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EARLY START

Biden: Americans Unsafe With Trump As President; Former Top Aide To Pence Slams Trump, Endorses Biden; Judge Orders USPS To Halt Recent Changes. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired September 18, 2020 - 05:30   ET

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


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[05:31:13]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Do you see what his audience -- they've got cars -- they have like cars in a parking lot. It's the weirdest thing.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He knew it. He knew it and did nothing. It's close to criminal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Dueling leadership on stage in swing states. President Trump leans on his brand. Joe Biden leans on science as coronavirus cases start a dangerous climb.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: She was the vice president's top aide on the pandemic task force. Now, she's endorsing Joe Biden. We'll tell you why.

JARRETT: And an intentional effort to disrupt the election. Some strong words from a federal judge ordering the Postal Service to reverse those recent changes.

Good morning, everyone, this is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

ROMANS: Good Friday morning, everyone. I'm Christine Romans. Thirty- one minutes past the hour.

The Labor Day dangers of the pandemic all the experts warned about now in plain sight. A whopping 30 states adding new cases compared to this time last week. It was just nine states on Monday. Almost 198,000 Americans have now lost their lives.

That was the backdrop as Joe Biden fielded questions from socially- distant voters at a CNN drive-in town hall event. Relying on science and facts, Biden also shared some emotional moments with voters when talking about his son, Beau, and empathizing with those who've been hit hardest by the pandemic.

He says America is not safe under President Trump's leadership and touted his own ability to unify the country.

CNN's Arlette Saenz has more from Pennsylvania.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Laura and Christine, here in Pennsylvania, Joe Biden participated in his first CNN town hall since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. And he took aim at President Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, calling his actions close to criminal and calling the administration thoroughly irresponsible.

Now, Biden also took issue with the recent comments from Attorney General Bill Barr, who compared the coronavirus lockdowns to slavery. Biden said that it was the president's inactions that has jeopardized the freedom of Americans. Take a listen.

BIDEN: You lost your freedom because he didn't act. The freedom to go to that ballgame, the freedom of your kid to go to school, the freedom to see your mom or dad in the hospital, the freedom just to walk around your neighborhood -- because of failure to act responsibly.

SAENZ: Now, Biden also talked about the need for an effective vaccine, saying he's going to trust the scientists' decision and not President Trump's word alone.

Biden also made an appeal to working-class voters, framing this as a campaign between Scranton and Park Avenue, suggesting President Trump has prioritized the stock market over working-class Americans.

Now, this was a first-of-its-kind drive-in-style town hall and featured some of the most extensive in-person live questions Joe Biden has recently received, offering a bit of a preview of what a debate might look like. Biden and Trump are set to face off in less than two weeks. Biden saying he is looking forward to debating the president and offering a different vision for where he would take the country -- Laura and Christine.

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JARRETT: Arlette, thank you for that.

Before Labor Day, the warnings were everywhere. Wear a mask, social distance, avoid large holiday crowds. For goodness sake, wash your hands. So how did we do? Well, since then, the case curve has only spiked upward.

Yet, still, the president holding another rally in contrast to Joe Biden with no social distancing and few masks in sight. This time, he was in Wisconsin where new cases have almost doubled in two weeks. The president mocked the social distancing at Biden's town hall. For Trump, it appears it's all about branding.

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TRUMP: By the way, officially, this is called a protest -- you know that. We no longer call it rallies. We don't use the term rally, OK? Rachel knows.

[05:35:00]

We don't call them rallies anymore because, you know, you're not allowed to have a political rally for more than 10 people. You're not allowed to go to church, you're not allowed to meet, you're not allowed to talk to anybody. You have to stay in a prison. Your home has become your prison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: There is new coronavirus fallout across the country.

New York City has delayed Monday's planned start of in-person public school for most students. A new study finds up to 51 percent of all school employees nationwide are at increased risk of infection.

The pandemic is taking a sweeping toll on education -- low-income students paying the price more. An analysis of federal data shows about 100,000 fewer high school seniors completed financial aid applications this year.

JARRETT: So everyone wants to know when a vaccine might be ready, but worries about vaccine safety and political interference in the approval process may be scaring some people away.

Look at this. A new poll shows 51 percent of Americans say they would get a COVID vaccination. That's a 21-point drop since May.

