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Trump Responds To Michelle Obama Convention Speech; Schools Facing COVID Outbreaks; Postmaster General Agrees To Suspend Changes; DNC Releases Video Showing Unlikely Friendship Between Joe Biden And The Late Senator, John McCain; Bipartisan Senate Report Details Trump Campaign Contacts With Russian Officials In 2016; Democrats Face Criticism For Lack Of Latino Representation At Convention. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired August 18, 2020 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. We're following breaking news.

More than 171,000 Americans have now died during the coronavirus pandemic, as confirmed cases approach 5.5 million. But new cases are trending downward here in the U.S. The U.S. just reported fewer than 40,000 confirmed cases in a single day for the first time since June.

And there's breaking news on President Trump's attack against mail-in voting. Amid a growing pressure campaign from Democrats, the postmaster general of the United States has just agreed to suspend operational changes to the Postal Service until after the presidential election.

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, called the move necessary, but insufficient and warned that the pause does not reverse damage already done -- her words.

We're also counting down to the second night of the truly historic and very unusual virtual Democratic National Convention. Tonight's lineup features of former President Bill Clinton and Joe Biden's wife, Dr. Jill Biden.

We're also learning new details about their speeches. We're going to have previews for you coming up this hour.

First, let's go to CNN's Ryan Nobles with the latest on the Postal Service crisis. It's a real crisis.

Ryan, the postmaster general is making some major concessions, but a lot of Democrats insist it's simply not enough. Tell us more.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Wolf, certainly an about-face by the postmaster general, but President Trump is still defending those original changes made by Louis DeJoy, telling reporters just a moment ago that he believes the post office is running as well as it has in a long time. And there is a reason that there is so much focus on the U.S. Postal Service right now. And that's because more and more Americans are planning to cast their ballot this fall by mail.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NOBLES (voice-over): Tonight, the Postal Service is changing course, walking back plans to institute big changes that critics say had the potential to disrupt the fall election, as millions of Americans plan to cast their vote by mail.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Democrats want to make it a political issue. It's not a political issue. It's really about a correct vote.

NOBLES: The announcement comes as Democrats push a bill in Congress to increase funding to the post office and protect its ability to deliver ballots on time.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: They felt the heat, and that's what we were trying to do, is to make it too hot for them to handle.

NOBLES: All while President Trump continues to attempt to discredit the vote-by-mail system. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy will be on Capitol Hill Friday to answer lawmakers' questions.

Meanwhile, the campaign for president is heating up, President Trump punching back after the first night of the Democratic National Convention.

TRUMP: I thought it was a very divisive speech, extremely divisive.

NOBLES: It was a night where Democrats landed blow after blow on the commander in chief, headlined by the former first lady Michelle Obama.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is.

NOBLES: Those last words, "It is what it is," seemingly an attack on Trump's use of the dismissive term to describe the staggering coronavirus death toll in the country.

TRUMP: They are dying. That's true. And you have -- it is what it is.

NOBLES: The president taking fire not just from Democrats, but Republicans as well, even those who served in his administration.

MILES TAYLOR, FORMER DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY CHIEF OF STAFF: He was one of the most unfocused and undisciplined senior executives I have ever encountered.

NOBLES: Miles Taylor was the former chief of staff to the secretary of homeland security, serving in the job during the high-profile and controversial child separation policy at the border. Just a few months removed from his time serving Trump, he's now supporting Biden.

TAYLOR: I'm confident that Joe Biden will protect the country, and I'm confident he won't make the same mistakes as this president.

NOBLES: Trump shoved off Taylor's disloyal move, calling him a -- quote -- "stiff."

All this while the coronavirus hot spots continue to pop up across America. The president entertaining the idea of promoting the therapeutic oleandrin, an extract of a toxic plant, because it was suggested by his big supporter Mike Lindell of MyPillow, who serves on the board of the company pushing the supposed treatment.

Lindell claims that therapeutic was tested and is being looked at by the FDA, but could provide no proof or evidence of the study in an interview with Anderson Cooper.

MICHAEL LINDELL, CEO, MYPILLOW: If this thing works, it's the miracle of all time.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Sir, you said you have seen this test. Where is it?

