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Top Intelligence Officer Ends In-Person Briefings To Congressional Committees On Election Security; Jim Malatras, SUNY Chancellor, Discusses Cancelling In-Person Classes Due To COVID Outbreaks; Dr. Ravina Kullar Discusses Birx Telling College Students "Do Not Go Home"; Police & Watchdog Groups Warn Of Rise In Vigilante Activity. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired August 31, 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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[11:31:31]

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Democrats now accusing the Trump White House of trying to keep voters from learning more about 2020 Russian election interference.

U.S. intelligence officials are on record saying the Kremlin is trying to help the president's re-election bid. But we know the president was furious when his own intelligence experts issued that finding.

And now the director of National Intelligence says Congress will no longer get in-person briefings. Instead, the DNI says he'll send up written updates to Congress.

Top Democrats see that as an effort to avoid detailed questions about the Kremlin and other election interference.

Let's check in with CNN's Sunlen Serfaty, up on Capitol Hill.

Sunlen, Democrats are furious. The question is: Can they do anything about it?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. That'll be the next question that Democrat up on the Hill, John, will have to answer. They are outraged. They are calling this move and this decision shameful.

We heard from Independent Senator Angus King a short time ago this morning. He says it feels like, it looks like a pre-cover-up. It looks like they don't want to share information, especially when it comes to potential Russian interference in the upcoming November election.

Members of Congress had been expecting an in-person briefing up here on Capitol Hill, a classified briefing. So this is certainly an abrupt change.

And as you noted, it definitely means that they won't be able to have that back and forth in a classified setting, asking questions and, of course, for Democrats, drilling down on specifically the questions about the Russian interference.

Now, House Intelligence chairman, Adam Schiff, says that he and Democrats up here on Capitol Hill are weighing next steps.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Will you subpoena officials to appear in public in a hearing before the election?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): That is certainly one of the tools that we may use. I can't speak for what decision we'll ultimately we'll make. That's a decision that we'll have to go to the speaker.

But we will compel the Intelligence Community to give Congress the information that we need.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now the DNI director over the weekend was defending this move, as we've heard. Also President Trump blaming it on congressional leaks that have happened in the past.

But, of course, Democrats up here, John, are not buying it. They say that a written briefing can just as easily be leaked as well -- John?

KING: Sunlen Serfaty, live on the Hill for us. Appreciate the latest on that continuing drama, we'll call that one. That will play out for a little bit.

Sunlen, thanks so much.

[11:33:51]

Coming up for us, one New York University just joining a list of colleges cancelling in-person classes because of COVID outbreaks on campus.

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[11:38:47]

KING: Schools hitting the pause button on in-person learning because of coronavirus outbreaks. Reverting online instruction is step one.

Step two, perhaps had a more critical phase, contact tracing. And the one-two punch playing out at the State University of New York at Oneonta.

In-person classes there suspended for at least two weeks.

Meantime, the governor, Andrew Cuomo, is sending in a so-called SWAT team of more than 70 contact tracers and eight case investigators.

With me to discuss this challenge is Jim Malatras, State University of New York's chancellor.

First day on the job, correct?

JIM MALATRAS, CHANCELLOR, STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK: My first day, John. Thanks for having me on.

KING: I'm grateful for your time.

I watched you a lot during Governor Cuomo's briefings when you were on hand as one of his aids helping him out during the course of this pandemic.

Not only do you now have the challenge there, but if you look at the SUNY system at large, you have more than 400,000 students.

(CROSSTALK)

MALATRAS: Yes, 400,000 students, 64 campuses. It's the largest comprehensive public college system in the entire nation.

And you can see how quickly this virus can spread on one of our campuses like we saw at SUNY, Oneonta, yesterday.

KING: And so walk through -- some of your campuses are in urban areas and some in much more remote areas, in other parts. It's a big diverse state so there's not a one-size-fits-all.

[11:40:02]

But in terms of trying to tackle the biggest problem, which is communication so that you know about the cases, so that the students get tested, raise their hands and go into quarantine, how are you working on that?

MALATRAS: John, this about a media collaboration for communication. Before I was even on my first day, I was at five campuses. I put 900 miles on the road already.

We're going to go to every campus across the system. We're going to work actively with our students, with our faculty, with our staff and with our parents to instill confidence that we are attacking this beast, which is COVID-19, quickly as problems emerge.

