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Three Tell-All Books Expose Trump; Unemployed Americans Are 11.5 Million Above Since February; White House And Congress Stimulus Talks Stalled; Novak Djokovic Out Of U.S. Open; Not Trustworthy, Kamala Harris Says Of Trump On Vaccine. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired September 06, 2020 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Thanks to joining for us a special Labor Day weekend edition of "CNN Newsroom." I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. And America is now just 58 days away from choosing the next president of the United States. And President Donald Trump is playing defense against an onslaught of tell-all books.

CNN has obtained a copy of Michael Cohen's new book, "Disloyal, A Memoir" and the allegations are damning. For example, in the wake of Trump's presidential kickoff announcement in 2015, Cohen says Trump told him, "I will never get the Hispanic vote. Like the blacks, they are too stupid to vote for Trump. They are not my people."

Cohen also says that after president Obama's win in 2008, Trump ranted, "Tell me one country by a black person that isn't a s-hole (ph). They are all complete effing toilets."

And that's not the only tell-all coming out this week. According to the "Washington Post," former FBI agent Peter Strzok alleges in his book compromised that investigators had to consider whether Russia was secretly controlling Trump after he took office.

He writes, "Given what we knew or had cause to suspect about Trump's compromising behavior in the weeks, months and years leading up to the election, it also seemed conceivable if unlikely that Moscow had indeed pulled off the most stunning intelligence achievement in human history, secretly controlling the president of the United States. A Manchurian candidate elected."

Now, the president's character is also under fire for alleged remarks about America's war dead. A former senior administration official tells CNN that Trump referred to fallen U.S. service members in crude and derogatory terms during the president's 2018 trip to France largely confirming a report from "The Atlantic" magazine which cited sources who said Trump referred to U.S. war dead as losers and suckers.

Let's get over to the White House now and CNN's Jeremy Diamond. And Jeremy, I just mentioned two new books that are about to hit the shelves that paint the president in an unflattering light to put it lightly. In fact, there is also a third behind the scenes book out next week,

this one from Bob Woodward, multiple Pulitzer Prize winner. Three very high visibility tell-all books landing right about the same time. Tell us, what is the White House saying about them?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And all these books are landing around the same time and at this critical juncture where Americans are beginning to tune into the presidential race and decide who they want to be their next president, whether they want to give another four years or go for Joe Biden.

Three of these books are going to help voters perhaps shape their views of the president. You have of course the Michael Cohen book in which he refers to the president as a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man, and that's just in one sentence of that book.

And then you have the book by Peter Strzok in which you said -- as you said, he recounts how the FBI had to consider the possibility that the president was a Manchurian candidate. He also talks about viewing the president today as a national security threat.

And then there is of course this book by veteran journalist Bob Woodward. We don't yet know the details of that book other than sources have already told CNN that Woodward has interviewed the president multiple times for this book and that it is expected to offer explosive accounts of the president's thoughts and handling of various national security issues as well as the coronavirus pandemic.

So far, we have heard the president disparage Bob Woodward already as kind of a prebuttal, saying that the Bob Woodward book will be a fake. But as for the White House, the reaction we have so far is to the Michael Cohen book, and that is in a statement from the White House press secretary, Kaleigh McEnany.

She writes in a statement, "Michael Cohen is a disgraced felon and disbarred lawyer who lied to Congress. He has lost all credibility and it's unsurprising to see his latest attempt to profit off of lies."

Now, there is no question that Michael Cohen himself has some serious credibility issues that he is going to have to address as he tries to sell this book. Michael Cohen, of course, has pleaded guilty to nine federal charges including one count of lying to Congress.

And of course, he has a track record of bullying and lying to reporters on behalf of course of the man who he's now trying to get out of office, President Trump, Ana.

CABRERA: Jeremy Diamond, thank you. Joining us now, White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks April Ryan and former chief campaign strategist and adviser to President Clinton, Paul Begala. So, April, let me just read this again.

[17:04:59]

This is Michael Cohen quoting Trump, he says -- and this is what he said about President Obama's victory in 2008, "Tell me one country run by a black person that isn't an s-hole (ph). They are all complete effing toilets."

