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Quest Means Business
Biden on Trump Downplaying COVID-19 Virus, He Was Protecting Stocks; China Claims Persecution as U.S. Revokes Chinese Student Visas; Jane Fraser is New Head of Citigroup; Iconic Actress Diana Rigg Dies At 82; Oregon Gov. Warns of Unprecedented Loss From Wildfires; Fighting Plastic Waste With Mealworms; Trump Takes Questions Amid Outcry Over New Book Revelations. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired September 10, 2020 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:34]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: When the ring goes one way, we go the other as we look at how the financial world has
been trading this Thursday. The Dow shows the story. It is a down day on the market with some early green, later red, and the selling has
accelerated in the last hour.
The triple stack shows it is broad based, the selling, the worst of the day. The Dow is off just one percent, but as you can see, the NASDAQ is
down 1.5 percent. So tech once again.
The markets and these are the sort of things that people have been talking about that's affected the reasons.
Joe Biden says Donald Trump is too busy watching his portfolio to tackle coronavirus. The President is taking questions this hour. We will join and
listen in.
Citigroup has appointed the first woman to run a major Wall Street bank. We will hear from her and we will talk to somebody who knows.
While more and more Americans file for jobless claims, the latest stimulus bill in Congress has failed.
We are live from London on Thursday. It is September the 10th, the month moves on. I'm Richard Quest, and of course, I mean business.
Good evening. It is a brutal accusation from Joe Biden who said that Donald Trump had been protecting stocks rather than lives, as the fallout from the
Woodward tapes, the interviews from Bob Woodward who show the President playing down the coronavirus while saying publicly that everything was
okay, the allegation that Donald Trump concealed the threat of the virus.
The President of course has defended himself saying that he did not wish to create national panic. However, in an exclusive interview with Jake Tapper,
Joe Biden says that's not the case. This was about protecting investments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Had he acted one week earlier, there would be over 31,000 more people alive. Acted two weeks
earlier, there would be fifty some thousand still alive. This caused people to die.
And what did he do the whole time? He acknowledged that you breathe it, it is in the air, and he won't put on a mask.
He is talking about it is ridiculous to put on masks, what do you need social distancing for? Why do you have all of these rules? It was all about
making sure the stock market didn't come down, that his wealthy friends didn't lose any money and that he could say anything that in fact, anything
that happened had nothing to do with him.
He waved a white flag. He walked away. He didn't do a damn thing. Think about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: We will hear more of that interview with Joe Biden in "The Lead" with Jake Tapper, coming up.
What's now becoming very clear as we are going to show you as well is the way in which Donald Trump has been doubling down. Think about it this way,
it's what he was saying privately and what he was saying publicly and doing publicly.
Here are some examples. Back in early February -- go back to February where stocks are stable. In fact, they are making record highs. Now, on that
occasion, in February, Donald Trump told Bob Woodward, he knew the virus was dangerous.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It goes through air, Bob. That's always tougher than the touch. You know, the touch, you don't
have to touch things, right? But the air, you just breathe the air, and that's how it's passed. That's a very tricky one. That's a very delicate
one. It's also more deadly than your -- you know, even your strenuous flus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: That is what he said privately. And then, days later, this is what he said publicly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You treat this like a flu. We'll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner. View this the same as a flu. This is a flu.
This is like a flu.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: By March, stocks had begun to fall. Trump still said to stay calm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Be calm. It's really working out, and a lot of good things are going to happen. The consumer is ready. The consumer is so powerful in our
country with what we've done, with tax cuts and regulation cuts and all of those things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[15:05:10]
QUEST: This is what we've done with tax cuts and regulations and those sorts of things -- meanwhile, this is what he was saying privately to
Woodward.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
TRUMP: I wanted to -- I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down.
BOB WOODWARD, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: Yes.
TRUMP: Because I don't want to create a panic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: It doesn't get clearer than that. The President was saying one thing very privately to Woodward, something quite different to the public.
You are going to hear from the President within the hour. He is holding a news conference. We will join the news conference when the questioning is
taking place.
Stephen Collinson is in Washington. Stephen, okay, the scenario that I just set for is you clear. But will the American voter care, bearing in mind,
this is the voter that Donald Trump said that he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and get away with it, and he seems to be right.
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I think we can dispense with the idea, Richard that any of Donald Trump's ever faithful supporters will
turn against him because of these revelations. The FOX News propaganda machine is already taking care of that. The question is, will the majority
of voters who do not approve of the President's handling of the pandemic look on this as any different from what they have been seeing, really, as
you have shown for the last six months?
It has been no surprise that the President is downplaying the pandemic. We have seen that. To hear it in his own words is very stark. That may be
something that makes this a bigger issue.
The other point about this is, is at Donald Trump's convention two week ago, you hardly heard mention of the pandemic. That tells us his campaign
wants the conversation to be about anything but that -- the economy, law and order.