And you saw that in SUNY, Oneonta. We noticed there was a large party early last week that resulted in several COVID cases. And 20 COVID cases became 105 case.

We stepped in immediately. The whole entire college system stepped up. Our upstate medical facility, one of the premiere medical universities in the nation, it's doing 75,000 tests a week through the SUNY system.

And thanks to the deft leadership of Governor Cuomo, he came in and intervened immediately. He gave us 70 contact tracers to help us monitor disease. And he set up three mobile testing sites for the entire community so we can control and contain outbreaks as they emerge

KING: You mentioned the governor. Let's listen to a little bit of his voice, essentially trying to tell people, you know, if you keep this small and contained, we can win. If you let this blow up into big clusters, we've got a problem.

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GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY) (voice-over): The lesson is always the same. If you are not prepared, if you don't have the right precautions or if you don't enforce the precautions, then the virus spreads. And then you have to take more dramatic action which is more disruptive and generates more energy -- more negative energy.

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KING: What is the biggest lesson you have learned as you've prepared? I know today is day one on the job. And you'll learn many more lessons, Jim.

But in terms of trying to communicate that message from the governor and translate it into a language that 18-year-olds, 19-year-olds and 20-year-olds listen to, not only listening to you about have a plan, be careful and cautious, but communicate with each other.

MALATRAS: Individual responsibility for the greater collective good. One individual's action can impact everyone on our college community.

So you could be that freshman who thinks, I'm going to be party and I'm not going to get sick. But you could actually impact seniors who want to graduate on campus. They want to stay on campus. Everyone plays a role here.

So we're going to be enforcing this with the strongest terms. We've already suspended dozens of our students for violating codes of conduct.

We have to instill in people that it's not just your actions. Your actions have consequences on everyone else. It could impact our faculty and get them sick. It could impact the student body population.

So we're going to keep reinforcing that message, saying we want to keep these colleges open.

John, by the way, I'm the first SUNY graduate ever to be chancellor. I'm proud of that. I enjoyed my college career on our campuses. We have a great university system. But you can't ruin it for everyone else.

Clearly, it shows that COVID is not over yet. COVID still exists. We can't rest on our laurels and say we're out of the woods.

I hope this serves as a wake-up call that one party can lead to more than a hundred cases with the snap of a finger. And I do think our students want to be back on campus enjoying activities in a new and different kind of way. Socializing is great.

But we have to do this differently. We have to control this virus. And I'll keep reinforcing that and also enforcing discipline because we can't have this get out of control across the state.

KING: It's a remarkable challenge. Day one on the job for the new chancellor of the SUNY system.

Jim Malatras, thank you for your time. I would keep a journal. There's a book to be written starting your job in the middle of this one.

Appreciate your time. We'll keep in touch as we get through. We wish you the best of luck.

MALATRAS: Thank you, John.

KING: Let's continue -- thank you, sir.

Let's continue the conversation. Dr. Deborah Birx, of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, responding to the outbreaks at colleges and universities. Her message to students already on campus: "Do not go home."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, COORDINATOR, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: Remember, most universities students are not going to know they are infected. They are not knowingly transmitting the virus to others.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Let's discuss with infectious disease expert, Ravina Kullar.

Is that the right advice, stay on campus? A lot of parents would think, either my child has been tested positive for COVID or more child is in a dorm where they have a problem. I want to get them home.

Should they stay?

DR. RAVINA KULLAR, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT: I completely agree with that recommendation. They should stay put in the college setting. They should not go home.

If they do go home, they are going to spread the virus into their loved ones, their family members and the rest of the community.

The way this virus works is through respiratory droplets, from them talking, laughing and them not wearing masks.

And if they go home and they are asymptomatic, they are silent spreaders. They are going to spread that virus to other people in their community.

[11:45:05]

KING: So we're at this remarkable moment in the sense that we just went through a horrific summer surge in cases. It's come down some. The national baseline around 40,000 cases a day right now.

And you have colleges and universities reopening with different plans, some on campus, some all online and some hybrid.

If you look at this map, in 36 states, we have at least in 36 states, at a minimum, COVID cases reported with students back on campus, more than 9,000 such cases.

Walk through the challenge here. Some cases are inevitable. We knew that. That's not the problem.

The issue is, can you manage it and contain it in that peculiar college university environment? What's the challenge?

