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Two Members of White House Staff Test Positive for Coronavirus; Audio Release of Former President Obama Criticizing Trump Administration; Two Children Die Due to Rare Pediatric Disease Possibly Linked to COVID-19; Fewer Children Reportedly Receiving Vaccines During Coronavirus Pandemic; Businesses Begin Reopening in Most States across U.S.; Possible Third Suspect Named in Shooting Death of Ahmaud Arbery; Daytona International Speedway to Host Graduation Ceremonies for Seniors at Two High Schools. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired May 09, 2020 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:20]

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, welcome to Saturday, May 8th. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell.

PAUL: Actually, May 9th.

BLACKWELL: May 9th, there you go.

PAUL: Sorry. Let's get it right. I apologize.

BLACKWELL: All right, so May 9th. Good to be with you.

PAUL: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Welcome to the CNN Newsroom.

PAUL: And in all of the morning's headlines, the numbers are making a real clear impact on the coronavirus and what it is doing in this country right now. There are more than 77,000 people who have died, more than 1.2 million cases in the U.S.

BLACKWELL: And more than 70 cases of children getting seriously sick from complications possibly linked to COVID-19. They're under investigation in New York, and health officials there say that the condition may have caused the deaths of a five-year-old and a seven- year-old.

PAUL: And even as we learn more about this virus, there are 47 states that will be partially opened by tomorrow. Today, more restrictions are easing, though, in five states, including Rhode Island, where retail shops are going to be open again now. There will be restrictions, we should point out. BLACKWELL: So driving the push to reopen the economy, we know a record

20.5 million American jobs were lost in April. The unemployment rate at 14.7 percent.

PAUL: And two positive cases of coronavirus among White House staff this week prove that there is no work place that is immune here. The press secretary for Vice President Mike Pence tested positive just yesterday.

BLACKWELL: So, listen, we have a lot to get to this morning. First, we're going to start with former president Barack Obama and some of his criticisms of the Trump administration.

PAUL: CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the White House. Kristen, this is some of the most stinging language and verbiage we've heard yet from former president Obama.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christi and Victor. That is absolutely correct, some of the harshest criticism we've heard from the former president of the current administration to date. It gives us a little bit of an idea as to what exactly former president Obama's role may be in campaigning for Joe Biden as we get closer and closer to that November election. These remarks were made on a private call with the Obama Alumni Association, and sources say that this call was really to encourage ex-staffers, Obama ex-staffers, to get more involved in Biden's campaign.

And on this call, we have obtained the audio, Yahoo! News obtained it and we have confirmed it, you hear former president Obama really going after the administration for a variety of different topics. One in particular Michael Flynn. Flynn, the former Trump national security advisor who back in 2018 pled guilty to lying to the FBI, earlier this week the Department of Justice said they were going to drop the charges. Now, on this phone call you hear the former president really excoriating the Department of Justice for this decision, and saying that it put the rule of law at risk. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: And the fact that there is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury getting off scot-free. That's the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic, not just institutional norms, but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So two things to note here. One the former president misspoke when he said that Flynn was charged with perjury. He pled guilty to lying to the FBI, but it wasn't under oath. And the other thing I want to point out is something we often forget, which is that Flynn actually worked for the Obama administration. He was the head -- the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and Obama told Trump not to hire Flynn, one of the many things that Trump did not heed him on.

BLACKWELL: Kristen, how about the criticisms of the pandemic handling? HOLMES: Again, more scathing criticism. Obama calling it an absolute

chaotic disaster. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What we're going to be battling is not just a particular individual or political party. But what we're fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided and seeing others as an enemy, that has become a stronger impulse in American life. And by the way, we're seeing that internationally as well.

[10:05:09]

And it's part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anemic and spotty. And it would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset of what's in it for me, and to heck with everybody else -- when that mindset is operationalized in our government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And, of course, just to note, we will be keeping an eye on if this is just the beginning of the former president getting involved in that campaigning ahead of November. One thing to note is these comments come after a particularly chaotic week in the White House. As you said, two staffers here testing positive, two staffers with close proximity to both the president and vice president.

