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Connect the World
Decision On Discharging Trump Will Be Made In Coming Hours; Biden Pledges To Reassess U.S. Relations With Saudi Arabia; Missiles, Accusations Fly Between Armenia & Azerbaijan; How Trump's Coronavirus Response May Impact Election; President Donald Trump Casts Doubt On Legitimacy Of U.S. Election; Israel Opens Largest Underground COVID-19 Hospital. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired October 05, 2020 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi. This is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Well, right now we are monitoring the fate of a leader and the fate of the nation in the coming hours. U. S.
President Donald Trump may walk out of the hospital that is the word from his Chief of Staff who says, doctors at the Walter Reed Medical Center will
make the decision in the coming hours on whether or not to let Mr. Trump fight the Coronavirus at the White House?
Two sources tell CNN he demanded to leave yesterday. Well of course that didn't happen, but it did take a joy ride so around the hospital waving at
well wishes and seemingly putting his security detail at risk at the same time as you can see they were in a sealed SUV with Mr. Trump this all
orchestrated apparently to paint a rosy picture of the president's health a picture reinforced by his doctors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SEAN DOOLEY, PULMONARY CRITICAL CARE DOCTOR, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S MEDICAL TEAM: The president continues to improve. He has remained without fever
since Friday morning. His vital signs are stable.
DR. BRIAN GARIBALDI, PULMONARY CRITICAL CARE DOCTOR, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S MEDICAL TEAM: Today he feels well, he's been up around. Our plan for today
is to have him to eat and drink, be up out of bed as much as possible to be mobile.
DR. SEAN CONLEY, WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN: Like to reiterate how pleased we all are with the president's recovery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: All this of course comes after doctor's needed to apologize for presenting a confusing timeline of President Trump's diagnosis and its
treatment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. CONLEY: I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president, his course of illness has had. I didn't want to give any
information that might steer the course of illness in another direction. And in doing so, you know came off that we're trying to hide something,
which wasn't necessarily true. And so, have it - he is - the fact of the matter is that he's doing really well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, we don't really know how he's doing? We're joined by Joe Jones who is at Walter Reed Medical Center where Mr. Trump is being
treated. We don't know how he's doing, what is the latest on the president's condition?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you sort of heard it right there and we've also heard from the White House Chief of Staff who
said the president continues to make progress. He is expected to meet with his doctors this morning to make a determination about whether the
president can go back to the White House?
We're out in Bethesda, Maryland right now. So that's what we're waiting for to find out whether in fact they're going to release the president? A
little bit more about the president's condition, we know that he hasn't had a fever at least since Friday that of course according to his doctors and
all of these apparently hopeful signs.
But on the other side of the coin, if you look at the medications, the president is taking these are for serious COVID patients including
Dexamethasone, this is a steroid that is prescribed or recommended for some of the most serious patients who have COVID-19. And it's to deal with
inflammation to make inflammation go down.
We also know about Remdesivir this is another medication that is supposed to be administered only in a hospital setting and the president is only
about halfway through the course of treatment as supposed to last about 5 days.
So the question is can he continue to get that treatment if he were to go back down the White House? We've been told yes, because they could out for
the White House with the necessary personnel and equipment in order to replicate or recreate the type of set up they have here at the hospital,
Becky?
ANDERSON: Joe Johns is outside that hospital any sense or any noise that we hear about the president leaving of course, we will get off you as right to
Joe and to that scene there. Thank you.
[11:05:00]
ANDERSON: What impacts will this diagnosis of COVID for the U. S. President have on the election just 4 weeks out? My next guest says it could work
against it writing about the U. S. President in Financial Times Editorial Edward Luce said his positive result will focus attention on his handling
of the pandemic where he is already suffering from very poor ratings.
Edward Luce is the U. S. National Editor for the Financial Times and he joins us now from Washington. Sorry about chewing your name on. I don't
know exactly how to produce it sir? OK, I hope we haven't lost him.
There you go, I was apologizing for mispronouncing your name which was and then you disappeared. So you're back anyway, I do not, I do not know how to
pronounce your name. Less than a month away sir from the elections with millions of votes already in the mail, do you really think that the
president's diagnosis will harm his campaign?
EDWARD LUCE, U.S. NATIONAL EDITOR, FINANCIAL TIMES: That's - it's probably a little bit too early to say definitively whether it will, he's already
done himself quite a bit of damage from last week's debate with Joe Biden the very aggressive bullying style, but he's rebounded on him.
And that was a - over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal showing Biden with a 14 percentage point lead which is by far the largest X. The way in
which he has communicated this COVID, this bizarre drive that he talk in the SUV around Walter Reed last night his doctor, the Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Sean Conley the fact that he appears more like a spin doctor literally than a doctor in the information he is giving out.
