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Update On Coronavirus Responses Around The Country; Mismanaged Quarantine Hotels Led To Australian Second Wave; GOP-Led Panel Blows Hole In Trump's "Hoax" Claim Of Russia Probe; Sen. Sherrod Brown (D- OH) Discusses Trump Urging Supporters To Boycott Goodyear, Concerns Over Trump Accepting Election Results If He Loses, Trump Opposition To Mail-In Ballots. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 19, 2020 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:30:09]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: New York City's mayor is cracking down on travelers coming from states placed on the state's quarantine list.

Mayor Bill de Blasio signed an executive order mandating hotels and short-term rental companies to require travelers from restricted states to fill out quarantine forms before they can get access to rooms.

Failure to comply with the order is a misdemeanor. Fines will be issued for those who don't comply starting this week.

Here's a look at other national coronavirus headlines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Stephanie Elam, in Los Angeles, where authorities in California are responding to three major crises happening here in the Golden State.

The first, those wildfires burning out of control overnight forcing some Californians out of their homes.

This having to do with the excessive heat we've seen here in the state. Unstable weather, lightning strikes sparking some blazes. And 26 blazes burned about 150,000 acres.

Heat also causing more people to use their power. There have been power outages throughout the state as well.

All of this while the state is still responding to the pandemic, although the numbers are looking better on that front at this point.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Christine Romans, in New York. Big-box retailers shattering sales records as consumers spend stimulus money online.

Target reported its strongest quarterly sales growth ever. Company profits soaring more than 80 percent last quarter. It's digital sales, including delivery and curbside pick-up, rose 195 percent during the quarter.

Lowe's online sales increased 135 percent for the quarter.

The pandemic has changed how we shop. People are more focused on their home, their lawn, and do-it-yourself projects.

DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Elizabeth Cohen, in Atlanta. Researches at MIT and Brigham and Women's Hospital have developed a mask that has all the protection of an N-95 mask but it can be sterilized and re-used. Unlike an N-95 mask, this mask is made out of silicone.

N-95s offer 95 percent protection, so that's very good, better than many other masks.

They're hoping this mask has the same protection but, again, with the advantage that you can sterilize it and use it again.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, we've all seen headlines at the start of the coronavirus outbreak that those countries led by women seem to be doing better than those led by men.

Now there's research to back that idea up. It was conducted by the Center for Economic Policy and the World Economic Forum.

They found that, looking at 194 countries, those led by women had seen fewer cases of coronavirus and fewer deaths.

The sample-size was too small. Only 19 of those countries were led by women. And that had to be adjusted for.

But the idea in the end was right. Those who have been led by women tend to have fared better than those who have been led by men -- Anderson?

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COOPER: Everybody, thanks.

President Trump is suing another state over mail-in voting.

Plus, he wants Americans to stop buying Goodyear tires even though he rides on them, as you can see in this picture, and it's an American company.

And just a week after a QAnon supporter won a Republican primary, a bigoted conspiracy theorist wins another one in Florida.

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[13:38:05]

COOPER: Australians are demanding answers after learning more than 90 percent of cases in their second wave can be traced to two quarantine hotels badly mismanaged by the government.

CNN's Will Ripley explains how three workers got infected and then spread the virus through Victoria.

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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Australia's brutal second wave began as a ripple, a ripple in the shape of one unnamed family who arrived in May.

Infected with coronavirus, they quarantined at the Rydges Hotel in Melbourne, one of several the government uses for international arrivals.

Weeks later, Victoria declared a state of disaster, putting 6.6 million people on lockdown. Thousands of cases and hundreds of deaths since May.

Genomic sequencing has linked 90 percent of new cases in the state back to that one family of four.

DR. CHARLES ALPRIN, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, VICTORIA: It is likely that the large majority, approximately 90 percent or more of coronavirus infections in Victoria, can be traced to this hotel.

RIPLEY: Epidemiological evidence makes the damning conclusion, a months-long battle against the virus in Victoria may have been avoided if hotel quarantine had done its job.

Victoria's premier, Daniel Andrews, says the buck stops with him. He's established a judicial inquiry into what went wrong.

Returned travelers will appear at the inquiry Thursday. They've already spoke out about what they think is the problem.

KATE HYSLOP, WAS QUARANTINED IN HOTEL IN VICTORIA: The security people.

ROCKY SINGH, WAS QUARANTINED IN HOTEL IN VICTORIA: Children looking after them.

HYSLOP: Yes. Yes.

SINGH: They weren't wearing masks. They would sleep on the ground and --

HYSLOP: Quite often, wouldn't hear us open our door because they had earphones on, be on the phone. You know, talking with another security guard, having a laugh. Just seeing the -- the whole idea of the hotel quarantine seemed like a joke.

