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U.S. Sets New Daily Record for Coronavirus Cases; Illinois Health Official Tears Up as She Reports State's Death Toll; Steve Bannon Pushes "Shoddy" Research Claiming Coronavirus Made in a Chinese Lab as a Bioweapon. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired October 24, 2020 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:20]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York, thanks for being with us on this Saturday. Ten days to go and we are witnessing history unfold across this country, as more than 52 million Americans have already cast their ballot.
And for those voters who are perhaps still undecided, President Trump and Joe Biden are doing their best to court you right now. Both are out on the trail today.
Team Biden is holding events in several key states, including Pennsylvania where we heard from Biden earlier and Florida, which is where we saw Biden star surrogate former President Barack Obama deliver remarks in Miami today, and he did not hold back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're not going to have a President that goes out of his way to insult anybody who he doesn't think is nice enough to him.
We won't have a President who threatens people with jail for just criticizing him. That's not normal behavior, Florida.
You wouldn't tolerate it from a coworker. You wouldn't tolerate it from a high school principal. You wouldn't tolerate it from a coach. You wouldn't tolerate it from a family member.
Florida men wouldn't even do this stuff.
Why are we accepting it from the President of the United States? It's not -- it's not normal behavior.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Meanwhile, President Trump has already swung through North Carolina. He is in Ohio right now. He will hold another rally this evening in Wisconsin. Keep in mind, this is all happening against a backdrop of a worsening pandemic, where nearly every state is reporting a spike in cases including two of the three states where President Trump's rallies are taking place today.
More than 83,000 new cases reported across the U.S. on -- that was just yesterday, and the U.S. Surgeon General now warning hospitalizations are going up as well in 75 percent of jurisdictions across the country.
CNN's Ryan Nobles is in Ohio where the President is currently speaking and CNN's Arlette Saenz is on the ground with the Biden campaign in Florida, former President Obama delivering a scathing critique of President Trump there this afternoon. Arlette, what has the Biden campaign's message been today?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, both Joe Biden and President Trump had been quite critical of President Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the two of them campaigning in Pennsylvania, and Florida, two states that President Trump won back in 2016 that Joe Biden is trying to bring back to the Democratic Party column in November as he is trying to cut off every path to the presidency for re-election for President Trump.
And just a little while ago, President Obama was here in Florida. He has met with volunteers and supporters earlier in the day and he said if they bring Florida home, that that will essentially end the election and elect Joe Biden.
And here at a drive-in rally, Obama issued his second scathing critique of President Trump this week. You'll remember Obama campaigned in Florida. Now, he was here and campaigned in Pennsylvania earlier in the week. Now, he is here in -- was here in Florida, and he mocked President Trump for that "60 Minutes" interview that he did earlier in the week. Take a listen to a bit of what Obama had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: He also sat down with "60 Minutes." He was asked, "What's your priority in your second term?" And let me say I've run for President, Miami, so I just wanted you to know, it's a good idea to have an answer to this question. It's a good idea if you're running for re- election, to say, here's what I want to accomplish.
What did Trump say? He got mad and walked out of the interview. He thought the questions were too tough. Too tough?
Miami, listen, if he can't answer a tough question like "What would you like to do in your second term," then it's our job to make sure he doesn't get a second term.
If you've got to walk out of a "60 Minutes" interview, then you're never going to stand up to a dictator.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: Now Obama, also speaking here in North Miami that has a diverse community of black voters and Hispanic voters talking about issues of particular importance to Latino voters, criticizing President Trump's response to Hurricane Maria down in Puerto Rico and also pushing back on this notion that Trump and his campaign have pushed that Joe Biden is a socialist, Obama calling that garbage and saying that Biden is not a secret socialist.
And Obama's overarching message here was trying to turn out voters, black men, young voters as well as Latinos to get out there to the polls in a state where early voting is already underway.
The Biden campaign really believing that Obama can help turn out some of those critical voters heading into the closing days of this election.
