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Erin Burnett Outfront
Fauci Warns U.S. Could Hit 100,000 New Cases A Day As Trump Blames China; Colorado Re-Closes Bars, Nightclubs As Virus Cases Increases; Texas Hits Record In Daily Cases; Interview With Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) Source: White House Was Warned Of Potential Russian Bounty Plot In Early 2019; China Discovers New Swine Flu With "Pandemic Potential"; Fired Officer Charged In Killing Of Black Atlanta Man At Wendy's Parking Lot Granted $500,000 Bond. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired June 30, 2020 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, an alarming prediction. Dr. Anthony Fauci warns the U.S. is 'moving in the wrong direction', predicting the country could see 100,000 cases, new cases a day.
Plus, breaking news in Colorado, the latest state to announce its shutting back down, reclosing bars and nightclubs.
And breaking news this hour, the White House warned last year that Russians could be offering bounties to kill U.S. soldiers. Why is it that the White House is saying the President was just briefed on the plot then? Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, dire warning. The nation's top infectious disease expert now warning the United States could see 100,000 coronavirus cases a day if the United States does not stop the spread of the virus now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The numbers speak for themselves. I'm very concerned that I'm not satisfied with what's going on, because we're going in the wrong direction. I would not be surprised if we go up to a hundred thousand a day, if this does not turn around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Wrong direction, a hundred thousand cases a day. Just to be clear, that is more than double the total number of new cases just yesterday and we have been setting records already. So that would be more than double the current numbers, which are records.
It's a number that would have been unthinkable just a few weeks ago. And just to show you, look at these two maps. Back in Memorial Day, a majority of states were holding steady or trending down in new cases, even with a huge surge in testing and now only two states are down. You see that map turning all red and orange.
The CDC Director Robert Redfield, telling lawmakers that hospitalizations are now up in 12 states and that the next thing that follows inevitably in this horrific disease, of course, is death and that in Arizona they are now seeing an increase in the number of deaths. These facts are all alarming and yet the President has been silent on coronavirus all day.
Just a moment ago, the only thing he said was to blame China saying, "As I watch the Pandemic spread its ugly face all across the world, including the tremendous damage it has done to the USA, I become more and more angry at China."
And the President's allies they are ignoring, questioning, sometimes doubting the science. Listen to Rand Paul, a doctor speaking to Dr. Fauci today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): We shouldn't presume that a group of experts somehow knows what's best for everyone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Or South Dakota's Governor. She, too, ignoring the advice from medical experts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. KRISTI NOEM (R) SOUTH DAKOTA: We will have a large event at July 3rd. We told those folks that have concerns that they can stay home. But those who want to come and join us, we'll be giving out free face masks if they choose to wear one, but we won't be social distancing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So masks are optional and social distancing is not on the table. Look, that is a problem. This is pretty basic at this point, OK? I don't need to say it. She doesn't need to hear it from me. She knows it.
It's sadly though not a surprise because the reality is this comes from the example from the President in his own campaign. The Washington Post had reported that the Trump campaign was directing the removal of the stickers, which reminded his supporters to socially distance at his recent Tulsa rally. So basically, every other seat, right, said don't sit there.
We actually can see in the video, people coming in, two people pulling the do not sit here stickers off of the chairs, OK, because they didn't want it to look not crowded. The President ignoring the rules, putting the lives of his own supporters at risk. So it would appear that arena was packed.
But this is one thing that the President seems to be standing more and more alone on, because even his most ardent supporters have stopped blindly following on this and realize the blatantly obvious fact which is that masks help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY, HOST, FOX NEWS: I think they work and I said especially If I wear a mask and it opens up baseball, concerts, NFL football, I'd rather wear the mask and go to the game to protect grandma, grandpa, mom and dad.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): We must have no stigma, none, about wearing masks.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Well, for my home state, I do believe in wearing masks. Wearing the mask is the best opportunities for us to keep this economy open.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: That is a fact. Without mask, the economy is not going to stay open. That's what you saw in all of these states where people weren't wearing the things and now they're closing back down. Look at the world stage. Again, the President stands alone when it comes to not wearing a mask in public, which perhaps explains the strange tweet that the President did send out this morning with the words, the lone warrior.