This Woodward book means he is probably going to have to talk about it, get embroiled in stories about it for at least another week. When there are
only what? Fifty-odd, 53 days until the election. That's bad news for Donald Trump and it is not where he wants to fight this election as he is
behind quite substantially Joe Biden in the national and battleground state polls.
QUEST: We have got the book. We've got the Michael Cohen book still to come, "Betrayal." But I don't want to sort of repeat myself, but I do keep
coming back to this idea that even those Americans who are not part of the hard core knew Donald Trump wasn't a particularly morally righteous person.
COLLINSON: That's correct. The question is, will their judgment be swayed by 190,000 deaths? Thirty million Americans who lost jobs at various stages
of this pandemic. They can't send their kids to school. Are they going to regard that as an act of God? Are they going to put that on Donald Trump's
mismanagement of the pandemic?
Here's one way to think about it. If Donald Trump wins the election in November, it will be a sign that competence, integrity, respect for
democracy -- all the issues that Democrats are trying to make this election about do not matter to a substantial or almost a majority of Americans as
much as tribal, cultural, and perhaps economic issues. Those are the questions that Donald Trump wants to fight the election on.
So I think we won't know for sure until November. But I do tend to share your skepticism that this one book will be the one thing that finally
brings Donald Trump down to Earth.
QUEST: Stephen Collinson, thank you.
That interview with Joe Biden, an exclusive interview with Joe Biden comes up at the top of the hour. It will take a few moments. It is with Jake
Tapper, and of course it's on "The Lead."
China is hitting the United States for revoking student visas. It is calling the decision political persecution and racial discrimination. What
the U.S. has done is 1,000 student visas have been revoked since June. The reason is the U.S. believes China and the students and researchers have
ties to the Chinese military.
All at the same time, as we are now looking at exactly where do we stand in this trade deal? Remember, we had Phase 1 of the deal, which was meant to
lead to Phase 2 of the China-U.S. trade talks. Well, Phase 1 appears to be falling short. Phase 2 is nowhere in sight. COVID obviously is partly to
blame.
Michael Froman is with me. He was the Trade Representative, the USTR under Barack Obama. He is now the Vice Chairman at Microsoft -- forgive me -- I
am not sure whether that's a promotion or otherwise -- at MasterCard. I was moving your industries, Michael, but you are with MasterCard. You are the
Vice Chair there.
[15:10:10]
QUEST: Let's just talk about relations with China and the U.S. Phase 1 was a lot of hullabaloo and ballyhoo. Phase 2 hasn't happened. It's not likely
to.
MICHAEL FROMAN, FORMER U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE UNDER BARACK OBAMA: Well, Phase 1 was really an agreement for them to buy -- for China to buy $200
billion more of our goods over the next two years, and they did in the past, and in fact it is far below what they have in the past and the trade
deficit, which, we long debated about whether that was the right measure of a bilateral relationship, but it was President Trump's measure. We have the
trade deficit that is actually larger than it has ever been with China and globally.
So, some of that is of course because of COVID as you said, but it is also an indication that we haven't yet dealt with the big structural issues
which were pushed off to Phase 2 and that's what really needs to be focused on going forward.
QUEST: Right. Okay. Now, the deals that have been done. Well, there is the South Korean trade agreement, the Japanese one. There is the USMCA and
there is whole raft -- we forget this, Michael, but there is a whole raft of tariffs both against the E.U. with more to come on cars potentially in
French and against China. Do you see any shift? Do you see there has been a shift in trade relations?
FROMAN: Well, I think this administration has certainly been more willing to use tariffs outside of the W.T.O. system to get the attention of our
trading partners. But, Richard, you rightfully point out, we have tariffs on about $350 billion of Chinese exports to the United States.
We have a Phase 1 trade deal, and our trading relationship hasn't fundamentally changed over the course of the last three and a half years
there and there is more work to be done particularly on those structural issues.
With the E.U. as well, we've got tariffs in place, and more tariffs threatened and we haven't really been able to break through the
longstanding trade issues that we have with them either.
QUEST: I need to talk to you, just turning the wheel slight -- well not slightly -- completely. This business by the U.K. in terms of trying to
change the withdrawal agreement or giving themselves powers to go against the withdrawal agreement, the U.S. has already sort of saber rattled.
As a seasoned, experienced trade negotiator, do you look at this in horror of what the U.K. is doing or as, come on, it is to be expected in high-
level negotiations?
FROMAN: I think there is probably a fair degree of gamesmanship between London and Brussels at the moment. But at this point, given what's going on
in the global economy, now more than ever, I would think people would want to see stability and predictability in terms of where the relationship is
going.
As the U.K. tries to develop its own independent trading relationships with other countries like the United States, it's got to be able to sort out its
relationship with the E.U. before it can do so. It is hard to negotiate a trade agreement with the U.K. until we know whether the U.K. is going to
follow Brussels in all of its policies and its regulations or whether it is going to exercise a degree of autonomy and sovereignty and potentially
agree with the United States or others on a different course of action.
