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Interview with Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber (D); President Trump Continues Raising Money; Family Faces Homelessness After Protecting Daughter. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired December 01, 2020 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[10:31:06]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the state of Florida is now on the brink of 1 million coronavirus infections. It would the third state to cross that threshold, joining Texas and California. Rosa Flores is in Miami Beach.
Rosa, where is this happening and how quickly?
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it is happening all over the state here in Florida. We know that hospitalizations are up in Miami-Dade County, where I am. I'm going to get to that in just a moment, but I want to show you around because I'm in a testing site in Miami Beach, and you can see that the line is bumper-to-bumper and also curls around the corner.
The Miami-Dade mayor who is newly elected, Daniella Cava, announced yesterday that she tested positive for COVID-19, this as the state of Florida is expected to hit 1 million cases today. It is a grim milestone that, as Jim was just saying, only two other states have hit so far.
Hospitalizations in this state have increased by 28 percent in the past two weeks. Here in Miami-Dade, where I am, hospitalizations have increased 37 percent in the past two weeks, ICUs, 35 percent, ventilator use, 46 percent.
Now, Governor Ron DeSantis, doubling down yesterday, saying that he is not requiring masks in his state, and also saying that schools will remain open for in-person instruction next semester. And then he said something very interesting. He blamed the closures of schools across the nation to a lack of a unified national message. Take a listen.
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GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): I think that had we had a unified message as a country six months ago, I don't think there'd be a single school district that would be closed in this country right now.
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FLORES: Now, Jim, it's very curious that Governor Ron DeSantis mentioned that. Now, he didn't mention names, he didn't point specifically a finger at somebody. But we do know that of course he has a very close relationship with President Donald Trump. So if he felt that way a long time ago, you would think he would have picked up the phone and told the president -- Jim.
SCIUTTO: You might think. Rosa Flores, thanks very much.
Well, let's speak more now with the mayor of Miami Beach, Dan Gelber. He's one of a handful of mayors around the state calling for the governor to take more action.
Mayor, thanks so much for taking the time this morning.
MAYOR DAN GELBER (D-FL), MIAMI BEACH: Jim, glad to be here.
SCIUTTO: So I want to play the governor's comments specifically yesterday on refusing a mask mandate, and get your response. Have a quick listen.
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DESANTIS: Has (ph) that stopped an outbreak in Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan? What about New Jersey? What about all these states where you have explosion in cases? So I mean, at some point, does the observed experience matter? I'm opposed to mandates period, I don't think they work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: I mean, there is some data county by county in states that shows the opposite, but what's your response to the governor there?
GELBER: You know, it's really terrible because he's sort of adopted an ideology, a convenient ideology but not one grounded in science. And the result is that he's been receiving advice from these fringe scientists and doctors who pursue the wrong kinds of theories in how to deal with this. And the result is that we have virus spread throughout our state.
We had a hundred people check into the hospital each day in the last two days in just my county alone, and over 18,000 people have died in our state. So he's wrong, and he just won't change direction to the detriment of our residents, frankly.
SCIUTTO: Yes, the way you describe it there is good, ideology over science.
You wrote a letter to Governor DeSantis in October, and you accused him in that letter of purposefully allowing the virus to spread throughout the community, to achieve what you described as a dangerous version of herd immunity. I wonder if you believe his decisions recently have borne that out in your view?
[10:35:00]
GELBER: Absolutely. And listen, it's really not an accusation, Jim. He's only referred with, he's only counseled with Dr. Atlas and these two other physicians who pursued this kind of fringe herd immunity. He's not talked to Dr. Fauci, he's not talked to local infectious disease experts. He's gone to the folks that are most convenient and follow the ideology that he wants to follow.
And the result is that he is pursuing it, and the best proof is this. He opened up our economy entirely in a single day, and then at the same time said that local governments can't issue fines for failure to wear a mask. He did the worst of all worlds. He said, go ahead and get out there but we're not going to let you protect people from the spread of the virus.
SCIUTTO: So what do you do, I wonder, right? I mean, the governor is not responding to you, you care about the people in your city, you want to save lives. What can you do despite lacking his support?
GELBER: Well, you know, we do is (ph) workarounds, OK? Frankly, we -- you know, we give citations now for failure to wear a mask even though they don't -- they can't carry a fine with them. We tell our businesses they have to enforce a mask usage requirement in their businesses, we do all that.
