Return to Transcripts main page
Erin Burnett Outfront
Biden Says Kamala Harris Husband Could Also Be "A Barrier Breaker" as Nation's First "Second Man"; Trump: Some Schools Not Reopening Because of Politics. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired August 12, 2020 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But I'm very angry at China, because they let this horrible disease, they let this horrible plague come into our country and come into the world and they should have been able to stop it. They stopped it from going into China. They should have been able to stop it, so I'm very angry at China. Thank you very much.
((Crosstalk))
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Mr. President, (inaudible), it's not $400, it's $300 from the federal government, so why are you saying it's $400?
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: All right. You've been watching President Trump's briefing weighing in on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' first meeting. Also, as you heard, talking about the coronavirus. We're going to break this down and, of course, talk about this crucial day here. As you saw, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris together for the first time.
I'm joined now by our Chief Political Analyst, Gloria Borger, our Reporter Daniel Dale, fact checker and Jonathan Martin, National Political Correspondent for The New York Times.
Gloria, let me start with you. When you look at what's happening here and what the President just said, obviously, going after Kamala Harris again and again and again in personal ways, saying she's angry, she's mad, her polls went down. He spent quite a bit of time in that press conference talking her down.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: He did. I don't think he used the word nasty today, but there's always tomorrow. I think the thing that he said that sort of struck me was that he was surprised that Joe Biden picked her because of what he said was the horrible way she talked about him. And in the Donald Trump worldview, if somebody criticizes you, then you bash them right back. You don't say, OK, you did that, it was a campaign and we're going to work together for the greater good in the future.
So Trump said, he was shocked by this and in saying that, I think, he's trying to portray Donald Trump. I mean, he's trying to portray Joe Biden as weak.
BURNETT: Right. Right, exactly. I mean, that was clearly the point of what he was trying to do there.
BORGER: Yes. Yes.
BURNETT: Jonathan, sitting and watching that, what did you take away from it?
JONATHAN MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I'm so struck by the lack of strategic thinking when it comes to trying to define Kamala Harris in the first 24 hours after her selection. You would think that the President and all of his surrogates would want to pick a way to go after her.
BURNETT: Yes.
MARTIN: And no, I think, what the Trump campaign would like to do, clearly from their talking points, is to portray her as sort of far left California liberal whose policies are out of step with mainstream America. I mean, that's probably the most fruitful line of attack for the Trump campaign.
But the President, as we just saw, clearly prefers to sort of address this issue as more of a spectator, as more of a bystander as somebody who watched that debate last year who was sort of trying to troll Joe Biden a bit about picking somebody who attacked him so severely, which may be like an effective way to sort of tweak Joe Biden. I just don't think politically it's going to drive away many voters from the Biden- Harris ticket as opposed to a more coherent strategy about trying to define her as a liberal, which is what his campaign is trying to do.
BURNETT: Right. Right, exactly. Which, of course, doesn't add up with a lot of her background where she's been mercilessly criticized as a prosecutor.
MARTIN: On the left, yes.
BURNETT: Yes, by the by the left. Exactly.
BORGER: On the left.
BURNETT: So it's not as simple. So, Daniel, when you heard that just obviously, we take the President, I want to do some fact checking here, what stood out as most inaccurate?
DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: There is just so much line that it's hard to know where to start. I tried to not fact check predictions as a rule. But when a president says that growth, tremendous growth will fund a Social Security in the absence of the payroll tax, that is so dubious that I think it's worth noting at least and raising that as a serious question. The President also repeated his usual lie that male voting is rife with corruption and fraud. It's not fraud is exceedingly rare.
He said there were ballot frauds in the New York congressional primary won by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. There was no evidence of that. He suggested that evictions would be prevented by an executive order he signed. That order does not itself prevent evictions, it just directs other members of his administration to see if there are ways that they can possibly do so.
He also suggested the U.S. is doing better than European countries. He said the U.S. is doing better with the pandemic than other countries that the media has liked to praise. But one of those countries, South Korea, had 54 new cases in his last report. The U.S. is more than 40,000 today already.
So yes, some countries are having spikes, but those spikes do not compare with the ongoing us calamity. So it's on and on about this pandemic and much of what the President is saying is just not even close to true.
BURNETT: Right. And, look, he also again said, Gloria, that while the only reason you have more cases is because you do more tests and obviously tests to not create cases. They merely put a spotlight on the cases which already exist. I have to say that every day.
BORGER: Again.
BURNETT: Again, right.
