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World Tops 23 Million COVID-19 Cases, U.S. Still Worst Affected With Cases Rising; Trump's Sister Bitterly Criticizes Him In Secretly Recorded Audio; India Announces Three Million Coronavirus Cases; Trump To Hold News Conference On "Major Therapeutic Breakthrough"; Russian Opposition Leader In Stable Condition In Berlin Hospital; No End In Sight For Deadly California Wildfires; Trump Pushes Conspiracy Theories As House Rebukes His Handling Of The USPS. Aired 2-2:30a ET

Aired August 23, 2020 - 02:00   ET

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

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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Scathing words about the U.S. president. Donald Trump's sister unleashes in secretly recorded tapes.

Three million cases and counting. India grapples with an unwelcome milestone. We'll have a report.

And raging wildfires throughout California. New worries that more lightning could make a bad situation even worse.

Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Natalie Allen. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

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ALLEN: Thank you for joining us.

Things might have gotten a bit more complicated in the Trump family. Earlier this summer, we saw some damning accusations about President Trump from his niece, Mary Trump, in her bombshell book. She made it clear that she has major differences with her uncle.

Now we've learned she secretly recorded her aunt and Mr. Trump's older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, it would appear that she's no fan of the president either, at least privately.

According to "The Washington Post," which first reported the story, the retired judge called her brother "cruel" and seemed to confirm her niece's claim that Mr. Trump had a friend take his college entrance exam. The White House has denied that. Here is an excerpt from some of the secretly recorded conversations.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MARYANNE TRUMP BARRY, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S SISTER: This goddamn tweet and the lying, oh, my God. I'm talking too freely but you know. The change of stories, the lack of preparation, the lying, the -- holy (INAUDIBLE).

(END AUDIO CLIP)

Michael Kranish is with "The Washington Post" and originally reported the story. He talked earlier with CNN about something Trump's sister said about the president's immigration policy.

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MICHAEL KRANISH, NATIONAL POLITICAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Mary Trump heard that her brother, the president, had said on FOX News that "maybe I'll have to put her," meaning Judge Maryanne Trump Barry -- she was a federal judge at the time -- "to the border because there are a lot of refugees coming into United States."

And at the time, as you recall, children being separated from their parents and being put in these cramped quarters.

And Maryanne was talk -- gave a conversation with her niece, Mary, and she said, "It's all about the base. All he wants to do is appeal to the base. He has no principles. None. None. And his base, I mean, my God, if you're a religious person, you would want to help people, not do this."

So there are a lot of quotes like this that are very candid. As far as we can tell Maryanne Trump Barry did not know she was being recorded by her niece. I reached out to her yesterday and again today to let her know. I did not hear back from her. So, I don't have a comment from her.

As far as I know, she also has been commented on things that she was quoted saying in the book by her niece.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: CNN has reached out to Maryanne Trump Barry for comment. The White House put out this statement from Mr. Trump.

"Every day, it's something else, who cares. I miss my brother and I will continue to work hard for the American people. Not everyone agrees but the results are obvious. Our country will soon be stronger than ever before."

So will this latest load of Trump family dirty laundry really change anything when it comes to President Trump's base?

Here's what CNN's Senior Political Analyst, Ron Brownstein said about it.

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RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Throughout his presidency there have been a majority of Americans who do not believe he is fit to be president, by values, by qualifications, by experience.

And we have heard that, as I said before, echoed this week from extraordinary sources, a former Republican presidential candidate, now his own family, 73 senior Republican national security officials, a former chief of staff of his own Department of Homeland Security, all sending the message that they do not believe he's fit to be president.

And there is a cost to that. There is a reason that Donald Trump is at risk of losing well educated white voters by the largest margin of any Republican presidential nominee ever.

But I think it is also equally clear that there is a core somewhere north of 40 percent of the country centered among blue collar, evangelical and rural whites, who either don't believe it or don't care.

Donald Trump is a vessel, he is a means, he is an end -- a means, not an end. He is their expression of their discontent with the way America is changing. He presents himself as kind of their last line of defense against a changing America.

