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Cuomo Prime Time

George Floyd Laid To Rest Outside Houston; NYPD Officer Charged With Assault For Shoving Protester; WHO Clarifies Comments On Asymptomatic Spread And Says There's Much "Unknown" About COVID-19. Aired 9-10p ET

Aired June 09, 2020 - 21:00   ET

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

[21:00:00]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: The confusion came about because there are actually two kinds of carriers who don't show the disease, at least initially, the asymptomatic and the - what's called the pre-symptomatic.

The pre-symptomatic are contagious, and one day will express the disease, not just initially. Today, while trying to clarify the matter, Van Kerkhove said there is still much that's unknown about asymptomatic carriers.

Apologize for the technical problems we had tonight. I appreciate Chris running in to the chair to - to save me once again. Let's turn it over to him for the full hour. Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST, CUOMO PRIME TIME: The next time would be the first time. Anderson, always a pleasure.

I am Chris Cuomo. Welcome to PRIME TIME.

George Floyd is now lying beside the mother that he cried out for. His mom died more than two years ago. Family and friends today laid their pain bare.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LATONYA FLOYD, GEORGE FLOYD'S SISTER: I'm going to miss my brother a whole lot and--

(CROWD CLAPPING)

L. FLOYD: --I love you. I also want to say to him, I love you, and oh, I thank God for giving me - giving me my own personal Superman.

BROOKE WILLIAMS, GEORGE FLOYD'S NIECE: My name is Brooke Williams, George Floyd's niece, and I can breathe. Long as I'm breathing, justice will be served for Perry.

I still can't pull myself together to how he's called out my grandma name. I believe my grandmother was right there with open arms saying, "Come home, baby. You shouldn't feel this pain. No one should feel this pain." PHILONISE FLOYD, GEORGE FLOYD'S BROTHER: Everybody going to remember him around the world. He is going to change the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Well, to be sure, their pain is real and, to be sure, it does reverberate the world over and, to be sure, the issues raised by Floyd's alleged murder were not buried with him.

What we're not sure about is what happens next. Let's talk about that. Let's bring in Houston's Police Chief, Art Acevedo.

Chief, thank you very much for being with us.

ART ACEVEDO, CHIEF OF THE HOUSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT: Great thanks, great to be with you.

CUOMO: What do you take from the emotion, the outrage, and the events that led to what culminated in your City today in the burial of George Floyd?

ACEVEDO: Well I think that we'd all take from there is a resolve, a resolve to forge ahead, as a community here in Houston, as a community across Texas, and as a community across the nation, to take this - this death, this unjust death that - that should not have happened and - and to take - harness the energy that has - that's been created by his death to actually affect change across the national landscape.

CUOMO: So, you have the officer who had his knee on the throat of George Floyd, and then you have three other officers charged.

A lawyer for one of them, last night, the officer, four days on the job, holding down the legs of George Floyd, he said he is not responsible for the death of George Floyd that he wasn't sure what to do, he questioned keeping him the way he was, and that the senior officer, the Training Officer said, "Keep it like this," and, therefore, he is not responsible.

What is your sense of that defense?

ACEVEDO: I mean, first of all, I think everyone has a right to advocacy, and obviously they're giving a preview to what defense would be for that specific officer. They're probably going to be making different arguments, depending on how - what role they played in it.

But, at the end of the day, when you see a man, who has a knee on the neck of another man, our expectation, I think, across the United States, in this profession, would be for officers to intercede, and to actually say something, and be forceful, and to put a stop to it.

So, you know, I'm not going to fault a defense attorney for doing his job. But I think that they have a long - he has a long road ahead of him.

And, quite frankly, here in our City, we'd expect all of our officers to put a stop to it, whether it's me abusing somebody, or a new cop, we all have a duty, of permanent responsibility to act.

CUOMO: Absolutely. You have what they call a duty to intervene despite command.

ACEVEDO: Correct.

CUOMO: It's not about the advocate. It's about the argument. And where he's coming from, I thought, was very interesting, not in terms of probability but proof.

He says, "Well, look, I've seen the body camera footage. I've seen what happened that you haven't been able to see that gives me a different context for what George Floyd was doing. And I've gotten to hear what the officer, who I now represent, was saying during that time."

Now look, we all know about preservation of evidence for trial. We know there are laws, down where you are in Texas, specifically Houston, and in Minnesota, that preserve this body camera footage.

