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Connect the World
The Hunt for a COVID-19 Vaccine; Fauci: Reopening Too Quickly Makes Virus Hard to Contain; Trump Willing to Go Higher on Stimulus Deal. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired October 20, 2020 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all know a vaccine is needed to help end the pandemic.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE) the E.U. has become one of the first to offer an experimental COVID-19 vaccine to the public.
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is part of the emergency approval use granted by the Chinese government.
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Alastair Fraser-Urquhart desperately wants to be infected with the coronavirus.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I woke up thinking about (INAUDIBLE) bad thing for (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hard to be optimistic about people even taking a vaccine when they won't wear a mask.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): Tonight, we need a cure.
But how close are we?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: This is the dashboard of where we are right now. In the global race for a vaccine. But it belies a far more complex patchwork of trials
and challenges around your world. And that is what we will be connecting you to this hour.
The global challenge that has defined 2020 then, beginning to face what could be its global solution.
At each end of the Earth, from halls of power in London, where the government has just signed a contract for the first human challenge studies
into COVID-19, to the halls of a hospital in China, where an experimental dose of vaccine already on sale to some, COVID-19 now finally being met on
a level where its enormous power can potentially be tackled head-on, a microscopic one, while, of course, so much about the virus remains unknown
still.
The exact same applies to a vaccine. That's something the WHO's top scientists have been keen to point out, urging that the only real certainty
is uncertainty itself. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN, WHO CHIEF SCIENTIST: Well, we can be optimistic but there's still an "if" there. We have a large number of vaccines in
development. So we are very hopeful that a couple of them or several of them will actually turn out to be safe and effective. We still haven't seen
the results of any phase 3 clinical trials.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: So let's be very clear, it is still an "if, not when," when it becomes a safe and effective vaccine. Still, enormous efforts being made to
secure a cure. Phil Black is in London. David Culver is in Beijing.
Let me start with you, what's the vaccine story, David, on the ground in China?
CULVER: Becky, remarkably, people are so eager, I would even say desperate at times to get a part of this vaccine, part of what is still an
experimental trial, because as you pointed out it's still an experimental vaccine.
People still want to take part in it, not because of what's happening on the ground, we're in a bubble of sorts, it's about pursuing things outside
of China, be it professional, educational.
And for that reason, they want to get hold of those vaccines.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CULVER (voice-over): They arrived early from all over China, folks lured to the international manufacturing hub of Yiwu city, specifically to this
small community hospital. This is one of the first public locations where China's rolled out an experimental COVID-19 vaccine.
They began injecting people over the weekend. The cost, about $60 U.S. for two doses. Word spread quickly; some showed up Monday thinking they'd get a
shot. Annie Koo (ph) among them.
"This is something really important to you, isn't it?" I asked her.
"Yes," she replied, adding, "because, well, if you have the vaccine, it's much safer to leave the country."
For more than 20 years, she has worked in import-export in Chile (ph) and returned home to China amidst the outbreak. She flew to Yiwu the night
before we met her. It's a two-hour flight from her home in southern China.
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CULVER (voice-over): Eager and admittedly a bit desperate for immunity.
CULVER: So they told you they don't have any and you have to find another place?
CULVER (voice-over): Hospital staff confirmed to CNN that they had run out. Local officials later announced this distribution was only for those
with specific foreign travel needs and preapproval.
She was not the only one disappointed. Notice the groups of people waiting around the hospital parking lot, some of them of traveling in from
neighboring provinces, wanting the vaccine.
CULVER: Would you take the vaccine?
CULVER (voice-over): Originally from Syria, we met this man as he pulled up with his young daughter and wife in the back seat of their car. He was
curious, if not also a bit hesitant.
CULVER: If you were to walk in there and they had it, would you take it today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, I don't know. I don't have answer.
