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The Situation Room

Biden Campaign Raises $70 Million During Convention; CDC Predicts Nearly 195,000 U.S. Deaths By September 12; Interview With Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA); Biden's Campaign Says It Raised $70 Million during DNC; Federal Appeals Court Denies Trump Emergency Request to Stop Subpoena for Financial Records; The Relationship Between President Trump and Fox News. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired August 21, 2020 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:03]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.

We're following breaking news on the unrelenting loss of life in the coronavirus crisis. This hour, the U.S. death toll just surpassed 175,000, with more than 5.6 million cases now confirmed.

As the rate of new deaths rises in 23 states right now, the CDC forecasts roughly 20,000 more Americans will die from coronavirus in the next three weeks alone.

Also breaking, the CDC just issued new guidelines for schools on reopening and how to keep children safe amid growing concerns about the spread of the virus among students.

We're also following the firestorm over mail-in voting and new testimony by the postmaster general of the United States. In a heated hearing, he told senators his top priority is delivering ballots on time, but he didn't reveal any plan to accomplish that or to counter President Trump's efforts to undermine confidence in voting by mail.

Let's go straight to our national correspondent, Athena Jones. She's working all of these stories for us.

Athena, as more Americans are now dying of coronavirus, the CDC is now offering some major new guidance to schools across the country.

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. That's right.

These are new, more detailed guidelines from the CDC. Among other things, they address what schools should do if there is a case of COVID among students or staff. They suggest, rather than shutting everything down immediately for a long period of time, one option is a short-term class suspension, cancellation of events and after-school activities to give leaders time to determine how widespread the infections are. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONES (voice-over): As college students head back to campus, coronavirus outbreaks at universities in at least 19 states, representing nearly 1,400 cases among students and staff, leading to concerns about scenes like this, a large gathering of students at Penn State that prompted the school's president to ask those flouting the rules, "Do you want to be the person responsible for sending everyone home?"

Mississippi's governor urging college students to be careful, since 18-to-29-year-olds make up the highest proportion of cases there.

GOV. TATE REEVES (R-MS): We know that we have got a lot of work to do there. It's something that we will have to be constantly working on over the course of the next few months.

JONES: And while K-12 schools have faced challenges reopening in states like Mississippi, Florida, and Georgia, New York, with its rock-bottom COVID test positivity rate, is in a good position to reopen schools. Even so, parents have questions. Governor Andrew Cuomo saying he'd have questions too.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): They're still working out what the plan would be. I would have a lot of questions. Parents do have a lot of questions. This is a risky proposition, no matter how you do it.

JONES: And with U.S. deaths from COVID-19 averaging more than 1,000 a day for 25 consecutive days, the CDC is now projecting nearly 195,000 COVID deaths by September 12, about three weeks away, suggesting that staggering death rate will continue, at least in the short term.

DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, CDC DIRECTOR: We are beginning, I think, to turn the tide.

JONES: Still, CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield, who estimates as many as 60 million people nationwide may have already contracted the virus, based on an infection rate of 10 to 20 percent, says we could soon see the number of new daily deaths begin to decline, as more people follow public health guidelines, like mask-wearing, handwashing, and social distancing.

REDFIELD: Hopefully, this week and next week, you're going to start seeing the death rate really start to drop again.

JONES: New cases are steady or falling in 40 states, but Redfield warned, that positive trend isn't taking hold everywhere.

REDFIELD: Middle America right now is getting stuck. We don't need to have a third wave in the Heartland.

JONES: Coronavirus cases are on the rise in states like Wyoming, Iowa, and Illinois, with a new Emory University study suggesting so-called super-spreader events are driving transmission in rural areas.

Meanwhile, on the vaccine front: TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: No country can just ride this out until we have the vaccine.

JONES: A new sobering reminder from the head of the World Health Organization. The 1918 pandemic lasted two years. He hopes this one won't.

