tv CNN Newsroom CNN May 12, 2020 11:00am-12:00pm PDT
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transit. build a public health infrastructure so we can handle a situation like this next time. the investment of public infrastructure is long overdue. they've talked about this for years. there are dozens and dozens of reports that will talk about the bad shape of our roads and our bridges, and how bad our airports are compared to international airports, and how -- all right. you've been listening there no governor cuomo demanding federal help for states just moments after a critical hearing on capitol hill over the federal response. for the first time since the coronavirus became a pandemic, the nation's top health experts are testifying before congress. the hear itself a testament to the outbreak's previousliens. all four witnesses here, as well
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as several lawmakers spoke remotely amid concerns of possible exposure. the testimony today shows progress has been made, but the nation's leading infectious disease authority, dr. anthony fauci, is also repeating his warn about states that made move too early to reopen. 11 states are still seeing their cases go up. >> what i have expressed again is my concern that of if some areas jump over those various checkpoints and prematurely open up without having the capability to respond effectively and efficiently, my concern is that we will start to see little spikes that might turn into outbreaks. there is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control,
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which will set you back, not only leading to suffering and death that could be avoided, but could even set you back on the road to try to get economic recovery. at this hour, the u.s. has more than 1.3 million infections reported, more than 80,000 people in the u.s. have died from the virus, and dr. fauci testified that the loss in life in the u.s. is actually probably higher. given the situation particularly in new york city, when they were really strapped with a serious challenge to their health care system, that there may have been people who died at home, who does have covid who were not counted as covid, because they never really got to the hospital. so in direction answer to your question, i think you are correct that the number is likely higher. i don't know exactly what person high, but almost certainly is higher. >> testing capacity was one of
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the key topics of today's hearing. while testing is certainly increases, it's improving, claims by president trump that the u.s. is leading the world in testing are off by several mesh yours, but this is a claim that the president has made repeatedly. >> america has risen to the task. we have met the moment, but testing certainly is a very important function, and we have prevail prevailed. the federal government has under fire for the slow production of tests. health experts universally saying regular tessing is critical to understand the virus, and to control it. dr. brett giroir today predicted the country will ramp up the testing extensively over the summer. >> by september, taking every aspect of development, authorization, manufacturing and supply chain into consideration, we project our nation will be capable of performing there is
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40 to 50 million tests per month, if needed, at that time. we have drew griffin with us to take a look at the president's claims, and drew, there's multiple data sources that show the u.s. is not the leader when it comes to testing. >> yeah, it's not really worth arguing about. all these different rating services show that per capita the u.s. is far behind other countries. what is interesting is this contest that the president seems to be making with other countries, trying to prove that america by numbers is better than anyone else, when the real number we should be looking at is what number is it that's going to make americans healthier or get over this crisis? and in this hearing today with brett giroir, you heard that number 40 to 50 million tests per months. that's what the scientists, health experts, say we need to get through this crisis, to
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find, mitigate and locate any kind of spread to contain the virus. it is why vice president pence and the white house promise e27 million tests by the end of march. it's mid may and we're not even a third of the wade there. while testing gets better, certainly the president's claims that we're leading the world in testing is not true. and yes, we are heading in the right direction, as the admiral in charge of testing testified today. >> drew, thank you so much for breaking that down. let's bring in dr. jorge rodriguez, a specialist in internal medicine and david gregory with us as well. we heard dr. fauci talk about his concerns about reopening too quickly, but we have seen federal and state officials really not listening so far to his warnings. >> yeah, i mean, i think there's a disconnect between the public
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health officials who are a lot more somber about this and sober about where the daughter is taking them, and the fact that they have a very singular vision, right? which is to prevent any more loss of life and to arrest the spread of this virus, which is what you expect them to do, and the white house and other leaders, who are, you know, spinning this a bit, to be honest or worse, and trying to increase consumer confidence. when i've spoken to governors around the country in some of my talks, i'm hearing the desire on the part of governors for people to have increased consumer coached to have the ability to get back out, to get back to work and get back into society, because there's a fear even when when the government says it's safe tore do so, people will still hang back. if my kids are going to go back to school in the fall, i'm going to need to know there's enough
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testing to find out whether the school can contain an outbreak or prevent one. i just don't feel confident we know that well enough yet. >> yeah, especially, you know, i think of some families who are multigenerational, especially if you're sending a kid back to school, they're coming home and grandma or grandpa are living with the family. that's certainly a big concern. dr. rodriguez, there was a moment in this hearing about what the real death toll is. we know what the official numbers are, but dr. fauci said it is likely higher, and it may be part in fact due to the people dying at home. do you think we'll get an accurate look at what the real number is? >> first of all, i completely agree with him. i think it isn't likely. i think it is absolutely what is happening. my last patient, he father just died in the nursing home, and he's saying he died of his heart
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and he died of covid. so i don't know how that will be reported. we do need to get absolute numbers of this, because it tells us about the virus and how it's affecting. states need to be completely honest, and you have to assume that covid was the number one caught of death. that could easily be manipulated in the death certificate. dr. redfield -- >> i'm asking if you think that the white house protocols were a model for other essential workplaces. >> i --. i would just say i think each workplace has to define their own approach as to how to operationalize.
