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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Interview With Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT); Trump Suggests His Supporters Vote Twice; Trump Giving Up On Coronavirus Spread?; Pelosi Under Fire Over Indoor Haircut. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired September 02, 2020 - 16:30   ET

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

[16:31:22]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Breaking news in our politics lead.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi now says she was set up after her trip to a San Francisco hair salon drew backlash from Republicans for breaking the city's coronavirus rules.

Now, the business' owner shared this video right here of Pelosi inside the salon, as you see, not wearing a mask as she walks from one room to another.

Right now, the city's guidelines require services like haircuts to happen outdoors. But Pelosi says a salon staff member told her one appointment at a time was allowed inside the building.

CNN's Manu Raju is live on Capitol Hill.

Manu, that's a strong allegation from Speaker Pelosi. Does she have any proof?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, she's pointing to how this all played out.

Typically, when she gets her hair done in San Francisco, someone comes to her house, but, apparently, her regular stylist was not available. That person referred it to someone else at this salon.

And the person that she, her staff interacted with at the salon conveyed to them that she could come into the salon, it would be no problem. But, of course, as you mentioned, this is a complete violation of what San Francisco rules allow, which is that such hair appointments need to happen outdoors, not indoors.

And after this came out, the footage was first provided to FOX News. The owner criticized Nancy Pelosi in an interview with FOX News. We reached out to the owner too.

And then, after she's -- she's gotten some criticism by the president, by Republicans, she responded very strongly today by saying that all this appears to have been a setup.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I take responsibility for trusting the word of a neighborhood salon that I have been to over the years many times, and that when they said what -- we're able to accommodate people one person at a time, and that we can set up that time, I trusted that.

As it turns out, it was a setup. So, I take responsibility for falling for a setup.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, in that footage that shows or not wearing a mask, her office says that she was wearing a mask through the course of the appointment. The only time that she didn't was that exact moment, when she pulled it down after getting her hair washed for a very brief moment, that -- they contended.

So it's part of their argument that this was an effort to make her look bad, leak this footage, invite her in, in violation of the rules. She's calling for an apology from the salon as well.

But, clearly, regardless of how this played out, it was a violation of what the rules allow in San Francisco, which is, if she's going to get her hair cut there, it has to be outdoors.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Right. It's interesting, her words there, saying, I take responsibility for falling for a setup.

But the rules are the rules in the city. And that is that.

All right, Manu Raju, thanks so much.

RAJU: Thank you.

BROWN: Turning to our 2020 lead and a new campaign strategy.

Sources tell CNN the White House has decided the spread of coronavirus is inevitable and is now moving away from heavy-handed actions to stop the virus, focusing instead on reopening the economy with just two months until the presidential election.

Well, President Trump is now speaking less about the virus in public, as you may have seen, and is making law and order the focus of his reelection effort.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two months out from Election Day, President Trump is on the trail in the key battleground state of North Carolina, pivoting away from the pandemic and turning to the economy and law and order.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: American warriors did not defeat fascism and oppression overseas, only to watch our freedoms be trampled by violent mobs here at home. We stop those violent mobs very easily.

[16:35:01]

These people only know one thing, and that is strength.

DIAMOND: With U.S. coronavirus cases topping six million, sources telling CNN that Trump and top White House officials have all but given up on suppressing the virus, focusing instead on doing just enough to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed, while waiting for a vaccine.

One senior administration official telling CNN: "You can't stop it."

JOSEPH BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The idea that you're going to be able to get the economy back on track without getting COVID under control is completely counterintuitive.

DIAMOND: Democratic challenger Joe Biden also preparing to counter Trump's visit yesterday to Kenosha, Wisconsin, announcing he will hold a community meeting there tomorrow.

BIDEN: We have spoken to all the leaders up there. And there's been overwhelming requests that I do come, because what we want to do is, we got to heal. We got to put things together, bring people together.

DIAMOND: Meanwhile, Trump is continuing to make baseless claims about Biden's health.

TRUMP: He's done some kind of an enhancement, in my opinion. And I say we should both -- I should take a drug test. So should he.

