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Quest Means Business
Donald Trump Officially Accepts The Republican Nomination For President; Dow Jumps After Trump Pushes Plasma Treatment; U.S. Gulf Coast Braces For Back-To-Back Storms; U.S. Government: 114 Oil & Gas Platforms Evacuated Due To Storms; U.K. Removes Croatia From Safe List As Virus Cases Rise; Regal Cinemas Reopen With New Health & Safety Policies. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired August 24, 2020 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:41]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: U.S. stocks are kicking off the week at record highs. The Dow has been in the green all day. It is comfortable
there at 236 points higher. Those are the markets and these are the reasons why.
Donald Trump officially accepts the Republican nomination for President, claiming he is the only candidate who can lead the U.S. recovery.
Stocks get a jolt as U.S. officials give the green light to a new COVID treatment.
And twin storms are barreling down on the Gulf of Mexico, bringing oil operations there to a standstill.
It is Monday, August 24th. I'm Zain Asher, in for my colleague, Richard Quest, and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Tonight, President Trump paints a picture of U.S. economic strength as he accepts the Republican nomination.
Recent job growth and a "Wall Street Journal" rebound from a central pillar of his campaign as he makes his case for four more years.
Here's what he had to say earlier in Charlotte.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We just broke our record on jobs, an all-time record. There's never been three months where we've put
more people to work, over nine million people.
And again, we're just about ready to break the all-time stock market record. I mean, you look at it. We're just about ready to do it again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: President Trump is making this week's Republican National Convention a family affair, someone with the last name Trump will basically be
speaking every single night along with a nightly appearances from the President himself.
The rest of the primetime slots will go to mainly administration figures and a few key lawmakers.
Ryan Nobles joins us live now from Charlotte. So, Ryan, explain to us, from Trump's perspective, what is his number one argument as to why he should
get four more years?
RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Zain, really the number one argument that Donald Trump offers up to voters is that he is him and
nobody can handle running the country better than Donald Trump, and he points to his record of achievements here over the past four years.
He talks about the fact that the economy in the United States was roaring prior to the coronavirus pandemic, and basically, the argument he is making
is that he is the only one that can bring the economy back to what it was like before the pandemic.
Now, of course, that ignores all the problems that he and his administration may have played a role in as the pandemic raged here across
the United States, far worse than it has in many other industrialized countries around the world.
And President Trump really, in many ways, starting to kind of sow fears among Americans about things like violence, crime, the rising angst around
economic inequality throughout the United States.
So the President's argument is, you signed me up for this job four years ago, I think I've done a good job so far. I think you need to continue to
keep me in this position to keep America going.
The question is, are voters, at least the majority of voters in the United States buying into that argument -- Zain
ASHER: And just walk us through, what does the Republican Party stand for in 2020? Because you have a somewhat diverse list of speakers tonight.
You've obviously got Tim Scott speaking. You've got Nikki Haley. They represent the more diverse elements of the Republican Party. But you also
have Donald Trump, Jr., who is really, you know, sort of appealing to the base and espousing much more rightwing views. Just explain how all of these
elements fit together.
NOBLES: Well, Zain, you could probably write a book on what does the Republican Party stand for in 2020. There are a lot of people that don't
know that for sure.
But I think the most simple answer is, the Republican Party of 2020 believes whatever Donald Trump believes, and sometimes what he believes is
all over the map and it's hard to track and find consistency with.
And you do point to the fact that there is, at least in appearance, a diverse set of speakers that are speaking tonight, Tim Scott, the
Republican Senator from South Carolina will be among the speakers.
There is a state delegate from the State of Georgia who is actually a Democrat, African-American who is going to speak tonight in support of
President Trump. A congressional candidate running in the City of Baltimore, an African-American woman who is going to speak.
They may all be African-Americans, but they continue to parrot some of the same talking points that President Trump parrots, and so even though they
may look different, they're not necessarily, you know, diverse in their thought.
This is very much the party of Donald Trump. He is going to talk about law and order, talk about defending police officers, you know, call protests in
many of these major American cities riots and say that there needs to be control brought to these areas.
[15:05:26]
NOBLES: So, you know, one of the things we've seen for sure in this slate of speakers that we're going to see here over this week of the convention
is there's a consistency there in that, as you mentioned before, they're either related to Donald Trump or they've pledged their undying loyalty to
him and that's exactly what we're going to see here tonight and in the days to come.
ASHER: All right, Ryan Nobles live for us there. Thank you so much.
The President will promise a booming economy at this week's convention, so let's look at how he has done with some of his past economic promises.
Trump guaranteed four percent annual growth during his term, but he has averaged more like 2.5 percent, and the national debt he said he would
reduce and eventually eliminate, he has actually added more than $7 trillion.
