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Trump To Deliver Commencement Address At West Point; Trump Reschedules Tulsa Rally "Out Of Respect" For Juneteenth; Study Suggests COVID-19 Mutation Could Make Virus More Infectious; Eight People Shot Outside San Antonio Bars; Eighteenth Night Of Protests In U.S. Over George Floyd's Death; Reconsidering The Role Police In Society. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired June 13, 2020 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of your NEW DAY starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, beautiful view of Atlanta there. I hope the sun is shining wherever you are today. Thank you so much for keeping us company this morning here. The coronavirus pandemic, we want to let you know, it is not over.

That is the message from health officials this morning, amid these concerns about several states that are reporting a growing number of new cases, and the CDC reiterating their latest guidelines including staying apart from others wearing face coverings and asking us not to share objects.

BLACKWELL: Also, this morning, a reversal from the President on when he will hold this first rally after this pause in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He says he's going to push it back a day after criticism that it was scheduled for June 19, Juneteenth, the holiday commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. Let's go straight to Washington, CNN, Sara Westwood is with us. Sarah, what is the president saying about why he decided to push this back?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Victor and Christi. President Trump is saying that he decided to move the date of his rally that was scheduled for Friday, June 19, because he said that his African American friends and supporters reached out to him and suggested that he changed the date of that rally out of respect for the Juneteenth holiday, obviously, the commemoration of the end of slavery.

And the President had also faced backlash not just because of the date, but because of the location of that rally, because it was to be held and still is going to be held in Tulsa the site in 1921 of a large massacre of African Americans at the hands of a white mob. The President had defended the choice to hold the rally on that date. As recently, as yesterday, he said in an interview that aired yesterday, that the date wasn't selected intentionally, but that people should think of his rally as a celebration, obviously, though he reversed course on that late last night.

And meanwhile, against the backdrop of all of this is the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic is still continuing to spread through parts of the country and public health experts are warning about the risks of gathering in crowds like the President's rally. I want you to take a listen to what Dr. Anthony Fauci said about that he said he hadn't discussed the rally specifically with President Trump, but that risks still exist of spreading the infection in close quarters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, MEMBER OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE: I have not specifically spoken to him about that. But the principles that I have been espousing hold true and stand. As I've said before, when you're in a large crowd, if you have the congregation of people that are much, much close to each other, you definitely increase the risk that you will either require or spread infections.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: Now, Victor and Christi rally attendees who requested tickets from the campaign were also asked to release the campaign of any liabilities should they contract coronavirus by attending this event.

PAUL: All right, so I want to ask you about what's on the President's schedule today because we know that he's speaking to West Point graduates this morning in the middle of this pandemic, so that's going to look very different. But what do we expect content wise? What do we expect to see from him?

WESTWOOD: Well, Christi, right, that commencement today at West Point, it's not going to look like commencements. In the past, you're going to see masks being worn. You're going to see the second lieutenants graduating today space, at least eight feet apart. It's going to take place outdoors.

Families also aren't allowed to attend. They'll have to watch on a live stream and obviously everyone, the students to the to the rest of the attendees, they all have had to have tested negative for coronavirus in order to attend alongside the president.

But one person who won't be there today is General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is someone who caught attention this week because he apologized on Thursday for his appearance on the streets in military fatigue saying that the perception of the military was involved in domestic politics. And it's unclear, Victor and Christi, whether the President will be responding publicly to Milley's apology today. Milley will have a taped address for, for the graduates today.

BLACKWELL: All right, we'll look forward to it. Sarah Westwood, live from Washington, thank you. PAUL: And today's speech to the next generation military leaders comes obviously at a critical point in the President's relationship with the armed forces. He's facing criticism by former military leaders for the response to the protests, as you just heard, Sarah mentioned there. Current top military brass now addressing racism and the ongoing cultural shift in their own way. CNN Military Analyst, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling with us now.

By the way, he served nearly 40 years in the military, he's a former Commanding General for the Army. General Hertling, it's always so good to have you with us. Thank you for being here.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's great to be with you, Christi. Good morning.