PAUL: Kristen Holmes, so appreciate you, thank you very much.

BLACKWELL: Let's bring in now CNN political analysis Toluse Olorunnipa. Toluse, welcome back. He's a White House reporter for the "Washington Post." Starting with the comments from President Obama, we know that he is one of President Trump's favorite foils. So is this something that potentially the White House or the campaign, that they were waiting for, the former president reentered the arena?

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "THE WASHINGTON POST": We have been hearing more from the Trump campaign and the Trump White House about the former administration trying to pin some of what happened during the 2016 Russia investigation on this idea that there was this deep state and that the Obama administration was trying to block or interrupt President Trump's path to the White House. So I wouldn't be surprised if they try to capitalize on this. There has been no love lost between the former administration and the current administration. But it's very rare for us to hear from President Obama directly criticizing President Trump. He has sort of held his fire. Even as President Trump has broken with norms in attacking his predecessor so publicly, President Obama, for the most part, has not hit back, has not been public in his criticism.

But this new leaked tape makes it clear that President Obama does not feel like President Trump is doing anything close to a presidential job when it comes to handling the pandemic, when it comes to the Department of Justice, which President Trump has really pushed to try to essentially discredit the Mueller investigation and help President Trump's allies and some of his campaign officials who were caught up in the Mueller investigation.

So it's clear that this is something that President Obama feels strongly about that he was able to speak about this so strongly towards his alumni network. But I wouldn't be surprised if we hear from President Trump's allies in trying to attack President Obama and say he was the genesis of all of this and that he was involved in somehow trying to block President Trump from the White House.

PAUL: Toluse, I wanted to ask you about the Michael Flynn case. President Obama, as we heard there, called it the rule of law is at risk. Well, Attorney General William Barr responded, not to that specifically, but responded to some news in the Flynn case, a reporter asked him what should Americans take away from your actions in the Flynn case today, meaning his dismissal. Barr said I want to make sure we restore confidence in the system. There's only one standard of justice. Is the ability of this administration to restore some semblance of confidence -- is it tied directly to Flynn? Is it tied more closely now to their reaction and their response to the COVID crisis? What does that look like, trying to redirect some confidence into this administration from people who do not have any?

OLORUNNIPA: Well, we've seen throughout the course of this administration that the level of confidence that anyone has is largely very closely tied to their party affiliation. Democrats seem to have very little confidence in the Trump administration. Republicans by large part continue to support him and like what he's doing, even at the Department of Justice where he has been a very unorthodox president, firing his former attorney general and saying that he was never qualified for the job in the first place, and then hiring someone who has shown very much a willingness to break with norms, break with precedent, really interfere in the traditionally nonpartisan, nonpolitical dispensation of justice.

So it's hard to see how that would restore confidence on a broad level. It will definitely be approved by a number of Trump supporters and people who already like the president going into this. But for those who are skeptical, some independents and moderates who want to have a Department of Justice that is not partisan, that is not seen as overwhelmingly on the side of a president or of a White House, these types of moves can only sort of undermine that confidence and make it harder for people to think justice is done without political influence.

[10:10:16]

BLACKWELL: Toluse, let me ask you about the testing there at the White House. Katie Miller tested positive for coronavirus. We know that there had been some testing of reporters going into the briefing room, people close to the president. What's the testing regimen there, and where does the White House say it will go after a second person there in the West Wing has tested positive?

OLORUNNIPA: It's very clear that the White House being the most fortified and protected place in the country has not been able to keep out the coronavirus from its domain, and that makes it very hard to have confidence that the rest of the country will be able to do the same thing. They have stepped up testing. They were doing it on a week basis to every day. Now they've stepped it up to every day. But that's still not enough to keep people who have been infected with this virus from being very close to the president. We're talking about people who are in these coronavirus task force meetings, one of the valets at the White House, someone who even serves the president food in the residence, these are the kinds of things that make it clear that this virus continues to spread, and it's going to be very hard for work places to feel confident that they will be able to keep the virus out when even the White House, which is testing people on a daily basis, which is testing reporters, testing aides to the president on a daily basis, the president has been tested multiple times, that even in that situation people are concerned that the virus may be spreading within the walls of the West Wing. I think it's going to be hard for the Trump administration to project confidence when they have not even been able to keep this virus out of their house.

