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President Trump Denies Reports He Disparaged U.S. Military Members; President Trump Criticizes Late Senator John McCain; Vice Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris Comments On Possibility Of Coronavirus Vaccine Before November Election; People On Manhattan Beach In California Practice Mask-Wearing And Social Distancing During Labor Day Weekend; President Trump Mocks Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden For Wearing A Mask. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired September 05, 2020 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:13]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello, thanks so much for joining me. You are watching a special Labor Day weekend edition of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

And as you celebrate this weekend, please keep in mind this sobering projection. A key model predicts more than 410,000 U.S. coronavirus deaths by January 1st, reaching nearly 3,000 deaths a day by December, just an unprecedented number. But human behavior, your actions, could make a difference. Health experts are urging do not be part of any potential super spreader events this weekend. Do not let your guard down for any Labor Day events.

Meantime, with the country struggling to get control of this deadly virus, the president is trying to get control of something else -- a report from "The Atlantic" magazine. President Trump has vehemently denied the magazine's reporting that he skipped a 2018 visit to a cemetery near Paris to honor U.S. troops killed in World War I because he was concerned rain would dishevel his hair. The report also alleges the president disparaged America's fallen soldiers, calling them suckers and losers.

CNN has not independently verified "The Atlantic's" report. President Trump told reporters that he, quote, called home to speak to his wife Melania, disappointed that he couldn't visit the cemetery that day. But if he had called home, she wouldn't have answered, because Melania was with him in France on that trip. Trump angrily denied the report during a press conference yesterday, using language that may sound familiar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's just a continuation of the witch hunt so that it can hopefully affect the election. These people have gone after me more than any president of the United States in history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Trump continues to defend himself on Twitter today, and he is saying he's worked so hard for the military, while also taking a swipe at late senator John McCain, a war hero whose funeral is also addressed in "The Atlantic" article. And MCcain isn't the only veteran the president is attacking. Trump also slammed his former chief of staff, John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine Corps general whose son died in Afghanistan. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know John Kelly. He was with me. Didn't do a good job, had no temperament, and ultimately, he was petered out. He was exhausted. This man was totally exhausted. He wasn't even able to function in the last number of months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: General Kelly has not commented on "The Atlantic's" report, which also claims the president questioned why anyone would enter military service as he stood alongside Kelly at Kelly's son's grave in Arlington National Cemetery in 2017.

Jeremy Diamond is at the White House for us. Jeremy, the president has questioned why Americans serve in the military before. What do we know?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Ana. A source who has heard the president make these remarks is now telling CNN that the president has repeatedly questioned why veterans of the Vietnam War ever went to war and served in the first place, suggesting in those conversations that Vietnam veterans didn't know how to exploit the system to avoid being drafted and to avoid serving in that war.

The president himself, of course, did not serve in the Vietnam War or in the military at all. Instead, he received multiple deferments to avoid the draft, including one medical deferment citing bone spurs as something that was not allowing him to be able to serve in the military.

This person also said that the president has questioned why veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars also went on to serve in those wars, questioning what did they get out of it, according to that source.

Now, the president, of course, has been denying all of these types of comments, insisting that he is a great supporter of the military and of veterans, claiming that nobody has done more for veterans than he has himself. But of course, we know that the president's public record on veterans, some veterans in particular, is mixed, including, of course, the president repeatedly denigrating former Senator John McCain, a Vietnam veteran who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for several years and who endured torture during that time.

The president in 2015 famously, of course, denigrating John McCain's service, arguing that he was not a hero because he was captured. The president yesterday was asked about those comments. Listen to his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I say what I say, and I never got along with John McCain. I disagreed with John McCain. You know that better than anybody, frankly. I wasn't a fan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And so you can see there the president saying no regrets as far as his comments denigrating John McCain's service. The president also went on to claim that he does respect John McCain, which is hard to believe given the fact that not only he denigrated McCain's service, but he has also criticized McCain repeatedly, even after he passed away. Ana?

