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Harris Becomes First Woman of Color on a Major Party Ticket; Obama Gives Dire Warning about U.S. Democracy in Rebuke of Trump; Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez Discusses Her Public Plea for All Schools to Mandate the Flu Shot; Trump Takes Question Before Leaving for Campaign Event. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired August 20, 2020 - 11:30   ET

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

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[11:31:42]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA) VICE -PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: My mother taught me that service to others gives life purpose and meaning. And oh, how I wish she were here tonight. But I know she's looking down on me from above.

I keep thinking about that 25-year-old Indian woman, all of five feet tall, who gave birth to me at Kaiser Hospital in Oakland, California.

On that day, she probably could have never imagined that I would be standing before you now and speaking these words: I accept your nomination for vice president of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: That was Senator Kamala Harris making history, becoming the first woman of color on a major party ticket as she accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for vice president during last night, the third night of the convention.

Night three also brought another first. Former President Barack Obama delivering a searing rebuke of President Trump going where former presidents historically don't, as he really tore into Trump's leadership or lack thereof, from his perspective, making a case Trump is threatening to destroy democracy itself.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They are hoping to make it as hard as possible for you to vote and to convince you that your vote does not matter. That is how they win. That's how a democracy withers until it's no democracy as all.

And we cannot let that happen. Do not let them take away your power. Do not take away your democracy.

This administration has shown it will tear our democracy down if that's what it takes for them to win. So we have to get busy building it up by pouring all our efforts into these 76 days and by voting like never before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now is Van Jones, CNN political commentator and former Obama administration official.

Van, I watched with great interest last night for your reaction to the speeches of the evening. And you were emotional following Harris' remarks. You were emotional about what you had seen.

What was be-- what was behind emotion?

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I thought about all the black women, my mother, my grandmothers, my great grandmothers who never had a shot, never had a shot, smart, tough, resourceful, innovative, funny, never had a shot.

And I'm getting text messages from black women I went to college with, mothers of little brown girls holding their hands, saying a see, baby.

And so, you know, some things are bigger than just the technical analysis of the speech, bigger than just the moment.

You know, she was doing that for a lot of people, a lot of people.

And -- and also I was thinking about her sister, Maya, you know, who is a civil rights leader in her own right. If you didn't have Kamala Harris, you would have Maya Harris. And Maya Harris is a giant, I know, in the civil rights community.

And then little Meena. I knew Meena when she was a gangly little teenager looking like a baby giraffe. And to see her a fully grown woman and successful entrepreneur.

[11:35:06]

These Harris women, coming from such humble backgrounds, all of them just extraordinary. And I got emotional.

And I just feel, listen, there's a lot that goes on right now in this country that will just tear you down and have you hiding had under the bed.

But when somebody does something that breaks through a barrier for tens of millions of people, you know, and does it with grace and with poise and with beauty and with smarts, you know, and with resilience, you know -- you've got to take a step back sometimes.

And that was for me -- that was for my mom. That was for my grandmas and for a lot of black women and women of color here and around the world. BOLDUAN: So you have Harris' historic moment. And then you have

President Obama in his speech. It was extraordinary in how he went where former presidents haven't.

And also then though his call to action to you, the voter, you out there, his plea. I mean, him saying do not let them take away your power. It was -- it was striking to hear that from Obama.

I mean, what do you think -- what do you think President Obama did with his moment in that moment?

JONES: You know, I don't think he ever planned to give a speech like that. I don't think he ever wanted to give a speech like that. I know what a traditionalist he is, what a Constitutionalist he is.

He's such a scholar and such a historian. He knows that's not what American presidents ordinarily do.

And for him to feel that he needed to do that, that he needed to break with hundreds of years of precedent to make that kind of statement, he must have been looking down the barrel of, what if I don't do it. What if I don't say what I believe?

And then, you know, people take the election lightly, like they did last time, don't turn out like last time, and things get worse than they are right now.

