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Cuomo Prime Time

Rick Bright Warns of a Worse Winter to Come; Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) Was Interviewed About Dr. Rick Bright's Testimony Today on Capitol Hill; Experts Advice People to be Vigilant and Do Things One at a Time; Attorneys for Suspects in Ahmaud Arbery's Killing Say the Public Has Rushed to Judgment; "Westworld" Star Jeffrey Wright Launches Non-Profit to Feed Workers; Survivor of COVID-19 Dances His Way Out of Nearly a Month in Hospital. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired May 14, 2020 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Hey, everybody. I'm Chris Cuomo. Welcome to a special hour of Prime Time.

Reopen or not? It's always been a false choice. It's one made to deceive you into thinking the answer is easy. Of course, the answer is reopen. The only question that is ever mattered is the one you heard answered the least. How to do it. That's the question Rick Bright the ousted vaccine chief held forth on before Congress today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD BRIGHT, FORMER FEDERAL VACCINE CHIEF: Time is running out because the virus is still spreading everywhere. People are getting restless to leave their homes and we have to make critical decisions on how to balance the economy and science.

We don't have a single point of leadership right now for this response. And we don't have a master plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: That's not the first time you've heard that. What was interesting in terms of the context of the scientist was him warning Congress of what could be the darkest winter in the modern history without a ramped-up response to this virus.

Let's talk about that with some of the best minds on this. We have Doctors Ashish Jha and William Schaffner. Doctors, thank you. Good to have you.

WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: Good to be with you, Chris.

CUOMO: So, let's deal with this in term of conflict. I know it will smack a little political. But look, you know, that's the kind of society we have. All right? This isn't a council of elders that just goes on what the wisest members of the society say.

So, Ashish, I'll start with you. The main push back to Bright is if, if, if. You know, darkest winter. We don't know anything about that. There aren't as many dead people as those initial models that showed hundreds of thousands of people dying and millions and millions of cases.

So, we know it's bad. But there's too much doomsday analysis trying to hold us back, Ashish. Your answer?

ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: So first of all, I would say look, the last two months have been incredibly hard. We've all been sheltered in place. And yet 80,000 Americans have still died. Millions have still been infected. And as we open up, yes, we're going to see more cases. We are going to see more deaths.

And there is no question among any public health expert that I know of that about whether we're going to get a second wave or not. We almost surely will in the fall and to winter. And so, the prudent move here is plan for it and to be prepared when it arrives.

CUOMO: Dr. Schaffner, in terms of Bright's claims and credibility, what did you take away from today?

SCHAFFNER: Well, it sounds a little apocalyptic. But I agree with Ashish. We're going to have a double-barreled winter season with both influenza and COVID. And there are things we can do. So, the question is not whether or when to reopen, that will be decided by the leadership at the state and local level. The question is how. Can we do this carefully and thoughtfully.

For example, I don't think any person should leave their home to tomorrow morning without wearing a mask. I think they should be mindful of the six-foot rule throughout the day. I think people who have underlying illnesses and who are older should be especially cautious. A little timorous. Don't go out there in the first wave.

[23:05:03]

I think hand hygiene must be frequent. And come the fall, I think everybody should roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated against influenza. It's not a perfect vaccine but it can mitigate and awful lot of one of this double barrel shotgun that we're going to get of both flu and COVID-19.

CUOMO: Ashish, masks are a metaphor for mixed messaging. When it started out nobody needed a mask. A mask is only for people who are sick. Don't use a mask. The healthcare workers need them. Don't use a mask. You're going to touch your face it's even worse than if you don't have a mask. And then it was well, wear a mask if you can find one. And now it's everybody needs a mask. It is fed people's confusion but also their cynicism.

JHA: So, Chris, what I say to people is, look, this is a new virus. We're learning. And as we're learning we're going to change message based on the latest science and evidence. Two months ago, I wasn't recommending a mask because the evidence wasn't clear at that point.

The evidence is much, much clearer now and so you should be wearing a mask. Do you need to wear the same mask that the doctors and nurses and the hospital do? No. But you need a cloth mask. You need some sort of thing to cover your mouth and your nose. And that will make a big difference. And that's just the way science works. Evidence accumulates. Policies and recommendations changed.

CUOMO: Dr. Schaffner, another push back is look, this economic pain could last for years. Dreams are being destroyed. Businesses will never reopen. A generations worth of wealth is disappearing. We haven't seen job loss since that -- since like what we're seeing since the Great Depression. Those are all real. Absolutes.

