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Sources: Judge Barrett Is Trump's Preferred Pick To Replace Ginsburg; U.S. Passes Grim Milestone Of 200,000 Deaths; Republicans Fall In Line, Give Green Light For Fast-Track Confirmation; President Donald Trump Says He Will Announce Court Nominee On Saturday. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired September 22, 2020 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

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JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Hello to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I am John King in Washington. Thank you for sharing this very busy, very sad breaking news day with us. We begin the hour with a horrifying statistic.

The United States has now registered 200,000, Coronavirus deaths. Dr. Anthony Fauci this morning in an interview with Dr. Sanjay Gupta calls that milestone sobering and stunning. Dr. Fauci also has big concerns about the current case level, the rise in new infections, but he does say a fall slide into more hospitalizations and more death in his view is not inevitable. His advice, follow the data do what we know works.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We've got to keep that slope coming down and you do that by looking at where you are, in what region of the country, and acting accordingly according to the guide lines. Sanjay, that's not rocket science. It is pretty clear. So if want to enter the fall in the winter at a really low level we got to acting now to do the things that we've all been saying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: 200,000. 200,000 American lives lost are hard to measure, hard to swallow. That's the population of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Huntsville, Alabama. Salt Lake City, Utah. 200,000 Americans lost to the Coronavirus. Every single one of them a person with a family yet listen to the President of the United States last night telling a rally crowd nobody died who wasn't already at risk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It affects elderly people. In some states thousands of people nobody young below the age of 18, like nobody. It affects virtually nobody. It is an amazing thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: That was the president. Dr. Fauci this morning says the science, the evidence and the facts tell us something very, very different.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. FAUCI: It's very disrespectful to me because I'm in my 70s. I'm like your father. I could be your father, Sanjay. The thing we need to remember, Sanjay, that there are a number of people in our society of substantial proportion who have underlying conditions. And if you look at the two groups that are at risk for serious conditions is the elderly and people at any age with underlying conditions underlying, any age.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: 200,000 Americans killed by Coronavirus is a numbing, numbing, painful statistic. Most public health experts would tell you it didn't have to happen. Now the question is, where are we going as we turn from summer and began the fall. Let's take a look at the trends right now. And the trends are bad. There is no other way to put, the trends are bad.

We are heading in the wrong direction. You see 24 states, 8 of them in the deep red that means 50 percent more infections, new infections this week than last week. Eight states reporting 50 percent or more new infections this week compared to last week 24 states in all heading in the wrong direction right now trending up, 20 states holding steady. Only 6 states reporting fewer infections this week compared to the data last week.

Look at all this red, that's a bad map. This is one month ago. We were beginning to head in the right direction. One month ago, you see all that green, that's 25 states one month ago trending down. That's the way you want to be going.

Not this way, especially as we head into the fall, the cooler weather, more people heading inside. This is what the case curve looks like that fills in that map. 52,000 new infections reported just yesterday. We need to watch this number so closely over the next several days. This is a one-day blip or are we going back above 50,000 new infections a day?

60,000 close to 70,000 at the peak of the summer surge, then a slow drop down to below 40, you see the line trending back up heading in the wrong direction right now. The president says we've rounded the final turn. That is not a final turn that is heading back up the hill.

And when you have more cases sadly you get more deaths. 200,000 milestones reached today and look, 20 states right now reporting more Coronavirus deaths this week compared to last week 20 states reporting more death this week, the last week 9 holding steady, 21 going down.

So there's more pain and suffering on this map as you go 200,000 deaths, just look at it. You go back to March as this began. You see the climb, we were at 200,000. Again that's the population of Grand Rapids, Michigan or Salt Lake

City, Utah. 200,000 Americans killed by the Coronavirus. You see it like here. And the question is, will it get worse or really get better? Right now the map is troubling.

You see 27 states in red right here. Higher positivity rates this week compared to last week meaning more people have new infections in these states, more positivity this week compared to last week. That tells you especially when you have the case count heading in the wrong direction. We have taken a turn for the worse.

[12:05:00]

KING: Not a turn around the final quarter. Dr. Fauci says it is imperative that all Americans follow the government's advice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. FAUCI: Masks work, physical distancing works. Avoiding crowds work. Thank you, Sanjay, for giving me the opportunity to be on television now to say that. That is the fact. So people should not worry that that's wrong or worry that that's something to change. This is where we are and it's based on fact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Dr. Celine Gounder is the CNN Medical Analyst, Former Assistant New York City Commissioner of Health. Dr. Gounder, grateful for your time today. This is a sad day. We have had many sad conversations over the past six plus months, 200,000 Americans lost, again, that's Huntsville, Alabama, Salt Lake City, Grand Rapids, Michigan are gone.

