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Obama Talks up a Biden Presidency in Convention Speech; Gun Violence a Major Theme on Night Three of the Democratic Convention; Gabby Giffords Gives Emotional Speech on Gun Violence; Russian Opposition Leader Hospitalized, Poisoning Suspected; COVID-19 Cases Spike in Germany, France, Italy and Spain; Highlights from Democratic Vice President Nominee's Big Night. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired August 20, 2020 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
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BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm asking you to believe in Joe's and Kamala's ability to lead this country out of these dark times and build back better. I'm also asking you to believe in your own ability to embrace your own responsibility as citizens to make sure that the basic tenants of our democracy endure.
VAUSE: The former U.S. President making his case for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and warning democracy itself is at stake. Barack Obama also highlighted his close friendship with the Democratic presidential nominee and their time together in the White House. He described Biden as a brother.
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OBAMA: Joe and I come from different places, different generations, but what I quickly came to admire about Joe Biden is his resilience, born of too much struggle. His empathy. Born of too much grief. Joe's a man who learned early on to treat every person he meets with respect and dignity living by the words, his parents taught him. No one's better than you, Joe. But you're better than nobody. That empathy, that decency, the belief that everybody counts, that's who Joe is.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: CNN senior political analyst Mark Preston is with us from Washington. So Mark, you know, along with the attack on Donald Trump, we heard from former President Barack Obama. He really talked up Biden, talked about their close relationship. Here's part of it.
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OBAMA: Twelve years ago when I began my search for a vice president, I didn't know I'd end up finding a brother. Joe and I have come from different places, different generations but what I quickly came to admire about Joe Biden is his resilience, born of too much struggle. His empathy.
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[04:35:00]
VAUSE: Yes, there are still questions of how close this relationship actually is. A very long report in "Politico" in particular, with some anonymous quotes with insults to Obama during Biden's successful run for this year's nomination. Here's part of that.
One Democrat who spoke to Obama recalled the former president warning don't underestimate Joe's ability to f*** things up. Speaking of his own waning understanding of today's Democratic electorate, especially in Iowa, Obama told one 2020 candidate, and you know who really doesn't have it? Joe Biden.
You know, there's a lot of other stuff in this report as well. So what, in terms of a relationship what, it's complicated. You know, brothers don't always get on.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right, you know, I think we should just go back two steps. It is a complicated situation for Barack Obama. Because the fact is, is that he is really opening the door to the next generation. His candidacy, his ability to win, is ability to break down these barriers was this young black man who had made history and was going to pave the way for the next generation.
Well you know, Joe Biden is right now -- seems to be the conduit to the next generation. I think that Barack Obama is very close to Joe Biden. I don't think that the staffers on both sides for Obama and for Biden necessarily got along all the time. So I do think that you'll see a little bit of criticism from there. But what was moving last night -- and John, you know how many of these you and I have covered together -- it's always about a moment when we have these live political conventions. Always about a moment. But it's very hard when these moments are just speeches and in large part have been taped. A couple of them have been live. Of course, the big ones.
But there was a moment though that we saw last night when we saw Barack Obama, the tape of him giving Joe Biden the Congressional Medal of Honor. And by doing that, Joe Biden had no idea. And the reaction on Joe Biden's face when he was told that this was happening in front of everybody was just very timeless. So I do think these men are very, very close. The fact of the matter is it is a little bit complicated -- John.
VAUSE: Nonetheless, the current President, Donald Trump took this as an opportunity to attack. He tweeted out --
Why did he, as in Barack Obama, refuse to endorse slow Joe until it was all over, even then very late? Why did he try to get him not to run?
Explain the, you know, just the logistics here. Why did Obama wait to the end? PRESTON: Right, it is a legitimate question to ask. But there's a legitimate answer actually. The legitimate answer is kind of when I was going back to what I was just talking about, paving the way, opening the door. Back when you see even before this election, go back to 2016 and Joe Biden was thinking of running and Hillary Clinton was going to run. It was really Hillary Clinton's time certainly in the Democratic Party. So that's why you didn't see this big support and push from Barack Obama for Joe Biden to succeed him after serving with him for eight years.
