Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump Signs Executive Orders After Stimulus Talks Break Down; 250K Expected At Motorcycle Rally In South Dakota As Nation Battles Pandemic; Interview With San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg (I). Aired 6- 7p ET

Aired August 08, 2020 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: That is an important point. You're right, Arlette Saenz, good to see you today. Thank you.

In an election year like we have never seen, get ready for political conventions like none before.

First up the Democrats and Joe Biden starting August 17th, then the Republicans and Donald Trump take the spotlight starting August 24th.

CNN will have special live coverage every night of the conventions starting at 8:00 Eastern.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I am Erica Hill in New York in for Ana Cabrera.

President Trump putting his name on several Executive Orders just a short time ago, aimed at helping millions of Americans who have been plunged into financial trouble by the coronavirus pandemic.

It was part signing ceremony, part campaign rally. It happened at his New Jersey Golf Resort. The President railing against China, congressional Democrats and his presumptive opponent for the White House, Joe Biden; also accusing Democrats of steering pandemic relief money into political projects and trying -- in the President's words to quote, "steal the election."

Well, as for the actual Executive Orders the President signed, they target the sticky issue of enhanced unemployment benefits at a dollar amount that Democrats and Republicans couldn't agree upon.

The three other orders are designed to take the pressure off of Americans who are dealing with the financial impact, which is now of course this pandemic now entering its sixth month.

I want to bring it in now CNN's Kristen Holmes and fact checker, Daniel Dale. Kristen, you were at that press conference. There was a lot of politicking, there was a lot of campaign rallying. Talk to us about the substance though of these Executive Orders signed by the President. KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, there are

four Executive Orders, and I'm going to start with the most straightforward and then we can kind of get into the weeds on the other two.

He deferred student loan debts, which will be a big deal, and he also extended that eviction moratorium through Executive Order. So both of those are very substantial and that will help a lot of people.

Now, the other two are a little bit more complex. He had a payroll tax holiday for Americans earning less than $100,000.00 a year, but it's incredibly convoluted and hard to understand exactly how it's going to work.

President Trump said this was going to go back in time, so it's going to actually start in August retroactive and go through December.

It is unclear if whether or not people are going to have to pay this back. President Trump essentially said that if he is elected into office, that he will dissolve them having to pay this back, but there's still a big question there as to what exactly that means.

The other one was this $400.00 in enhanced unemployment benefits. The reason why this is a little bit complex and convoluted is that it's actually only $300.00 of Federal money. They are asking the states to pay 25 percent, so that extra hundred dollars, and I have to tell you, I got off the phone with one state official immediately after this announcement, who laughed when I told him about the announcement and said, we just don't have that money. We've been asking for Federal help now.

And of course, this is something we have heard from many states that they need Federal assistance. Remember, that's one of the big sticking points here, Democrats asking for that assistance for state and local governments.

So it's unclear whether or not or which states are going to be able to actually pay that extra $100.00 -- Erica.

HILL: All right, so yes, a number of things that we need to clarify there in response to those Executive Orders. Daniel, what stood out to you?

You know, we were watching this together earlier. I know there were at least a few points that deserve a fact check.

DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: There was a lot of lying, frankly, and most of it was about Democrats. For example, the President claimed that even Democrats support a payroll tax cut. They don't. That's just wrong.

He claimed that Democrats did not want to do anything to help with eviction. Democrats wanted to continue that eviction moratorium and had proposed rental assistance for tenants.

He claimed that Democrats were trying to use their House Relief Bill to try to steal the election. That's just baseless nonsense. He claimed that that House Bill tried to make states, mandate states to use universal mail-in voting. That's not true. It simply provided additional funding for states to run their elections.

And the President also denied something that he said yesterday on camera. He was reminded that he had predicted facing legal action, legal challenges over these Executive Orders. And he said, I didn't say that, but he said it, and this keeps happening again and again.

The President says something for all of us to see on camera, on television, and then when it's inconvenient for him, he denies that it ever happened.

