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U.S. Death Toll Tops 168,000 with 5.2+ Million Cases; Trump Praises QAnon Conspiracy Backer who Won GOP Primary; Postal Service Inspector General Reviewing Postmaster General's Policy Changes and Potential Ethics Conflicts; WH Testing Czar: "Everything that can Possibly be Done has been Done"; Trump Claims No Problem With Women Of Color After Promoting Birther Lie About Sen. Kamala Harris; Postal Service Warns It May Not Meet Some Mail-In Ballot Deadlines As Trump Opposes New Funding, Attacks Mail-In Voting; Teachers, Students & Parents Struggling With Remote Learning. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired August 14, 2020 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:14]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Wolf Blitzer is off today. I'm Jim Acosta in THE SITUATION ROOM. And we're following breaking news.

Amid President Trump's attacks on mail-in voting, the Postal Service has just warned 46 states and Washington, D.C., it may not be able to deliver mail-in ballots in time to be counted under their election laws. At the same time, former President Obama is accusing Mr. Trump of trying to, quote, "kneecap" the Postal Service to suppress votes in the presidential election.

There is also breaking news in the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. death toll has topped 168,000 people with more than 5.2 million known cases. And the CDC is now forecasting, get this, 189,000 U.S. deaths by September 5th.

Let's begin at the White House with CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins. Kaitlan, the president is upping his attacks on mail- in voting less than three months before the election.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Those attacks have continued this week, and they've been part of this element where the president is saying he's going to block new funding that Democrats want for the Postal Service, which, of course, is going to play a critical role in carrying out an election that could be largely conducted by mail. And, Jim, his attacks are all coming as the president himself is requesting his own mail-in ballot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS (voice-over): Even though it could be critical to carrying out the November election, President Trump made clear today that his refusal to give the post office more funding is a direct shot at Democrats. DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because they want $1 trillion to go to their friends doing a bad job running certain cities and states that are doing very badly.

COLLINS (voice-over): The president argued he wouldn't block new funding for the U.S. Postal Service if Democrats meet his demands in coronavirus legislation.

TRUMP: They're not giving it to me. They're giving it to the American people. I mean, giving it - yes, I would certainly do that, sure.

COLLINS (voice-over): The effort to sowing down about mail-in voting isn't just coming from the president. His top cabinet officials are also issuing their own warnings.

WILLIAM BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The idea of conducting elections by wholesale mail-in ballots is reckless and wrong.

COLLINS (voice-over): President Barack Obama accused the Trump administration of attempting to suppress votes.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (via telephone): What we've never seen before is a president say, I'm going to try to actively kneecap the Postal Service to encourage voting and I will be explicit about the reason I'm doing it. That's sort of unheard of.

COLLINS (voice-over): Cost-cutting moves of the post office have come under scrutiny because it's causing delays in delivery and sparking concerns there will be widespread slowdowns.

Trump recently claimed he hadn't spoken with the U.S. postmaster general, an ally of his and longtime GOP fundraiser.

TRUMP: Well, I didn't speak to the postmaster general in the post office.

COLLINS (voice-over): But the White House is now confirming Trump not only spoke with Louis DeJoy, he met with him last week ahead of the postmaster general's tense meeting with Democrats.

Despite being the nation's most outspoken critique of voting by mail, Trump and first lady Melania Trump have requested their own mail-in ballots ahead of the election.

TRUMP: Absentee, good. Universal mail-in, very bad.

COLLINS (voice-over): The president also came under fire this week after he refused to knock down a racist conspiracy that Senator Kamala Harris may not be eligible to be vice president because her parents are immigrants, even though she was born in the U.S.

TRUMP: I heard it today that she doesn't meet the requirements.

COLLINS (voice-over): Today he was asked if he saw her addition to Joe Biden's ticket as a threat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have an issue with a strong woman of color being in this presidential race?

TRUMP: None whatsoever.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't see her as a threat?