You have to think none of this gives the impression of a president who is remotely in charge. And therefore you will have to imagine this would cause
further damage to his--
ANDERSON: Well, he certainly says he's learned a lot from this experience Ed.
LUCE: He does although of course, you know driving around in the sealed carve with secret service agents and a drive sealed in there with him
suggests that he might not have learned as much as he thought he has.
Look, I mean, this steroid that he's on and the other cocktail of treatments that he's getting indicate precisely the opposite of what Dr.
Sean Conley and Mark Meadows, the Chief of Staff have being saying that he's well, getting better.
These are throw-the-kitchen-sink kinds of prescriptions for people who are in a fairly serious condition for COVID patients who are in a fairly
serious condition. So confusion reigning, I don't think it's helpful and it's also potentially quite worrying for his health.
ANDERSON: You put your bets on Joe Biden victory, but you have cautioned that it might happen amid dangerous claims of fraudulent mail-in-ballots.
Do you genuinely believe if President Trump loses both at the Electoral College and the national vote that he will not give a power at this point?
LUCE: I think if there is enough ambiguity, if the election is close enough that there could be closable contested results and therefore slates of
electors coming out of places like Pennsylvania, swing states like Pennsylvania and Florida that there is no doubt Trump will contest them and
he's got armies of lawyers who are trying to do that.
He has an Attorney General Bill Barr who has been anchoring Trump's consistent line that mail-in-ballots are fraudulent that this will be the
most corrupt election in America's history. So you have to believe people as Maya Angeline says when somebody tells you who they are?
Believe them the first time, Trump is being consistently training that he believes mail-in-ballots are fraudulent. So I don't think it would be
responsible to ignore what he is saying. I think if there is enough ambivalence, he will contest every possible outcome and to try and stop the
camps. So we ought to be prepared for that eventuality even if it's not a probability.
[11:10:00]
ANDERSON: Ed, you wrote an op-ed in the FT about on October surprise saying "If one of America's adversaries wanted to spring a more conventional
October surprise, in the Middle East, for example, or the South China Sea, now might be an opportunistic moment." Any suggestions or bets on what that
might be?
LUCE: Well, the White House is pretty much empty, it's like a mini ghost town and a mini pandemic has been raging through it. So all kinds of
stuffers in addition to the president and the First Lady and Bill Stepien, his Campaign Manager and Kellyanne Conway and many others now in quarantine
or isolation.
So there is a complete break down and you see that in micro with the medical, the confusion over the medical communications around the
president. So this would be a good moment to test America's metal.
My own hunch is that countries like China and Iran you know, that are odds with the United States are probably more minded to wait for another 30
days, well 29 days now to see who wins rather than take any risks at this moment.
But you never can tell there is a completely broken down executive system here in Washington. And it's a deep concern to put it mildly that the
president is on various drugs including these steroids, which cause hyperactivity and can lead to dilution of thinking.
So you have to be alert to that and you also should bear in mind that there is a 25th Amendment in this country for precisely such situations where
power can temporarily be transferred to the Vice President.
But of course the president has to agree to that and if he himself is a borderline delusional then he is not going to agree to that, all of which
just makes this a very vulnerable moment for not just American Politics, but for American National Security.
ANDERSON: The views of Ed Luce, thank you sir. While there is clearly much uncertainty over Donald Trump's health at present, his Democratic rival Joe
Biden laying out part of his plan for the Middle East.
Should he win the White House in less than a month from now just about a month from now? Biden promises to reassess America's relationship with
Saudi Arabia and take it in a very different direction to that of Mr. Trump.
Joe Biden poised to transform much of America's foreign policy in the Middle East if he wins in November. In a new statement the presidential
hopeful vowing to reassess Washington's relationship with key ally Saudi Arabia over the gruesome murder of the Saudi journalist and then U. S.
resident Jamal Khashoggi two years ago by a hit squad allegedly with close ties to the highest levels of power in the kingdom.
Now Biden vowing not to let those responsible gets away with it promising to end American support for Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, as he's done
before.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Khashoggi was in fact murdered and dismembered. And I believe in the order of the Crown Prince. And I would
make it very clear we were not going to in fact sell more weapons to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: The kingdom's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has always denied the allegations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN, CROWN PRINCE OF SAUDI ARABIA: That is a heinous crime that cannot be justified.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: The Trump Administration going along with that despite America's most powerful spy agencies clearly blaming the Crown Prince for being
behind it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no direct evidence linking him to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
JAMES MATTIS, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: We have no smoking gun that the Crown Prince was involved.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They have not concluded, nobody's concluded. I don't know if anyone's going to be able to conclude
that the Crown Prince said it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Mr. Trump putting it even more bluntly to journalist Bob Woodward telling him that's on the Crown Prince he "saved his ass".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President what did you mean when you said you saved MBS' ass?
