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Trump to Nominate Amy Coney Barrett to Supreme Court; Trump Won't Commit to Peaceful Transfer, Ramps Up Baseless Claims of Widespread Voter Fraud; U.S. Passes 7 Million COVID-19 Cases; U.K. Records Highest-Ever Number of New COVID-19 Cases; Terror Attack in Paris; Helsinki Airport Trial Deploys Dogs to Detect COVID-19. Aired 3-3:30a ET
Aired September 26, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello, everyone, and welcome to Studio 7 here at CNN Center in Atlanta. I am Michael Holmes.
In a move that will change the U.S. Supreme Court for years to come. Donald Trump has reportedly made his choice to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
A surge in coronavirus cases in Europe, now into its second wave.
And later, man's best friend on a mission to sniff out coronavirus. The pilot project already underway at an airport in Helsinki.
Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes.
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HOLMES: It is one of the most consequential decisions a U.S. president makes and it can affect millions of people for decades. And President Trump will make it public just hours from now.
Sources telling CNN he will announce judge Amy Coney Barrett as his choice for the Supreme Court. She is still in her 40s. And the appointment is for life, so Barrett could be on the court for more than a generation if confirmed.
Her very conservative vote replacing the liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg. That will also, of course, tilt the court further to the Right. Ginsburg reportedly wanted the president to pick her successor, not this president.
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HOLMES (voice-over): And Friday, Justice Ginsburg made history even in death, becoming the first woman to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol and the first Jewish person, too. Here is one of many poignant moments. Ginsburg's longtime personal trainer Bryant Johnson honoring her by doing 3 pushups at her casket.
And here's another one. Lawmakers waving farewell as Ginsburg leaves for the last time.
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Now if the president does announce Judge Barrett as his choice, it will surprise absolutely no one. CNN's Pamela Brown reports from Washington.
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PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: CNN has learned, President Trump intends to pick Amy Coney Barrett, as his nominee for the Supreme Court.
Republican allies have been told by the White House, this is who the president wants and that announcement expected to be made later this evening, around 5:00 pm Eastern.
Amy Coney Barrett, seen as a front-runner from the get-go. She was interviewed by the president for the last Supreme Court vacancy; that, ultimately, went to justice Kavanaugh.
She is someone who has conservative credentials and a compelling personal story. She has 7 children, including one child with Down syndrome, and two adopted children from Haiti. She was a former professor at Notre Dame, she clerked for Justice Scalia and Trump wants to put people in the high court who were modeled after justice Scalia.
She certainly fits the bill in that part. This essentially has been the plan all along. Sources say Mitch McConnell had been in touch with the White House and Amy Coney Barrett was someone he had been pushing for because he thought he would have the votes for her.
Of course, with the election around the corner, the White House did not want to take chances. In a sense, Barrett is seen as the safe pick. Machinery is already in motion for her, said one source, to be announced as the nominee.
Of course, the confirmation hearing ahead. So we are now just waiting for the announcement from the president. But there is always the caveat that the president could change his mind. It is unlikely at this point.
But with a president with an unpredictable nature, sources always caveat that until he makes the announcement, nothing is final -- Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.
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HOLMES: Senate Democrats say they will urge the nominee to recuse herself if the court hears a case that could affect the election outcome. And Mr. Trump, meanwhile, busy sowing doubts about the integrity of
mail-in voting, seizing and spinning an incident in Pennsylvania. Have a listen.
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TRUMP: Now I don't know, you know, with this ballot situation?
You know, you are not going to see it. November 3rd, the Democrats are playing games, you see that. You see they found ballots in a wastepaper basket. We may end up in a dispute for a long time.
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TRUMP: Because that's the way they want it. But we are going to end up winning, that's for sure.
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TRUMP: (INAUDIBLE). Here's what the president isn't telling his supporters. A total of 9 military ballots, 7 of them marked for Trump, were improperly tossed out by a new election worker who hadn't received adequate training, being on the job for three days. That's according to federal and local officials, who also say the mistake was quickly flagged and investigated. So the system worked.
And considering that more than 6 billion people voted in Pennsylvania in 2016, the fact that 9 ballots were mistakenly trashed is hardly tantamount to the widespread voter fraud the president claims will happen.
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HOLMES: Joining me now, CNN political commentator, Matt Lewis. He is also a senior columnist at "The Daily Beast."