Jeremy Diamond is OUTFRONT live near the White House tonight. Jeremy, Dr. Fauci today said clearly the United States is going in the wrong direction. He is seeing possibly a doubling in the current record of cases to more than double that and the President just coming out tonight and blaming China.
[19:05:02]
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Erin. The concern from just about everyone around the President about this latest surge of coronavirus is growing louder and louder. Dr. Fauci, as you said, not mincing any words on Capitol Hill today warning about the potential for a hundred thousand cases a day and saying that there's going to be a lot of hurt in this country if we don't soon turn things around quickly.
And every Republican leader, including Vice President Mike Pence, now urging Americans to begin wearing masks to try and take away the stigma particularly that exists among some of the President's supporters. But where's the President? Nowhere to be seen on this, Erin.
In fact, the only time we've heard from him today about coronavirus was just moments ago in that tweet and what is the President saying? He's talking about China and while, yes, China may have been the origin for this virus, you see when you compare the United States curve to that of the European Union, there really is no comparison here.
The President is also, Erin, going about business as usual. He's preparing to go to Mount Rushmore on Friday. As you heard there, the South Dakota Governor, Kristi Noem, she is saying there will be no social distancing at this event where they're expected to be thousands of people attending, Erin.
BURNETT: Yes. Very clear, no social distancing and masks optional. All right. I appreciate your time, Jeremy.
And I want to go out to Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who, as you all know, advised the White House medical team under President George W. Bush and is now at the Cardiac Cath Lab at GW.
So Sanjay, obviously, just to say the basic, OK, the virus came from China. At this point, that has nothing to do with whether United States has been able to control it spread, right, I mean, it's a separate point. And today, you've got Dr. Fauci saying the U.S. is going in the wrong direction, that he wouldn't be surprised to see a hundred thousand new cases a day in the United States, which is more than double where we are right now. How real is that possibility?
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's very real. The only thing that surprised me is that Dr. Fauci even said it because he's so careful and if anything, he's conservative when he gives these numbers. So if he said that number, Erin, it could be even higher than that. These growth patterns don't happen linearly. They don't happen in a stepwise sort of fashion.
If you start to get a significant enough people in the country who are carrying this infection, you could start to go into significant exponential growth. You start to see those steep even vertical growth lines. So it's really concerning and it's worth pointing out again, Erin, I remember talking to you and a couple months ago and we looked at the projections, they said maybe 60,000 people would die by August 4. That was the IHME projection at that point. It was horrifying and, obviously, it's the end of June and that's more than double.
My point is that these models have been all over the place, but it is very clear that they're going up and they're going up in a really rapid way right now.
BURNETT: And Dr. Reiner, as we said, there are some who are saying, well, hospitalizations have gone up. People aren't as sick though, death rates haven't and, look, we don't know what we don't know, but we do know that the death rate, which obviously lags hospitalization by a period of time is now starting to rise. Unfortunately, as we show in Arizona.
When you start to look at the possibility of a hundred thousand new cases a day and what that would mean for the medical system, understanding that surely plenty of those people will be young. What does that mean to the death rate? I mean, if you look at the CDC's estimate, you could come out with a death rate out of that, that was much lower than where we were in May.
But we also don't know what we don't know. It could be significantly higher. Do we have any sense of what that would mean?
JONATHAN REINER, DIRECTOR OF CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION LABORATORY, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: Well, if you simply do the math, a hundred thousand cases per day multiplied by any case fatality rate you can imagine is an enormous number of patients, is an enormous number of deaths, I should say. We know that mortality is a lagging indicator and what's so concerning now is that the hospitals in places like Texas and Arizona are filled with people and many of those people are going to die.
If you're sick enough to be hospitalized, you are in danger of succumbing to this disease. If we see a hundred thousand people per day acquiring this virus, you're going to see city after city looking like New York in the darkest days of April. It's something that we don't want to see and we don't have to see.
What we need to do now is we need universal adherence to mask wearing. We need universal adherence to social distancing. We need to cancel every mass gathering. How is it possible that the Governor of South Dakota is promoting a mass gathering event in the middle of a pandemic that there can and should be none, that there are going to be fireworks in D.C. this weekend and the Mayor of D.C. has very rightfully advised people to stay home.