So, you know, to me, it was the completion of a big circle for him from 2004, this young kid up there talking about, I don't believe in red states and blue states, it's just the United States.

You know, for him to go from that guy, that young guy, to this elder statesman, having to rip up the playbook for a president and say, guys, it's all on the line. If we want that kind of America, everybody's got to do something different, including me.

A just think it was a big coda on his whole journey.

But I'll tell you what, he's not the kind of guy that wants to do that kind of speech. That's not -- some people would love that. They would be drooling at the mouth and let me get at that guy and break precedent and disrupt everybody and do something totally different. That's not Barack Obama.

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: So that lets you know where his heart is right now.

BOLDUAN: That's a good way of putting it.

Now to the biggest speech of Joe Biden's political career to date that will happening tonight.

Jeff Zeleny's reporting is that Joe Biden is not intended to make Trump a central figure of his speech.

But isn't that a -- which will be a big part of the election, is seen as a referendum on President Trump?

JONES: Nobody watching Biden's speech needs to hear anything about Donald Trump. If you are watching Biden tonight, you probably have heard of Donald Trump.

What they need to hear is from Joe Biden. And they need to -- to now see the completion of this entire journey we've been on this week.

We see all the decency. We see ail of the great stories. Everybody says he's a good guy, he's a good guy. Can he get the job done?

What's the relationship between all these decent acts that he's done as a human being and what he can do for American families right now who are hurting and in need of some decent champion.

If he can connect the dots -- because for a lot of people, you know, the character question -- people pretend like it's not important. It's important. And to see his character, that's great.

Now can the character result in a change for my life? If he can cross that dredge, he's got a good shot tonight.

The other thing is we've drawn a beautiful circle that includes immigrants and includes disabled people and all kinds of people.

I don't know if the circle we have drawn right now includes enough of those blue collar, hard hat, lunch-pail guys that are also an important part of this party. He is uniquely qualified to reach out to them, too.

You don't have to erase the circle and draw a circle just for them but draw the same circle a little bit bigger and make sure that those folks have a place of dignity and honor in this party.

And I think Biden will have had a very successful convention.

BOLDUAN: That type of voter that voted for Obama and then voted for Donald Trump. That's a really -- that's a really interesting point.

JONES: Bring them home.

BOLDUAN: It's great to see you, Van.

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BOLDUAN: I always love how you wear your emotion on your sleeve. You're a very evolved human and I love it. Thank you.

JONES: Well, thank you very much.

Hey, listen, history every day, all day, this year. So I appreciate you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

Be sure to watch CNN's special live coverage on the final night of the Democratic National Convention. That starts at 7:00 Eastern.

[11:40:07]

Coming up for us, a pediatrician makes a public plea for all schools to mandate the flu shot. She joins me, live, next.

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[11:45:05]

BOLDUAN: Massachusetts has just become the first state to require flu shots for all students to attend school from K-12 up to college.

Officials calling it an important step to reduce flu-related illness and the overall impact of respiratory illness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Will other states follow suit?

Joining me right now is Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez, a primary care pediatrician.

It's great to see you again, Doctor. Thank you for being here.

You make this case very eloquently today that every state should essentially follow Massachusetts.

From a pediatrician's standpoint, why is it so important that kids get a flu shot this year? What are you afraid you're going to see if they don't?

DR. EDITH BRACHO-SANCHEZ, PRIMARY CARE PEDIATRICIAN: That's right, Kate. It's great to be with you.

So to be super clear, this is not the first winter that I've advocated for this or soon to be winter, right?

This is important because the flu is a serious illness for children. Children are hospitalized, hundreds of thousands of children get the flu every year and a few hundred pass away.

The flu shot is a safe vaccine that can prevent at least a significant amount of these kids from suffering from this.

So this year I'm afraid that I'm going to be seeing both COVID-19 and flu.

I, unfortunately, don't have a way to prevent kids from getting COVID- 19 other than the measures we've been emphasizing, the social distancing, the hand-washing and mask-wearing.

