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CNN NEWSROOM

Bloomberg's New Weapon: The Meme Gods of Instagram; Amazon Gets Early Win in Battle with Trump as Judge Orders Microsoft to Halt Work on Pentagon Contract; Ex-Wrestler Testifies Rep. Jim Jordan Involved in Sex Abuse Coverup; Tameika Isaac Devine, Columbia S.C., City Council Member-at-Large, Discusses the S.C. Primary, Biden Support Among African-Americas, Biden's Comments on Bloomberg's Remarks on Stop-and-Frisk; CDC: Coronavirus to Last "Beyond This Season, Beyond this Year". Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired February 13, 2020 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: And Adam Padilla is with me now.

Thank you so much for coming into CNN to talk about this.

ADAM PADILLA, SPONSORED INSTAGRAM MEME CREATOR: Thank you.

BALDWIN: This is totally interesting.

Back up. Who reached out to you to even put this on your Instagram?

PADILLA: First of all, it was very nice for Bloomberg, you know, 50 of that million went to me for that meme. So it was really -- I think it was a good spend.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: I'm like what? What?

PADILLA: Worth it, I think. It was a very good meme.

BALDWIN: Yes.

PADILLA: So Meme 2020 was the name of the collective that was formed, organically formed around pretty much leveling the playing field of social media for candidates and people to get into conversation and have, you know, discourse where people are right now, which is social.

BALDWIN: So it's not Bloomberg H.Q. that reached out to you.

PADILLA: No.

BALDWIN: It's this company that's in --

PADILLA: Correct.

BALDWIN: -- on helping the Bloomberg campaign reach out to influential people on social media like you to put this content out?

PADILLA: Correct. And it's really -- I think it's great for creators, for online creators, like myself. We make these memes every day. We go out there and, you know, create this humor. And it's really all meant to spread humor and spread positivity.

BALDWIN: How much were you paid?

PADILLA: I got a couple of Starbucks gift cards. He sent me some stock. I don't want to talk about that --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: A lot of zeros? A lot of zeros? Some zeros?

PADILLA: I would say commensurate with what anybody's spending on social media, nothing crazy.

BALDWIN: I ask because this is -- that's how they're valuing this, is my point.

PADILLA: I think it's a great conversation to have because I feel like media is changing, as you know. Every year, more and more people are understanding that where people are isn't only from television, from cable --

BALDWIN: Cable networks.

PADILLA: -- from Twitter.. A lot of it is through humor now.

I think it's just a really good thing to have people start to enter that conversation where people are. I think it's great for creators to open this up as a new, you know, means of revenue and of, you know, disseminating media.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Here's a statement we got from the Bloomberg campaign. "Mike Bloomberg 2020 has teamed up with social creators to collaborate with the campaign, including the meme world. While a meme strategy may be new to presidential politics, we're betting it will be an effective component to reach people where they are and compete with President Trump's powerful digital operation."

Who created the content? Did someone else create what --

PADILLA: No, we -- I make my own content. I was very instrumental in creating this meme.

BALDWIN: Yes.

PADILLA: All of us really care about what we put on our feed. We're very -- I was very selective because it's not about endorsing this candidate. If you look at it actually is --

(CROSSTALK) PADILLA: It's not an endorsement. I'm not going to get involved in politics. I'm not into politics.

BALDWIN: And what do you say -- I've seen the criticisms that you've sold out to the haters.

PADILLA: I've seen them, too. I love the discourse. I love the dialogue. People are open to say whatever they want. I'm not deleting those comments. I think it's about leveling that playing field.

I love the fact he's self-effacing. He's having fun with his identity. And I make fun of Trump all the time. I make fun of Bernie, and here I'm making fun of Bloomberg. He pays me to make fun of him, I'd make fun of any of the other candidates as well.

BALDWIN: Adam Padilla, thank you very much.

PADILLA: Thank you very much.

BALDWIN: Thank you. Thank you.

PADILLA: Appreciate it.

BALDWIN: By the way, CNN will be hosting five town halls in Nevada next week, days ahead of the state's caucuses. The live one-hour events will happen over two nights starting at 8:00.