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-- >> yeah, he's choosing his words carefully as other witnesses did. i think what's more important is to focus on what's happening within states. not all states are the same, not all communities are the same. new york is not oklahoma city. for lots of reasons, number of cases, density, so, you know, i think what he's getting at is important, which is how does a school deal with essential workers? both older workers who might be more vulnerable, as well as disinfecting cleaning and distancing. that's going to be more important to see what happening in individual states and individual workplaces. i think that is the essential
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point. hair salon is going to be different than a place, say, a law where people can naturally distance, and naturally do, if you shut down, saying, conference rooms and other gathering spaces. >> let's listen to what is an exchange between dr. fauci and senator rand paul about students going back to school. >> shouldn't we at least be discussing the mortality of children is? this is for dr. fauci as well. the mortality between 0 and 18 in the new york data approaches zero. as much as i respect you, dr. fauci, i don't think you're the end all, the one person who gets to make a decision. we can listen to your advice, but there are people on the other side that's saying there won't be a surge, but if we keep kids out of school for another year, what's going to happen is the poor and underprivileged kids who don't have a parent to teach them at home, will not learn for a full year.
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>> i have never made myself out for the end all and only voice. i'm a scientist, and public health official. i give the advice based on the best evidence. there are a number of people who give advice that are more related to the things you spoke about, about the need to get the country back opened again and economically. i don't give advice about economic things. i don't give advice about anything other than public health. the second thing is you used the word we should by humble about what we don't know. i think that falls under the fact we don't know anything about this virus, and we better be careful, particularly when it comes as to children. the more and moor we learn, seeing things what the virus can do, that we didn't see from the studies in china or european. for example now children present with covid that have a strange
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inflammatory syndrome similar to kawasaki. i think we have need to not be cavaliers to think that children are immune from deleterious effects. >> i think on one hand everyone is, of course, concerned that children will for the be learns, but on the other hand, i mean, we yesterday interviewed a young girl who barely survived these inflammatory symptoms, where she was really having organ failure. this is something they're learning a lot about, not the least that they can be incubators of this disease. >> i find this a fascinating back and forth. they were two physicians talking. i have to remind senator rand paul he is knotted end all,
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neither are the governors or scoop supervisor. if a parent does not feel their child is safe going into the school, they're not going to send them. the parents are the end all when it comes to the health of their children. they need to reassure the parents that their kids are going to a safe environment, just as the other speaker said. yes, it is a local decision, and we are so many things with children that we never had seen before. not only are kids incubators, but this is a myth that has to be thrown out, that this is not just a disease of the old. this is a disease of every age. i've had patients in their 30s that have been very, very sick with this. so we don't know what's happening. many things are evolving, and children in school need to be safe, we need to know that their teachers are not carriers, so testing in schools i think is
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going to be very important. >> you know, david, i couldn't help but listen to that exchange between dr. fauci and senator paul, and think about how, you know, senator paul has had coronavirus, but he's also someone who, you know even when it appears he wasn't symptomatic, he was concerned enough in march to seek out a test that was incredibly difficult to get, but certainly may have been available to him because he's a senator or a physician. he was tested, then subjected himself to a lot of other people before finding out that he was positive. i just wonder, as he thinking about the risk analysis, that it might be different from what some americans think. >> i think that was reckless behavior on his part. i thought his questions was really sloppy, particularly from a physician. the reality is that lots of members of congress don't ask good questions. we see that every time there's a hearing form the lack of
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precision in his questioning was really problematic. just as the doctor said, you know, we have to have a level of confidence, a level of testing, to make sure that our kids are safe in school. but at the same time, it is fair for state officials to not just look at the anecdotal cases. one of the challenges we have as presenters of news is that if we focus on individual cases that we deem newsworthy, that's totally adeck dotal and not terribly helpful. there's a lot we don't know about the effect on children, but we also know that mortality has been low. it's fair for state officials to look at that, and make a determination about returning back to school, but there are vulnerable people including in older teachers who could be incubators or more vulnerable, but i thought that back and forth was pointless.