He is stuck to his promise, though, to renegotiate a number of trade agreements, but the national trade deficit rose in each of his first three
years after he said that he would lower it.
And finally, it's been a mixed bag on the jobs front. He had early success in manufacturing followed by a contraction last year. The coal mining
industry saw a net gain of about 200 jobs before losing thousands during the pandemic.
And many U.S. companies are still making their products abroad, despite Donald Trump's promises to the contrary. Few can comment on Trump's plans
quite like Stephen Moore, a member of the President's Economic Recovery Taskforce. He joins us live now from Washington, D.C.
So, Stephen, thank you so much for being with us. When you think about the U.S. economy right now, I mean, it is in shambles. I think we can all agree
on that.
Unemployment around 10 percent or so, initial jobless claims as of last week, Thursday, up more than one million again. And on top of that, a lot
of people are still not getting their $600.00 a week in terms of their unemployment insurance.
What is the President going to say tonight to really prove that Americans should trust him with the economy?
STEPHEN MOORE, MEMBER OF THE PRESIDENT'S ECONOMIC RECOVERY TASKFORCE: Well, hi, great to be with you again.
Look, I would start by answering that question that you just asked about what is the Republican Party believe in, in 2020, and what is Donald
Trump's primary message?
I think it will be, you know, to a large extent, this week, what he said that carried him to victory in 2016. The message being, putting America
first and making America great again, and that's a powerful theme, and we - - I think Donald Trump is going to say, look, I created the best economy in 30 years, up to the coronavirus and that's pretty clear.
We had the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years. We had lowest interest rates and lowest inflation in 50 years, rising wages, big increase in
manufacturing and blue-collar jobs.
But you're right, now, the situation -- I don't know if I would say our economy is in shambles, but it certainly has taken a huge hit. I mean, a
huge hit from the coronavirus.
And I think one of his central messages will be -- and I think, frankly, is something that will determine the outcome of this election, which right now
is really just about a toss-up.
I think that the question that Trump wants voters to ask is not, do you like me? Because his approval ratings in terms of his personal behavior are
not high, but which of these candidates do you think can guide us back to the economic, you know, status that we had a few years ago? And that's the
question of the day.
ASHER: So, what is his number one agenda going to be or do you think it should be if he is to be re-elected? I mean, obviously, Make America Great
Again, putting America first. Those are nice slogans, you know, they look great on bumper stickers, but what does that actually mean in practical
terms?
MOORE: Well, you know, presidential elections are bumper stickers oftentimes here in the United States. But I would say a couple of things.
I mean, first of all, you know, a line that he uses all the time is I rebuilt the American economy once and I can do it again, and that's a
fairly persuasive argument with people. You know, Trump lags behind Joe Biden on all sorts of issues.
You know, who's better on racial issues, who's better on climate change, dah-dah-dah, but the one issue where Trump, you know, surpasses Biden is
who do you think can handle the economy better?
So he is going to be playing that up big time and by the way, you mentioned something else which is a huge issue right now in the United States. It's
not so much directly an economic issue, but the whole issue of public safety, and there is a widespread disgust and fear around the country about
the rioting and the criminal activity and the looting and the arson that's happening in America's great cities.
And I think Trump is going to make a big deal out of that, that I'm the one who's going to stop this criminal activity and the Democrats seem to
applaud it.
ASHER: Just shifting gears, back to the economy, since that's what we're talking about here. One of the key issues as to why some people might not
trust Donald Trump with the economy is partly because he underestimated the threat of the coronavirus from the beginning.
Just early on, this was back in February, some of the things he said included, we have it totally under control. This is regarding COVID. It's
going to be just fine.
[15:10:24]
ASHER: Later on that month, he also said, it's going to disappear. One day, like a miracle, it's going to disappear, and here we are, four months later
with six million people infected in this country, and just under 200,000 deaths.
Based on that, based on the fact that he underestimated something so fundamental, why should he be trusted?
MOORE: Well, that's a great question, and I would -- if I were Donald Trump, I would say is a few things. I would say, first of all, I did
something at the very beginning of this pandemic that saved tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands of lives, which is something the Democrats
were totally against, which was shutting off immigration from China and some of the European countries like Italy and he was accused of being a
bigot and a xenophobe for doing that.
And thank God he did, and that was something he did even though it was highly controversial. But look, you're right. Were there mistakes made with
respect to the treatment of -- dealing with coronavirus? No question about it.
But you know, as we move into the fall, in the real heating up season of the election, we are starting to see some really good signs of the death
rate falling, the number of caseloads falling, and the hospitalizations falling.