TRUMP: You'll have to figure that out yourself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Donald Trump making the Kingdom, his first stop overseas after becoming president, the reason clear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Hundreds of billions of dollars of investments into the United States and jobs, jobs, jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[11:15:00]
ANDERSON: And it went both ways just before Khashoggi's killing, Mohammed bin Salman visited the United States offering himself as a fresh face of
progressive reform. But the murder souring public opinion and seeing many in congress stone wall, the kingdom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): They'll be a bipartisan tsunami building against Saudi Arabia here, if they did in fact do this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: That meant the Saudis who've been able to achieve few of their goals in the U. S. leaving Mr. Trump's role primarily as a support for them
in Washington. Why? Well they aligned with many of his goals in the region better relations with Israel, billions of dollars to spend in America and a
key regional partner in Washington's unrelenting campaign of maximum pressure against Iran.
A campaign that Biden thinks has been a disaster. He wants to rejoin the Iran Nuclear Deal as a starting point for negotiations and the Saudis
accountable for their actions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: And make them in fact the pariah that they are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And that old promises a dramatic shift in this region if Joe Biden wins the White House just weeks from now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Thank you very, very much and the source family here or anyone from there?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: New bloodshed over an old hatred in strategic oil pipelines in the middle. Up next how the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan is
escalating? What it means for the wider world? Plus we are less than a month away from the U.S. Presidential Election. Coming up, we'll speak to
Iowa's Secretary of State about his role in making sure each ballot is safely and accurately counted.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, the U.S President Donald Trump may leave the Walter Reed Medical Center later today, despite key questions about his conditions
remaining unanswered. The Head of the Company that produces the experimental antibody treatments being given to the president tells CNN, it
is not appropriate to relieve - just when to reveal, just when the drug was requested.
The White House Chief of Staff says, the president has made "Unbelievable progress" during treatment and a decision on releasing him will be made in
the coming hours and more on that of course as we get it.
I want to look at an escalating conflict now between Armenia and Azerbaijan and its potential implications for the wider world. Missiles rockets and
accusations are being flying over disputed piece of land known as the Nagorno-Karabakh region. It is not a new dispute, but the latest clashes
could signal a new danger.
[11:20:00]
ANDERSON: It's internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but controlled by ethnic Armenians. And there has been bloodshed before, but no
sign of a peace treaty. And today both sides are accusing each other of further missile and rocket attacks against civilian populations.
Now the territory is strategically important and the conflict could also put Russia and Turkey at a NATO member on a potential collision course.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has the very latest for you.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: It is gone so much further than many expected. Neither diplomacy nor exhaustion nor civilian
casualties seem to slow the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan now over a week old.
This video from the Armenian side we can't verify shows the impact in skyline over Nagorno-Karabakh, the ethnic Armenian enclave within
Azerbaijan's borders at the heart of the fighting. Civilians here shelter in a church crypt.
When a siren sounds, we go here, she says would be living in fright and fear for many years and this cannot be resolved in any way. Azerbaijan said
its large cities were hit by Armenian shells here the aftermath in Ganja one of two attacks alleged over the weekend. Armenia denied it was them and
the breakaway Armenian Republic said it would only target the military and Azerbaijan's cities.
Armenian images showed these artillery active Friday, but this is now so far from the few days of isolated clashes that's commonly blighted the past
decade of this conflict with Azerbaijan parading what it said were abandoned Armenian positions here, and claiming it is also captured some
territory.
A sign that Baku's well-resourced operation is moving swiftly President Ilham Aliyev demanded Sunday Armenia withdraw apologize to Azerbaijan and
admit Nagorno-Karabakh is not part of Armenia. Azerbaijan has denied the sophisticated attacks including drone strikes brandish daily in defense
ministry videos supported by Turkey, despite Ankara's full-throated backing for their campaign.
Ankara has also denied sending Syrian mercenaries to fight for Azerbaijan as France's President Emmanuel Macron has claimed saying it was a red line.
These videos growing in number which CNN has not independently verified appear to show Syrians on the Azerbaijani frontline.
The big question as fighting continues, what is Russia's red line powerbroker Moscow is a close ally to Armenia than Azerbaijan, it is pushed
diplomacy so far and failed Vladimir Putin picture the weekend with the security cabinet virtually meeting will he tolerate Turkey pushing for his
allies' defeat?
Yet support for Azerbaijan's ministry post was visible Sunday in Baku. And Armenian's here in the Capital Yerevan who are rushing supplies to Nagorno-
Karabakh decade divinity within a week now a spiraling ugly war.
ANDERSON: We have learned that the Armenian Prime Minister has spoken to the U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien' pleading with him to
help stop Turkey's interference in this conflict. I spoke to the Armenian President about that earlier and here is what he told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARMEN SARKISSIAN, ARMENIAN PRESIDENT: I've openly spoken about this to a big multinational community. I was speaking about this to many presidents
and prime ministers of different countries asking them to interfere and put pressure on Turkey.