My family and I go to that every year. We will watch it from home. I urge everyone to stay home and watch fireworks.
[19:10:00]
It is really your patriotic duty to do that. Stay home.
BURNETT: Sanjay, to the point that Dr. Reiner is making about what we heard from Kristi Noem in South Dakota, the President and the First Lady are planning on attending that celebration, right, and look, I mean, it's incredible that that one could very clearly say sort of with as a badge of pride, which is how she did that there's no social distancing and masks are optional. Let me just play the contrast to Dr. Fauci today and Gov. Kristi Noem, here they are.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: You should avoid crowds where possible and when you're outside and not have the capability of maintaining distance. You should wear a mask at all times.
NOEM: We'll be giving out free face masks if they choose to wear one, but we won't be social distancing. We're asking them to come, be ready to celebrate, to enjoy the freedoms and the liberties that we have in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Sanjay, it's again, I think, I don't know, I know you don't want to be political, I find that just incenses me that she would equate freedom and liberty to the right to not social distance and not wear a mask. It is wrong. It is just awful.
GUPTA: Absolutely, Erin. I mean, history is going to - one of these comments is on the right side of history and one is on the wrong side and I think we all know which. I don't think there's anything more that, myself or Dr. Reiner can say in terms of the scientific defense of wearing masks.
I mean, there's so many different examples we've given. We've shown what has happened around the world. We've shown in New York, Erin, where you are that healthcare workers actually were less likely to get infected than the general population.
Now, why would that be? Health care workers who are exposed to coronavirus were less likely, that's because they wore masks. It's pretty remarkable. You see here just the impact of masks. They're not perfect, but they can decrease transmission six fold. How are we going to get ahead of this thing? How are we going to contain this?
We've got to break these cycles of transmission. This is not a very hardy virus, it's scary, right? But it's actually not that hardy a virus, can't jump very far. It's pretty contained by a mask. We actually could make great progress with actually bringing these numbers down.
But not if you hear what the Governor of South Dakota just said. That frightens me. It frightens me for the future and it frightens me because there's people who are hearing that thinking, hey, we're OK. We don't need to do this.
BURNETT: And Dr. Reiner, it frightens me too because she shouldn't be saying it. She's a smart person. She knows the facts. Like I don't understand how anybody cannot see reality here. That I think is what's very terrifying, especially when you hear it from someone like Rand Paul, who appears to be saying, this is personal freedom. For god's sakes. The guy is a doctor. He's an eye doctor.
REINER: Well, I want to remind you that Rand Paul is the same person that while waiting for his coronavirus test to come back took a swim in the Senate swimming pool. So I wouldn't take much advice from Rand Paul. Look, there are multiple governors that have done a really good job and we've started to see state houses really take the leadership.
Governors like Cuomo, and Murphy and Raimondo in Rhode Island, Pritzker in Illinois and if you look at those states, what are those states have in common? They have the lowest numbers of positivity now in the United States and they have the most number of testing. Follow the lead of the governors that have succeeded.
The governors need to take the lead. I have to say that what we come to understand is that the President is incapable of managing this. We have to move beyond. We have to move to the people who are capable and many governors are. We need to follow their lead, not the Governor of South Dakota right now.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you both very much. I appreciate your time.
And next breaking news, Colorado, the latest state to shut back down. The Governor just announcing he is reclosing bars and nightclubs. Will it work? Plus, breaking news, a source telling CNN the White House knew of the
potential Russian bounties for killing U.S. troops more than a year ago. Why is the White House saying the President just got briefed on the plot?