PAUL: Good morning. So, President Trump at West Point today there are 1100 -- over 1100 graduates that he's going to be speaking to. Some West Point alumni put out a letter to this current class and I want to read part of what they said. They wrote, "We a diverse group of West Point graduates are concerned. We're concerned that fellow graduates serving in senior level public positions are following to uphold their, their oath of office and their commitment to duty, honor country.

Their actions threaten the credibility of an apolitical military. We ask you to join us in working to right the wrongs and to hold each other accountable to the ideals instilled by our alma mater and affirmed by each of us at graduation." General Hertling, what do you think the military needs to hear from this president today?

[07:05:40]

HERTLING: Well, it's interesting, Christi, because the West Point speech, when given by the President 20, 45 years ago, I heard Gerald Ford speak at our graduation. It's always somewhat political. They usually cite some of the programs that they're providing to the military or how the nation that the nation is well served by the graduates of the class. So, hopefully, I'd hear some of that from President Trump as well today. But we're in, as you mentioned earlier, a very divisive time. The military has been questioned over the last couple of weeks.

So, I would hope he would reinforce the requirement of the new second lieutenants as long gray line as it were to contribute to the nation to dedicate themselves to their constitutional oath, which they will reaffirm today even though they've all been commissioned already. It will be important for them to hear that as well as getting some kudos for their four years of very tough work these 1017 new second lieutenants will be joining the force in the next couple of weeks.

PAUL: OK, real quickly, the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, we heard, we heard Sarah mentioned that as well apologizing for his part in the Lafayette Square Park photo. That's a rare admission of guilt. What's the impact of that?

HERTLING: Yes, it is and I certainly can't speak for how the entire military feels but I do know a lot of people I've spoken with. The senior leaders and some soldiers over the last week have, have taken that in the right way. They've said General Milley realized his mistake and, and being part of the photo-op and seemingly to do a political act.

He apologized for that directly at a very unique graduation at the National War College, National Defense University. So, I think most people are saying, OK, he realizes he messed up. He's reaffirming what is supposed to be done. He's showing what right looks like and he's also telling all those who follow him this is the way you're supposed to act and please learn from my mistake.

PAUL: Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, I'm sorry, I've got to cut it short here. Thank you so much. We always appreciate your insight.

HERTLING: Always a pleasure to be with you, Christi. Thank you.

PAUL: Thank you. So, right now coronavirus cases are spiking in several states. They're causing a lot of them to delay reopening plans there. Friday, for instance, yesterday the U.S. reported more than 25,000 new cases and another 851 people who died.

BLACKWELL: The CDC yesterday released new guidelines for social distancing and traveling this summer. Agency guidelines urge travelers you to wash your hands before using trains and buses and subways and airplanes, and to keep some distance between yourself and someone else and wear a cloth face covering.

PAUL: So, there are growing concerns over a study out of Florida because researchers there say they believe the virus has mutated, which means it can more easily infect people now.

BLACKWELL: CNN Polo Sandoval is up now with us. Last night Dr. Fauci put up this warning to the States. Tell us about it.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That warning, Victor, coming with those numbers that you just shared a little while ago, they certainly are concerning suggesting that that spread is happening certain parts of the country. Here in New York though, the rate of infection does remain relatively low but steady and it is prompting concern so much so the Simple Way Camp for Children here in New York State has been banned this summer. As we heard from the state's top health officials say yesterday is still too risky.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Dr. Anthony Fauci with the new warning for Americans as coronavirus case counts are rising in 19 states.

FAUCI: If you leap frog over different phases, you increase the risk that you're going to have the kind of resurgences that we're seeing in certain of the states.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Has the United States stalled in the fight against coronavirus?

FAUCI: I'm not so sure we can say it stalled, but what we're seeing right now is something obviously that's disturbing.

SANDOVAL: With more people congregating in public places, recent protests for racial justice in major cities and the lack of a vaccine experts are concerned.

DR. RICHARD BESSER, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, CDC: We're in the early days of the pandemic and if only five or 10 percent of the population has had this infection, we have a really long way to go.

SANDOVAL: Since Memorial Day the number of coronavirus hospitalizations has gone up and at least a dozen states according to data CNN collected from the COVID tracking project from May 25th to June 9th. North Carolina has seen the most cases reported in one day since the pandemic began. Democratic Governor Roy Cooper said in the press conference Friday, South Carolina has seen a large increase in daily new cases. On Thursday, the state saw its single largest daily increase since the pandemic started. Florida's average new case count has about doubled since June 1st.

