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Biden Campaign Assembles Staff For His Future Running Mate; Texas 7-Day Average Positivity Hits Highest Rate Since March; Fate Of College Football Season Uncertain. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired August 11, 2020 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: We won't count them on your birthday --

DAVID AXELROD, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: There wasn't a lot of mystery in 2012, yes.

KING: And so, Nia, one of the questions is, is you know, the longer he waits, the more opportunity it gives people to weigh in and some of it is just, you know, feel pressure. You'd call it demand. You could call it a request. This is LaTosha Brown, the cofounder of Black Voters Matter in POLITICO. At the end of the day, if Joe Biden can't get the white Midwestern vote, and we're all up the creek. The whole point of Black folks voting for him is he's supposed to deliver the white people. If he can't deliver the white Midwestern vote, like what the heck did we vote for you for?

That part of the sustained pressure on Biden, who has promised to be a woman, but the pressure coming from the Democratic base to pick a woman of color and, again, the longer he waits, the more incoming he gets?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right. You had those comments from LaTosha Brown there. You had about 100 prominent black men yesterday, say that Joe Biden shouldn't pick a black woman and if he doesn't, he will lose. Very kind of pointed argument in these last days as Joe Biden has mold, a number of African-American women over these last many weeks Karen Bass, Val Demings was on that list too and obviously Susan Rice and Kamala Harris. We'll see what he does.

I agree with David Axelrod, that in the next 24 to 48 hours, the public should know who this pick will be. But Joe Biden in saying that he was going to pick a woman and that was back in March, and I think it was the final debate between him in Bernie Sanders certainly narrowed the field, right, of people and possibilities that it could have been in over these last many weeks, a lot of focus, particularly on black women and that coming because black women very much rallying to this idea that it's time for a black woman to get this role since they've been so crucial to the Democratic Party's fortunes, to Joe Biden's fortunes particularly in some of those Southern primaries. And then that's what they want to see in this ticket. They wrote a big op-ed, a letter in the "Washington Post" a couple of weeks ago, and you see these cries coming to the very end, to really pressure Joe Biden to pick an African-American woman to kind of represent where this party, the Democratic Party is.

KING: And David --

AXELROD: John, let me just say, I think he added somewhat to the pressure, because it seems to me that the Biden campaign probably leaked the fact that he had met with Governor Whitmer of Michigan last week, and they didn't leak any of the other meetings. None of those leaked. And she's been as buttoned down on this as anybody. And I think they wanted to test the waters and see what the reaction would be if the news came that he had choose Governor Whitmer.

I don't know how he's processed the response. You know, that the general consensus right now has been what the consensus has been from the beginning, which is that Kamala Harris, the senator from California is the likely pick. But I think that was a very deliberate leak to test the waters.

KING: Those things trial balloons, as we call them, they do happen in politics, shocking, right? The interesting thing is, do you have a conversation for three years and 11 months between vice presidential picks that they really don't matter that that's not what voters pick on. And then we have this obsessive period where all we want to talk about is who's going to -- who he's going to pick as a running mate.

The big picture in the race is more importantly, Nia, as we came on the air, a new mom was pulled backing up, what we've seen in recent weeks. This is a 10-point lead for Joe Biden nationally, 51 percent to 41 percent over Donald Trump nationally. If you look at some of the battleground state, polls Biden tends to lead. The map is tilting in his favor. Some of them are getting, you know, six points, eight points that's in play for the President to catch up. But the bigger dynamics of the race, how much does that factor in? Does that make you say, the map is tilting in my favor? The polls are pretty good right now. Be safe. Or does you say, well, I've got this comfortable lead, I got room to be bold.

HENDERSON: You know, I think safety probably in some ways is excellent -- I'm sure at some point, they will kind of pull testing, some of these names that have been floating up about possible vice presidents. And then of course, this kind of trial balloon with Gretchen Whitmer, how that would go over with the base?

So I imagine, they know that this race is going to tighten up because that's how presidential politics works, right? The polls are good for them now. But when this thing gets down to the wire, you imagine that in those battleground states, it will be a battleground, right? I mean, that's why you call them battleground states. So I imagine that they were thinking about the first rule, right, is first do no harm when you're picking this running mate. You don't want to turn off the voters that you need. And you also want to energize the voters that you need too, African- American voters. You need the suburban white women voters as well, kind of disaffected Republicans. And so you want to pick somebody who amplifies all the sort of demographics that you need in a way that Joe Biden already does, too, right? He's doing well with seniors. He's doing well with white voters, as well. And so you won't -- you don't want to pick somebody who's going to alienate those voters that are going to be crucial to a win for Joe Biden come November.

KING: Well, I think within 21 -- go ahead, David, quickly, go ahead.

AXELROD: One thing that makes us difference is Biden's age and the fact that you're not just picking a nominee for vice president but potentially a presidential candidate for 2024 that has raised the salience of this decision.

