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Trump Adviser Stephen Miller Positive for COVID-19; Trump Suspends Stimulus Talks Until After Election; Biden Calls for Unity at Key Civil War Battle Site; Pence and Harris to Face Off in Vice Presidential Debate; Germany Reports Highest Number of COVID Infections Since April; Europe Fights Second Wave with New Restrictions. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired October 07, 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]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world, you are watching CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, the White House outbreak of coronavirus shows no sign of slowing as another top aide to President Trump tests positive.
Plus, the vice presidential candidates prepare to face off as Joe Biden questions whether the next presidential debate should go ahead.
And bracing for impact. Hurricane Delta bears down on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. How the U.S. Gulf Coast might also be impacted.
Good to have you with us. Well, the White House COVID-19 cluster is growing. President Trump's hard line immigration advisor Steven Miller is the latest member of the inner circle to test positive. And you can see Miller boarding the Marine One helicopter last week with Hope Hicks. She tested positive earlier in the outbreak. They are among more than a dozen presidential allies and aides to test positive so far. President Trump's ongoing bout with the disease hasn't inspired him to change tactics though. Jim Acosta has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the President's heath cloaked in secrecy, Mr. Trump's lead physician Dr. Sean Conley released a statement claiming the coronavirus patient and chief is doing just fine saying --
The President reports no symptoms, overall he continues to do extremely well.
Back at the White House, Mr. Trump is throwing his weight around announcing he's ending talks with House Democrats over a new coronavirus relief bill, tweeting --
I've instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election. When immediately after I win, we will pass a major stimulus bill.
Sources tell CNN there are still lingering concerns inside the White House about the President's health after he appeared to be having trouble breathing as he stood on the balcony following his return from Walter Reed Medical Center.
In a White House video, Mr. Trump downplayed the virus yet again.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know there's a risk, there's a danger but that's OK. And now I'm better and maybe I'm immune. I don't know. But don't let it dominate your lives. Get out there. Be careful.
ACOSTA: The President is still super spreading misinformation about the virus tweeting --
Flu season is coming up, many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the vaccine die from the flu. Are we going to close down our country? No, we have learned to live with it just like we are learning to live with COVID, in most populations far less lethal.
Twitter slapped a warning label on the tweet saying the post violated the Twitter rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.
The fact is more people in the U.S. have already died from coronavirus this year then from influenza during the past five flu seasons combined.
Aids to the president are making blatantly false claims as well and defending Mr. Trump insisting, he was all alone when he removed his mask on the balcony.
HOGAN GIDLEY, NATIONAL PRESS SECRETARY TO TRUMP CAMPAIGN: And the President is alone on the balcony, outside he takes his mask off.
ACOSTA: But that's not true. There are White House staff photographers and other aides nearby. The Trump campaign is also claiming the President is a leader on wearing masks.
GIDLEY: This President has led on the issue at every single turn. And right now is no different.
ACOSTA: But that's also false as Mr. Trump has mocked Democrat Joe Biden for using them.
TRUMP: Every time you see him, he's got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from it. He shows up with the biggest mask I've ever seen.
ACOSTA: The President is sounding more desperate for a coronavirus vaccine.
[04:05:00] CNN has learned Mr. Trump has been pressuring some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies to speed up the development of a vaccine as he keeps promising Americans one is coming quickly.
TRUMP: We have the best medicines in the world. And they're all happened very shortly and they're all getting approved. And the vaccines are coming momentarily.
ACOSTA: But the virus is still taking its toll even at the Pentagon where the Vice Commandant of the US Coast Guard has tested positive, forcing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other military leaders to isolate at home. As a defense official said in a statement --
Out of an abundance of caution all potential close contacts from these meetings are self-quarantining and have been tested this morning. No Pentagon contacts have exhibited symptoms and we have no additional positive test to report at this time.
As for the spread of COVID at the White House, more staffers including a fourth press aide are coming up positive. Still a federal health official tells CNN West Wing aides have been rejecting help from the Centers for Disease Control to do contact tracing after a rash of positive test following the announcement of Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court, though the White House is dismissing the notion that the event was a super spreader.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Certainly, several of the people who tested positive were at that event, but many of these individuals interact routinely on a daily basis, certainly when it comes to White House staff. So, there's no way to put a pinpoint on it.