And health experts warning of a new virus that could cause another pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a catastrophic future we can face.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:18:01]
BURNETT: Breaking news, Colorado the latest state to announce it is shutting back down ordering bars and nightclubs to close again through July as coronavirus cases increase there. And in Texas, cases exploding as the state records its highest daily case count ever, topping its previous high by about a thousand cases. Nick Watt is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT(voice over): Arizona's average daily death toll about doubled during the month of June.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. DOUG DOCEY (R) ARIZONA: Our expectation is that next week our numbers will be worse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice over): In Texas, the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals more than tripled during the month of June.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MARC BOOM, PRESIDENT AND CEO, HOUSTON METHODIST: On Memorial Day we had 104 patients in house. We now have 480. We're looking at the Fourth of July coming up in a couple of days and frankly it scares me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice over): Average daily cases in Florida up more than six fold during the month of June, beaches in the south of the state also closing again before the Fourth of July weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R) FLORIDA: So we're in good - we're not going back closing things. I don't think that that really is what's driving it. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice over): Today is 162 days since the first confirmed case here in the U.S., but one senior CDC official says this is really the beginning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: In the United States, daily cases are increasing after an extended decline.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice over): And the death rate --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: It is going to be very disturbing. I will guarantee you that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice over): But it might not be too late.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REDFIELD: It is critical that we all take the personal responsibility to slow the transmission of COVID-19 and embrace the universal use of face coverings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (voice over): But in at least 10 of the 15 states right now suffering record numbers of new cases. There is no statewide mask mandate, but you should still wear one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REDFIELD: Specifically, I'm addressing the younger members of our society. The millennials and generation Zs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:20:02]
WATT (voice over): The economic pain of all this is obvious and crippling. People now camping overnight outside and unemployment office in Oklahoma. But Dr. Fauci says, states must not open too fast and we all must stop doing this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: Congregation in a bar inside is bad news. We really got to stop that.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WATT (voice over): Starting tomorrow, the European Union will let
travelers in from 14 countries and China if they reciprocate, but not from the United States.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT: Now, here in Los Angeles County, they've already said that they are going to close these beaches Friday and keep them close throughout July Fourth weekend. The Governor of California says this weekend he's particularly concerned about extended family gatherings. Maybe you show up with a mask and some good intentions, but then let your guard down. Gov. Newsom says that tomorrow he is going to announce some more restrictions, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Nick, thank you very much.
And I want to bring in now Dr. Ashish Jha, Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute. So Dr. Jha, Texas pausing its reopening, Colorado ordering bars and nightclubs closed, that is the 18th state to shut back down or pause reopening. So when you look at this and where we are and when you obviously are starting to see this sort of explosive growth we now recognize in terms of the curve, will this partial shut back down closing bars and beaches, will it help enough?
DR. ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: Yes. So, Erin, thank you for having me on. We've been watching this for a while and we've been talking about these increases and as I look at what is happening in these states and the - so first of all, I think it's important that we do shutdown bars and get rid of these indoor gatherings.
I am deeply worried it's not enough that the states have let the infections get too big and they're heading towards a shelter in place order, which is what we've all wanted to avoid, not all states but I worry that more and more states are heading towards that, unless they get more aggressive in their actions.
BURNETT: And the northeastern states, look, this was the hardest hit area where you are, where I am, right? We heard the ambulances every day go by and so the reopening has been much more slowly. People here are much more aware of what this can look like and now you have all of these states, the whole cluster of states that have seen such significant improvement are those states.
Is it inevitable, though, that cases will go up in those states? I mean, I guess the answer is, of course, it's inevitable, but at a fast rate or is it something that can be controlled, especially when the rest of the country is on this exponential curve right now?
JHA: Yes. So I think it's completely up to the States, the northeast and the mid-west states what happens next. So, obviously, things will start going back up a little and the question is, is it a little and you can get on top it with testing and tracing or is it explosive growth where you really have to shut things down. I am increasingly coming to believe it's going to be very hard during this entire pandemic for us to be able to open bars, even restaurants, indoor dining just end up being too difficult.
But the bottom line is we've got to let data drive and act a lot more quickly. I think a lot of states in the south and southwest let the case numbers get too big before they acted.
BURNETT: So researchers at Florida Atlantic University studied the effectiveness of different masks. They found cone shaped masks and well fitted masks with multiple layers of cloth were the most effective.
Bandanna masks little to no effect when it came to droplets and they did find that virus droplets often traveled more than the six feet that we've all been told. So what does this say about this whole six feet rule of thumb?
JHA: Yes. So, look, I don't think it changes my views in any meaningful way. No one ever thought six feet was magical, but six feet does help in most instances. So is eight better than six? Sure, on the margins, but the key is to try to keep away from people that you haven't been spending time with and I do think that, again we're learning about what are the best ways of doing masks.