QUEST: But if you had been with the USTR still, and you've seen what they had done and you had heard all of the smoke and noise around it, would you
be quietly thinking, oh, this is just one of those thing or would you be girding your loins for battle?
FROMAN: It is getting to be quite late in the calendar to be playing gamesmanship. So, again, I can't put myself in the shoes of those in London
making these decisions fully, but I would think it's in everybody's interest that they create stability and predictability with their
relationship with the E.U. and then their relationship with the rest of the word particularly at this point in the global economy.
QUEST: Right. Finally, the W.T.O. We have been talking to all the various candidates who are up for the job. Do you have a preferred candidate? Do
you have somebody you think should get the job?
FROMAN: I think there are a lot of very good candidates. And I think it is a critical time for the global trading system, for the organization, and I
think it is going to be important that the next Director General be able to work well with the United States, with China, and the other major trading
partners, and to really help reform the W.T.O. so that it becomes a more viable part of the global trading system.
[15:15:05]
QUEST: You are a diplomat, Ambassador. That's why you have got Ambassador before your name. A true diplomat. We have been talking to all the
candidates. Michael, it is good to see you. Ambassador, I appreciate it. Thank you.
We are talking to all of the candidates for the W.T.O. head job. We've still got to talk to Liam Fox of the U.K. and a couple of others, so we
will get to those in the next days or so. Meanwhile, they are continuing those -- that process.
The market, well, look, stable as I suppose is what I would say today. They are down, but with the amount of noise that's around them, I am not
surprised. The Dow is off the best -- oh, take a look, those losses are accelerating slightly. Sill, one and a third percent. Gave up the early
gains. It has all to do with the weaker than expected jobless claims.
And the Senate -- don't forget the Senate, which has rejected the latest stimulus bill. So there really is no reason to buy the market at the
moment.
History on Wall Street. Jane Fraser is to be the new head of Citigroup. She will be the first woman to head a major Wall Street bank. We will talk
about that after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Jane Fraser is making history as Wall Street's first major CEO for a Wall Street bank when she becomes CEO of Citigroup next year. Now, she
will succeed -- Fraser will succeed Michael Corbett, when she takes over, it will be in February. She is currently President of Citigroup and head of
Global Consumer Banking.
In 2018, she spoke to Poppy Harlow about breaking the glass ceiling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: Do you think -- because you have been called the number one woman to watch for consecutive years by American Banker. It has
a lot of people wondering, murmuring, whether you may be the first woman to be CEO of a major American bank.
JANE FRASER, INCOMING CEO OF CITIGROUP: I think the piece that's most exciting out there is the fact that we've got a different generation
running banks who I think have -- are much more in tune with what's going on, and I look forward to seeing a woman being first CEO of a Wall Street
firm, whoever that may be.
HARLOW: Is it a dream? Is it a goal one day? Either CEO of Citi or CEO of one of the other big banks, to break that proverbial glass ceiling, but
also because you know you could do it?
FRASER: I do feel like I am running a business and running a bank today. I have the privilege of running the National Bank of Mexico with my
colleagues down in Mexico and a very large organization, and sometimes it is much more fun to be able to run a division of a business because it's
not the same limelight as it is when you are running a public organization.
[15:20:30]
FRASER: I never had the ambition to be the CEO of Citi of any other organization. Things can change overtime, but at the moment I still have
got a lot to learn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Poppy Harlow is with me. Poppy, what was she like? Very self- effacing and modest. But you spent some time talking to her.
HARLOW: I did. I spent a lot of time. We spent over an hour speaking in that interview, Richard. Here's what I'll say. She is 100 percent herself.
Here's the quote that says her best. When she got all of these headlines as a woman leading Citigroup's Latin America business because she was a woman,
sexist, right, headlines. She said to me, quote: "There is no point in out- machismo-ing the men in senior management. I can be feminine. I can be tough. I use that as a strength."
She is easy to talk to. She is direct and she hates corporate speak.
QUEST: Now, I am just amazed -- look, in our business, women have risen to the top of editorships and the like of programs and networks. I am amazed
that we are still amazed that a woman hasn't been head of a Wall Street bank.
HARLOW: Yes, because it hasn't happened before and there have been way too many excuses, Richard. The number one excuse at banks has been, well there
aren't as many in the pipeline that haven't risen as far. Why do you think that is? Right? It is about truly equal opportunity, and finally, we have
this.
She is more than qualified to take this job. I mean, what I find very interesting about her, she took over, Richard, Citi's Mortgage Business
right after the meltdown. She was the person tasked with cleaning up that mess after the D.O.J. settlement and fixing the bank's frankly, reputation.
