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Millions Of Americans Could Soon Be At Risk Of Losing Homes; Soon: House Votes To Pause Postal Service Changes Amid Trump Attacks; Colleges In At Least 19 States See Outbreaks On Campus; Steve Bannon Charged With Fraud In Border Wall Fundraising Campaign; Interview With Rep. Marilyn Maloney (D-NY); Former DHS Adviser Issues Warning Over Trump's National Security Knowledge. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired August 22, 2020 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Ana Cabrera in New York, thanks for joining me in the CNN NEWSROOM.

A rare Saturday back in the nation's capital from members of the House who are about to vote on a Democrat-led bill that would give $25 billion to the embattled Postal Service and halt recent changes. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called lawmakers to Washington from their August recess, says she expects bipartisan support for this proposal in the House.

But that may be as far as it gets. The Senate is unlikely to take up this legislation when it returns to Washington, and the White House is threatening to veto it. All of it putting Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in the hot seat over the changes he spearheaded, including removing mailboxes and some sorting machines, and the moves sparking delays and concerns that the Trump White House is trying to interfere with mail-in voting, something the president has done as recently as this week, even as he claims falsely that the practice would lead to widespread voter fraud in November.

Now, DeJoy telling a Senate committee yesterday that while he won't reinstall any machines, he also won't take any further action until after the presidential election, an election he says the post office is ready to handle. And DeJoy will return to Capitol Hill Monday for a hearing with the House Oversight Committee.

Let's get straight to Capitol Hill now and CNN's Suzanne Malveaux. And, Suzanne, the House is about to vote after their afternoon of debates. Democrats have the majority in the House, so this bill is expected to pass, but, I mean, how many Republicans might join in with them, do you think?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, they expect a handful of Republicans to go along on the Democratic side here, but they're very confident that all the Democrats will vote yes for passage of this. It is very likely, almost certain to pass today. But it very likely will not go beyond that.

And the Republicans that we're looking at are those perhaps who represent rural districts or those who really depend on the Postal Service more than other areas or hard-hit re-election bids, and so those are the kinds of races, kinds of representatives that will very likely cross over party lines.

But make no mistake, Ana, this has been a very partisan issue, as it has played out all day. It has been a fierce debate over this issue. Democrats saying, look, the president started this.

He was the one who said he was going to defund the Postal Service, that mail-in voting was not a reliable way to carry out the election, and that the Postal Service itself, its board of governors, said they needed the $25 billion and so that's what they're putting forward. They're also putting forward a motion to stop the kinds of operational changes that have actually been slowing down the service.

Now, Republicans and Democrats alike have heard anecdotally, they have heard from their constituents and voters that, yes, there is a delay here. There's a slowing down. Today, we saw Democrats produce a document they say was an internal document from the Postal Service itself, saying that there was, in fact, a 10 percent kind of delay in the mail delivery. So, we expect more information about that.

But this is essentially how it has been playing out on the House floor. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KWEISI MFUME (D-MD): We are here because Americans who are Democrats and Republicans and Independents are not getting their mail on time. We're here because there's been a 10 percent slowdown in the last 66 days. We're here because sorting machines have been dismantled at an accelerated rate, not the normal rate, an accelerated rate all across America. We are here because mailboxes without density studies are being snatched.

If the first postmaster general looked back at this day, I'm sure Ben Franklin would be spinning in his grave.

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): This is all about politics. First, it was the Russian collusion. Then it was -- well, in this committee, it was the Michael Cohen hearing. I remember that.

Then it was the Mueller report. Then it was the Ukraine fake impeachment. And now it's the White House is putting mailbox in cages and whatever you're -- whatever you're saying now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, Ana, that's essentially how it's been playing out there. You can see the Republicans saying this is all a big exaggeration, the president threatening to veto this legislation, the Senate saying that they will not be coming back early from their own recess, so what could possibly happen here.

