Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Obama Goes after Trump in Sharpest Attacks Yet; "The New York Times": Trump Has Chinese Bank Account; Feds Say Russia and Iran Have Interfered with the Presidential Election; Ireland Imposes Strictest Lockdown in Europe; Tests of New Russian COVID-19 Vaccine Moving Slowly; FDA Chief: No Timeline for a Vaccine; CDC Revises Definition of Close Contact; Trump Remains Strong among High-Income White Males. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired October 22, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A presidential showdown: former President Barack Obama delivered a scathing takedown of U.S. president Donald Trump. But Trump says Obama on the trail for Biden helps his campaign. We will discuss.
Plus, a second wave of COVID-19 cases surge across Europe. Ireland becomes the first E.U. country to revert back to a full lockdown. We will have the latest.
Then a CNN exclusive: Russia declared itself the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine in August. But CNN has learned of new details that indicate concerns raised about the vaccine's safety and efficacy were justified.
Hello and welcome to our viewers, joining us from all around the world, I'm Rosemary Church and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CHURCH: Good to have you with us.
Well, 12 days until Election Day here in the United States and there is new evidence of foreign interference. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe says Iran and Russia have gotten their hands on your U.S. registration data and could use it to sow chaos and undermine confidence in American democracy. We get details from CNN's Evan Perez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVAN PEREZ, CNN U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: U.S. intelligence officials say Iran and Russia have obtained U.S. voter registration information in an effort to interfere in the election.
Officials say Iran is behind intimidating emails received by voters around the country and purporting to come from the right wing group known as Proud Boys, associated with supporters of President Trump.
The emails telling people to vote for President Trump were spoofs and appear to be designed to pit Americans against each other.
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe tried to reassure the voters that the intelligence and law enforcement agencies are working to ensure that votes won't be compromised.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN RATCLIFFE, U.S. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: We will not tolerate foreign interference in our elections. And we will continue to work with our many partners to disrupt and to impose costs and consequences on any adversary that attempts to interfere in our democratic processes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREZ: Officials say that Russia has obtained some of the same data but officials don't know what the Russians are attempted to do with that information in the coming weeks.
In recent months, officials say Russia has been waging a campaign to help Trump's reelection and spreading disinformation about fraud in the U.S. elections amplifying some of the fears that are fanned by the president himself.
FBI director Chris Wray had told voters that those concerns about fraud are bogus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: We've been working for years as a community to build resilience in our election infrastructure and today that infrastructure remains resilient. You should be confident that your vote counts.
Early, unverified claims to the contrary should be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREZ: U.S. officials in recent days have warned states and vendors that supply their voting systems to patch vulnerabilities after detecting intrusions -- Evan Perez. CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Iran is rejecting the accusation that it's interfering in the U.S. election. A diplomat at the U.N. calls the charges "a desperate attempt by the U.S. government to undermine confidence in its own election."
There is a question, now, about President Trump's confidence in FBI director Christopher Wray. "The Washington Post" reports that Mr. Trump is considering firing him
because Wray hasn't indicated that Joe Biden, his son, Hunter, or other people linked to the Bidens are under investigation. CNN's Anderson Cooper asked former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe what would happen if Wray is fired after the election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: If there is a second Trump term, and if he decides to fire Director Wray, the question is, who does he bring in behind Chris Wray?
We have seen a steady decline in talent and ethics, quite frankly, of the people who President Trump has put into positions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And we will just have to wait and see if the issue of election interference comes up at the final presidential debate, now just hours away.
But a new CNN poll shows a tight race in the key battleground state of Florida; Democrat Joe Biden holds a 4-point lead.
[02:05:00]
CHURCH: But that is within the margin of error. It's a different story, though, in Pennsylvania, where Biden leads by 10 points. Both candidates have been campaigning hard to win the state, which Mr. Trump carried four years ago.
More than 40 million Americans have already voted. That's about 30 percent of the total votes cast back in 2016.