DIAMOND: But, these days, it's the president who is facing questions about his health amid new reporting that Vice President Mike Pence was put on standby when Trump made an unscheduled trip to Walter Reed Medical Center last year.

Biden declining to weigh in.

BIDEN: And I'm not going to speculate. I will let the experts do that. The only time that I have been on notice is when the president is out of the country, and I'm in the country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND: And, Pam, the president today in North Carolina continuing to stoke unfounded fears about the integrity of the 2020 election, now suggesting that his voters should actually -- if they vote by mail, also go and try and vote in-person.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So, let them send them it in, and let them go vote. And if the system is as good as they say it is, then, obviously, they won't be able to vote.

If it isn't tabulated, they will be able to vote. So, that's the way it is. And that's what they should do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And what the president is suggesting his voters should do here is essentially commit voter fraud.

If you vote via absentee or if you vote by mail, you cannot go and then try and vote in-person as well. And if you would be allowed to do so, you would be committing voter fraud. So, again, not clear what the president is trying to get out here.

But, Pam, it does seem like the latest attempts by the president to try and stoke fear and concern about the 2020 election without any evidence whatsoever.

BROWN: That is stunning that he's encouraging voter fraud, from a president who has claimed repeatedly that he's so concerned about voter fraud in the election.

All right, Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Well, coming up: fear factor. President Trump claims violent crime is up in cities run by Democrats. Is that the whole truth? We will take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:42:23]

BROWN: And in our national lead: a 166 percent spike in gun violence across New York City just in the last month.

That increase appears to be happening across this country, when you look at murders and gun violence. According to "The New York Times," in 25 large cities across America, there has been a 16 percent rise in murder, compared to just last year. And that's not just Democratically run cities, but crime overall is actually down.

Joining me now is Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, whose new book, "The Violence Inside Us: A Brief History of an Ongoing American Tragedy," is out now.

Great to see you, Senator Murphy.

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Thanks a lot for having me.

BROWN: So, let's talk about these numbers.

As I mentioned, the overall crime is down, but murder is up. And we're seeing a spike in gun violence in some places, like New York City. That violence is separate from the racial justice movement we have seen going on in the country. So what do you think is going on right now? C. MURPHY: Well, in my book, I talk about the long-term trajectory of

violence in the world and in the United States.

And, overall, we have seen a pretty radical reduction in the amount of violence in this country and, over the very long term, a really radical reduction in violence all across the world.

But it goes up and it goes down. And in the United States, there's lots of data that suggests -- and I tell these stories in the book -- that violence tends to track poverty and easy access to guns.

And what we have seen in low-income neighborhoods this summer is economic desperation, as 30 to 40 percent of low-income workers have lost their jobs. And we have also seen gun sales spike. You saw record numbers of guns being sold in the spring of this year.

And I think it stands to reason that those two things put together have led to a spike in gun murders. I think the president's refusal to try to heal the nation and mount an effective COVID response is contributory.

But the long-term data would suggest that the factors we have seen this spring, lots of guns and lots of people out of work, were going to lead to increases in violence.

BROWN: All right, let's talk about the president and what we have seen from him recently, in the context of what we have seen this summer, the two people killed in Wisconsin at that protest after the shooting of Jacob Blake.

A 17-year-old suspect is now facing multiple homicide charges. And then there was another person killed in Portland. Unrest has been continuing for nearly 100 days there.

[16:45:00]

President Trump likes to point to these and say, we have a law and order problem in this country. He says -- he often says that this is just in Democratic run cities.

Is there a law and order problem, or is there something else going on, in your view?

C. MURPHY: Well, the president has been celebrating violence since his campaign in 2016, when he cheered on his supporters who were beating up protesters at rallies, to his celebration of white supremacists marching in Charlottesville, to today his refusal to condemn a supporter of his who took an assault rifle into a protest and killed two people.

His responsibility is to condemn violence of all kinds. And I was proud of Joe Biden, who stood up the other day and said, listen, whether it's coming from supporters of mine or supporters of the president, there's no room for violence in this nation.

And so what I'd like to see is the president try to heal. Right now, I think he has made the decision that his reelection is dependent on there being more unrest and more chaos.