[12:35:12]

KING: I think that's a very key point. And hopefully maybe by this time tomorrow, we'll be talking about who it is not who it might be. We shall see if these things have a way of breaking rather suddenly. David, Nia-Malika Henderson, appreciate it very much.

We should also note, its primary day in a handful of states today, including in Georgia, which features a matchup between a neurosurgeon and candidate who openly backs the bizarre theory, QAnon. Marjorie Taylor Greene is going to run off with John Cowan. If she wins, she has a good chance of winning the general too, Georgia's 14th Congressional District tends to be reliably Republican. And in Minnesota congressman Ilhan Omar fighting to keep her seat. She's facing Antone Melton-Meaux, an attorney and first time well-funded candidate. Melton-Meaux has attacked Omar, a member of the squad, as too divisive. He says she's too focused on her national reputation. We'll bring you those results when we can.

And next week, a reminder, tune in, watch CNN's live special coverage of the 2020 Democratic National Convention. We'll bring you all the biggest moments, the big speeches, and some insights on what it all means for Joe Biden, the future the Democratic Party and the general elections ahead. Our coverage starts Monday night 8 o'clock Eastern.

Up next for us, it was part of the coronavirus summer surge now, new COVID-19 warning signs in Texas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:40:50]

KING: We're seeing new Coronavirus warning signs in Texas. The seven day average of coronavirus positivity rate hit its highest number since the middle of March at more than 20 percent on Monday. That's According to Johns Hopkins and the COVID tracking project. At the moment, the number of new coronavirus infections in Texas is leveling off. You see it. They're trickling down even a little bit. But Texas is third among states in its case count. And that high positivity rate is a danger sign of potential trouble ahead. CNN's Ed Lavandera joins me now from Dallas. Ed, you see the positivity rate and you start thinking, where are you going to be a week or two weeks from now?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. And really what is interesting about the infection rate and how it's tracked over the last few weeks is just how volatile it has been.

John, at the end of May, the positive infection rate here in this state was just over 4 percent. And the state was in the process of in full swing of reopening the economy here. And then a few weeks after -- a few weeks ago, it was up around 17 percent dip back down to about 12 percent. And now all of a sudden, we're back up at 20 percent. All of this happening, this rollercoaster ride is happening as in the last few weeks, we have seen a significant drop in the number of daily tests being reported by state health officials here in the state. About two weeks ago, we were hovering around 70,000 tests being reported per day.

That number has now dropped to around 45,000 per day. And obviously, that would play a big part into why you're seeing such a high positive infection rate among these cases. Now, we've reached out to the state health officials to kind of get a better understanding of why there's so much -- there's dramatically less testing going on. State Health officials, quite frankly, just don't have the answer at this point. They tell us that they're in the process of investigating, searching for any anomalies in the reporting process, reaching out to other clinics and labs across the state to try to figure out what is going on there.

But that could hold a big clue and key to understand exactly how the virus is spreading here in this state, John, which obviously comes at a time when we were just a couple of weeks from most schools, public schools opening up here and in students heading off to college and that sort of thing. So a great deal of concern about where all of this is headed in the state, John?

KING: That positivity, the testing and the positivity rate, one of the clues if you will, if you're a coronavirus detective. Ed Lavandera, appreciate your being on top of it for us in Dallas. We will circle back as we learn more.

And from Texas now to neighboring New Mexico where the coronavirus outlook is taking a turn for the better, New Mexico's seven day average positivity rate is 2.4 percent. You can see right there. That's the lowest rate in the western continental United States. With me now is New Mexico Human Services Secretary, Dr. David Scrase. Doctor, thank you so much for being with us today. My question, I guess is why. If we went back a little bit and we could put up your case count in New Mexico, this shows you cases over the last month and you've come down some. If we went back all the way to May, it would be even higher.

Back in May the conversations in New Mexico where you had a problem with the Native American reservations. You had the lockdown in the city of Gallup. Why do you think the state has been successful in pushing down that curve?

DR. DAVID SCRASE, NEW MEXICO HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: Well, I believe that our Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham started off with a very data driven, science driven approach. She figured out on day one, that testing was the key to our strategy because if you test enough people, you identify positive cases, you isolate them, you quarantine their contacts, and you reduce spread. So we've been working on that diligently for months and months and months, I think with great results.

We, you know, there's two ways to improve test positivity rates. One is to reduce the number of cases, which is the numerator and the other is to increase the number of tests in the denominator. We are very involved in increasing testing. We doubled actually our testing output during the month of July where our cases doubled, as well. We have some advantages working for us in New Mexico. Eighty percent of our testing is done by in state labs. The Navajo nation, who you mentioned, has been great about mobilizing testing there.

Our Department of Health is an all 33 counties in New Mexico. They have 30 to 70 testing sites open every day. Our delivery system partners have been fantastic. And some days do over 3,000 tests a day in their facilities. And lastly, on the increasing test site, our governor gets personally involved in supply chain shortages and testing. We've been through swab shortages, testing machine reagent shortages, and even things now like today pipette tips and wells. We need to run tests. She gets a daily briefing. And she's involved with manufacturers to get that done.

