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Erin Burnett Outfront
Biden Criticizes Trump's Response to Police Shootings As He Prepares to Meet Blake Family in Kenosha; Trump Tries Law & Order Message on Increasingly Diverse Suburbs; Germany: Russian Opposition Leader Poisoned with Nerve Agent. Aired on 7-8p ET
Aired September 02, 2020 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Erin Burnett OUTFRONT starts right now.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next breaking news, the administration is telling states to prepare for a vaccine by Election Day, but members of Trump's task force say that's likely not going to happen. Is politics been put before science?
Plus, Trump's Attorney General says he believes China is more of a threat to the 2020 election than Russia. Why is he contradicting people in the intelligence community?
And Joe Biden preparing to meet with Jacob Blake's family. What is he going to say? The senior advisor is my guest. Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening. I'm Pamela Brown in for Erin Burnett.
And OUTFRONT tonight breaking news, the Trump administration is now preparing to have a vaccine by Election Day. The CDC sending these letters obtained by The New York Times to all 50 states detailing how to prepare for a vaccine by the end of October or beginning of November. A reminder, the election is November 3rd.
Now, of course, this doesn't mean a vaccine will be ready by then but according to the New York Times, the letters were sent the same day, the President told the nation a vaccine is coming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are delivering life saving therapies and we'll produce a vaccine before the end of the year or maybe even sooner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WINKLER: Even sooner, he says. The President wants a vaccine by Election Day, which is 62 days away because he genuinely thinks it'll help him win. It's something that he is openly admitted to.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm rushing it. I am. I'm pushing everybody. If you had another President, other than me, you wouldn't be talking vaccines for two years.
GERALDO RIVERA, IHEARTRADIO HOST: So what's the earliest we could see that, a vaccine?
TRUMP: Sooner than the end of the year. Could be much sooner. These companies are fantastic.
RIVERA: Sooner than November 3rd?
TRUMP: I think in some cases, yes, it's possible before, but right around that time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will that help you in the election?
TRUMP: It wouldn't hurt. It wouldn't hurt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: But having a vaccine ready to go in just 62 days, that's a long shot. Just moments ago, in fact, the Director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, telling CNN it's unlikely a vaccine will be ready by November. And here's the nation's top infectious disease expert again today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I believe that by the time we get to the end of this calendar year, that we will feel comfortable that we do have a safe and effective vaccine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So you heard Dr. Fauci that he said he's optimistic, there will be a vaccine by the end of the year not in weeks. These conflicting messages from the administration, well, they are creating more confusion, it seems, and eroding public trust and science.
Jeremy Diamond is OUTFRONT live near the White House. So Jeremy, the President clearly has not been shy about it. He wants a vaccine by Election Day.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There's no question Pam. We have heard the President in his own words suggest that a vaccine could be ready by Election Day despite the fact that there is no public evidence to back it up. And ultimately, whether it is him pushing hydroxychloroquine or over selling the benefits of convalescent plasma before the science is there.
The President seems to be looking for his panacea, because ultimately what we know from poll after poll after poll is that an overwhelming majority of Americans disapprove of the President's handling of this coronavirus response. And therefore, the President is looking for something to show Americans that he has, in fact, handled this well and he is looking for that, of course, before Americans send in their ballots or go to the polls on Election Day on November 3rd. Of course, the scientific evidence, again, as we said on the vaccine
isn't quite there yet and all of the public health experts including Dr. Fauci are saying that look, they're optimistic about something happening by the end of the year, but it's certainly not a sure thing. And no public health expert is talking about this likely happening before Election Day.
So ultimately the reality is far more complicated and, of course, the sciences as well, Pam.
BROWN: All right, Jeremy Diamond. Thank you so much, Jeremy, live for us there by the White House. Meanwhile, across the country, new fears that the upcoming holiday weekend could lead to another increase in coronavirus cases. Nick Watt is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: You want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT(voice over): That's the message for all of you holiday weekenders out there, mask up. Here's why.
That's the national new case count going into Memorial Day weekend and watch within a month case counts soared. A summer surge sparked in part by carefree holiday hoards.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No mask. Why you got to mask on?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT(voice over): Nationwide, average case counts have been falling recently but are they now plateauing somewhere around 40,000 new cases every single day, that's roughly twice as many cases suffered by South Korea throughout the entire pandemic.
[19:05:10]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: Right around 40,000 new cases that's an unacceptably high baseline. We've got to get it down. I'd like to see it 10,000 or less.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT(voice over): By the way, the President has a new coronavirus advisor Dr. Scott Atlas, a senior fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution. But some experts now questioning his qualifications.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CELINE GOUNDER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Dr. Atlas is a neuroradiologist.
