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Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Death Sets Off Political Fight; Johns Hopkins: U.S. Death Toll Approaching 200,000; People Pay Tribute Outside the Supreme Court; Tropical Storm Beta Threatens Texas, Louisiana Coasts; Latin America Wildfires Threaten Permanent Damage. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired September 21, 2020 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's chair, at the U.S. Supreme Court, draped in black. Meanwhile, a political row simmering over who takes her place.
[00:00:27]
Plus, the U.S. on the cusp of seeing 200,000 people die from the coronavirus. That, as the CDC issues new guidance about airborne transmission.
And, fires rage in wetlands, as traditional farming methods and climate change combine to permanently change large swathes of South America.
Welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States, and indeed, all around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Michael Holmes.
Hello, everyone. The battle over filling the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Supreme Court seat will heat up in the hours ahead, as senators return to work. Ginsburg's seat, now draped in black at the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump says he will have a nominee in the coming days, Democrats hoping to block any plans to rush a vote through before the November 3 election.
On Sunday, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden called on the Senate to wait.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Don't vote to confirm anyone nominated under the circumstances President Trump and Senator McConnell have created. Don't go there. Uphold your Constitutional duty, your conscience. Let the people speak. Cool the flames that have been engulfing our country. We can't keep rewriting history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Whatever happens from here, the looming showdown is already reshaping the election. CNN's senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Donald Trump is moving quickly to name his Supreme Court nominee to fill the seat of the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Raise your right hand.
RAJU: According to sources familiar with the process, three female appeals court judges appear to be among the frontrunners: Amy Coney Barrett, Barbara Legoa and Allison Jones Rushing. But he has little margin for error to get his nomination confirmed to the bench before the November election.
Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can only afford to lose the support of three Republican senators in order to get 51 votes to get a nominee confirmed.
But, already, two Republicans have said the nomination should wait until after the election. The latest, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the lone Republican to vote against Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the court in 2018. On Sunday, Murkowski said, "I did not support taking up a nomination eight months before the 2016 election to fill the vacancy created by the passing of Justice Scalia. We are now even closer to the 2020 election, less than two months out, and I believe, the same standard must supply."
But Murkowski would not comment on Sunday about whether she would oppose Trump's nominee in a lame-duck session of Congress, which will occur after the November elections and conclude in January.
Similarly, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, fighting to keep her seat, has said the vote should wait until after the election, but her office has not responded to CNN's questions about whether she would vote against a Trump nominee in a lame-duck session, if former Vice President Joe Biden wins in November.
The battle over the nomination comes amid a furious fight for control of the Senate in November. And it has put some Republicans like Cory Gardner of Colorado in a difficult spot, as he campaigns to keep his seat.
In 2016, when Republicans refused to move on Barack Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to the court, they argued it was too close to the election. Garland said at the time, "The American people deserve a role in this process. But on Saturday, Gardner refused to say if he would stick to that same position, now that there's a Republican president and just 44 days before the election.
SEN. CORY GARDNER (R-CO): There is time for debate. There is time for politics. But the time for now is to pray for the family.
RAJU: Several veteran Republican senators, including Chuck Grassley of Iowa, have also declined to say if they think the nomination should wait. And the party's 2012 nominee, Senator Mitt Romney, has so far declined to comment. Several Republicans in difficult races are aligning with Trump.
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): I voted for several hundred conservative judges, including two on the Supreme Court and another one on the way.
RAJU: Tillis sung a different tune four years ago.
TILLIS: We're going to let the American people speak.
RAJU: Republicans say times have changed, because they now control both the White House and the Senate, unlike 2016.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): It's a question of checks and balances.
RAJU: But four years ago, Cruz said this.
[00:05:04]
CRUZ: This is for the people to decide.
RAJU (on camera): Now Donald Trump and Mitch Mitchell have spoken multiple times through the course of the weekend. And I'm told one person has come up in those conversations. That's Appeals court judge Amy Coney Barrett. She's someone that Democrats strenuously oppose. Conservatives have been trying to get her on the high court for years. She's someone that Mitch McConnell said Republicans know well. They'd be comfortable with her nomination.