And every one of them, where somebody's son or daughter or somebody's spouse, somebody's partner I want you to listen to the President of the United States last night who seems to me this is just why callous saying well the people who died, they had problems anyway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Now we know it. It affects elderly people, elderly people with heart problems and other problems. If they have other problems, that's what it really affects. That's it. In some states thousands of people, nobody young. Below the age of 18, like nobody it affects virtually nobody. It is an amazing thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: I don't have words for that. I'm not sure if you do.

DR. CELINE GOUNDER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: John, I think this is one of the greatest tragedies in American history, not least because these 200,000 deaths, those deaths were preventable. We have had the means to control the virus. We have had the tools. We just haven't had the resolve.

Other countries have made use of those tools, the masks, the social distancing, countries like South Korea, Singapore, Australia and they have managed to contain the virus. We chose not to and I think to now say that this is only a problem of the elderly as Dr. Fauci noted, it's much broader than that.

There are so many people in this country who have preexisting conditions, including hypertension, diabetes, and just because the doctor hasn't hold you, the virus doesn't care if you've been diagnosed with that or not. About half of the Americans under the age of 65 have a preexisting condition so many of us are very really at risk.

KING: All right. Then you look at the rear-view mirror, and there the statistics on your screen we're approaching 7 million infections in the United States of America. We are now passed 200,000 deaths. That is so bring enough. And then you look at the data right now.

As you try to look forward, 52,000 new infections yesterday averaging somewhere in the ballpark of 40,000 new infections a day. But heading back up, if you look at the data, Dr. Fauci says this is a problem because of where we are on the calendar. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. FAUCI: When you have a very low baseline and you start to get the blips as I call them, you don't want them to turn into surges or rebounds. And when you have a lot of cases floating around it is much more difficult to contain that than if you have a relatively low number so that when those cases appear you can contain as opposed to having to jump over to mitigation.

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KING: He says when you have a very low baseline, he has said this for some time, he is trying to be diplomatic because he gets in trouble when he is honest. The White House gets on his case. On Memorial Day we were down to around 18,000 new infections a day on average on Memorial Day.

Now we're back above 40,000 new infections a day. That is not a low baseline as we head into the fall. That says be worried, right?

DR. GOUNDER: I'm very worried John. We're starting off right with a high plateau in contrast to European countries which did manage to really bring the level of transmission down. They are just like us now seeing an increase. But in our case it's an increase, yes, we're rounding the corner, surrounding the corner a spike up on top of a very high plateau so this is very concerning.

KING: Very concerning you say. And there's been confusion. We have talked about this few times over the last several months. I want you to listen to Dr. Fauci here with the CDC withdrew some guidelines it had posted about how the Coronavirus is transmitted.

Dr. Fauci today not criticizing the CDC but essentially saying he agrees with the guidelines they took down. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. FAUCI: You can make a reasonable assumption, Sanjay that some aspect of transmission can be and is by aerosol. The interesting thing about that, it doesn't change anything that we have been saying. It means wear your mask, it means avoid close contact. It means avoid crowds.

[12:10:00]

DR. FAUCI: And it means what we've been saying the third or fourth thing that I mentioned to you just a little while ago is that outdoors is better than indoors because if you have aerosol indoor you can have some recirculation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Let's translate that for late people. My understanding of that is this aerosol transmission is that the virus lingers in the air perhaps longer than people had anticipated.

DR. GOUNDER: That's right, John. And this is something we've actually known since at least February or March, that the virus can be transmitted through aerosols that it is airborne as well as droplets spread.

I think what we still are debating as scientist is to what degree is it one versus the other? But I think big picture for the general public, it's the same exact measures that you need to take. You need to wear a mask, you need to stay a minimum of six feet apart from other people, spend as much time outdoors as possible, especially when you are around other people.

And if you are indoors it should be a well ventilated setting. None of that advice has changed. My only hope is that perhaps the people are a little more aware that this is airborne that maybe if they were reluctant to wear masks before that this gives them further reason to do so.

KING: We can hope. We can hope on that point Dr. Gounder, as always grateful for your time and your important insights. Up next for us supreme court battle, Senate Republicans say they have the votes to push through a Supreme Court Nominee and to push that nominee through before the election.

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[12:15:00]

KING: The president promises to unveil his Supreme Court pick this weekend and he demands a full Senate vote before the election. Looks very much like the president is going to get his way consider this a green light.