He also quote him as saying back in 2015 while he was running, "I will never get the Hispanic vote like the blacks. They are too stupid to vote for Trump. They are not my people."

Yes, those quotes are shocking, but the White House says consider the source, calling Michael Cohen a disgraced felon with no credibility. This has been their go to argument after other bombshell books, of course. But do you think the campaign or President Trump himself is worried?

APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, here is what I'm going to say about this, Ana. Consider the source according to Kayleigh McEnany. At the end of the day, anyone who challenges this president has a credibility issue. But if I look back at the "Washington Post" as of July 15th, there have been 20,000 lies by this president.

So, who has the credibility issue? Then let's look at the dozens of books that have been written. There is a common thread; Racism, lies, national security, ineptitude in office. So, there is something going on and I'm going to be more inclined to believe Michael Cohen because the thread is there.

CABRERA: Paul, beyond whether Cohen is credible, these alleged comments aren't exactly out of left field based on what the president has said in the past publicly and of course past reporting as April referred to. So even if people do believe it though, are Americans at this point desensitized for it to make much of a difference politically?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think that the fact that the White House is responding so aggressively means they think it's hurting him, and of course it is. This is a good country and it does not want to have a racist president, and I use that word advisedly.

John Lewis, the hero of the civil rights movement, one of many heroes of the civil rights movement, he used that word about Mr. Trump. And I have to say, Mr. Cohen's book, very flawed source, April is right. She is a good journalist. You look at other ways to confirm.

And the president has used that kind of foul language about African nations in the past. And I think it's completely plausible. I mean, the guy's political career began with the birther racist lie about President Obama.

CABRERA: Yes. April, in elections there is always this tradition of looking out for the October surprise. And in 2016, it was now that infamous release of the "Access Hollywood" tape. In 2000, it was the news of Bush being arrested for drunk driving back in the '70s.

But at this point, we already have at least three tell-all books on the president coming out this week. We have allegations that he disparaged dead soldiers. I mean, what surprises could possibly be left? RYAN: You know, just when you think enough has been enough and it

can't get worse, it gets worse. And I'm just going to be honest with you. I'm holding on to my seat because we've never seen anything like this.

This experiment is an experiment that's gone wrong with the president of the United States who is a person who never had governance, who understand the severity of words, who does not understand that our military is to be revered, not to be laughed at or mocked especially when you had bone spurs to keep you out of serving the country that you are now running.

So, at the end of the day, I don't know. I'm holding on to my seat like everyone else, but after a certain point you have to believe what is being said because there are too many credible people are saying things and there are too many hot mic moments that we're hearing about.

CABRERA: We know how important the military family vote is for this president, Paul, the veterans and that's an important part of the Republican base in general. In the wake of this "Atlantic" article I should say, we've learned the Biden campaign is investing in ads to target military families. And I just want to show a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TEXT: "Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers." -- President Donald J. Trump.

TEXT: "Suckers." -- President Donald J. Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And it ends on an image of John McCain's funeral. How effective is this?

BEGALA: It's very powerful. You know, the military is the most respected institution in America for a reason. And for this man to disparage the war dead, to insult the troops, this is by the way a community that, you're right, traditionally has voted Republican.

But there was a "Military Times" poll even before the "Atlantic" article came out, which showed that Trump was losing active duty military to Biden. The notion -- it is the worst thing a president can do, is to disparage those who gave their lives for our country.

[17:10:00]

It's just -- even for me, it is shocking. And April is right, it comes from a guy who has a track record of doing this and insulting Senator McCain and other POW's saying that they are not heroes, of denigrating according to the "Atlantic" article, General Dunford, because he is smart, why would he join the military.

You know, that powerful ad from Biden I think is right on target because, you know, a lot of us have -- I never served a day, but my dad served in the army, my stepfather served in the army, my grandfather was wounded in Europe, my father-in-law lies in honor in Arlington as a hero of that Vietnam war. You tell me that those guys were suckers, man. He is just -- he is lucky that he is so old and frail that nobody wants to punch him in the nose.