RIPLEY: The inquiry has heard security guards contracted to enforce the quarantine were not properly trained.

[13:40:02] An online course security staff took indicated not everyone needed to wear a mask to prevent COVID-19. Guards were not told they should always wear correct PPE.

That was all it took for three workers to get infected, spreading it through the state.

DANIEL ANDREWS, VICTORIAN PREMIER: In terms of chain of command and who's responsible, I think I've made myself abundantly clear today about the way I think that operates. It stops with me. I'm accountable. I understand that.

And every day I've had the honor having this job, I've never moved away from that not one inch. I understand that to be the case. And that's why I set up an inquiry to give me the answers that I want and that Victorians are entitled to.

RIPLEY: The inquiry will publish its findings in November. Until then, Victoria remains in the grip of the pandemic as deaths mount each day.

Will Ripley, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: A Senate committee, led by Republicans, blows a hole in the president's claim the Russian investigation was a hoax.

Among damning revelations, that the Trump campaign encouraged Russian interference.

They suggest that the president lied to Robert Mueller about his contacts with Roger Stone, that his campaign chairman did collude with the Russians, and documentation that shows the president's affection for Vladimir Putin goes way back.

I want to talk about it all with Jeffrey Toobin, CNN chief legal analyst, and author of a fascinating new book, "True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump."

Jeff, your book goes into great detail on most, if not all of this.

What's your biggest takeaway from the Senate intelligence report? And we should point out, again, this is a bipartisan report.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Anderson, I think what the Senate Intelligence Committee found really reinforces and, frankly, makes worse what Mueller found.

I think, to me, the most interesting connection involves Paul Manafort because -- Paul Manafort was the campaign chairman. And he was in close contact with this fellow, Konstantin Kilimnik, who, according to the Intelligence Committee, was, in essence, a Russian spy.

And he was meeting with Kilimnik. He was giving information to Kilimnik while he was involved.

And I think the thing so interesting about Manafort's role is that it doesn't just include Russia. It includes Ukraine.

As you go forward and you see the president's obsession with Ukraine and his desire to use Ukraine to help win this election, the 2020 election, it all begins with Manafort and Manafort's ties to the pro- Russian part of the Ukrainian political world.

Ukraine and Russia are all one story. They're not two separate stories.

COOPER: So what did Robert Mueller possibly get wrong or incomplete? You write a lot about how he dealt with the president's legal team, how he didn't subpoena the president for an in-person interview, settled for written answers.

I mean, did Mueller get played?

TOOBIN: I think, on those two issues, he did. I think, in fairness to Mueller, you know, he has a very extensive report on the degree of Russian assistance to -- to the Trump campaign.

When you look what they did with social media, and especially when you look at what they did with hacking, and the Russian military stealing the DNC e-mails, stealing John Podesta e-mails and then releasing them through WikiLeaks.

The tantalizing information, which, frankly, is still tantalizing from this report, is that he can't quite make the connection between the Trump campaign and the Russians.

We have the Russians reaching out and doing all of this for Mueller -- I mean, for Trump. But neither Mueller nor the Intelligence Committee can quite close the deal in proving that the Trump campaign was in contact with the Russians and encouraging this activity.

COOPER: Fascinating.

Jeffrey Toobin, appreciate it. Thanks very much.

TOOBIN: All right.

COOPER: A new development involving improvement therapeutic being pushed by the president, by the CEO of MyPillow. The U.S. Army is now responding to this.

[13:44:17]

Plus, what's behind a growing number of Americans who say they will not get the coronavirus vaccine?

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COOPER: President Trump calling for a boycott of Goodyear after an employee complained the company wouldn't allow him to wear a MAGA hat to work.

This is the image that started the firestorm. Our affiliate, WIBW, obtained it from a Goodyear employee in Topeka, Kansas. It shows a slide from a training session that Black Lives Matter and LGBT clothing is acceptable but Blue Lives Matter, All Lives Matter and MAGA attire is not.

Goodyear said it wasn't created by their corporate office and that it generally asks its employees to refrain from political expression.

The statement went on to say the company, quote, "wholeheartedly supports both equality and law enforcement and will continue to do so."

Still, the president today tweeting to his supports not to buy Goodyear tires.

Joining me now, Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown. He joins me.

Goodyear is headquartered in your state. When you hear the president of the United States encouraging a boycott against an American company that employs huge numbers of people, what do you think?

[13:50:01]

SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D-OH): I mean, your question sort of says it. What do you think? If the president of the United States would attack -- and it's a pretty iconic company. Goodyear is known far and wide all over the world. It started in Akron. It's a terrific company employing union workers.

And it's part of -- in many -- I mean, it's just another attack, another betrayal of workers by Trump.