BLACKWELL: Toluse Olorunnipa, thanks so much for joining us from Washington.

Let's go to New York now. A growing number of children have been showing up to hospitals with a rare new illness linked to COVID-19.

PAUL: Doctors describe it as a, quote, pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome. Health officials there say at least two children have died because of this syndrome. CNN Evan McMorris-Santoro is with us. What more have you learned about this condition, what symptoms there are and, how it's connected, they believe, to COVID?

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, this is a very scary time in New York City, and it has been for months. And obviously this news has the potential to add to that fear. But this is very early in this whole conversation. The governor saying yesterday in a press conference that there's been 73 cases of this new disorder, this inflammatory disorder that he's still investigating, health officials are investigating here.

Tragically, yesterday it was announced that two boys under 10 have passed away from this inflammatory disorder. But it's important to note that the hospital, one of the big hospitals here in the city, Mount Sinai Medical Center, who treated one of these children, said, look, this is a very rare disease. Parents should be looking out for symptoms of inflammatory disease, the governor put it on his website, it's all over the place, the conversation, but very, very rare still. So early days in this conversation, and not clear yet how broad spread this actually is.

PAUL: Evan McMorris-Santoro, appreciate it. Thank you so very much.

So states across the country are easing some restrictions, as you know. You're able to go back to work, at least some of you. A look at how businesses are moving forward here. It is not going to be the same as what you've expected.

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BLACKWELL: Fewer children are getting potentially life-saving vaccinations, maybe in part because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control is reporting a notable drop off in the number of vaccines ordered through a federal program that immunizes half of all children in the country.

Joining me now is Dr. Peter Hotez, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and a professor of Pediatrics, Molecular Virology, and Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Hotez, thanks for joining us. The CDC notes that the drop-off started a week after the declaration of this national emergency. What do you take away from the timing of this drop off, and what's the significance?

DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AT BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Yes, it was clearly in response to social distancing and calls for social distancing. And parents, essentially, stopped taking their kids into the pediatrician for their vaccinations. And the hope is that this is only going to be temporary and we're going to start now to see an uptick, especially as some of the states begin opening up. We have to give parents reassurance that it's OK and safe to bring their kids to get vaccinated, because we're all consumed with COVID-19 right now, but measles actually is one of the most contagious and transmissible diseases we know about. So when you see those kinds of declines, we risk now seeing measles on top of COVID-19, which would be catastrophic.

BLACKWELL: Let's turn now to the search for a vaccine for coronavirus. More than 100 vaccine candidates, potential vaccines being tested now. Moderna is moving now to phase two of their trials. What's your degree of optimism, and just overall, what's the failure rate for vaccines in this phase overall?

HOTEZ: Usually for the whole vaccine life cycle, meaning from preclinical development, going through phase one, phase two, phase three, there's a 90 percent attrition rate. And that's why if we're trying to accelerate a vaccine and meet Dr. Fauci's timeframe of a year to 18 months, we have to do something a little bit differently. And one of them is get many more shots on goal. So even though just about all the vaccines work by inducing an immune response against that part of the virus called the spike protein.

[10:20:02]

If you have ever seen a picture of the virus, it looks like a donut with a piece of RNA stuffed in it and all those spikes emanating out, just about all the vaccines, including ours that we've developed, makes an immune response against the spike protein. And it's a matter of figuring out which is the best type of vaccine to do it. Whether it's a recombinant protein vaccine, or an activated virus, or RNA or DNA vaccine, and we have no way to predict.

So the point is we're going to get at least a dozen, probably two dozen vaccines into clinical trials, knowing that most of them will drop out, and hopefully by next year some time we might have two or three vaccines that look promising that we can start administering to the general population.

BLACKWELL: I searched your social media, and you talked about how great a thing it is now that people at home are hearing from the scientists directly like yourself. But after this week that the White House shelved the recommendations from the CDC on how to reopen schools and day camps and restaurants and bars, what's your concern about the politization of the science, and how so many states are reopening now?

