California didn't support him and that, politically, it wasn't a base for him. The policies at the border, he said he wanted to go further and have a deliberate policy of ripping children away from their parents to show those parents that they shouldn't come to the border in the first place.

And even though I'm not a Democrat, even though I disagree on key issues, I'm confident that Joe Biden will protect the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[16:45:08]

TAPPER: Do you think this kind of testimony makes a difference for voters?

HENDERSON: Well, I think what Democrats want to do tonight is essentially give some of these disaffected Republican voters a permission structure to abandon their party and vote for Joe Biden.

You're going to see him, obviously, tonight with that video and other Republicans, Christie Todd Whitman, Meg Whitman as well, and John Kasich.

So that's what they want to -- that's the message they want, I think -- want to deliver to these voters who are trying to decide, are they going to are they going to abandon their party and vote for Joe Biden?

I also think you wouldn't probably have as many Republicans speaking if this were happening in person, because they would be booed. You think about Meg Whitman getting up there on the same night as Bernie Sanders, it just wouldn't happen if this thing were in person.

So, in some ways of this allows them to present a case that they need to president to Republicans if they're going to put together some sort of coalition that includes those Republicans, also needs to include progressives, and sort of the base of the Democratic Party.

So that is what this is tonight. It's sort of the tableau of what this party needs demographically, the kind of coalition they need to put together to win in November.

TAPPER: All right, Nia-Malika Henderson, Dana Bash, thanks to both of you.

President Trump says he wants to -- quote -- "make the post office great again," yet he continues to rail against mailing -- voting by mail, rather.

Several state attorneys general are considering legal action to prevent the president from cutting postal services anymore ahead of the election, as CNN's Kristen Holmes now reports for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, we're not tampering.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump today insisting he's not behind recent delays in U.S. mail.

TRUMP: It's been run horribly. And we're going to make it good.

HOLMES: And denying he's using the Postal Service to meddle in November's election.

TRUMP: Wouldn't do that. No, I have encouraged everybody, speed up the mail, not slow the mail.

HOLMES: That's not stopping Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called the House back early from summer recess, and plans a weekend vote to stop the administration from implementing any changes ahead of November.

MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: I'm all about piecemeal. If we can agree on postal, let's do it.

HOLMES: Outrage sparked by postal workers, who sounded the alarm that recent changes by Trump's postmaster general, like cutting overtime and post office hours, have slowed delivery times, something the postmaster called -- quote -- "unintended consequences" in a recent letter.

Documents obtained by CNN also show a plan has been under way to remove nearly 700 high-volume mail sorters from postal facilities across the country this year, but the White House chief of staff telling Jake on "STATE OF THE UNION" that no more processing machines would be removed before the election.

MEADOWS: That's something that my Democrat friends are trying to do to stoke fear out there. That's not happening.

TAPPER: Are you saying that sorting machines have not been taken offline and removed? Are you asserting that, that that did not happen?

MEADOWS: I'm saying -- I'm -- I'm saying that sorting machines between now and the election will not be taken offline.

HOLMES: The president today once again attacking the mail-in ballot process, with false information on drop boxes, tweeting: "Who is going to collect the ballots? And what might be done to them prior to tabulation? A rigged election?"

State officials have pushed back on these claims.

DENISE MERRILL (D), CONNECTICUT SECRETARY OF STATE: The clerks empty these things a couple of times a day, actually, and they usually are in very prominent places. I think it's would be really difficult to vandalize one of these boxes.

HOLMES: In Colorado, where mail-in voting has been running smoothly for more than a decade, 75 percent of voters that returned ballots in drop boxes, but the rest rely on the Postal Service.

Now multiple states are considering legal action against the administration and President Trump. JENA GRISWOLD (D), COLORADO SECRETARY OF STATE: I will not allow him

to suppress any American and will fight him with all options on the table.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: House Democrats had demanded that the postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, testify next Monday in what they were calling an urgent hearing on these changes.

We learned this afternoon that he has actually agreed to testify. I want to pull up the tweet, because, of course, President Trump has already weighed in on Twitter. He said: "Why is Congress scheduled to meet on the post office next Monday during the Republican Convention, rather than now, while the Dems are having their convention? They're always playing games. Get tough, Republicans" -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Kristen Holmes, thanks so much.

Coming up next: a country that reported no new cases of coronavirus for more than 100 days, but is now facing something of a resurgence and delaying their election.