I still believe that most of the evidence out there says any kind of face covering is much better than none at all. But it may turn out as these studies are done that certain types of face coverings end up being better than others. We just have to let more studies and data come in on that. But very clear, face coverings help.
BURNETT: Right. Right. And anything better than nothing. All right. Dr. Jha, I appreciate your time. Thank you.
JHA: Thank you, Erin.
BURNETT: Next, the White House trying to explain what the President knew about a potential plot to kill American troops and when he knew it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President does read and he also consumes intelligence verbally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Plus, researchers tonight say one woman sparked an outbreak that infected at least 71 people. So then what happened?
[19:25:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:23:55]
BURNETT: Breaking news, the White House received intelligence in early 2019 that Russians were offering bounties to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. This is according to a source familiar with the situation and it comes after CNN learned the threat was also included in a presidential daily brief earlier this spring. And without confirming or denying the President Trump read it, the White House today insisted that he reads his briefs despite widespread reports that he does not.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCENANY: The President does read and he also consumes intelligence verbally. This president, I'll tell you, is the most informed person on planet earth when it comes to the threats that we face.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The Press Secretary also said that President Trump has finally been briefed on the intelligence. OUTFRONT now the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Democratic Congressman Adam Smith. He was briefed today at the White House on this issue.
And Congressman, I appreciate your time. So tell me what you, well, what you can tell me about what you learned today in the briefing.
REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): Well, I mean, it was very disturbing. I mean, the biggest thing we learned is, it doesn't seem like the President or anyone senior in the administration really reacted much to the information that they got.
[19:30:02]
And I can confirm that there is credible intelligence suggesting that the Russians were paying bounties to Afghans to kill Americans and other coalition partners. And, you know, there is some dispute about exactly the level of confidence in the intelligence that they had, but there's clear intelligence that this is distinctly possible.
And as near as we could tell in the brief, the White House didn't really react to it very much, including when "The New York Times" story broke. It seemed like all they wanted to do was make clear that the president didn't know anything. That's not reassuring. We want to know what they're going to do about it.
BURNETT: Right. And, of course, obviously, the intellectual inconsistency I suppose there saying that -- Kayleigh McEnany saying that the president reads the daily brief. Not only do we know that that is not true most of the time but it was included in the brief, so if he reads the brief, then he would know about it. But he says he wasn't briefed on it.
So, just to make this clear to the viewer the issue here.
SMITH: Yes.
BURNETT: So, Chairman, according to a source who says the White House has received intelligence on this threat more than a year ago. Those reports were apparently passed to the top officials of the National Security Council, including then national security adviser John Bolton. So, do you buy that intelligence like this would make it all the way
to the White House to the national security adviser and that no one would verbally tell the president?
SMITH: I would be very surprised, though -- though I don't share his press secretary's confidence in how well-informed he is on issues. I mean, my goodness, look what he still says about COVID-19 and our response.
I sincerely hope that this man is not the most informed person on the planet. Otherwise, we are in serious trouble. So, it's hard to say.
The one thing I do know is that the White House did not react to this in the way that they should. And part of the problem here is you mentioned national security adviser John Bolton, we were briefed this morning by Mark Meadows, DNI Ratcliffe was there, director of national intelligence, and also the national security adviser, the current national security adviser, Mr. O'Brien. And none of those three people have been in the administration for longer than, like, eight months.
And Ratcliffe and Meadows have been in their jobs for three or four months. And a lot of what we were talking about, they always said, well, I wasn't here then. The lack of consistency in the administration I think is really harming their ability to have consistent policy.
BURNETT: So, according to "The New York Times," in April 2019 car bomb in which three U.S. Marines were killed near Bagram Base is being looked at as one possible attack linked to those Russian bounty payments because people said, well, what are the specifics? So, they're looking at this one in particular.
Have you seen any evidence that there maybe a connection in this case or any others to specific American lives?
SMITH: Well, when you say any evidence, you know, I mean, there is evidence that -- which I can't get into in detail. There's not a direct smoking gun link to that particular event, but there are a series of steps that make it distinctly possible that that is true. There is enough evidence there to certainly warrant further investigation and enough evidence to look more deeply into what Russians are doing in Afghanistan.
