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Obama Slams Trump And Trump Fires Back; More States To Partially Reopen; State Department I.G. Fired By Trump; Texas One-Day Spike On New COVID-19 Cases; How And When To Reopen U.S. Schools?; Drive-In Movie Theaters Are Coming Back; Retail Industry Amid The Pandemic; Phyllis George, Dead At 70. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired May 17, 2020 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Thanks for being here. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. And tonight, the president versus his predecessor. The Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic now at the center of an escalating feud between President Trump and former President Barack Obama.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, he was an incompetent president, that's all I can say. Grossly incompetent. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Those comments come a day after President Obama sharply criticized how the Trump administration has handled the pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: More than anything, this pandemic is fully finally torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they're doing. A lot of them aren't even pretending to be in charge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: All of this taking place on a weekend when the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus is nearing 90,000. And 48 states now are in the process of reopening, at least partially. Let's begin with CNN's Jeremy Diamond at the White House and that very public feud now between the presidents, President Trump and former President Obama. Jeremy?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Ana. Over the last week, we have heard now President Obama directly and indirectly criticizing President Trump's administration's response to this coronavirus pandemic.

This morning, President Trump was asked about that criticism from the former president, from his direct predecessor, and he fired back, saying that President Obama was a grossly incompetent president. That was the first response that we have seen from President Trump to the former president's criticisms.

But what we do know, Ana, is that over the last week, President Trump has been ramping up his attacks on President Obama on other fronts including whipping up his base of support by lobbying these accusations, mostly evidence-free accusations, accusing former President Obama of being involved in some kind of a conspiracy to undermine his presidency.

Of course, President Trump has provided little-to-no evidence for that. But nonetheless, it is striking to see these two presidents now going at it, in something a feud that I believe we'll see escalate as President Obama becomes more and more involved in campaigning for former Vice President Joe Biden.

CABRERA: And meantime, Jeremy, just yesterday, we were here reporting on the president firing the State Department inspector general as he was in the middle of an investigation of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. And now, today, we're learning of another staff change over at the Department of Transportation. What can you tell us about that?

DIAMOND: That's right, Ana. What we're hearing about the Department of Transportation is a very different situation it seems from what happened at the Department of State.

The announcement that there's going to be a new acting inspector general over there at the Department of Transportation, that announcement coming at the same time as the Trump administration nominates a permanent inspector general for the Department of Transportation, a position that has been vacant since last January.

But again, different from what we saw at the State Department where that inspector general has been fired because of President Trump losing confidence in him.

Of course, that inspector general was not only involved in providing documents to Congress amid some of the impeachment inquiry, but also was reportedly looking into an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. That decision prompted a lot of criticism, including from the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY PELOSI, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Well, I mean, unsavory when you take out someone who is there to enforce the -- to stop waste, fraud, abuse, or other violations of the law that are believed to be happening. So again, let's take a look and see -- the president has the right to fire any federal employee, but the fact is, if it looks like it's in retaliation for something that the I.G., the inspector general is doing, that could be unlawful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And that criticism has also been echoed on the Republican side, at least, by Senator Mitt Romney, who called the firings of multiple inspector generals unprecedented.

[17:04:56]

If you include the move at the Department of Transportation, that is five different inspectors general who the Trump administration, the White House, has either looked to do some reshuffling there or directly sought to remove or fire an inspector general.

Certainly, the White House is trying to take more control over accountability inside the federal government. Ana?

CABRERA: Jeremy Diamond at the White House, thank you. Turning now from the White House to what's happening where you live, most states across the nation are forging ahead with phased reopenings.

By midnight tonight, 48 states will have eased at least some restrictions. This comes as 11 states still see a rise in the number of confirmed cases. In the state of Texas, on Saturday, it reported its highest one-day spike since the pandemic began, with more than 1,800 new cases.

Yet, Texas Governor Greg Abbott is allowing more businesses to reopen Monday, including some gyms and offices. CNN's Ed Lavendera is in Dallas. Ed, what's behind this apparent surge in cases?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to state health officials here in Texas, the surge yesterday was due in large part to specific and focused testing in the panhandle area around Amarillo where there are a number of meat packing plants.

State health officials say that about more than 730 of the 1,800 cases reported on Saturday came from those -- that area, which presumably includes a lot of people who work in those meat packing plants where we have seen a breakout and a spike in the number of cases for several weeks now.