[18:05:21]
CABRERA: Arlette, stand by. Ryan, this is a marathon day for the President, three rallies in three states. What has his message to voters been so far?
RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, you get a really -- you get the sense, listening to the President Trump today that he would really like to turn the page when it comes to the coronavirus. He seemed annoyed at one point during speeches both in North Carolina and here in Ohio that there's been such a focus on the coronavirus, this despite the fact that more than 200,000 people have died.
Listen to what President Trump said here just a few minutes ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID. If a plane goes down with 500 people, they don't talk about it. All they talk -- because they're trying to scare everybody. You have to lead your life and you have to get out. You have to be vigilant.
Be careful. Socially distance. Yes, get too close, put the mask on, put it on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBLES: So of course you heard the President say that if you're too close to someone, you should have a mask on. You can see behind me, there's thousands and thousands of people here. They are all shoulder to shoulder. Hardly any of them are wearing masks. Maybe 10 percent of this crowd is wearing masks.
And the President even suggested that the high case count, the case count that continues to go up across the country. It was really not that big of a deal. He said that this country has learned how to deal with the coronavirus, and this is something that we're ready to move on and he mocked Joe Biden for suggesting that further lockdowns could come down the pike because those case counts are going up.
So, Ana, in the closing days of this campaign, the President seems like he would rather talk about anything other than the coronavirus despite the fact that so many Americans are dealing with it on a day- to-day basis -- Ana.
CABRERA: And he called increased testing for coronavirus foolish. Ryan Nobles and Arlette Saenz, thank you both.
CNN senior political analyst and "U.S.A. Today" columnist, Kirsten Powers is with us now. Also with us, Mark McKinnon. He is the co-host of Showtime's "The Circus" and former campaign adviser to President George W. Bush and the late Senator John McCain.
So more than 52 million people have already voted at this point according to a survey of election officials by CNN Edison Research and Catalyst. Catalyst is a data company that provides data analytics and other services to Democrats, academics and nonprofit issue advocacy organizations.
Mark, the impact of these final 10 days of campaigning, how much of it could be diminished compared to previous election years because of how many people are voting early?
MARK MCKINNON, CO-HOST OF SHOWTIME'S "THE CIRCUS": Well, I don't think it's going to be diminished. I think we're going to have extraordinary turnout in early voting and day-of-voting.
I heard an interesting take on this the other day from Dave Wasserman at the Cook Report, he said, as we know, Democrats are voting prominently more numbers than Republicans in early voting and Republicans are going to vote much more on Election Day.
But he pointed out that what could happen then is that there could be Republicans facing lines on Election Day because of fewer election judges, fewer election polling places, and that because they are long lines, and that because they make sense that Trump is down in the polls, that they may not stand in lines on Election Day, and Republicans may decide that they don't want to stick around and hang out on Election Day and vote on these long lines.
So that could have a depressing impact on Republican turnout on Election Day, which is an interesting take.
CABRERA: There are so many unknowns about turnout and who is getting ahead or not getting ahead at this point in the race. I do want to take a look at where the surrogates and where the candidates are today.
Let's start with the Biden campaign. You can see all over the place. He has his supporters. Biden was in Pennsylvania with Jon Bon Jovi, Obama in Miami, Kamala Harris in Ohio, Bernie Sanders in Pennsylvania, Cory Booker in North Carolina, Chelsea Clinton in Michigan, but last and not the least, Cher is in Las Vegas, the list goes on and on.
Kirsten, is the strategy, just send everyone everywhere at this point, and how do you compare, you know, the Biden strategy to Trump's strategy in which he personally is hitting multiple states a day with his signature rallies?
KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I mean, I don't think that they are just sending people everywhere. I think they are being pretty targeted, except for you know, Cher in Nevada, the rest of the states are all states that are really critical.
And so I think that, you know, they are focusing on the states that they need to make sure they have as much turnout as possible, including from people who did not turn out last time, and I think that, you know, Trump isn't able to use surrogates the same way that Joe Biden is because Trump is kind of a one act show.