[19:05:03]
BORGER: Well, and again going against the science, going against his own scientific advisors, going against the science and what was interesting about Kamala Harris and Joe Biden today, our Arlette Saenz asked the question, "Are you guys going to appear together?" And Joe Biden said, "Well, it depends on the science and what the science will let us do." That is not what you hear from the podium inside the White House.
BURNETT: No. And so, Jonathan, it's interesting as you cover this, and you heard the President. To your point, he's really trying to find the lane. First, it was criticizing her for her polls, her position on fracking, which is, by the way, not consistent with the top of the ticket and usually it's the top of the ticket that defines a ticket.
Saying that she was mean and, I'm sorry, mad and angry, his words. So yet today what we saw was a very different thing between the two of them with Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. And also her talking about his son Beau whom she knew as an Attorney General. I just want to play a clip of that.
MARTIN: Sure.
BURNETT: Oh, sorry. All right. We don't have that one yet. Well, we will get it. I apologize for that. Let me just talk about something else, Jonathan, that just happened there while we're waiting that. The President was talking about the economy and Daniel just raised it that you're going to see the Social Security fund filled through the tremendous growth that we're going to get. Yet we still have stimulus talks on hold and all of this being handled through an executive order that's being challenged by both sides of the aisle.
That's not the tone, though, at all. The tone from him is everything is great and the day after election everything is going to open up because all of this is politics.
MARTIN: Yes. He only knows one speed which is sort of happy talk when it comes to the economy. But, Erin, that's a good point in the sense that Biden-Harris ticket is getting the attention today that they deserve, that they're unveiling the ticket, their first one appearance and, of course, that's going to drive the news today.
But I think the sort of stalled talks between the administration and Congress represent a reminder that by this time next week, unless there's some major revelations with Sen. Harris, we're going to be back on what is the driving issue in this campaign, which is the coronavirus and its impact on American life and the American economy.
I can't remember an election for president that was so dominated by a single issue like this is going to be. And look, there's no question that Sen. Harris helped Joe Biden raised a lot of money in the last 24 hours, gotten him some good press.
BURNETT: Yes, set a record. Yes.
MARTIN: But these VP selections don't usually matter a whole lot and when the country is facing month six of a pandemic and the economy is where it's at, I just think we're going to be focused on the same thing here pretty soon that we've been talking about for the last six months, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. I want to bring in Sunny Hostin to the conversation, a co-host of ABC The View and, of course, known to all of our viewers and to our show. Many years of working with you, Sunny.
Sunny, I want to give you a chance to respond to what we just heard from the President and particularly the way in which he chose to go after Kamala Harris in that press conference, calling her angry and mad. And the word angry, I heard it, I was very glad you're coming on because I knew that you would have something to say about it.
SUNNY HOSTIN, CO-HOST, ABSOLUTELY'S "THE VIEW": Well, that's a trope that's usually used against African-American when (inaudible) the angry black woman. I'm not surprised that this President did that because he likes to traffic and those kinds of tropes, racial tropes and other sorts of tropes.
But I know that Kamala Harris is up to the task, but we knew that she would be attacked in this way, not only by the President, but certainly by many of his supporters and many of his surrogates. But think about how historic this pick is. We have a woman, a vice presidential nominee, but also a woman of color, a black woman, also a woman of Southeast Asian descent.
This is historic and I quite frankly think that this is what Joe Biden needed. Take his ticket over the line. The energy that I have seen within the past 24 hours is unprecedented. It has made me so very hopeful, quite frankly, about the future of this country.
Joe Biden started his campaign by saying that we needed to restore the soul of this country and this ticket reflects the diversity of this country. It reflects the future of this company. So using tired racial tropes while no surprise, I don't think is going to get this president anywhere at all.
BURNETT: And Gloria, so when you had Harris and Biden appear together today, they made it clear that, as Jonathan says, this going to be an election about coronavirus and its impact on American life, the soul of America, the American economy.
BORGER: Yes.
BURNETT: And it's going to be an election about Donald Trump's handling of coronavirus and they went straight at President Trump directly right now and the economy.
[19:10:08]
Here's what they said as they appeared together for the first time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump has already started his attacks calling Kamala 'nasty', whining about how she is 'mean' to his appointees. It's no surprise because whining is what Donald Trump does best better than any president in American history.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENT CANDIDATE: The case against Donald Trump and Mike Pence is open and shut. Just look where they've gotten us. More than 16 million out of work, millions of kids who cannot go back to school. A crisis of poverty, of homelessness afflicting black, brown and indigenous people the most. A crisis of hunger afflicting one in five mothers who have children that are hungry.
