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New Day Saturday
Calls For Justice As New Police Incidents Emerge; Protests Over Police Brutality Spread Worldwide; NFL Commissioner Admits League Was Wrong For Not Listening To Players; Trump Attacks D.C. Mayor After She Requests Troops Leave City; Former Trump Aides Accuse Him Of Dividing America; George Floyd's Death Places Focus On Police Policies; Global Protests Increase Fears Of Coronavirus Spread; U.S. Reports Increased COVID-19 In 21 States. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired June 06, 2020 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00]
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's his name?
PROTESTERS: George Floyd.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's his name?
PROTESTERS: George Floyd.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're tired of it here. We are tired and we want to see change.
PROTESTERS: What's his name?
PROTESTERS: No peace.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Peaceful protests across the country have health experts worried.
DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: There is a potential, unfortunately, for this to be a seeding event.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: I want to keep reminding people it is dangerous to be close together.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Another shocker on the economy, only this time, a good one.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today is probably, if you think of it, the greatest comeback in American history.
JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was disturbed, however, to see the president basically hanging a "mission accomplished" banner when there is so much more work to be done. (MUSIC PLAYING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is NEW DAY weekend with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: It is early here in Atlanta. I'm Christi Paul. Good morning.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell.
PAUL: For the 11th straight night now, thousands of protesters are out there. We are not just talking in the United States. We're talking about protesters around the world.
BLACKWELL: Much of this focus is on police brutality and law enforcement here in America. Some elements of the law enforcement culture are in question.
Over the last few days, we have seen police fire tear gas and rubber bullets, in some cases at non-violent protesters. There's an investigation right now after a 75-year-old man was allegedly shoved to the ground.
PAUL: Hours from now, there are thousands of people expected at a memorial for the man you see there, George Floyd. This memorial going on in North Carolina. His death is what sparked a renewed focus on racial injustice right now.
BLACKWELL: And this afternoon there is a large demonstration scheduled in D.C. You see the walls, barricades are going up. Fencing is already there. Tens of thousands of protesters expected to be there. They were there for the last seven, eight days there.
Of course, this comes after the president retweeted a letter, which referred to Americans who were protesting peacefully as "terrorists."
PAUL: Let's go together first to New York. Polo Sandoval is with us with the latest.
Good morning to you, what are you seeing and expecting today?
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As we look back, it was an eventful week across the country here, especially as we saw questionable actions with police and protesters across the country.
Victor, Christi, when you hear from activists here in New York and across the country, there is a sense that there is this growing concern that heavy-handed police tactics could be the response to this growing call for police reform.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC PLAYING) SANDOVAL (voice-over): The end to an emotional and difficult week across the country marked by an 11th consecutive night of demonstrations in cities large and small.
PROTESTERS: Don't shoot.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Calls for justice expanded on Friday to include incidents of suspected police brutality from Buffalo, New York, to Washington State, where video emerged of a March incident. Manuel Ellis died after being physically restrained by Tacoma police.
His attorney says he can be heard yelling, "I can't breathe" on Tacoma police dispatcher audio from the night of his encounter with police and death on March 3rd. Ellis' family calling for the firing of the officers involved, it's the same demand being made by activists in Atlanta, where video shot on May 29th appears to show an officer bodyslam a young woman, breaking her collarbone.
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AMBER JACKSON, POLICE VIOLENCE VICTIM: I removed the barricade. And I get back in the car. All of a sudden, I just see hands out my window, trying to snatch me out. He snatches me out and pretty much slams me down.
We weren't a part of any of the looting or anything. We were peacefully protesting. And once that didn't -- you know, wasn't there, we pretty much, you know, was headed home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL (voice-over): The officer involved in that incident has been placed on administrative assignment while Atlanta PD conducts an investigation.
The Minneapolis city council on Friday, pending the final OK from a judge, approved an agreement barring neck restraints and chokeholds. Four former police officers charged in George Floyd's killing are in jail.
[05:05:00]
SANDOVAL (voice-over): A large crowd of protesters headed for Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C. last night.
The words Black Lives Matter now emblazoned in yellow paint on a street leading straight to the White House. Curfews were lifted or allowed to expire in many cities.
In New York, that restriction remains in place through the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): The curfews are designed to let the police be in a position where they can stop the looting. And that has been a serious problem in many cities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL (voice-over): With demonstrations likely to carry on through the weekend, Manhattan's district attorney vowing to not prosecute the protesters arrested for so-called lesser offenses, including unlawful assembly or disorderly conduct.
