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U.S. Case Count Eclipses 6.1. Million; Dr. Michael Mina Discusses Fauci's Warning about Uptick in Positivity Rates in Certain States & Vaccines; Attorney General Josh Stein (D-NC) Discusses Trump Encouraging North Carolinians to Vote Twice; Soon, Biden to Arrive in Kenosha, Wisconsin; State Rep. David Bowen (D-WI) Discusses Joe Biden Visit to Kenosha & Police Shootings. Aired 11-11:30a ET
Aired September 03, 2020 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[11:00:16]
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. I'm John King in Washington. Thanks so much for sharing your day with us.
President Trump trying to clean up a mess he made yesterday. Yesterday, he told people to vote twice. Well, that's illegal.
President Trump tweeting moments ago, saying people should vote, and if you vote by mail you should still show up at the polls to make sure your vote has been tabulated. It's a little confusing, and we think that's the president's point there.
New battleground state today showing a margin of error race shown between the president and Joe Biden in North Carolina.
Today, the former vice president focused on a different battleground, Wisconsin, trying to promote healing in Kenosha.
Biden's first trip to that state since becoming the Democratic nominee and since the first trip to Kenosha became a white powder keg after a police officer shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times.
This afternoon, the vice president will do what the president did not do and meet with Blake's family. More on Biden's trip and the president's pot-stirring ahead.
But first, the coronavirus challenge. In a new interview last hour with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the headlines a coronavirus vaccine will not likely be ready by October, Fauci says, and Americans should let data guide everything on coronavirus decision-making.
That's what Dr. Fauci says. The president thinks differently.
And Dr. Fauci urging Americans to have faith that the FDA will do the same and career officials will not be swayed by politics when it comes to vaccines. And there's this, a warning about the coming Labor Day holiday weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We don't want to see a repeat of the surges that we have seen following other holiday weekends.
We don't want to see a surge under any circumstances, but particularly as we go on other side of Labor Day and enter into the fall.
We want to go into that with a running start in the right direction. We don't want to go into that with another surge that we have to turn around again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Very important listen to what you just heard. Dr. Fauci says we need a running start heading into the Labor Day weekend because of what have happened Memorial Day and after July 4th, a running start.
The numbers will take a closer look and tell us we don't have the running start on this day in early September.
Let's take a look at the state case trend. And 18 states trending up, orange and red. Many you familiar with our map. That means more cases now than a week ago. And 18 states trending up.
You see essentially the northern part of the country having the biggest part of the country with new numbers.
Some of the numbers, especially in the northeast, not huge but states are trending in the wrong direction.
And 23 states, in the beige, are holding steady including Florida. Nine states trending down, significantly Texas, Arizona and California, a big part of the summer surge. At the moment fewer cases this week than compared to last week. That's a good thing.
This map, until you get the cases down more, then this map will continue to be full of sadness. This is our new deaths this week versus last week.
And 12 states reporting more deaths this week than a week ago. And 16 states, again, the base holding steady. 23 states, you see 17 plus five, the light green trending down some and the darker green trending down more quickly in terms of deaths compared to last week.
A lot of pain and suffering on this map. This is what Dr. Fauci is talking about. Getting a running start. That means get down here or even lower. Get down to 20,000 cases a day or lower.
This is the summer surge. This is where we are now. And if you just draw this out, it appears at the moment that you want to come down the hill. You want to come down the hill as quickly as you can.
Instead trickling down slowly over last week to essentially a plateau at 40,000 infections a day, 39,670 reported yesterday, a plateau at 40,000 is not a running start heading into the start in fall.
Dr. Fauci means get it down below 20,000 or more and because the case count is still stubbornly high, 40,000 is still better than 70000, the peak of the summer surge, 40,000 is better.
And if you still have 40,000 cases on average a day then you have there several weeks on average 1,000 Americans dying still, 1,000 Americans dying still every day because of the coronavirus. You have to get the case countdown to get the death count down.
We focus a lot on the big states because Florida, Texas, California, they added the big numbers to the summer surge.
But if you look at it differently, states with the highest rate of infection per 100,000 residents, not the big states that are, quote, unquote "leading," or losing. Might be a better way to put it.
South Dakota, Idaho, Iowa, North Dakota, Alabama and Missouri, the states with the highest infection rate per 100,000 residents.