[21:05:00]

Haven't we learned that these cases are about more than what happens in the courtroom, and that the transparency is everything, Chief, and that people need to see the body cam footage.

ACEVEDO: Well, you know, I think that's an interesting question.

And I think if you go back to the Rodney King incident in Los Angeles that I lived through as a --as a member of the California Highway Patrol, there was a lot of pre-trial publicity.

And what happened in Los Angeles, because there was so much out there, they took away that trial from the people of Los Angeles, and transferred it to Simi Valley, a community that is much different than L.A. County, and what ended happening? We ended up with acquittals.

So, I believe that we owe it to the people, for example, here in Harris County, that this is the most diverse city, the most diverse county in the nation.

The worst thing that could happen is to have a change of venue, where you would, because of the release of the videos, and all the publicity that comes through it, where it takes away from the people of Minneapolis, and puts it somewhere else, in the State of Minnesota.

So, it is really a balance. But we have to be honest, and thoughtful, and realize that every action has a consequence.

And sometimes, those unintended consequence ends up moving the Rodney King trial from diverse L.A. County to very conservative, not-so- diverse Simi Valley, and we know what happened, the rest is history, horrible, horrible reaction to that acquittal.

So, we just need to just--

CUOMO: I - I hear--

ACEVEDO: --realize that there's a place and time.

CUOMO: I get the balance. And that's why the laws are in place.

ACEVEDO: Yes.

CUOMO: But this is not the exception. It's more the rule.

This is not a Minneapolis situation. This is not a Minnesota situation. It is not even an American situation. It's all over the world. You saw it in your own City. This resonates and transparency is everything for people.

And yes, you do have to be worried about polluting the jury pool and moving it somewhere else.

But you have to be worried about a lot of things, when you have 30 of your top cities having protests, and all, you know, cities the world over. So, the counter becomes "Yes, but it's not just a local problem. It's a big issue."

The other problem, Chief, is this. Somebody's got to look at the body cam video and make decisions. Now technically, that should be you/the Attorney General for your State, because the argument is also "We need trust."

Somebody's got to look at the body camera footage and make a decision fast about whether or not this isn't just wrongful conduct but illegal conduct.

People don't have the trust that you would do it, that the police would do it, or that a local prosecutor would do it. That's why they want to see it. How do you restore the trust?

ACEVEDO: Well I think that when - when the criminal process is completed, you actually do what we would do in Travis County, where I came from in Austin, you release all the videos for the people to see.

And in our City, we actually, in our State, we can actually show the families of the individual that was killed in a police encounter.

And in my City, our Mayor, Mayor Turner, we've had several shootings here recently, involving the armed individuals, and involving conflict with the police, where our Mayor's actually seen it.

So, I completely believe in transparency. But I know our community. When we actually talk to one another, they want to have a say. And I think the say needs to be first in the court of criminal law and secondly in the court of public opinion.

CUOMO: What if it doesn't go to court?

ACEVEDO: Once that trial's over, you would--

CUOMO: What if there are no charges? ACEVEDO: Then you release--

CUOMO: What if the investigation says nothing's wrong, but you never know why they found that?

ACEVEDO: You release it. And one of the things that I talked to Karen Bass today is part of the problem with our use of force, and the way that we deal with it, is it's all done in secrecy. That in itself is a problem.

We need to think about some creative ways, and maybe have more of an open forum, in terms of the hearings that go on to determine whether or not criminal charges are filed.

So, there's a lot of opportunity to make things much more transparent. And I'm hopeful that, as we move forward, that's exactly what's going to happen.

CUOMO: Well, I'll tell you what's definitely a part of it? Conversations like this, Chief.

ACEVEDO: Yes.

CUOMO: Because there's no us and them. There's only "We."

ACEVEDO: No. Absolutely.

CUOMO: I need you. You know, I've been in your City, as you know, many times, doing my job.

I need you to keep me safe. I need the police, where I live, to keep me safe. They are my friends. They are men and women who are better than me in terms of the job they want to do. Can't be you versus media versus citizens.

ACEVEDO: No.

CUOMO: We're either all in it together or we are nowhere. So, Chief, thank you for having the conversation.

ACEVEDO: Thank you. Have a great night.

CUOMO: God bless you too.

ACEVEDO: You too.

CUOMO: That's what it's got to be about. I'm not all Kumbaya. I'm not saying, "Oh, let's just forget it, and remember we love each other."

No, you can't forget it, because you love each other. You have to stay stuck on how you get to a better place, and you have to expose the problem. That's not creating the problem.