CABRERA: It's painful to hear these allegations. A lot of us have family members who have served. April, the first debate of the general election is September 29th and we will see two men on stage who in the past have literally threatened to beat each other up. Remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDNENTIAL CANDIDATE: The press always asks me don't I wish I were debating him. No, I wish we're in high school I could take him behind the gym. That's what I wish.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Did you see where Biden wants to take me to the back of the barn? Me. He wants to. I'd love that. I'd love that. Mr. Tough Guy. You know, he is Mr. Tough Guy. You know when he's Mr. Tough Guy, when he is standing behind a microphone by himself, that is when he -- he wants to bring me to the back of the barn. Some things in life you could really love doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: As someone who covers this president, April, what are you hearing about how President Trump is preparing for this upcoming debate?

RYAN: Well, like he's done in the past, you can expect the same. He is a president who does not deal with policy. He doesn't deal with initiatives. He deals with personal attacks and he goes gutter.

We saw how he talked about Jeb Bush when he was going up against the Republicans. We saw how he talked about Ted Cruz. This is all how he talked about everyone. Demoralized them, talked about their hair pieces or their hair, talked about their shoes, talked about how size matters, and we're not going to go even go into that.

But at the end of the day, we can expect some of the same. This is a president who is not good on policy, but good on personal attacks. And expect some gutter tactics. And remember that debate with Hillary Clinton where he brought the accusers of Bill Clinton.

Those were the kinds of things that this president likes to do. So we can expect to hear some old things coming back, maybe even birtherism, maybe even something talking about the president's son, but we can expect it to be gutter.

CABRERA: Paul, let me flip it. How do you think Biden is preparing to debate Trump and what advice would you give him?

BEGALA: The most important thing is to listen to April. April is exactly right. This guy plays gutter politics and the personal attacks. And I could tell you what he's going to do. He ((inaudible) aggressive punches. He's going to attack Joe Biden's son. His only surviving son, Hunter. He may even attack Beau, the former attorney general of Delaware, Joe Biden's son who has passed now.

He'll do anything to try to get under Biden's skin. What Biden has to do though is to take those personal attacks and turn them away, deflect them and respond about the American people's lives, you know, because the truth is Hunter Biden either way is going to be fine whether his father wins or not. He is a very successful attorney.

The question is will your son, will your daughter, will your family be better off? That's why Trump is doing his Trump attacks like that because he can't defend his record. And it's going to be an artful thing, we've heard (ph) difficult thing. Because, you know, Joe's got a temper and you attack his family, man, and it brings out the Irish in him.

And so he's going to have to really do that turn and respond not defending his own family but defending the families of the fallen, defending the families who've lost their jobs, defending the families of 188,000 who died of coronavirus. That is where he's got to put his emphasis.

CABRERA: Paul Begala, thank you. April Ryan, as always, thank you both. Of course, it's a holiday weekend so extra thanks. And I have to say, April, before I let you go, happy birthday.

RYAN: Thank you, Ana. Thank you (inaudible).

CABRERA: Maybe join us. And may you feel special. Enjoy, enjoy the rest of the day.

RYAN: Thank you.

CABRERA: Thanks again.

RYAN: Thank you.

CABRERA: Well, the country is down 11.5 million jobs since February. And that's even after the most recent unemployment numbers came out which, you know, showed signs that were positive. Congress and the White House, they are is still at an impasse on an additional stimulus package right now while Americans continue to suffer under the financial burdens caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

So, what can be done to help? Former Democratic presidential candidate, Andrew Yang, joins us live to discuss, next. You are live in the "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:00]

CABRERA: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi can agree on one thing, keep the government open. The two decided in principle to keep the government funded through the end of the month. What they can't seem to get done is another coronavirus stimulus bill. The Democrats have been pushing for a multi-trillion dollar deal to

provide funding for schools, rent, health providers and small businesses. Now, on the Republican side, that price tag is simply too high. Here is Secretary Mnuchin earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN MNUCHIN, TREASURY SECRETARY: In my discussions with the Speaker, where we're really stuck is both on certain policy issue, but more importantly on the top line. The Speaker has refused to sit down and negotiate unless we agree to something like a $2.5 trillion deal in advance.

And Bret, as you know, we put $3 trillion into the economy when the economy was completely shut down. We've now reopened the economy. Well, let's do a more targeted bill now if we need to do more --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:20:00]

CABRERA: Joining us now, Andrew Yang, a former Democratic presidential candidate and CNN political commentator. Always good to have you here, Andrew. Help, unfortunately, is not on the way. Both sides still at an impasse while Americans suffer. Why do you think they can't even get a simple bill in place?

