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Trump Stokes Voting Crisis With Attacks On Mail-In Ballots; Dems Demand Postmaster General Testify On August 24; Interview With Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA); Harris On Trump's Birther Attacks: They're Going To Engage In Lies; U.S. Nears 170,000 Death Toll, As CDC Issues Ominous Fall Warning; Some Arizona Republicans Organize To Defeat Trump In November. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired August 16, 2020 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:18]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks for joining me on this Sunday. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

And the Democratic National Convention opens tomorrow. The look and feel will be a lot different this year as the event goes virtual because of the coronavirus. But one part will be familiar -- a who's who of Democratic speakers including the Clintons, the Obamas and the major voices in this 2020 campaign.

Joe Biden will accept the nomination on Thursday, a personal triumph for him more than 30 years after he first ran for president.

But there will be some counter programming that same day when President Trump travels to the area of Scranton, Pennsylvania -- Biden's hometown -- to assail him as a failure.

And the distractions don't stop there. The President continues to falsely claim that mail-in voting is rife with fraud and that it make take months, possibly even years, to know the results of this election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are going to have an election that takes place on a beautiful day, November 3. And usually at the end of the evening they say Donald Trump has won the election. Donald Trump is your new president -- whatever they say.

You know what? You're not going to know this possibly if you really did it right for months or for years because these ballots are all going to be lost, they're going to be gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And no evidence of major fraud in mail-in voting. Now, this morning when CNN's Jake Tapper confronted the White House chief of staff about there being no evidence of widespread fraud -- here was Mark Meadows' main argument.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud, though.

MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: That's --

TAPPER: But there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud --

MEADOWS: -- there is no evidence that there's not either. That is the definition of fraud, Jake.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Let's get to CNN's Kristen Holmes near the President's golf resort in New Jersey.

And Kristen, President Trump's chief of staff covered a lot of ground with Jake Tapper in their interview this morning. What else did we hear from Mark Meadows on this issue of mail-in voting?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Ana, he certainly did. And there were three main takeaways that I want to go over that Meadows talked about today.

The first being a reporting from Friday that sorting machines were being taken out of mail facilities across the country ahead of the election -- something postal workers were incredibly concerned about. Meadows saying that that was no longer going to happen before the election. We did reach out to the postal service and confirmed that.

So no more of these sorting machines that we had seen being dismantled, being taken out of facilities. These are what helps sort that bulk mail including ballots. Nothing of that is going to be touched before the election. So that is one thing.

The other thing was that he said the White House was in support of a standalone bill to support the United States Postal Service. He said that the House should come back from their recess and do something on the postal service and that they would be part of this piecemeal deal.

We know in the past that Pelosi has said she does not want any sort of piece meal deal, she wants one big overarching bill that supports everything from small businesses to local governments to, of course, the postal service.

But this is a different path now. We are in a different place with the postal service than we have been really in the last several months. We're seeing things happening that are alarming officials across the country ahead of this election.

The third thing that I want to point out here was completely separate. And this was about Kamala Harris and this rumor, conspiracy theory about where she was born, if she was eligible to be vice president or president which as we know Ana is completely ridiculous. She was born in Oakland, California and like millions of Americans, she born to two immigrant parents. That does not make her anything but an American citizen. She was born, again in Oakland, California and she's never seen this problem before.

He was asked about -- Meadows was asked by Jake Tapper about this conspiracy that the President really did not debunk at all. Take a listen to what Meadows said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEADOWS: This is not something that we're going to pursue. Actually Jake, you and a number in the media, you all spent more time on it than anybody in the White House has talking about this.

I'm more concerned with Kamala Harris' liberal ideas coming from San Francisco to the rest of America than I am where she was born or anything else. If the policy is born out of California that would take root across the country, that is problematic for me.

TAPPER: So when you say sure, that means yes. Yes, you accept --

MEADOWS: Yes.

TAPPER: -- that she is eligible to be vice president?

MEADOWS: Yes. Yes. I do. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:05:00]

HOLMES: Ok. So two things to mention here. He talks about how the media is perpetuating this. That they're not going to follow up on this.

Well, there are reasons that the media was asking about it. One being that President Trump himself came out in a briefing and said essentially that he had heard about claims on social media that she wasn't eligible and then wouldn't say they weren't true on numerous occasions when asked.

