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THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER

Postmaster General suspends changes to service; Interview with Rep. Cedrick Richmond on day one of the Democratic National Convention; Tonight's focus is Biden's leadership versus Trump; Julian Castro warns that Dems could see a slide in Latino support; Study says flu and other viruses may spread in dust. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 18, 2020 - 15:30   ET

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


[15:30:00]

JOSH SHAPIRO (D-PA) ATTORNEY GENERAL: With more Republican votes than Democratic votes, this should be a nonpartisan issue that allows for mail-in balloting. And so, if the Postal Service's actions that they've already taken impact that we have a state's interest.

So while I'm encouraged by the comments that DeJoy has made, they've got to go and at a bare minimum undo what they've already done, make clear that they're not going to take any steps going forward before we we're going to take the foot off the gas.

Now what we've also seen from the Trump administration, and I can recall two and a half years ago, Jake, I stood on the banks of the Schuylkill River. You know it well and announced a lawsuit against the EPA and Donald Trump over roll backs of our environmental laws in this country. The next day Donald Trump removed that rule-making process.

We won within 24 hours because they consistently act outside of the law and when someone calls them on it, like a state Attorney General or others, they have to backtrack. And if they don't backtrack, we ultimately win through court. We want to make sure every Pennsylvanian and every American, their vote's going to count and that's why we brought this suit.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: You talked about how this should not be a partisan issue. Do you have any Republican Attorneys General joining us on the suit or is it just Democrats?

SHAPIRO: Look, we heard the Republican Attorney General for example in Ohio last night call on the United States Postal Service to roll back the changes that they have made. We see the Post Office impacting all parts of Pennsylvania. Rural, urban, suburban, communities that vote for Republicans, communities that vote for Democrats.

We're still gathering states on our lawsuit that will be filed tomorrow in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. This should be a nonpartisan effort. We want every voice to be heard in our democracy regardless of who they are voting for -- Jake. TAPPER: I'll take that as a no, you don't have any Republicans

Attorney General. Let me just ask you one last question. Pennsylvania is not a universal mail-in state. Meaning voters have to request a ballot from the state and then they can get one if they want to vote by mail.

You don't just mail ballots to every voter automatically as happens in places like Utah or Washington and Oregon. And that extra level of security which seems to suggest that you think what you're doing, which is what most states do, more than 30, is safer than universe mail-in, right?

SHAPIRO: I'm not willing to concede that ground. I know the President has been out saying there's all kinds of fraud with universal mail-in balloting, there's all kinds of fraud with main-in balloting. Those are the words of the President. Well, here in Pennsylvania we're already in federal court where a federal judge has actually said to the President's campaign, put up or shut up on your fraud claims. Document those very claims that you've been alleging through your tweets and in the media.

We've yet to see that fraud that he keeps tweeting about. So, we're actively engaged in answering that -- that specific question you're asking, Jake, right now in federal court here in Pennsylvania.

TAPPER: Well, I know you're not conceding that there has been widespread fraud because there is no evidence of widespread fraud but I'm just saying I assume that you think it's safer to do it the way you do, yes?

SHAPIRO: No, I just know that this is the way the laws were set up in Pennsylvania. Passed by broad bipartisan majority to say you can show up on election day and vote. You can vote by mail from your home if you prefer. We want to engage people in our democracy and that's exactly what lawmakers and the governor here in Pennsylvania have done. And that's the system I'm in court right now defending against the baseless attacks from the President who is trying to sow doubt in the election.

Look, elections have been run for generations, presidents have (INAUDIBLE) to get involved. We now have a President that's trying to sow doubt because it's politically expedient for him. The people need to know that it's their job to show up and vote and I'm going to do everything in my power to protect and secure their vote.

TAPPER: Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it.

One prominent Democrat is calling out his own party, why he's criticizing the lack of representation from one core American group. Stay with us.

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[15:35:00] TAPPER: And we're back with the 2020 LEAD. And this evening the Biden campaign intends to sharpen the contrast it painted on night one of the Democratic National Convention. They want to focus on Joe Biden's leadership, versus the many failures they see in the Trump presidency.

Joining me now to discuss what we can expect, and more is a Co-chair of the Biden campaign, Democratic Congressman Cedrick Richmond of Louisiana, thanks so much for joining us, Congressman. Appreciate it.

REP. CEDRICK RICHMOND (D-LA): Well, thank you for having me.

TAPPER: So, sources tell CNN that President Bill Clinton is expected to deliver his sharpest rebuke of President Trump ever tonight. Michelle Obama also used her speech to lay out why she thinks President Trump cannot meet this moment in her view. Do you worry at all that the Democrats are focusing too much on being anti-Trump instead of making a positive case as to what Joe Biden will do for voters?