Incidents like this are now happening at the protests against police brutality. You've seen this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to get out of the street.

VINCENT D'ANDRAIA, NYPD OFFICER: Get out of the street.

DOUNYA ZAYER, PROTESTER SHOVED BY NYPD OFFICER: Why?

(VIDEO - VINCENT D'ANDRAIA VIOLENTLY SHOVES PROTESTER DOUNYA ZAYER TO THE GROUND)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[21:10:00]

CUOMO: Yes. Now, what happened? She wound up getting grabbed, thrown to the ground because she didn't listen.

The woman on the other end of that call, that cell phone camera video rather, is Dounya Zayer. She was shoved to the ground, ended up hospitalized. She's now here with you and me tonight.

Where's the officer? And what comes next for both of them? Let's get after it.

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TEXT: CUOMO PRIME TIME.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TEXT: LET'S GET AFTER IT.

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CUOMO: Charges, that's what's come down for the New York City police officer, captured on video, shoving a woman to the ground, during a George Floyd protest. What happened?

Watch for yourself. It's from her perspective. It's her cell phone that was being used.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to get out of the street.

D'ANDRAIA: Get out of the street.

ZAYER: Why?

(VIDEO - VINCENT D'ANDRAIA VIOLENTLY SHOVES PROTESTER DOUNYA ZAYER TO THE GROUND)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurry! Hurry!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurry!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: That's what happened. And even after you saw her pushed to the pavement, I think this most frightening part, at least as an observer, is what happens after. They just keep on walking.

[21:15:00]

The officer is Vincent D'Andraia. He was arraigned by video today. He's looking at counts of misdemeanor assault, criminal mischief, harassment and menacing. And he's the first NYPD officer to face charges as a result of the protests.

Is that justice? What do you think? And more importantly, what does the woman that he shoved think. Let's bring in Dounya Zayer, joining me with her Attorney, Tahanie Aboushi.

Thank you very much for being with us.

TAHANIE ABOUSHI, LAWYER FOR DOUNYA ZAYER, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Thank you, Chris.

ZAYER: Thank you.

CUOMO: First thing, Dounya, how are you feeling, how are you doing?

ZAYER: I've been better, but I've been worse.

CUOMO: Are you still injured because of what happened? You look like you took a nice shot to your head when you fell backwards. How are you?

ZAYER: I didn't know a concussion felt this awful. I haven't really been able to hold down food. I've been really nauseous, and then my head hurts, and my back. But I - I'm alive and I'm grateful.

CUOMO: Your shirt says "Be You" on it. You know, I get the double entendre.

When you were at the protest, you were being what you thought was the best self you wanted to be in this moment. What was happening when you started taking this cell phone video?

ZAYER: I wanted to capture the - what was going on around me. I could see that things were getting out of hand. I could see that protesters were getting hurt.

And I knew that recording is important. It's always important to record what goes on when - when these situations occur. I didn't think that I would end up recording what happened to me in the process.

CUOMO: The officer says "You need to get out of the street." You say, "Why?" What's the criticism? You know what it is. "You're supposed to listen

to the police officer. He told you to get out of the street. You didn't get out of the street. That's what you get."

ABOUSHI: I - I don't think that's accurate, Chris. I'm going to jump in here, because--

CUOMO: Go ahead.

ABOUSHI: --the - the focus here is not Dounya's actions, but the officer's disproportionate reaction and--

ZAYER: If - if asking an officer "Why" warrants getting assaulted by a man who's supposed to have more self-restraint than an average civilian--

ABOUSHI: Right.

ZAYER: --then I don't understand why we even have law enforcement. I asked him why. He should have been able to properly answer without getting violent with me.

CUOMO: Now, that point is exactly why--

ABOUSHI: Yes.

CUOMO: --I asked the question. And I'm OK with you jumping in, Counselor. That's your job.

But that's the point, isn't it? They are in the business of what? They are trained to de-escalate. They are trained to deal with people exactly like this. They are not trained to deal with it the way he did.

And there's no question that it was wrong. It was wrong on a professional level, and now, arguably, on a criminal level. The charges are misdemeanor charges. He has not yet been terminated.

What do you think of the idea that he has not been fired or, at least not yet, and may never be, and that these charges are misdemeanor, which is not good, but it's not a felony. It's not the worst kind of charge we can give. What do you think of that?

ABOUSHI: So, the most important thing here is that there's not a facade of justice.