Former U.S. president Barack Obama was in Pennsylvania Wednesday with a blistering rebuke of President Trump's policies. He questioned Mr. Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and even took a jab at the shrinking ratings for his speeches and town halls. Here is more of what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And with Joe and Kamala at the helm, you are not going to have to think about the crazy things they said every day.
You'll be able to go about your lives knowing that the president is not going to retweet conspiracy theories about secret cabals running the world or that Navy SEALs didn't actually kill bin Laden. Think about that. The president of the United States re-tweeted that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Donald Trump tried to brush off those harsh words from Barack Obama. He told supporters in North Carolina, it's good for him that Obama is campaigning for Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: President Obama is campaigning for Sleepy Joe Biden.
And I said, ha, that's good news or bad news?
Tell me, are you saying it's good or it's bad?
Well, I guess, it's good. No, it's good. There was nobody that campaigned harder for Crooked Hillary Clinton than Obama, right?
He was all over the place. The only one more unhappy than Crooked Hillary that night was Barack Hussein Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The former head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration predictions the U.S. is about one week away from a rapid acceleration in new coronavirus cases. More than 222,000 Americans have already died since the pandemic began and many states are now seeing alarming spikes in hospitalizations.
Yet President Trump says he does not think he'd handle the crisis any differently if given the chance again. And we get more now from CNN's Jim Acosta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: With the coronavirus surge blanketing the U.S. president Trump insists he has no regrets when it comes to his handling of the pandemic telling the Trump friendly program "America This Week" on Sinclair television, he wouldn't change much.
ERIC BOLLING, SINCLAIR TV HOST: With COVID, is there anything that you think you could have done differently? If you had a mulligan or a do over on one aspect of the way he handled it, what would it be?
TRUMP: Not much. Look, it's all over the world. You have a lot of great leaders. There's a lot of smart people, too all over the world
ACOSTA: Trying to switch subjects the president is raging out at a different T.V. show, "60 Minutes," tweeting out photos of his recent interview with Lesley Stahl, who grilled Mr. Trump on his COVID-19 response and other matters before he stormed off.
The president this morning over Twitter, "I am pleased to inform you that for the sake of accuracy and reporting, I am considering posting my interview with Lesley Stahl of '60 Minutes' prior to airtime. This will be done so that everybody can get a glimpse of what a fake unbiased interview is all about."
MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: I've looked at every single minute of the interview and then some. We have tape of every single minute. Listen, when you have a "60 Minutes" reporter, they should be a reporter, not an opinion journalist. And she came across more like an opinion journalist than a real reporter.
Journalism should have standards. And we need to get to the bottom up. So I think the American people will be able to see it.
ACOSTA: For the president, the last two weeks of the campaign have become a journey into Mr. Trump's grievance filled psyche as he is making up accusations about upcoming debate moderator Kristen Welker, a well-respected NBC News journalist.
TRUMP: In fact that Kristen Welker is, you know, a dyed in the wool radical left Democrat or whatever she is.
ACOSTA: And alleging Dr. Anthony Fauci is a Democrat when he's not registered with a political party.
TRUMP: The only thing I say is, he's a little bit sometimes not a team player. But he is a Democrat and I think that he's just fine.
ACOSTA: And calling Democrat Joe Biden all sorts of things without any proof.
TRUMP: Joe Biden is a criminal and he's been a criminal for a long time.
ACOSTA: Down in the polls, the president sounds like he's laying the groundwork for blaming the virus if he loses.
TRUMP: Because, you know, before the plague came in, I had it made. I wasn't coming to Erie. I mean, I have to be honest, there's no way I was coming. I didn't have to.
We had this thing won. We were so far up. We had the greatest economy ever, greatest jobs, greatest everything. And then we got hit with the plague.
ACOSTA: Away from the virus critical questions are emerging about the president's finances. As the New York Times reported, Mr. Trump has had a bank account in China where he's paid taxes in recent years.
MEADOWS: Most the time, those accounts whether they exist or not, I don't know. I haven't talked to the president about that.
[02:10:00]
MEADOWS: Normally, those are more operational for the region.