And I do think, if Americans feel like this is under control, and who knows, this is a virus, so we don't know, but if Americans feel like, hey,
this is finally behind us, then I think Donald Trump, you know, is going to be in fairly good shape.
If we have another big outbreak of the virus, you're right, he is in big trouble because people will say, and you mishandled this.
ASHER: And finally, tonight at the Republican National Convention, you have the likes of Nikki Haley speaking. You have Senator Tim Scott speaking,
just showing that the Republican Party is trying to reach out to a more diverse group of voters.
But beyond just having minorities speak at conventions, which isn't that hard to do, how do you make sure -- how does the Republican Party make sure
and actually Donald Trump make sure that this recovery is inclusive, that all people, regardless of race, regardless of economic class, regardless of
how much they make, benefit from this recovery fairly, do you think?
MOORE: So, that's a great question, and you know, the big news of the day here in the U.S. today is a statement that Joe Biden made over the weekend,
which is just now being picked up, where Joe Biden said, look, you know, if scientists told me to, I would lock down the economy again in a national
lockdown.
That was quite a big gaffe by Joe Biden. I mean, the people who have been the biggest victims of the lockdown, you know, we've seen massive failures
of black and immigrant businesses. We've seen, you know, no question about it, the people at the bottom of the economic ladder have, by far, suffered
the most.
And so I think Trump has to basically say, look, I'm the one who wants keep our economy up and running. The Democrats are saying they may shut it down
again and that would be -- you mentioned the nine million jobs that have been created in the last three months, that's because we did open up the
economy.
So, but look, this country is totally divided right now, you know, on ideology with respect to those who want to see the most precautions
possible and those who would like to see the economy reopened, and that's going to be really the battle, I think, over the next ten weeks or so.
ASHER: Stephen Moore, always good to see you. It's been a while, actually. Good to have you on the program.
MOORE: Great to see you, too.
ASHER: Thank you so much.
MOORE: Thanks for having me.
ASHER: You're welcome. Still to come, investors appear to be encouraged by Donald Trump's latest actions on coronavirus, that and what new research
says about possible reinfections. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:16:32]
ASHER: Two big questions being asked about COVID-19 this hour, how much of a risk is reinfection? Preliminary research shows a man in Hong Kong was
the first person we know to have actually had the virus twice.
There were apparently different strains. He did not show symptoms the second time around.
Elizabeth Cohen joins us live now and she's in Atlanta. So, Elizabeth, just walk us through what this tells us about immune protection.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, let's go over some of the basics of this again because it really is an interesting story.
This is a man from Hong Kong who was diagnosed with COVID. He is 33, tested positive March 26th and then tested positive again on August 15th.
In March, he was sick with a fever, cough, headache, sore throat, for three days. However, this recent infection, he was asymptomatic.
So, the infectious disease experts that I have been talking to say two things. One, this is just one case, right? This is just one person's story.
We don't know about other people. But from this -- this one story gives us some hope that, yes, reinfection is possible, we'd rather it not be
possible.
Yes, it's possible, but look how much less severe it was the second time around. Well, it would be great to prevent all reinfection, what we're
really trying to do is prevent people from getting very sick, and in this case, it worked, and it might also have an implication for vaccines.
Vaccines, we think, mimic natural infections, so if what happened to this gentleman is any indication of what happens to other people who are re-
infected, if they are re-infected, it means that a vaccine could work.
It might not prevent you from getting re-infected but it might give you less severe disease -- Zain.
ASHER: All right, so, it's good news, the fact that he didn't show symptoms the second time around, but does this now mean that absolutely, definitely,
anybody who has already had coronavirus will almost certainly still need a vaccine?
COHEN: It absolutely does not mean that, Zain. And here's the reason why. He is a study of one. He is just one person, so first of all, we don't know
how common reinfection is.
This gentleman was caught not because he was sick, because he wasn't sick, but because he was flying back in, into an airport where they retested him.
So he was caught kind of as a fluke.
So someone really needs to study this. Someone needs to look at a large number of people who had COVID, follow them for a period of time, and see
if they turn up positive later on. So that's the first question. Are people getting re-infected or is this gentleman a fluke?
The experts I talk to say they don't think he is a fluke because this is a coronavirus and we know that people get re-infected with coronaviruses, so
it wasn't shocking to them that reinfection happens.
Secondly, you want to see what happens to other people when they get re- infected. Are they like him where it's basically nonexistent or do they get just as sick? That needs to be done in many, many more people than just
this one man.
ASHER: Yes, as you mentioned, a study of one, not exactly promising. Elizabeth Cohen, live for us there. Thank you so much.
COHEN: Thanks.
