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Biden & Harris to Appear Together in Delaware. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 12, 2020 - 06:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Democratic ticket is set with Joe Biden selecting California senator Kamala Harris as his running mate.

[05:59:10]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is Joe Biden's race to lose. He felt like she was the best person to lead come January 2021 if he wins.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: In Kamala Harris, he has someone who's tough, who's run for president, and who's seen as being ready for the job.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: COVID cases among children jumped 90 percent over the last four weeks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE; When school starts, we think we're going to see an explosion of cases in September that will far surpass what we saw after Memorial Day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would think objectively, anyone looking at this would see it as a disaster.

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ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Wednesday, August 12, 6 a.m. here in New York. Alisyn is off, Erica Hill completely in charge this morning.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Wow.

BERMAN: You like that?

HILL: John Berman, you just became my new favorite person. I mean, you were on the list, but you're at the top now.

BERMAN: All right. It is, in fact, a big day, an historic day, a day of firsts. For the first time, you'll see Joe Biden and Kamala Harris appear together as running mates. That happens in just a few hours. Senator Harris is the first black woman, the first Asian-American,

period, to appear on a major party ticket. This morning, we have brand-new details about how Biden decided on Senator Harris, why he selected Harris, what she brings to the ticket, as the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants. What that says about the face of America.

Also, new information about the generous financial support provided to her campaigns by White House staffer Ivanka Trump and her father.

HILL: We also have a series of developments related to the coronavirus pandemic. ESPN reporting the Big 12 conference will move forward for the fall football season. That official decision expected to be announced this morning. Meanwhile, the Big 10 and PAC 12 conferences announcing they will not play this fall.

On the vaccine front, Russia's claim of a new coronavirus vaccine being met with widespread skepticism. Dr. Anthony Fauci expressing his serious doubts about its safety and effectiveness.

And another sobering milestone in the U.S. New single-day highs for reported coronavirus deaths in Florida and Georgia.

We begin our coverage with CNN's Arlette Saenz, who's live in Wilmington, Delaware, where Biden and Harris will appear together today.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Erica.

Well, after a months-long search process and interviews with these contenders, Joe Biden made his decision, selecting Kamala Harris as his running mate.

In announcing that decision, Biden said that Harris is the best person to help him take the fight to President Trump and Mike Pence, and he hopes to join him as a partner in the White House.

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SAENZ (voice-over): With election day 83 days away, the Democratic ticket is now set with an historic pairing. Joe Biden selecting California Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, telling her the news during a Zoom call from his Delaware home.

The two faced off last year in the Democratic primary, including this heated debate moment over school busing.

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): And she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.

SAENZ: But Biden insists he doesn't hold grudges and chose a former rival who's done battle on the campaign trail.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Senator Harris has the capacity to be anything she wants to be. I mean this sincerely. She's solid. She is -- she can be a president someday herself. HARRIS: And Joe Biden is on the ballot in 2020!

SAENZ: Campaigning together in Detroit this spring, Biden portrayed himself as a link to the next generation, including Harris.

BIDEN: I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else. There's an entire generation of leaders you saw stand behind me. They are the future of this country.

SAENZ: Harris' early career included a stint as district attorney in San Francisco before serving after California's attorney general. In 2016, she was elected to the U.S. Senate, where she rose in prominence for her grilling of President Trump's nominees.

HARRIS: Can you think of any laws that give the government the power to make decisions about the male body?

SAENZ: The 55-year-old Democrat is one of only three women to appear in the V.P. slot for a major party ticket, following Democrat Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Republican Sarah Palin in 2008.

But Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, is making history of her own, becoming the first woman of color as a vice- presidential nominee.

On the campaign trail, parents often brought their young daughters to see a biracial woman vying for the nation's top job.

HARRIS: When I see those little girls in particular, I mean, I see myself, right? And I see the children of my family. And I see the children of our country.

SAENZ: Harris also shared a special bond with Biden's late son, Beau, the two becoming close when they each served as attorneys general in their home states.

HARRIS: I got to know Joe through Beau. Because you've never seen -- it's a rare thing to see such a special relationship between a father and his son. I know Joe. And that's why I'm supporting him.

SAENZ: Biden telling supporters Tuesday, "There is no one's opinion I valued more than Beau's, and I'm proud to have Kamala standing with me on this campaign."

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SAENZ: Now, we're told President Obama served as a sounding board to Biden in his decision, and he was quick to praise Harris as the running mate. He tweeted, "I've known Senator Kamala Harris for a long time. She is more than prepared for the job. She's spent her career defending our Constitution and fighting for folks who need a fair shake."