And if Donald Trump is seriously considering putting her forward, also, we expect this to move this pretty quickly. Once the nomination comes, as early as this week, Republicans will try to see whether or not they have the votes to move ahead. If they -- if they don't, they're going to punt it till later. But expect this flight to just intensify, on Monday, when senators get back into town and start to process the monumental developments.
Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: The top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, says rushing a nomination so close to the election is despicable. On Sunday, Schumer was asked about what could happen after the election. Here's part of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the president's pick is approved and Biden wins the election, should he add more Supreme Court justices?
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Well, it will be a decision that is -- comes to the Senate. We first have to win the majority before that can happen. But once we win the majority, God willing, everything is on the table.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Joining me now to discuss is CNN senior political analyst and former advisor to four U.S. presidents, David Gergen. Always a pleasure to see you, David.
With the politics on full show, you've got Joe Biden pleading to his Republican former Senate colleagues on the nomination. The thing is, will he be heard? You know, a lot of talk about -- about hypocrisy, but then there's that term, situational ethics, which seem s to apply in politics. What do you say?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think that the conventional wisdom maybe right up to a point. And that is, conventionally, people say this is going to help Trump. This is going to help the Republicans. They're going to hold onto the White House now. They're going to hold onto the Senate.
It may appear that way for a few days, but actually, I think in the long term, this is going to whip around and serve Joe Biden and the Democrats if they don't misplay their hand, which they could do.
But I have to tell you, I think that what I find around the country talking to people is there's lots of anger over this whole Supreme Court appointment. Not that the -- about it being a woman. That's going to be a positive, but the fact is, there are a lot of Americans who think this has been done unfairly, that the Supreme Court has been stolen from them. That, you know, when the -- when the conservatives blocked President Obama in his last year in office from appointing a Supreme Court justice. That seat was then taken by a Republican.
Now, they -- now the Republicans are flipping things on their head. They're arguing the opposite. They're arguing 180 degrees different from what they argued back in the Obama term.
I think that's caused a lot of anger that I think will help Joe Biden in the general election, that I think will help to unseat some Republicans.
And by the way, the negative is I think if the Republicans pull this off, or come close to pulling this off, it's going to poison the well even more in politics. So much damage has been done about the comity of people working together. A lot of that damage could become irreversible.
HOLMES: A lot of people already find the whole way the Supreme Court justices are picked, entirely, over political. And if you're lucky enough to get to pick one, then they're going to carry out your ideological will.
In a campaign sense, until Justice Ginsburg died, I mean, it was all about, you know, coronavirus, the economy. So -- so talk more about how the shift helps Republicans, or might backfire, especially as Democrats hammer potential Supreme Court decisions on things like healthcare and abortion rights, where most Americans want abortion rights and don't want their health care taken away. That could hurt them, right? GERGEN: Yes, I agree. And I think, listen, on abortion, most Americans
now want to -- want to protect women in making that decision. You're just not going to win back suburban moms on -- on the idea that you're going to get -- you're going to get rid of all abortions, or to the extent that you can. That will play to the base in the Republican Party. It does not play much beyond that.
But let me go to the more -- you know, the other question, because I think it's so interesting, which you've raised. The -- the Biden people, and Biden himself, is now putting much greater emphasis upon health care, as a way to address (ph) what affects so many Americans in their daily lives. And that is, are they going to have health care protection in an age of COVID?
Well, they -- well, if their -- If their husbands lose jobs, if they -- you know, if their spouses lose jobs, will they have the healthcare protection? And that one, in that respect, President Trump, by calling a lot of attention himself, you know, to health care, is playing with fire, because it's the Democrats who have the upper hand in this argument.
The Trump people, even as they say, We want to protect pre-existing conditions, they're going to court, in the Supreme Court in November 10, to argue that Obamacare ought to be abolished entirely, across the board so that pre-existing conditions no longer are protected.