ACOSTA (on camera): House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slammed the President's decision to pull the plug on stimulus talks, saying clearly the White House is in complete disarray. The President's move to end those stimulus talks had an immediate effect on financial markets as the Dow posted a big drop after the announcement, an indication that the President's decisions which are coming as he's battling a deadly virus, can have a major impact across the country.
Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And CNN's John Defterios joins us now with more reaction on President Trump's decision to suspend stimulus talks until after November's election. John, good to see you. So we saw a sharp selloff on Wall Street, but Asian markets are taking this in stride. Are investors starting to discount the President's actions?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Yes, more theatrics than actions I think, Rosemary, is how the investment community is seeing it right now. At first you get a shot across the bow that hit Wall Street and then the President got on a call with Senate Republicans saying he wants a deal and he's going to put $1.6 trillion on the table.
So let's take a look at U.S. futures. They're right near their high for the day with gains of about 2/3 to .7 of 1 percent. Because they think there's still room for a compromise here. But this is -- this bravado by the President is quite a dangerous game for the American people, especially those that are struggling. Because we have 26 million still collecting unemployment benefits. That's one in seven of the work force in the United States. 75,000 jobs in corporate America were sliced last week alone.
The airlines have said we need a deal so we don't have to furlough the workers. Now they'll going to have to proceed with up to 50,000 layoffs unless a rabbit is pulled out of the hat here. So where do we stand? Let's look at the major players. Nancy Pelosi, Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary, the majority leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell. The House put up $2.2 trillion back in June. No negotiations with the Republicans until September. There's no deal on the table from the Republicans themselves. The White House put up $1.3 trillion.
There is room for compromise but not having a deal, Rosemary, is not a viable option. It's about the international reputation for the United States. And even the chairman of the Federal Reserve board, Jerome Powell, who's a centrist and independent said, we must have a deal. Not bravado but an actual deal on the table to sign.
CHURCH: Yes, so important to the millions of Americans. John Defterios joining us there live from Abu Dhabi, many thanks.
In with those talks on hold, as we say millions of Americans hoping for help will have to fend for themselves. Later this hour we meet one mother who's struggling to do just that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we got to the laundromat, we see homeless watching themselves. You know, one day if I don't go back to work, I'm going to be one of them. We'll live check by check, but now it's not a check, it's a box. A box that I have to stretch out for seven days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: That powerful report from CNN's Kyung Lah still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
And Joe Biden says there should be no second debate if President Trump is still infected with COVID-19, but the U.S. Democratic presidential nominee says he'll decide to participate based on the recommendations of medical experts. Biden was back out campaigning Tuesday at a symbolic site. CNN's Jessica Dean has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former Vice President Joe Biden delivering an impassioned plea for unity.
JOE BIDEN, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Today, once again, we are a house divided. But that, my friends, can no longer be.
[04:10:00]
We are facing too many crises. We have too much work to do.
DEAN: With a backdrop of the Gettysburg battlefield, the site of so much American bloodshed and division, Biden made the case that America can come together once again.
BIDEN: There's no more fitting place than here today in Gettysburg to talk about the cost of division.
DEAN: The speech highlighted a consistent theme of Biden's 2020 run, his belief the election is a battle for the soul of the nation.
BIDEN: Let's conduct ourselves as Americans who love each other, who love our country, who will not destroy but will build.
DEAN: Biden also calling for unity around the COVID crisis.
BIDEN: Wearing a mask is not a political statement. It's a scientific recommendation. Social distancing isn't a political statement, it's a scientific recommendation. Testing, tracing, the development and all the approval and distribution of a vaccine isn't a political statement. It is a science based decision. We can't undo what has been done. We can't go back. But we can do so much better.
DEAN: Biden's unity speech comes as a new CNN poll taken after last week's debate and mostly following Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis, shows the former Vice President increasing his national lead over President Donald Trump to his widest margin in the election so far. Biden receiving 57 percent to Trump's 41 percent among likely voters nationwide.
MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: I wanted to take a moment to remind you what's at stake.
DEAN: Meantime, one of the Biden campaign's most effective surrogates, former First Lady Michelle Obama, offering her closing argument to the Democratic nominee in a new video.