GHEBREYESUS: And even if we do have a vaccine, it wouldn't end the pandemic on its own. Progress does not mean victory.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: And there is another sad sign that victory over this virus is not yet at hand. We just learned today that a 6-year-old girl in Florida's Hillsborough County has become the youngest person in the state to die from COVID-19 -- Wolf.

BLITZER: So sad. So sad, indeed. Athena, thank you very much.

Now to President Trump. He's warming up for the Republican Convention, which begins on Monday, with new slams at Joe Biden and the Democrats and more attacks on mail-in voting.

[18:05:03]

Let's go to our chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta.

Jim, Biden's big convention speech last night, of course, isn't sitting well with the president.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No, that's right, Wolf.

President Trump is ratcheting up his attacks on Joe Biden in response to the Democratic nominee's speech at the convention last night. But the president and his team, they're back on their heels this evening, as the Trump administration is struggling to explain big delays at the U.S. Postal Service.

Leaders at the Postal Service are insisting there's no cause for alarm about the upcoming election, when millions of Americans will be voting by mail. The president is warning, though, he will be sending out law enforcement to polling places to make sure there's a fair vote.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): Eager to get back on the attack, the president too aim at the theme running through Joe Biden's speech at the Democratic Convention, that the Trump administration has been a time of darkness.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They spent four straight days attacking America as racist and a horrible country that must be redeemed.

And yet look at what we have accomplished until the plague in. Look at what we have accomplished, and now we're doing it again.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Where Joe Biden sees American darkness, I see American greatness.

ACOSTA: It was a carefully scripted rebuttal to a Biden speech that surprised even some Trump allies as nowhere near sleepy.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is our moment. This is our mission. May history be able to say that the end of this chapter of American darkness began here tonight, as love and hope and light join in the battle for the soul of the nation.

ACOSTA: And yet in front of a crowd of conservative activists, many not wearing masks, the president warned a Biden administration would lead to the same unrest on the streets that happened on Mr. Trump's watch.

TRUMP: I'm the only thing standing between the American dream and total anarchy, madness, and chaos, and that's what it is.

ACOSTA: The president reprised his attacks on mail-in voting, predicting they will lead to chaos on election night.

TRUMP: And they all think I'm trying to steal an election. Just the opposite. I want the fair results of an election.

ACOSTA: At a Senate hearing on mail slowdowns, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Trump ally, denied he's trying to rig the election for the president after recent revelations that processing machines have been removed at postal facilities across the country.

SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): Will you be bringing back any mail sorting machines that have been removed since you have become postmaster general? Will any of those come back?

LOUIS DEJOY, U.S. POSTMASTER GENERAL: There's no intention to do that. They're not needed, sir.

ACOSTA: DeJoy conceded he and Mr. Trump recently met, but insisted their conversation was not about the election.

PETERS: Did you discuss those changes or their potential impact on the November election with the president or anyone at the White House? And remind you, you're under oath.

DEJOY: I have never spoken to the president about the Postal Service, other than to congratulate me when I accepted the position.

ACOSTA: The president has yet to provide any evidence there will be fraud on election night, and yet he's vowing to send police officers to polling stations.

TRUMP: We're going to have sheriffs, and we're going to have law enforcement, and we're going to have hopefully U.S. attorneys, and we're going to have everybody, and attorney generals.

ACOSTA: On the pro-Trump QAnon movement:

QUESTION: Will you dismiss it? Will you dismiss it?

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just did, John.

QUESTION: No, you didn't.

PENCE: We dismiss conspiracy theorists out of hand.

ACOSTA: Vice President Mike Pence tried to dance around questions about the baseless conspiracy theory.

PENCE: I don't know anything about that conspiracy theory. I don't know anything about QAnon, and I dismiss it out of hand.

ACOSTA: The president is doing some dodging of his own, insisting that he hasn't been speaking to his former chief strategist Steve Bannon, who has been charged with defrauding donors to a private wall project on the border.