And I would submit, more -- enough evidence to have a more skeptical view of our relationship with Russia and to put pressure on them, instead of inviting them into the G7, to push back against them and let them know that there is going to be a cost if they are, in fact, doing things like this in Afghanistan.
BURNETT: All right. Chairman, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
SMITH: Thanks, Erin. I appreciate it.
And OUTFRONT now, former Republican congressman and former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers. And, Chairman, I appreciate your time.
So, a source telling CNN the White House was warned about these bounties, Russian bounties to kill American troops more than a year ago in early 2019. We have been told that it was the presidential brief this spring. The president saying he reads it. Obviously, we have many reports from many people saying that he doesn't, and they insist he was never briefed on it. I guess they mean verbally.
What's your reaction to that?
MIKE ROGERS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY COMMENTATOR: Well, my biggest concern here is the fact that you have soldiers in the field who are at risk. So, they're performing incredibly dangerous missions on a good day when you have the Russian government paying Taliban fighters a bounty for possibly killing them. That's a whole another day in their life.
And so, I'm concerned that, A, we didn't put the safety of our soldiers in the field at a higher priority to actually get an all- hands-on-deck look and review of this information and then start pushing back on the Russians. This notion that I'm not sure, I wasn't here long enough, I don't know -- none of that cuts it for somebody who shows up in the dust in Afghanistan trying to do god's work there.
And I will tell you this notion this is becoming partisan, look, it seems to me there's a disconnect from the collection of that data or that -- excuse me, that intelligence and that information as it flows through that -- the chain of command through the NSC to the president.
[19:35:11]
We had policy makers making decisions, serious decisions releasing Taliban fighters back on to the battlefield. We have the -- talking about the G7.
The peace deal that, you know, some -- many argue is not a great deal, we're just given a lot to get a little.
All of that needs to be informed by what the Russians are doing. They are not our friends there and may in fact be paying people to kill U.S. soldiers. That's a serious problem.
BURNETT: And, you know, I was talking to Will Hurd, obviously, a Republican congressman, last night, and he's a former CIA operative in Afghanistan. He was saying, look, he wants to make it clear to the American people that if this was happening, this is a real change in what the Russians are doing. Not being our friend is different than the bounty payments.
He wants to make it clear how significant this development would be. So, when it came to the president's defense here being -- well, no one told me about it, which forget the fact that doesn't add up with the reporting out there, Congressman Hurd's point was this, which was where he thought the president's anger should be placed. Here's how it put it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. WILL HURD (R-TX): If something this sensitive was out there, I'd be pissed that nobody brought it to me or didn't raise their hand and be like, hey, boss, read in that, you know, there's some information you need to read today. Make sure we cut out time in your calendar in order to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And yet that is not what we've heard, Chairman. We haven't heard him say no one told me, and I am livid about that. That's not at all what we've heard.
ROGERS: Exactly. I mean, I would have felt better if the president would have come out and said either I'm not aware of it or I haven't been briefed on it, but I guarantee I'm going find out about it and we'll take corrective action. Instead, they spent four days trying to figure out who they should be blaming for this. And again, I am -- when you have soldiers in the field, that ought to be our first priority, making sure that they have everything they have to be safe and to be effective in their mission.
Clearly, given all of this time that went by and that information didn't get down to the right people or at least the senior people and policy makers who are engaged in these discussions -- I'm going to disagree a little bit with my friend, Mr. Hurd, we watched the Russians progressively get more aggressive, selling weapons, providing intelligence to the Taliban. It's not a huge leap.
And you could probably see that escalation happen where they were given weapons. And then wee were talking -- we, the United States, talk about pulling out, they ramped it up. Why? They wanted to discredit the United States and discredit NATO.
There's lots of motive here to do this. It is aggressive but we need to pay attention to this and we need to pay attention to the fact that our soldiers ought to come first in these discussions.
BURNETT: All right. Well, thank you very much, Chairman. I appreciate your time.
And next, health experts sounding the alarm about a new swine flu virus.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The next pandemic might be upon us.
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BURNETT: And Dr. Fauci warning a coronavirus vaccine is no guarantee, the epidemiologist behind the movie "Contagion" weighs in next.
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BURNETT: Tonight, Chinese researchers discovering a new swine flu that they say has the potential to become a pandemic. One health expert here in the U.S. warning this could be, quote, catastrophic.
