Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Poppy Harlow And Jim

CNNW CNN Newsroom With Poppy Harlow And Jim Sciutto October 7, 2020

There or have recently visited the white house have tested positive for coronavirus, the latest Senior Advisor Stephen Miller, he is infected. And after weeks of getting the outbreak under control, overall cases are on the rise in washington, d. C. On top of that there is despair and confusion this morning after the president blows up stimulus talks, he says until after the election. Millions of americans and businesses were relying on that aid, counting on washington to do its job. We will get into more on that in a moment. Also tonight a major debate between Vice President pence and senator Kamala Harris, it will be one like you have we can assure you never seen before. Not to mention the plexiglas barriers on stage. This faceoff comes as some are doubting whether next weeks clash between the president and joe biden will happen at all. Lets begin this hour at the white house, our john harwood joins us there. There is a lot of news out of the white house this morning, john, but lets begin with the president s health as Stephen Miller has tested positive for covid. Reporter well, first of all, poppy, we dont know about the state of the president s health. We got a cursory statement yesterday from the white house physician saying that the president had reported no symptoms, but no detail, the doctor did not make himself available for questioning about specifics or the president s vital signs, whether hes still receiving oxygen, all that sort of thing. We also have not seen the president speak live to the american people. We understand that he recorded a statement yesterday, we have not seen it. So we dont know the president s condition. What we do know from his twitter feed is that he is cooped up in the residence, feeling sorry for himself, complaining that, for example, that fda rules on producing a safe vaccine and vetting the vaccine to make sure its safe are a political hit job on him because he cant announce a vaccine breakthrough before the election. So we understand that he wants to bust out of the residence, get to the oval office, but when you look at what a ghost town the west wing is right now, so many people out sick with coronavirus or quarantining because theyve been exposed to people who are sick with coronavirus, it is clear that there is a lot of apprehension about letting the president do that. May happen as early as today. In the meantime as you noted he blew up those stimulus talks with the house and then once there was blow back of that for being a politically unwise decision he raised the possibility of a la carte passage of things like paycheck protection and aid to airlines, that sort of thing. But this president is not acting in a way that suggests that hes concerned about other people. He is concerned and focused principally on himself and he appears interest his conduct to be a danger to himself healthwise as well as to those around him, guys. John harwood, thank you for reporting on all those fronts. Had lets get to salt lake city, it is the site of a big consequential debate tonight, Jason Carroll is there, jason, your mask is on, theyre mandated this time, thats a good thing, and the plooeks is up plexiglas is up and the anticipation is building. Reporter a number of the critics of the Vice President were wondering why this was something that was even being debated at all, when you consider the fact that the Vice President is head of the white houses task force on the coronavirus, you look at what happened with Stephen Miller becoming infected, his wife, some folks out there may not know, but his wife katie miller is the press secretary for the Vice President , the two work closely with each other. She flew home yesterday, she tested negative, but given all the optics involved with this you can see why someone like senator Kamala Harris is going to could he in on this issue tonight. She basically is going to be presenting the Vice President and the president as two of the same in terms of the administrations failed response to the coronavirus. Pence, the Vice President for his part, will do what he can to try to show that senator harris is too progressive, too liberal for the country. Also lets look ahead at what we can expect in terms of the format of tonights debate. There will be no opening or closing statements. Again, the plexiglas is up. The candidates will be standing about 12 feet 3 inches apart. It will last for 90 minutes with tenminute segments. The moderator will be susan page from usa today and as you mentioned, poppy, masks required by all attendees here inside the hall. Some questions about the tone of tonights debate, a lot of people wondering about that given what we saw during the president ial debate. Both of these candidates, skilled debaters, both seem to be from what weve soon in the past very calm in terms of how they debate. Lets see how that plays out tonight when the two hit the stage. Poppy, jim. You look at those plexiglas barriers, not particularly intrusive, we see them at grocery stores, at pharmacies, you see them all over right now, remarkable that was a fight. Jason carroll, thanks very much. This morning President Trump is attacking the fda after it issued guidelines to vaccine makers, guidelines that seem to follow the science here and the safety, but would make it difficult to meet the president s demand of a vaccine by the election. The agency now says they want they need two months of safety data. This is after trials finished. The final shot is given, before