[07:10:39]

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): As you're testing more, you're going to find more cases.

SANDOVAL: And Governor Ron DeSantis says they are new outbreaks and farming communities. In Houston, Texas, they're prepping a field hospital at the Texans NRG Stadium just in case COVID-19 hospitalization rates in Texas just hit an all-time high. In Arkansas, a record number of COVID-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours.

DR. ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: If things continue on the current trend? We're going to lose 20 to 30,000 Americans a month. And nothing in the foreseeable future stops that unless we really do things differently.

SANDOVAL: Dr. Fauci, cautioning states on Friday to rethink their reopening strategies if they see increases in the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19.

FAUCI: Wait a minute, let's rethink this and see where we're going. Maybe we need to slow down a little, maybe we need to attend intensify our capabilities to identify isolated contact trace. We don't want it to get out of hand again.

SANDOVAL: Oregon and Utah have paused their reopening. In California's Orange County, relaxing its strict mandate for face coverings. Neighboring L.A. County, which recorded its highest single day increase this week moved into phase three, gyms, day camps, and T.V. film production are among the businesses reopening.

All of Missouri will be open next week. And concerts and conventions can resume in Georgia July 1st. As the coronavirus pandemic continues, officials at the CDC are reiterating the importance of social distancing, wearing face coverings in public and washing hands frequently. (END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: All right, so let's bring you back here to New York City where we are in store for a big test later this month. Mayor Bill de Blasio is saying yesterday that we may find out in the next couple of weeks if that wave of protests that we saw play out cause the virus to basically research here Victor and Christi. But in the meantime, until we get to that point, authority saying to people if they participate in these protests and simply get tested just in case.

BLACKWELL: All right, Polo Sandoval for us in New York. Thanks, Polo.

Let's push forward on the breaking news this morning into CNN. This is coming to us from Texas. At least eight people have been shot. This happened overnight outside of two bars. This is what we know from police: a group was denied entry, one of the men walked to his car, police are told, and then pulled out a rifle and started shooting.

According to officers, the man said that he was a UFC fighter from California. That's all they're telling us that they know about this man, they're still looking for him. But this is what they're telling us that one, no reports of any fatalities as a result of these, the shooting of eight people, and that there's no current threat to the area officers believe. But as soon as we get more about this, we will certainly pass that on to you.

PAUL: We've been all watching history in the making here, this growing call for racial equality in the U.S., their protests. You see them here, they are continuing now. Bishop William Barber II is with us next. He says this is the moment that has to be seen as a time for a fundamental shift. What he has planned not only to change the conversation, but to change the situations.

[07:14:00]

BLACKWELL: Also, the call for police reform and reconsidering potentially the role that police play in their communities all together. We'll talk about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: There have been 18 nights of protests across this country now demanding policing reforms and an end to systemic racial injustice.

PAUL: In Miami, Florida, a non-violent march to the courthouse downtown ended with protesters on Interstate 95. You see them right there. They were blocking a bridge and there was a brief standoff with law enforcement.

Looking at Chicago, there were protesters saying him couldn't hear him. They called for the creation of a civilian council to keep police accountable. And in Minneapolis, where George Floyd was killed when an officer kneeled on his neck for almost nine minutes. protesters are demanding the head of the police union resign. All three cities by the way in at least 17 others are banning chokeholds in policing after the Floyd incident.

BLACKWELL: With us now is Bishop William Barber II and Co-Chair of the Poor People's Campaign and President of Repairs of the Breach a Moral Campaign, also Author of "We're Called to be a Movement." Bishop Barber, welcome back.

BISHOP WILLIAM BARBER II, CO-CHAIR OF THE POOR PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN AND PRESIDENT OF REPAIRS OF THE BREACH A MORAL CAMPAIGN: Thank you so much this morning.

BREAM: So, let's start here. You're preaching live from the Washington National Cathedral tomorrow, 11:15 Eastern and the sermon is America accepting death is not an option anymore. I expect that this will encompass more than just police brutality and police killings. What's the message? What's the scope?