So unless they're looking to have a lot of brain MRIs read as part of the coronavirus task force work, he is completely unqualified for the advice that he's given right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT(voice over): Meanwhile, Iowa is now our epicenter, 22 percent of COVID tests coming back positive.
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WILLIAM HASELTINE, CHAIR AND PRESIDENT, ACCESS HEALTH INTERNATIONAL: I see a tragedy unfolding for the people of Iowa.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT(voice over): Iowa Senator, Joni Ernst, suggesting doctors might be inflating the coronavirus virus death toll. She spoke with The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.
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SEN. JORI ERNST (R-IA): I can't actually look at that information, but I have heard it from health care providers that they do get reimbursed higher amounts if it's a covid-related illness or death.
DR. GLENN HURST, FAMILY MEDICINE DOCTOR IN RURAL IOWA: I find it to be incredibly offensive. It's an offensive attack on some of the best Iowans out there on the front lines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT(voice over): At least 260 cases now confirmed stemming from that masks optional rally in Sturgis, South Dakota last month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're ready to ride. Everybody is cooped up from the coronavirus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT(voice over): They rode free. Many now sick and today one biker confirmed dead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: And that biker who died was over 60 and from Minnesota. Our thoughts with the family.
Meanwhile, experts estimate that somewhere over 30 million Americans might be at risk of eviction due to COVID-19. And some good news for them today, the CDC is going to halt many of those evictions between now and the end of the year. So that's giving hope to a lot of people, but also the CDC hopes that that will help stem the spread of this virus, Pam.
BROWN: Yes. It gives a lot of relief to a lot of people. Nick Watt, thank you so much for bringing us the latest there.
And OUTFRONT tonight, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Dr. Jonathan Reiner, Director of the Cardiac Cath Lab at George Washington University Hospital. He also advised the White House medical team under President George W. Bush. Great to see you, gentlemen.
Dr. Reiner, I'm going to start with you on this new reporting that we've learned. The CDC telling public health officials around the country to prepare to distribute a potential coronavirus vaccine as soon as late October. Is this just good planning by the CDC or do you think something more is going on here?
JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Yes. I think it's good planning and maybe a little bit of wishful thinking, but a little bit of politics sprinkled in. The trial that is probably the farthest along is the Moderna trial of their RNA vaccine, which has enrolled about 18,000 patients out of 30,000 patients to date.
It's a trial where patients get two doses of the vaccine a few weeks apart and then there's follow up after that. So in order for the vaccine to be ready by November 1st, they would have to finish enrollment very quickly, because again there are two doses of this vaccine and then you need to collate the data and follow the patients and look for side effects, et cetera and tabulate the results. Nearly impossible unless the first 15,000 patients, there was a remarkable benefit.
And if there was a remarkable benefit in the first 15,000 patients, fantastic. Let's see the vaccine. I think it's highly unlikely we'll probably see the vaccine closer to, as Dr. Fauci said, around the first of the year.
BROWN: What do you think, Sanjay? What's your reaction to these letters that were sent out? And do you think it's possible that a vaccine is fully tested and deemed safe and effective that soon? I know it's the million dollar question right now.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, I think Dr. Reiner, he outlined it perfectly. The idea that this is going to be given to healthy people, though, whereas medications are given to sick people is something that people should keep in the back of their mind. It does raise the bar by which you would authorize a vaccine.
So they got to be very careful. They got to enter this very, very carefully. Also, if you look at the idea of authorizing a vaccine under some sort of emergency use for people who are high risk, health care workers, people working in nursing homes, things like that. If you look at the language carefully, they say there's got to be no other viable alternative that's really available.
But, I mean, Pamela when it comes to a vaccine, the viable alternative and I know people don't like to hear this, but the viable alternative is that we wear masks and we physically distance and do those things, it doesn't mean you got to shut things down, but I think it's going to come down to that.
[19:10:08]
Are we willing to sort of go into this more quickly or can we wear masks physically distance a little bit longer to really make sure we got this vaccine fully nailed down?
BROWN: That's an important point. Dr. Reiner, I want to remind everyone how the President has repeatedly pushed convalescent plasma as a treatment for coronavirus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: A very historic breakthrough in our fight against the China virus. This is a great thing. Set an incredible rate of success that showed tremendous potential. The FDA has made the independent determination that the treatment is safe and very effective.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So today, the NIH said in a statement to CNN that it's not actually contradicting the FDA's issuance of an emergency use authorization on convalescent plasma, just pointing out that the data doesn't show one way or the other whether convalescent plasma is effective. They also didn't say they support the emergency use authorization, is this concerning and do you think that there is a crisis of confidence right now with the key agencies in charge of fighting this pandemic?
