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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump: "We're Doing an Incredible Job" as U.S. Averages 1,000+ Deaths for Three Straight Weeks; White House Formally Declares Teachers Essential Workers; Trump Says "I Know Nothing" About Group Bannon is Accused of Using to Defraud Donors, Then Says "I Didn't Like" The Project; Soon: Biden Formally Accepts Democratic Nomination for President. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired August 20, 2020 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, Trump risky push to reopen. The President pushing states to fully reopen despite the United States averaging 1,000 deaths a day for more than three weeks running.
Plus, Steve Bannon pleading not guilty tonight. The President's former chief strategist arrested for allegedly ripping off donors who thought they were giving money to Trump's border wall arrested when he was with a rich Chinese tycoon's boat. We'll tell you all about it. He's the 10th Trump associate to be charged with crimes.
And new video just released of what we will see at the convention tonight, along with a preview of Joe Biden's keynote speech. Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening to all. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, Trump's dangerous call to reopen. The President visiting Pennsylvania today, near Scranton, and railing against the State's Governor because the state has been cautious when it comes to fully reopening businesses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's got you in a shutdown, still. Shut down wolf. He can't do this. He's going to destroy your soul. It's a very sad thing to see and the results are not good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The results are not good. Well, here are some results. Pennsylvania starting to take below the crucial 5 percent positivity rate in which you can allow all kinds of things to open like schools. In the Lehigh Valley today, the case rate reached its lowest point since the region was actually shut down all the way back in late March and across the state, overall hospitalizations are trending down.
This virus is still deadly and nothing is a sure thing. But Pennsylvania's slow reopening, its mask mandate has slowed the virus, which will enable that stronger economic comeback. Trump then though continued to say something incredible. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We've done an incredible job. You look at our mortality rates, you look at all of the things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Incredible. I mean, that is an incredible thing to say. Tonight, the United States is on the verge of recording its 25th straight day of 1,000 deaths or more on average. Yesterday, more than 1,300 lives reported lost. That is nearly one American dying every single minute.
So far, if Trump wants to see incredible, he can look at South Korea. South Korea since the beginning of the virus has had 307 deaths. The United States 174,051. But Trump today said, oh, no, no, no, don't pay attention to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: South Korea, it's over. It's over. Big breakout yesterday. It's a tough deal. We've done a great job. We're a big, big country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Here's the facts. South Korea's breakout was 288 cases. On that same day, the United States of America recorded 47,408 cases. And by the way, his whole point about we're a big country, I did the math, as a share of population, it is not even close. The United States is much more and, by the way, South Korea tests a lot more than we do.
So far, the word incredible successfully applies to South Korea. Incredible when it comes to sad applies to the United States, which has suffered 10s and 10s and 10s of thousands of needless deaths. And by the way, South Korea, its economy is open in a way the United States is not because of masks and testing. Less death, a stronger economy.
This is still a very dangerous and contagious virus, no one is immune to it. Just today, another member of Congress testing positive. This time it was Louisiana's Sen. Bill Cassidy. He is a doctor and his office says he will now quarantine for 14 days.
Erica Hill is OUTFRONT live in New York to begin our coverage tonight. And Erica, Trump also making another push tonight as he talks about reopening to get teachers back.
ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. The White House, Erin, is now designating teachers as essential workers and it is the latest push by the administration to have schools reopen for in person learning. What this means according to guidance from the Department of Homeland Security is that they're in the same category as doctors and law enforcement officers.
So if they have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for the virus, they can continue to work as long as they're asymptomatic. The President of one of the nation's largest teachers union, slamming the move, saying it's an effort by the administration, the President to threaten, coerse and bully teachers back into classrooms.
All of this, Erin, as reports of both infections and exposure at schools and colleges around the country, well, those reports are growing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HILL (voice-over): The good news, hospitalizations and new cases continue to decline in most states. The bad news, that trend may not last.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR, INFECTIOUS DISEASE DIVISION, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: It's not a sprint, it's a marathon. We have to maintain these mitigation efforts if we want to keep controlling this virus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (voice-over): I believe the head of the White House's vaccine program Operation Warp Speed says the country could get back to normal if people get vaccinated.
[19:05:04]
He believes a vaccine may be widely available by next spring. While the nation waits, the White House coronavirus task force warning Georgia in a report obtained by the Atlanta Journal Constitution that small gains are fragile.