But we have the latest numbers coming from the state of Texas and it really kind of -- what I'm about to tell you kind of shows you the volatility in all of this and how hard it is to make sense of everything.

The new numbers being reported by the state of Texas is 785 new cases, but when you dig into those numbers, that is less than -- based on less than half the number of tests done the day before. So there are I think there were like 32,000 tests reported on Saturday, just over 14,000 tests being reported today.

So again, it's important to look at the overall trend lines in all of this. The governor here in Texas says that he's looking at more than just the number of cases, looking in hospitalization rates and that sort of thing and positivity rates in these tests.

But, look, if you look over the course and the average over the last two weeks, many of these indicators has been very flat, just kind of plateaued. Not really moving dramatically one way or the other. And that kind of speaks to the concern that many people have here in the state about whether or not it is a good time to reopen.

But that effort continues here in Texas and will continue. Gyms and exercise clubs will be allowed to reopen tomorrow. So, the reopening continues despite these latest numbers.

That's the latest here from Texas. Now, I'm going to toss it over to my colleague in New York with the latest about what's going on there. We have Evan McMorris-Santoro.

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Ed. Yes, I'm in Brooklyn at the Domino Park, a popular park in the Williamsburg neighborhood. And authorities here were concerned about overcrowding. So last week, they painted circles on the ground, six feet apart, to keep groups separated.

They're handing out masks and the NYPD is on hand to enforce social distancing. The weather is getting nice here and people are coming out, but New York City is still under that lockdown order it's been under for the past two months. And Mayor Bill de Blasio said today in his press conference that things aren't going to change just because the weather gets nice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL DE BLASIO, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: I've said before, I'm going to say again. We are not opening our beaches on Memorial Day. We are not opening our beaches in the near term. It is not safe. It is not the right thing to do in the epicenter of this crisis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Other parts of New York State are slowly reopening. Good news from the governor today about overall case load and intubations and all the numbers we've been tracking, but New York City, the center of the center of the pandemic in the United States, remains under lockdown and will remain that way for the foreseeable future, Ana?

CABRERA: All right. Evan McMorris-Santoro, thank you for that snapshot from New York and to Ed Lavandera, thank you for that report from Texas.

Now, as 48 states are reopening, a new study shows that social distancing has made a real difference. Here's what the research says. Social distancing cut the virus' daily growth rate by 9 percent over two to three weeks.

Without social distancing in the U.S., cases could have been 35 times higher, the researchers say. And it was stay-at-home orders, plus closing bars and restaurants that made the biggest difference.

Let me bring in our doctors, CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Amy Compton- Phillips and Chief Clinical Officer for the Providence Health System, as well as Dr. Stephen Sample, emergency physician at Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center in Jasper, Indiana.

Dr. Sample, given this new information, as long as Americans keep practicing social distancing, can reopening the country be successful?

[17:10:02]

STEPHEN SAMPLE, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN, MEMORIAL HOSPITAL & HEALTH CARE CENTER: Hi, Ana, I think so. I hope so, I pray so. What we have been doing has clearly been working. We have kept ICUs all over the country from reaching their capacities outside of the hot spots in New York City and some of the other places in the states.

But it is going to take a very concerted effort from all of our citizens to really keep up with the social distancing and wearing the masks and looking at the newest guidelines so that we can stay on top of this thing. We need to reopen, but we've got to do it exactly right.

CABRERA: Dr. Compton Phillips, we have some video from a restaurant that has reopened in Houston and I just want to show that, because as you watch this, you'll notice, there's not a lot of social distancing going on there.

And we know that in Texas, one of the earlier states to reopen, they are seeing a surge in new cases, although it sounds like that may be largely attributed to a meat packing plant outbreak.

But in other states, like Florida, Georgia, and Colorado, we're seeing a flattening, or at least a downward trend, which seems to be good news. What are we learning from these other states that are managing to keep their cases down?

AMY COMPTON-PHILLIPS, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: So what we're learning is that it's possible, although we have to be very attuned to having hot spots. And that's what's happening in Texas. As you heard, there's a couple of hot spots that made the rate go up, but it's across the board, it's doing okay, we think.

And that really is the goal. As we reopen, as long as we have socially responsible individuals that are doing exactly what Dr. Sample said, wearing masks, washing their hands, staying 6 feet apart.

And we have a robust public health infrastructure that's able to do early identification, isolation, and contact tracing, we can open and get life back to something closer to normal while we keep the virus under control.