REINER: Yes. I think we're seeing a little bit of the battle between the professional scientists and staff at places like NIH, rebutting the political appointees at places like FDA and HHS. What NIH said was simply that we don't know if this works, which is absolutely true.
There was this really interesting editorial in The Washington Post a month ago, written by four FDA commissioners, Gottlieb, Califf, Hamburg and McClellan, urging, begging for trials to be completed to answer this question. The problem with the EUA for convalescent plasma is that making it readily available to the public makes it almost impossible to do clinical trials because it's hard to enroll patients in a randomized study when it's freely available.
So we don't know if this will work. We also don't know how it'll work and there are some data that suggests that certain kinds of plasma are better than others. Plasma enriched for the neutralizing antibodies, which have higher levels of neutralizing antibodies are better than plasma with lower levels.
We're not quite sure when to give it. We think maybe earlier is better, but this is what clinical trials answer and what NIH was saying today is we need those answers.
BROWN: Right. And that's very important, but just like big picture, looking at the mixed messaging, looking at how the different agencies in charge of the pandemic have handled everything so far, what do you think? REINER: I think we've really shot ourselves in the foot when we've
mixed politics with science. Politics has no place in this. We should only have what science says, not what the President wants us to be.
BROWN: I also want to ask you, Sanjay, about another topic tonight. This video was put out by the President's former doctor, now Republican congressional candidate, Ronny Jackson. He's defending this mysterious trip that President took to Walter Reed Hospital last November. And I just want to remind everyone, he was not the President's doctor at the time. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. RONNY JACKSON, FMR. WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN: I was consulted regarding this trip weeks in advance. This trip was neither urgent nor emergent nor did it have anything to do with his cerebrovascular or his cardiovascular health. It was part of a routine, planned, preventive medicine workup to keep him healthy as President.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So this clearly raises a lot of questions here, Sanjay. Remember at the time that weekend, the White House was saying, oh, the President didn't have much on his schedule, so we just wanted to go ahead and knock out the first part of the physical. But yet Ronny Jackson is saying he was consulted weeks in advance and he wasn't even his doctor at the time and if it was a routine physical, why would he be consulted weeks in advance?
GUPTA: No, I think that's exactly right, Pam. I mean this doesn't make sense. I mean, call it what you want and he was pretty fired up there, Ronny Jackson. But this was a odd visit, OK. We may never know exactly what happened there and that's OK. I mean, people are entitled to some amount of medical privacy here.
But something happened that was out of the ordinary that weekend. I mean, it was a pretty rushed visit. The hospital didn't know as Jonathan has pointed out to me. The doctor, Dr. Conley rode in the vehicle with the President. That doesn't happen. They need to be outside of the vehicle so they can administer aid if there's some kind of problem to the President. There's all these things.
And also the idea at this point that you raise, it wasn't planned weeks in advance. Here's what the President said about it himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I went for a physical on Saturday. My wife said, oh, darling, that's wonderful, because I had some extra time, because it looks like January could be a busy month.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: So that obviously contradicts that. They say, hey, look, we have some extra time so you can go ahead and get the physical. It wasn't planned weeks in advance. [19:15:07]
So, again, this is a mystery. Hopefully one that we will get to the bottom of at some point, but we may not.
BROWN: Yes. We may not, but it's fair to ask questions, especially the ones that you raised as doctors. All right. Sanjay, Dr. Reiner, thank you very much for coming on.
And OUTFRONT next, Attorney General Bill Barr suggesting voting by mail can't be done safely in this country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: There are several states that only have mail-in voting, including a Republic (inaudible) ...
BILL BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES: Wolf, this is playing with fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Plus, a new CNN poll shows Biden leading nationally but another poll shows Trump gaining in that crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania. Should the Biden campaign be concerned?
And then President Trump says he's the only one, you can save America suburbs from descending into chaos, but do voters buy it?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have no idea what he's talking about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[19:19:47]
BROWN: Breaking news, Attorney General Bill Barr is downplaying Russian election interference in this election, telling our own Wolf Blitzer that he believes China is a bigger threat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARR: It wouldn't surprise me if Russia tried something again of the same general genre before.
[19:20:05]
BLITZER: The intelligence community says Russia, China and Iran are seeking to interfere in the U.S. presidential election for various reasons, but mostly they want to sow dissent in our country, exacerbate racial tensions, et cetera, like that. Of those three countries, the intelligence community has pointed to Russia, China and Iran, which is the most assertive, the most aggressive in this area? BARR: I believe it's China.