We did hear from Senator Ron Johnson just yesterday, and he did hint that possibly in a COVID-19 package, an aid package of some sort, there might be some aid to the Postal Service. We know that they did, in fact, have some sort of negotiation and agreement with the White House and Democrats for $10 billion for the Postal Service before it all kind of blew up and they went on their recess.

[17:05:05]

So, this is the state of play. We also expect the postmaster general to be back in the hot seat before a House committee. That is going to happen on Monday to answer just some of these critical questions, what is behind this and can we rely on the Postal Service for this election?

CABRERA: And, Suzanne, we've just learned in the last few minutes, another member of Congress has tested positive for COVID-19. What can you tell us?

MALVEAUX: That's right. We got a statement from the congressman, Congressman Dan Meuser. He is from Pennsylvania, the ninth district. He is a Republican. He said in his statement that he tested positive for COVID-19. He says that he has been following the CDC guidelines but that he will remain home, that he will be quarantined until he tests negative.

He also said that he is not voting. He is not here and not present to vote for this bill today, but that he would have said no to this piece of legislation. Ana?

CABRERA: Okay, Suzanne Malveaux, we obviously wish him the best and good health. Thank you.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

CABRERA: During a press conference earlier today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused President Trump of actively trying to suppress the vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Don't pay any attention to what the president is saying because it is all designed to suppress the vote, as is the suppressing of the ability of the postal system to deliver on its responsibility, to treat ballots as first class mail and to deliver in a timely fashion and not ignore the need for over time.

Ignore them. Make a plan to vote. Do so to vote early.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And she wasn't just talking about the Postal Service and everything going on with the post office but she was also talking about the president's recent assertion that he wants to send law enforcement to polling sites on Election Day as well.

I want to bring in a Republican who knows this president, who's worked for his campaign and briefly, in his administration. Anthony Scaramucci served as President Trump's third White House communications director. He is also the founder of SkyBridge Capital. Anthony, always good to see you. Speaker Pelosi says President Trump is actively trying to suppress the vote. Do you agree with her?

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: 100 percent. And he's going to come up with a couple other things between now and the next 75 days. He's suppressing the vote because he's looking at the math and he can't make the math work. He got very lucky last time. It was at least 100,000 votes in about four to six swing states got him over the hump. Not going to happen this time. The margins are just too wide, and the undecided voters are very, very small amount of voters.

So the move here is to try to take the voters that are going to vote against him off the table, and so that's what they're doing with the post office. That's why he's already suggesting and leaning into the idea of bringing law enforcement out.

Of course, people will be afraid of that. It's just like when you're driving in your car and you see a police officer, everyone automatically slows down. There will be certain groups of people that will not want to go to a polling place if there's law enforcement standing there with guns.

So, he's experimenting with that right now. He wants to see if there's going to be a reaction to it. We need to react to that. We need to protest that. We have the institutions of our democracy at stake.

And I disagree with one thing that Speaker Pelosi said, and I have to say this, and it's going to upset my mom. Speaker Pelosi is my favorite living Italian, Ana, because she's fighting for the democracy, but I do disagree with her. You have to pay attention to what the president is saying, because the president is tipping you off to what he's going to do, and he's testing the marketplace with these ideas to destroy the democracy.

CABRERA: So, just to recap what the president has been saying, ballots haven't been cast yet and yet the president is already calling into question the integrity of the election. He's falsely claiming mail-in voting is rife with fraud. He's saying we may never know who truly wins the election. He's even said, as we've discussed, that he plans to send law enforcement to voting precincts on Election Day. So you think the president is saying all this just because he really believes he's going to lose?

SCARAMAUCCI: Well, he knows he's going to lose. He's looking at the table, and he's trying to figure out if there's some lucky thing he can do. His entire life has been sort of this boom/bust cycle, bankrupting companies, bankrupting his casinos. He's destroyed the American economy. He's mishandled the healthcare crisis. And he has a very wide gap right now, and he won the election narrowly with a series of coincidences.