LINDELL: The tests are out there, the 1,000 people, phase one and phase two.

COOPER: Where is the test? Show it to us.

LINDELL: I don't have the test.

COOPER: Name -- how are you different than a snake oil salesman?

LINDELL: I think my platform stands by itself. I have a platform that God gives me of integrity and trust.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBLES: And there is no doubt that the coronavirus pandemic is shifting the way that Americans are planning to cast their ballot this fall.

[18:05:02]

Take a look at these numbers from our new CNN poll on the topic; 34 percent of Americans plan to vote by mail this time around. That is 10 percent more than did so back in 2016.

But there is a big divide between Democrats and Republicans on this topic, perhaps one of the reasons President Trump has been so critical of vote by mail; 53 percent of Joe Biden's supporters say they plan to cast their vote valid through the mail. Only 12 percent of President Trump's supporters say they plan to do it through that practice.

So, Wolf, you can start to understand why President Trump is raising so many alarm bells, many of them unfounded, about voting by mail. BLITZER: Yes, good point.

Ryan Nobles, thank you very much.

Let's get an update on the coronavirus pandemic right now.

CNN's Nick Watt is joining us from Los Angeles.

Nick, yet another major university is now moving to online learning after coronavirus clusters emerged within days of opening classrooms on their campus. Give us the latest.

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as we try and get kids back into schools and colleges, two of the many major issues, sports fields, classrooms.

Now, in Ohio, the governor said he is going to allow all sports, including contact sports, this fall. And, as you just mentioned, Notre Dame has just moved all undergraduate classes out of the classroom and online for a couple of weeks, as they try to contain this outbreak amongst their student body.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WATT (voice-over): The good news, this country just logged less than 40,000 new cases in a day, first time in nearly two months, very high, but falling. The bad news, we're still averaging more than 1,000 lives lost every day to this virus.

And here's the key metric. In nearly half of states, the number of tests coming back positive is still too high.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: When you look at New York City right now, it's less than 1 percent. That's what you want the whole country to be. There are parts of the country where it's 15, 18, 20 percent. That's really high.

WATT: New infection rates are now falling in the South, but rising in the Heartland. Some returning Missouri State University students are packing a quarantine go bag just in case.

KIMBERLI DUECKER, COLLEGE STUDENT: I also bought hand sanitizer and bleach and Clorox wipes where I could find them.

WATT: Across the contrary, that path back to in-person classes is pitted with potholes, 80 positive tests at Notre Dame yesterday alone. All undergrad classes will now be online only for at least two weeks.

And at UNC Chapel Hill, it's -- well, that, according to the student newspaper.

REEVES MOSELEY, STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT, UNC CHAPEL HILL: We saw four clusters across the entire campus in just three days.

WATT: The university is now running out of quarantine beds. In-person undergraduate classes are done after just a week. Tomorrow, they will move to room remote learning only.

FAUCI: You go in, people get infected, boom, they close them down. So it's better to ease in, perhaps with virtual, until you see what's going on when you're in a really hot zone.

WATT: In Miami-Dade, Florida, nearly 600 public school employees have tested positive for COVID-19. The Los Angeles School District now plans to test every single student and staffer, around 800,000 people. Herculean? Sisyphean?

AUSTIN BEUTNER, SUPERINTENDENT, LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: If we want to keep schools from becoming a petri dish, and we want to keep all the school community safe, we need to test and trace at schools.

WATT: A quicker, easier saliva test could be available within weeks.

ADM. BRETT GIROIR, U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: It's basically spit in a tube. It does not need a swab. It does not need the special transport media.

WATT: But we're told testing is not a panacea. This fight will always be largely on us.

GIROIR: It's part of a comprehensive plan. You have to do the things that the surgeon general and we all tell you, the three W's. Got to wear the mask, got to watch your distance, got to wash your hands.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: Sounds simple. Apparently, it's not.

A faculty member from UNC Chapel Hill spoke to CNN earlier. They, of course, are dealing with four spikes that were found over the weekend -- four clusters. I'm sorry.