CABRERA: Dr. Sample, let's take a look at another video, this time from Japan, showing how quickly the virus could spread in a restaurant, and, you know, this person was just pretending that they had the virus. There was the black light, they put it on the hands, and they just went through their restaurant experience per normal.

And as you can see, every single person at that table ends up with the virus -- the fake virus -- on their body. There's also this new study that had come out showing that air droplets of the virus can be in the air for 8 to 14 minutes. How safe can dining out realistically be? Would you risk it? SAMPLE: First of all, that's gross, right? But, second of all, I'm not

quite ready to risk going in and sitting down in a dining room yet. I consider myself to be a potential super spreader of this illness, so - and when we go out to eat, it's very difficult to maintain the vigilance necessary to keep from acquiring this virus, because you can't eat with a mask on, first of all.

You're spending the entire dinner touching your face. So, I'm not ready yet to go inside and sit down. I think I owe it to my patients to protect myself, so that when I go back to work in the emergency department, I'm not spreading it to them so that I can have a cheeseburger.

CABRERA: Yes, Dr. Compton-Phillips, the goal, of course, is to have a vaccine in order to return life to normal. But today, the U.K. business secretary warned, we may never find a successful coronavirus vaccine. Does that surprise you?

COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Well, you know, people can say anything. And in medicine, you learn to never say never. I think it's infinitesimally small odds we will never have a vaccine, just like its infinitesimally small odds we'll have a vaccine by the time school starts this year, right.

The truth is somewhere in the middle. We've already found neutralizing antibodies to this virus that Duke in Singapore actually just put a paper out saying that they found neutralizing antibodies, which means we can generate those. That's what a vaccine does.

And so because we know it's possible, we will get to having -- I think, better than 99.99 percent chance that we will get to having an effective vaccine, some time in the next -- before the end of 2021.

CABRERA: That would, of course, be so, so important. In past health crises, the CDC has really been the world leader. This time appears different. Here's the former CDC Director, Tom Frieden, just this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS HOST: Do you agree that the CDC, that its role has been diminished and do you think that is reasonable or do you think that's a mistake?

TOM FRIEDEN, FORMER CDC DIRECTOR: I will personally feel safer when CDC is speaking regularly to the American people. They are the world's experts in this. No other doctor, no other agency in the U.S. government has the depth and breadth of expertise of CDC.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Dr. Sample, how do you feel about the role of the CDC in this pandemic?

[17:14:55] SAMPLE: Well, I think that the CDC clearly had a few dropped balls early in this when this was coming out. They were facing something that was unprecedented to us and we keep using that word, but it was at least in the modern era.

But I think over the last couple of months, they have been fairly kneecapped by the administration. They are consistently having the information that they are putting out contradicted and I feel like there's a lot of gas lighting going on against the CDC right now.

You know, this is a long game and the CDC is our quarterback for a pandemic and I don't think that you would take Tom Brady out of the fourth quarter, just because he had an interception thrown in the first half. And I think that we really need to put our experts forward.

You know, I'm a physician. I'm a country emergency physician, and I know where to find my information. I'm not generating all of this genomic research, but I know where to find it and I know who to trust.

And I think that the American public really needs to step back and listen to who has their best interests at heart in this. And the CDC has got thousands of people who are working day and night to take care of us and to learn more about this illness and I think we've got to let them play the game.

CABRERA: Well, Dr. Steven Sample and Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, I think this is the first time I've had both of you on my program. It's really great to have your voices and expertise. Thank you so much.

COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Thank you, Ana.

SAMPLE: Thank you.

CABRERA: Parents across the country are asking the question, when will it be safe to send my children back to school? Our next guest is the 2019 teacher of the year. What he thinks needs to be done, next. And some also practical advice for those of us who are home-schooling right now. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:20:00]

CABRERA: As communities and states begin to reopen, it's one of the big question marks that remain. How and when to safely reopen schools? We got a glimpse of what that might look like from Willow Creek School in Montana, which was one of the first schools in the country to reopen.

One student at the time, getting off the bus, 6 feet between kids, measured by a teacher holding a pool noodle. Temperature checks at the door. But for the vast majority of children across the country, the school year will continue with distance learning.

In-person teaching in classrooms replaced by digital lessons. No recess on the playground with classmates and of course, the added uncertainty of what school will look like in the fall. I want to bring in one teacher who has been recognized as one of the best.