ANDREW YANG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Ana, the people I talk to are furious that Congress went on vacation without an additional stimulus bill. And unfortunately, millions of households around the country are now suffering through an inability to meet their rent payments, to pay their grocery bills.

And the problem is the incentives in D.C. are not aligned with the interests of the people. And I hope that when these members of Congress went back to their districts, they heard it from their constituents saying you got to get back to D.C. and pass a stimulus bill because people are hurting, businesses are closing right and left.

CABRERA: Well, isn't this bad politically for them?

YANG: It is, which is why I think so many of us were shocked that they couldn't come to an agreement.

CABRERA: Right.

YANG: And when you look at the price tag that they are talking about, trillions of dollars is the size of the hole in the economy. It just makes economic sense. And you talk to any economist out there, they'll say putting buying power into the hands of the American people is the right move.

And 75 percent of Americans agree with the direct cash relief during the pandemic. So, it is beyond me why the Republicans in particular do not do what their constituents are begging them to do. CABRERA: But given the unemployment rate is falling, do you think

we're now through the worst of the job losses or is the economic impact of the coronavirus still yet to be determined?

YANG: We are down over 11 million jobs from when the pandemic began and Joe Biden and economists are describing this correctly as a K- shaped recovery, Ana, where you have some hassles at the top that are doing just fine, but a lot of people are suffering at an unprecedented scale.

And so, to think that we're going to muddle through this is just a catastrophic mistake. I talked to a CEO who runs a clearinghouse for gig workers and he said that he can see their incomes all plummeting in real time and that 60 percent of the job postings that were on his site pre-pandemic are now gone.

So, the economy is badly, badly crippled and we need government to take a lead role in helping us dig out of this hole.

CABRERA: I mean, case in point, a lot of our viewers have already seen this reporting from Kyung Lah who profiled people who are being evicted from their homes, literally pulled out of their houses. Here is some of what she has seen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was like going under ((inaudible)). When it hit, I lost my job. And so it took me like a month to get another job. This is my check, but I aint making it with $300. It is literally $300.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Their stroller now carries their possessions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is mainly the kids clothes because me and her, we just wear the same clothes almost every day, make sure we got, you know, toilet paper and a little bit of snacks for the kids.

LAH (on camera): What are you going to do with all of your stuff?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's trash. They could throw in the trash and because we don't have a car, we don't have help, we don't have nobody that can come, you know, help us out right now. Nobody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I've seen that now several times and it still gets me so deep in that pit of your stomach where it just hurts. What goes through your mind seeing that and hearing that?

YANG: I see the same story as every day, Ana. My organization has been distributing economic relief directly to struggling American families and the needs are staggering where you see tens, hundreds of thousands of Americans families who are in a similar boat to that family that you just profiled where they're not sure if they're going to be able to keep a roof over their heads or they're in the process of losing their homes. They are in a car with their children. This is America in 2020 right now. And it is a self-inflicted

catastrophe on top of the public health crisis because when other countries have been in this position, they have done the right thing and put economic resources directly in the hands of families so they could avoid having people out on the streets. And unfortunately in America, you're going to see more and more people out on the streets in larger and larger numbers.

CABRERA: I found this stat really eye-opening. Pew Research says 52 percent of young adults in the U.S. are living with their parents. That is the highest share since the Great Depression and this will financially put them behind just like millennials were during the Great Recession. Of course, the coronavirus vaccine is being built up now like it will also cure the economic damage done, but will it?

YANG: It is going to take a lot of time, Ana, because this economy that we are looking at right now, it's not bounce back. Economists have projected that 42 percent of the jobs that have been lost, millions of jobs are gone forever.

And about half of farms are investing more in people-free automation and processes that are going to eliminate many, many jobs around the country in a host of industries.

[17:25:03]

So, we can wait for the vaccine and the vaccine will improve things, but we have to face facts that what we're experiencing right now is reality. It's going to be the new normal.

And we need our leaders in Congress to get their acts together and help dig us out of this because you're looking at a multi-trillion dollar whole in the economy that translates into human misery and disintegrating households and lives around the country.