And it almost -- you know, when he said, I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, it was true in the sense that it's not about him.

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BROWNSTEIN: It's about his ability to stop Democrats. So while I look at all of this as clearly having a cost, making it virtually certain he will lose the popular vote, the question for Democrats remains, because that Trump coalition, that is with him no matter what, is over represented in a few of the critical states.

They've got to figure out a way to either peel a little bit of that away or turn out more of that majority that has consistently said since 2016 this man is not fit to be president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: We move now to the coronavirus and new controversy as the U.S. grapples with the world's highest number of cases. The country has now passed 5.6 million cases and more than 176,000 deaths.

President Trump Saturday posted a tweet that, without evidence, accused regulators of dragging their feet on the vaccine until after the election.

It said, quote, "The deep state or whoever over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics. Obviously they're hoping to delay the answer till after November 3rd. Must focus on speed and saving lives."

Later the White House announced that on Sunday, that the president will hold a news conference on, quote, "a therapeutic breakthrough."

On Saturday, the number of lives lost to the coronavirus topped 800,000 worldwide; 23 million people have been infected. In some parts of the world, cases are holding steady or even dropping. But some countries are seeing surges. Italy topped 1,000 new cases Saturday for the first time since the

month of May. More than 1,200 new cases were reported in the U.K. and a government adviser warns of possible draconian measures. Brazil, second only to the United States, reported 50,000 new infections with nearly 900 deaths.

And just a short time, ago India confirmed that it has passed the 3 million mark in known cases. CNN's Vedika Sud joins us now from New Delhi with more about the situation in India and how many people are or aren't able to get help.

VEDIKA SUD, CNN PRODUCER: Hi, Natalie. Let me just take you through some of the numbers here. It took India about 6 months to get to the 1 million mark, took 21 days to get to the 2 million mark and it's just taken about 16 days to get to 3 million.

These are staggering numbers, of course but let's put this all into a little bit of perspective. We're talking of a population of 1.3 billion people or more. It is the second most populated country in the world.

At this point in time, the health minister says recovery stands at over 75 percent, which is quite a huge number. But also along with this we have to understand the testing has really been ramped up in India. Finally, we're talking about 1 million people being tested, so on a daily basis. That was the figure on Friday.

And as of Saturday the figure was about 8 million. These figures have really gone up and as they're starting to test more, there are more people starting to turn out positive, that's one reason why we see the numbers go.

Our second, of course, is the number of people you have living in the country. What's interesting at this point, is that the health minister said that India could have a vaccine ready by year end.

Now, of course, there are 3 companies here in India, along with others, who are developing vaccines. One of them is in the third stage of clinical trials and could be developed by the end of this year, which seems to be good news but of course, we have to track all developments on that.

The other reason also for this is that there has been more prompt isolation of people that has been taking place, along with clinical measures that have been put in place by the government. The numbers have been blown out of proportion, as they claim, as of now but crossing the 3 million mark is quite a staggering number for us here in India. Natalie.

ALLEN: Vedika Sud, thank you so much.

SUD: Thank you.

ALLEN: Dr. Murtaza Akhter is an emergency physician at Valleywise Health Medical Center in Arizona. He joins me now to talk about the latest numbers. That report about cases in India and various countries around the

world is sobering; 23 million cases now globally.

What does that say to you where the world is in this pandemic?

DR. MURTAZA AKHTER, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN, VALLEYWISE HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER: Yes, this is a staggering number. Some people on certain sides of the political spectrum will say that still leaves a majority as healthy.

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AKHTER: But 23 million people to get sick is a phenomenally large number. And as mentioned 800,000 deaths and that will only go up. We have a quite a few of those deaths here in the United States, quite a few in Arizona in particular.

This pandemic is a scary thing. It doesn't just magically go away. There's some countries that have done a better job at controlling it than others but we're all in this together. We all have to look out not only for ourselves but for each other and try to control this pandemic.