TRUMP: No. None whatsoever.

COLLINS (voice-over): The answer from Trump the day before wasn't surprising given he built his political career in part by sowing doubt about President Obama's birthplace.

Today, Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, declined to denounce the move.

JARED KUSHNER, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: I personally have no reason to believe she's not. But again, my focus for the last 24 hours has been on the historic peace deal that we've been able to achieve here.

ANTHONY MASON, HOST, "CBS THIS MORNING": She was born in Oakland, California.

KUSHNER: Yes.

MASON: Makes her a qualified candidate.

Why didn't the president take the opportunity to debunk that theory?

KUSHNER: I have not had a chance to discuss this with him. But, again, let hit words speak for himself.

COLLINS (voice-over): It wasn't the only conspiracy the White House didn't disavow this week. Trump recently congratulated and endorsed a Georgia Republican congressional candidate who has only embraced the QAnon conspiracy, a movement the FBI has labeled a potential domestic terrorist threat. Today he avoided a question about whether he agrees with Marjorie Taylor Greene.

TRUMP: She comes from a great state. And she had a tremendous victory. So, absolutely, I did congratulate her.

[17:05:03]

Please, go ahead.

Go ahead please.

QUESTION: That conspiracy theory. Do you agree with her on that? That was the question?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Now, Jim, the president made those comments at a press briefing before he left the White House because he's going to his New Jersey golf club this weekend. But on his way there, he stopped at a hospital in Manhattan where he just left because his younger brother, Robert, there is there in the hospital. Robert is 72. We don't know what's wrong with him. And you can see the president getting out of his motorcade there. He only said that he is ill and he said he is having a hard time. We really don't know much more than that right now. Jim?

ACOSTA: All right. CNN's Kaitlan Collins, thank you very much for that.

Let's get more on this disturbing new warning from the Postal Service. CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider is working the story for us. Jessica, this is incredible. 46 states and the District of Columbia are being told already that mail-in ballots may not be delivered in time to be counted in the presidential election. What does this mean for voters?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, really, Jim, it means that voters need to be aware that different states have different deadlines. And that's exactly why the USPS general counsel mailed out these letters to secretaries of state all around the country warning them that their deadlines might not jive with just how long it takes to get mail delivered.

And that's exactly why the state of Pennsylvania, for example, has recently amended their rules. They are now saying that any ballots that are received up to three days after Election Day will be accepted as long as they're postmarked by November 3rd.

Now, there are a patchwork of rules all over the country. Here's a map showing you how it breaks down. There are 30 states, the ones in yellow that have deadlines to receive those mail-in ballots by Election Day at 7:00 or 8:00 p.m. That's usually when the polls close. But then there are 20 other states in green there that say that the ballot must be received by Election Day.

So that really puts voters in a pinch. And the U.S. Postal Service is telling voters get your ballots in the mail at least one week before Election Day. That means most people should put it in the mail that last week of October. It might not register for a lot of voters so they're getting the word out.

New Jersey in fact has just changed its rules. It now says that ballots will still be accepted up to November 5th. That's two days after the election. But this warning coming from the U.S. Postal Service, Jim, at the exact same time that we've learned that the inspector general is now reviewing some of the recent changes at the USPS by the Post Master General Louis DeJoy, they include elimination of overtime, service slowdowns.

The inspector general for the USPS will also look into DeJoy's financial ethics rules and whether he's complied with them. You know this comes after lawmakers from both parties have really talked about the disturbing changes at the USPS and raised some red flags about it. Jim, though, DeJoy has repeatedly said that these changes are not meant to disrupt the mail system. Instead, he's contended that it's because of the financial situation that the Postal Service in that these cuts are necessary. Jim?

ACOSTA: Yes. All these changes come just before the November election. CNN's Jessica Schneider, thank you very much for that.

Let's get more on all of this with CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. He's the author of the new book "True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump," and CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger. She also joins us.