they will consider giving emergency use authorization to a vaccine. Lets bring in former fda commissioner dr. Mark mcclellin. Good to have you. Good morning. Good morning, poppy. Explain to everyone why to at least two months of data is imperati imperati imperative. Well, poppy, these are vaccines that are going to be given to people who are healthy, were trying to keep millions of americans from getting the coronavirus, and so its very important to make sure that there arent rare or significant side effects. Weve seen that with some vaccines, it hopefully is not going to be the case with the many vaccines under development now and in these advanced very large Clinical Trials for covid, but most of those side effects show up within the first couple of months because they can be rare its very important to get the data on tens of thousands of patients and, poppy, the standards that fda is applying here are standards like theyve used for other vaccines where these large Clinical Trials are required before theyre used on many americans. So this is not really a raising the bar, this is setting the bar in the right place. Dr. Mcclellin weve seen a number of instances in the last several months where institutions including Health Institutions have it would appear let politics trump the science. You had hhs pushing and exaggerating the benefits of a treatment on the eve of the Republican National convention, the white house pushing hydroxychloroquine which the president himself did not take when he became infected. Do you see the fda putting out these restrictions as something of a victory, that medicine trumps politics here . It is a reminder of how important it is for us to have an fda that has surrounded by processes that people understand, that are backed by science, theyre backed by experience in terms of doing good, independently overseeing Clinical Trials, having independent review by the fda and coming up on the convenience, jim, will be a Public Meeting where independent experts that advise the fda will have a chance to give their views about whether the vaccine is safe and effective enough for use. This is really important in a Public Health emergency, we need to do it as timely as possible to make sure people have the confidence in the treatments that are coming. It can apply to other treatments, too. Theres an important announcement from lily today about the monoclonal antibodies, the treatments like what appeared to make a significant difference for President Trump last week, about those potentially becoming available soon and we need that process to be just as sciencebased. Thats a really good point and to build on jims excellent point about is science finally winning here. This is from dr. Peter marks who heads the fdas center for biologic research. He is key in all of this. Here is what he said that struck me. Theres something thats really amazing that you can actually use sometimes and that is you can sometimes actually use data. Its sort of like duh, but the fact that he had to say it, right . You know, its duh, but its also its data and its data from trials where people are randomizing the treatment or get Something Else so we dont make mistakes and conclude that theres a safety problem or important benefit. This is the way science should work and its gareat to see it working to make a difference in this pandemic. Doctor, before we go, lets set aside the political timeline here because the science timeli timeline, the medicine one is the one that matters. In your view is this country still on track to have a vaccine approved perhaps as soon as the end of this year based on where the science is leading us . I think so. You know, we have to see what actually happens in the Clinical Trials, fda has paused one of them because of a safety concern so we have to make sure that the results are really there, but i do see the trials on track to have some availability at least to highest risk americans Like Health Care workers and people in Nursing Homes potentially before the end of the year. It will be well into next year before vaccines may be widely available if we keep up with that pace. The other Important News is that there are some some of these other treatments like a Monoclonal Antibody that President Trump got that could be available significantly sooner. So the treatments are coming along, we really need to support the science to get them moving along as fast as possible while making sure they are safe and effective. Thank you, doctor. So good to have you on all of this this morning. Good to be with you. Thank you. Joining us now New York Times Political Correspondent alex burns and npr White House Reporter ayesha roscoe. Mice to have you both here. Alex, let me begin with you if i could on stimulus because you had a very colorful way of explaining the president s move last night to just throw it all out. Quote, a staggering act of selfharm and sabotage to his party. Why . Well, poppy, for the closing weeks of his own campaign and its important to remember that his campaign has tied up in it the fates of republicans all up and down the ballot, the party has been hoping that the president would, you know, either before he got infected or coming out of the hospital deliver a pretty clear and forceful message about the economy and about the recovery from covid, perhaps informed by his own personal experience, and maybe could forge some kind of deal on the hill that would give him something to campaign on in the final weeks of this election. For months he has been campaigning essentially on the idea that the pandemic is a thing of the past. That message is