BLITZER: Which one?
BARR: China.
BLITZER: China more than Russia right now?
BARR: Yes.
BLITZER: Why do you say that?
BARR: Because I've seen the intelligence, that's what I've concluded.
BLITZER: What are they trying to do?
BARR: Well, I'm not going to discuss that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez is OUTFRONT. Evan, we were listening to that interview at the same time. When you heard that what did you think? Is there any intelligence or evidence you are aware of to back up China being a bigger election interference threat than Russia?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, if there is that intelligence, the intelligence community has not shared that with the public. What we have seen is what Bill Evanina, the top intelligence official in charge of election security, what he said in just the last couple of weeks. And what he said was of the three countries of concern; Russia, China and Iran, there's one country that is actively interfering and trying to damage the Biden campaign and that is the Russians.
The Chinese, according to Bill Evanina, have a preference for President Trump to lose reelection. But what the Attorney General's answer seemed to be trying to do is minimize the threat that the Russians pose and we can only guess why that is. And that is because the President doesn't like to hear that. And, again, the Chinese are a serious threat, but that's not what the intelligence community has told us what they're seeing right now.
BROWN: And of course, we're at a disadvantage to assess because we haven't seen what the Attorney General has seen, we just know what intelligence officials have said publicly and also what we're hearing from sources. Evan, stay with me, because we're also joined by Miles Taylor, who was a Chief of Staff at the Department of Homeland Security under President Trump, also a lifelong Republican who is supporting Joe Biden and CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger.
Miles, I'm going to start with you on the heels of what I was just talking to Evan about. Here's what Bill Barr said about Russian election interference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: Do you accept that Russia is once again interfering in the
U.S. presidential election?
BARR: I accept that there are some preliminary activity that suggests that they might try again.
BLITZER: Well, what does that mean?
BARR: Well, that's all I'm saying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: OK. So he's saying that they could. There are some preliminary suggestions they could. But isn't Russia already interfering right now as we speak by pushing out disinformation online to undermine America's confidence in the system?
MILES TAYLOR, FORMER TRUMP OFFICIAL; ENDORSED BIDEN: Yes. I would say that to suggest the Attorney General was downplaying Russian interference is not nearly harsh enough. I mean, I really think that this is the type of head in the sand sort of comments we need to be worried about when it comes to the elections.
Now, I want to give the Attorney General the benefit of the doubt when he referenced China. I mean, if the Attorney General was talking about the broader counterintelligence threat from these countries, absolutely, he's correct, it's China. But that certainly wasn't Wolf's question. Wolf's question was on election security.
And for the Attorney General to say that China is a bigger threat on election security really demands more clarification. He doesn't have to reveal sensitive sources and methods, but we need to hear more from the Attorney General.
As Evan just noted, the nation's top counterintelligence official, Bill Evanina, a true patriot came out and laid this out in detail relatively recently. Since that time though, we've seen disturbing things from political appointees in this administration downplaying the Russia threat and playing up the threat from China, which again, coincidentally or perhaps not, the Chinese seem to be doing things that are unfavorable for the President while the Russians seem to be doing things that are favorable towards his reelection efforts.
So I think that's something to be concerned about. We have the report today that my former department, the Department of Homeland Security, may have sat on intelligence for a number of weeks or months regarding attempts by the Russians to interfere, to damage Joe Biden's campaign.
And then second, we've seen the Director of National Intelligence say they're not going to provide in-person briefings on election security. Americans would be right to be worried about this.
BROWN: Yes. You were alluding to this that bulletin from Homeland Security where according to ABC News it was withheld. And the bulletin said that Russia was trying to put out a disinformation about Joe Biden. Gloria, but let's just talk about this big picture, right? It's interesting, because Bill Barr said he views China as more engage in trying to influence Americans ahead of the election than Russia.
[19:25:03]
As we've been saying, I certainly haven't spoken with any intelligence source privately that thinks China is worse than Russia. Publicly, officials haven't said that, but in terms of saying that China is worse, it seems as though they are afraid, frankly, to call out Russia for once again meddling in the election.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, let's just say in this post COVID world in which the President has been looking for someone to blame for his own issues and not dealing with COVID earlier, China is enemy number one. And obviously there's a lot to blame China for, but what the President wants to do and I think what you saw the Attorney General do today somewhat disingenuously is say, I know better, China is really the place we have to fear.