CULVER: As you can go into the main entrance here, we know folks are going in to inquire how they might be part of this trial. You've got to remember,
this is part of the emergency approval use granted by the Chinese government. This is not the actual release of an approved drug as of yet.
CULVER (voice-over): The vaccine distributed is made by Sinovac Biotech. CNN took you through the Beijing base in August. It's more than one of a
dozen Chinese companies working on a coronavirus vaccine.
At the time of our visit in late summer, they were constructing a new facility to meet the production demands while still going through phase 3
clinical trials, which have not yet concluded. It all seemed to be happening at rapid speeds.
HELEN YANG, SINOVAC BIOTECH: None of the staff is sacrificing any quality of our vaccine. So because Sinovac's goal is to provide a vaccine with good
quality, good safety, good immunogenicity to the people in the world.
CULVER (voice-over): China's been trying to push past the early allegations of mishandling, cover-ups and silencing of whistleblowers
surrounding the initial outbreak in Wuhan.
Instead, officials here have highlighted their swift and seemingly successful responses to many cluster outbreaks, the most recent in Qingdao
last week, following a major travel holiday. After only a handful of confirmed cases surfaced, health officials began contact tracing and tested
more than 10 million people in less than a week.
And life, it seems, quickly returned to near normal again. But that's mostly within China, a bubble of sorts; for some whose livelihood is
rooted in other parts the world where cases are surging once again, their only hope may be the vaccine.
Annie Koo (ph) and the others now on to the next location to track one down.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CULVER: And, Becky, that's what stood out to us as we were there, folks flying in from all over from Chinese and other provinces with no guarantee
that they could get a vaccine and then no guarantee that this vaccine was even effective. It's still experimental, still in phase 3.
Late today, we did hear from two of the companies behind some of the vaccines here. Four of the vaccines are in phase 3 clinical trials. They
say they've already been administered to 60,000 people here within China. That does not even include those part of the emergency use approval, the
military, front line workers, et cetera.
CULVER: Fascinating. David is in Beijing for you. As I said at the beginning of this, having lived through this thing from start to finish
there. Phil -- thank you, David.
The U.K. giving the go-ahead for healthy volunteers to get deliberately infected with COVID-19.
Not to put too fine a point on this, but willingly getting infected seems like a very, shall we say, brave choice?
BLACK: Indeed, brave. They will be financially compensated but not to the point that it incentivizes their involvement. It's going to happen here at
London's Royal Free Hospital. This is where doctors will be doing that quite extraordinary thing, deliberately exposing these volunteers to the
coronavirus.
To begin with, they're not going to be dealing with vaccines. The goal will be to make these volunteers ill, to make them unwell. It is ethically
challenging and potentially risky. But as many advocates around the world believe it could play a key role in helping to identify the most promising
vaccines of the many being developed currently.
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BLACK (voice-over): Alastair Fraser-Urquhart desperately wants to be infected with the coronavirus.
ALASTAIR FRASER-URQUHART, CHALLENGE TRIAL VOLUNTEER: I've just got an email.
BLACK (voice-over): He's part of the campaign group One Day Sooner. It's been busy recruiting COVID-willing volunteers, so far tens of thousands
around the world, and lobbying the U.K. government to use them for potentially risky research.
FRASER-URQUHART: I wake up thinking about challenge trials and I go back to bed thinking about challenge trials.
BLACK (voice-over): Challenge trials involve giving healthy people a potential vaccine like this one developed by London's Imperial College,
then later testing it by deliberately dosing them with the virus.
FRASER-URQUHART: By taking that small risk on myself, I can potentially protect thousands of other people from having to be infected without
consenting to it.
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BLACK (voice-over): Advocates say challenge trials are more efficient than the usual method, waiting for large numbers of test subjects to be exposed
to a specific virus in the real world. With numerous COVID-19 vaccines being developed, some scientists believe challenge trials could help them
to identify the best of them sooner.