You know, he is -- he has a relationship with the people who like him and they really like him and that's who he for some reason is talking to here on the closing days. He doesn't seem to be expanding his message out beyond that group of people, which alone or not, it's just not enough to win an election. But he has gone all in on that and he is really the only one that can deliver that message.
[18:10:26]
CABRERA: President Trump really wants the conversation to drift away from the coronavirus, and he has been seizing on Biden's comments during this week's debate to transition the oil industry toward renewable energy, and this industry, of course, is a huge employer in places like Pennsylvania, a key state. Here is Biden just last hour addressing those voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: By the way, let me get something straight here in coal country, I will not ban fracking. Period.
I will protect Pennsylvanian jobs. Period. No matter how many times Donald Trump says it, unlike Donald Trump, I don't think big oil companies need a hand out from the Federal government. We're going to get rid of the $40 billion fossil fuel subsidies, and we're going to invest it in clean energy and carbon capture.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Mark, the fact that he is continuing to try to clarify his stance on this issue. Do you think he may have lost some voters in the oil dependent states?
MCKINNON: I think he is doing a little clean up on aisle three on the oil stuff for places like Pennsylvania. But it's -- but most people agree with Joe Biden. They don't think the oil companies deserve subsidies. So it's actually a pretty good message, when it's clear and what he is saying and what he supports.
I was just thinking a little while ago on about -- if you had asked me, asked any strategist like back in February, what are the three worst things that could happen to Donald Trump in this election? One would be: nominate Joe Biden, a centrist Democrat. Two would be that the President catches the virus himself a month out; and, two would be two weeks out, you have a spiking in record numbers right before the election. All three of them have happened.
CABRERA: And coronavirus is something that impacts everyone, Kirsten. It's the biggest issue facing the country right now. But President Trump is tired of hearing about it, take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The cases are up, but listen to this. They all talk about cases. You only see death, death, cases. You know why we have cases? Because we test so much. And in many ways, it is good. And in many ways, it's foolish. Okay. In many ways, it's very foolish.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Kirsten, your reaction to that?
POWERS: Well, he keeps saying this, and it's not true. This idea that, you know, we have more cases because we do more testing. That's just not true.
But one thing about the government is that there are a lot of issues that as voters, people have to trust the government, that they have more knowledge about it, that they know -- that they may know more about it.
And then there are some things that really, voters know, personally and impact them on a daily basis, like the economy. You can't tell them the economy is doing well, if their experience is not going well.
You also can't tell people who are living in this country, with this pandemic, that things are going well, because everybody is living it and everybody knows that it is not. Everybody knows that it has, you know, essentially shut down our economy. Everybody knows somebody who had it. People may even know somebody who died from it.
This is why Trump has lost so many voters who are senior citizens, who are the ones who are the most impacted by this and the most afraid of it, and you see this -- and bleeding them to Joe Biden.
So you know, he can continue with this, but there's only a small group of people who are going to buy it because we're all living it.
CABRERA: That's so true, and we're all wanting to get past it. But we have to take the right measures ...
POWERS: Yes. We are all tired of it, too.
CABRERA: ... in order to move forward. Kirsten Powers and Mark McKinnon, good to see you. Thank you both.
POWERS: Thank you.
MCKINNON: Thanks, Ana.
CABRERA: After a race like no other, it all ends here. Join us for a special live coverage the way only CNN can bring it to you from the first votes to the critical count. Understand what's happening in your state and all across the country. "Election Night in America." Our special coverage starts Tuesday November 3rd at 4:00 p.m. Eastern.
Pennsylvania's Attorney General warning the Trump campaign, its actions could amount to voter intimidation. We will explain in our weekly cross exam, next live from the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:18:30]
CABRERA: The Trump campaign has been videotaping people dropping off their ballots in Pennsylvania. And now that State's Attorney General warns this could amount to illegal voter intimidation.