This disease we're going to have a vaccine. And, you know, maybe it comes out 6, 12 months they're saying. Although a lot of people say that's wildly ambitious. We'll be able to beat this virus. We may never be able to undo the economic harm not for years. Response?

SCHAFFNER: That's why we have to open up. I understand that. But the trick is to do so carefully to try to minimize the damage. It's an absolute balancing act. Yes, we want to open things up, we want to do it as safely as possible. I never used the word safe. That sounds absolute.

We can minimize the risk. Reduce the risk, keep the curve flattened and down and we can advance economically, socially and culturally. But we have to do it in a series of graduated steps ready to take a step back if things aren't working terribly well. But still with an eye to the future and moving ahead.

We can accommodate these two things. Easy? No. Mistakes? Yes. But we have to work together. The political side, the medical side, the cultural people and try to do this in the best possible way.

CUOMO: Ashish, Wisconsin has become the laboratory for America. And it is no coincidence that it is also a major state of importance politically. What does it mean to you that a place that is so pivotal to win for whomever wants to be president next just had a crazy battle in court that wound up in do whatever you want and now bars flooded like it was pre-COVID-19? When everybody thought that things would change and the normal would forever be a little different. Not in Wisconsin.

JHA: Yes. So, Chris, you know, obviously the legal and political issues are outside of my area of expertise. But when I look at what's happened, on one hand I get, again, people's desire to get back to normal. But we're not going to be able to get back to normal. And bars opening up and getting flooded are not what we need right now.

Again, can some areas of the country open up and do so safely? Absolutely. But are we going to see, are we going to be OK with packed bars any time soon? I think it's going to be very, very dangerous in any part of the country. And so, I look at those photos and videos and I thought this is going to be really hard to sustain. And I'm worried about a big outbreak from things like that. CUOMO: But then people say, Dr. Schaffner, look at Georgia. You guys

were all shaken the -- shaken your hands you can't do it, you can't do it, the cases there are still on the decline. And they have people out and they're using social distancing. They're not going full Wisconsin on it in Georgia. But they are out.

They are using their gathering places. They're getting back to normal and they have not seen any spike yet. Is it fair to judge? And is there a chance that there's a safe way to do this that is less prophylactic than it's being suggested?

[23:10:01]

SCHAFFNER: That could be. And we may learn that. And good for the folks in Georgia. And I hope they keep testing widely and keep encouraging social distancing. Different parts of the country may have different experiences and you know we may not be able to understand all of the differences.

This is a new virus. Look what's just happened in your previous segment. You talk about this new multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children. Who knew about that? We didn't know about that from Asia. We think, we're not sure, but we think it's associated with COVID. The more we learn about this virus the nastier it gets. We must continue to respect the virus. And we'll learn even more things going forward.

CUOMO: It's not a perfect world. That's for sure. And it's a little even trickier when you're dealing with something you don't understand and imperfect solutions. And people who want everything to get back to normal tomorrow.

Dr. Ashish Jha and Dr. William Schaffner, thank you for having level heads in an unsteady time. I appreciate it.

SCHAFFNER: Good to be with you, Chris.

CUOMO: So, big headline today is the coronavirus whistleblower. Rick Bright. He goes up there today, says his piece on Capitol Hill. Takes some punches, gives some punches. What difference does it make? Let's talk to the top Republican in the room for today's testimony. Did he hear anything that was helpful? Where does he think that we're headed? Next.

[23:15:00]

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CUOMO: All right. What's going to happen? Is the crisis going to get worse? Maybe. Could it be that we're over thinking it, and that as places reopen if they open it safely, we'll be OK? Maybe. Are we going to see something change at the federal level? Probably not.

Well, look, that's the opposite of what Rick Bright was saying today. Right? He is saying look, I know, I was on the inside. And here's what has to happen. As a scientist now turned whistleblower, those are in charge don't have the right kind of plan. They're not fighting this the right way and if they don't it together this winter when you have the flu and all this density and people back in school and working in a way that they shouldn't be you're going to have a really scary winter.

How did that resonate? Ranking member of the subcommittee that questioned Bright is Texas Representative Michael Burgess. Congressman, always welcome to see you on Prime Time.

