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Biden, Trump Hold Very Different Campaign Events; Former Pence Aide Endorses Biden; COVID-19 Cases Emerge at U.S. Schools, College Campuses; Vaccine Push Intensifies with Mixed Messages on Timeline; Biden Frames Election as Scranton Verses Park Avenue; Trump Courts Voters in Battleground State of Wisconsin; U.S. Attorney General Compares COVID Lockdowns to Slavery. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired September 18, 2020 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Coronavirus cases hit another shocking milestone. 30 million people have now been infected worldwide.

Two very different campaign styles from the two U.S. presidential candidates. Joe Biden holds a socially distanced town hall while Donald Trump holds a packed raucous campaign rally.

And the White House hits back at a former aide to Vice President Mike Pence who is criticizing President Trump and endorsing Joe Biden.

Live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

More than 30 million people worldwide have now been infected with the coronavirus since the disease first appeared in China back in December. According to Johns Hopkins University, the staggering figure is triple what it was just 12 weeks ago, and the global death toll is climbing rapidly to the 1 million mark.

Europe is now experiencing what some fear is a second wave. Cases have been rising sharply in recent weeks, especially among people under age 50. But just three countries account for more than half of all the world cases. U.S., India, and Brazil. The U.S. surpasses all others with more than 6.6 million total cases and close to 200,000 deaths and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now forecasts up to 20,000 more Americans will lose their lives to COVID-19 by October 10th.

Well, the start of a new school year is bringing its own challenges in relation to the pandemic. A new study has found more than 40 percent of all school employees in the U.S. are at an increased risk of contracting the virus. For more of what's happening at schools across the country, here's CNN's Nick Watt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Teachers on the march in Manhattan. The nation's largest district was supposed to open in person Monday. Now anymore.

BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK MAYOR: We have made a move here of a few days to get it right.

WATT: Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, nearly 30 high schoolers now forced to quarantine after parents sent their COVID-19 positive kid to class.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Parents knew they shouldn't have done that. The student knew he shouldn't have done that.

WATT: COVID-19 cases rising in college campuses across the country. More than 1,600 confirmed at the University of Wisconsin at Madison since early August.

KEIR METTER, FRESHMAN, UNIVERSITY OF MADISON: So obviously, I don't want to have COVID, but it seems kind of inevitable being at UWS.

WATT: The hunt for a vaccine rolls on. Moderna hopes to know in November if its vaccine works.

STEPHANE BANCEL, CEO MODERNA: That's our base plan. Our base plan is October. I think it's unlikely but it's possible.

WATT: Pfizer and its German partner now saying they'll probably submit their vaccine for approval by the end of October. The President has a date in mind. Wants a vaccine by election day. Many experts say that's dangerous.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: It often makes people who are not by any means vaccine skeptics normally, it makes them skeptical of the vaccine.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If you have a vaccine that is highly effective but very few people get vaccinated, you're not going to realize the full important effect of having a vaccine.

WATT: A former CDC director now weighing in on the current director's assertion masks might be more effective protection against coronavirus than a vaccine which sparked that brutal presidential push back.

DR. TOM FRIEDEN, FORMER DIRECTOR, CDC: It's really kind of an apple versus a theoretical orange. Masks are really important. A vaccines we don't know what the effectiveness is yet. We don't have the studies. No one knows.

WATT: Good news, nationwide there are now about half the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 compared to mid-July. But 23 states are now seeing their average daily case counts rise. Perhaps the best indicator of where we are is the number of tests coming back positive. Under 5 percent is the aim. Two weeks ago, we were there. Averaging 4.7 percent. Now 5.79.

ANNE RIMOIN, EPIDEMIOLOGY PROFESSOR: What science says is that if you give the virus an opportunity to spread, it will.

[04:05:00]

WATT (on camera): Many officials here in the U.S. urging people to get their flu vaccine so there isn't the COVID flu double whammy this winter. But Dr. Anthony Fauci says we may not even have a bad flu season partly because of the COVID restrictions in place. He says, look at Australia. They barely had a flu season this year.

Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, a former top aide to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is slamming President Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Olivia Troye is accusing the President of failing to protect the American people. And you can see her there sitting behind Pence. She was the Vice President's lead aide on the coronavirus task force before resigning in July. Here's how she now describes President Trump's handling of the crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLIVIA TROYE, FORMER TOP AIDE TO U.S. VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: Towards the middle of February, we knew it wasn't a matter of if COVID would become a big pandemic here in the United States it was a matter of when. But the President didn't want to hear that because his biggest concern was that we were in an election year and how is this going to affect what he considered to be his record of success. It was shocking to see the President saying that the virus was a hoax. Saying that everything's OK when we know that it's not. The truth is, he doesn't actually, care about anyone else but himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Troye says she now supports the President's Democratic rival, Joe Biden. And despite what she now says about President Trump, Troye in her resignation letter describes her time on the coronavirus task force as an absolute honor. The White House is branding her a disgruntled former employee who never raised objections while she was on staff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GENERAL KEITH KELLOGG, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER TO VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: I think Olivia's comments are egregious. They're flat wrong. In fact, when -- and I've a copy of it -- I've got a copy of it now. When she left the organization in the end of July, she talked how valiantly everybody was working and that we were an inspiration to her and everything we had done.

The simple fact is what she's saying is not true. I've been through every single task force coronavirus meeting, I've been in the Oval with the President when we met with Tony Fauci, or Bob Redfield, or Steven Han. We've been in those meetings. We talked about it. And the President has repeatedly said we're trying to get it right for America and we're trying to get it right for people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The former Pence aide also says President Trump once said, maybe COVID is a good thing because he didn't like shaking hands with what he called disgusting people.

Democratic White House hopeful Joe Biden says Donald Trump should step down because of his mishandling of coronavirus pandemic. The former vice president appeared at a CNN drive-in town hall in the parking lot of baseball stadium in Pennsylvania. A venue designed to ensure social distancing. Of course, that's in stark contrast to President Trump's crowed rallies that ignore health precautions. Biden reminded voters that the President admitted knowing the truth about the coronavirus from the beginning but chose to hide it from the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The idea you're going to not tell people what you've been told, that this virus is incredibly contagious, 7 times more contagious than the flu. You breathe the air. You get it sucked into your lungs. He knew it and did nothing. It's close to criminal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Biden also said that when Mr. Trump attacks him, the President seems confused about who's actually running the country right now. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Kellyanne Conway said -- I'm paraphrasing -- chaos and violence are good for our administration. They're good for us. President talks about in Joe Biden's America. I got to remind him, he may be really losing it. He's president. I'm not the president. This is Donald Trump's America. You feel safer in Donald Trump's America when he incites these kinds of things.

The idea is, it's wrong no matter what the source is where it comes from. I condemn it all and people should be held accountable. But folks, I'm waiting for the day when he says I condemn all those white supremacy, I condemn those militia guys as much as I do every other organizational structure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: CNN's Arlette Saenz was at Biden's town hall event and has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: In his first CNN Town Hall since becoming the Democratic nominee, Joe Biden took on President Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic saying that it is close to criminal the way that he has handled the virus and also calling his administration thoroughly irresponsible. Biden also took issue with Attorney General Bill Barr's recent comment, comparing the coronavirus lockdown to slavery. Biden said that it was the President's inaction that has jeopardized American's freedom. Take a listen.

[04:10:00]

BIDEN: You lost your freedom because he didn't act. The freedom to go to that ball game, the freedom of your kid to go to school, the freedom to see your mom or dad in the hospital. The freedom just to walk around your neighborhood because of failure to act responsibly.

SAENZ: Now Biden also talked about the need for an effective vaccine. Saying that he will trust what scientists have to say and not listen to just President Trump's word alone. Biden also made an appeal to working class voters. He frames this campaign as one between Scranton and Park Avenue. And suggested that President Trump only cares about the stock market over working class voters.

Now this drive-in style town hall offered the most extensive in person questions Biden has faced in the past few months of the campaign. Offering a bit of a preview of what the debates could look like in the coming months with that first debate under two weeks away. Biden said he is looking forward to President Trump and offering a different vision of what he can offer the country. Now Biden traveled here to the battleground state of Pennsylvania, one of those critical states heading into November's election. And on Friday he is campaigning in Minnesota as he looks to take on President Trump.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, Moosic, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: So, while Biden was in Pennsylvania, President Trump focused his attention on a different battleground state. There were raucous and enthusiastic scenes in the moment Donald Trump arrived for his rally in Wisconsin in the American Midwest. The President painted a bleak picture for the country if Biden wins the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Biden wins, very simple, China wins. If Biden wins, the mob wins. If Biden wins, the rioters, anarchists, arsonists and flag burners they win. And we're not into flag burners.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Mr. Trump called the rally a friendly protest, something he claims allows him to get around local coronavirus limits on crowd size. Ryan Nobles was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump continuing his very busy campaign schedule with a trip here to Wisconsin. He came to northcentral Wisconsin about two hours north of Madison. Where he delivered a speech to a county where he won by big margins in 2016. The President has a special focus on Wisconsin. He believes this is a state that he needs in the win column. And former Congressman Shaun Duffy among those in the crowd here