But the surgeon general says the virus -- well, it could be tamed right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: The tools to stop this virus are already in our communities. Look at New York City. They've gone from worst in the world to a less than one percent positivity rate for several weeks ongoing.

And so, it proves we don't need to wait until we get a vaccine or some miracle drug to get this virus under control. We can do it right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Contrary to that message, two states where many people chose to ignore the warnings and head to the beaches over Labor Day are actually expanding their reopenings.

In Miami-Dade County, Florida, bowling alleys, movie theaters, concert halls, and arcades can open at 50 percent capacity. And in parts of Texas, where hospitalizations are down, most businesses can now increase their capacity to 75 percent.

JARRETT: A former top aide to Vice President Mike Pence is accusing President Trump of gravely mismanaging the country's response to the pandemic. She's growing a -- she's joining a growing list of former administration officials to endorse Joe Biden.

Olivia Troye, a former Homeland Security adviser and Pence's lead staffer on the White House Coronavirus Task Force up until last month, says the president only cared about winning reelection.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLIVIA TROYE, FORMER CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE AIDE: It was shocking to see the president saying that the virus was a hoax -- saying that everything's OK when we know that it's not. The truth is he doesn't actually care about anyone else but himself.

He said maybe this COVID thing is a good thing. I don't like shaking hands with people. I don't have to shake hands with these disgusting people. Those disgusting people are the same people that he claims to care about. They're the people still going to his rallies today who have complete faith in who he is.

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JARRETT: Now, Pence is dismissing Troye's criticism of the president, calling her a disgruntled former employee.

ROMANS: A federal judge temporarily blocking and, in some cases, reversing a wide range of U.S. Postal Service policy changes ahead of the November election. The judge accuses Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy of engaging in voter disenfranchisement and suppression.

The judge ordered the Postal Service to undo all the changes made in the last few months, including restrictions on late-night and extra delivery trips.

JARRETT: The judge also ordered the Postal Service to reinstall any equipment that was uninstalled, if necessary, to make election mail first-class. The Postal Service said it was exploring its legal options after this decision.

"The Washington Post" also obtained documents appearing to suggest the White House pressured the Postal Service in the early days of the pandemic. At one point in April, USPS leaders drafted plans to distribute five face-coverings to every American household. This was before Louis DeJoy was confirmed as postmaster general, we should note.

Now, new court rulings could have a major impact on voting in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania. The state Supreme Court there extending the deadline for absentee ballots to three days after the election. The court also giving election officials the go-ahead to add more ballot drop boxes.

The ruling moves Pennsylvania into the group of states you see in green there on your screen that accept ballots after the ones that -- right after Election Day. The group makes up about 60 percent of the nation's electoral votes. The big reason -- it's a big reason we may not know the result on election night. The court also removing the Green Party's candidate from the presidential ballot in Pennsylvania. Now, that's a move that could help Democrats as some feared that Green Party candidate would draw critical votes away from Joe Biden. The ruling now clears the way for election officials to start sending out those ballots.

ROMANS: Yes. Bottom line, plan early if you know who you're voting for.

Now, the rich are getting richer while millions of Americans are now earning less than they were before the pandemic began. A new report from the Institute of Policy Studies shows U.S. billionaires saw their fortunes skyrocket $845 billion since March. The highest earners include Elon Musk, Michael Bloomberg, and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison.

[05:40:01]

Now, the Institute's director said the pandemic is supercharging America's existing inequalities.

We are facing the worst unemployment crisis since the Great Depression. The country is still down 11.5 million jobs since February. First-time unemployment claims are more than four times higher than the pre-pandemic level.

Many of the jumps of the billionaires' wealth were tied to their own company's success. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says his net worth increase $55 billion since February. The Walton family, who founded Walmart, saw their combined net worth grow by more than $60 billion.

The Institute of Policy Studies says Congress must enact policies that help working Americans instead of the investment class.

And by the way, stimulus talks have stalled here. The front page of "The Wall Street Journal" today, big concerns about a million homeowners who have fallen through the cracks of forbearance programs and are at risk of eviction.

JARRETT: Well, for all the non-billionaires out there, the start of school in a pandemic is forcing families to make some really hard choices.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich takes a closer look for us.

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TRACI WELLS, WORKING MOTHER OF FOUR: Whoever catches this gets 100 points.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): A moment of pure joy during a difficult time for this family of six.