But sources tell CNN Mr. Trump and Bannon have spoken in recent weeks, despite what the president has said.

TRUMP: I haven't been dealing with him for a long period of time, as most of the people in this room know. I haven't been dealing with him at all.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And the president appeared in front of the cameras very briefly a short while ago as he was attending a funeral service for his brother Robert held at the White House.

The president and first lady, other members of the Trump family can be seen saying their goodbyes to the president's younger brother, Robert.

And we should point out, over the weekend, the president will be shifting gears. He will be gearing up for his convention next week. Aides are calling the theme to the convention a -- quote -- "return to American greatness."

But that title is an admission really that Mr. Trump is still in damage control mode, as the nation is reeling from this pandemic -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Our condolences to the Trump family, of course.

Jim Acosta, thank you very much.

Let's get some more on the coronavirus crisis.

Joining us now, Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency room physician, the former health commissioner in Baltimore and a CNN medical analyst. Dr. Wen, the CDC, as you just heard, has just updated its guidance for schools across the country. And part of the new recommendations encourage short-term suspensions of classes and only closing certain pods when there's been an infection, rather than broad long-term shutdowns.

Does that make sense to you?

[18:10:01]

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: In theory, yes, especially if the school has already set up this pod cohort system.

That means that, if one kid has been infected in one of these cohorts, as long as that kid has not been exposed to anybody else outside of the pod, then you really do only have to close down that one pod.

The problem is, with the new CDC guidance, it sounds like the focus is on keeping schools open at all costs, rather than on protecting students, teachers, and families, and that's what it really needs to be about.

BLITZER: As many kids are going back to school right now, a 6-year-old little girl has just become the youngest child to die from this virus in Florida, that according to the Department of Health in Florida.

Florida also just reported two new cases of Kawasaki disease in young children. So far, eight children in Florida have died from coronavirus, since the pandemic began, according to "The Tampa Bay Times."

Clearly, kids aren't virtually immune from coronavirus, as the president has said.

WEN: That's right.

We know that children tend to get less ill than adults do, but children do get sick. They do become hospitalized. And, unfortunately some do die.

And we actually know, based on the statistics so far, that the disparities that we're seeing in adults with coronavirus are also mirrored in children as well. A CDC study found that African-American children are five times more likely to be hospitalized, Latino kids eight times more likely to be hospitalized, and we have to take this disease very seriously, also recognizing that children may even be silent spreaders of COVID-19 too.

BLITZER: Nationally, we're now seeing cases are dropping, but the daily death toll is still more than 1,000 Americans a day, and that's horrendous, obviously.

The CDC director says, in the next week or two, that death rate will drop as well.

Explain that lag time, why that could be potentially -- and we all hope it is -- an encouraging sign.

WEN: There is a lag time between when infections occur and when hospitalizations occur, and then another lag time, a few weeks, between hospitalizations and deaths.

So, as we're seeing that the number of cases are dropping, we will expect to see a decrease in deaths too. But that drop will only be temporary, because we're seeing that kids are coming back to school, the economy is still continuing to reopen, and this is a very contagious disease.

So I fear that what we will see in a few weeks to come is that we will see the number of cases tick up again. And at this point, it does feel like we're playing Whac-A-Mole., that certain parts of the country, we have the virus controlled, only to see other parts of the country have spikes again.

BLITZER: Vice President Pence said today he thinks there could be a -- quote -- "miracle" around the corner when it comes to getting a successful vaccine before the end of this year.

Is it responsible to speak like that, you think? Don't we need a specific plan now, before there's an actual vaccine? We hope there's going to be a vaccine by the end of the year, but there's no guarantee.

WEN: Yes, I think so much of public health is telling the truth and setting the right expectations.

It is possible that we could get a vaccine approved maybe by end of this year or early next year, but that is not a silver bullet. We still have a long way to go before that vaccine can reach the hands of people, and we all have to do our best to protect ourselves and others.