And don't forget, this isn't an administration that was praising China at the beginning of COVID. The President of the United States was saying that Xi was doing a terrific job, suddenly now it's flipped and so China is enemy number one. And maybe Russia is an enemy, but the reason they don't want to talk about that, of course, is that the intelligence shows, as you've all been saying, that Russia wants to hurt Joe Biden and help Donald Trump.
BROWN: And it goes back to the very beginning, right, Evan, as we reported on extensively in 2016, 2017 and beyond about how officials know that the President is very sensitive when it comes to any Russian intelligence about election interference.
PEREZ: Yes. He is very sensitive because he believes that it undermines or it calls into question the legitimacy of his presidency. And, Pamela, one of the things that I was struck by in the Attorney General's interview with Wolf Blitzer was he described what happened in 2016 in terms that were sort of antiseptic. He is basically trying to say that there was an assessment that the Russians wanted to help Donald Trump get elected. But he didn't say that he believed that assessment.
And I think that is very, very telling and one of the reasons why the attorney general has John Durham, a prosecutor looking into the original intelligence that went into that, because he really doesn't believe that. And I think because the President doesn't believe that, the Attorney General doesn't believe that.
BROWN: Let's also talk about - oh, go ahead, Gloria.
BORGER: Well, I'll just say here also he tried to make excuses for the President using the word treason. And he said, well, that's a technical term. Technically, it's not treason, but I think what the President is saying is that people were out to get him and he has a right to feel frustrated about it, so he continues to make excuses.
TAYLOR: Pamela, can I have one more thing on that? When I was in the administration, there was palpable fear among members of the Cabinet to call out Russian interference that we very clearly knew was happening. They were worried they would lose their jobs.
BROWN: Right. That's the point.
TAYLOR: There was an incident where the President at one point threatened to fire one of our top intelligence officials, because that official agreed with the public intelligence community assessment on Russia threatened to fire that individual, because they agreed with the assessment. I mean, that's the culture of fear they created around this.
BROWN: That's really important context. Before I let you go, I want to talk about mail-in ballots because the Attorney General was also really in lockstep with the President on that. He had this strong criticism of expanding voting by mail for the presidential election, something as we know, the President has been a vocal critic of in part because he believes it will help Democrats. This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARR: This is playing with fire. This is playing with fire. We're very closely divided country here and if people have to have confidence in the results of the election and the legitimacy of the government, and people trying to change the rules to this methodology, which as a matter of logic is very open to fraud and coercion is reckless and dangerous and people are playing with fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And we know, Gloria, at least four states and the District of Columbia have now changed the rules in their states where they send out mail-in ballots to people in addition to the five that already had that in place. He's saying this is playing with fire, in part because the nation, these additional states isn't - they are not equipped to handle the unprecedented number of ballots expected this year. Does he have a point? What do you think about that (inaudible) ...
BORGER: No, he doesn't have a point. He says it's dangerous. I mean, he works for President of the United States who came out today and said people ought to vote twice to check out the system. I mean, how can you say that. And then he said, well, it's commonsense and it's logic. Those are the two words he uses. He doesn't have any proof. He doesn't know for sure. Every piece of information we have says that voting by ballot is completely safe.
[19:30:02]
Yes, they're going to be overloaded. It's going to take time to count them, and people will just have to be patient.
BROWN: Yes. And it's interesting, Evan, really quickly, an FBI official, his own agency under the Justice Department, said last week there's no indication of a coordinated effort, voter effort to tamper with vote by mail or cause fraud. Wouldn't that be DOJ's job to prevent fraud?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That would be their job. And I could tell you that the attorney general, if he tried to go to court with this idea that, you know, by logic or just by -- have this feeling that it's true, a judge would kick him out. You cannot go in there without any evidence.
And this is a very serious thing that the attorney general is doing, which is to undermine people's view and people's confidence in the system, which is what he says is a certain to him. But he's actually doing that by virtue of these comments.
BROWN: All right. Evan Perez, Miles Taylor, Gloria Borger, thank you for that interesting discussion. Appreciate it.
OUTFRONT next, Joe Biden set to travel to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to meet with Jacob Blake's family. His message to them. A senior adviser joins me up next.
Also, a CNN special report on one of the toughest decisions facing millions of parents across the country. Should they send their kids back to school during a deadly pandemic? We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:35:14]
BROWN: Well, tonight, Joe Biden is calling for the police officers involved in the Jacob Blake shooting to be charged. The former vice president preparing -- is preparing to meet the Blake family in Kenosha, Wisconsin, tomorrow, and he's accusing President Trump of stoking violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I believe the vast majority of the community at writ large as well as law enforcement want to straighten things out, not inflame things. But this president keeps throwing gasoline in the fire every place he goes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And OUTFRONT now, Symone Sanders, senior adviser to the Biden campaign.