QUEST: Poppy, her family life is about to become clearly more under scrutiny. That includes her husband. It really is nice to be talking about
not worrying what the wife says, but what the husband is going to make of it.
HARLOW: Yes, you know, I think people -- there will probably be a lot of people saying, oh, what does her husband think? I actually think it is a
very germane and relevant question, Richard and here is why.
They have two kids -- two grown kids now. She told me in detail about when the kids were younger, they sat down. Her husband was a high powered banker
himself, very successful. They sat down and said, one of us has to pull back. Right?
Jane was part-time when their kids were little, and he offed later, I will pull back my career so that you can accelerate. Guess what happened as a
result? He was discriminated against. She told me how much flak he took from people because men aren't supposed to do that, right?
So it will be very interesting to see how she leads both being a mother, as a woman, as a very well qualified executive who has that experience of her
own family going through that discrimination.
QUEST: Poppy, always glad you have to. Thank you. You are doing double duty having done everything else and coming in to talk with us this
evening. It is a pleasure to have you with us. Thank you, Poppy Harlow.
HARLOW: Of course.
QUEST: Now, Western Union shares are down 17 percent this year. The company still says it is in a better position to handle the pandemic and
look for acquisition opportunities even as a result.
The CEO is Hikmet Ersek. He joins me from Denver, Colorado. He joins me via Skype. Sir, good to have you. We will talk about the individual nature, if
you like, of the deals that you made. But I want to really get to the heart of Western Union with its global reach. You know, those of us who don't
need you don't really know you. But you are the backbone of remittances in much of the developed and developing world.
How are you finding -- what trends are you seeing in COVID?
HIKMET ERSEK, CEO, WESTERN UNION: Well, first of all thank you for having me on your program. You are absolutely right. We do see the need of
transferring money, supporting, you know, the loved ones back home of about 270 million people -- 270 million people are worldwide migrants and they
were born not in the country they now live and they support about 800 million people worldwide. They transfer about $700 billion yearly.
[15:25:00]
ERSEK: And the fastest growing way of transferring money in our case using their mobile phone apps. They use it -- I will give you an example. You are
an engineer in San Francisco. You send money immediately from your phone via the Western Union app and someone in Bihar, India, your grandma in
Bihar, India picks up the money at a Western Union location. Or you send money to an account immediately. We are connected to four billion accounts.
That makes Western Union special.
Being in 200 countries, connecting 270 million people. Most of our customers are migrant background with their families. And there is a need
during the pandemic, there is a need that people can support their loved ones back home, especially now in these days.
Trust means a lot. Scale means a lot. Having a good anti-money laundering and fraud program means a lot. The platform means a lot for many, many
customers.
QUEST: Right, now, with that in mind, how susceptible are you to the competition? Now, I mean, a lot of it is still national, the Venmos in the
U.S., the PayPals. But there is no shortage of money movers that are trying to get into the international remittance business, and that's going to eat
your lunch?
ERSEK: Well, I heard that for a long time, but I have to tell you that Western Union is in a very good position. Look, we are in 200 countries. To
be in a country, you need to have the right program, right legal environment, like France, plus, you have to build this technical
environment to transfer money.
We are moving money in 137 currencies. We do about 21 transactions every second. That connection -- it is not easy to build it, and doing it in a
right way, doing it in a compliant way, doing it in a settlement way is very, very important.
I think Western Union does that and supports actually also many companies. We just of course started to offer our platform -- a unique platform --
also to banks and also to third parties. As a white label, they use us to transfer money in the right way.
QUEST: Right. So when you look at for acquisitions, as you are, because you are in a strong position, what are you looking for? Why do you need to
acquire if you are in such a strong position?
ERSEK: You are absolutely right. We are very much focused on our execution and we are expanding our execution especially in the digital area. We grew
digital -- our transactions grew over 45 percent which is growing very, very fast, actually. We are very focused on our operations.
But we are, at the same time, we do look also in the acquisition opportunity, is there areas that we can add strategically and combine our
strength with other companies' strength also to serve our customer in a better way.
We do move money not only for consumers, we do move money also for businesses, for SMEs, exporter or importers. And there are many, many as
you said, many, many companies there but you know, from scale, from globality, Western Union is very well positioned.
QUEST: Good to have you with us, sir. I appreciate your time. Thank you.
ERSEK: Thanks. Thank you.
QUEST: In just a moment, we will be on the West Coast of the United States where wildfires are running almost out of control. The situation is getting
-- well, it is serious. It's getting critical. We will be reporting from there after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:30:00]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There is more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS -- a lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS coming your
way. The CEO of Lloyd's of London, the insurance group, will be with me. California wildfires, hurricanes and COVID, we need to understand exactly
where they see the biggest risks. And Donald Trump's holding a news conference now, and we will join it when the question and answer session
begins. As soon as he starts answering questions, we will take that. Ahead of all of that, this is CNN, and on this network, the news always comes
first.