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dr. fauci has been saying those things. he's not considering himself to be the only authority, and not saying that economies should not back up. david, thank you. dr. rodriguez, thank you. and ahead, boeing says at least one major airline will go out of business in this, quote, apocalyptic setting, and the ceo of tesla defies california orders. i'll be speaking live with a local lawmaker who set says eff musk. and the hearing at the supreme court went on about the president's tax returns. this is cnn special coverage. ♪ ambient sound fades in and plays throughout. ♪ ♪ ambient sound begins to rise. ♪
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there is one state that is opening back up and it's now weighing a serious crackdown on quarantine violators. first, let's get to nick watt, who's in malibu, california. you've been following the reopenings, nic, even though some leading experts just warned from capitol hill that moving too fast could set off another out-of-control outbreak. >> brianna, this is a balance between our health, our mental health, and frankly our economic survival. here in california, they are trying to take it slow. beaches here in los angeles county will open tomorrow after six weeks, but masks are mandatory, and no tanning on the sand, no canopies, no coolers, this is exercise only. all of these parking lots will remain closed. they want to keep it slow here.
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stories in ohio that, opening doors to a brave new world. >> we have cleaned everything. everyone is safe. >> reporter: through this weekend, 48 states will have begun reopening, the logic, lockdown can't last indefinitely, 33 million americans have lost jobs already. >> what we have to do is find that middle ground. i call it threading the needle with the rope. >> new york states starts reopening friday, as we hear new york city's terrible toll of nearly 19,000 dead through early may might be even higher. the cdc now says another 5,000 deaths are potentially related to the pandemic. >> testing, testing, testing, from day one, it's what we needed most, didn't get what we needed from the federal government. >> over in hawaii, everyone single new arrival might now be photographed, as officials
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scramble to enforce a 14-day quarantine for visitors. >> certainty having voters should be helpful. and after clashing, and the oglalla sioux now in a three-day lockdown. >> there won't be any movement throughout the reservation. meanwhile, doctors without borders, an international organization, has teams helping the navajo nation, as a new cnn poll finds 54% of americans think their government is doing a poor job preventing the spread. a majority also think the worst is yet to come. still some times of near normality, major league baseball might start spring training in june, according to "new york times," and an 82-game fan-less
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season, first pitch july 4th. some fear a repeat of the 1918 flu pandemic. >> this fall or winter could be much larger. that's a concern to us if 1918 holds as a model, as it has to far. and as we reopen, a cautionary tale from here in california, officials in pasadena say they have traced at least five covid cases to one birthday party of extended family and friends where there was a woman who was coughing would you tell a mask and other people weren't wearing masks. as one official says the woman was joking that maybe she had covid-19. lo and behold, sheers. >> nick watt, thank you so much for that. there's a new twist now in
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the battle between tesla and al meana county, california. one day after elon musk said he would defy orders and reopen the automakers plant. the "san francisco chronicle" is reporting that county officials are ordering the tesla plant to stop production, all this coming after musk threatened on twitter to pull out of the state altogether, announcing he had filed a lawsuit against alameda county. assemblywoman, thank you so much for joining us. the threat from elon musk actually prompted you to respond with a tweet of your own with pretty colorful language. we can see it there a the screen. you went on to say that tesla has a history of not prioritizing worker safety. some of the employees have spoken out anonymously.
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after it's hard to practice. that they don't have time to wash their hands or observe others with safety protocols that are recommended. what do you make of this report? >> well, look, you know, tesla and elon musk should do what every californian is doing. that's listen to our public health officials. we've been able to avoid some of the officials we have seen in places like new york, because we have listened to the science. so, you know, for a company that has received billions of dollars, with a "b," billions of taxpayer subsidies to partner with our state, to throw this kind of temper tantrum over an order that said we'll work with you, give us time, we'll make sure you're doing it properly, it's just unacceptable at some point. >> elon musk has minimized, certainly not within the realm of what public health officials say. he's minimized what coronavirus is, what it can do.