OBAMA: We can no longer pretend that we don't know exactly who and what this president stands for. Search your hearts and your conscience and then vote for Joe Biden like your lives depend on it.
DEAN: Obama, speaking as a parent and a black woman in America, criticizing President Trump for stoking fears about black and brown Americans.
OBAMA: So what the president is doing is once again patently false, it's morally wrong, and yes, it is racist. But that doesn't mean it won't work.
DEAN: Still, Biden hopes his message of unity will prevail.
BIDEN: I do not believe we have to choose between law and order and racial justice in America. We can have both.
DEAN: Jessica dean, CNN, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Well, meantime, Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris will face off in their own debate in less than 24 hours. They will be separated by plexiglass. Harris's team requested the barrier as a COVID safety precaution. Pence's team initially opposed the barrier but has now agreed to Harris's demands.
And earlier I spoke with Larry Sabato, the director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, and I began by asking him what the America needs to hear from the vice presidential candidates tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Vice President Pence has the tougher job because his boss, President Trump, just threw away the opportunities he had in the first debate and left a terrible impression. The polling is very clear now the loser was Donald Trump.
So it's up to Pence to try to make up some ground. It's tough to do that in a vice presidential debate, and he's debating a woman, and we know from past debates involving women at the vice presidential level, the male candidate really has to be careful, has to be tough but not too tough. Can't be insulting the way he might be for a male candidate as Pence was with Vice President -- with Senator Tim Cane four years ago. So I think it's tough on Pence. He'll be well prepared. He sometimes sounds robotic. He's got to avoid that.
Kamala Harris has a great opportunity here because while people in politics know her, the average person in the United States really doesn't know that much about her still. So they're going to see her up close and personal, even more than they do when she's examining a judicial candidate as a member of the judiciary committee in the Senate. So when she goes after Pence, she has to do it in a way that focuses on the issues and the substance. Make it not personal so that it's very different than the presidential debate we just had but also win the debate, and she's very good at that. She is a tough, tough inquisitor.
CHURCH: So what all is at stake here for the debate process itself?
[04:15:00]
SABATO: Well, let's remember that vice presidential debates rarely change that much because people don't vote for vice president. And a week after this debate few people will remember much from it, and certainly not many votes will be determined by it. But this does have an impact on the second or third presidential debate, assuming we have them. If the vice presidential candidates set a better tone than President Trump did, then the pressure is on him to improve. Now whether he can is questionable. You know, he may need a personality transplant, and they're not available yet.
CHURCH: Larry Sabato, always a pleasure to chat with you. Many thanks.
SABATO: Thank you, Rosemary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: So as you heard, the next debate will be between Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence. CNN's special coverage begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday on the U.S. East Coast. That is midnight Thursday in London, 3 a.m. in Abu Dhabi and 7 a.m. in Hong Kong. And if you miss it live, you can tune in for a replay of the debate at 8 a.m. London time, that's 11 a.m. in Abu Dhabi and 3 p.m. in Hong Kong. Hope you got all that.
So coming up, coronavirus cases in Germany are rising to levels not seen since last spring. We are live in Berlin with the details.
[04:20:00]
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CHURCH: COVID-19 cases are rising fast across Europe. That includes Germany which just reported the highest number of new coronavirus infections since April. Fred Pleitgen is live for us from Berlin. He joins us now. So Fred, Germany had been doing so well, what went wrong?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Rosemary. Well, Germany still continues to do a lot better than a lot of the neighboring countries here in Europe. The highest amount since the mid-of April that's about -- or a little more than 2,800 new cases in the past day. If you compare that to the numbers in, for instance, France and Spain also or in the Czech Republic in Czechia, Germany still isn't doing too bad.
But one of the things that they are realizing is that obviously the cases are on the rise. And Angela Merkel especially has said she fears that at some point there could be a very fast acceleration that could happen. On the whole there has been, of course, a rise in the coronavirus cases here in this country, especially in the west of Germany. But especially where I'm sitting right now in Berlin, and specifically the center of Berlin.
And one of the other things that's really causing concern for the German government and for German health authorities as well, is that the amount of people who are in intensive care in hospitals has also drastically risen in the past week or two, has gone up by a lot. So certainly Germans are seeing the indicators are going in the wrong direction.
