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Erin Burnett Outfront

Pence: 21 Aboard Cruise Ship Off The Coast Of San Francisco Test Positive for Coronavirus; At Least 282 U.S. Coronavirus Cases as Death Toll Rises to 15; Pence: 21 Aboard California Cruise Ship Have Virus; Trump on Coronavirus: "Anybody Who Needs a Test, Gets a Test"; Pence Says it Will Take "Weeks" to Happen; Stocks Tumble Again As Coronavirus Fears Grow; Sanders Holds Michigan Rally Ahead of Key Primary Tuesday. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired March 06, 2020 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Thanks, Drew, for that report. And to our viewers, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in the SITUATION ROOM. Erin Burnett OUTFRONT starts right now.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next breaking news, a cruise ship dock just outside of San Francisco now has 21 confirmed cases of coronavirus. The President says if it were up to him, he'd leave everyone on the ship. One of the passengers who just heard the news is my guest.

Plus, as the death toll and confirmed cases in the U.S. rise, the President's top advisors say the coronavirus has been contained.

Plus, she's waiting for the results of her coronavirus test. It took days though before she could get tested. Why? She'll tell you. She's OUTFRONT.

Let's go.

And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news another cruise ship with coronavirus. Vice President Mike Pence announcing moments ago that 21 people on the cruise ship, the Grand Princess, have tested positive for the virus. That is nearly half of the 46 people who were tested on that ship and of those 21, 19 are crew members.

Now, that ship is currently located off the coast of San Francisco. It has been in limbo there since Wednesday and now all eyes are on this ship. Because the last cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, at one time was the second biggest center of coronavirus outside Mainland China. That ship ended up with more than 600 cases of coronavirus.

So what is going to happen to the people on board the Grand Princess?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're working literally hour by hour with the Department of Defense.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is truly evolving right now. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Hour by hour truly evolving. They don't know. The only person who has made his view on what to do with the 3,400 people who are onboard that ship right now waiting to know what's going to happen is President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If it were up to me I would be inclined to say leave everybody on the ship for a period at a time and you use the ship as your base. But a lot of people would rather do it a different way. They'd rather quarantine people. And now when they do that, our numbers are going to go up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Leave people on the ship because when they come to land, they'll count in his mind in the U.S. count of cases, which is now at 282 up from 221 at this time last night, 15 deaths now. There were 12 24 hours ago and the virus has spread to new states as well. Last night, it was in 17 U.S. states and tonight it is in 23 U.S. states.

Lucy Kafanov is OUTFRONT. She is San Francisco. She can tell us what's on that ship. So Lucy, please tell me what you know here about the latest on the ship.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, the population on that ship is a vulnerable one. Many of the people are in their 60s, 70s and 80s. They've been eagerly awaiting this news, 46 people swabbed, as you say, 21 positive cases. But that could be a higher number.

One of those tests came back inconclusive. The question now is what happens to the 3,500 people on board that ship. The Vice President said it's going to be taken to a non-commercial port. We know that the 1,100 or so crew members are going to remain on that ship. They will remain under quarantine there.

The rest, it sounds like, may be taken to various military bases to be tested and potentially quarantined if needed. But here's the rub, Erin, a lot of the passengers that we've been talking to, they didn't have any advance notice of this announcement. They learned about it just like the rest of the people by watching the news. Take a listen to one clip that a passenger sent us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vice President Mike Pence announced that 21 people have tested positive for Covid-19. You may have heard this on the news by the media already. And we apologize, but we were not give an advanced notice of this announcement by the U.S. federal government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAFANOV: Now, all of the passengers will remain in their rooms until that ship docks. We don't know when that will be. One person texting me just a few moments ago say, it feels like no one is in charge. We're stuck. Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much.

And I want to go now to Debbi Loftus. She is on the Grand Princess cruise ship with her parents who are in their 80s. And Debbie, it's got to be hard smile. How did you find out about the results of these tests? I just heard the captain saying he didn't even get advance notice of these results.

DEBBI LOFTUS, AMERICAN QUARANTINED ON GRAND PRINCESS CRUISE: He didn't. We were watching MSNBC and we heard it and it was like, excuse me, I thought the passengers were supposed to be notified first. I immediately called down the passenger services and said, you better get the captain aware of what's going on and get on the intercom. And he did come on about 10 minutes later. But the fact that we weren't told first made us quite upset and angry.

