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Update on Coronavirus Responses Across the Country; These Are the "60 Minutes" Questions Deemed "Inappropriate" By Trump; Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner Threaten to Sue Over Times Square Billboards. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired October 26, 2020 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[13:31:01]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: In Phoenix, Arizona, staff and students at a middle school are in quarantine after four people there tested positive for the coronavirus.
Officials in the Madison School District decided to shut down the campus starting today after consulting with county public health officials. All students and staff must quarantine for 14 days.
Here are more coronavirus headlines from our correspondents across the country.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: I'm Jacqueline Howard in Atlanta.
The coronavirus vaccine that being developed by Pfizer is now being tested in the youngest age group yet. Children as young as 12 are now volunteering in the vaccine trial here in the U.S.
And the team in Cincinnati says 100 children ages 12 to 15 were vaccinated last week as part of the trial. This move into young children was approved by the FDA earlier this month.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ed Lavandera in Texas.
A dire situation in El Paso. Hospital and intensive care units are at 100 percent capacity. And a convention center is being turned into an auxiliary hospital.
This comes as the positive infection rate in that area has jumped 160 percent this month and hospitalizations are up 300 percent this month.
City officials are putting in place a curfew citywide from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. They're urging people to stay at home for at least two weeks. And that anyone out in public without a mask could now face a fine.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Alison Kosik in New York.
A more light-hearted outcome of the pandemic? Families stuck at home, bored, have resorted to playing board games again.
And that's benefiting Hasbro, which is seeing Monopoly sales soaring. Overall, revenue for gaming sales at the company reportedly jumped 21
percent from the third quarter. Also with the help of its game Magic.
"Star Wars" and Mandalorian Toys also brought in strong revenue growth.
Meantime, rival toymaker, Mattel, said Barbie sales jumped 28 percent and sales of Hot Wheels rose 8 percent.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Thank you to all of our correspondents for those reports.
Ahead, several FOX News hosts now in quarantine after exposure to coronavirus on a private jet.
[13:33:17]
Breaking news on Wall Street. The Dow falling nearly a thousand points over concerns about a rise in COVID cases and there being no stimulus deal.
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[13:38:16]
KEILAR: CNN has identified at least 16 false or misleading claims in the president's interview with "60 Minutes," which he ended abruptly and stormed out of. He is still upset over this interview with Lesley Stahl.
His favorite emotional support anchors joined in the grievance parade, claiming that Joe Biden was not asked difficult questions during his interview with "60 Minutes."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FOX NEWS HOST: You give him a layup! You give him an out! Why CBS is third at night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: We should know that Jason Miller, the president's own senior adviser at the campaign, complimented Norah O'Donnell for her questioning of Biden and Kamala Harris.
Let's look at these questions that the president received that claimed were so unfair. Before I roll the tape, we should note Lesley Stahl fact-checked his
answers to these questions constantly because he lied or he dodged. But that's on him, not her.
So let's look at the questions that she asked.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LESLEY STAHL, CO-HOST, "60 MINUTES": Are you ready for some tough questions?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Should be. It's "60 Minutes." He is the president up for re- election in the middle of a pandemic and a troubled economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STAHL: Why do you want this job? Why do you want to be president again?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: That is the most basic question and an essential one for a presidential candidate or really any job. Haven't you been asked that question? I know that I have.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STAHL: Let me ask you what you think your biggest domestic priority is for you right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: That is an important question. It's also an obvious one. Except his answer was a lie. He claimed he led the greatest economy even before the pandemic, which Stahl fact-checked him on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STAHL: And who is our biggest foreign adversary?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: He answered China. Pretty straightforward question there. Certainly timely given the real-time interference against the U.S. election.
[13:40:03]
Then the topic turned to polls, suggesting he is bleeding support from suburban women.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STAHL: One of the reasons is that they don't feel you're being up front about the pandemic.
(CROSSTALK)
STAHL: Are you downplaying it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: That's a fair question since he is downplaying it and he admitted that on tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (voice-over): I wanted to -- I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down.
BOB WOODWARD, JOURNALIST & AUTHOR (voice-over): Yes.
TRUMP: Because I don't want to create a panic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: The next question from Lesley Stahl that the president thought was out of line:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STAHL: I wonder if you think that masks don't work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: He mocks masks, even though they are a proven deterrent to the coronavirus spread. He both sides them here and he rarely wore them before contracting the virus or after contracting it. So, yes, an important question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STAHL: I'm watching all of these people jammed in together and I'm seeing most of them without masks.