BLITZER: And a lot of people are simply going to be nervous about taking that vaccine. They're not going to trust it, at least at the start.

Dr. Leana Wen, thank you very much.

Just ahead, the postmaster general of the United States insists he committed to delivering ballots on time, but are top Democrats buying it?

I will ask the governor of Washington state, Jay Inslee. There you see him. He's my guest. We'll discuss.

And we will also tell you what's next for Joe Biden as he tries to build momentum after his career-defining tough-on-Trump convention speech.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:18:18] BLITZER: Many Democrats are skeptical tonight after the postmaster general tried to assure lawmakers that delivering mail-in ballots is his number-one priority.

We're joined now by the Democratic governor -- a Democratic governor with lots of experience in mail-in voting, Jay Inslee of Washington state.

Governor Inslee, thanks so much for joining us.

The postmaster general testified that he hasn't made any changes to how election mail is handled, despite internal documents showing policy changes were in the works.

Your state of Washington votes, what, almost entirely, if not entirely, by mail, one of five states that I think votes entirely by mail. It's been done like that for years. How far did his testimony go today in reassuring you that the Postal Service will be reliable this coming election?

GOV. JAY INSLEE (D-WA): We still have enormous, legitimate concerns.

The combination of the confession by Donald Trump that he wants to use the Postal Service as a mechanism to suppress the vote -- this was a conscious and willful confession by him -- together with the facts on the ground, which is, in my state, the Postal Service, under this postmaster, broke and disabled about 40 percent of the processing equipment in the Puget Sound area.

Two of our cities have been ordered to shut down their processing, which is obviously going to have delays in delivery times, together with the fact that they warned us about the inability -- together with his statement today that I found incredible.

Not only did he say, yes, these have been broken, but I'm not going to fix them. That's grossly unacceptable. So I'm glad we have started a lawsuit, and our great attorney general, Bob Ferguson, along with about 40 other states.

[18:20:05]

We need a judicial decision to order the Trump administration to fulfill its obligations to the American people.

BLITZER: And correct me if I'm wrong, Governor. In Washington state, it's 100 voting by mail, like Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Hawaii. You can only vote by mail, right?

INSLEE: Well, with one caveat.

You can get a ballot and drop it into a drop box. So, we have drop boxes around the state if -- and they are used considerably for folks that just the last minute are worried about getting their letter postmarked.

It has to be postmarked by 8:00 on the day of the election. So, the drop boxes have been a nice last-minute thing for people. But this mail-in system is like heaven on earth. Republicans and Democrats and independents love it here.

We have had no problems with it. It has increased access to the ballot. It's been a fantastic success, and this is yet another one of Donald Trump's conspiracy theories that somehow mail-in ballots are a conspiracy.

No, they're loved in the state of Washington by virtually everyone. That's why we're taking this threat to the Postal Service so seriously.

BLITZER: And it's especially critical now, during the time of the coronavirus pandemic, where elderly voters, people with underlying health conditions don't necessarily want to wait in long lines on Election Day to go vote.

INSLEE: Yes. You bet.

BLITZER: The president says -- he says that he's going to send in sheriffs, law enforcement, U.S. attorneys to polling places on Election Day.

Do you see that, Governor, as an empty threat, or is that something governors need to prepare for?

INSLEE: Well, it's like much of the bombast, gas coming out of the White House.

I doubt that will actually happen, but it is a threat that we should not accept, because this is one of the oldest voter suppression things, frankly, used in the Southern states during the Jim Crow era and right up to the recent period, where you make the polling places look like the jails to try to intimidate people that they shouldn't go there.

And this is used. It was part of the racial animus and strategy to suppress the black vote in many places, and this is just a continuation of it. And what is so galling is the president has essentially confessed that that is his motivation.

So we do need judicial relief on this. We need people to speak up. We need Republicans to speak up and confront this president.

