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The Lead with Jake Tapper

President Trump Mails Election Ballot, Blasts Mail-In Voting; Schools and COVID-19; Kamala Harris Headlining Wednesday's Democratic National Convention. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired August 19, 2020 - 15:00   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: A top official saying to folks in their 20s and younger, you are not invincible to this virus, and your lives and the lives of others depend upon the decisions you make, decisions about wearing masks and congregating and hygiene.

[15:00:07]

This stark warning comes as schools and universities are trying to confront increased cases after holding in-person classes during this pandemic.

Already, Notre Dame, Michigan State and UNC Chapel Hill have all been forced to shut down in-person classes just weeks into their semesters. More than 100 cases have been reported from each university.

Nationwide, the U.S. just surpassed 5.5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus just minutes ago.

A new CNN poll reveals that almost seven in 10 Americans say the United States' response to the coronavirus makes them feel embarrassed, an understandable emotion, given that the U.S., with about 4 percent of the world's population, continues to have about a quarter of all reported infections around the world, and more than 20 percent of all the world's deaths due to COVID-19.

CNN's Bianna Golodryga us now.

And, Bianna, Michigan state, Notre Dame, they're just the latest schools to reverse course, move online. How aggressive are these outbreaks across the country?

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Jake, good to see you.

It's not that they're quite aggressive at this point. It's how quickly they have started to pop up. Remember, a lot of these colleges, to differentiate from secondary schools and K-12 schools, invested a lot of money in testing, in rapid testing, in PPE.

So they said they were prepared, if they were going to hold in-person lessons and classes, that they would be prepared to handle the onslaught of possible cases. What's happened is we have seen them within just a few days of in-person classes resuming -- you mentioned Notre Dame, just the latest university, suspended in-person classes for nearly 12,000 students.

They have been on campus for nearly two weeks. So what's going to happen after they have had 222 cases reported is that these students are going to be basically on lockdown in campus. They're going to be logging on and working virtually from their dorm rooms or where they're living until the college and the university can move forward with what the next steps are going to be.

Michigan State called off in-person classes two weeks before in-person classes were set to resume. So, you can imagine the frustration for parents and students who were set to move in.

And Ithaca College upstate also said that, listen, they were hoping to start in-person classes, but they are concerned now at the rapid rise in cases, and that they don't want to have to jeopardize classes mid- semester, so they're going to go ahead and hold off on in-person classes.

And you look at what we have seen thus far. Iowa State says that 175 students living on campus tested positive. The University of Kentucky had 160 cases. And we have been covering UNC at Chapel Hill when they suspended in-person classes as well; 130 students tested positive there.

So, we're starting to see the spike, and we're seeing it really early, Jake.

TAPPER: And, Bianna, some of these colleges, I would guess, are now basically just serving as hospitals for their sick students.

GOLODRYGA: Well, many of these colleges that are near hospitals that have -- are affiliated with hospitals have the facilities there.

We have been spoiled, as we have been leading up to the start of the semester, with a lot of schools to ask them what their plans were, in case there were COVID spreading throughout the community there. And they said they have isolation dorms for students who test positive.

And that's where a number of them are. But, look, this is a two-way street. You have got the colleges and the universities preparing, but the students also have to be on board. And they have to heed those messages from the World Health Organization. They are not invincible.

Jake, you and I were once college students as well. You may think that you can avoid coming down with COVID. But, clearly, as we have seen from some of these pictures, and now from the numbers of reported cases, that's just not true.

TAPPER: Bianna Golodryga, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Earlier this summer, Alabama's Governor Kay Ivey combined the resources of the Alabama Public Health Department with experts at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, with one goal in mind, to get students back on campus safely.

In a story first reported by "The New York Times," the result of this collaboration is going to be put to the test in the coming weeks, as students and professors and others affiliated with the university systems return to in-person learning.

And here to explain how the plan will hopefully work is Dr. Michael Saag, professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a COVID survivor himself.

Dr. Saag,welcome back to the show. We're so glad you're better.

Let me ask you. According to "The Times," there are 59 colleges and universities in Alabama, more than 160,000 students.

Just from a testing point of view, how are you going to -- how are you going to work this?

DR. MIKE SAAG, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM: Well, we're already in the middle of it.

In fact, we're already on the downside of testing. So, we had six weeks, believe it or not, to pull together testing capacity, collection centers, ways to track the results through informatics, get them back to the institutions and to the students.

