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Center for Public Integrity Obtains COVID-19 Recommendations Not Released by White House; Interview with Rep. Veronica Escobar (D- TX); Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Announces Undergoing Chemotherapy. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired July 17, 2020 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:05]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: On today's "Home Front," our digital and television column where we try to bridge the military-civilian divide, we are sharing the story of Lieutenant Junior Grade Madeline Swegle. Swegle has become the Navy's first black female fighter pilot in nearly 110 years of naval aviation.

Rear Admiral Paula Dunn, the Navy's vice chief of information, congratulated Swegle by tweet, saying, "Very proud of Lieutenant Junior Grade Swegle. Go forth and kick butt."

Senator Elizabeth Warren also tweeted out her support. She said, "Congratulations, Lieutenant Junior Grade Swegle! You make the @USNavy and our country stronger."

A 2018 investigation by Military.com found that black pilots were rare in the service, especially in fighter units. Swegle will be receiving her wings later this month. And a big congratulations to her.

If you have any questions, comments or story ideas, please e-mail them to me at homefront@CNN.com. And you can also see our column at CNN.com/homefront.

Hour two, I'm Brianna Keilar. And I want to welcome viewers here in the United States and around the world. The government is not being forthright about the challenges that our nation is facing. They are downplaying the pandemic, and hiding data as they argue that state economies should push forward with reopening, and kids should return to school in-person.

And as the administration insists it has a handle on the situation, consider that this was just one month ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you look, the numbers are very miniscule compared to what it was. It's dying out.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: It was not. It still is not. The U.S., shattering its daily record, reporting more than 77,000 new cases. Now, a month ago, the single-day total was 23,000. So multiply that by three today, just four weeks later.

And since late June, there have been nine days of record new cases, 38 states are showing a spike in new infections, while the number of Americans hospitalized is near the highest levels of the pandemic.

And now, we have learned that the White House is hiding key data from Americans. The Center for Public Integrity obtained a copy of an unpublished 359-page report prepared for the White House Coronavirus Task Force. And it says that 18 states that are in the so-called red zone for new cases and positivity rates, should roll back their reopenings.

CNN's Nick Watt is in Los Angeles for us. And, Nick, the U.S. has shattered yet another record. Tell us more.

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. But, you know, Brianna, it was interesting listening to Dr. Fauci this morning. There was a little bit of optimism, and a heavy dose of realism. First of all, he said, Listen, ultimately, we will get back to normal. It will end sometime.

But also, he said right now, too many people are saying, Oh, there's going to be a second wave in the fall. That's not where our concentration should be right now. We should right now be concentrating on what's happening right now, because it's very bad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WATT (voice-over): July is worse than April. Seven days already this month, we've broken the record for new cases in a day. Now stands at a stunning 77,255 from Thursday. Here's one big reason why.

CRYSTAL WATSON, SENIOR SCHOLAR, JOHNS HOPKINS CENTER FOR HEALTH SECURITY: We've allowed people to congregate indoors again, in bars and restaurants, staying for prolonged periods of time within six feet of one another.

WATT (voice-over): Florida now leads the nation in cases per capita. The main floor of their Emergency Operations Center, now closed after 12 workers tested positive. But Miami-Dade schools are supposed to reopen in just weeks.

ALBERTO CARVALHO, SUPERINTENDENT, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: It certainly is becoming very difficult to argue for a regular reopening of schools, considering the data right here in Miami-Dade, which by the way is comparable to the data and the circumstances that Wuhan, China faced about six months ago.

WATT (voice-over): The daily death toll is now rising in half our states. A record daily death toll in South Carolina, but the governor wants schools to offer five days a week in-person teaching, same page as the president. KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The science is on our side here.

WATT (voice-over): No, it's inconclusive. And look at what happened in Israel after schools reopened May 17th.

Make no mistake, we have the means to control this.

MURTAZA AKHTER, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN, VALLEYWISE HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER: I've got a really great drug, it's a blockbuster drug. It's called masks. Masks work.

WATT (voice-over): But in Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp is now suing Atlanta's mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms over her city's mask mandate.

MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D), ATLANTA, GEORGIA: The governor's putting politics over people. Our hospitals are almost at capacity, and this is how he chooses to spend our time and taxpayer money.