And tragically, more than 165,000 lives that have been cut short. It didn't have to be this way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Gloria, at the end there she was emotional and I think that that showed something. I saw that and thought, all right, that's a really important moment, because it was a woman being emotional and it was a moment of power and empathy and not a moment of weakness and that was an important moment there.
BORGER: Well, first of all, it was an important moment. First of all, as you say, they both went after Donald Trump in a very direct way. I think Joe Biden realize there are a lot of eyeballs on him today and he was going to make a campaign speech even a week before the convention, number one.
Number two, it was also in an interesting way, very personal between them. Obviously, there was talk about Beau Biden and talk about how she had been very close to Beau Biden. But it was Joe Biden who defended her against the attacks from Donald Trump. And he said, he's called her nasty, he's been whining about how she is mean, whining is what Donald Trump does best. And then he said, any surprise he has a problem with a strong woman
and then he defended his running mate saying, Kamala has had your back, now we have to have her back. So get ready, I mean, this is his message. You can't just attack her, Donald Trump, because women will hear this and I think that was very, very direct and very important.
BURNETT: So as you watch them together, Jonathan, what did you see?
MARTIN: Oh, I mean, you can see this sort of contrast between who they are in terms of generational differences. I mean, this is a return errand to a earlier day of presidents and VPs, presidents and their running mates, where you select the understudy, somebody who's younger, who can sort of be part of that next generation to come after you.
We've gotten so used with Dick Cheney and Joe Biden himself in recent years of these sort of Washington sages serving as vice presidents for younger presidents. And this is kind of a return to an earlier moment where the presidential nominee himself is the one who has more experience and the VP is the one who sort of be up and comer and I think that was striking today.
And being a political reporter, I couldn't help but think of not just this election, but what could come next. And of course, Kamala Harris' supporters thinking the same thing that by being on the ticket this year, she's going to have a leg up to be the nominee for her party in eight years and perhaps even four years and a really good shot to be the first female president in American history, (inaudible) to the fact that Joe Biden picked her yesterday.
BURNETT: Yes. Which is a stunning thing. Yes. And Sunny, what do you make of the fact that the President at this press conference, and obviously you're 24 hours away from the announcement of her being on the ticket, so it's on his mind. But he kept returning to it is what I thought was interesting. He'd be talking about coronavirus. He'd be talking about the economy and then back he would go - get a little bit more Kamala, kept going after her. What do you make of that?
HOSTIN: I think he understands what a game changer adding Kamala Harris to this ticket is. No Democratic nominee for president has won the general election without the black vote in over 50 years. You must have the black vote and think about Trump's win. It was by the slimmest of slimmest of margins and that is because in large part, black voters did not come out in the way that they came out for Barack Obama.
This changes things dramatically. The black vote is now energized. The black vote does want to see someone like Kamala Harris in the White House.
[19:15:03]
And what you have to think about, this is not only just about the black vote, this is about female black voters. This is about black women. Finally, having a seat at the table, finally having representation, black women are the very backbone of the Democratic Party. We are the ones that get not only our children, our spouses, our neighbors, our family and friends to mobilize out to vote. And Joe Biden knows that and Donald Trump knows that.
And that is why you hear about the attacks on Kamala Harris. But to be clear, she is not only a black woman, she is the most qualified woman. We're talking about someone on all the most important committee. She serves on the Intelligence, the Judiciary Committee. She was the Attorney General of California, one of our largest criminal justice systems in the country. She is ready to serve day one and he knows that.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you all very much.
And next, socially distanced, masks, it has been a vice presidential rollout like we've obviously never seen.
Plus, Harris making history. Her husband obviously would too if she's elected, he would be the second man which would be another first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Doug, you're going to have to learn what it means to be a barrier breaker yourself in this job you're about to take on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And the last minute push for Kamala Harris. She said she didn't want to pressure Joe Biden, so who then was behind the push? I'm going to ask Harris friend and ally, California's Lieutenant Governor. She's OUTFRONT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:20:31]
BURNETT: Breaking news, former Vice President Joe Biden appearing for the first time with his new running mate Sen. Kamala Harris since the announcement. The 2020 Democratic ticket came out swinging tonight taking the President of the United States head on, on a host of issues.