HILL: Yes, he was actually pressed on that particular point by one of the reporters afterwards in the Q&A, and CNN's chief media correspondent, Brian Stelter is also with us.

So we saw in that moment, right when the President -- the President was pressed about him talking about legal issues. He said, no, I didn't. I didn't say that. And the reporter said, well, yes, you did, which was part of a very short Q&A with the President.

But it was another example, too, as we heard sort of the crowd cheering when the President was shutting down a reporter who was trying to follow up on a legitimate question where it felt more like a campaign rally because again, he's at his golf club and there seemed to be this -- people there in attendance, making it feel more like a rally. Take a listen to this moment.

[18:05:22]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Mr. President, why do you keep saying that you passed Veterans Choice?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, no. You're finished. Go ahead, please?

[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

QUESTION: You said you passed Veterans Choice. It was passed in 2014.

TRUMP: Excuse me, go ahead, please.

QUESTION: It is a false statement, sir.

TRUMP: Okay. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: You heard the cheering there, it is a separate question from Paula Reid of CBS that she was trying to ask the President something that Daniel, I know, has fact checked a number of times. Why does he keep saying, you know, he is responsible for this act for veterans when he is not? And the cheering that came along with that, Brian, from the crowd that

was there, the cheering of the President shutting down and ignoring, frankly a legitimate question, walking away as he has done to our own Kaitlan Collins.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this Bedminster setting is something that the President used three years ago in the early stage of his presidency. You know, back when he was running for office, he used Mar-a-Lago, and he would let some of the club members come in and watch in the background. This feels like a return to that.

The President is combining "The Power of Positive Thinking" that famous book, which he subscribes to that if you just say something enough, it'll come true. He combines the power of positive thinking with the political benefits of negative thinking. He is going so extraordinarily negative.

We've got to invent new words for the dictionary for what he is doing. The tactics here of accusing the Democrats essentially of being evil, essentially of not being American, not being patriotic, not being citizens.

It is the lower, lower, lower, right, we're going lower and lower and the bar is even lower and lower, and we're still three months to Election Day. That's what he's doing at these events. It's positive. He is saying he is the hero, and then it's extraordinarily negative.

And when he is called out on it, even once or twice by reporters, he immediately folds. It is so revealing that he walks away, as soon as reporters point out his inaccurate statements.

But I do think, Erica, we're going to keep seeing these cheering sections, and it does from a visual standpoint, just from as a viewer watching this, it does create this sense that he is being supported and cheered on, even though these are people that pay to be members of his club. So it's literally the most handpicked members of his fan club you can imagine.

HILL: Yes, that question that he ignored as he was walking out, Daniel. Since he refuses to answer that question, I know you can. I know you can tell us the truth about what he signed and what's actually behind it.

So Daniel, Dale, I'll throw that one to you.

DALE: So Trump has told this lie a hundred and fifty times at least as President. It is extraordinary. The Veterans Choice Program was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2014. It was an initiative spearheaded by the late Senator John McCain and Senator Bernie Sanders, and what it did was allow veterans to be reimbursed by the government for receiving healthcare from private doctors or other doctors outside the VA system.

Now, what Trump signed in 2018 was called the VA Mission Act and that modified and expanded the initial criteria for the choice program, so Trump could brag about it. Look, we got, you know, eligibility access for more veterans, but instead, what he keeps saying is that others had tried and failed for -- he said today -- decades and decades and decades. He usually says others had tried and failed for 50 years, and then he came along and got the choice program itself and that's just not true.

HILL: It is not, and we appreciate you setting the record straight. Daniel Dale, Brian Stelter, Kristen Holmes, thank you all.

Well, right now as the coronavirus continues to spread in the U.S., an estimated 250,000 bikers from around the country are flocking to the 80th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, masks are not required. CNN's Ryan Young is there, joins me now.

We know that they are optional. The mayor has said he is asking everybody to follow C.D.C. guidelines. We know this is a very important rally when it comes to the financial situation in the area, the economy there. Is there much of a concern of the folks that you've spoken with about contracting the virus.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, that has been a concern for some people, and there are some businesses that are downtown that are closed. But I can tell you there are people who are fearful of speaking out about this rally because they understand the power that these bikers hold.