BURNETT: I can only imagine how that must have felt. I mean truly, I am sorry.

[19:05:00]

How does this make you feel that you had to find out from that announcement. You had to call down and say please, please announce, and that the captain went he came on, we heard that clip there that you had recorded, Debbie, that says he was not given advance notice. I mean that they, themselves, the captain of the ship found out from the press conference.

LOFTUS: Yes. There's no excuse for this.

BURNETT: So we understand that 19 of the 21 people that they know to be infected at this time because they swabbed 46, are crew members. Obviously, crew members doing everything they can to help people on the ship to help all of you right with everything you need, 3,400 people onboard with you tonight, Debbie. How concerned are you that you could have come into contact with these crew members?

LOFTUS: It's in all likelihood, but we have no idea of what role they had on the ship, so we don't have enough information right now. And if we've been exposed with been exposed. That I know they'll be testing us and the biggest question will be, if we test negative, what are they going to do with us, can we go home or are they going to keep us quarantined.

BURNETT: I mean, we just heard the Vice President and the medical experts. I don't know if you heard, but they said, look, it's evolving hour by hour. They're working with the Department of Defense on a plan. They don't have a plan yet, though.

I mean, it sounds like I know the answer to this, but I just want to be clear. Have you been told anything about your risk Debbie or when you're going to get off the ship, any idea?

LOFTUS: We have absolutely no idea except that they are going to be testing every single person on the boat. Otherwise, we have no idea. They did give us a piece of paper today, so we could write down any prescription medication that we might (INAUDIBLE) if we're going to be quarantined for two more weeks. That's about all I know.

BURNETT: And I know that's disturbing. I can only imagine. I know, obviously, they did that with the other cruise ship. They try to get the medicine onboard to people. And in that case, they kept them on board the ship and the overall quarantine time period I know ended up being nearly a month.

I mean, god knows we all hope that you don't face anything like that. But I know you heard Debbie and I just want to make sure just in case President Trump weighed in on what he would do, his personal opinion on what he'd do with the Grand Princess. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If it were up to me, I would be inclined to say leave everybody on the ship for a period of time and you use the ship as your base.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: What do you say to that idea?

LOFTUS: Does he not realize what happened on the Diamond Princess when they did that? And he's more than welcome to come on to ship with us and service our dinners and bring me my towels.

BURNETT: You are on the ship, Debbie. I know you took your parents on a cruise for your father's birthday, his 84th birthday. Your parents are in their 80s.

LOFTUS: Yes.

BURNETT: And obviously many people on the cruise as we understand it, at least, the Vice President said 60s and 70s and 80s, older people, how concerned are you for your mother and father?

LOFTUS: If they were to get sick, then I am extremely concerned. And we're praying that we don't get sick. We haven't been around what we thought were sick people, nobody sneezing or coughing on us. So hopefully, we keep our fingers crossed, and we'll be healthy.

BURNETT: Well, Debbie, we hope so too and I am so sorry. I really hope that they get some answers and a plan very soon. You all deserve that. Thank you.

LOFTUS: Thank you.

BURNETT: Next, dozens of new cases of coronavirus in the United States. Yet the President's advisors today said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE COUNSELOR: This has been contained because the President took action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Plus, the frustrating wait for answers. We're going to hear from a woman in Washington State who was exposed to the coronavirus. She was at the nursing home where several people have died, but she had to wait days before she was able to get tested even when she showed symptoms. Tonight she's still waiting for the results.

And Bernie Sanders making an all-out push for Michigan. Will it work?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:12:47]

BURNETT: Breaking news, the number of coronavirus cases and the number of deaths rising in the United States. Now 21 people infected on a cruise ship off the coast of San Francisco. Trump's political inside team though today insists the virus is going contained.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONWAY: What I am pleased to report is that the 14 deaths so far that are completely tragic and very sad in this country shows that this is being contained. Because the President took action.

