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Follow-Up Fact-Check: Trump Campaign's Claims On Nevada Mail-In Voting; Outrage After Viral Picture Shows Crowded School Hallway In Georgia; Beirut Death Toll Rises To 135, Dozens Missing; Trump Claims Beirut Explosion Was From An "Attack". Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 05, 2020 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:30:50]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: In June, during Nevada's primary voting, some voters had to wait in line several hours to cast their ballots during the pandemic. So, on Monday, the state's Democratic governor signed a bill into law that would give voters the ability to cast a ballot my mail as long as it's postmarked by Election Day.

And now, Trump campaign officials, without any evidence to back up their claims, say the new law is ripe for voter fraud. And they're suing Nevada now for expanding the mail-in voting in the middle of a public health crisis.

It isn't ripe for voter fraud. We're going to show you with a fact- check that Trump campaign advisor, Mercedes Schlapp, made yesterday on this program.

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MERCEDES SCHLAPP, SENIOR ADVISOR, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN: Let's take a state like in Nevada, which, in the dead of night, these Democrats push forward this law that, as we know, even come Election Day, you could still cast a ballot three days later if you don't have a postmark or seven days later if you have a postmark.

So, let's say, Brianna, you vote for Joe Biden. Then you find out, in Nevada, that Trump, President Trump wins. You can go to your family members, colleagues and say, guess what, do you have your mail-in vote, let's cast it. Because you can cast it several days after the election.

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KEILAR: No. No, you can't. Nevadans cannot vote after the election in Nevada. It has to be postmarked on or before Election Day. This is it the part of Nevada's law that Mercedes Schlapp is sonically misrepresenting.

In order for the mail-ballot to be counted, the mail-ballot must be hand-delivered or mailed to the county or city clerk by the set closing time for polls. If it's mailed, it must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by the clerk with seven days, within one week, after the Election Day.

Here's the part that the Trump campaign adviser erroneously claims would allow someone to cast a ballot without a postmark to avoid deadlines.

It says, "If a mail-ballot is received by mail within three days after the election and the date of the postmark cannot be determined" -- so, this is the rare case where there's a postmark but the date is ineligible, right? It says, "The mail-ballot shall be deemed to have been postmarked on or before the day of election." They don't get the full seven days there.

This is not unique for Nevada. Many states have provisions like this for mail-in ballots. And Nevada isn't just willy nilly mailing ballots and applications to anyone. They're sending them to active, active, registered voters. And Nevada becomes the eighth state to adopt universal vote-by-mail, giving voters more options this year.

But like I mentioned in the interview, the Trump administration has hamstrung the post office, prioritized package delivery over mail delivery.

It has threatened to cut postal service funds instead of boosting the, during a pandemic. Only recently giving the postal service bailout funds. And even then, it was just one-seventh of what the postal service, which is run by a Trump donor, says it needs.

So, I challenge Mercedes over her claims that all of this leads to widespread fraud, for which there is no evidence. But last night, Mercedes tweeted out a voter fraud data base by the conservative Heritage Foundation to try to make her point.

But this is actually where I found the numbers that I cited to her during out interview because they actually show that widespread voter fraud, it doesn't happen. Voter fraud is statistically insignificant.

For example, if you look at Nevada in this data base, there were only six instances of voter fraud over 38 years in the in the entire state. None of them related to mail-in voting, according to Heritage.

There were only 62 cases of voter fraud across the entire country in 2016, according to Heritage. And this data base captures local, school board, state election fraud, in addition to presidential election stuff.

Then consider there have been more than 156,000 deaths in America from the coronavirus. Per capita, at that rate, a coronavirus death in the U.S. is more than 2,000 times more likely to occur than a case of voter fraud in any type of election.

[14:34:57]

I also want, at this moment, to address some criticism that I've often heard -- I hear it a lot -- from President Trump's critics, and this includes some viewers, who ask why we talk to Trump campaign officials when they often say things that are verifiably false, like I just showed you. Or they ask why we cover things the president says when they're not true.

Well, he is the sitting president running for re-election. He is one of two people from whom voters will choose to run the country.

I hear the critics say that media, by covering untrue statements that he and his supporters make, that they are giving life to lies. And I thought a lot about this. But I have to disagree.

We have to challenge lies. We have to challenge falsehoods and conspiracy theories. If you don't, they fester, unchecked and unchallenged.

You cannot just ignore B.S. You've got to shovel it.

And as the president is continuing to sow distrust in a vote-by-mail election, it is becoming clear that his skepticism only applies to certain states, the states that he could lose.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Florida's got a great Republican governor and it had great Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, Rick Scott, two great governors. And over a long period of time, they've been able to get the absentee ballots done extremely professionally. Florida is different than other states.