ASHER: Here in the U.S., investors got a dose of optimism after Donald Trump pushed what he calls a powerful therapy to treat COVID-19.
This is how the Dow is doing right now, and we could see the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ reach all-time highs. The treatment uses plasma from people who
have recovered from the virus. It has received emergency approval for widespread use in the U.S.
Mr. Trump and his administration say the treatment could reduce COVID mortality by 35 percent and that number appears to have come from a study
by the Mayo Clinic.
Earlier, we spoke to Dr. William Morice, the head of Mayo Clinic Labs. We asked if he felt its work was being politicized.
[15:20:10]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. WILLIAM MORICE, CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF LABORATORY MEDICINE AND PATHOLOGY, MAYO CLINIC: The medical community as a whole is really trying to rise to
the challenge of the pandemic, which has overwhelmed the globe. So here, I think what we wanted to do was strike a note of caution before we said that
the therapy had effect on patients.
We knew it was safe, their effect for patients, and so, that took longer and while we are confident and the FDA is confident that they can issue EUA
because when we look back at those 70,000 patients, we can see there is a positive effect of the treatment.
Of course, this announcement comes in the backdrop of election season, and what has really become more and more of a charged topic in general for
society for all the other effects of economic shutdown and social distancing and all those impacts those are having on our lives.
So, it does come in a very charged background, but I don't know -- the decision itself was founded in science.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: "The Financial Times" reports the Trump administration is considering fast-tracking an experimental COVID vaccine ahead of the U.S.
Election.
The vaccine is currently under development by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. To make it available, U.S. regulators would have to bypass
their normal standards and without providing any sort of evidence, Mr. Trump tweeted this, "The deep state or whoever over at the FDA is making it
very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics. Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer
until after November 3rd. We must focus on speed and saving lives."
Dr. Mark McClellan a former FDA Commissioner. He's here to make sense of all of these developments, including that tweet. He joins us live now.
Doctor, thank you so much for being with us. So, what are the consequences of politics and elections bleeding into the work the FDA does?
DR. MARK MCCLELLAN, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: Well, there are going to be politics involved in COVID response because there is just so much at stake
in terms of the economy and in terms of the health of people in the United States and around the world.
The FDA is no stranger to decisions that matter to many people, and I think the important thing here, Zain, is that the scientific principles that
govern what the FDA does continue to be followed, and I think, for the most part, despite all of the noise, look at what FDA is doing on vaccines.
They're moving faster into development than ever before. There are some treatments available now, and I hope that we can keep building on the
really extraordinary work that the FDA has done to help rise to the occasion of this unprecedented pandemic.
ASHER: But this idea of fast-tracking the AstraZeneca vaccine, I mean, what are the consequences, just in terms of possible corners being cut if, you
know a Phase 3 trial is skipped? What are the consequences of that, do you think?
MCCLELLAN: Well, those consequences would be substantial in that we'd be giving a treatment that we don't know is safe, let alone effective, to
millions of people, but that's why, Zain, I don't think those corners are going to be cut.
The FDA professional staff has been very clear with a lot of written guidance about what they are expecting in clinical trials, and over the
past four weeks, in fact, they've enrolled 25,000-plus patients in the early Phase 3 clinical trials for two of six vaccines that the U.S.
government, along with other governments, including in England, are supporting for getting that Phase 3 evidence as quickly as possible.
Not by cutting corners, but by doing very large, well-designed clinical trials. That's the kind of approach that I think we need and hopefully that
we'll stick to as we continue to develop vaccines.
ASHER: And just because we're also talking about plasma treatments here, just talk to us about the safety and effectiveness of plasma treatments.
What do we know for sure so far?
MCCLELLAN: I think we have very good confidence that the plasma treatments are safe. They've been used for many other conditions. We've got lots of
experience, lots of patients who have received it in the United States where we have had, unfortunately, so many COVID cases.
So, a lot of experience that patients who are hospitalized don't have severe side effects, and we do need better treatments for hospitalized
patients.
Where we still have a gap is just understanding how well the plasma works because we didn't do the well-designed, randomized trial like we were just
talking about for vaccines where patients would be randomized to get the plasma or not.
So, there's some suggestive evidence that it may help. There's some randomized studies going on right now and I think it will be very important
to look at what the results of those studies are.
Hopefully we can get better evidence of effectiveness of plasma as quickly as possible.
ASHER: So without randomized trials, and I also understand that the study from the Mayo Clinic did not include a placebo group. This figure, this 35
percent figure that the President is touting, saying that plasma treatments could actually reduce COVID deaths by 35 percent, based on the fact that
they weren't randomized trials, can we actually trust that number?