And if you look at it this way, this is why Dr. Fauci is worried. Still averaging 40,000 new infections a day.
And in 20 states, 20 states right now still have a positivity rate of 10 percent or more. That's based on yesterday. And 10 percent or more of the people getting tested coming back positive. That means 10 percent of the people with new infections and then the spread of infections.
[11:05:09]
You cannot get down to get that running are start unless you push this down.
And Dr. Fauci says the problem in the country right now is everywhere, but particularly among younger Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: We're seeing now in certain states, particularly states, for example, like Montana, the Dakotas, Michigan, Minnesota, there's an uptick in positive, people 19 to 25.
That's predictive, Jim, that if they don't do the kinds of things we're talking about, we're going to see a surge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Let's discuss now with Dr. Michael Mina. He's from the Harvard Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases.
Dr. Mina, it's good to see you again. Help people understand. Dr. You have if ay says because of the fall,
because more people will be indoors, because that is the season where you expect the virus to spike, also to collide with flu season, but let's just stick with coronavirus for a minute.
What does he mean and why is it so important to get to a quote, unquote running start? And I assume you agree with me that 40,000 new infections a day is not a running start.
DR. MICHAEL MINA, HARVARD DEPARTMENT OF IMMUNOLOGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Absolutely. And 40,000 is absolutely not where we should be aiming. We should be much, much lower. We need to get cases down before entering into the fall. And frankly. time is running out.
This is a virus that is very seasonal. And we haven't seen it yet in October, November and December. But these are the months when drives eds normally spike in our population.
So we are really running a risk of having major outbreaks if this virus turns out to act like its closest relative viruses and have a very high increase in transmission rates as we move into the fall.
KING: We're about to move into the fall, which is the challenge. Labor Day weekend is coming up for us which for many is that page-turning between summer and fall. We're at 40,000 on average new infections a day.
How low would you need to shove that baseline for you to feel more confident about the ability to manage this when we get from fall into early winter, and is there anything that can be done to shove it down that fast, that quickly?
MINA: Well, I would -- I would want to see zero cases to feel really great about it. But, you know, short of that, if every state had, for example, somewhere about one to two cases per 100,000, that would obviously be ideal, and we're nowhere close to that.
I think there's a few ways that we can handle this one. One of the major ways is for the federal government to have a coordinated response. We've yet to see that in any serious way.
And some of that would be working in a coordinated national to bring on rapid tests that everyone can use at home, for example, and really start sending the right messages out to the American public about how to deal with this virus.
Right now, the message is just all over the place from the federal government and we need to start having a coordinated response.
KING: Well, again, I appreciate your candor throughout this process. We've been at this for months, seven-months plus into this and we're having conversations about better testing and more available testing, two different things. Better testing as in reliable and more available as well.
And we're also having questions about a coordinated response to.
That points to what we've seen of late is we don't see the president in the briefing room with Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx urging Americans to follow the guidelines.
And instead the president has checked out, wants people to think all is well and get back to school.
So what you see is the task force is urgently sending memos to states try to do this quietly so as not to annoy the president.
Just in Georgia, June 29th, ensure public use of masks in all hot spots, mandate wearing of cloth face conversation, July 26th, mandate use of masks in all current hot sports.
And August 9th, current mitigation efforts are not having a sufficient impact and would strongly recommend a mask mandate.
Here is the federal government, the president of the United States task force, urging a Republican governor to help, do something, stop this, and it gets ignored.
MINA: Yes, and -- and these -- these -- politics have so deeply engrained themselves into our fight against this virus. And I think it does stem from the White House.
We -- you know, there are very good scientists and epidemiologists in the federal government but certainly the message that -- that Trump is sending to the world is don't worry about this. And that is absolutely the wrong message.
But that is the message that many governors around are the United States are unfortunately also distributing to their states.
KING: We do have fabulous people in the federal government, you're right, and in the science community. And they also have people like yourself that they can rely on around the country as institutions that do amazing research work.
[11:10:03]
And normally, that's a friendly relationship. People raise their hands every now and then and say I disagree, that's what you want in a conversation.
But there's a big question because we've seen pressure on the FDA and pressure on the CDC. There's a big worry among some in the public health community that they will rush a vaccine out, that there will be an emergency use authorization before it is quite ready.