Matt, always great to get you on the program. The president, clearly, building a case that mail-in ballots will make the result of the election; if not now, then, at least, an issue for the Supreme Court. He was doing it again in his latest rally today. That is despite there being zero evidence of widespread fraud.
Given the paucity of evidence, how dangerous is that strategy for the country in terms of public faith in the system and the notion of free and fair elections?
MATT LEWIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I just think it is super destructive right now. We are already so polarized and trust in our institutions is already pretty low. For the president to go around suggesting there will be voter fraud, preemptively, putting it out there, I think is dangerous and irresponsible.
HOLMES: I guess there is this other scenario that is being discussed now, Fareed Zakaria discussing it in his latest column, that Republican state legislators could, after the election claim, even without hard evidence, that there was chaos and fraud in the protest. Unilaterally declaring that Republicans win their state, no matter the popular vote. That is possible.
Do you think it could come to that sort of scenario?
LEWIS: I don't think so. Maybe I am being naive, maybe I still believe people will step up, do the right thing.
But the fact is, this is something we are talking, about this close to of the election. It is indicative of how bad things are right now, right here. The fact that we are talking about the possibility that you could have these electors to basically go against the fair vote and, unilaterally, throw the election to Trump. I don't think it would happen but the fact that we're having the conversation is just so indicative of how destructive it is.
HOLMES: Yes, I was loath to raise it but then a couple very smart people have over the last few days and the fact that we're talking about it, this does seem extraordinary. It's extraordinary, on Friday, the White House chief of, staff attacking the Donald Trump appointed FBI director, Christopher Wray, for saying under oath that while there was occasionally isolated sort of corruption, historically, there's been no coordinated fraud effort in a major election by mail or otherwise.
It just magnifies the perception that the administration sees such law enforcement and legal officials like Wray as working for the president and not the people.
What is your take on that?
LEWIS: Clearly, they do think that people should be loyal to Trump personally, not so much to the Constitution, not so much the public, not to the truth. We saw that going back to the James Comey thing. Even impeachment, do me a favor, so that Donald Trump basically sees, loyalty, to him, as loyalty to America, as to patriotism.
But people tend to tell the truth in the Trump administration when they're under oat or after they've left the White House, if you've noticed. And I think the person who fits that category, to believe that person, don't believe the current chief of staff, believe the guy under oath.
HOLMES: That's a very good point -- or the one that just left.
What about the willingness or otherwise, of Republican lawmakers to stand up to Donald Trump if he refuses to accept the will of voters?
Ron Brownstein put it this way on the program yesterday, saying, whenever the president breaks a window, congressional Republicans sweep up the glass.
Where are they in all of this?
LEWIS: I have been actually pleasantly surprised that several Republicans have stepped up and, at least rhetorically, said -- I don't want to say they've condemned his remarks because I don't want to give them too much credit -- but they've essentially said this is not going to happen. There will be a peaceful transfer of power, as there has always been.
So I feel like Republicans are starting to say the right thing. But I think, as Ron noted, they do not have a proud history of standing up to Donald Trump when push came to shove.
Remember impeachment?
Only two Republicans would even vote to allow witnesses to appear in his impeachment trial. So they're not so tough when it comes to standing up to him.
HOLMES: Good point, Matt, good to see you, Matt Lewis, thank you so much.
LEWIS: Thank you.
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HOLMES: Well, the country worst hit by the coronavirus once again finding itself crossing a troubling and horrendous mark. The U.S. now surpassing 7 million known cases. That's according to Johns Hopkins University. Infections increasing in 23 states and you can see there the red, that's where the upticks are happening.
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HOLMES: This as America's top infectious disease expert weighs in on how soon a potential vaccine could make a difference.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: In reality, by the time you get enough people vaccinated so that you can feel you have had an impact enough on the outbreak so that you can start thinking about maybe getting a little bit more towards normality, that very likely, as I and others have said, would be maybe the third quarter or so of 2021 or maybe even the fourth quarter.
But the availability and starting vaccination could very likely start in November or December.
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HOLMES: Nick Watt now following developments for us from Los Angeles. Here's his report.
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NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Seven million COVID cases now confirmed in the United States, more than double Europe's case count and many more people live there.
DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Unlike Europe, unlike Asian countries, we are starting off this fall and winter with a very high level of infection.
WATT: And here's where we are. New York state is now creating its own task force to review any vaccine approved by the feds.
"Frankly, I'm not going to trust the federal government's opinion," said Governor Andrew Cuomo, despite this pledge:
DR. STEPHEN HAHN, COMMISSIONER, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION: Our experts who know about vaccines will make this determination and it'll be only based upon the science and the data, not politics. That's my pledge.