WELLS: It's super-challenging to have to juggle everything at the same time, all the time. YURKEVICH (voice-over): Traci Wells is talking about what nearly 25 million parents are experiencing right now, juggling work and remote learning.

In June, Wells and her husband made the tough decision for her to go part-time so she could be present for her three school-age girls and toddler son. She expects her kids won't be back in classrooms until 2021.

WELLS: I was just like I cannot maintain this for another six months. It's just too much. It's too intense.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): Forty percent of working parents have made changes to their employment, including 25 percent who have voluntarily reduced their hours and 15 percent who have quit entirely. And women between 25 and 44 are almost three times as likely as men to leave the workforce in order to take care of children.

SACHIN PANDYA, LABOR AND UNEMPLOYMENT LAW PROFESSORS, UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT: That results in a massive decrease in household income, which makes it more difficult for parents and families who are already in a precarious position financially. And, by the way, doesn't help very much in an economy that is currently trying to recover from staggering unemployment.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): But parents who are not looking for new work aren't counted as unemployed. Under the CARES Act, parents were eligible for unemployment if they needed to stay home with their children but that protection expired in July.

CINDY GIL, SINGLE WORKING MOTHER: I think cost for daycare is -- it's like another rent. It's like a college tuition. If it was more cost- effective that would be wonderful.

YURKEVICH (on camera): But for you, it wouldn't be a cost-effective option?

GIL: Daycare would not be a cost-effective option for me.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): Cindy Gil lives in a studio apartment with her 8-year-old son Caden (sp) in Harlem, New York, and she's a single mom with no choice but to work. She's remote a few days a week when Caden has virtual learning, but in order to keep her job she took a 10 percent pay cut. Things are stressful.

GIL: Once things kind of reached the boiling point for him in terms of patience and just things that he needed from me, I needed to take like a day off of work or half a day here and there.

WELLS: The scenic overlook. We can go for a walk.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): In just weeks, a lifeline is disappearing for Wells. The Paid Family Leave that's helped supplement her income runs out. She says she likely can't afford to continue part-time without it. WELLS: Honestly, it's hard for me to even go there because I don't think that I could have continued at the same rhythm that I was continuing.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: You know, Laura, just about every single -- every single aspect of American life has changed -- is different. That is so difficult -- the kids home from school, virtual learning, and trying to work from home. These parents are heroes.

And, you know, teachers are doing this, too. The teachers who are teaching your kids also have their kids home from school or they're trying to do, you know, hybrid learning. It's just so challenging.

JARRETT: It's one of the secondary, sort of, ripple effects of this virus that could last for so much longer, even beyond getting a vaccine. You know, the effect on --

ROMANS: Yes.

JARRETT: -- women's careers, in particular, it's just -- it's really serious.

ROMANS: Yes.

All right, we'll be right back.

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[05:48:42]

JARRETT: The World Health Organization warning of alarming rates of virus transmission in Europe. The average number of new cases every day is now higher than the peak back in the spring and more than tripled since early July. Overnight, the U.K. health secretary did not rule out another lockdown.

CNN's Scott McLean is live for us in London. Scott, you know, every place is dealing with the same thing -- of course, here in the U.S., as well. You reopen, you see the spikes in cases. But talk of another lockdown, that can't be well-received.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly not, Laura.

And the situation did not seem nearly as urgent a few weeks ago when the virus was showing up mostly in younger people. But now, it's starting to be seen in older parts of the population and even creeping into care homes as well.

Hospitalizations in the U.K. are now doubling every eight days, just as the country also faces a shortage of tests despite the fact that it is doing more testing than any other European country. So, more than one-third of the tests that they are doing are being set aside for care homes alone.

The government has also barred social gatherings of more than six people across England. And in parts of northeast England, has also effectively barred all in-person socializing with people outside of your own household.

If these things can't help tamp down the virus, though -- well, the government won't rule out the nuclear option.

[05:50:02]

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MATT HANCOCK, BRITISH HEALTH SECRETARY: But a national lockdown is the last line of defense. It is -- you know, as we saw in the spring, it is the thing that we can do to keep people as safe if that's -- if that's needed. So we're watching vigilantly but we can see this number of cases accelerating, as you say, and we're prepared to do what it takes to -- both to protect lives and to protect livelihoods. And, of course, both are so important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: So across Europe, the second wave of the virus has actually eclipsed the first one in daily case counts. The WHO says that ought to be a wake-up call.