[15:25:17]
MCCLELLAN: I think that number is, at best, preliminary. Hopefully, the randomized trials that are under way now, including a large one in England
will pan out to show a significant benefit. But we don't have those results yet, so it's hard to tell if the patients did better because the plasma
made a difference or because it was just different patients getting treated.
And Mayo tried hard to adjust for factors that might have otherwise accounted for the results, but it's very hard to do that in the absence of
a randomized trial, and so what we really need, Zain, for improving our evidence base is faster, better randomized trials.
ASHER: And as former FDA Commissioner yourself, just talk to us about what sort of pressures is the current head of the FDA under. Just given that,
you know, we're in a state now where six million Americans have been affected, almost six million Americans have been affected with COVID-19,
and just under 200,000 people have died. The economy is struggling.
I mean, what sort of pressures do you think that he is dealing with right now?
MCCLELLAN: There's no question he is under tremendous pressure. Look, any time there's an unmet medical need, and unfortunately there's still a lot
of them, the FDA comes under fire, and it comes under fire from both sides for not going quickly enough and for going too fast.
And what's very important as FDA Commissioner is that you need to be out there supporting the importance of science and protecting the work that the
very well-qualified professional staff is doing at the agency.
That doesn't mean we're going to do things the same way in the pandemic as we've done before, but it does mean making sure that you use the expertise
at FDA to take steps like these faster, larger clinical trials for vaccines and to take steps to learn more about whether treatments work well as
quickly as possible.
The FDA Commissioner has a very important role in supporting the professionalism of the agency.
ASHER: All right, Dr. Mark McClellan live for us there. Thank you so much.
MCCLELLAN: Good to be with you.
ASHER: All right, still to come here, not one but two major storms are barreling towards the U.S. Gulf Coast. We'll have a live report from Cuba
where one of the storms is already causing problems. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:30:37]
ASHER: Hello, everyone, I'm Zain Asher. There's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in a moment when we'll be live in Cuba where a major storm has just made
landfall. And U.S. movie theaters open their doors for the first time in five months last weekend. We'll speak to the CEO Cineworld about how it
went. Before that, though, these are headlines we are following for you at this hour.
The German hospital treating Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says test results indicate he was poisoned. Navalny was initially taken to a
Siberian hospital after falling ill on a flight to Moscow last week. Russian doctors said they found no poisoning in his system, but he was
later moved to Germany, where doctors say he remained in an artificial coma.
U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was back on Capitol Hill to testify before a House committee after testifying at a Senate hearing, Friday.
DeJoy, a Trump ally and Republican donor pledged to uphold his sacred duty to deliver ballots on time for the November election. He denied allegations
that removing mail processing equipment was an attempt to sabotage the Postal Service and mail-in voting.
Kellyanne Conway is stepping down as White House counselor. She's the first female campaign manager to help win a presidential election, and has since
been a fierce defender of the U.S. President, while her husband, George Conway is one of the President's most outspoken critics.
Conway says it's time to turn her attention to family. And New York's Attorney General wants a judge to make President Trump's son, Eric, testify
about the family real estate business. State prosecutors say Mr. Trump's adult son refuses to cooperate with a civil investigation into the Trump
Organization. The Trump organization says Eric Trump does not have to testify because there is no lawsuit.
Two storms are heading towards the U.S. Gulf Coast. One is weakening, another is strengthening. Both are expected to be problematic. Louisiana is
expected to be spared from back-to-back hurricanes this week after Marco was downgraded to a tropical storm, but Laura is expected to strengthen
into a hurricane.
The tropical storm has already left at least nine dead in the Caribbean, and forced evacuation of nearly 100,000 in Cuba. Let's get to our Patrick
Oppmann who is in Havana, Cuba. So, Patrick, just walk us through what sort of conditions you're seeing right now in terms of rains and fierce winds,
as well.
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN HAVANA-BASED CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And all throughout the day, we've seen the winds pick up here ever so slightly, as
this tropical storm travels down the length of Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean. It came into eastern Cuba and is now heading to where we
are.
It will emerge west of Havana, Cuban forecasters say, this evening. And then go into the Gulf of Mexico, where it will strengthen. Even though it
was just a tropical storm, it caused a lot of damage in the Caribbean, at least nine deaths in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
And here in Cuba, we've seen trees uprooted electrical lines downed and 100,000 people have had to evacuate their homes. Most of them, according to
the Cuban government, have gone to stay with family members and friends. Thousands more, though, have had to go to government shelters. And you
think how complicated this is in regular time, Zain, but of course, these are not regular times.
We're dealing here as everyone else is in the world pretty much with a pandemic. And so, this great movement of people at a time when people are
being told to stay at home is problematic. We don't know the effect this will have on the number of coronavirus cases for Cuba, but officials say
they're calling in the population to try and maintain hygienic standards.