Jeffrey, we'll get to you in just a second. But Gloria, the Postal Service is warning states that some ballots might not be counted because of delays in delivery times. But it's decisions by the postmaster general that led to these slowdowns, the inspector general is now investigating. But we know the president has fired a long list of IGs, hasn't he?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. And look, this is a president who doesn't like any kind of oversight. And now you have an inspector general saying I need to look at this. Because why on earth would the new postmaster general, who happens to be a big political ally of the president, decide to change everything at the post office, reducing overtime, reducing modernization, you know, the use of processing equipment during a pandemic right before an election, unless you are trying to say to people don't vote by mail, it's too confusing, it's not going to help you at all, and derail the election and give the president the opportunity to try and delegitimize an election before it even starts.

ACOSTA: And, Jeffrey, this warning comes as President Trump continues to sow unfounded fears about voting by mail, and as he holds up more funding for the Postal Service, does this amount to voter suppression, do you think?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well, voter suppression doesn't have a technical legal definition. But the reason you know he is trying to suppress the Democratic vote through starving the Postal Service is he says so. One of the extraordinary things about him is he lies a lot. But he also tells the truth in sometimes unbelievably obvious and peculiar ways.

[17:10:00]

And here he's doing - he's just saying the reason we are starving the post office is to hurt Democrats in November. No president has ever spoken this way about an election before, but we've never had a president like Donald Trump before.

ACOSTA: Gloria, I mean, should people out there just tune out the president when he says this? He's undermining people's faith in the election and mail-in voting. But he wants to send in his own mail-in ballot, doesn't he?

BORGER: Well, he and his wife Melania are voting absentee ballot in the state of Florida. And of course, he says absentee ballots are different. But they're not. They're not any different at all. And of course, the president also says, well, I trust mail-in voting in Florida because they've got a great Republican governor.

Talk about a mixed message. Talk about a blatantly political message. You have it there from the president of the United States. What the Democrats are saying in response to what the president is doing is they are telling their voters who want to vote by mail because they feel it's safer in the middle of a pandemic, vote early, don't vote late. You get your ballot and hand it in early because that way you can be sure that you're going to be counted and you won't give the president this opportunity to say that the election is rigged. I mean, who knows whether that will occur.

(CROSSTALK)

TOOBIN: But the problem - Gloria, but the problem --

BORGER: But it's hard to not listen to him.

Yes.

TOOBIN: I'm sorry. It's just that the problem is, most of the time -- most of the way you get your absentee ballot is through the mail. So, you know, if you're sabotaging the Postal Service even if Democrats or just people who want to vote are organized and ask early, they still might not be able to cast their ballots.

BORGER: Right.

TOOBIN: That's what's so pernicious about this.

BORGER: But - but --

TOOBIN: And, frankly, there is not much the Democrats can do because you can't - you can't pass a law that says deliver the mail on time. It is an administrative act by the Postal Service, and they seem determined to sabotage this election.

BORGER: But, you know, there are lots of states that vote in October, for example. And you could, if you handed in your ballot right away, you would have enough time. I mean, there is also this question of funding for the Postal Service as part of this stimulus package. If they get the $25 billion that they need, will that help, or will it still be sabotaged by the postmaster general?

I mean, we don't know the answer to that question. But how about getting them the money they need? Or what about other things like UPS or any other FedEx saying, well, we're going to help with those ballots, we'll get them in?

ACOSTA: It's pretty incredible to have this conversation. The president has attempted to undermine the integrity of this election in so many ways. Who would have thought we would be talking about the Postal Service and all these changes at the Postal Service right before the November election? The timing is suspicious obviously. Jeffrey Toobin, Gloria Borger, thank you so much for that. We appreciate it.

Coming up next, promising news about a coronavirus vaccine being developed in China. And if you've had COVID-19 and recovered, do you still need to wear a mask? We'll talk about that with our medical experts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:17:40]

ACOSTA: There's breaking news in the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. death toll has topped 168,000 people with more than 5.2 million known cases. CNN national correspondent Athena Jones has the latest. Athena, the CDC is now forecasting, and it's hard to grasp this, 189,000 U.S. deaths by September 5th, which is just around the corner.