Microsoft is warning that Russian, Chinese, and Iranian hackers have tried to compromise people and organizations involved in the 2020 U.S.
presidential election. The warning states that the same Russian hacking group responsible for attacks on the 2016 Democratic presidential campaign
has now been targeting officials from both Republican and Democratic parties. It says the group's tactics have evolved and include automated
brute force methods.
India has reported more than 95,000 new Coronavirus cases on Thursday. It's a worldwide single-day record. The country has nearly 4-1/2 million
confirmed cases. It's second only to the U.S. A massive fire broke out at the port of Beirut a month after the devastating explosion there, killed
nearly 200 people, injuring thousands. The Lebanese President said it could be an intentional act of sabotage, or just an accident. If there is
responsible, it should be held accountable.
The theater film and television icon, Diana Rigg -- Dame Diana Rigg has died at the age of 82. The actress most recently found fame with a younger
generation of fans for her role in Game of Thrones. She was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. Her family says she passed away peacefully,
surrounded by loved ones.
The Western United States are being devastated by wildfires, pretty much along the whole coastal area. From California in Oregon and in Washington
state, the areas are ravaged. It seems like these throughout the entire three states. Satellite images show the extent of what's burning, smoke
billowing across the Pacific coastline. As Camila Bernal reports, firefighters are far from getting the situation under control. And fires
that have killed so far seven people.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're in Estacada, which is a town about 30 miles south of Portland, and the situation here is really not getting
any better. The road that we came in this morning is now closed, and that's because of the visibility, the smoke that is thick, you can feel it. You
can see it, and you can feel the ashes falling on you. It is difficult to see what many of these residents are going through.
And the Governor of Kate Brown saying that the flames are not under control at the moment. She's, of course, worried about the loss of life and the
loss of property. And you see it as the residents here who are evacuating come to speak to us, and simply tell us that they're worried about what
they're finding as they go back into their homes. We spoke to one man who told me he went back to his home and things are just not looking good.
[15:35:11]
THOMAS SCHULTZE, OREGON RESIDENT: Well, I just feel sorry for all the people. Hopefully they got all their animals and stuff. My one neighbor up
there, went past me, he's got sheep, goats and stuff. He's just going crazy up there, trying to get everything out.
BERNAL: And he's really not the only one dealing with this situation. We spoke to another woman who told us she's having to deal with not having a
place to go, and also being concerned about COVID. And so, it's a difficult balance for so many of these residents who may be out of a house for days,
maybe even weeks, as they try to get hold of these flames.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: (INAUDIBLE) an increasingly difficult time for insurance companies, who, of course, are already facing hurricane claims. They're facing now
wildfires and, of course, COVID. John Neal is the CEO of Lloyd's of London. He joins me now. And Lloyd's actually moved into a loss this year, largely
on the back of COVID claims. What specifically were people claiming for? I mean, it's been a difficult year for Lloyds and COVID made it a great deal
worse.
JOHN NEAL, CEO, LLOYD'S OF LONDON: Yes, it's been a challenging year. And in fact, all of the losses down to COVID. We reported a half year loss of
just over 400 million pounds. That includes 24 -- 2.4 billion pounds of COVID losses. They really come from three areas, about 40 percent of the
losses for us are really around event cancellation. So, that's from the Olympics at one end of the spectrum to people canceling their weddings. And
the other, about 30 percent is people who've got a form of pandemic cover, or cover that protects them, where governments close their businesses down.
And the rest is really looking at the recessionary impacts that will flow from now on, as a result of all of the economic impacts that we're seeing
from COVID. So, really challenging year for us.
QUEST: And the prospect of liability, companies having liability for employees going back or employees catching COVID, whilst on business trips,
is this a concern, or is this sort of a rounding error?
NEAL: I think it is a concern. So, of those figures that I was talking about, we're assuming that about 20 percent will come from those types of
claims, quite complex from companies with directors and officers' liability insurance, right the way through to what you said the employees coming back
and sustaining some form of injury. So, yes, I think that will come. We're used to that. As you know, we carry liabilities on our balance sheet for
10, 20, 30 years. So, we really do think quite deeply about some of the considerations here.
QUEST: Right. The liability and this year is -- I mean, the hurricanes are very expensive, several very expensive hurricanes have come your way
unfortunately. You obviously -- you obviously have the money and the resources to pay. I'm not -- I'm not sort of going down that road. Instead,
I want to know what you're going to have to do with premium in the future. Because if you've got COVID, if you've got hurricanes, and you've got
wildfires, eventually you're going to really have to ramp up the premium.
NEAL: Yes, you're right, of course. And we're halfway through the alphabet, aren't we, with Hurricane names already this year. So, from a capital point
of view, we can actually take the impact of COVID and Harvey, Irma, Maria, the 2017 three hurricanes in one year. So, you're right, there's no capital
issue. But the losses we've seen, wildfires, hurricanes, COVID, has meant the premiums have been going up, and they're going up now probably for a
fourth year. So, on an underlying basis that we're reporting today, our performance is actually in pretty good shape. And it is for the reason that
you said, the premiums have had to go up as a result of the rise of these catastrophe losses.
