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Interview with Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA); Interview with Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly; Georgia Schools Move Online Days After Opening. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired August 12, 2020 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): And that's Joe Biden, and that they are doing this actually now by laundering information through United States senators.

And so maybe Donald Trump should directly confront Vladimir Putin, tell him to stop doing this and give the American people the awareness that they need as we make sure that these elections belong to us this November.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: You referenced the information that Senator Ron Johnson -- but also one of your colleagues on the Intel Committee, Devin Nunes, has been in touch with. It's a pro-Russian, Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach who's also worked closely with the president's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

Is it your view that by taking information like this, information tainted perhaps, is it your view that they're aiding and abetting Russian interference?

SWALWELL: Yes, absolutely. And this is information that was discredited in the impeachment proceeding. So in some ways, you know, I do believe Joe Biden has been inoculated against this. However, this is a runaround of what Rudy Giuliani was trying to do by trying to relegitimize this information in the United States Senate.

But what's most important is that Donald Trump should speak directly to Vladimir Putin and tell him to stop doing this. And, by the way, stop paying bounties that would kill our soldiers --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

SWALWELL: -- and also direct our intelligence community to have the resources to take on and counter Russia's disinformation.

SCIUTTO: Four years later, the president, still unwilling to do that, to call Russia out for the interference but also to warn them away from this. Even, as you say, the intelligence community, find -- has publicly released that Russia, interfering again to benefit Donald Trump. How does Vladimir Putin take that? Does he take that as an invitation to interfere at will?

SWALWELL: He takes it as he has never had a better ally to carry out his disinformation campaigns to increase Russia's standing in the world, reduce America's standing in the world. He looks at this with all green lights, no stop light, stop sign or cop on the beat that would normally stand up for America's interests. And he has this willing vehicle in Donald Trump.

And it makes us less safe, and it makes our democracy have less integrity, as we need to, you know, climb out of the darkness that we've been in the last four years. We are still in the fog.

SCIUTTO: I want to talk about Joe Biden's vice presidential pick, Kamala Harris, someone who you ran against early in the Democratic primaries here. Kamala Harris, she's moved to the left as the party has moved to the left. You know that this is going to be a hard-fought campaign in November, and independent voters are going to matter here.

Are you concerned that the current ticket and its positions is too far to the left for the voters who are going to decide this election?

SWALWELL: I'm not. And first, Jim, let me say, you know, as the son of, you know, two Iowans and married a Hoosier from Indiana, I still stay in touch with my family in the Midwest and I, you know, have found the vanishing Republican woman. Republican women voters are moving away from Donald Trump, they're disgusted by him and checked back in with many of them yesterday, this changes nothing about how they feel.

But I know who Kamala Harris is because I come from the same district attorney's office in Alameda County, and that office had a creed, which was, "We don't seek wins, we seek justice." And I think that has defined her career, especially as attorney general during the Great Recession.

When consumers in California were being defrauded by banks, she sought and received a large judgment to help people during very tough times. And people nationwide remember that she did that, and I think that's why she's going to be a great partner for Joe Biden.

SCIUTTO: Just very quickly, if you could give a bumper sticker for what the Biden-Harris campaign message is? Because to this point, there's been some criticism that it's largely, I'm not Trump. What is the case that they're making, in short form?

SWALWELL: Building back better. And I like that because it recognizes that we don't want to go just back to where we were before Trump, we want to redeem America and the values of the rule of law and the freedom of press and so many institutions that have had a wrecking ball taken to them.

But recognizing that there are racial justice issues, that there has been income inequality. So we're going to do better than where we were before, and I think it's a perfect ticket that looks just like America, and we'll do better.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Eric Swalwell, also the author -- as we mentioned -- of the book, that just came out, "Endgame: Inside the Impeachment of Donald J. Trump." Worth a read, thanks so much for taking the time and joining us this morning.

SWALWELL: Great, thanks, Jim.

[10:34:44]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: All right. Right now, Southwest Airlines says it's losing about $20 million a day. The airline CEO, though, has just vowed no layoffs, no furloughs through the end of the year. How long can that last? I'll ask him, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Welcome back. Another devastating month for air travel. This is an industry that employs nearly 500,000 Americans, and air travel dropped 75 percent in July due to the pandemic. For Southwest Airlines, it's a big blow and it is fresh off reporting a staggering $915 million loss in just the second quarter. Right now, the airline says it's losing about $20 million a day.

Despite all this, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly is saying no layoffs, no furloughs this year. He joins me now. Good morning, Gary.

[10:40:02]

GARY KELLY, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: Good morning, Poppy.