And today's event was obviously unlike any VP rollout we have seen, historically. They came out wearing masks as they entered a high school gymnasium. Obviously, there were no screaming supporters, no signs, it was none of what we all associate with this moment. Jessica Dean is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA DEAN, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT(voice over): The first look at an historic ticket.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I had a great choice, but I have no doubt that I picked the right person to join me as the next Vice President United States of America and that's Sen. Kamala Harris.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN(voice over): Newly named vice presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, joining the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden today in Wilmington, Delaware.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I couldn't be prouder to be by his side, running to represent you, the people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN(voice over): Biden also taking President Trump's criticism of his pick head on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Is anyone surprised Donald Trump as a problem with a strong woman are strong women across the board?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN(voice over): After the event, Harris and Biden along with their spouses headlined an online fundraiser with grassroots supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Yesterday, we had our best grassroots fundraising day of the campaign, more than double our previous record. And in doing so, we set a single day record for online political fundraising and I think I know why.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN(voice over): Today's events come just one day after Biden announced his historic choice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: You're ready to go to work?
HARRIS: Oh, my god. I'm so ready to go to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN(voice over): A new campaign video released to date showed the moment Biden told Harris she was his pick. Ninety minutes later, his decision was announced to the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: First of all, is he the answer yes?
HARRIS: The answer is absolutely yes, Joe, and I'm ready to work. I am ready do this with you, for you. I'm just deeply honored and I'm very excited.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN(voice over): Biden's decision to choose Harris follows a month- long vetting process that began with at least 20 women. Over the last 10 days, Biden conducted one on one interviews with the final 11 perspective nominees either in person or over video chat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The Attorney General of the state of Delaware (inaudible) ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN(voice over): During her interview, Harris spoke at length about her friendship with Biden's late son, Beau Biden. Harris and Beau Biden served as Attorneys General together.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I learned quickly that Beau was the kind of guy who inspired people to be a better version of themselves. He really was the best of us. And when I would ask him where'd you get that? Where did this come from? He'd always talk about his dad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN(voice over): Now with his vice presidential search behind him, Biden believes he has the right person by his side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Kamala knows how to govern. She knows how to make the hard calls. She's ready to do this job on day one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DEAN: And we learned tonight, Joe Biden saying that his campaign raised $26 million in the last 24 hours since Kamala Harris was announced as his running mate. And Erin, just to give you a little context around that, that's more $26 million that he was raising in some months of fundraising earlier in this campaign.
BURNETT: Wow. All right. That context obviously means a whole lot. All right. Jessica, thank you very much.
And I want to go down to John Kasich, two-term Republican Governor of Ohio, who will speak next week at the DNC, a keynote speaker, and Bakari Sellers, former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, who, of course, knows both Biden and Harris here well.
So, Gov. Kasich, let me just start with where Jessica finished, the $26 million that they raised in one day, as she said, more than Biden, on his own, had raised in some months. What does that say to you?
JOHN KASICH, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That Democrats are really excited. And, I think what Joe Biden had to do here was to make a pick that would be viewed as solid. He took a long time to make this selection. Secondly, another interesting thing, I don't know if anybody's mentioned, she in that debate really kind of hammered him. But Joe is an interesting guy, he didn't hold it against her. He looked past that and said, look, I think that together we can get something done and that's what I've been particularly interested in.
[19:25:06]
That you look for areas to agree with people, not to disagree with them. And I think it was a very good solid pick and I don't know it's pretty hard to start criticizing her. It just go around and call her nasty and all of that, that's not going to change anything. But if you think about the selection of like Dan Quayle or Sarah Palin, they were controversial and then it kind of took the focus off the campaign with Sen. Harris.
That's not the case. She's been tested and tried and been in the debates and all of that. I think the Joe played it the right way. And they now have a team together that seems to click.
BURNETT: Well, it seems certainly with that moment at the debate. He's a graceful winner and he's having admiration for someone who lodged a very successful attack. You want that person on your team. It would seem a big thing to be able to pick up person.
Bakari, when we saw them together today, you could see them looking at each other as they spoke, sort of the chemistry of this. And, Bakari, it's sort of hard when you think about it, we'll show the video, but it's hard when you think about it in the time we're in now. You're coming out in masks, you don't have all these people in the room. But yet there was this interaction and it felt very personal and warm. What did you think about the chemistry as you watch the event?
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, the chemistry was definitely there. And these two have those emotional traits that we look for in leaders. Those things that when you watch today, Democrat or Republican, black or white, it doesn't matter. You can see that they were sincere.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, doesn't have traits like compassion. He doesn't have traits like empathy. But what you saw today with Kamala Harris actually talking about the relationship, the adoration she had for Beau Biden, the adoration she had for Joe Biden, what she believed and how she represented family and giving that word meaning, you had two individuals today that were stark contrast and what we view American values to be.