DR. MARTIN JOHNSON, SENIOR MEDICAL DIRECTOR, HVIVO: At the moment, the government is having to buy at risk lots of different vaccines, hoping one
is going to work.
BLACK (voice-over): Dr. Martin Johnson works for hVIVO, the testing company hired by the British government to set up challenge trials for
three possible vaccines. Its London facility has years of experience running similar programs with influenza and other viruses.
But working with this new coronavirus is far riskier. The trials will be conducted at London's Royal Free Hospital, which has the U.K.'s only
category 3 biocontainment ward. And the first round of volunteers will be exposed to the virus without getting a vaccine.
JOHNSON: We're basically watching disease in motion, right from the very start of the inoculation, right through to the disease going out of the
body. So it gives us an absolute view of what is happening to the human body during an infectious process.
BLACK (voice-over): The company says challenge trials can be conducted safely because treatments are now available, like the antiviral,
remdesivir, and the steroid, dexamethasone.
But the World Health Organization recently found remdesivir doesn't appear to save COVID-19 patients' lives or help them recover sooner. And the data
on dexamethasone is still early and limited. The ethics of the trials will be closely scrutinized. England's regulator will have to be convinced the
risk is worth the potential reward.
TERENCE STEPHENSON, ENGLAND'S HEALTH RESEARCH AUTHORITY: A challenge trial would have to make the cogent argument that the benefits to society greatly
outweigh the risk and that that evidence of those data could be achieved in a simpler or safer way.
BLACK (voice-over): Volunteers will be strictly screened to include known risk factors. So those selected must fit a limited profile. They will have
to be young and very healthy. Alistair hopes he's in with a chance.
FRASER-URQUHART: If ever it's a time to push the boundaries and discover how quickly we can do stuff and how well we can do stuff, to take on risks
for other people is now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACK: Becky, as recently as a few months ago, the doctors say they couldn't have advanced this idea, this proposal, to deliberately expose
people to the virus because their medical understanding of it wasn't sufficient to believe they could guarantee the volunteers' relative safety.
They believe now they can manage that risk. But they can't do away with it entirely, because, as we know -- and this is the key ethical point -- there
still is no guaranteed treatment for COVID-19.
ANDERSON: Yes, absolutely. Phil, thank you for that.
We will speak next hour with the chief scientific officer of the company leading those human challenge trials for a COVID-19 vaccine and putting
some of the questions that Phil raised in his report to him.
The search for a vaccine is offering a lot of hope. I discussed the practical, economic and moral imperative of a vaccine with Melinda Gates,
whose foundation has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to research, testing and the vaccine effort as well as the International Monetary Fund
chief Kristalina Georgieva. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELINDA GATES, THE BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION: It's important that we take care of everybody. And we have to look at who's struggling the most
and who's going to help us get back on our feet the quickest.
If you take the first 2 billion doses of vaccines and they only get out to the high-income countries, you're going to get twice as much death. I don't
think we want to see twice as much death in the world.
And if we're going to have a swifter recovery, you have global cooperation. And what we're seeing is that, yes, the high-income countries can put a lot
of money into vaccines. But they're going to spend $1.3 trillion in a bidding war on vaccines unless they go through this ACT-Accelerator.
There's an arm of it that works on vaccines. And if they go through that global cooperation, they'll bring down the price by 13 times. They'll spend
$110 billion to save trillions of dollars to get our economies regrowing, which will grow the whole world economy again. It just makes sense
economically as well.
KRISTALINA GEORGIEVA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, IMF: The International Monetary Fund concentrates on the economics of how we answer your question. And the
economics is very clear.
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GEORGIEVA: We have just calculated that, if we get vaccines accelerated in terms of distribution and everybody lines up to be vaccinated as quickly as
possible, we are going to generate additional $9 trillion between now and 2025.
ANDERSON: How concerned are you, Melinda, about the anti-vaxers out there and those, the cohort of people who are, it seems, infecting others with
this idea that these vaccines may just not been safe for them?