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Jim. That's right. And that's because we're averaging a thousand deaths a day. So, you just do the math and count the days. But in other news the U.S. government is supporting six COVID vaccine candidates through its "operation warp speed" program. Two of them have entered phase three trials with tens of thousands of people here in the U.S. The World Health Organization says there are 29 COVID vaccines in clinical trials worldwide. And one in China is showing some early promise.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONES (voice-over): Tonight, new potentially promising developments in the search for a coronavirus vaccine. Results published in the journal of the American Medical Association indicating early trials of a Chinese vaccine show it is safe and induces an immune response. But more study is needed to determine whether it actually protects people from the virus.

This as updated guidance from the CDC suggests people who recover from coronavirus may be protected for up to three months. The agency saying people who have tested positive for COVID-19 do not need to quarantine or get tested again for up to three months, as long as they do not develop symptoms again.

Meanwhile --

DR. TOM INGLESBY, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR HEALTH SECURITY, JOHN HOPKINS: We're still in a really bad place with this pandemic.

JONES (voice-over): The CDC is now forecasting America could see another 22,000 COVID-19 deaths in just the next three weeks. The agency says nearly 189,000 people will have died from coronavirus by September 5th. A startling prediction made all the more concerning since deaths have already surpassed the roughly 165,000 the CDC predicted by Saturday.

INGLESBY: This virus hasn't changed. It's the same as it was before, and it's doing very substantial damage to the country.

JONES (voice-over): While new infections are steady or falling in 44 states, over the last week, the United States has added more than 365,000 cases. That's enough people to fill up Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz stadium more than five times.

California becoming the first state to report 600,000 COVID-19 cases, and 35 states seeing higher COVID test positivity rates this week than last.

[17:20:04]

The seven-day average of COVID deaths nationwide has passed 1,000 a day for 18 days in a row. Nevada setting a single-day record for deaths Thursday.

Georgia where deaths are also on the rise is leading the nation in new cases per 100,000 people, averaged over the past seven days. The Atlanta Journal Constitution obtained the White House Coronavirus Task Force's recommendations for the state which argued on August 9th there is widespread expanding community viral spread. And the states' current policies are not enough.

The report calling for a mask mandate and other measures. Advised Governor Brian Kemp so far hasn't followed. In a statement to CNN, the governor's office said he continues to rely on data and the advice of the state's health commissioner and that this fight is about protecting the lives and livelihoods of all Georgians.

DR. ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: There's a misunderstanding that somehow there's a tradeoff between lives and livelihoods. There isn't. Places that do well on protecting public health can get their economy going much faster and much better.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: And speaking of those White House Coronavirus Task Force recommendations for Georgia, one of the main ones is a mask mandate, something the vast majority of Americans support but that Governor Brian Kemp has so far strenuously resisted. Georgia is one of only a dozen states without a statewide mask requirement. Jim?

ACOSTA: CNN's Athena Jones, thanks for that.

And let's get more on all of this with CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and former Baltimore health commissioner and CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen. Thanks so much to both of you.

Sanjay, I want to begin with your reaction to some claims made by Admiral Brett Giroir, the administration testing czar. Listen to what he had to say earlier here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Has the administration actually exhausted it to get more supplies like reagents and tips and other testing supplies to the labs? Is that true? Everything's been done?

DR. BRETT GIROIR, TRUMP'S CORONAVIRUS TESTING CZAR: I'm going to say definitively yes.

BROWN: Definitively yes. There's nothing else the administration can do to get more testing?

GIROIR: Well, you'll hear a DPA action coming up early next week. BROWN: Would you say enough has been done? Enough has been done to make sure that everyone who needs a test gets a test in this country?