You know, they -- I think, in the long run, Michael, to come back to it, there are a lot of issues here that the Republicans are suddenly making very sharp in the elections. That actually favor issues that actually favor the Democrats, because that's where people stand on policy.
HOLMES: Yes. And say, a lot of suspicion among people I talked to about how -- how political it's becoming. If you're lucky enough to be the party in power, you pick a judge that's going to carry out your will, in a way.
GERGEN: It's so -- it is wrong to think that the party that appoints you to be a judge, they -- they pre-decide how you're going to vote, in a lot of cases. That removes any sense of judicial, you know, probity, the weighing the facts, or really trying to figure out what's right. And as you said, it weaponizes, and certainly politicizes, the courts. And that will weaken our courts, too.
HOLMES: Yes. Yes. I think for a lot of people, the highest court in the land shouldn't be one where you can say, it's 6-3 conservative or whatever. You shouldn't be able to say that.
I'm out of time. David, good to see you. Thanks so much.
GERGEN: My pleasure. We'll talk again. Thanks.
HOLMES: We will.
Joining me now to discuss all of this is CNN's chief legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin. He's also a staff writer at "The New Yorker" magazine and the author of "True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump."
Jeff, great to see you. I wanted to sort of look at the court and the processes. Could -- do you think the court, which is long enjoying the trust of the people, be sort of facing a crisis of confidence because of the very process in which these justices are picked, and how political that's become. It's supposed to be about the fray. It is a system above the fray.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: You know, Michael, this has been coming for a long time. I don't think many Americans, at this point, think that the Supreme Court is divorced from politics.
And you remember, 20 years ago, we had the decision and Bush v. Gore in the exquisitely close election of 2000 when the court, effectively, decided that George W. Bush, instead of Al Gore, should be president in a very politically-charged case. They have continued to do cases like Citizens United, involving unlimited campaign contributions. They struck down the Voting Rights Act. I mean, this is a deeply political court.
I don't blame them for that. I think their -- their mission is inherently -- involves them in political issues. But it is also certainly true that the political furor around the court is -- is about as great as it's ever been.
HOLMES: Yes. Of course, Chief Justice Roberts said there are no Obama judges, no Trump judges, and so on and so forth. So there is that professed independence.
But you know, the perception has to be, and the reality, in many ways, whichever party is lucky enough to get the opportunity to appoint judges gets decisions that fit their party's ideology. Does that hurt the credibility of the court when it comes to decisions it hands down?
TOOBIN: Well, you know, one of my favorite justices was a justice named Robert Jackson in the Forties and Fifties. And he said something that I think, you know, rings true even today. He said about the Supreme Court, "We are not final because we are infallible. We are infallible because we are final."
You know, somebody has to have the last words, and in our system, it's the Supreme Court. Now, many of those decisions have great political implications, but there really is no appeal, literally and figuratively, from the Supreme Court. So even though the Supreme Court may not be regarded as independent of politics, it is all we have to resolve these cases. And I think the public has learned to accept that, if not to embrace it.
HOLMES: Well, there are some who believe, and we were talking to Max Boot about this last night, that there are some that believe that the public is going to be fed up with things like this.
[00:15:05]
I mean, Donald Trump has appointed two, perhaps three Supreme Court judges. He lost the popular vote. The justices were approved by Republican senators, who represent 15 million fewer Americans than their Democratic colleagues.
I mean, do Americans have the right to think the makeup of the court might not necessarily represent their will, when it comes to issues like abortion and healthcare?
And, you know, as I say, there are some that think that people may rise up at some point.
TOOBIN: Well, I -- color me skeptical that there will be a rising up about the Supreme Court. I -- I think it is too far from the everyday concerns of most -- of most Americans.
Donald Trump may feel the country rising up. The -- the -- both the benefit and the problem of the Supreme Court is that it is insulated from public scrutiny. I mean, the justices are not accountable to the public in any meaningful way. And I think that they are well-insulated from the public's displeasure, and it is also worth remembering there are a great many people who are very happy to see the court move in a more conservative direction.