You've seen this before in your work in the field.
How damaging is this?
GATES: Yes, this information causes deaths.
When this vaccine is available, are you going to believe something on the Internet or you read from somebody who's in politics or your, you know,
somebody who doesn't know you?
Or are you going to speak to your pediatrician and your doctor and figure out if this is right for you and your family?
That's where you go. And I believe once that momentum starts and people see that it is safe, they have to know their body's safe when they put it in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Melinda Gates and Kristalina Georgieva speaking to me recently. Lots of questions then about who will get a safe and effective vaccine when
we get one, if we get one and why. Let's bring in chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
You spoke yesterday to Dr. Anthony Fauci, part of the U.S. Coronavirus Task Force. And he said there may not be a situation where the first vaccine
available will be the one that everybody takes.
Can you explain?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we've been talking about the vaccine as a singular entity. But as you well know, Becky, there
are several vaccines sort of going through these trials. A few of them are pretty far along. So there may be more than one vaccine.
We're getting a better idea of who should first get the vaccine. But we could run into a situation where some vaccines are better for certain
people versus others. I asked Dr. Fauci about this yesterday. Here's how he framed it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: There's going to be different versions of the vaccine. You got the iPhone 10, iPhone 11. That's the way somebody framed that question to me
recently.
But should everyone go and get the first iPhone, if they can, if they qualify?
Or would people be reasonable to say hey, look, I'm going to wait for version 2 to come out, which is more likely to be more effective or safer,
whatever?
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We'll see a hierarchy of recommendations of who should get the vaccine. And
I think you have to factor into that how effective it is and what risk category, you as an individual, are in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: And let me say something else, Becky, it's interesting because, if you talk about people who are elderly, who have pre-existing conditions,
obviously, a vaccine that can prevent them from developing significant disease is going to be the core sort of thing, requirement of that vaccine.
For young people, who are far less likely to get sick, you obviously want the vaccine to prevent them from getting ill but also to really reduce the
viral load in their nose and their mouth because one of the big concerns about younger people is that they are transmitters of this.
So you get the idea , again, you may have people who absolutely need the vaccine right away; other people who may get different vaccines, depending
on their overall condition.
ANDERSON: There are so many questions, aren't there, that still need answers, not the least, the if or when we'll actually get an effective and
safe vaccine.
The speed at which these trials are going on, you and I discussed, the development of a vaccine is super quick at the moment. And then it's a
question of who gets any safe and effective vaccine and why.
All the major indicators, meantime, in the United States, Sanjay, it seems, are heading in the wrong direction. You spoke about that as well, as I
understand it, with Dr. Fauci.
Does he think we would be in this awful situation if the U.S. had just followed the guidelines put forward by the White House Coronavirus Task
Force and, indeed, the CDC?
GUPTA: No, he thinks that we would be in a very different situation, you know, Becky. And there are plenty of examples around the world, mostly
talking about Asian countries -- South Korea, for example but also Australia.
These were the criteria, you remember, Becky, just for reopening. You just needed to see cases going down for 14 days, illness going down for 14 days;
making sure you had enough testing in place; that hospitals weren't becoming overwhelmed.
At the time these criteria were released, everyone seemed to agree with them, they were released at the White House.
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GUPTA: And the reason this criteria makes sense, if you do this, basically 14 days' downward trend means you've got the virus in sort of more of a
containment mode, as opposed to starting to develop into linear and then exponential growth.
So had we followed these, we would certainly be in a much different position. I asked him about that; here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: When things began to open, they skipped over the benchmarks and the gateways and the different phases and, in some areas, essentially let it
fly, as it were. So we wound up getting these surges. And when you get a surge, Sanjay, you have such a level of community spread that it makes
containment and control very, very difficult.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: You know, Becky, one thing that Dr. Fauci says and others have taken pains to say is that they're not advocating for lockdown. That would
be a worst-case scenario sort of picture. But there are five things which, if you implemented broadly across a large society -- United States,
wherever -- it would start to bring the trajectory of the virus down within a few weeks.