But of course, that the priority right now is for everyone to be safe. And so, thousands of people are seeking higher ground at the moment as this
tropical storm continues to travel down the island, Zain.
ASHER: So, people are seeking higher ground, but how else are people preparing for this?
OPPMANN: Well, so one of the things they're doing is just paying attention to the news because the storm has changed as throughout the day. Initially,
we thought it was going to come and go right over Havana, and that in this city, usually means that you have the ocean come in and flood whole
neighborhoods.
[15:35:02]
So, the good news, at least, for Havana is it will come to the west of us, which is actually the tobacco-growing region of Cuba. So, not so good news
for them. But for Havana, that means there'll be less storm surge. Still expecting very strong winds in the overnight hours. And I've covered
hurricanes in the daytime.
I've covered hurricanes and storms at the nighttime. At night, it's just a different experience. You really can't see what's making the loud banging
sounds. I never liked it very much. And so, it will be one of those nights here.
The power, you know, likely will go out as it has through much of this island. And you spend all night sort of being woken up every so often as
something goes bump in the night. In the morning, we'll wake up and at first light be able to really assess the damage. But at that point, the
storm will be heading into the Gulf of Mexico, where it is expected to develop into a hurricane and cause potentially much worse damage on the
U.S. Gulf Coast, Zain.
ASHER: Might say, it could be a rough night, but Patrick Oppmann, please do stay safe. We'll be thinking of you. Thank you for being with us. All
right. The storms have crippled oil and gas production in the U.S. Gulf. B.P., Shell, Chevron, and Exxon have shut down in some capacity.
Workers have been evacuated from 114 platforms so far. Reports say over half of the region's oil production has been affected. John Defterios joins
us live now from London. So, John, this is the fastest start to the hurricane season. Just walk us through what sort of impact in terms of
production we could see on oil and gas facilities in the Gulf.
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Yes, you're right to say the fastest start to this season. It's the one-two punch that everybody's
worried about here with Marco, and as Patrick was talking about, Laura building into a hurricane. So, it'll keep the oil market on edge until we
see it play out. Most are thinking in the context, though, Zain, about offshore facilities here and evacuating those, which is the right thing to
do.
But in the last six, seven months, I was visiting the (INAUDIBLE) past area of Louisiana and also Port Arthur. Major export facilities for LNG for the
United States. And also, for example, the Saudi Aramco refinery in Port Arthur. We have to look at the flooding from Marco, initially, and then see
the turn it takes into the Gulf of Mexico and the same thing for Laura. So, where are we today? 55 percent of the oil facilities offshore have been
shuttered because of safety reasons, and 45 percent of the natural gas.
For context here, about a fifth of overall U.S. oil production comes from the Gulf of Mexico. If it was sustained, it'd create a problem for the
market. But there's been plenty of oil around. But we have to keep in mind here that Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas have called states of --
emergency here.
They're preparing for the worst. And they actually hope and pray that Mother Nature doesn't clobber them in this one-two punch that I'm talking
about. But this is a market that's been over supplied, and why there is no panic in the oil market today, despite the rally we saw overseas.
ASHER: Right. Yes, because of the oversupply that we've been seeing. So, just looking ahead to the future, John, just because we've been talking
about vaccines and Coronavirus on this show quite a bit. If there is a vaccine in the near future, what sort of impact do you think that will have
on demand for oil?
DEFTERIOS: Well, if you could just take a look at the oil price today, Zain, we're kind of parked around $42.00 a barrel for WTI, the U.S.
benchmark. And I see that North Sea Brent is rallying because of the discussions about the plasma and potentially a breakthrough here from the
University of Oxford working with AstraZeneca. That's the discussion right now.
Again, we have to look at supply and demand. This is a record drop in demand of nine to 10 percent in 2020. If you'll roll back to April, when
prices went negative in the United States, we were looking at a 30 percent demand drop. If you have a vaccine being created, and I actually visited a
doctor today, Zain, probably first quarter of 2021, and then it rolls out after that. That would change the psychology of the market.
We also have to keep in mind, we've been parked between $40.00 and $45.00 a barrel. After that shock we saw in April and May, it's very hard to break
out of it because of this dark cloud of COVID-19. So, if you have vaccine progress taking place here, it'll change the sentiment.
But right now, OPEC is taking out nearly 8 million barrels a day. We've lost nearly 2 million barrels a day in the United States, because of
bankruptcies and a price between $40.00 and $42.00 for the U.S. benchmark just doesn't work.
