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Kenosha Mayor Disappointed Over Trumps Upcoming Visit; Biden Says Trump Has Failed to Protect America; Trump Refuses to Denounce Violent Actions By Supporters; Growing Concern Political Pressure May Rush Vaccine Process; Experts Warn Herd Immunity Strategy Can Be Dangerous; U.S. FDA Could Grant Vaccine Authorization Before Trials End; Hong Kong Begins Mass COVID-19 Testing Program; Hong Kong Activists Call for Boycott of Mass Testing. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired September 01, 2020 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world, you are watching CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, hours ahead of a controversial trip to a tense and damaged city, the U.S. President defends a supporter who stands accused of murder in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Fresh protests in Portland, Oregon as Joe Biden says fires are burning across the country and Donald Trump is fanning the flames.
And the pandemic rages, coronavirus task force reports just released show a different picture than the one being pushed by President Trump.
In just a few hours from now U.S. President Donald Trump will be on his way to Kenosha, Wisconsin. The city has been the scene of protests and violence following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. And the mayor of Kenosha doesn't want the President to visit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ANTARAMIAN, KENOSHA, WISCONSIN MAYOR: Our community has gone through a great deal and there is no time right now for political politics to be played. We would have preferred the President had waited at least another week or so before coming to visit. Presidents are always welcome. I mean, all cities have presidents that visit at different times. The President is always welcome, but at this time it's just the wrong time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: But Mr. Trump is planning to go anyway. He does not plan to meet Jacob Blake's family. Instead, the White House says he will visit local law enforcement and business owners. But Blake's father told CNN his main concern is his son, not the politics of the situation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JACOB BLAKE SR., FATHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM: First of all, I'm not going to play politics. This is my son's life we're talking about. I saw Jacob yesterday. Let's say progress is limited and highly sedated but his breathing and his function above the waist seems to be tapering off and he's holding on for dear life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Meanwhile, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is slamming President Trump for fermenting racial unrest in the country. He says Mr. Trump has, quote, failed to protect America so now he's trying to scare America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Since they have no agenda or vision for a second term, Trump and Pence are running on this and I find it fascinating. Quote, you won't be saving Joe Biden's America. And what's their proof? The violence we're seeing in Donald Trump's America. These are not images of some imagined Joe Biden America in the future, these are images of Donald Trump's America today.
Donald Trump has been a toxic presence in our nation for four years poisoning how we talk to one another, poisoning how we treat one another, poisoning the values this nation has always held dear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: But President Trump is refusing to denounce the violent actions of his supporters. He defended Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen facing homicide charges for killing two protestors and injuring one another in Kenosha. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you condemn the actions of vigilantes like Kyle Rittenhouse?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're looking at all of it. That was an interesting situation. You saw the same tape as I saw. And he was trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like. And he fell and then they very violently attacked him. And it was something that we're looking at right now and it's under investigation. But I guess he was in very big trouble. He probably would have been killed but --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think ...
TRUMP: It's under -- it's under investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And that's not all. The President also compared police who use excessive force to golfers who miss a short putt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They choke, just like in a golf tournament. They miss a 3 foot ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're not comparing it to golf because of course ...
TRUMP: No, I'm saying people choke.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People might panic.
TRUMP: People choke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more on the President Trump's visit to Kenosha and the tense political situation in the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[04:05:00]
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ignoring pleas from state and local officials, President Trump is pushing ahead with plans to visit Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday turning the latest epicenter of the racial justice movement into a backdrop for his campaign's law and order message.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President wants to visit hurting Americans. I think highlighting that the federal government has done a lot in the way of using law and order to create peace but showing up for hurting Americans is the primary concern.
DIAMOND: But those hurting Americans don't include Jacob Blake, the black man who was shot in the back seven times by police or his family. Trump has no plans to meet with them, instead touring property damage caused by riots. The President taking credit for Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers decision to deploy state controlled National Guard troops.
Tweeting, if I didn't insist on having the National Guard activate and go into Kenosha, Wisconsin, there will be no Kenosha right now. I will see you on Tuesday.
Trump's tweet coming after Evers sent a letter to Trump on Sunday. Asking him to reconsider his visit. I'm concerned your presence will only hinder our healing. I'm concerned your presence will only delay our work to overcome division and move forward together. Now is not the time for divisiveness.
Rather than calls for calm, Trump spent the weekend amplifying and encouraging clashes between his supporters and protesters. Today Trump assailing radical left mayors and governors and delivering his latest threat to send federal forces to Portland.
Tweeting: If this joke of a mayor doesn't clean it up, we will go in and do it for them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is our consideration of sending in more federal law enforcement even in the defiance of local lead leaders.