BARBER: What it has to Victor in this moment, people are not just looking for reserved reform. They're looking for robust reconstruction. We're experiencing the birth pains of a third reconstruction. And what I'm going to be talking about is that police violence is one form of racism. It's not even older forms of racism and it's one form of death that certainly has to be addressed.

[07:20:05]

But we must recognize that there is a death measurement in a whole lot of bad public policy, voter suppression, has a death measurement. And because when you suppress the vote, you allow people to get elected who blocked health care, block living wages. And when you block those things, it causes death. The denial of healthcare has a death measurement, and that can be measured in race and in class, the number of people that die because we're the only country of the wealthiest that refuses to attach healthcare to people's body instead we attach to their job.

A poverty is 700 people die a day from poverty, a quarter million people a year. So, poverty is a death has a death measurement. And if we don't address living wages and basic living, basic income, we are actually seeing people die. They may not die on camera, but they're dying at a rate of 700 a day, according to a study by Columbia University.

And America has to decide, are we going to be true -- which is life, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Are we going to be true to establishment of justice? Are we going to be true to our deepest moral and religious values? You know, there's a scripture in the Bible in Amos that says that when, when, when this kind of injustice is happening, people need to be in the street mourning, lamenting, cry, and demanding that there be change.

And so, I'm going to suggest that in this moment, in this moment of pandemic, in this moment of police violence and death, in this moment when so many were dying even before COVID, and people are dying during COVID that didn't have to die, America has to be clear -- accepting death is not an option anymore. We have it's not about left and right and Democrat versus Republican, it literally is about life and death, both individuals and communities and of this democracy.

PAUL: There are a lot of people who have said now that this is this time, it feels different. They feel like there's a different momentum here and we've seen a lot of white people in line in these protests alongside black people who are protesting for the same thing. And I'm wondering what your messages to white people tomorrow, what do we need to hear?

BARBER: Well, you know, on June 20 2020, next weekend, people can go to www -- June 20, 2020, we're putting for a Mass Poor People's Assembly March on Washington digital affair. And we've been organizing for years with black and white people, we're going to have white coal miner standing beside black folk from Mississippi, who figured out that all of us are damaged.

When we get by systemic racism, systemic poverty, ecological devastation, denial of healthcare, the war economy, and the false narrative of religious nationalism. You're going to see a counterintuitive group of people by the thousands are going to be testifying and thousands of thousands of people will be online. We had planned to be on Pennsylvania Avenue with hundreds of thousands of people.

Let's remember our history, it was black and white coalition's that caused abolition. It was black and white coalitions that caused the women's suffrage movement and the labor movement, and the civil rights movement. Sometimes when I hear people say, we've not seen this before, we've not seen it on social media before and the magnitude before but transformation in this country has always been multi-ethnic and multi-racial, and we have to remember that history.

The second thing is I'm a little bothered when I hear some people say, it seems different. Like when Tim Scott said it the other day, and he said he looked out his window and he saw seven white people and three black people protesters out of 10. But in, but some of that (INAUDIBLE) but it shouldn't take this much for just for folks to do right. It shouldn't take this much to stop police violence and racist police violence.

But the third thing is what we all need to hear is racism is more than just police violence, racism toward our first nation brothers and sisters, racism to what our brown brothers and sisters, racism toward African Americans and we have to look at racism in all of its forms. This cannot be fair when we deal with police violence but then people still don't deal with the racism into denial of healthcare, and the denial of voting rights and denial of living wages and the denial of fixing the climate.

We must deal with the issue of systemic racism and recognize that ultimately racism is not is, is talking about black people and people of color, but ultimately, it hurts everybody. It hurts the entire democracy. It undermines everybody's fundamental rights. That's what we have to understand. Racism and classism have always had death in them and everything racism and classism touches it kills, it kills and that's why we must say we've got to deal with this death measurement and choose life rather than death. PAUL: Reverend William Barber, speaking tomorrow at the National Cathedral, it will be live streamed by the way again next Saturday at another event, June 2020. We appreciate you being here. Thank you, sir.

[07:25:08]

BARBER: Thank you so much. God bless the audience.

