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United Airlines To Drop Its Ticket Change Free For U.S. Flights; Biden & Trump Spar Over Security As Election Day Nears; Trump To Take Law And Order Message To Wisconsin Tomorrow; Top Biden Aides, Surrogates Campaign Against "Trump's America"; U.S. Tops Six Million Cases As Students Return To School; Appeals Court Denies Flynn And DOJ Effort To End His Case. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 31, 2020 - 12:00   ET

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

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

[12:00:00]

So top of the hour. Thanks for joining us. I'm John King in Washington. We're grateful you're sharing your day with us. The Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden delivers a major address next hour, asking voters to ponder whether they feel safe in President Trump's America.

This is a quote from the vice President's speech. Quote, "This president long ago forfeited any moral leadership in this country." That's according to an excerpt released by the Biden campaign. "He can't stop the violence," the former vice president will say, "because for years, he has fomented it."

The Biden speech is in Pittsburgh. And this rare road trip during the pandemic campaign speak volumes - speaks volumes about this moment. The election, nine weeks from tomorrow, but remember, many voters can cast ballots starting much sooner.

President Trump is off to Kenosha, Wisconsin tomorrow and then Pennsylvania on Thursday. He believes a law and order message is his path to four more years. And he believes focusing on that violence that comes with some of these protests, like the deadly shooting in Portland, Oregon this weekend, can turn your attention away from the Coronavirus crisis.

The numbers are numbing. Just moments ago, the United States hitting the sad milestone of 6 million confirmed cases. Nearly, 185,000 Americans have died. In New York, SUNY Oneonta is closing down for the next two weeks because of an outbreak among students, something the Chancellor talked with us about last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM MALATRAS, CHANCELLOR, STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK: 400,000 students, 64 campuses is 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Democrat Biden wants you to see a common denominator in the pandemic and the protests, in his view, failed presidential leadership. CNN's Arlette Saenz is in Pittsburgh ahead of the former vice president's speech later today.

Arlette it is a tough speech from the former vice president. It is also an acknowledgment that he needs to be more active in the campaign.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and Joe Biden is making his way here to Pittsburgh where he's expected to deliver this speech, pushing back on President Trump's message of law and order. Over the course of the Republican Convention, you heard both the president and his allies say that he will be the person to deliver a law in order in this country.

And suggests that images that you're seeing play out across the country of violence and protests are a part of Joe Biden's America, part of what Biden is trying to relay today is that those events have taken place under President Trump's watch. And this all comes as we've seen a protest in Wisconsin, and Oregon turn violent, and at times, deadly.

Now, over the weekend, Biden condemned the violence in Portland, saying that he condemns violence on all sides. And today, he will suggest that President Trump has fomented violence over the course of his administration.

Biden will also go on to say, "He may believe mouthing the words law and order makes him strong, but his failure to call on his own supporters to stop acting as an armed militia in this country shows you how weak he is." Biden will go on to say, "Does anyone believe there will be less violence in America if Donald Trump is reelected?"

Biden is also expected to talk about the multiple crises in this country, talking about COVID-19, the economic impact, and the public health impact of that crisis, as well as talking about racial injustice and police brutality that has played out in some areas over the course of the summer.

He will argue that President Trump has made the situation worse and not better, so this is all part of Biden's attempt to push back on the President, as we are seeing these protests and discussions about racial justice across the country.

And John, this also is kind of marking another phase in this campaign. This is the first time that we will see Biden out campaigning since the Democratic National Convention. It's actually his first major travel in quite a few months, coming all the way over to Pittsburgh, as he's heading into that general election against the president. John? KING: Nine weeks from tomorrow, people vote. But as Arlette as know full well, lot of the voting starts, including in Pennsylvania, voters can start lot earlier than that, just a couple of weeks from now. Arlette Saenz on the scene for us. The vice President's big speech is next hour. Thank you, Arlette.

Let's discuss more, the president betting his campaign on law and order, Joe Biden responding. Today with me to talk to us over, our White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins; Tolu Olorunnipa, White House Reporter at "The Washington Post;" and Laura Barron-Lopez, National Political Reporter at POLITICO.

