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CNN Moving Sundays Democratic Debate From Phoenix To D.C.; Pelosi: We Need To Pass Coronavirus Relief "Right Now"; U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Rises To 39, Total Cases 1,292. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired March 12, 2020 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know, my mom did it for me. But I think that it's hard because a lot of them are getting booked up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She was very relieved to be getting on that flight back to the States. But the point is, John, that that was one of the last ones that's going to be leaving Italy anytime soon. Already all the American carriers have stopped their flights in and out of Italy as a result of the Italian locked down.

Very many European carriers have done so as well. Alitalia, one of the last European ones -- Italian ones that was making flights out of Italy towards the United States and back had its last flight this afternoon. They confirmed it to us. So what it means that is, is American students, for instance or American citizens who happen to be in Italy, and who are not affected by the travel ban. So they should be able to get back. The point is they're going to find it very hard to get themselves on flights simply because there aren't any left.

What will they do? One option will be to fly to London. This applies, of course to European citizens as well. There is that notable exemption for the United Kingdom, one of the loopholes that one can imagine is going to be very difficult for the United States to avoid people getting around. John?

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: That questions ripple around the world. Melissa Bell, appreciate the live reporting from Rome, Italy, of course among the hardest hit around the world. Appreciate that reporting.

When we come back, efforts on Capitol Hill to try to help with paid sick leave with help for children who get their free lunch at school but might not be going to school, the White House says it has objections. Nancy Pelosi says, full steam ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:36:03]

KING: A pair of important 2020 political updates to bring you one of them related to the coronavirus. Bernie Sanders is the leading in California for days, so not a surprise. But CNN can now officially project, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is the winner of the California Democratic primary.

You see the latest vote board there. They're still counting votes, still allocating delegates. But at a time he is back on his heels in this race, it's an important victory. They're now official for Senator Bernie Sanders.

In another 2020 wrinkle, the CNN debate now moving supposed to be in Arizona this Sunday. It will now move to Washington D.C. that out of caution over coronavirus concerns. One of the debate moderators, Jorge Ramos has to drop out because he believes he may have been exposed to the virus.

Let's talk about this around the table in the sense that the debate already, we had decided, CNN had decided in conjunction with the Democratic National Committee, no live audience. Now they're moving it from Arizona to Washington.

Joe Biden versus Bernie Sanders, a one on one debate and our friend Jorge Ramos I moderated debate with him back a few cycles ago. He's a great journalist, doing the right thing stepping aside because he believes it's just -- it tells you this affects everything.

And for those of you watching around the country, yes, you know, these people in Washington talking about how it affects the political climate of Washington, we know, we know it affects. Do you bring your kid to school? Do you take your kid to practice? Do you take your, you know, daughter to dance practice? This is -- it is now everywhere. The last 24 hours, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, the NBA, soccer being canceled, schools being canceled. This is now everywhere.

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. It's everywhere. And it's going to be affecting the campaign in various ways. I mean, we're not only, the debate is moving. But, you know, both Biden and Sanders have canceled their rallies. Now the President has refrained from scheduling a rally that he very much wanted to have that he said today is sold out, which hasn't been scheduled yet. But be that as it may.

Everyone seems to be recognizing that this is affecting everybody and every place and then, you know, people are going to have to adjust their behaviors accordingly. It's obviously, this is slightly different dynamic in that room, given that it's going to be here in the studio without people responding, rather than where it was supposed to be with the studio audience, with an audience present.

But I think it's just something that people are coming to terms with really only in the last 24 hours that this is going to touch everything.

KING: And Jorge Ramos, again, who's a great journalist, is an example, here. He has been cleared by medical professionals who checked him out and said, you're fine. He just is doing this out of an abundance of caution because he's going to be around the fellow moderators. He's going to be in the room with the presidential candidates, some of their family and staff, a limited audience.

But, again, every person in life around the world, not just here is now dealing with what should I do? What should I do? And so even the doctors say, you're good. He says, I'm going to be extra good and steps back. We've seen members of Congress, some of them go into self quarantine, some of them Louie Gohmert of Texas, for example, who might have been exposed to somebody who has tested positive, leading tours of the Capitol.