Stop interfering in the region because their interference is taking the conflict and order up in magnitude, in complexity and also creating
something that eventually will become another theory of carcasses. But carcasses if it becomes a place like Syria then growth help everybody,
growth help Europe, growth help Central Asia, it will affect everybody including Turkey, Iran and Russia.
So my plea is if Turkey will be restrained with the help of Russia, the United States and France, then we have a chance of ceasefire. Further
negotiations maybe peace keepers and then we'll have a chance to go back to the negotiating table, because there is no solution, military solution to
this conflict. There are only people who they can be only peaceful diplomatic solution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that's the Armenian President speaking to me earlier. Nick Paton Walsh with me live from London. And Nick your response to what the
president told me?
[11:25:00]
WALSH: I think to some degree it's clear the Azerbaijan's all that keen on a diplomatic solution at this point. And they appear to be increasingly
using what they say and the projectiles fall towards their largest cities as a justification to continue their offensive.
It's pretty clear also it's a pretty well planned and resource defensive. You can see that some of the technology that's being used and to some
degree it's been a relatively successful so far. The big question at this point is where is Russia in this equation? Yes, it's been on the phone for
Vladimir Putin to the Armenian Prime Minister in the past week.
But it has not stepped in so to speak as the Security Council for Armenia even though technically speaking Nagorno-Karabakh remains on recognized
territory in the international community. A big question as to where the Kremlin's red lines are here Becky.
ANDERSON: Yes, he was he was very clear about where he thinks this goes should the Turks not back off at this point? I mean you heard him talk
about, God help Europe. God help Iran, Russia, Turkey, I mean, this is already a wider conflict clearly just how much worse does it get?
WALSH: I think the big risk really is whether Russia feels Turkey overly influencing events in its backyard is something it has to intervene
strongly? Turkey is a very wayward member of NATO as fair to say that they are not really a member of the F35 U.S. led Jet Fighter Program anymore,
because they got so close to Russia in the past.
But they are still a member of NATO, and they're not in the open public statements here part of this conflict apart from rhetorical support for
Azerbaijan. That's the first foot line if Moscow and Ankara essentially at some point come to blow this if Russians feel they have to intervene
militarily or assist the Armenians and perhaps maybe Turkish personnel are caught up in somewhere, I should stress again Turkey say, they are not
military involved.
Iran to the south, well, I think frankly and there is other things on his plate at the moment unlike you do want to get dragged into this. And then
Georgia of course I'm sure want to keep some degree of neutrality as well.
The carcasses has always been something of a hot spot, a lot of that was down to the sort of soft underbelly as some call Russia with - and other
areas there and the sort of - we've seen there too. The real frontline I think it probably is if Turkey and Russia end up coming to blows.
What is remarkable though Becky, in all of this is the absence of the United States? Always kind of the stabilizer in this region with so many
interests they wanted to try and sustain. They're simply not in the equation here.
Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State says this wasn't something to be internationalized, so they wanted to see a cease fire. Essentially saying,
they weren't interested. The question is, at this point the kind of balance out what's always being the equilibrium in the former Soviet Union here
essentially between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Russia where are they in this equation at this point?
They're on the phone it seems, but they're not edging towards the battlefield or for some sort of more strident intervention Becky.
ANDERSON: Nick Paton Walsh on the story in London for you. Well earlier, we showed you a clip of my conversation with the Armenian President. My full
interview with Armen Sarkissian will air on Tuesday's "Connect the World" that is tomorrow 6:00 pm Abu Dhabi time 3:00 pm London. I'm sure you can
look at locally where you are watching at what time it will be with you.
Just ahead on "Connect the World" how the American President supporters are reacting to his hospitalization? We'll talk to Radio Talk Show Host Ben
Ferguson about the health of Mr. Trump and the impact on is reelection chances.
[11:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, we are ready to take you live to the Walter Reed Military Hospital as soon as we have any update from President Trump's doctors on
his Coronavirus diagnosis or possibly even his discharge.
And as we wait for that someone not doing much talking is the chief scientist at Regeneron that's the experimental treatment that the president
was given. Questions have been mounting about when the White House requested the treatment? But the company says it is not appropriate to
comment on that.
Well, on Sunday the president's health did a short unannounced drive around the hospital to wave at his supporters gathered outside and a lot of
medical experts sharply criticizing that rouge journey saying it to hospital workers and White House staff and indeed the secret service at
unnecessary risk.
Well, President Trump has also been tweeting from the hospital, even tweeting videos of him. Well, my next guest the pulse that saying he is
sending a message of hope even while fighting COVID-19.