[14:05:04]

CABRERA: Yes, and over the course of years, like you said, repeatedly. Thank you, Jeremy Diamond, at the White House.

I want to get someone who has more than a passing interest in this issue, a 38-year career U.S. military officer, retired Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. General, first and foremost, thank you for your service. We can't say that enough to our service members. You do sacrifice so much. You work so hard. Voices like yours are so important to hear when we try to interpret the president's attitudes toward the military.

Active duty men and women really can't make their true feelings publicly known, but you have never shied away from speaking freely. So tell us how you process this latest reporting, these allegations that the president spoke so disparagingly of fallen U.S. troops?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: First, Ana, let me point out that I can speak freely because I am now a citizen with a lot of experience in the military. And I see what's happening. It's interesting, because like many other of my colleagues, both retired and active, they're trying to figure out the president as well as understanding he's trying to figure out them.

What I would say, having studied leadership for a very long time, the president goes into the office with a transactional approach. It's I win, you lose, I gain, you are detracted from. So it is a win at any cost kind of scenario.

The military teaches transformational, not transactional leadership. Let's pull together as a team, let's help the society, let's grow as an organization, let's contribute to others. So there's a disconnect there between transactional leadership versus transformational leadership when you study both of those as approaches. So that's what --

CABRERA: So do you think he doesn't understand the military then?

HERTLING: Yes, I guarantee you he doesn't understand. And here's why. Every time he talks about how he helps the military, it's usually related to transactional events. I've given them more pay. I've given them more money for their budget. All of which is true, but there's some things you can debate in each one of those things. I'm getting military forces out of countries because they're not paying enough. It all has to do with monetary transactions.

What the military is interested in is national security. How do we contribute to peace so we don't have to fight? How do we ensure we take care of each other, not guarantee a monetary return, but care for one another. So there's a lack of understanding him to the military, the military to him. And I'm going to stand by that.

CABRERA: General, I just want to remind our viewers of that now infamous comment made by then-candidate Donald Trump in 2015. He was talking about Senator John McCain at the time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I supported him. He lost. He let us down. But he lost, so I never liked him as much after that, because I don't like losers.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: But, frank, let he get to him he hit me --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a war hero.

TRUMP: He's not a war hero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a war hero.

TRUMP: He's a war hero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five and a half years.

TRUMP: He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, OK, I hate to tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HERTLING: This week the president tweeted he never called John McCain a loser. But it's there on tape. He even brought up the late senator again in a tweet today. Can you even begin to explain why the president would continue to disparage this bona fide American war hero?

CABRERA: I don't use the word "hero" a lot, Ana, but what I will say is certainly Senator McCain, formerly Captain McCain, certainly did sacrifice quite a bit for a greater good. I think that may be part of this. I'm not a psychologist. I can't figure this out. But I think part of this is that the president sees in other people who contribute to a greater good, who sacrifice for others, he just perhaps doesn't really understand that psyche.

If he's not gaining something from an event -- it goes back to the transactional. If he's not gaining, then he must be losing. That's not the way the military looks at it. They look at how do we contribute to the greater good, and that's what certainly John McCain did when he was a prisoner of war for almost five years under some really dire and horrible conditions.

He is a hero to most in the military, because not only did he live up to his duty, but he lived up to his oath of office in terms of protecting the Constitution. The president could probably learn a lot from Senator McCain if he would quit slamming him.

CABRERA: Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, thank you for speaking out, and thank you, again, for your service.

HERTLING: Always a pleasure. Thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: Let's broaden the conversation with CNN political commentator and former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and former Republican strategist and co-founder of the Lincoln Project Rick Wilson. He's also the author of "Running Against the Devil." Rick, if President Trump is in one breath trying to project a more respectful view of the military, but then in the next breath is slamming a four-star marine general and a late prisoner of war, how concerned do you think the campaign is about his standing now with veterans and military families?