And it's worth saying that this election is about COVID-19, the impact that it's have on our economy, the impact that it's had on the hundreds of thousands of individuals who have died. But even more importantly, it's about a contrast. It's about a clear contrast about what America deserves and what we want to be. And somebody who can actually display a level of empathy, somebody who
can actually display a level of compassion, not the psychopathy, not the asinine 12-year-old behavior of Donald Trump I think will resound loudly with Democrats, Republicans (inaudible) moderates (inaudible) alike.
BURNETT: So Gov. Kasich, Bakari just mentioned Beau Biden and we know the role. I mean, obviously, when you see Joe Biden calling Kamala Harris to say I picked you, you see the picture of Joe Biden right in front of him on that desk. He's always there for his father and there is, obviously, Harris and Beau Biden knew each other and she spoke about that today. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: And let me just tell you about Beau Biden, I learned quickly that Beau was the kind of guy who inspired people to be a better version of themselves. He really was the best of us. And when I would ask him where'd you get that? Where did this come from? He'd always talk about his dad.
And I will tell you the love that they shared was incredible to watch. It was the most beautiful display of the love between a father and a son.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So they made it personal there, Governor, and it felt very authentic. And that, I think, in and of itself is significant. I mean, these are two people, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who themselves haven't spent a ton of time together. I mean, they don't know each other that well, personally, and yet you did feel, you felt a genuine connection?
KASICH: Yes, a chemistry. And let me just say that Joe Biden's been through a lot. When he was first elected to the United States Senate, there was a terrible accident, automobile accident, where he lost his wife, one of his children. Imagine the grief.
I mean, I've been through something like that myself where I lost a mother and father in one accident and he got through that and it affected him forever and then he loses his son. You see, this grief and how you overcome it and how you deal with it, it changes you, it affects your character deeply.
And so when people run around say that Joe Biden doesn't believe in God and all that kind of stuff, that's just so low to be honest with you, Erin. Because this is a man that seen it all and been through it all and that's probably why even though Harris laid a glove on him during those debates. He just didn't take it too personally.
[19:30:05]
See, that's what I like about Joe. I think he can take people who are his rivals, and be able to bring them in, to produce good. And the generational difference is great, it's obvious that he respects her, but it's also obvious that she really respects him, gaining that respect through her relationship with Joe's son.
It was -- it was a powerful moment. No doubt about it.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Yeah, and certainly, Bakari, she -- it was clear that she had respect for him. For anyone who is saying what did that moment signify at the debate, it certainly did not signify that she did not have great respect for Joe Biden.
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, no and I just want to say, and I think they actually do have a relationship that dates back, these aren't two people that they just meshed together yesterday with a phone call. You know, you have to understand that Obama, that Kamala's relationship back to the Obama administration, you think about those relationships that were cultivated, she ran the second largest Justice Department in the entire country.
And so she wasn't -- she's not someone that was out in left field, and did not have a relationship with Joe Biden, but what you're seeing, though, and I have to go back to this, that sense of family, I mean these American values that we always talk about, that sense of compassion, you saw the vice president, and I have to stop calling him the vice president now, but you saw Joe Biden get emotional while Kamala Harris was talking about his family.
You know, we just don't see that type of empathy out of the White House today. That was refreshing to see. As for the punch that she landed, I always tell people, if you want to know how hard somebody throws a punch, you need to ask somebody that they've actually hit before and she hit Joe Biden, and Joe Biden knows that she can throw a punch which is going to go extremely far in this election season that we have up and coming.
BURNETT: Right. All right. Thank you both very much.
And next, Kamala Harris's husband was by her side today. We are going to be seeing and hearing a lot more from him, about him, get used to the name Doug Emhoff, that's who that is, Doug Emhoff.
And what happened behind the scenes as Biden is making his decision. California's lieutenant governor will tell you about a very telling and important call she was on in the final days before the announcement. She's out front, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:36:21]
BURNETT: Tonight, Kamala Harris isn't the only one who will make history if Joe Biden wins in November. Her husband Doug joins her on the stage tonight. You see him there. Doug Emhoff, getting a shout-out from Biden on the unprecedented role that he, of course, would take on as America's first second man.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Doug, you're going to have to learn what it means to be a barrier breaker yourself in this job you're about to take on -- America's first second gentleman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Kyung Lah is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris officially takes an historic step forward on the presidential ticket. But it's a man who posed with her at the end, paving his unique side behind her.