And two, if it sounds familiar, part of the reason that we're asking about it is because President Trump spent the better part of eight years and beyond peddling the same conspiracies about then President Obama saying he might not be eligible and demanding to see his birth certificate.

So that is why there were so many questions when this came up and when the President did not debunk this conspiracy.

CABRERA: Kristen, there was some very sad news we learned from the Trump family. Last night we learned the President's brother had passed away. What are you hearing from the first family in the wake of this personal loss? HOLMES: Ana, I want to get right to this statement here because this

was put out by the White House last night. It is from the President. We had learned he dictated it himself.

He says, "It is with a heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother Robert peacefully passed away tonight. He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed but we will meet again. His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace."

And that is clearly one the most empathetic and emotional statements we've ever seen from President Trump. We know that the two were very close. It was his younger brother. And we know on Friday President Trump made an immediate stop without any planning to New York to visit Robert in a hospital who had been ill, and in and out of the hospital since the spring.

Very, very emotional time here for President Trump. We are told that he is expected to attend the funeral this week, Ana.

CABRERA: Ok. Kristin Holmes reporting, thank you.

Joining us now CNN political commentator and former senior spokeswoman for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign Karen Finney, and former RNC communications director and Republican strategist Doug Heye.

Karen, first, your take on the President's move to hold an event near Biden's hometown the same day he accepts the nomination.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Ana, it's what we call counter programming. It is a tactic that both sides use during conventions and frankly in this phase of the campaign.

It is I suppose a little odd given that we are under COVID. And in normal circumstances you would see these kinds of activities, you know, quite frequently. And certainly I hope they will end up taking precautions to keep people safe because we, of course, want everybody to stay safe and be able to vote in the fall.

CABRERA: Right. but Doug as a former RNC guy, hasn't there always an unspoken courtesy not to do something like that during the conventions?

DOUG HEYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look Donald Trump breaks every unspoken courtesy that we have including where a presidential candidate may be born or whether or not they're a citizen as Kristen was talking about earlier.

I think Donald Trump in Scranton may be the worst episode of "The Office" but this is counter programming that is classic Donald Trump 1010. It's not a surprise that he's doing this. And frankly as somebody really critical of the President in this campaign, it's actually pretty smart of him to do.

CABRERA: Karen, former first lady Michelle Obama is speaking tomorrow and of course, back in 2016, when she spoke for Hillary Clinton, she brought down the house. Take a listen,

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watched my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. Because of Hillary Clinton my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Karen, what do you expect to hear from her tomorrow, not just in regards to Biden but also Senator Kamala Harris?

FINNEY: I expect -- I mean obviously I expect she's going to bring down the house. As you know, Ana, for a period of time folks were hoping she might agree to be the vice presidential pick, which I don't think any of us thought she would do.

Look, I think she's going to talk about this moment in history, how important it is to vote. Those are themes that -- she's got her own organization working on helping turn people out to vote and making sure people are registered. So I would imagine that will be one of her key themes.

But again, this historic moment where young black and brown children, both boys and girls, are looking at this ticket and they see the future. They see someone with an experience, a lived experience, that is like their own being reflected on that ticket. And it sends such a powerful message about what is possible. And she is in such a unique position to do that.

[14:09:49]

FINNEY: And I hope that she also gives Joe Biden some credit. I mean he has really written into a new chapter in history as someone who served as vice president to the first black president and was the person who has now put the first black woman on a major party's ticket as our vice presidential nominee.

I'm sure she's going to bring down the house with that kind of conversation.

CABRERA: Doug, you touched on this earlier. The President once again failed to refute the birther law that has emerged this time about Senator Kamala Harris.

Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I have nothing to do with it. I read something about it and I will say that he is a brilliant lawyer. I guess he wrote an article about it. So I know nothing about it. But it's not something that bothers me. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But sir, when you do that, it creates --

TRUMP: Why do you say that? I just don't know about it. But it is not something that we will be pursuing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Doug, you wrote an op-ed about how Republicans really need to come out and condemn this. And you recalled a meeting of Republican officials in 2011 where a Barack Obama impersonator was hired to tell, quote, "black jokes" and walk out to the crowd playing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A. Why is this such a problem for Republicans?