[14:10:07]

RICK WILSON, FORMER REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Ana, I think the campaign has spent the last 24 hours in a state of rising panic. This story isn't going away. These sources are, while they are off the record and anonymous, they're not unknown to the reporters who are covering it. They're reporting it as a credible story, including on the network that Donald Trump really cares about, which is FOX.

And so they have had a sense, as I said, of rising panic about this story. They recognize how deeply corrosive it is, and that it reveals the thing about Donald Trump that those of us who studied him closely understand -- he has contempt for everyone not named Donald Trump.

And so I think the revelations that Donald Trump believes that our troops who served and sacrificed are babies and dopes and suckers and idiots and all these things, I think that's been a very, very deadly moment for this campaign. And while it may not end Donald Trump's campaign, he can't afford to lose anyone in any demographic group right now in order to win this fall. And if he starts to lose military families, I wouldn't be surprised.

CABRERA: Governor, former secretary of defense Chuck Hagel urged the sources who gave that story to "The Atlantic" to come forward, because if they didn't, he fears Trump would get through this scandal and possibly win reelection. So a little bit of a different view than what we're hearing from Rick here. What do you think?

JENNIFER GRANHOLM, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, clearly, it would be helpful if those who were reporting to "The Atlantic" came forward. But honestly, you don't need them to come forward. He has been scamming us, Trump has been scamming us about his so-called love for the military for years. Now we have the receipts. When he denies -- just this past 24 hours, he denies calling John McCain a loser. We have the tape. When he says he respects the military, we now have witnesses who are coming forward to show us how he truly thinks.

But don't look at his words. Look at his actions. He has called vets suckers and losers over time. He doesn't want wounded vets in parades. Nobody wants to see that. He won't protect our soldiers from Putin's bounties. He won't even raise the subject with Putin. A top -- he blasted top military generals as a bunch of dopes and babies. He attacks the Gold Star Khan family.

Obviously, he's been attacking McCain. He's abandoned our military allies like the Kurds against the advice of military experts, not to mention his slavish devotion to dictators that have historically been our enemies, like Putin and Kim Jong-un. He cuts the "Stars and Stripes" but immediately turns around and reinstates it because of the backlash. He's pardoning people who have been convicted war generals against the generals' advice. He's using the military as props for political stunts. We could go on and on.

This is why "Military Times" poll last week before all of this had Biden up 41 to 37 against Trump among active duty personnel. People are seeing the con.

CABRERA: So much more to discuss. Governor Granholm, Rick Wilson, please stay with me.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's late son Beau served in the military and received a Bronze Star, and now Joe Biden is reacting. Stay with us.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If it's true, and based on all the things he's said, I believe the article is true, I would ask you all the rhetorical question -- how do you feel? How would you feel if you had a kid in Afghanistan right now? How would you feel if you lost a son, daughter, husband, wife? How would you feel, for real?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden delivering an emotional condemnation of the president in light of that report that alleges President Trump called wounded and fallen soldiers losers and suckers. Biden's late son Beau served in the military with a yearlong stint in Iraq.

Rick Wilson and Jennifer Granholm are back with us now.

Governor Granholm, what did you make of this raw response from Biden? And what do you see as his best next step forward when it comes to capitalizing politically on this chaos Trump has found himself in? GRANHOLM: Let me, I just -- that response was not a political

response. That was a genuine, from-the-heart response, the father of somebody who has served his country and who is now dead. All of these parents of soldiers who have lost people, they have a very raw response. And I am so grateful that the Biden team is putting him out there just to respond in an honest way.

Strategically, if you were thinking strategically, you would say in politics, you answer a tuba with a tuba. You don't answer a tuba with a piccolo. And Joe Biden is coming out answering with a tuba, but he is being legitimate and honest about it. Obviously, their strategy going forward and their next steps have to involve a continued effort at pointing out this administration's gross mismanagement of the COVID crisis and the attenuated deaths, and 400,000 people who are projected to die because of this administration's failure to exhort people to even wear masks.