The President saying I'm not going to get tested. You know, the Vice President say, I still shaking hands, everybody I'm not to criticize, everybody has to make a decision. And part of the confusion I think, for people watching at home, is that political leaders are making different decisions. And so you're trying to find a North Star and you don't know who to pick.

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure. But I also think that, especially as the situation got so much more serious and so much more real, particularly last night that some of the little bit more Cavalier attitudes that we have seen coming from members of Congress have really kind of sharpened. And they are a lot more serious last night and today about limiting the impact of the coronavirus as we are.

But we've seen town halls for next week, canceled. We've had set it off as we've had a lot of Senate offices who are tele working or have shutdown altogether because of one staffer who has tested positive. So I think as the country kind of comes around to this reality of how serious this disease is and the fact that we don't know a lot about this disease, that members of Congress, the ones who haven't particularly then acting out of an abundance of caution are doing so now.

CATHERINE LUCEY, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: And we're seeing it with a President too. I mean, not just the rally that he mentioned. But they have canceled last of last night, they canceled an event next week. In Milwaukee, he met with Catholics for Trump event, they canceled travel this weekend.

They're saying, they're doing this out of caution. And even up until very recently, very resistance to making any of those changes to his schedule sort of repeatedly saying that he could keep doing rallies that his rallies are safe.

[12:40:07]

And we know and it'll be interesting to see in the next couple weeks how it plays out because we know how meaningful those rallies are to him sort of politically and personally. He takes a lot out of them. He finds them really rejuvenating. He thinks they're really important as a key part of this campaign. And so when he can't do that, that's going to be an interesting dynamic to watch.

KING: Yes. I think a giant -- such a giant question mark is how the campaign plays out tomorrow next week and beyond. Florida today, for example, urging voters they have the primary next Tuesday, one of the four big states with presidential primaries, encouraging people if you can, come out and vote early, so to avoid big lines on election day to avoid big lines, people congested together.

The former Vice President Joe Biden declared Democratic frontrunner now, he is delivering a speech later today to give his take essentially a counter to what you heard from the President of the United States last night at the Oval Office. Joe Biden wants to deliver a speech of what he says is his view of presidential leadership in the middle of the coronavirus crisis.

He now knows he's going to debate here in Washington, not in Arizona. And CNN's Arlette Saenz who covers the Biden campaign for us says, there's some additional news out of the Biden campaign as it deals with its new opportunity. It sees itself as the clear front runner, Arlette. And as it grapples with the issues like the coronavirus, like the debate, it's also trying to look ahead and staff up for what it hopes to be clinching the nomination and moving on to the fall campaign.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. There are some staff changes within the Biden campaign. And Jen O'Malley Dillon will be the new campaign manager. She was formerly the campaign manager for Congressman Beto O'Rourke's presidential bid. But she will now be joining the Biden campaign.

Now, Anita Dunn, she's a senior advisor. She will remain with the campaign in that role. And then Greg Schultz, the former campaign manager is also expected to remain on the campaign, though his role is still being worked out. But certainly this is -- the campaign entering a new phase of this presidential race as Joe Biden is looking to staff up his staff as they head to a potential general election match up against the President.

Now in a short while, Joe Biden will be here in Wilmington, Delaware to discuss the coronavirus pandemic. And an aide to Biden, tells me that the speech will be presidential not political and that it will essentially reflect how Joe Biden would lead in a time of crisis in the White House. So we will be hearing from him shortly here in Wilmington, John.

KING: Arlette Saenz with that important news about the Biden campaign staffing and the former vice president speech. Appreciate that. Arlette we're going to take a quick break again, when we come back Capitol Hill, the House wants to move this afternoon on a big coronavirus response package, the White House objects Senate Republicans might go home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:46:58]

KING: House Democrats today say, they are ready to take charge of the coronavirus response if the President can't calm things or if he can't agree with them. The House plans to vote this afternoon on a big coronavirus response plan that includes paid leave, tweaks to unemployment insurance, a guarantee of free coronavirus testing, and help for poor children who normally get lunch at school.