When you think about a city of 7,000 that swells in the way that it does and all the money that comes into this area, people don't want to be too vocal about speaking out when it comes to maybe shutting down their own business in the future. So you can understand that.

We've been talking about how far people have been coming. Well, look at this, it's right in front of us, really. You can see plates from Michigan, to Georgia, to Washington State, Oregon, and all the plates from Florida because all of these bikes lined up here are from Florida. So you can see that people travel a great distance to be here.

I talked to one businessman who told me he came for over 2,200 miles because this he says will make or break him and that's something that we've been talking about consistently, because this really is a shot in the arm.

[18:10:12]

YOUNG: I wish I had a helicopter to show you the amount of spread that's here. It's over two miles in terms of all the bikes that are in this dimension, and in fact, take a look from above, you can see all the way down the way here. There are bikes lined up all down the road.

And on top of that, we talked about the social distancing and the masks. Nobody has been wearing a mask for the last hour and a half. We haven't seen anybody wearing a mask.

Most folks we talked to say they're not concerned about the coronavirus because they believe there is social distancing that happens when they are on the bike. They believe this is a fresh air environment.

In fact, there's 106 new cases in this state today, but still people are like we're not concerned about the coronavirus. They plan to go to concerts and the rallies that they're going to be all throughout this area.

In fact, listen to this one bike rider telling us why he thought he had to come for this event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Are you worried about COVID at all?

RYAN SNOW, STURGIS MOTORCYCLE RALLY ATTENDEE: Hell no. We are going to get it sooner or later.

YOUNG: So that's how you feel, no mask. So you don't have to --

SNOW: [Bleep] the mask. As long as you ain't sick, you ain't got no business being out here. That's the bottom line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Erica, look, we've been talking for several hours now. The passion that people have for this festival, it's almost a religious like experience. People stop. They want to see each other's bikes. They want to compare equipment.

This is all part of it. This is something that people have been waiting for, for months and you can understand there's quite a difference on what's going on. As you heard the guy going by, best party anywhere. People are excited -- Erica.

HILL: Ryan Young there, live on the ground for us in Sturgis. Ryan, thank you.

One couple in Arizona learning a hard lesson about the coronavirus after initially dismissing the danger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were totally lax and easy about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: And then they both contracted the virus. They share their story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:52]

HILL: You're looking at live pictures out of Long Island, New York. President Trump just getting in the limo thereafter Marine One landed. He had been coming, of course, he's been at his golf property in Bedminster, New Jersey, which is where he spoke earlier, where he signed these Executive Orders.

And then the President now making his way out to Long Island to the Tony Hamptons area, which likely you've heard of, where he will be attending two fundraisers tonight for his campaign. So again, the President there arriving now in South Hampton.

Meantime, we have been following a number of events today, including the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the 80th Annual and there's concerned about the ripple effect outside of this town of 7,000 people where that is located.

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg joining us now. So, Mr. Mayor, we know people come from all over the country every year. This is a massive event, a quarter of a million people. Our reporters on the ground have seen license plates from New Jersey, from Pennsylvania, from Texas.

And there's a lot of talk about what could happen right afterwards, who may be bringing what back with them? Is that a concern for you that maybe some folks in the San Antonio area may have gone to Sturgis and could be bringing something back to Texas?

MAYOR RON NIRENBERG (I), SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: You know, we know that the gatherings anywhere right now are risky because of the spread of the virus pretty much all over this country. And one of the things that the public health professionals have said consistently is that crowds are to be avoided.

So if you're going out of state and bringing it back, that's still a risk to the local community as well.

HILL: In Texas, the Department of State Health Services reporting today a seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate of nearly 19.5 percent and according to the department's website, it's the highest seven-day average for a positivity rate since the pandemic began.

What do you think needs to be done to stop this? To bring that number down?