And, believe it or not, we pulled it off. It's been an incredible team effort. The spirit behind it is to the point that was just made. If we can assure that the students coming back, for the most part, are COVID-free, then it's a question of, how well can the campuses and the students themselves work to keep the virus under control once they enter back to campus?

[15:05:12]

And it is a tall order. We have students coming back. They want to socialize. They want to be together. They're told to wear a mask, but you can see, at a lot of campuses, it is not working too well.

TAPPER: Yes. And it's not -- I want to get to that in a second.

But it is not, obviously, just testing. I understand that there are apps for students and professors to use also. Tell us about that.

SAAG: Right.

So we have something called GuideSafe. So, it is -- the testing is one component. And the other is an app that people can download that does, in essence, two things. One, it checks daily for symptoms. And those who have symptoms will be evaluated medically.

And those who don't have symptoms, they have the option to opt in for a contact tracing component. Now, what is important here is that the app basically allows their phone to be in Bluetooth contact with other students who have also opted in, so that it is very voluntary.

TAPPER: Oh, I see.

SAAG: And the students, though, who are both -- are playing into this game, that are doing it, if one of them turns positive or gets symptoms, then they can interrogate the phone and see who they have been in contact with, so we could go very quickly and test the others.

I want to stress that it is voluntary. But if everyone opts in, that gives us a leg up on case contact tracing and, if there is an outbreak, getting it under control more rapidly.

TAPPER: That is fascinating.

But let me ask you. You alluded to this earlier. How do you make sure a bunch of college students comply with the measures your team has come up -- young people, as I don't need to tell you, they can be reckless. They can feel invincible.

SAAG: Yes, the message really is, no COVID vs. no classes, right?

So, the students have to own this. And we all were in our teens and 20s once, and we remember what those days were like. It is kind of like we're invincible, and we really want to see our friends and congregate.

The likelihood of transmission in the classroom, I think, is close to zero. The teachers will be there. Everyone will be in a mask.

In the dormitories, the fraternity houses, sorority houses, the dining halls, that's where people want to congregate, be together, celebrate their time together. And that's where the masks start disappearing.

There's been some pictures of campuses where, despite the best messaging, the students are congregating together outside of bars and restaurants. And that's just not going to get it done.

The students have got to be partners in this. And this is an experiment of sorts to see if we can get them to participate.

TAPPER: While new cases in Alabama have been on the decline,, thankfully, what do you say to people who oppose the efforts you're making, who say it's still too early to attempt in-person learning?

SAAG: No one knows, is the take-home point.

I think it is a bad idea to just bring people back to campus with no plan. And I don't know of a single campus in Alabama at least that has no plan.

This was part of a very well-conceived strategy to try to keep people safe and to keep this on board. To me, the reason the cases are coming down, it correlates completely with our governor issuing a mask order back in mid-July.

I think, the last time I was with you, our cases were pretty high. Now they have been cut almost in half or maybe a little more so. I think that is because the public is paying attention and doing what they need to do. Now we have to get the students on campus to do the same. And, hopefully, we can keep this under control. TAPPER: As you have watched colleges and universities across the

country, UNC, Notre Dame, et cetera, go back to virtual learning after outbreaks, are you concerned that you're going to face that in Alabama too?

SAAG: Yes, I think we're all concerned, because we don't have control over what students choose to do.

We can influence, but we don't have any control. So my plea to them is, play ball. Get involved with this and make it an important part of what you do every day. If you don't, we will be having to go back to some virtual learning opportunities and in-person classroom activities may have to be shut down.

I hope that doesn't happen. Certainly, the administration, all the way from the governor's office on through the hospitals -- the campuses, are all trying to make it as safe as possible. Now it is up to the students.

TAPPER: Maybe you can figure out a way to make it a competition against Auburn or something like that.

(LAUGHTER)

SAAG: There you go.

TAPPER: Dr. Michael Saag, thank you so much. We really appreciate your time. And glad you're feeling better.

SAAG: Thank you.

TAPPER: This will be a big night for the Democratic National Convention, when Senator Kamala Harris officially accepts the vice presidential nomination of her party.

Coming up next: what we're learning about her big speech and where President Obama will be when he speaks this evening.

And maybe no hanging chad, but chances are, November election results will be contested -- the legal battle in courts right now, to prepare for this. That's coming up too.

Thanks.

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[15:14:14]

TAPPER: And we're just hours away from the third night of the Democratic National Convention, with remarks this evening from Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama and vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

Senator Harris is making history, as the first ever black and South Asian woman on the ticket of a major political party in the U.S.