He's going to continue to do this. But these moments that show people who Joe Biden is and his deep and sincere respect for the military, I think that's very important for people to see that contrast.

CABRERA: Rick, the debates, obviously, will offer an opportunity to have more of a broad discussion one-on-one about this issue and many others, and we're learning regarding the debate that the president is also preparing for the presidential debates. And according to our reporting, the Trump campaign has requested that the candidates appear on stage with one another during the debates in hopes of thwarting any attempt to conduct the debates virtually. It's still unclear whether there will be an audience at any of them.

[14:20:03]

So first, he's prepping. What does that signal to you? And second, if it is all virtual, how much could that hurt the president who he's always fed off the audience and thrived on putting on a show?

WILSON: Look, Donald Trump is a carny. He is a showman. He's a vaudevillian in politics. He loves the audience. He loves playing to the audience. There are always a lot of asides and nods and winks and little physicalities toward the folks who are watching him. And he loves -- the bigger the better when it comes to the audience.

A virtual debate would deprive Donald Trump of the spectacle he's going to try to put together in terms of the same sort of things he did with Hillary Clinton, like lurking over her and trying to use his height and getting in her personal space, et cetera. He'll try that with Biden in a live debate. He won't be able to do it in a virtual debate.

But I have to say this. I think that the fact that Donald Trump is prepping may be a little bit of spin by the campaign. He has a very high regard for his skill in debates, and he has a track record of being able to use the transgressive and explosive trickery he's deployed in the past. As you see these guys like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush who all got left as puddles on the ground after Trump went at them, because they didn't understand something I think Biden does. Biden understands when a bully punches you, you punch back. And when he punches you again, you punch back again, and you keep going at him.

And you also bring, as Jennifer very aptly pointed out, genuine emotion to it, where it's not just something performative, it's not just something like I feel strongly. It is deeply held stuff. That event yesterday that Biden did, that press conference he did yesterday was so visceral and so right in the center of his emotional core that I think if he brings a performance like that to the debates, he's going to have a very good night, no matter whether it's a live or a virtual debate.

Biden's running mate Senator Kamala Harris just spoke exclusively with our Dana Bash, and here's what she said when asked about the possibility of a coronavirus vaccine being available before the November election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: But do you trust that in the situation where we're in now that the public health experts and scientists will get the last word on the efficacy of a vaccine?

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If past is prologue, they will not. They'll be muzzled, they'll be suppressed, they will be sidelined because he's looking at an election coming up in less than 60 days, and he's grasping for whatever he can get to pretend that he's been a leader on this issue when he has not.

BASH: So let's just say there's a vaccine that is approved and even distributed before the election. Would you get it?

HARRIS: Well, I think that's going to be an issue for all of us. I will say that I would not trust Donald Trump, and it would have to be a credible source of information that talks about the efficacy and the reliability of whatever he's talking about. I will not take his word for it. He wants us to --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Governor Granholm, quick answer, if you will. How much do you see the potential release of a vaccine reshaping this election?

GRANHOLM: I don't see it reshaping the election unless people have confidence that it is ready to go. And that's not what we're hearing at this moment.

CABRERA: That was nice and quick. Thank you, Governor Granholm.

(LAUGHTER)

CABRERA: And Rick Wilson, thank you both for having the conversation with me. I appreciate you.

WILSON: Thank you. CABRERA: On this Labor Day weekend, any other year Americans would be

celebrating the unofficial end of summer with cookouts, a last summer trip, perhaps, to the pool, other get-togethers. But this year public health experts are urging Americans to practice caution as they fear a post Labor Day surge in coronavirus cases. Are you listening to their warnings? We'll take you live to the west coast next. You're in the CNN Newsroom. Stay right there.

