Interview with Trump 2020 Campaign Director of Communications Tim Murtaugh; Interview with University of Miami President Julio Frenk.
TIM MURTAUGH, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, DONALD TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN: I think you've seen the president take appropriate steps today. I know you're reporting that the DOJ is conducting a civil rights investigation --</s>JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.</s>MURTAUGH: -- and the president spoke to the governor of Wisconsin yesterday and is sending in federal law enforcement just as he did to help with the folks in Portland. The president is determined --</s>SCIUTTO:  OK -- MURTAUGH: -- that law and order be restored and so that we can all enjoy peace and prosperity as Americans, that is the president's main focus on those things.</s>SCIUTTO: OK, as you're aware, there is now a 17-year-old boy, young man from Illinois who's charged with intentional homicide, part of a group of armed untrained civilians who answered a call to come to Kenosha, you know, it's something of a law enforcement role here. Does the president condemn the use of vigilantes, in effect, to respond to these protests and violence?</s>MURTAUGH: Certainly. Look, American-on-American violence is not something that anyone can support or condone, and we condemn it fully. I think you heard the vice president last night say very forcefully that having Americans harm other Americans is not the way to go about this. We have to be able to move forward as Americans in a peaceful manner. And the police, the police have to be allowed to do their jobs and we've seen this over and over again in city after city, run by Democrats, Joe Biden's allies, where they have sided with the rioters instead of the police and instead of law-abiding citizens --</s>SCIUTTO: Well --</s>MURTAUGH: -- and that's why you see police unions one after another lining up to endorse President Trump because they know that Joe Biden and the Democrats have turned their backs on law enforcement.</s>SCIUTTO: Fact check there, Joe Biden has supported peaceful protests, he has not supported violent protests. I do want to ask about the president's comments for the -- just for the environment here. In the wake of George Floyd's death, you'll remember, when the president said, "When the looting starts, the shooting starts." There are historical roots to that, very concerning to members of the black community. The RNC, as you know, gave speaking time to a couple, you know, who pointed their guns at protestors. I just wonder, is the president's message encouraging this kind of thing, people taking law enforcement into their own hands?</s>MURTAUGH: I want to take a couple issues with what you just rattled off there, Jim. Joe Biden issued a statement about Portland last month that blamed the police for stoking -- this is a direct quote -- "stoking the fires of division," and referred to the rioters as peaceful protestors. And in the case of the --</s>SCIUTTO: Well, some were peaceful,</s>I -- MURTAUGH: -- McCloskeys --</s>SCIUTTO: -- I witnessed and spoke to some of them, and trust me, we also reported on --</s>MURTAUGH: Yes.</s>SCIUTTO: -- the violent protestors there. But Joe Biden has not said, I support violent rioters and looting. He hasn't said that, and that's just a fact.</s>MURTAUGH: Well, he misdescribed people and actually has, for three months now, ignored the violence that's been occurring night after night in Portland, which is why I think you see him out now, rushing to do so. Because I think he has seen that people are wondering -- even on your own network, Don Lemon in fact saying, boy, how much longer can Joe Biden ignore what's happening in these Democrat-run cities? And I (ph) would (ph) point (ph) out (ph), Jim (ph) --</s>SCIUTTO: I do want to ask, as I did about the president's --</s>MURTAUGH: -- I mean, respectfully, Jim --</s>SCIUTTO: -- comments here because the president is arguing for four more years and the violence he described is happening -- he's been in charge for three and a half years or more at this point. Have his comments, have his policies helped to address these issues? And if so, where?</s>MURTAUGH: I think absolutely you have seen his policies help. The president has provided more economic opportunity to people who live in inner cities, to people who live in the black community and for all communities, in fact: men, women, white, black, Latino, Asian, veterans, historic low unemployment for people all across the board, and economic opportunity is how --</s>SCIUTTO: Wait, wait, wait wait. We just had another --</s>MURTAUGH: -- you solve a lot of these problems.