I want you to listen. This is Dr. Francis Collins, one of the esteemed scientists in our government, saying I think we're OK here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. FRANCIS COLLINS, NIH DIRECTOR: I think that's unlikely, but I defend the CDC and their effort to try to be sure people are prepared. This is like the Boy Scout motto be prepared.
Even if it's very low likelihood, if everything happened to come together really beautifully and we had an answer by then and we knew we had a vaccine that was safe and effective, wouldn't you want people to be ready to figure out how to do the distribution? That's all that CDC is saying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: He was talking there about the CDC putting states on notice, be prepared for the possibility you'll be distributing a vaccine come late October or early November.
We know the president wants this out there before about the election, so some people get worried they are rushing it. Do you trust the Dr. Collins approach that this is just be prepared?
MINA: I think it's always good to be prepared so we should absolutely have states -- states should do everything as they can as early as they can to ensure that they know how they are going to be distributing the first batch of vaccines that come out works will be getting them and who will be the priority individuals. So absolutely they should be ready.
I think the concern by scientists and the public about whether or not these might be rushed are, I think it's a veiled concern given what we're seen.
But we're also hoping that everything -- and so far things with the vaccine trials do look like they have been going well and by the book, accelerated by still by the book.
KING: Many years of long, long time ago in the Boy Scouts. I know what be prepared, I know the oath and all that. I sure hope they are right about that and you're right about that.
Dr. Mina, grateful as always for your expertise and insights. Thank you, sir.
MINA: Absolutely.
KING: Up next for us, Joe Biden heads to Kenosha, Wisconsin, just two days, of course, after the president.
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[11:16:33]
KING: The president of the United States is supposed to uphold the law, not urge people to break it.
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TRUMP: Well, they will go out and they will vote and they will have to go and check their vote, which going to the poll and voting that way. Because if it -- if it tabulates, then they won't be able to do that. So let them send it in and let them go vote and if their system is as dad as they say it is, then obviously they won't be able to vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: That there the latest effort to undermine confidence in voting. North Carolina officials were clear, deliberately voting twice is illegal.
Joining me now is North Carolina's attorney general, Josh Stein.
General Stein, thanks so much for being here.
I hate to put you in the position of being a Trump translator.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: But what the president said yesterday was at least suggesting perhaps illegal conduct.
He's tweeting this morning -- I'm going to call it an effort to clean it up. I'm not sure that that's the right phrase or not.
But the president in a series of tweets based on a number of solicited and unsolicited vote. He said, "Sign and mail in your vote as early as possible and then go to a polling place or early voting location to make sure it's been tabulated."
My understanding was the whole thought of having increased early voting was to avoid crowds at polling places in the middle of a pandemic.
Is that responsible of the president to say cast your early ballot, but then also show up at a polling place to make sure it's been received and tabulated?
ATTORNEY GENERAL JOSH STEIN (D-NC): It's very poor advice, John. They have a system here -- we have a really strong election administration system here in North Carolina that ensures that every eligible voter can vote easily, safely and securely.
When you mail in your absentee ballot, you can track it online, and it will show on the Web site that your ballot has been received.
There's zero reason to go vote in person once you've mailed in your ballot.
KING: So you are the attorney general. You're also a politician. Help me here. Do you think the president is confused, that the president doesn't understand how elections work or the president is trying to sew doubt and uncertainty?
STEIN: A sires of actions he has taken concerning elections gravely concerns me.
Our country is unique in the history of the world. We've had more peaceful transfers of power than any nation ever, more than 20.
And the reason that it has succeeded here is because we all have faith in the outcome reflecting the will of the voters. So that when your side loses, you don't go to the streets with pitch forks. Instead you redouble your efforts to win the next election.
And he's trying to create this widespread belief that the election outcome is not going to be legitimate, and it's wrong.
In North Carolina, the person who wins the most votes will be the winner of the election. That's what's -- we have a very secure system.
His comments are troubling. Frankly, they sadden me as an American that he's doing this damage to people's faith in our democracy.
KING: Well, one of the things that is troubling to a lot of people that he's getting help.
You're the state attorney general of North Carolina. The attorney general of these United States just yesterday with my colleague Wolf Blitzer added this.
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WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: So far we haven't seen widespread fraud.
WILLIAM BARR, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: So far we haven't tried it. The point it --
(CROSSTALK)
[11:20:03]
BLITZER: But a lot of us -- There are several states that only have mail-in voting, including a Republican.