So, you know, I think the -- the politicians have -- have reason to fear that the -- that the country will rise up against them, but I think the Supreme Court is -- is pretty safe for -- for all intents and purposes.
HOLMES: I guess the majority of Americans want to keep abortion rights they certainly like their health care and, you know, if those things are radically changed by a court they feel is unrepresentative. Then it might be different.
I want to ask you, though, about the sort of structural issues, too. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was 87. Stephen Breyer is in his 80s. A couple of others in their seventies. Youth seems to be a criteria for nomination, the idea being longevity, of course. Yet, the Constitution doesn't say lifetime. It just says, "shall hold their office during their good behavior," I think it is.
Why isn't there a retirement age, like there is with most other jobs, or term limits or, perhaps, the suggestion of rotating justices from a bigger pool, I know was suggested at one point. Why -- why is it the way that it is? And why -- why aren't there term limits?
TOOBIN: Well, the reason it is the way it is, is because that's how the framers of the Constitution set it up. But remember, you know, the Constitution was written in the 18th Century. And in those days, you know, just to be -- to be blunt about it, people didn't live as long as they did now.
So the idea of appointing a distinguished judge in his -- and it was only his -- in those days in his forties could maybe expect to live another 10, maybe 20 years. And that's -- and that was the rule for many years.
Now fortunately, we all live a great deal longer than we used to. And the court is perceived as much more of a -- of a political body than it was in the post-World War II years, the Forties, the Fifties, even into the Sixties.
So these Supreme Court appointment fights have become proxies for all the political divisions we face, and as a result, presidents seek to put a stamp on the court for as long as possible.
So the days of appointing justices in their sixties, which used to be fairly common. And Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg actually was 60 years old when she was appointed. So -- but those days are long gone, and it's quite clear that President Trump is only considering people in their forties and early fifties.
HOLMES: Jeffrey Toobin, I wish we had longer. We do not. Thanks so much.
TOOBIN: OK, Michael.
HOLMES: We'll take a quick break now. When we come back, America's CDC has updated its guidance on how COVID-19 spreads. And it might be much easier to catch than you realize. We'll be right back.
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[00:23:01]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(BELLS RINGING)
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HOLMES: Bells tolling 200 times Sunday at the U.S. National Cathedral in Washington. They rang once for every thousand lives lost as the nation nears 200,000 deaths from the coronavirus.
The official number right now from John Hopkins University just short of 199,500. It is sadly, of course, just a matter of time before that staggering death toll is reached. Two hundred thousand people.
Well, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is acknowledging COVID-19 can be commonly spread through viral particles in the air.
The agency's new guidance says those aerosols are produced when a person talks, sings, coughs, sneezes or even just breathes. And it's believed the particles can hang in the air and be breathed in by others.
The CDC had previously said the virus was thought to spread mainly through respiratory droplets between people within six feet of one other. This new update reinforcing why masks are so crucial.
The head of the U.S. testing efforts claims the country is seeing fewer fatalities compared to its peak in July. But as CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro reports, America's death toll remains the highest in the world, and the numbers are still rising and are staggering.
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EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Projections now show projections now show in the projections now show in the next day or so, America will pass a grim milestone in this pandemic: 200,000 deaths from complications of coronavirus.
To put that number in perspective let's go back to March 29 when President Trump addressed the idea of 200,000 deaths.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we could hold that down as we're saying 20,000; it's a horrible number. Maybe even less, but 200,000. So we have between 100 and 200,000, we all together have done a very good job.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO: That 200,000 number comes even as places like New York City where I am standing are seeing their viral numbers come way down. But this country is still in the grips of this thing.
The pandemic is wreaking havoc on the American economy, education and of course, people's lives. And there's really no end in sight. Over the weekend, Admiral Bret Giroir, a member of the president's coronavirus task force, told CNN he has no real timeline for when a safe and effective vaccine will become widely available here.