</s>SCIUTTO: -- million people -- another million people, first-time unemployment benefits. I mean, during the financial crisis of 2008- 2009, the highest in a single week was 800-some thousand. We've had million a week for several weeks now. Where -- who does the president blame for that loss of jobs? I mean, the math is simple here.</s>MURTAUGH: Jim, I think what would be blamed for the loss of those jobs is the global pandemic that is affecting every single nation on earth. I feel like you guys have probably (ph) covered the coronavirus crisis --</s>SCIUTTO: U.S., worse than most.</s>MURTAUGH: -- a little bit. And --</s>SCIUTTO: The U.S. worse than most.</s>MURTAUGH: -- in fact the president has led an unprecedented -- unprecedented response. The private sector and the federal government, joining together in really an unprecedented response to the coronavirus crisis, and we're seeing the economy --</s>SCIUTTO: Why does the U.S. have so many more deaths than most countries then?</s>MURTAUGH: -- already come back, 9.3 -- 9.3 million jobs created in just the last three months, that is a record period of job creation in the history of this country.</s>SCIUTTO: That's because 25 million some-odd jobs disappeared, I mean --</s>MURTAUGH: You will hear the president tonight and see, this is -- this is exactly --</s>SCIUTTO: -- the bottom line is still in the red.</s>MURTAUGH: -- the president -- the president tonight -- Jim.</s>SCIUTTO: The bottom line is still in the red. So you know, that -- but let's talk about the pandemic, because you're claiming a successful response there. Who do you -- who does the president hold responsible for nearly 180,000 Americans who lost their lives to the pandemic? Who does he hold responsible?</s>MURTAUGH: I think it's very important to pinpoint where this virus came from, and that is China. And it's also important to note that while the president has been leading the country through the coronavirus crisis, Joe Biden has been doing nothing on the sidelines but criticize. And we know that --</s>SCIUTTO: Does the president accept any responsibility --</s>MURTAUGH: -- Joe Biden would not have restricted travel from China --</s>SCIUTTO: -- for the loss of lives here?</s>MURTAUGH: -- the president has been doing this job --</s>SCIUTTO: Does he accept any responsibility? He's been in charge for four years.</s>MURTAUGH: -- from the very -- Jim,</s>I -- SCIUTTO: He promised to be a wartime president here.</s>MURTAUGH: -- will answer.</s>SCIUTTO: Yes, but so I'm just asking, does he accept any responsibility for the loss of those lives?</s>MURTAUGH: The president has been doing his job. Remember, the projections were that more than 2 million people could die as a result of the coronavirus, and the president has been mounting the most aggressive --</s>SCIUTTO: At the far end, the president said it was going to disappear months ago.</s>MURTAUGH: -- to this in American history, facing any other crisis. Jim, early on, the Coronavirus Task Force has been meeting since January. The president restricted travel from China in January. At that time, Joe Biden --</s>SCIUTTO: I'm aware.</s>MURTAUGH: -- said it was fear-mongering and xenophobic. So we know that Joe Biden would not have restricted travel from China. And if he had been president --</s>SCIUTTO: We don't know that. I'm just --</s>MURTAUGH: -- Joe Biden, we would be --</s>SCIUTTO: -- just a very simple question. Because he's president --</s>MURTAUGH: Yes, we do know that because he said do, Jim. If --</s>SCIUTTO: -- he's commander in chief. Does he accept responsibility for any of this loss of life?</s>MURTAUGH: -- Joe Biden had been president, we'd be worse off today than we currently are. If Joe Biden had been president in January --</s>SCIUTTO: Simple question.</s>MURTAUGH: -- we would be worse off.</s>SCIUTTO: Just before we go, does the president accept any responsibility for the loss of life from the pandemic? Anything you want to change in your response?</s>MURTAUGH: The president has accepted responsibility for being the one who's in charge of the unprecedented American response to this. We have never seen such a --</s>SCIUTTO: Yes, all right.</s>MURTAUGH: -- combination of the private sector and the government responding to a crisis of this nature as we have seen under President Trump's leadership.</s>SCIUTTO: All right, I'll take that as a no. Tim Murtaugh, good to have you on the program. Thanks for joining us.</s>MURTAUGH: Thank you, Jim.</s>SCIUTTO: You can watch President Trump's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention tonight starting at 7:00 Eastern time. As CNN marks the hundredth anniversary of women's right to vote, check out what the White House looked like last night. Buildings across Washington were covered in purple and gold light in honor of the suffrage movement. For more on that 100th anniversary, you can go to CNN.com/represented. It's really worth having a look.