pretty much shot because of whats going on in the white house and just because of the factual reality that we are all living in, but that notion of an economic message would give him something to work with, would give his Party Something to work with. What has happened instead is that the president has cut off negotiations and has done it in factually the language that democrats have been using to attack the Republican Party, saying theyre more focused on the Supreme Court than on helping people suffering. Ayesha roscoe, Vice President biden went to gettysburg yesterday to give an address about division in this country and a way forward, but he also spoke about the Health Crisis in this country, particularly on the issue of mask wearing. I want to play his sound and ask you a quick question. Wearing a mask is not a political statement. Its a scientific recommendation. Social distancing isnt a political statement, its a scientific recommendation. This pandemic is not a red state or blue state issue. This virus doesnt care whether you live or where you live, what Political Party you belong to. It affects us all. It will take anyones life. Its a virus. Its not a political weapon. Has the Biden Campaign in your view determined that the response to the virus, the outbreak, is the central issue in this election . Absolutely. And i think thats what youre going to see tonight in the debate with Kamala Harris versus mike pence. Youre going to hear them driving that home because that is a big issue for the u. S. As a whole and were seeing it play out for the president himself. I mean, the president s own health is at risk, we see that even with, you know, the joint chiefs of staff, some of them are having to quarantine. All of these issues, i mean, its affecting the federal government and this is an issue where President Trump in particular has had very weak marks on polls. This has been the weakness for him and part of the reason why his polls have been so low is because of his handling and his management of the coronavirus and that key groups do not approve of it, senior citizens, a lot of women, and so you see the Biden Campaign really honing in on this. There was a really fiery debate last night in arizona, alex, and im super fascinated with arizona right now because of what our poll numbers, the New York Times poll showed this week is that biden has an 8 point lead in arizona, if he were to win arizona it would be the first to do that for democrats since 96. If you could listen to this exchange between the moderator and republican Martha Mcsally about whether she basically stands by the president if shes proud of the work the president has done. Lets roll it. Are you proud of your support for President Trump . Well, im proud that im fighting for arizonans on things like cutting your taxes. Senator, the question was are you proud of your support for President Trump . Im proud to be fighting for arizona every single day. Is that a yes or a no for President Trump . Putting legislation on President Trumps desk. By the way, kudos to the moderator, just an excellent job on that. Alex, what does that tell you about not just her but the party right now . Well, in her case i would just say quickly, poppy, its baffling because she has tied herself so closely to the president all along that so suddenly seek separation at this point in that sort of very stilted way does not seem particularly strategically wellinformed. In terms of the Bigger Picture of the Republican Party that shows you the corn that they have painted themselves into. That they feel in a state like arizona that they have a choice between either tying themselves inseparably to the president and alienating the majority of voters who dislike the president , most of them in arizona according to our polling are voting for joe biden, or seeking separation from the president and enraging the hard core base of the Republican Party and perhaps the president himself. Mcsally aligning herself with the president s attack on the media, i remember her interaction with our colleague manu raju a few weeks back. What is the view of mcconnells view on the stimulus, does he see danger to senators in time races . It was always a kind of his focus is clearly on the Supreme Court right now and it was always going to be a bit tough in the senate because there were a lot of senators who were against doing, you know, another big stimulus, you know, all of a sudden they were getting concerned about how much is being spent. So i think it was always a tricky thing to happen, but if trump had leaned on him and said that he really wanted this done, it would have gotten done. Guys, i think we might have some news to talk about in the next couple of weeks, im sure we will have you back. Alex burns, ayesha, probably more before the end of the day, thanks to both of you. Still to come this hour right now top pentagon leaders top pentagon leaders are under quarantine after being exposed to covid19. What does that mean for your countrys National Security . Also tonight senator Kamala Harris the first africanamerican woman to be on a major party ticket, to be nominated as Vice President , takes the stage to debate mike pence. Her focus, though, may not just be solely on the Vice President. We will tell you why. And a powerful hurricane is battering cancun as we speak, and other parts of mexico right now. Is the u. S. At risk . Heres another cleaning tip from mr. Clean. Cleaning tough bathroom and kitchen messes with sprays and wipes can be a struggle. Theres an easier way. Try mr. Clean magic eras

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