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Arizona Couple Gets Virus After Ignoring Social Distancing; Trump Sets September 15 Deadline for TikTok Purchase; Nevada Approves Plan to Mail Ballots to Voters; Trump Slams Universal Mail-In Voting, Again; Leaked Video From George Floyd's Arrest; NFL Struggling with Virus Even Before Season Starts; Baseball Season Threatened by Virus Outbreaks. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 04, 2020 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Months into the coronavirus pandemic many Americans still don't seem to be getting the message about social distancing and wearing masks, or they're ignoring it.

CNN's Miguel Marquez talked to a couple who learned the hard way just how serious this virus is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBI PATTERSON, HOSPITALIZED WITH COVID-19: We were totally lax a daisy and easy about it.

MICHAEL PATTERSON, HOSPITALIZED WITH COVID-19: Yes.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Debi and Michael Patterson didn't think the coronavirus would ever affect them.

D. PATTERSON: It was sort of almost like a joke in our group of friends.

MARQUEZ: Did you wear masks?

D. PATTERSON: Nope.

MARQUEZ: Did you hang out with your friends as normal?

D. PATTERSON: Yes.

MARQUEZ: So, all the things you are told you should back off of, you did.

D. PATTERSON: We did.

M. PATTERSON: We did.

D. PATTERSON: We did.

M. PATTERSON: We did. D. PATTERSON: And we still --

M. PATTERSON: And we paid the price for it.

D. PATTERSON: Yes.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): From Lake Havasu City on Arizona's border with California, the Pattersons didn't give the virus much thought, even once developing symptoms in late June.

D. PATTERSON: We just kind of carried on. We went to the pool, we did stuff, you know, over the rest of the weekend. And then that Monday morning is when we both woke up and we are just -- felt like a train had gone over both of us.

MARQUEZ: Michael got sick, Debi had to be hospitalized, put on oxygen but did not need a ventilator.

(on camera): Over a month later, how are you now?

D. PATTERSON: Well obviously, still short of breath, coughing, just the fatigue and dizziness, headaches almost daily. It's almost like somebody hit you in the head.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): They once laughed about the virus. Now, they say it's no joke.

(on camera): What is your message to people now?

D. PATTERSON: Be more careful.

M. PATTERSON: Keep your distance and wear a freaking mask.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): In this ultraconservative corner of the state, masks are still highly controversial.

PATRICK BAUGHMAN, GUN SHOP OWNER: If we make any member or any customer that's walking through our door remove their face mask. Again, that's our pride, that's also the understanding that you're --

MARQUEZ (on camera): So, you make people remove the mask when they come in?

BAUGHMAN: Absolutely. You do not shop my store with a mask on, period.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): For gun shop owners, Patrick Baughman, the coronavirus itself doesn't add up.

(on camera): But a 150,000 people are dead. Over 150,000 people.

BAUGHMAN: I definitely don't agree with that number that you just threw out there. I think --

MARQUEZ: What do you not agree with?

BAUGHMAN: There's so many cases of fraudulent claims as far as how they are reporting numbers.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Public health officials believe the number of dead from COVID-19 is probably higher than the official count, not lower.

(on camera): When the President comes out and says wears a mask, do you think he's just playing politics?

BAUGHMAN: Unfortunately, I do, at that point, think that he's playing politics because originally, he did come out calling this entire thing a hoax.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): For the Pattersons, the coronavirus is no hoax and speaking out is not a political act. It's a friendly warning.

D. PATTERSON: It's ridiculous not to take this seriously. I mean, I could have died just like the next person. I mean, you know, anybody can. It could've been either one of us or both of us.

MARQUEZ (on camera): So, if you think being from a small town protects you from the coronavirus, the Patterson story tells you, you are not. We should also thank them for speaking out. It was not easy. They are from a small town, Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

She supported President Trump in 2016, probably will again in 2020 from what we know. All of their friends are pretty conservative, so not an easy thing for them to raise their voice and since speak out about this. But they say their experience was so tough that everyone needs to heed their advice. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Thanks for that.

Well, President Trump says he will allow an American company to acquire TikTok but with conditions attached. Microsoft has said talks to buy the popular video app are continuing. U.S. officials have raised concerns the app owned by a Chinese startup would pose a security risk. On Friday President Trump threatened to ban TikTok in the U.S. now he's city setting a September 15th deadline for a deal to come together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My personal opinion was you're probably better off buying the whole thing rather than buying 30 percent of it. I think buying 30 percent is complicated. If you buy it, whatever the price is, that goes to whoever owns it because I guess it's China essentially, but more than anything else. I said a very substantial portion of that price is going to have to come into the Treasury of the United States because we're making it possible for this deal to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

And CNN's Eleni Giokos is in Johannesburg, South Africa. She joins us now live. Good to see you, Eleni. So how likely is it that security and other challenges can be ironed out by this September 15th deadline?