REP. MICHAEL BURGESS (R-TX): Sure. Great. Thanks for having me on. Good to see you back, back on TV and valuable firsthand experience that you brought the nation. So that's a good thing as well.

CUOMO: Thank you very much, Congressman. I appreciate the good words. What did you take away from the testimony today, first on a substantive level? Anything that you heard that you can act upon?

BURGESS: Chris, there was more heat than light. So, the answer to your question is maybe. But maybe not much. Here's the deal, this hearing was premature. Yes, Mr. -- Dr. Bright has filed a whistleblower complaint. That's important. That's serious. It deserves to be heard.

But this is a week into the investigation. It's really unusual to have a full-blown committee hearing on something like this prior to doing any of the investigatory works. So, we're, in many ways we're flying blind on this. We got Dr. Bright's rather elaborate testimony or letter that he provided through his law firm. So, making those allegations. We have no data from the other side. We've got partial e- mail chains. We don't have full e-mail chains.

Some of the things that Dr. Bright asserted I think sounded plausible. Other things that he asserted knowing some of the individuals, knowing some of the time line myself, I found them less than believable. People may remember things differently and that's certainly possible.

But here's the deal, Democrats wanted Dr. Bright in because they thought he condemns the president. And I don't know whether their mission was accomplished or not. But if the idea was let's help the country, because we are in a bad crisis, I don't think that really moved the needle. And that's what unfortunate about this.

CUOMO: Agreed. Let's talk about testing. The president keeps saying I don't know about testing, you know, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know that it's as important as they think. The only reason we have so many cases that we keep testing and every time you test you find out something is wrong.

You know, they say they need a lot of tests. I don't know how they manage the test. Then he says we have more testing than anywhere in the world and we have the best testing and everybody can get a test.

Now you and I both know that every single one of the propositions is false. And I know you're holding back a laugh right now. And I encourage to hold it back. Don't laugh.

BURGESS: It's a smirk. CUOMO: And don't smile. But you know how important testing is. Do you

think you can get your colleagues on the right to work with people on the left to do anything on the federal level to make testing a priority in this country?

BURGESS: Well, what I do think is we cannot criticize the president on this issue when we were so inert and inactive through February and the first half of March. I had asked our subcommittee on health. We got a bad problem here.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: January. In January you were saying things.

BURGESS: Well, right. But as far as the testing that really became --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: February.

BURGESS: It became a problem in February. I don't know why the CDC got so far behind the curve. I agree with the president it's the system that he was handed and there were some decisions that were made at the agency level at the FDA back in 2012 and 2014 that I don't think were well thought through. Because we were going to drive the private sector out of the laboratory developed testing market.

[22:20:01]

And I thought that would leave us exposed. I didn't know it would leave us exposed on this. But we need those as adapt, we need those laboratories developed tests. But the FDA said we're going to regulate them like medical devices. That takes forever to get something through and investment literally dried up on that front.

Now, we had the problem. CDC couldn't deliver. Dr. Hahn wisely at the FDA I though said I got trouble and I got to allow some emergency use authorizations. So, I think it was one of your New York hospitals was one of the first ones around Valentine's Day said look, you can to your own test.

And that's the thing. This is an RNA test. Hospitals do this all the time.

CUOMO: Right.

BURGESS: It wasn't that exotic a test.

CUOMO: Right.

BURGESS: So, I don't know why the CDC failed on that. But we as a Congress could have started asking those questions and didn't get anyone's attention that South Korea had done 100,000 tests and we've done 90. I mean that's what didn't make any sense to me.

So, I actually brought it up at a hearing we were having in the middle of February. I got chastised by the now committee chairwoman who said we got plenty of time for this later on. We're going to have Secretary Azar in a couple of weeks for the budget hearing. We got plenty of time to deal with this.

Chairman Pallone told me in the early part of March we'll get to it later on in the month. And guess what? We were locked down and we were gone. So, we never got to it.

CUOMO: Right.

BURGESS: So, now with testing --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: But here's what I say.

BURGESS: And let's -- we're going to put money in it. So, let's make sure we do it right from this point forward and we can't just criticize the president. We have to look at ourselves as well.

CUOMO: I'm fine with that. Now I have been looking down while you've been speaking and completely not out of the disrespect. I'm just looking at an entire list of about 15 different statements the president made through February, March, April and into now.