WATT: One influential model now predicts 3,000 Americans will be dying every day by the end of the year, more than triple our current toll.
If 95 percent of Americans would wear masks, those researchers say we'd save nearly 100,000 lives by January 1, but, apparently, only 48 percent of us are willing to mask up.
Meanwhile, the mask-averse governor of Missouri and the state's first lady have both now tested positive for COVID-19. So have the pro-mask first lady and governor of Virginia.
"As I have been reminding Virginians throughout this crisis," wrote Governor Ralph Northam, "COVID-19 is very real and very contagious."
FAUCI: Given the fact that we have never got down to a good baseline, we are still in the first wave.
WATT: All that red, those are states where average case counts are right now rising, in Colorado, around 1,000 confirmed cases now at C.U. Boulder.
MILES LEVIN, COLLEGE STUDENT: I'm honestly frustrated and disappointed that these officials couldn't have seen the writing on the wall.
WATT: Still, out West, a limited Pac-12 football season will now kick off early November. The league had said there would be no play until next year.
Different folks, different strokes, New York and Florida both holding steady for now. Today, Florida moves into phase three opening.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): And what that will mean for the restaurants is that there will not be limitations from the state of Florida.
WATT: Meanwhile, New York City just made the outdoor dining option permanent and year-round.
Here in California, now more than 800,000 confirmed cases. That is more cases than all but three countries on Earth. And meanwhile, New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo, called the federal response to this virus, "the worst of any country on Earth" -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Europe is in the grip of a second wave of coronavirus. Health
officials preparing for things to get worse as the weather gets colder. For example, France, seeing a rapid new jump in numbers. There are now more than 552,000 total infections, according to Johns Hopkins. The country counting more than 16,000 new cases on Friday alone.
Bars and restaurants in the United Kingdom are trying to adapt to government restrictions again. Britain just recording its highest ever number of new daily cases. Scott McLean is in London to bring us up to date on the situation there.
Fill us in.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Michael, so the U.K.'s second wave of the coronavirus has actually eclipsed the first wave this week. But of course, this time, things look a lot more different because there's a lot more testing.
Case in point, the U.K. has seen more than 6,000 cases, new cases of the virus every day. And at the peak, though, the health secretary estimates that there were actually more than 100,000. But only a very small fraction of those were actually being picked up by the limited testing that they were doing.
Hospitalization is another good example. At the peak, there were 12 times more hospitalizations than there are right now in the U.K. Still, though, the trend is not good.
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MCLEAN: And the government is trying to do whatever it can to actually tamp down this second wave without resorting to what's really a blunt instrument, a second national lockdown, which is still not off the table.
So last week, the government brought in new rules. It strengthened existing ones and it also brought in a testing -- a contact tracing app which could potentially tell you if you were in close proximity with someone who has tested positive for the virus.
But the prime minister continues to plead with people to simply follow the rules. He's promised higher fines, he's promised more resources to police, to better enforce the rules that do exist, even allowing them the opportunity to call in the military for support if they need it.
I asked the London Metropolitan Police if they plan to do that and they wouldn't comment just yet. Despite the fact that London is now on the list of the government's watch list of places that could be facing further localized restrictions.
And despite this government crackdown, this promise of a government crackdown, a new survey out this week shows that only one in five people, Michael, who actually had COVID symptoms were self isolating. And what's worse is one in nine people, according to this survey, who are contacted by government contact tracers and told, you have to self isolate, actually did so for the full two weeks.
HOLMES: Wow. Yes. Not good. Scott McLean in London, appreciate it, Scott. Thanks so much, good to see you.
Well, the health minister of Australia's, the Australian state of Victoria has quit after a controversy over the state's hotel quarantine program. The state's premier testified the former minister was responsible for the health department using private security contractors in the scheme and it wound up causing a second wave of infections in Victoria.
Now the former minister says she does accept some responsibility for the health department's choice but not all of it.
A trial is well underway in the "Charlie Hebdo" massacre five years ago. Now 2 people have been injured in an attack outside the former headquarters of the satirical magazine. We'll get the latest from Paris when we come back.
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HOLMES: Welcome back.
French prosecutors have opened a terror investigation after two people were stabbed and seriously injured in Paris. The attack happened near the former office of the "Charlie Hebdo" magazine, where a deadly terror attack happened five years, ago you may recall.