Nice to see you, Symone.
So, what will Joe Biden's message be when he meets with the Blake family tomorrow?
SYMONE SANDERS, SENIOR ADVISER, JOE BIDEN CAMPAIGN: Thank you for having me tonight, Pamela? So, look, tomorrow Vice President Biden is going to Wisconsin. He will visit Kenosha, he will do a local stop and meet with the family.
And when he meets with the family, he's going to share a message similar to the messages they have shared in the phone conversations. And that overarching message is I am here for you, we stand with you. And you can also expect that he will most certainly just thank Ms. Jackson for the words she has said. She has repeatedly from the beginning, her family has throughout the situation called for calm, called for healing and noted that she's praying for the country, she's praying for Kenosha, she's praying for the police officers and she's praying for the community.
BROWN: The mayor of Kenosha told me earlier this week that he wanted Joe Biden and President Trump for that matter to wait until visiting. He said that Joe Biden should wait until next week.
Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR JOHN ANTARAMIAN (D), KENOSHA, WISCONSIN: It's just too soon for the president having to come here at this point in time. I would say it's a little soon for the vice president also.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So, given the concern, Symone, from the mayor, should Biden consider postponing this trip?
SANDERS: Well, look, we've heard the concerns of folks on the ground, and we've also heard from people who are looking forward to seeing Vice President Biden in the state.
The difference here is, Pamela, because to be clear there is a difference, President Trump came to Kenosha, and he didn't meet with the community. He didn't bring folks together. He further delivered and cemented his message that was squarely focused on him.
Vice President Biden is going to Wisconsin to do what he does best, listen to people, engage the community, hear their concerns and also share how he can be a partner in helping, you know, heal these divides in this country.
BROWN: I want to ask you about the Attorney General Bill Barr. He did an interview earlier on CNN with my colleague Wolf Blitzer, and he talked about Joe Biden. And he said that Joe Biden shouldn't call for police officers to be charged before we know what the facts are. He was particularly talking about the Jacob Blake case.
What is your response to that?
SANDERS: Yes, I did see the attorney general on his press tour earlier today. Our response to that is this, look, what vice -- let's be clear about what Vice President Biden said. He noted there is a process here that the justice system has to play out, and we need to get all the facts. But given everything that's he's seen, and specifically he was asked a question about the Breonna Taylor, and said, given what he has seen and what he knows that those officers should be charged, letting justice play out.
But the reality is -- and also he mentioned Jacob Blake, what is happening and we know there's an investigation. Vice President Biden from the beginning has called for that investigation to be thorough. And we will wait the fact of what the Attorney General of Wisconsin has to say.
But let's be very clear here, that, you know, Attorney General Bill Barr, he was on the trip that President Trump went on, the campaign trip tour, if you will, that he went on earlier this week to Kenosha. There were no talks about healing the community. There were no talks ability bringing folks together. There were no talks about how we can further make sure that the justice system truly lives up to its creed of equal protection under the law, equal justice under the law for everyone in this country on that trip.
So, I -- we're not going to take advice from Bill Barr on how to effectively engage in this moment. Let's just say that.
BROWN: And Bill Barr was impressed by Wolf on whether he believes there was systemic racism in police forces across the country. And Bill Barr dismissed that idea, that black people are treated differently by law enforcement than white people. This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[19:40:00]
WILLIAM BARR, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think the narrative that the police are on some epidemic of shooting unarmed black men is simply a false narrative, and also the narrative that that's based on race. The fact of the matter, it's very rare for an unarmed African-American to be shot by a white police officer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And he went on to repeat he doesn't believe there's systemic racism in police departments.
Your reaction?
SANDERS: Well, Pamela, look, I think as Vice President Biden said earlier today, the vast majority of law enforcement officials in this country, the men and women that put on that shield every single day and go out to protect and serve communities large and small, urban and rural, those are good folks.
Those are individuals that, again, they got into -- they wanted to be police officers, they wanted to be law enforcement officials to serve, to make their communities a better place. But the facts are very clear. There are more than a few instances in this country where we have seen a pattern of unarmed African-American and Latino people in this country who have been -- lost their lives, lost their lives in an encounter with a police officer.
So, that means that we have some work to do. But the truth here is, Pamela, that law enforcement officials in this country that also want to do that work, that want to make it better.
I harken back to the conversation that Vice President Biden had during the Democratic national convention. There was a conversation had that night about racial justice. And Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo was in that conversation, saying we have to get this right, we have to come together. It's going to take all of us.