[06:05:07]

He added, "This is a good day for our country. Now let's go win this thing."

Biden and Harris will appear together here in Wilmington, Delaware, where they will deliver remarks later today, as they have their first appearance as the Democratic ticket -- John.

BERMAN: That in and of itself, the mechanics of how that will work during the pandemic. We're all fascinated to see that play out in addition to all the history here. Arlette Saenz, terrific reporting. Please keep us posted if you see or hear anything in the next few minutes.

All right. Joining us now, CNN senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson; CNN political correspondent Abby Phillip; and CNN political producer Jasmine Wright, who was embedded with Senator Harris during her presidential campaign.

Nia, I want to start with you, because I'm fascinated by the coverage of this pick this morning, because it is being portrayed as historic, groundbreaking, and safe. How can it be all three things at the very same time?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I've been on the record talking about how some of the idea is that picking an African-American woman, picking an Asian-American woman is safe, because, you know, history just doesn't bear that out. This is an historic pick, if you look throughout history.

Very few African-American women have ascended to these heights in politics. Senate seats, for instance, a governor's seat, no black woman governor in the history of this country.

So I don't think it's a safe pick. I think it's a smart pick for Joe Biden for all sorts of reasons. It's a bold pick, but it's also a risky pick in some ways.

If you think about where we were in 2016, and the ways in which we know what Donald Trump likes to do. And that is play on white anxiety, stir up white fear of a rising demographic. And obviously, somebody like Kamala Harris embodies this kind of new America that everybody is talking about.

And you saw him sort of relying on some of that language yesterday when he talked about Kamala Harris, called her, I think, one of the most powerful people and very mean and nasty. And they're clearly going to try to frame her as this sort of radical, dangerous threat to the country. The person on the ticket who is really wearing the pants on the ticket and not sort of Uncle Joe, the nice white man who's at the top of the ticket.

So in that way, you know, it's a bit risky. And we'll see how voters respond. It's a smart pick, because they also know, they have focus grouped this, and they have seen from Kamala Harris' own campaign that she does appeal to a broad range of voters. Not only African- Americans, but white suburban women, as well. College-educated women. And we know that those folks are going to be so important to Joe Biden, the coalition that he's going to need to put together in order to beat Donald Trump.

HILL: And just to pick up on that point, Abby, what I think is also fascinating as we look at the pick in 2020 versus what we've seen in the past is, this wasn't really about a geographic need for Joe Biden, right? It's not about the state of California. It was more about, what does Kamala Harris bring to this ticket, and how does she better reflect what the country actually is in 2020?

PHILLIP: Yes. Joe Biden does not need help winning California, but it does tell you something about whether or not the map is the dominant issue here for Joe Biden in picking his running mate that he picked someone from the west, from the western part of the country, from a very liberal part of the country. He went ahead and did that for a lot of other reasons.

And Nia hit on one of them. One of them is her broad appeal. It is not just that she's a black woman and black women, specifically, are the cornerstone of the Democratic electorate, powering Joe Biden into the nomination in the first place.

But it's also that, throughout the primary -- and I watched this as I covered her in the primary and saw her campaign operating on the ground in places like Iowa -- that they've believed that she had, really, a more resonant appeal also with suburban white women, middle- aged suburban white women, who are also part of this coalition Democrats are trying to put together.

So it is not, obviously, just about electoral concerns. And I think most people know, at this point, that vice-presidential picks, you -- the impact on the electoral map is really kind of a wash at that point. It's really more about doubling down on some kind of narrative about what this ticket is about.

And I think what Joe Biden wants to say is that this ticket is about the future of the country, the future of the Democratic Party, and -- and he wants to really double down on this idea that women are going to be the heart and soul of the campaign going forward and have been a key weakness for President Trump throughout his presidency.

[06:10:13]

BERMAN: Lyndon Johnson in 1960 was the last running mate, in all likelihood, that did anything to deliver a state. It's bene a long time since that was an issue. So obviously, this pick is meant to do more or something different than that.

And I was struck by a Facebook post from Senator Harris yesterday that really almost received no attention in the midst of everything else in the selection. I want to read from this, because I think this gives us a sense of the framing of the pick. This is what Senator Harris wrote: "My mom and dad, like so many other immigrants, came to this country

for an education. My mother from India and my dad from Jamaica. And the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s brought them together. Some of my earliest memories are from that time: My parents being attacked by police with hoses, fleeing for safety, with me strapped tightly in my stroller. That spirit of activism is why my mother, Shyamala, will always tell my sister and me, 'Don't just sit around and complain about things. Do something.' I know that winning this race will be tougher than anything I've faced before, but I've never been more ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work. Donald Trump thinks this country belongs to him, but Joe Biden knows it belongs to all of us, to the people. And together the people are going to take it back."

