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Trump Admits Blocking Money for USPS Will Hurt Mail-In Voting; Cowboy's Owner Jerry Jones Will Welcome Fans at Home Games; "Represented" Highlights 100 Years of Woman's Suffrage; Some Swing State Voters Slam Trump for Suspended Football Season. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired August 13, 2020 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00]
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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: President Trump today doubling down on his disdain for mail-in voting by saying he opposes much-needed funding for the U.S. Postal Service.
[15:35:00]
Democrats have included a $25 billion request for the Postal Service in those ongoing stimulus negotiations and Speaker Pelosi says that that is the amount proposed by the Postal Service's Board of Governors. Speaking on "Fox Business" the President made it clear that if he held this funding back or the funding is held back, it will harder for the USPS to handle mail-in voting.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They want $25 billion, billion, for the Post Office. Now, they need that money in order to have the Post Office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots. But if they don't get those two items that means you can't have universal mail-in voting because they're not equipped to have it.
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BALDWIN: Now, if you have any doubt about what the President was saying, he added this.
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TRUMP: Now if we don't make a deal that means they don't get their money, that means they can't have universal mail-in voting. The just can't have it.
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BALDWIN: Chris Cillizza, let's talk about this. You know, we know the President has many, many times blasted mail-in voting with absolutely total unfounded claims of fraud. And now the President is just saying it out loud. You know that he doesn't want the Postal Service to get more money because it will result in more mail-in voting. What is this really about, you think?
CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER & EDITOR AT LARGE: Yes, so think about the reverse too, Brooke, because this is really important and I think different than he said in the past about mail voting and it's a fraud. Which, by the way, as you point out, it's not.
What he is saying is essentially this, if we don't pass any kind of coronavirus relief bill through Congress and that I sign, that has money for the Postal Service in it, it will be more difficult, then, for the Postal Service to bring all of the ballots that we expect because of so much more mail-in balloting to count. To make sure they are properly dealt with, make sure they are properly put in counts, et cetera, et cetera.
This is the President of the United States saying, well, I am going to do what I can to kind of put my thumb on the scale here because I don't like mail-in balloting. And that's what really important. This is not proven out by the data. There have been any number of studies that just show there is none, no evidence, of purposeful vote fraud on wide scale. And Donald Trump seems to be convinced there is. But that isn't enough to block a coronavirus relief package, you would think.
BALDWIN: And just quickly, though. Hasn't he, the President, also voted --
CILLIZZA: Yes.
BALDWIN: -- by mail?
CILLIZZA: Of course. Many times. His argument -- you and I have talked about this before. But I think it's really important. There's a difference -- there's no difference, excuse me. He tries to create a difference
BALDWIN: Between mail-in and absentee.
CILLIZZA: -- between absentee balloting and mail-in balloting. There's no difference. Absentee, mail-in. Same thing. He's voted absentee, he opposes mail-in for reasons that are his own but are not borne by facts.
BALDWIN: Chris Cillizza, on the facts, strictly just the facts. Thank you so much. Good to see you.
CILLIZZA: Thank you, Brooke.
BALDWIN: The NCAA's top doctor is issuing a new warning saying that they are headed for a, quote/unquote, troubled waters as some programs attempt to play ball. And could the suspension of Big Ten football actually hurt President Trump in the key swing state of Ohio? We'll discuss.
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BALDWIN: The NCAA says that there will be a March Madness Tournament next year, that is the word from their Senior Vice President of Basketball. He said the association will deliver what college basketball fans want next spring.
As for the fall, though it's a different story. Several football conferences are either canceling or postponing their upcoming season. And now the NCAA's top doctor says that schools are, quote, moving into very troubled waters. One infectious disease expert likened what's happening to a sinking ship.
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DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE DEAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT GRADY: I feel like the Titanic we have hit the iceberg and we're trying to make decisions, so what time should we have the band play? Not having fall sports this year in controlling this virus to me would be the number one priority.
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BALDWIN: CNN Sport's Andy Scholes back at it with us again today. And what does the chief medical officer mean by troubled waters?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Dr. Brian Hainline, Brooke, he's the chief medical officer that you mentioned for the NCAA and he says troubled waters because he says, you know, when the panel started working on a plan for college sports to return way back in April, they were envisioning it would be a continued downward trend in terms of coronavirus cases.
At that time, they thought there'd be a national surveillance system. Contact tracing going on everywhere. And he says that's just not the case right now in our country. And so that's why he says, you know, these conferences that are going to play fall sports are going towards troubled waters right now.
And Dr. Carlos del Rio, who you also heard from right there had another great analogy when it comes to college football, he said you know, everyone assessed risk differently. And he said, you know, say you're trying to cross the street and a car is coming. Some will try to run across the street and hope everything goes great. You get across. Others will wait for that car to go by.
And you know, he was insinuating that the SEC, ACC and Big 12, well, they are those that are trying to run across the street and hoping everything will go fine. Now, everyone that was on that panel that spoke earlier today, Brooke, they are in agreement that, you know, it would be wise to not play college sports this fall.