Police have arrested several people, including the person they say, is the main suspect in Friday's attack. CNN Paris correspondent, Melissa Bell, standing by, with the latest for us.
Numerous people have been arrested. Tell us what you heard from police about who they are and what role they play.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are learning a bit more about the man you just mentioned.
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BELL: The main suspect, who was arrested very quickly after midday yesterday here in Paris. He is an 18 year old man, born in 2002 of Pakistani origin. They told us. A second suspect was arrested shortly afterward, linked to the first, slightly less clear for the time being and much later in the day. But yesterday evening, we heard from police that 5 more people had been arrested at the home of one of the 2 who had been arrested earlier.
It is a group of 7 people who have been taken into custody for the time being and we'll wait to hear more about how much the police knew about them, whether they were known to police services and whether they were known in regard to their radicalization. Very quickly, French authorities made it clear, they believe that this
was linked to terrorism. The French interior minister, making it explicit and an anti-terror investigation is now being opened.
It was when they came to visit the scene, yesterday afternoon, that the Paris prosecutor in charge of the anti-terror investigation, explained 3 things had led them to that conclusion quickly, the location of the attack, just outside the former offices of "Charlie Hebdo." They moved in the wake of that attack in 2015.
The timing, since the trial is underway, considering charges against 14 people suspected of providing logistical support to those who carried out the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks.
And the clear intent of this man, who took on these two people, to cause harm to them. All of that, he said, led authorities to believe this was about terror and to open that anti-terrorism investigation.
HOLMES: Melissa Bell, in Paris, really appreciate that.
The former secretary of state for the Vatican said he will prove his innocence after being fired for alleged embezzlement. Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu is accused of giving Vatican money to support two of his brothers' businesses.
The cardinal says, he had approval to make the payments. Pope Francis, asking him to resign, saying, he can no longer trust the cardinal.
Turning now to civil unrest in the United States, police in Louisville, Kentucky, say they arrested 23 people during protests on Friday. The third straight day of marches there after a grand jury did not directly charge police officers, in the shooting, death of Breonna Taylor.
During Friday's protest, police shot flash bangs in and over the crowd.
Organizers marched, saying it was completely unnecessary, saying, nothing was going on. The marchers were peacefully executing their constitutional right.
Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, sniffing out the coronavirus, a group of dogs may be doing just that as part of a trial at the airport in Helsinki. That when we come back.
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HOLMES: Welcome back.
Sniffer dogs, trained to detect COVID-19, have begun working at the Helsinki airport in Finland. It is part of an effort to identify people who have contracted the coronavirus. CNN's Anna Stewart reports.
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ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Waiting at an airport in Finland, Barlow (ph), Cossi (ph), Mena (ph) and E.T. (ph).
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STEWART (voice-over): Canine detectives on the trail of an unwanted import. The dogs a part of a pilot project announced by Helsinki's main international airport on Tuesday. They are being trained to detect positive cases of COVID-19.
A local official sees how it works. Volunteer travelers swipe their skin, drop the sample into a cup and it's given to a dog to sniff. Within a minute, a result. If this test is positive, the participant is asked to take a swab best to see whether the dog is right.
So far in this trial, what is the accuracy of the dogs?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So far we have only done three days and so far, we only have two positive ones. At this stage, we cannot do any statistics yet.
STEWART (voice-over): Dogs are already used to sniff out explosives, food; whether they can detect COVID-19 is still in question. Researchers say they still don't fully understand the science behind a dog's nose.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We actually have no idea what it is that it detects. And I think that it'll take us years and years to know that because there's actually no machinery, on Earth, that has the same insensitivity as a dog has.
STEWART: What makes a good sniffer dog?
Is it a certain type of breed?
Is it how they are brought up?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A good sniffer dog is one that loves treat. So it's usually Labradors and golden retrievers.
STEWART (voice-over): The trial is expected to run through the end of the year. If successful, there are hopes this vast and noninvasive screening could be rolled out across Finland and around the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's possible that these dogs roll around passengers in a familiar way than custom dogs do (ph).
STEWART (voice-over): But there's caution from others.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I need a medical diagnosis, I would call the appropriate doctor and get proper testing to get the results.
STEWART (voice-over): If the trial is a success, sniffer dogs could be a useful tool to detect COVID-19 -- and that is not to be sniffed at -- Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
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HOLMES: Thanks for watching, everyone. Coming up next, "AFRICAN VOICES CHANGEMAKERS."