Husband Doug Emhoff tweeting this with Joe Biden: Ready to go.
DOUG EMHOFF, HUSBAND OF SEN. KAMALA HARRIS: Let me introduce the woman I love.
LAH: He was an ever-present plus one on the campaign trail as his wife ran for president.
The quiet guy.
(CHANTING)
LAH: Cheerleader when needed. Active on social media, as Mr. Kamala Harris. And sometimes the unscripted husband.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, hey.
LAH: In a security scare last year at a campaign event, a protester got this close to Harris, the female moderator got in between, and then one of the three men to charge and drag him away was Emhoff, the look on his face unfiltered, unmistakable.
And when her presidential hopes ended, he was her source of comfort.
EMHOFF: We were a good couple going in and I think we came out of it all right.
LAH: A modern husband now wading through barely charted territories.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is only the third woman vice presidential nominee and so he will be navigating terrain that we haven't really seen in any recent history.
JIMMY KIMMEL, LATE NIGHT TV HOST/COMEDIAN : I don't know if we're ready for a first lady named Doug. Doug, huh?
HARRIS: He's the most fully actualized person you'll ever meet.
LAH: The couple met later in life, set up on a blind date by friends. Emhoff, an entertainment lawyer and millionaire, elevated her public servant's salary into the 1 percent, and he brings two grown children both in their 20s to their blended marriage.
HARRIS: I've had a lot of titles over my career and certainly vice president will be great, but "Mamala" will always be the one that means the most.
KELLY DITTMAR, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY-CAMDEN: They are reflective of America. Their story is common to a lot of Americans and I think that is something they can draw upon on the campaign trail, saying we're real humans just like you and voters tend to like that.
LAH: What's notable to gender politics watchers is how Emhoff is changing the norms for American men.
DITTMAR: Cueing to other voters and particularly other men that need steams to step back and lift up women's voices in this process, and that's sort of symbolic nod that Emhoff seems to be giving is going to be be important to perhaps influence future generations of men.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAH: Dittmar says women candidates have historically not brought their husbands on the trail, or emphasized them too much, because of the perception that their accomplishments would overshadow the woman candidate, that is something that men generally don't worry about in politics. But that's not an apparent fear of Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff, and that, says Dittmar, is progress,
But, Erin, as we should point out, today is day one for the Harris train on the VP ticket.
BURNETT: All right, thank you very much, Kyung, who, of course, followed Kamala Harris all the way through on the campaign trail.
[19:40:01]
OUTFRONT now, California's Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, a close ally and longtime friend of Senator Harris.
I appreciate your time, Lieutenant Governor.
So, you say Senator Harris, and this is interesting, explicitly told you and others not to pressure Biden. She did not want you making phone call. That she just did not want that all, and she made it clear. So, for months, you did what she asked but then two weeks ago, you didn't. You went rogue, you set up a meeting with the Biden campaign.
So, tell me why.
LT. GOVERNOR ELENI KOUNALAKIS (D), CALIFORNIA; KAMALA HARRIS FRIEND AND ARRANGED CALL WITH BIDEN TEAM: Well, Erin, it's great to be with you, I've known Kamala for a very long time, it's an incredibly exciting moment for us, out here in California, her friends, her supporters, her colleagues, we feel we have a great ticket, so it is incredibly exciting.
Yes, so several months ago, when there were people coming together, trying to figure out what do we do, how do we help, she made it clear that she respected the process, respected the vice president, felt that he knew that she was there and that she was entrusted, and that we should just allow him to go through with this process. But a few weeks ago, we just grew concerned that the Kamala who we know wasn't necessarily coming through in the media, and we wanted to call the Biden team, the highest --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Was this related to Chris Dodd, specifically, so everyone understands, something did happen a couple of weeks ago?
KOUNALAKIS: Well, yes, that's right. And again, you know, we just felt that it was our opportunity to step forward, and talk about this person who we respect so much, who we know so well and we just know is the ultimate team player. So that's what we did, and they gave us a hearing, there were about 15 of us, everyone took two minutes, to very quickly tell stories, cooperation, collaboration, partnership.
And it really was -- you know, it was an incredibly moving thing to be a part of, just because the way that Kamala built relationships while she worked in public service, it is really profound.
BURNETT: So and she knew nothing about this call?
KOUNALAKIS: No, no, it was a couple of us talking, and then I reached out to the campaign, and said, look, we'd like to do this, and then I just started calling some of the people who I know she's closest to, and it came together really quickly.