HOTEZ: Yes, that's a real concern, because what you're seeing happen now is, given that we don't have a vaccine yet and it could be another year away at least, what do you do now? And states are opening up pretty quickly now, even though some of the models, epidemiological models coming out of Seattle and elsewhere, say we should be keeping our social distancing for another month, that horse has left the barn as they say, so we're already opening up.

The question is, how do we do it safely? And one of the problems is I'm talking to some city and state health directors, or city and county health directors, and they're saying they're not getting a lot of guidance from the CDC at this point. So exactly how you do that safely so you can sustain that economic recovery. Remember, even if you implement economic recovery, what if this virus comes back in a big way? All those gains will be lost once again.

So the key is figuring out how to do this safely, having that contact tracing and testing in the workplace, having that syndromic surveillance, having the communications, having models for each of the cities. We don't have those in place for most of our cities. So I'm really worried that even though we're now opening up the economy, as we move later into the summer or fall, all of those gains could be reversed, unless we figure out how to build a public health infrastructure that's commensurate with those plans for economic recovery.

BLACKWELL: Dr. Peter Hotez, thanks so much for your time this morning.

HOTEZ: Thank you.

PAUL: Thank you, Doctor. So as he was talking about it there, restrictions are getting eased back. Obviously, businesses are going to look very different, depending on where you live. Coming up, how some of these businesses are reacting to maybe what we're going to be seeing as our new normal.

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[10:27:32]

BLACKWELL: We hear a lot about how testing has to be a big role -- has to play a big role, I should say, in keeping work places safe as they reopen. That's what's happening in the White House now after an aide to the vice president is the latest to test positive there.

PAUL: CNN's Sarah Westwood is with us now. Any changes being announced yet, Sarah, regarding a protocol since these positive tests? SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Christi, White House

officials are pushing some changes inside the White House in an effort to mitigate the spread of coronavirus after President Trump confirmed yesterday that it was Katie Miller, Pence's press secretary, who tested positive for coronavirus, and that was just one day after her tests had came back negative.

White house officials performed contact tracing yesterday on everyone who had been close to Katie over the past few days. That included a handful of staffers who were actually on Air Force Two with the vice president when the news broke that Milled had tested positive. They were pulled off the plane. It also including her husband, Stephen Miller, a top White House official, but thankfully all of those results came back negative.

A senior administration official told CNN some of the steps they're taking inside the White House to mitigate the spread includes more frequent cleaning of those White House spaces, and also stepping up coronavirus testing, stepping up temperature checks within the White House, because earlier this week CNN had reported that inside the White House mask guidelines, social distancing guidelines, those were not being followed all that closely. People weren't necessarily wearing masks inside the building, they weren't necessarily staying six feet apart from their colleagues. But those measures are going to be more strictly enforced now. That's what the senior administration official said.

But we should note that President Trump himself, Pence himself, when they stepped out this week, they both left the White House grounds and did not wear a mask. Miller is not the first White House official to test positive either. One of the president's personal attendants, a valet tested positive for coronavirus this week as well as Ivanka Trump's personal assistant, Victor and Christi.

BLACKWELL: Tell us what we're hearing now from this HHS official who is criticizing the administration after we're hearing from former president Obama.

WESTWOOD: That would be Dr. Rick Bright. He's the former top vaccine expert in the administration. He claims that he was demoted in retaliation for bringing up concerns about hydroxychloroquine. That's the unproven COVID treatment that President Trump repeatedly pushed in public. In private Dr. Bright had raised concerns about pursuing that.

[10:30:01]

But Bright said that he was simply frustrated because of the way scientists inside the administration were treated. That was him defending himself after President Trump described him yesterday as a disgruntled employee. Dr. Bright has filed a whistle-blower complaint, and the Office of Special Council which investigates these kinds of complaints said that there may be reason to believe that retaliation was involved in the case of Dr. Bright. But HHS responded by saying that this is a personnel matter, and they said they strongly disagree with Dr. Bright's characterization of events, Victor and Christi.

BLACKWELL: Sarah Westwood for us in Washington, thanks so much.

PAUL: Thank you, Sarah.