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R), GEORGIA: While we all agree that wearing a mask is effective, I'm confident that Georgians don't need a mandate to do the right thing.

[14:05:02]

MAYOR STEVE ADLER (D), AUSTIN, TEXAS: That sends a confused message, if it's just recommended but not mandatory, is it really important?

WATT (voice-over): Record death tolls reported in Texas three days in a row, but apparently the governor has no plans for more pausing or rolling back on reopening.

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: The last thing that any of us want is to lock Texas back down again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: Brianna, you mentioned that unpublished document that was obtained by the Center for Public Integrity, recommendations to the White House Corona Task Force.

Now, in that document, they say that Texas should limit gatherings to 10 or less everywhere. They say that California should really target messaging at the most at-risk communities. And also, stress that anybody can get very sick from this, even the young, and they recommend that Georgia mandate masks statewide -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. It's problematic that report is private. It's especially problematic because that information isn't being passed on, it appears, from the task force. Nick, thank you so much for telling us what's going on across the country.

Today, the nation's top infectious disease expert is pleading for local, state and city officials to tell their citizens to wear masks in order to turn around the massive surge in cases.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I can say, as a public health official, that I would urge the leaders -- the local, political and other leaders -- in states and cities and towns to be as forceful as possible in getting your citizenry to wear masks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Joining me now to discuss is infectious disease expert and executive associate dean at Emory University Medical School Carlos del Rio. Dr. del Rio, always good to see you.

I want to start in your home state there. Georgia's governor is suing the mayor of Atlanta for mandating masks, even as he is encouraging people to wear them. What's your reaction to that?

CARLOS DEL RIO, EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE DEAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT GRADY HEALTH SYSTEM: Well, I'm just very disappointed. Because, again, we're putting -- we're playing politics instead of saving people.

I think as Dr. Fauci said, the evidence to support masks is undeniable. We need to be doing everything we can to stop this virus. And what we need to be doing is letting local authorities take control and do what they need to do. And we need to -- quite frankly, we also need a national mandate. It would be really nice if the president and the vice president said, We need masks.

Because the reality is, shortly but -- slowly but probably too slow, states are making that decision. Alabama just mandated masks, some other states, other municipalities. So we need to do this nationally and I'm disappointed of what's happening in Georgia because we have a serious problem here and we could do something to avoid it, and we could do it today.

KEILAR: Do you think it's disingenuous when people say that they're not against masks, they're just against them being mandated? I guess my question is, do you think that people will not wear masks unless they're mandated to do so?

DEL RIO: Well, think about what we've done, for example, in restaurants, where we have said -- we have prohibited inside smoking, right? We haven't said, Oh, we encourage you not to smoke in a restaurant. Because if we did that, people would still smoke. Or we would have -- like we had some years ago -- sections of the restaurant where you can smoke and sections of the restaurant where you can't smoke.

We went on and we said, It is prohibited to smoke indoors. And people then stopped smoking indoors because it was mandated. If you don't mandate it, if you don't prohibit it, it's unlikely to have any effect. So yes, we do need to have mandates because otherwise they don't make a difference.

KEILAR: I want to note, you've been advising the city of Atlanta on measures that are needed to fight the spread of the virus. The mayor actually cited you as one of the nation's foremost experts. What have you been saying?

DEL RIO: Well, you know, what we've been doing is simply looking at the science and looking at the data, and looking at the best available data. And I want to emphasize that what the mayor wants to do and what we all want to do is, we want to save lives and we also want to save the economy.

But it's very clear that in order to have a safe economy and a healthy economy, you have to have healthy people.

So if we can stop spread of this virus, we have too much virus in our communities right now and we need to bring community virus down in order to be able to safely do things. if we want to have people gathering, we have to have less virus. And with the amount of virus available in our communities right now, you have to limit gatherings to less than 10 people, as the document from the White House Task Force says.

KEILAR: So we've just seen that -- about this secret White House document, because it has warnings about 18 states that are included in this coronavirus red zone. And it says that they should go back under lockdowns. What did you think when you heard that this was kept secret from the public?

DEL RIO: I will tell you that, you know, this is internal documents. I have seen those documents. They're not secret, they're documents that the White House Coronavirus Task Force is creating with data. And actually, every week, those documents with specific information about their states are going to the governors directly from the White House.