BURNETT: And so what were you trying to explain? You were trying to explain, this is the whole kind of, the criticism that came out, that people were somehow painting her out to be ambitious in a bad way, right, that sexist connotation with ambitious and --
KOUNALAKIS: Erin, we're breaking glass ceilings now. And so there are a lot of things about gender stereotypes that really need to be talked about, head-on. And I think that we're going to be doing that, as we go through the next few months.
But for us, it was really just, we know her, she's a team player, she's an extraordinary person, you don't become the only black woman in the Senate right now, the highest-ranking black woman in the country, that doesn't happen without being a special person, and so, our ability to tell these stories really I think made an impression on them.
BURNETT: So she got personal today. She talked about her back ground being a child of immigrants, you know, part of her story, and here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: My mother and father, they came from opposite sides of the world to arrive in America. One from India, and the other from Jamaica, in search of a world class education. But what brought them together was the civil rights movement of the 1960s. And that's how they met, as students, in the streets of Oakland,
marching and shouting for this thing called justice, and a struggle that continues today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So you say you've known her obviously for a long time. How important is her background, is being the daughter of immigrants, is core to her story?
KOUNALAKIS: You know, Erin, it is, and in California, 27 percent of our very large population of 40 million people, 27 percent of us are foreign-born, and so this is part of what makes California the innovative, optimistic, aspirational place that it is. And I think she really comes out of that kind of a culture.
So I think we're going to see that, as she campaigns. Bringing that kind of optimism, and sense of purpose that she brings to everything she does.
BURNETT: All right. Lieutenant Governor, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
KOUNALAKIS: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, President Trump's new adviser is a man who thinks like he does about coronavirus, Dr. Sanjay Gupta has something to say about that, and schools, and his own kids.
And Trump praising the winner of a congressional primary, a woman who believes in the state's conspiracy theories and the group known as QAnon.
[19:45:02]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Q is a patriot, we know that for sure but we do know not know who Q is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Tonight, President Trump insisting schools can reopen safely. He says that schools aren't reopening because of politics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have a feeling that on November 4th, somebody's going to announce, schools are open, the country's open, everything's open. I really believe a lot of it is done for political reasons, if you want to know the truth. I think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Sanjay, you heard that the president says, you know, keeping schools closed is politics plain and simple. That's what he thinks. You are a doctor and you wrote today very detailed why you decided at this point not to send your kids back to school, and I would assume it's not about politics.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No, I mean, you know, the specific criteria by which schools should open is the White House released, the coronavirus task force released sometime ago, and these were criteria that I think many in the community have been paying attention to in some way to better give -- get some guidance.
The way I approach, Erin -- and to be fair, it wasn't an easy decision.
[19:50:03]
I've got three pre-teen and teen girls. They very much would like to see their friends and be back in school and, you know, get that in- person education, they want that. The problem is the numbers are going up where I live, I live in Georgia, the numbers have been going up.
One of the criteria, again, from the White House itself, was that they have a 14-day downtrend in numbers. You want some sense that the virus is coming under control.
Also, the positivity rates. I think we can show you some of this, but the positivity rates, again, where I live have been well over 10 percent. Some of the highest positivity rates were just a few, about a week ago where it was closer to 17 percent. So that's concerning. It means we're not doing enough testing.
I visited the school. They are doing the things that they should be in terms of masks mandates and hand hygiene and trying to create the distance so people can physically distance, but when numbers are going up like that, I don't think it's comfortable putting kids into an area where viral spread could start to really propagate.
Keep in mind, Erin, when we decided to pull kids out of school, there are about 5,000 infections in this country and just under 100 people had died. We think about putting kids back into school, 5 million infections and 160,000 plus people have died.
What have we done different? Why was it important at that point to bring kids out? Numbers are higher and going up faster than at the time we pulled kids out. That's a concern.
BURNETT: Well, I mean, it's like -- it's some of those things when you take a step back, what you said, you laid it out very clearly. Sometimes we don't always cut through the clutter and hear it that way.
But, you know, I know you said it not an easy decision. You wrote my girls want to go back to school. They're placing enormous pressure on us parents to make it so. They miss their friends, the social structure and the emerging humanity that kids need and crave at this age. Virtual learning has played an important role for them, but it is not a substitute for in person learning.
And I know you've said look, you're looking at the 14-day trend so things could change, right? If that positivity rate drops back below 5 percent, but, you know, how did you deal with this with your kids?