Thousands of K through 12 students across the country have been asked to quarantine including nearly 2,000 in Mississippi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TATE REEVES (R-MS): If we will to keep our kids in school, if we want to keep our colleges open, if we want to have an opportunity to have college football, we have to remain vigilant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (voice-over): A considerable number of college students in that state have tested positive, including more than a dozen athletes at Ole Miss. Notre Dame which has announced hundreds of cases now says five of those are football players. Colleges in at least 17 states now reporting positive cases.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: Each university not only have to do entrance testing, but what we talked to every univeristy about it is being able to do surge testing. How are you going to do 5,000 samples in one day or 10,000 samples in one day? (END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (voice-over): Several University of Connecticut students evicted from their dorms after an on campus party where the school says students were not wearing masks, were closely assembled and endangering not only their own health and well being but that of others.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. PAUL OFFIT, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER DIRECTOR, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: They're used to doing things like partying, drinking, I mean, gathering together whether on or off campus and to ask them not to do that is to ask, I think, too much of these young adults who basically at that age, consider themselves to be invulnerable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (voice-over): Massachusetts will now require flu shots for all public school students starting in kindergarten up through college.
A teachers union in Detroit approved a safety strike as New York City's warns its schools aren't ready for a return. The mayor pledging more detailed safety measures in response to mounting pressure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: We are going to make sure these schools are safe and ready. And if we don't think they're safe and ready, they won't be open.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: We are learning about more schools moving online. Announcements from North Carolina State, also Eastern Carolina University and the Governor of Kentucky saying that one in seven new cases in that state is in children, Erin.
BURNETT: Wow. All right. Thank you very much, Erica.
And OUTFRONT now Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Dr. Jonathan Reiner, Director of the Cardiac Cath Lab at George Washington University Hospital, who also advised the White House medical team under President George W. Bush.
Sanjay, you heard the President railing against the Governor of Pennsylvania, says they didn't reopen fast enough, that it should be going ahead and says it's not good. It's not good, what's happening there. Look, the state is now below that 5 percent positivity line for the first time since the beginning of July, some areas doing incredibly well, hospitalization is down. That is all of the product of mask mandates and other things.
So they just pop reopen. Well, what happens then?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, right. I mean, if you just suddenly reopen the numbers could turn around on you in a hurry. We've had plenty of evidence of that, not only here in the United States, but other places around the world.
The thing that strikes me about this so much is that the very criteria that came out from the taskforce in terms of how you should reopen the criteria that you look for, we can put some of these up there, almost no one has followed these criteria. And then when a governor, as they are doing in Pennsylvania, actually kind of follows these criteria, people are saying you're going too slow. I mean, as soon as the criteria came out there was this move to liberate the states. Well, the reason I think you're starting to see these positive trend lines in Pennsylvania is because they are coming closer to following the criteria than a lot of other places.
That is how you sort of get this under control. So they're being cautious. They're in the green zone, according to many of these criteria, but they're still sort of limiting large gatherings, mask mandates are still in place. Those were all part of the original criteria. And if anything, this is some evidence that it can work and be a good thing.
BURNETT: So Dr. Reiner, the President went on, made his rationale. He continued to say this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If you look at the country, it's really - we have states with thriving and there's no shutdown. It's enough, we shut it down because we had to, we didn't know anything about what was happening. We shut it down. We learned a lot, protect our seniors, et cetera, et cetera. You've all heard it. But we learned a lot. Then we opened it up and now we have a big V.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The V, obviously, there he was not referring to a surge in cases, if that comes, he was trying to refer to the economy. Dr. Reiner have we just simply learned enough that now we can just reopen fully? And basically, I guess, what he's saying is that age old idea of just go ahead and isolate everybody over whatever the age might be, 65, protect our seniors as he says.
[19:10:01]
JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: No. We have not learned our lesson. Look, the President talks about a sharp V. He's just talking about the stock market.
So the stock market has rebounded in a sharp V. But you know what also has continued to rise is mortality in the United States. The United States leads the world in death, 175,000 deaths. It took the U.S. up almost three months for 20,000 people to die.
The last 20,000 people took 16 days. So as you said at the outset, over a thousand people a day, almost for the last month in this country are dying and it's plateaued. And we've had this surge over the last few months because we opened too early. When we opened at the beginning of May, 31 states opened around that time, none of them met the CDC criteria for 14 days of continuing decline and enough testing and tracing capabilities.
