Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Nurse Survives Heart, Lung Failure in 117 Day Fight With COVID; Leaked Video Reveals New Details of George Floyd's Fatal Arrest; Pelosi Says Stimulus Price She Will Settle for Is $3.4 Trillion. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 04, 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]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: 117 days, that is how long Sharon Tapp was in the hospital with COVID. Sharon is used to being the one taking care of others. She's a nurse care manager at Veterans Medical Care Center in D.C.

But the coronavirus nearly killed her. She tested positive back in March and was placed in a medically induced coma for two months and battled setbacks including heart and lung failure. And thank goodness she is now out of the hospital and joining me now live.

Sharon, thank you so much for being here. And I just have so many questions for you. I'm just so glad you're OK. I'm sure on a journey. But I mean 117 days, by the grace of God, you're, you know, on live national TV talking to me. How are you today and what is that like just still processing all of it?

SHARON TAPP, NURSE WITH COVID: Oh, it's a lot to process. And it feels great to be alive. I'm so happy to be home. But it is a lot to process.

BALDWIN: And I can't even begin to imagine and also just your voice and I see your bandage. Is that from the trach tube?

TAPP: That's from the trach. That's from the trach.

BALDWIN: That they used to make sure you could breathe?

TAPP: Breathe. Yes, the airway. After they moved me from the ventilator.

BALDWIN: I want to get to how you got sick in just a second, but I know you were in this medically induced coma for two months. When you first woke up --

TAPP: That part, I don't know what happened.

BALDWIN: You don't? What do you remember? Do you remember waking up? Did you have any idea --

TAPP: I remember -- I remember I was so short of breath when I went to the emergency room at Suburban Hospital. And they saw me walking in from the parking lot and they attended to me right away. And then they were on the phone talking to the intensivist to transfer me up to the ICU.

After that, I don't remember anything. I was told that I was medevacked a few days later over to Johns Hopkins and I went into the CCU. And I was on a ECMO machine, my heart was failing, my lungs, my kidneys, they were all failing. This is what was told to me by one of the doctors. So, I was put in a induced coma. And when I woke up out of a coma, I (INAUDIBLE)

BALDWIN: Say it one more time. I couldn't hear you. You woke up from the coma. I'm hanging on every word of yours -- when you woke up from the coma --

TAPP: I was in the medical intensive care unit. Now I had transferred when I first came in, I was in the CCU.

BALDWIN: I understand.

TAPP: And I woke up from the coma I was in the medical intensive care.

BALDWIN: Sharon, let me, if I may, if I may, just stop me for a second because I'm hearing all of the places and things. And I understand that it's, you know, I can't even imagine wrapping my head around something and being moved all these places and I had no idea because you're not -- you weren't well for so long. When you did finally come to and all of this was explained to you, what was that like to process and then to realize you're alive?

TAPP: It was a lot to process. Because I did not know that I had to -- I was medevacked. I did not know I was on a ECMO machine. I did not know I was in a coma for almost two months. That was a lot to process.

BALDWIN: And you've had to do really simple things ever since, right. Like relearning how to swallow and walk.

TAPP: Yes.

BALDWIN: Tell me about that.

TAPP: Walk, yes. Well, I was in the acute rehab unit and we had speech, physical therapy and occupational therapy. Very intense, every day and it was very tiresome. But it was something that I was just -- I just had to conquer. I was willing and able to fight it and make sure that I came out. And that I was able to walk.

BALDWIN: Amen. Something you had to conquer. It must be especially odd for you to be so taken care of because you're a nurse. You're a nurse of 40 years. In fact, that's a long, long, long time. Taking care of people that are ill.

TAPP: It is. It is.

BALDWIN: How do you think you got it because you were in the thick of things back in March and taking care of people who weren't well? [15:35:00]

TAPP: I think, yes, I think I went into a patient's room that did not have their, like, their PP -- their signs of their isolation. And I think I walked into their room and caught it from that.

BALDWIN: Do you -- it's my understanding you are itching to get back to work.

TAPP: Oh, am I itchy?

BALDWIN: Yes, ma'am. Are you itching to get back to work?

TAPP: I don't know if I'm itchy.

BALDWIN: You're letting everyone -- you're all right with everyone taking good care of you right now?

TAPP: Oh, yes. And I still have a long recovery. My voice is raspy. You know, this is not my voice. I still have to take small swallows, you know, when I'm drinking. I still have to -- I had a rolling (INAUDIBLE) a walker with wheels and now I'm walking with a cane. But I still have a long recovery to go. I still have a long ways.

BALDWIN: I am sure --

TAPP: You know, physical therapy is here three times a week, occupational therapy comes, speech therapy comes, the nurse comes. So, I still have a long way to go.

BALDWIN: It's a journey, you are alive, 117 days.

TAPP: Yes, it is.

BALDWIN: And a medically induced coma for two months. Heart failure, lung failure, you have your life. Sharon Tapp, bless you.

TAPP: And kidney failure, kidney failure as well.

BALDWIN: Forgive me for missing that, yes.

TAPP: And I had a trach and I had a PEG tube. A feeding tube as well.