Ben Ferguson has the pulse of many in the president's base through his popular radio show. The Author and Political Commentator joins us from
Houston, Texas and I just wonder what your reaction was when you found out that the president had contracted COVID-19 Ben?
BEN FERGUSON, HOST, THE BEN FERGUSON SHOW: Yes, I hate it for him. I hate it for his family and for everybody else that's had COVID. I've had several
friends who had COVID and had to deal with it. Some of them have had mild symptoms to asymptomatic others have gone to the hospital and into the ICU.
So you just don't know what you're going to get with this? So obviously when I found out about this, I wasn't thinking about the politics I was
thinking about the person and knowing the president personally I was you know hoping that he is going to be OK just like every other person really
in the world it's been dealing with this pandemic.
ANDERSON: Sure.
FERGUSON: It's real. It doesn't care how old you are? How young you are? How much money you have or what political party you were in, everybody
susceptible to this?
ANDERSON: I want to play a little of what Mr. Trump had to say specifically about how he is coping with the virus? This is for the benefit of our
viewers, have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's been very interesting journey. I learned a lot about COVID. I learned it by really going to school, this is the real school. This isn't
the let's read the book school. And I get it and I understand it. And it's very interesting thing. I'm going to be letting you know about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Right. Is it not concerning to you Ben that the president is now claiming to understand the virus after contracting it, when he might have
already understood it 200,000 U. S. deaths ago?
FERGUSON: Look, I think you can understand that cancer is bad for example but until you deal with a loved one or you have it personally it is a
different perspective. My wife worked at - hospital her entire career.
But it wasn't until my mother was diagnosed with Stage IV Cancer and her father was diagnosed with Stage IV Cancer and you watch them suffer then
you have a different understanding of the disease even though you worked in it and around it every single day.
And I think the president's perspective is hey, I now have been on the other side of this something that you can't understand unless you've gone
through it. I do not have a problem with him being honest with the American people and the world in that way.
We heard the same thing from the Prime Minister of Britain. We heard from Trudeau in Canada. We've heard it from those leaders. In Latin America
they've dealt with this. So I don't have a problem with it saying that all. I think it's honest and honestly I think it's a little bit of a breath of
fresh air to hear a leader talk this way.
ANDERSON: Certainly, his critics would say it was the job of the president to listen to the medics and to the scientists not wait until he got it
himself. And to that point--
(CROSSTALK)
FERGUSON: --changing his policies--
ANDERSON: Hang on Ben, hang on. A week or so ago these are images our viewers are seeing of people congregating in the Rose Garden with no masks.
Was that the right thing to do or even the president's motorcade photo op is this really responsible behavior?
[11:35:00]
FERGUSON: Again, what I would is when you're around the White House and if you've been to the White House since COVID you're taking these tests. You
are around the president; you're taking these tests on a regular basis.
I think that the people that are outside at the Rose Garden, they have that choice to wear a mask. If they have the option if they want to wear that
mask, we've seen let's be real honest, many in the media who wear their masks when the cameras are on and take them off as soon as the cameras stop
rolling.
We've seen countless videos of that hypocrisy from the press where they get all messed up we're doing this and as soon as they go off they take that
mask of. So I think this is nothing more than people trying to get quick bait and headlines, trying to always attack the president even while he's
got COVID.
And fantasizing about what he could have done differently because it's very easy to armchair quarterback on Mondays? But when you're in charge of the
country you're in charge of the leader of the free world I feel like the president has done an incredible job fighting COVID.
He took criticism early on for being too tough on COVID, canceling those flights from Asia. And people said he was you know he was racist for doing
that. It's absurd what this guy has to do just to have a decent day in the eyes of many on the left and many in the press.
ANDERSON: Many Republicans not all of them but many have come out and criticized the president. One Republican Strategist Michael Steel saying
and I quote here; the president and the people around him flouted the rules.
Hang on sir, we wish him and his family a speedy recovery but he is being reckless and - dealing with the health and economic effects on them and
their families won't look on that kindly. We are 4 weeks out from the November 3rd election. How much of an impact will this have and should this
worry the Trump Campaign?
FERGUSON: Look, Michael Steel is a guy who I'm pretty sure is a Never Trumper. He's a guy that likes Biden more than the president. So his
criticism will have no meaning with the base and no meaning with what Trump supporters.
I do think if you're talking about the politics of this, it's a huge advantage for Joe Biden. He's out there campaigning. Kamala Harris is out
there campaigning right now. The president is going to obviously be dealing with COVID and quarantining and fatigue afterwards.
We know a lot of people deal with fatigue afterwards. This is going to be a massive advantage for Joe Biden's Campaign. There's no way around that. But
I do think the president you know is going to have to come back and fight and be strong.
I think that's why you're seeing him put out what the message he is. But yes, there is a big advantage right now for the Biden Campaign. Do I think
you were going to use this to their advantage to hurt the president? Of course, they will.