GUPTA: Well, you know, it's on going, Erin. I mean, you know, it's a lot of incoming. Right now, I'm a dad. This is a tough chapter for me as a parent.
But we've never been through something like this. I've had to sit down and explain to them my thinking and, you know, there are people who obviously their own friends, some of whom are going back to school. So, their -- you have kids, Erin. You know how that goes. Well, that kid is doing it and what about us?
So, there's a lot of this going on. But fundamentally, I've tried to explain to them, just as I explain to you, that fundamentally, I care about your health certainly. I think the risk of you getting sick is very low, thankfully. But you could get sick and you could also spread this virus.
My kids are 11, 13, and 15. Studies have shown that they spread the virus just as much as adults do. I'm sure they will be diligent kids. I mean, we've spent all summer thinking about these things but, you know, they're not in a bubble. They're going to be going back and forth.
And when you live in a place like this where you have as much virus as there is, I think that just fuels the concern.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Sanjay, thank you very much. I know that -- you know, many parents obviously, they look to you for that guidance and how you're thinking and appreciate your sharing that. It's hard to put your personal -- your personal life out there like that when you come on TV every day. So thank you.
And next, President Trump praising a controversial congressional candidate who is warning of an Islamic invasion, calling her, quote, a future Republican star.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:56:11]
BURNETT: President Trump tweeting congratulations today to QAnon conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene she won a seat in the House. The president calling Greene a, quote, future Republican star and a real winner.
Now, Greene is known for some extreme and racist views. She's warned of a, quote, Islamic invasion. She did that after two Muslims won office. She has described black people as, quote, slaves to Democrats.
Manu Raju is OUTFRONT. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It a conspiracy theory born on the dark fringes of the Internet. Something the FBI contends is a national security threat but the theory has been embraced by some House Republican candidates in races across the country.
And on Tuesday night, one of them won her Republican primary and is on track to winning a House seat in November.
GREENE: I just want to say to Nancy Pelosi, she's a hypocrite. She's an anti-American and we're going to kick that bitch out of Congress.
RAJU: Businesswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is now the heavy favorite to win a seat representing a deeply conservative district in northwest Georgia.
Greene has repeatedly praised the QAnon theory.
GREENE: Q is a patriot. We know that for sure but we do not know who Q is. People believe that Q is someone very close to President Trump.
RAJU: The movement sprung to life in early 2017, based on the belief there is a high level government official Q who sprinkles clues on Internet message boards about a series of massive deep state conspiracies at work in the country.
In 2019, the FBI raised concerns over the potential for violence linked to such fringed theories.
Greene also won despite a history of racist and incendiary remarks against Muslims.
GREENE: We have an Islamic invasion into our government offices. They want to put their hand on the Koran and be sworn in. No. You have to be sworn in on the bible.
RAJU: About Democrats.
GREENE: They are trying to keep the black people in a modern day form of slavery. It's a slavery system to keep their vote.
RAJU: About blacks and confederate statutes.
GREENE: If I were black people today and I walked by one of those statutes, I would be so proud because I'd say look how far I have come in this country.
RAJU: And Trump putting a conspiracy theory about the liberal mega donor George Soros, echoing an erroneous anti-Semitic attack against Holocaust survivor that he collaborated with Nazis.
GREENE: I will not apologize for standing up against George Soros, even when they want to call me anti-Semite. RAJU: Her comments put House Republican leaders in an awkward spot
with the House GOP campaign arm refusing to endorse her. When videos were first unearthed in June, House Republican Steve Scalise vowed to back her primary opponent and called her remarks disgusting.
A spokesman for House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said they were appalling. But President Donald Trump was quick to herald her victory, saying in a tweet Wednesday morning that she's a future Republican star and a real winner.
A couple hours later a McCarthy spokesperson said we look forward to Greene and other Republicans winning in November.
Asked on Wednesday about Greene's victory in Georgia and embrace of the fringe movement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN that Republicans seem comfortable with it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RAJU: Now, as most Republicans were silent today about Greene's victory, one Republican congressman spoke out. That's Adam Kinzinger of Illinois who called this movement a fabrication. He said there is no place in the halls of Congress for such conspiracies, but that actually do a rebuke from a top Trump campaign official who said that Kinzinger should be focused on Democratic conspiracies instead.
So, Erin, if Greene wins, perhaps there's debate -- an unwelcome debate among Republicans could be entering the halls of the Capitol -- Erin.
BURNETT: Wow. All right. Thank you very much, Manu.
And thanks very much as always to all of you for being here with me.
"AC360" with Anderson starts now.
END