CABRERA: Your twitter feed has recently been en looking like a job pitch for the labor secretary position. Is that something you want and have you talked to Joe Biden about it?

YANG: I'll do whatever Joe and Kamala want me to do to help us get to the next age in our country's history, Ana. I think that the post you are talking about was my categorizing the misclassification of professional wrestlers as independent contractors, which is completely ridiculous given that the WWE controls their name and likeness for years and controls their activities in many ways.

But anything that Joe and Kamala have for me that I think -- that they think will help move the country forward, I would love to help.

CABRERA: Well, real quickly if you will. If you were given that opportunity, what would an Andrew Yang labor secretary do on day one?

YANG: We have to try to get people the benefits that were associated with full-time jobs in different ways, Ana, because we can't pretend that it's going to be like the '70s or '80s where you get a job and you are at the same company for years and years. So, certainly you want to make it easier for workers to organize and

bargain for better benefits, but if you could have a means of having workers have benefits that move with them when things change for them in terms of their employment, I think that would be something that we need to make progress on because we're way behind the curve on people getting benefits that you expect with a job when they have temp or gig jobs.

CABRERA: Andrew Yang, thanks so much for sharing your ideas. Good to have you here and happy Labor Day weekend. Stay well.

YANG: Thanks, Ana. You too.

CABRERA: Thank you. We have some breaking news now into CNN. The world's number one men's tennis player, Novak Djokovic, defaulted from the U.S. Open after he struck a ball that then hit a lineswoman. We'll show you the shocking video next live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:30:00]

CABRERA: Breaking news right now from professional sports. The world's number one ranked men's tennis player, Novak Djokovic, is out of the U.S. Open. He wasn't beaten in the tournament. This all follows an incident on the court. Let me bring in CNN's Patrick Sell. And Patrick, this was a very bizarre series of events. Tell us what happened.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, Ana. You're absolutely right. This is a huge story in the world of tennis. In fact, global sports as well, no question. Novak Djokovic, the Serbian superstar from the world of tennis, basically you can see the video there. He just lost a game in the first set against Spanish opponent Pablo Carreno Busta and basically sends the ball that way in the direction of a female line judge.

You can see his reaction there. There was instant regret. No question about that. It was a gesture of frustration really at the way the match was going. And this is basically what's happened to him.

The top ranked player in the world, the seed -- number one seed at this tournament, the overwhelming favorite to go on and win an 18th Grand Slam title and close to within two of the legendary Roger Federer. And now this happens, Ana, in the fourth round of play at the U.S. Open where he would have been quietly confident, as I say, of going on to win another career Grand Slam, and he is out of the tournament, disqualified (inaudible).

Let me give you an example, an analogy from the world of soccer. Think automatic red card for this kind of offense when you strike the ball like that and it hits an official, then the rules officials have no choice.

I have a statement I want to get to you from the USTA, the United States Tennis Association, "In accordance with the Grand Slam rulebook, following his actions of intentionally hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly within the court or hitting a ball with negligent disregard of the consequences, the U.S. Open tournament referee defaulted Novak Djokovic from the 2020 U.S. Open.

Because he was defaulted, Djokovic will lose all ranking points earned at the U.S. Open and will be fined the prize money won at the tournament in addition to any or all fines levied with respect to the offending incident."

Huge story from the world of tennis, global sports, as I say. This is a massive talker, Ana.

CABRERA: Wow! And the video is just crazy when you see it. It appears to hit her right in the neck and it's good to see her walk away.

SNELL: Yes. And of course it goes without saying we wish her well of course at this time.

CABRERA: Of course. Give us some history here, Patrick. How often has someone been disqualified from a tournament at this level and a player of this caliber?

SNELL: This is absolutely very, very rare indeed. I'm sort of tempted to use the word unprecedented at least when it comes to a top ranked player. This is hugely, hugely rare. I think back to -- there was an incident with a ball kid at a Wimbledon tournament in 1995 and the British player, Tim Henman was involved in that.