Its politics and you know this is exactly what you see from Steel where he is guy that actually is Republican but he's really not. And he is more of a
backer Biden. So guys like that I think only hurt Biden's chances because it makes hard core conservatives say I'm going to go fight for this
president because he's fighting for me and I'm going to go vote for him.
ANDERSON: Let me just while we've been on air; just let our viewers know that the White House Press Secretary has now tested positive for
Coronavirus as well. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany--
FERGUSON: McEnany, yes.
ANDERSON: --tweets this she has tested positive for Coronavirus on Monday morning. Ben she says she is experiencing no symptoms and had no knowledge
of Hope Hicks's testing positive before her briefing last Thursday.
She right she will and I quote begin the quarantine process. She is at least the eleventh person close to President Trump to have recently tested
positive for the virus. The list gets longer. Ben--
FERGUSON: And that's pretty normal. I mean we've seen this with sports teams have been living in a bubble. If you have one person on that team get
it you see an outbreak. You have a bubble around the president, you see somebody in that bubble get COVID-19 and you're seeing outbreak.
ANDERSON: Yes, this is the White House not a sports team sir.
FERGUSON: It's a bubble if you're - I'm talking about the protocol. And the reality is we've seen sports teams who have done the bubble right, where
you can't - it's a very controlled environment just like the White House.
It's not surprising that if one person inside that small bubble of people gets it that others in the bubble will also get is as well. And to imply
that somehow that Donald Trump's fault I think it's unfair.
ANDERSON: Ben, does he U. S. President look week being hospitalized? He apparently is demanded that he leave yesterday. I mean it is Monday now, he
wanted to leave yesterday. We may see him discharged today. Is this a week Donald Trump hospitalized do you think what's some messaging here?
FERGUSON: Well look, Donald Trump is a fighter. He always has been. I've been around this president now for several years. And he is a fighter. He
doesn't like to sit on the sidelines. He likes to get to work. He's one of the hardest working people I've met in my entire life.
And yes, he doesn't like being at Walter Reed right now. And do I think that makes him a week present? No, and I think you can see from the work
that he is still doing there and in the videos and the pictures that have been released.
[11:40:00]
FERGUSON: This president is not missing a beat with COVID-19. The biggest - if you want to call it a weakness is the fact that the Democrats are on the
campaign trail right now and he cannot be. Yes, there's a political advantage there but to say that you know the press are even asks questions
the president look weak now?
Look, he's got COVID-19. He's taking it seriously. His doctors are taking it seriously. They're doing everything they can to protect the health of
the President of the United States of America as every other patient that's in the hospital does.
But I think the president's going to come back very strong. I hope that he beats this and fights it. And he seems to be doing very well right now. But
to say that the presidency a weak president no, he is a president that got COVID-19 just like every other leader we talked about from Trudeau's wife
to the Prime Minister in the U. K.
COVID is unpredictable. Everybody's DNA reacts differently to it.
ANDERSON: Sure.
FERGUSON: Some are asymptomatic and they got to protect the president.
ANDERSON: And that is why I am asking whether you think he looks weak at present because--
FERGUSON: No.
ANDERSON: --now apparently it is reported that he believes he looks weak being hospitalized. Should he be discharged? Do you believe he should be
discharged as quickly as possible? If he wants to be discharged despite his medical situation because he believes he looks weak as is the question I'm
bidding to you?
FERGUSON: Yes, let me say is that Donald Trump. If Donald Trump didn't want to go to Walter Reed, Donald Trump would have gone to Walter Reed. Donald
Trump listened to the advice of his doctors and went to Walter Reed Medical Center.
When his doctors tell him that he is able and should be leaving I think that's when he'll leave. And anybody else' is speculating outside that
really doesn't note the president. The president would not have gotten on Marine One if he didn't want to and he wouldn't be in Walter Reed right now
if he didn't want to be there.
That Donald Trump is a very, very tough guy. So this idea that he's you know trying to get out they're not letting him is absurd. He's going to go
when his doctors tell him it is the right time for him to go back to the White House and be in quarantine at the White House. But right now, I do
not believe this shows any type of weakness.
ANDERSON: Then why doesn't he just wear a mask sir?
FERGUSON: Well, he was wearing a mask. I think you saw yesterday he was wearing a mask and got on Marine One. He was wearing a mask at many things
that he's gone to. Now when you're being tested all the time and you're living inside the bubble, I think the president felt like everyone around
him was being responsible.
Unfortunately, one person got it and we've seen this outbreak inside that bubble around the president, that's the way it works.
ANDERSON: That's the problem Ben, isn't it? That one person gets it that's how outbreaks happen. One person gets and they spread it around.