CHAD WOLF, ACTING U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: I believe all options continue to be on the table specifically as we talk about Portland. We need to bring some normalcy back to Portland.
DIAMOND: Portland's mayor slamming Trump after a man was killed during the night of clashes.
TED WHEELER, PORTLAND, OREGON MAYOR: Do you seriously wonder, Mr. President, why this is the first time in decades that America has seen this level of violence? It's you who have created the hate and the division.
DIAMOND: While Trump tweeted his condolences for the man killed in Portland who appears to have been a Trump supporter, he is still silent on the shooting carried out by one of his supporters who killed two people amid protests in Kenosha.
(on camera): And on Monday we also heard from former Vice President Joe Biden who issued a blanket condemnation of any violence in America. Condemning explicitly the rioting, the looting that has taken place in some American cities.
Joe Biden also drew a pretty direct line between some of the violence that has been taking place and President Trump. Arguing that President Trump has essentially poured gasoline on this fire by stoking divisions in this country and failing to address issues of racial inequality.
The President for his part, he once again in the White House briefing room trying to tie Joe Biden to the rioting in some of these cities arguing that Biden did not explicitly condemn antifa, for example, in some of these other left-wing groups. But the President for his part, he refused an opportunity to offer blanket condemnation when he was asked whether he would condemn violence by some the right wing supporters, his own supporters. The President refused to do so.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Joining me now is Tara Setmayer, a CNN political commentator and senior advisor at the Lincoln Project. Good to have you with us.
TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you for having me.
And Tara, the Lincoln Project just put out this video. I want to listen to a portion of it. We'll bring that up now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just so sad. Just watching the Republican convention and they're just spewing this fear. Donald Trump and all of them talking about fear. We're the ones getting killed. We're the ones getting shot. All you do is keep hearing of fear. It's amazing why we keep loving this country and this country does not love us back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: So, Tara, a message of fear there, but the big message overall, from that video was you don't need to be black to be outraged. You need to be American and be outraged. Is that getting through though when we see caravans of Trump supporters taking over streets, shooting paint bombs and pepper spray at protesters in Portland or worse, in Kenosha, a Trump supporter charged with homicide and the President refusing to condemn that alleged shooter?
SETMAYER: Yes, it's really, really disconcerting what we're seeing going on here. And even worse that we see no leadership whatsoever coming from the White House. If anything, the President is making it worse.
[04:10:00]
When the Lincoln Project put that video out, we took the words of Doc Rivers, the famed coach of the L.A. Clippers, who's actually, the son of a police officer. His dad was a 30-year police officer in his hometown outside of Chicago in Illinois. And you just hear the pain and emotion in his voice conveying what the experience is for people of color in many places across this country.
And I think in the beginning of the summer we started to see white America begin to understand this and look at this from a different perspective after the George Floyd killing that we saw on camera. It was jarring for a lot of folks, and it started the conversation about a racial reckoning going on in America around police brutality.
Now unfortunately because we've seen some people in the looting and rioting space there, they have co-opted this message. And it's given a life line to Donald Trump in his campaign to use this law and order feigned outrage over something that's really not the majority of the people who are protesting but it's giving them this ability to try to pin this on Democratic mayors or on Joe Biden. And I think that they're beginning to overstep. Because once you see things like what happened in Kenosha when that 17-year-old who allegedly killed people. Who was a Trump supporter. Who there was a militia called to go and defend the property. We don't have vigilante justice in America. That is not something that we should be encouraging and unfortunately Donald Trump is doing that. But Joe Biden is pushing back on that, which he did very effectively today.
CHURCH: Right, and despite pleas from Wisconsin's governor not to go, President Trump is still pushing ahead with his visit to Kenosha Tuesday, but he won't be meeting with the family of Jacob Blake, the black man shot seven times by a police officer in Kenosha at point black range. What is your reaction to Mr. Trump refusing to meet because the family wants a lawyer present? What do you say to that and does that make any sense to you?
Well, I see it's smart on the family's part because we know that Donald Trump is a liar and he often misrepresents situations. So, he can't be trusted to be an honest broker, what took place during that encounter. So, they're smart to make that request.
What's unfortunate is that we have a President who clearly, it's not about comforting the family or being there for them in leadership. I's about him and wanting to exploit it politically. And when they rejected that, he walked away from it. So, it just shows you right there how transparent he is about why he's going to Kenosha. Why he's doing this now. Kellyanne Conway basically said the quiet part out loud last week when she said this type of violence is good for the campaign.
CHURCH: But where does that leave the President's rival, Joe Biden, who historically receives strong support from black voters? Could this put him in a very difficult position, defending protests for his base, while supporting law and order for moderates?