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[14:28:26]

CABRERA: The U.S. coronavirus death toll now tops 188,000 as a key model projects more than 410,000 U.S. deaths from this virus by January 1st, in just four months. The president insists the nation is winning the battle against the virus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: By the way, we're rounding the corner. We're rounding the corner on the virus. Hospitalizations and deaths have continued to decline over the past week, very substantially decline.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Here's how Dr. Anthony Fauci responded when CNN's Jim Acosta asked him about the president's comment you just heard there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What do you make of that characterization?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I'm not sure what he means.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Meanwhile, experts are warning the Labor Day holiday weekend could become a virus super spreader if people let down their guard. I want to go to CNN's Paul Vercammen in Manhattan Beach, California. And Paul, Manhattan Beach is a popular gathering spot, and the weather is hot in California this weekend. What safety precautions are you seeing today?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are seeing a lot of cooperation with the people here at Manhattan Beach so far. They are wearing their masks, and we're seeing social distancing. But you have a supreme test this weekend, Ana, and that's because we have the potential for record-breaking heat. In fact, the National Weather Service saying it might even be a deadly heat in some instances, 117 up in the east San Fernando Valley.

And then you have all these people who are coming down here wanting to recreate, get out of that heat. But we talked to people on the Manhattan Beach pier, and here's what they said about why they are being diligent wearing their masks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:30:05]

KIM MERINO, BEACHGOER: I see a lot of people, they are wearing their masks, so it's sort of like a public shaming of if you don't you're kind of out on your island. But it's pretty easy, at least here in L.A. it is.

MORGAN, BEACHGOER: People are just sort of doing whatever it is they have to do just to get by. I think that what's being asked of us isn't too extreme, and I think that if this is what we need to do to be able to come out and enjoy this, why not?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And no doubt the fear of fines is being put into people here in Manhattan Beach. First time caught without a mask on down here, $100 fine, then $200, then $350 thereafter. So this weekend, as we said, the supreme test between trying to keep yourself COVID-19 safe, as well as cool off in this absolutely scorching heat wave, Ana.

CABRERA: Boy, do those waves look inviting to all of us. Thank you, Paul Vercammen, for that report. Hope you stay cool as well.

Joining us now is Dr. Paul Offit, Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the FDA Vaccine Advisory Board. Dr. Offit, great to have you here. The president told Americans last night he thinks they could have a vaccine by October, but we also have this reporting that he's putting pressure on the FDA to produce good news ahead of the election. So are you confident that whatever comes out of the FDA, it will, in fact, be just based on science and not politics?

DR. PAUL OFFIT, FDA VACCINE ADVISORY BOARD: Well, I think there are two things working in favor of Americans. One is that you have a data safety monitoring board. That's the group that oversees these trials. It's made of academicians and researchers who are not affiliated with the government, they're not affiliated with pharmaceutical companies. They will give you an honest assessment about whether or not they think the vaccines work and are safe.

Also you have the FDA's Vaccine Advisory Committee on which I sit, which will also give you -- again, it's academicians, not associated with government, not associated with pharmaceutical companies. We, too, will give you an honest assessment of whether we think these vaccines work and are safe and are ready to be rolled out into the arms of the American public.

The problem is that the FDA is not an independent group. They are part of Health and Human Services, which is part of the executive branch. Can they be politicized? Yes. They've been politicized with the hydroxychloroquine decision.

They've been politicized with the convalescent plasma decision. So that's what makes people worry. As long as we rely on the DSM, Data Safety Monitoring Board, and the FDA's Vaccine Advisory to give good advice, I think we're going to be OK. But if the FDA again gets politicized, as it did in those other two instances, then I think it's a problem.

CABRERA: Doctor, we're looking at these live images from Asbury Park, New Jersey, and the beaches are just packed. I want to ask you about that in just a moment, and we'll come back to those live images. But a quick follow on the comments that you made about the vaccine and when it's ready and how the public can have confidence in it.

We have seen some troubling things out of the FDA recently. We had the emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine that had to be reversed, along with the botched announcement on convalescent plasma. Do you feel comfortable when the FDA chief says he could approve a COVID-19 vaccine before phase three trials are over?