LARRY KUDLOW, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: We don't actually know what the magnitude of the virus is going to be. Although, frankly, so far it looks relatively contained.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: The word contain in a medical context means a halt and that's a huge, huge thing to say. Neither Conway or Kudlow, of course, are doctors. But the Director of the CDC who is a doctor just said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: I think there's no doubt we're going to see more community cases.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And tonight, the CDC following on that issue a new guidance saying older adults should 'stay at home as much as possible due to risk of coronavirus spread'. And this longtime advisor to the CDC had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR, INFECTIOUS DISEASE DIVISION, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: You avoid the infection by avoiding other people and so older people and others should really consider their life circumstances and that includes non-essential travel at this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: So when the doctors are saying things like that and the

numbers are going up, why would Kellyanne Conway and Larry Kudlow come out so (INAUDIBLE) and say it is contained.

Kaitlan Collins is OUTFRONT of the White House. Kaitlan, the President and his administration sending muddled messages on numerous fronts throughout the crisis. There supposed to be Vice President Pence as the point person and he may come out and do that, but then you have these other voices from the side and often the President himself. Where is he getting his information, the President?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the concern from some aides is the level of quality, essentially, of the information that the President is getting. Because Erin, the President has this habit since he's been in office where when people are talking to him and they're giving him advice that he doesn't like or he disagrees with, even if they are the expert in whatever the topic is, he'll often go and seek outside counsel to try to really reinforce his instinct.

[19:15:01]

An aide say we are seeing that happened with coronavirus where the President is getting a lot of information from the coronavirus task force from the Vice President who's briefing him for four or five times a day. But he's also getting information from outside advisors, people who are trying to paint a less accurate and rosier picture of what's actually happening, because that's clearly what the President is hoping what happened with the projections he's been making about when this would go away if it warms up, something that health officials have not been able to backup yet.

So that's been the concern here and that's why you've seen the President off message so many times with his own top health officials. And you saw that really on display at that visit to the CDC in Atlanta today, a visit that we should note was filled with chaos where was called off, then called back on after they thought someone there may have tested positive for the virus and then, of course, they later tested not positive, they said.

But the President was standing there with his own experts in this field and he was making false claims about the level of testing that's available at this stage. Of course, he was standing there wearing his hat with these officials in this lab at the CDC.

So the question really here is why the President has not been on the same page with them. And we're being told he's essentially getting information from outsiders that clearly he is using to bring to the forefront instead of some of the subject matter that he's getting from experts.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Kaitlan.

I want to go now to Dr. Ivan Walks. The former Chief Health Officer for the District of Columbia. So Dr. Walks, you heard Kellyanne Conway and Larry Kudlow both say this is contained. As a medical professional, the former Chief Health Officer for Washington, D.C., would you say the same thing? Would you be comfortable saying that at this point?

DR. IVAN WALKS, FORMER DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CHIEF HEALTH OFFICER: I would absolutely not be comfortable saying that. And the reason you can't say that now is because you have to maintain a level of credibility. You have to make sure that when you do come out and talk to folks, that they'll believe you.

So if people know that right now, there are other things that you're thinking about and you're just saying anything. It's one of the worst things you can do in public health. Clear, credible communication is absolutely what's needed.

And the reason for that, Erin, is what about when it's time to tell people, here, I want you to do this so that we can be safe. I want you to do that so we can be safe. If they don't believe you now, they will not believe you then and things can really get a lot worse.

BURNETT: So, obviously, the big reality is here is nobody knows how bad it will be and I know that's incredibly difficult from a public health perspective, right? Because you don't want people to feel that you cried wolf, but you want them to be prepared and you want them to do the right thing. It's a tough needle - it's enough tough needle to thread.

But we hear that the President is getting his information from his friends from Kaitlan and some people close to the effort say he's sort of relying on wishful thinking, throwing out his numbers, his hunches, he's used that word. How dangerous is this right now from the President?

WALKS: I think it's dangerous for us. I think it's very dangerous for us. And I think that when you begin to do that, and people begin to guess about your motives, then the motive you should have, which is protecting the public's health. That one kind of gets pushed to the side and the conversation begins to be about other things.

I think it's important to have clear messages. I don't know why two days later, you don't know what to do with the ship or you don't announce you know what to do. I don't know why we can't get a clear message on what is an elderly person who is immunocompromised.