The Argentine, David Nabaldian, as well over the years as well. That was at the Queens Club in London. So two London incidents there. I think also the Davis Cup is at the top of my head. It was a Davis Cup match involving the young Canadian player, Denis Shapovalov as well when the ball was struck there and it hit the umpire in the eye area. Big story. We're following all the key developments you can be sure, Ana.

[17:34:58]

CABRERA: Okay. Thank you so much, Patrick Snell. And so good again to see that she walks away. She appears to be okay. Appreciate it.

Up next, President Trump says he is optimistic a vaccine could be ready around Election Day. Would vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris take it?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think that's going to be an issue for all of us. I will say that I would not trust Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Our medical expert is here to give us the facts on a potential vaccine, next. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Welcome back. President Trump ramping up pressure for a coronavirus vaccine before Election Day. A goal scientists say would be next to impossible to meet and for that reason, Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris tells our Dana Bash that she will not let science -- rather she will let science, not the president, lead the way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Let's just say there is a vaccine that is approved and even distributed before the election. Would you get it?

[17:40:03]

HARRIS: 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 is talking about. I will not take his word for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Joining us now, Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He is a professor of medicine at George Washington University. Doctor, first, your reaction to what you just heard. Do you think a vaccine can be safely distributed before Election Day?

JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, no vaccine will be distributed before Election Day. Even if we identify a vaccine, which looks both safe and effective, the distribution plan is going to be really complex.

First of all, these vaccines require subzero storage. So, you need a supply chain that can do that. We're going to have to pick who gets the vaccine first. Health care workers, the elderly, nursing homes, people at risk.

There is an elaborate plan that's going to go into this. So, it's going to take a while to actually get the vaccine into people. And vaccination will take probably two years to vaccinate the country.

CABRERA: Wow, two years. That's good to know. There is this new CBS/YouGov poll that shows just 21 percent nationwide say they would get a vaccine as soon as possible if one was available this year without cost. And that is down from 32 percent who said the same thing in July. How do you make sure that the public has confidence in a vaccine?

REINER: Well, we have to do exactly the opposite of what is being done now. Instead of emphasizing speed, right. There needs to be an ad that says speed kills, right. Instead of advocating speed, we need to advocate safety and efficacy.

Dr. Peter Marks, who heads up the section of the FDA tasked with approving biologics like vaccines have said in -- has publicly stated that he won't allow a vaccine that he would deem to be unsafe for his family to be administered to the public at large.

We need to hear people like that speak out. We've also heard from pharmaceutical companies that are involved in creating these vaccines say the same thing. Pascal Soriot who runs AstraZeneca has said that they are working quickly, but they are not cutting corners. The more we hear about that, the more confidence the public will have for a vaccine when it is finally released.

CABRERA: The president on Friday said we are rounding the turn on coronavirus. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Just social distance, wash your hands, all of the hygiene things that we speak about. And we are really rounding the turn. And the vaccines are coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Doctor, do you see you evidence that the United States is rounding the turn?

REINER: No, unfortunately not. We seem to have plateaued at about 40,000 new case per day and about 1,000 deaths per day. So until we dramatically bite into the daily number of cases, drive that down to, you know, 1,000 cases a day in the United States, we are not rounding the corner.

I said the other that I think we're rounding the corner into an oncoming train because if social distancing declines and people stop wearing masks and they get tired of all the precautions, we're going to see an acceleration in the amount of cases.

And University of Washington is worried about that as well. They are forecasting that perhaps almost 400,000 people will have died by this virus by the end of the year if those precautions are diminished.

CABRERA: And it is so important for our viewers to hear that because we all need to do our part. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, thank you as always. I really appreciate you being here and I hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend.

REINER: You too, Ana.

CABRERA: President Trump's handling of the coronavirus is among the issues jake tapper explores in a new "CNN Special Report, Fight for the White House, Donald Trump's Presidency."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Finally on March 11th, the day Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson became the first high profile Americans to announce they had tested positive and the NBA shut down its season, Trump set out to reassure a very nervous nation. TRUMP: My fell lee Americans --

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): The president was uncomfortable heading into it.

TAPPER (voice-over): "New York Times" White House correspondent and CNN political analyst Maggie Haberman.

HABERMAN: The president looked unfamiliar with the material as he was reading it. It contained at least three errors.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That speech was probably the single most important moment in the U.S. response to the coronavirus, but for all the wrong reasons.