BARR: Wolf, this is playing with fire. This is playing with fire.
We're a very closely divided country here. And if people have to have confidence in the results of the election and the legitimacy of the government, and people trying to change the rules to this methodology, which as a matter of logic is open to fraud and coercion, is reckless and dangerous.
And people are playing with fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: I'm going to go first here. The attorney general used the words reckless and dangerous.
This is -- this is the attorney general, part of an administration that's actively tried to undermine confidence in the elections and says it's vital that people have confidence in the results.
Is it fire for people to vote by mail, or can you handle this? STEIN: Absolutely, we can handle it. In North Carolina, we have a
system whereby anyone who wants to vote by mail can. You do not have to have any reason other than that's what your preference is.
And this has been the law -- (AUDIO PROBLEM)
KING: Well, trying to have some patience here to see if our signal re- established itself.
Grateful for the time with the attorney general here.
Sometimes we lose our Internet connection.
Thank you, sir, very much for your time.
When we come back, the former vice president of the United States, Joe Biden, now the Democratic nominee, on his way to Kenosha two days after the president.
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[11:26:27]
KING: Joe Biden takes his turn in Kenosha, Wisconsin, looking to draw a leadership contrast with President Trump on issues of race and policing.
The president's visit Tuesday was all law and order. Biden's itinerary does include conversations with law enforcement but also time with the family of Jacob Blake. He, of course, is the black man shot seven times in the back by Kenosha police 11 days ago.
CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is on the ground in advance. Former vice president's trip in Kenosha.
Shimon, what's the mood on the ground there?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Things are very quiet here for the most part, John, since the days of the protests and the looting and some of the violence. Things have been very peaceful here, and it continues to be so.
We're not seeing the same anticipation that we saw ahead of the president's visit here. There aren't people walking around on any kind of signs.
We're not seeing the same level of law enforcement that was out during the president's visit so the mood is much different and it just continues to be almost like a normal day here.
Things are really getting back to normal. Stores are opening up, some of the coffee shops are now here serving outside and this is all in anticipation, as we anticipate at vice president and the former vice president's visit here.
He's going to meet with the family, the Jacob Blake family, and what this is really about from the campaign is they are focusing on the community here, talking to the community, meeting with the community.
And as you said some of the law enforcement here, but much different from what we saw from the president, who made it a pain to go visit a business owner and focused on some of the destruction and the violence that went on here.
Whereas, the former vice president is coming here more to kind of try to bring and unite the community -- John?
KING: Shimon Prokupecz on ground. We'll continue to watch developments throughout the day including the vice president's conversations.
Shimon, thanks so much.
President Trump, you might recall, compared the shooting to Jacob Blake to a golfer missing a clutch putt, saying perhaps the officer got nervous and in the president's words choked.
Democrat Biden says the officers in Kenosha and in another shooting in Kentucky should face charges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Last week, your running mate, Senator Harris, said that the officer who shot Jacob Blake, based on what she had seen, should be charged.
Do you agree with her, and do you also believe the same for the officers who were involved in the death of Breonna Taylor?
JOE BIDEN, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I think we should let the judicial system work its way. I do think there's a minimum need to be charged, the officers, and as well as Breonna Taylor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Joining me now is Wisconsin State Representative David Bowen.
Representative Bowen, good to see you again.
Last time we talked you were battling COVID. I hope you're doing well.
STATE REP. DAVID BOWEN (D-WI): Doing excellent by the grace of god so thanks so much for having me on.
KING: Great to see you and glad you're doing better.
The former vice president comes in today. You heard him say he believes the officer involved in the Blake shooting and the Breonna Taylor shooting in Kentucky, the officers should be charged. Is that the what you think?
BOWEN: Absolutely. That's what justice looks like. We need to hold police officers and law enforcement accountable in these situations.
And allowing them to escape prosecution is no way to be able to show the folks that are out there demanding justice, that have been out there advocating and protesting for more than I think 918 days today.
It's about making sure that this system can be accountable to the community and which it serves. Can it be accountable to black families and communities across this nation that continue to get the short end of the stick?
They are looking for transformation from the system, not just the same old same old with the status quo.
[11:30:07]
KING: And you're counting back the days to the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer that obviously.