NIRENBERG: Well, we need to buckle down and it's especially important right now in the month of August because everyone is itching to get back to school, but we know if the virus is promulgating so quickly and so widely in the State of Texas as we get closer to the Labor Day weekend, it puts us in the crosshairs for a significant problem when schools open here towards the end of the month.

We've had local public health orders in place now that have been a little bit confused by state leadership, that are advising people not to go to schools in-person until our positive positivity rate is closer to five or below five percent, and right now, it's about four times that and even more in some of the urban areas of the state.

HILL: We know that's been an issue over the last couple of months as we've checked in with you about the conflicting messages at different levels in your state.

But Texas Governor Greg Abbott, now extending the state's disaster declaration for COVID-19. What does that do for you, does that help or change anything in terms of what you can do in your city?

NIRENBERG: It's a mixed bag because number one, it allows us to be eligible for the reimbursements at the Federal level, but the challenge with that is that the Governor's Executive Orders have preempted local authority in a number of areas that would allow us to have very localized responses to the outbreaks that we're seeing, and that's a big challenge.

We've seen a very deadly June and July in Texas, and it was in part because of these mixed messages and conflicting orders.

HILL: Mayor Ron Nirenberg, always appreciate you taking the time to join us. Thank you.

NIRENBERG: Thank you, Erica.

HILL: Let's take a closer look at the situation in Texas. Dr. Peter Hotez is a Professor and Dean. He's the Dean of the Tropical Medicine School there in Baylor at Baylor in Texas.

Look, one of the things that I think we all appreciate when we speak to you is your honesty on this subject. So, Dr. Hotez when you hear that seven-day positivity rate in Texas, the highest since the pandemic began, 19.41 percent. What's your reaction?

DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Well, thanks, Erica. You know what's happened here in Texas is you know the number of new cases has reached a plateau, but it's reached a plateau at a screaming level.

You know, we're looking at for instance in Houston around 1,800 to 1,500 new confirmed cases a day, which really means around 5,000 to 6,000 new cases a day. So even though it doesn't seem to be accelerating and going up, you really cannot live a normal life with 6,000 new cases a day in Houston and similar numbers across the metro areas of Texas and now, many suburban areas.

[18:20:37]

HOTEZ: So the quality of life here really goes downhill and it means you simply that you cannot open school safely. You cannot open colleges safely, and we need to go those next steps to start bringing it back down in Texas and this is also true across the southern states. Things are accelerating in Mississippi and Louisiana. It's really bad.

HILL: It is really bad and you said we may need to lock down again in some areas, but not every area. I wonder though, you know, as we look at this virus, we all know very well, it certainly does not respect state lines.

So the virus does really care what's locked down and what's not. If we go to sort of a patchwork lockdown again, what does that get us, if it's not a consistent move nationwide?

HOTEZ: Well, it gets us to exactly where we're heading which is around 300,000 deaths by December 1 according to the Institute of Health Metrics in Seattle and maybe 400,000 deaths by the time of the inauguration, which is the number of Americans killed in World War II.

So we need to take ownership of this and implement a Federal plan by which we bring every state to containment by October. I've put out an October 1 plan where we can do this. It is not that hard, actually. Some states are already there. Like in New England, for instance, Northern New England especially, but other parts of the country have a lot of work to do.

The point is, it is all doable if we have leadership at the White House that tells us we need to do this.

HILL: You know, we didn't see any of that mentioned or addressed, obviously, in the Executive Orders today. The financial concerns are real and they need to be addressed. But you know, as we heard from -- afterwards he said, I would have liked to have seen an Executive Order that dealt with the medical issues here that deals with the PPE, that deals with testing. I mean, the reality of that -- what would it change?

HOTEZ: Well, you know, the problem is, this is death by a thousand cuts because what it is doing is just dragging out the pandemic.

So, in aggregate, this has a much more detrimental effect on the economy, than if we would just bite the bullet, shut down what we needed to in the country with a unified plan to bring every state to the same level by October, then we can open up everything again and we have the public health infrastructure then to do the tracing.