Denigrating testing. Playing down its importance. Telling governors to do it themselves. Not fighting for them to get the money to do the same. Not helping. And I think he's been against it all along because he believes it will retard efforts to reopen the country because it will be steady flow of bad information. But we don't have to debate that --

(CROSSTALK)

BURGESS: I disagree.

CUOMO: OK. We agree to disagree on it. Because it doesn't matter, because it's all about how we go forward. The president just said today, look, you know, I think that this testing is overrated and we just test so much that's why we have so many cases. That attitude will kill us. I mean that figuratively.

You have to do better than that. You have to test more and trace more to deal with what's going to happen in the fall. We still have one company in this entire country making testing materials. It's not enough.

What can you guys do to incentivize the president or on your own create more manufacturing of what you know you'll need in the fall? The testing equipment to go along to the states, the PPE equipment. What can you do to get that done?

BURGESS: Well, the first thing it's actually already happened. It happened in the second response bill that passed in the middle of March and the third --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Yes, but not enough.

BURGESS: Wait a minute. It's well over $75 billion --

CUOMO: Yes.

BURGESS: -- and there was more added in the last bill than we just did. I don't think they know how to spend all the money right now. And that's another thing that concerns me. We send the money over to the agencies, we don't give them any direction, any guide post, any guidelines, any guardrails. And then we say we're going to clobber you if you don't do it right because we got three investigatory committees that are --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: But it's not about the executive leadership?

BURGESS: Well, actually it is -- it is about our oversight of -- but we've got to -- we should do the hearings. We should do the work ahead of time.

CUOMO: No. Hearings take too long, congressman. We can't wait for you guys to check the agency.

(CROSSTALK)

BURGESS: No, wait.

CUOMO: You need agencies to work with the administration to execute the law.

BURGESS: But we need to collect data before we advance the money. I mean, that's really should be the standard way to do this. And had we started in February, like I thought we should have, we wouldn't be so far behind now.

But, look, there's some testing mechanisms that are going to be great. There are others that are going to leave something to be desired. The president, you know, I think in what he's seen himself is some tests are positive some are negative on the same person within the same day. So, he's saying, well, this may be unreliable. I get that. I get why there would be that skepticism. Doesn't mean you don't test and doesn't mean that testing is not important.

And as we collect more information with this, as we gain experience with again, what is a very new disease, I think you'll see the body of evidence accumulate that will be -- this is why I don't think the second phase of this or if there's a second round of this it will be nearly as devastating as the first. Because we will have those tests. They will be available.

I agree with your other guests earlier for him to say let's get the flu shot this fall. Don't run the risk of compounding the problem. I know people say I don't take the flu shot. But this, you'll take it. OK? That's going to be an important part of how we arm ourselves against what's coming.

[23:24:59]

CUOMO: Well, I'll tell you this, Congressman, we always agree. You know I love having you on the show. It's not about getting into an argument about anything. It's about finding how to move forward in a better way. That's never been more true than where we are now.

I agree with you about the fall. There really is no reason for us to get hit as hard as we did the first time, because the big reason we got hit so hard the first time is we weren't ready. And if we're not ready this time, shame on us.

Congressman, I know you're ahead of the curve on telling people to lookout for what was coming. Hopefully, they'll listen to you this time.

(CROSSTALK)

BURGESS: And the president -- the president did put in a travel ban which I could never get the previous administration to do with the Ebola. So, I give him some credit there because that was important.

CUOMO: Look, there is no question that what he did in China was helpful. Should it also have been done with Europe? Is there everything we shouldn't have done with testing? There's plenty of blame to go around. Just not the next time. The next time we can't make the same mistakes we did the first time, otherwise it will be exposed for what it is which is people playing politics.

BURGESS: Yes.

CUOMO: You always have a place here to argue your points. And I welcome you back.

BURGESS: All right. Thank you.

CUOMO: Be well, Congressman and stay healthy.

BURGESS: All right. Thanks.

CUOMO: Defense lawyers were one of the suspects charged with murder and the killing of Ahmaud Arbery now says don't rush to judgment. They're right. Of course, you shouldn't rush to judgment. But you do have to follow the facts. OK? We're going to do that with Laura Coates. What do we know and what does it mean? Next.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: We are hearing the first response from the legal team for Gregory and Travis McMichael, the father and son facing murder charges in the shooting death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. Travis's lawyers say he has been vilified before being heard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT RUBIN, ATTORNEY FOR TRAVIS MCMICHAEL: No matter how you look at this case, a young man has died. That is always a tragedy. That is at the forefront of our minds as we proceed down this road. But that does not mean that a crime has been committed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Let's take these comments to one of our top legal minds, former federal prosecutor Laura Coates. Laura, I'm sorry about the columns (ph) last night and losing you early. I appreciate it. It's always good to have you.

