Awaiting Trump Q-and-A at WH Briefing as he Angrily Denies Calling U.S. War Dead "Losers" and "Suckers"; Trump Mocks Biden for Wearing a Mask; New Trump Adviser: Measuring U.S. Virus Deaths against other Countries "Not A Valid Comparison."
JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Wolf Blitzer is off today. I'm Jim Acosta. This is a SITUATION ROOM Special Report. And we're following breaking news. We're standing by to see if President Trump takes questions at a White House briefing that's about to begin. It comes as the president is doing some damage control after a bombshell report in "The Atlantic" which says Mr. Trump has made repeated disparaging remarks about service members who were wounded or killed including calling those who died in battle "losers" and "suckers." Joe Biden whose late son served in the military just responded to the report. The Democratic presidential nominee says if it's true, the president needs to humbly apologize to every Gold Star mother and father. We're also following breaking pandemic news. The U.S. death toll has surpassed 187,000 people. But an influential University of Washington model is now forecasting that number will more than double to 410,000 dead by January 1st. Let's begin at the White House with CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins. Kaitlan, these alleged remarks by the president are just one of the bombshells in this reporting by "The Atlantic."</s>KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And, Jim, the president is furious over that report. And it's obvious in the way that you've seen the number of current former -- current and former White House aides come forward to deny that the president made these comments or that he holds these sentiments about the military. But what's also notable as you're seeing who is coming forward is who isn't. The number of senior military leaders we have not heard comment on this article since it was released last night and even the staff who served the president at the time who have not said a word either, including the former Chief of Staff John Kelly.</s>COLLINS (voice-over): Tonight, President Trump is forcefully denying a report that he referred to fallen soldiers as "losers" and "suckers" and questioned why anyone would volunteer to serve in the military.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was a totally fake story. And that was confirmed by many people who were actually there.</s>COLLINS (voice-over): His defense in the Oval Office today comes after he angrily denied the report last night while shouting over the engines of Air Force One.</s>TRUMP: For somebody to say the things that they say I said is a total lie. It's fake news. It's a disgrace.</s>COLLINS (voice-over): Citing four unnamed sources, "The Atlantic" claims that Trump canceled a planned visit to a Paris cemetery where American soldiers killed in World War I are buried because he didn't care about honoring the war dead, asking senior staff why should I go to that cemetery, it's filled with losers. Trump insisted the trip was scrapped because of weather.</s>TRUMP: The helicopter could not fly. The reason it couldn't fly because it was raining about as hard as I've ever seen. And on top of that it was very, very foggy.</s>COLLINS (voice-over): The president said he called his wife Melania to express his displeasure about not being able to attend. Though the first lady was on the trip with him. The article also claims that when John McCain died, Trump said, quote, "We're not going to support that loser's funeral," and demanded to know why they had lowered the flags for an effing loser. Trump denied that claim, Thursday night.</s>TRUMP: I disagreed with John McCain but I still respected him. And I had to approve his funeral as president.</s>COLLINS (voice-over): But the president did not acknowledge that it took him two days to lower the flags after McCain died or how he attacked him publicly for years.</s>TRUMP: He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured. OK?</s>COLLINS (voice-over): "The Atlantic" report also claims Trump asked staff not to include wounded veterans at an event because he feared people would feel uncomfortable. Reportedly saying, quote, "nobody wants to see that." The pushback from Trump's allies has been sharp and several aides who traveled with him to Paris said it isn't true, including his former press secretary and other top staffers.</s>JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It is absolutely damnable. It is a disgrace.</s>COLLINS (voice-over): Earlier today, an angry Joe Biden denounced President Trump over the reported comments.</s>BIDEN: If these statements aren't true, the president should humbly apologize to every Gold Star mother and father and every Blue Star family that he's denigrated and insulted. Who the heck does he think he is?</s>COLLINS (voice-over): Biden's son Beau served in Iraq.</s>BIDEN: -- won the Bronze Star and other commendations. He wasn't a sucker.</s>COLLINS (voice-over): And at times today he became emotional.</s>BIDEN: If it's true, based on all things he said, I believe the article is true. I'd ask you all the rhetorical question. How do you feel? How would you feel if you had a kid in Afghanistan right now?</s>COLLINS (voice-over): During a rally at an airport hangar in Pennsylvania last night, the president mocked Biden for wearing a mask so often.</s>TRUMP: Did you ever see a man that likes the mask as much as him?</s>COLLINS (voice-over): Biden responded today.</s>BIDEN: It's hard to respond to something so idiotic.</s>COLLINS: Now, Jim, there is one person at the Pentagon that we have heard from today. And that's the Defense Secretary Mark Esper who didn't offer a denial of the story but did offer a defense of President Trump, saying in a statement that the president "has the highest respect and admiration for our nation's military members, veterans and families. That is why he has fought for greater pay and more funding for our armed forces." Esper was on that trip in November 2018 in Paris in a different role. And one person we haven't heard from is the defense secretary at the time, Jim Mattis, who of course later resigned in protest. Jim?