HARLOW: You wrote this memo to your entire team. And you say, we're in the fight of our lives. You said there's a siege ahead. How can your financial position be so dire and not have any layoffs ahead? I know you had 17,000 voluntary people taking an early leave, but how long can you make that promise of no layoffs for?

KELLY: Well, I think the -- you know, the early retirement program and the leave program is -- is really key to answering your question. So that's close to 30 percent of our total workforce.

What we need here is to buy ourselves time, you know? I firmly believe that things will get back to normal, it's just a question of when. If you go back to the spring, we hoped it would be by the fall. I don't think that's going to be the case, I think, you know, we'll have a vaccine hopefully around the end of the year, early next year and then hopefully things will begin to improve.

So we've got a ways to go. But with a 27 percent reduction in our workforce, I'd like to see how things go here in the fourth quarter. We'll know by October whether we need to get more serious about furloughs. So I just want to give our employees some comfort, that we're at least going to hold firm through the end of the year --

HARLOW: OK.

KELLY: -- but after that I can't make any guarantees.

HARLOW: I wonder what you make of the fact that there is still no deal in Congress on the next stimulus package. There are major legal questions about the president's ability to do what he is trying to do on unemployment, on payroll taxes through executive action.

I mean, if action isn't taken soon by Congress, Gary, what is the impact going to be on the American consumer and therefore your airline?

KELLY: Well, again, as I mentioned before, I think it's very clear now, here in the middle of the summer, that things are going to take longer and be worse than we had hoped. We've seen a surge in the COVID-19 cases. So the need is clearly there.

I think, you know, members of Congress and the administration recognize that, and it's just -- they're in the process of, you know, making the sausage and hopefully to make a deal. But there's no question that the country benefited significantly from the CARES Act I. Unfortunately, it's not enough and we're definitely in need of a CARES Act II.

HARLOW: I don't know if they're going to make a deal. I mean, we'll be watching but they passed a -- you know, a self-imposed deadline a few times over.

Let's talk about testing. It's amazing that we're in August and there is still not widespread rapid testing available for most American people. I wonder if you think it's a failure by the government that we're at a place where we are when, you know, it would make such a difference, it seems, Gary, for you guys for example to be able to do rapid testing on people before they got on your planes.

KELLY: You know, you go back to the beginning of the pandemic, and that was one of the keys. That, and contact tracing, quarantining. And I think now we've obviously arrived at a point where people must wear a mask, do the physical distancing. So, yes, it's one of the key elements.

I don't think the world was very well prepared for this, and certainly the United States wasn't. And we still don't have enough testing, but it would be very helpful in an environment like -- you just look at kids going back to school, you'd like to know that when you send your kids in --

HARLOW: Yes.

KELLY: -- that the other kids aren't --

HARLOW: Have you -- have you told the White House that?

KELLY: Go ahead.

Oh, sure. No, we -- you know, I mean, let's face it, this is the first time we've seen this kind of a challenge in a hundred years and I think we're all learning as we go. But there -- testing, there's testing protocols that are improving. We'll eventually get there, I assume, but sure, we wish all those things were in place right now.

HARLOW: Gary, you talked about mandatory masks. You have required them now for everybody above two years old on your planes. I want to ask you --

KELLY: Right.

HARLOW: -- on that front, because you have taken a step, going further than a number of the other carriers with no medical exceptions.

There is this reporting -- I'm sure you've seen it -- about a mother on Monday, who Alyssa Sadler says that her son, who's autistic and three, would not wear a mask because he has a sensory issue with having things on his face, and that they were removed as a family and not allowed to fly. Given that, do you think that there should be any exceptions for children or anyone with special needs?

KELLY: Well, that's our policy, you know, that's what we have concluded, is there shouldn't be any exceptions because the exception could be someone who has the virus. And the issue, Poppy, is very straightforward, which is if you make one exception, then you'll have to make a lot of exceptions because it's very easy to so-called "beat the system."

[10:45:09]

So we do everything that we can to make it a very safe environment, an inviting environment. I think everyone is well aware of the need to wear a mask in society today, and we're very, very clear that that's a requirement to fly.

So I'm very empathetic, I'm a grandfather, I have small grandchildren and I know how kids can be. But it's just a matter of making sure that it's a safe environment for everyone, including all those families.

HARLOW: Gary, let me ask you this because the last time we had you on was early May. And since then, this country is finally having a long- overdue reckoning on race, following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

And as you well know corporate leadership does not reflect the diversity of this country, there are only four black CEOs in the entire Fortune 500. When you look at Southwest leadership, all eight of your top leaders are white, there is one black board member and there has never been a black CEO of Southwest Airlines. Do you think that's a problem, Gary?