ACOSTA: Biden remains in debate prep, allowing former President Barack Obama to get out to vote.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Can you imagine if I had a secret Chinese bank account when I was running for reelection?
You think FOX News might have been a little concerned about that?
They would've called me Beijing Barry.
ACOSTA: Administration officials tell CNN before Mr. Trump started trashing Dr. Fauci this week as a "disaster," the two men did speak during the president's recovery from COVID-19.
Following that discussion between Mr. Trump and Fauci, White House officials also in touch with the doctor about last week's town hall -- Jim Acosta, CNN, Nashville, Tennessee.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Joining me now from Oxford, England, Thomas Gift is the director of the University College London Centre for Politics.
Good to have you with us.
THOMAS GIFT, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Good morning, Rosemary.
CHURCH: The big news of the day, former President Barack Obama hitting the campaign trail for Joe Biden and, in a rare move, attacking Donald Trump, calling him incompetent for his handling of the pandemic, labeling him a liar, also saying he paid more taxes to China than his own country.
The president responded, saying this helps rather than hurts his cause.
How might this change the trajectory of the election, of course, the tone of Thursday's debate?
GIFT: Obama's critiques aren't entirely different from what we saw from him in 2016, when he campaigned for Hillary Clinton. Four years ago, for example, Obama lashed out at Trump for lacking basic honesty.
The presumed risk is that there's generally a norm against former presidents criticizing their successors. Yet, even as Obama ratchets up the tone, it's hard to see that strategy backfiring.
Not only does Obama still maintain fairly high popularity but Trump has also repeatedly challenged well-established norms, governing this course in decorum in American campaigns. And he has certainly taken his fair share of shots against Obama. So I think it's hard for Trump boosters to turn around and then convincingly take issue with Obama for a mildly veiled rebuke of the president. So all in all, I think this is just kind of politics as normal.
CHURCH: That's a surprise.
(LAUGHTER)
CHURCH: So what do the two candidates need to achieve in Thursday's debate, to sway undecided voters? And how might Donald Trump's reluctance to accept the muted microphone
impact the evening, do you think?
GIFT: Well, I think that many Americans are actually thinking that the country would be better off if it turned down the collective volume of politics generally in the U.S. So maybe there's an underlying metaphor there.
In terms of the debate, I think that the mute button could avoid the problem of Trump talking over Biden and lead to a more coherent discussion about the issues.
Yet, even though there is supposed to be some back and forth, I think the risk is that this kind of turns the evening into a joint press conference, where the candidates aren't really able to engage each other and then it becomes more scripted.
Trump has complained that the format is biased against him. But the mute button may actually help Trump, I think, by kind of restraining him from some of his impulses that led to criticism of his performance in the first debate.
CHURCH: Yes, of, course they will still be able to hear each other. We won't hear that discussion but they will.
So let's turn to two new CNN polls for the critical states of Pennsylvania and Florida. Joe Biden has a 10-point lead over Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, 53 percent to Trump's 43 percent.
In Florida, there's no clear leader when you consider the margin of error, Biden at 50 percent, Trump at 46 percent.
But what do these numbers tell you about this very tight race?
And where does it leave the path to victory for both candidates?
GIFT: Rosemary, a notable aspect of this election is how resilient Biden's lead has been over the last several months. That's actually an aberration, compared to most election years, including in 2016, when the gap between Clinton and Trump narrowed multiple times in the run- up to Election Day.
Right now the polls in several swing states, as you know, including Florida with its 29 electoral votes, is clearly motivation that the Biden team will use to remind voters that they cannot be complacent.
For Trump's part, I think news of tightening polls is encouraging but the campaign still has to be concerned that, given the economic downturn, the ongoing challenges with COVID-19 and so on, conventional wisdom has to be that many late-breaking voters will swing against the incumbent. So I guess we will see how that turns out next in the next couple of weeks.
CHURCH: And I just wanted to quickly ask you this, because we did see a hastily arranged press conference on the eve of the debate. The Director of National Intelligence claiming both Iran and Russia have obtained U.S. voter registration information in an effort to interfere in this U.S. election.