So he knows he's going to lose. He's now just trying to figure out if he can manipulate things to possibly sneak out a win.

[17:10:02]

I don't think that that will happen, but what I am concerned about is that there's not enough people speaking out about this and explaining to the American people the nefariousness of his game plan.

CABRERA: Well, you are not the only one who is speaking out. You're not the only former Trump official fighting against his re-election right now. We heard this week from a former DHS official named Miles Taylor.

He went public this week about his time in the Trump administration and why he thinks President Trump is unfit to lead. I want to play a clip of Taylor describing what it took for officials to convince the president, he says, to support evacuations ahead of a hurricane. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILES TAYLOR, FORMER DHS CHIEF OF STAFF: Someone actually jumped in and said a good thing, said, Mr. president, if that storm hits and your supporters don't evacuate, we might have a harder time winning those states. You don't want to lose your voters to a hurricane that destroys their homes and maybe even kills them.

And the president said, you know what, you're absolutely right. Let's tell them to evacuate. That's what it took. It took telling the president that his supporters might die to get him convinced that he should probably support the governor's call for widespread evacuations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I had to pick my jaw up from the floor after hearing that, Anthony. You weren't in the administration long but do you have any similar stories?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, you know, I told my stories. I mean, I think that the problem with the president, he's not a great listener. The problem with the president, he thinks he's smarter than everybody, which is a sign of deep-rooted insecurity, and so he doesn't read the briefings, he doesn't think he needs the briefings. He thinks he's smarter than the epidemiologists, he tells people on shows like this that he's smarter than his generals. So I'm certain that what Miles is saying is 100 percent correct.

I do believe that there will be more and more White House administration officials, former administration officials, that are going to speak out after Labor Day. There will be a group of people that recognize that the democracy is at stake and their patriotism is going to require them to give the surgeon general's warning label on what a danger President Trump would be in a second term.

So, I applaud Miles for doing that. I predict that there will be other people that will do that. And, listen, there's a lot of stories like that. What shocks me is he still has like 35 percent to 40 percent of the vote. I can't figure that out. That will be -- CABRERA: And he still has the majority of the Republican Party behind him.

SCARAMUCCI: He does. He doesn't have the 96 percent that he keeps tweeting out. Everybody is scratching their head about where is that number coming from? It's obviously in between his ears, but he probably has about 80 percent to 85 percent of the Republican Party.

But remember, it's only 24 percent of the registered electorate are Republicans at this point. The vast majority of the electorate now are independents, and obviously, the Democrats have a higher registration than the Republicans.

So, the odds are in Joe Biden's favor. I think he's been a masterful politician in terms of handling the president and his attacks, but also the speech that he gave last week, I think, is going to propel him into the presidency, and then we can look back and fix the wreckage of what went on and restore confidence in America's institutions and the checks and balances.

And then we're going to have to ask ourselves if we get another nut case like this, 25, 50 years forward, what do we need to do to our Constitution? What amendment do we possibly need to put further checks on executive power as a result of the president? Remember, I don't have Trump derangement syndrome, but I do know that Trump is deranged, okay? So there's a very big distinction between those two things. And I just think it's very important that we speak out about it as much as possible leading up to November 3rd.

CABRERA: Anthony, answer this question. President Trump wins in November if?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, if President Trump wins in November, there will be a further assault on the institutions of our democracy. You have to tell me --

CABRERA: Wait. Hold on. Hold on, though. Hold on, that's not what I was trying to get you to answer. My question is, what needs to happen for him to win? Like he -- so, I guess it was fill in the blank.

SCARAMUCCI: Oh, what needs to happen --

CABRERA: President Trump answer -- yes, he wins in November if, fill in the blank?

SCARAMUCCI: I'm sorry. Oh, I thought you meant -- yes, okay. Well, I think a lot of different things would have to happen at the same time, but the top three would have to be material voter suppression in blue state areas or blue state districts or blue districts of swing states. That, 100 percent, would have to happen.