FERGUSON: We've seen people have been wearing masks 24/7 that have gotten COVID. We have seen doctors that are gloved up and masked up and have
shields on that have gotten it. We've seen people that have done all the extremes that you can do and still get it.
We've seen people that have not and gotten it and if there is an X factor here it is a very infectious disease we know that.
ANDERSON: Ben, medical experts tell us that he is almost as useful as a vaccine effectively, wear a mask. Do you wear a mask?
FERGUSON: I wear a mask when I'm out, when I'm with my family and I don't wear a mask. No, I mean right now I'm not going to wear a mask after this
interview when I'm around my family. If I go out into the world with people that I don't know I'm going to wear a mask and I'm dealing with family
members that are dealing with cancer.
We've listened to the advice of doctors they've told when you're around your family and you're in very, very tight knit circle you don't need to be
wearing a mask. If you're going out to the grocery store limit those visits. If you're going out to go shopping limit those visits.
If you're going out where there are people you don't know where they've been, you need to wear that mask and that's very much what we've been
doing. And I think that's what the president and his staff around him have been doing as well.
ANDERSON: Ben Ferguson, thank you.
FERGUSON: Thanks.
ANDERSON: We are just 29 days away from America's Presidential Election. Coming up, I'm going to speak Iowa's Secretary of State about mail-in
voting and President Trump's claims of voter fraud that is all for this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:45:00]
ANDERSON: Welcome back. You're watching "Connect the World" with me Becky Anderson. Just into CNN, the White House Press Secretary testing positive
for Coronavirus Kayleigh McEnany says she is symptom free.
The news comes as Donald Trump's Chief of Staff says U. S. President has made "Unbelievable progress" during his treatment for Coronavirus and may
leave Walter Reed Medical Center today. The decision on that will be made in the coming hours.
Well, we are of course now a month or so away or just less than away from the U. S. Presidential Election, just 29 days in fact to be exact. So let's
take a quick look at where the candidates stand in some of what is the latest polling?
A survey conducted by NBC News and "The Wall Street Journal" after the first debate shows Democrat Joe Biden with a 14-point lead over Donald
Trump. We must note this poll was taken before Mr. Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis.
But after that news broke, ABC News "IPSOS Poll" asked voters if the president had taken the risk of contracting the virus seriously enough 72
percent said no. Meanwhile early voting and mail-in voting has already begun in several states across the U. S. Today Iowa joins that list.
The swing state was won by Democrats Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 but went to Republican Donald Trump in 2016. So it is anyone's guess who claims
victory this time around. But do remember President Trump has frequently caused doubt on the legitimacy of the upcoming election claiming without
evidence that mail-in voting will lead to massive fraud.
But Iowa's Secretary of State Paul Pate says residents can trust that their vote will be counted. He joins us now from Des Moines. And just firstly
what percentage of your voters will vote with a mail-in ballot sir?
PAUL D. PATE, IOWA SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, we use absentee ballots here and we're projecting at least 60 percent it might go as high as about 70 to
75 percent in the end of the day.
ANDERSON: Do you expect a blue wave which as I will explain to our viewers generally means that that you see a wave in favor of the Democrats when it
comes to actually the completed count on these mail-in votes?
PATE: No, I don't. I think that Iowans have always wanted choices and they've voted absentee in the past. So they're very accustomed to it. The
D's have a slight advantage right now, but we're Republicans I'm sure have time to balance that out before Election Day.
ANDERSON: What's your reaction to the president contracting COVID-19? Do you think it will have an effect on the election?
PATE: Well, I think it's too early to tell that yet. I mean we all know that his strength is his personal campaigning and being out on the campaign
trail. So I'm sure folks have to adjust their strategy.
ANDERSON: In the last couple of moments, the president tweeting for people to volunteer to be a Trump Election Poll Watcher. Now he has suggested this
before and his critics say that he is encouraging voter intimidation. What are your thoughts?
PATE: Well, I'm not sure that's what it is. I can tell you in Iowa we do have a bipartisan approach where we have Republican and Democrats each
representing the party at the polling sites as poll workers.
[11:50:00]
PATE: And they have the option to have poll watchers as well. We've recruited well over 10,000 Iowans, Republican and Democrats alike to work
at the polls. So again not a new thing, we're very comfortable with it and we're ready. And it's part of that balance to assure folks have the
integrity.
ANDERSON: So absentee voting then beginning today in Iowa. You treated the state's new voter registration totals that show a huge number of
unaffiliated or independent voters. Now I know Iowa's electoral votes not huge but President Trump did win them back in 2016? Can he seal again this
time around?
PATE: I think Iowans are always very serious about their elections. And they're holding their choices close to the vest. So it's tough to poll on
that. So I'd say yes, the trend right now is Republicans gained over 50,000 new registered Republicans just in the short window of the primary right
now over Democrats.
