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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Campaign Aide Not Sure If Biden Campaign Will Hit The Trail This Fall, New Confidence Can Reach Voters in Other Ways; Trump Slams DNC as Darkest and Gloomiest Convention in History; W.H.O and UNICEF to Release New Guidance for Kids and Masks; Thousands of Iowans Without Power Nearly Two Weeks After Storm; W.H.O Says No Country Can Just Ride This Out Waiting for a Vaccine. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 21, 2020 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Traditional Democratic voters saying it is time to rise above partisan politics.

JOE BIDEN, DEMOCRATIC PARTY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'll work hard for those who didn't support me as hard for them as I did for those who did vote for me. This is not a partisan moment. This must be an American moment.

LEE: The final night of the convention featuring poignant tributes to Biden's character including from 13-year-old Brayden Harington who connected with Biden on the campaign trail about a challenge they both confronted. Their stutter.

BRAYDEN HARINGTON, 13-YEAR-OLD BIDEN SUPPORTER: Joe Biden made moving forward confident about something that's bothered me my whole life. Joe Biden cared. Imagine what he can do for all of us.

LEE: Capping off an unprecedented almost entirely virtual convention amid a global pandemic. Fireworks lighting up the sky above a parking lot in Wilmington, Delaware for a socially distant celebration.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: And Jake, you heard there the chairman of the DNC predicting chaos at next week's Republican National Convention. And as Republicans take their turn next week, both the DNC and the Biden campaign are trying to break through with some counter programming which isn't going to be easy.

They are going to be releasing TV and digital ads and each day of the convention they want to try to highlight a crisis under the Trump administration. They will of course also be using some high-profile Democratic surrogates like Nancy Pelosi, Governor Gretchen Whitmer. But as of right now, Democrats say there are no plans right now for either Joe Biden or Kamala Harris to take part in that any of counter programming -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, MJ Lee, thank you so much. More on our 2020 Lead.

While Biden is getting bipartisan praise really for his speech last night, President Trump is slamming the Democratic National Convention as the darkest and gloomiest convention in history.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins joins me now. And Kaitlan, Democrats made a key part of their convention message the notion that President Trump is discouraging voting, especially voting by mail. And now the President is giving them more ammunition. He told Hannity he's going to send sheriffs and law enforcement to polling places on election day.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they're accusing him of trying to really undermine the election by sowing all that doubt about mail-in voting and then when he was asked last night about how he's going to verify that voters are who they are, he was talking about sending sheriffs and law enforcement and U.S. attorneys to polling places on election day.

Something that we should note he likely does not have the authority to do. Because federal law makes it illegal to try to intimidate voters at polling places. But it also makes it illegal, it prohibits federal or civil or -- excuse me, civil or military federal officials from sending armed men to polling places.

So, the President is saying that it's something that he actually said in 2016 as well, it's not likely he can do that. But one thing that the Trump campaign is doing is trying to send thousands of these election monitors, these people to battleground states for election day. Because, you know, the President has been making this effort overall to say that there is going to be some kind of fraud, that it can be a rigged election. So it's really been this whole of Trump campaign approach to try to sow this doubt about the results on election day.

TAPPER: The President criticized the speeches at the DNC for a whole host of reasons. But one of the reasons was that many of them were on tape, they were not live. Are the plans right now for the Republican National Convention to be mostly live?

COLLINS: The prime-time speeches will be mostly live based on what we heard from campaign sources. People who are working on this. Because the President has been watching it closely at night. You know, the prime-time hours when you're seeing the big named speakers and he says he does not like how it's taped.

Michelle Obama has been on the receiving end of that criticism from the President. But his aides agree, they've been trying to watch and learn from the DNC and see what they can do to improve their convention next week. And one thing has been they do not want a lot of taped programming because they think it looks deflated or flat and doesn't have this reaction.

But what their weighing with that is that they are doing these live speeches, what's the audience reaction going to like and that's why some events that next week are going to be outside when you see these people speaking.

The first lady Melania Trump is going to be speaking from the Rose Garden. We know the Vice President Mike Pence is going to be speaking from Fort McHenry. And then, of course, President Trump will be introduced by Ivanka Trump next Thursday and that's going to be on the south lawn here at the White House and we are expecting an audience to be there outdoors.

TAPPER: All right. Kaitlan Collins, thanks.

The President has a point about that. I mean live programming does have more of an energy. But taped programming is a lot easier to control.

Next week the Republican National Convention dominates prime time. Watch all of the big moments right here on CNN. Our special coverage begins Monday night at 7:00 Eastern.

With the pandemic playing out on his watch, the new warning to President Trump and all leaders as the world waits and waits and waits for a vaccine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:35:00]

TAPPER: Staying with our health LEAD, there will soon be new guidance on when and where children should wear masks released by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. The guidance will be broken down by age group. There will be five and under, 6 to 11, and 12 and over. Now that announcement will come as we learn a 6-year-old has died in Florida from the virus. The youngest person to die in that state.