A troubling accusation for one of the president's biggest defenders in Congress, a former Ohio State wrestler testified that Jim Jordan cried and begged him to go against his own brother after he blew the whistle on sex abuses at the school. We have those new details ahead.

And next stop, Nevada, South Carolina. Where everything stands as the 2020 race takes a turn south.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:37:41]

BALDWIN: Just in, a judge just handed Amazon an early victory in its battle with President Trump and the U.S. government.

Let me bring in Brian Fung.

Brian, this is all over the contract that the Pentagon had given Microsoft, right, which Amazon claimed was revenge because they say the president doesn't like Jeff Bezos.

BRIAN FUNG, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yes, Amazon is accusing the president of essentially using his power to influence a contracting decision that should have been essentially done without view to who was -- what politically may have been going on between the president and Jeff Bezos.

And, of course, now Amazon winning an early victory as the company tries to pursue this protest. Amazon, earlier this week, also asked the judge for permission to get

testimony from President Trump as well as Defense Secretary Mark Esper as part of this protest. That decision is expected to come down in the next several weeks.

BALDWIN: All right. Brian, thank you for that.

One of the president's most vocal and ardent supporters is facing accusations of a cover-up from his home state. Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan is calling them lies.

This involves allegations of sex abuse by a doctor who was working at Ohio State when Jordan was an assistant wrestling coach there.

Jordan has maintained he didn't know that the abuse was happening. And now the brother of this alleged victim says Jordan directed him to keep quiet.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is here with the story.

Brynn, what's this brother saying?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So the brother, Adam DiSabato -- this came out when he was testifying for a bill that the lawmakers are considering there.

DiSabato is a name you know because you interviewed his brother, Mike DiSabato, who was the whistleblower about these allegations of abuse that happened for decades at Ohio State university.

I want you to listen to some of his testimony where it directly calls out Congressman Jim Jordan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM SABATO, BROTHER OF SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIM MIKE DISABATO: Jim Jordan called me, crying, crying, groveling on the 4th of July, begging me to go against my brother. Begging me, crying for a half hour. That's the kind of cover-ups that's going on there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:40:05]

GINGRAS: So you can see very emotional testimony coming from Adam DiSabato essentially saying the Congressman called him telling him to contradict the stories, the allegations that his brother was really bringing up about what was happening at Ohio State University.

And as, Brooke, you said, the Congressman Jordan's office has said this is all lies, that the Congressman didn't know about this, and if he had he would have reported it. This same gentleman said that he was a captain of that wrestling team.

He is also brought reports of this, you know, what was really called an open secret at Ohio State University to Jim Jordan and nothing was really done. It didn't go anywhere.

So that's another person added to the list of people who accused the Congressman of knowing about this and really doing nothing about it.

BALDWIN: I remember that interview with the whistle-blower. We let that go for a little while and he just --

GINGRAS: It was emotional.

BALDWIN: It was emotional. But again, Jim Jordan maintaining what he's maintaining.

Brynn, thank you for that for now.

GINGRAS: Thanks.

BALDWIN: The president claims the coronavirus outbreak will get better when the weather gets warm. But Dr. Sanjay Gupta talked to the CDC. Hear why they say the president is wrong.

Plus, just a week after being awarded the Medal of Freedom, Rush Limbaugh launches an offensive rant about Pete Buttigieg's sexuality.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:45:47]

BALDWIN: Primary voters in South Carolina head to the polls in two weeks. It's anyone's guess how they will vote, particularly black voters.

Joe Biden is considered the frontrunner when it comes to having their support. His rivals are circling as more South Carolinians are saying they are undecided.

On today's "The View," Biden talked about Michael Bloomberg, Biden's closest rival, and the controversy over Bloomberg's recent Stop-and- Frisk comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look --

UNIDENTIFIED HOST OF "THE VIEW": 2019.

Why are you laughing?

BIDEN: I'm laughing because it's amazing how every single thing I've said for the last 40 years has come up, and I've answered them all. We're just now getting into the place we're looking at other people's records.