PAUL: You as well. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Still to come, this national conversation about police reform, officer training, also you've heard defund the police, what does that mean? You've heard maybe several different definitions; we're going to have a focused conversation on reconsidering the role that police play in society. Next.

COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: This week has Democrats unveiled legislation offering a blueprint for reforming policing policies. My next guest says that rather than focus on police reform, the country needs to reconsider fundamentally what it is the police should be doing at all.

[07:29:57] With me now is Alex Vitaliy, he is the author of "The End of Policing," also a Professor of Sociology and Coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College. Alex, good to have you this morning.

ALEX VITALE, AUTHOR, THE END OF POLICING: Thank you, Victor.

BLACKWELL: So, in preparation to this conversation, I thought back to what I heard from then-Dallas police chief David Brown, this was 2016 after a Dallas officers were shot and he said, we're asking police in this country to do too much. Mental health funding shortfalls, call the police. Homelessness, call the police. A dog is loose, call the police.

You say that this is the result of decades of expanding the scope of policing. Set the table for us.

VITALE: Sure. I think it's really about a political failure on both -- on the side of both parties. There's been this idea that all local governments can do economically is to subsidize the most successful parts of the economy in hopes that some of that will trickle down to the rest of us, but that hasn't happened.

Instead, what we've got is mass homelessness, mass untreated mental illness, mass economic precarity with people moving into black markets of drugs, and sex work, and stolen property.

And then, rather than go back and try to directly address those issues, these local leaders have turned those problems over to the police to manage. But the police don't have the right tools for managing those problems. They don't have mental health training skills. They don't have access to affordable housing. They can't fix the problems in our schools. So, this is really about rethinking the political priorities that have turned these problems over to the police to manage.

BLACKWELL: Yes, you said that the police don't have those tools. The tools that they are given in academies and by these departments suggest that there will be violence. So, in order to avoid the violence, you need to send a responder with different tools. What does that mean for the future of policing?

I mean, practically, if I dial 911, will I get fire EMT police, or a counselor, or a mediator? Give us the practical layout.

VITALE: Sure. Well, if you look at a place like Eugene, Oregon, what they've done is they've created a 24-hour crisis response capacity that's in addition to police. So, if you call 911 about a fire, you get the fire department.

In Eugene, if you call 911 and you say, my son is having a mental health crisis, you get a trained mental health outreach worker or clinician, not an armed police officer. And we can do that for a variety of things that have been turned over to the police to manage.

BLACKWELL: So, the defund the police movement -- and there are lot of different groups under that umbrella in this moment. Some want police- free communities, others want to taper the responsibilities of police. I mean defunding the police is not defunding public safety. But then, what would fall under the purview of an armed officer then?

VITALE: Well, we have to remember that ultimately, police are violence workers. That's what distinguish and -- distinguishes them from other parts of government. And we need to think long and hard about exactly what those things are that we can't deal with in any other way.

And it's not a simple equation about, oh, well, there's murders or there's sexual assaults because there are evidence-based strategies that are being carried out in the United States right now that show that there are non-police ways of making those problems much better of an -- of an enhancing community safety without police.

So, we need to give communities a chance to explore the potential options that they could use instead of armed police that, that would actually make their community safer, and would reduce the violence that Reverend Barber was talking about because we need to quit thinking that the solution to every problem is a potentially violent intervention.

BLACKWELL: So, we're about 4-1/2 months out from a national election. And, of course, policing in the federal system is left to states and municipalities, the general policing. But federal grants can be pretty influential on what will be funded -- what won't be funded.

What's the requirement? What do you think the necessity is of national buy-in to get congressional buy-in from this administration or the next into rethinking policing?

VITALE: Well, this is mostly a local struggle, right? We're talking about 18,000 plus local police departments under the control of local mayors, but, the feds do play a role. For decades, they've subsidized the over alliance on policing. They -- they've encouraged putting police in our schools, they cut funding to housing and other necessary services that have created problems that then get turned over to police.

The cop's office right now is flooding seven American cities with federal agents and money from more local police to go after Trump's favorite enemies of drug cartels, and gangbangers. But, really, these are young people in our communities who need help.