[14:10:08]

So this document is helping. These are documents that are being done at the Coronavirus Task Force to help governors guide their response in their states. And whether governors are paying attention to those documents or not is another question, but what the White House Task Force is trying to do is give them the best available data and information in order to guide their response.

Now, I do wish right now, given what we're seeing, that those documents become available, become transparent so we as citizens can also demand accountability from our elected officials.

KEILAR: Because the elected officials in the states aren't actually following the recommendations of what's in the document?

DEL RIO: No, neither are the federal elected officials. I mean, very clearly, as you heard from the White House, you know, press correspondent, they said the science is on our side. No, the science is not on their side, the science very clearly says what you need to do. And I think we need science to guide the response.

And I go back, as (ph) what (ph) Dr. Fauci says, Science is going to get us out of this, and we need to follow the science. We cannot make it up as we go. Because the reality is, where we are right now -- and I would say the U.S. has failed in its response to this coronavirus -- is because we haven't done the right thing from the very beginning.

KEILAR: Dr. Carlos del Rio, Thank you so much.

DEL RIO: Delighted to be with you, Brianna.

KEILAR: If the president is demanding that all schools reopen, does that mean that he is going to make that decision himself as a parent? He does have a teenage son. The White House has just responded to that.

Plus, a Republican senator blames Hispanics for the spread of the coronavirus. And a congresswoman calls that racist BS She will join me, live.

And I'll be speaking with a church pastor who is suing the governor of California over the ban on singing. Why he argues this is a mandate from the Bible.

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[14:16:12]

KEILAR: Harsh criticism today for North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis after remarks he made in a telephone town hall. He was addressing rising coronavirus rates in his state when he said this.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

SEN. THOM TILILS (R-NC) (via telephone): I'm not a scientist and I'm not a statistician, but one of the concerns that we've had more recently is that the Hispanic population now constitutes about 44 percent of the positive cases. And we do have some concerns that in the Hispanic population, we've seen less consistent adherence to social distancing and wearing a mask.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, Latino members of Congress responded angrily, including Congressman Ruben Gallego, who reminded the senator that Hispanics are essential workers, forced to work in the middle of a pandemic, that they account for more essential workers.

He tweeted, saying, "Senator Tillis could never do one full shift at a meat packing factory. Respect the people that feed America."

I want to bring in Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, who put it bluntly: "This racist BS needs to stop." Congresswoman, you are joining us now. Thank you so much for being with us.

When you heard Senator Tillis' comments, just, I guess, tell us what you thought, considering it's pretty well documented that one of the reasons that Hispanics have been so hard-hit is that they are more likely to account for being workers in a grocery store or in a meatpacking plant, or to have lower paying jobs that are essential at hospitals.

REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR (D-TX): Right. Thank you so much, Brianna, for covering this issue. It really is important. There has been so much misinformation put out by the president and by some Republicans.

And in addition to that misinformation -- which, you know, the misinformation can prove deadly. But in addition to that misinformation, there has been use of racist tropes. We've heard it from the White House, when the president and when members of his team refer to the coronavirus as the "Wuhan Flu." We know that that has inspired hate crimes against Asian-Americans.

And then now, you have Senator Tillis basically laying blame for the rapid rise of cases and the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus on Latinos, basically saying that it's because we're irresponsible, or those Latinos in his state are irresponsible.

So you know, that in turn is going to fuel anger from people who will then see Latinos in the same way that the White House wanted Americans to see Asian-Americans, seeing them as part of the problem. When in fact, as you pointed out and as my colleague Representative Gallego pointed out, Latinos and African-Americans have disproportionately felt the impact of the coronavirus because we have been on the frontlines from the fields, to the restaurants, to the grocery stores.

Additionally -- and the senator should know this -- additionally, Dr. Fauci has laid out, in very plain terms, that the reason why the African-American community and the Latino community are so hard-hit, in addition to our exposure, is because we suffer from comorbidities and lack of access to health insurance, lack of access to primary care physicians.

And so there should be not just an added sensitivity to what's actually happening in America to minority communities, but he should be working to ensure that minority communities in his state receive added resources and that essential workers are protected, instead of floating these theories that are not founded in fact.