The Attorney General found out about the surveillance after the Trump campaign complained that it had seen voters dropping multiple ballots into drop boxes.
Now according to "The New York Times," the campaign even included photos of voters doing so. Attorneys in that city where this is all taking place have now responded to the Trump campaign's complaint by pointing out that there are some circumstances in which voters can drop off more than one ballot and the ballot boxes explain this.
This legal issue brings us to cross exam with CNN legal analyst, Elie Honig, a former Federal and state prosecutor here to answer your questions.
Elie, good to see you. Let's start with this question from a viewer, how likely is it that the Supreme Court will even agree to hear election related disputes? Isn't it up to the states to decide how to run their own elections?
ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Ana, that's a great question. So this is the exact issue that the Supreme Court decided in the famous Bush versus Gore case that ended the 2000 election.
A lot of our viewers are wondering, could we be headed towards a similar decision or heaven help us, multiple of these decisions. Now, we got an important indicator this week.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that county and local officials must count mail-in ballots received three days after the election, so up to November 6th.
Now, the losing party in that lawsuit, the Republican State Committee then tried to get the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and block that. But the U.S. Supreme Court declined to do that.
But here's the thing, the vote was four to four. When that happens, when you have a tie vote in the U.S. Supreme Court, it goes back to the lower court ruling.
However, however, Amy Coney Barrett is potentially 48 hours away from being confirmed as the next Justice on the Supreme Court. If and when that happens, she will be in position to cast decisive votes on these kinds of issues.
And let's remember, we've still got dozens of lawsuits in the states around the country, implicating how millions of people vote, some of these cases could make their way to the Supreme Court as soon as this week and if so, we could see the impact of the newest Justice almost immediately.
[18:20:42]
CABRERA: So looking forward to what could happen after the election, a viewer in Idaho asks this, does the President have the legal power to expand the Supreme Court?
HONIG: Yes, this is really becoming an important issue in the election, not just the presidential. I saw you discuss it last hour with the Georgia Senate candidate.
So we're all used to this number, nine Justices on the Supreme Court. That's the way we are taught in high school. But the Constitution actually does not specify any particular number of Justices. It's up to Congress to set that number by legislation. And that number actually has been changed throughout our history.
We've had as few as five Justices, as many as 10 Justices. Now, this current number of nine has been in place since a law passed in 1869. So we've had it for over 150 years.
But Congress absolutely could pass a new law. You need the House, you need the Senate and you need the President on board -- all three.
Former Vice President Biden announced this week that if elected, he will form a Commission to study potential reforms to the Judiciary, and if so, expect this to be one of the key issues, maybe issue 1A for that Commission, and it is absolutely potentially in play if Joe Biden wins this election.
CABRERA: Elie, we have this question from a viewer in New York asking, is it illegal for people to demonstrate at a polling location or a ballot drop box if they are trying to intimidate people who are trying to vote?
HONIG: Yes, this goes back to that Pennsylvania story. So first things first, voter intimidation is a crime. It is a Federal crime, and it is a crime under the laws of every single state.
Now, there could be some gray area about what actually constitutes voter intimidation, as the viewer notes in the question. But the key thing to know is every state handles the mechanics of its own voting system. There are important rules in place.
For example, every state has rules about who can work as a poll monitor. People can't just show up and say, hey, I'm here to monitor the polls. I'll be watching people as they come in. It does not work that way. And every state has rules about what we call buffer zones, meaning
physical areas right outside of polling places where people cannot demonstrate, they cannot conduct political activity.
So remember, our elections are not run by the Federal officials in D.C. They're run by state, county and local officials. So if you see something wrong, if you're at a polling place, tell your local authorities. They are in the best position to make sure that your right to vote is protected.
CABRERA: As always, great information. Elie Honig, thank you and to our viewers, thank you for your great questions. Keep them coming. We'll keep bringing you answers as many as we can.