So, I would encourage Bill Barr and President Trump and the entirety of the Trump administration to be about the business of uniting this country, to put a plan together, to lead. And it's just something they haven't been able to do.
But I will tell you as I've said before, where Donald Trump will not step up, Joe Biden will.
BROWN: All right. Symone Sanders, thank you so much.
SANDERS: Thank you.
BROWN: OUTFRONT up next, Trump focusing on fear to win over voters. But is it working?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think at a local level, our law enforcement has been handcuffed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Plus, Germany now certain that one of Putin's toughest critics was poisoned with a nerve agent and is calling it a crime. How will the U.S. respond?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:31:19]
BROWN: Tonight, President Trump is warning the suburbs are descending into chaos, hoping that message will resonate with voters. But is it working?
Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT in Ohio.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump is seizing on the suburbs as a weapon in his fight with Joe Biden.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He will totally destroy the beautiful suburbs, suburbia will be no longer.
ZELENY: But here in Ohio, these sprawling communities have long been changing. Just ask Angie Jenkins.
ANGIE JENKINS, PRESIDENT, REYNOLDSBURG CITY COUNCIL: I have no idea what he's talking about because the suburbs are not what they were in the '60s.
ZELENY: Jenkins is the new city council president of Reynoldsburg, just outside Columbus. She and two other black women were elected last year, in part, as a reaction to Trump.
JENKINS: I do feel like he's trying to fear on people. But people know what we've had for the last four years and what he has been as a president.
ZELENY: Nine weeks before Election Day, the suburbs are part of critical battleground Ohio, a state won in 2016 by 8 percentage points. This time front yards showing new signs of division from "All Lives Matter" to "Black Lives Matter" from Trump to Biden, often on the same block.
Ed Paxton in the cigar shop in the nearby town of Delaware.
ED PAXTON, OHIO VOTER: Some people love him, some hate him.
ZELENY: His view of Trump has improved over the last four years and believes the president's law and order message will resonate with some voters in both camps.
PAXTON: It is Trump's America, but I think at a local level, our law enforcement has been handcuffed.
ZELENY: John Murphy, an iron worker who dropped by to pick up a cigar, disagrees. He says the summer unrest is justified.
JOHN MURPHY, OHIO VOTER: When people are dying for no reason other than the color of their skin, they have a right to be angry.
ZELENY (on camera): You think President Trump's trying to scare people?
MURPHY: Absolutely. I think that's his main tactic.
ZELENY (voice-over): Stephanie Pyser believes the scare tactics won't work, particularly on women awakened to politics because of Trump.
STEPHANIE PYSER, CO-FOUNDER, POSITIVELY BLUE: It's pretty obvious what the future's going to look like under Trump, which scares a lot of women.
ZELENY: After Trump won in 2016, she helped form a group in the Republican-leaning suburbs called Positively Blue, recruiting women to run for office and become more politically aware.
PYSER: We're not going to convert any Trump supporters, but finding those people on the fence, the independents and Republicans that are just fed up with the way that our country has been run.
ZELENY: Not long ago, many Democrats believe the state is out of reach, but the coronavirus crisis and economic fallout changed that. Plus, Biden is a known quantity, after being a partner on the Obama ticket that twice carried Ohio.
That's why the Trump campaign is trying to rebrand Biden. Among some Republicans, at least, it may be working. GINA HEFFNER, OHIO VOTER: Democratic Party is not what it used to be
and it's extremely liberal, and I think it's scary. I think it's got a very socialist vibe. And I think our country will be in great danger.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY: Now, talking to so many voters over the last couple of days, one thing was clear one Republican told me, look, Joe Biden doesn't scare me. The Democratic Party does. But on the Democratic side, they said they are excited by Joe Biden but more excited to defeat Donald Trump.
There's no question the Trump campaign paying serious attention to Ohio. They've already reserved $5.6 million in ads in the month of September. They know no Republican has won the White House without carrying Ohio -- Pamela.
BROWN: There's a good reason they're paying so much attention to Ohio.
Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much.
And also tonight, we're learning that Russian opposition leader was poisoned with a chemical nerve agent.
[19:50:04]
That is according to the German government of who's now condemning the attack that nearly killed Alexei Navalny. He fell ill while on a flight last month.
Matthew Chance is OUTFRONT tonight from Moscow with more on this.