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KEILAR: And joining us to talk about this is David Smiley, senior political reporter for "The "Miami Herald."

So, David, the president says Governor DeSantis has mastered the absentee ballot system. Can you tell us -- just fact-check this? Is there proof Florida is better at this than other states?

DAVID SMILEY, SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE MIAMI HERALD": I couldn't speak to how Florida compares to other places. I know, despite Florida's reputation as a place where elections go to get bungled, they actually, for elections conducted nationally, most of the local supervisors of elections have good reputations.

And a lot of the large metro areas do have the time and ability and equipment to process hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots.

We've been doing this for 20 years in Florida. And the state, which is run by mobile election supervisors, not really by the governor, in terms of running elections, does have some things down pretty good, with a few notable exceptions, like what we saw with some of the problems in the midterm elections in Broward and Palm Beach Counties.

KEILAR: And the Trump administration has criticized Nevada for allowing mail-in ballots to be counted for up to one week after Election Day. The point is the ballots have to be postmarked on or before Election Day.

Your reporting shows Florida has a similar system in place. Tell us more about that.

SMILEY: In Florida, mail-ballots have to be at the supervisor's headquarters by -- or in drop boxes -- they have to be in hand by 7:00 p.m. on Election night, by the time the polls close. So, they cannot come in late. They have to be in by that point.

But the mobile elections offices have 10 days to certify the elections. So, in actuality, there are 10 days to count the mail- ballots and submit them as part of the official results.

KEILAR: That's interesting. It's seven. That's less days than Nevada. It's 10 days they have to count in Florida.

In interesting, David. I thank you for walking us through it as we see each state with similar things but also with their own twists on how they're doing this.

We appreciate it.

SMILEY: Thank you.

KEILAR: Schools in one Georgia county have reopened. And you may have seen the viral picture that has parents in the district very concerned about the safety of their kids. I'll speak to one of the parents, next.

Plus, thousands injured after an explosion that experts are calling one of the most powerful explosions ever recorded.

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[14:43:01]

KEILAR: Anxiety is pretty high over kids returning to school in person. But there's one photo on social media that is sending some parents over the edge.

Look at this. Students in a Paulding County High School in Georgia packed into a hallway, no social distancing. There's only a couple of masks you can see when you look in this picture.

And LaShanda Hambrick is a parent of a student in Paulding County. She's joining us now.

Thank you for being with us.

I know you received a letter from the school's superintendent about that photo, which is actually at the neighboring high school to where your child goes. What did this letter say?

LASHANDA HAMBRICK, PARENT OF STUDENT IN PAULDING COUNTY, GEORGIA: Hi, Brianna. Thanks for having me.

The letter basically says that the photo is how it looks, really bad. They're doing everything they can to make sure that children are practicing social distancing. They're working on trying to figure out how they can basically keep our children safe in school.

KEILAR: And so, over the summer, just to understand the kind of the choices you have, as a family, when it comes to education here, you were told that you had a choice between in -school and virtual learning. But as I understand, that's no longer the case. Tell us what happened here.

HAMBRICK: There's a waiting list. So, before school started, August 3rd, we were given the option of virtual learning verses in-person learning. So, I opted to do in-person because I thought they had come up with a comprehensive plan to keep the children safe so they can practice the social distancing, masks and things like that.

And when I went to the open house on Friday and then was told that they cannot -- one reason, the school isn't big enough for them to properly social distanced and face masks are a suggestion -- that really bothered me.

[14:45:15]

And my daughter lived with me and my mother, and she has underlying health issues, congestive heart failure, diabetes and other things that put her at a higher risk of contracting COVID. So, of course, it was a concern of mine.

And I put my daughter on the virtual wait list and I was told there may be openings at the end of August, verses September. I was told if she didn't show up the first day of school, that she would be withdrawn.

KEILAR: I mean, look, we've been talking to parents and I think anxiety is the word to describe it because everyone is dealing with a different situation and none of them are ideal.

Thank you for talking to us. And for helping us understand your family's challenges. You're a multigenerational family, like so many. And we appreciate you talking to us today.

HAMBRICK: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: Thank you, LaShanda.

We have more on our breaking news. Dr. Fauci telling Sanjay Gupta, moments ago, that the testing situation is unacceptable. And reveals that his family is being harassed.

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KEILAR: Now to Beirut, where the death toll is rising after a massive blast rocked the historic city on Lebanon's coast. The death toll has grown to 135 but with dozens more still missing the number of dead is sure to rise.

New satellite images show a massive crater at the port, raising questions about why some 2,750 metric tons of highly explosive material was being stored in a port warehouse. [14:50:05]

CNN's Arwa Damon is in Beirut for us.