Two completely opposite messages on the campaign trail today, President Trump calling increased COVID testing foolish; Joe Biden saying it is the key to reopening the economy. Who has the right strategy? We'll ask a doctor next. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:27:53]
CABRERA: President Trump tonight heads to the battleground state of Wisconsin for his third massive campaign rally of the day. That state also happens to be a COVID hotspot with one of the worst outbreaks in the country right now. CNN's Brian Todd reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. TONY EVERS (D-WI): One thousand six hundred eighty one Wisconsinites have lost the battle against this virus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Coming off his state's highest single day coronavirus death count, Wisconsin's Governor says he is saddened to announce that this facility is taking in its first patients, a field hospital for overflow patients at a State Fair Park near Milwaukee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVERS: Make no mistake about this, this is an urgent crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD (voice over): The surge in cases in Wisconsin is overwhelming, health officials in the state's second most populous county.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANEL HEINRICH, PUBLIC HEALTH DIRECTOR, MADISON AND DANE COUNTIES, WISCONSIN: Right now, we cannot keep up with this sustained rising cases we cannot quickly contact trace cases and let the people they came in contact with know that they should quarantine. We are struggling with the constant and unending rise in cases just as
everyone else in the state is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD (voice over): Wisconsin is one of more than 30 states where the reporting of new daily coronavirus cases is still going up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: Wisconsin is number four in the country with the number of cases per hundred thousand. Also concerning is 41 percent of the long-term care facilities in Wisconsin have at least one positive staff member.
It shows how broad the community spread right now in Wisconsin is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD (voice over): The surge in Wisconsin comes as the University of Wisconsin hosted the first Big Ten football game of the season last night against the University of Illinois. The conference had delayed the season for almost two months because of COVID worries.
The mayor of Madison, Wisconsin signed a letter with other Big Ten school city leaders saying they are worried the universities are not doing enough to protect the populations against the coronavirus, especially at football games.
TODD (on camera): Wisconsin is the most populous state in the country ranked in the top five of coronavirus cases. The data shows that Wisconsin is having one of the worst outbreaks in the country behind the Dakotas and Montana, and the data shows that the surge shows no signs of slowing there.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[18:30:05]
CABRERA: Wisconsin is definitely not alone. Just three states are seeing a downward trend in cases right now. Most are experiencing a significant uptick. Illinois, for example, today reporting more than 6,000 new cases, the most there, since the pandemic began. And the overwhelming numbers and the lives lost bringing the Illinois Public Health Director to tears.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. NGOZI EZIKE, ILLINOIS PUBLIC HEALTH DIRECTOR: Since yesterday we lost an additional 31 lives for a total of 9,418 deaths. These are people who started with us in 2020 and won't be with us at the Thanksgiving table.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: Joining us now, CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Esther Choo. She's
also a Professor of Emergency Medicine in Oregon Health & Science University. Doctor, what's your reaction when you see the top public health official in Illinois getting choked up over the spike in COVID deaths in cases? Meanwhile, you have the President hopping state to state in some of these states where there is such a significant surge right now in hosting these massive rallies.
ESTHER CHOO, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I mean, listening to her I get emotional myself, because I think as the case counts rise, we get a little numb to all the additional deaths. We just see this huge number and we forget to recognize that each one is someone lost, who didn't have to die from this because our public health messaging has been so inconsistent and our administration's response has been so weak.
So I feel the same often and I certainly feel exactly as she is feeling in that moment. Here's both candidates today talking about their plans to combat coronavirus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The cases are up. But listen to this, they all talk about cases. You don't see death, death, cases, cases. You know why we have cases, because we test so much and in many ways it's good and in many ways, it's foolish.
JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're so much better than this. We can bring back this economy and start with my plan to deal with this pandemic responsibly. Bringing the country around to testing, and tracing, and masking, social distancing, not politicizing the race for a vaccine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: So you have President Trump on one hand arguing it's 'foolish in many ways', he says to increase testing. Biden on the other hand arguing it's essential to safely reopen the economy. Who has the right strategy?