BALDWIN: And here you are talking to me on TV. Thank you so much. And seriously from just deepest part of my heart, be well. Thank you.

TAPP: Thank you. Thank you.

BALDWIN: Let's move on.

Leaked police body cam reveals new details about George Floyd's fatal arrest in late May. The video shows you the first moment those officers first approached Floyd in his vehicle to his final desperate moments. And obviously just to warn you, the video is disturbing.

CNN's Omar Jimenez is joining me. And Omar, you have watched this whole thing in a private session with officials. Tell us more.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brooke. Well, for starters, the Hennepin County District Court and the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office are trying to figure out how the "Daily Mail" got this video.

But nonetheless it has been published, it shows a combination of footage from the body cameras of now former officers, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Keung during what became some of George Floyd's final moments. And, again, a warning, some of what you're about to see may be considered graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OFFICER THOMAS LANE: Put your hand up there.

GEORGE FLOYD: God.

LANE: Put your f***ing hand up there.

FLOYD: I got shot.

LANE: Put your hands on the wheel.

FLOYD: Yes, sir.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): This partial body camera video obtained by the "Daily Mail" showing former Officer Thomas Lane pointing a gun at George Floyd within 25 seconds of he and former officer, J. Alexander Keung, knocking on the window of the car Floyd was in.

They were responding to a call over a fraudulent $20 bill being used at the store across the street. Officers next seen here trying to get Floyd out of the vehicle.

FLOYD: I'm so sorry.

LANE: Step out and face away.

FLOYD: Please don't shoot me, Mr. Officer, please. Please don't shoot me, man.

LANE: Step out and face away.

FLOYD: You're not shooting me, man.

LANE: I'm not shooting you.

JIMENEZ: He's eventually pulled from the car and cuffed.

FLOYD: OK, Mr. Officer.

LANE: Stop resisting.

FLOYD: I'm not. JIMENEZ: Based on CNN's viewing the complete body camera footage, this is the first of two struggles. The second, much more forceful as officers tried to get Floyd into the police squad car. Floyd says he's claustrophobic. Soon he's being pushed in on one side by Keung and pulled in on the other by Lane seen in the video obtained by the "Daily Mail".

FLOYD: I can't choke -- I can't breathe, Mr. Officer. Please. Please.

My wrist. My wrist, man.

I want to lay on the ground. I want to lay on the ground. I want to lay on the ground.

JIMENEZ: This is the first time George Floyd says I can't breathe based on CNN's previous viewing of the video. They fall out on Lane's side and go to the ground into what's now become an infamously familiar position, Floyd's neck under the knee of Derek Chauvin.

FLOYD: I can't breathe, officer--ahhhh.

OFC. DEREK CHAUVIN: Then stop talking. Stop yelling.

FLOYD: They'll kill me. They will kill me, man. Ahhhhhhhhhh.

CHAUVIN: It takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk.

JIMENEZ: This is from the perspective of King's camera where not long after, Lane asks if Floyd should be moved.

FLOYD: Please. Please. Please.

LANE: Should we roll him on his side?

CHAUVIN: No, he's staying put where we got him.

LANE: I worry about the excited delirium or whatever.

[15:40:00]

CHAUVIN: That is why we have the ambulance coming.

JIMENEZ: Floyd loses consciousness shortly after and is pronounced dead at the hospital.

Chauvin now charged with second degree and manslaughter. Lane, Keung and Tou Thao are charged with aiding and abetting second degree murder and manslaughter. None of the former officers have entered a plea, though Thao and Lane have asked for their cases to be dismissed and Keung's attorney says he plans to plead not guilty.

Attorneys for the four officers either declined comment or did not respond.

(END VIDEOTAPE) JIMENEZ: Now the attorney for the Floyd family Ben Crump released a statement in response to the leaked video saying, in part, the more evidence you see, the more unjustifiable George Floyd's torture and death at the hands of the police become.

Now I mentioned the court is investigating this leak separate from that motion filed by CNN and other networks with this court to fully and publicly release this footage has yet to see a decision. And only about 26 minutes or so, dramatic as you have seen, have leaked. And the footage that I along with a select few others viewed earlier this summer was over an hour's worth of footage between those two body cameras -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: So incredibly disturbing, Omar. Thank you. Thank you very much.

A town in Texas is struggling with coronavirus deaths in particular. This county is using freezer trucks to store bodies. We'll talk to a funeral homeowner who went from doing eight services a week to 18. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Texas is now third in the number of coronavirus cases in the entire U.S. It is averaging a bit more than 7,000 new cases a day. Overall, Texas reports more than 450,000 cases and more than 7,000 deaths.

Now, the recent rise in deaths is hitting some small Texas communities especially hard. Funeral homes in the border town of Del Rio are struggling to keep up.

Rick Robles is the owner of Sunset Memorial Oaks Funeral Home in Del Rio, Texas. And, Rick, thank you so much for joining me. I know in fact you were supposed to be on yesterday, but you couldn't because you are so busy because too many people are dying. In all of your years in the funeral business, have you ever experienced anything quite like this?