Evan McMorris Santoro, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Protesters in masks facing off against police in masks. This was the scene Sunday ahead of a new partial lockdown in some of the poorest neighborhoods in Madrid. Some 850,000 people are under new quarantine restrictions. No one allowed in or out of parts of the city, unless it is for work, school or a doctor visit.
Residents say the restrictions unfairly target them instead of wealthier areas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEGONA RAMOS, VALLECAS RESIDENT (through translator): The measures taken by Madrid's regional leader are unfair. It doesn't make sense that you can go to work in a rich neighborhood, but you can't go shopping. If you are infected, you can infect at work or get infected at work. It is utterly unfair and discriminatory.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, the government says it had to take action, because infection rates there are more than five times the national average.
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, officials will impose fines, starting at $1,300 on anyone who does not self-isolate after testing positive. The health secretary says people must be vigilant, because the country is at a tipping point.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MATT HANCOCK, U.K. HEALTH SECRETARY: If everybody follows the rules, everybody follows the rules, and we'll be increasingly stringent on the people who are not feeling the rules. If everybody face -- follows the rules, than we can avoid further national lockdowns, but we, of course, have to be prepared to take action if that's what's necessary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Quick break now on the program. When we come back, respect and remembrance. How people are paying tribute to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg outside the U.S. Supreme Court. You're watching CNN.
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[00:31:01]
HOLMES: And welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. This is CNN NEWSROOM, and I'm Michael Holmes.
The battle lines over the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court are deepening. President Donald Trump making the nomination to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg a central campaign issue. He has already indicated he will choose a woman.
Two Republican senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, both announcing their opposition to taking up a nomination now. They cited Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's decision to block President Barack Obama's nominee back in 2016.
The Democratic presidential hopeful, Joe Biden, meanwhile, calling President Trump's push to nominate a candidate this close to election a, quote, "exercise of raw political power."
Now, away from the political maneuvering, people are paying tribute to Justice Ginsburg outside the Supreme Court. CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider is there.
(begin videotape)
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: People have flocked to the Supreme Court for three nights in a row now. And it's not just all the flowers and the candles that people are laying out here. But the memorials have also turned inventive.
You can see on the sidewalk the chalk drawings. They say everything from, "Thank you, RBG" to "Rest in Power." It's really amazing. These chalk tributes, they range all around the perimeter of the Supreme Court itself.
Now outside the Supreme Court tonight, the crowds have actually thinned out a lot thinner than last night's vibrant tribute and vigil. But you can see here that the flowers are still lining the sidewalk in front of the steps of the Supreme Court. People have been coming out here for three nights now to leave the flowers and to light these candles. And the tributes aren't just outside. We've learned that inside the
Supreme Court, even though it's been closed since March, they have kept to a tradition in that they've put a black wool crepe over Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's bench chair and the bench in front of her. They've also hung a draping over the courtroom entrance. That's something that's been done since the 1800s.
So a lot of tributes out here. We're still waiting to hear what the final memorial plans are for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[00:36:39]
HOLMES: Welcome back. Millions of people on the U.S. Gulf Coast are under storm warnings as Tropical Storm Beta heads for Texas and Louisiana, the system bringing heavy rain, also the threat of big storm surges. Just more bad news in what's already been a record- breaking hurricane season.
CNN meteorologist Tyler Mauldin joins me now with the latest. Hey, Tyler.
TYLER MAULDIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Michael. Good morning to all of you around the country and around the world.
We are looking at the northwestern Gulf of Mexico at the moment where 50 million Americans are under a tropical storm watch at the moment. It's all because of Beta, and Beta is that slow-moving system that is looking a little discombobulated on satellite imagery at the moment.
Regardless, it's producing some very heavy rainfall across Louisiana and Texas. And we've been seeing rainfall all weekend. Now we have picked up roughly a quarter to half a millimeter of rainfall across the area, but very heavy rainfall sits right offshore. And those heavy rain amounts will be coming onshore over the next 5 to 7 days as the system slowly pushes to the north.
