I dont want to jump up and down and start screaming death, death, because thats not what its about. Well, lets begin in washington. Cnn White House Correspondent john harwood joins us. We know, john, that following the revelations in the atlantic piece about the president s reported comments about the military that he was upset, concerned, tried to push back very hard. What is his level of concern now that his own words were caught on tape downplaying this . Reporter well, hes obviously been extremely distressed by that story, and you saw that in the vehemence of his reaction to the bob woodward revelations just like the vehemence of his reaction to those comments in the atlantic. I will say that as divided and polarized as the country is and as difficult political position the president is in at the moment, this is an opportunity because 9 11 is the most unifying event in our recent national history. For an earlier generation it was world war ii. For this generation its 9 11, and the gravity of that event, the solemnity of that event is something that the president now has an opportunity to mark as joe biden will mark, and its something that is seared into the minds and hearts of nearly everyone who was conscious and alive that day. This is the first election, by the way, in which people will be voting, 18yearolds will be voting, who were not alive on 9 11, so some of that National Memory is changing, but for those of us who were, well never forgot that moment and its the opportunity for the president of the United States as george w. Bush did, as barack obama did after him to to express to americans a sense of understanding and empathy and gravity of that situation. Thats right. As former president george bush did on that day, john harwood. Thanks very much for that reporting. Wed like to take you now. This is near shanksville, pennsylvania. Lets listen to the moment of silence when United Airlines flight 93 went down. [ bell tolling ] linda gronland. They are going to read the names of all 40 passengers and crew on flight 93. If you havent read the accounts or even seen the movie of whats believed to have happened on flight 93, you really should or maybe just to refresh your memory, a remarkable story of heroism on that day full of so much tragedy and loss. They are going to read each of those names now where flight 93 went down. Well continue to bring you these moments of silence as they happen throughout this morning, but the other story were following is the continuing national tragedy, you might call it, certainly challenge, although there is some good news. Almost 30 states are now reporting downward trends in new covid19 infections. That said, vigilance is important and the nations leading Infectious Disease expert, dr. Fauci says the pandemic will likely worsen again, sadly. I just think we need to hunker down and get through this fall and winter because its not going to be easy. We know every time we restrict we lift restrictions, we get a blip. I mean, its getting its whack a mole. Yeah. This when it comes as a new cdc forecast predicts 20,000 more americans will die from this virus just in the next three weeks. Thats an acceleration of the death rate. Lets discuss with cnns medical correspondent dr. Sanjay gupta. Can you explain why that is, why we think were going to see an uptick in the next three weeks . Yeah. I think a lot of it, jim, has toss do with the increased mobility among people, you know, as schools are e opening. I hear so many people sort of describing this covid pandemic in the past tense sort of feeling like its over now that were going into fall which is, you know, its just the opposite, is and, you know, dr. Fauci has been saying this all along even if you go back to summer, dr. Redfield said weve got to be really, you know, prepared for the fall because we know that respiratory diseases in general tend to increase in the fall. You know. The only precedent, jim, that we have for something thats quite like this, you know, goes back more than 100 years, the 1918 flu pandemic and let me just show you, its sobering to remind you what it looked like back then, but keep in mind if you can see on your screen, the first wave there was a small peek, but it was really that second wave, jim, going into the fall that was so problematic. People starting to be indoors, more easily spreading the virus person to person. We hope that doesnt happen and people will say, hey, look, theres no second wave with this because we havent really gotten out of the first wave. Back in 1918, at least for a period of time, we brought it down to a very low number, we still havent done that. History is a guide here. You see from the history of the 1999 flu pandemic that places that open too quickly, they were punished for it, it would be nice if we learned those lessons. Dr. Gupta, i want to know your reaction in particular to seeing and hearing from the president himself on february 7th, telling bob woodward in his own words that he knows how uniquely deadly the coronavirus outbreak was given that three weeks later on february 28th he had this exchange with you in the White House Briefing room. You know it well, but i want to play it for our viewers so they remember it. Have a listen. I want to get your thoughts. And so thats a very tricky one. Thats a very delicate one. Its also more deadly than your you know, each your strenuous flus. You know. People dont realize, we lose 25,000, 30,000 people. Flu has a fatality rate of. 1 . Correct. And this has a fatality rate of somewhere between 2 and 3 . We dont know exactly. Based on numbers so far. The