Where we're lacking the most is this, you know, it's -- the mandates are fine, but really what matters is when we all speak with a single voice. And we do that with hurricanes quite well and everybody listens because they see all of their leaders saying exactly and precisely the same thing.
What Governor DeSantis is doing is not simply not helping us, he's doing the opposite. He actually is telling people they don't need to wear masks. I get e-mails every day, angry e-mails from people, saying, why don't you listen to the governor? Why are you forcing us to wear masks? Why don't you be quiet?
And that's just dangerous, frankly, especially since all of the credible science says that mask usage is the best way to protect yourself and in fact to open up the economy safely.
SCIUTTO: OK, so Friday, states have to come up with their plans for distributing the vaccine. I wonder, do you have confidence in Florida's ability to distribute this fairly and widely and quickly?
GELBER: Well, look, I don't -- I'm not going to -- I don't want to politicize the vaccine because I saw what happened when we politicized the masks. Obviously we saw that something that was really important and healthy became something that people started to decide whatever (ph) they liked depending upon which presidential candidate they supported.
So my hope is that if we follow the CDC guidelines, if we follow the COVID Task Force recommendations, that we'll be able to do it. I have faith in the national experts who do this for a living day-in and day- out and have experience in it, and I expect that our governor will follow that. I know our local hospital administrators are, and so my expectation is he will as well. SCIUTTO: Well, we wish you the best of luck in the weeks to come, I
know they're going to be difficult. Mayor Dan Gelber, thanks very much.
GELBER: Thanks, Jim.
[10:38:09]
SCIUTTO: Well, President Trump continues his fight to stay in the White House despite the facts, but his advisers tell CNN he knows the writing is on the wall.
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SCIUTTO: Advisers to the president are telling CNN that Trump privately knows he lost the election -- OK, finally. But that's the exact opposite of what he is saying in public. In fact, he's continued to lie and pressure those in his party to interfere in the process -- that's key. The bottom line? As that's happening, he's raised more than $170 million since Election Day. Read the fine print, folks, as to where this money can go. CNN's John Harwood is live.
So, John, what's the point here? I mean, if privately he knows the facts here -- as he should, because it's clear. Why is he doing this?
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump is an odd individual, Jim, I think we've learned that over the last four years. Ted Cruz who ran against him in the 2016 Republican primaries, by the end, when he was frustrated by Trump's antics and Trump had (ph) defeated him, explained it this way. He said, "Donald Trump is a pathological liar who, the moment the lies come out of his mouth, he decides he believes them."
I think that fits the situation. He's not completely disconnected from reality, there's too much information in the environment and people around him who tell him that he's lost the election.
But he's keeping up the act in part because it helps him as he looks toward the future. It also helps his ego, because Donald Trump needs to believe he's the best so he's got some motivated reasoning going on to serve his political self-interest as well as the demands of his ego and his psyche.
SCIUTTO: All right, so as often, there's money behind this and he's raised a lot of money, $170 million. That money can be used for what exactly?
HARWOOD: Well, he's financing a leadership PAC that will allow him to pay for future political endeavors. That could be everything from staff salaries, you could put people on the payroll of the PAC, travel, advertising, all sorts of things that he could do to both maintain his grip over the Republican Party as well as potentially prepare for a run in 2024.
[10:45:00] By no means certain that there's going to be a run in 2024, but this is a holding action that puts money in the till for President Trump to continue to be a force.
SCIUTTO: John Harwood at the White House, thanks very much.
HARWOOD: You bet.
SCIUTTO: Well, be sure to watch the new CNN film "PRESIDENT IN WAITING," it takes a very personal look at the role of the vice president. It airs this Saturday at 9:00 p.m.
One Dallas couple is facing really just an unimaginable decision amid this pandemic: face financial ruin or risk exposing their daughter to coronavirus? And their daughter has a rare condition. You're going to hear their story, next.
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[10:50:01]
SCIUTTO: Well, millions of Americans -- I'm sure many of you -- have had to make tough decisions because of this worsening pandemic: many left behind on bills, drowning in debt. This next couple has perhaps an even worse problem. They have to decide about risk, exposing their child to COVID and their child has an illness, makes them even more vulnerable to this, choosing between that and sustaining their family. CNN's Ed Lavandera has this story.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: (Inaudible) unbearable dilemma --
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LAVANDERA (voice-over): Exploring a secluded playground is a rare gift for little Brandi and her family, a chance for kids to be kids and a chance for Jessica Lusk and Dylan Garcia to escape.