SETMAYER: I think up until today he was beginning to lose the narrative somewhat because they had not come out forcefully against the looting and rioting. They're trying to thread a really, really small needle here by not upsetting the progressive left, which they need. But also, by making sure that suburban voters and white voters felt comfortable that Joe Biden would be tough on these issues.
Today he gave a speech that I think put that to rest. He was unequivocal that looting and rioting is not protesting and that it should be prosecuted. And he also talked about the importance of racial justice and of making sure that the bad cops are punished. And he did an excellent job by also pointing out the fact that all of this chaos and violence is happening in Donald Trump's America. Not Joe Biden's America. Donald Trump is currently president. So, I think as long as Biden continues to push that message consistently -- because Trump will. He has to continue to push back. And if he does so like he did today, I think they'll be able to inoculate themselves from that message.
Tara Setmayer, thank you so much. Good to talk with you.
SETMAYER: Thank you.
CHURCH: The United States has now topped 6 million cases of the coronavirus. And the latest data from Johns Hopkins University also shows the virus has killed more than 183,000 Americans. Countless others have been left with long-term problems, but there is some positive news compared to the beginning of August, daily cases are down. Deaths are starting to decline, and hospitalizations are down.
Data from the White House Coronavirus Task Force released Monday showed the dire reality about the spread of the virus in July and August. At that time President Donald Trump was painting a positive picture of the pandemic even as he was receiving those grim reports from those own task force.
[04:15:00]
And now as CNN's Dianne Gallagher explains there's trouble brewing in the race for a vaccine.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is growing concern political pressure could be rushing the COVID-19 vaccine process after FDA commissioner, Dr. Stephen Hahn, said the agency might approve a vaccine under emergency use even before the trials are complete.
DR. SEEMA YASMIN, FORMER CDC DISEASE DETECTIVE: The problem here is the credibility of the FDA is crumbling before our eyes.
GALLAGHER: Hahn dismissed concerns, telling "The Financial Times," quote: We have a convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic with the political season and we're just going to have to get through that and stick to our core principles.
Over the past two weeks on average daily new cases are down about 18 percent and new deaths per day are roughly 11 percent. That's even as the United States did surpass 6 million confirmed coronavirus cases today.
White House task force member, Dr. Deborah Birx, is urging people to take precautions now, before there's a vaccine.
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: Do the right thing today. Because if we do the right thing today, we go into the fall with much fewer cases.
GALLAGHER: And yet "The Washington Post" reports, sources say President Trump's new pandemic advisor, Dr. Scott Atlas, is pushing for the country to adapt a herd immunity approach. Similar to the strategy used in Sweden, which has one of the highest per capita infection and death rates in the world. Now some on the White House's own task force have said that this approach would likely cause a massive death toll.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If Everyone got infected the death would be enormous and totally unacceptable.
GALLAGHER: Today in Florida, Atlas denied those claims.
DR. SCOTT ATLAS, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S PANDEMIC ADVISOR: The president does not have a strategy like that. I've never advocated that strategy.
GALLAGHER: But President Trump did retweet a false tweet from a QAnon supporter that misrepresented CDC data to claim that the death toll was 9,000 instead of more than the 180,000 people that have actually died. But simply not with the data says at all, so Twitter took down the tweet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: is he trying to downplay the death toll?
MCENANY: No. he was highlighting new CDC information that came out that was worth noting.
GALLAGHER: College campuses are becoming an example of just how quickly the virus can spread. Cases at colleges and universities have now been reported in at least 36 states.
At Suny, a lesson in exponential spread.
JIM MALATRAS, CHANCELLOR, STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK: We notice that there was a large party early last week that resulted in several COVID cases. 20 COVID cases became 105 cases. We stepped in immediately.
GALLAGHER (on camera): And college campuses really are the source of so many of these asymptomatic outbreaks we're seeing in the United States right now. Temple University is going temporarily back to online classes after it identified more than 100 cases at the University of Alabama. More than 1,000 students have tested positive since school started back on August 19th.
And in part that is why coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx has said that students who plan to go home and visit should quarantine at their school for 14 days before doing so, so they don't unknowingly bring COVID-19 to their family members or back to their home community.
Dianne Gallagher, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: So, let's talk now with Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, a CNN medical analyst and chief clinical officer of Providence Health System. Always good to talk to you.
DR. AMY COMPTON-PHILLIPS, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Always a pleasure, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, one of President Trump's medical advisers, Dr. Scott Atlas, has been pushing for the controversial herd immunity strategy to combat COVID-19 despite warnings from Dr. Anthony Fauci and other medical officials. Dr. Atlas apparently walked this back a little bit on Monday because of the pressure, but what are the dangers of this approach given we watched this fail in Sweden.