And she said to us that UNC Chapel Hill is really a microcosm of this country. Many, many people are just not willing to follow public health guidelines -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Nick, thank you very much, Nick Watt reporting for us.

Let's discuss the latest coronavirus developments with Dr. Leana Wen. She is the former Baltimore City health commissioner, also a CNN medical analyst.

Dr. Wen, new cases falling in the U.S. Certainly, that's a good sign, but it's certainly too early for anyone to let their guard down, isn't it?

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: That's exactly right. It's a good sign. But I would not be taking a victory lap, because, first of all, we know that test positivity rates are still too high in at least how of our states, which means that we're missing potentially a lot of COVID-19 infections. [18:10:03]

And the number that we're seeing is almost certainly much higher than what's actually reported. And we also know that, even if we're at a plateau of 40,000 cases, that is far too high. And if we have young people coming back to class and school, we are going to see surges in outbreaks among young people.

And what starts in the young is not going to stay in the young, and we could see many surges up ahead.

BLITZER: As you heard, Notre Dame University just a little while ago announcing that they will move classes completely online at least for two weeks, maybe longer ,after a serious outbreak on the campus. What does that tell us about the reality of schools, particularly colleges, reopening this year in the coming weeks, let's say?

WEN: It's just extremely difficult to consider yourself to be in a bubble when there is very high level of community spread around you.

When people are coming from all over the country and congregating in a college campus, you just can't keep coronavirus out. And so I think this should be a lesson for all the universities that are out there, and actually K-12 institutions as well, that they need to have virtual instruction ready.

They also need to give everyone the information about when there are outbreaks. It's not a question of if. It's when there are outbreaks. They need to have all those procedures and protocols in place for what happens when they are outbreaks to transition seamlessly to virtual learning and to be able to try to contain COVID-19, to do the testing and contact tracing that's needed as well.

BLITZER: I'm anxious, Dr. Wen, to get your thoughts on this new drug that's now being pushed by the MyPillow founder.

It really is worrisome that this person actually has the president's attention. The president has actually spoken about this, something so potentially dangerous, completely not approved by the FDA or anyone else, for that matter.

What are your thoughts?

WEN: My thought is, here we go again, Wolf. I mean, we have been talking about hydroxychloroquine. And we have talked about injecting bleach and ingesting disinfectant in the past.

And here we go with trying to debunk yet another one of these baseless claims that actually has real danger, because, like it or not, there are millions of Americans who really believe President Trump.

And I fear that they could potentially be interested in taking an unproven drug like this that could cause significant harm. I mean, this is a medication, this is an abstract that could lower someone's blood pressure and cause respiratory depression, stop people's breathing. It's literally a poison. And I wish that, instead of promoting treatments like this, the

president would talk about what we know actually works. For example, how wonderful would it be if you talked about the importance of wearing masks, which actually do reduce the risk of transmitting and obtaining COVID-19 by up to fivefold?

BLITZER: Yes, that's a good point, indeed.

I also want your thoughts, Dr. Wen, on this new plane study released on a journey from back in March and the spread of coronavirus on a four-hour flight, the time. Obviously, things like ventilation, spacing, masks all play into mitigating the spread of the virus.

Is it a positive sign we have not seen rates skyrocket, at least so far, during the summer months of travel? A lot of people have started flying again.

WEN: So far, yes, there is fairly good airflow and ventilation planes.

But we always have to remember to wear masks while we're on planes. Make sure that we try to keep physical distancing as much as possible and really not have nonessential travel, because when you are going to airports, traveling to different locations, there's still going to be the risk of transmission, especially for the most vulnerable.

BLITZER: If you're flying, is it enough just to wear a mask? Should you wear an eye shade too?

WEN: I would do both, especially if you're somebody who has additional risk factors.

BLITZER: That's an important point too.

All right, Dr. Leana Wen, as usual, thank you very, very much.

Just ahead, we're going to bring you a preview of tonight's Democratic National Convention. We now have excerpts of what Jill Biden and former President Bill Clinton will be saying later tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:18:31]

BLITZER: There's breaking news.

We're getting an inside look right now at tonight's Democratic National Convention.

I quickly want to go to our senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny.