It will sound boring, Becky, to recite these things again but wearing a mask whenever you go outside, maintaining physical distance, avoiding
closely clustered indoor settings like bars, large gatherings; and wash hands.
Everyone is talking about the vaccine understandably. But in your last interviews, you just heard, wearing the mask when you go outdoors can be
really effective at breaking these cycles of transmission. That's the key. And I think the evidence is becoming really compelling around that.
ANDERSON: Absolutely. Look, you know, the message is that the U.S., as far as COVID is concerned, it has to be said, reflected in other parts of the
world, Europe, in an awful mess as far as COVID-19 is concerned.
And in the Czech Republic, where masks were mandatory, was a sort of poster child for a period of time, people got a little complacent, fatigued with
the whole thing. And hey, presto, they have a horrible situation once again.
Finally, Sanjay, I just want to get your reaction to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They're getting tired of the pandemic, aren't they?
Getting tired of the pandemic. You turn on CNN, that's all they cover. COVID, COVID, pandemic, COVID, COVID, COVID. Huh-uh-uh.
You know why?
They're trying to talk everybody out of voting. People aren't buying it, CNN, you dumb bastards.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Right?
I mean --
GUPTA: Well --
ANDERSON: -- Sanjay --
GUPTA: -- I mean, Becky, this is not a -- well, what can one say to this, right?
We are going through the worst public health disaster of a century. Here in the United States, you know, 217,000 people have died. We've become so
inured to this now that the president is basically dismissing it.
I mean, it's awful. And the numbers aren't getting any better, Becky. People have these artificial benchmarks, the election: the virus doesn't
care about an election. The end of the year: the virus doesn't care about the end of the year.
We have to act. Again, it wasn't even about shutting down. The countries in the world -- as you well know, Becky, we've been reporting on this for
months now -- the countries in the world that did the best both economically as well as controlling the virus just acted aggressively early
on.
And so many places have returned to some sense of normalcy. It is possible, on an optimistic note, Becky, it is still possible. It's awful and families
watching who have lost somebody, the last thing they want to hear is that their loved one died a preventable death.
But many more preventable deaths do not need to happen if we just adopt these basic public health measures.
ANDERSON: And that is a fact. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, always a pleasure, thank you.
We have -- already have -- something that experts like Sanjay tell us are as effective as a vaccine, that we just repeat for the sake for everybody
who may have just been joining us, I don't know, or those who weren't listening or those who haven't heard this before.
Good hygiene, wash your hands, socially distance, wear a mask. Come on, folks, it can cut down the number of cases by 90 percent. That is the
bottom line.
Well, coming up on CONNECT THE WORLD, we're just hours away from a self- imposed deadline in Washington with trillions of dollars on the line.
Plus, Irish officials call it a preemptive strike. Why they're reimposing some of the toughest COVID-19 restrictions in Europe.
First up, though, why Israel says this will be a day remembered for generations as it cements deals for the United Arab Emirates. We're live
for you in Tel Aviv.
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ANDERSON (voice-over): Amazing scenes unfolding in this region, the Gulf in the Middle East. Check this out, a warm welcome, as warm as it gets in
fact, as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu greets the first official Emirati delegation to Israel.
All parts of August's normalization agreement brokered by the U.S. Mr. Netanyahu is calling this a glorious day. And there is certainly plenty at
stake. Right now, we're following the money for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: The UAE and Israel just signed four investment agreements. Mr. Netanyahu speaking a short time ago, talked about what is in the top
accord, take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: To provide for the protection of investments, to create an economic environment that will
benefit all our people, all our entrepreneurs -- and there are many, many talented entrepreneurs -- and this will benefit peace, obviously.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Let's bring in CNN's Oren Liebermann who is in Jerusalem.