So, you know, he said something else that I think you will probably find very interesting. He said, you know, there is going to be a trial probably, and we will bring evidence before a jury, at court, at trial, and so will prosecutors.

Very interesting because as you and I know, the defense has no burden of presenting any evidence at trial, and him suggesting that they will, probably speaks to a self-defense case, probably speaks to a stand-your-ground case. I do not know what else in terms of evidence they would want to put on and risk putting on any evidence at all.

LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Absolutely. First of all, the irony is not lost on anyone, Chris, that they are asking for people to withhold judgment and not to -- to not to immediately avoid the presumption of innocence here which really fundamentally was not afforded to the victim in this case, Ahmaud Arbery.

CUOMO: Mm-hmm.

COATES: That is not lost on anyone. Number two, you're actually right. It is the prosecution's burden to be able to make a case beyond a reasonable doubt. If they fail to do so, well, the defense has options. They can put on a case and use a defense, trying to assume and get into the minds of the jurors and saying the prosecution will not met their defense so put on a case, or they can just go ahead and probably do that very thing.

If they're saying right now they're going to put on a case, it will most assuredly be about self-defense, and that is what this is going to come down to because law is pretty clear, as we are reading it at right now and the way we view the videotape, they don't have a lot of standing when it comes to having witnessed a crime first-hand or immediate knowledge the citizen arrest requires. They don't have a defense at somebody's property because it wasn't their property.

So, now, their claim is going to have to come to, what transpired in the immediate altercation between Ahmaud Arbery and Travis McMichael? Did he use lethal force because he believed it was kill or be killed? And was he right to even be in that mindset? That is going to be the right question to ask as a prosecutor and as a defense attorney of how to present your best case.

CUOMO: In terms of the federal level, the fact that the federal authorities are looking at this, as well, the civil rights case they would make, does anything that you see here line up as making this a more likely scenario than we have seen in the past of a federal case happening?

COATES: Normally, federal cases when there is a local prosecution that is pending, they serve as a backstop. They will do it after a local trial takes place. They are kind of waiting and seeing to figure out where they are needed and if they are needed.

It usually comes down typically to civil rights context if race is a factor. We are already seeing the climate. We are seeing the atmosphere of the discussions. We are asking questions about the motive. Was it racial profiling? Was it about somebody racially targeting and profiling an African American man?

Ironically, in Georgia, there is no hate crime legislation. They tried in the past. The Supreme Court in Georgia struck it down because it wasn't specific enough. They tried it last year. The House passed in Georgia. The Senate said no. They dong right now have any Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

But the federal level does. The federal level will have to look at this case to first determine whether race is indeed a factor and whether there is enough evidence there to substantiate any claim of a hate crime.

[23:35:04]

COATES: It is a very difficult thing to do, Chris, because unless you have sort of the Dylann Roof Mother Emanuel sort of manifestos or some clear indication of bias or historical (ph) context in some way of that person, it's hard to prove it, not impossible, but that is what they are going to consider.

Either way, however, the federal government can look into prosecutorial misconduct. What caused an 80-plus delay? What caused the recusal followed by a memorandum written by one of the prosecutors? And what caused all of the sequence of events we're seeing now that it led us to be behind the eight ball?

CUOMO: You know, a lot of people keep making the mistake of analyzing this situation as if the McMichaels were police, and whether or not, well, you know, he shouldn't have run, he should have just stopped, and he shouldn't have gone at him when they pointed the gun at him.

How different is the analysis in a prosecution when it's not police officers that you're dealing with, it is citizens that made the decision to chase someone they saw jogging past their house?

COATES: It makes all the difference in the world. As my colleague Joey Jackson and I were talking about earlier, it was the idea of who are you? I mean, who are you to tell this person to stop and who gives you the authority to believe that that person should stop upon your request?

You haven't identified yourself as an officer. You're not an officer. You haven't been deputized to such. You are no different than somebody walking by and demanding that I hand over my license or my registration. Who are you?