You can't even do contact tracing meaningfully in a place like Houston right now if you've got 6,000 new cases a day, how do you do that in many other places across the south?

So the White House by their actions, is just drawing this out, refusing to take appropriate leadership steps is ensuring not only that our economy will continue to falter, it will also affect Homeland Security as school teachers don't feel safe going to work as many people don't feel safe going outside and that really erodes the morale of the nation.

So they're doing it in the worst possible way.

HILL: Dr. Peter Hotez, appreciate it as always. Thank you.

HOTEZ: Thank you.

HILL: Well, as Dr. Hotez just mentioned, and as you likely know, there are a number of teachers who are concerned about returning to classrooms this year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If the students do come back into the building, it's really like a 90 percent chance right now that I'm probably going to end up resigning to make sure that my personal babies are safe. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: One group of teachers in Georgia sounding off in protest. Their story is next. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:28:44]

HILL: A digital teacher is better than a dead teacher. That's just one of the signs that a protest organized by teachers in Georgia's largest school district who said they don't feel comfortable returning to the classroom, considering the state's surging case numbers and the fact that right now, even without classes being in session, more than 260 employees in that same district are in quarantine because they either tested positive or were in contact with someone who did.

Here is CNN's Natasha Chen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Teachers are sounding the alarm over Georgia's largest school district's new plan to phase in face-to-face instruction later in August after starting with all virtual classes next week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN WESTLAKE, GWINNETT COUNTY TEACHER: It seems like standardized test scores matter a whole lot to this county, but COVID test scores don't seem to matter enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN (voice over): Teachers honked from inside their cars in Gwinnett County outside of Atlanta this week as a socially distant protest, in contrast to the one organized by some parents two weeks ago in the same spot calling for face-to-face instruction.

A district spokesperson said their difficult decisions will not be popular with everyone, but say they're committed to student's health, safety, and education.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It seems they keep making decisions, milquetoast decisions that placate different parties without considering that we need consistency and we need bold leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:30:10]

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT(voice over): Joy Powell (ph) teaches second grade students who would be back in the classroom at the end of August, but no one's given her any detailed plans of what that looks like.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

I'll be in the room teaching children on top of also teaching online children too, so actually have three jobs a mom, a classroom teacher and an online teacher.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN(voice over): Her own children are allowed to go with her to work which alleviates childcare concerns, but she says it's not ideal since they have asthma.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN(voice over): This is not well thought out at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN(voice over): The fears are real with about 260 Gwinnett employees already testing positive or in quarantine before school has even started. In Cherokee County, at least 260 students and eight teachers are quarantined after several people tested positive during the first week of school. In Effingham County, WTOC reports one person tested positive at an elementary school resulting in an entire class being sent home.

And in Paulding County, this image resulted in a suspension than a reversal of that suspension for the student who posted it on social media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANNAH WATTERS, PAULDING COUNTY, GEORGIA HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: This is some good and necessary trouble, so I don't regret this because it needed to be set.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN(voice over): Watters said she was concerned for everyone's safety. The Paulding County Superintendent sent a letter to families saying crowding in between classes for five minutes may happen in a school with more than 2,000 students and they're complying with state guidelines.

This kind of anxiety is what Gwinnett teachers say keeps them up at night. Even though special ed teacher Nicole Conway loves her job and her students.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLE CONWAY, SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER: If the students do come back into the building, it's really like a 90 percent chance right now that I'm probably going to end up resigning to make sure that my personal babies are safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN(voice over): Natasha Chen, CNN Suwanee, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: At least one teacher in the Gwinnett County School District has resigned. Ashley Newman is a fifth grade teacher. Her school refused, though, to grant her request to work from home despite the fact that some students are starting the year virtually. Ashley is with us now.

Ashley, I appreciate you being with us. What made you decide that you were not comfortable being in the classroom?

ASHLEY NEWMAN, TEACHER WHO RESIGNED AFTER SCHOOL DENIED WORK-FROM-HOME REQUEST: You know for me personally it came down to my four-year-old daughter. But I really want to take this time to focus on how the rest of the teachers who are stuck in this position right now are feeling. I have spoken consistently to teachers all around the county.