ALLEN: It's coming and going in waves. Where you are, Arizona, surge now; it's the Midwest health experts are watching. In Europe, which opened up to tourism, it's now clamping down, after Spain, France and Italy have seen cases rise again. You talk about personal responsibility.

But what do you make of the waves that we're seeing?

AKHTER: Part of it is virology. Part of it is how the virus. Works it is always trying to attack hosts. But a lot of it is also policy. If you stay in a bubble, you'll probably stay OK. The National Basketball Association in United States did pretty OK. But as soon as you say, listen, let's start relaxing and opening the economy, cases are going to go up.

If you open up too quickly, they spike. That's what happens when people fly into countries, when there's tourism, when restaurants open. There's going to be more and more cases. So until you really control the pandemic, you have to be really careful before you tell them we're good to go, because, remember people are people.

If you tell them things are looking better, they will act as if things are normal. And that's not OK, things are not normal. And they won't be for quite a. While

ALLEN: The WHO said that in Asia, it is people in their 20s to 40 spreading the disease. Here in the U.S. we're seeing many COVID clusters on college campuses.

Are you seeing more young people in emergency rooms than you have in previous months?

AKHTER: Yes. If you look at Arizona, we've been seeing this for a while, 20 to 44, that exact bracket is the one who's getting the most infections in Arizona. That's not the most likely to get sick, a 25- year-old is much healthier in general on average than an 80 year old.

But the problem is, sometimes those people feel like they are immune. It's just a cold to them. For one, it's not just a cold. There are plenty of young people who get quite sick but, two, you can spread it to others.

Again, unless you're a bubble boy, you can spread the germs to others, you will spread the germs to others. You can give it to elderly or compromised people and they are very likely to decompensate.

Even if it's young people getting, it even if they feel like they're immune, they're not a lot of them are getting it a lot of them are spreading. It and that's concerning.

ALLEN: Meantime, on the vaccine front President Trump accused the FDA of delaying trials. Now the White House says he'll discuss a major therapeutic breakthrough tomorrow with the FDA.

Mixed messaging from the top for many months has led to public condition in this crisis.

Are you confused that vaccine programs could get caught in politics and cause more confusion when it is time for people to decide what they do when they get a vaccine?

AKHTER: That is absolutely a concern of mine. Remember this president ran an anti-vaccine campaign a few years ago and how he says they're not moving fast enough for political. Reasons.

It's irony. He's just trying to build up his base. He clearly doesn't know the science behind it. For him to say there's going to be this groundbreaking therapeutic tomorrow, we've seen his talk about therapeutics before. Sometimes he's talked about bleach and UV. I would not trust anything he said.

He's not a scientist. I'm not trying to get too political here but President Trump is clearly not a scientist. He's clearly not a physician and I think almost everybody would agree that a lot of stuff he says about COVID is politics based.

Please listen to health care experts and the physicians on this. They have data backing it. And I'm concerned that he's politicizing it too much, which risks American lives and global lives.

ALLEN: Another shout out to people on the front lines, people fighting this and people like you and your team at your hospital. Thank you so much, Dr. Murtaza Akhter. We appreciate your expertise.

AKHTER: Thank you for having me, stay safe.

ALLEN: Thank you, you, too.

Russian dissident Alexei Navalny is finally being treated by German doctors after a suspected poisoning in his home country. We're now getting reactions from politicians and officials about what happened to him and who was behind it. That's next.

Plus California firefighters are working around the clock to put out hundreds of raging wildfires. Now they face a new danger. More about that coming up.

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ALLEN: The U.K.'s foreign secretary says he is relieved that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is now getting the care he needs after a suspected poisoning. Dominic Raab didn't start stop there. He's also calling for a full and transparent investigation into what happened. CNN's Milena Veselinovic is following the story from London.

Good morning to you, Milena. Many people relieved that Navalny is doing better than he was before he arrived in Germany.

What else are we learning about the investigation?

MILENA VESELINOVIC, CNN PRODUCER: Good morning, Natalie. Most of all, his wife Yulia and his family are relieved that he's finally in what they see as a safe territory, treated by doctors that he trust.