And you see all those reds there? That is all the rainfall that we will see. And it's all because of the slow movement of Beta. That slow movement spells a long duration rain event for us, rain event for us across the coast of Texas all the way into Louisiana.
I mean, this thing is going to make landfall as a tropical storm overnight Monday, and it's only in north Louisiana by Thursday. Now, we're not going to see it strengthen over the next 24 hours before landfall because of all this dry air that is being pulled into the system. So that's good news.
But the slow movement of the tropical storm means that you don't need to pay attention to the category it's going to produce. Catastrophic rainfall and flooding and even storm surge we're actually already seeing the storm surge in portions of Texas. Around the rest of the Atlantic, we have Teddy, which is a Category 2
hurricane now. It's going to push to the east of Bermuda and eventually will impact Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia is actually under a tropical storm watch at the moment, and then we have an area just to the south of the Azores. And it has the potential of wrapping up into our next named storm, and that next named storm, Michael, it would be Gamma. We are -- we are deep into the Greek alphabet now.
HOLMES: Gosh, you're going to run out. Thank you, Tyler. Tyler Mauldin there.
All right. Fires and Brazil's wetlands have destroyed thousands of square kilometers this year. And this is a recurring trend in Latin America, and it threatens many countries. Some experts fearing the environment may not recover from these drastic changes.
CNN's Matt Rivers reports.
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MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Millions of acres up in flames. Brazil more than 15,000 fires so far this year have burned everything in their path in the Pantanal region, the world's largest tropical wetland.
In September alone, Brazil's National Institute for Space Research has so far identified about 5,600 wildfires.
"It's the first time I've gone through an emergency that is happening now and because of the fire," says this beekeeper. Thousands of his bees are dead because of the fires.
But Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a climate change denier, views the situation differently. "Brazil should be congratulated for the way it preserves its environment," Bolsonaro said on Thursday.
[00:40:05]
The comment was made just moments after the plane he was on aborted its first attempt to land in the area due to thick smoke from the fires.
Brazil's Pantanals are not the only areas in danger. Years of drought and high temperatures have fueled fires in the Santa Cruz region of Bolivia. And in Argentina's Delta region, unprecedented fires have burned more than 270,000 acres of land. Argentina's environmental minister, Juan Cabandie, says that 95 percent of the fires are set intentionally. Burning land to prep it for sowing is common practice in the region.
CARLOS NOBRE, CLIMATE SCIENTIST: Old practices of renewing razing lands for cattle using fires, they have to be abandoned. Very severe dry season, record-breaking temperatures. Record-breaking dryness in the air. So you have all these elements together, created the conditions for a tremendous amount of fuel to burn.
RIVERS: Satellite images show the burn scars. Some of these areas will adapt to these fires, experts say, while others might never recover.
Matt Rivers, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And thanks for joining us. Our international viewers, you've got WORLD SPORT coming up next. For our viewers here in the United States, I'll be right back with more news.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. In the wake of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death, CNN has obtained audio recordings that give us some more insight into the U.S. President's attitude towards the judiciary.
During interviews with the renowned journalist, Bob Woodward for his book "Rage," President Trump spoke about why his judicial appointments are key to his record. He repeatedly boasted about the number of judges he's appointed to the Federal bench, calling them golden nuggets.
This comes as he prepares, of course, to try to push through a third Supreme Court nominee.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just signed my 187th Federal Judge. It's a record. A hundred and eighty seven judges in less than three years, Bob. And two Supreme Court Judges. Never been done before.
The only one that has a better percentage is George Washington, because he appointed 100 percent, but my percentage is, you know, like, ridiculous, 187 --
BOB WOODWARD, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: And there were a couple of judges --
TRUMP: I'll end up with -- when I get out, I'll probably have more than 50 percent of the Federal Judges in the country appointed under Trump.