today. Potential candidate for governor of Wisconsin. He told me before the event that this is a one point state and he really put a heavy emphasis on the President being here. He said that Wisconsin is a retail politics state.

Now this stands in stark contrast to how Joe Biden is conducting his campaigning. He is not travelling nearly as much as President Trump is. And of course, he's not holding these big rallies because of the risk of coronavirus. And the President and his campaign not paying much attention to those risks. In fact, these rallies continue to be packed, filled with people shoulder to shoulder and very few, if any, masks are being worn by the participants. So, this is a calculated risk the Trump campaign is making right now. But they believe in a close election it could be the difference between winning and losing.

Brian Nobles, CNN, Mosinee, Wisconsin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Joining me now from Los Angeles, political analyst Michael Genovese. He's the author of the book "How Trump Governs" and also, President of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University. Thank you very much for joining us. So first, just your thoughts on the Biden Town Hall. Very unusual format, but we'll put that to the side. What did you make of this performance?

MICHAEL GENOVESE, POLITICAL ANALYST: I think he needed to do three things tonight. I think he accomplished one and we'll see about the other two. The things that he had to do was number one, demonstrate that he's fit for the job. Because President Trump has been making all kinds of accusations that saying he's feeble, et cetera. I think he was fine tonight.

Second thing he needs to do is differentiate himself from Trump. Well, that's the easy part. He is almost perfectly the un-Trump. The third thing he had to do, which I'm not sure he's done very well, is give me a reason, give me some reason why I should be voting for you instead of Trump. He's had a hard time of selling the case and making the sale.

BRUNHUBER: Well, I mean, one of the ways he's trying to do that, I suppose, is to emphasize his working class roots. We saw him even pivoting from a question about white privilege to, you know, how he was disadvantaged by his own, you know, working class past. Do you think that will work?

GENOVESE: Joe Biden's personal story is compelling, and he likes to tell it. And it resonates. People can feel what he went through.

[04:15:00]

Him describing a series of thing in his life and he clearly positioned himself tonight and repeated it over and over again, I'm the middle class guy. I'm the working class guy. I'm the guy that's the average Joe. My name is Joe and I'm from I'm from Pennsylvania and I'm with you. Trump has been able to get that group. The sort of the middle class working man and woman. Biden is making a strong bid to steal some of those votes away. If he does that, he could win one or two of the Midwest central states back.

BRUNHUBER: It's fair to say perhaps Biden faced a friendlier, less confrontational crowd I suppose than President Trump's town hall but compare their performances.

GENOVESE: Well, you know, the Biden -- they call it the drive-in town hall, practice social distancing, it almost looked artificial. Contrast that with tonight's Trump rally which was, you know, wild and woolly and full of insults being slung about, you know, no social distancing, very few people wearing masks. It was outside thankfully. But that contrast is important. Because Biden is very clearly trying to draw the contrast between -- I'm the grownup, I'm being responsible, I can get us out of the virus.

Trump is trying to get you not even to look at the virus by distracting you with all kinds of accusations against everyone and the fear tactics. So, the striking contrast has been really made and it was beautifully shown tonight.

BRUNHUBER: All right. So, what is it 11 days from now the two candidates will meet in the first presidential debate? There's a school of thought that says, you know, debates don't influence the outcome because they don't change voters' minds. But I mean, this election might be different. Do you think it will be? And how important do you think the first debate will be?

GENOVESE: Historically, debates matter little. Where they've mattered is not with someone winning a debate as much as someone losing a debate. And so, the kind of conventional wisdom, which I think holds true this time as well, it is the first rule is don't make some huge gaffe. Biden sometimes makes gaffes. That's kind of what's so endearing about him in some ways. But if he does that on the debate stage, it'll hurt him. So, the rule is don't lose a debate and don't worry so much about winning. Make sure you don't say something that's too controversial that'll get you in trouble.