But we do have a way to prevent flu from becoming a significant epidemic. So we have to take the steps that we can take and that includes schools mandating it.

BOLDUAN: Why is flu season on top of COVID such a dangerous mix? BRACHO-SANCHEZ: Gosh, Kate, for so many reasons. First, not a lot of

kids are going to be able to go back to school in person, right? We've created a mess in this country. And that's the unfortunate reality that we're living in.

But for the schools that are able to go back to in-person learning, kids are going to be -- or parents are going to be asked to monitor their kids for symptoms at home. And a parent is going to have a really hard time telling the difference between flu and COVID-19 symptoms.

And in addition to that, we really can't afford to have both illnesses circulating at a significant level. We can't. Our health care system can't handle it. Our schools can't handle it. Our communities can't handle it.

BOLDUAN: Doctor -- Doctor, I'm so sorry, I have to jump in only because we have to jump over to the White House with bringing news coming in.

President Trump speaking right now.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- was involved in our campaign. He worked for Goldman Sachs. He worked for a lot of companies. But he was involved, likewise, in our campaign, and for a small part of the administration, very early on. I haven't been dealing with him at all.

I know nothing about the project, other than I didn't like -- when I read about it, I didn't like it. I said, "This is for government. This isn't for private people." And it sounded, to me, like showboating. And I think I let my opinion be very strongly stated at the time. I didn't like it. It was showboating and maybe looking for funds. But you'll have to see what happens.

I think it's a very sad thing for Mr. Bannon. I think it's surprising. But this was something, as you know, just by reading social media and by reading whatever it is, and by speaking to Mike and Mike and all of them, I didn't like that project. I thought that was a project that was being done for showboating reasons.

I don't know that he was in charge. I didn't know any of the other people either. But it's sad. It's very sad.

QUESTION: But it's not just Steve Bannon. It's Roger Stone. It's Michael Flynn. It's Rick Gates, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen. What does it say about your judgment that these are the kind of people who you're affiliated with --

TRUMP: Well, I have no idea.

QUESTION: -- and the culture of lawlessness --

TRUMP: Yeah. Yeah.

QUESTION: -- around people who are involved in the leadership of your 2016 campaign?

TRUMP: Well, no, there was great lawlessness in the Obama administration. They spied on our campaign illegally. And if you look at all of the things and all of the scandals they had, they had tremendous lawlessness.

But I know nothing about it. I was not involved in the project. I have no idea who was. But I can tell you: I didn't know the people; the three people that were talked about were people that I did not know. I don't believe I ever met them.

I don't think that should be a privately financed wall. I don't think -- it's too complex; it's too big. And we're now up to 300 miles, almost. In another week, week and a half, we'll be up to 300 miles of wall at the highest level. They were even having construction problems.

I was reading -- the little I know about it, I got from you. I was reading, where they were having construction problems with the wall that they were -- they had a small area just to show people that they could build a wall, and they were having a lot of problems where it was toppling over and other things. And I didn't like it because I didn't want to be associated with that.

We built a very powerful wall. It was a wall that is virtually impossible to get through. It's very, very tough. It's very strong, and it's everything the Border Patrol wanted. And I didn't want to have a wall that was going to be an inferior wall. And I felt this was going to be an inferior wall.

QUESTION: Kris Kobach said you endorsed the wall. Is that true? The project.

TRUMP: So I didn't -- I didn't know -- I didn't know that. I didn't know about Bannon's involvement, but I didn't know any -- I didn't know the other people. And I -- but I do think it's a sad event.

And, again, Steve has had a great career at Goldman Sachs. He's had a career with a lot of other people.

[11:50:00]

I haven't dealt with him at all, over years now -- literally, years. And I guess this was a project he was involved in, but it was something that -- in fact, you can see I made statements about it a long time ago. It was something that I very much felt was inappropriate to be doing. Okay. Please go ahead.

(CROSSTALK)

No, go ahead, please.