The policy won't apply to suspected vandals or looters.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Staying in New York, we learned about the unpaid suspension of two NYPD officers. The commissioner saying that is in connection to two separate incidents.
One in which an officer is violently seen pushing a female protester and another separate incident, an officer seen pulling down the mask of a protester before pepper spraying the victim. These are only the incidents that were actually caught on camera.
PAUL: Polo Sandoval, we appreciate the wrapup. Thank you so much.
Buffalo, New York, mayor, Byron Brown, says he wants due process after two officers were suspended for allegedly shoving a 75-year-old protester to the ground.
BLACKWELL: Mayor Browns says he is not calling for them to be fired. Vanessa Yurkevich has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Victor and Christi. Protests here in Buffalo ended peacefully Friday evening. That is in contrast to what we saw Thursday night when, just behind me in front of city hall, a 75-year-old man, Martin Gugino, fell to the ground. His head was bleeding.
He is in serious but stable condition. And those two police officers have been suspended without pay. But the community, protesting Friday night, said they wanted to see more done, including Governor Cuomo and the county executive, saying that they wanted to see those two officers arrested and charged.
Now in response, about 57 members from the Buffalo police department's emergency response team resigned in protest to those two officers being suspended.
Today here in Buffalo, protests will continue. Organizers have said they are going to ask people to come out to a local police precinct to protest. They are asking protesters to continue to spread their message but to do it peacefully -- Victor and Christi.
PAUL: All right. Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much.
These protests, they are global. People around the world are rallying in solidarity with protesters in the United States and calling attention to issues within their own communities.
BLACKWELL: This is a look at one of the protests in France. Outrage has reignited over a 2015 police killing. There are parallels with what happened to the George Floyd case in Minneapolis. Melissa Bell is following this from Paris for us.
Melissa, a series of protests planned for today. But I understand that some of them are banned; most of them, in fact.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Because, of course, those COVID-19 restrictions, Victor, remain in place across France. They are not meant to have gatherings of more than 10 people.
But on Tuesday in Paris, this demonstration was pulled by the family of the man, killed four years ago after being taken into police custody; 20,000 people turned out on Tuesday in Paris, 2,000 in Lille a couple of nights later.
And today in several French cities and here in Paris as well, we are expecting people to turn up, despite the restrictions. I think that is a measure of how much what is happening in the United States has struck a nerve here with a focus on some of those very same issues, problems of racism, police brutality and the impunity and the allegations of police brutality.
You see on the placards the same slogans, Black Lives Matter and no justice, no peace.
BLACKWELL: Melissa, thank you.
Before we come back to the U.S., let's look at the protests around the world.
First in Australia, protests in Sydney, despite an attempt to ban the march because of social distancing concerns. Let's take a look.
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PAUL: The rallies there and in other Australian cities aren't just in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
[05:10:00]
PAUL: But also to demand an end to deaths of aboriginal people in custody.
And in Hamburg, thousands of people carrying signs of messages of "I can't breathe" and "Black Lives Matter."
BLACKWELL: In London, dozens of people in Trafalgar Square, demonstrators there followed social distancing guidelines and wore masks.
To the U.S. embassy in Mexico City, protesters with some flames. They are letting out some anger. They are at the barrier outside the U.S. embassy. PAUL: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell admits he got it wrong about
player protests.
BLACKWELL: This is a major backtrack coming less than 24 hours after more than a dozen football stars released a video. They said, what he was saying, what the NFL was doing, was just not enough. Last night Goodell promised to support players.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGER GOODELL, NFR COMMISSIONER: We at the National Football League condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people. We at the National Football League admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We at the National Football League believe Black Lives Matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: But Colin Kaepernick was not mentioned. Kaepernick was the first NFL player to protest, kneeling during the anthem in 2016. He has not played since the end of that season. Former player Donte Stallworth told Don Lemon last night that Goodell's words were a start but Kaepernick must be a part of this conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONTE STALLWORTH, FORMER NFL PLAYER: I think it's a decent first step. But what a lot of people have said all day since this video has come out is Roger Goodell should have mentioned Colin Kaepernick' name, Colin Kaepernick by name. And they haven't done that.
And I think that is the thing, that a lot of people still don't trust the NFL's words because their actions have shown and proven otherwise.
So it's a decent first step but those first steps now need to be followed through with actions, with concrete action.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Yesterday Saints quarterback Drew Brees issued a second apology for his comments about protesting during the anthem. He directed it to the president.