Secondarily, you could get a March surprise of some kind of positivity related to the economy. He is polling well with the economy.

And the third thing, God forbid, it could be something related to people's health as we're heading into November. [17:15:02]

It could be, you know -- and I hope and pray that none of that happens, I hope this is just a straight-up election and it's a referendum on the president's failure on the healthcare crisis and his bone-crushing of the economy. He has tipped this economy into a recession that is worse than any other recession since the great depression.

And so he doesn't deserve a second term, and so I'm hoping none of those things happen. But yes, things like that can happen, Ana. And that's why people have to get together, have to work together. I believe that there is a beautiful mosaic of American people that are coming together.

The great irony is that President Trump is bringing us all together. It just happens to be bringing us together against him. And I think that that will work, and we'll see success in November.

CABRERA: Let's talk about Steve Bannon, President Trump's former adviser. He was arrested this week on charges he defrauded donors who contributed to a private fundraising effort to build a border wall. In all, $25 million was raised. And prosecutors say Bannon used a million of that on his own lavish lifestyle. He is now facing between seven to nine years in prison if convicted.

We should note, Bannon says he's innocent. But, Anthony, it's not lost on anyone that one of the reasons you lost your job in the White House is because you went on that profanity-laced tirade that was recorded by reporter. And in that tirade, you went off on Bannon, basically saying he was in the White House to serve himself, and that's putting it politely. What was your reaction when you learned of his arrest?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, I mean, listen, I would just say, listen to the tape. It wasn't really a profanity-laced tirade. I was joking with the reporter. I thought I was off the record. But, I mean, okay, I made the mistake, I got fired, and I'm accountable for that firing. And I never blamed anybody for that.

But what I was trying to say to the reporter, and it was obviously too colorful, is that Steve Bannon only cares about himself. Steve Bannon was there to promote his brand. Steve Bannon was there leaking on the president. He was leaking on other people inside the White House.

He'd look you straight in the face and smile and tell you, that you're a great guy, he's out there helping you, and then he would pick up the phone and he had a small treasure-trove of reporters that he did favors for, and they did favors for him, and he would drop opposition research dimes on all the people inside the White House.

So, what happened -- and this was really unfair to President Trump. I'm not somebody that demonizes President Trump. I try to look at the thing objectively. It was very unfair to the first six months of that administration to have Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon really doing that sort of nonsense while the president was trying to get his sea legs together in the first three or four months of the administration. So, President Trump was well aware of what he was doing. He brought me in on that first day, prior to my press conference, I was told, we had to get rid of those two guys. So, I'm sort of very proud that Steve Bannon went out with me because I think it's a singular historical positive event in my life. Imagine Steve Bannon with that white nationalist rhetoric somehow surviving the White House.

Now, General Kelly would have never let that happen, and so thank God for him as well. But, listen, I'm not surprised about the trouble that Steve is in. Again, like you said, let's presume that he's innocent. I believe in the due process and the American legal system.

But I'm not surprised about it because he believes he's better than other people, okay? And when you go into government and you think you're better than other people and you get subsumed with that narcotic called power, you start to do things like that.

And so we'll have to see if he's guilty, but it doesn't mean that he doesn't have bad character. I saw it firsthand. He's a very bad guy. And I'm very, very glad that I contributed to his departure from the White House.

CABRERA: Yes, I don't think you can necessarily argue you're an objective observer here but you do have good insight into the people who are currently in Washington.

SCARAMUCCI: I'm also not a Buddhist, Ana. So you can tell I'm enjoying it.

CABRERA: I can tell you're reveling in vengeance is sweet.

SCARAMUCCI: Yes, I am. Because every once in a while, like your mother told you or your grandmother told you, sometimes people get what they deserve. And so, you know, it's nice to see that the negative karma that he generated in our society is coming back upon him.

CABRERA: Okay, Anthony Scaramucci, thanks for being here.

SCARAMUCCI: It's good to be here. Thanks for having me.