But here's the other piece of it. Every single day, today on the streets of the United States of America, African-Americans and minorities are being gunned down as if it were a massacre every day, and we're not talking about it. No one talks about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's go to South Carolina to Tameika Isaac Devine. She's a member-at-large on the city council in Columbia. She's the first black woman elected to that post.

So, Tameika, a pleasure. Welcome.

TAMEIKA ISAAC DEVINE, MEMBER-AT-LARGE, COLUMBIA, S.C. CITY COUNCIL: Well, thank you, Brooke, for having me. It's a pleasure being here.

BALDWIN: You have met and hosted events for so many of these candidates. And I had read that you said it's kind of like you're the popular girl in high school and everyone's trying to ask you to the dance.

So I know you're undecided, but how are you going to pick your dance partner?

ISAAC DEVINE: You know, I think the next two weeks will be make or break for a lot of these campaigns.

A lot of the candidates have a lot of things that speak to me, but you know, it's hard to really decipher when they really get down to the details who actually speaks to the constituents that I represent. That's really going to be the test for me.

BALDWIN: Are you leaning toward anyone at the moment?

ISAAC DEVINE: You know, I have my top three.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Who are they?

ISAAC DEVINE: I'm not going to necessarily say -- you know, so I've been impressed with -- well, I was impressed with Deval Patrick. But of course, yesterday he ended his campaign.

Honestly, Tom Steyer has made a whole lot of leeway here in South Carolina and particularly, in my constituents, he's been in a lot of neighborhoods, and my constituents like him, and I like his record.

Certainly, Vice President Biden has a long history with our state, so he is up there as well, and Elizabeth Warren.

So it will be really interesting to see as the next couple of weeks who really speaks to the issues that are important to the folks that I represent.

BALDWIN: OK.

Michael Bloomberg, how about Mike Bloomberg? Let me just play some audio recently resurfaced audio from 2015, his comments on Stop-and- Frisk are making a lot of waves again. Here he was. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR (voice-over): We put all the cops in minority neighborhoods, yes, that's true. Why do we do it? Because that's where all the crime is. And the way you get the guns out of the kids hands is to throw them against the wall and frisk them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: He has since said that those comments don't reflect how he governed or how he thinks.

I'm curious, Tameika, did those comments -- does what happened in New York some years ago at all factor into your decision in South Carolina?

ISAAC DEVINE: You know, I think that that's going to certainly make a case. The thing about Mike Bloomberg is he's not going to be on the ballot here in South Carolina.

So even though there are some people who are looking at him, they know that they're not going to be able to cast a vote for or against him unless they write him in. So I don't think he's getting a whole lot of play right now.

One of his national co-chairs, our mayor, who has a lot of respect in this state, in this nation. And so people are kind of looking at Steve Benjamin to say, if you think that that's OK, tell us more. Why do you think Bloomberg is going to be person?

So we'll see after -- if he makes any leeway in the primary, but we're not voting for him on South Carolina because he won't be on our ballot.

BALDWIN: Right, of course. I guess I was thinking big picture. It could be the battle between progressives and moderates. And who knows what happens down the road? I'm curious how that sits on your heart.

A lot of people -- I'm like a lot of people in this country, you can say you've actually met most of these candidates. I hear you've name checked some of them, but you're not quite there.

[14:50:05]

Is there anyone you've met that you're like, man, I would love to have a glass of wine or a cup of coffee with who just really speaks to you in that way? That's always sort of the unofficial litmus test.

ISAAC DEVINE: Several of them. I mean one on one they're very personable, so we've had a lot of opportunities to kind of sit down one on one. I think a lot of the candidates personally have a lot of great character values, and so the ones that are left in the race.

I would love to have a sit-down and glass of wine with Elizabeth Warren and really see how she's going to implement the big, bold policies that she's proposing. You know, the devil's in the details.

BALDWIN: And just lastly, I know you just mentioned Elizabeth Warren, you mentioned Joe Biden maybe are in your top three. Do their more disappointing finishes in Iowa or New Hampshire have any impact on what you'll do in South Carolina or is it new state, new start?