QUEST: Now, Lloyd's of London has the name, but it isn't the sort of the majority share anymore in that sense. So, how difficult is it for you as an
entity, competing against larger -- large commercial rivals? Who, yes, they may have then used Lloyd's for a lot of reinsurance, and there's a lot of
backwarding and forwarding, but you know, you are in a strong battle for market share?
NEAL: But quite odd, aren't we, because the members of our market base do two things. They compete with each other to secure a piece of business, but
they also participate with each other because some of the risks are so large, it takes more than one insurer to provide the cover. And we're
unique in that respect. We're unique in allowing people to participate on a single risk. But of course, we hold licenses in almost 200 countries around
the world. So, our global reach makes us very, very different.
[15:40:04]
And you know, the distinguishing features and the reputation of the market base has really shone through in COVID. we've seen a substantially
increased flow of business. So, I think the participating insurers in our market see a real value in the franchise and being part of our community.
QUEST: What's the most unusual thing that would -- that was been insured that you know about, or the most unusual claim that's come your way this
year? I mean, we're always hearing you know, somebody who insured their voice or somebody has insured their dog's legs. Have there been any unusual
ones coming your way?
NEAL: But I don't think it's so much unusual this year. I think people would be surprised when they look at COVID that just how many clinical
trials are on the go at the moment. We're ensuring 104 different clinical trials in the race to find a vaccine. So, it just shows you how widespread
the efforts are to try and protect against the second outbreak. So, less the unusual, more just the sort of the volume of activity that sat around
COVID at the moment.
QUEST: Good to have you with us, sir, I appreciate it. Coming up. Thank you, sir. We'll talk more about that part of the business. Thank you.
Coming up after the break, how scientists are using these little worms to fight against plastic in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: A long-term priority with you to inspire to bring forward change to come up with new ideas. It's CNN's "CALL TO EARTH", our call to action on
the environment, where together, we move forward. Tonight's report, how an insect can help combat plastic pollution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANJA BRANDON, SCIENTIST, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: 1,000 mealworms can eat about two grams of plastic a week. So, it would take 3,000 or 4000 mealworms to
eat this Styrofoam cup about a week.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's Anya Brandon, a scientist at Stanford University. She studies how these eat this and yet can still be used to
feed these.
[15:45:03]
BRANDON: So, we all know that plastics are a huge issue facing the environment, especially in the marine environment, and we're all looking
for good ways on how to deal with all these plastic wastes that we have. And we found that mealworms are these tiny innocuous insects found pretty
much everywhere, can eat and degrade a few different types of plastic.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mealworms are basically the larvae of the type of darkling beetle. They do have a commercial use as food for livestock like
pigs and chickens. But then, it was discovered in 2015, that these little grubs could eat polystyrene. And a whole new line of research opened up,
one that Brandon has pursued.
BRANDON: So, why these little mealworms are able to eat plastics, it's still an open question. We're still trying to research that. There's other
insects out there that eat predominantly wax, which is also full of long chain polymers. And it looks like somehow, evolutionarily, these insects
that are used to eating and breaking down these naturally existing big polymers are fortuitously able to break down some of these plastics that
were putting into the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brandon's first discovery was that it wasn't just polystyrene that mealworms chomped down on, they ate polyethylene, too.
BRANDON: That's really cool because one issue that we have with plastic waste is that it's really hard to recycle multiple types of plastics
together.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is how they do it. Plastic has no nutrients in it. So, it's the energy from breaking down the plastics polymer bonds that
the mealworms are after. They do this using a powerful bacteria in their gut, which breaks down the majority of plastic in to nothing but hydrogen
and carbon. But there are other ingredients in plastics that are not quite so easy to break down.
BRANDON: There's all sorts of crazy chemicals used in plastics' manufacturing, from stabilizers, to plasticizers, to flame retardants, and
that's a problem because we know that some of these chemicals can be toxic.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When Brandon looked into this, she found that some degraded plastics did come out the other end of the mealworm and flushed
out with them, came all the chemicals that could do harm further up the food chain.
BRANDON: So, they're not bio accumulating. That means that this mealworm is still a valuable feed source, which is great.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it's not the feed industry Brandon is interested in for her research. For her, it's a question of scaling up. And to do
that, she needed to understand how a mealworm does what it does.
BRANDON: So, we're looking and trying to isolate the bacteria from the mealworm gut, to be able to scale those up and use big fats that we call
bioreactors that are just chock full of bacteria. You can throw your plastic in and hopefully, it'll all break down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Practical solutions to real-life problems. We'll continue to focus and prioritize those of you who are doing such magnificent work in this.