So that was a message clearly written in a direct way from Senator Harris, I'm sure with the help of Biden campaign.

Jasmine, along those line, you have a job, I think, which is the best job in America. You were the embed or the off-air reporter with the Harris campaign when she was running for president. I had that job with George W. Bush in 2000. You see things that no one else sees. You saw how Senator Harris interacted with people on the campaign trail.

How did she connect with people? Who did she connect with the most?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: That's exactly right. And Senator Harris has that raw political talent that can command a stage on a debate stage, but also in small rooms in Iowa or in large auditoriums in New Hampshire.

And when I traveled with her during the primary, I saw how she would gravitate to women of color, to people who looked like her, how she would grasp their hands, how she would look them in the eye while they were describing their experience in America; while they were describing their experience of being immigrants, being black, being this type of other in this country. Things that she can relate to, as a black woman, as a woman of South Asian descent, as a daughter of immigrants.

And so you really saw her connecting to the focus -- you know, I also covered Senator Klobuchar, and I never saw more people of color than at Senator Harris' rallies. So you really saw her connecting to the folks in those rooms, but also, she was actively seeking them out. She actively created content for Indian-Americans. She actively created content for black women, to engage with them in their campaign.

And they would gravitate to her, and she would gravitate to them, really, by offering her own experiences as a woman of color in this country, but also by accepting and acknowledging and listening, truly, truly listening while looking them in their eyes, while they described their own experiences in this country.

And that will prove to be helpful to Joe Biden, as they seek, as Abby said, to make women essential part of the campaign and make the person -- people of color's experience an essential part of the campaign in November.

HILL: And Nia-Malika, I think we see some of that, too, just in the Facebook post that Don -- that John just brought up, right? At the end when she talks about that this country belongs to all of us, to all the people. Together the people are going to take it back. We know that's the message here, right, to counter what we're seeing from Donald Trump and the Republican ticket. But it's remarkable, too, that it's not just that she is the first

black woman. She's an Indian-American woman, She's the daughter of immigrants. Her age is also important here. She's young. And that is going to make a difference as she is out there engaging with people in the ways that Jasmine just reflected on.

HENDERSON: And listen, we're going to have a different campaign, because we're in the era of COVID. She's likely not going to be able to make those kind of connections, kind of hand-to-hand hand shaking with voters out there because of where we are.

But she can break through on television, too. I think she understands social media. She understands viral moments, how to create those viral moments, unlike a lot of people we've seen in this role before. So I think that is going to be to her credit and do some good.

And yes, I think if you think about what Joe Biden has said he wants to do, unite the country and restore the soul of America, that is a message that Kamala Harris can carry. That is a message that -- that Kamala Harris has fought for her entire life. She talked about her parents being involved in the civil rights movement, being in some of those rallies out in California, a fight for social justice that goes back decades in this country.

[06:15:09]

So this is the language she knows is native to what she has done her entire life. So she'll certainly be an asset for what Joe Biden's overarching campaign message is. Healing the country, uniting the country, and making everyone feel like they're a part of this broad and diverse country.

BERMAN: Nia-Malika Henderson, Abby Phillip, Jasmine Wright, thank you all for being with us this morning. We have much more to discuss over the next few hours about this pick and how it came to pass and what it means. So we really appreciate you being here this morning.

The race for an effective vaccine for coronavirus, it's on, after Russia's big claim. So how soon could the United States get in this game? We'll discuss, next.

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HILL: Florida and Georgia again setting new records for coronavirus deaths reported in a single day. Meantime, that Georgia high school that made national news after this photo of a crowded hallway went viral, the school is supposed to announce today how they plan to reopen after a coronavirus outbreak there.

[06:20:16]

Joining us now, William Haseltine. He's chairman and president of Access Health International, a former professor at Harvard Medical School, and he's also the author of the new book, "A COVID Back-to- School Guide." So based on all of that, I'm wondering. We're waiting on this plan,

right, from North Paulding High School. How would you advise they reopen safely?

WILLIAM HASELTINE, CHAIRMAN/PRESIDENT, ACCESS HEALTH INTERNATIONAL: There are simple rules for reopening schools. The first is, what is the level of infection in your own ZIP code, in your area, and the people who work at the school. That's the first rule.