OFFIT: It rarely happens where the phase three trials can be stopped early. If there's clear, overwhelming, statistically robust evidence that it works and that it's safe, that does happen. It's rare. I can't imagine that would happen by the end of October given the size of these trials and given how many people would have to get sick in the placebo group to know that this vaccine clearly works. So that, per se, doesn't bother me.

What bothers me is if in any way this vaccine is short-circuited, that would be a big problem, because we need this vaccine to get us out of this mess. That, along with hygienic measures is our way out of this. And if the public doesn't trust this vaccine, it's going to be a long road to finally getting this virus under control.

CABRERA: You talked about the need for public to take proper measures in order to stay safe and reduce spread until we have a vaccine, and yet we have live pictures this weekend now at this beach in New Jersey. People are packed on the beach there. That doesn't sound or look like people are heeding the warnings about this weekend being a potential super spreader opportunity. What's your reaction when you see these types of images?

OFFIT: I think the most ironic part of all of this is we have two ways to get this virus under control, hygienic measures -- masks, social distancing, wash hands -- and a vaccine. If you have to answer the question, which of those two is the most powerful, it's the hygienic measures. If I wear a mask and stand six feet away from you and you wear a mask, I'm not going to catch a virus from you, you're not going to catch it to me.

If I get a vaccine that's remarkably successful, if you ask researchers and clinicians what would they love from a vaccine, they'd love to see a vaccine that's 75 percent effective against moderate to severe disease, which means one out of every four people that get it still may not be protected. And it's also probably not going to protect most people against mild disease or asymptomatic disease where you can still shed virus.

[14:35:07] So even if you've gotten a vaccine, you still need to wear a mask, and I just think that's going to be a very hard message to get across to people. And if people just say, OK, great, I've gotten a vaccine. Now I can throw away masks, I can engage in high-risk activity, I think we're going to be right back to where we started.

CABRERA: And yet we heard the president just this week mock Joe Biden for wearing a mask. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But did you ever see a man that likes a mask as much as him? And then he makes a speech, and he always has it -- not always, but a lot of times he has it hanging down, because you know what, it gives him a feeling of security. If I were a psychiatrist, right?

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: No, I'd say -- I'd say this guy has got some big issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Doctor, quick final thought here. If you had a chance to speak to the president, what would you say?

OFFIT: I would say that we need to get this economy back on track. You, more than anybody knows we need to get this economy back on track. The best way to do that, the smartest way to do that is the way other countries have done it, was to recognize that this is a contagious virus, that we need to wear masks and social distance and be as smart as we can, as surgical as we can about trying to get ourselves back to work. And what he's doing, I think, by essentially mocking wearing masks, which is probably the most powerful thing we can do, is only to delay something that he wants, which is to get our economy back in order. It's hard to watch.

CABRERA: Not to mention saving thousands of American lives potentially. Dr. Paul Offit, really appreciate all that you do. Thank you for coming on and sharing your expertise.

OFFIT: Thank you.

CABRERA: Coming up, how an aspiring American writer was unwittingly lured into a Russian plot to meddle in the 2020 election. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Now a CNN exclusive. A 26-year-old American who lost his job due to COVID-19 got roped to an apparent Russian plot to meddle in the 2020 election. Jack Delaney is his name, an aspiring writer living in Brooklyn, New York. He thought he got a lucky break when an online magazine offered him a paid columnist role. Little did he know he had been recruited by a Russian troll farm. I want to bring in CNN's Donie O'Sullivan who broke this story. And Donie, what exactly was the scheme, and how did Delaney even realize what was going on?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN POLITICS AND TECHNOLOGY REPORTER: Hey, Ana. Yes, this story is like something taken from the pages of a spy novel. Jack Delaney was over the moon earlier this summer when he heard from an editor from what looked like a legitimate leftwing independent news website. But all was not it seemed. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACK DELANEY, FREELANCE WRITER: This isn't the way I wanted to be getting media attention or getting notoriety. It's embarrassing, right? It's like I wrote for a foreign government, and I had no idea.