WOODWARD: And Lindsey Graham has said that there were a couple of those judges that he himself didn't care for and rejected them, are you aware of that?
TRUMP: Yes, and other senators, too. Yes. And when they don't like them, I didn't put them in. You know, I don't want that.
WOODWARD: Does he have kind of -- because you know, that's his committee and they --
TRUMP: Yes, no, if Lindsey and other people don't like them, I don't put them in. You know why? Why do we want a broken system? You know? They don't like them because they may be in some cases, they are not conservative or they don't believe or they came out with a couple of bad decisions on something.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, during a separate interview, this one from July, Woodward asked President Trump about his response to the coronavirus pandemic.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
WOODWARD: So what grade do you give yourself on the virus for the last six to seven months?
TRUMP: Other than the public relations, which is impossible because it's a fake media, fake. They're fake. I know you --
WOODWARD: Yes, I do.
TRUMP: Okay. Other than the fact that I have been unable to --
WOODWARD: So what's the grade, sir?
TRUMP: ... or treating us fairly, I give ourselves an "A." But the grade is incomplete, and I'll tell you why. If we come up with the vaccines and the therapeutics, then I give myself an A-plus.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
HOLMES: With the pandemic raging in the U.S., meanwhile, millions of students have been forced to stay at home and take their classes online, but this is having a huge impact on their parents.
As CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich reports, many of them are taking time off from work just so they can take care of the kids at home.
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TRACI WELLS, MOTHER OF FOUR: Whoever catches this gets a hundred points.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS REPORTER (voice over): A moment of pure joy, during a difficult time for this family of six.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WELLS: It's super challenging to have to juggle everything at the same time all the time.
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YURKEVICH: Traci Wells is talking about what nearly 25 million parents are experiencing right now, juggling work and remote learning. In June, Wells and her husband made the tough decision for her to go
part-time so she could present for her three school-aged girls and toddler son. She expects her kids won't be back in classrooms until 2021.
WELLS: I was just like, I cannot maintain this for another six months. It's -- it's just too much. It's too intense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YURKEVICH (voice over): Forty percent of working parents have made changes to their employment, including 25 percent who have voluntarily reduced their hours, and 15 percent who have quit entirely.
And women between 25 and 44 are almost three times as likely as men to leave the workforce in order to take care of children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SACHIN PANDYA, LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT LAW PROFESSOR, UCONN: That results in a massive decrease in household income, which just makes it more difficult for parents and families who are already in a precarious position financially, and by the way, doesn't help very much in an economy that is currently trying to recover from a staggering unemployment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: A baby and mommy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YURKEVICH (voice over): But parents who are not looking for new work aren't counted as unemployed. Under the CARES Act, parents were eligible for unemployment if they needed to stay home with their children, but that protection expired in July.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CINDY GIL, SINGLE MOTHER: I think costs for daycare is -- it's like another rent. It's like a college tuition. If it was more cost effective, that would be wonderful.
YURKEVICH (on camera): But for you, it wouldn't be a cost effective option?
GIL: Daycare would not be a cost effective option for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[00:50:03]
YURKEVICH (voice over): Cindy Gil lives in a studio apartment with her eight-year-old son, Kaden in Harlem, New York.
She's a single mom with no choice but to work. She's remote a few days a week when Kaden had virtual learning, but in order to keep her job, she took a 10 percent pay cut. Things are stressful.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIL: When things kind of reached a boiling point for him in terms of patience and just things that he needed from me, I needed to take a day off of work or half a day here and there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YURKEVICH (voice over): In just weeks, a lifeline is disappearing for Wells. The paid family leave that's helped supplement her income runs out. She says she likely can't afford to continue part-time without it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WELLS: Honestly, it's hard for me to even go there because I don't think I could have continued at the same rhythm that I was continuing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YURKEVICH (voice over): Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, there is obviously, a lot of anxiety around traveling these days especially flying. But one airport in Europe getting high marks for its safety measures during the pandemic. CNN's Delia Gallagher with more from Rome.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Rome's Fiumicino Airport is the first airport in the world to have received a 5-star rating for cleanliness and anti-COVID measures, from airline and airport ratings company, SkyTrax.