We are cautiously optimistic that there was a swift investigation and arrest of the officer. However, regardless of misdemeanor or felony, the most important thing is that this doesn't end up with a slap on the wrist.

The NYPD has a problem with use of excessive and deadly force. Protesters have a right to be in the streets to assemble and speak their mind. And the focus here has to be on his disproportionate response. So, justice remains to be seen. Charging is the first step here. There are many steps that are going to come after. And I think that the District Attorney's Office has to be transparent and accountable and collaborative throughout of this process.

CUOMO: Counselor, and obviously, you know, Dounya, you guys can weigh- in interchangeably. It's fine with me. We're all having the same conversation.

Dounya was assaulted for the very reason she was protesting, police brutality. There is a tragic irony in this.

ABOUSHI: Yes.

CUOMO: No question. If he were to go to jail, would you see that as justice, for him to lose his job, lose his livelihood, and be in prison for a year or more? Would you see that as justice, Counselor?

ABOUSHI: I don't know if jail is the right answer. But, more importantly, that's not a question for me. Our justice system consistently shuts victims out of the process, and either discredits them or takes them out of the decision-making process.

[21:20:00]

It's very important Dounya is the captain of the ship, and her perspective of what justice is, and what she'd like to see happen here is front and center, because it could mean something different to different people.

What I - I do want to make sure is that, like I said, this is not a slap in the wrist.

And when you mention things like his livelihood being taken away, you know, Dounya was shoved so hard. He shoved her like an NFL linebacker, that she flew out of her shoe, slammed her head into the ground, and she felt her brain rattle.

Had Dounya ended up like the man in Buffalo--

CUOMO: Right.

ABOUSHI: --who went into a coma, cracked his head open, and was bleeding on the floor then - then what would be the conversation? And are we going to keep waiting until people's lives are in danger because of the use of excessive and deadly force to take this serious?

CUOMO: Understood. I understand your point completely.

Dounya, now there are allegations about what you did before, I don't see any of that on the video, about what he said to you, that will have to be evinced by witnesses, about what he called you, the ugly phrase that he supposedly called you when this happened.

The idea that after being pushed to the ground, the way you were, they just kept walking by, what does that mean to you? ZAYER: It's difficult to go after every officer in that video. But, to be honest, not a single officer in that video did their job. They're supposed to be protecting the people. They're supposed to stop someone if they commit an assault in front of them.

There was just so much wrong, especially Commander Craig Edelman, who was his Lieutenant. He was there. He did nothing. And he has been transferred, as if that's a punishment.

You cannot fix a problem from the bottom-up. A Lieutenant who could watch his lower officers commit a crime, hurt civilians he's supposed to be protecting, and do nothing about it, that is a problem, and passing him on to another community is not correct.

If you're going to solve a problem, if we're going to fix the police brutality, we have to start with the higher-ups that are allowing citizens to get hurt under their watch. There was no accountability from a single officer in that video.

CUOMO: In that moment, in the video we saw, I understand why you say that. Let me ask you, when you're healed, would you go back and protest again?

ZAYER: I want to protest so bad. I know that people are getting hurt, and they're able to go out.

I'm kind of ashamed to say I'm a little afraid right now. I am - I want to - it gets me very angry that they successfully made me quiet that they successfully made me afraid to protest.

I should not be afraid to protest. I should be able to go and be there for the people who are putting themselves at risk. Those people are so brave, and people who are getting hurt and going back out there.

I'm too afraid to leave my house. I'm too afraid to drive because I'm afraid I'm going to get pulled over, and they're going to recognize me. I've been taking Ubers everywhere. So, going to a protest, I want to so bad. But I don't know how I'm going to get to that point.

CUOMO: Well, if I may, Dounya, you're doing a great job, right now, of telling a pretty good group of people why you were there, how you feel about what happened, and what this is all about for you. And that is no small feat of courage after what you had to experience personally.

I thank you, and Counselor, I thank you, for your shaping of the perspective on these issues. I wish you well.

ABOUSHI: Absolutely.

CUOMO: And I hope you always wind up doing what you think is right, because you think it's right, especially here, especially now. Be well.

ZAYER: Thank you. Thanks.

ABOUSHI: Thank you. CUOMO: All right.

Look, none of these conversations are easy. You have to represent what will be heard in places where this is discussed, in places where this is litigated. "Well this is what she did, and that's why it was OK." All right, you got to have the conversation, let her respond to it.

We'll do the same thing if the police want to come on and offer up their position on something like this.