Rodney Robinson. He was the 2019 National Teacher of the Year, and that's involving all of his wonderful work at Virgie Binford Education Center at the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center. Rodney, great to have you here. I know this is a hard time for everyone involved in education. What do you see as the biggest challenge teachers are facing right now?

RODNEY ROBINSON, 2019 NATIONAL TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Well, the biggest challenges that teachers are facing are the inequities. We knew these inequities existed for years, but COVID has only ripped the mask off of these inequities.

We have teachers who don't have internet access. We have students who don't have access to technology. We have students who are pretty much struggling to survive and education is an afterthought.

And so those types of things create a situation where teachers are in a very difficult predicament where we want to care for our kids, we want to educate them, but they may not have the tools or equipment to access the education that we're offering.

CABRERA: I mean, that's got to be so frustrating. I know you've done a lot of work specifically with disadvantaged and at-risk youth and I want to read you something former President Obama said at a virtual graduation ceremony just last night.

And I quote, "this pandemic has shaken up the status quo and laid bear a lot of our country's deep-seated problems, from massive economic inequality to ongoing racial disparities to a lack of basic health care for people who need it. It's woken a lot of young people to the fact that the old ways of doing things just don't work."

I know you worry about children who are less fortunate, who were facing significant adversity, even before this pandemic. I mean, let me ask you, how does a child who, you know, whose parents maybe can't be there at the kitchen table helping them out when they're, you know, facing challenges in this distance learning situation? How does that child not fall behind and what can a teacher do about this?

ROBINSO: Well, first of all, we can't call kids at risk. I don't believe in that word. I believe in at promise or at potential. All kids are at promise or at potential if the resources are there to make them successful.

And it's up to the community to take care of the kids, to wrap their arms around the kids to ensure that some learning takes place. However, we know that is not possible in all situations.

So the parents and students out there, if you can't do anything more than just read a book, literacy skills are transferable to no matter what subject you're taking. So just read, do the best you can to stay up to date. But the reality is, we're teachers. We meet students where they are.

So when the students come back to us, whenever that may be, we're going to meet them where they are and we'll get them caught up to where they need to be. That's what teachers do.

CABRERA: I love your optimism, but how much learning has been lost with kids out of the physical classroom right now, do you think?

ROBINSON: Well, learning is lost. I mean, we talk about the summer slide that takes place over three months. But right now, we're looking at six months. So we can look at the summer slide, we can pretty much double that.

But the reality is we have to be creative. This is a great time for districts and schools to re-imagine what school could be. You know, there are some students that are thriving in distance learning. There are some students that aren't.

And so when we get back together, we need to combine those resources, differentiate our instruction, and just meet the kids where they are to ensure that they have access to quality high education.

[17:25:03]

CABRERA: I know a lot is up in the air for next school year. I want to show you some video from a school in Quebec that posted this to help students understand how school might look different and how things might be different when they return to school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, kids! Don't be alarmed! This is what we're going to look like when you return back. We have goggles, masks, and gloves.

Don't forget, you have to sanitize your hands before you come into the building! Okay! Now a staff member will escort Ben to class. We have some funky designs on the floor. You'll notice lines and you'll notice some arrows. Make sure that you are keeping at least one arrow apart from all of your classmates and your teachers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Teachers in PPE, space between desks, the playground off- limits. When you return to the classrooms, what types of adjustments do you expect?

ROBINSON: Well, we're going to adjust to whatever the scientist say need to be done because education has become so political. We need to get back to doing what the science says.

And the reality is, we have nurses and doctors who don't even have PPE equipment right now, so I'm really skeptical that all schools in America will have the supplies they need to open up. These are the inequities we're talking about. There are some schools that don't even have computers, some schools that don't have internet access. How can we essentially trust that we will have those PPE and the equipment we need to make sure that schools are safe for our children?

CABRERA: Important questions that need to be answered, certainly, before children are back in the classrooms and teachers like yourself are back in the classrooms. Safety first, right? But learning, obviously, a very close second and we really appreciate what you do.

I have to say, as a parent now having to home-school my two children, I realize even more the value that you bring to all of us. Thank you, Rodney Robinson for joining us.

ROBINSON: Thank you.