None of the states met those guidelines. That's why we are where we are now. It's been an abject failure.
BURNETT: So Sanjay, look, there's a lot of politics around schools. I just want to cut to the medicine here and do the science as you see it. The White House is formally declaring teachers essential workers, right, so that's part of the politics, trying to get them to go to work and fight some of the unions here.
It does state though, what it means is that teachers can work, even if exposed to a confirmed case of COVID if they remain asymptomatic. Given what you know from the science here of asymptomatic and pre symptomatic, because some of those cases would, of course, end up falling into that category spread. Is this potentially dangerous or does it make sense?
GUPTA: Look, we've learned a lot about this virus and this is the point you're making, I think, in one of the big things that we've learned, we learned this sort of going back to mid February is that people can spread this virus even if they don't have any symptoms or even if they don't have any symptoms yet. I think most people in the country know that and I think when some of these criteria was sort of developed for healthcare workers and essential workers, we were still learning at that point.
So the scenario is that you have somebody who could be asymptomatic or pre symptomatic and could still potentially spread the virus. I can tell you, because we've been reporting on this for a long time. And as you pointed out, I mean, the schools is a huge issue from a journalistic standpoint, also from a personal standpoint.
This was considered in my home state of Georgia and the proposal of considering teachers essential workers was sort of backed off because there wasn't a recognition that would significantly erode trust. I mean, so my kids are going to go back to somebody and be in a classroom with somebody who may be carrying the virus without testing, without knowledge, that could be a huge problem.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you both. I appreciate it, your perspective as always.
And next, we have new video of Trump's former top strategist Steve Bannon leaving court today after pleading not guilty to pocketing donor money meant for the wall. He's speaking out tonight.
Why did Donald Trump Jr. once praised Bannon's group as 'private enterprise at its finest'? I suppose it depends on how you view private enterprise.
Plus, we're getting our first look at the video that will introduce Joe Biden to the nation tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For the first time, Joe saw the heavy burden on a father, and it was a lesson he would never forget.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Plus, I'll speak to one of Biden's longtime friends, Congressman James Clyburn. What can Biden say after 44 years in Washington that people don't already know?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:17:47]
BURNETT: Just in, the first pictures of Steve Bannon, President Trump's former chief strategist leaving court after pleading not guilty to criminal fraud charges. He was released on $5 million bond. Bannon who appeared by video conference was arrested this morning off the Eastern Coast of Connecticut on a yacht owned by an exiled Chinese dissident and is accused of defrauding donors to rebuild the wall, which is an online campaign that raised more than $25 million. Also accused of using donations for personal expenses.
At least 10 Trump associates have now been charged with crimes. Excuse me, including former campaign Chairman Paul Manafort and Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. Sorry, a frog in my throat.
Let's be clear, this is not just any associate. Bannon was the CEO of campaign and, of course, Trump's chief strategist in the White House. So Evan Perez is with me, my Senior Justice Correspondent and White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins in Scranton near where Trump just spoke.
Evan, let me start with you and I apologize for the frog in my throat. What else do you know about this alleged scheme with all of the information you learned today?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, prosecutors today, Erin, laid out this scenario, this scheme, essentially, that out of the $25 million that was raised from people who are trying to support building this private wall on private land along the U.S.-Mexico border that Bannon had set up what - it was a shell company, a nonprofit, from which he was taking a million dollars.
And from there, he was paying the other members of the scheme and that includes Brian Kolfage, who was the head of this group. He's a former Air Force veteran and he kind of led the fundraising drive. Bannon was one of the people who was chief as part of this trying to get money into the into the scheme.
Now, according to prosecutors, this money was used to essentially fund Bannon and Kolfage's and others lavish lifestyle, that's according to the court documents now in court today. Bannon appeared very sunburned. He was arrested by U.S. Postal Inspection Service officers on a yacht off the coast of Connecticut and apparently been spending a lot of time in the sun and he appeared in court today, pleaded not guilty. He was released on bond.
And when he was walking out, he said to reporters, "This is a fiasco to stop people who want to build the wall."
[19:20:07]
This is something he said to reporters, obviously, saying that this is not exactly what prosecutors have laid out in court. But according to the documents that we have from these charges, it appears that the investigators were monitoring their communications, they had all kinds of information about where this money was going, and in different ways that they were trying to hide where this money was going, Erin.