Laura Barron-Lopez, let me start with you. The Biden campaign for a long time has said Coronavirus, coronavirus, coronavirus, we're not going to take the bait. But it isn't really bait. There are protests across the country. You had another black man shot in Wisconsin last week.

Biden's challenge today is to connect the dots more than just rebut law and order, correct? He wants to say the common denominator here is, whether coronavirus, whether it's safety in the streets, whether it's racial reckoning we see in the country, we have a president who has simply not done his job.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Yes, and even though this is a notable shift for Biden this speech today, he in the immediate aftermath of George Floyd's killing, did give a speech on racial injustice. He also has repeatedly condemned violence when coaches have occasionally turned to riots since June.

[12:05:00]

But what's different about this speech, as you said, John, is that he's starting to connect all the all of the dots, rather than attack Trump on just his handling of Coronavirus or just tackle racial injustice and police violence against black people. He's connecting it all together.

And he's also turning one of Trump's attacks on him back the other way, which is that Trump has repeatedly said that the violence scene across the country is what Biden's America is and that this would be a what the future would be if Biden were elected. And now Biden, for the first time, is aggressively saying that, no, all of this is happening, whether it's coronavirus, or police violence under Trump's administration.

KING: And Tolu, one of the interesting things to watch is repetition has long been an art form in politics. If you want to make a point, say it over and over and over and over again. And the president, whether you like him or not, is very good at this.

No collusion is just one of the examples. You just keep saying something until whether the facts support it or not enough people out there believe it. Democrats seem to be coming around to that. Joe Biden today will ask voters, "Do you feel safer in Donald Trump's America?" Listen to this sample from the Sunday shows, Democrats repeating and repeating and repeating.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATE BEDINGFIELD, BIDEN DEPUTY CAMPAIGN MANAGER: This is Trump's America. The chaos that suburban voters are feeling and that voters all across this country are feeling, is the result of Donald Trump's failed leadership.

REP. CEDRIC RICHMOND (D-LA): This is Trump's America. He has to own this moment. He has to own the incompetence around coronavirus virus, and 180,000 American deaths, almost 6 million infections, almost 38 million jobless claims.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): We are not safe in Donald Trump's America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The strategy is pretty obvious here that the President can lash out at the mayor of Portland or the governor here or a Democratic mayor, while the Democrats try to make the point, you are the president, sir.

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Yes, the president is running a pretty odd campaign. And being an incumbent and saying that things will be as horrible as they are now, if you elect a different President, it's a hard argument for him to make. And I think Democrats are now started sort of coming to the realization that they have to bring that argument directly home to the American people who may not connect the dots in that way.

And that's something that you're seeing with much more force in the wake of the Republican National Convention. You didn't hear it as much during the course of the convention as Donald Trump and his allies essentially said, everything will be in a chaotic state if Joe Biden is elected. That he's, of course, bringing the violence of Portland to communities across the country.

And now we're starting to see it in a much more forceful way, including with Joe Biden, leaving Delaware, going to another state to give us what he bills as a major speech. Focusing on the fact that what we're seeing is happening in Donald Trump's America, focusing on the fact that as he said earlier, at the very big beginning of his campaign, that this type of situation that we saw in Charlottesville, with two groups of Americans clashing in American cities is not something that we should be celebrating. It's not something that we should be allowing.

And that President Trump's rhetoric and his approach to the presidency has made it more likely that we would continue to see these kinds of clashes in the street. So I do think that we are going to start hearing more and more from Joe Biden of this argument that what we're seeing in the streets is a direct result of the type of presidency that President Trump has embraced over the last three and a half years.

KING: Kaitlan we will get to hear directly, I'm sure, we'll see some on Twitter today, maybe we'll hear from the President today. But we know he's going to Kenosha tomorrow. We know he's going to Pennsylvania later in the week. I

We know from his Twitter feed this morning that he's going to stick to this law and order message, attacking Biden attacking, the Democratic mayor of Portland, Oregon. One new thing to the mix today is this new Super PAC, which --- this is a piece of a new ad they're running. And like the president, they think the path to four more years is law and order.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They defaced the law enforcement Memorial wall, and they put murderers. That's my husband's name on there. My husband was murdered.