That's next.

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[16:54:37]

TAPPER: In our world lead today: More than 4,000 members of a church in South Korea are going to be tested for coronavirus after a spike in cases was traced back to a religious service held by the group. The government is also contemplating legal action.

Paula Hancocks is in Seoul, and joins us now.

Paula, I understand the spike has even caught the attention of the South Korean president. How many members of this religious group have to be tested positive? And how are those tests going to take place?

[16:55:07]

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, so far, more than members of the congregation have tested positive, and that includes the reverend of the church.

Now, this reverend actually, back on Saturday, attended an anti- government protests in downtown Seoul. This is a protest that was banned by police. But thousands of anti-government protesters turned up anyway, including the reverend.

And he was actually shown giving a speech to the people while not wearing a mask. So, that's clearly another consideration that officials have.

Now, at this point, as I say, more than 300 of tested positive. Officials want all of the 4,000-plus members of the congregation to be quarantined, to be tested, to make sure that they can curtail this latest outbreak.

Now, there are legal wranglings with this as well. Seoul City officials say that they have filed a complaint, a criminal complaint, against the reverend. They believe he's been obstructing the investigation. He's countered that. Church officials say that they're going to take legal action against other officials, because they believe that this is defamation.

Now, if it feels like we have been here before, it's because we have, Jake. Just in February and March, at the beginning of the pandemic in this country, there was a very similar situation with a religious group, where thousands of the those who went to the services tested positive.

It really was the start of the pandemic here. So, the health minister is now saying that it is crucial this is curtailed; this could become massive, if it's not handled properly -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Paula Hancocks in Seoul, South Korea, thank you so much.

Even a country looked at as a shining example for how to control coronavirus, New Zealand, is now delaying parliamentary elections by four weeks, until October 17, after a reemergence of COVID-19 in the country last week.

CNN's Will Ripley joins me now from Hong Kong.

And, Will, just how big was this recent COVID spike?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're talking about fewer than 100 active COVID-19 cases in the country right now, Jake, so just dozens of new cases, all of them reported in the last week.

It started in a household in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city. And, as a result, with just four cases at that point, the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, locked down that city of more than one million people, closed schools and all nonessential businesses, and set up police checkpoints.

That lockdown has now been extended. The rest of New Zealand is on a heightened state of alert, as they try to figure out where this small cluster came from. They have conducted tens of thousands of tests in recent days. They have bolstered their testing capability.

And even though just nine new cases were reported on Monday, the prime minister made the decision to postpone the election by about a month. This is a decision that has actually being praised by her opponents in the election, because her party, the prime minister's party, was actually polling sky-high.

Had she kept the election date as is, she might have actually faced criticism, because most of Parliament was calling for a delay. The consensus in New Zealand is, they want the government to do what they have been doing from the beginning of this pandemic. When the case numbers are small, shut the country down and get those numbers back down to zero, and only then will they feel that the public is safe enough to go out and go to the polls -- Jake.

TAPPER: And, Will, has there been any opposition to this decision to delay the parliamentary elections?

RIPLEY: Very, very little. That's what's so extraordinary.

New Zealand seems to be really united in this, with opposition parties and her own party praising the prime minister's decision to continue the approach that she's taken from the beginning of this pandemic, which is to essentially, when any cases pop up that are out in the general public, until they feel comfortable that they have isolated and quarantined those people, they will shut the country down, even with the numbers fewer than 100 active cases that we're seeing right now.

TAPPER: All right, Will Ripley, thank you so much.

Turning to our national lead: President Trump approving an emergency disaster declaration in Iowa, after a derecho ripped through the state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We approved the emergency declaration for Iowa. So they're in good shape. FEMA is in Iowa now full force and helping them greatly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Iowa was devastated by the storm that hit the state with more than 100 mile-per-hour winds, destroying fields and crops, with -- tens of thousands of Iowans still do not have any power.

It's just one of many natural disasters hitting the country right now during one of our most vulnerable times. Three wildfires are currently ravaging Southern California, with firefighters trying to contain the outbreaks, while dealing with triple-digit temperatures, this as the state is also facing a record-breaking heat wave, one so severe that Californians are experiencing rolling outages because there is not enough energy to meet demand.

That's it for THE LEAD.

Be sure to join me this evening for our coverage of the Democratic National Convention. That starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Our coverage on CNN continues right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world.