But the second wave has also been less deadly. For instance, France is reporting two or three times the number of daily new infections than they were in April, but it only has one-sixth of the hospitalizations -- Laura.

JARRETT: So interesting. You know, everyone is just dealing with this in different ways. But the flu, this fall, is just going to compound the problems.

Scott, thanks so much for all of your reporting.

ROMANS: All right. The city of Baltimore making changes after remote school got off to a rocky start. CNN has reporters covering the pandemic across the country.

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BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I'm Bianna Golodryga in New York.

A startling revelation from the Baltimore Public School's CEO. A week and a half in, fewer than two-thirds of students have been able to log in every day, without interruption, for virtual classes. Officials say some of the students may not have been accounted for because they were using unofficial logins. That's a practice that is going to be banned moving forward.

In response, the city is increasing outreach to families, making sure that they have the devices they need, in addition to deploying community school coordinators to help students get connected.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Nick Valencia in Atlanta.

After receiving an onslaught of criticism for allowing college football to take place on campus this fall but not in-person voting, the University of Georgia is changing direction. On Thursday, the university tweeted that they are looking forward to working with state and local election officials to facilitate on-campus voting.

The Georgia Board of Elections also confirming to CNN that they are currently working the UGA staff to work out the situation.

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Erica Hill in New York City where the mayor has just announced a pandemic response lab. This is going to, according to the mayor, allow for tests to be processed within 24 to 48 hours for New York City's health and hospitals. That's the public health care system in the city.

The mayor saying that by November, they should be able to process 20,000 tests a day. And this would create 150 jobs. Right now, about 85 percent of tests in New York City are coming back within 72 hours, more or less.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: All right. Thanks to all of our correspondents for those updates on the virus.

Health officials in Michigan are urging people to stay indoors after dark to prevent the spread of a rare and potentially deadly mosquito- borne virus. A resident of Barry County, Michigan was suspected of having Eastern Equine Encephalitis, otherwise known as EEE. The state is conducting aerial treatment now across several high-risk areas.

ROMANS: Oh, those pictures of mosquitos, it's so gross.

All right.

Looking at markets around the world right now for this Friday edition, Asian shares have closed for the week. They are higher there. A big jump in the Shanghai Composite. European shares have open mixed. Futures also mixed here in the U.S. this morning to finish the week.

You know, stocks were down Thursday. Investors facing the hard fact the road to economic recovery is going to be a long one directed by the virus. This, on the heels of some comments from the Fed chief, Jerome Powell.

The Dow closed 130 points lower. The Nasdaq fell 1.3 percent.

Ford bringing something new to its historic site in Dearborn, Michigan. Ford announced plans for a new plant to build the electric version of its best-selling F-150 truck. This was once home to the plant that built the iconic Mustang.

Ford says it will invest $700 million and add 300 jobs. Production is scheduled to start in 2022.

Changes for Rent the Runway. The fashion company known for its rental business will discontinue its unlimited membership early next year. It is also no longer accepting new members for its unlimited swap plan. The move comes as more people work from home, which means less need for workwear.

Last month, Rent the Runway said it was permanently closing down its retail locations.

JARRETT: All right. We thought we would leave you this Friday morning with an unforgettable father-son moment made possible by a nurse in Kentucky.

Scott Sullivan, a terminally-ill cancer patient, hoped to see his son Cade play football one more time but he wasn't well enough to travel by car. So, nurse Jerree Humphrey reached out to a nearby airport and a local dentist offered to fly them.

When Cade spotted his father, he hugged him so tight with all of his might. Scott Sullivan says it's a moment he hopes his son will cherish after he's gone.

ROMANS: Wow, that's really sad and wonderful at the same time. Bittersweet, as they say.

JARRETT: Absolutely.

ROMANS: All right, Friday, everybody. Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: Have a great weekend, everyone. I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.

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[05:59:25]

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BIDEN: He knew it and did nothing. It's close to criminal. It's all about his reelection. It should be about the American people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is where he excels. This is where he can directly answer voters' questions one-on-one.

TRUMP: We will deliver a safe and effective vaccine before the end of the year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He thinks that once a vaccine is approved the pandemic is gone.

ADAMS: We don't need to wait until we get a vaccine or some miracle drug to get this virus under control. We can do it right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: COVID is going to keep spreading in this country unless we buckle down and do a better job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Friday.