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at the same time, what we're seeing with tesla, and it's a huge manufacturer there in the state, he's making a case that, look, the state has relaxed things when it comes to manufacture, but alameda county itself is still having a more tightened approach than the overall state is. what do you say to folks who may be manufacturers or have businesses in california and are looking at other parts of the state reopening a bit, and they can't, because their county is being more restrictive. our counties have been extremely -- and we very populated counties that have had a lot of deaths. alameda county is relying on a doctor with a very great pedigree to help make these
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decisions. it will benefit us all if we don't have hundreds of workers going into a workplace that can be unsafe, and continue to spread this virus, and, you know. in a state like california, this obvious goes unlook. the majority of deaths are latinos. we see our farm workers every day. we don't need to unnecessarily spread it. tesla can wait a week or two weeks for the plans -- and we should by outraged a billionaire that has gotten so much from its partnership in california, but continues to put workers in unsafe conditions, continue to union bust, continuing to wave his finger at california, that we're supposed to allow that and let him throw his temper tantrum. they're mom and pop sentence it
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is, and he should abide by the same rules an everyone else. >> the white house has gotten involved. steve mnuchin says he agrees with musk, and today president trump tweeted that the state needs to help tesla reopen. what do you think about the president here effectively encouraging elon musk to defy county orders, even as governor newsom says, look, local businesses need to listen to their local governments. it's typical trump. he probably hasn't even been to the fremont manufacturing facility. he's talking about something he's nowhere near. he can't control a coronavirus outbreak in the white house. how are we to be sure that all of these workers aren't going to be exposed in the manufacturing plant that the county is looking at? they're looking at ways in which they can reopen. they ridiculous. this is typical. they don't base anything on science. they base it on feelings. the only positive out of this is maybe some folks out there will
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look at electric vehicles in a different light, and maybe we can tackle a little climb change with his tweet. >> can i ask you real quickly, what happens if -- as we understand from reports at the la has been operational here for days. what happens if an employee dies? this is a man who is disregarded worker saved over and over and over again. he doesn't care below their families, and the people they're just trying to keep safe. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. we have more on our breaking news. dr. fauci -- why he thinking the
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death toll is higher than reported and what should happen when it comes to schools this fall. plus united changes its rules about social distancing. hear what you can do if your flight is too crowded. >> senator mitch mcconnell says president obama should be keeping his mouth shut when criticizing the federal response, but he's actually completely wrong in his claims. sfoo
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just a day after former president obama ripped the trump administration's response, mitch mcconnell had this sharp criticism of obama. >> i this think president obama should have kept his mouth shut, but i think it's classless, frankly, to critique an administration that comes after you. we want to be early ready for the next one. clearly the obama administration did not leave to this administration any kind of game plan for something like this. and while president trump and his allies continue to push the claim that the obama white house did not prepare them for the pandemic, the facts and officials say otherwise. among them ron klain who
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responded to mcconnell, people have tweeted at me, oh, sure maybe they left the playbook, but was it specific about this kind of virus? and kklain's tweed shows a copy of the manual, about novel influenza virus. we have the former head of the disastrous response, where he led major responses. and we really appreciate you being with us. and you were actual a part of this playbook force, if you will. so tell us was the administration briefed on it? >> they were extensively briefed to the sense they paid attention to these things during the transsession. we really did everything we could to try to leave them in a position to be prepared for
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this. we left them the detailed playbook which specifically cited novel coronavirus as a tier one pat ogen risk. we left them a dedicated team at the white house that was focused on preparing the world and the united states for exactly this kind of a major pandemic scenario, and even during the transition, we -- there was an exercise -- tabletop exercise for the incoming national security team that focused on a global pandemic, so short of a flashing sign saying watch out, i'm not sure what else we could have done. >> do you think there's areas where you thinked think the 5d manages has gotten it right or righted the ship? >> it is hard to find much that is going right. i think a number of states are getting on the right track. i think that california and washington in particular have distinguished themselves by taking early action.