CHOO: If there's one thing that should be really clear, it's the importance of testing that has been true since day one of this epidemic for a number of reasons. First of all, we don't have to guess where the disease is. If we actually test at high rates, we can feel confident in regions that are able to open for people who want to get their lives back, get their kids back in school, having a robust and rapid testing program is so key to that. So why wouldn't we want to know for sure, rather than having to guess.
The other thing is specific to this disease, because it passes around the country so quickly from asymptomatic people going out and not knowing to self-isolate. It's so critical to test people even before they're symptomatic so they can make the right decisions.
One of my best friends was about to leave the state got a test even though she was feeling completely asymptomatic and avoided contact with about a dozen family members, including several elderly family members, because she had that test and all of us can modify our behaviors. So testing is really the key to this, knowing less is not going to help us get out of this.
CABRERA: A new report from Columbia University found that the U.S. COVID-19 response resulted in 130,000 to 210,000 avoidable deaths, citing insufficient testing, a lack of national mask mandates, a delayed overall response and outright mocking of basic public health practices by the administration. I've had some people tell me given how historic this pandemic is, it would have been impossible to not end up where we are, what do you tell those people?
CABRERA: That Columbia report really lays down what the issue is. I mean, I hear those messages too saying, well, this is a terrible disease. It is what it is kind of messaging. But that report was so helpful, because it really compared the U.S. against other wealthy countries and even among other less wealthy countries to show what can happen if you have consistent public health messaging, a really aggressive and coordinated plan up front. And also communities that have a high level of buy into the fact that you may need to give up some personal liberties in order to save lives around the world.
And so it really is quite embarrassing when you read that report to think of the other countries that we compare ourselves to and that we think of ourselves as leaders among and see how poorly we've done in comparison.
CABRERA: In fact, I do want to provide even more information on that perspective, because it did catch my eye as well.
[18:35:03]
When measured by deaths per 100,000 people, the U.S. mortality rate is 50 times higher than Japan's. More than twice as high as Canada's, according to this report. The U.S. and South Korea, don't forget, both confirmed their first case of coronavirus on January 20th. But South Korea, they instituted aggressive testing and isolation strategy and that has led to a mortality rate today that is 78 times less than the U.S., why such a difference?
CHOO: It is not subtle at all. Yes. Those are not subtle differences. Those aren't like you tease out these tiny little differences. They're dramatic, you can see them from across the room. And remember, Japan actually has an incredibly high rate of elderly people. And even so, even with that huge vulnerable population, they did so much better than we did. And of course, South Korea only about 400 some deaths.
And it really is such a big difference to do simple things early. I mean, South Korea instituted a really aggressive testing and contact tracing program, and also had a very different culture around mask wearing. I mean, I am South Korean and when I visited even when I was young, if I was about to go out and the air pollution wasn't good or I had a little cold and I was about to get on a bus, my grandmother would put a mask on me just saying that it wasn't polite to go out and expose others in that way.
So I think there wasn't any of this kind of American silliness around resisting masks and feeling that it's such a great imposition. It was something you did as a courtesy to those around you. So just very different cultural attitudes towards simple things like maybe mask wearing.
CABRERA: And again, it just makes me think of the old saying treat others the way you want to be treated. We wear the mask to protect others, not necessarily ourselves, especially mentioning that asymptomatic spread. You never know if you could be carrying the virus. Dr. Esther Choo, good to see you here. Thank you for all you do.
CHOO: Thank you.