Now this came on the night Barack Obama hit the campaign trail.
What did you make of the timing and content of this news conference?
[02:15:00]
GIFT: It's really hard to know. This is kind of a broader issue about ensuring the integrity of American campaigns, that it has gone back to 2016. I'm not really sure about the politics, is kind of the short answer of it. Maybe it's coincidental. Maybe this is very deliberate in terms of the timing. It's hard to kind of give a clear answer to that question, simply because I think that there are still so many unknowns.
CHURCH: Fair enough. Thomas Gift, thank you so much for talking with us. We appreciate it.
GIFT: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Be sure to stay with CNN as we get ready for the final debate of the U.S. presidential election. Our coverage begins at 7 pm Eastern time on Thursday in the U.S. That is Friday morning, of course, in much of the rest of the world.
Still to come, the toughest new coronavirus restrictions in Europe now in effect. We will find out how tightly Ireland is locking down and for how long.
And why Russia is lagging behind other countries in the race to develop a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. An exclusive report on Russia's critical phase 3 trial. That is next.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CHURCH: Ireland now has the strictest lockdown in Europe. The country went to level 5 just a few hours ago in what officials call a deteriorating situation with COVID-19. CNN's Nic Robertson explains what people in Ireland can expect for the next six weeks.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Ireland's new lockdown, stick and carrot.
MICHEAL MARTIN, IRISH TAOISEACH: If we pull together over the next 6 weeks, we will have the opportunity to celebrate Christmas in a meaningful way.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Infections spiking to levels not seen since the pandemic struck in March. Now tougher new measures, backed by new fines to beat back the virus. MARTIN: There should be no social or family gatherings in homes or
gardens. Only essential retail may remain open. Everyone in the country has been asked to stay home, with exercise permitted within a 5-kilometer radius of your home.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Restrictions also include working from home, for all but essential workers; bars and restaurants to open only for take away service. The list of what's off limits is long; exceptions for weddings and funerals, 25 people max, and for schools and child care.
MARTIN: This is necessary, because we cannot and will not allow our children and young people's futures to be another victim of this disease.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Martin's predecessor, now his governing coalition partner, Leo Varadkar, predicts as many as 150,000 jobs are at risk. Retail expecting some of the biggest hits.
[02:20:00]
JOHN FARRINGTON, ANTIQUE STORE OWNER: It's devastating to see us in lockdown again for another six weeks during our busiest lineup for the Christmas period.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Frustrations here, the government is mismanaging this COVID crisis.
SHAY HOWLIN, "FUN PLACE": I was hoping that, maybe, common sense would prevail, because, from our point of view, we feel retail is a very safe environment.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): And in Parliament, too, the PM taking heat from the opposition over recently discovered track and trace failures.
MARY LOU MCDONALD, SINN FEIN PRESIDENT: The system collapsed over the weekend. I think that is extremely alarming, happening as it does, on the eve of us moving into another lockdown. We need to come out of this six-week experience with a state-of-the-art, gold standard testing and tracing system.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): National infection rates are midrange for Europe but some areas, like Cavan, in the dark red, are on par with Europe's worst. If the lockdown stick fails, the PM's Christmas carrot will taste very bitter -- Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Europe's second wave of COVID-19 is so catastrophic in some areas that Belgium and the Czech Republic are actually seeing the highest number of new cases worldwide per capita. That is what a CNN analysis shows, using data from Johns Hopkins University and the World Health Organization.
France, meanwhile, is moving to extend red alert stages to more areas as the country surpasses more than 1 million cases. And Rome is now joining the list of European capitals with nightly
curfews. It will run from midnight to 5 am starting Saturday and for the next 30 days. That's as Italy records more than 100 coronavirus deaths in one single day for the first time since May.
Germany has not been spared by this new wave of infections. It is reporting a record high of COVID-19 cases in a single day. CNN's Scott McLean reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Europe's second wave of the coronavirus is showing no signs of slowing despite the patchwork of curfews, restrictions and even lockdowns being reimposed across the continent.