[07:35:09]

VITALE: So, what we need from Congress is a bill that both dials back federal law enforcement interventions, but also subsidizes communities to put in place exactly these kinds of evidence-based targeted community interventions that we think will actually make these communities safer in the long run.

BLACKWELL: All right. The book is The End of Policing. Professor Eric -- I'm sorry, Alex Vitale, thanks so much for being with us.

VITALE: You bet.

BLACKWELL: All right.

PAUL: So, there's still millions of Americans out of work. And you probably noticed that the businesses that haven't reopened, the concern of a second wave of COVID-19, and then, you've noticed this. Investors, they're spending. Stocks are near record highs. What is driving up that trend? We'll talk about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:30]

PAUL: 40 minutes past the hour. London's mayor is pleading with protesters this morning to stay home.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Mayor Sadiq Khan took to social media and he told Londoners that the risk of violence at his -- at protests this weekend, it is really high. And while he supports Black Lives Matter, he'd rather people to stay safe.

PAUL: Yes, the U.K.'s official Black Lives Matter group is distanced itself from the threats that are being received by police this weekend. They are telling followers to just stay home and, "take care of yourself and each other".

These are right-wing protesters that are in the streets, we understand now, to defend some of London's monuments.

BLACKWELL: So, let's go there. International diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is live in London right now. What's going on?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, this is a completely different atmosphere and a completely different march to when you were coming here to talk to me last Saturday.

Last Saturday was the Black Lives Matter march, a big gathering. In the square here and today, this is a gathering of people who have come, they say to protect government buildings, to protect statues here.

Specifically, if you look over my shoulder, the statue -- but you can't see that's in the big grey box over there. It's the statue of Winston Churchill. And last weekend, after the Black Lives Matter protest here, there was graffiti sprayed on it, accusing Churchill of being a racist.

The following day, a statue of a slave trader was taken down in another city. And the people that are here today believe that they want to come here to protect these statues because they believe that activists within the Black Lives Matter movement want to take those statues down.

So, what has happened? We've heard from the police commissioner in London, saying that she knows that there are people coming within this crowd here that have the intent that they want to come to London not just to protect statues, but to attack the black lives movement. That's what the police commissioner says.

We know from the Mayor of London, he has called some of the people gathering here right-wing, extreme right-wing. And he has urged the Black Lives Matter movement not to hold protests in London today.

The black lives movement was playing to have a large demonstration in London, in one of the big parks, and walk across the city of London.

What that movement has done? What the Black Lives Matter group has done is tell their supporters, don't come to the big rally in the center of London, go to smaller rallies on the outskirts of London.

So, the atmosphere here today is a very different scenario to the one of last week, and the police have laid very strict and clear conditions on both groups, on the Black Lives Matter and the groups represented here, that they must disperse after 5:00 this afternoon, and that's about four hours, or so, away.

So, the police are taking much firmer measures than they did last week. They are making sure that these two groups cannot meet. They're keeping this group here in this area, and the Black Lives Matter group, if they -- if they do gather would be in a park and marching to -- marching to Trafalgar Square, which is about half a mile from here.

So, the police are taking extreme precautions to make sure there's no confrontation. But this is a crowd here that's fueled in part by anger and frustration of what they see. And I have to say today this weekend, there is alcohol here. And the police, certainly, when I look around to them, they're prepared for the potential of violence, and this is what the police commissioner said she's afraid of.

PAUL: All right, Nic Robertson, you and the crew stay safe there. Thank you so much, we appreciate it as always. We're going to continue to follow the news out of London, where he is there. So, do stay with us. CNN, with the very latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: "FOOD AS FUEL" is brought to you by noom. Noom is based in psychology, for lasting health and weight loss results.

[07:45:39]

PAUL: So, I know sticking to health goals is an always easy. Well, in today's "FOOD AS FUEL", nutritionists Lisa Drayer, shares a few diet hacks that might help us stay on goal.

LISA DRAYER, CNN HEALTH CONTRIBUTOR: A few small changes to your diet could mean big benefits for your waistline. Instead of adding whole milk in your morning latte, consider one percent.

This simple change can help you lose up to three pounds per year. Eliminate the sugar, and you could drop another six pounds. For breakfast, go for avocado on your toast instead of butter. This healthy spread can help you lose eight pounds over the year.