CABRERA: With the Democratic National Convention behind us now, the Republicans have their turn next week. And all week long, we're covering the big speeches, the important moments and, of course, President Trump. It all starts Monday night with special coverage beginning at 7:00 P.M. Eastern live on CNN. We're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:20:00]

CABRERA: Just one week, that's how long it took for the coronavirus to become a threat at U.S. colleges and universities. We are seeing scenes like this. This is at Penn State University, students gathering in large groups, many not wearing masks. And now schools in at least 19 states are seeing outbreaks on campus, leading to quarantines and a return to remote learning for some. Joining us now is Dr. Carlos del Rio, the Executive Associate Dean of Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. del Rio, the CDC estimates as many as 60 million people nationwide may have already contracted the virus. What's going to happen as all these kids go back to school?

DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE DEAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Well, I think what's going to happen is the kids are going to get infected because schools have made plans to control the infection but you could control what happens in the classroom, what happens maybe in dorms, but you cannot control what happens outside classroom. And when people go to parties, they gather, they congregate, they go to bars, that's when infections are going to happen, and, unfortunately, that's what we're seeing.

We need to really get -- young people need to understand that getting infected is not without risk, and we really are at a time where unfortunately we need to give up on social life, and it's very hard. I mean, I personally -- I don't like it.

CABRERA: Yes. It is hard, you're right. And it feels like forever, I think, for a lot of us who are looking for that light at the end of the tunnel.

[17:25:05]

You're one of the researchers on the Moderna vaccine trial, and I need to ask you about this reporting that Moderna has enrolled minorities at levels more than three times lower than those requested by Dr. Anthony Fauci. Why is that? And what is going to happen? Do you believe the trial is going to end up being delayed?

DEL RIO: Well, I don't know, but I can tell you that a lot of people are showing interest in the study and the study is enrolling very rapidly but you're absolutely right. Minorities are not enrolling as fast as we would like to.

We are having a special push to try to enroll more minorities but you can only understand that, you know, it takes time. You have to trust -- you have to get trust in the community, and typically, communities that have been disenfranchised, African-Americans, Latinos, you know, brown and black people who have been abused consistently, who have been taken advantage of are not going to trust you right away. So getting the trust of the community is something that you have to build over time.

So the trial is delayed. It's slowed down a little bit because that's what's going to happen. You know, at the end of the day, it's going to be a decision that Moderna and the NIH take. We as investigators just need to do our job to reach out to minority populations.

CABRERA: The president is tweeting though without evidence that the deep state or others at the FDA are making it difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics, he says. And he claims it's to intentionally delay it until after the election. What's your reaction to that? DEL RIO: Absolutely not. The FDA is doing an excellent job. We are having -- clinical research is done that way. It has to be done. In order to do it well, it has to be done under controlled conditions. We have protocols. We are very strict criteria of who gets in, who doesn't get in. And I tell you, these studies are enrolling actually incredibly fast, very, very fast.

So the reality is the FDA is doing the right thing. And, you know, the FDA has made it very clear. You need to have a vaccine showing at least 50 percent efficacy. And if that's going to be the case, that's great, but we have to -- that's why you have to do phase three clinical studies because that's when you know if efficacy exists, if the vaccine works or doesn't work.

And clinical trials are being done adhering to the most strict scientific criteria. I have nothing to say but good things about how the investigators are conducting these studies.

CABRERA: That is so great to hear. We appreciate all the good information that you are bringing to us, Dr. Carlos del Rio, thank you.

DEL RIO: Delighted to be with you.

CABRERA: Be well.

Next, back to that historic vote on the House floor to fund the U.S. Postal Service and halt any changes to service ahead of the election. I'll be joined by the chair of the House Oversight Committee. Does she think any Republicans are going to join her? That's still to come.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:32:09]

CABRERA: A rare Saturday back in the nation's capital for members of the House. They will vote any minute now on a Democrat-led bill that would give $25 billion to the embattled postal service and halt recent changes that have raised concerns ahead of the November election.