Joining me now, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, the State's Health Department in Florida does not know how this 6-year-old contracted the virus. And we don't know if she had any underlying health conditions. Why do you think there's still so much we don't know about how the virus affects kids?

[15:40:03]

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the largest study that we've been able to find really was out of China. Very early on in this pandemic when I think at that point kids were still out and about and easier to study. That was some 2,000 children that were part of that study.

But since then, Jake, since March, kids really have been mostly at home. So, they haven't been, you know, having close contacts with people having been at greater risk of contracting the virus.

In fact, the South Korea study which everyone always cites, if you look closely at it, there's only 57 children out of the thousands of people in that study who were under the age of nine.

What I think we know to be true is that kids are still less likely to get sick from that. That data has held up seemingly from the original China data. But I think it's becoming more and more clear that kids can transmit this virus, they can spread it. We don't know how much, but they can certainly spread it.

And as more kids get it, even if it's rare that they get very sick, you are going to see more tragic stories like what happened to the 6- year-old in Florida. The numbers are low, but they're going to go up as the overall numbers go up.

TAPPER: European researchers are highlighting the benefits of a mandatory mask wearing policy, they say it not only reduces the stigma, but it leads to more protective behaviors, physical distancing, hand washing and more.

How much of a difference could this make theoretically in the U.S. especially when we've heard from small business owners who really hesitate to enforce mask rules if there is not a mandate in the state?

GUPTA: Yes, that's a great question. Because culturally, you know, it may be very different here in the United States versus what they found in Germany. I did find the study really interesting. We can show you some of the specific results, but basically, they studied a thousand people a week over seven weeks, of 7,000 people, this is going back to May. And what they found is the simple act of putting on a mask has the benefit of obviously the mask.

But take a look here, Jake. You put on a mask and people are, you know, 2.7 to 7.7 times more likely to be hand washing. Up to 20 times more likely to be avoiding handshakes. Up to 13 times more likely to be physically distancing.

It's this idea that just, you know, almost on a psychological level, once you put on the mask, you start to behave differently. You are less likely to spread the virus. We've shown the studies on that. Probably spreading a virus goes down six-fold. But all of these other behaviors improve as well.

As you mentioned, I don't know if it translates here in the United States. I think it does. Because people who are going to wear masks are probably more likely engage in those other healthy behaviors. But I think to your point, Jake, it counts on everyone else doing it also. And that part's not clear.

TAPPER: Today the CDC highlighted Rhode Island as having success at reopening childcare centers. The CDC says health authorities in that state were quick to identify cases, to contact traced, to quarantine anyone exposed, is that enough, do you think, to prove that there is definitively a way to safely reopen schools and day care centers right now?

GUPTA: I think there's a way to do it as safely as possible. But I don't know if you can ever say that it's going to be safe. Because the virus is still spreading. It is still very contagious.

I'll show you what happened in Rhode Island specifically. You can look at numbers and as you look at this, you know, you keep in mind that Rhode Island's positivity rate is about 2.5 percent. OK. So, they have a -- that basically suggests that they are doing plenty of testing out there already. But, you know, they did all of the things that you would expect, right. Face masks, distancing, proper ventilation, they had physical distancing in terms of modified classroom layouts. All of that but look at that bottom line. They had a plan for positive cases, right.

You got to ask your own school district, what is your plan if you have a certain number of positive cases? That should be very transparent. And what are you going to do with people at that point? How are they going to be tested and traced? It has repercussions.

So, in Rhode Island, it's working well. But they also have more than 800 people who are currently in quarantine as a result of these childcare situations also. So, they quickly identify people, but that might mean, Jake, if you're doing it properly, a lot of people go into quarantine also. The numbers stay down, but you know, the ability to actually be in childcare or schools or whatever, the ability to do that goes down as well.

TAPPER: Just imagine if we could test teachers and students the same way that we test NBA players and White House officials. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks as always.

One witness said it was like a tornado, 70 miles across. Why the White House's response to this storm could or make or break the President's chance in a key battleground state.

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[15:45:00]

TAPPER: In our national LEAD today, 12,000 customers remain without power more than ten days after a derecho hit Iowa. The state remains reeling from a devastating storm that ravaged Iowa with hurricane- force winds ripping up everything in its path.

On Tuesday President Trump visited the state that he won by almost ten points in 2016.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have come through for you and we will always come through for Iowa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: But as CNN's Ryan Young reports for us now, not every Iowan is feeling the love from Trump this time around. And many say the federal help they can get for the storm could directly impact their vote.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE SWENKA, IOWA FARMER: Unfortunately, the ear is on the part of the stock that's dead. RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A massive

windstorm's destruction still seen all over Steve Swenka's corn field nearly two weeks after it swept across Iowa with 100-mile-an-hour winds.