They believe that Navalny was poisoned in Russia. His team believes that, as he was awaiting to board a flight in the Russian far east, his tea was spiked with a poisonous substance and Navalny violently ill on the plane, which had to make an emergency landing in the Siberian city of Omsk.

He was originally treated there in a local hospital But doctors said there was no evidence that he was poisoned. His wife rejects, that she said that medics in that hospital cannot be trusted. She wanted to move her husband to Germany so he could be treated. There initially that was blocked by the Omsk hospital doctors, saying that he was simply too unwell to travel.

But his supporters are alleging that he was kept in Russia just long enough so that any potential poison that may have been administered would have enough time to disappear from his body.

Navalny is one of the fiercest critics of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. He's been detained many times before. There was a general view that his high profile afforded him a level of protection. The Kremlin, who rejects any connection to Navalny's sudden illness and has wished him a speedy recovery.

But his family believes someone has tried to kill him they hope that the German doctors will be able to shed some light on what actually happened to him -- Natalie.

ALLEN: We will continue to follow this. Thank you. Right now, the entire state of California is on emergency alert in the

face of hundreds of raging wildfires. The White House has approved a major disaster declaration after the fires burned through nearly half a million hectares of land in one month.

The warm, dry weather and lightning strikes are contributing to this calamity as thousands of courageous firefighters risk everything to save lives and property. For more about it, here's Michael Holmes.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, guys, we're going to get you out of there, OK?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Firefighters trapped on a ridge line in California, the only way out is up. A helicopter crew braves gusting winds to scoop them away to safety.

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HOLMES (voice-over): A close call here but it is a pitched battle across the state, to put out more than 500 fires, many caused by lightning strikes. Officials say two of the blazes are among the biggest they've had in almost 90 years.

More than 12,000 firefighters are battling the flames, many working 24-hour shifts. So far, it is not enough manpower to hold back the fires, which have burned an area bigger than the size of Rhode Island. Neighboring states are sending help but state officials say they need more.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): We've also reached out across the border into Canada for resources and support. Many of you here recall it was 2017 some of the best wildfire firefighters in the world from Australia. We also have requests out for that talent as well.

HOLMES (voice-over): Officials say there are too many fires right now to save some homes and nearly 120,000 people have been evacuated though some people are taking it into their own hands to protect their property.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we got here flames were all out in front. And halfway down my driveway, my house is set way back. So we just started getting to work. And we put the fires out and so far we've saved it but you never know.

HOLMES (voice-over): In previous fire seasons, prisoner firefighters have been used to help contain the blazes. But authorities say there are fewer of those resources now because of early releases due to the coronavirus.

Forecasters say dry thunderstorms are in the forecast, which could bring more lightning and strong winds to the region, making the job of those trying to stop these ever-growing wildfires even more dangerous -- Michael Holmes, CNN.

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ALLEN: It is a $25 billion package for the Postal Service passed by the U.S. House but it may not get delivered as the mail becomes a lightning rod in the presidential election. We'll have the latest on that after this.

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ALLEN: The U.S. House is passing a $25 billion measure to block cuts and operational changes at the Postal Service. The changes have caused deliver delays across the country. Democrats and some Republicans are saying they're trying to prevent any adverse impact on mail-in voting for the November election.

President Trump has threatened to veto this bill but it probably won't survive the Republican-led Senate to make it to the president.

As if there were not enough anxiety in the run-up to the election, NASA is chiming in here. Says an asteroid is set to pass close to Earth the day before the November 3rd election. Thankfully it's very unlikely to hit us. The asteroid is named 2018vp1. It's about 2 meters wide. Here you can see its orbit as the white circle while the Earth is the blue.

Let's isolate the orbit from today until November 2nd. NASA says the chance of it actually hitting Earth is just 0.4 percent. That is indeed good news. We have enough problems here on Earth to deal with, don't we?

Thanks for watching I'm Natalie Allen I'll be back in 30 minutes with another hour of news. "INSIDE AFRICA" is up next.