But, there is a law in Georgia that says that a citizen's arrest can be made but they have to meet certain criteria. The reason why it is so frowned upon to try to execute that sort of citizen's right is because -- think about this. Think of the flowchart analysis you and I go through thinking about this case, about probable cause, about suspicion, about identifying a suspect, about how to approach.

These things are helpful when you're talking about people who have been trained and they are very dangerous not only to people you approach but people who are engaged in the behavior to try to usurp the authority of police.

This is why I wonder, Chris, in many respects why we haven't heard more from law enforcement on these issues. Because it's very, very vital to the community to have law enforcement and also essential that law enforcement not be usurped by people who are engaged (INAUDIBLE) even resembles vigilantism, because if they do, then you're left with people not understanding whether or not there are boundaries and victims could be targeted and eventually killed.

CUOMO: Laura Coates, intelligent, helpful as always. Thank you.

COATES: Thank you, Chris. Thank you.

CUOMO: We have another special guest for you tonight, one of the stars of "Westworld," Mr. Jeffrey Wright. But I'm not talking to him about some imaginary vision of the future. I'm talking to him about the real and the right now. And he is part of a mission to ease the pain for small business owners and the heroic essential workers in one of New York City's most famous and needy areas. And guess what? He is not here to talk to me. He is here to talk to you. How can you help, next.

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[23:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Jeffrey Wright, one of the stars of HBO's "Westworld" and a ton of other TV shows and movies, very talented guy. But he is not just an artist on the screen that feeds a passion for community and humanity, especially in Brooklyn, New York.

He has launched a non-profit that helps both small businesses and essential workers in Brooklyn, which if you didn't know is one of the hardest hit spots in the pandemic. So the non-profit is called "Brooklyn for Life." It has already raised $800,000. It needs more. CNN and HBO parent companies, Warner Media and AT&T, have donated 250 grand so far. Jeffrey, welcome to "Prime Time."

JEFFREY WRIGHT, ACTOR: Thanks, Chris. I'm glad to be here. I'm glad to see you on the better side of this thing, too. I hope you're -- the same for your family, as well.

CUOMO: Thank you very much, brother. As you know, I am one of the lucky ones. Let's talk about those who need help. What are you doing? How does it work? How can we get a piece of the action?

WRIGHT: Well, you know, this thing started pretty simply, Chris. I was really just trying to help out a couple friends of mine who are restaurant owners here in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

One, a guy named Michael Thompson, has a place called "Brooklyn Moon." It has been in the community for 25 years. I have lived here for 20 years. He has been my neighbor since. He wasn't so delivery-oriented. So we went on lockdown. He tried to convert to delivery mode. I said I'll help you out and try to boost you on social media and make it known, what you're doing.

And so I did call him back the next day after we went on lockdown. I said to him, Mike, how are you doing? He said, I got five orders today, bro. You know, that's not going to work. We called another friend named Vito Randazzo. He has got a place called Graziella's over here. My kids and I eat Graziella's pizza practically every day since he's been there for 15 years. He's a friend, as well.

[23:44:55]

WRIGHT: He was having folks call in to order pizzas on behalf of staff at Brooklyn Hospital, which as well is here in Fort Greene, where Tony Fauci was born, 175-year-old facility, safety net facility in our community. So, we met with a guy named Lenny Singletary over there.

CUOMO: Yes.

WRIGHT: He is the VP for external affairs. He said yeah. You know him well. He said, hey, you know, we can use the additional support. We got folks working 15, 16-hour shifts, they're not going home, they're staying in hotels, all the restaurants are closed, so whatever you can do to support us would be welcome.

So, we started on March 27th, supplying 200 meals from those two restaurants to Brooklyn Hospital. I opened up a GoFundMe page to try to fundraise on behalf of that. And so as of this week, we passed the 120,000 meal mark. So since March 27, we have through a circle of over 50 restaurants now from Bed-Stuy (ph)to Bay Ridge, we provided meals to 10 medical facilities in Brooklyn and all 11 FDNY EMS stations, averaging about 2,500 meals per day.

One of the many great stories about this is that those have all been coordinated by my friend Mike's daughter. She's hold up in her apartment, 27 years old, Camille Thompson, she's coordinating with the hospitals, coordinating with the restaurants, taking in orders, maintaining quality control, and she, by herself, single-handedly, has been responsible for 120,000 meals going out to these places.