KELLY: Well, it's definitely a challenge. And we've got a very diverse company, and the -- if you look at the total employment of Southwest Airlines, it very much reflects the United States of America so it's very, very diverse. We have --

HARLOW: But I think the point is at --

KELLY: -- very diverse leaders in management.

HARLOW: -- the top, right?

KELLY: Well, I think it's easier to address diversity needs in the board because the board turns over more frequently. But if you look at somebody like me, I've been trained for 34 years to be a part of Southwest Airlines. So we have a number of black leaders within Southwest Airlines, they're up-and-comers.

And we just need to do better at creating opportunities, not just for black Americans but also for Hispanics, for Asian-Americans. So it is a challenge, and something that we've made progress on but we need to make more.

And that's the single focus that we have -- I think -- for corporate America, is to create those opportunities and make sure that -- you know, what we're going to have to do, Poppy, is be more intentional --

HARLOW: Yes.

KELLY: -- and make sure that we have a pipeline of candidates that do reflect that diversity. And what we've been doing hasn't supplied enough candidates, and so we're going to need to be more intentional, going forward.

HARLOW: I think that's absolutely right.

I appreciate your time this morning, Gary. Thank you and good luck to the entire team flying all of us around. Appreciate it.

KELLY: Thank you, Poppy. Thanks for having us.

HARLOW: Of course.

[10:47:51]

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Welcome back. The president is scheduled to hold an event at the White House this afternoon. It is focused on getting kids back into school safely.

SCIUTTO: Yes, listen to what the scientists have to say about that. CNN's Bianna Golodryga has more on the hard lessons schools across the nation are learning as they begin to reopen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (voice-over): After more than a dozen positive COVID-19 cases were reported at a Georgia high school, the Cherokee County School District announced that all in-person learning at Etowah High School would be temporarily suspended. It's the latest school in the state to close its doors just days into the school year.

This morning, students at North Paulding High School, the site of this now-infamous photo of a crowded hallway, are starting their third day of virtual learning after nine reported cases of COVID-19 forced it to close. Yet despite hundreds of students and dozens of teachers quarantined

after exposure to positive cases, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp refuses to issue a mask mandate.

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): There's definitely going to be issues when you open anything.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Teachers in Omaha, Nebraska, hoping to avoid the same fate for their school, lined up in a silent protest on Monday as the Papillion La Vista school board met just feet away, their signs conveying their concerns about in-person classes scheduled to resume this morning.

The superintendent stressed that following guidelines such as wearing masks will be crucial.

ANDREW RIKLI, SUPERINTENDENT, PAPILLION LA VISTA COMMUNITY SCHOOLS: The science is very clear about that. Social distancing and masking are the two most powerful practices we can do as educators to protect our kids, and we're going to do as much of both as we can.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): In Florida, the Pinellas school district, which includes St. Petersburg, is scheduled to move forward with an August 24th in-person start date, though online classes are offered as well, despite Florida's coronavirus cases in children skyrocketing 137 percent in the past month.

Experts say the best chance for schools to succeed in the face of COVID-19 is a detailed and implemented plan.

EMILY OSTER, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS: The more specific the plan, the better. This is now an opportunity to make a good decision, not in a place of fear, which you can then implement. Where people will say, OK, I understood what was going to happen and now that thing has happened.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Ohio's governor, Mike DeWine, who recently unveiled a partnership with FEMA to provide school districts with masks, announced that nearly 600,000 public school students will be returning to in-person learning when the school year begins.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: K, A, E --

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): At least one Ohio teacher has already gone the extra mile for her students, literally. Preschool teacher Marea Janae Hodge has launched a school on the go, where she travels to her students' homes.

[10:55:00]

MAREA JANAE HODGE, PRESCHOOL TEACHER: It just makes it easier for the parent to be able to do what they need to do, and I know that they're getting the education that they need.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: God bless teachers like Marea.

Jim and Poppy, we should also find out today from the governor of Rhode Island. She's expected to announce that she will likely be delaying the start of the school year by at least a couple of weeks. She said in an interview earlier this week that they're just not prepared and they want to make sure that kids are safe and sound when they get back to school.

The state has a positivity rate of 5.6 percent. To put that into perspective, Georgia has a positivity rate of 11 percent, so you see how careful and cautious these governors are being now as they see schools reopen.

HARLOW: Bianna, we're so glad you're doing this reporting --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: -- every day for us. Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Thanks, guys.

HARLOW: Thanks to all of you for joining us, we'll see you tomorrow morning. I'm Poppy Harlow.

SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto. NEWSROOM with Kate Bolduan starts right after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:00]