BURNETT: So you think that the issue with the ship that's unacceptable, I mean, you heard them hour by hour, it's evolving. They should have expected some results to come off of that ship that weren't fantastic. They tested 46, they got nearly half of them as positives. But you're thinking they should have expected this and been much better prepared?

WALKS: I think yes and I think why do you only test 46 people? I don't know, there was no reason given for that. If you're going to drop tests on the ship, drop tests on the ship and test the ship and let people know what's going on.

I know it sounds bad when the number is really high, but if that's the number people should know and if the plan is that if you are a certain age and have a certain level of illness, you shouldn't travel. Then be very clear about that and let people know.

BURNETT: Right. Right. Which, of course, some are saying and others are trying to downplay by saying contained. David Gergen joins me now as well.

And David, I want to ask you about as President was talking about this, he made a stop at the CDC today. At first he was going and then he canceled it, then he rescheduled it and here's what he just said about what happened, why he initially canceled his visit to the CDC. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I was told that one person maybe that works someplace in the building at - I'm not even sure what level, but that one person may have had the virus. And therefore they said, sir, because of the fact that one person may have had the - it's a big building with a lot of great scientists, frankly, one person had the virus. That turned out to be a negative report. That turned out to be negative and so they called me but it was already canceled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:20:00]

BURNETT: And they canceled the trip - the statement that they put out, so he's saying they had canceled it because they thought someone had coronavirus at the CDC.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

BURNETT: The White House though had put out a statement, David, earlier, with a different reason for why it was canceled, which is the President does not want to interfere with the CDC's mission to protect the health and welfare of their people and the agency. What does it say that their first initial instinct was to not be direct that they thought someone at the CDC may have coronavirus?

GERGEN: I'm afraid it has been - this is just one more example of something that's very frustrating to the American people. Erin, listen, let's be clear. The President and the people that work for him, I'm sure they're very sincere in their desire to get on top of this, to solve the problem and to move on and protect the American people. That I think is not in question.

It's the way they're doing it that's been, I think so distressing for so many Americans and why the President's approval rating has been dropping so rapidly when he's handling of this. What they're showing is that lack of confidence and also an attempt to sort of give us a pep talk every time we turn around.

Americans are not looking for a pep talk from the White House right now. What they want is a straight talk and they feel they're not getting it. We were promised, for example, by the end of the week, we would have 1.5 million test kits out.

As of today, we'd have 1.5 million test kits distributed by the U.S. government. Where are we today in California, the hotspot where that chip is, they reportedly only 7,500 kits there at this time and California has only tested 516 people.

BURNETT: Right. And just to be clear, there's 3,400 people on that ship and you're going to need more than one test per person during a quarantine period, so everyone can do the math. It doesn't add up.

GERGEN: Absolutely.

BURNETT: Thank you both very much.

And next, the CEO of Southwest Airlines with this frightening description of the coronavirus prices and what it is doing to his industry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY KELLY, CEO, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: It has a 9/11 like feel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Think about that from an airline CEO.

Plus, Bill and Hillary Clinton like you've never heard them before talking about the Lewinsky affair.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:26:12]

BURNETT: New tonight, Trump versus Pence on coronavirus tests. A few hours ago, President Trump said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Anybody right now and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. Anybody that needs a test gets in test. If there's a doctor that wants a test ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: But within the past hour, Vice President Pence admitting that that is not true. In fact, it is not even close to true.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENCE: We trust in a matter of weeks, that coronavirus test will be broadly available to the public and available to any American that is symptomatic and has a concern about the possibility of having contracted the coronavirus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Weeks is obviously not the same thing as anybody who needs a test can get one right now.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is out front.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: ... need millions and millions and millions of tests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT(voice-over): Problem is more than a month after the first patient was diagnosed in the United States, we still don't have nearly enough tests. According to our review of CDC reports, only around 1,500 people have been tested total.