CABRERA: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had evidence of where the coronavirus originated. Now he's walking it back, casting doubt on his own theory. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:30:00]

CABRERA: A threat to accountable democracy, those are the words of Republican Senator Mitt Romney denouncing another firing of an inspector general by President Trump.

Steve Linick, the State Department watchdog is among several inspectors general targeted by the president in recent weeks. A State Department source now confirming to CNN that Linick was leading an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over allegations of improper use of a political appointee.

With us now is CNN National Security Analyst, Sam Vinograd. And Sam, from a national security standpoint, what do you make of this?

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Ana, this is spring cleaning gone wrong. Trump is engaged in an ongoing spate of I.G. removals without justifiable cause. The core question here is why Trump is moving to remove Linick.

Trump is claiming that he has lost confidence in the I.G., but this is a misuse of the confidence card. A president's confidence in an I.G. should be tied to whether the I.G. is performing his or her statutory outline responsibilities.

We have no indication that Linick wasn't doing his job. We do know that Linick had started an investigation into Pompeo and that Pompeo recommended that Linick be removed to the president. This looks like retaliation.

Now, Democrats are demanding answers, but it takes two to tango. Sex tape is a serial stonewaller of congressional oversight efforts. And concurrently, Republicans are not taking action to hold the administration accountable. This likely means more retaliatory removals going forward because there are no consequences to Trump for his actions.

CABRERA: Sam, last week acting director of National Intelligence Richard Grennell declassified a list of names of individual who unmasked the identity of former National Security adviser Michael Flynn. How does that impact the intelligence community?

VINOGRAD: Well, this unprecedented and out of context declassification by Grennell politicizes the intelligence community that he's supposed to be leading. I've been involved in unmasking requests. They are a routine part of national security work.

(Inaudible) I.C. routinely collects on foreign targets and sometimes those foreign targets are talking about or two an American. Now, certain U.S. officials can request that that American be unmasked when they have a justifiable reason to do so.

Grennell left out all of that context when he declassified these names, and he also left out the underlying intelligence that Flynn was caught up in and the justification for the unmasking itself.

Grennell's actions really make the I.C. look like part of a political hit job. The reality is that the intelligence community and the policy makers that made the unmasking request were actually just doing their jobs.

CABRERA: I'm going to turn to China now, Sam, because officials around the world are working hard to determine the origin of the coronavirus, and earlier today, you tweeted that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo walked back his previous comments about the origin. Are we closer to knowing exactly where the virus came from?

VINOGRAD: Well, as a former CIA director, Pompeo should know how unhelpful it is to make public statements while intelligence work is ongoing. He previously said this virus -

(TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES)

CABRERA: Oh, shoot. Of course, technology fails at the worst possible time. Our thanks to Samantha Vinograd as always, for that segment.

[17:35:01]

Coming up, how the pandemic is breathing new life into age-old drive- in theaters.

But first, from Oprah to O.J., the "National Enquirer" got the scoop on scandal. Now, a new CNN film uncovers the dirty truth on Americas largest tabloid.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the enquirer has become an emblem and a symbol for some people of a certain type of journalism in this country. I think it's important to note that the "National Enquirer" has also gotten some stories really right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 911 emergency.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you get someone over here now to (BLEEP)? He's back. Please.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay, what does he look like?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's O.J. Simpson. I think you know his record.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The newspapers used to say, yes, you got exclusives, but we were up against you face-to-face, mano-a-mano, we would beat the hell out of you. Well, okay, O.J. Simpson was the test.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On 911 tapes just released last night, O.J. Simpson could be heard screaming about a 1993 article in the "National Enquirer."

TEXT: I've had to read this bull (BLEEP) all week in the "National Enquirer." Her words exactly. Who got that?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: "Scandalous," CNN film tonight at 10:00 eastern here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:00]

CABRERA: The pandemic has hit the entertainment industry harder than most, but a look to the past has picked out one business model where social distancing is already built right in.

And that's the old-school drive-in theater. CNN's Tom Foreman reports on how these theaters are enjoying a real renaissance movement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even with have Virginia rain coming steadily down --

JAMES KOPP, DRIVE-IN THEATER OPERATOR: I hate it when it looks like this.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Business is up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know, which movie?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Invincible Man."

FOREMAN (voice-over): The James Kopp's drive-in theater.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi? What's the first name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right-hand lane.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Just in the nick of time. KOPP: Small business is a soft one. If it wasn't for my retirement

accounts, we would not be able to put the show on. People are seeing it as a safe environment, a safe way to come out to see the movie.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Which movie?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many is in the car?