And please, tell me your stories, and do so using the hashtag #calltoearth.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
QUEST: I promised you we'll go to the White House when Donald Trump was taking questions. He's now doing it. Let's listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Certainly, if he thought that was a bad statement, he would have reported it because he thinks that, you
know, you don't want to have anybody that is going to suffer medically because of some fact. And he didn't report it because he didn't think it
was bad. Nobody thought it was a bad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
TRUMP: And your question, the way you phrased that is such a disgrace. It's a disgrace to ABC Television Network. It's a disgrace to your employer. And
that's the answer. Are you ready? Because I --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you saying --
TRUMP: I love --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: (INAUDIBLE) No, no. No, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- deadlier than the flu. And you went out and told the American public that this was just like the flu.
TRUMP: Let me tell you something. We've had 40 years --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- told everybody else something else.
TRUMP: No, and five times, right? Five times. You ever hear the expression, five times? We've had flu years where we lost 100,000 people? The flu is a
very serious problem for this country also. And we've been losing them. Scott, what kind of a number have we lost over the years with flus? Into
the hundreds of thousands?
[15:50:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I mean, the last five years have been something like 35 to 80,000 per year, every year, even with antiviral drugs and even
with --
TRUMP: Flu is a very serious problem.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you told (INAUDIBLE) this is the worse than the most -- deadlier than the most strenuous flue.
TRUMP: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then, you went out and said, it's just like the flu.
TRUMP: What I went out and said is very simple. Listen, what I want out of said is very simple. I want to show a level of confidence, and I want to
show strength as a leader, and I want to show that our country is going to be fine one way or the other, whether we lose one person -- we shouldn't
lose any because this shouldn't happen. This is China's fault. This is nobody's fault, but China's. China should not have allowed it to happen.
Whether you have one person, 180,000 people, or 2-1/2 or 3 million people, which it could have been very seriously if we didn't make the moves.
And when you look at the opposition, where they said, Oh, why did he put the ban on? Doctor Fauci said we saved hundreds of thousands of lives by
putting the ban on China, and then ultimately, putting the ban on Europe. There was no lie here. What we're doing is we're leading and we're leading
in a proper way. And frankly, if somebody else was leading it, they wouldn't have closed it. If you look at Nancy Pelosi, you look at Cuomo,
you look at de Blasio, you look at Biden, months later, they said, there's no problem. They're talking about me. Months later.
And before any statement was made, you have to remember, I put the ban on China. So, obviously, outwardly, I said, it's a very serious problem. And
it's always a serious problem. That doesn't mean I'm going to jump up and down in the air and start saying, people are going to die. People are going
to die. No, no, I'm not going to do that. We're going to get through this. And we're right now -- I hope -- really think we're going to -- we're
rounding the final turn. And a lot of good things are happening with vaccines and with therapeutics, but there's no lying. And the way you asked
that question is very disgraceful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the people --
TRUMP: Phil, go ahead, please. Go ahead. Yeah, I don't think so. I think we did a great job. I think we did a great job. And the people that did so are
generals, are admirals, Mike Pence, all of the people that have worked so hard. And now, Dr. Atlas, and all of the -- Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx, they
should be respected for the job they've done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, you won't downplay it again? You won't downplay it again? Because you said you downplayed it when you told --
TRUMP: All I'm doing is -- no, I don't want to jump up and down and start screaming death, death, because that's not what it's about. We have to lead
a country. We're leading a great country and we're doing a great job. And the people that have done such a good job should be given the kind of
credit that they deserve. We possibly have done the best jobs. When you start looking at what we're doing with the vaccines and therapeutics and
ventilators. We had no ventilators, John. We make thousands of ventilators now a month and we're supplying them to the whole world. The job we've done
is the best job. And don't give me any credit. Give the people that have done this the credit, they've done a great job. Yeah, Phil, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, you've talked about the need to stay calm and not jump up and down and scare people. A lot of other world leaders
were calm. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was very calm as she presented information to the German people, so that they could stay safe and protect
their families. So, why as you as President of the United States, did you not level with the American people, did you not share the information that
you knew at the time in --
TRUMP: Well, I don't know what Angela did, but if you look at the European Union right now, they're having breakouts like you've never seen before.
And frankly, their numbers are at a level that are much worse than the numbers here. We are -- we have done -- we have -- Phil, we have done much,
much better than the European Union. I just read your numbers that are not good on their behalf and that are very good at ours, and we have rounded
the final turn. And we have -- we're going to have vaccines very soon, maybe much sooner than you think.
Listen, maybe much sooner than you think. But we have done a phenomenal job and the people that have done this job, including the American public
that's had to put up with a lot with a lockdowns and all of the things that they had to do, they have to be given credit. They have to be given credit.