In fact, 18 schools, teachers have reported that there have been cases where either people have been exposed or they have been positive cases, so people are under quarantine. And this is not public knowledge and that's a problem. We have to be transparent.

HILL: And in terms of transparency for you personally, what you experience in Gwinnett County, was it there? Was it lacking? I mean, what are the conversations been for you even leading up to this point?

NEWMAN: Absolutely. So on July 20th, we were given a move to digital instruction notice and every employee in Gwinnett County received this notice. And it said that there would be a work at home option, because they knew that there would be obstacle. Many of us (inaudible) some of us had child care, some of us are immunocompromised.

I've talked to several people. Three, in fact, who are going through chemotherapy and have been denied the option to work from home. We also have parents of children who are immunocompromised, NICU babies that we're trying to keep safe.

We're in a position right now where we really have to look out for one another and if the teachers are not safe, then we're really not going to have a community that's safe. One of the things that really was disheartening is that they retracted the option to work from home and it ended up being that they never explained why. They left it as an option of you can take leave or you can leave and that's really not fair to the professionals and the educators within Gwinnett County.

HILL: When we look at the measures that are being taken in other areas, other school district near you, I know you said that some of them you feel are being a little bit more transparent, Fulton County, for example, which includes the City of Atlanta, that they may have a better plan in place. And we look at then what happened at North Paulding High School which we just heard in Natasha Chen's story.

One of the things that really stood out to me is the superintendent in response to what happened there talking about masks, which we hear so much about from the experts who say masks make a huge difference. The superintendent saying this is a really tough thing to enforce and so therefore we can't.

I spent some time looking at their dress code this morning online, which by - everything I read does get enforced. Do you think that going back to school in Gwinnett has become more about the politics and less about the public health and safety?

[18:35:05]

NEWMAN: Absolutely. We're well above the 5 percent positivity rate at the moment and that's not being considered. The plan that came out to phase students back in starting at the end of August and having all students in potentially by September 9th is leaving us in question because there is not a single ounce of data that has been provided to the public or to the educators in Gwinnett that helps us understand why these decisions are being made.

So we're really at a position where we're asking for answers, we're asking for the data. We're being told that the CDC and health guidelines are being followed, but we're not seeing that happening. So the teachers that are still within Gwinnett County needs this option to work from home because otherwise, we are going to be, like you said earlier, in that ripple effect where it will affect the entire community.

HILL: And before we let you go, what's your backup plan here? I mean, you resigned from your job, you have a four-year-old, what do you do now?

NEWMAN: Right. My main priority is my four-year-old and right after that is to advocate for these educators in Gwinnett County. I think they deserve people that are really there to speak up for them and show that they are professionals. Remember, in April and March, we were talking about how educators were heroes and we need to get back to that place.

HILL: That's a great point and it's, honestly, a full disclosure as the daughter of an educator. It's something that we should have been talking about a long time ago as well. Ashley Newman, I appreciate it. Please keep us posted.

NEWMAN: Absolutely. Will do. Thank you.

HILL: President Trump has once again railed against voting by mail. How much power though does a president have when it comes to mail-in voting in the States? We're going to break it all down for you next with CNN Legal Analyst Elie Honig in our Cross Exam. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:41:11]

HILL: As the country closes in on 5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and more states opt for mail-in ballots, President Trump is doing everything he can to sow distrust in a vote by mail election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They even want to force states to implement the controversial practice known as ballot harvesting, very dangerous practice. Meaning they would allow Democrat Party operatives to deposit thousands and thousands of completed ballots at the post office without any verification of who filled them out, including a verification of signatures on the ballot, so you're not even going to have a verified signature.

Anybody, I could sign it, you could sign it, anybody in this room could sign it and that's going to count as a vote. How can you do a thing like this? So this is what they're asking for. This is what Nancy Pelosi and crying Chuck Schumer asking for, OK, that's ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: So just to be clear, that was not actually in the Democrat's proposal. Joining us is CNN Legal Analyst Elie Honig for today's Cross Exam. First of all, nice to see you, my friend. It's been a long time.