HEYE: You know, the honest answer is I don't know. Karen may have a better answer on this than I do. But it seems to be a consistent problem.

And look, we can have very difficult conversations on race. We can come to different places and different ideas on things. But this kind of insidious nature that we see from the President and from other Republicans who not only tolerate it but kind of laugh at it not only speak to our worst angels in America, but also explain why Republicans have had a problem garnering minority votes not just for the past generation or two but will for the next generation or two.

There is a lot that we can disagree with on Kamala Harris on her record. We can talk about Medicare for all. We can talk about the Green New Deal. Those are substantive things that we should debate. Questioning her citizenship or Barack Obama's citizenship when we don't talk about the citizenship of John McCain who was not born in the United States or Ted Cruz who was not born in the United States.

It sends a terrible message to African-American voters and frankly to white moderate and independent who don't like to see this kind of nonsense coming from either party.

CABRERA: Karen, as we heard in that clip from the President, he deflected the blame on to the writer of this "Newsweek" article in which this issue emerged. But we also saw him deflect blame when it came to the Obama birther conspiracy even though he relentlessly pursued it.

I'll remind you what he said back in 2016.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it. I finished it. You know what I mean. President Barack Obama was born in the United States -- period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So Karen, is this just the same strategy, recycled again and what should the Biden campaign do about it? FINNEY: Well, we're seeing in Donald Trump -- yes, is the shorts

answer. It is a recycled strategy. We're seeing Donald Trump resort to a number of tactics that he used in the 2016 campaign.

And frankly when President Obama was running. This othering. I mean first of all, I think we have to be clear and call it out. It is a lie. It is not true. And I think one of the most important things that the Biden campaign did and that we all need to do is to be very clear good about that.

Because what he's trying to do here and what his campaign is already trying to do is this othering (ph) that says this person isn't one of us. This person doesn't belong. Their story is not legitimate. Their experience in this country is not legitimate.

And as Doug so rightly pointed, for so many Americans, a, it doesn't ring true; b, it is the kind of insidious divisiveness that so many Americans are just sick of.

I think the Biden campaign though has to be careful. And this is something we had to do in 2016. Donald Trump will throw out so many different things, you have to be very careful what it is you respond to and in this case they did and I would encourage them to continue to respond very forcefully on this.

But then also make sure you don't lose track and let people lose sight of what this election is really about. That's why he does these things is to stoke up fear and to try to take us off track of talking about all of his failures from the last four years.

CABRERA: Karen Finney and Doug Heye, appreciate the conversation. Thanks to you both.

HEYE: Thank you.

CABRERA: Tomorrow's Democratic National Convention kicks off with Joe Biden's supporters across the Democratic spectrum. You will hear from former first lady Michelle Obama, Senator Bernie Sanders, Governor Andrew Cuomo and many more.

Don't miss the first night of the Democratic National Convention. Our special coverage starts at 8:00 Eastern live on CNN.

Still ahead in the NEWSROOM, the White House pointing the finger at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as lawmakers leave Washington without a new stimulus deal. Are Democrats and Republicans finding any common ground? I'll ask California Congressman Ro Khanna.

Stay with us.

[14:15:03]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: We may be 79 days out from the election, but the urgency is now, especially if you plan to mail in your ballot. And just a short time ago, we learned Democrats are ramping up their investigation of the U.S. Postal Service and policy changes that have led the agency to warn it may not be able to deliver ballots in time to be counted.

This is the man now in the hot seat, postmaster general Louis DeJoy, a former Trump donor now accused of trying to sabotage the mail to benefit the President who has repeatedly railed against mail-in voting. Democrats want him to testify on August 24th.

All the criticism has led to one change though, the postal service announcing today it will stop removing mail collection boxes through late November, following the complaints about how some had already been taken away.

[14:19:59]

CABRERA: Joining us now is Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California. He sits on the House Oversight and Reform Committee which oversees the postal service.

Congressman, good to have you here. I spoke to your colleague Gerry Connolly yesterday. And he is calling for the postmaster general's resignation. Do you believe DeJoy needs to resign?

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Absolutely. I mean this is more serious in my opinion than the Ukraine issue. This is more serious than Russian interference.

You have a postmaster general who is deliberately removing mail sorting machines, coincidentally in battleground states and maybe disenfranchising millions of people. It is unacceptable. We need to immediately have him removed. We need to give the postmaster general money with specific instructions of what needs to be done to safeguard people's right to vote.