Germany has reported more coronavirus deaths over the past week than it did in the entire month of August. The worst hit countries are The Netherlands, Belgium and the Czech Republic.
On Tuesday, the Czech health minister made masks mandatory even in most places outdoors. On Wednesday after an emergency session of parliament, the prime minister conceded that the current set of restrictions simply are not working. So starting on Thursday, the Czech Republic will go back into something you might describe as a lockdown. Only essential businesses will be allowed to stay open, movement will be severely restricted to only essential trips and to work.
And with the country's health care system nearing its capacity, the Czech Republic will be accepting some help from the U.S. National Guard sending in doctors from Nebraska.
The prime minister was praised for his early handling of the first wave of the coronavirus, now he's apologizing for not taking action to tamp down the second wave of the virus sooner -- Scott McLean, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: A volunteer in Brazil's trial of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine has died, according to Brazilian health officials. It is not clear whether the volunteer received the vaccine or a placebo as part of the trial and why the person died. No more information was released due to privacy concerns.
AstraZeneca says nothing happened to justify stopping or pausing the test. So the trial in Brazil will continue.
Here in the U.S., a top health official says AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson may soon be able to resume their vaccines' trials. They had been placed on hold in the United States because of illnesses among volunteers.
Now to Russia, where the development of a COVID-19 vaccine is moving slower than hoped. CNN obtained an exclusive interview with the top Russian scientist about the drug's critical phase 3 trial. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen joins us live from Moscow.
Good to see you, Fred. Safety and efficacy concerns were raised back in August, when Russia announced what they referred to as a world- first COVID vaccine, before phase 3 trials had even started.
What more are you learning about this?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You are absolutely right, Rosemary. The Russians were saying that they were powering ahead, not just with approving this vaccine, as you said, without going through these phase 3 trials but also saying they were powering ahead of the phase 3 trials as well.
Last week they said that they had vaccinated 13,000 people with the Sputnik V vaccine in that phase 3 trial. Yesterday they said 17,000 people had already been vaccinated.
[02:25:00]
PLEITGEN: But yesterday when we spoke to the head of the Gamaleya Institute, Alexander Gintsburg, he acknowledged this vaccine needs a course of 2 doses to involve the full immunization and then also for the institute to glean any sort of significant data on the safety and efficacy.
He then acknowledged that so far only about 6,000 trial participants have actually received those two doses. If you compare that to some of the big Western vaccine makers, like Moderna of the United States, which so far has given about 24,500 people 2 doses, or Pfizer and BioNTech with about 28,000, the Russians are actually still lagging pretty far behind those Western vaccine makers.
I want to listen into a little bit of what Alexander Gintsburg had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXANDER GINTSBURG, GAMALEYA RESEARCH INSTITUTE (through translator): About 17,000 subjects were vaccinated with the first component. About 6,000 people were vaccinated with the first and second components as of yesterday evening.
It did not have time to go through trials for obvious reasons in the age group 60-plus and below 18 just for the simple reason that the introduction of any mass use drug that interacts with the human immune system goes through stages.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: That was the other interesting thing to us, Rosemary, that he was saying that, so far the trial, the vaccine has not gone through trials with people who are under 18 and people who are over 60. So far, the vaccine is approved for use in the age groups between 18 and 60. So not for people over 60, also not for people who have illnesses and also a wide array of allergies. That basically means all of the most vulnerable groups to severe
COVID-19 infections. We asked Mr. Gintsburg about that. He said he still believes that people should be able to take that vaccine; they just need to be very careful and consult with their physicians -- Rosemary.
CHURCH: It sounds like they jumped the gun in the initial stages, didn't they?
Frederik Pleitgen reporting live from Moscow, many thanks.
Coming up, we will have more on vaccines, the CDC's new social distancing guidelines and what medical experts think as the number of COVID-19 cases continue to rise. We will be back in just a moment.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CHURCH: Some U.S. states are now taking a closer look at just how many hospital beds are available as COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to rise. Wisconsin has already set up an overflow medical facility.