FOREMAN (voice-over): With traditional cinemas and Hollywood itself reeling from lost income, drive-ins appear to be offering a rare and surging bright spot for the industry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Invincible Man." You got online tickets from (inaudible)?

FOREMAN (voice-over): And for fans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We drove from Washington, D.C.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Weary of sheltering at home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe about an hour to get here. It's the first time out of the house in a couple of weeks.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Drive-ins were started way back in the early 1900s as an alternative to the stuffy, cramped conditions in some early theaters. They boomed in the '50s and '60s, then fell into decades of decline. But now that old idea, complete with popcorn, suddenly seems new.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You must provide space between that vehicle.

FOREMAN (voice-over): And needed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Definitely worked out in this pandemic time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be 6 feet away and, you know, we can stay in our cars if we need to.

FOREMAN (voice-over): And not just for movies. Country star Keith Urban days ago staged a tribute concert to health care workers at a drive-in.

KEITH URBAN, COUNTRY SINGER: God bless the health care workers!

FOREMAN (voice-over): Suggesting live entertainment may find a home in the automotive amphitheaters, too.

URBAN: Well, first of all, thank God the drive-in is still happening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To all of the essential workers out there --

FOREMAN (voice-over): At Kopps, moviegoers expressed their support for hospital staffers with a blast of horns.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's hear those horns. FOREMAN (voice-over): Then the light faded, the projector came alive,

and for at least a little while, people sat apart, but felt close. And in the dark, the future seemed brighter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It helps to make things seem not as bad in the world.

KOPP: To me, it's like, yes! Oh, my goodness, it's like, we're back here. We're bringing the community back together! Yes! The American drive-in theater rides again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN (on camera): Big shoutout to our photojournalist, Joshua Repogle (ph) and Christine Lee Ann (ph) who really made that story happen. Look, they are practicing social distancing there. You do have to order ahead of time. They're limiting the crowd there, but it's working, Ana.

CABRERA: That was such a fun piece. We need more of that feel-good content these days. Tom, you know, I was thinking about when I was a kid seeing a movie. It was an "Indiana Jones" movie at the drive-in and I just don't see drive-in theaters anywhere anymore. Do you know how many there are in the U.S.?

FOREMAN: Well, there used to be a lot like 3,000, 4,000 of them now, but driveinmovie.com now says there are about 330 around the country right now. But who knows, some may be coming back after this.

And depending on where you live, you know, look around. This could be one of your best options for having a night out after all the nights in that we've had here, Ana.

CABRERA: No doubt about it. Tom foreman, thank you, again, for that piece.

And now here's Christine Romans with your "Before the Bell Report."

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Coronavirus has not been hitting retailers equally. Some have been able to stay in business and even thrive. Others have been absolutely crushed. We're going to get a good idea about how this is affecting their business this week.

Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot and Lowe's are among the companies reporting quarterly results. Wal-Mart is one of the winners. The company has added more delivery and pick up options to its beefed up digital business. Rising sales have pushed shares higher.

But it's the opposite for stores like Macy's and Kohl's whose physical properties have been shuttered because of the pandemic. Macy's released its preliminary first quarter sales this week and Kohl's delivers its quarterly results. Both companies have seen their shares pummeled this year.

Big picture, all of these reports provide a snapshot of the American consumer. We know spending has fallen off a cliff.

[17:45:02]

Retail sales plunged more than 16 percent in April, the biggest decline ever, and even worse than expected. That's a problem since consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of economic activity. And the recovery can't happen when people don't spend. In New York, I'm Christine Romans.

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[17:49:58]

CABRERA: She was a broadcasting pioneer, a former Miss America, and First Lady of Kentucky. And above all else, she was a mother and a grandmother. Phyllis George has died at the age of 70. CNN's Richard Roth takes a look back at her life and legacy.

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RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The road a trailblazer travels can have some pretty unlikely beginnings.

PHYLLIS GEORGE, PIONEER FEMALE SPORTSCASTER: I am from Denton, Texas. I've gone on to a lot of things.

ROTH (voice-over): no doubt about that. She described herself as a small town Christian girl, but Phyllis George headed out to the bright lights.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the judges' decision!

GEORGE: Miss America was a huge turning point in my life.