You have to have the conversations. Not easy conversations. It's what this show is all about. But you have to have the conversation. We can't stay where we are. The only question is where do we go from here? We cannot stay where we are.

Now, tonight in Georgia, another window on the problem, the reality, an election meltdown in Georgia has nothing to do with any of the fugazi fraud that this President has tried to make you believe about.

[21:25:00]

But it is exactly the concern of so many about disenfranchisement, keeping people from being able to exercise the right to vote, people in line for hours and hours.

Calls for an investigation, we'll tell you why, right after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TEXT: CUOMO PRIME TIME.

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TEXT: LET'S GET AFTER IT.

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CUOMO: You know, there's no more powerful way to make a point than proof, OK?

The President has consistently told you "Mail-in balloting, oh, you can't do it. It's rife with fraud."

It's not true. He made it up because he doesn't like it, because he obviously has some personal concerns about having too many people have too much access to voting.

"Oh well, you know, you got to be very careful, because I actually won the popular vote. You know, it was all these illegals in California, they, you know, fake voters, they weren't supposed to vote."

It's not true. It's never been true. You look at the cases. There have been studies done. It's not true.

[21:30:00]

And here is the tragedy of the travesty that the President has created on this issue. We have real voter suppression concerns. One is playing out now. Proof - please, put the picture back up, nobody needs to look at my nose.

This has been going on, Georgia's primary, a mess all day and evening.

Most of the problems have been in and around Atlanta. Why? That's what we're going to discuss. People waited for hours in the middle of a pandemic to vote. God bless them for the fortitude. But why did they have to?

Fulton County, which includes parts of Atlanta, extended voting by an hour tonight. The Mayor of Atlanta is asking people to stay in line. It's a big ask. We know it's dangerous for you to be out there.

This is the only type of widespread voter fraud we will ever see. Please understand that, OK, not hear, because you'll hear a lot, doesn't make it true. Just because he says something does not make it true, and more and more often it makes it likely to be false.

Forget about all that talk, OK? Disenfranchisement is the concern. It has always been the concern, OK? That's what we need to talk about tonight.

Now, we've been very fortunate, especially with the State kind of reeling from this, and figuring out how to deal with it, for us to have an official to discuss why it's happening.

Gabriel Sperling is the State - Sterling, sorry, Gabriel Sterling, is the Statewide Voting Implementation Manager for the State of Georgia.

Sir, thank you for joining us tonight. Appreciate it.

GABRIEL STERLING, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE, GEORGIA STATEWIDE VOTING IMPLEMENTATION MANAGER: Good to be here Chris, to talk about what's happening in Georgia today.

CUOMO: All right. Well let's talk about exactly that.

For some context for people, 2018, 87,000 people prevented from voting, a disproportionate number were people of color, young voters, groups, typically favoring Democrats.

Georgia has closed 5 percent of polling places since the Supreme Court invalidated the Voter Rights Act, most of those are in Black and Brown communities.

You get the point. People are concerned that what they saw today is a reflection of what they've seen before, which is disenfranchisement of minorities, who tend to vote Democrat.

Your take? STERLING: Well the reality of what you're seeing in Georgia today is a function of the COVID situation in large part. We did lose many polling places because it's summertimes. The schools are closed. Churches opted out. VFW halls opted out.

In Fulton County, specifically, they lost 40 locations, and collapsed many of those locations into mega precincts, which saw a lot of those amazingly long lines.

We said "This is not a good idea. You need to find other alternative locations." And those kind of polling closures and the things you're discussing are literally County decisions.

They are made at the County level, and the State has zero ability to tell them not to do that, although this Secretary of State, has introduced a bill that would require if there are lines, of over an hour, anytime during the day, you have over 2,000 people registered at a polling place, we have to split that polling place or supply more machines to do it.

Now, what we saw today too was, as an example, in Fulton County, my home county, at a library, there were 15 machines that were sent there. But the rules of COVID spacing, only allowed four voters at a time into those places. Those are the realities.

Trying to get poll workers trained, because we lost the - the majority of our poll workers, the average age is 70. So, we lost many of those poll workers.

So, we recruited - the County's recruited new poll workers that they had to train during COVID. It's very difficult to do, hands-on training with equipment, when you can't get more than 10 people in a room. And we've been with the County (OFF-MIKE).

CUOMO: But here's the thing, Gabe. I hear you, I hear you, and I wanted to give you a chance to give a full-throated explanation of it.