BLITZER: The Democratic National Convention, as you know, wrapped up last night with Joe Biden accepting the presidential nomination. And Democrats made this all about character.

But President Trump won in 2016 with many voters prioritizing his policies over the character argument. So do you think this election will be different?

INSLEE: Well, listen, it's not just character.

And I'm excited about Joe Biden's character to bring integrity and stability, and I think people are longing for that right now. But the policies that we are fighting for are so broadly applicable, starting with health care.

Look, we're in the middle of a COVID pandemic. We have had a president who is totally AWOL. He's absent without leave. He has refused to adopt national leadership. As a result, we have over hundreds of thousands of people who have died of this.

And what is his principal action? He wants to dismantle Obamacare and take away health care from tens of thousands of people in my state, people who depend on this to get health care. We're going to win on the health care effort. We're going to win on the COVID pandemic.

We're going to win on the economy. So we are happy to have those policy debates, and I'm glad we have got Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to push them. I thought the convention was great, seeing Americans from all over the country. It warmed my heart.

BLITZER: Well, there will be three presidential debates, one vice presidential debate. We will see what happens over these next 70-plus days.

Governor Inslee, as usual, thanks so much for joining us. Good luck over there.

INSLEE: Thank you.

BLITZER: And stay safe.

INSLEE: You, too.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Just ahead, we're learning how much money the Biden campaign has pulled in during the Democratic Convention. We will share with you the details.

And will the Democrats try to steal President Trump's thunder as his convention kicks off on Monday?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:29:05]

BLITZER: We have breaking news on how the Democratic National Convention has given a financial boost to the Biden campaign.

Our political correspondent M.J. Lee is joining us.

M.J., what are you learning?

M.J. LEE, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we are just getting word that the Joe Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised some $70 million in the four-day period when their convention was going on.

We are also hearing that some 122 million people tuned in, whether on TV or watching via online. This, of course, comes as we heard the president this morning calling the Democratic National Convention the darkest, angriest, and gloomiest convention he had ever witnessed.

And he is making very clear that he would like his own convention next week to be very different.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIDEN: So, it's with great honor and humility I accept this nomination for president of the United States of America.

[18:30:00]

LEE (voice-over): With these words, Joe Biden kicking off the final 74-day sprint to Election Day.

But don't expect campaign rallies any time soon. A senior campaigner telling CNN it's unclear whether Biden will campaign in-person this fall because of the pandemic. But saying they have, quote, new confidence, they can reach out to voters differently. Democrats already lowering expectations for next week's Republican National Convention.

TOM PEREZ, CHAIRMAN, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION: The Republican Convention next week will be marked by chaos, chaos, chaos.

LEE: President Trump hoping the convention can help boost his poll numbers, and is preparing to deliver his speech from the White House, and in a contrast from the Democratic Convention, the president pushing for as much live programming as possible, including a live audience.

Last night, Biden giving the biggest speech of his political career with a somber warning to the nation about the current occupation of the White House.

BIDEN: The current president has cloaked America in darkness for much too long, too much anger, too much fear, too much division.

LEE: And promising to guide the nation out of that darkness.

BIDEN: I'll be an ally of the light, not the darkness. It's time for us, for we the people, to come together. And make no mistake, united we can and will overcome this season of darkness in America.

LEE: The coronavirus pandemic, one area of darkness that Biden criticized the president for.

BIDEN: And the president keeps tell is us the virus is going to disappear. He keeps waiting for a miracle. Well, I have news for him. No miracle is coming.

LEE: The final night of the convention featuring poignant tributes to Biden's character, including from 13-year-old Brayden Harrington, who connected with Biden on the campaign trail about a challenge they both confronted, their stutter.

BRAYDEN HARRINGTON, 13-YEAR-OLD BIDEN SUPPORTER: Joe Biden made me more confident about something that's bothered me my whole life. Joe Biden cared. Imagine what he could do for all of us.