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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): The nominee's going to be supported by every Republican in the Judiciary Committee and we've got the votes to confirm the judge, the justice on the floor of the Senate before the election and that's what's coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: And this today, too, Senator Mitt Romney says in the morning statement if the nominee reaches the Senate floor I intend to vote based upon their qualifications. Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia also says the president should act now to fill the vacancy. Let's get straight to CNN's Kaitlan Collins at the White House.

So the president getting his wish the Republicans, they were nervous about the Republicans who might have said, no, slow down, are getting in line for doing this in a fast track way. Next move is the president's, Kaitlan.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yep, as Republicans are locking down support on Capitol Hill for moving forward with this process, the president is at the White House narrowing down his list of who it is that he is going to pick which he says John is going to happen on Saturday, they were still not sure of the timing.

We are hearing it could be in the afternoon on Saturday, of course that is still fluid. But the president is still focusing on who his pick is going to be and his already in meeting with several of the candidates including Amy Coney Barrett yesterday at the White House for several hours.

A meeting that of course we are told meant to help cement her status right now as the clear favorite in the eyes of the White House, a meeting that lasted several hours where she not only met with President Trump. She also met with the White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, who is playing a key role in all of this alongside the Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

And so the question is, how many other candidates is the president going to meet with? He likes the idea John of keeping this competitive, keeping other names in the ring right now because he likes this idea of suspense.

We've seen that play out with his last two Supreme Court nominees. But what we are hearing from sources and what we are telling right now is that Amy Coney Barrett is emerging as the clear favorite inside the White House that helped the president second meeting with her.

And that comes as Barbara Lagoa, this other candidate who has been on the short list initially had a lot of excitement from the president himself on Saturday. And we are told by sources that is started to fade away since then though they are still likely going to schedule a meeting with Lagoa in her hometown of Miami when the president is there on Friday though that does not seem certain at this point. It is something that they're in the process of working on.

So basically John, they're just trying to make sure they've got who the nominee is going to be. But with this Republican support coalescing on Capitol Hill, the White House is feeling good about how quickly this is going to move, because we do know the president does want this to happen before voters go to the polls on November 3rd.

KING: Kaitlan Collins as I said she was at the White House, she is, of course, on the hillside in beautiful Pittsburgh where the president has a rally later today Kaitlan. I appreciate that reporting. Let's gets straight up to Capitol Hill now and CNN's Phil Mattingly. Phil, all the indications are today as full speed ahead for the Republicans.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question about it. I think if you would talk to people on Friday night, when this news first broke about passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg he would have told you that the idea that Republicans would have the votes ready to move forward on this nomination within four days would be pretty crazy except that's exactly where they are.

And I think the explanation as to why that they have gotten to this point particularly given what Republicans did in 2016 blocking President Barrack Obama's nominee is instructive. When you talk to Republicans about law makers and their senior aids the outside groups that are working on this as well, they underscore a couple points.

One, the court is bigger than the president. This isn't necessarily President Trump thing this isn't necessarily a loyalty to President Trump thing. This is the idea of shifting this court to 6-3 conservative majority, something that a decade ago when person told me, we couldn't have dreamed of when it came to Republicans and conservatives.

I think there's a lot of excitement inside the Senate Republican Conference about the possibility that Amy Coney Barrett could be the selection. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell telling the president, I'm told that one is not going to put his thumb on the scale for a nominee.

Amy Coney Barrett's nomination if it were to come would be welcomed by Republicans and they would certainly advocate very strongly for that in the days and weeks ahead. But I also think it's important to note here that people who were trying to game out the electoral dynamics with maybe the endangered Republican Senators.

For the vast majority of those Republican Senators that are up for re- election that are in tight races that aren't named Susan Collins, leaving the president on any issue, particularly leaving the president on the issue of judges.

And leaving the president on the issue of a Conservative Justice which Republicans have confirmed by the hundreds over the course of the last three and a half years was simply an impossibility is what I'm being told right now.

[12:20:00]

MATTINGLY: And right now it looks like not only they're going to move, they're going to move fast, they are likely to move before the election. And you should expect a hearing schedule from Senate Judiciary Ccommittee Chairman, Lindsey Graham shortly after the president makes his pick on Saturday. John? KING: Phil Mattingly, very busy day on Capitol Hill. I appreciate the live report. And let's continue the conservation now with Maggie Haberman of "The New York Times." And Maggie to Phil's point, we've had this conservation so many times during the Trump Presidency. And there is a lot of Republican who don't like this president either for policy reasons or the way he conducts himself and they've often said.