So, Jeff, what are you learning about one of the featured videos on this, the second night of the DNC?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, moments ago, Cindy McCain tweeted that she will be participating in a video that is celebrating the relationship between her late husband, Senator John McCain, and Joe Biden.

Of course, they served so many years together in the Senate, and indeed travel around the world. Take a look at a glimpse of this interview they be playing tonight -- this video, rather, at the convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a friendship that shouldn't have worked. John, a former Navy pilot just released from a North Vietnamese prison, Joe, a young senator from Delaware.

But in the 1970s, Joe was assigned a military aide for a trip overseas.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ): I was a Navy Senate liaison and used to carry your bags on overseas trips.

JOSEPH BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The son of a gun never carried my bags. He was supposed to carry my bags, dammit, but he never carried my bags.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: John and Joe traveled thousands of miles together. The families got to know each other, gathering for picnics in the Bidens backyard.

[18:20:00]

CINDY MCCAIN, WIDOW OF SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN: They would just sit and joke. It was like a comedy show sometimes to watch the two of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So of course, Joe Biden spoke at a memorial service nearly two years ago for the late Senator John McCain.

So, Wolf, I'm told this video, it's about eight minutes in length, will play in full tonight at the convention. It will be going through their -- as they call it, an unlikely friendship, of course, trying to make the point that Joe Biden could repair the relationships around the world.

Of course, no surprise that Senator McCain and the current President Donald Trump had no love lost between the two of them. So that will be one interesting moment at the convention tonight, Wolf.

But it is also going to be a moment for Jill Biden, the wife, of course, of former Vice President Joe Biden, who will be in the spotlight. We're getting a new look at some excerpts from her speech tonight, Wolf.

In part, she is also going to say this. She's going to say: "How do you make a broken family whole? The same way you make a nation whole. With love and understanding and with small acts of compassion, with bravery, with unwavering faith." So, of course, she is going to stitch together a narrative of Joe Biden's life of empathy, of compassion, as she believes that draws a contrast with the current president.

That is going to be the highlight of the second night of the Democratic Convention.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY (voice-over): Jill Biden stepping into the spotlight tonight at the Democratic National Convention, telling the nation about the Joe Biden she knows.

JILL BIDEN, WIFE OF JOE BIDEN: If the election were held today, who would you want to step in to clean up this mess?

ZELENY: She's set to deliver a prime-time testimonial from her old classroom at Brandywine High School, where she taught English during her husband's tenure in the Senate.

If they win in November, she's vowed to keep teaching as first lady.

JILL BIDEN: I said, I know I can do both jobs.

ZELENY: For the second night of the virtual convention, new faces like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will join party elders like Bill Clinton in talking about the urgency of winning back the White House in a new kind of keynote address, featuring not one of the party's rising stars, but 17 Democratic elected officials representing the next generation of leaders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's get real. There's a lot riding on this election.

ZELENY: On Monday night, it was former first lady Michelle Obama delivering a powerful argument, imploring Americans to unite behind Biden.

OBAMA: So, let me be as honest and clear as I possibly can. Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country.

ZELENY: And take a stand against President Trump.

OBAMA: He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is.

ZELENY: At the White House today, the president made clear he was watching.

TRUMP: No, she was over her head. I thought it was a very divisive speech, extremely divisive.

ZELENY: But Obama's message reverberated across the political spectrum, from progressives like Senator Bernie Sanders... SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): For everyone who supported other candidates in the primary, and to those who may have voted for Donald Trump in the last election, the future of our democracy is at stake.

ZELENY: ... to a handful of Republicans, like former Ohio Governor John Kasich.

FMR. GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH): Times that call for all of us to take off our partisan hats and put our nation first for ourselves and, of course, for our children.

ZELENY: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris intent on trying to make the election a referendum on Trump and, above all, his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, that point made clear in emotional appeals, like the one from Kristin Urquiza, who blames the president for her father dying of COVID-19.

KRISTIN URQUIZA, DAUGHTER OF CORONAVIRUS VICTIM: My dad was a healthy 65-year-old. His only preexisting condition was trusting Donald Trump. And, for that, he paid with his life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: So, coronavirus on the first night of the convention, Wolf.