LEE: This sentiment echoed by Biden's rivals from the 2020 primary in a joint video.

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): You can think of this sort of like Survivor on the out interviews of all the people that got voted off the island.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): This is clearly the most important election in the modern history of this country. In Joe Biden, you have a human being who is empathetic, who is honest, who is decent.

LEE: Capping off an unprecedented, almost entirely virtual convention amid a global pandemic, fireworks lighting up the sky above a parking lot in Wilmington, Delaware, for a socially distanced celebration.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: And you heard there, Wolf, the chairman of the DNC predicting that the Republican Convention next week is going to be filled with chaos. And what the DNC and the Joe Biden campaign are trying to do next week is to try to break through with some counterprogramming which won't necessarily be easy, but they're telling reporters that they will be releasing new T.V. and digital ads. They're going to send out some of their high-profile surrogates, whether it's Nancy Pelosi or Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

But as of right now, Democrats say that there are no plans for either Joe Biden himself or Kamala Harris for that matter to participate in- person in any of the counterprogramming efforts next week. Wolf?

BLITZER: Interesting. M.J. Lee reporting, thank you.

Let's bring in our Political Correspondent, Abby Phillip, and CNN Political Commentator Van Jones.

Van, the president, he responded to the Democratic Convention, as you heard, calling it one of the darkest and gloomiest the country has ever seen. He said they spent four straight days attacking America, in his words, as racist and a horrible country. What was your reaction when you heard that from President Trump?

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I wonder what he was watching. I felt the exact opposite. It was a celebration. It was a celebration of the America that we all love. You got a chance to see and hear from people who you never see and hear from on the national stage, regular folks, weird folks, folks who are out there fighting the good fight for America.

And I just think maybe he doesn't like to see that part of America, but there's a whole bunch of people out here, we don't like the divisiveness that we've been dealing with, and we do love the diversity. And that's what was on display,

And I thought -- listen, I've talked to people across the country. They are feeling hopeful. They don't feel like America is being put down. They feel like America was lifted up the past four days. BLITZER: Abby, Biden has been widely praised for his acceptance speech last night, but can he keep the momentum going when there are no plans to actually campaign in-person? Almost everything, I think, is going to be virtual.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's a really important question. Because up until this point, I think the public has understood that the pandemic changes the nature of campaigning, and Joe Biden has been reasonably fine doing what he's been doing virtually.

[18:35:11]

But the question is, as President Trump steps up his travel, which we have indications from his campaign aides he hopes to, will Joe Biden remaining sort of out of sight in-person from voters? Will that cut it? And I'm not sure.

But I do think that the polling indicates the public wants leaders to demonstrate the kind of behavior that they think is appropriate given the public health risks. They, themselves, are living in a pandemic. And I do think that they have been telling pollsters they want to see more public health-related measures, not less.

So it will be a choice. The Biden view, which is to be extra cautious, or the Trump view, which is to not, and we'll see how voters respond to both of those options.

BLITZER: In 70-plus days.

Van, the president also pushing for these live events at the Republican Convention next week. He's been -- he's going to be traveling next week as well, at the same time, including to North Carolina, where the convention originally was supposed to be taking place. What sort of response are you expecting from Republicans?

V. JONES: Well, look, I think that there's an alternative universe, an alternative reality where, you know, this virus is not that big a deal and that it's a sign of weakness or a lack of Christian faith to take precautionary measures. So I think you will see some people. If he calls his troops to come out, he calls his people to come out, they'll come out. You know, I think about Herman Cain, who answered that call, and now he's no longer with us though. So it's a dangerous game to be playing.

I do think the Democrats may have unlocked a formula that can work not just for the convention but for the campaign, which I would call the kind of Avengers versus Thanos model, where you just -- everybody runs, everybody puts up their own videos, everybody says their own reason, everybody gives their own, and you just overwhelm, you know, Trump with just this democratized campaign, which feels more like a movement. That convention felt more like a movement than a convention.