David Culver is OUTFRONT with this report from Beijing.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new virus with pandemic potential emerging once again out of China. This according to a new study published in a U.S. science journal. Chinese researchers warning the disease can infect humans. The origin, pigs.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: It's not an immediate threat where you're seeing infections but it's something we need to keep our eye on just the way we did in 2009 with the emergence of the swine flu.
CULVER: Experts say this new swine flu called G4 is descendant from H1N1. H1N1 became a pandemic in 2009. It killed up to an estimated half a million people globally. While scientists caution that this new virus does not pose an immediate global health threat, they warn that once transmitted from pig to human it could lead to severe infection and even death.
DR. MARK DYBUL, CO-DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR GLOBAL HEALTH PRACTICE: If we have at the same time new waves of the coronavirus, a potential for a bad flu season or swine flu, it is -- it is a catastrophic future we could face.
CULVER: According to "The Journal", Chinese researchers made the discovery during a pig surveillance program. From 2011 to 2018, they collected more than 30,000 nasal swab samples from pigs across ten Chinese provinces. Of the 179 swine flu viruses identified, one kept showing up year after year. It was the G4 virus.
In two Chinese provinces, Hebei and Shandong, 10 percent were positive for the virus. While not seen with the G4 virus, human to human transmission is why doctors believe COVID-19 spread so rapidly. It is what Chinese officials in Wuhan downplayed and have been a accused of covering up early on in the novel coronavirus outbreak.
China denies they ever covered up key information. When asked Tuesday about how China is handling the pathogen, a foreign ministry spokesperson said they are watching it closely, adding that they will take all necessary measures to prevent the spread and outbreak of any virus.
Late Tuesday, China's government controlled media quickly downplayed the virus, stressing that disease control experts said the public should not overreact and hog farms have shown no signs of related disease. They also cited an unnamed Chinese veterinary expert who claimed this new virus is preventable.
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CULVER: But, Erin, no doubt allegations of China's early mishandling of the coronavirus outbreak, along with international criticism over their lack of transparency makes any new virus emerging from this country all the more worrying. Meantime, we're also hearing from Chinese researchers with new details of a distinct highly contagious strain of the coronavirus. They believe it was imported by a woman returning home here to China from the U.S. in March. They say she was likely asymptomatic and first spread into her apartment building's elevator, ultimately infecting 71 people.
It is a claim that plays into a popular government narrative here that stressed in recent months that the greatest coronavirus threat is external, that is, Erin, from outside of China.
BURNETT: All right, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
And next, Dr. Anthony Fauci now warning there's no guarantee that a vaccine will be ready by the end of this year.
And the former officer who shot Rayshard Brooks granted bond despite an emotional plea from Brooks' widow.
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TOMIKA MILLER, RAYSHARD BROOKS' WIDOW: I should not have to live in fear while waiting for a man who killed my husband to be tried in court.
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BURNETT: Tonight Dr. Anthony Fauci warning a coronavirus vaccine is, his words, no guarantee.
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FAUCI: There's no guarantee and anyone who's been involved in vaccinology will tell you that we will have a safe and effective vaccine. Hopefully, there will be doses available by the beginning of next year. These are the things that we feel aspirationally hopeful about.
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BURNETT: OUFRONT now, Dr. Ian Lipkin, the director for the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University. He was the virologist behind "Contagion" and contracted the virus himself in February and I know we talk about that, Doctor, and how, you know, brutal that experience was.
Dr. Fauci today says, you know, there is no guarantee of a vaccine. Based on what you are seeing right now, and I know you are looking at all these different options out there, these different technologies out there, how confident are you that we will have a vaccine in a kind of capacity that the president has talked about, right? Hundreds of millions of doses available by the end of the year?
DR. W. IAN LIPKIN, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTION AND IMMUNITY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Well, thank you for inviting me this evening, Erin. I'm very -- I'm confident that we will have many vaccines. The question is how effective will they be? Can we produce them in mass quantities? Will we be able to distribute them and will people take them?
So, there is an anti-vaccine sentiment in this country that his challenging as well. So, I think we're there. Actually, there are several vaccines that are excellent candidates, and I think we could reach something by the end of the year.