[12:45:31]

KING: And so help me, I want to look at this. I want to put up on our screen the positivity you're talking about because it has been so critical. I've learned so much the last six months about trying to figure out, you know, where are the warning signs? What do you do? What tells you there's trouble ahead?

If you look at July 22nd there, your positivity rate is 6 percent. You know, there are a lot of states that are higher but that's a warning sign. You want to get it down. And then now you hear, not even a month later, you're less than half that 2.7 percent. What is this? Is it masks wearing? Is it pushing social distancing? Is it, you know, just getting people to listen and to act or you do have some, you know, some magic way of getting that to happen in less than a month?

SCRASE: Yes. I think it's the numerator now. We're talking about the number of cases. We have very comprehensive and early implemented executive orders. We still have the stick -- strict to stay at home order in the nation. Early closure of schools. No nursing facility visitation within a week of our first case. We were that one of the first states to mandate masks use to the scientific evidence, prove its effectiveness. We had very effective contact tracing. We're reaching over 80 percent of our cases and their contacts, which is almost double. Most states you hear about 40 to 50 percent.

And then if you can bring up that last graphic, our testing capacity, we are now breaking down test positivity rates and case counts by county and diverting testing resources into the counties with the highest case counts in order to test as many people as we can, identify new cases, isolate those people, your contacts, and reduce spread.

And lastly, I think contrary to our neighbors on either side, you took a more conservative approach to reopening which did result in a spike who were able to get that under control and bring the case counts back down. So that's basically it. We have more tests. We decrease cases that gives us the lowest test positivity rate in West.

KING: Science and common sense and leadership. Dr. Scrase, appreciate your time today, best of luck. I hope you can keep it down and push it down even more. We'll keep in touch as we go through the next weeks and months.

SCRASE: Thank you so much.

KING: Thank you, Sir, very much appreciate it.

Play are postponed the season, college football leaders meet about the fate of fall football.

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[12:52:19]

KING: The fate of the college football season because of coronavirus, still undecided at this hour. Let's get straight to CNN's Andy Scholes. Andy, I know the deliberations are ongoing. What are we going to know?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, John, you know if you're in the south or the southeast SEC, ACC country, you know, they're moving forward as scheduled like the football season is on. Teams are practicing right now. But it's not the same everywhere. The big 10 presidents are meeting right now discussing the fate of the college football season. The Pac-12 leaders are expected to meet today as well. And there's a few things on the table pushing the season back from early September or the start of the season from early September to late September are also postponing the football season to the spring.

But as, you know, this was developing yesterday, it certainly seemed like the big 10 was moving towards postponing the fall football season. But as that was happening, I mean, you had players, big time coaches, other conference commissioners, even President Trump coming out and saying, no, we want football this fall. And the players were led by Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence. He said, of course, they want universal health and safety protocols across college football, but they also want to play this fall because he thinks that's where the players will be the safest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREVOR LAWRENCE, CLEMSON QUARTERBACK: We feel safer here. We feel safer here than anywhere else, honestly. And when you go outside of these walls, and you go get food, you go do anything, you're at this much if not more risk.

DABO SWINNEY, CLEMSON HEAD COACH: We cancel football. The virus isn't going to go away. And it is fully modeled that these guys are safer here than without us. Not only they're safer here, mentally, it's better for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And as it looked like the big 10 was ready to postpone their football season. John, you had head coaches like Michigan's head coach, Jim Harbaugh, Ohio State's Ryan Day come out and say look, we think we can play football safely this fall. You also had Nebraska's head coach, Scott Frost come out and say, look, if the big 10 decides not to play football this fall, we'll play anyways and find games elsewhere. I mean, just an incredible statement from him, so big decisions looming from the big 10 and Pac-12, John. And, you know, if they decide to play and the SEC, ACC, and big 12 decide to move on, I mean, it could change the landscape of college football forever.

KING: Well, I know you'll stay on top of it. Andy, the Coronavirus disruption is literally everywhere. Check back Andy when we know more. It's fascinating to watch.

[12:54:37]

Up next for us, the Michael Flynn case. The Justice Department wants it dismissed but back on the docket today.

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KING: Today a rare full hearing in D.C. Federal Court and a very important case, the Michael Flynn case back on the docket. Ten judges, 10, the full court considering whether the Flynn case should be tossed out, the Trump Justice Department remember now argues that case should go away. And it argues the former Trump National Security Adviser should not have been subject to an FBI interview back in the early days of the Trump administration.

Now the original trial judge, this is what's extraordinary about this. He questioned why the Justice Department reversed its stance toward General Flynn. That trial judge saying, he thought it was a solid case. Remember, Flynn had pled guilty twice, pled guilty twice to lying to investigators and was await incentive -- was awaiting sentencing, very important case. We'll continue to track it for you

[13:00:00]

Thank you for joining us today. We'll see you back here tomorrow. It could be V.P. choice day. We always like those. Busy news day ahead. Brianna Keilar picks up our coverage right now. Have a good day.

[13:00:00]