[04:35:00]

All right, we're having some problems with her audio there. We'll attempt to come back if we can fix that. So let's move on for now.

President Trump is stepping up his attacks on mail-in voting for the 2020 election. He threatened to bring a lawsuit to stop Nevada from expanding its mail-in voting. On Monday Nevada became the eighth state along with D.C. to adopt universal vote by mail for the election in November. For months Mr. Trump has repeated claims that mail-in voting is subject to widespread fraud.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They're using COVID to try and get the mail-in ballots. Now absentee ballots are great. Absentee ballots, they have to request them, they go through a process, they get them. But the universal mail-in ballots have turned out to be a disaster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: So let's bring in Natasha Lindstaedt. She is the professor of government at the University of Essex and has taught American politics for many years. Great to have you with us.

NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: So in the midst of a pandemic and only weeks from a presidential election, it makes sense to prepare the country for mail- in voting. But President Trump has been undermining that effort with cost-cutting steps that have led to a slower and less reliable delivery. Fueling concerns, of course, that the U.S. Postal Service isn't up to the task. It says that it is. So what is going on here?

LINDSTAEDT: Well, this is similar to what Trump did in 2016 when he feared he might lose. He said that the election was rigged and that there were going to be all kinds of cases of fraud. Well, in reality in a study that looked at the U.S. elections from 2000 to 2014, there are only 31 cases of fraud out of over 1 billion votes. So voter fraud, in particularly mail-in fraud, is incredibly rare. And it's even actually rare in countries that are leaning autocratic because it is so easy to catch. But he's trying to create fear in people, that we shouldn't be doing mail-in voting when this has been going on in the U.S. for decades.

In some cases, the state of Oregon for over 20 years and at the local level since 1981. It's very safe. There's really no chance of fraud taking place that would impact elections. The other thing is it actually doesn't benefit Democrats or Republicans to have mail-in voting. Five states allow mail-in voting to really anyone. Your state will send a ballot to you no matter what. And then you also have an additional 28 states that allow you to vote by mail without any kind of excuses. This has been going on for a long time now.

CHURCH: And Natasha, meantime, President Trump says his government will sue the state of Nevada because that's state wants to make it easier for the elderly and others to vote by mail and avoid risky exposure to the virus. So how is that likely to play with voters and what are the optics of a tactic like that?

LINDSTAEDT: I don't understand why he's trying to attack democracy so much right before our election. And this continues to be, you know, part of his campaigning. Is that he's talking about the country being under threat of fraud and that we have to stop all types of mail-in voting. Although in the same speech he said absentee voting was fine.

So it makes it look like he doesn't really understand the way democracy works here. That he is trying to impede voters from actually voting. And this election is of course more important than others. So he should be funding states and offering more federal funding to ensure that everybody can vote in 2020.

CHURCH: If more U.S. states go ahead and utilize mail-in voting for the 2020 presidential election and Donald Trump loses, how might he respond to that outcome if he's been saying all of this about mail-in voting?

LINDSTAEDT: He's already indicated in the interview that he had with Fox News that he doesn't know if he's going to accept the results. And this is something that he said in 2016 as well, which is incredibly concerning. And now we know in 2016 he actually won but he was still trying to prepare the public that there was some sort of rigged election taking place. I think he's already trying to prepare everyone, well if he loses that there was some kind of massive fraud taking place. And we know that that is not going to be the case because it is so rare. I think it's all part of his effort to save face.

CHURCH: And Natasha, we've heard from his own intelligence, they have said that there is no threat. That mail-in voting should be fine and there isn't a problem in terms of voter fraud. Why are we not hearing other Republicans actually stand up and say more about this? They seem to remain soberly silent.

LINDSTAEDT: They have remained silent and for the most part with some exceptions here and there they go against Trump. But for the most part they tied their future to him.

[04:40:00]

They seem as if they are completely afraid to contradict them because when they do, he lashes out at them very publicly and maybe even embarrassing them. But there's actually bipartisan support for mail-in voting because it does benefit Republicans in some ways. It's a little bit of a mixed bag. It brings in new voters but it brings then also older voters. It enables them to vote and oftentimes they vote Republican. So there's no reason to think that this is a partisan thing that's going to benefit Democrats. And it would be better for Republicans who spoke out about this. CHURCH: All right, Natasha Lindstaedt, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: And we have fixed the audio for CNN's Eleni Giokos. She joins us now from Johannesburg in South Africa. And Eleni, we were talking about the purchase of TikTok and how likely it is that in a month and a half all of these challenges, security problems can be figured out.