It's a big difference from other countries like South Korea, where nearly 160,000 people have been tested, even in the drive thru. And in the U.K., more than 20,000 people. It's basic surveillance. And in the United States, that lack of testing has led to a lack of planning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EPIDEMIOLOGIST, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: It's very important that there's an aggressive approach in the beginning, that you look for all of those cases because as case numbers increase, systems become overwhelmed. And so as much as can be done in the early stages of this, the better chance you have to delay and to reduce and surprise transmission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA(voice-over): The test itself is similar to one done for the flu, a swab from the nose or the throat. The culture is then sent to a lab to see if there are any genetic traces of coronavirus. Takes about six hours.

So what happened here? Many point to two issues. The initial test kits sent to state and county labs were defective. And then the initial CDC criteria limited testing only to those who had traveled to areas impacted by the epidemic or been around someone who had tested positive. That greatly limited the number of people who qualify to get a test.

On Thursday, the Vice President publicly acknowledged the U.S. effort is behind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENCE: We don't have enough test today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand going forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP) GUPTA(voice-over): And even Dr. Anthony Fauci is making no promises

that the problem will be fixed anytime soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: It got off to a slow start. There was some missteps, but up to this point, there has been a lag in the ability to get tested.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: And even now, we still don't know exactly when these tests are going to go out. We heard a million tests maybe by the end of this week. They're still not out. Then, we heard this weekend.

One thing that Vice President Pence told me when I was at the White House earlier this week, he said these commercial labs including LabCorp and Quest should be up and running at some point. But Erin, still there's a lot of - it's just vague still at this point.

BURNETT: Right.

GUPTA: And I make the point that 150,000 tests done in Korea compared to what we've been able to do here with 1,500 so far.

BURNETT: Right. It was a stunning difference. All right. Sanjay, thank you very much.

And I want to go OUTFRONT now to Kathy Jackson. So Kathy, right now is self quarantined at her home in Kirkland, Washington. She visited the nursing home which is associated with at least nine deaths. The tragic death in this coronavirus situation.

And Kathy, look, I appreciate your taking the time. I know you're self-quarantined at home right now.

[19:30:00]

You started to sick after you visited the Life Care Nursing Home. You were there for work last Friday. I know that once you started to feel sick, you called on Monday morning, you immediately asked to be tested.

What happened after that?

KATHY JACKSON, VISITED WASHINGTON NURSING HOME AT CENTER OF OUTBREAK: My first was to the state of Washington health department and I called the 800 number and was obviously on hold for quite some time which I expected to happen. I mean, I figured that there was a lot of people calling in.

When I finally got through to someone, I was -- I told them that I was at the facility on Friday and I thought I might have been exposed. And I was told me contacted everybody already that was there, and you're fine. And I said, well, no, you didn't contact everybody. I was there. And in the middle of the conversation, the phone just went dead. The call was dropped. And from that point, I just -- it was later in the afternoon, so I just figured I would start calling early in the morning.

So, the following morning, Tuesday, I got on the phone early. And again, on hold, which is expected to happen. But then when I finally got through, the first thing I said was I was at the facility and I'm not feeling well. And that finally got their attention.

So, I -- they asked me all the needed questions as far as my condition, my symptoms, I should say. And she said, well, you need to get tested, but you have to go to king county which is where I live is in King County, Kirkland King County. She gave me a phone number. I made the call.

Shortly after we got off the phone and I was on hold for about three minutes and a few seconds and the phone dropped -- the call dropped. And that happened to me eight times calling King County.

BURNETT: Oh, my gosh.

So, you just had to keep trying and trying and trying and on top of this they wanted you to go somewhere elsewhere you would obviously interact with other people where you were at a facility where now, sadly, eight people have died. They wanted you to go somewhere and interact with people to even get the test?

JACKSON: Well, not necessarily. They said I needed to contact King County to get scheduled for the test. When I finally got through to King County, they said that, well -- which was the 9th call -- somebody will call you back.

Somebody finally did call me back, and I was told to call another -- call a number, and it was the exact same number I had been calling that was hanging up. And I explained that to the gentleman that called me. He said that it was probably because they were just setting up their systems to take the calls. And I thought, well, that's probably true. So, I just let it go.

And we hang up and I called that number again and the exact same thing happened. So, I pretty much gave up until the next morning and I called. And then there was a third option. So, they were setting something up.

So, the option was if you have questions about coronavirus, press 3.

BURNETT: So, you finally got tested is my understanding, right? And now you're awaiting the test?

JACKSON: Yes.