"To President Trump, through my ongoing conversations with friends, teammates and leaders in the black community, I realize this is not an issue about the American flag. It has never been.
"We must stop talking about the flag and shift our attention to the real issues of systemic racial injustice, economic oppression, police brutality and judicial and prison reform."
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PAUL: The 2020 presidential race, CNN is projecting Joe Biden now has the number of delegates needed to secure the Democratic presidential nomination.
BLACKWELL: Results from recent primaries allowed him to secure the 1,991 delegates to claim the nomination at the party's convention, now scheduled for August on the first ballot.
The former vice president released a statement. Here's part of it.
"It was an honor to compete alongside one of the most talented groups of candidates the Democratic Party has ever fielded. And I am proud to say that we are going into this general election a united party.
"I am going to spend every day between now and November 3rd fighting to earn the votes of all Americans across this great country so that, together, we can win the battle for the soul of this nation and make sure that, as we rebuild our economy, everyone comes along."
PAUL: Do stay with us. President Trump is trying to shift focus onto the economy. But backlash is growing over his response to the protests.
BLACKWELL: Plus a growing movement to restrict certain techniques that police departments, some of them across the country, use. But police unions are pushing back against that. We'll have some details for you ahead.
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BLACKWELL: Welcome back.
Washington, D.C., is preparing for maybe the biggest protest yet over the last several days, 50,000 to 100,000 protesters expected to come to
the city this morning, as President Trump continues this public feud with the city's mayor.
PAUL: Yesterday the president called Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser incompetent after she requested that he remove all federal law enforcement from the district. She made similar requests to governors of states with national guard troops in the city.
Yesterday she formally renamed a section of street outside the White House Black Lives Matter Plaza. Crews painted the message in enormous yellow letters and they changed the street sign as well. The unrest across the country obviously is growing. But the White House is using yesterday's jobs report to project a positive message.
BLACKWELL: CNN's Kaitlan Collins has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: After the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to 13 percent, President Trump seized on the first good news he's had in months during a last-minute address in the Rose Garden today.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Everything that you've seen this morning was unexpected, even the pro sitting here would understand that. Everything.
COLLINS: The president predicted that an economic turnaround could happen sooner than expected. And as he acknowledged the unrest across the nation, he invoked George Floyd's name.
TRUMP: Hopefully, George Floyd is looking down right now and saying this is a great thing that's happening for our country. It's a great day for him, a great day for everybody.
COLLINS: The president hasn't held any listening sessions with leaders of the black community but he claimed a rebound in the economy could address racial tension in the U.S.
TRUMP: That's what my plan is. We're going to have the strongest economy in the world.
COLLINS: As Trump was taking his victory lap, his former chief of staff that he agreed with the scathing assessment of his leadership by the president's former defense secretary.
JOHN KELLY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: I think we need to look harder at who we elect.
COLLINS: John Kelly said if he was still chief of staff, he would have argued against clearing the street of protesters for the president's photo op at St. John's Church.
[05:20:00]
KELLY: I would have argued that the end result that have was predictable.
COLLINS: As more of his former top aides turned into critics, "The Wall Street Journal" editorial board wrote that Trump's "demand for personal loyalty and his thin skin clash with people who care about larger causes."
That breaking point could have consequences for the president's support within the Republican Party. The GOP only has a three-seat majority in the Senate but after Senator Lisa Murkowski said he was struggling with whether to support Trump in November, he vowed to campaign against her and support any candidate with a pulse.
And another feud may be brewing for the candidate, Muriel Bowser wrote a letter requesting that he remove federal law enforcement and military presence from Washington, D.C.
Trump called her by calling her incompetent, saying, "we will bring in a different group of men and women."
And after sources and even the White House press secretary said on the record that it was the attorney general who had made that call to clear the park before the president later walked over for his photo op, attorney general Barr told the Associated Press in an interview tonight that he did not give the ultimate directive.
He claims he does not have the control to give those directives and he said, instead, they were just clearing the park because of orders from the park police after, of course, they had discussed extending the perimeter earlier that day -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Still to come, police officer training is being examined right now as we are seeing new cases of police brutalities surfacing across the country. The techniques that are being discussed. We'll talk about those.
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[03:25:00]
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PAUL: It's 25 minutes past the hour -- 26 minutes in fact, to be exact. We're so grateful to have you with us. New questions this morning we want to tell about regarding police officers training after several incidents caught on video show alleged excessive use of force.