And while college sports, you know, some is up in the air, some is not. The NFL is going to be going on as planned, and you know, there is not a blanket policy in terms of what teams will be doing to let fans into stadiums.
[15:45:03]
It's up to each individual team. The Dallas Cowboys, they say they will be allowing fans in the stadium. That was what owner Jerry Jones said that yesterday and just a few hours ago, they let -- they released their safe stadium policy for the season, Brooke. They say they're going to have all the fans wearing masks.
And the key to their safe stadium policy is that the fans are going to be in pods in the stadium. So, you're going to have to only sit with your family or friends. And, you know, Cowboys stadium there holds 80,000. And they may be letting in up to 50 percent. That's 40,000 fans at an NFL game if Jerry Jones gets his way.
BALDWIN: Pods in a stadium. Listen, unchartered territory indeed. We'll see what that all looks like. And Andy, thank you so much, as we, you know, continue the conversation. Especially when it comes to college sports.
Could President Trump take a hit for the suspension of college football in this key battleground state? Stick around for this conversation, this is pretty fascinating.
But first, this year marks the 100th anniversary of American women getting the right to vote, and our series "Represented" celebrates the suffragette spirit by highlighting modern changemakers. And so today we meet a really special woman, she's an Olympic fencer, whose religious devotion and athleticism are breaking barriers. She Ibtihaj Muhammad.
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IBTIHAJ MUHAMMAD, MUSLIM, FEMALE OLYMPIC FENCER: To be the first Muslim woman to represent the United States at the Olympic games in hijab, I knew that my journey was bigger than me.
I have early memories of being bullied. People referring to my hijab in derogatory terms or even using racial epithets towards me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready? Fence.
MUHAMMAD: I discovered fencing at 12 years old. My mom and I were driving past the local high school, and we saw fencers. They were fully covered. It was the first time in my life where I didn't have to adjust the uniform. My parents didn't have to run to a sporting goods store and buy a long sleeve or buy spandex to go underneath team shorts. I really thrived. I qualified for my first Olympic team in 2016.
There is a lot of talk about a proposed Muslim man and I never shied away from using my platform to change the narrative for my community. For Mattel to create a Barbie in my likeness was probably the highlight of my career. And I know what it means to little girls who are brown, to wear a hijab, who fence. I wanted team USA to be different, I had to be the change. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Love her story. CNN is exploring the past, the present and the future of women's rights in the U.S. and around the world. So please make sure to check it out. Just go to CNN.com.
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BALDWIN: Listen, we were just discussing this, the future of college football season is in limbo and with the cancellation of the Big Ten Conference's season, it could make matters worse.
As some diehard Buckeyes fans in the key battleground state of Ohio blame the President for the suspended season. "New York Times" politics reporter Reid Epstein writes about this in his new piece, "Ohio State Football Is Canceled, Will Trump Take the Hit?"
And Reid, thank you for joining me. And I know I was just saying to you at commercial break, I'm going to say this to everyone else, not often you get to have dateline of your piece, you know, being the center of the world, Ohio. So, I'm sure Buckeye fans appreciated that.
I know you talked to a bunch of them, many of whom, I'm sure all of them are not pleased with this. So, what did they say to you and how does, you know, football tie into politics? Like how could the loss of their college football season actually cost Donald Trump votes?
REID EPSTEIN, "NEW YORK TIMES" POLITICS REPORTER: Well, Brooke, nobody's happy. Nobody in Ohio is happy that the Buckeyes aren't playing. They are a team that was expected to compete for national championship this year.
But for a lot of people, you know, the coronavirus pandemic is still seen as something that's happening to people elsewhere, right. People who are at home who don't necessarily have kids in school. They've seen their jobs -- they may have seen their jobs disappear or have reduced time working.
But the football season is really something that hits everybody, even if you're a retiree sitting at home and not otherwise affected by this. People in some of these states, like Ohio, and Michigan, Georgia, and Alabama where football, college football is a big deal, this is something that's going to have a real impact on people's lives.
BALDWIN: But to push you a little bit further, I mean in terms of translating into votes or lack thereof for President Trump, since this is essentially happening on his watch, did you get the sense from fans that will happen?
EPSTEIN: I mean, I think people are upset at the President for not getting this under control. They see the cancellation of the football season as sort of yet another real stark reminder of the President's inability to create in this country sort of the system that you've seen elsewhere in South Korea and in Europe, where students are going back to school and sporting events are returning with fans in the stands.
[15:55:00]
BALDWIN: I'm just going to read this one quote. You talked to Paul Finebaum, an ESPN radio host about all this. His quote to you was, I've always tried desperately to keep politics out of our program and this summer I've failed miserably.
He told you, we don't have a day that doesn't pass where someone doesn't call up and blame the President, even from the south. I've had more anger aimed at the President than I thought.
Reid Epstein, I'm out of time, I appreciate you, and thank you so much for just this fascinating look at the intersection of politics and college football. Thank you very much.
EPSTEIN: Good to talk to you, Brooke.
BALDWIN: You got it.
Our breaking news coverage continues as Joe Biden calls for a national mask mandate and begs Americans to step up, be patriotic, do the right thing. More on that.