RICK ROBLES, PRESIDENT AND OWNER, SUNSET MEMORIAL OAKS FUNERAL HOMES: Brooke, I appreciate you having me on. In all these years, 31 years, no, ma'am, I've never experienced anything like this.

[15:45:00]

It's completely new to all of us.

BALDWIN: When we say you're busy, define "busy."

ROBLES: As far as like hours in a day?

BALDWIN: How about funerals in a week?

ROBLES: Funerals in a week, we're probably doing about 14, 15 a week. And then we're doing about anywhere from about five to eight cremations a week as well. BALDWIN: And so I read a quote from you essentially saying that for

the people out there, and they exist, right, who believe that COVID is a hoax, you've said come spend the day with me. Tell me why.

BALDWIN: Oh, absolutely. No, just of what we're going through, what we see when we go to a hospital, a nursing home, everything is so much different than what it was a few months back.

Four months ago, you could walk in, you recognize everybody there at the hospital. Today you walk in and everyone's all suited up in their PPEs. You can't even recognize who you're speaking to unless they have their name tagged on their forehead. It's the only way you can tell who they are. You just can't recognize anybody anymore.

BALDWIN: One gut-wrenching difference with this virus is if you do lose someone now -- if you do lose a loved one, you can't attend a big funeral and mourn in the traditional way. I mean, you must see how difficult this is for families firsthand.

ROBLES: The hardest part is what I hear from families is that they can't be with a loved one when they pass away. And it's hard to lose a loved one when they're by themselves. You want to be able to hold their hand, be able to see them take their last breath. Unfortunately, my family and I lost our mother this past February, and we were fortunate enough to be able to be there with her when she passed. But this is something that I hear from a lot of families that they don't have the fortune to be able to be with a loved one.

They see their loved one by Skype or a Facetime. And that's about it. But they just can't be there with them. That's the most hardest part.

BALDWIN: Difficult work you're involved in and just to hear how busy you are is tragic. We all need to heed the guidelines, wear the masks and social distance. Rick Robles in Texas, thank you, sir.

ROBLES: Thank you, ma'am.

BALDWIN: You got it.

A stimulus stalemate on Capitol Hill. The war of words intensifies between Democrats and Republicans. But when will struggling Americans finally get some relief?

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Eight days, six closed-door meetings, but are top Democrats and White House negotiators any closer to a deal for this new stimulus package?

Sources tell CNN House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made it clear to the Democratic Caucus that there's been little to no progress on issues including state and local funding on unemployment benefits. The Speaker telling CNN the price tag she's willing to settle for is $3.4 trillion. Obviously, the stakes couldn't be higher. Millions of Americans are out of work with the economy in shambles, rent and mortgage payments are now due as of the first of the month.

CNN Congressional Correspondent, Phil Mattingly is on The Hill for us. And, so, where are they today?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, to give you some context on the top line, and this is just the top line, we're not even getting into the weeds here.

Speaker Pelosi wants a proposal at $3.4 trillion. Republicans are saying they don't want to go anywhere north of $1 trillion. That signifies a pretty significant problem right now.

Now, you mentioned that there have been six meetings in eight days between the top negotiators. They are now in their seventh and the ninth day right now. And in that meeting, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on his way in, that he planned to put forth a couple of new proposals that he hoped Democrats would start moving their way on, or at least consider them favorably.

But as you noted, Brooke, the Speaker was very blunt with her caucus last night on a private conference call according to two people on that call making clear that on education funding, they aren't there, on unemployment benefits, they aren't there. On state and local, they aren't there. On the Postal Service they aren't there. All of these major issues are still outstanding. I think the big question right now is what are the next steps?

Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows were in the closed-door Senate Republican lunch just a short while ago. The words coming out of that lunch from Republican Senators who were in attendance were impasse, stalemate, basically swimming in place.

So, something needs to shake things up at this point in time, particularly given the urgency. One thing to keep an eye on, both Mnuchin and Mark Meadows said on their way to the meeting, if there is no progress today, the White House will consider some type of executive action doing something unilaterally. That's more of a threat than an actual reality-based proposal. But that's where things are right now. It seems like people are just trying to throw things against the wall and see if something can change the dynamic.

The Senate is supposed to leave town for the August recess at the end of this week. Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader, Brooke, has already told them, if there is no deal they will stick around and stay in town. When asked why, Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who's up for reelection said there's no more important thing we can be doing right now.

I think everybody grasps that on the top line. The question is, what actually gets them to an agreement given how far apart they've stayed over the course of the last ten days?

BALDWIN: Here's the whole other issue, is the crux of the issue. Phil Mattingly for now, thank you for the update.

And I also have another update for you on that massive explosion that we reported out of Beirut in Lebanon. At least 80 -- excuse me -- at least 50 people have been killed with many more feared dead. Nearly 3,000 injured in this blast. This is all according to the country's health minister.

[15:55:00]

This whole moment right there captured on video. The blast rocked the port area of Beirut. Felt miles away shattering windows in buildings across the city even damaging the Presidential Palace and our own CNN bureau, as we just saw from our own correspondent there.

President Trump claims the United States has, quote, unquote, great testing. But more than 20 experts say the federal government is not doing enough to help. Details from an exclusive CNN investigation ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)