BLACKWELL: Correspondent Ryan Young takes a look at the most recent cases across the country that are being reexamined.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Police tactics across the country are now under a microscope.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got your knee on my man's neck. Come on, man. On his neck. Right on.
YOUNG (voice-over): This video from Sarasota, Florida, shows the moment officers attempt to arrest a man during a domestic disturbance call.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got your owner's name.
YOUNG (voice-over): One of the officers kneels on the back of the man's neck just days before George Floyd's death. One of the officers said in the incident report the defendant tried to get away and that police used minor force.
Kneeling on someone's neck, Sarasota police say, is not something they train their officers to do. The department has now lodged an internal investigation.
It's one of several recent incidents protesters say highlight a pattern of troubling police techniques.
Another example, police in Vallejo, California, shot and killed 22- year-old Sean Monterrosa while responding to a suspected looting call. Officers say he ran toward them while reaching for what appeared to be a gun but later confirmed it was a hammer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The district attorney is going to look at this and our internal affairs unit is going to look at it.
YOUNG (voice-over): As calls for justice spread on the streets, a similar investigation is now underway in Tacoma, Washington. In March, Manuel Ellis was heard saying, "I can't breathe," when he died in police custody, according to a Sheriff's Department spokesperson. The case in the wake of Floyd's death now getting added attention.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a top priority for her and it is a top priority for me. And we will be pushing to make sure there is a full and complete investigation of that incident.
YOUNG (voice-over): And in Chicago, another investigation launched, looking into the actions of these officers during an aggressive arrest last weekend. The family said they had not done anything wrong. Cook County says it is conducting a thorough independent investigation of the matter, including the conduct of the police officers involved.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twelve or 14 cops that just start bamming on my -- they just swarmed in and just start bamming at my windows, bamming at my car. They had their weapons drawn.
YOUNG (voice-over): Cedric Alexander, a former president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives believe the tactics, kneeling on individuals' necks, are troubling and not part of police training.
CEDRIC ALEXANDER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: There's no question about that. And training is so important in our police organizations today. This technique is not being taught. It is just not acceptable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Our thanks to Ryan Young for that report.
Let's go to Philadelphia, now where a high-ranking police commander will be charged with aggravated assault according to the district attorney's office. Staff inspector Joseph Bologna Jr., here in the white shirt, allegedly rough up protesters with a metal baton in two incidents this week.
He also has history of alleged misconduct. He is linked to past corruption scandals. The police union defended him and bashed the D.A., saying these charges clearing illustrate Krasner's anti-police agenda in Philadelphia.
Let's talk with CNN Law Enforcement Analyst, Cedric Alexander and civil rights attorney Areva Martin.
Cedric, we saw you just in that package, also the author of the book out, "In Defense of Public Service."
[05:30:00]
BLACKWELL: Cedric, Areva, good morning to you. And I brought up the book because these are public service jobs first, right?
But after what we're seeing, this spate of incidents across the country, you have the 75-year-old man in stable but serious condition, who was bleeding from the ear in that video from Buffalo.
Is this what the national security adviser calls, you know, we have heard the phrase, "a few bad apples" or is this something more?
Is this cultural?
ALEXANDER: To be honest with you, it's cultural. You know, it's unfortunate in the time we're in, when people really need to join with police in light of the incident back on May 25th and incidents prior to that.
We are just continuing to see more separation. But I have been saying in recent days and for years, we have wonderful men and women in our police department but we have some cultural, structural issues that need to be addressed and hopefully will be addressed during this whole look into police reform in this country.
BLACKWELL: You see here two officers, they've been placed -- I believe they have been suspended -- 57 members of the emergency response team in Buffalo resigned. Still on the force but not on the team.
Areva, let me come to you on what's happening in Atlanta. Six officers charged after cell phone video was posted, after they broke the window of a car, pulling a woman out, tasing a man. These are college students. Two officers were fired, five felonies and a list of charges.
The police chief says the charges are political and they are being swept up in a tsunami of political jockeying in an election year.
Also the charges that we are seeing in this case and abroad are in response to the environment, not the specific cases?
AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I watched that video, Victor, and that video was incredibly hard to watch. I'm a mother of college- aged students. Watching the students being pulled out of the car, they were terrified.
And the aggressive nature of the acts by the police officers, inexcusable. And I don't know why that police chief would say this is political.