BURNETT: First of all, I think that whole process should be terrifying for anybody. This is not how it should work. It's unacceptable. But now you're waiting for the results. Do you even know when they will come and how are you feeling?

JACKSON: I was told it would be about five days. And just getting in to get the test was a fiasco. I was told to wait outside the emergency room, somebody would show me to a back door. I waited quite some time. Somebody finally showed up and I said oh you're going to show me the back door to get in.

And they go we don't have a back door. Just go through the lobby and go and just check in. So, I was frustrated, needless to say. I went in and explained to them why I was there. They said, oh no, no, you need to go back outside and I threw a little fit. They escorted me back to one of the rooms where I finally got tested.

BURNETT: All right. Well, I am -- look, I hope that you get that result and that it's a negative result, Kathy. But I think everyone should be really, really grateful for someone like you who went to all this effort to do this in self-quarantining and doing everything you absolutely can and thank you very much. And I hope that we will get good news from you soon. Thanks.

JACKSON: Thank you.

BURNETT: And next, South by Southwest, the huge music and technology festival cancelled because of coronavirus. Why one top economist says the United States could go into a recession because of this.

[19:35:00]

And Bill Clinton on his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I feel terrible about the fact that Monica Lewinsky's life was defined by it, unfairly, I think.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Tonight, stocks down on coronavirus fear, the Dow falling 257 points. At one point, it had been down as much as 895 points. We haven't seen these sorts of swings since 2011 when the United States debt was downgraded, which was an historic and unprecedented event.

Fears about the coronavirus are impacting now the entire economy in a real way. Take the airline industry, United Airlines and JetBlue cutting flights in the United States and even more overseas.

Southwest CEO compare what airlines are going through to what happened to them after September 11th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY KELLY, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: 9/11 wasn't an economically-driven issue for travel. It was more fear quite frankly, and I think that's really what's manifested this time. It has a 9/11- like feel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: A 9/11-like feel for the airline industry. Now, the cuts in travel that we are seeing are, you know, in part due to events being cancelled.

[19:40:04]

Tonight, we're learning the major media and technology festival South by Southwest has been cancelled. Why? Coronavirus.

It's impossible to list everything that's been cancelled. But the point is, they touched every demographic. Google developer conference, cancelled. The Geneva International Motor Show, cancelled. Miami's Ultra Electronic Musical Festival, cancelled.

And as for Trump, he is in denial about the impact to this on the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we're in great shape. I think we're in great shape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, Jim Bianco, an economic analyst and president of Bianco Research, and Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.

Mark, great shape, I think we're in great shape. Is the economy in great shape?

MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY'S ANALYST: Before the virus, it was okay. The virus is doing significant damage to the economy. And if the CDC is correct and the virus spreads and closes schools, disrupts businesses, stops travel -- and all those things seem to be happening -- I think it's going to be very difficult to avoid an economic downturn. I would put odds of a recession at least even at this point.

BURNETT: You know, Jim, what's happening here, one of the things I was going through was what the Southwest CEO said that it is -- it is -- it is more fear in his opinion, but fear it doesn't matter what the motive is, right? Fear will do it. And that it has a 9/11-like feel which I just emphasized that is an airline CEO saying that, that this has a 9/11-like feel.

JIM BIANCO, ECONOMIC ANALYST: Yes, and you should talk to the cruise ship CEOs, they would probably tell you it's worse right now. I think it's going to continue until we get a handle on the situation.

I think the biggest impediment this economy has right now is what you talked about in the last segment, a lack of testing. If you want the markets to calm down, if you want everybody to get a handle on this, test millions of people so we know who has it, who doesn't have it, where it is, where it isn't, and then we can assess where we stand.

Right now, it's the fear of the unknown and it's the fear that is still growing without it being checked that is causing the chaos in the markets right now. BURNETT: And, Mark, you know, even if you just take conferences,

cancelling them has a huge impact. People may not realize how significant they are to the overall economy of this country when you talk about, you know, restaurant CEOs, entire cities like Las Vegas, airlines, and it goes on and on.

ZANDI: Yes, the travel tourism industry is a significant part of the U.S. economy. It's not only domestic travel. Obviously, a lot of the international travel is already falling off. The impact will be significant.