TRUMP: Yes.
STAHL: And I'm wondering the message that you're sending with these pictures coming up on television.
TRUMP: Take a look --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: After this, he brags about the size of his rallies.
And then, maybe this is the question that the president's favorite network thought was just too tough.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You're so negative. You're so negative.
STAHL: Tell me about the mask wearing.
TRUMP: These are the biggest rallies we have ever had.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Now to the question he has been asked for five straight years, including four in which he's occupied the White House. A question he can't answer, which makes it even more imperative to ask.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STAHL: OK, I'll ask you another health question. OK?
TRUMP: OK.
STAHL: You promised that there was going to be a new health package, a health care plan.
TRUMP: Yes.
STAHL: You said that it was going to be great. You said it's ready. It's going to be ready.
TRUMP: It is.
STAHL: It will be here in two weeks. It's going to be like nothing you've ever seen before and, of course, we haven't seen it.
So why didn't you develop a health plan?
TRUMP: It is developed. It is fully developed. It's going to be announced very soon.
STAHL: When?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Back to FOX for a second. Just listen to the sunrise trio.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FOX NEWS HOST: The end of President Trump's interview when he said, I'm done, Kayleigh McEnany brought his health care plan in and handed it to Lesley Stahl because she was questioning him about that.
He did say --
UNIDENTIFIED FOX NEWS HOST: It was gigantic.
UNIDENTIFIED FOX NEWS HOST: Yes, it was huge.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: I know they are impressed by big books but there's no comprehensive replacement plan that has the potential to become law in that binder. And they know it.
It's just political theater. A bunch of executive orders put out by the White House precisely to look like they are doing something about health care as they try to kill the current health care law along with all those trees that were needed to fill that binder.
Here's another question. Relevant since Trump is on the campaign trail holding rallies that are ripe to be super-spreader events like his one at the White House. When some of his supporters are from far-right- wing groups or conspiracy theory groups or deemed a threat by the FBI.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STAHL: Can you characterize your supporters?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Then the conversation turns to his opponent but not his current one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton deleted -- she deleted 33,000 e-mails after she got a subpoena from the United States Congress.
STAHL: But why is this still an issue?
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: -- an issue.
STAHL: Why do people --
(CROSSTALK)
STAHL: They are not voting on that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Why is this still an issue, Stahl asks. Fair, since Clinton is not running for president right now. And neither is Hunter Biden, the Squad, or Gretchen Whitmer.
Here is the question about the Michigan governor, the recent target of a domestic terror group's kidnapping plot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STAHL: You want to lock her up?
TRUMP: And by the way, that's other -- of course, I don't want to lock her up. Why would I?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: The president has attacked Whitmer over and over again, even telling Michigan to liberate after her restrictions due to coronavirus.
So where would his supporters get that impression?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You got to get your governor to open up your state, OK?
(CHEERING)
(CHANTING)
TRUMP: Lock them all up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Pretty clear, why Lesley Stahl asked that question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STAHL: Do you take any responsibility for the country being divided against itself? Do you feel that?
Do you think that your tweets and your name calling are turning people off?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: We hear over and over from voters that Trump has lost, from 2016 until now, that this is a concern for them. He should answer for that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Then you've brought up a lot of subjects that --
STAHL: Well, I said --
TRUMP: -- inappropriate --
STAHL: -- I was going to ask you tough questions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: To recap, the subjects brought up that President Trump deemed inappropriate -- the pandemic, the economy, foreign policy, his health care plan, or lack thereof, his supporters, the election, his rhetoric and tweets.
[13:45:05]
Those are fine topics, standard even.
It's not the topics or the questions that are out of bounds. It's his answers.
And Lesley Stahl pointed that out.
Trump doesn't like to be challenged with fact. He doesn't want to be told he is dishonest when he verifiably is. And he can't answer many simple questions without lying or without changing the subject.
He expects a compliant media to let him get away with it.
But here is the problem. He is the president of the United States of America, where a journalist can challenge the president with fact. And she is protected by the Constitution.
And so, too, is his temper tantrum.
Despite the first event being a super spreader, tonight, the president planning to host another event for Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett.
Plus, we'll take you to Times Square where a billboard showing Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump has led to a legal threat.
And there's breaking news on Wall Street. The Dow falling nearly a thousand points over the lack of a stimulus deal.
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[13:50:29]
KEILAR: Lawyers for Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are firing back and threatening to sue after these billboards were put up in New York City's Times Square.