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that has prevented much worse outcomes. i think the governor of ohio has done a good job, michigan has done a good job. you see governors that have taken the science seriously and acted on the science, and they're seeing the results i think at a federal level, we don't see that. what we see is over-promising, big, grandiose promises that don't pan out. we have seen that on testing, repeatedly seen that on vaccine and therapeutic production. we have seen that on predictions of the virus going away. first it was going to go away in april, now the summer. we have yet to see any of those things pan out. the president is not making policy based on science here. >> it was three years ago, and you wrote in a piece in accomplice ko, it was a matter of when, not if a global crisis
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occurred. at the time you said the trump white house had undermined several key components of federal crisis management in just the first month in office. today dr. fauci said the u.s. does not have covid-19 under control completely. what is your biggest concern for the weeks and months ahead? >> well, i think the big concern now is that we are beginning to -- well, states are beginning to reopen at a higher level of transmission than when they closed in the first place. the levels of transmission that began triggers the lockdowns when they began state by state back in march were still fairly small. a lot of those states i think part of the reasons we have not seen more spread outside of new york and some of the early hard-hit areas is because the trend lines were developing later in some of the other states. so when they lock down in reaction to what was happening in new york, they managed to
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avert those terrible outcomes. you know, a week or two of difference can make an enormous difference to the trend of your curve when you're talking about an exponentially growth in cases. so the risk there, then, is they're mistaking that kind of -- the effectiveness of that early action for somehow some natural protection that they have or some natural way that they're going to avoid getting as bad as new york, but the lesson i think is the states that acted even a bit earlier did a lot better. they risk unlearning that lesson if they relax measure too prematurely. i think most states are really not ready. >> you distilled it down, that they are reopening with infection rates higher than when they closed. jeremy, we appreciate it. thank you. inmates purposely trying to infect each other? we'll tell you why. the other blockbuster in
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washington, supreme court justs listening to arguments about whether the president can keep his tax returns secrets and asking tough questions. you'll hear it for yourself in just a moment. how do you get skin happy 24/7? aveeno® with prebiotic oat. it hydrates and softens skin. so it looks like this. and you feel like this. aveeno® daily moisturizer get skin healthy™
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after a number of new coronavirus cases in wuhan, chinese officials say they plan to conduct citywide testing to prethe virus's further spread. the testing is expect to last ten days and cover 11 million people. here's another look add pandemic head lines that we are covering. >> i'm paula hancock in seoul. more than 10,000 people have been tested in relation to an outbreak in the nightclub district. i spoke to seoul's city mayor earlier today about this. he said even though the capital city had been enjoying a significant period of zero cases of lot transmission, this shows a lesson to be learned, that we are constituent knoll safe and
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an outbreak can happen at any place anytime. i'm fred pleitgen in berlin, where the german government is concerned. germany saw a spike in new infections in a 24-hour period, the german centers for disease control says the reproduction number for the coronavirus has been above one for three days running. now, that could mean the virus is expanding once again rather than getting pushed back, all of this as germany is beginning to open up and easing some of the restrictions. however, the government has said if there's a new spike in infections, the country could go back on lockdown. i'm in the bahamas its week 8 of the blockdown, and the tourism sector continue to say spiral. the prime minister here expects that unemployment will spike from 12% to 30%. the government is rolling out millions in unemployment benefit
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packages for thousands of furloughed employees. construction has resumed on some aisles. essential service are offerable, and businesses offering curbside pickup are in full swing. foreign officials are tested how a male spoke on board a repatriation flight from south florida to bahamas. >>. i'm matthew chance. the main spokesman for vladimir putin has been hospitalized, raising questions about the health of the country's leader. the spokesman said putin has working remotely, with a few in-person meetings. still it underlines just how pervasive the virus has become in russia, reporting more than 10,000 new infections every day. there are signs of the strain. earlier, at least five
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coronavirus patients were killed in a blaze at a hospital ward in petersburg. in the weekend another fire broke out in a moscow hospital. emergency workers say both incidents were caused by faulty ventilators bursting into flames. we'll have more ahead here. dr. fauci warning why he thinking the death toll is higher. into just news on the president and and why he's staying far from the vice president. (soft music)
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the supreme court today hearing arguments in a trio of blockbuster cases that go right to the separation of powers and the ability to investigate the president. president trump's lawyers are trying to persuade the justices to keep trump's private financial records and tax returns out of the hands of two congressional committees and from new york state prosecutors. trump has sought for years to shield his tax returns and other records, claiming broad immunity because he's president. the arguments today being heard by telephone because of the pandemic with the public listening in in realtime. and at the outset, justice kagan asked the president's attorneys if a ruling in trump's favor would make it impossible for congress to carry out its oversight powers. >> this isn't the first conflict between congress and the president as many of my colleagues have pointed out. we've never had to address this issue and the reason is because congress and the president have reached accommodations with each other and sometimes one has