KULLAR: The challenge is that these are college students. Let's think back as to when you were in college, when I was in college. We were just not going to follow these procedures. We cared more about going and socializing with our friends and being off campus.

And -- and that's an environment where it can spread. There's these mass gatherings. These college students will not be wearing their masks. They will not be social distancing. They will not be living like monks.

And that is the difference in these college settings, is that these are students. And they are 18 to 22 years old, and they are not going to abide by these rules.

And that is what leads to this virus spreading, and they are causing an outbreak. And it's going to be very hard for most of these colleges to contain that.

We've already seen that. The University of Alabama is, I think, front page everywhere with about 1,500 cases and spreading day by day.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, they reversed. They have decided to take -- have their students go back to their community as they have seen outbreaks.

I don't think that that's a good approach.

KING: Dr. Ravina Kullar, infectious disease expert, grateful for your insights and expertise at this moment, difficult moment on these campuses. We'll keep in touch. Thank you very much.

KULLAR: Thank you.

KING: Thank you.

Up next for us, you see the protests around the country. You see some violence. How much of it is organized by armed vigilante groups? How much of it is spur of the moment?

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[11:51:37]

KING: Quick breaking news update. During that commercial break, the United States hitting a sad milestone. The six millionth coronavirus infection confirmed in the United States.

The United States now passing six million confirmed infections that took just over three weeks, 22 days to go from five million to six million infections in the United States. More on that in a little bit.

But let's move back to another big story. The president tweets a lot about Antifa and anarchists.

The man shot and killed in Portland over the weekend was said to be a member of a local right-wing group called Patriot Prayer.

Vigilante is a term some use to describe the Illinois teenager now accused of killing two people in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Some of what we see at these protests in recent months is clearly the work of organized groups, on the left and the right.

And some is the by-product of online disinformation about the Black Lives Matters movement, for example, that some experts trace to Russia and other foreign actors.

Sorting who is who and what is organized is a giant challenge for law enforcement.

Here to share his expertise and insights is our CNN national security analyst, Peter Bergen, the vice president at New America.

Peter, grateful for your time.

Because that is one of the challenges. You see the pictures and it's: Who are these people? Is this all just spur-of-the-moment protests? To what degree are far-left and far-right organized groups infiltrating to stir up trouble?

How do you track it?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think it is hard, John, because I don't think these are formal organizations. These are social movements.

And there's been a big discussion. The president himself suggested that Antifa should be labeled a terrorist organization.

There are two problems with that. One is it is a loosely organized social movement. And, two, it's not illegal in this country to be either a pro-Antifa supporter or a pro-Ku Klux Klan supporter or to have any political views.

But what is illegal is to carry out acts of violence in the name of these groups. That's different than, say, joining ISIS in this country, which is a crime. It's a designated foreign terrorist organization.

If you or I chose to try to join ISIS or joined ISIS, we could be put in prison for 15 to 20 years. That is not the case with these loosely organized social movements that are exercising their First Amendment rights.

Where the problem becomes, of course, is where they carry out acts of violence. Its's an interesting question that we're probably not going to settle during this discussion.

But to the extent to which you can say that these acts of violence carried out for political purposes in the streets of the United States that we're seeing in Illinois, in Wisconsin and also in Oregon, are they acts of domestic terrorism?

Because terrorism is really carrying out acts of political violence against civilians. And we are seeing lethal acts of political violence allegedly being carried out just this week in the United States.

And certainly we have seen an uptick in black national violence. At New America, where I work, we have found 12 acts of lethal acts by black nationalist people in the last five years.

But that is far outpaced by the right-wing violence. Since 9/11, we've seen 112 people killed by right-wing extremists in this country. So that's a much bigger problem.

KING: Critical context.

Peter Bergen, New America. I believe we just put this chart up for one second to make Peter's point.

You're hearing the president railing against Antifa all the time. No one is condoning any looting here or any disruptive behavior of any kind. But if you look at the death toll right there -- you should go to New America and look at these numbers. Very important context and perspective.

[11:55:07]

Peter Bergen, grateful for your time and insight.

Coming up for us here, United Airlines makes a big change. Gets rid of a very unpopular fee.

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KING: Some good news for some airline passengers today. United Airlines announcing it will scrap its change fee for economy and premium cabin tickets.

[12:00:02]

Up until now, most passengers had to pay $200 if they wanted to change their tickets in the United States. United's move now likely to put pressure on other carriers to match that fee cut.