And so I think you're going to see him throwing fuel on the fire, rather than actually try to do things that would reduce the amount of violence we're seeing.

BROWN: Had a little technical issue there.

It's interesting. We had this new CNN poll come out, and it showed that more Biden supporters are actually concerned about crime in their communities vs. Trump voters. We see it right here, those numbers, 39 percent compared to 30 percent.

The Trump campaign is cutting an ad that Biden is weak on law. What do you think? Are Democrats losing on this issue?

C. MURPHY: Well, there's really no sign of that. We're seeing continued polls showing Joe Biden leading by near double digits.

And as he reminded the nation a few nights ago, during the Obama and Biden years, violent crime in this country went down by 15 percent. And we have seen that big spike in murders in American cities this year under Trump's watch.

Listen, we have to get to the root causes of the violence. My book certainly talks about the things you can do to make sure that there are less illegal weapons out there. But unless you really deal with the racist past and present of this country, the way in which white majorities have used violence to suppress communities of color, the way that poverty leads to violence, you're not going to make a difference here.

And so if you want a law and order president, then elect somebody who's going to be all about racial healing. Elect somebody who's going to lift people out of poverty. That's Joe Biden.

You want a law and order president dealing with the root causes of violence, and that's what our candidate, the Democratic candidate, is talking about.

BROWN: I want to ask you this before you go. It's hard even now to talk about, to think about, without getting emotional.

It's been nearly eight years since one of the most disturbing mass shootings in U.S. history, Sandy Hook. That was in your home state. Sorry. I'm a mom, and it just -- even just talking about it is tough.

As we know, 20 children and six adults were killed. You talk about the need to reduce the number of guns in the streets. But if Congress couldn't do anything after Sandy Hook or Parkland or Pulse nightclub, will they ever? Will there ever be change in that regard?

C. MURPHY: This book is not a book about Sandy Hook. It shows up in these pages. And the book is in part my story, my sort of political coming of age since Sandy Hook.

I have learned a lot about gun violence over the last seven years. And I try to share that in this book, so that others can become true activists in this cause.

And the reason is that, no, it didn't all change after 2012. Why? Because you need a political movement to rival that of the gun lobby. For 40 years, the NRA built up a political powerhouse that did end up defeating our efforts to institute mandatory comprehensive background checks in 2013.

But now our movement is bigger and stronger than the gun lobby. We passed a universal background checks bill in the House. We just have to get the numbers in the Senate. And my hope is that this book, "The Violence Inside Us," can act as a primer for people who want to become more educated on why violence happens in the United States and what to do about it.

It's not all about changing gun laws, but that gets you the most immediate impact. And I think we are on the precipice of being big enough and strong enough as a movement in order to get something passed in 2021.

BROWN: All right, Senator Chris Murphy, thank you so much.

"The Violence Inside Us: A Brief History of an Ongoing American Tragedy" on sale now.

Thanks.

Well, coming up: voters' divide in the suburbs of a battleground state that's key to President Trump's reelection chances.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:54:24]

BROWN: Florida's largest school system, Miami-Dade County, has launched a criminal investigation into a cyberattack that has interrupted its first week of virtual classes.

CNN's Rosa Flores is in Miami.

And you have a breaking news on who might be responsible.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right, Pamela.

This is breaking news from the Miami-Dade County Public Schools police chief, who tells us that preliminary information suggests that the sources of these attack are both foreign and domestic.

Now, here's what we know. So these attacks on the Miami-Dade County Public Schools started on day one virtual schooling. Today alone, according to the chief, they have been attacked at least 13 times by what they call is a distributed denial of service attack.

[16:55:09]

All that is, is imagine a million people knocking at your door all at the same time trying to get in. So, what these attacks do is, they create a bottleneck and doesn't allow in this case students and teachers to log on.

Just to give you a sense of the size of the school district, this is the fourth largest school district in the country, with more than 500,000 students. Now, according to the chief, they are working with the FBI and also with the Secret Service, and that they are looking at multiple I.P. addresses.