Please go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you knew this was a deadly virus, you knew it was airborne, you knew on February 7th, you told Bob Woodward how it transfers
from person to person in the air, how deadly it was. Why did you not come to the podium and calm --
TRUMP: Well, let me ask you this, if Bob Woodward thought that was bad because this is stuff that everyone knew. There's a report that I have here
someplace, which China said it was airborne earlier than the statements I made. People know it was airborne. This was nothing -- this was no big --
when I say it was airborne, everybody knew it was airborne. This was no big thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) in February.
TRUMP: Well, read the reports. China came out with a statement that it was an airborne disease. I heard it was an airborne disease. I assumed it early
on. The fact is, there has to be a calmness. You don't want me jumping up and down, screaming there's going to be great death. There's going to --
and really causing some very, very serious problems to the country.
[15:55:03]
If Bob Woodward thought what I said was bad, then he should have immediately right after I said it gone out to the authorities, so they can
prepare and let them know. But he didn't think it was bad and he said he didn't think it was bad. He actually said he didn't think it was bad. The
only one that said it was bad or thinks it was bad were the fake news media because they take it and they try and put it a certain way.
If Bob Woodward thought it was bad, then he should have immediately gone out publicly, not wait four months. You know, he's had that statement for
four months, maybe five months. He's had it for a long time. It was a series of taped interviews, mostly by telephone. Quick ones, not long ones,
quick ones. And it was -- I did it out of curiosity, because they do have respect and I want to see, I wonder whether or not somebody like that can
write good. I don't think he can, but let's see what happens. Yes, please?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Respectfully --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Mr. President. If -- we're just about 50 days out from the election and we haven't seen a lot out of the -- your
investigation yet.
TRUMP: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where is that? And do you -- do you have confidence in the investigation?
TRUMP: Well, I can tell you that yet. I have to see. I'm not involved in it. I purposely stayed uninvolved. I'm, I guess, considered the chief law
enforcement officer of the country. I could be involved if I wanted to. I thought it would be better if I wasn't. I think it's better if our great
Attorney General handle it. He has Durham who is a very, very respected man. And we're going to see what it is. I can't tell you that. I can tell
you this -- I can't tell you this. They lied, they cheated, they leaked, they got caught, they spied on my campaign. Never in history has there been
anything like this.
And I guarantee you, if the roles were reversed, and I was on the Democrat side, people would have been in jail at the very highest level. People
would have been in jail for two years already. Nothing like this has ever happened, and the term would be for many, many years because it's treason,
and other words can be used also.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, you think there should be more indictments as a part of this investigation?
TRUMP: Well, I think just on what I read in your wonderful papers, I think and see what, you know, just looking at the media, not even what I know. I
think Comey is a disgrace to our country. I think Strzok who just wrote a book, which is a total fake, is a disgrace. I think Page, Lisa Page, his
lover, is a disgrace to our country. I think that when you look at McCabe where his wife got $700,000 in campaign contributions from Hillary Clinton,
right? And then, Hillary Clinton is under investigation, and yet she paid the head of the FBI, one of the top people, but actually the head because
he took over for the other guy who fortunately I fired.
I made a good move when I fired -- that was a smart move, because they were looking to take down this administration, duly elected administration. So,
I fired him. That was a great move when I fired him because maybe if I didn't, I wouldn't be here talking to you as President. But when McCabe's
wife gets $700,000 in campaign contributions when she was running for whatever office she was running from -- from Virginia, and yet, he's in
charge of the investigation of Hillary Clinton? Now, he says, well, I wasn't really a judge. Of course, he was a judge. He was totally in charge.
He knew exactly what was going on.
These people got caught in the -- probably the biggest political scandal in the history of our country, they got caught. Now, what the Durham report is
going to say, I can't tell you, but if they say, half as much as I already know, just from seeing it, you know, you have people -- I watch some of the
shows. I watched Liz McDonald, she's fantastic. I watched Fox Business. I watched Lou Dobbs last night, Sean Hannity last night, Tucker last night,
Laura. I watched "Fox & Friends in the morning. You watch these shows, you don't have to go too far into the details. They cover things that are --
it's really an amazing thing.
They got caught in the biggest political scandal in the history of our country. They were spying on their opponent's campaign. Not only spying,
they were making up fake dossiers. You have the dirty dossier. They were making up the dirty -- it was all made up. It was all fiction. It turned
out to be fiction. And then, they were using that in the FISA courts, this revered court. Well, it's not so revered anymore, because when you look at
what they did and how they played it, and they hurt a lot of people. General Flynn is still being hurt, and he's being hurt very badly.
He's a wonderful person. I spoke to General Milley about General Flynn two weeks ago. I said, what do you think of General Flynn? He said, he's a
great soldier, sir. He's a wonderful, wonderful human being. He's been destroyed. He's been destroyed. No. I think that this, without knowing
anything about what Durham is going to release, the Durham report, we'll call it, or maybe it's going to be more than a report.
END