SWENKA: It just kept going. And, you know, 45 minutes into it, it's still blowing and we're seeing the trees and the limbs and of course the power's off.

[15:50:00]

YOUNG: In Cedar Rapids, one of the hardest hit cities, more than 800 buildings suffered some sort of partial collapse. More than 20 school buildings damaged.

NIKKI WIMS, BARTENDER: It was like the whole storm that was 70 miles across was a tornado and I've never seen anything like it.

YOUNG: Nikki Wims works at a Cedar Rapids bar.

WIMS: We just rebuilt from the flood of '08. And now we're going to do it all over again with no support.

YOUNG: President Trump visited Iowa Tuesday, one day after signing a major disaster declaration. But the $45 million in aid only covers a portion of the almost $4 billion Republican Governor Kim Reynolds requested. But the President also approved additional funding for the Cedar Rapids area Thursday according to Governor Kim Reynolds' office.

Not nearly enough says Wims.

WIMS: He came by what? For a picture, for a photo op? At the Cedar Rapids Airport? No. I want to see boots on the ground. Like, you know, people, we needed to see this.

YOUNG: Other Iowans in the bar are pleased with the President's support. Brian Reeves says Trump can count on his vote.

BRIAN REEVES, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I really think he means well. I mean there's some things I wish he would, you know -- some of his tweets and stuff like that, you know. He's not a politician. I mean he never was, and he's always admitted that he's never been a politician. So, I think deep inside I think he's doing what he thinks he needs to do to help.

YOUNG: A Monmouth University Poll taken one week before the storm showed Trump leading Biden 48 percent to 45 percent within the margin of error, losing Iowa's six electoral votes may not cost Trump the election, but the voter sentiment in the red-leaning state may signal trouble for Trump on other key states on election night.

(on camera): There is the conversation that Iowa may be a swing state? Do you buy that or what do you think's going to happen?

WIMS: Absolutely, absolutely, yes. This is -- I mean I work at a bar. I talk to people of all walks of life, all different political and religious backgrounds. And I've heard people, Republicans even saying, I had a guy on the patio just yesterday say listen, Nikki, I have always voted Republican. This'll be the first time that I don't.

SWENKA: Come on boys.

YOUNG (voice-over): Back on Steve Swenka's farm, the fourth-generation farmer says he's still on the fence about who he'll vote for as he waits to see how the federal and state assistance will help farmers pick up the pieces.

SWENKA: I guess I have to believe that our elected officials will get their heads together and get us some help in some way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG: Jake, as you know in 2008 and 2012, President Obama was able to win Iowa. But in 2016 President Trump was able to flip 31 counties. Of course, everyone will be looking again to see exactly what happened. A lot of these areas are really damaged. Farmers looking for help. Billions of dollars in losses -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Ryan Young from the Midwest, thank you so much.

Feeling isolated during the pandemic? Feeling soft because your gym is closed? Today's CNN Hero is trying to help people deal with all of that. A personal trainer with special insight into feeling locked up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HECTOR GUADALUPE, FOUNDER OF THE SECOND U FOUNDATION: I spent close to 31 months in solitary confinement. I would spend half a day doing certain exercises to keep my blood moving through my body and keep my body strong.

We got the moms on deck. The moms are getting it in this morning!

I started the Second U Foundation. We are formerly incarcerated men and women.

They get certified and they get provided job placement. Not one has re-offended. People won't re-offend as long as they're provided livable wages.

If I can help other people become successful, that means a lot of families were fed. That means success to me. We all deserve a second chance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Anderson Cooper shares the full story about Hector's work at CNNheroes.com. Check it out.

The actions of some first-year college students at one university is describing as selfish. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:55:00]

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We begin this hour with the health LEAD and the coronavirus pandemic and a warning from the World Health Organization that no country can just ride this out until there's a vaccine.

And, yet, amid no new national strategy in the United States despite a clear failure of the government to isolate and contain the virus as other parts of the world have been able to do. The CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield is now saying that middle America is getting, quote, stuck when it comes to the pandemic that places such as Nebraska and Oklahoma are not seeing cases fall.

Though the overall number of cases in the United States is declining from the peak last month and Dr. Redfield says he expected the number of daily deaths to also begin dropping soon.

Experts have long said that the true number of cases in the United States is likely many times many times higher than what has been reported. And now Dr. Redfield is saying it's possible up to 60 million Americans have actually contracted the virus, more than ten times the reported number.

As CNN's Athena Jones reports for us now there are at least 19 states dealing with new outbreaks at colleges and universities.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As college students head back to campus, coronavirus outbreaks at universities in at least 19 states leading to concerns about scenes like this. A large gathering of students at Penn State that prompted the school's president to ask those flouting the rules, do you want to be the person responsible for sending everyone home?

Mississippi's Governor urging college students to be careful.