With us now is Carolyn Maloney, the chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, where postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, will testify on Monday.

So, thank you, Congresswoman, for taking a moment to come speak with us as this vote is ongoing.

If this bill passes the House, it still has no path forward in the Republican-controlled Senate.

So if everything Democrats are saying about sabotage at the post office is true, how are the American people supposed to have confidence that their votes will be counted in November if they choose to mail it in?

REP. CAROLYN MALONEY (D-NY): Well, after I introduced my bill to fund the post office and to stop the disastrous changes that Postmaster General DeJoy put in place, he was then called into hearings.

And of course, will be appearing before my committee on Monday. He reversed his position. He said he would cease these actions until after the election.

My legislation calls for no change in services or protocol, reversing back to the way it was, until after the pandemic or January 2021. So, they are going to stop these actions.

I think the American people have been alerted. They're calling my office, and I'm sure offices across the country, with any actions that they see in any way disrupts the delivery of mail and services from the post office.

And I am hopeful that we can get it through the Senate in one shape or form.

We need to fund the post office. We need to make sure that any effort to slow down the mail is stopped.

But also we need the other parts of the HEROES bill that we passed three months ago that people still need.

They need their unemployment checks, a stop on any evictions of people that can't afford their rent, and many other small businesses for services, and others that are part of the HEROES Act that we passed, actually, three months ago.

CABRERA: So, even if they stop the action going forward, what's done has been done. And I know you have sent out an email saying you obtained information from the USPS that showed delays are already happening.

What more can you tell us about that?

MALONEY: Well, this report is an official report from the postal service. And it says that, since delay has come from the office of postmaster general, his policies have slowed down the mail 10 percent.

Now, he's stopping those actions now. Let's see if we can reverse them and get the support there.

We need --

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: If he doesn't reverse them, which he said in the hearing on Friday he wasn't planning to reinstall anything, then what does that mean for the election?

[17:35:09]

Should we just expect that there are going to be massive problems?

MALONEY: Well, at least we are, hopefully, going to get the funding and stop the policies and then work with everyone involved to make sure that everyone gets their ballots in a timely fashion and that they mail them in.

In order to protect your vote, I would say try -- if you know who you're going to vote for, mail it in at least two weeks before the election. If you know you're going to vote for.

So that the post office has a chance to really process this new surge of mail that we expect will be absolutely huge.

Some are suspecting that over 75 percent of Americans in this election will be voting by mail.

CABRERA: And when postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, testified in front of the Senate, Homeland Security Committee yesterday, he was pressed on any contact he had with the White House.

I want you to hear what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): Did you discuss those changes or their potential impact on the November election with the president or anyone at the White House? And I remind you you're under oath.

LOUIS DEJOY, POSTMASTER GENERAL: I have never spoken to the president about the postmaster general other than to congratulate me when I accepted the position.

PETERS: Prior to implementing the changes, did you discuss these changes or their impact on the election with any Trump campaign officials?

DEJOY: No, sir.

PETERS: Did you ever discuss any of this with Mark Meadows, any of these changes that you've done? You never had discussions since --

(CROSSTALK)

DEJOY: I haven't discussed anything with Mark Meadows.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Congresswoman, do you believe him?

MALONEY: Well, he didn't answer whether he had any discussions with Steve Mnuchin, who's handling the negotiations on most of the things in the White House.

I think we can pursue these questions further before the committee on Monday. We have a lot of questions. And we're looking for answers for the American people.

The postal service is one of the pillars of our democracy. It's enshrined in our Constitution. Our Americans depend on it for their medications, their mail, and their mail-in ballots. And it's our job to make sure they get those ballots in a timely way. We'll be working very hard to achieve that and all the other services for the post office.

CABRERA: As I'm sure you were listening in to the hearing on Friday, what more do you want to hear from him?