[14:20:09]

KEILAR: And we also know that one of the reasons that Hispanic Americans have so many concerns, for instance, about schools reopening is that they are more likely to live in multigenerational families. I mean, we hear so many stories, Congresswoman, about people who say, Oh, I haven't seen my grandparents or I haven't seen my elderly parents in months. That's not a luxury that increasingly Hispanic American families have.

ESCOBAR: That's absolutely right. You know, and so communities, states should be leading the way. Because in the absence of leadership from the White House and the absence (ph) of a national testing strategy from the White House, it's going to be up to state leaders, governors, communities to make sure that the resources necessary for robust testing, tracing, isolation and treatment, reach those communities most at risk. And multigenerational families are also very much at risk. You know,

and so that goes for the essential workers, who are going in to help make sure that we have the food and everything that we need in our homes, but also for the kids that are going into schools.

You know, you saw the Republican Party call off its national convention because (INAUDIBLE) safe, yet you have a president and other Republicans saying, But let's get our kids into schools. It doesn't compute. And those that are going to be most vulnerable, again, are Latinos and African-Americans.

KEILAR: Congresswoman Escobar, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it.

And we are following some breaking news. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says that her cancer has returned. We'll get another update on her health and treatment.

Plus, has the president just given up on the pandemic? The U.S. continues to shatter coronavirus records, and he hasn't even held an official event on the crisis in more than a week.

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KEILAR: We have some breaking news. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, announcing today she is undergoing chemotherapy -- and actually has been since May -- to treat cancerous lesions on her liver.

With me now to discuss, CNN legal analyst Joan Biskupic. Joan, what more can you tell us?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, this was a surprise. It's -- just two days ago, I was standing out here, talking about her trip to the hospital up in Baltimore for a possible infection of a bile duct stent. And we thought that she was home, resting comfortably.

And apparently she is, but she decided today to reveal the fact that she had had a recurrence of cancer and had been undergoing since May, biweekly chemotherapy treatments. And she will continue those treatments to keep cancer at bay that was discovered in her liver, in the lesions, as you mentioned.

She said that so far, it's been a success, that there's been a reduction of the lesions and that she's feeling comfortable and moving forward.

TEXT: "My most recent scan on July 7 indicated significant reduction of the liver lesions and no new disease. I am tolerating chemotherapy well and am encouraged by the success of my current treatment. I will continue bi-weekly chemotherapy to keep my cancer at bay, and am able to maintain an active daily routine."

BISKUPIC: And one thing you should know, Brianna, is that this statement from her today included almost a forceful I'm still here message. She said that she had been able to continue all her work at the court, she thinks she will continue to be able to write her opinions and do her work.

She's always said she will continue full steam ahead on the bench as long as she can do it, and she said -- to anybody reading that statement about the chemo and the recurrence of cancer -- I can still do it.

Just to remind you of what she has undergone in recent years, the most serious, I would say, was, you know, in December of 2018, when they discovered that she had lung cancer and she underwent serious surgery for that. Then, last August, it was a recurrence of the pancreatic cancer that had been discovered in 2009. And that was pretty serious then, but she survived. And then we go back all the way to 1999, when she had colorectal cancer.

So this is a woman who gets regular checks. She said that a scan had shown the lesions on her liver in February. Coincidentally, I had been in her chambers in January, and she said, I'm cancer-free, and that's good. But apparently, in February, this was discovered. They had tried some intermediate treatment, and then had to go to the chemotherapy, which she began in May.

The other thing that I'm sure you're aware, we are all watching whether she would ever feel the need to step down in the upcoming months because President Donald Trump has already put two conservatives on the bench. And if he were to get the opportunity to name a third, it would dramatically tilt the ideological balance of the Supreme Court and change the law in America.

KEILAR: YEs. Well, she is tough as nails, so we certainly wish her the best as she continues to battle for her health. Joan, thank you for the update.

BISKUPIC: Sure.

KEILAR: As coronavirus cases are continuing to surge here in the United States, President Trump has been largely silent. The U.S. shatters its own record, adding 77,000 new cases. And it's been more than a week now since the man in charge of the national response held an official coronavirus event.

[14:29:59]

With me now, CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins. I mean, Kaitlan, what's happening here? Is the president ignoring the virus?