GIROIR: Everything that can possibly be done has been done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Sanjay, what did you think of that answer?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's I mean - It's -- I think anybody could look at that and say obviously not enough has been done. We have never gotten testing right in this country. You know, it's sad to say. I mean testing is a key component. I think what the admiral does is he says, look, we're not possibly going to test everyone every day. He holds that up as the counterargument. That's not the counterargument. No one is suggesting that.

On the other hand, we have not done nearly enough testing. And I thought Pamela really pressed him on that point. He did sneak in there, I don't know if you caught it, Jim, that he said a DPA action will be announced early next week, the Defense Production Act will be - some element of it. We don't know what it is. It will be announced next week.

We are behind on testing. That's the bottom line. There are too many people who still can't get tested. There are too many people who get tested but then wait too long for their results. He's focused on symptomatic people. But we've known, as you know, Jim, for a long time that asymptomatic people are probably really leading to this crushing spread of virus in this country. They need to be tested as well. So, you know, it's tough to know really what his position is on some of this, but clearly not enough is being done.

ACOSTA: Dr. Leana Wen, our Pamela Brown, my colleague, she tried really hard to press him on this issue. But what do you make of that? I mean to be talking about a Defense Production Act measure being taken next week. We're six months -- almost six months into this pandemic. We still don't have testing right in this country. It still takes a week to 10 days for some people to get their results back. They're just not getting the job done.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: That's right. I mean I, of course, completely agree with you and Sanjay on this. You know I see patients and my patients can't even get testing in a timely manner if they are symptomatic. I had someone that I've talked to today who said that she has a fever. But she was told that if she gets a test, she can't get another test if she develops more symptoms over time. That she has one test that she's able to get.

What kind of system are we in that we can't even get symptomatic patients testing much less the level of surveillance testing that we need in order to find out what is the true level of virus, what is the true level of coronavirus here in our country? And so not enough has been done. We've been saying this for months and months.

I don't understand why other countries. You know you have China. They were able to test 10, 11 million people in Wuhan in one city over one weekend months ago. Senegal, India, they've been able to manufacture this $1 antigen test for widespread screening purposes. Why can't we do that here?

ACOSTA: Yes. I think the only answer is we blew it. Sanjay, we got some promising news on the vaccine front today. Results from early trials of a Chinese candidate suggests the vaccine is safe and produced an immune response.

[17:25:05]

How encouraged are you that we now have multiple vaccine candidates with this kind of early promising data?

GUPTA: Well, I think that is a brighter spot in all this, the testing being a darker spot, the vaccine development has been something that we can point to. And I think you know be encouraged by it. So now there are several that are sort of entering into these later phases of the clinical trials.

I mean, look, Jim, you know at the end of the day, as good as this data is, what's really going to matter is, does it work? And by that, I mean can you give it to large segments of the population, and does it protect them against getting infected? The early data suggests that that's going to be the case. But that's why you really need these phase three trials.

And also, you know, when you have these earlier phase trials, it's typically healthy people, 18 to 55 on average. We know that people who are older, people who have pre-existing conditions, they are the vulnerable patients. So, we need to be sure that this is going to work for them as well. But look, let's point out a bright spot when we can, and this is one of them.

ACOSTA: Let's hope so. And Dr. Wen, I want your thoughts on some updated guidance coming from the CDC. The CDC's website now says people who have tested positive for COVID-19 do not need to quarantine or get tested again for up to three months as long as they do not develop symptoms again. Are they suggesting people have some kind of protection from being infected again for up to three months? What does that mean?

WEN: So, that's what it sounds like they are suggesting. But, frankly, I'm a bit puzzled by this. Because I don't know what science has actually changed that they should be pointing to. All along we've been saying that there's a lot about immunity that we just don't know. We don't know if you recover from COVID-19, how long your immunity lasts, how much you're protected, are you protected partially if you don't get that sick? Does it depend on the severity of the illness?