flu is much higher than that. More people get the flu, but this is spreading and is going to spread maybe within communities. It may. It may. Thats the expectation. Does that worry you because that seems to worry the American People . Because were red for it. It is what it is. Were red for it. Were really prepared. I want to ask you. The president says that was just about keeping people calm. From a Public Health perspective by misleading about the relative danger of coronavirus versus seasonal flu did the president endanger american lives . Yes, he did. I mean, its its sad to say. Its sobering and its shocking. When i walked away from that press conference back in the end of february i thought, you know, look, they are just not paying attention to this. They dont know whats happening. Its just one of those things that they are trying to ignore. Now i realize, after listening to those tapes that you played at the beginning of february, that he actually had a remarkable understanding of this. I mean, it was pretty sophisticated. He was saying five times deadlier than the flu and that was back in the early part of february so he was getting information, some of which was going back and looking at my notes, jim, wasnt really in the medical journals yet. We were getting information from the medical journals. A lot was coming out of china at that time obviously, thats how we were consolidating. He was getting added information probably from, you know, president xi himself or others, from china, who knows, but he had the knowledge. Thats what was most striking to me about this. This wasnt i think its bad. Five times deadlier than the flu he said, air borne. He was using terms that we would learn about, you know, within the next several weeks or months. Thats amazing. He knew more then than even the doctors knew. Very quickly before you vlastuin such a struggle for schools around the country and parents as well and youve talked publicly about your own struggles to decide whats right to do for the kid. Are schools getting the balance right in terms of how much to open, who can open and where is it safe to open . This is its a really tough one. I have this conversation all the time with people. I mean, there are specific criteria, you know, by which you should open schools and, you know, i i know that this is difficult, but, you know, the criteria are pretty clear that you needed to have had two periods of 14day downward trend this your area and positivity rates that are going down and certainly below 10 . Jim, you know, we pulled kids out of school when there were fewer than 5,000 people infected and putting kids back in school when theres more than 5 million, 6 million infected in this country. You know, it doesnt make sense, right . Schools are doing this because they want to return some sense of normalcy, but were going to look back on this time, just like i showed you that graph of 1918 and say why did we have these sudden upticks in the number of infections . What was going on here . We decided to aggregate people together who had clustered together in the middle of a pandemic when had the numbers were getting worse. Maybe theres a couple places in the country that meet those criteria, but sadly, jim, most places dont, certainly not where i live, you know, here in george and most placed around the country dont meet those criteria. Sanjay, we know youll keep us on top of it. Thanks very much, as always. You got it. Thank you. Sanjay, thank you, and just building off that conversation, lets spent a little bit of time salking about universal sacrifice. Well check in with the woman who this summer became the first person in the country to receive a shot as phase three Clinical Trials for coronavirus vaccine. Lets see how shes doing, dawn baker of savannah, georgia is with me. Good morning. Good morning. Its good to have you, and i do keep coming back to this thought of universal sacrifice, because thats exactly what youre doing. You are giving of yourself your body to hope that we can achieve a vaccine in this country and protect so many people. You were the first, as i said in the phase three trial through moderna. I know you just got your second shot recently. You dont know if its the drug itself, the vaccine or the placebo. How are you feeling . I feel great. I had a mild headache and my vaccine arm was swoelen, felt swollen, similar to when you get a flu shot, and i had one restless night that first night and other than that i have felt really good, i have a lot more energy than i normally had had in the last two years because i work a midnight shift so i work 3 00 to midnight and im just so proud to be a part of this process and hopefully this will be the answer that we need to stop all the suffering that weve endured over the last several months. For people who dont know, you are a beloved anchor in savannah, georgia at our affiliate wtoc and another thing that makes you such an important voice for this, right . You do interviews. You know how to talk to the public to help people understand what youre going through, but as i understand it, this is also pretty personal for you because your friend, your colleague there who is just 27 years old, she was hospitalized with covid for 11 days. Yes, she was, lindsey had to go on a ventilator. Lindy has had several medical procedures as well, and she is still recovering, and this is some 70 days past that. You know, honestly it was even bigger than lindy pause to me it was never about data. It was always about families, and it just really broke my heart. It had me, you know, depressed overwhelmed and