The second rule is, are there any people who are at risk in your community? You, your student, your parents, your grandparents, and school administrators?

And the third is what precautions you're actually taking. When you look at those pictures in Georgia, you know they weren't taking the right precautions. And it is not surprising, in a high-risk, high- infected area that people aren't taking precautions, that a lot of people get infected and students, too. They'd better do a lot better than they've done before if they're planning to reopen.

BERMAN: Professor, I think you caught a lot of our attention when you declared the other night that kids can spread coronavirus just like they do the common cold, because we know -- every parent knows -- just how much kids spread the cold.

HASELTINE: That's true. This is a cold virus. We've known about these cold viruses. It's a cold virus that can kill. That's the difference.

But in other respects, how it infects, how it's transmitted, who gets it is very, very similar. And the more we study this virus and the way it interacts with our body, we know something else that's relevant to the vaccines that are being talked about today. And that is, this virus comes back and re-infects exactly the same person.

It's not like polio, you get it and you're protected for life. It is a virus that can fool your immune system. And we're still trying to struggle to learn what that means for vaccines and what that means for the epidemic. But we know it can come back.

HILL: So then speaking to that point, when we look at this vaccine that Russia is now touting, that we don't have the data on. There has been plenty of healthy skepticism, and I'm guessing you would add your voice to that.

What does that do then, when you have Russia putting out this information, what does that do even to people's perception of a vaccine? What it could do, when it should be available?

HASELTINE: Well, the first thing to say is the Russians don't have a vaccine, as Dr. Fauci said. They have a vaccine candidate, and there are about 25 candidates that are far ahead of what the Russians have done.

You have to look at where it came from, who is touting it, and why they're doing it. First of all, it came from a bioweapons laboratory. That's where it

actually came from. There's a book be Ken Alibek called "Biohazard," which shows how Gorbachev ramped up biological warfare capabilities in Russia. And Vektor, with a "K," is a laboratory from which it came.

Secondly, the spokesperson who appeared on your channel has nothing to do with vaccines. He's a Stanford/Harvard-educated Russian who's back in Russia. He's been running an investment fund, a $10 billion investment fund. He's done a lot of work for the Putin administration for years. He was involved in the Seychelles scandal over the election last year. This is not a scientist. This is a political operative.

BERMAN: Professor, I think I heard you say that the name of this vaccine, which the Russians are calling Sputnik V for vaccine, you think it should be called Afghanistan 2. Why?

HASELTINE: I think it should be called Afghanistan 2, because it's going to be a foreign policy folly.

If you look at what happened in Afghanistan, it was a real disaster for the -- for the Russian state. It was basically intended to be a foreign adventure that gave them access to the sea. This is another move that the Russians are doing, not well-founded, not well-thought- out, and not safe, either for them or for the world.

HILL: Before we let you go, as we look at what people are waiting for, right? As we wait for more of that guidance on this school in Georgia today, there are kids already back in school. There are schools getting ready to launch, some of them with a hybrid model, and there are new questions every day.

Can you safely go back with full capacity, as we saw, like that high school in Georgia? Is there a way to do that with maybe a split schedule, with a hybrid learning plan?

HASELTINE: There are surely ways to do that. And it depends upon how well the infection is controlled in your immediate area.

Infection is local. It doesn't jump from California to New York without people being there. So the first thing you have to know as a parent, sending a kid to school, is how many people in your immediate area have been infected. And our book gives you a guide to that.

[06:25:13]

The second thing you have to know as a parent is, is my child at higher risk? Is there an immunocompromised person? Is there a child with serious asthma? Is there a person at home who's obese or has heart disease? Those are really important questions.

And then what Georgia didn't do, it's really important for parents to know all the procedures the schools are doing. And you know, look, around the country, at what people are doing. And many of them are dividing children into pods. They're making sure they wear masks. They're keeping them at a certain distance. And then there's different rules for different age groups. What you

can do for a high school isn't quite the same as what you can do for an elementary school or even a daycare center. All these are big questions that people are looking at, and there are things you can do in each of those settings that can keep people safer. And that's what you have to look at. What are the specifics? This is a very specific thing.

HILL: William Haseltine, appreciate your expertise, as always. Thank you.

HASELTINE: You're welcome. Thank you.

HILL: Up next, just who is Kamala Harris? We explore her rise to the national spotlight and now her place as Joe Biden's running mate.

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