There are so many unanswered questions and they're not pointing to a new study. And, in fact, this guidance is hidden in another part of their website about exposure and quarantine. So, I have a lot of questions here. And I don't want people to get false reassurance. I certainly don't want people who have taken an antibody test to think that they are now safe from getting COVID-19 because there's so much about immunity that we just don't know.

ACOSTA: All right. Very good information. Thank you, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Dr. Leana Wen, for all that. We really appreciate it.

Coming up, President Trump claims he doesn't have a problem with women of color after promoting a birther lie about Biden running mate Kamala Harris. We'll talk about race and the campaign with the head of the NAACP.

Plus, as school resumes for children across the U.S., many of them are struggling with remote learning, along with their teachers and parents.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:32:39]

ACOSTA: And we're following multiple breaking stories including President Trump this afternoon telling a reporter he has no problem with strong women of color acclaim that comes despite what he's been saying about Senator Kamala Harris. And we're joined now by the President of the NAACP, Derrick Johnson. Derrick, thanks so much for doing this. We appreciate it.

Kamala Harris's selection is Joe Biden's running mate is historic. Let's listen to Senator Harris in her own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESUMPTIVE VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: By Joe asking me to be his running mate, he has pushed forward something that might have otherwise taken decades, if you just track the progress that we've had so far. And what it means is it is -- the significance of it is an understanding, you know, by Joe and art (ph), what will be, God willing, our administration about the need to be conscious about the disparities that exists. Be conscious about the systemic racism that exists, be conscious about the active and affirmative acts that must take place to actually get closer to an equitable and fair society.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Derrick, what's your reaction seeing a woman of color reach this milestone?

DERRICK JOHNSON, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NAACP: Well, I've been getting the energy from African American women all across the country this week. I feel a level of energy, excitement. Many of our foundational organizations that are women-led whether it's our sororities, the Lynx (ph), AKAs, Delta Zetas. There is energy that I have not seen since 2012 or 2008.

So I'm excited. I'm excited that finally those African American women who do so much to make democracy work in this country, finally are being heard and finally being seen. So I'm looking forward to November. ACOSTA: And Derrick, as you know, President Trump promoted the conspiracy theory that President Obama was not born in this country. That's obviously false. But the President is added again with Senator Harris. What is your response to these baseless racist claims?

JOHNSON: Well, race has been an effective to use in the political landscape for many years for decades. I live in Mississippi, so I've seen racialized appeals to get whites to vote against their interests. But I think we are at a tipping point now.

[17:35:00]

If you look at the peaceful protests across the country, it truly looks like America black, white, young, old, male, female, and I think this President out of touch. And much of these racialized appeals will fall on deaf ears, because we're in the midst of a health pandemic that is devastating like our economy, and that's what people going to look for more than anything else. What are the solutions for that? How do we go into the future and not continue to play in the past?

ACOSTA: And I want to play something the former president said about Kamala Harris today. Let's listen to President Obama.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She is smart. She is tough. She is somebody who I think will be able to share the stage with Mike Pence or whoever body else and dissect some of the terrible decisions that have been made over the last four years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Almost sounded like the former president was suggesting Mike Pence might not be at that vice-presidential debate. We'll put that to the side. But this is a stark contrast to what President Trump has been saying and what his allies have been saying, calling her nasty and angry, isn't that right?

JOHNSON: Well, you know, she's effective. I know her personally. I watched her serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and she was very effective and questioning individuals coming up for nomination. She did a magnificent job as state attorney general in California. And she's been able to navigate a political landscape in a way in which many people would have fallen with the pressure. She is smart, she is effective, and she brings a level of energy that I think is needed at this moment.

ACOSTA: And as 2016 taught us, Derrick, you know this all too well, President Trump's political strategy is often to exploit division in this country. Often around race in 2016, he vilified immigrants, especially Mexican immigrants. How do you see race playing into this election now that he's opposing on the other ticket, an African American candidate?