It's also important to the job market. So, one of the largest employers in the country is hotels, restaurant, tourism, travel, and if we start losing job there is which looks likely, that's going to have a big impact on folks to spend their money. And once they stop spending, that's the fodder for an economic downturn. So, it is, as you pointed out, a very significant slice of the economy.

BURNETT: So, I'm just looking here in my email, Jim, because I don't know if you saw this, because you're getting ready to come on the air, but Chicago has now said that they have a presumptive positive case of coronavirus in a school, public school, and that school is now going to be closed all of next week. That's one school.

I don't know what would happen to the rest of Chicago if schools were closed. I can imagine. I kind of know it would be a complete disaster here in New York. It is happening in much of the Seattle area.

I mean, can you just talk about that, if kids are starting to come out of school? Because that's what happened in Hong Kong, for weeks and weeks, for months. It's what's happening in Italy. I mean, it is disruptive.

BIANCO: It is. In fact, the numbers from UNESCO are that there's 290 million school kids not in school worldwide because of the coronavirus. That's almost the population of the United States. Two- income families, somebody's got to stay home with the kid or a single parent family, kids cannot be home alone. They cannot be supervised in large groups because if they could, they could go to school.

So, this is a big, big problem. This is a big drag on the economy. We hope it doesn't come to that, not only in Chicago but anywhere else. It's already happening in Seattle right now. But until we can get a handle on where this is, where it's going, this is going to be the fear that's going to paralyze the markets and the economy until maybe the warm weather will calm it down. But if we have to wait two months for that, that can be significant damage for the economy as well.

BURNETT: And just so much uncertainty about what will -- what will impact or not.

You know, Mark, you know, president saying the economy is in great shape. He went on about the jobs numbers today. The jobs numbers didn't include any of the hit from coronavirus. You see company after company, whether it's earnings cut at Starbucks to United Airlines freezing -- hiring freeze. Does his putting out sort of a bluster, a false bluster, he knows that

to be false, help or hurt?

ZANDI: I don't know. He's looking in the rear-view mirror. Looking forward, we've got a problem. We've got a particularly pernicious problem because the Federal Reserve has no room to maneuver.

[19:45:03]

So, the onus will fall on the president and Congress to come together.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you both so very much as always.

BIANCO: Thank you.

BURNETT: And next, just days away from the crucial primaries, does Bernie Sanders have a Michigan problem?

Plus, Bill and Hillary Clinton unfiltered in a new documentary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: He said, you know, I'm really sorry. And he said, but, you know, you probably should --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: And we're looking at live pictures out of Michigan. Bernie Sanders is about to take the stage at a campaign rally in Detroit, four days before Michigan holds its Democratic primary for 2020, a must-win state, a state Sanders clearly wants to win. He canceled a rally in Mississippi today.

[19:50:00]

Why? To spend more time in delegate-loaded Michigan.

CNN editor at large Chris Cillizza is OUTFRONT at the magic wall.

So, Chris, look, just how important is a win this year in Michigan for Senator Sanders?

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN EDITOR AT LARGE: Short answer, very important. I'll give you a slightly long answer, Erin. Three reasons why. OK, let's start here.

As you mentioned, big delegates, 125 delegates, the most next Tuesday, Super Tuesday II. Not as many as California or Texas but still a big haul.

Now, the next reason, you'll remember 2016 election, Michigan, one of the three states in the Midwest Donald Trump won. These are traditionally Democratic states. Donald Trump won them. There's an eye on the general election here, too. Then the final reason, 2016 again. Bernie Sanders beats Hillary

Clinton. Remember, this is soon after Hillary Clinton crushed him in South Carolina. She had all the establishment endorsements. He wins this.

So, there's an expectation at least that what happened in 2016, he should be strong there again.

BURNETT: Right. I guess she did have that huge win and all those endorsements which if past is precedent, he would hope would happen with Joe Biden.

So, now, when you look at Michigan now and you look at Biden/Sanders, what do the demographics tell you, Chris, about the state?

CILLIZZA: Yes. This is what makes it so fascinating. Very similar dynamic to 2016.

OK. So, let's go to 2016. This is entrance poll, exit polling, excuse me. Seventy percent white, 21 percent, one in five people were African-American.