It may feel incremental because this isn't the first that we've reported on this normalization deal.
But the big picture is what exactly, Oren?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Even if it feels incremental, because we're following it on a day-by-day basis, it still is moving very quickly,
pushed not only by the White House and the Trump administration but by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed.
They want this to move quickly not just for the White House's sake and Trump's reelection but for the benefit of both countries. Part of this is
the agreement signed, in fact, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was only describing the first of those agreements to protect investments,
there's also a memorandum of understanding on science and technology, a civil aviation agreement as well as a visa exemption agreement.
That's the first between Israel and a country in the Arab world. This is a step, as a follow-up to what we saw, the flight I was on when it was the
first Israeli delegation officially to visit the United Arab Emirates a few weeks back.
Those were discussions and meetings; this is part of the byproduct of that. These are the agreements. Both sides want to move quickly. This is just a
part of it. I expect it won't be all that long before we see the opening of embassies, the exchanging of ambassadors and more as this relationship
flourishes and it is set to do so by the looks of it here.
ANDERSON: Oren Liebermann is in Jerusalem for you, thank you.
Millions without jobs, industries on the brink and everyday Americans are hurting. We're going to have more on the state of a multitrillion-dollar
stimulus deal. That's next.
And life under lockdown, we talk to a family in Ireland, as the country prepares for a nationwide stay-at-home orders for the next six weeks.
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ANDERSON: You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. This is CNN, I'm Becky Anderson.
Right now, we're just hours away from a self-imposed deadline in Washington, where potentially trillions of dollars are at stake if a
stimulus deal cannot be struck. It could be as large as 10 percent of the American economy. That matters because, of course, the world's largest
economy by far is the States.
So if it doesn't work in full capacity, it affects all of us, wherever you are, watching in the world. You can see just how enormous it is on the
chart.
Last week, I spoke with Melinda Gates and Christiana Georgiana, the head of the IMF. You heard some of that conversation. Christiana, the MD at the
IMF, told me, oddly enough, that governments should be going on a spending spree right now. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANA GEORGIANA, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND: We are under the pressure of this pandemic. And it is very strange for many people, that the
head of the IMF tells governments, please spend. Support your doctors, support the vulnerable parts of your economy. Keep the receipts. There has
to be accountability for what you spend.
But please spend. Why? Because if you stop with the economy putting a -- for weeks in a standstill and then for many more weeks in a unstable place,
then we can have catastrophic impact on the well-being of people, with massive bankruptcies and massive unemployment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Let's bring in CNN's political commentator and former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, now proud owner of the #YangGang.
Andrew, you just tweeted, today would be a great day to get this sorted.
Will it get sorted today?
ANDREW YANG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I am cautiously optimistic, Becky, because so much is at stake here. And it is the case that the government
should keep spending.
And right now, state and local governments are not spending; they're in danger of laying off hundreds of thousands of workers, which is the last
thing you need during a pandemic.
So aid to local governments, enhanced unemployment benefits to keep millions of American families afloat; the fact is, the market has been
pricing in a stimulus bill of some kind and hopefully will deliver today before the election.
ANDERSON: Donald Trump, speaking to FOX News just in the last hour or so, had to this to say on stimulus. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You came into this interview saying, yes, you're prepared to go higher than $1.8 trillion.
[10:35:00]
TRUMP: Correct.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't expect a phone call from Speaker Pelosi but you would go higher.
TRUMP: Yes, I would.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: The Republicans will, too. Because we like stimulus. We want stimulus. And we think we should have stimulus because it was China's
fault.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Your reaction, Andrew?
YANG: I'm thrilled that President Trump wants to see a deal done. And there's a feeling that Steve Mnuchin wants a deal, too.
Nancy Pelosi right now is negotiating with Mnuchin as to what the particulars are. But the politics suggests that a deal will be done because
many of the Republicans in the Senate are up for re-election. President Trump is obviously on the ballot in November.