MALONEY: Well, actually, I was not able to hear the hearing, because I was in my own hearing with the Rules Committee on my bill that went to the floor today for a vote.

We had a hearing that lasted the entire time of the investigation that the Senate had with Postmaster General DeJoy.

So, I'll be watching it tonight on tape. I was not able to see it during the day because of the conflict.

But we have lots of questions. And we need answers.

And we have stopped some of his actions. I'm pleased that he has stopped his disruptive slowing down the mail.

And we need to look at how we can speed it up again and make sure the services are there for the American people.

CABRERA: Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, thank you very much for taking the time.

MALONEY: Thank you. And I've got to rush back and vote. Thank you.

CABRERA: OK. Thank you.

Coming up, why millions of Americans could soon be at risk of losing their homes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUANA MOORE, VISITING THE FOOD BANK FOR THE FIRST TIME: We just got into our apartment. We've been there a year.

I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:42:37]

CABRERA: Months now into the coronavirus pandemic and millions of Americans are still without work. Too many struggling to pay bills. They are struggling to feed their families.

And with eviction moratoriums set to expire soon all over the country, many are now worried about losing their homes.

CNN's Kyung Lah reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Number of people in the household?

MOORE: I'm not the only parent out here that's struggling. I can't imagine how many other parents are sitting here.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here at the Los Angeles food bank --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put it park, please.

MOORE: This is my first time coming up and grabbing food.

LAH: Today is the first day of virtual school for Juana Moore's two children.

MOORE: My kids are in there right now like, we don't have anything to eat. I'm like, I know, let me go see what I can do.

We were homeless and then we just got into our apartment. We've been there a year. We just got the car in November. So, everything has been a stair step for me.

And now the stair steps are going back down. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do.

LAH: The single mother is thousands behind in rent.

(CROSSTALK)

LAH: Unable to work while also home schooling her kids.

The $600 a week federal stimulus, that's gone, as Congress fights over a new deal.

Just as eviction moratoriums expire in nearly half of the states in the U.S., leaving an estimated 20 million Americans at risk of eviction by September 30th, like Ty Chen.

TY CHEN, BEHIND ON RENT: I'm paying around $1,100 a month and obviously I don't have that amount of income at all anymore.

LAH: Before the pandemic, Chen was a photographer, restaurant server --

(CROSSTALK)

LAH: -- and actor, with small roles on hit shows like "Grey's Anatomy."

He was able to pay partial rent with stimulus money. But now?

CHEN: I was actually only approved for $117 per week on state unemployment.

LAH (on camera): What does that get you?

CHEN: Like there's kind of a running clock of, you know, ticking time bomb of when things are going to happen.

I think my best bet is to stay here until they try to evict.

(CROSSTALK)

LAH (voice-over): What we keep hearing from Americans in all sectors of the economy, frustration.

[17:45:01]

CHRIS FAHEY, OUT OF WORK PRODUCTION MANAGER: I don't want your unemployment. I don't want the $600 extra. I want to work. I want to work at what I do. And I want to utilize my 30 years of experience.

LAH: For three decades, Chris Fahey, he has been a live production manager, making six figures last year.

FAHEY: Hey, Miles, come here.

LAH: Great money, the single father says, for him and his two kid.

But his entire industry is shut down. Live entertainment likely won't come back in full until sometime next year. Thousands are out of work, with no options.

Fahey is left choosing what bills to pay and how much rent he can fall behind on.

FAHEY: There is no direction, no answer, no plan. There's no hope. It's like there is no outcome that is going to be financially viable for anyone at the moment.

I love you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Just devastating.

Thank you, Kyung Lah, for that reporting.

Coming up, claims of a cover-up after a critic of the Kremlin is believed to have been poisoned. And he is hardly the first dissident to suffer that fate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:50:27]

CABRERA: Siding with Russia over his own country, wanting to trade Puerto Rico for Greenland, those are just a couple of the stunning claims about the president this week coming from Miles Taylor, the former senior Homeland Security official in the Trump administration.