But plenty of people are holding elections during the pandemic. The Officer, the Secretary of State, in your State, as in most, is responsible for election-planning and certification. So, this is your problem, even if it's executed at the County level.

And two, lots of states have done it without what we're seeing now on - in your watch, in your major City.

STERLING: Well Chris, here, we - we had to roll out a new voting machine in the system we had just started. We had two weeks of early voting, a presidential preference primary voting.

And when we merged those two together, we had launched the largest mail-in program ever in the history of State of Georgia, over a million voters taking advantage of it, which blown - has blown away the record turnouts we've seen.

As of today, before we have voted today, we already had record turnout for a general primary, never happened before, over 1,300,000 people. We have three weeks of early voting, including a mandatory Saturday of

325,000 people took advantage of it. That was a record. We anticipate a record turnout today, which is part of reason we saw long lines.

And the many things we saw had nothing to do with equipment, but had to do with poll worker training, because they couldn't do as much of it, and logistical issues at the counties.

We don't load the trucks. So, items were delivered late. They have - especially in one County that has a history of problems, which is Fulton County itself, we already had opened up an investigation because they mishandled absentee ballot applications.

[21:35:00]

We're now expanding that investigation of Fulton and DeKalb counties because of the way they deployed items today.

In almost every case, when our technician showed up, it was a two- minute or three-minute fix because the poll workers didn't - had not learned what exactly to do with this new equipment.

And - and then they (OFF-MIKE).

CUOMO: But isn't that still on you? I mean, you know, these are your people. This is your planning. And, you know, it's an interesting argument you make that you have huge turnout, Gabe.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Hold on.

STERLING: We do not employ poll workers to those locations. We're going to work hand-in-hand with all of our counties. We're going to learn from these things.

And the main thing we've learned, and we all agree, it's going to be training, training, training. We're going to be better in August when we have a runoff. We're going to better in (OFF-MIKE).

CUOMO: But you had the same problem in 2018.

STERLING: We - Chris, you're just incorrect. We've never had these machines before. They're brand new. They've never been used before.

CUOMO: No, no, no. The machines are new. The problem is not. In 2018, 87,000 people were prevented from voting, a disproportionate number were people of color and young voters.

(CROSSTALK).

CUOMO: I agree with you that you knew that you had anticipation of a huge turnout. You had to prepare for it. Doesn't seem you did. And it seems convenient that if you're going to be able to not handle the demand--

STERLING: Well yes, that's - Chris, we did. Let me explain this to you one more time.

CUOMO: --it's nice that you do it in places that tend to vote Democrat.

STERLING: In those - in those counties, where people vote to tend - tend to vote Democrats are run by Democrats, and they are the ones who set the Elections Boards. They are the ones who hire the staff.

We have been saying for years there's problems in Fulton. Fulton County has paid hundreds of thousands of fines for violating election rules, they, repeatedly, over and over again. You can go back and look. And I'm sorry to say it that way.

But we have 159 counties. A 150 of them had almost no problems whatsoever. And they all received the same level of training from Secretary of State. We trained the trainers. The Counties are in charge of training the poll workers. We're all going to learn from this.

You're right. This morning started out terribly, especially in Fulton County, some locations in DeKalb, Fulton and - and Cobb and Gwinnett. But, for the most part, once we got the issues fixed, where the poll workers just didn't know how to handle this equipment, the line started moving.

At the same time, when you have 400 people lined up at a polling location, only - you only allow six at a time in, and you can only scan a ballot. This is the first time we've used paper in the State in 20 years. We used to have the electronic machines.

CUOMO: Right. I get it.

STERLING: So, we do a lot of - yes.

CUOMO: A lot of - but a lot of states have made the transition.

All I'm saying, Gabe, is look, I'm not looking to ascribe animus. I'm just saying it looks bad.

And it looks bad over time, so I'm raising the issues, and I'm giving you a chance to respond, because there are a lot of people tonight, who may not get to exercise, arguably, the most important right we have.

STERLING: Well not to mention we--

CUOMO: So, I appreciate you answering the questions.

STERLING: --ballots to 6.9 million registered voters.

CUOMO: Right.

STERLING: First time ever. We've done everything we can, and we're going to have record turnout.

And you're right. It does look bad when we started off this morning. But we started addressing the issues as soon as we saw them. And by, a little after lunch, nearly every problem was off our board.

And we're trying to make sure that everybody can vote. And we encourage everybody to vote because this is literally the most important thing you can do in our democracy.