I want to zero in on that first. Let's go to the next slide because this number really important. Hillary Clinton beats Bernie Sanders by 40 among black voters in the Michigan primary. Now, remember, Joe Biden has been crushing Bernie Sanders among that group. So, this number potentially problematic.

But here's why Bernie Sanders has a chance. Let's keep going -- white voters without college degrees. That made up 36, the most -- the biggest bloc out of all of these things in 2016. Sanders wins that group by 15.

That's a big chunk in Michigan, too, Erin. That's why this is close and why both sides are really pressing their case in the state.

BURNETT: Well, very interesting when you say even if Joe Biden has a huge margin on the African-American vote, doesn't mean he has it.

CILLIZZA: Absolutely.

BURNETT: Now, Sanders canceled that Mississippi rally. Michigan is crucial for him. What happens if he does not win Michigan?

CILLIZZA: Yes, let's put it in perspective. Your producers built an awesome bar chart here for me.

OK. So the first four states, this is why people say don't draw too many conclusions. It's only 3.9 percent of all the delegates. They matter a lot but just a sliver.

Super Tuesday, huge, potentially problematic for Bernie Sanders because he was supposed to win because he didn't. Rest of March, including Michigan, 27.7 percent. He's got to get wins here because Biden is going to win those places like Mississippi that are heavily African-American. So, Michigan matters hugely, Erin.

BURNETT: Has to, right, especially if he wants to deny Biden a majority and get to that contested convention.

All right. Thank you very much, Chris Cillizza.

And next, Bill Clinton opens up about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

B. CLINTON: Everybody's life has pressures and disappointments and terrors. I'm a totally different person than I was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:57:00]

BURNETT: Tonight, something we haven't seen before. Bill and Hillary Clinton telling the story, the full story, about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Tom Foreman is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

H. CLINTON: I was just devastated. I could not believe it. I was so, you know, personally just hurt and, you know, I can't believe this. I can't believe you lied.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More than 20 years after the sordid revelations about President Bill Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky, here is the former first couple laying bare their painful, personal details.

B. CLINTON: I said I have no defense. This is inexcusable what I did.

H. CLINTON: I said if this is going to be public, you've got to go tell Chelsea.

B. CLINTON: So I did that, which was awful.

FOREMAN: An explanation he says this.

B. CLINTON: Everybody's life has pressures and disappointments and terrors, fears of whatever. Things I did to manage my anxiety for years. I'm a different -- I'm a totally different person than I was.

I feel terrible about the fact that Monica Lewinsky's life was defined by it, unfairly, I think.

FOREMAN: There is, of course, much more to that story and many others in the docu series" Hillary." Four hours tracing Hillary Clinton's decades-long journey with her husband through the Arkansas statehouse into the White House, the Senate, the State Department and presidential bid of her own.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She doesn't look presidential. You got to be blue, white and red. That's what they all are.

FOREMAN: Battling stereotypes, mistrust and her own limitations, she's at times on the attack, for example, when she sums up the Senate record of her challenger for the Democratic nod Bernie Sanders.

H. CLINTON: Honestly, Bernie just drove me crazy. Nobody likes him. Nobody wants to work with him. He got nothing done.

FOREMAN: Even more so, when she discusses her Republican challenger Donald Trump.

H. CLINTON: Nobody was going to hold him accountable except for me.

FOREMAN: Fans will take some comments as simple truths. Foes will take others as glib denials.

H. CLINTON: I am the most investigated innocent person in America.

FOREMAN: And anyone can see her final defeat on election night 2016 was crushing.

H. CLINTON: Obama called me and he said, you know, I am really sorry. He said, but you probably should concede. I said I'm not going to concede until the morning. I can't. He said, then you need to call Trump. I was like, oh, brother. I was totally emotionally wrecked.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: In some ways, this really is an epic about what the nation has been going through. Our changing views on women and morality and sexuality and truth and partisanship. It probably won't change anyone's mind about any of that, but then, what does these days -- Erin.

BURNETT: Well, I think that's true, but I have to say that -- that is going to be a compelling thing to watch, whatever your political point of view.

All right. Thanks for joining us. Anderson starts now.