So millions of Americans are out of work, and there are more who are just struggling to pay their bills. Maybe they lost hours, or they lost pays. So as the coronavirus pandemic is dragging on now, there are business owners that are cautiously optimistic about their state's reopening.

BLACKWELL: Let's go to Natasha Chen now. Many of the businesses, they really are uncertain about their futures.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, Christi and Victor. We are seeing a lot of business owners really hurting. But some of the criticism of the states that reopened early was that there wasn't a clear 14-day downward trend of new cases, which is one of the White House guidelines for reopening. Here in Georgia we've seen tattoo parlors, restaurants, movie theatres able to open for a couple weeks now, whereas some other states are being more cautious. This weekend a lot of eyes are on California and how they'll fare now that they are also reopening some businesses.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHEN: By the end of the weekend, all but three states will have eased quarantine restrictions in some way, even in once hard hit Rhode Island, where the governor said Friday her state will be the first in the northeast to lift a stay stay-at-home order.

GOV. GINA RAIMONDO (D-RI): If you look at the facts on the ground, the data on the ground, we're doing better. And so therefore we're in a better position so we can start to lift our restrictions a little bit sooner.

CHEN: Restrictions are lifting from coast-to-coast. In North Carolina retail stores have reopened, but at 50 percent capacity. In Delaware, stores can now offer curbside pickup. That goes for California as well, where stores can also now deliver just in time to send flowers for Mother's Day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For me as a small shop, I'm not going to let anybody in. But at least I can operate, cannot just open everything, because we will have a second wave, and then we will go back to square one.

CHEN: San Francisco has decided to keep businesses closed until May 18th. But the rest of the state has some businesses reopening with modifications.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I stay out of the politics. I need to open. We're ready.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is what we have right now for takeout.

CHEN: Nevada and Alaska have now joined more than a dozen states to resume dine-in services in restaurants with restrictions. People can also now get a drink at a bar in Alaska at 25 percent capacity. In Arizona, people can get their haircut by appointment only. Same for Texas, with owners eager to open doors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything is ready, and my clients are more than ready.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything, I lost everything. Destroyed my business. I lost my business. That's what it has done.

CHEN: In Iowa, people can go back to the dentist, go to campgrounds, the drive-in movies, and tanning facilities following special guidelines. Tennessee now joins Georgia in allowing people to go to bowling alleys. Pennsylvania is taking a county by county approach to reopening. Welcome news to this chocolatier in the town of Williamsport.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're hoping that the people, especially those who are, let's say, under age 60 come out more because, again they -- you need to just get out I think.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHEN: Researchers at the University of Maryland have been looking at cell phone data when some states started announcing partial re- openings. Georgia has been extremely aggressive in reopening businesses. And researchers noticed that travel from neighboring states to Georgia actually increased 10 to 20 percent when that happened. Christi and Victor, back to you.

PAUL: That was something else. Natasha Chen, appreciate it very much. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Some lawmakers in Georgia are renewing a push for a hate crime bill after the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery. He would have turned 26 years old yesterday. The family's attorney joins us ahead.

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MARCUS ARBERY SR., AHMAUD ARBERY'S FATHER: That's a clear lynching. Any time you put young men who jump in a truck with shotguns and jump in a truck, and you jump on the back of the truck and follow him and slaughter him like that, that's lynching.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: That's Ahmaud Arbery's father there talking about the killing of his son. That was on his 26th birthday, which was yesterday. We're hearing from his father there after suspects Gregory McMichael and his son Travis were arrested Thursday. They face murder and aggravated assault charges for Ahmaud's killing back in February.

PAUL: Communities all over are outraged after weeks of prosecutors dragging their feet with an arrest. Several protesters -- protests, I should say, have erupted over the past few days. Another protest actually is being planned to happen in just a few hours. CNN correspondent Martin Savidge is with us now. Martin, what do we know about the investigation at this point?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christi. I'll point out to you, by the way, that this park is where the demonstration is going to be taking place. It's being classified as a celebration of life for Ahmaud Arbery. So regarding the investigation at this point, we've already had the court appearance of the two suspects that are in custody, the father and son, that's Travis and Gregory McMichael.