CABRERA: I want to come back to the money issue in just a second. But what do you make of this announcement that the postal service will stop removing the collection boxes ahead of the election now?

KHANNA: Well, that is not the main issue. I mean I'm glad they are doing this. But the main issue is that they have cut the staff (INAUDIBLE) time, people can't work overtime. They are cutting staff. They are removing mail sorting machines.

So there are structural issues at the post office that are going to make it very difficult for mail-in ballots to get in time to be counted. And it is deliberate.

CABRERA: Well he says that yes, those changes are deliberate. DeJoy admits that. That that's part of a restructuring that needed to happen. He says they're necessary because of funding issues. And he says the changes they are making will help save money, will streamline processes, will create more efficiency at the postal service.

But he acknowledges there is unintended consequences happening. So if they hit pause on this restructuring, are you ok with him staying in his position? KHANNA: I'm not. I mean give me a break. Four months before the

election they're going to undertake restructuring? I have never in my four years in Congress had a federal agency come and do cuts before asking Congress for money.

And here Congress is saying we're willing to give you the money, the House passed the money three months ago. If he needed more resources to avoid cuts, why couldn't he have come to Congress and gotten those resources?

So this is a deliberate attempt, in my view, to slow down mail delivery right before a critical election.

CABRERA: Congressman CNN is learning that the House Democratic leadership held a call late yesterday to discuss the possibility of returning to Washington. What are you hearing about when the House will return?

KHANNA: I know we have a conference call tomorrow to discuss this issue. We spoke with the Speaker yesterday as a California delegation and this is on the top of her priority list.

I mean this is very serious. Our members are concerned about the implication this is to have a fair election with every (INAUDIBLE) itself. I hope we return and I know we're speaking about it as a caucus tomorrow.

CABRERA: As you know, Congress went on recess without the funding for the post office. I know that you passed this bill previously, but there hasn't been a deal. So there is, you know, no new funding for the post office. There's no new help for unemployed Americans.

Chief of staff Mark Meadows, he pointed the finger at speaker Pelosi. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEADOWS: I'm all about piece meal. If we can agree on postal, let's do it. If we can agree on stimulus checks, let's do it. I've been the one that's advocating for that.

TAPPER: Right.

MEADOWS: Speaker Pelosi is the one who said that she won't do anything unless it is a big deal. We offered $10 billion for the postal service. Yes.

TAPPER: Yes.

MEADOWS: And now it has changed because her whole dynamic -- political dynamic has changed. But when she's in the room, when you say will you do it piecemeal, the answer has been consistently no. She's got to answer for that to the American people.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: It sounds like there is common ground here -- it sounds like there's some common ground here.

MEADOWS: There is yes.

TAPPER: Because Pelosi has said she is willing to do a standalone bill. And she can bring the House back within 24 hours.

MEADOWS: If she's willing to do a standalone bill -- ok, all right. Ask her, ask her is she willing to do a standalone bill for stimulus checks for American people that are hurting. Ask her that.

TAPPER: Yes. She said on Friday she's willing to do it. So hopefully -- she is. But let me ask you --

MEADOWS: We'll try that --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Is it true, Congressman? Is Speaker Pelosi saying yes in public and no behind the scenes?

KHANNA: No. I mean, she has said that we will do a separate bill on the post office. But it is important to realize, it is not enough to just say $10 billion because that money may not get spent. It may not get spent in the right way. Congress is going to have to be very specific to instruct how that money is spent so we have enough people who are doing the delivery so we have enough mail sorting machines. And so it is frankly a criminal violation to go against that statute.

And the Speaker has said she is willing to do that. So I don't understand where that comment is coming from.

CABRERA: So I guess as an American, I imagine people are watching thinking, well, I don't understand then if everybody agrees, a standalone bill is a go, why it is not happening?

[14:24:58]

KHANNA: Well, the reason it is not happening is that the Republican numbers have been too low. I mean they came in originally with $200 for unemployment. The Speaker has said that that is not enough to put food on the table, to pay rent. And so we're not going to have some deal at a very low number which leaves most Americans out to dry.

And what we've been saying is if you come up with a proper number that allows us to get those unemployed the $600, that gets a stimulus and that gets the states and localities the relief they need so that they are not laying off people, we will do it.