CNN's Jessica Dean is in Wilmington, Delaware, where Harris will accept the nomination.

And, Jessica, Senator Harris is going to attempt to share her story with millions of Americans who, frankly, don't know it. What are we expecting?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Jake.

We're expecting her to talk a lot about her biography, she's the child of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, about growing up as a biracial little girl and woman in the United States. We're told by aides that she hopes that people will be able to see themselves in her personal story.

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And she will also be sharing the experience of others as well. We're told she will also be including her vision for a more inclusive America, where everyone is treated the same under the law and given the same protections under the law.

And then, of course, she's going to talk about Joe Biden, and she's going to talk about why he is the man of the moment, why, together, they will be able to steer this country in the right direction, and help bring it back from the crises, the multiple crises that it's enduring right now.

We're told that her sister, her niece and her stepdaughter will be the ones giving the speeches officially nominating her. Her husband, Jake, Doug Emhoff, will be here with her as she gives her speech tonight.

TAPPER: And, Jessica, we're also learning more about the speech that President Obama is going to give tonight, including the location where he will deliver it.

DEAN: Right.

And the location here is key. It's very much part of the message this evening, Jake. He will be giving his speech from the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, a site that was selected to really underscore the gravity of this election and to drive home, they say, that democracy is at stake here, how very important this election is, and expect to hear those themes from President Obama there.

They're saying that this should really be considered a call to all Americans about the gravity of this election. Of course, he will also be talking about Joe Biden the man, that they have governed together. Expect to hear him talk about his character, his understanding of what it's like to be in the Oval Office, to be in the Situation Room, and how he's uniquely positioned to be the man of the moment in this case.

And, Jake, also something to remember, this is President Obama's first speech at the DNC after he's out of office in his post-presidency, so his legacy also on the line here as well.

TAPPER: All right, Jessica Dean, thank you so much. Appreciate it. In our politics lead: The Trump campaign. Is suing the state of New Jersey over that state's new plan to start universal mail-in voting. The Trump campaign arguing, among other points, that New Jersey's plan to send ballots to every registered voter would invite fraud, as happened in Paterson, New Jersey, earlier this year, when the state tried the same method of voting.

Nearly 20 percent of the ballots in Paterson were disqualified. Four people were charged with illegally collecting ballots from voters. The president and his campaign have done a lot to allege widespread voter fraud, with no evidence, and paint all states that allow any kind of vote-by-mail is rife with potential corruption.

So it is understandable if anyone was confused watching this video shared by the Trump campaign of President Trump mailing in his ballot to the state of Florida, and encouraging others to do the same.

The president referring in the video to this as an absentee ballot as a way of, I guess, trying to differentiate it from the voting by mail he attacks. The Florida secretary of state just calls all of it vote by mail.

CNN's Ryan Nobles is live in Washington.

And, Ryan, the campaign argues that President Trump voting by mail is different from, like, my dad voting by mail in Pennsylvania. But it's not different. It's the same thing. You request a vote by mail, you apply, you get to do so.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're absolutely right, Jake.

And we need to make clear there's no difference between absentee voting and voting by mail. And if you plan to cast your vote through the mail-in this fall election, you have every reason to believe that that vote will be counted.

And what the president has specifically railed against is this idea of universal mail-in voting and states specifically sending ballots to every registered voter, whether they ask for it or not. That really has nothing to do with you as an individual voter.

If you choose to vote by mail, whether you request that ballot or whether or not the state sends it to you, if you fill it out, put it in your local post office box or take it to the post office and mail it, there's everything reason to believe that it will be counted.

But we should also talk just broadly about the practice of voting by mail. It is very safe. And there is very little evidence of widespread fraud.

There are many states in the United States who predominantly use vote by mail as the way to count who wins elections every fall, Utah among them, which is a predominantly Republican state.

Now, we are seeing a proliferation of states just unsolicited sending out these ballots to every single registered voter. But there's also some important points to raise about that. First of all, they're only going to registered voters. They're not being sent to every single person in each state.

And there are also a series of safeguards when those ballots are sent back into their registrars to make sure that they should be properly counted. And there's been no evidence of widespread fraud.

Yes, there have been individual instances where, to their credit, boards of elections have discovered problems with this practice and have put a stop to it right away.

[15:20:00]

And, of course, Jake, the most important point, when we we're talking about this distinction between absentee voting and vote by mail, the state of Florida, which got rid of the practice of needing an excuse to vote by mail, has also gotten rid of the term absentee ballot.

TAPPER: Right.