I'm told that tonight is going to be much more focused on leadership and America's place in the world. That, of course, fits with the theme of that video from John McCain.

But we are also getting a new look at a few of the excerpts from the comments from former President Bill Clinton. He, of course, is going to speak at this convention as well. He's been a mainstay of Democratic Conventions, really, for three decades or so.

Take a look at one of the excerpts he is going to say as well. He will say this: "Donald Trump says we're leading the world. Well, we are, the only major industrial economy to have its unemployment rate triple. At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command center. Instead, it's a storm center. There's only chaos. Just one thing never changes, his determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame. The buck never stops there."

Those are some words that we were told that the former President Bill Clinton is going to say tonight, so tough words indeed.

[18:25:06]

So, Wolf, there will be all this thematic, as well as some business as well, the roll call of states. Fifty states and seven territories will be coming forward to essentially formalize the process of Joe Biden becoming the party's nominee.

So, all that happens here and virtually across the country, but it is Joe Biden, Wolf, who's front and center in all of this tonight.

BLITZER: And our special coverage will begin at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and go through the evening. All right, Jeff Zeleny, thank you very, very much.

Let's get some more analysis from our political correspondent, Abby Phillip, and our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger.

Gloria, it's pretty incredible to see the former Republican presidential nominee featured so prominently at a Democratic Convention. And Cindy McCain herself narrated this very dramatic video outlining the friendship that these two men had. How significant is that?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it's very significant.

I don't think, actually, Wolf, that it's terribly surprising, given the way that Donald Trump has treated the memory of John McCain, and given the way he treated John McCain when he was ill.

And I think that that is something that clearly would stay with his widow. But I will tell you, this is a real friendship. I mean, they disagreed on everything, including important matters like the use of force.

And -- but McCain and Biden had a mutual respect for each other. They were both men of the Senate. They were both institutionalists. And they believed in working across the aisle.

So, as you look at last night, and you see that you had Republicans like John Kasich and Susan Molinari talking, I think this is kind of a natural progression, from a personal point of view from John McCain's widow.

BLITZER: Yes, they had a really, really close friendship during all those years as well.

Abby, the DNC wants to show Joe Biden has a big tent, with this video, with a whole bunch of other things that they plan on doing. How effective do you think that will be?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, conventions are a huge platform. The entire country, to some extent, is watching. It's an opportunity for the candidate and their vice president to show -- to persuade some voters and to show what they could potentially offer.

I think there's an argument to be made -- and perhaps the Democratic Party buys into that based on what we have seen the last two days -- that they need to spend more time trying to convince people who are not already with them, people who are in the middle of the political spectrum, who are looking for someone who represents a break from what exists right now, which is hyperpartisanship.

So it doesn't surprise me that they have been trying to emphasize the working across party lines, because that is exactly the kind of thing that is most opposite to Donald Trump. And I should note, also, it's the kind of thing that, from a perception perspective, is also opposite to four years ago with Hillary Clinton. There were a lot of voters who just simply didn't believe that Hillary Clinton could usher in a new era of bipartisanship. I think what Democrats are trying to say to now is that they believe that Joe Biden is the person who can actually do that for them, trying to sell that argument to independent suburban voters who four years ago were skeptical of the Democratic nominee.

BLITZER: The Democratic Convention, Gloria, later tonight will be introducing potential voters to Joe Biden's wife, Dr. Jill Biden.

So what does her story tell people about what Joe Biden would bring to the Oval Office?

BORGER: Well, again -- and we have been talking about this now for a couple of days -- I think what she's going to talk about is Biden putting together his family after his wife died and his baby daughter died, and I'm sure she will also talk about how they both survived the loss of their son Beau Biden.

And her point is, if you can put a family back together, you can put a country back together. So, what we have seen again over these -- this last day, and we will see it again tonight, is this emphasis on empathy, on humanity, on Joe Biden, the person.

And we always talk about presidential elections as reactions to the incumbent or the previous occupant of the Oval Office. And what they're trying to say is that you see who -- the man who's in the Oval Office, no empathy.

The man we would like you to elect as president understands your problems, cares about people like you, and is empathetic. And that's the -- that is the distinction that they are driving home day in and day out.