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: We did watch it fail in Sweden and the dangers are exactly what they experienced there, in that the virus can completely get out of control. So, the theory that proponents of herd immunity. Which really is a fringe theory, by the way, it is not accepted in typical well-respected public health realms. Is that if you get younger, healthier people exposed and therefore immune to the virus you can protect older people.
The problem is you can't control it. Once it gets broadly out in the community, everybody gets exposed to it. First of all, some young, healthy people have bad outcomes. But second of all, there's a lot of people in the country with diabetes and hypertension and obesity, and the things that can make this virus risky. So that current predictions are that should we go "the herd" immunity route and just go for broad scale exposure, over 2 million people could die.
So, it's terrible enough already with over 900 people a day dying. You know, that's equivalent to having three planes crash a day full of people. Could you imagine if it allowed 2 million people overall to die. It would be horrific.
[04:20:00]
CHURCH: It is absolutely horrifying. And of course, as well, the Food and Drug Administration chief, Steven Hahn, says he's willing to consider Emergency Use Authorization for COVID-19 vaccine before phase three trials have completed. In this has triggered a bit of debate prompting prominent doctors to call for an independent panel to review vaccines. How concerned are you about this?
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: I'm very worried. We already have a lot of sentiment in the U.S. that's antivaccine, that doesn't trust vaccines. So, if we put a vaccine out on the market that's not fully proven and that later is shown to have some uncommon but dangerous side effect, very much similar to the swine flu vaccine did in 1976 that caused something like Guillain-Barre Syndrome, rarely but a terrible condition that causes paralysis. Most of the time reversible by people getting completely paralyzed from a vaccine. Horrible, right?
You want to know about that before you authorize the vaccine. You don't want to find out about that until after you've given it to 300 million people. So, we need to have this fully vetted and make sure it's safe before we promote it with the rest of the country.
Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, always great to talk to you and get your very wise guidance on all things medical. Many thanks.
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Thank you.
CHURCH: And coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, Hong Kong promises free coronavirus tests for millions, but some see an ulterior motive behind the government's offer. We'll take a look at that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:25:00]
CHURCH: Hong Kong has launched a free city wide coronavirus testing program to contain its latest outbreak, but pro-democracy groups are wary of universal testing and calling for a boycott. That's because China helped set up the program and is providing resources for it. CNN's Will Ripley has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The work never stops at this Hong Kong lab. COVID-19 tests are coming in around the clock. Do it yourself testing kits takes just a few minutes. My team and I got results in 24 hours, all negative.
(on camera): How often do you get tested? DANNY YEUNG, CEO, PRENETICS: Twice a week.
RIPLEY: Twice a week.
YEUNG: Yes.
RIPLEY: So, you don't have to wear a mask?
YEUNG: No, I'm usually the safest person in the room.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Prenetics CEO, Danny Yeung has teams working 24/7.
YEUNG: We've had to hire over 200 people just alone in the last four weeks to be able to meet the demand.
RIPLEY: Demand is so high the office is getting crowded.
(on camera): Each of those clear plastic bags is somebody's COVID-19 test. They basically spit into a cup.
They are processing 15,000 of these every day just at this lab. They actually because people have a capacity for up to 20,000 and there is the demand. Because people want to know if there are hidden cases out there in the community.
(voice-over): To find those hidden cases Hong Kong wants to test the entire population. More than 7 million people. The city set up more than 100 testing labs. 3,000 medical staff are prepared to handle half a million tests per day. Assisted by a team of experts from mainland China raising concern among some residents the tests could be used to collect DNA.
JOSHUA WONG, PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS: With how the experience of that red capital companies provided services in Xinjiang re-education camp and with the DNA collection for Uyghurs or etc.
it's time to realize how Beijing and Hong Kong government pretend and also facilitate the interference in Hong Kong using the excuse of COVID-19.
DR. KWOK KA-KI, PRO-DEMOCRACY LAWMAKER: A lot of people ask the question whether this all important private information will be transmitted or being handed to other institutions, laboratory, going back to, you know, any places or institutions in China.
RIPLEY: Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam says the claims are purely political.
CARRIE LAM, HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE (through translator): They just need that one thing to smear the central government and undermine the relationship between Hong Kong and the Chinese government.
RIPLEY: Hong Kong is one of the few places outside of mainland China to offer free testing for everyone. Unlike China, it's voluntary. If privacy fears keep too many people away, those hidden cases may stay just that, putting the city at risk for an even deadlier outbreak.
Will Ripley, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: There's been another deadly law enforcement shooting on the west coast and police have declared a riot in Portland. The latest on America in crisis. That's ahead.
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