The coronavirus pandemic has brought this family to the edge of despair.
JESSICA LUSK, BRANDI'S MOTHER: What happens if we lose everything? For real, you know? Like what really is going to happen?
I'm a big girl today.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Three-year-old Brandi was born with an extremely rare metabolic disease known as CACT. Essentially, Brandi's body is unable to break down the fat in food that her body needs to function. It has caused brain damage and pulverized her immune system. Her doctors say any illness Brandi catches can be deadly.
When the pandemic started, Jessica worked as a home care provider for disabled veterans; Dylan worked in a metal factory. Imagine their dilemma, working jobs with a high risk of COVID-19 exposure, knowing they could come home with a disease that would kill their child. DYLAN GARCIA, BRANDI'S FATHER: Is it better off staying at home or is
that going to end up getting us put in a homeless shelter where she's at more risk? I think about that all the time, like --
LUSK: And we would lose our kid, you know?
GARCIA: -- what -- like what's the bigger risk? Me going to work or us losing our house? What's the right answer? What do I pick? What's going to actually work?
LAVANDERA (voice-over): In April, Jessica and Dylan stopped working to keep Brandi safe. They hoped the pandemic would end quickly. Now, the couple says they live off $700 a month in unemployment assistance and food stamps.
Medicaid insurance provides a nurse to help in Brandi's daily care, a schedule that's meticulously mapped out. She can only eat special formula injected every few hours through a tube into her stomach, but Jessica and Dylan say they're now $2,000 behind on electrical bills; they owe almost $10,000 on nine months of unpaid apartment rent. They were recently told their family would be evicted at the end of December.
LUSK: That lady told me if I was a good mom, I would be calling around to homeless shelters to ask if they can take me in. I poured my whole heart out to her and I explained to her that just, please, don't, don't get rid of me. I have nowhere to go.
GARCIA: It makes you feel like a failure as a parent, as a man, to know that you can't provide for your own family.
LUSK: It's like if I don't even deserve my own kid.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Jessica and Dylan have had to isolate themselves and their three children during the pandemic, which they say has made fighting this battle even more lonely and stressful. They live for brief moments of joy, like watching Brandi take her first steps.
LUSK: You did it!
Every night we cry to each other, we talk. If we're not crying, we're trying to make a way, we're trying to find a way.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Jessica and Dylan are haunted every night by the question they can't escape: Are they doing the right thing?
LAVANDERA (on camera): Have you given up hope?
LUSK: We can never give up, we have children. It just -- it's a lot, it's --
GARCIA: The only hope we got --
LUSK: -- it's a lot.
GARCIA: -- is the fact that we still do have her, she still is here.
LUSK: That's all I could do, is just pray that it goes away, that things get better, that God makes a way.
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LAVANDERA (on-camera): Jim, my apologies for the confusion off the top there, but I was saying, you now, this is a family that has been put in an unbearable dilemma, as you saw there from that story. And what is remarkable is that Brandi's doctors tell us that most children with her condition -- so rare -- don't make it past the age of one. And here she is today, now three.
But with her family there on that brink, family -- and her parents tell us they've been trying to find work that they can do from home to bring in income. They just haven't had any luck in that department -- Jim.
SCIUTTO: Heartbreaking to watch, Ed. My heart -- as I'm sure many folks watching -- goes out to the family. I wonder, can a vaccine help her, help their little girl and help the family?
LAVANDERA: Well, the doctor -- Brandi's doctor told us that she would be able to take the vaccine, her body could take it, that they do encourage it. Her parents say they are waiting to get more information to determine whether or not it would be safe for her. They want to be absolutely certain that that would be a positive thing for her. And after they get all of that, they would then make that decision. But right now, they're waiting for more information about how effective and safe this vaccine is going to be.
[10:55:17]
SCIUTTO: Well, Ed, after this I'm going to ask you if there's a way for folks to reach out and help that family, but thanks so much for bringing this story.
LAVANDERA: I can share -- online, the story is posted online at the bottom of our story on CNN.com, there is a link where you can go help this family if you feel inclined.
SCIUTTO: Fantastic, thanks so much, Ed, our best to that family.
I'm Jim Sciutto, CNN will be right back.
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