ROTH (voice-over): At the age of 21, George was a finalist in the prestigious Miss America pageant, after failing once before to be accepted in the contest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first runner-up is Miss South Carolina, Miss Atlanta, Miss Texas!

ROTH (voice-over): Phyllis George, the reluctant contestant, was the winner.

GEORGE: And for a small town girl like me, it was a great opportunity to launch my career.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Phyllis George, Miss Texas!

ROTH (voice-over): Opportunities poured in for this vivacious, glamorous pageant-winner. George traveled to Vietnam and wherever U.S. soldiers were deployed around the world as part of USO tours.

GEORGE: NFL rookies.

ROTH (voice-over): Anyone who didn't know her name would soon learn it.

GEORGE: The season's second Sunday coming right at you on the "NFL Today."

ROTH (voice-over): A relative broadcast novice, Phyllis George became the first woman co-host of an NFL pregame show. She was part of the CBS pregame NFL show with some heavyweight colleagues.

GEORGE: I knew I had a big responsibility for women. And when you are a pioneer or a trailblazer, you have to like, just think as positively as you can.

ROTH (voice-over): Sports stars not used to women reporters eventually opened up to a different approach for the CBS program.

GEORGE: Roger, you have an all-American image, the straight kind of guy. Why is this and how do you handle it?

ROGER STAUBACH, PROFESSIONA FOOTBALL PLAYER: Everyone in the world compares me to Joe Namath. He's having all the fun. You know, I enjoy sex as much as Joe Namath. Only I do it with one girl, you know?

ROTH (voice-over): George knew the ceiling she was breaking.

GEORGE: Barbara Walters was the pioneer in news broadcasting and I became the pioneer in sports.

ROTH (voice-over): Host Brent Musburger tweeted after George's passing, "Phyllis didn't receive nearly enough credit for opening the sports broadcasting door to the dozens of talented women who took her lead and soared."

George was briefly married to film producer Robert Evans. A year later, she married Kentucky businessman John Brown. A ceremony hosted by the Clintons. Just days later, Brown decided to run for governor. He called Phyllis George his greatest asset in the campaign and in office after winning.

JOHNNY CARSON, THE TONOGHT SHOW HOST: Would you welcome Phyllis George.

(APPLAUSE)

ROTH (voice-over): Now the First Lady of Kentucky, George was a frequent guest on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson."

GEORGE: It's interrelated, and show biz is very much like politics and vice versa, because you want the public to like you. You're trying to do and say the right things.

ROTH (voice-over): The governor and first lady had two children, a son, Lincoln, and a daughter, Pamela. Lincoln became an entrepreneur. Pamela is a CNN senior White House correspondent.

BILL KURTIS, CBS HOST: I'm Bill Kurtis.

GEORGE: And I'm Phyllis George. In this half hour --

ROTH (voice-over): George turned from sports to news, co-hosting the CBS morning program. George's post-daily T.V. life was wide-ranging -- a business woman and even a singer on "The Muppets."

GEORGE (singing): You put a piece of carbon paper under your heart.

ROTH (voice-over): She wrote a book offering famous people giving advice on why you can't give up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, people enter their home --

ROTH (voice-over): She even had a small part, including a back seat wild ride behind Ben Stiller in the movie "Meet the Parents."

GEORGE: I auditioned for the role and I got it and it was the most fun that I've ever had.

ROTH (voice-over): The ultimate trailblazer, Phyllis George once wrote, "saying yes to yourself opens up opportunities that can take you anywhere."

GEORGE: I just kept moving forward, and you know, we learned so many things. If you fail, you're not a failure. You just learn the lessons, write them down, you know, use them in your life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: What a life. What a woman. And now our colleague, senior White House correspondent Pamela Brown shared this statement on the passing of her mother, "For many, mom was known by her incredible accomplishments as the pioneering female sportscaster, 50th Miss America, and first lady. But this was all before we were born and never how we viewed mom.

To us, she was the most incredible mother we could ever ask for. And it is all of the defining qualities the public never saw, especially against the winds of adversity that symbolized how extraordinary she is, more than anything else.

[17:55:06]

The beauty so many recognized on the outside was a mere fraction of her internal beauty, only to be outdone by an unwavering spirit that allowed her to persevere against all odds."

And Pamela, we are thinking of you and your family at this time. That does it for me. I'm Ana Cabrera. Thank you for spending part of your weekend here. And Wolf Blitzer is next with a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM. Have a good night.

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