RICHMOND: No, not at all. I mean if you talk to the over 160,000 families that have lost a loved one due to this President not being able to rise to the moment, unlike President Obama and Vice President Biden did with Ebola, or if you look at 5 million plus people who have been infected with COVID-19, or if you look at the 30 something million people that have lost jobs because of it. I mean you have to draw a contrast with this leadership.

[15:40:03]

And I think we have a lot of convention left for us to tout Joe Biden. What he wants to do, so that he can show America what his plans are, how he plans to accomplish them and how it includes everybody. So, I think that you have to do both. But right now, we have a President that cannot rise to the moment and it's not personal, it's just not in him.

TAPPER: Congressman, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro who ran for President this cycle, he's warning that Democrats may not be doing enough to engage Latino voters. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIAN CASTRO, FORMER HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT SECRETARY: I think that we could win the battle and lose the war. We could win in November, but you see a potential slide of Latino support for Democrats. And so it's incumbent on the Biden campaign to make sure that they are doing everything they can to reach out to a community that already has one of the lowest rates of voting, that needs to be brought into the fold.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: As you know, Congressman, Latinos will be the largest non- white voting group in 2020. What is the Biden campaign doing to make sure what Secretary Castro is warning about does not happen, that they do turn out in big numbers for Joe Biden?

RICHMOND: Look, we're reaching out to them and we're reaching out to them not in only big ways, in terms of paid media and Spanish speaking stations and all of those things, we're reaching out to them directly.

And one thing this campaign is going to do, especially with rural voters, especially with black and brown voters, we're going to meet them where they are. And during this pandemic, that is the most important thing we could do because we understand what every day average people are going through.

They're trying to figure out how to navigate this virtual schooling while they have to go to work. Making sure that we don't leave kids behind that don't have broadband access or smart device access. When we talk about rebuilding the country, we're talking about building back better and bringing everybody along this time.

And I think that, you know, this contrast between a President who said that, you know, we're only getting the worst from Mexico, compared to the Obama/Biden record, including DACA, I think is very clear. And I think that Vice President will make it clear when he speaks, that he's speaking to everyone.

But as far as the former secretary goes, look, I don't profess to be the only expert in the Latino community. However, we are reaching out and the question is can we do more in black and brown, white rural areas in terms of reaching out. Absolutely. But we find ourselves in this COVID atmosphere and we're going to do the best we can in it, but his comments are duly noted.

TAPPER: Secretary Castro also pointed out that on the first night of the convention there were more Republicans supporting Biden who got a chance to speak than there were Latinos, even though the theme was "We the People." Is that something that you plan on correcting, changing in the next three nights?

RICHMOND: Well, look, I think the host did a remarkable job. And representing that community and what she does. But look, it was very important to have Republicans speak out so that the Republicans that are supporting Joe Biden know that they're not in it alone.

And that there are many Republicans, including Republican leadership, former elected officials, that know that Trump is not up to the challenge of governing this country. So, it was important to show Republicans that other Republicans are supporting the Vice President and they're not going to be bullied by this administration or this President.

And so, we're on day one of the convention. We have three days left in the convention and I think that we'll have ample time to highlight everyone.

TAPPER: You're referring, of course, when you say the host to actress Eva Longoria. Thank you so much, Democratic Congressman Cedric Richmond Of Louisiana, appreciate your time today.

RICHMOND: Thank you for having me.

TAPPER: Tonight's lineup at the evening of the Democratic National Convention includes Joe Biden's wife Jill Biden, former President Bill Clinton and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. CNN special live coverage starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern this evening.

Next, just how soon you could have access to the same coronavirus test with the same rapid results that NBA players currently use. Stay with us.

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[15:45:00]

TAPPER: Now we have some breaking news for you. I wish it was good news. But the University of Notre Dame is reporting 80 more cases of coronavirus in just one day, bringing the total number of cases up to 147 since Notre Dame students returned to campus this month. It's yet another example of the realities and difficulties of returning to in- person instruction during this pandemic, which continues to rage out of control.

A simple saliva test for COVID that can produce results in fewer than three hours is being called a game changer by the President's testing czar, Admiral Brett Giroir. And now we're learning that this could be approved in three weeks potentially.

It is the same kind of test that the NBA has been using. CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now, and Elizabeth, how exactly does the test work, and might when people expect it to be available?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Jake, this test really has a lot going for it. Number one, you don't have to put a stick up your nose.