BLITZER: Abby, we did see President Trump today take the bait, criticize the former first lady Michelle Obama after her speech last tonight.

[18:30:01]

He surely won't like to hear about this video highlighting Joe Biden's friendship with John McCain. How do you expect that dynamic to play out through this convention?

PHILLIP: Yes, Wolf. I think taking the bait is exactly the right way to describe what is going on here. These are easy things for normal run-of-the-mill politicians to avoid falling into easy traps that are obvious. The first lady is talking about 150,000 people dead. A week- and-a-half ago, that number is now higher by 20,000 people and President Trump highlights that fact.

And so, I think, again, you're going to see another trap being laid for for him. John McCain is going to be front and center. I've covered President Trump for a long time. He rarely passes up the opportunity to attack John McCain. And I think we can expect that something similar is going to happen and it's only going to highlight exactly what Democrats want to highlight, which is that this is a president who is attacking a war hero even in death. It is exactly the kind of thing the Democrats want to bring to the fore because it's what has pushed away so many of these sort of soft voters in the middle who are looking for a home, looking for a place to go and just do not like the president's comportment of the way he handles himself in the office.

BORGER: Wolf, in presidential elections, we always ask this question, does character count? How much does it count? Does it matter? Will this election be just about the pandemic? Will this election be about healthcare?

I think everyone understands that this election is going to be about the pandemic, people's economic situation. But I think what the Democrats are trying to do here is say character counts in this election and that appeal to independent voters who's Abby is talking about, I think, is aimed squarely at the question of how much more of this do you want and how much does character count to you in a president.

BLITZER: All right, Guys, Gloria, Abby, don't go too far away. We're all going to be back for our special coverage of this convention, day two later tonight.

Coming up, I'll speak with the mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser, about tonight's Democratic National Convention. I'll get her thoughts on President Trump's attacks on mail-in voting at the same time.

And later, a damning bipartisan report from the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee on the Trump campaign's conduct during the 2016 election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

BLITZER: Whether it's new details on night two of the Democratic Convention just a few hours from now, where breaking news around the U.S. Postal Service and mail-in voting, there's plenty to discuss with our next guest, the mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser. And, Muriel Bowser, thank you so much for joining us.

It appears the postmaster general, at least for now, has buckled under a lot of pressure from Democrats. He says changes to the Postal Service, new changes will be suspended until after the November 3rd presidential election. Does that go far enough, Mayor, to assure you that voting by mail will be reliable in this election cycle?

MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER (D), DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Well, it's certainly better -- we're in a better place than we were a few days ago. And I want to applaud the House Democrats and the Democrats in the Senate for applying this pressure. The United States Postal Service should not be politicized. People rely on it for medication, for important documents. They rely on it to stay in touch with their family and friends. And certainly, we will be relying on it this fall for an election that will keep our country safe but allow people to cast their votes.

BLITZER: Yes. And a lot of the elderly Americans still rely on the Postal Service to get their monthly social security checks. For example, a lot of them get direct deposit into their bank accounts but there are still thousands who rely on the mail for that, and military veterans rely on the Postal Service, of course, to get a lot of the prescriptions that they need.

Will Washington, D.C., the nation's capital, Mayor, be involved in any of these lawsuits against changes over at the Postal Service?

BOWSER: Certainly, I will work with our attorney general and be very supportive of making sure that we're doing everything that we can do to protect the United States Postal Service. Scores and scores of people have worked diligently over decades for the United States Postal Service in our city and across our country.

We also want to make sure those workers are protected, that they know what is happening right now our eyes and ears in postal distribution centers across the country. So, getting that correct with this unprecedented assault on the U.S. mail has to be our top priority.

BLITZER: You played a role in last night's Democratic Convention, Mayor. What does it tell you that President Trump is now personally going after the former first lady, Michelle Obama, for her speech last night?

BOWSER: Well, listen, this is, as the first lady -- the former first lady said, this is a critical election. The takeaway point she wanted for everyone is don't be fooled and thinking it can't get any worse because it can.