JOHNSON: I think because she is tough, she's got to be able to respond much more effectively to some of the other opponents both in the Republican primary in 2016 and in a general elections. She's smart, she would be able to navigate the conversation in ways in which this President currently lacks the intellectual skills to do so. So this should be an exciting period of campaigning and debate. But at the end of the day, we must unite this country, we must look forward, we must stop using race as a weaponized tool and look at all of our uniqueness to build a better society.

ACOSTA: All right, Derrick Johnson, great discussion. Thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it. Good talking to you, sir.

And coming up, a CNN exclusive in the wake of Russia's claim to develop a coronavirus vaccine. Russian officials say they offer to cooperate with the U.S. and were turned down. Well go live to Moscow.

Also ahead, the challenges facing students and parents as schools are forced to resume remote learning. We'll have more on that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:42:42]

ACOSTA: And this hour's breaking news, as President Trump attacks on mail-in voting continue, the Postal Service is warning 46 states and Washington D.C. it may not be able to deliver mail-in ballots in time to be counted under their election laws. Of course it isn't the popular vote that determines who was elected president, it's the Electoral College, which CNN's John Berman has been looking at. And john Berman joins us now. He's -- let's listen to a clip first.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The internet was exploding, and we were trying to say, hey, there's actual electors here. Alexander Hamilton wrote one of the Federalist Papers. And in there, he states that electors shall stop any candidate who is unqualified, who is a demagogue or is controlled by foreign powers.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): So Bret, Polly (ph) and Michael (ph) started a campaign to convince fellow electors to change their votes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We decided that the only choice to stop Donald Trump vote for a different Republican candidate and convince 37 Republican electors to do the same.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Initially, we had called it the moral electors. We were trying to get electors to vote their conscience and say, hey, the state laws, they're not constitutional.

BERMAN (voice-over): Moral electors soon became the Hamilton electors.

(on-camera): Why are they called Hamilton electors?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the spirit of Alexander Hamilton, who explicitly describes the Electoral College as comprised of a body of men who would exercise a discretion to select a president who, in their judgment, fit the best interests of the nation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And there's John Berman, he joins us now. John, this Electoral College subject, this is the subject that keeps me up at night every four years. And I suppose it may happen again based on your conversations. What jumped out at you as you put this documentary together?

BERMAN: What jumped out at me is that we've had two elections in the last 20 years where the popular vote winner and the Electoral College winner did not match up. It's happening more often. There is something structural at this point, which makes it more frequent which raises the question why does it exist to begin with?

[17:45:02]

And do the reasons it was created match up with anything having to do with life in the United States in 2020, and it's hard. It's hard to see how it's a one for one creation. You heard Alexander Hamilton say that these electors were chosen in 1787, because we thought they were the ones who could best pick the president of the United States that they would be more informed. We didn't want you, the founders, leave it to the people to decide in a popular vote. That's just not where we are, you would think, today with our electoral system

ACOSTA: And is the Electoral College of 2020 different than the one we had in 1787? And I'm struck by some of the people in that clip you just played saying, well, perhaps we'll go rogue and pick somebody else. That's fascinating as well, that that's even being discussed.

BERMAN: Well, two things. Number one, on the latter point, they can't anymore. There was a major Supreme Court decision this July which rule 90 wasn't even close, that states have the right not only to require the electors they choose to vote the way that the states do, but they can also penalize the electors if they don't. Now 32 states require the electors to vote the way the other 18 don't. But the other 18 electors are all but guaranteed the vote the way the states do, because they're chosen usually directly by a party convention or by the parties themselves.

Insofar as it matches up with what the founders created. It's nothing like it. It's nothing like it. The founders didn't even consider elections. They didn't necessarily think the electors would be chosen by elections. They thought mostly they'd be chosen by state legislatures, which they were for the first few elections in some states.