CABRERA: Well, let me ask you about the DNC. It kicks off this week. The party will formally name the Biden-Harris national ticket. It's also when the party sets its platform. And you have said that you will vote no on this platform. Why?

KHANNA: Well I'm very strongly supporting vice president Biden and Kamala Harris as a ticket, but I don't think in good conscience we can support a platform that doesn't have Medicare for all. We've had millions of people lose their jobs. Medicare for all was part of our Democratic Party platform until 1980. We need to at this moment say health care shouldn't be dependent on your employment. Healthcare should be a universal right.

CABRERA: Congressman Ro Khanna, thanks so much for joining us.

KHANNA: Thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: Coming up, she's only been Biden's running night mate for handful of days, but Kamala Harris is already hitting back at the President and his failure to knock down a birther conspiracy.

[14:26:30]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: In just her second interview since being chosen as Joe Biden's running mate, Senator Kamala Harris is responding to Right- wing birther conspiracy theories about her saying it reveals how dirty this election could get and she is ready for it.

Harris also talked about the moment she made history.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA S. ALFORD, THEGRIO.COM: Tell us where you were when you found out that you were picked as the V.P. nominee and who was the first person that you told?

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESUMPTIVE VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I was in my apartment in D.C. and the vice president contacted me through Zoom as is the way that we all meet in person these days, as you and I are meeting right now. And that's when he told me, he asked me if I would join him.

And then he invited his wife to be a part of the conversation. She was in a car, so he had her on his cell phone so she was listening. And then she and my husband, Doug, had campaigned together during the previous part of the campaign.

So they said, well, where is Doug and then I used the intercom system that I grew up with at home and I shouted his name loudly to the other room. And I felt awful because I shouted right in front of Joe and Jill Biden. And I just shouted. And then Doug came in. So that is how it went. And then of course after that, I called my family. So it was very special, very special.

ALFORD: I'm sure they were elated.

HARRIS: Yes.

ALFORD: This is historic and we talked about that many times before. But even with the history-making moments, it didn't take long for President Donald Trump to start to promote racist birther theories because you are the child of immigrants. I have a question. Do you think Donald Trump is scared of you and what do you think this signals about the tactics that his campaign is going to use to try to stop you and Joe Biden from winning?

HARRIS: Look, I'm very clear-eyed about the fact that they are going to engage, as you said, in what they have done throughout his administration, which is, let's just be candid and straightforward, they're going to engage in lies, they're going to engage in deception, they're going to engage in an attempt to distract from the real issues that are impacting the American people. And I expect that they will engage in dirty tactics and this is going to be a knock down drag out and we're ready.

ALFORD: So many people are still asking questions about your record as a former prosecutor. And for some reason, no matter what your answers have been, some folks who just are -- they just are not satisfied. What do you say to them? Do you understand their genuine concern and can you explain how you will fight to protect black people from police brutality and mass incarceration?

HARRIS: Well, yes. Let's start with the first point that you are raising. I understand why people are distrustful of a system that historically has been unjust and unfair to them. I get that. That is why I chose to become a prosecutor, because I decided and, you know, it is obvious that I also decided to go up the rough side of the mountain, I decided that this system is so -- clearly, it was naive. And I decided I was born knowing and experiencing how unjust it could be, and in particular on issues of race.

And I decided to go inside the system in addition to all the folks, including friends and relatives who were on the outside of the system to do what I could to change it.

So I would encourage everybody, look, you may not fall in love with who you are voting for, but if you just look on a piece of paper at the issues that are impacting you every day, whether it is that you've got relatives who have been impacted by the COVID virus or you are unemployed or trying to get that extra check, that unemployment -- that $600, or you look at who is going to pay attention to whether the black community is going to have equal access to a vaccine when it is created, and you will know there is so much on the line in this election.

[14:35:03] . So I strongly believe we have to be heard and not let them stop us or prevent us or deter us from exercising our voices and making sure our voice is strong in this election.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Still ahead, as the United States approaches 170,000 coronavirus deaths, President Trump is dismissing a dire warning from the director of the CDC. You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: The U.S. is closing in on yet another troubling pandemic milestone, on the verge of surpassing a death toll of 170,000 American lives lost. This comes as the director of the CDC is warning the country could be headed for, quote, the worst fall from a public health perspective we have ever had. Dr. Redfield says the threat of COVID-19 and the flu season this fall could have a catastrophic impact in the U.S., especially if Americans don't get flu shots and don't follow safety measures for coronavirus prevention.