So, Matthew, the Germans say this was a nerve agent. What are you learning?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right. They say it a nerve agent and identified it as Novichok, which is a very powerful chemical nerve agent which the Russians have been accused in the past of using against enemies back in 2018 in the British city of Salisbury. Sergei Skripal, who was a Russian spy, he defected to the British, was poisoned with his daughter causing an international sort of outcry. The British authorities pointing the finger of blame squarely at the Kremlin, even identifying two individuals they say were Russian agents of the GRU, Russian military intelligence who actually carried out the poisoning.
The fact Novichok has been linked with the Navalny poisoning case is for many people compelling evidence the Kremlin is behind it. Associates of Alexei Navalny saying this is the same of Vladimir Putin essentially autographing the scene of the crime, or the Kremlin have a long history of rejecting any allegations of malign activity like this. This is no exception. The Kremlin saying as far as they are concerned, no toxic substances were found on Alexei Navalny before he went on the aircraft to Germany. The Russian foreign ministry is accusing Germany of megaphone
diplomacy and indeed of lying outright about Novichok to make Russia look bad, Pam.
BROWN: And Angela Merkel also is saying, of course, that Navalny is the victim of a crime. What is the response from the U.S.?
CHANCE: Good question. Well, I mean, look, you mentioned Angela Merkel there. There has been, you know, kind of other remarks coming from leaders of other countries like Britain, France as well. There is a statement from the national security counsel saying the United States will work to hold those in Russia accountable for the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, but there's been a sort of noticeable lack of condemnation from President Trump perhaps that may fuel that suspicion that exists that the president is reluctant to criticize Vladimir Putin even when it comes to something as awful as this, Pam.
BROWN: All right. Matthew Chance live in Moscow for us. Thank you, Matthew.
And OUTFRONT next, a CNN special report on the struggle that so many parents are now facing. Should they send their kids back to school?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:56:40]
BROWN: Well, all week long, we are looking at what we know and don't about the coronavirus and it's immense impact. As the school year begins, millions of families are facing a difficult choice.
Bianna Golodryga is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISABELA AYBAR, STUDENT: I feel so happy that I want to explode.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (voice-over): For 5-year-old Isabela and her 13-year-old brother Kelvin, going back to school is a long-awaited return to some form of normalcy.
KELVIN ESPINAL, STUDENT: It's like the school 8:00 to 2:20, I'll learn more.
GOLODRYGA: Like millions of other students across the country, remote learning has been a struggle for the Brooklyn, New York siblings.
KARLA MONCADA, MOTHER: I had so much stress getting my daughter to learn and not learning and she cry most of the time. My son, he distracted himself by talking to his peers and playing on the computer.
GOLODRYGA: But returning to in person instruction is not about risk. Their mother Karla suffered a probable case of COVID-19 in the spring when tests were scarce. She said her asthma made her recovery much more difficult. MONCADA: It was very scary. I thought I was going to die. So I don't
wish that to anybody.
GOLODRYGA: She worries about sending her children back to school, especially Isabela who also has asthma but says the alternative, another semester online would be even worse.
MONCADA: I don't have a choice but its either, you know, try to get her into this education phase that she is going through that is so essential or, you know, just stay at home and do the same thing that we did last time.
GOLODRYGA: Two-thirds of the 100 largest school districts in the country are starting the school year entirely online.
EMILY OSTER, AUTHOR, "EXPECTING BETTER": School reopening is really important for our society. It's not that I think we should reopen at all costs, but I think that trying to do this safely in places where we can do it safely seems just really important for kids, for getting people back to work, for the mental health of parents, for learning.
GOLODRYGA: As doctors continue to study how susceptible children are to the coronavirus and whether they transmit the disease as easily as adults, dozens of schools that reopened have already experienced outbreaks and thousands of students and teachers have been forced to quarantine just weeks into the school year. Some teachers' unions have fought against returning to in person learning, threatening not to return to the classroom unless additional safety measures are taken.
BECKY PRINGE, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: We cannot open our school buildings unless it is safe.
GOLODRYGA: For parents like Karla, still haunted by scenes like this one in a Georgia high school where packed hallways full of maskless students led to positive cases and a school shutdown, the decision to send her kids back to school wasn't an easy one, proof that there are no easy choices in a pandemic.
MONCADA: We tried this. Let's see how this works.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: The New York City school district, the largest in the country and one of the few to resume in person classes, has announced a delayed start to the year. After weeks of push back for increased safety measures from the city's powerful teachers' union, more than 1 million students are set to resume classes either one to three days a week beginning September 21st. It will be a major test to the city, one that the entire country will be closely following.
Among those set to start closes are Isabela and Kelvin -- Pam.
BROWN: All right. Bianna, thank you so much.
"AC360" starts now.