[18:40:04]

And what I know that Vice President Biden and Senator Harris are going to talk about tonight is how important leadership is. It matters who the president is. It matters what his values are. It matters that he sees all the people of the United States as important and worthy of being saved from COVID, being invested in with this economic recession. It matters who our president is.

And I for one know, running a city, running a major city, that we need help at the national level to really address COVID nationwide and our economic recovery.

BLITZER: We watched your address last night. Thanks so much for joining us, Mayor Bowser. I appreciate it very much.

BOWSER: Thanks, Wolf. Thank you.

BLITZER: Thank you.

Just ahead, the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee bipartisan bottom line on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election here in the U.S. and the Trump campaign's connections to Russian figures. We have new information. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:45:46]

BLITZER: The Senate Intelligence Committee has released a bipartisan report revealing new information about contacts between Russian officials and the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.

Let's bring in CNN anchor and chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto.

He's also the author of an important brand new book entitled "The Madman Theory: Trump Takes on the World".

Jim, this nearly 1,000-page document that the Senate Intelligence Committee really goes beyond the Mueller report. So, summarize some of the key findings.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Listen, it's a bipartisan report, as you know, and it belies the president's claim that this investigation was all a hoax.

Let's go through some of the headlines here, the president's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, had repeated contacts with Russians tied to military intelligence that he repeatedly shared proprietary campaign information with those Russian contacts. That in the words of this bipartisan committee created opportunities for Russian intelligence to interfere and they go onto say this.

Quoting here: Taking as a whole, Manafort's high level access and willingness to share information within individuals closely affiliated with the Russian intelligence service, particularly Konstantin Kilimnik and associates of Oleg Deripaska, represented a grave counter-intelligence threat.

Grave counter-intelligence threat from the president's campaign chairman. To be clear, it's not only Manafort who they described as being involved here. Roger Stone, repeated contacts with WikiLeaks, which U.S. intelligence views as basically a middleman, in sharing stolen information to get out in the public eye here, giving, according to the committee, advanced warnings to the president about these releases, and even composing pro-Russian tweets for the president. Roger Stone, there.

It's a remarkably detailed report. Listen, folks at home, I know there's a lot of detail but you should read some of this yourself and some of the details shocking.

BLITZER: Yeah, not just released by Democrats but the Republican majority signed off as well. The report comes less than three months away from another presidential election here in the United States.

How concerned is the U.S. intelligence community right now about additional Russian interference?

SCIUTTO: Enormously. And they've said just days ago that Russia is interfering again. It is interfering with the intention of helping Donald Trump as was its intention in 2016. What's remarkable here is the president still has not publicly or to our knowledge privately warned Russia away from doing so. Has never said, don't do this, don't interfere. And that's remarkable. There are a whole host of conversations between the president and the Russian president. We don't know the content of those conversations.

But the level of concern from the intelligence services is severe and we're just two months away.

BLITZER: Yeah. It's amazing when you think about it. Jim Sciutto, thank you very much.

And to our viewers very important, once again, let me put it up on the screen, the book cover, "The Madman Theory: Trump Takes on the World", an excellent book, you will learn a lot if you read it.

Jim, thank you very much.

SCIUTTO: Thanks so much, Wolf.

BLITZER: Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden just participated in an event focusing in on the Latino community and outreach to that community, but he did not address recent criticism over the lack of Latino representation at the Democratic National Convention.

Let's discuss with former Democratic presidential candidate and former HUD secretary, Julian Castro, also the former mayor of San Antonio.

Secretary Castro, thanks so much for joining us.

What do you make of the fact that the vice president, the former vice president made no mention of that today?

JULIAN CASTRO, FORMER DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, look, I mean, Joe Biden has a tremendous track record with the Latino community beginning with the fact that the Obama/Biden administration expanded health care to millions of Americans, including more than four million Latinos in this country.

He's also worked during his time in public service to extend educational opportunity, housing opportunity and has (INAUDIBLE) vision. They just released a few weeks ago what the campaign called "The Latino Agenda" that would ensure that Latinos can prosper in the years to come in the country.