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You too, Erica. Thanks.

HILL: Elie, as we look at this, there's a viewer who asked, can Trump issue an executive order eliminating or limiting the use of mail-in ballots. Can he do that?

HONIG: Yes, Erica. So the short answer is no. We got a lot of viewer questions about this, this week. People really are concerned about being able to vote safely in the age of coronavirus. But no, the President does not have the power on his own to limit or eliminate male-in ballots.

The Constitution and our laws are clear. The power there lies with Congress and the states. Congress sets the date for the general election and states generally in charge of the manner of voting including the use of mail-in. So despite the rhetoric, the President really has essentially no legal power over how voting is conducted. Even an executive order would accomplish nothing here.

Executive orders apply only to the executive branch of the federal government. They do not bind the states. They do not find Congress.

Now, that doesn't mean the President won't be fighting against mail-in ballots. For example, this week, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit trying to stop the State of Nevada from sending absentee ballots to all registered voters. So there are important legal battles ahead, but they'll be decided by the courts and not by presidential decree.

HILL: When we take a look at the ongoing probe into the President's business dealings, speaking of the course one viewer is asking, "How likely is it that the Manhattan District Attorney's investigation of the Trump Organization's financial dealings will result in state-level criminal charges?" HONIG: Yes. So there's still lots we don't know, Erica. But the skies

certainly are darkening around the Trump Organization. We learned this week that the DA's investigation goes beyond those hush money payments made to two women right before the 2016 election. That's important, because under New York law, those charges relating to the hush money payments, they're fairly low level and they're difficult to prove but we now know the DA focus is on other types of fraud, insurance fraud, tax fraud, bank fraud.

There's been reporting in public testimony that what the Trump org would do is they would falsely either inflate or deflate the value of their assets. And if that proof is there, that is textbook fraud, the kind of thing prosecutors do and charge all of the time.

So there's a lot more to come here, but the developments this week are bad news for the Trump Org.

HILL: And this relates directly to another development this week. One viewer asking, "Does Congress have the legal power to force Don McGahn or any witness from the White House to testify?" Elie.

HONIG: So this one goes back and forth, back and forth. Now we're back at yes. As a reminder, last year, the House subpoenaed McGahn. The White House tried to block it. The District Court upheld the subpoena. Then the Court of Appeals said actually no, courts can't get involved in this kind of subpoena battle.

[18:45:01]

And we talked on this show about how that decision was wrong and likely would not stand. Yesterday, the entire Court of Appeals went back the other way and said, yes, the House can subpoena Don McGahn. They can subpoena the executive branch. And yes, courts can enforce those subpoenas.

It's an important decision. I think it's the right decision because it restores the proper balance of powers, checks and balances between Congress and the White House.

HILL: Oh, the balance of power, checks and balances, separation of powers.

HONIG: Yes.

HILL: As you mentioned earlier, we're talking about voting and as you said, the President could sign an executive order, what that would do, who knows? Well, he did sign four executive orders earlier today. He said on Friday, though, denied today that he said it. He said, yes, I might get sued over this. There could be some legal action.

I mean, what can he actually do looking at these executive orders without Congress' approval, because again, Congress controls the purse strings?

HONIG: Well, he's right about this, there will be litigation. You will see lawsuits challenging these executive orders. I see two big problems. One, as you said, Congress controls the taxation power and executive order does not apply to Congress. It's right in the name, executive order only applies to the executive branch.

And second executive orders don't bind the states and part of what the President signed today requires the states to pick up a part of the cost, the part of the tab and that is just not going to fly in court.

HILL: Elie Honig, always appreciate it. Good to see you. Thank you.

HONIG: Thanks, Erica.

HILL: Millions of Americans have been part of the gig economy working a number of part time jobs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't really feel like there's a lot of people doing the gigs just for extra money. It is usually some type of essential situation.