So, the market fundamentals here right now, not a lot of demand. But if we did have the breakthrough, that clearly would change the outlook in the
first quarter of 2021. To say it earlier, I think it would be way too premature looking at the economic outlook that we see today.
ASHER: All right, John Defterios live for us there. Thank you so much. All right. Still to come here on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, Britain removes Croatia
from its list of safe travel destinations. We'll talk to the mayor of Dubrovnik about what that means for his city.
[15:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Croatian officials are trying to salvage the tourist season after the country was removed from the U.K.'s coronavirus quarantine exemption
this last week. Removal from the safe list means that anyone arriving in the U.K. from Croatia will now have to quarantine themselves for 14 days.
This, after a recent spike in cases in Croatia. The country has more than 8300 cases, according to numbers from John Hopkins University. Joining me
live now is the Mayor of Dubrovnik in Croatia, Mato Frankovic. Mato, thank you so much for being with us. So, just explain to us to start with, how
important British travelers are for the Dubrovnik local economy.
MATO FRANKOVIC, MAYOR OF DUBROVNIK, CROATIA: I can tell you that now for more than a decade. British citizens were number one citizen, number one
tourists that actually were coming to the Dubrovnik. So, they are very, very important. They're holding most of the times around 60 percent of
total numbers.
So, this is how important they are for us. And luckily, even we are now in a red zone, I can tell you that in the last two days, we have new 1,000
arrival of British citizens to the Dubrovnik even though knowing that they are going to be in quarantine for 14 days, they are still coming to
Dubrovnik.
I assume, of course, that this -- the main reason, of course, is beauty of Dubrovnik. But once again, I want to repeat that Dubrovnik is COVID safe
city. Very low COVID positive persons are in Dubrovnik. And mainly, those people that are positive, they are coming from the outside areas of
Croatia, or neighboring countries.
ASHER: So, you're saying that, you know, Dubrovnik, in your opinion, is very safe. You're also saying that British travelers make up 60 percent of
total tourists. So, have Croatian officials tried to appeal to the British government to reverse their decision, or at least, at the very least, show
some transparency in their thought process?
FRANKOVIC: So, what we are doing right now, tomorrow we are -- Croatian government joins, of course, with me as the mayor of Dubrovnik, we are
sending a letter to U.K. officials in asking to give us two choices. One is quarantine and the another one is a COVID test. We are ready to pay a COVID
test for all U.K. travelers that are coming to Dubrovnik, on their leave, of course, from Dubrovnik area. We are ready to pay it.
[15:45:10]
So, if their COVID test shows that they are negative, there is absolutely no need for them to go into quarantine. And so, this is what we are going
to offer to U.K. government tomorrow. And we do hope that they will understand that, and that they will be open to Dubrovnik. So, we are not
speaking about all Croatia.
We want to look at things regionally, and there are some problems really in the mid-Dalmatia and in the north Croatia, but they are no problems
considering Coronavirus here in Dubrovnik areas. And we are really keeping control under Coronavirus from March up to now.
ASHER: But that's part of the issue. I mean, even if Dubrovnik is slightly safer than the rest of Croatia, the British government can't guarantee that
British tourists aren't going to leave Dubrovnik and travel elsewhere in the country, then get infected, and then travel back to the U.K. So, isn't
that part of the problem?
FRANKOVIC: That is easier to solve, because, as you know, we are part of Croatia that still has a border. And if you need to go to other parts of
Croatia, you need to cross the Bosnia and Herzegovina. So, whoever British citizens pass that border, we immediately recognize that person and that
person needs to go in quarantine.
So, this is what we are offering, for those that are going to stay within this area, within this parameter, can -- we can have the COVID test and
then they can freely go within the U.K. Those others that want to go into other parts of Croatia, they have to go in quarantine. So, it's very, very
easy to control it from the side of the Republic of Croatia.
ASHER: And what sort of impact are you already seeing in terms of cancellations, flight cancellations, hotel cancellations, and that sort of
thing?
FRANKOVIC: Well, we really had good bookings for the past postseason for the full time. Unfortunately, we have really a lot of cancellations. A lot
of people actually when they heard about putting -- that Croatia is going to be within red zone, they put Croatia -- they immediately canceled their
vacation in Croatia.
So, we have now down numbers of at least 30 percent tourists in Dubrovnik just within two days, and more are going to come in the next week
definitely. But we will not stop trying and try and convince U.K. government to change their decision. And this is because we are really a
safe destination, and the U.K. citizens, when they arrive in Dubrovnik, they can really feel very, very safe.
ASHER: All right. Mayor Frankovic live for us there. Thank you so much. Grab your popcorn. Major theater chains are now open in the U.S. We'll
check on the box office with the CEO of Cineworld, that's next.