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gotten more and sometimes the other has gotten more. but there is always been this accommodation. and what it seems to me you're asking us to do is to put a kind of ten ton weight on the scales between the president and congress. and essentially to make it impossible for congress to perform oversight and to carry out its functions where the president is concerned. and you're quite right in what you said before, this isn't going to be the last such case. and i wonder whether that fact isn't a good reason to reject your proposed rule. >> well, no, i don't think -- i don't think that is the case. well and for several reasons. one, the fact that this is the first time that congress has attempted to this scale and this scope of documents from the president and none of the other historical cases involved a direct subpoena for the documents in the way this one does. i think it requires this court
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to draw a line. >> cnn analyst john pesk and carrie cord era has been following the hearing. is there any indication on how the justices are leaning here? all right, i think we're having trouble with joan's signal so we'll try to re-establish that. carrie, did you get a sense, because even justice ruth bader gingsberg was asking why should trump be shielded. >> it is difficult to predict which way the court will go and the decision no -- not be issued into the summer. i think the court will have to find some middle ground. the question of whether or not a president is accountable in any way whether it's to potential investigators, in the new york d.a. case or whether it is to congress, a separate branch of
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government in the other cases is at issue in the set of hearings that the court conducted this morning. and so on one hand the congress has asked for information from third parties and the new york d.a. is asking information from third parties and the president's team is arguing that he shouldn't have to comply, the third party should not have comply with any of those requests. and what it sounded like the court was trying to get at was whether or not there is some middle ground. whether or not there should be a higher standard when it comes to a president. but not that he should be completely unaccountable. >> and one of the things that justice is sotomayor pointed out was these were financial documents being sought that didn't come from the time the president is here in the white house, right? this happened from -- these came from before. she asked why should one not look at trump's long-standing relationships. let's listen.
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>> i think it's fairly common knowledge that mr. trump, before he was president, was thinking about running for president for a very long period of time. why is it that congress can't believe that looking at long-standing relationships and how those relationships changed or didn't change is important to knowing what undue influence might be occurring. >> i think that makes the problem worse, not better, justice sotomayor, they are targeting the personal life of the president before he was a candidate for office. that raises, granted, somewhat different but deeply troubling and equally problematic constitutional concern. >> what did you think about that exchange, carrie? >> well that is why, brianna, this gets to some of the new york case it pertains to conduct before the president was actually president, it gets to whether or not just because he's
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president he's above the law, that he's beyond any reach of either investigators who are looking at potential criminal conduct or in the congressional side whether his prior activities are relative to legislation or oversight that congress has a duty to conduct. and so that is really the issue. is he different than anybody else or does he also have to be held accountable in some way. a course a lot of the org pertains to whether or not, when it comes to a president, this would be overly burdensome and prevent tim from doing his job but these are directed to third parties, to an accounting firm and to a bank. so that is a hard argument to make that is really going to burden the president from conducting his actual responsibilities. >> joan, i wonder what the outcome here might look like and also it can't escape our attention that this is an election year. this is very important
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information that democrats no doubt would dig into and hope to use against the president. what do you think? >> that is exactly right. and i think that raises the stakes for these justices, particularly chief justice john roberts who was clearly looking for some middle ground. he outright rejected the two strong extreme trump positions here of either absolute immunity in the new york grand jury case or his argument that he couldn't -- he wouldn't have to have any subpoena issued against him the house. but the tests that they decide for a middle ground test could ultimately favor the president and continue to run the clock. that is a big deal here for both the house and the manhattan d.a. these are subpoenas that were issued about a year ago and we're going to probably be at november before any resolution or subpoenas are actually
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enforced just because of the protracted litigation. so i think you have the competing interests here of the two branches and the manhattan d.a. but you also have the fact that the details will determine who actually wins and loses even though i think we got enough clues today that trump's extreme positions will not prevail. >> so enough clues, you think. i wonder what all is at stake here considering the court is being asked to weigh into something so political, it seems like making a decision or punting, joan, either way, they're kind of damned if they do, and damned if they don't. >> you're exactly right, brianna. this kind of case has overtones of bush v gore and the affordable care act case and the politically charged cases is where the public is paying attention and where someone like john roberts thinks that the
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ruling would matter, what kind of signal are they going to send to the public, is president trump above the law, or will they come up with a standard that frankly doesn't appear to favor him as a threshold, but as i say, runs the clock and ensures that the subpoenas are not enforced. >> joan, and carrie, thank you so much for that and our special coverage continues right now. hello, i'm kate baldwin. thank you for joining us this hour. at a moment when the most important thing in the world is containing the coronavirus, there really couldn't be anything more important than today than hearing straight from the country's top disease experts. dr. fauci, the head of the cdc, the head of the fda, the top official at hhs in charge of the testing effort all facing questions before a senate committee on th cre
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