Just 30 miles from Goodyear, 40 miles from good Goodyear, the Morristown auto plant shut down and the president said don't sell your homes. These jobs will come back.

And he didn't lift a finger when I asked the president to reopen that plant. So the president just doesn't seem to care about these workers.

He's going to pay the price in Ohio because Ohio workers understand Joe Biden's about work and Donald Trump is betraying workers consistently. And this is another example.

COOPER: Do you think MAGA attire should be allowed at workplaces?

BROWN: I don't care what people wear at work. People can put yard signs up. People can wear T-shirts or hats. Black Lives Matter T- shirts, I'm fine with that. It's up to the employer.

But even if the employer says no political statements, it's free speech.

But that's never a reason for a president to attack an American company and say boycott, instead, buy cheap tires made overseas.

So I don't weight in on that, except people have freedom of expression to do what they want. As long as it's safe and in the workplace, it's not attire that would affect workplace safety.

COOPER: The White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, refused to say, in a briefing, whether the president would accept the election results if he loses.

The president has already said, if he loses, it's rigged because that's the only explanation for him to lose.

Are you concerned about, you know, how he will respond to -- if, in fact, he does lose?

BROWN: My concern is leading up to this. And it's clear the president is afraid to lose. He talked about moving the election back. He said, if too many people vote, Republicans lose. He's attacked mail-in voting.

I was the secretary of state of Ohio some years ago. You can do mail- in absentee voting very safely and efficiently. And it's an option people should have in the pandemic, of course.

But this president -- then he goes after the postal service. This president wants to disrupt.

And I think he thinks the only way he can win is by this disruption, by attacking iconic American institutions. Goodyear today. Last week, it's been the postal service. Who knows what it will be, whatever he can do to disrupt?

And he's going to lose. And the Secret Service and the military will make sure that he leaves office. I'm not concerned about that.

But I think it's important he lose in a landslide, in an Electoral College landslide. He's clearly going to lose the popular vote by millions.

It's important to win Ohio in addition to Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, some states he won last time.

We win those states, it's a very consequential decisive win. And his whining will fall on deaf ears.

COOPER: Do you think the president will win Ohio or do you think Biden/Harris have a chance?

BROWN: No, the president carried Ohio by 8.5 points. I won by seven two years later.

I understood we needed to move Trump voters back to a Democrat in my race. We're doing that now. And, fundamentally, because Trump has betrayed workers. What he's doing with this union plant, Goodyear. Taking away overtime for 100,000 Ohio workers due overtime because of Obama/Biden rule on overtime, Department of Labor.

Now taking away -- there are 600,000 laid-off Ohio workers receiving $600 a week until two weeks ago. And that's gone because Trump and McConnell have refused to move on it.

I called on Mitch McConnell to do his job, bring us back to Washington so we can do our job to extend unemployment benefits for these 600,000 workers who can't find jobs. They want to work. They can't find jobs. And put money in our public schools so they can open safely.

McConnell needs to do his job. We need come back and do that. We should leave our homes this month, this week, and go back to Washington and do what we need to do for people.

COOPER: The Trump campaign released a video showing the president signing his absentee ballot, making a point to claim, falsely, this is different than universal mail-in ballots.

The president tweeted today, "If you can protest in person, you can vote in person."

You were secretary of state in Ohio. Ohio doesn't have the universal ballots, meaning the state sends ballots to every household, correct?

[13:55:02]

BROWN: No, we have what's called no-excuse absentee, which it used to be to vote by mail, you had to sign something saying you were 62 or disabled or traveling and out of state. Now it's anybody that wants an absentee can get them.

The secretary of state is talking about sending an application to every voter. And we ought to do at least that.

But the Republican secretary of state is essentially working for Trump now. He's working for the Trump campaign. And many things he's done to undermine our election system. So, we've got to overwhelm them.

My wife and I sent the absentee ballots. Either in person or both, with absentee ballots, voters should get their votes in earlier because of the shenanigans the political hack, mega donor that Trump put in at the postal service because he's trying to undermine the postal service and election balloting. And so clearly is the president.

COOPER: So, you're encouraging everybody, if they can, to request an absentee ballot?

BROWN: I think people should request an absentee ballot now, as early as possible in your states and overwhelm them. Overwhelm them in terms of making sure everybody votes early.

The postal service can handle it. In the holiday season, in December, the postal service handles a billion pieces of mail. They can surely handle 100 million or not even 100 million, maybe 60 or 70 million ballots.

They can surely handle over a six/eight-week period, the way, a one- month period, they can handle over a billion holiday cards.

COOPER: Senator Sherrod Brown, I appreciate it. Thank you so much.

BROWN: Thank you.

COOPER: New details on the unproven therapeutic that the MyPillow CEO is pushing the president on to treat COVID-19. Why U.S. Army researchers stopped testing it.

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