And this is where they say that their preliminary information suggests that some of these are foreign, some of these are domestic. According to the superintendent of schools, he described these attacks as being sophisticated and complex.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERTO CARVALHO, SUPERINTENDENT, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, PUBLIC SCHOOLS: In the shadow of this problem, there was a malicious attempt, malicious, well-orchestrated, complex attempt at derailing, destroying the connection which is essential for our students and teachers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now, the chief of police says that these attacks have not been able to infiltrate the school system.

And, Pamela, I should add that Comcast issued a statement saying that it is working both with the district and also with law enforcement.

BROWN: All right, interesting. It's both local and international sources. Thanks so much, Rosa.

Well, as President Trump embraces a message of law and order, claiming Democrats will destroy American suburbs, CNN went to battleground Ohio to gauge whether that message is resonating in a state he won back in 2016 and a state that no president has lost in modern history.

As Jeff Zeleny reports, for some, the president's suburban safety pitch has been a turnoff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump is seizing on the suburbs as a weapon in his fight with Joe Biden.

TRUMP: He will totally destroy the beautiful suburbs. Suburbia will be no longer.

ZELENY: But, here in Ohio, these sprawling communities have long been changing. Just ask Angie Jenkins.

ANGIE JENKINS, REYNOLDSBURG, OHIO, CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT: I have no idea what he's talking about, because the suburbs are not what they were in the '60s. ZELENY: Jenkins is the new city council president of Reynoldsburg,

just outside Columbus. She and two other black women were elected last year, in part, she believes, as a reaction to Trump.

JENKINS: I do feel like he's trying to put fear in people.

But people know what we have had for the last four years and what he has been as a president.

ZELENY: Nine weeks before Election Day, the suburbs are again a critical part of battleground Ohio, a state Trump won in 2016 by 8 percentage points.

This time, front yards showing new signs of division, from All Lives Matter to Black Lives Matter, from Trump to Biden, often on the same block.

Ed Paxton owns a cigar shop in the nearby town of Delaware.

ED PAXTON, OHIO VOTER: Some people love him. Some people hate him.

ZELENY: His view of Trump has improved over the last four years and believes the president's law and order message will resonate with some voters in both camps.

PAXTON: It is Trump's America. But I think, at a local level, our law enforcement has been handcuffed.

ZELENY: John Murphy, an ironworker who dropped by to pick up a cigar, disagrees. He says the summer unrest is justified.

JOHN MURPHY, OHIO VOTER: when people are dying for no reason other than the color of their skin, they have a right to be angry.

ZELENY (on camera): Do you think President Trump's trying to scare people?

J. MURPHY: Absolutely. I think that's his main tactic.

ZELENY (voice-over): Stephanie Pyser believes the scare tactics won't work, particularly on women awakened to politics because of Trump.

STEPHANIE PYSER, CO-FOUNDER, POSITIVELY BLUE: It's pretty obvious what you know what the future is going to look like under Trump, which scares a lot of women.

ZELENY: After Trump won in 2016, she helped form a group in the Republican-leaning suburbs called Positively Blue, recruiting women to run for local office and become more politically aware.

PYSER: We're not going to convert any Trump supporters, but finding those people that are on the fence, the independents and Republicans that are just fed up with the way that our country has been run.

ZELENY: Not long ago, many Democrats believed the state was out of reach, but the coronavirus crisis and economic fallout changed that. Plus, Biden is a known quantity after being a partner on the Obama ticket that twice carried Ohio.

That's why the Trump campaign is trying to rebrand Biden. Among some Republicans, at least, it may be working.

GINA HEFFNER, OHIO VOTER: The Democratic Party is not what it used to be. And it's extremely liberal. And I think it's scary.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: Now, that is the sentiment we heard from a lot of Republicans and Trump supporters. They believe that Joe Biden is simply one of the many liberal Democrats, in their view. So that will be a challenge for Joe Biden to keep introducing himself with his own moderate record.

But there is no question the Trump campaign paying specifically attention to Ohio. They have already reserved $5.6 million in ads for this month alone, Pamela. This is why no Republican has ever won the White House without Ohio. He needs these 18 electoral votes -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much.

Our coverage on CNN continues right now.

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