Taylor, who has officially endorsed Joe Biden, also detailed the nature of his briefings with the president.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILES TAYLOR, FORMER DHS CHIEF OF STAFF: The president wanted to spend about 95 percent of his time focused on the border.

So we went to the White House at one point -- this is probably in 2008. And we said, look, there's something we used to do in the Bush administration called Terror Tuesdays.

Every Tuesday the president's national security team would sit down with George W. Bush and talk about the terror threats with the country. Why don't we come in and do threat Thursday?

We'll come in and talk about all these other threats he's not spending time on because he's too focused on the border.

So the president ended up very ill informed about some of the most serious threats to our country because he didn't, quite frankly, spend the time to focus on those issues or to learn about them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: CNN National Security Analyst, Samantha Vinograd, joins us now.

As someone responsible for briefing President Obama, how risky is it for the country when you hear that this president isn't being briefed on threats that DHS officials believe he should be?

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Trump's trademark is gross negligence. And that's why this allegation is totally credible.

The two presidents that I worked for never cross-checked threat strains with campaign needs before paying attention to intelligence.

This president takes the opposite approach. He has consistently prioritized political pet projects over threats that could actually harm Americans.

Just look at his approach to border security or even more recently Antifa. He pays attention to those threats because he thinks they fit his political narrative.

In addition to his myopic focus on what's politically expedient, President Trump has systematically ignored threats that he finds inconvenient or uncomfortable.

We've seen that play out with election security, Russian bounties or even the threat posed by white supremacists.

Operationally speaking, that means that actual threats are going unaddressed and under resourced.

The president is knowingly leaving Americans in harm's way in pursuit of his personal pet projects.

CABRERA: You mentioned threat streams, and this week, President Trump praised QAnon.

And when Mike Pence was pushed on the president's support of this right-wing conspiracy theory that the FBI has warned is a potential terrorist threat, the vice president said he wasn't even aware of them.

VINOGRAD: Pence playing the ignorance card is incredible. Unless he's been totally asleep at the wheel.

As you mentioned, the FBI has specifically cited QAnon as a potential domestic terror threat. The FBI has specifically cited violent acts tied to QAnon.

You'd think that the vice president and the president would be aware of this threat stream and that they would be taking actual steps to mitigate the threat.

Trump, however, is doing the opposite. He is amplifying this threat. He has consistently spread content from QAnon followers and supported QAnon followers as well.

This is dangerous on a lot of levels.

It goes without saying, But the president praising people who think he's saving them from a cult of pedophiles doesn't inspire confidence in his mental fitness.

But on a more direct level, the president's support and praise for QAnon could actually incite more violence. QAnon followers could view his praise as a vote of confidence or call to action.

More broadly, he's signaling that he will praise anyone just as long as they praise him. He's done this before with Vladimir Putin and white supremacists.

I fear that he is sending a signal to a host of dangerous actors that he'll have their back just as long as they have his.

CABRERA: Switching gears briefly, we know that Putin critic, Alexey Navalny, is suffering from suspected poisoning. What is the latest on this?

VINOGRAD: Navalny was airlifted to a hospital in Germany where doctors are trying to attribute whether he was, in fact, the target of a poisoning attack.

Concurrent to that, our Intelligence Community is probably trying to ascertain attribution for the suspected poisoning.

You don't need security clearance to know that the Kremlin has a track record of poisoning its critics.

Attribution may take some time. And in the interim, a host of officials, both foreign and domestic, have condemned the suspected attack and voiced solidarity with Russian opposition civil society.

[17:55:09]

Trump has been an outlier. He dodged questions on this and said Pompeo was looking into it.

I have real questions about what he will do with intelligence related to who is responsible for the suspected attack.

This close to an election, he's likely to be reticent to upsetting Putin if the Kremlin was involved in this suspected attack.

CABRERA: Sam Vinograd, as always, thank you.

Back in just a moment. Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)