QUESTION: Mr. President, the end of the militia roles in Iraq -- it's one of the very important issues to stabilize the country in Iraq. How America is going to support ending the militia role in Iraq and --

TRUMP: You know, you're -- you're very hard to understand. Could you maybe help me with it?

QUESTION: Mr. President --

TRUMP: Wait. Go ahead. Try it again.

QUESTION: (No translation provided.)

MUSTAFA AL-KADHIMI, PRIME MINISTER OF IRAQ: (As interpreted.) The United States helped the -- helped Iraq enormously in defeating ISIS and also in toppling the Saddam Hussein regime. We are working on building a strong relationship that is based on joint interests between Iraq and the United States, that is based on economic interest for the better future of the Iraqi people and the United States people.

TRUMP: When I got to -- when we came into office, ISIS was running rampant all over Iraq and Syria. And we knocked out the -- 100 percent of the ISIS caliphate.

But the Obama administration did a very, very poor job. They were running rampant all over. And we came in and we did a real job, and we got rid of that, and that was a good thing.

And now we're working with Iraq. They use the great American Dollar, which is the most powerful currency in the world. And they're starting to do well. And we are with them. And this gentleman, in particular, we've developed a very good relationship. And hopefully, it's going to be very strong for your country. Please.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. There have been 32 attacks -- there have been 32 attacks in the last 10 months on U.S. interests in Iraq, particularly in the Green Zone and U.S. military bases. How are you going to help Iraq to halt these attacks by pro-Iranian militia and to hold these people accountable?

And, sir, if I may also, there was some reporting that the U.S. troops will withdraw from Iraq totally in three years. Is this true?

TRUMP: So, at some point, we obviously will be gone. We've brought it down to a very, very low level. We deal -- where there are attacks, we take care of those attacks, and we take care of them very easily.

Nobody has the weaponry we have. Nobody has the -- anything -- of what we have. We have the finest, the greatest military in the world. When somebody hits us, we hit back hard than they hit us. So we handle it.

In addition to that, Iraq has been very helpful, where necessary. But we have been taking our troops out of Iraq fairly rapidly, and we look forward to the day when we don't have to be there. And hopefully Iraq can live their own lives and they can defend themselves, which they've been doing long before we got involved.

Yes, please.

QUESTION: Mr. President how do you see the role of the Kurds in Iraq? QUESTION: Mr. President, about -- about the bounties -- about the bounties: You say you hit back hard, but we haven't seen any definitive strike back for bounties upon Americans.

TRUMP: Well, you don't know about the bounties. I mean, you're telling me -- if you know something, you can let us know, but you obviously don't know very much about it.

But if we found out, that would be true; if we found, that would be a very -- it would be a fact, what you just said. We would hit them so hard your head would spin. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Mr. President how do you see the role of the Kurds in Iraq? And how is important relationship between Baghdad and Erbil (inaudible)?

TRUMP: Well, the Kurds helped us greatly in defeating the -- as you know, the ISIS, and getting the ISIS -- 100 percent of the ISIS caliphate. So we have a very good relationship with the Kurds, and we've also treated them very well.

QUESTION: Mr. President --

TRUMP: Yes, please.

QUESTION: -- on the bounties --

QUESTION: Yeah. The end of the militia rules in Iraq is very important to -- to stabilize the country. How America can help ending the militia rules? And how can help Iraq in the democracy process?

TRUMP: Well, what we're doing is we're helping where we can. But again, that's a country -- that's a separate country. They have a prime minister, and they have people in office, and they have to run their country.

We've been in Iraq for a long time. I won't say whether or not I said we should be there, but frankly, I didn't think it was a good idea. But I was a civilian, so who's going to listen to me? But I made my point pretty clear; I guess as clear as a civilian can do it. But we were there, and now we're getting out.

[11:55:00]

We'll be leaving shortly. And the relationship is very good. We're making very big oil deals. Our oil companies are making massive deals. And that's basically the story.