I haven't heard Joe Biden stand up for law enforcement, which says a lot. You're part of the problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now, Joe Biden has consistently said he does not want to defund the police. He has said that, you could shift some money around. He has been in that debate. But just the idea that you have this now a Super PAC backing up the president. The Republicans think this is the ground to stand on.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they think that this is an effective message, because, one, it is something they feel like they've been able to frame Joe Biden on. And, clearly, the Biden campaign feels that way, because he's coming out today trying to make this high profile appearance where he is going to try to set the record straight on where it is that he stands when it does come to law enforcement.

Because like you said, the President has been repeating this law and order message and talking about Biden over and over again. Even if his comments are not all accurate, he's still saying it and people are still hearing it.

[12:10:00]

The other thing that the President is doing with this is, he's effectively turning the page away from coronavirus and telling voters not to look at his coronavirus response, which we know voters do not approve of the majority of them. And instead, he's trying to make this debate about lawn order and about what's happening in some of these American cities and broadcasting this ominous message that this is what's going to happen if Joe Biden does get elected.

Of course, everyone else has talked about that point and how the Biden campaign is pushing back on it, but the president and his allies do feel like that has been an effective message. And that's why you saw it was the really the overarching theme of the Republican Convention last week. So the question is, what do voters think of it? How did they respond to that? Because the President is going into Kenosha tomorrow, the governor and the mayor have both asked him not to come. And despite that the White House has said no, they are going to go.

But we have to also look at what the President was saying over the weekend where he hasn't really said that much about the shooting of Jacob Blake or those two protesters who were killed last week. And that 17 year old who attended his rally was arrested.

But then he did respond when you saw those - that caravan with a big pro Trump group going through Portland and one of those people ended up being killed over the weekend. He did comment on that.

So you are seeing the president pick and choose which of these he's commenting on and what he's saying. And he's trying to be strategic with that. And we'll see how does that play out when he starts getting asked questions about why he's voicing support for some of these groups and not the others and all of his comments generally on this.

KING: And the issues here are quite complicated, whether it's the pandemic or whether it's the protests and racial justice, the politics, though, Laura Barron-Lopez, pretty obvious.

The former vice president in Pittsburgh today, the President will be in Latrobe, Pennsylvania later in the week. Kenosha, Wisconsin is the President's stop tomorrow. We're told Joe Biden is trying to arrange a trip to Kenosha, Wisconsin as well. Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin 2020 is a replay of 2016 when it comes to the electoral map.

BARRON-LOPEZ: Yes. These are both battleground states and states that show that the race is contracting there, especially in Pennsylvania, and Biden is very aware of that. So he's trying to address as you said, John, both issues head on.

One thing, though, about the attacks on him in terms of defunding, there is like a political balancing act that Biden is playing in terms of - with - in between the BLM activist as well as more swing moderate voters that he's trying to win over. And that's that Biden does not support defunding, and that's known.

But he also is hoping to increase the share of younger voters of color, even in states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where there are sizable African-American populations. As well as in Pennsylvania, there's a sizable Latino population. So he is towing this line in terms of listening to activists, hearing the pain in the streets, but also making clear that he does support police. And actually one of his proposals would put more funding towards community policing.

KING: Been fascinating to see on every word of this speech next hour as the former vice president tries to frame this debate for us as we head into the final nine weeks. Laura Barron-Lopez, Kaitlan Collins, Tolu Olorunnipa, appreciate the reporting and the insights.

Coming up for us, universities reopening across the country, struggling to contain new coronavirus infections. We'll walk through the growing numbers. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

KING: Just last hour, the United States passing a sad milestone in the coronavirus case count, passing 6 million confirmed infections. The challenge of pushing the case count growth down now complicated by the back to school season, back to college campus, back to K through 12.