And for the first time in Iowa history, excuse me the first time in a long time I don't want to get dramatic here; we have seen the no party now truly
be the minority. The Republicans outnumbered them as well. So which I think sends a trend that Republicans have got some momentum.
ANDERSON: Fascinating. You are absolutely confident are you that you can ensure there will be no voter fraud?
PATE: Almost certainly. We have - a paper ballot here in Iowa. We have post election audits and we have all kinds of other mechanisms and their friends
and neighbors service the poll workers so there's someone there on site.
And we have tracking systems for how we mail our ballots? So people can tell exactly where their ballot is at and make sure it gets received. And
we have an IMB code on these ballots to ensure that they're mailed on time.
ANDERSON: With that we'll leave it there. So we thank you very much indeed for joining us and good luck.
PATE: Thank you.
ANDERSON: Hours ago top Rabbis and the U.S. Ambassador to Israel gathered at the Western Wall in Jerusalem to offer a special prayer for Donald
Trump's. That's after the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted his support for Mr. Trump saying and I quote "About millions of Israelis
there and I are thinking of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump and wish our friends a full and speedy recovery."
All while Israel of course is battling record numbers of COVID-19 cases on a daily basis. Thousands of cases are being reported each day with the
total number of cases jumping to more than 268,000. As the numbers surge the largest hospital in Northern Israel has moved its entire Coronavirus
treatment center underground. CNN's Oren Liebermann shows us how that is setup?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the largest hospital in Northern Israel the COVID-19 crisis has gone underground. 60 feet underground and 25
feet below sea level Rambam Hospital in Haifa has turned a parking garage into the country's largest Coronavirus Center. Despite the undeniable wow
factor this 5 acre medical facility is very much part of the country's emergency plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MICHAEL HALBERTHAL, DIRECTOR, RAMBAM MEDICAL CENTER: We are entering the intensive care area.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIEBERMANN: The hospital has moved all its COVID treatment into this 1500 vehicle parking structure. This isn't just a garage it's a shelter against
bombs and chemical warfare built after the 2006 Lebanon War.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALBERTHAL: In the war scenario this area is supposed to be clean and the outside is on the chemical cloud and now it's exactly the opposite. So this
area is contaminated and outside is clean.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIEBERMANN: The hospital now has 770 beds strictly for Coronavirus patients built in with parking spaces and traffic lanes. About 80 beds are now full.
Because this was designed as a parking lot that could be converted to a shelter all of the connections here were already built into the wall, the
electricity, the oxygen, the tubes all of that was here already and within 72 hours they cleared up all the cars and turned this into the largest
underground hospital in the world. There's no sunlight down here and few creature comforts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALBERTHAL: On the other side of the screen toilets and there is a regular parking lot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIEBERMANN: There is an infant ward here it's empty at least for now. Around the corner is the maternity ward. On floor minus 3 and spot 911
Lamor Gazal (ph) is about to undergo a C. Section. She has Coronavirus and won't be able to see her baby for at least 2 days after the birth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The plan was different to be with the family, with my mom, with my husband and with people around. But suddenly to come here
alone, the truth is that it's scary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[11:55:00]
LIEBERMANN: When we last stepped into a Coronavirus ward in April Israel was among the world's best containing and controlling the spread of
Coronavirus. There were a total of 14,000 cases in the first two months of the pandemic. Now there are that many cases every two days.
Israel's entire health care system is under pressure. More than 40 percent of the country's internal medicine departments have been converted into
Coronavirus wards and more are being changed over every week. Elective surgeries have been delayed and the ability to treat problems other than
Coronavirus is diminished.
Seven months into the Coronavirus pandemic in Israel doctors and medical teams have learned much more about the disease and its treatment still the
number of patients and infections or soaring.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. KHETAM HUSSEIN, CORONAVIRUS DEPARTMENT MANAGER: So we pray that we have the strength to go on and that people also understand that the difficult
situation, the severe situation that we are in now and to do better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIEBERMANN: For each doctor and nurse in the hospital floor there's another waiting outside and they switch every two to three hours. The shortage here
was not of medical supplies or beds it is of manpower. If these 770 beds fill up hospital officials say they'll struggle to do anything else.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALBERTHAL: It's really tough work to be here. You know mentally and physically and when you see the country with the rate of positive infection
people know that it's going to be only worse before it gets any better if at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIEBERMANN: There is hardly any silver lining here. No real good news to help the country get through this pandemic. The only light at the end of
the tunnel is another patient arriving. Oren Liebermann, CNN, Haifa.
ANDERSON: Well, for Israel to here in Abu Dhabi, London to Washington to Armenia to New York, Moscow, and Houston, Texas that is your world
connected. My colleagues here will be keeping a close eye outside Walter Reed Hospital for you following the very latest from Mr. Trump. From us
here in Abu Dhabi it is a very good evening.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