CABRERA: Coming up, the CNN investigation how the President's former chief strategist Steve Bannon is pushing a conspiracy theory about the origins of the coronavirus.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:41:06]
CABRERA: Now, to a CNN investigation. A key Trump ally fanning the flames of a conspiracy theory and this one is about the origins of the coronavirus. CNN's Drew Griffin reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT(voice over): It is a right-wing fueled conspiracy theory pushed to millions of Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS: Li Meng Yan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN(voice over): Dr. Li Meng Yan, a Chinese scientist in hiding but appears everywhere on right-wing media and claiming her two research papers prove the virus that causes COVID-19 was created in a Chinese lab and is a Chinese bioweapon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. LI MENG YAN, M.D. PHD, VIROLOGIST, WHISTLEBLOWER: It is modern bioweapon in unrestricted way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN(voice over): But a CNN investigation has found shoddy citations, questionable sourcing and so many scientists who say it's bunk, Yan's paper is not a credible, scientific work. But it is directly linked to one of Donald Trump's former top strategists, Steve Bannon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: Do you believe
that a super spreader or some - was actually sent and somehow has been focused on the White House or focused on President Trump?
MILES GUO: One hundred percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN(voice over): That 100 percent comes from Chinese billionaire and exile Miles Guo, who's using his money and Bannon's media expertise to try to discredit the Chinese government. Bannon and Guo appeared together on Bannon's podcast, fill the pages of a website called "G News" and began two non-profits together, The Rule of Law Society and Rule of Law Foundation. These are the groups who say they support Dr. Li Meng Yan and appear on the top of her research reports.
Columbia University virologist Angela Rasmussen says the papers are scientific junk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGELA RASMUSSEN, VIROLOGIST, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Anybody with an actual background in virology or molecular biology who reads this paper will realize that much of it is actually nonsense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN(voice over): CNN spoke to a half dozen scientists who say Yan's papers are filled with half-truths, not scientifically tenable. One who even met with Yan and said her first study wasn't plausible. University of Michigan Professor, Anna Mapp, says the paper lacked a basic obligation to scientific practices.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNA MAPP, PROFESSOR OF CHEMICAL BIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: I was also really disturbed to see such a shoddy piece of work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN(voice over): And CNN could find no trace of Yan's three co- authors in the U.S. or China. Yan didn't respond to tell us why, but a source tells us that those three co-authors are pseudonyms for U.S.- based Chinese scientist who fear using their own names, but the source offered no proof.
Miles Guo told us Yan's work is Yan's work, independent of any editorial control by me. Steve Bannon offered no response.
Yet there is more about Yan's work. Some of the sources of her research appear not to be credible. Amanda Peiffer, who's getting a Ph.D. in chemical biology, first alerted CNN to issues with the citations at the very end of Yan's paper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) AMANDA PEIFFER, CHEMICAL BIOLOGY PH.D. CANDIDATE, UNIVERSITY OF
MICHIGAN: People who aren't experts, people who aren't scientists, people who really haven't done anything, these are not coming from credible sources. I think that's really concerning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN(voice over): A CNN analyst finds Yan's citations include a paper that appeared only as a post on a LinkedIn, a report written by a person that CNN cannot locate, running a company that does not seem to exist. Three of the citations that linked to posts on a website opposed to genetically modified food, then there is citation 23, which links to anonymous blog posts published back in March. Parts of Yan's papers appear to be pulled directly from these anonymous blogs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN(on camera): I don't want to say copied and pasted, but it almost has that same effect.
PEIFFER: They took the exact same figures, the exact same phrasing, and the exact same captions and put those into the report that was Yan's paper. And that does not happen in science.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[18:45:01]
GRIFFIN(voice over): And guess where one of those blogs first appeared months before Yan's paper? "G News," the disinformation news site linked to Steve Bannon and Miles Guo.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RASMUSSEN: And as much as I hate to think of the idea of component scientists using their work for political propaganda, to me that's what this seems to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN(voice over): Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: A quick break, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:50:21]
CABRERA: Check this out, you're looking at the new cover of Time Magazine. It is the first time in its history they have replaced the logo with a one word plea, vote. The artwork which features this woman wearing a face covering was created by the same artist behind the famous Obama hope poster during the 2008 campaign. Florida voters know exactly how big of a role they'll play in the
elections outcome. Tonight, CNN will air a special hour, highlighting the passions and emotions inside this critical battleground state. In DIVIDED WE STAND: INSIDE AMERICA'S ANGER, CNN's Randi Kaye talks to voters set on keeping President Trump in office and to those who feel just as strongly about voting him out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: With its 29 electoral votes, Donald Trump wins Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a stunning defeat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He won this battleground state right here of Florida.