BURNETT: They don't get to the point of arrest unless they have a lot to go on. Evan, thank you very much.
So President Trump today then reacted to Bannon's arrest by trying to distance himself from Bannon and denying any knowledge about the project before admitting that he actually did know about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, I feel very badly. I haven't been dealing with him for a long period of time. I know nothing about the project other than I didn't like when I read about it, I didn't like it. I said, this is for government. This isn't for private people and it sounded to me like showboating and I think I let my opinion be very strongly stated at the time. I didn't know any of the other people either.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. Kaitlan, the thing is it turns out Trump does know a lot of people involved with this group.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he does. And he contradicted himself. Also, as you noted, by saying he didn't know about the group and then saying he didn't like the group, which is true. He did say in July, he didn't like what they were doing. He sought to distance himself from their efforts then.
But then you saw the White House Press Secretary put out a statement saying the President didn't know anyone affiliated with the group. That's not even close to true, Erin, because if you look at the backers and the associates of this group, you can see there are many people who either know the President, have interacted with him, have pictures with him, Curt Schilling, Erik Prince, David, the sheriff, David Clarke as well.
You see these people that are on this board that the President obviously knows. And Kris Kobach is another one of them who told The New York Times in an interview last year that the President had talked about this project with him and he gave them his blessing and said they should tell the media that. That's what Kris Kobach has quoted telling The New York Times in 2019.
So, of course, the other thing, though, is that Donald Trump Jr., the President's son once gave a speech where he was praising the group. Listen to what he said not so long ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP JR., DONALD TRUMP'S SON: This is private enterprise at its finest. Doing it better, faster, cheaper than anything else. And what you guys are doing is pretty amazing. It started from a grassroots effort and it's just doing some wonderful things for an important issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: So you see there he is praising the group. He is praising their efforts. We heard from a spokesperson for the Trump Organization today, Amanda Miller, she said that is the only speech that Donald Trump Jr. ever gave where he mentioned We Build The Wall. She said that he did not give them permission to use his testimonial there, his praise there as they later did.
And she said that he was essentially only aware of what he thought they were doing. He did not know what was actually going on and what prosecutors are now alleging. And, of course, Erin, we have to seen this time and time again, when the President's associates get in trouble with the law, he seeks to distance himself from them.
But it's actually really difficult here, because not only did Steve Bannon worked for the campaign, worked for the White House and was one of his top aides for some time, it's also this interwoven structure with his biggest campaign promise which was to build the wall. So it's not just the fact that they were defrauding, they're accused of defrauding donors, but it's the President's supporters who were likely the main contributors to this because it was the President's idea to, of course, build the wall.
BURNETT: All right. Kaitlan, thank you very much.
And I want to go straight to our Chief Legal Analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, also the author of the new book, True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump. OK, Jeff, so they actually go on board this yacht today. They arrest Steve Bannon. They've got a lot. How solid is the case look to you?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I mean, it looks like a very straightforward case. They made these representations in writing repeatedly that none of the money would go to them, the four people involved in the case. There are texts and messages apparently where they are conspiring about how much money they took for themselves and apparently they took hundreds of thousands of dollars, that's fraud. Telling people one thing and doing something else.
Now, we have to see what their defense is, but the other problem that Steve Bannon has is that he's the most famous of the four defendants. That is just an invitation to one or more of the others to flip, to plead guilty and cooperate because in federal court, defendants are rewarded strongly for cooperating against other defendants and Bannon looks like he's got nowhere to cooperate here. BURNETT: And just to, obviously, make the point clear here, Trump
doesn't only know Bannon, he knows Kobach, who chaired his investigation, right?
[19:25:02]
Remember into whether you've got people voting illegally, so he knows he knows these folks well. Ten associates we now know, Jeff, of President Trump's have been charged with crimes, 10. Bannon is just the latest. So what does this say to you?
TOOBIN: Well, I mean, it's just extraordinary if there hasn't been a presidency like this since Watergate. And even in Watergate, you didn't have a scenario like you've had here. The President's National Security Advisor guilty. The President's Personal lawyer guilty, campaign chairman guilty, deputy campaign chairman guilty. Now, one of his top campaign and political aides accused in an indictment.
I mean, it is an extraordinary record of sleaze and what makes this case so revealing is that it shows the contempt with which Bannon views his own supporters. I mean, views the people who are supporting the wall. They are marks, they are suckers, they are patsies to pay money for this wall project that all they're doing, at least according to the indictment, is putting it into their pocket.