What I witnessed looked like an assault and it looked like the charges were absolutely warranted that were filed by the district attorney and the actions taken by the Atlanta mayor to dismiss those officers immediately, that's why we are protesting.
That's why people are in the streets, the world asking for justice. We now know when we are looking at what happened to the officers in the Floyd case, the charges that were filed, the arrests that were made, we know it doesn't take years, which has been the standard, to investigate police officers.
We know with videotape, with eyewitness testimony, you can find probable cause and arrest officers and move much more quickly.
So I disagree with that. The police chief, so says it's political, then it's the right thing to do. That's what we have been asking for, for years, that justice be served in these cases and it happens a lot faster than we have seen in the past.
BLACKWELL: I want to come back to the charging and potential convictions.
Let me start with firing officers and the difficulty for some chiefs. We had Charles Ramsey on the show last week, talking about how he's had to fire officers twice. And this comes down into police union contracts.
How problematic are those contracts potentially for police chiefs, for cities to hold the officers who should be held accountable, to do just that?
ALEXANDER: Well, those contracts and those negotiations between management and between unions is a resolution they have both come to. You can't blame the unions by themselves. Somebody in management has to (INAUDIBLE) them.
Unions' responsibility is not really to build relationships in the community. Their responsibility has been and continues to be to the welfare of their members. And they will defend them because that's what the membership pays dues for.
When it comes down to contractual negotiations, unions are not making those decisions by themselves. They are being negotiated, being horse traded, however you want to define it.
Management has a responsibility as well to fight harder, to fight different for what they need for the protection of their city. So it's not a one-way thing. Cities have a responsibility in it as well.
BLACKWELL: Areva, let me ask you, we are hearing from municipalities across the country about wanting to change. We saw some of the video and the protests from Friday.
[03:35:00]
BLACKWELL: These conversations about disparities are not new. Let's talk about Ferguson several years ago. Despite being 67 percent of the population, blacks accounted for 85 percent of vehicle stops, 90 percent of drivers cited, 93 percent of those arrested.
The town courts, officers, city hall targeted black people.
Without this federal examination, why would they make the charges if it is in an economic interest to do so?
MARTIN: The report coming out of Ferguson, Victor, was disheartening to me. I grew up right next to Ferguson in St. Louis, Missouri. It is not just Ferguson. It is many of the small towns around St. Louis, are engaged in similar practices, where they racially profile African Americans.
They fine them for the smallest things. Then they run up these fines against African Americans that make it impossible to pay and they get caught in a perpetual cycle.
We saw an investigation of that police department under attorney general Eric Holder when the civil rights department at the attorney general's office would actually go in and do pattern and practice and enter into consent decrees to root out the systemic racism we know is so prevalent.
Under this attorney general, under attorney general Barr, there hasn't been those kinds of investigations. We know Jeff Sessions, when he was attorney general, said police were being overpoliced and he didn't believe in those kinds of investigations and he basically dismantled the work that Eric Holder did.
Clearly we are going to address the systemic issues that permeate a police department, of the racism that we have witnessed over decades. We have to be able to investigate the entire department and not just be focused on any one bad actor because these issues are much bigger than individual officers.
BLACKWELL: Yes. Kneeling with protesters is one thing.
But what are the policy changes that are going to follow up?
Areva Martin, Cedric Alexander, thank you both for being here.
Across the country, people remembered Breonna Taylor on her 27th birthday.
PAUL: She was shot 18 times. Some people worried that what happened to her, she was a first responder, is being forgotten in so much of what we are seeing today. In Portland, Oregon, health care workers sang happy birthday to her. The three officers are still on administrative leave and the FBI is looking into an investigation there.
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKWELL: Trying to sing that song in the middle of tears there.
PAUL: Yes, yes.
The number of COVID cases in the U.S. is nearing 1.9 million now and there are new concerns protests are going to increase the spread. Our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more to say about that next. (MUSIC PLAYING)
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[03:40:00]
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BALDWIN: Now the latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The number of deaths in the U.S. now well beyond 109,000.
PAUL: Yes. And the reopening process accelerating across the country. More states reporting an increase in the number of cases there. Take a look at this map.
There's 22 states that have seen an increase in new cases over the past week. It includes California, Texas, Florida; 8 are steady, 20 are declining.
BLACKWELL: Protests continue across the nation. There are concerns that we'll see an even bigger spike. But video from the demonstrations across the country shows a lot of people are wearing face coverings. But there are some concerns that may not be enough.