Coming into 2020, look at the field of candidates we have. We have Andrew Yang, who is Asian America. Kamala Harris who we saw last night, you know, excepting the speech. We saw Cory Booker, a black mayor from Newark who became a United States Senator. We had such a rich and diverse field. An openly gay candidate in Pete Buttigieg. I don't think that you could have seen Barack Obama come out and endorse Joe Biden. I don't think that the Democratic Party would've had had it. But I think Joe Biden understood that.
VAUSE: You know, they say that no one can sell Joe Biden better than Barack Obama, better than Biden himself. That would not seem possible if these men were at odds in any significant way.
PRESTON: Yes, no doubt. I mean, look at -- we all have family issues, and I think certainly you're going to see some issues between these two men. But I do think they are pretty tight.
VAUSE: Yes, Mark, good to see you. Thanks for your visit.
PRESTON: John, thanks.
VAUSE: Among the most stirring moments of the evening focused on victims of gun violence. A video featured a student who survived the Parkland Florida school shooting. We also heard from a mother whose son was paralyzed by a gunshot. And there was a powerful appeal from Gabby Giffords, a former Congresswoman who survived being shot in the head the 2011.
Matt Littman is executive director of 97 percent, a bipartisan effort which is pushing gun reform. He joins us now from Studio City in California. Good to see you again. Thanks for sticking around.
I think one of the more emotional moments on this night was the appearance of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. She delivered her longest public remarks since the day she was shot almost a decade ago. Here's part of what she said.
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GABBY GIFFORDS, FORMER CONGRESSWOMAN, GUN VIOLENCE VICTIM: We are at a crossroads. We can let the shooting continue or we can act. We can protect our families, our future. We can vote.
[04:40:00]
We can be on the right side of history. We must elect Joe Biden. He was there for me. He'll be there for you too. Join us in this fight. Vote, vote, vote.
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VAUSE: Yet it was about gun reform but it was about so many other things too. Her message at the end though was about resilience during a very dark period. And kind of stands in contrast to a President who just a few months ago retweeted a video from a supporter which, you know, said the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.
MATHEW LITTMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Gabrielle Giffords provides hope to a lot of people and she's a victim of gun violence, person shot at very close up. She did an incredible job starting one of the great organizations in the country, the Giffords Organization that does incredible work on gun reform. And so your audience knows, her husband, Mark Kelly, was astronaut. He's running for Senate in Arizona. Has a very good chance of winning that Senate seat as well. So the Giffords -- Gabriel Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, you're going to be hearing a lot about that couple for many, many years to come, I hope.
VAUSE: Yes, we also heard at the DNC from a mother of a shooting victim. You know, she spotlighted where the president's stance on gun reform. Here she is.
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DEANDRA DYCUS, MOTHER OF GUNSHOT VICTIM: There are families who know what a bullet can do. That's why I'm a mom who volunteers to stop this. President Trump, he doesn't care. He didn't care about the victims after Parkland, Las Vegas, or El Paso.
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VAUSE: And Matt, what is notable is next week the Republican convention will feature Patricia and Mark McCloskey. The white couple who are seen pointing guns at Black Lives Matter protestors. You could not get a more stark contrast.
LITTMAN: Well, I think the Republican convention is just going to be filled with people who have a lot of free time and really just not much else for them to do. So they're going to be at the Republican convention. I think, you know John, the interesting thing on the gun issue is that 97 percent of the country, for example, favors universal background checks. And if you go state by state, those numbers are pretty close in every state in the country, even ones where the elected officials vote against gun reform. And so, we talk about what are the possibilities when Joe Biden becomes president. There is a good possibility that we're going to get some serious gun reforms passed during Joe Biden's term.
VAUSE: Half a loaf of bread, better than none.
LITTMAN: Absolutely.
Matt, good to see you. Thanks for being with us.
LITTMAN: Thanks.
VAUSE: Officials are issuing mandatory evacuations in Northern California because of a series of dangerous fires. The LNU lightning complex fire is made up of a number of wildfires north of San Francisco, in Napa County, Lake County and Sonoma County. The SCU lightning complex fire is burning through areas to the southeast of San Francisco. Officials say hundreds of new fires started between Sunday and Wednesday. About 10,000 lightning strikes are to blame.
Western Europe's new outbreak of the coronavirus continues to get worse. Many countries reporting their highest daily case numbers since the end of their lockdowns. The very latest from London after a short break.
[04:45:00]
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. An update now on that breaking news out of Russia. We believe those are the screams from one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most outspoken critics. Alexey Navalny was on a flight to Moscow, this flight here when he became seriously ill. The plane made an emergency landing and Navalny was rushed to a hospital. They touched down in Siberia. And it's believed that Navalny is the victim of a poisoning.