CUOMO: Gabriel Sterling, thank you very much for joining me tonight, not an easy conversation for you have. Thank you for having it.

STERLING: Thank you. Good luck tonight.

CUOMO: All right.

All right, the pandemic that's taken over the planet, by the way, which is one of the complicating factors, for preparing for voting, and going out to vote, but we're starting to see things that we were suspicious of, OK?

When did this virus first come? We've talked about that a lot on this show. We always believed it was sooner than they've told us. New satellite imagery, shows a little bit different story than the one we've been told.

Don't believe me. Chief Doctor's here, Sanjay Gupta, next.

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CUOMO: The WHO, the World Health Organization is now clarifying comments made by an official that suggested people who aren't showing Coronavirus symptoms are less likely to spread the disease. The official now says this is a major unknown.

Let's add it to the list of things that is an unknown because we keep to see - seem changing our understanding of about like every aspect of this thing, other than the reality, you don't want it.

Now remember, the CDC says a third of those infected may be asymptomatic, meaning you don't know you have it.

The CDC also believes 40 percent of transmissions happen before you feel sick. So, anyone can think they're asymptomatic. But it's possible symptoms just haven't shown up yet.

The WHO says the virus has spread mostly through droplets in the air. That's why you got to wear the mask.

I know they used to say "Don't wear the mask." It changed. Their understanding changed. The facts change. Your position can change. It doesn't mean it's like not to be believed. Fight's far from over.

WHO says more than 136,000 cases were reported Sunday. That's the most in a single day, so far. Then why do you feel that it's getting better? The key word in that sentence is "Feel."

Now, some of the big population centers, like the one I'm sitting in right now, things are getting better. The rates are going down. There is good news. But we do have more Intel on that front, OK?

We're going to show you what's happening since places are reopening. And a question that I think is the key to how we look back on this situation, in terms of what was done right and wrong, when did they know? When did this start?

We've been arguing on this show for a long time, that this thing has been around longer than they told us, why?

You and I have always known why. You keep hearing from people who say they think they had it back around Thanksgiving, back before the holidays, back - now, what do the satellites show us?

Chief Doctor, Sanjay Gupta, next.

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CUOMO: Sanjay, my man, good to see you.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks for having me.

CUOMO: How worried are you about the protests spreading the virus? My brother used the term "Super spreader," somebody going from protest to protest, who has the virus, whether they know it or not. How big a concern? How long till we know?

GUPTA: I think there's a real concern here. I mean, the Super Spreaders, there's people, a few people who probably are responsible for the vast majority of spread. That's what we sort of find out in these big outbreaks. There are

people who are more likely to spread it to other people. Some people say it's the 80/20 rule. 20 percent of the people are responsible for 80 percent of spread.

You start putting them into situations like the one that you see there, you have a real concern. They not only are in close quarters, obviously, with other people. They may move around. Those people may then go to their own homes, their own communities, and that's how you start to see significant clusters.

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I mean, Chris, you know, we've been talking about this for months. Nothing about the virus has changed. So, you know, people in that close proximity, is a concern. Outside, that's better, wearing masks, that's going to help as well.

If they could get tested, like your brother and other governors have said, that would be great, right? I mean, the testing, adequate testing, widespread, easily available, would help, you know, reduce the spread of this as well. That's not available in all these places, as you know, Chris.

CUOMO: And we're starting to get data now about what reopening, having people more around one another, what that will mean in terms of cases.

Two weeks out from Memorial Day, we saw all the images of places.

GUPTA: Right.

CUOMO: People going out without masks. I'm sure we all have our own anecdotal experiences about what people are doing and not doing. What can we show now at this point?

GUPTA: Yes, you know, I think there's - there's sort of a few things happening at the same time.

Memorial Day weekend just over two weeks ago, obviously these protests that we've seen, states reopening, and then you add into that equation, states are - are doing more testing, maybe still not enough, but that's going to add to the number of people who were diagnosed with the infection as well.

I think, Chris, what I have been following, you want to follow the hospitalizations also. If you see sort of the - the upward trend of both cases, and of hospitalizations, that gives you a sense that you're really seeing growing numbers of infections and more people are getting sick.

If you're just seeing increased cases, but the same level of hospitalizations, that's probably more reflective of testing. I think it's a little early to tell.

As you know, you know, if you take Memorial Day weekend, as a point in time, two to three weeks after that, so I really, over this next week, have been watching.