[15:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Major cinema chains had their first big weekend in the U.S. but the box office isn't biting. North American ticket sales totaled 6.6 million.
That's according to Box Office Mojo. While a record since mid-March, it's certainly a far cry from the more than 100 million pre-pandemic.
Mooky Greidinger is the chief executive of Cineworld which runs Regal Cinemas. Regal reopened in the U.S. on Friday with new health procedures in
place. He joins us live now from Israel via Skype. So, Mooky, thank you so much for being with us. So, what sort of numbers did Cineworld see
specifically over the weekend?
MOSHE GREIDINGER, CEO, CINEWORLD (via Skype): I think we had relatively good numbers. We need to remember that we opened only 190 cinemas, which is
a third of what we open. We didn't have our big guns, the New York and California cinemas, but we had some very impressive results. We have some
shows that were sold out. Although, it's sold out, in our days, it's not full capacity because of the restrictions and the social distancing.
But still, we really felt and so the other (INAUDIBLE) customers, we saw huge movement on the Web site, on the app. And a lot of people came. And we
need to remember this was the first weekend only, and we had only one new movie. And we are looking forward now to next weekend with "New Mutants"
and other two smaller movies. And then we are going into "Tenet," which is the first big release, Chris Nolan movie, which is coming in the Labor Day
weekend.
ASHER: Yes, there's some excitement about "Tenet," and we'll see if that boosts revenues. But just in terms of the criteria you used to decide which
specific cinemas and movie theaters to open. How did you reach your conclusions?
GREIDINGER: So, first of all, a lot of the job was done by the governors of different states in the United States. It's not us because we're -- we were
not allowed to open, so we did not open. And even though where we have two cinemas that are in very close proximity, we decided to open one this week
and the one next week, in order also to get time for our teams to be back on the floor, and back on the show. And I think this was an important move.
But in general, we are adding another 110 cinemas this weekend, and towards "Tenet," we'll be adding more. And we really hope to have the states that
we're missing joining soon.
I think that the move of cinema safe was very, very successful. This was bought by NATO Association, but also as Regal ourselves, we invested a lot
of effort on the safety procedures. And this worked really well and people were, I would say even surprised a bit by how serious and how professional
the safety measurements were.
ASHER: Can you give us some specifics about the safety protocols that people can expect at Regal Cinemas, for example?
GREIDINGER: So, first of all, mask is a must. And I think this is self- explanatory and nobody's arguing about this today. But if you want to go into the cinema, a mask is a must. Then, we have special sanitizing
procedures. We have special cleaning sheets. All the team is trained, of course, also with masks in order to give the right treatment to the people.
We have developed, by the way, a special app where you can in the lobby itself, if you don't feel comfortable to queue in the concession stand, you
can order your food and this will be expecting you in a corner near the concession. Although, it's fully safe to queue for the concession because
the social distancing is being kept. But if you don't feel comfortable with this, you can do it.
[15:55:00]
It worked very well. It was this weekend, the first time we used this app. And we had a big number of transactions already there. And once people get
used to it, it will become probably popular also for regular day. We are not going to live in the corner in the COVID-19 forever.
ASHER: All right, Mooky Greidinger live for us there. Thank you so much.
GREIDINGER: Thank you very much.
ASHER: All right, let's turn now to the last few minutes of trade on Wall Street. Let's take a look and see how the Dow is faring. It has actually
shot up. It's now up more than 300 points. Investors cheering the FDA's approval of plasma to treat COVID-19. The news has also pushed the NASDAQ
and the S&P 500 higher.
Both are on track for record closes. Busy week ahead for Wall Street. You've got U.S. Fed chair Jerome Powell speak at the Jackson Hole Symposium
on Thursday, as well. We'll bring you that news when we get to later on this week on Thursday. And that is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, I'm Zain Asher in
New York. The news continues right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD, I'm Jake Tapper. We begin this hour with the "HEALTH LEAD." The Coronavirus death toll in the United
States stands at more than 177,000 dead, with an average of almost 1,000 Americans continuing to die every day from this virus.
Multiple moves by the Trump administration are now raising serious questions about whether the President is pressuring the medical community
to deliver news that he can sell to voters to help him, even if such moves violate scientific protocol.
The President pushing the Food and Drug Administration, for example, to authorize a potential coronavirus treatment, and the President accusing
members of the fabled Deep State within the FDA of slowing down the search for a vaccine until after Election Day, a charge for which, of course,
there is zero evidence.
In fact, the evidence of politicizing the science is on the other side with two sources telling CNN, the Trump advisors have raised the possibility of
approving a vaccine before phase 3 trials are completed, and also before the November election.
END