His spokeswoman says he's now in a coma connected to a ventilator apparently in the intensive care. His attorney says there is no doubt that Navalny was poisoned and is demanding an investigation. But officials at the hospital now reporting that he's in stable condition and it's not certain according to their words that Navalny was poisoned. More on that story as we get it.
Now, after more than a week of protests over the presidential election in Belarus, the man who one, Alexander Lukashenko has now ordered police to clear the streets.
But crowds of demonstrators turned out anyway for an 11th straight day. They say the vote was rigged and a European Union agrees and has sanctioned some government officials. Lukashenko also known as Europe's last dictator, says tighter borders are needed to prevent foreign money and weapons reaching the protesters.
The new coronavirus outbreak in Europe continues to get worse. France, Italy and Spain are reporting their highest number of new infections since the end of their lockdowns. CNN's Anna Stewart is live for us in London. Anna, what is notable even Germany which at one stage, just about a month or so ago, was planning for a relatively normal summer is now seeing its highest daily numbers since April. If Germany is struggling, it's an ominous sign for everyone else.
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Yes, well we're seeing some really worrying numbers every day out of Europe. And just to bring you up-to- date on Germany, as you mentioned, they reported 1,700 cases in the past 24 hours. And that is the highest daily uptick since the end of April. However, you've got to put that into context. Compared to the absolute peak for Germany, that was over 6,000 cases a day.
But we are seeing this across Europe. Italy today has reported its highest daily increase in three months. We've been reporting and tracking these cases now for weeks across Europe. We've had outbreaks or spikes in France, in Spain, in Greece. And of course, John, there are a lot of factors at play here. There's the increased level of testing, of course. There's also the end of lockdown and the easing of many restrictions in recent months. There is summer vacation travel and travel is increasingly being restricted once again in Europe.
The timing of all of this, of course, is worrying. Experts for months now have warned us that as we had into those cooler months of autumn and the winter, the conditions would be ripe for the spread of the virus. But now, you know, will be heading into those cooler months with a baseline of virus cases that's much higher that many people have projected. And what we're seeing now with in terms of sort of a surge or spikes in some countries, people are beginning to question whether that, in fact, is the beginning of a second wave of coronavirus for the continent -- Jon.
VAUSE: Anna, thank you. Anna Stewart there with the update from Europe. We appreciate it. Thank you.
Well, in the past few weeks, heatstroke has left more than 130 people dead in Tokyo. The highest monthly number in almost a decade, according to government records. Almost 80 percent of the victims are 70 or older. Japan's population has embraced mask wearing during the pandemic. Doctors say though, masks could propose a risk during a heat wave by contributing possibly to dehydration. With that, we'll take a short break. Back in a moment. You're watching CNN.
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VAUSE: We're coming to six minutes before the top of the hour. Welcome back.
It was the biggest moment of Kamala Harris's political life on Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention as she accepted the party's nomination for vice president. Along with other speakers, including former President Barack Obama, she was scathing of President Trump and they urged Americans to get out and vote.
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SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA) DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I accept your nomination for vice president of the United States of America. I have fought for children and survivors of sexual assault. I fought against transnational criminal organizations. I took on the biggest banks and helped take down one of the biggest for-profit colleges. I know a predator when I see one.
OBAMA: I never expected that my successor would embrace my vision or continue my policies. I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously. [04:55:00]
That he might come to feel the weight of the office and discover some reverence for the democracy that have been placed in his care, but he never did.
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: For four years people have told me, I didn't realize how dangerous he was. I wish I could do it all over, or worse, I should have voted. Look, this can't be another woulda, coulda, shoulda election.
HARRIS: In this election we have a chance to change the course of history. We're all in this fight. You, me, and Joe. Together. What an awesome responsibility. What an awesome privilege.
OBAMA: So I'm also asking you to believe in your own ability to embrace your own responsibility as citizens, to make sure that the basic tenants of our democracy endure. Because that's what's at stake right now, our democracy.
GABBY GIFFORDS, FORMER U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: We must elect Joe Biden. He was there for me. He'll be there for you, too. Join us in this fight. Vote, vote, vote.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Full coverage of day four on CNN coming up. And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Stay with us. "EARLY START" is up next.
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