ISAAC DEVINE: You know, here in South Carolina, and I've heard a lot of people comment on New Hampshire and Iowa, you know, South Carolina is a lot more of a diverse state. What I hear from people and really how I feel is the way the voters in Iowa and New Hampshire voted aren't necessarily indicative of the way we're going to vote here.

We're a lot more diverse. A lot of the issues speak to us in a different way than it does the folks in Iowa and New Hampshire.

BALDWIN: All right, Tameika, good luck picking your dance partner. You've got just a couple of weeks.

Thank you so much.

ISAAC DEVINE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: The coronavirus is not going anywhere for a while. The CDC revealing it could be around past this year. Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins us live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:56:28]

BALDWIN: Confirmed case of the novel coronavirus and the number of deaths linked to the virus have spike spiked. In just one day, more than 15,000 new cases and 242 deaths have been reported. And that pushes the global outbreak to more than 60,000 affected and more than 1,300 deaths overall.

Here in the United States, the number of confirmed cases is 15. You see the map there. The rapid spread of this virus has the E.U. thinking about considering border closings if the numbers keep going up.

And Dr. Sanjay Gupta, our CNN chief medical correspondent, just talked to the director of the CDC.

And, Sanjay, he said people who are asymptomatic can spread the virus? Talk to me more about that and what he shared with you.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question. I asked him about this a few times, Brooke, this idea that someone who's not sick, someone who doesn't know they have the virus and not showing any symptoms could spread the virus.

That's been a big question mark, I think, for some time. We weren't sure about that, but he confirmed that today.

And obviously, that's one of those things where you now think of, what does that mean for the more global spread of this.

When you talk about those numbers, Brooke, and how much they spiked just over the last day, part of that as you know, as many people may have heard was because they changed the definition of what they're counting.

They used to say you had to have the test to be confirmed. Now they're saying look, if you're in a certain part of the country where that coronavirus is spreading and you get sick, develop pneumonia, then we're going to count you. That's part of the reason these numbers went up.

We spent most of our time talking about what's going to happen here in the United States. What's the CDC doing, how are they going to handle this, are these containment strategies really working?

Here's how he put it.

BALDWIN: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: I think this virus is probably with us beyond this season or beyond this year. And I think eventually the virus will find a foothold, and we will get community based transmission. And you can start to think of it in the sense like seasonal flu.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, Brooke, you hear that, and you're probably thinking, well, that sounds bad, but is it that bad, you know.

Let me give you a little context. When you hear asymptomatic transmission and this thing getting a foothold, this could be one of those viruses that starts to circulate around the United States much more robustly, you know, much more clearly, person to person. And I think that's what Dr. Redfield's talking about.

The reason these quarantines are happening, the reason there's so much discussion around those is not to contain this and prevent that from happening, but to slow it down and allow the scientific community to develop some new therapies, possibly even a vaccine.

But this little strand of virus, you know, Brooke, as you might imagine is difficult to contain, and it's possible there's lots of people who have this virus who don't have symptoms or have very minimal symptoms and never get checked out.

Bad news that it's spreading. But good news that it seems the majority of people, as Dr. Redfield put it, may not get that sick. So that's what he's kind of counting on, I think, as things stand.

BALDWIN: OK. I appreciate a little bit of good news in this this whole thing as these numbers keep going up.

Sanjay, thank you for that, at the CDC headquarters.

Just a programming note now, for this weekend. Hear the music. CNN presents the story of the world's most famous royal family, "THE WINDSORS, INSIDE THE ROYAL DYNASTY." It premieres Sunday night at 10:00 only on CNN.

We roll on. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being here.

President Trump may be singing the praises of Attorney General Bill Barr after Barr and the Department of Justice's leadership intervened in the case involving Trump's ally and adviser, Roger Stone.

[15:00:07]

But inside the agency, the rank-and file-reportedly feel under pressure amid fears that the DOJ's independence could take a backseat to political influence.