NOBLES: It's all just vote by mail. And that's exactly what the president did this week.

TAPPER: Yes, and the White House tries to pretend there's some big difference between absentee ballots and vote by mail. In Florida, no difference at all. It's the same thing.

Ryan Nobles, thank you so much.

You can watch Senator Kamala Harris making history, accepting the vice presidential nomination of the Democratic Party. CNN's special coverage tonight begins at 7:00 Eastern.

Coming up in our next hour, I'm going to speak with the latest Republican official coming out to back Biden in this election, and not Trump.

Coming up next: Without any evidence, President Trump has already declared, if he loses the election, it's because the system is rigged. How both sides are preparing for a possible contested election and what role Congress might play.

I'm going to ask the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

That's next. Stay with us.

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[15:25:50]

TAPPER: In our national lead today: The Trump and Biden campaigns are already preparing for several nightmare voting scenario, setting aside millions of dollars and creating massive legal teams in preparation for what could be a long election, not month -- I mean, not night, but month. And, as CNN's Pamela Brown reports, this is all happening as the

president continues to cast doubt on the integrity of this election, with no evidence for that doubt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): (AUDIO GAP) election, swing states too close to call, a candidate who won't concede, never-ending court battles, just a few potential scenarios that could make this pandemic-plagued presidential election more perilous than any election in American history.

DAVID BECKER, FOUNDER, CENTER FOR ELECTION INNOVATION AND RESEARCH: This election is definitely going to be different. I mean, people -- our lives are all different since the pandemic has hit us.

BROWN: And, because of that, in a close election, delayed results are a near certainty. Both sides are preparing.

A senior Biden aide telling CNN -- quote -- "We have layers and layers and layers of contingency plans."

SEAN ELDRIDGE, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, STAND UP AMERICA: I think Americans need to be very aware that we may not have the results on election night, that it might take days for every single ballot to be counted.

BROWN: But that likely delay of days or even weeks between Election Day and the final vote tally of mail-in ballots could open the door to doubt and shake confidence. It has political groups on both sides of the aisle preparing for chaos.

As Trump trails in the polls against Biden, critics say they believe his near daily barrage of false claims about postal voting is laying the groundwork to contest the election if he loses.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The only way we're going to lose this election is if the election is rigged. Remember that. It's the only way we're going to lose this election.

BROWN: A new CNN poll shows a majority of Americans believe that if the president loses the election, he won't accept the results and concede.

ELDRIDGE: What we're preparing for is, if Donald Trump refuses to concede, we're going to make sure that Americans mobilize in unprecedented numbers. And that could mean taking to the streets in numbers we haven't seen before. I hope it doesn't come to that. We can help for the best, but we have to plan for the worst.

BROWN: Our CNN poll also shows less than half of Americans prefer to cast their ballots in person on Election Day, while one-third want to vote by mail.

Under mounting pressure, Trump's postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, said organizational changes that would slow down mail service in some places will now be delayed until after the election. This comes as the cash-strapped Postal Service warns some states their election laws won't allow it to meet the deadline to return ballots.

Overall, nine states and Washington, D.C., will have the election primarily by mail voting; 34 other states will allow voters to vote by mail this year without an excuse. But each state has different requirements about when the ballot must be postmarked by and when it must arrive to be counted.

For some states, it will be a dramatic change.

BECKER: In states that have a history of a lot of mail ballots, they're going to be able to process these ballots very quickly and we will have results fairly quickly.

But in states that are not used to counting a lot of mail ballot, states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, perhaps, it may take some time to process all of those ballots properly.

BROWN: Trump campaign officials argue, the system isn't equipped to handle the influx of mail-in ballots and that it shouldn't be expanded, telling CNN -- quote -- "A last minute shift to mail-in voting greatly increases the threat that fraudulent or otherwise ineligible ballots will be cast."

TRUMP: This is a thing that will be a disaster like never before.

BROWN: Which is likely why former first lady Michelle Obama urged voters to:

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: Grab our comfortable shoes, put on our mask, pack a brown bag dinner and maybe breakfast too, because we got to be willing to stand in line all night if we have to.

BROWN: Republicans and Democrats are already battling in the courts over issues like how long after the Election Day mail-in ballots can be received and still be counted.

Depending on how close the results are, the election could be decided by the high court, like it was in Bush v. Gore in 2000.

BECKER: When we're this closely divided, it's always a possibility.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And election experts say that mail-in ballots, the good news with them is, they leave a paper trail, making them traceable and more secure.