[14:40:13]

President Trump is dismissing the CDC warning, claiming the worst is behind us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You can't compare to 1917. It was incredibly. That was the worst ever by far. As we look at it, they lost possibly 100 million people, no, I don't agree with that. But if you look at these numbers, they are coming down very substantially. And I do believe that Americans, many are wearing masks, which is a good thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Dr. Jonathan Reiner joins us now. He is a professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine.

Doctor, do you agree with Dr. Redfield's warning that this could be the worst fall, from a public health perspective, America has ever had?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Absolutely. Hospitals in all of the country are already filled with COVID-19 patients. And every year during flu season, depending on the year, somewhere between 100,000 and 800,000 Americans get hospitalized with influenza. Influenza infects between about 10 million and 40 million Americans every year.

So if this is a bad flu season, it becomes really a double punch. So we really have to double down on really encouraging the public to get vaccinated. We never really vaccinate more than about 60 percent of the American public and there has never been a better time to beat that. We really have to get everyone vaccinated.

I'm hoping that social distancing and mask-wearing will actually lower the incidence of flu this year but we'll have to see.

CABRERA: The CDC estimates that the Spanish flu pandemic, which the president referenced, this was in 1918 and 1919, it killed about 675,000 Americans. Is there any chance the U.S. could surpass that troubling death toll before we get this virus under control? And, again, we're approaching 170,000 lives lost from coronavirus at this point.

REINER: Yes. The real death toll is almost certainly over 200,000 if you look at the number of excess deaths in the United States in the last six months. So we are probably already at 200,000. And if you look at our daily case numbers, we've leveled off at about 50,000. We need to see that drop and drop dramatically.

I'm concerned that we're leveling off and becoming sort of, you know, anesthetized to the daily mortality rate of over 1,000 people a day. If we don't lower it, if we don't get more people to wear masks, we don't test a lot more and start lowering the daily case rate, yes, then by New Year's, we'll have are 400,000 people dead.

CABRERA: It has been 1,000-plus deaths per day for 16 of the last 20 days. So the trajectory is horrific. And as a heart doctor, I also want to get your reaction to this new research from the American Heart Association that says that the threat of long-term heart damage is greater than we thought. What kind of damage are we talking about and how widespread is it?

REINER: Well, it's unclear. This is a very new disease. We know that when patients are admitted to hospitals, very large numbers about a third of the patients who get admitted to hospitals with COVID-19 have evidence of cardiac enzyme elevation. So it's suggesting that either the virus or inflammation is affecting the heart.

And if you do -- even in people who have survived the virus and are doing sort of okay at home, if you do M.R. scans and look for evidence of small scars on the heart, you can find it in the majority of people, particularly in this one German study.

So we do think that this virus can affect the heart as well as almost every other organ. We're learning about this. We don't really know whether there will be meaningful clinical consequences for this, but you can detect injury if you look for it.

CABRERA: Dr. Jonathan Reiner, it's always great to have you with us. Thanks for sharing your expertise.

REINER: It's my pleasure. Thank you.

CABRERA: Coming up, President Trump is aggressively targeting suburban voters, but it is not working according to Republicans in a key battleground state. That's been a hot spot for coronavirus. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:45:00]

CABRERA: Arizona reporting more than 900 new coronavirus cases as some Republicans in that state make it known they are not just unhappy with the president's handling of the pandemic, they are also actively organizing to defeat him.

Let's get right to Miguel Marquez in Phoenix for us. Miguel, Arizona is a battleground state. What are you hearing from voters there?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it may be the mother of all battlegrounds not only because the president's race but they also have a very hot Senate race here as well. Look, I've been to swing states across the country for the last four years. I've been talking to swing voters and Republicans. I have never, never heard Republicans not only speak out against the president considering to vote for someone else but actively work against him being reelected.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Trump trouble in the Phoenix suburbs?

LAURA CLEMENT, ANTI-TRUMP EX-REPUBLICAN: He is very selfish and I don't think he is conservative.