[15:50:00]

People I know who've had that say it feels like it's touching your brain. It's a lot easier just to use saliva. Also, as you said, results in three hours or so. Also, it's very inexpensive. It can't be used at home right now, but potentially it could be developed for at- home use.

Now, it's not available right now. It's going to take several weeks to sort of do any kind of a rollout. Interestingly this is not the first saliva test to get an authorization from the FDA. Rutgers had one that came out in May. Other companies are working on ones. If we could get a lot of these, they could really, maybe cover a lot of territory and many people could use them. And that would really be great -- Jake.

TAPPER: So that's some good news. Let's talk about the vaccine front. You've got a screen shot of an email about Moderna's vaccine trial. What does it tell us about how enrollment going in that trial?

COHEN: You know, it tells us sort of two pieces of there -- or one piece of news and then I'll talk about another piece of news. It tells us that Moderna is looking to enroll 30,000 people in their trial, which we already knew. It tells us that in the first three week it's managed to enrollment almost 8,400 people. So that's quite a clip. It means they could do full enrollment sometime sort of mid- to late next month.

But this is the other piece of news I received from an official at "Operation Warp Speed." When you look at all of the cases in the United States, 22 percent of them have been black people. But in the trial, only 4.5 percent of the participants are black.

Again, if you look at all of the U.S. cases, 33 percent have been in Latino people. But in the trials only 10 percent of the participants are Latino. That is a big problem, Jake. You and I have talked about this before. You can't have a valid vaccine study when you're not testing minorities in the right proportions. This is supposed to be a vaccine that works in the people who are most affected by this virus. And when you're studying so few of them, you won't really get an answer.

So, the push is on now. I'm told that Moderna is really trying to get more minorities in their study. But that is tough. Minorities traditionally have not wanted to be subjects of medical experimentation, understandably. They have been abused in the past -- Jake.

TAPPER: Of course, the Tuskegee experiments, infamous. So, Elizabeth there's this a new study showing that the flu virus could attach itself to dust particles. Does that mean that the coronavirus theoretically could do the same thing?

COHEN: You know, it's possible. This study was really interesting because for both flu and coronavirus, you know, the CDC and others think, oh, it's mostly something that's transmitted because someone sneezes near you or coughs near you or talks and sort of spits while they talk. But this raises questions about that for the flu.

They found that the flu virus was able to attach itself to dust particles which means you could kind of just walk into it. You don't need someone to sneeze on you. And there is some thinking that if that is true for the flu, it could also be true for coronavirus. We don't know right now. But they need to do more studies and figure out is this a major mode of transmission or not?

TAPPER: There's something else I wanted to ask you about. The journal of the American Medical Association, "JAMA" just published a study about a flight, an airplane flight where a handful of people were infected with the virus. People were on the plane for about four hours or so. Tell us about that and what the conclusions were.

COHEN: Right. This was really interesting. We've sort of thought, could this virus spread on a plane? I think a lot of people thought of course it can. Well, here's documentation that it did.

So, what they did was they looked at a flight from Tel Aviv to Frankfurt. That's about four and a half, five hours. There were seven infected passengers on that flight. They didn't know they were infected but there were seven infected passengers. And they can see that they infected two other passengers. Those passengers were sitting across the aisle from them.

So, there it's documented. Now what's interesting is this was back in March when people weren't wearing masks on the flight. In some ways it's surprising that more people weren't infected.

TAPPER: Yes, only two is surprising. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much, appreciate your reporting as always.

COHEN: Thanks.

TAPPER: Coming up next, breaking news with President Trump attacking mail-in voting. We have some brand-new CNN polling suggesting how Americans feel about voting this November. That's coming up.

Plus, I'm going to talk to a former top Trump official who just endorsed Joe Biden. Why he calls his time in the Trump administration, quote, terrifying. Stay with us.

[15:55:00]

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. And we begin this hour with breaking news.

The Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, this afternoon announced that he is pausing changes to the U.S. Postal Service in an attempt to calm fears that the measures would impact mail-in voting. Mail-in voting for the November election. 20 states have pursued legal action against the U.S. Postal Service over the measures. And DeJoy is set to face lawmakers on Capitol Hill Friday.

President Trump today is still railing against mail-in voting. Earlier today claiming without evidence that it will be a disaster and saying, with no evidence, that it will be rigged. The President saying that the election may even require a do-over.

The President's claims come as CNN has brand new polls on voting this fall. Joining me now to discuss the polls and break them down is our political director David Chalian.

David, President Trump is once again claiming mail-in voting could lead to fraud. There's zero evidence of widespread voter fraud in the U.S. or in places that use mail-in voting. So, let's start with, how confident are voters that votes will be counted fairly this November?