Let's walk through some of the numbers as we look at this challenge. First is the state by state trends, beginning the workweek heading in the wrong direction. By that I mean 20 states, 15 in the light orange, five in the darker red, which is more exponential growth.

More cases now than a week ago. 20 states reporting more cases now - coronavirus cases than a week ago. 21 states, that's the base holding steady, including giant Texas. Nine states trending down, fewer cases now as a week ago. They include Florida and California and Arizona.

Remember, it was California, Arizona, Texas and Florida that drove the big summer spike. They are in better shape today. But now you're seeing still a lot of cases. Not as big - the numbers aren't as big, but you see all these other cases where they are growing.

The death trend map, also, sad to begin the week. 19 states reporting more deaths now compared to a week ago, 11 holding steady. 20 states - that's the shades of green, 20 states reporting fewer deaths now compared to a week ago, but there's still a lot of pain and sadness on this map as you go through it.

The college cases are complicating efforts by states to push down the baseline of new infections. In at least 36 states cases have been reported, new infections on college campuses, as you see them outlined here. They are in states like California which has been pushing the count down and like Arizona.

And they are in states like North Dakota, South Dakota, in Iowa where you have the case count going up, these small clusters now pushing it up further. 20 states - 20 of the states reporting these cases trending in the wrong directions here, you see the go across the map here. This is back to campus. This is back to college.

K through 12 is also a challenge. And as you're making these decisions, you have to look at your state map. This is Florida, for example. If you're dark red, that means you still have a lot of cases. More than 3,000 plus confirmed cases per thousand residents, orange, light pink.

It's a challenge for county officials, state officials, local officials to go all through this. In Florida, CNNs Rosa Flores is with us. She's in Miami-Dade where new school year kicks off today online, but other school districts, Rosa, making different decisions?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, and about Miami-Dade County it's already not starting on the right foot, John. This is according to the school district's Twitter account which posted that they are having connectivity issues.

But, look, Miami-Dade County when it comes to reopening for virtual school only is the exception and not the rule here in the state of Florida. According to the Florida Department of Health, 74 school districts across the state have reopened for in-person instruction. That accounts for 1.1 million students in this state that are learning face-to-face.

[12:20:00]

As you mentioned, one of those school districts is Hillsborough County, that's in the Tampa area. Now, that school district has posted pictures online showing students that are on buses and also in the classroom wearing masks.

Now, the school board in that particular school district voted late last week to go ahead and reopen for brick and mortar instruction, despite the fact that the teachers union in this state won a legal battle against the governor of the state of Florida. Here's the latest on that.

A Tallahassee judge ruled last week that the state could not force school districts to reopen brick and mortar style. The state, of course, is appealing that decision. I should mention, Hillsborough County, according to the district's website is the seventh largest school district in the state, accounting for about 189,000 students.

Now, John, as I mentioned, according to the Florida Department of Education, 1.1 million students have returned for face-to-face instruction. As to how many of those students have either contracted the coronavirus or under quarantine, I asked the Florida Department of Health for that figure early this morning, and I have not heard back. John?

KING: Rosa Flores for us on the ground in Florida. We certainly wish those districts back to brick and mortar the best, but we will watch the case count in the days and weeks ahead. Rosa, thank you, grateful for the live report there.

This week, the University of Notre Dame will give in-person classes a second try. A two week pause and ends on Wednesday. That was put in place after a jump in cases on campus. Dr. Mark Fox is the Deputy Health Officer of St. Joseph County, Indiana, home to Notre Dame. Dr. Fox, it's good to see you again. Thank you. So what will be different? This is a second try. Notre Dame came back, you had some issues, you had the pause. What will be different now?

DR. MARK FOX, DEPUTY HEALTH OFFICER OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, INDIANA: I think the pause was really important to make sure that people who were positive were in isolation, and their close contacts were in quarantine to reduce transmission on campus. It also gave the opportunity for ramp up in - on campus testing, ramped up isolation and quarantine and contact tracing that, so those teams grew.