TAPPER (voice-over): CNN's Abby Phillip.

[17:45:00]

PHILLIP: It really highlighted that the administration was not prepared to deal with the crisis.

Don't miss that special report airing tomorrow night at 10:00 here on CNN. We'll be right back.

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CABRERA: Less than two months and counting to the November election. And Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is holding his lead over President Trump in the national polls.

[17:50:03]

But that lead tightens -- at least appears to tighten according to our CNN senior political writer and analyst Harry Enten when we take a look at some of the battlegrounds. So, Harry, we have this new post- convention poll out today. Does it show much of a bounce out of the conventions?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER: Oh, my god. You could set this clock, it's so steady, this race is so, so steady. And you know, YouGov had two polls out today, one nationally, one from the state of Wisconsin and you can see it on your TV screen right now. The race in both of those states is the same exact as it was before the conventions, with Biden up 10 nationally and up 6 in the swing state of Wisconsin.

CABRERA: It's all about the swing states, right? Just how tight is this race in reality?

ENTEN: Yes, so this is rather important, right? So I took an average of all the closest, five closest swing states that Trump won in 2016 as well as the average nationally and what you see is in each of those five closest swing states, Biden is ahead but it's closer than it is nationally and Biden of course needs to win at least two if not three of these swing states. So the race is closer in the swing states than it is nationally. And

one of the things that's so interesting is if you look at the current breakdown in the swing states, and let's say you shifted everything over, say that Trump does a little bit better than these polls actually indicate. Then you end up with a really interesting potential electoral map.

And what that essentially shows is that you could see an electoral map in which Trump ends up winning 268 electoral votes to Biden's 270. That is, if Trump does five points better than the current poll averages with the great little nugget of one electoral vote from the second congressional district from Nebraska.

Remember, Nebraska like Maine, splits its electoral votes. It gives one to the winner of each congressional district. If right now the poll averages just move five points more toward Trump, we get Biden by one more electoral vote than he needs in order to become the next president.

CABRERA: It is 2020. Anything can happen. Harry, you know, we've been discussing this weekend this report in the "Atlantic" that accuses President Trump of saying such disparaging things about military members who died in combat especially during his visit to Belleau Woods Cemetery near Paris in 2018. The president has continued to deny this reporting. But how important are active military and veteran voters for Trump?

ENTEN: They're extremely important. And I think you can see that best in the state of Florida, right. That was one of the closest swing states back in 2016. And what you saw in that year was that Trump won overall by a point, but he won by 25 points among active military and veterans.

If those folks didn't vote, Hillary Clinton would have won the state of Florida by four points. The fact is Trump needs active military and veterans to come out for him. If they don't, it could really hurt him come this upcoming election.

CABRERA: Harry Enten, as always, it's great to have your expertise and perspective in all of this. Good to see you. Thanks.

ENTEN: My pleasure.

CABRERA: Happy Labor Day weekend, I think he was saying. Take a look at this. Mural painters in Atlanta are sending a special message to neighborhoods hit hard by coronavirus in this week's "Impact Your World."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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 vinyl versus actually painting over various murals because the idea is this is not permanent.

We're disproportionately seeing black and brown people being impacted by this disease. We very much want to target people who we know were hourly workers and essential workers, people who we knew had to be out and about.

We also have put out about 500 masks in the community. Our hashtag is #BigFactsSmallActs 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 web page or social media channels so that people can find those tips on how to stay safe and keep others safe.

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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[17:55:00]

CABRERA: Welcome to a special Labor Day weekend edition of "CNN Newsroom." I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Great to have you with us. Less than two months to go until the presidential election, which means tell-all book season has arrived.

And the latest from President Trump's former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, is stunning. CNN has obtained a copy of "Disloyal, A Memoir" by Cohen, and it paints a damning picture of the president. For example, in the wake of Trump's presidential kickoff announcement in 2015, Trump allegedly tells Cohen, and I'm quoting, "I will never get the Hispanic vote. Like the blacks, they are too stupid to vote for Trump. They're not my people."

[17:59:58]

Cohen also alleges after President Obama's win in 2008 that Trump said this, "Tell me one country run by a black person that isn't an s-hole (ph).