One shows Ivanka next to statistics about COVID deaths. The other shows Kushner with a quote attributed to him from a "Vanity Fair" article, saying that New Yorkers, quote, "are going to suffer and that's their problem."
CNN has not been able to independently verify "Vanity Fair's" reporting of that quote. And Kushner disputes the sentiment of the statement from the magazine attributed to him in the ad.
The billboards were posted by the Lincoln Project, a prominent Republican group that opposes President Trump.
And we should not, that image of Ivanka Trump has been altered. It's from a photo that she tweeted in July in which she was promoting Goya beans after there were calls to boycott the company when the CEO of Goya Foods appeared in the White House Rose Garden and praised President Trump.
Jared and Ivanka's attorney, Mark Kasowitz, said in a letter to the Lincoln Project, quote: "Of course, Mr. Kushner never made any such statement. Mrs. Trump never made any such gesture. And the Lincoln Project's misrepresentations that they did are an outrageous and shameful libel."
"If these billboard ads are not immediately removed, we will sue you for what will doubtless be enormous compensatory and punitive damages."
Now CNN correspondent, Alexandra Field, is following the story. She's in Times Square.
Give us the latest there.
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Brianna. One of billboards is still up in Times Square. The other is missing.
This is raising a lot of questions. Because while you have Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump both threatening to sue the Lincoln Project, the Lincoln Project has been adamant in their defense of the billboards.
Saying that they won't be taking either billboard down.
The question now: Why is one of the two suddenly missing? Was a decision made by the Lincoln Project? Is there another explanation?
The Lincoln project has said in response to threats of a lawsuit that they would welcome a suit, that they would look forward to the opportunity to use the legal process to prove the truthfulness of those billboards that they put up.
They went on to send this message to Ivanka and Jared. They said:
"The level of indignant outrage Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have shown toward the Lincoln Project for exposing their indifference for more than 223,000 people who have lost their lives due to their reckless mismanagement of COVID-19 is comical."
While we truly living rent free in their heads, their empty threats will not be taken any more seriously than we take Ivanka and Jared."
Now, attorneys have called those billboards false, malicious and defamatory.
For a little bit of context, Brianna, that quote did come from "Vanity Fair."
"Vanity Fair" cited an unnamed source, who said they were in a meeting with Jared Kushner and overheard or heard directly Jared Kushner saying that in the meeting.
Of course, again, CNN can't confirm "Vanity Fair's" reporting.
The question this afternoon: Why does one billboard remain up? Why is the other suddenly missing? KEILAR: Yes. We know you'll be looking into that, Alexandra. Thank you
so much for the update from Times Square.
Joining me is CNN legal analyst, Eli Honig. He is a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Elie, if Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner do sue, what are the chances that they would win? Do they have a case here?
ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Brianna, I know lawyers are trained to hedge. If the Trump family files this lawsuit, the chance is 0.0.
Here's why. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are public officials. They wanted these jobs in the White House. They're senior advisers.
The First Amendment of our Constitution gives the highest level of protection to political criticism, political commentary, political satire.
Everything from back when people were doing political cartoons of George Washington on parchment, all way up through "Saturday Night Live" this weekend, and now these billboards in Times Square.
What the Trump family would have to show is called actual malice. Meaning the Lincoln Project knew that the facts stated on those billboards were wrong and still put them up.
But, look, we're talking about math, statistics, numbers. Forget about falsity. These are just simply facts.
KEILAR: OK. So you're a legal analyst. This is sort of the P.R. question of it. But it appears that the Lincoln Project thinks they baited a hook, and Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner bit.
Because -- I mean, it makes you wonder, would the billboards be getting so much attention if they had not threat everyone to sue. What do you think?
[13:55:03]
HONIG: Yes, P.R.-wise, this threat of a lawsuit really could blow up in the Trump family's faces in a couple of respects.
First of all, think about how many more people have now seen this billboard because they're pounding their chest about bringing a lawsuit.
Also, legally, the Lincoln Project's position here is, bring it on, because if the Trump family files a lawsuit, we will get into discovery.
Meaning, the lawyers for the Lincoln Project will be able to take depositions under oath of Jared Kushner, of Ivanka Trump, get into their e-mails, get into their text messages in order to defend themselves. So this is a -- this lawsuit I think is DOA. And if they get into it,
it will brow up on them on the Trump side of things.
KEILAR: Elie, thank you so much for taking us through that.
HONIG: Yes.
KEILAR: We're eight days until the election and the U.S. is seeing its worst week ever in this pandemic.
Plus, the White House is seeing a second outbreak among its staff.
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