O'SULLIVAN: Jack Delaney is a 26-year-old aspiring writer who lost his day job at a restaurant because of COVID-19, so he was delighted when somebody calling themselves Alex Lacusta messaged him on Twitter offering him a job writing for Peace Data, a leftwing news website.

DELANEY: The message was saying, hey, we like your work. Would you like to write for us? Would you like to be a part of our publication? We can offer you about $200, $250 per article. And at that time I was, like, that sounds like a good opportunity for me, I can make money, get my work published.

O'SULLIVAN: Everything seemed to look normal to Delaney.

DELANEY: I looked at all the editors, or a few of the editors, saw that there was LinkedIn accounts matched to their names, their pictures were popping up on Google image searches. So at a glance it looked legitimate.

O'SULLIVAN: But Lacusta wasn't who he said he was. In fact, he didn't exist at all, and Peace Data wasn't an independent leftwing site. It is, according to Facebook, acting on a tip from an FBI, a Russian influence operation. Peace Data says the accusations are baseless. The Russian government has not commented.

DELANEY: I'm obviously no fan of Putin or the Russian government, so it was concerning, obviously. I don't want to have any association with an authoritarian regime. So I can't put it in any other words. It was one of the strangest experiences of my life.

O'SULLIVAN: It must be quite surreal to hear about this and say, oh, my god, am I part of a Russian disinformation campaign?

DELANEY: It's totally surreal. I was completely unwittingly doing it. I had no idea that they were linked to the Kremlin or anything. Obviously, if I had known, I wouldn't have done that. It seemed like -- it seemed legitimate from what I saw.

O'SULLIVAN: The whole thing apparently a Russian con. Even the profile picture of Delaney's editor, not a picture of a real person but an image of a face generated by a computer through artificial intelligence.

I was looking at that picture, and there's no way I could have told that there was anything off about it, that it was a fake image. It looks so real.

DELANEY: It looks like a head shot. It just looked like a standard head shot of an editor that I've seen other places. It didn't tip me off as being a fake image, obviously. I had no way to tell.

O'SULLIVAN: And Jack wasn't alone. CNN spoke to three other Americans who were also co-opted, all paid online. And it was all done by people linked to the Internet Research Agency, according to Facebook. That's the same Russian troll group that interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

DELANEY: I'm more mad at myself for this happening than at Vladimir Putin or Russia or anything. I should have had my guard up a little bit more.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'SULLIVAN: So you might be wondering, what's the point of all of this? Why would Russians or anybody do this? It's all about adding fuel to the fire, inflaming existing divisions here in the U.S., and using real Americans to make these sites and social media pages seem credible.

[14:45:07]

We know from the U.S. intelligence community that Russia is trying to meddle in November's election, and Ana, this is just an example of some of the tactics that are being used.

CABRERA: So important to raise that awareness as we learn about it. Donie O'Sullivan, you're doing great work. Thank you for your reporting.

Speaking of Russia, one of the most memorable and infamous moments of President Trump's first term came during a summit with Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, a moment revisited by Jake Tapper as part of a new CNN special report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being in Helsinki for President Trump's press conference with Vladimir Putin is one thing I will never forget for the rest of my life. When he says that he talked to Vladimir Putin, that he believed him.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He just said it's not Russia. I don't see any reason why it would be.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vladimir Putin, this former KGB agent, for the president to take his word like that was so stunning.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Why does he seem to like Putin despite the fact that Putin is perhaps the primary enemy of the United States?

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I think the president repeatedly confuses having good personal relationships with foreign leaders with having good overall bilateral relationships between the two countries.

TAPPER: Trump's public allegiance to President Putin, according to former National Security Adviser John Bolton, has led the president to resist intelligence warnings about Russia.