BURNETT: The guy, we should all remember, Steve Bannon, right, who was the chief strategist, so close to the President that people inside the White House were turning against him, calling him the puppeteer, controlled everything the President did. That's who we're talking about now in this situation. Jeff, thank you. I appreciate it as we continue to follow that case.
Next, Joe Biden, he is just now a couple hours away from that big speech. The biggest of his career. We are getting the first glimpse of video that Americans will see tonight before that speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Passionate argument, sympathetic listening, a willingness to make adjustments and accommodations to bring people on board.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Plus, Trump continuing to sow doubt today about election results.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The only way they're gonna win is by a rigged election. I really believe that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The Biden campaign response next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:31:08]
BURNETT: Breaking news. We're learning more about the moments leading up to Joe Biden's speech just hours from now when he will accept the Democratic Party's nomination for president.
He will be produced in a video produced by Oscar Award-winning director, Davis Guggenheim. Here's a clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I watched him bring his heart to that job. It matters that you have, in your mind, the family that you're trying to reach, the neighborhood that you're trying to reach, the people whose lives are affected by what you do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Arlette Saenz is OUTFRONT is Wilmington, Delaware, where Biden, of course, is tonight.
Arlette, what can we expect? This is one of the most important speeches of Joe Biden's career, one he's been hoping for decades to make.
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: It certainly is. Joe Biden first ran for president 33 years ago, and tonight, he will finally accept that Democratic presidential nomination. And while the focus a lot earlier in the week had been some focus on President Trump, we don't expect Joe Biden to really make President Trump the central figure of his speech tonight. Instead, the former vice president is expected to offer a more forward-looking vision of where he believes he can lead the country.
From the beginning of his campaign, he has framed this for a battle of the soul of the nation. Now, tonight, he will -- there will be a video of his grandchildren. He will be introduced in remarks by his son Hunter and daughter Ashley.
And as you can see behind me, there are some cars that have assembled here. We spoke to some of those people who were promised some type of surprise. We'll see what exactly that surprise will be later this evening.
But, of course, Biden's speech is incredibly different than most typical convention speeches. There is no audience, no one to offer applause. So, he's working with a different dynamic than those previous presidential nominees before him -- Erin.
BURNETT: Arlette, thank you.
And I want to bring in Kate Bedingfield, Biden's deputy campaign manager and communications director.
So, you know, Kate, this is challenging in that crucial way, right? I mean, you don't have that giant convention center full of people and the balloons. It is really hard to do this without that for anyone.
But Vice President Biden, of course, has spent 50 years in American politics. This is his third time running for president. This is the speech he has wanted to give for a long time.
So, what does he want to say tonight, Kate?
KATE BEDINGFIELD, BIDEN 2020 DEPUTY CAMPAIGN MANAGER AND COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Look, I think in this moment, Americans are looking for presidential leadership, and tonight on that stage, they're going to see a president. He is going to lay out his positive vision for how we can come together, how even in these most divisive times that we're living in, we can work together to get things done.
That's something that's a hallmark of his time in public life. He is someone who's always been able to work with people across the aisle, to work with people from the most progressive part of the party to independents to Republicans.
He's somebody that knows how to get things done. And tonight, I think what we're going to hear from him is something that has been a cornerstone of his entire campaign, which is a belief that America is resilient and that we are better and that we can overcome challenges when we work together. You're really going to hear him talk about how he believes that this is a country of people who want to work together and who can find common purpose.
And that's -- you know, in these times, that's a rare thing. But you're going to hear that from him tonight. I think it will be a very inspirational message for Americans across the country who are looking for presidential leadership.
BURNETT: So, you're talking about reach across the aisle, you know, the ability to work together, which, of course, I know, you know, he has always viewed as something that has defined him. But we do understand that President Trump won't be a central figure in Biden's speech tonight. Of course, he was, you know, a pretty significant in President Obama's speech, in Michelle Obama's speech and others we've heard.
How much will he factor into Vice President Biden's message?
BEDINGFIELD: Well, look, I think there's a very core question that voters are going to answer in November, which is, are we okay with the kind of leadership that we've gotten from Donald Trump that has left us with the coronavirus ravaging across our country, that has contributed to the cratering of our economy because Donald Trump is unable to get the virus under control?