I mean, we're very -- we're very happy with the relationship that we've developed over the last couple of years. I thought, before that, frankly, the United States was being taken advantage of. But we're going to be leaving, and hopefully we're going to be leaving a country that can defend itself.

QUESTION: While you are here in the United States, there were -- there were airstrikes on northern Iraq, in Kurdistan region, killing one civilian. I know -- in your talks, in your meetings here, you talk a lot about the sovereignty of Iraq. Is that something that you're looking for help from the United States?

And Mr. President, if that's something can -- if Iraq is asking for help, in terms of the interference from the neighbors -- not just Iran, but other neighbors where they're attacking northern Iraq?

TRUMP: Well, they'll have to make a specific request, but certainly, the Prime Minister has my ear. So if he does that, we'll take a look. They do have -- it's a very unstable part of the world. And I'm not talking about Iraq; I'm talking about the -- the whole of the Middle East. It's a very, very unstable part of the world.

But we're there to help. And because of the relationship, we would certainly be willing to lend you the kind of support that you need.

AL-KADHIMI: (As interpreted.) Definitely the Turkish attacks are not accepted. On the other hand, the Iraqi constitution also does not allow Iraq to be -- to become used to attack any -- any neighboring -- neighboring country. We are entering dialogue with Turkey to rectify this situation. And I look forward to solving this problem with Turkey and getting our neighbors, the Turks, to understand Iraq's circumstances.

But once again, the Iraqi constitution does not allow Iraqi territory to be used to attack any neighboring country.

TRUMP: I will say this: The United States, and me in particular, has a very good relationship with Turkey and with President Erdogan, and we'll be talking to him. But we have a very, very good relationship with Turkey and with President Erdogan.

QUESTION: Mr. President, just to follow up on the troops question, sir: Do you have a timeframe for the full and complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from -- from Iraq?

TRUMP: Mike, what would you say to that?

MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: As soon as we can complete the mission. The President has made very clear he wants to get our forces down to the lowest level as quickly as we possibly can. That's the mission he's given us, and we're working with Iraqis to achieve that.

TRUMP: We're at the lowest level now, Jeff -- we're at the lowest level in Afghanistan that we have been in many years. We'll be down to about 4,000 troops in Afghanistan.

POMPEO: In a couple months.

TRUMP: And that will be when?

POMPEO: A couple months, sir.

TRUMP: Yeah, within a few months. A couple of months.

QUESTION: Mr. President -- one other thing, Mr. President -- TRUMP: As you know, in Syria we're down to almost nothing, except we kept the oil. But we'll work out some kind of a deal with the Kurds on that. But we left, but we kept the oil. And we left the border. We said Turkey and Syria can take care of their own border; we don't have to do it. And that worked out very well. I remember when I did that, I was scorned by everybody. They said, "This is terrible."

Well, I did it. It's now two years ago. And we did it with -- Mike Pence went over and met with the various parties and very successfully, and we removed our troops. Nobody was killed. Nobody. And now they protect their own border like they have been for hundreds of years. And we'll -- we've left. But we did keep a small force, and we kept the oil. And we'll make a determination on that oil fairly soon.

QUESTION: And just one domestic question, sir: The Manhattan case about your taxes has now ruled that you do need to give your -- to turn over your taxes. Do you have a reaction to that?

TRUMP: Well, the Supreme Court said, if it's a fishing expedition, you don't have to do it. And this is a fishing expedition.

But more importantly, this is a continuation of the witch hunt -- the greatest witch hunt in history. There's never been anything like it, where people want to examine every deal you've ever done to see if they can find that there's a comma out of place. No President has ever had to go through this. The Supreme Court shouldn't have allowed this to happen. But no President has ever had to go through this.

But what the Supreme Court did do is say if it's a fishing expedition, you -- my interpretation is essentially, you don't have to do it. So we'll probably end up back in the Supreme Court.

But this is just a continuation of the most hideous witch hunt in the history of our country.