House Republicans don't like some of the plan. They want to cancel a planned recess next week and keep negotiating. The White House also wants changes. But the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says, she sees no value in waiting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We don't need 48 hours. We need to just make a decision to help families right now. I'm not sticking around because they don't want to agree to language. But everybody could have a complaint about this or that. I said, save it for another day. We can have an after action review about how we got into this situation. Save it for another day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: There are a couple of important dynamics here. Number one is, you know, is this just is this -- the Speaker thinks she can get the White House, she's been negotiating with the treasury secretary that she thinks she can get them to blink and sign on to her bill or maybe make a few tweaks. And this idea that the House Republicans say, let's keep negotiating, the Senate Republicans say, we may go home.

Political chicken in the middle of a national and international crisis is a dangerous game.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No question about it. Let me actually tell you what's really going on right now. And I think you've seen the public statements. And I don't mean to be dismissive. But House Republicans just don't matter right now, when it comes to this.

The negotiation that matters is taking place between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary. They've spoken three times by phone over the course of the day. House Democrats have agreed to several changes. I'm told to their initial proposal that they released last night and believe they are moving toward the potential of an agreement with the White House.

If they reach an agreement, look, the House was supposed to vote on this package in 15 minutes, they aren't. The reason why is because they're actually working through this to try and get this done. The competing pressures right now for the top two negotiators are this, a recognition that if Congress leaves without doing something, that 2,192 negative mark right now on the markets, could crater even further.

And real questions about when they will actually come back after a recess because of how quickly this is spreading and the real concerns inside Capitol Hill. So I think the expectation right now look, this is a heavy lift, staffers working on this stalemate. Unlike a lot of past negotiations, this stuff isn't cooked. We don't have these policy options. We can just take off of a shelf, right?

And so the difficulty is doing this from scratch, doing it fast, doing it 24 hours, if they can reach a deal, my guests and I think the hope is that they can actually get this done today. But a deal hasn't been reached yet. And obviously, the Senate matters here. And we have to kind of wait and see what happens.

KING: And if the President puts his blessing on it through the treasury secretary, then it's on the train, then tracks. And to make a point, that gets lost sometimes. There's -- because there's so much dysfunction in this town. There are some relationships that work and that matter.

And that the speaker and the treasury secretary have a good working relationship despite major differences. And despite the feud between the speaker and the President is a very important thing and compliments to both of them, if you will, that they can at least keep the line of communication.

There have been some conversations on the Senate side that they just may leave. That's a negotiating tactic, I assume, that they're not going to walk away in the middle of this.

[12:50:01]

DAVIS: Well, right. I mean, I think it feels right. And I think everyone on the Senate side also recognizes that this negotiation is actually happening and that it's possible that it will bear some fruit. And Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader has made it clear privately that if this agreement is struck, and if the White House buys into it, that he is going to get this thing onto the floor and pass as quickly as possible.

And so there is a world in which this happens. But for now, senators have not been told to change their flights. Their plan is to leave today for this week long recess that's been scheduled for a long time. And we don't have any indication yet, I think, because they don't have any indication that there's a deal that they're willing to stick around.

Now, that could all change very quickly. It's a rapidly, you know, moving situation. But right now, they're not committing to stay. And there are some real differences here. And the President is a wild card, right? I mean, even as the speaker and the treasury secretary were speaking on the phone this morning, the President was tweeting attacks against Nancy Pelosi. He does not want to come to terms with her on this. It's very clear.

And I think everyone who's negotiating on this recognizes how important it is. But the President doesn't seem like he's there yet. So the question is whether that cannot --

KING: And he does continue to push for his payroll tax in that Oval Office opposition, which seems to be dead on Capitol Hill, though Democrats or Republicans.

What's in it? For those of you watching at home, this is not just a one big Washington conversation. It does matter to you. In the speaker's plan, free coronavirus testing for everyone who needs a test including the uninsured, paid emergency leave with both 14 days of paid sick leave up to three months of paid family and medical leave if you have some coronavirus complication in your family, either yourself or you need to take care of somebody in your family. Enhanced unemployment insurance, it strengthens food security initiatives, clear protections for frontline workers, increased federal funds for Medicaid, as states face increased costs.