But we like the tax cuts, but we like deregulation. Listen to Senator Mitt Romney today deciding he was one the Democrats were hoping for their need for. And they have two, they were hoping on Mitt Romney. But Mitt Romney says we know he is not a big fan of the president, but he says America deserves a conservative court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): The decision to proceed now with the President Trump's nominee is also consistent with history. I came down on the side of the constitution and precedent as I've studied it. It's also appropriate for a nation which is, if you will center right to have a court which reflects center right points of view which again are not changing the law from what it states, but instead following the law and following the constitution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: A 6-3 Supreme Court majority is a republican dream that may happen in a Trump Presidency but almost has nothing to do with President Trump.

MAGGIE HABERMAN, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: That's - to a point. It does have something to do with President Trump. He could say no, but it is absolutely true that President Trump did not come into the White House with some clearly defined ideology.

This is basically a program on judges that has been constructed by a number of people over years including the White House councils, including Mitch McConnell. This will be what the president knows he will be remembered for.

I think the people who thought that Mitt Romney was sort of this resistance figure hero. He is a very conservative person that represents a very conservative state. So I think it should not be a surprise, I mean, Mitt Romney have flip flopped on a number of issues over the years.

But generally speaking, he has held conservative positions, particularly on issues like these and that matches the state he represents. Within the White House there's clear consensus around Amy Coney Barrett that is - she is well ahead by a mile from other candidates who are really at this point I think nominally being mentioned. She is the only one the president has met with.

I don't know that he's going to meet with Barbara Lagoa at - Florida at any point during this week. And people who tell me that that might happens say it would really be something of a box check. Barring the unforeseen, Amy Coney Barrett is likely to be who the president chooses.

KING: And so, that would allow the president to reshape the cores.

HABERMAN: Yes.

KING: And whatever you think of President Trump about three Supreme Court Justices and then dozens of district court and appeals court judges, this is a major part of the Trump legacy that our grandchildren will be talking about.

Now with all these judges on the court, the question is, does it have the impact the president hopes it has politically? I know as you speak to them, two campaign advisers are thinking Judge Coney Barrett, they think it might help with Catholics in places like Pennsylvania and places like Wisconsin.

HABERMAN: That's right.

KING: And we're having this conversation, this has been the conversation of the year. We hit 200,000 Americans killed by the Coronavirus today. The president has been trying to escape the cloud of the Coronavirus throughout this campaign. He can't escape it. Can he mitigate it, I guess? Do they think this helps him is the question.

HABERMAN: They certainly think John that anything that takes the focus off the Coronavirus is a help to the president. Does it may people whose lives have been impacted other by illness or by economic crisis to some degree, does it make them forget that, probably not.

I mean, I've heard the same arguments that you have heard about how it helps in with Catholics in key rust belt states? I think the question is Amy Coney Barrett is very, very anti-choice, on abortion rights. And I think the question is, for soft Biden voters, particularly women in the suburbs and men in the suburbs, does that do anything for the president to help win them back?

I'm not sure it does and this is why there are some people around the president who have been arguing for Barbara Lagoa. Again I think that's incredibly unlikely to happen, but there was a case being made for why she did more politically.

KING: All right. You raise a fascinating point because as you know Barrett than anyone, this president is not ideological. And yet, he has this opportunity here to get - I didn't articulate it quite well, but to get a conservative Republican dream, a 6-3 court majority, which in the history books will be a major part of the Trump legacy.

But there's an argument that you just laid it out that even as he gets a long-term legacy, he could actually hurt himself in the short term here given the demographics of the country. And the key swing states where Biden at the moment is leading.

HABERMAN: That's exactly right. We have seen this president time and again John, when he has the choice almost every time, not every time. In almost every time when he has the choice of doing something that is more sort of make someone - choosing somebody for a position - could be a mainstream candidate or somebody who will appeal to conservatives and to evangelicals, almost every time he takes the latter path.

And so, I think he's going to stick with that here I think, he has decided that his base is who he needs.

[12:25:00]

HABERMAN: If he doesn't do it, there's only been some drift away from him from evangelical voters, they think this can help solidify them. But again every action in this polarized environment action has an opposite reaction. The question is whether it's an equal and opposite reaction?

KING: Well, Hamilton referenced this, knocking by Maggie Haberman from "The New York Times", I appreciate this conversation and we shall continue Maggie grateful for the reporting and insights on this important day.

When we come back, we are six weeks from today; we will be counting the vote. Many of you are voting early including today. Two of our favorite pollsters join us to crunch the numbers.

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