And you do see several states that have not only gone up, but have gone up by 50 percent, over the last several days. Many of those states are states that reopened the beginning of May. You add Memorial weekend on top of that and that sort of leads to this problem.

CUOMO: And they'll push back with a "Whoa, we're testing more." But the two--

GUPTA: Yes.

CUOMO: --aren't mutually exclusive. You could be testing more and have a jump in cases because you're having more contagion.

GUPTA: That's right. And, you know, that's why you think you also got to look at the hospitalizations as well because, you know, people who are getting sick from this, in higher numbers that would be more suggestive that in fact it's a more widespread contagion.

CUOMO: Right.

GUPTA: Obviously, people who die, that's another point in time.

CUOMO: Now, quickly, I have been tracking this because I believe when the books are written, by people like you, we will look back, and say, "Boy, we had more time to prepare. We had to take this seriously."

Anecdotally, you and I, and everybody watching this right now, have been hearing from people saying that, "You know, I think I had it." And some of them are getting tested.

GUPTA: Right.

CUOMO: And seeing that they still have antibodies from months ago.

Now, a new Harvard study says Coronavirus may have started to spread in China as early as last August, OK, based on satellite images showing increased traffic in Wuhan hospital parking lots, and increased internet searches, for symptoms related to virus.

What's your take?

GUPTA: This is fascinating, Chris. I mean this is a really fascinating study.

So, you're looking at these satellite images of parking lots. You're comparing it to years' past, and saying, "Well it's a - it's a lot more crowded, you know, at the - in October of '19 versus '18," or however they're looking at it. It's really - it's interesting.

I mean it's - it's an interesting way to collect the sort of data. And I think it probably does mean something. I mean, I guess, in your legal world, they say this is circumstantial evidence, so maybe - may be not the - the best quality evidence. But I think it's highly suggestive. You - you add into that something else, which you - I think you saw in that study, Chris, search terms for the word "Cough" and, I believe, "Diarrhea " went up as well, symptoms that we now know are associated with this.

So, people were getting sick. They're going online, saying, "Hey, what is this - what do these symptoms mean?" They're going to the hospitals more often. It is quite likely.

The only thing that throws a wrench into it a little bit, Chris, and I think we have the graph, looking at the country, here in the United States, really, you see the peak of - of Coronavirus cases, infections sort of in mid-April here, and it sort of bounced around a bit since then.

If it was really here a lot earlier, would we have seen a peak earlier? Now, I get it. We weren't necessarily looking.

CUOMO: Right.

GUPTA: Because we didn't think it was here that much earlier. But still, if you - if you look at the overall growth there, you see it really start in middle of March.

Now, maybe there were cases earlier. But were there a lot of cases earlier? When did you really start to get this exponential growth, like you're seeing on that graph? It took a while to get to that point.

I think you're right though. And you've said - I got to - I got to give you credit because you said this all along. You said what, maybe in the fall, even of last year, there may have been cases of Coronavirus in this country.

And now, when you look at the data, it's probably correct. If there are people in August being infected--

CUOMO: Right.

GUPTA: --in China, a big city, and people flying out, I'm sure they were going all over the world.

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CUOMO: Right. And it's not an "I told you so." I'm right about things all the time. I don't get credit. I'm wrong twice as often. And, you know, that's OK. It all balances out. What I'm saying is preparedness and what we look for.

GUPTA: Yes.

CUOMO: And how we are aware.

GUPTA: That's right.

CUOMO: And what our early warning system is. That's why it matters. And, you know, don't sleep on circumstantial evidence. The overwhelming amount of cases are made on circumstantial evidence.

What is direct evidence is you always being a plus. Thank you very much. And why is it a direct evidence? Everybody knows it, who sees you do your job. Thank you, brother, be well.

GUPTA: I appreciate that, Chris. Thank you.

CUOMO: Sanjay Gupta.

All right, when I come back, a quick thought, as we go into Don, about where we are today, in terms of what happens next. We all know we can't stay where we are with things as they are. So, what will make the difference? Next.

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CUOMO: Here's what I know. The key is the "We." "Us versus them" got us here.

Minorities are victims of a problem that the majority controls. Our leaders are not getting us to a better place, not by themselves. Our President is determined to keep us as divided as he can. The key is the "We."

If colors come together in a consensus of conscience, that's the righteous cause. And there will be change. Why? Because politicians act out of fear of consequence more than out of good conscience, and if they see that we're coming together, they'll move.