If we look at right here in Berlin, the authorities here actually believe that it's Berlin's party scene that's been driving the new coronavirus cases here in this city and of course in many other places in Germany as well. Many new infections happening in bars and in restaurants. So one of the things that the city administration did here yesterday,
is they actually are saying that bars, restaurants and stores need to shut down from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m. and also that alcohol sales are going to be banned during those times. There's some other measures that the German government is also putting in place. Limiting the amount of people who are allowed to be together. Limiting, for instance, a get together or events that happen both outdoors and in private spaces as well. So the German government is saying they see that this is on the rise and they are trying to stay ahead of the virus out of fear that things could get out of control -- Rosemary.
CHURCH: All right, Fred Pleitgen bringing us the very latest there from Berlin. Many thanks.
And elsewhere in Europe, the second wave of coronavirus is still dominating the headlines. Italy's health minister wants masks to be required outdoors. He says a nationwide mandate is necessary to combat a rise in cases in the country. The new rule will likely take effect on Friday.
And in the U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is reflecting on his own experience with the coronavirus. Mr. Johnson, who was in intensive care back in March, says he struggled so much with the virus because he was overweight.
And CNN's Scott McLean is standing by in London, but let's start with CNN's Melissa Bell following developments from Paris. So, Melissa, tell us what the situation is across France and more specifically at restaurants in Paris.
MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: Well, across France things continue to worsen. The positivity rate now at 9 percent nationally. In terms of the number of people in ICU, Rosemary, that figure continues to worsen as well. Just looking at that, it has over the course of the last month gone from about 420 people in ICU to 1,417. So in a month the number of people in ICU's, the number of COVID-19 patients in ICUs has risen by a thousand.
And that of course is threatening the system all the more so because you have this localized phenomenon. Where some of France's big cities are the hardest hit. The greater Paris region for instance has seen a number of people in ICU double in just 10 days because it is rising extremely quickly.
We were just hearing from Fred Pleitgen. I know you mentioned Italy. France slightly ahead of those countries in terms of the severity of the second wave but also in terms of the measures taken. Look, we've had masks obligatory in public outdoor spaces now for several weeks and that has not been enough to bring the figures back under control. So this further tightening of restrictions, bars and cafes closed from yesterday but doubts being expressed from within health system are ready that that will be enough to get the numbers back to where they need to be.
CHURCH: Right, and Scott McLean, let's go to you in London.
[04:25:00]
As we mentioned, Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of Britain, has admitted how the sort of toll COVID-19 took on him and the reasons why. Talk to us about that and of course the situation across Britain.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. So first off, Rosemary, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is going to have to defend his handling of the pandemic in Parliament later today. This handling saw some 16,000 new cases of the virus go uncounted which meant that the people who tested positive never had their contacts traced.
That's a big deal because the U.K. is now reporting more new cases of the virus per capita than the United States is, 40 percent more in fact. It's also reported its highest new daily death toll since July 1st. The Prime Minister has always said that his main priorities are to keep the economy moving and keep schools open. But he's already limited social interactions, the size of social gatherings. He's already forced bars and restaurants to close early. And so, he's really running out of options that he can use without infringing on or slowing down the economy or maybe even looking at closing down schools.
In that speech yesterday to his own Conservative Party he also talked about the fact that he really regrets having to infringe on people's liberties. And he, as you mentioned, talked about his own bout with the coronavirus. The virus almost killed him. Since then he's lost some 26 pounds. And he's one of the few people on earth right now who really understands what President Trump is going through. A world leader battling this virus in full public view. He used his own recovery as a metaphor for the country. And one other thing quickly, Rosemary, Scotland will be announcing later this afternoon its own brand-new set of restrictions later today.
CHURCH: Listen out for that. Scott McLean and Melissa Bell, many thanks to both of you.
So as COVID spreads at the White House, Melania Trump's office is responding to reports staff are concerned about their safety. We will have the details plus this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The food, that's what we struggle for.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tell me about that struggle.
The struggle is something to eat and sometimes we don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: We will hear more from this mother who's battling every day to put food on the table after losing her job. That's next.
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