wondering what i can do just hearing about the large number of people who were getting sick. Some mildly sick and many more severely ill and, of course, all the deaths just broke my heart because i know that families are being ruined and i have friends and loved ones who have lost close Family Members. I know people who have passed away, and, you know, it just hurt my heart that number one they were sick and also they were so extremely sick. Even lindsey, no one could go and visit her. I know. Thank gosh lindsey survived but those who didnt survive and die alone, what the families are going through, it really is just inhumane honestly. It is, the loneliness is such a painful part of it that i that i think we often dont address enough. Im glad that you brought that up. We have to talk i mean, you not only is a public figure is doing this but as a black woman, the fact that these trials, a number of them have slowed down because there are not enough minority participants, especially black participants in them, and when you broke the news that you were going to be part of this and the first to talk this vaccine shot, a woman wrote this on facebook, dawn. Dawn lost her mind. Another person wrote i got two words, tuskegee experiment. How do you fight that, the history in this country . You know, i cant fight it. I completely understand the fear. Blacks have certainly been mistreated in this country from the beginning of time. The tuskegee experiment in case people dont know was a syphilis experiment where they gave syphilis to Healthy People for 40 years to see how they would react and then when penicillin and the cure came about no one would give it to them, also the founder of modern day gynecologists did experiments on enslaved black women without their permission and so a lot has gone on and a lot needs to be addressed, but, you know, my hope is, that you know, number up, im not crazy. I knew that this was not a live virus, and i also knew that my doctor of more than 40 years was taking care of me and my family very well. Right here in savannah, dr. Paul bradley, the key investigator for the Meridian Health investigator and when he asked me to do it i asked him is it live, am i going to get covid from doing this and i trust that he would not ever lead me down a road that would hurt me so to me it was a wonderful opportunity to be a part of the solution, so i just really feel that maybe what needs to happen is before we get into these vaccine studies there is needs to be some effort made to the Minority Community to actually explain and acknowledge that there is a problem and whats going on there. Dawn baker, thank you for being here. Thank you for doing this. Come back, if you would, after the next one. Well, no more shots for me, thank goodness. Im done with that but ill come in to chat any other time to let you know how im doing. Look forward to that. Take good care. Thank you very much. Thank you. Ahead for us, as clemens across the country struggle with these outbreaks, the university of illinois is pushing an aggressive plan of testing trying to address the spread and its facing set backs. The chancellor will be with us. Half a Million People forced from their homes and the death toll climbing now as wildfires burn up and down the west coast. Its a horrific scene there. Will we eel have a live update. Look at those pictures. Come on in, were open. All we do is hand you the bag. Simple. Done. We adapt and we change. You know, you just figure it out. Weve just been finding a way to keep on pushing. Weve just been finding a way to keep on pushing. That gives me cash back onesome new aeverything. Akuten thats ebates. I get cash back on electronics, travel, clothes. Youre talking about ebates. I cant stop talking about rakuten. Pretty good deal peter sfx [blender] ebates is now rakuten, sign up today. 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The president claiming he did not lie to the American People about the severity of the crisis. Trouble is he did and his voice is on tape. Joining me now to discuss is the known National Security analyst and former director of National Intelligence james clapper. Director clapper, thanks so much for joining us this morning. Thanks, jim, for having me. Good to be with you. Well, weve heard the tape, and the president knew in private the severity of this outbreak especially in comparison to seasonal flu and yet days later he saido wise to the American Public and has in fact repeated those kinds of questions for weeks and months that followed. Did him misleading the public in your view cost american lives . I dont think its any question about it. Particularly during a sevenweek period there where it was a constant state of denial and, you know, this is going to go away. Its under control, et cetera, et cetera, and theres a lot director clapper. Hold your thought if you can for a moment because the president is about to speak at shanksville, pennsylvania. At this very hour on this field 40 brave men and women triumphed over terror and gave their lives in defense of our nation. Their names and their stories are forever enscribed on the eternal roll call of american heroes. Today we pay tribute to their sacrifice, and we mourn deeply for the nearly 3,000 precious and beautiful souls who were taken from us on september 11th, 2001. To the Family Member of flight 93 every heartbeat in america is wedded to your yours and the memory of your treasured loved ones will inspire america for all time to come. The heroes of flight 93 are an everlasting reminder that no matter the danger, no matter the threat, no ma