W. KAMAU BELL, CNN HOST, UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA: I got you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Most folks who are dealing with the gig economy, those jobs don't provide health insurance, retirement savings, retirement savings matches or frankly any benefits. W. Kamau Bell explored the gig economy in America and he joins us next year. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:51:43]

HILL: New this weekend, CNN's W. Kamau Bell is back with an all new episode of the CNN Original Series UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA. Even before the coronavirus pandemic triggered an economic downturn, more and more people are turning to second jobs, extra gigs, side hustles just to make ends meet.

This week, W. Kamau Bell takes us to Austin, Texas and showcase the some of the people who have taken on those side gigs all in an attempt to just keep up with their bills. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a scary part.

BELL: Yes, we need some brown bananas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know. So we have like ...

BELL: It's hard to be a good Christian.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And obviously try to keep away from the frozen items. BELL: OK. Keep away. Get back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't squeeze the tips though.

BELL: Oh, don't squeeze (inaudible) so you shop more carefully for other people than you do for yourself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. I'm looking for damage things that I can get on sale.

BELL: Oh, you're going past clearance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like can I freeze this.

BELL: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to grab ice cream. Make sure it's sealed. Nobody's licked it.

BELL: That's right. All right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, and we're done.

Hello.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, how are you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: W. Kamau Bell joins me now. Talking about gig workers, I have to say that when I see that clip, I've never thought about checking to make sure someone had not licked the ice cream before, so that was an interesting (inaudible) ...

BELL: Well, I mean, what you bring home, when you give ice cream to somebody else and they're going to rate you based on how well you shop, you're going to do all the things that you don't do for yourself.

HILL: Absolutely, you will. So that's just one of these jobs, right? As we talk about a gig economy and gig workers, I think for a long time there's been this sense of, oh, it's a gig economy. People want more freedom and flexibility. And the reality is people want to pay their bills and support themselves.

BELL: Yes. And for a lot of gig workers, it's because their first job doesn't pay them enough or doesn't give them enough benefit, so they have to do the gig work to supplement that. I think the ads make you think it's just sort of like young adults who like need extra cash for partying, but it's really families who are doing a lot of the gig work, who need the money because their real jobs don't pay them enough.

HILL: It's not true that they're real jobs and even adding up all of these gig economy jobs don't pay them enough. A lot of time they're low in certain wages with those part time jobs, but they also don't have the protections that a full-time job can have. They don't have the benefits that a salaried position would provide and that has an impact as well, a long-term impact.

BELL: Yes. In the show, we try to teach the idea that we think of gig worker as being a 21st century idea. But really, this country was built on people taking what they thought were like short-term jobs to make quick cash, hoping to build a better tomorrow. And for the most part, that doesn't work for most Americans.

So we try to tease it out by talking to domestic workers, also talking to women in multilevel marketing, but in this country, there's a history of this idea of like, if you do this thing and be your own boss, you can make your dreams come true, which is generally not true.

HILL: Generally not true. I know that you look into the multi level marketing jobs, which are really targeted towards women and popular among women. But also, I'm glad you brought up domestic workers because when we look at what a large part of that is of the economy, right, these are jobs that have not only traditionally fallen to women, but they fall into women of color, undocumented immigrants and we are seeing so many of those people impacted right now because they can't work and the conditions that they face when they are working can be really difficult.

BELL: Yes. I mean, I think the thing about a lot of domestic workers is a lot of them are undocumented, right?

[18:55:03]

So they actually are in positions where they don't even get the kind of gate protections or work protections that a gig worker would get. So yes, it's a lot harder to be a domestic worker and you're a lot more vulnerable in this economy.

HILL: It's another important look on your fantastic show. As you know I tell you every time I'm a huge fan and I'm so glad that it's back for another season. Thank you for being with us today.

BELL: Thank you.

HILL: And you can see an all new episode of W. Kamau Bell's UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA tomorrow night, 10 pm Eastern only right here on CNN.

President Trump says his new executive actions will help Americans cope with the financial fallout from the coronavirus. Boris Sanchez will have the latest next on CNN Newsroom. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)