And they gave the opportunity to implement the surveillance testing plan. And that's shown less than 1 percent positive on surveillance testing, which is all encouraging signs. And then a gradual ramp up of the return to in person instruction. So it'll begin with kind of freshmen and sophomore level classes, then add the upper level classes, and only after that to add opening up common spaces and, and student activities on campus. So I think there's a gradual return to kind of full campus life.

KING: And we talked several days ago and, at the beginning of this, I just want to show these numbers, because this is pretty striking. Back on August 16th, you had a 55 percent - 55.2 percent positivity rate in tests on campus. On August 30th, yesterday, that was down to 0.8 percent. If you average it out over seven days, it's below 4 percent at 3.8 percent, so considerable progress there. Is that just because everybody got the alarm or again, or things being done differently?

FOX: I think students certainly are taking the mitigation strategies very seriously, reduced gathering sizes that are allowed on campus. And I think students appreciate the fact that at a really profound level they control their destiny about the prospects for in-person instruction this semester.

So I think the university had work to do, and they did that, I think, very well to this point. But really how students respond and how they behave off campus and outside the classroom is really going to be key to the success for this semester.

And the key to success, I was asking the chancellor of the SUNY, the State University of New York system last hour, this same question. Are people like yourself, in your case, a solid public health expert, learning different ways to communicate to younger people? Have you learned that OK, I thought I was saying this right. Maybe I need to say it this way. Or I thought I was delivering the message, right, but maybe I need to use this platform or this medium.

FOX: I think two lessons that I learned from this, student leaders have stepped up. When Ian Book went on social media and exhorted students to follow the mitigation strategy seriously, that was immensely helpful. And Father Pete McCormick, who is the Director of Campus Ministry on campus at Notre Dame, he is a rock star among the students. He was another kind of strong advocate for student engagement and mitigation strategies. Those things are a lot more effective than a public health talking head.

[12:25:00]

KING: Well, you're a smart public health talking head, but I get your point about having some younger help, shall we say, certainly can help. Dr. Fox, grateful for your expertise and your insights. Good luck. We'll keep in touch. I hope this works out better the second time around, and we'll keep in touch as it does appreciate your time, sir.

Some very important breaking news for us now, a Federal Appeals Court has ruled against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and the Trump Justice Department. The Justice Department wanted to shut down the criminal case in court through an appeal. This latest twist just in. Let's get the details from CNN, Sarah. Sara, what are we learning?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is certainly a defeat for the Justice Department that wanted to drop these charges against Michael Flynn. This Appeals Court, the full appeals court and an eight to two decision is essentially saying, they can keep this alive for longer.

And I think this is really important, John, because this is a case that has generated a lot of controversy. Remember, Michael Flynn has pleaded guilty multiple times. And then the Justice Department intervened here, said that the charges against him should be dropped. That drew a lot of criticism for the Justice Department, and of course, for the Attorney General Bill Barr.

Initially, a smaller subset of this Appeals Court agreed with that decision. Now, the Full Appeals Court is saying no, no, this can continue. And I think this is important, John, because it's a reminder that there is a check on the President's power, particularly when we wade into these politically divisive cases.

This is what the Appeals Court is essentially saying here is that there is another check on the way that these decisions are being made, John.

KING: And so the question now - this go back to Judge Sullivan, Sara, do we know that he was the judge who complained? He said the Justice Department shouldn't be doing this, or is the Appeals Court just hitting the pause button here?

MURRAY: That's right. He is the judge that said that said the Justice Department should not be allowed to do this. There are other sort of hurdles we should go through before this is decided. And the Justice Department wanted another judge on this case. That's not going to be what's happening. Our understanding so far as it will go back to Judge Sullivan, so there could be some more political wrangling in here. Obviously, Flynn and the Justice Department wanted this to all go away. That's not the case yet, John.

KING: It's not the case yet. We'll continue to track it. It is a remarkable rebuke of the president and of his attorney general of the Appeals Court, keeping this case alive when they wanted to throw it out. Sara Murray, appreciate the quick hustle on the breaking news.

Up next for us, the number two Republican in the House under fire for tweeting a manipulated video of a Joe Biden interview. You can hear - you'll hear, we'll show you why you standing by that tweet.

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