TRUMP: I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT(voice over): Four years later ...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: White power.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're still supporting Donald Trump, you're a racist, you're a bigot.
CROWD: Blue lives matter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My students are very aware of what is happening.
CROWD: Breonna Taylor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're very aware of police killings.
KAYE: When you do meet people who are supporting Joe Biden, what's that conversation like?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very short.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The political divide ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Turn the (inaudible) around.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... wider than ever.
CROWD: No peace.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're literally talking in different realms of fact.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was just nasty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And in Florida ...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are expecting a record number of people to mail-in vote millions of ballots.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The anger and unrest are driving voters to the polls.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wanted to do something. I wanted to get out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What made you switch parties?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like the party has moved in a different direction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's only solidified my position.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The difference, who wins this swing state often wins the White House.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is Florida a must win for Donald Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There really is no map. He really has to win here to have any chance of being president.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why it matters for Biden.
JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's the most important election in our lifetime.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And for Trump.
TRUMP: My administration is focused on delivering real results.
KAYE: How would you describe this part of Florida?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten thousand kilowatts of red state debate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: Randi Kaye joins us now. That is tantalizing that quick clip we got, Randi. So this documentary is titled Divided We Stand what did people say about all the division and anger that's out there?
KAYE: Oh, it's out there for sure. And we talked to dozens of voters, Ana. We talked to veterans. We talked to teachers, small business owners, black voters, white voters, Latino voters and we might as well have been talking to people in different countries or maybe even different planets. That's how divided they are.
What we found was that it's really fear and anxiety that is driving a lot of this anger on both sides. The Democrats and the Republicans. In the left feels that they've been left behind by this administration. The right feels emboldened and certainly are speaking out a lot more. But we met people who are afraid for their lives, afraid for their
health, afraid of losing their jobs, their businesses, their guns. So we have a lot to talk to voters about and we found even with COVID, of course, people feel even less control of their lives and we found certainly less control of their emotions as well, more and more lashing out on both sides.
And Ana, in community, you'll meet people who got into fistfights and I'm not talking about teenagers. I'm talking about senior citizens.
CABRERA: Wow. One of the places you visited was Duval County in Florida. What made you pick that county?
KAYE: Well, Trump won Florida by about 1 percent in 2016. But in 2018, Duval County in the midterms went blue and we wanted to find out why. So we went there, it's in the Jacksonville area. We found one African-American teacher who we spoke to and in that interview she broke down in tears. She's so concerned about her students. She said most of them black and brown. They draw pictures of police brutality and pictures of President Trump.
She's worried about this systemic racism and she doesn't feel as though the President is doing anything to stop it and maybe even feeding it as well. So it was interesting to see the change there among voters in that county. But then across the state in Escambia County, deep red part of Florida, that is the panhandle. The President has a lot of support there.
But in our travels, we met so many people, two veterans, one for Trump, one against. We met a Parkland student voting for the first time against Trump. But then we met a Cuban-American voter for Trump. So there is a ton of division.
[18:55:00]
Florida certainly a nail-biter, every election we don't expect anything different this time around. The loudest voice at the ballot box will win, but it will be interesting to see if any of this anger helps really shape history, Ana.
CABRERA: Well, we know it's driving people to the polls more than 5 million ballots have been cast in Florida already in early voting in person as well as those mail-in ballots. Randi Kaye, thank you. We look forward to seeing the special. It's called DIVIDED WE STAND: INSIDE AMERICA'S ANGER. It airs tonight at 10 right here on CNN.
Thanks so much for being with me today. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. I'll see you back here tomorrow at 5 pm Eastern. For now my colleague, Wolf Blitzer, picks up our coverage with a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM after a quick break. Have a great night.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:00:01]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN BREAKING NEWS. WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United
States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.