The founders also never conceived that the electors would be a portion in a winner take-all fashion state by stat. And when they started to do it, in the 1800s, it pissed James Madison off. James Madison, who of course, you know, wrote the Constitution was really upset about the winner take-all by state way that the Electoral College was being founded because he think it warped what they were trying to do, which was to give these electors the franchise to pick the president. ACOSTA: All right. Fascinating subject, John Berman. We'll be watching that documentary. Thank you so much for that. Be sure to watch a special report, Count On Controversy tomorrow at 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

And coming up, millions of American students facing new challenges as they resume classes by remote learning, that's coming up.

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[17:52:18]

ACOSTA: As students across the U.S. returned to school, many are doing it remotely because of the pandemic and that's posing challenges to teachers, students and parents. CNN's Brian Todd has details. And Brian, remote learning may be safer during this health crisis, but for some families, it's just not working, isn't that right?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, for many, it's not working, you know, between technical challenges, and kids and teachers just not connecting academically or emotionally. The start of the school year for some families just isn't going smoothly.

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TODD (voice-over): Atlanta's Mayor tweeting this week, "It's noon and I still haven't been able to get the twins logged in". Keisha Lance Bottoms feeling the frustration of some parents across the country as they grapple with the challenges of remote learning with schools getting back in session. This week, technical problems have been especially worrisome like in Gwinnett County, Georgia.

LYNETTA FORD, PARENT: I went to the website tried to log into the eClass portal and was getting an error message for the most part.

TODD (voice-over): With many students and parents unable to log in this week, the Gwinnett County District asked them to stagger their attempts to access the program. Meanwhile, the superintendent of schools in Humble, Texas said a cyberattack on their district server blocked some students from logging into their first day of online classes this week. This comes as the debate rages over whether remote or in-person learning will work best during the pandemic.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just could really benefit --

TODD (voice-over): During a Zoom meeting with education specialists in recent days, one expert said a disadvantage of remote learning is that it doesn't always play to teacher strengths.

CHERI FANCSALI, RESEARCH ALLIANCE FOR NEW YORK CITY SCHOOLS: The teachers who are the most effective teachers and are what we've had so far face to face typical situations, they may not be the most effective in remote environment.

TODD (voice-over): And some parents of students with special needs say their kids just aren't being served as well online. Like one mother who's suing California's governor over virtual learning.

CHRISTINE RUIZ, SUING CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR OVER VIRTUAL LEARNING: I have three boys, two with a diagnosis of autism. Without that team to do that hands on learning, they're just languishing at home. There's no type of education going on. My children cannot sit in front of a computer screen and do Zoom meetings all day long. It's just regression, it's profound and detrimental.

TODD (voice-over): One education expert tells CNN almost no state has a specific effective plan to successfully teach online. But a clear advantage to remote learning is that it's simply safer. A parent in one Georgia county who sent her son to school for in-person classes told CNN, it didn't start well.

BRANDY HEATH, PARENT: The second day of school, my son said to me, Mom, I don't think it's safe. We're not social distancing, there's no precautions being taken to keep us safe.

[17:55:01]

TODD (voice-over): And sometimes it appears remote learning can keep some top teachers in the fold. One chemistry teacher in Arizona told CNN he was given no option but to teach in-person. So for his family safety, he resigned.

MATT CHICCI, TEACHER: A lot of us would have stayed if we had had that option or if we'd even had some kind of hybrid option to where we had smaller class sizes we would have had a lot of a stand (ph).

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TODD: The issue is such a difficult one to resolve that it's pitted at least one school district against its own state government. The Hillsborough County Florida public school system first decided to offer four weeks of remote learning, to start the school year with four weeks of remote learning. But the district has now backtracked and is offering the option of in-person learning just one week after school starts back. That came after the Florida Department of Education warned Hillsborough County that money could be withheld in- person learning was not offered. Jim?

ACOSTA: All right, CNN's Brian Todd, an important story. A lot of parents are watching. Thank you.

Breaking news next, the U.S. Postal Service warns it may not meet some mail-in ballot deadlines as President Trump opposes new funding and attacks mail-in voting.

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