[10:40:00]

But much of the conversation, at least with law enforcement, has been about, is there a third person that is being considered as part of this investigation? And the reason that's being discussed is because that third person is the person who took the video, which just about everyone has seen that depicts the horrific moment in which Ahmaud was killed in a struggle. And that person has been identified as William "Roddie" Bryan. And he continues to say that he was just an observer, although law enforcement in a number of different ways has depicted or characterized what he did that day differently. In the initial police record it was said that "Roddie" attempted to block him, which was unsuccessful. That is the middle name of Mr. Bryan.

And then in another account, it was listed by a former D.A. that McMichael, Greg McMichael, and William Bryan were following in hot pursuit. So in those depictions he sounds like a participant. But his attorney last night put out a statement saying no, he was just an observer who captured critical video that became essential to the investigation. The GBI is saying that it is still looking at the possibility of further arrests in this case, and it is still looking at Mr. Bryan, but they do not classify him as a suspect at this point.

And then the last thing I'll show you is, you mentioned that it was the birthday of Ahmaud yesterday. And there was an online effort to get people across the country to run 2.23 miles to denote the date of which his death occurred, and to post images of that. And it was basically the hashtag "I run with Maud." And it went worldwide. There were people everywhere that were posting pictures of themselves out in a run in support of this young man, which of course is what he was doing on the day he died. Christi and Victor?

BLACKWELL: Martin Savidge reporting for us. Martin, thank you so much.

Joining us now is one of the attorneys for Arbery family, Lee Merritt. Attorney Merritt, thanks for being with us. Let's start here with one of the persons that Martin mentioned being investigated, not officially a suspect, William Bryan. You say that he should be arrested too. Why?

LEE MERRITT, ARBERY FAMILY ATTORNEY: If you look at this like an ambush, which is what it was, these men decided that Ahmaud had done something criminal in their mind, they had imputed criminality on him just by virtue of his blackness alone. And then they coordinated an effort to ambush him, they say in order to arrest him. We know that ultimately they killed him. Everyone who participated in that coordinated ambush is guilty of murder. They're accessories to murder. They should be arrested.

PAUL: I know Georgia lawmakers are renewing their push for hate crime charges in large part because of Ahmaud's shooting. Will you or the family be having conversations with lawmakers regarding that?

MERRITT: Absolutely. We've already been in contact with the DNC. We just moments ago put out a statement in response to Trump's comments about the shooting. Specifically, he said that he's leaving it to the governor to get justice for this family and for this community. The concern is that the attorney general was already aware of this tape months before the public outcry. The attorney general assigned George Barnhill to this case, despite his conflicts. And then he transferred it to Tom Durden, who, quite frankly, is not a sophisticated prosecutor, and we don't believe he's the right attorney to prosecute this case.

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you. You brought up Barnhill, Waycross district attorney. In his letter of recusal, he wrote that his son, a prosecutor in the Brunswick D.A.'s office, and Greg McMichael, the father who was arrested on Thursday, quote, "both helped in previous prosecution of Arbery." And this is according to "Atlanta Journal Constitution," they broke this element of the story. Is there any indication that Greg McMichael's previous knowledge of Arbery played some role of his killing back in February?

MERRITT: We don't have any information to affirm that yet. But understand that this case was never investigated, so despite the fact that it happened February 23rd, the GBI is just going out to interview and put a second pair of eyes on this. So we expect some more information to be revealed. And the things that we're learning, we're finding all kinds of context, and maybe context just because this is a small town, and so there are frequent contacts, or this could be a preexisting relationship and something more nefarious at play.

PAUL: So talk to us about the family and their thoughts about any sort of contact or communication between Arbery and the three men that are now being looked at and investigated.

[10:45:04]

MERRITT: The family is learning, along with everyone else, and the GBI agents have been in contact with them, they've been interviewed. They're encouraging anyone in the Brunswick community who has information to speak with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation officers as they complete this investigation. But we certainly want a thorough look into all the actors who not only -- not only this man who committed this heinous crime, but the legal apparatus that justified it.

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you the broader question I think most people who see the video wonder. How did it take, or why did it take GBI just two days to determine that the McMichaels should be arrested and charged, but local officials didn't do anything to arrest these two men for two months? Do you have an answer to that?