The campaign could do that too. So it's the Avengers, everybody is your own hero. You run your own campaign. You democratize the whole thing. And I don't know if Trump can handle that. But I would be very concerned about the public health impact on Republican true believers if they show up without masks, et cetera, next week.

BLITZER: All right. Van, thank you. Abby, thanks, as usual, to you as well. We're all going to be busy next week.

And to our viewers, a programming note, be sure to stay with CNN for our special coverage of the Republican National Convention. That begins Monday, 7:00 P.M. Eastern.

Just ahead, despite President Trump insisting he isn't communicating with his former adviser, Steve Bannon. Sources tell CNN the two have spoken in recent weeks.

And we're also following breaking news on President Trump's tax records. A federal appeals court has just denied, denied his emergency request to stop a subpoena for those tax returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

BLITZER: We're following breaking news. A federal appeals court has just denied an emergency request from President Trump to prevent a subpoena of his financial records. Let's bring in our Chief Legal Analyst, Jeffrey Toobin. He's the author of the best-selling brand-new book entitled True Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Investigation of Donald Trump.

And, Jeffrey, help break down what this means. Does this mean that these tax returns from the president's tax returns could actually be handed over to the Manhattan District Attorney next week?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: The important thing to remember about these tax returns is the Supreme Court decided this case last month and Trump lost 7-2. What's going on now is sort of this last spasm of activity where Trump's lawyers are trying to forestall the inevitable. It is possible these tax returns will be turned over on August 28th. It is possible that there may be a few days later because there's now an appeals court hearing on September 1st.

But the important point is that Trump has lost this case, and these documents, which don't come from Trump, they come from his accountants, are going to be turned over to Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan District Attorney, sooner rather than later.

BLITZER: Do you think they'll be released publicly before Election Day?

TOOBIN: No, that's a very different question, and the answer to that certainly is no. This is a grand jury subpoena. Grand juries operate in secret. So these documents, when they're turned over, will be given to the investigators who are conducting this investigation, but it will not be released publicly unless and until there's an actual public criminal case, and that may never take place.

So this is not about public release of these tax returns, which certainly will not happen through Cyrus Vance before the election.

BLITZER: Let me ask you about the president's former senior adviser, Steve Bannon, who was indicted yesterday on charges that he defrauded people who had donated to a private charity to build the president's border wall with Mexico. Now it turns out, President Trump and Steve Bannon have apparently been talking in recent weeks and months. What's your reaction when you learned that today?

TOOBIN: Well, you know, Steve Bannon -- one of the things about President Trump is that no one ever entirely leaves his circle.

[18:45:04]

He fires people, but he often keeps talking to them, and that certainly appears to be the case with Steve Bannon. Steve Bannon is also still a political loyalist, notwithstanding the fact that he was fired. He is part of the Trump political operation and a loyal part.

BLITZER: Yesterday, he pled guilty. He's out on $5 million bond.

Here's what he had to say about these charges today on his podcast. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: I am not going to back down. This is a political hit job. Everybody knows I love a fight.

This was to stop and intimidate people that want to talk about the wall. This is to stop and intimidate people that have president Trump's back on building the wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Some already suggesting he seems to be angling for some sort of presidential pardon.

TOOBIN: I have no doubt that he is. By the way, he pleaded not guilty yesterday.

BLITZER: Yes, not guilty.

TOOBIN: And he -- I mean look at how President Trump has protected his friends. Look at what his Justice Department has done for Michael Flynn. Look at the way the president intervened to commute roger stone's sentence.

This case is very bad news. Almost everybody who goes to trial on federal criminal charges, especially in the southern district of New York, gets convicted. And a pardon seems like his best chance for getting out of this case because the court -- the legal system is not looking so good for Steve Bannon.

BLITZER: All right. We'll see what happens. Jeffrey Toobin, as usual, thanks very much. Let me just remind our viewers, "True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The

Investigation of Donald Trump." There you see the book cover. It's out right now.