I think, you know, last week, some folks pointed out that the DNC program out of 35 of primetime speakers only had three Latinos in it and, you know, no Native Americans, no Muslim-Americans. And I, myself, said that was disappointing because one of the special things about the Democratic Party when you compare it to the Republican Party is that Democrats have built up this beautiful coalition over the last several years that has helped power them to several victories including massive wins in Congress and states across this country in 2018.

And we need that to defeat Donald Trump in November. Fortunately, over the weekend, the DNC did add some participants to its schedule. Folks saw last night, Eva Longoria, for instance, who's not only an actor but also great activist, has done a lot in the Latino community and throughout the country. She hosted.

There was Kristin Urquiza, a young woman who told a very powerful story about her father whom she lost to COVID-19 and offered testimonial about why we need to support Joe Biden. I would be lying to you if I said that, you know, I think there's room for improvement in terms of the showcasing of Latino talent at the DNC.

But we should make no mistake that in Joe Biden and in Kamala Harris, we have two fantastic people who have a strong track record with the Latino community who are going to appeal to all Americans and that all of us need to get behind and support come November because it's all hands on deck to defeat Donald Trump on November 3rd.

BLITZER: Yeah, that's the consensus among all wings of the Democratic Party right now.

I notice in a recent interview with "Axios", Mr. Secretary, you said this, and I'll read it. I think that we could win the battle and lose the war, that you could win in November, but you could see a potential slide of Latino support for Democrats.

Explain what you meant by that.

CASTRO: Yeah, well, you know, when I heard the news about the very few Latinos that were on the platform giving primetime addresses, what I said was, look, Joe Biden has a strong track record and the campaign is doing outreach with the Latino community, he's going to win and win big the Latino community in November.

But the DNC, I do think, should have put more folks on the platform in the beginning because representation does matter and it does send a strong message about inclusion for the party.

My point was, even though we win in November, really what we want to do is we want to cement a strong relationship between one of the fastest-growing communities in the United States and Democrats because not every politician is as off-the-rails as Donald Trump. Not every Republican is, you know, is disliked by Latinos as Donald Trump. If we want to win up and down the ballot in the years to come, then we have to make sure that there aren't missteps like only three out of 35 speakers.

I'm happy that, you know, when you look at the faces represented on these nightly broadcasts, it does look like America. And so, we need to continue to ensure that that representation is there.

BLITZER: The chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Tom Perez, he told CNN today that diversity was clearly, in his words, on stark display last night.

Do you think it was?

CASTRO: Oh, I do that. Yeah, I do that. It was on display.

I enjoyed watching last night. You know, when you compare the Democratic convention to the Republican convention every four years, it's like night and day. Ours is the big tent party. At the same time, that doesn't mean if they had stuck with what they were going to go with last week, fortunately, they made some improvements.

But if they had stuck with that, then yeah, I think that there would have been even more concern. This is -- it's always a work in progress. And, you know, I know I'm going to do my part, like I know a lot of people will to ensure that we reach every community so that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris replace Donald Trump and Mike Pence on January 20th of next year.

BLITZER: I know you're going to do the best that you can on that front.

Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for joining us.

CASTRO: Thank you.

BLITZER: Julian Castro.

And stay with us and stay with CNN for live coverage of day two of the Democratic National Convention. I'll be back. That will be in one hour from now. We'll be right back.

Actually, we have one final story that we want to report before I leave. And in this part of the show, normally we typically remember those we've lost. But tonight, we want to celebrate a new life.

[18:55:02]

We want to welcome Sofia Christina Carter into the world and into our CNN family. She's the daughter of our supervising producer Tim Carter and his wife Theresa (ph).

Sofia weighs a healthy 8 pounds 3 ounces, and in a true sign of the time, her mom labored and delivered wearing a face mask. We're told Sofia's brother Winston was both excited and skeptical about her arrival, but she's winning him over every day. The whole family is doing well. We can't wait to meet her.

All of us here in THE SITUATION ROOM share in her joy. We wish them nothing but the very, very best. Congratulations, what a beautiful, sweet little baby.

I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. Thanks very much for watching. Once again, much more of our special coverage coming up later tonight 8:00 p.m., night two of the Democratic National Convention.

Right now, stay tuned. "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now. [19:00:00]