MERRITT: The only thing the GBI needed to see was the video in order to arrest these men. As far as it goes with Mr. Bryan, not much that he did was on camera, so it requires just a little bit more evidence, and so that's why that investigation is ongoing. But it's clear that any law enforcement official who's interested in protecting the rights of Ahmaud and his family, they could have made an arrest. So what that tells us is that the initial agencies that were involved were not at all involved in getting justice for this family. Why is a good question. I can offer my belief, but they told haven't told us why they failed to make an arrest.

PAUL: Attorney Merritt, I want to show some of these people that were posting yesterday in their 2.23 mile honor run of Ahmaud. There were posts from families in New Jersey. There were posts from Vancouver, B.C., Dublin, Ireland, California, Colorado, Los Angeles. Has the family spoken at all about how they are doing after yesterday, which would have been his 26th birthday, and seeing the reaction around the world to what happened to their son?

MERRITT: Yesterday was very difficult for this family. I spoke with Ms. Cooper, who visited her son's grave, who -- and his brothers and sisters who released balloons. And they have seen all the international support that they've been fighting to get for the past two months, and it has been a source of relief for them. But they want to make sure that it goes beyond just this day that the community, all these supporters who are running, that they take on this cause until there is justice across the board. And so we've already began planning for another run this same day next year because we know we're in the this for the long haul. We need a movement and not just moments.

PAUL: Lee Merritt, we so appreciate you taking the time to be with us. Best to you and the family. Thank you so much.

MERRITT: Thank you.

PAUL: We'll be right back.

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[10:50:27]

PAUL: With so much time at home, staying in shape, is it a challenge or is it easier? In this food is fuel, CNN Health contributor Lisa Drayer shares how frontloading calories can really help impact your waistline.

LISA DRAYER, CNN HEALTH CONTRIBUTOR: Eating later in the day is often linked to mindless nibbling during unstructured time, like snacking while watching a movie or talking on the phone. The calories can quickly add up without you realizing it. But by frontloading your calories instead of eating later in the day, you're giving your body a much better chance of shedding pounds.

Here's why. Research suggests that the calories we burn from digesting, absorbing, and metabolizing the nutrients in the food we eat are influenced by our circadian rhythms and is lower at 8:00 p.m. as compared to 8:00 a.m. To set yourself up for success, don't skip breakfast. It's the optimal time to frontload your calories. Also, try eating what you would typically have for dinner at

lunchtime, with a male meal consisting of protein, veggies, and grains. You can downsize your dinner by eating half of you usually eat, or by cutting the carbs.

And lastly, if you're having trouble with nighttime nibbling, use your smart phone. You can schedule an event on your calendar or set an alarm when it's time to close the kitchen.

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PAUL: Seniors at two high schools in Florida are getting one heck of a graduation at one of the most famous racetracks in the world.

BLACKWELL: The Daytona International Speedway, yes, it will host graduation ceremonies for the seniors of Matanzas and Flagler Palm Coast high schools. Now, here's how it's going to go down. Each graduate will be allowed one car, of course they're going to decorate it. They'll cross the finish line to receive their diploma, and then they get to take a victory lap. We spoke with one of the seniors and the president of the Daytona Speedway about this event.

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HUNTER PEREZ, SENIOR, MATANZAS HIGH SCHOOL: I think I most look forward to getting that picture at the speedway, something that I'll be able to show others and always have something to remember.

CHIP WILE, PRESIDENT, DAYTONA INTERVIEW SPEEDWAY: We want to make a memory for these kids at the speedway.

[10:55:02]

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I think if we do it again, it takes away from what these kids have unfortunately gotten robbed of.

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BLACKWELL: Congratulations to Hunter and all the members of the class of 2020. Listen, you've had some huge challenges, but this is certainly worth it for those kids.

PAUL: Oh, my gosh, this is far better than your usual graduation ceremony.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: Congratulations to them.

Thank you so much for watching. We hope you make good memories today.

BLACKWELL: There's more ahead in the next hour of CNN's Newsroom. Fredricka Whitfield is up next.

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