PAUL: Take a look at these pictures of the protests there. They are wearing masks. We know masks make a difference. But the fear of that spread is still very real.
BLACKWELL: Streets are packed with people chanting and screaming, potentially coughing because of tear gas and pepper spray. Essentially a lot of behaviors that help the virus spread. Chief medical correspondent Sanjay ` reveals what some of the pitfalls are here.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor and Christi. I think there is no question. There is a concern when you see the images of protesters.
The one thing that has not changed the past several months is the virus itself. It is still very contagious. It is a plus that, as you look at the protesters, most are wearing masks. This is mostly outside.
But obviously people are in close proximity. They are not physically distancing. If they stay in close proximity, that is essentially close contact. If you have a few people who have the virus that starts to spread, you can start to develop clusters. Listen to how Dr. Anthony Fauci put it.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: It is a perfect set-up for further spread of the virus in the sense of creating these blips which might turn into some surges, so I get very concerned, people running back and forth, taking their masks off, being close in proximity.
[03:45:00]
FAUCI: That absolutely poses a risk that there might be spread of infection.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GUPTA: Now one thing I should say is we may not know for certain just how much of an impact these protests had on the overall spread of the virus.
Right now, you know, many places in the country are starting to reopen. So you have both things happening at the same time. People may leave the protests. They may go home. The virus may spread potentially to other people.
Lots of recommendations are being made. Do your best to slow the spread. If you do go home and you are living with people, especially people who are vulnerable, you may need to quarantine yourself or do everything you can in the home to try and reduce the spread as much as possible. It's a challenging situation.
Two very important things happening in our country at the same time. I should point out, if you look at this map of the coronavirus, you get a sense week to week how it is looking. It is difficult to track this.
Several states in green but more states in red or maroon. Those are states where the numbers are definitely increasing. And if you look at the trend map overall and see how these confirmed cases are changing, you know, over the time period, you can see we have had some places around the country that have recorded the most number of new patients with the infection really since this all began.
Now in places going down, there are other places going up. It's going to change significantly. As many infectious disease experts told me, we are in the second or third inning of this. Very, very much have to stay vigilant.
When we went into stay-at-home orders in the United States, those recommendations, fewer than 80 people had died and fewer than 5,000 had become infected. Obviously the numbers are much, much higher as we start to reopen. That's going to be the biggest concern.
So Christi, Victor, we will stay on top of it. As we get more news, we will certainly bring it to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL: Thank you, Sanjay.
The World Health Organization is warning countries in Latin America seriously, please don't reopen too soon.
BLACKWELL: Brazil has taken over Italy for the highest death toll in the world. Let's check in with our reporters all around the world. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Matt Rivers in Mexico City. We are in the worst outbreak so far considering the overall death toll at 13,170 and 20 percent of the deaths that have been recorded so far have come in the last three days.
The overall case total here is just north of 110,000. Despite all of that, Mexico's government has begun to reopen slowly certain parts of the economy. The World Health Organization has urged countries throughout Latin America to not reopen their economies too quickly because they say the outbreak in this part of the world is far from over.
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SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brazil has overtaken Italy as the country with the third highest death toll from COVID-19. On Friday, the health ministry reported the total number of deaths had topped 35,000 while confirmed cases was over 645,000.
Nonetheless, many Brazilian cities, from Manaus to Rio, started to relax social isolation rules imposed in mid-March, despite warnings from the World Health Organization that COVID-19 had not reached its peak and transmissions were still intense.
Meanwhile, Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro threatened to follow President Trump's lead and leave the World Health Organization over what he called political and ideological bias -- Shasta Darlington, CNN, Sao Paulo.
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BLACKWELL: This is an early and active start to the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.
PAUL: Yes, the Gulf Coast communities are under threat from a tropical storm already. Stay close.
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[05:50:00]
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PAUL: Listen, we're just six days into the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season and tropical storm warnings and watches already flagged across a good chunk of the Gulf Coast.
BLACKWELL: Tropical storm Cristobal is moving through the Gulf of Mexico, threatening about 8 million people from Florida to Louisiana.
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[05:55:00]
PAUL: Listen, police tactics are under pretty intense scrutiny right now. Thousands of people are getting ready to march for justice. So incidents like this, this is drawing fire this morning.
BLACKWELL: High-ranking Philadelphia police official there facing assault charges for allegedly hitting a protester with a metal baton.
What can be done about this?
We will discuss it next hour.