[19:35:18]
Or do we want real leadership? Do we want Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the White House putting together a comprehensive federal response to this virus to help us get our economy back on track and get our country functioning again? So, you know, I think that there is a really fundamental question and
contrast on leadership here. I think people around the country are desperately looking for it. And it's going to be very apparent in what you're hearing from Vice President Biden tonight that what he's offering is a radically different kind of leadership than what we're currently getting.
BURNETT: So, there was something that happened today, Kate, that I want to give you a chance to respond to. President was in Scranton giving his why not Joe Biden speech. And he once again accused, once again, accused Democrats of trying to -- I'm going to quote him -- steal the election through mail-in voting. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is just a way they're trying to steal the election. And everybody knows that because the only way they're going to win is by a rigged election. I really believe that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And today, Kate, the White House press secretary and the vice president chief of staff refused to say whether Trump would accept the results of the election if he lost. So, they refused to say he'll accept the election, and he says the only way Joe Biden wins is if it's a rigged election. What's your response?
BEDINGFIELD: This is a fear-mongering tactic. This is something that we've heard consistently from Donald Trump. You know, he has actually said unabashedly out loud that when more people vote, Republicans lose. So, I think what we're going to see from people all across this country is they are going to turn out in record numbers. I think there is tremendous energy for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
I think that Joe Biden across -- we saw across the course of the Democratic primary was able to turn out people from all across this country, suburban voters, African-American voters, working class voters. And I think that people are resoundingly going to show up in November.
And I think we have to remember that that's the way we make real change. We don't let Donald Trump and the Republicans scare us away from our right to vote. And I would encourage people to go to iwillvote.com where you can put in your information and you can make a plan to vote. You're going to have a lot of different options about the way to vote this fall, you can vote by mail, including vote in person, so go to iwillvote.com and make a plan to vote this fall.
BURNETT: All right. Kate, thank you. I appreciate your time.
BEDINGFIELD: Thanks for having me.
BURNETT: And next, the president's embrace of the conspiracy group QAnon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They like me very much, which I appreciate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn weighs in on that and Joe Biden's biggest night of his career.
And if he wins, Joe Biden will be the oldest president ever elected. Does he need to address that tonight?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:41:59]
BURNETT: The final night of the DNC begins in about an hour. We are learning the final address before Biden's event closing acceptance speech will come from his children, Ashley and Hunter. They are expected to speak after a very personal video plays which will focus on Biden's family and his grandchildren.
Joining me now, House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina, longtime friend and colleague of Joe Biden, also known as the kingmaker, right?
We remember, of course, Congressman, your endorsement of Biden propelling Biden to become the Democratic presidential nominee. I remember then, you -- you had your mind made up but you didn't tell anybody. You waited because there was the last debate and then you came out and made your call, and it -- and it turned that vote. It turned this primary for Joe Biden.
So, when you look at him, a man you have known so well, so personally for so long, this country knows him well too, right? Forty years. And that's a blessing and a curse tonight.
How does he give the American people something that they haven't heard from him before tonight?
REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Well, thank you very much for having me, Erin.
I believe tonight is going to be a very critical night for Joe because he's pursued this office for so long and it has eluded him. I think that what we will see tonight is him connecting with the American people on the very personal level. I think what you have to take in all the (INAUDIBLE) and the campaigns, and we have to have (INAUDIBLE) you have to take them against the backdrop of the mood of the country, of where the country is.
And I think the people are crying out in the country today for some goodness to be restored in the body politic. I was kind of interested in this moment to read S.E. Cupp, a very conservative commentator. (INAUDIBLE) thinks it's time to restore some goodness in this office.
So, that's what we are trying to do. BURNETT: So, this comes as yesterday when President Trump was speaking
he refused to denounce that fringe conspiracy a cult, right, QAnon. It's a group that among other things Trump is here to stop Democrats and Hollywood elite from running a satanic pedophile trafficking ring.
Now, the FBI has labeled QAnon a potential domestic terror threat, but yesterday, here's what Trump said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't know much about the movement other than I understand they like me very much which I appreciate. I've heard these are people that love our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: How concerning is this for you? There are a lot of people who may say they love the country who have done some horrific things, right? But here he is giving that tacit embrace.
CLYBURN: Well, (INAUDIBLE) with Donald Trump, it's all about him. He seemed to like me very much.