Arwa, give us the latest.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, add to that death toll the number of wounded, around 5,000 of them. And you could just imagine how overwhelmed hospitals were yesterday in the aftermath of this explosion and even throughout the day today.

And people are still unable to get in touch with their loved ones in some cases. Most who you talk to here are in a state of complete shock, Brianna. You could see, as they struggle to respond to a basic question of even, how are you doing, how are you holding up.

They struggle to find the words to adequately portray this emotional roller coaster that they're going through that ranges from shock to extreme sorrow, to horror, to anger.

A lot of anger is really beginning to emerge at the Lebanese government, who, they are utterly convinced, have no regard for the lives of the Lebanese population. If they did, how could they have allowed this to happen, kept such a volatile compound in what was clearly an insufficiently secured location.

People want answers to that. People want accountability. The government is promising both.

But it is worth remembering that the population here has very little faith in the government. And now they all say what they have to do now is just look out for each other -- Brianna?

KEILAR: It is stunning, Arwa. The pictures are stunning. And we appreciate the new information.

Thank you so much.

Now, almost immediately after the explosion in Beirut yesterday, with little information available, just pictures of massive destruction and a rising death toll, President Trump took to a White House podium claiming it was an attack.

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TRUMP: I met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel it was -- this is not a -- some kind of a manufacturing explosion-type of event. This was a -- seems to be, according to them -- they would know better than I would -- but they seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind.

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KEILAR: I want to bring in national security analyst, Joe Cirincione, to talk about this. He's the author of "Nuclear Nightmares, Securing the World Before it Is Too Late. Joe, thank you for being with us.

And when the president said that, I think it is surprising a lot of people, because there was no indication at that point that it was an attack. There's still no indication of that.

What is your reaction to what the president said?

JOE CIRINCIONE, NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST & AUTHOR: It is inexplicable. In a normal administration, an accusation like that would be front-page news and causing international tremors.

But unfortunately, most international media don't take this president that seriously. They discount his remarks. And the facts on the ground indicate this was not an attack, it was an accident.

We don't know why president said this. He may have been confused. He doesn't have a great attention span. He may not have been paying attention when briefed on this. He may be mixing it up with right-wing propaganda trying to blame this on Hezbollah or Iran for their own purposes.

Or he may have made it up. He makes up facts. He makes up information on the virus, on mailing. This may be one of the incidents. We just don't know for sure.

KEILAR: And, Joe, I know you've probably seen the video, but look at it right now with me. If we could also listen.

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KEILAR: You're a bomb expert. You have homes here that were damaged six miles away. Tell us what we just saw there, what kind of power was unleashed, what you might compare this to?

CIRINCIONE: Sure. This is one of the largest conventional explosions we've ever seen. One of the most -- the largest unplanned chemical -- what we call chemical conventional explosions ever.

Your CNN has capered this, in a terrific piece up on the CNN Web site, to the 1947 Texas accident that involved a similar amount, about 2,900 tons of ammonium nitrate. That killed about 1,000 people. And this is -- the Oklahoma bomb used a couple of tons of ammonium nitrate, which wiped out a whole building and killed 168 people.

But this explosion was so large, so unexpected, that people immediately thought it was a nuclear explosion. There was all kind of speculation on Twitter.

And in fact, this is in a nuclear range. It is much larger than this. But one of the smallest of deployed nuclear weapons is about 5,000 tons of TNT. It is a small warhead on our submarines now. That is about twice as big as the bomb that just went off.

[14:55:11]

So it is not unusual or unreasonable for people to think this might have been a nuclear explosion.

Just by comparison, finally, if this was a nuclear bomb, like dropped on Hiroshima 75 years ago tomorrow, that was 15,000 tons of explosive force or five to eight times larger than what we just saw. That killed about 100,000 people in Hiroshima.

So far, the death toll here is in the low hundreds. Let's hope it stays there.

KEILAR: Let's hope. And I'm just -- I'm waiting to see as well, what are the aftereffects of so many people having suffered through that blast. What might the concussions be? And I guess we'll see that in time as well.

Joe Cirincione, thank you so much for being with us.

Dr. Fauci telling Sanjay Gupta, moments ago, he's getting death threats. Plus, he calls the testing situation in this country unacceptable.

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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Hi, there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. And you're watching CNN. Thank you so much for being with me.

For the first time in four months, President Trump took part in this in-depth meeting on the pandemic that's now killed more than 157,000 of his fellow Americans and sickened nearly five million.

[15:00:07]

And even though the president tweeted it was a, quote/unquote, "great meeting," one source said it is clear that the president still doesn't get it on the severity of the crisis.