BURNETT: Well, that's good. I mean, I am glad to hear that because I know that's sort of that's what a lot of -- some of these experts had said, but obviously, Dr. Fauci did suddenly seem a lot more cautious. But you think several excellent candidates. And I do want to make it clear to people, we're going to need several in order to get the doses and different vaccines to different people.
I want to also ask, Dr. Lipkin, about the report. I don't know if you heard it, but right before the break, we had a report out of China, and Chinese researchers said they discovered a new swine flu that they say has the potential to become a pandemic. Into Chinese provinces more than 10 percent of workers on pig farms tested positive for the virus. You know, one expert saying it could be catastrophic.
I know that you know about this and other possible candidates people are aware of. What do you -- what do you think about this one?
LIPKIN: Well, there are diseases emerging all the time. The fact that we are hearing about this now in advance of any sort of significant human disease is evidence that things have changed in China. There is a recognition that they need to share these kinds of information.
So, I think, earlier, there was a suggestion that the people might be withholding data. If that were the case, we wouldn't have heard about this virus. We don't know that it's going to become pandemic. We do know that it has infected some human beings. But that doesn't mean that it's going to extend and cause large amounts of disease.
BURNETT: So, the World Health Organization is now sending a team to China next week to look into the origins of the coronavirus. And I want to make it clear, you've been, you know, talking to them. You've been studying this closely. You traveled to China earlier this year about this very issue.
So, what is your current working theory on how this started? I know you and I have talked about the whole thing, about whether it leaked out of a lab inadvertently, and you didn't think that was likely. But where are you now? LIPKIN: Well, I do think we do need to find out where this virus
originated. One possibility maybe simply that there were individuals infected with this virus who happened to go to the seafood market in Wuhan where they met colleagues who are also doing similar kinds of, you know, collection of wild animals and such. And that's the reason why there was this sort of focus around this market.
We think this virus originated in a bat. It probably moved into human or some intermediate host like a small mammal. And from there, it adapted to humans and began to spread.
And as you, know it began with one virus, which was very sort of characteristic. This is the one we saw spreading first throughout China. It then went to the West Coast of the United States, primarily in Seattle. And then there was another version, another wave, that went through Europe and came to the United States.
And that is the more successful virus. That's the one that out- competes the first one. We don't know a great deal about it yet except that it differs in a key protein that allows it to attach to cells and to -- and to cause more disease.
So there are at least two major strains of this virus that are moving and now circulating throughout the world. The latter one is the one that people are most focused on. And ironically, this virus may have returned back to China and caused a second wave of disease within China.
BURNETT: Well, that's the thing. We are all in this together.
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As the United States fails at managing it, you're not going to be able to keep borders closed. It's going to boomerang back everywhere.
Thank you so much Dr. Lipkin. I always appreciate your time. And I thank you.
LIPKIN: It's a pleasure. Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, the officer charged with killing Rayshard Brooks refusing to give investigators the password to his phone. Why?
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BURNETT: The now fired Atlanta police officer charged in the death of Rayshard Brooks in the Wendy's parking lot earlier this month could be released on bond as early as tonight.
Dianne Gallagher joins me now.
So, Dianne, tell me what happened. Why did the judge let him out?
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, essentially, Erin, the judge determined she did not think he would be a flight risk, and she didn't think he was in jeopardy of not showing up to court. This, after Rayshard Brooks's widow Tomeka Miller even said she would fear for her own life in her own sanctity (ph) with that officer, or former officer, back out on the street.
Now, the $500,000 bond that was set does come with quite a few conditions, including the fact that the fired officer, Garrett Roth, would have to have an ankle monitor on at all times. He has a curfew. He has to give up weapons if he has them, has to surrender his passport.
He can also have no contact with Rayshard Brooks' family, any of the witnesses, or alleged other victims.
One more interesting thing here, Erin, he also would not be allowed to have any contact with any other Atlanta police officers. The defense or, excuse me, the state said that they were still working to get some more information on contact he may have had, and conversations he may have had in the time since that shooting.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Dianne, thank you very much. And, of course, not handing over his cell phone password either.
I appreciate your time, ad all of yours as well. Thank you for joining us.
"AC360" with Anderson starts now.