The fact of the matter is the presidency is about the country.
[19:45:01]
It's about the American people. It doesn't have to be about him and one individual.
And that's what separates him from people like Joe Biden. Joe Biden just happens to be the nominee for the Democratic Party. There are a lot of other really good people that are in this country, and some of them are not Democrats.
But in this particular instance, this president seemed to feel that irrespective of what may be going on around him, it's always got to be about him and not the other person. I think that the country has seen this week watching this convention, they have seen the goodness in this man.
And I believe that that's why he is going to be a very successful candidate and he will be sworn into the presidency come January because it's time to restore goodness in the office of the president and dignity and respect around the world. We have been held out as a beacon for years, decades.
Here we are now being laughed at by the powers surrounding -- our allies don't know how to trust us. We have to restore dignity, respect and goodness in the office of the president, and I think that's what we get with Joe Biden.
BURNETT: Congressman Clyburn, I appreciate your time as always, sir. Thank you.
CLYBURN: Thank you. BURNETT: And next, counting down to Joe Biden's speech, we have new
details about what he will say, right, in this night where he finally gets to give this speech in this office that has alluded him for so long. This crucial speech, what will be in it?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:51:00]
BURNETT: Joe Biden to make his case tonight against four more years of President Trump. His interaction video will suggest, does suggest, from what we can see already, that one argument will be how he helped the nation recover from the last great economic crisis, the Great Recession.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Biden was handed the task of going to get those three Republican votes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joe returned to the place where he had been so effective.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Passionate argument, sympathetic listening, a willingness to make adjustments and accommodations to bring people on board.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the law finally passed, the president tapped his partner to run the program.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. OUTFRONT now, our political director David Chalian, Terry McAuliffe, the former Democratic governor of Virginia, also Karen Finney, who was communications director at the DNC, and Bakari Sellers, former Democratic member of the South Carolina House of Representatives.
So, David, you know, as Jim Clyburn just eloquently said, this is the office Joe Biden has wanted, which has eluded him, Clyburn's word, for decades. This is the speech of his career. What does he need to do tonight?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yeah, he's been seeking this office for a third of a century. This is a real culminating moment for him. I mean, I think he has to do a couple of things. Despite the longevity on the national political stage, he's no longer Barack Obama's number two, he's no longer that long-serving senator. It's new context, so he doesn't have to introduce himself to the American people, he's known by them, but he does need to become better known in this context.
So I think there's that biographical piece of who he is, connected to where he wants to take the country. I think that if he can do a reintroduction with America in this context, and give the positive prescriptions for not just the immediate course correction on dealing with the pandemic, and the economic fallout, but where he wants to take the country over the long-term, less to do about President Trump. He will have gone a long way into what he needs to accomplish.
BURNETT: So, Bakari, Biden is the top of the ticket. I think David has put it so well, right? Everyone knows him. But he has to frame himself in the context of being the commander in chief, not the second in command, not the long serving senator with friends across the aisle.
He's the main event tonight. But he's not viewed in the same way as Barack or Michelle Obama when it comes to giving speeches, right? They are both unbelievably gifted at doing that. They happen to be married to each other, it's pretty incredible thing. But they are, right? And that's not what he is known for as much.
Is it okay if his speech does not match theirs?
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I mean, look, you know, with all due respect to Congressman Clyburn and even my good friend, David, I don't have that necessary high level of expectation tonight because he doesn't necessarily need to reach that. But Joe Biden does reach -- he always reaches these moments when the lights are shining the brightest.
However, tonight he's just -- he just simply has to show America, speaking to a divided country, speaking to a country that's going through so much anguish. He simply has to show that he is capable of being commander in chief. That is his standard.
He has to be presidential tonight. This is not a partisan speech. This is not about bringing in more independents or bringing in more Republicans. Tonight's speech is simply about being a president. Something this country has thirsted for, for the last 3 1/2 years and we have not gotten it.
So this is not the speech of a lifetime. This is not, you know, compared to Barack Obama or Michelle's oratory, this does not even compare to the oratory of Jill and Kamala Harris.
Tonight, be president. That's what we want. I think he'll do that extremely well.
BURNETT: So, Governor, many of us are familiar with Joe Biden's life story. You know, he has -- he bears his soul, you know, to the town hall with him in Iowa late last year, he's able to connect with people. Whether it's talking about the stuttering he suffered, or the loss of his son in deeply personal ways.