And this comes as the FDA commissioner says the agency doesn't have a timeline to review a vaccine. But the goal is to get a vaccine out by spring. Our Nick Watt has more.
[02:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Normal life, that's all we want.
You know what we want?
Normal life.
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sure, we all want it. But we can't have it, not yet, nowhere close. Cue the actual experts.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: This looks like we are going to have a very difficult fall and winter.
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER U.S. FDA COMMISSIONER: We are about a week away from starting to enter a period where we are going to see a more rapid acceleration in cases.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'll start to see closer to 2,000 deaths per day. WATT (voice-over): Average new case counts: not a single state is
trending in the right direction, not one. But schools are open many places.
In Michigan, infections now reported in 84 of them. Infections among kids jumped 13 percent in just the first two weeks of this month; very few serious cases or deaths in those under 18 but:
DR. AMY COMPTON-PHILLIPS, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Those kids live with adults and those kids bring that germ back home to adults.
WATT: In El Paso, Texas, more tests coming back positive now than ever. In California, under new guidance, Disneyland might not reopen for months. Some of us are tired, given up on masks and distance. For others --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably giving up isn't the right term. Most of them never started.
WATT: Some due to a wink from the White House. Twitter just took down a Dr. Scott Atlas post undermining masks. He's now the President's closest COVID adviser, also promotes herd immunity, let it rip, among lower risk demos.
DR. SCOTT ATLAS, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS ADVISOR: We should be fine with letting them get infected, generating immunity on their own.
WATT: Today the surgeon general pushed back hard.
This could overwhelm health care systems and lead to many complication/deaths.
A vaccine might bring normal life, a volunteer in the Oxford University AstraZeneca trial just died in Brazil. Unclear if they had been given the vaccine or a placebo and the trial goes on.
Following careful assessment of this case in Brazil, there have been no concerns about safety, Oxford University told CNN. Moderna and Pfizer meeting with an FDA advisory committee to discuss efficacy, safety, manufacturing, but not to present new data from trials. Not yet -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: With us now, Dr. Murtaza Akhter, an emergency physician at the Valleywise Health Medical Center and an assistant professor at the University of Arizona's College of Medicine in Phoenix. Always good to talk with you, doctor.
MURTAZA AKHTER, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN, VALLEYWISE HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER: Great to be back. Thanks for having me, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So more than 221,000 U.S. COVID deaths and not one state is trending in the right direction, but President Trump claims he wouldn't change much in the way he responded to the pandemic if he had his time over. What is your medical response to a leader saying that when this country represents 20 percent of the global death toll but less than 5 percent of the global population?
AKHTER: Yes. I would've done everything differently. Now I'm not surprised that President Trump has so much hubris, that's to say that he wouldn't change anything, that's very like him to say that even though he's clearly wrong on this.
Listen, there are many other countries who have done it the right way and we could have done at the right way as well. And I'm not saying the president is to be blamed for everything, but he clearly sent the wrong message multiple times on this pandemic, even though he often had answers that most people didn't have.
There is some clear things he could've done like advocating for masks more strongly, not advocating for opening of the economy while we're in the midst of a pandemic and as you said, we are one of the worst countries, if not the worst, depending on how you look at it in the world, in terms of COVID cases and deaths per capita and to say, you know, to be the worst country to say I wouldn't do anything differently.
That's like saying I wouldn't be the first president possible, I would continue that way and I wouldn't change that, which is, I don't know why he would say something like that, but definitely medically, there are way better things we could've done.
CHURCH: And doctor, the CDC has redefined what constitutes close contact with a COVID patient. They now say it's considered high-risk if you are exposed for a cumulative or a total of 15 minutes, previously it was at least 15 minutes of continuous exposure. How significant is this?
AKHTER: Well, I think that everything in medicine, there is very few black and whites in medicine. Obviously close contact is bad, obviously longer exposure is bad. I've been saying that from the get- go. So, for the people who pass each other on the job, in the pathway, that's very short and probably not a close contact.