And the last thing everyone wants to do is turn to their people and say, we couldn't get you help during the darkest time in American memory.
ANDERSON: So CNN asked Nancy Pelosi about your tweet encouraging her to take a deal. Let's just listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Yesterday, I spoke to Andrew Yang who says the same thing, it's not everything you want --
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Yes. But you know what --
BLITZER: -- but there's a lot there.
PELOSI: OK. Honest to God, you really -- I can't get over it. Because Andrew Yang, he's lovely. Ro Khanna, he's lovely. They are not negotiating
this situation.
They have no idea of the particulars. They have no idea of what the language is here.
I didn't come over here to have -- so you're the apologist for the Obama, excuse me, God forbid.
BLITZER: Madam Speaker --
PELOSI: Thank God for Barack Obama.
BLITZER: -- I'm not an apologist, I'm asking you serious questions, because so many people are in desperate need right now.
PELOSI: I'm saying to you --
BLITZER: Let me ask you this.
PELOSI: OK.
BLITZER: When was the last time --
PELOSI: Let me respond to you --
BLITZER: Well, let me ask you --
PELOSI: If you're going to answer your own question --
BLITZER: -- when was the last time you spoke with the president about this?
PELOSI: I don't speak to the president. Speak to his representative.
BLITZER: Why not call him and say, Mr. President, let's work out a deal. It's not going to be everything you want. Not going to be everything I
want. But there are so many Americans right now who are in desperate need. Let's make a deal.
PELOSI: What makes me amused if it weren't so sad, is how you all think that you know more about the suffering of the American people than those of
us who are elected by them to represent them at that table.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Andrew, you have no idea, according to Pelosi. And Wolf is an apologist for the Republican Party. I don't want to reply (ph) to this
point but it's so important.
Nancy Pelosi there and the Republicans with Mitch McConnell, are they playing politics with people's lives at this point?
I mean that was a pretty defensive Nancy Pelosi.
YANG: I hear from American families who are struggling every single day, Becky. People are hurting, people can't pay their rent. People can't put
gas in their car. People don't know if they're able to afford groceries for themselves and their kids. They deserve better.
You know, America's the richest country in the world. And yet, we have done less for our people than many other countries for this pandemic, despite
the fact it has devastated our country worse than almost any other.
There's been a real sense of depression and failure among many of the Americans I hear about, that our government has not been able to step up to
the plate in a way that we see as necessary; 82 percent of Americans are four casually (ph) during the pandemic. That's the kind of thing that would
help millions of American families right now.
ANDERSON: I mean, you're out on the campaign trail.
You're hearing this from people on the street, right?
YANG: A lot of it is online and digital because we are, you know, in a pandemic. I did campaign in Pennsylvania this weekend for Joe and Kamala.
And things are depressed, frankly.
You know, places where ordinarily there would be a bustling crowd and places are struggling to keep their doors open. And so that affects
communities around the country because they're not sure what the future holds.
The least we can do is actually stabilize a path for more American families so that you know you can hunker down and live out throughout the winter
without fear of, frankly, not being able to put food on the table.
ANDERSON: Yes, doesn't matter which side delivers. It's about delivering to the American people at this point. Andrew, always a pleasure. Thank you,
sir.
We can ban the world trillion (sic) around a lot, pretty liberally, a trillion here, a trillion there. It may be as well be a buck or two.
But how much is a trillion really?
Let me give you some perspective by comparing it to time.
[10:40:00]
ANDERSON: A million seconds is about 12 days. A billion seconds, 32 years. Now a trillion seconds, more than 30,000 years. That's about three times
how long it's been since the agricultural revolution, so we are talking big money, folks.
So clearly, negotiations have to happen but it's got to work out for the American people, isn't it?
We'll be right back after this.
(WORLD SPORT)
[11:00:00]
END