</s>ACOSTA: All right, CNN's Kaitlan Collins, thank you very much. Now more on the breaking pandemic news. CNN's Nick Watt has the latest from Los Angeles. Nick, the model often cited by the White House projects 223,000 more American COVID deaths by the end of the year. Just stunning.</s>NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is, Jim. And on that subject, Dr. Scott Atlas, who is one of the president's newest coronavirus advisers, he's been speaking with the BBC and he says that it is unfair to compare the death toll in this country with other countries. He says, you've really got to look at something called excess mortality. And by that metric he claims the U.S. is doing much better than Europe. I'm just going to give you one fact and you can slice it whichever way you please. The U.S. is home to just over 4 percent of the world's population. But just over 23 percent of the world's confirmed COVID-19 deaths.</s>WATT (voice-over): There is COVID fatigue across the country including Pennsylvania avenue.</s>TRUMP: We're rounding the curve.</s>WATT (voice-over): But the worst could still be to come. Another 220,000 plus Americans could be killed by this virus by January 1st according to one well known model, which ominously has underestimated death tolls in the past. They now say 410,000 total by the end of the year.</s>DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: They also tell us that from that 410,000 number, if we were to ease our behaviors, that number goes up to nearly 620,000 deaths.</s>WATT (voice-over): But if masks were mandated across the country, they say we would save more than 120,000 lives. Yet, the president mocks Joe Biden for wearing one.</s>TRUMP: It gives him a feeling of security. If I were a psychiatrist.</s>WATT (voice-over): He won't mandate them. Neither will Georgia's governor.</s>GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): I personally don't believe a statewide mask mandate is the way to go.</s>WATT (voice-over): Or Missouri's governor.</s>HEIDI LUCAS, STATE DIRECTOR, MISSOURI NURSES ASSOCIATION: We implore him to listen to the healthcare workers in the state of Missouri and order a statewide mask mandate. We're the show me state, but we're really what would be a better name for us is the make me state.</s>DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Imagine if there's a vaccine that's available today that can reduce your risk of getting coronavirus by five times. That can save 100,000 lives by the end of the year. We would all want that.</s>WATT (voice-over): Early results from a potential Russian vaccine show it did trigger an immune response and only mild side effects. But scientists say more trials are needed. Meanwhile, the president says he just spoke to drug maker Pfizer. And?</s>TRUMP: I think the vaccines are going to be announced very soon.</s>WATT (voice-over): He is hinting at a pre-election October surprise. But here's his own vaccine chief.</s>MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF ADVISER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: There is a very, very low chance that the trials that are running as we speak could read before the end of October.</s>WATT (voice-over): He just told Science Magazine I would immediately resign if there is undue interference in this process. Now, our immediate hurdle, the long Labor Day weekend. The stay safe message targeted at the young.</s>GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): All of us when we were your age thought we were invincible. You can't pass this on.</s>WATT (voice-over): And you can get very sick. 31-year-old Jenny Ruelas caught COVID, lost her father to the virus.</s>JENNY RUELAS, CORONAVIRUS SURVIVOR: He was in a lot of pain. And that's the face I'll never forget.</s>WATT (voice-over): She no longer tests positive, but still struggles to breathe.</s>RUELAS: I have to walk around with an oxygen can.</s>WATT (voice-over): Now, remember back in July when the My Pillow guy was touting oleandrin, this plant exact as a COVID cure? He's close with the president. They met, they talked about it. This -- Mike Lindell claims the president was, quote, "enthusiastic." Well, Jim, the FDA has just rejected the application to use oleandrin as a dietary supplement. They say that they had significant concerns surrounding its safety. Jim?</s>ACOSTA: All right, good to know that. CNN's Nick Watt, thank you very much for that. Let's get more on the bombshell report the president is furious about. Joining us now is a former Defense Secretary William Cohen. Secretary Cohen, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it. What is your reaction to this report from "The Atlantic" that among other things the president called fallen U.S. soldiers "losers" and "suckers?" I suppose your time at the Pentagon you never heard anything like this.</s>WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: No. And I never heard language coming out of the president of the United States that I've heard from this president. I thought it was really curious today where he would like to have his psychiatrist examine Joe Biden for why he wants to wear a mask. I would say, Mr. President, you first. Let's have a psychiatrist examine you as to why you won't. And I think that we'll go from there. The problem is that what Joe Biden is trying to do is to save lives by wearing a mask. It's not a sign of weakness. It's a sign of strength. It's a sign of confidence. And the notion that you wouldn't wear a mask because you therefore are projecting that you are a man and manly, I think is preposterous that people are going to die as a result of that kind of symbolism. And, in fact, he has said I'm a wartime president. If that's the case and you've got 180,000 plus people who have died