There are different -- Republicans have different philosophical approaches to some of this. And they think some of this is the Democrats are putting in policy priorities that have nothing to do with coronavirus, right?

KIM: That's one of the problems. And I think it was remarkable that McConnell came out so strongly critical of it this morning because yesterday for much of yesterday and for much of this week, his posture has been kind of keep his powder dry. See what Pelosi can come up with and see if Mnuchin can sign off on it.

But this morning he did call it an ideological wish list. But at the same time what Phil has kind of indicated to earlier, that people aren't really going into their partisan corners. There is that recognition of that urgency that you do have to get something done. And so that's why I think some of the Republican senators that we talked to that indicated they may just leave. They haven't perhaps gotten a sense of the urgency yet, and McConnell we'll get around to that --

KING: I will follow this throughout the day.

Coming up for us a break from politics, we'll get to some of your questions, a doctor and infectious disease expert on how coronavirus could impact your health, including your mental health.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:57:14]

KING: Some brand new numbers on the coronavirus pandemic 1,292 confirmed cases now in the United States 39 deaths. Let's discuss that with the doctors on the frontlines. Dr. Gavin Macgregor-Skinner is an infectious disease expert.

And we were talking during the break. You think it is critical that the President immediately declare disaster or state emergency, why?

DR. GAVIN MACGREGOR-SKINNER, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT: Yes, John. It is because we're talking about this coronavirus spreading within neighborhoods and communities. A disaster declaration release money, people and resources so that we can go to the communities, the neighborhoods, and prevent more hotspots.

Within the U.S., we have an organization called the Community Emergency Response Team. But student's teams scattered throughout local jurisdictions. We need to be able to mobilize those now to look after those vulnerable populations and to prevent the virus from spreading into their community. And we can do that right now. KING: That's a Washington question. I want to get to some of the questions that people are submitting to CNN because people in America have anxiety and questions. Here's one, I think it's very good. What should we do when visiting with family members who are older than 80 years old to keep them safe?

MACGREGOR-SKINNER: Right. Right now, and this is -- that's a very good question. Even in the neighborhood where I work, where I live here in Washington D.C., there are people that have underlying medical conditions. There are people that are in that age range where we know they're high risk, why are they going -- why are they going to the supermarket to buy their own groceries?

Get the community, the neighborhood to go and help them. Talk to people, my mom and dad, I'm talking to them on FaceTime. Use the technology we have. But don't make them feel isolated. The problem with social distancing is there is a negative there where people feel isolated. But we have means of ensuring that we -- and, you know, actually help them, protect them, and really -- decrease that anxiety.

KING: Somewhat related question, if you're going to help somebody by helping them maybe get their groceries, how long does the coronavirus live on surfaces? Should people be disinfecting the packaging of groceries for example?

MACGREGOR-SKINNER: We should be teaching everyone how to properly clean and disinfect. We've known about coronaviruses for many years, the SARS, the MERS, the coronavirus that circulates seasonally in winter. But we know that it survives outside the body on the environment, not for hours but for days. But we also know that when we use a product, an EPA registered product, it says read the label. It says on the label, it must be wet for this amount of time. That's called contact or dwell time.

So use the product appropriately. It doesn't work on dirty surfaces. You've got to clean the surface first, before you use the EPA registered disinfectant.

KING: Let me sink one more and quickly. How do you request a test if you're experiencing the describe symptoms?

MACGREGOR-SKINNER: That's a good, good, good, good point. People are sick. Our healthcare system knows how to look after sick people. Even if you aren't diagnosed, doctors, nurses, hospitals will know whether that person needs to be hospitalized with any type of chest infection or kept at home. So even if you don't get a test, we know how to look after your people.

KING: All right, Doctor, appreciate it. I wish we had more time. But we'll bring you back as we go through this in the next weeks and months.

[13:00:00]

Thanks for joining us INSIDE POLITICS today. See you back here at this time tomorrow. Brianna Keilar continues our coverage right now. Have a good afternoon.