People do know these stories.
[19:55:01]
How much of that should he focus on tonight, and I say that in the context of, you know, that he is going to be delivering this without that live audience, right, without those thousands of people in the room. TERRY MCAULIFFE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, listen, everybody
knows this. People love Joe Biden. And people know about his compassion, his empathy. They know that.
And he'll address that tonight and the videos around it will do it. He has one mission tonight in my mind. There are millions of Americans who are sitting home tonight.
They have been affected one way or the other by the COVID crisis. Five million people in America have gotten it. Tens of millions have seen jobs obliterated. They know somebody who's lost their job.
All they want tonight is for Joe Biden to look them in the eye and say, I'm going to unite this country, I'm going to heal this country. And most importantly, I'm going to get this country back again, better than it's ever been before.
I am going to help you. I'm going to create a great economy, education system. I'm going to make transportation work. I've got a $2 trillion infrastructure package. They just want the government to work.
That is Joe's job tonight. People are done with Trump. In his -- Trump's whole speech will be about attacking Biden. Joe Biden will be above that tonight.
But tonight, he speaks to Americans about what they go through every single day. They're hurting today and they just want a politician to say, yes, I'm going to lift up your life, something Joe has done his whole life.
BURNETT: All right. So, you have -- you have all this context, Karen, and then you have what Biden is dealing with within the Democratic Party, right, which is those who celebrate reaching across the aisle and want to see leadership and pragmatism, and those who want a totally new system, okay? And I don't know that you can have it all, right? But this is what the guy is trying to do. Maybe you can.
So, today, the head of his transition team, Biden's transition team warned that spending in a Biden administration would not to be right, that, quote, the pantry is going to be bare, because of President Trump and all of his excessive spending.
Then you have the Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, right, who has become a standard bearer for the left wing of the Democratic Party, she came out strong, tweet thing is extremely concerning, the pantry is not bare. To adopt GOP deficit hawking now when millions of lives are stake is utterly irresponsible.
I know Biden's not going to get at policy in terms of spending, but this gets at the very core of what he has to deal with. How much does he need to focus on progressives tonight, to tip his hand to them, Karen?
FINNEY: You know what it is? I think, Erin, it's not just progressives, but it's our values. We are the Democratic Party. It is fine to be reaching out to independents and Republicans. But I think as others have said, he has got to make the case for why
Joe Biden is the right person in this moment. It's not just voting against Trump, but it's vote for me because here's my vision for where this country needs to go. He started out beautifully at the beginning of this campaign, talking about hearing the soul of this country. And my God, things have gotten worse in ways that we could have never imagined from when he first said that.
So it's talking about how we heal this country, bring the country back together. But speak to our values as Democrats. We've got to make things better when we're talking about health care, when we're talking about the environment, when we're talking about jobs and the way that people are able to live their lives and handling a crisis obviously is part of that.
So it's not a litany of policy and it's not going to be the grab bag for everybody, and people shouldn't be listening to this speech thinking, listening for their issue that they care about, but they need to be -- I think he needs to speak to we are Democrats. He does have a vision for this country. What is that vision that he's going to bring with him into the Oval Office with Kamala Harris on day one?
BURNETT: All right. When we speak of Kamala Harris, David, of course, she is now the standard bearer for the Democratic Party after Joe Biden. He's very much positioned it that way, right? But he's a transitional figure, right, when he had all these, you know, these young up and comers, right? He didn't have one person give a speech. He had 17.
So he is 77 years old. If he wins, he'll be the oldest ever elected president. Prior to him, the oldest person elected was Donald J. Trump, OK? So, there's that.
But it will be Joe Biden if he wins. Is this something he should address head on tonight?
CHALIAN: I don't think he'll have to address it. He'll make get at, what you're describing, sort of the bridge to the next generation, the torch passing to the next generation, Erin. But every time he's asked about this on the campaign trail, he says, two words, he says: watch me.
That is what America is going to do tonight. And it's a fair thing he says, and he's right, to judge him on. America will watch and assess whether or not his age is a factor. That will be on the stage tonight.
BURNETT: All right. And certainly, he has said that again and again. That he thinks it's fair.
All right. Well, I appreciate all of you very much. Thank you. We'll all be watching tonight, of course, along with the rest of the country to see what Joe Biden does indeed deliver.
CNN's special coverage of the Democratic National Convention continues right now.