For people who are in a room together, that's not well ventilated, even if they are 10 feet apart, but they've been in that room for an hour that's probably pretty bad.
[02:35:00]
AKHTER: Now you can talk about 15-minute cut offs, or 20-minute cut offs, or 10-minute cut offs, but again, nothing in medicine is a binary, everything is in gray scale.
And so, I think, in general, that advice to take from this is avoid close contact with people in particular who isn't your family, distance as much as possible and when you have to be by people, when you have to be by them, wear a mask. It's actually a simple fix, it's unbelievable that people certainly need to be told that.
CHURCH: Dr. Murtaza Akhter, thank you for talking with us.
AKHTER: Thanks for having me, Rosemary. Stay safe.
CHURCH: You too.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: A celebration of dunes and deplorables ahead. CNN goes to an unofficial Trump rally, where supporters are unapologetic about the president's alpha male attitude and their own wealth. Back in a moment.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:40:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CHURCH: After Thursday's debate, President Trump's next stop is Florida, where he will host two rallies on Friday. But some Trump supporters are organizing their own unique events. CNN's Elle Reeve went to one of them in Oregon, which featured dune buggies.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE BUCK, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I like alpha males. I think President Trump is an alpha male.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whenever I watch the news, it seems like they're bagging on Trump. They make it sound like nobody's going to vote for him. So, we feel like we all need to get together, just to show people, that "Hey, there are people that are going to vote for him."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the "Dunes & Deplorables Let Freedom Ride" Trump rally protest. It was unfurling a 30 foot by 50 foot American flag, having everybody gather around, play the national anthem and just be able to be with a bunch of friends and family.
ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Unofficial Trump events like this have been happening all over the country: boat parades, car caravans, bike parades. What attendees have in common is disposable income to spend on fun.
While Trump's working-class supporters have gotten lots of attention, in 2016, a third of his voters made more than $100,000 a year. In fact, support for Trump is particularly strong among White voters, who have high incomes for their area, the locally rich.
PAUL VELUSCEK, TRUMP SUPPORTER: The people on the Left that really think we're deplorable think we're deplorable.
If hanging out with families, bringing your kids out and having a good time, is deplorable, then I guess we'll take it. REEVE (voice-over): I went for a ride in the dunes with Eric Nelson, who has been riding motorcycle since he was 14. Eric drove two hours to come to the rally.
ERIC NELSON, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Hopefully, you heard her scream.
REEVE (on camera): Yes. That's what the mike is for.
NELSON: The reason we're here supporting Trump is because we believe that Trump will help us to keep the money that we make and let us be able to work as hard as we want and not give our money away.
People like Nancy Pelosi can get her fundings through - that's given money to people that aren't willing to work for it. I worked for it all my life. I had to work to put myself through college and so I can get a job and do what I enjoy, which is an activity like this and spend $15,000, $20,000 on toys because I choose to.
VELUSCEK: He really is for your hard-working people. Do I think he's racist? No. I think he's racist against lazy people.
REEVE (voice-over): The rally was mostly men. That's no surprise, given national polls. Men are much more likely to support Trump than women. And what these men said they liked about Trump was that he's a guy who is just like them.
NELSON: He's not a politician. He's one of us. Yes, he is one of us on steroids, because he runs a great big business and, makes a lot more money than we do.
BUCK: He can be crass. But we didn't hire him as a President. We hired him because he was a businessperson and that's what America needed, because our country was starting to tank.
REEVE (on camera): But isn't part of his job being like a moral leader?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe so.
REEVE (on camera): You don't think so?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. He says things that upsets people and we just don't care. And we think he's helping all those people because they don't fully understand what's going on.
REEVE (voice-over): Elle Reeve, CNN, Winchester Bay, Oregon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: I'm Rosemary Church. I will be back in about 15 minutes with more CNN NEWSROOM, "WORLD SPORT" is next.
(WORLD SPORT)
[03:00:00]