BRUNHUBER: But, I mean, that rule doesn't apply to President Trump it seems.

GENOVESE: No, in fact, it's the opposite for him because Donald Trump is so unique. He is different than anyone else. And with his base he does have Teflon. He could literally say almost anything, and his base would f find a way to forgive him or love him even more.

Whereas Biden I think is on thinner ice. He's known for being a little bit loose of tongue and so that -- if he does say something, that will play into one of his weaknesses. Trump but to shoot from the hip and just let the guns fly and let the bodies land where they do. And he's done well by that. That doesn't win him though a majority of votes, that only appeals to his base.

BRUNHUBER: All right, well, we'll have to leave it there. Thank you so much, political analyst, Michael Genovese. GENOVESE: Thank you, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: President Trump's Attorney General is in the hot seat for comments he made comparing coronavirus lockdowns to slavery, but that's not all he said.

And many on the U.S. Gulf Coast are having to navigate flooded roads and piles of debris. What's left of hurricane Sally and the threat of even more flooding, that's next. Stay with us.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: U.S. Attorney General William Barr is under fire for comparing coronavirus lockdowns to slavery. But those aren't his only comments drawing criticism. CNN's justice correspondent, Jessica Schneider, explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Attorney General ramping up his increasingly provocative comments in a speech to a conservative college Wednesday night comparing COVID restrictions to slavery.

WILLIAM BARR, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Putting a national lockdown, stay at home orders is like house arrest. It's -- you know, other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history.

SCHNEIDER: The highest ranking black American in the House, aghast at the comparison.

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): That statement by Mr. Barr was the most ridiculous, tone deaf God awful things I have ever heard. It is incredible. The chief law enforcement officer in this country, to equate human bondage to expert and advice to save lives.

SCHNEIDER: Bill Barr used the speech to assert his authority as Attorney General and slam the hundreds of DOJ prosecutors working under him.

BARR: Name one successful organization or institution where the lowest level employees' decisions are deemed sacrosanct. They aren't. There aren't any. Letting the most junior members set the agenda might be a good philosophy for a Montessori preschool, but it is no way to run a federal agency.

SCHNEIDER: Barr seem to be criticizing the decision by several career prosecutors to resign from the Roger Stone case after Barr stepped in to reduce Stone's sentence.

ELLIOTT WILLIAMS, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: All of these matters that are causing so much consternation within the department, are matters that seem to touch the President's personal interests or his political interests. That's what's so troubling to these career officials and career officers.

SCHNEIDER: The Attorney General is increasingly parroting the President.

BARR: Oh, wait a minute. We just discovered 100,000 ballots. Every vote must be counted. No, we don't know where these freaking votes came from.

SCHNEIDER: Hinting at a rigged election without any proof.

BARR: I don't have empirical evidence that on this scale, you know, these problems will be materialized.

[04:25:00]

SCHNEIDER: Barr bashed Democrats on their COVID response.

BARR: They treat free citizens as babies that, you know, can't take responsibility for themselves and others.

SCHNEIDER: This comes as a source tells CNN the Attorney General is frustrated with local prosecutors who are handling riot-related crimes across the country and pushing them to explore a rarely used sedition law to federally charge protesters.

BARR: They're not interested in black lives. They're interested in props. A small number of blacks were killed by police during conflict with police, usually less than a dozen a year, who they can use as props to achieve a much broader political agenda.

SCHNEIDER (on camera): We've learned the Department of Justice considered charging local officials in Portland, Oregon, for not doing enough to stop the violence that unfolded when federal officers were brought in to protect the federal courthouse. The Department of Justice has charged more than 250 people associated with those protests that began earlier this summer.

Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Hurricane Sally is just a remnant now of its former ferocious self. But just look at the damage it left behind in Alabama when it made landfall along the Gulf Coast. The area is still dealing with major flooding and almost 350,000 customers are still without electricity in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. Sally is now a post tropical cyclone and is moving across the Carolinas towards the mid- Atlantic states and it's still bringing heavy rain.

Israel and England are dealing with sharp spikes in coronavirus cases. Just ahead, we'll go to London and Jerusalem to see the very different ways the two countries are imposing new restrictions. Please stay with us.

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