By comparison, London's Heathrow and other airports in France and Spain received three stars.
Fiumicino was one of the first airports to begin using thermal scanners at entrances and a smart helmet, a portable thermal scanner. It's also one of the first airports to have rapid testing available for passengers right at the airport.
Ivan Bassato, Director of Operations, says it's a safety measure but also a convenience issue for travelers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IVAN BASSATO, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, AIRPORTS OF ROME: It's not a good service or at least a good experience for passengers, visiting any hospital or visiting a laboratory ahead of a flight, as it is required in some countries.
(END VIDEO CLIP) GALLAGHER (voice-over): Since August, travelers coming into Italy
from some high-risk countries have been tested on arrival. Just this week, the airport becomes the first in Europe to test departing passengers on flights from Rome to Milan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASSATO: If you test those passengers before entering the air transport system at the airport or before boarding a plane, in that case, we have a flight that is fully tested.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER (voice-over): If successful, Bassato says they hope to also use it on international flights.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER (on camera): Travel through this airport is down 80 percent compared to this time last year, authorities tell us.
And one of the reasons they are continually trying to improve protocols is not just for the physical health of passengers, but also psychologically they will feel safe to fly again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER (voice over): Bassato credits the cleaning and medical staff at the airport for their tireless dedication. The rapid testing protocol was set up in 48 hours during an August holiday weekend in Rome.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BASSATO: The 16th of August was a Sunday morning and there were dozens of physicians, doctors and nurses who started operation over here because they felt it was much important for the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER (voice-over): Workers in Italy pulling together to help the country take off again.
Delia Gallagher, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Our next story should brighten your day a little, and we all need that. A little boy with an infection smile which lights up especially when he hears his mom's voice. It took a lot of work and fraught moments get to this point.
Jeanne Moos with that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mason. Mason.
JEANNE MOOS, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Kids often tend to ignore their moms on purpose, but not Mason.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Say hi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS (voice over): At 18 months, he just got his first hearing aids. Watch him as he hears mom clearly for the very first time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mason. Hi. Can you hear me? Hi, baby. Hi. You can hear me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: Behind the camera, his mom, Lauren Webb was --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bawling my eyes out. The first time he heard he say his name, when his face lit up like that, I almost couldn't keep it together. I think I was definitely happier than he was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS (voice over): Reaction online was similar. Be right back while I go cry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good job. Yes, you can hear me. Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS (voice over): But you haven't heard the whole story. Mason was born almost four months premature. After three men broke into mom and dad's place, a random home invasion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I ended up getting shot three times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[00:55:08]
MOOS (voice over): Two days later, Lauren went into emergency labor weighing in at one pound, doctors thought Mason might not survive, might be blind, might never walk, but he beat the odds and has now been fitted with hearing aids at Virginia Commonwealth University Hospital in Richmond. They even gave him Leo the stuffed lion, likewise fitted with hearing
aids.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's doing a lot of like yelling and just making noises because now it's kind of like the first time he can even hear himself clearly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS (voice over): But even hearing aids don't help when mom steps away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When have I ever left you? Why would I start today?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS (voice over): Someday, Mason will look back and listen to the first words he clearly heard from his mother's lips.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you like how everything sounds? Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS (voice over): No audio quality tends to improve when you stick the hearing aids in your ears, not your mouth, Mason.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no, buddy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS (voice over): Jeannie Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Lovely. India's famed monument to love won't be so lonely anymore. The Taj Mahal reopening Monday after being closed for six months because of the pandemic. Officials say it will welcome a maximum of 5,000 visitors a day down from the usual 20,000 and all social distancing measures must be followed.
India of course has the second highest number of coronavirus infections in the world.
Thanks for your company, spending part of your day with me. If you can, stick around. I'll be back with another hour of CNN NEWSROOM after the break.
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