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, look, a list of challenges that they need to sort out in a very fixed space of time. And of course, for TikTok it's really important. Because if they do not find a suitor like Microsoft, then that would mean the Trump administration would ban the social media application in the United States.

So Microsoft says that it wants to purchase parts of its business. So valuation is going to be important. TikTok globally is valued at $50 billion. Now how they're going to sort out the price tag is going to be interesting. And then of course, as we heard, that President Trump says that part of that deal needs to go through the Treasury and that the United States needs to actually make money from this. So that's a really interesting and remarkable move.

I was looking at some of the commentary in the Chinese newspapers over the past few hours. And China says that this is similar to a smash and grab. And saying this is a theft of a Chinese tech company. So I think it's going to be important to watch the geopolitical tensions that are going to be playing out. Possible retaliation, that could impact negotiations -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: We'll watch it very closely. Eleni Giokos, joining us live, many thanks.

And still to come, new leaked video from the arrest of George Floyd reveals more about his fateful encounter with police. And we will have the details just ahead.

[04:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Leaked police body camera video footage shows new details of George Floyd's fatal arrest. The video was obtained by the "Daily Mail." A judge had previously said the footage couldn't be published and it isn't known how the "Daily Mail" obtained it.

CNN's Omar Jimenez has more now on the new video and we must warn you it is disturbing to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OFC. 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.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (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 cam 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.

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.

Omar Jimenez, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And a police department outside Denver, Colorado, is apologizing for a nightmare traffic stop caught on camera. Officers drew their weapons on a car they incorrectly thought was stolen, but it was actually full of a family of girls out to get their nails done. We want to play you a portion of this incident but we must warn you, again, the images are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happened?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And one of the people handcuffed there was 12 years old. Another passenger in the car was only 6. And once they realized the mistake police on the scene uncuffed everyone and apologized. The interim police chief has offered help to the family, including age appropriate therapy that she says the city will cover. And we'll be right back.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Another Major League Baseball team is struggling with a spike in coronavirus cases, 13 St. Louis Cardinals players and staff have tested positive. Their next four games are now postponed. The league's difficulties in containing the virus have led to new questions about safety in other pro sports. CNN's Brian Todd has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Inside America's most popular sports league, teams are barely into training camps. But already some high-profile people sidelined in the NFL are raising coronavirus alarm bells.

Philadelphia Eagles head Coach Doug Pederson has tested positive and is in self- quarantine. Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford and Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew II and four of his teammates all placed on the NFL so called reserved COVID-19 list. For players who have either tested positive or been quarantined after being in close contact with someone who's infected.

MIKE FREEMAN, COLUMNIST, SPORTICO.COM: I think there's a real chance that the league starts and then stops. You may, in fact, see several of those. You may see the league start, stop, start, stop. It could stutter along. But of all the leagues, I think the NFL has always been in the most jeopardy.

TODD: This comes as Major League Baseball's return to action is shakier than ever. Several games involving the St. Louis Cardinals have had to be postponed after at least seven players and 16 staffers tested positive. And the Miami Marlins meltdown continues. A source within the team telling CNN at least 21 Marlins players and coaches tested positive in recent days.

[04:55:00]

CAITLIN RIVERS, JOHN HOPKINS CENTER FOR HEALTH SECURITY: That does suggest that the outbreak is fairly widespread, and they might have trouble turning a corner on that in time to continue the rest of the season. I think it depends on what their mitigation plans are for responding to an outbreak, but it's not a great place to be starting.

TODD: It's gotten so bad in baseball that according to ESPN, Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred in recent days warned the head of the players union, that if the league and the players don't do a better job following protocols and managing the virus, Manfred could shut down the rest of the season.

FREEMAN: Manfred is definitely, definitely covering his butt here a little bit. I think he and the owners in baseball, but especially him, they completely underestimated how bad this could potentially be.

TODD: But for teams opening in a so-called bubble it's better news. The National Hockey League has just announced it received no positive test results during his first week returning to play inside their two hubs cities of Edmonton and Toronto.

In Orlando, the resumption of the NBAs and Major League Soccer seasons in their bubbles have started relatively smoothly. But analysts say all sports are hanging by a thread as they return.

FREEMAN: I don't think the players are really the issue here. The issue is the virus. This is how viruses work, and a bunch of people and in the same space, even if you take a lot of precautions, it's still an issue and we haven't even gotten into what happens when players like go out into town. And they really shouldn't, but they do.

TODD (on camera): Epidemiologist Caitlyn Rivers points out that football does have one advantage over the other sports in that they play only once a week. That's going to give the NFL time to test, identify cases, and get players into quarantine. But she also worries that that extra time between games is going to allow NFL players time to venture out into their communities. And again, they're not in a bubble.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And thanks for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. "EARLY START" is up next. Wear a mask and stay safe. See you next time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END