CUOMO: One day, they did 5,000 meals. Just to remind people, because there's a lot of numbers, so, he went from five with one guy because that was all he could do by himself. So he had to become part of something bigger, which is what we are always encouraging people to do. And it went from five meals to then 200 meals. And one day, they did 25,000. The biggest they've not (ph) done is 5,000 in a day, over 120,000 overall, 10 different hospitals.

And you're thinking, Mike meals, these people aren't starving? Yes, they are. They are working tremendously long shifts. They burn a ton of calories. They need food. They don't have time to go out and eat, even if they had the money to do it. And a lot of these people don't make the cash that you think they do. They are also feeding first responders of the FDNY and EMS stations in Brooklyn. A dozen police precincts, as well.

So, how do we get in on this action? The website is www.brooklynforlife.org. Jeffrey, I got to tell you, it's not easy for a guy from Queens to say those words, but I'm going to say to them, because they're about the bigger community, of all of us in this country. So, I will put "Brooklyn for Life" coming out of my mouth, which ordinarily, I would never have said. Brooklynforlife.org. Where do you hope this goes?

WRIGHT: You're welcome here anytime, Chris. You know that. We'll get you out on the ball court out here. You're welcome here.

CUOMO: Oh, please. Go ahead.

WRIGHT: But, yeah, you know, that's --

(LAUGHTER)

WRIGHT: We will talk about that. That has been one of the really exciting things. The GoFundMe page was set up, as I said, March 27th. We've raise over $300,000 now on that. That was largely through five and 10-dollar donations, 25-dollar donations from Brooklyn Knights who wanted to get involved, also folks from around the country.

We also had some larger dollar donations on the outside. My buddy Daniel Craig, my James Bond brother, we reached out to him, he pitched in, Jay-Z pithed in, Spike Lee, but it's been evenly split with those smaller dollar donations. It's been fairly democratic in that way.

As you said, AT&T and Warner Media now have pitched in. There are first major corporate sponsors. That is great. We need those big corporate neighbors to step in and support, too, because, you know, we're all in this together. What serves any one of us, whether it be individuals or corporations, serves the whole.

Going back to your point, though, about those 5,000 meals, yeah, we did that, but we had to pull back on that. We were serving a dozen NYPD police precincts, but that was going through our resources at a pace that was too quick, so we've gone back to about 2,000 meals.

But I like to keep this going for at least, you know, three or four more weeks, however long it takes, so we can be a bridge back to something that resembles commercial viability for the small businesses so that we can perhaps bridge a gap to craft better suited public funding for them as well. The PPE did not really shape their needs in a way that was helpful. CUOMO: Yeah.

WRIGHT: We are here for as long as it takes.

CUOMO: Government is never going to be enough. People always have to do things for themselves. This is a beautiful demonstration of that. The website is on the screen, www.brooklynforlife.org.

[23:50:02]

CUOMO: The more money they get, the more manpower they can have, the more meals they can deliver. Jeffrey Wright, I've always been a fan.

WRIGHT: Chris, can I say one last thing?

CUOMO: One last thing to you, go ahead.

WRIGHT: You're talking about the need for these hospitals. I'm going to give you an example. We provide 600 meals per day. The reason being was that they had a private company that is running the cafeteria. They had to downsize during the outbreak. So, that cafeteria was only providing meals for patients.

So you had hospital staff there caring for the most sick that did not have access to food at all. And, of course, all the restaurants in the area are closed. So, this is a critical need that was provided by these small businesses.

And so according to science, supporting the health care workers is not only helping their own economic interests but looking out for the needs of the front line fighting this thing on our behalf. So, I just wanted to make that clear. This isn't a luxury for folks. This is a necessity.

CUOMO: Right. Hundred percent understood. It's a great idea in the head. It comes from the heart, and I love it. Everybody who can get involved should. I'm going to do it as soon as I'm done with the show. Jeffrey Wright, I didn't think I could love you more, but now I do. Thank you for coming on, brother. Good luck with the efforts.

WRIGHT: I appreciate it, brother. Thank you, Chris. Keep well.

CUOMO: All right. I will see you soon. Jeffrey Wright. All right, we'll be right back.

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[23:55:00]

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CUOMO: All right. Let us bask a little in the light of good COVID news. Witness Tom Berisha recovered after a month at New York- Presbyterian Allen Hospital.

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CUOMO: The little things, baby, the little things. Dancing on your own two feet after being knocked down for so long by this virus. God bless him and his family. Thank you for watching. Please stay tuned. The news continues here on CNN.

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