What was it like briefing him?

BOLTON: It was clear he wasn't reading much of the material he was being sent. So I tried to be opportunistic in finding circumstances where I could convey information I felt that he needed. But I don't think that proved very successful.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: I've been in briefings many times when the president is being briefed on everything from domestic issues to national security issues to foreign policy issues. He's a listener. People miss how patient he is. I think that comes from being a dealmaker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Be sure to tune in. That CNN Special Report airs this Monday on Labor Day at 10:00 p.m. following a documentary on Joe Biden's political journey at 8:00. Stay with us.

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[14:51:41]

CABRERA: Welcome back. Today's Kentucky Derby will be like no other, delayed, first, since May due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And when the horses race now in just over four hours, the seats inside Churchill Downs will be mostly empty. Outside, however, Louisville police are bracing for protesters who are demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old black woman and EMT who was shot and killed by officers during a March police raid. CNN's Jason Carroll joins us live from Louisville. Jason, what are you seeing so far, and what is expected?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, we're in downtown Louisville, about 20 minutes or so from Churchill Downs, and we saw a confrontation between white militia members and members of Black Lives Matter right here in the middle of the street. You can see there are two dump trucks. Both groups have been separated now and they've dispersed, but one of the windows here broken out.

I want to get to the video so you can see exactly what we witnessed a little earlier. Again, for about 30 or 40 minutes these two groups clashed in heated exchanges right in the middle of the street. For a time, we witnessed some members yelling at each other, saying we're going to go in one direction, you're going to go in another direction.

Some of the members of the white militia heavily armed. It is illegal legal in the state of Kentucky to open carry. But at one point Louisville Metro P.D. moved in, took position in the middle of the street, separated both groups, and both groups eventually dispersed. Now, in addition to that, in a separate demonstration across town,

you're going to have members of those people who are in support of Breonna Taylor, they're going to gather at a park and eventually march over to Churchill Downs. They plan to hold a rally just as the race is getting under way at 7:00. I spoke to one of the organizers, and I want you to listen to what he had to say about the significance of holding a rally on Derby day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY FINDLEY JR., FOUNDER, JUSTICE AND FREEDOM COALITION: Well, we know the eyes of the world are on our city during this weekend. Generally, the Kentucky Derby is the Super Bowl here in Louisville, Kentucky. So we knew with this kind of platform, with this kind of megaphone, that we could really blast our message to the rest of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: So, Ana, in that separate demonstration, they are expecting several hundred people if not more to show up. They say it will be a nonviolent demonstration, but there will also be acts of civil disobedience. Ana?

CABRERA: Jason Carroll, keep us posted. Thank you, sir.

Let's turn to something maybe a little more uplifting. Mural painters in Atlanta sending a message to neighborhoods hit hard by coronavirus in this week's Impact Your World.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FABIAN WILLIAMS, ARTIST: We're not seeing visual cues of a pandemic. Turning the murals that people have been looking at for the last few years into a statement saying, hey, put on your mask and stop the infection, it's just another form of visual messaging, and I feel like it's an underused tool.

SHERRI DAYE SCOTT, FOUNDER, BIG FACTS, SMALL ACTS: Big Facts, Small Acts is 100 percent volunteer campaign. We have a series of murals across the city being outfitted with vinyl masks. And they're final versus actually painting over the various murals because the idea is this is not permanent. We're disproportionately seeing black and brown people be impacted by this disease.

[14:55:01]

We very much wanted to target people who we know are hourly workers and essential workers, people who we knew had to be out and about. We also have put out about 100 masks into the community. Our hashtag is Big Facts Small Acts. And anything that you see that we put out from our yard signs to our murals to our promotional videos have that hashtag which then drive back to either our webpage or our social media challenge so that people can find those tips on how to stay safe and keep others safe.

WILLIAMS: On the MLK piece, I wrote "We Going To Be All Right". It's a song from Kendrick Lamar. It's true, we're going to get through this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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