MARQUEZ: The president's handling of the pandemic --

DANIEL BARKER, ANTI-TRUMP REPUBLICAN: He has just not been truthful about the coronavirus.

[14:50:00]

MARQUEZ: -- making voters who typically vote Republican --

KATHY VARGA, WON'T VOTE FOR TRUMP AGAIN: I have hope that we can take the party back from extremism back to the center.

MARQUEZ: -- not only speak out but organize to defeat him.

Trump won Arizona by less than four points in 2016. He still has support in this battleground state, but recent polls show Joe Biden with a narrow edge. Now, even some current and former Republicans are organizing against Trump.

C.J. DIEGEL, ARIZONA REPRESENTATIVE, STAND UP REPUBLIC: You can't blame the president for the virus, but you can absolutely blame him for the complete lack of leadership and the mismanagement since that time.

MARQUEZ: C.J. Diegel runs the Arizona chapter of Stand Up Republican, the non-partisan political group co-founded by Evan McMullan, who ran as an independent in 2016.

DIEGEL: We want to make sure people know that they have an outlet to -- permission, if you will, to go out and either vote against Trump or just not cast a ballot for him.

MARQUEZ: Diegel, a self-described lifelong Republican, never thought that he would say this.

DIEGEL: I will be voting for Joe Biden this year because I'm so, so disgusted.

MARQUEZ: Kathy Varga said she voted for Donald Trump. She now volunteers for Republicans for a new president.

VARGA: I would like to see a president that can unify the country, that can show empathy for others.

MARQUEZ: Longtime Republican Daniel Barker, twice appointed a judge by Republican governors, has started a political action committee. Its name is its message, Arizona Republicans Who Believe in Treating Others with Respect.

BARKER: If we could make a difference, whatever it might be, so that Joe Biden won Arizona, that is our hope.

MARQUEZ: For now, he is printing and distributing Arizona Republicans for Biden yard signs.

Laura Clement is working with a group, Mormon Women for Ethical Government. It started after Trump's election.

CLEMENT: He was in denial and he only started wearing a mask like a few weeks ago. So I think he only made it worse.

MARQUEZ: She too says she is voting for Biden, the president and the pandemic in the Grand Canyon State, a call to action for some Republicans to vote for anyone other than Donald Trump.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Now, something else we hear a lot from out here that the Republicans that we're speaking to who no longer support the president is enablers. They talk about going after the president's enablers. They literally see this as the first step. This election is the first step toward taking back what they call their Republican Party. Ana?

CABRERA: Miguel Marquez, interesting look into that state. Thank you.

Here is another one to check off of your 2020 bingo card. A fire tornado swirling across the sky, this is in Northern California. This firenado formed near Loyalton Fire on Saturday. Fire tornadoes are caused by strong winds pushing and pulling rising heat into a vortex of smoke, fire and dirt.

The Loyalton Fire has scorched 20,000 acres so far. It's only 5 percent contained. It places (ph) one of several wildfires raging right now across the west. Over 100,000 acres have been burned across California, Oregon and Colorado.

The pandemic has hit communities of color in the U.S. disproportionately hard and exposed the lack of safety nets for these already vulnerable communities. Since 2013, CNN Hero Robbin Carroll and her non-profit have been helping residents of Chicago's West Englewood neighborhood improve their lives, lift up their community and find healing.

Now in the wake of COVID-19, in a new wave of unrest following a police-involved shooting, their efforts are more crucial than ever.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBBIN CARROLL, CNN HERO: What the pandemic showed was the inequities between white and black America. Look at the amount of black Americans that are dying from COVID. We know that we are in a community that is very vulnerable and has very little resources and that they would be extremely hard-hit. We needed to step in and just provide even more supplies and comfort and security. I think we always heal in community. We just hold space for the fact that there is just a lot of pain. And no matter how it comes out, we're here to support you. We're here to help you, we see you. We see you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Anderson Cooper shares the full story of Robbin's work during the pandemic cnnheroes.com. Check it out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:55:00]

CABRERA: Hello again. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

And the coronavirus pandemic has not canceled the political conventions this year. They are on but they will look like nothing ever seen before in American history.

Tomorrow, the virtual Democratic National Convention kicks off.

[15:00:00]

No big crowds, but the list of speakers include former Presidents Clinton and Obama.