It's a very important book. It's a "New York Times" best-seller. I recommend it.

Just ahead, I'll speak with CNN's chief media correspondent Brian Stelter about his brand-new book just out this week, looking at the feedback loop between President Trump and Fox News.

We'll be right back.

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[18:51:41]

BLITZER: President Trump called in to Sean Hannity show last night during the Democratic National Convention, the latest example of the president's symbiotic relationship with the network.

Let's bring in our chief media correspondent, the anchor of "RELIABLE SOURCES", Brian Stelter. He's the author of a brand-new book just out this week entitled "Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth."

There you see the book cover. I've gone through the book. Brian, you've done excellent reporting. It's the first time viewers get to hear why you decided to write this book.

Tell us.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Because sources inside Fox were telling me something has gone wrong. Fox News leaned to the right and that's a good thing. There's a lot of room for conservative news in America just like liberal news. But Fox hasn't leaned to the right, it has fallen over. Those are the words of many sources, dozens of dozens of people from Fox who confided in me and said President Trump's gradual takeover of Fox News is doing damage to the country.

I even have a researcher, Wolf, who goes on the record, a staffer, on the record from Fox saying Fox's allegiance to President Trump is putting our democracy at risk.

BLITZER: The president during his phone conservation on the Sean Hannity show, he said a lot of things that our fact-checkers quickly discovered was simply not true. He does this a lot.

STELTER: Yes.

BLITZER: You spoke, as you point out, to a lot of current and former Fox employees. One anchor said to you, I'm quoting now, that Fox has surrendered to Trump. Tell us about that.

STELTER: It happened mostly as a business move, not all at once but one day at a time. The president essentially exploiting the leadership vacuum at Fox News, and turning it into a propaganda platform, like America has never seen before. Now, I think what Sean Hannity does for Trump when he's actually trying to help Trump hurts Trump by misinforming him and confusing him about what's going on.

But there's a lot internally about Trump's takeover, and that's what I reveal in the book for the first time. I tell a five-year long story, Wolf, from 2015 when Trump comes down the escalator to 2020 in the middle of the pandemic. I did have to rewrite a third of the book due to the pandemic because what the network was doing, misinforming and downplaying the pandemic had human consequences.

There is a death toll associated with the downplaying of this disease back in February and March. And it's not just me saying that. Many Americans wrote in to the federal government, wrote to the FCC, and said they felt like Fox News was putting their loved ones in danger.

BLITZER: In the last few days and weeks, occasionally, the president goes on and criticizes Fox News and saying it's not the same it used to be. Talk a little bit about that.

STELTER: Yes, in the book, I have Rupert Murdock's response to that for the first time. You know, it is true, the president is working the refs, just like he did in 2016 campaign, pushing Fox to be even nicer to him, even more supportive. He hates seeing news anchors on Fox, but those news anchors feel squeezed, they feel suffocated. They want to fact check the president, but they feel their viewers and bosses don't want them to.

It is a really kind of messy situation that I don't think anyone has told the story about before. That's why I wrote the book and it's going to be out Tuesday.

BLITZER: Yes, it's got a lot of stuff in this book, and it's entitled "Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth." Thanks for writing it. Appreciate it very much.

[18:55:02]

Brian Stelter reporting for us, good work.

STELTER: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: More news just ahead.

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BLITZER: Finally, our nightly tribute to the lives cut short from the coronavirus.

Rhonda Jackson Braswell of Maryland was 51, a devoted wife and mother of three. Her friends describe her as a cheerleader who always knew how to make people smile.

Toby White of Pennsylvania was 76, a U.S. Marine Corp veteran and a loving father of two daughters. He enjoyed sharing stories about black history. He and his wife Jean celebrated their 50th anniversary in March.

May they rest in peace and may their memories be a blessing.

Thanks for watching. I'll be back tomorrow night for a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM, 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.