on your watch, it doesn't make you a very successful commander in chief. But getting back to your point about what I think about it. What I know, I can't say that I know the truth of what is alleged in that article. What I believe is that it is because I've seen the kind of language he has used in the past. He tends to mock many people. He's mocking Joe Biden for wearing a mask. He mocked a disabled reporter because of a disability, and he mocked him publicly at one of his demonstrations. So, the notion that he would privately say something that was critical of our men and women in military doesn't surprise me at all. And when he undercuts our U.S. Intelligence Community, that affects our military. That affects our security. And so, the notion that he would take a knee. He's criticizing Colin Kaepernick all these past couple years for taking a knee for equal justice. And then he goes over and takes a knee in Helsinki with President Putin. And then he undercuts our Intelligence Community by saying don't bring me any bad news, don't bring me any news that is critical of President Putin. So, I would say I don't know the truth of the allegations. They are completely consistent with his past behavior. And in the book "A Very Stable Genius" is another example where he went to the tank over at the Pentagon, a secure room where the joint chiefs meet, and he walked in and basically it's reported that he said that they're a bunch of babies or sissies, or he wouldn't go to war with them. I was astonished to read that. And I think if that is true, let's call the people who are in that room and ask his crew, and ask the president to say what he would say under oath if he never made those comments.</s>ACOSTA: And Secretary -</s>COHEN: We can get the truth perhaps.</s>ACOSTA: Secretary Cohen, the president is about to have a press conference. What should he say?</s>COHEN: Well, he should say let's talk about the truth. I may have said these things. If I did, I don't remember them, which would be a lie, in my opinion, but he at least would say I apologize to anybody who believes that I would say something like that. But I don't expect that. I think he'll come out and blast the report, say it's all untrue. Once again say it's fake or a hoax as he did about the coronavirus. So, I don't expect much. What I want is a president who will project make America honorable again. Make it honest again. Make it admired again. And make it support its military and all aspects of our national security and community. That's what I would ask the president to say going forward today, tomorrow, and into the election.</s>ACOSTA: And Secretary Cohen, the president, as you know, is forcefully denying these comments. As you said, he may do that again here in a couple of minutes. But we know he has publicly referred to the at least one American war hero as a loser in the past. And that was the late Senator John McCain. I know you were very close to Senator McCain both professionally and personally. You were even in his wedding. This type of criticism is not unheard of from this president.</s>COHEN: It's one of the reasons why I felt I could never vote for President Trump or Trump as president because of what he said about John McCain, he's not a hero because he was shot down, he was captured? What message does that say to all of the young brave men and women who go and their families who go into the service for our country and willing to shed blood, leave their bodies on the battlefield and say if you get caught, you're really not much of a hero. If you get shot, well, you know you're pretty incompetent. John McCain suffered for five and a half years. He was tortured almost daily. And when the time came they tried to make a deal with him because they were getting bombarded by the fleet that was commanded by his father. McCain said I don't make those kinds of deal. So, I don't make a deal just to say I have a deal and walk out of here ahead of my time. And so, he stayed longer, took more punishment, took more beatings so he could walk out with his head held high that he didn't compromise his fellow POWs. And by the way, with John McCain's leadership, he helped keep some of those POWs alive. His fellow colleagues who were locked in there, they stayed alive because of his spirit and the way he lifted their morale and said we're going to get through this. So, yes, I look at that and say that's not a commander in chief that I respect. He's not a commander in chief who believes in truthfulness, who believes in openness, who believes in shedding light on a particular subject but simply what he does is he pardons his friends and he punishes his enemies. And I want a president who again stands for honesty and honor for truthfulness and for the integrity this country really represents to the world. And when I travel around the world, I find many people, many leaders looking to me saying what has happened to your country? How did you ever descend from where you've been to where you are now in terms of having a leader who represents all of the characteristics that we like to see in the president of the most powerful nation in the world? And so, they are astonished. They are no longer in awe of us. They no longer admire us to the same degree. And they are hoping that there will be a change in the future, as am</s>I. ACOSTA: All right. Former Defense Secretary William Cohen, I don't know if I've ever seen you this passionate on a subject before. This obviously struck a chord within a lot of people in the military community. Thank you for joining us this evening. Secretary Cohen, we appreciate it. Good talking to you, sir. And the breaking news continues. Next, we'll get more on the dire new forecast of 410,000 U.S. coronavirus deaths by year's end. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is standing by. We'll also be joined by Dr. Anthony Fauci to talk about all of the breaking pandemic news as our CNN SITUATION ROOM Special Report continues. We'll be right back.