Now, let's talk snacks. While reaching for a candy bar may seem like a convenient option, it can often be loaded with extra calories and sugar. By choosing a fruit and nut bar, instead, you could lower the scale by an additional seven pounds.

As for drinks, you could lose about 15 pounds per year simply by substituting a can of soda for a glass of water.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Well, 40 million people have applied for unemployment since mid- March. And a lot of businesses, as you know, are still closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. But you wouldn't know it if you look at stock market.

BLACKWELL: Yes. This week, the NASDAQ hit an all-time high. The Dow Jones, the S&P 500, they came close to the record peaks that they hit back in February. There was, of course, that steep one-day drop on Thursday. A little bit of a recovery yesterday.

PAUL: Yes. CNN business correspondent Cristina Alesci is with us now. Cristina, what do we know about who, or what, at this point, is driving the markets?

[07:50:08]

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the fact is the market has been driven higher, essentially, on all of the stimulus, and the government actions that are really reassuring investors that the government is going to step in and try and aid the economic recovery.

And let's face it, the market is driven by people trying to get ahead of one another, which inflates prices pushes things up. But I don't think we can ignore what happened on Thursday, which was the market was spooked by the fact that a number of cities and states have seen their coronavirus cases increased.

Places like counties in California, North Carolina, Arizona, and they got a double dose of bad news when Fed Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, essentially said millions of Americans may not have a job to come back to, and it's going to take them some time to find a new job, and a new company, or a new industry.

And this is the thing. The administration is very worry about the economic recovery. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, out there this week trying to reassure the markets that they're not going to shut down the economy again. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN MNUCHIN, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY (via telephone): We can't shut down the economy again. I think we've learned that if you shut down the economy, you're going to create more damage. And not just economic damage, but there are -- there are other areas, and we've talked about these medical problems and everything else that get put on hold.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALESCI: As you both have been covering, the economic recovery is essential to Trump's re-election campaign. So, they know how important it is. That was the attempt to reassure the markets that they are squarely focused on that.

BLACKWELL: Cristina, before we let you go, we talked a bit this morning about Starbucks fumble over t-shirts and pens related to Black Lives Matter. You've been following other corporate responses. How are they responding to this moment?

ALESCI: Well, I've been covering corporates responding to crisis now for 10 years. And what I can say about this time, what's different is that companies are promising to take specific actions, and promising specific amounts of money.

You know that is a step in the right direction. Of course, there's a lot more to be done based on my conversations with black business leaders. But if you take a look at some of those actions, they are interesting and responsive to the black community.

For example, Band-Aid, now saying that it's going to make bandages in skin tones that match black and brown people. And that is something that the community has been wanting to see for years and years. Some would say it's too late, but nonetheless, the company did it.

Nike is committing $40 million to racial justice organizations. And you have banks like Goldman Sachs, committing millions of dollars as well. As you mentioned, Starbucks did fumble on allowing employees to wear Black Lives Matter's t-shirts, and buttons, and paraphernalia. And at the end of the day, the company had to reverse course because there was a backlash from employees. And now, they are going to allow employees to wear those items.

But the curious thing about the Starbucks situation is this is not a company that is a stranger to racial issues. Remember, two years ago, they had to shut down their U.S. stores for a few hours and do racial training, because a white employee had called the police on two black customers that were just sitting in the store.

So, clearly, there needs to be work that's done at these companies. But what's different this time is that we have specific promises and numbers that we could hold them accountable too. Victor, Christi?

PAUL: Christina Alesci, we appreciate it. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: And since the emergence of COVID-19 on a global scale, scientists have pointed to bats as possible carriers of this deadly virus. But, did you know that bats may also hold, some believe, the key to a cure?

PAUL: Yes, Anderson Cooper has more on its upcoming documentary, it airs tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: In a lab, nearly 6,500 miles from Wuhan, researchers in Berkeley, California are looking to bats to find clues on how to help humans fight coronaviruses like COVID-19.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I think in a way, there's actually a lot we can learn from bats. You know this group of animals that's been around for millions of years.

How can we look at their history with viruses, and take that knowledge, and think about therapeutics, and treatments for ourselves?

COOPER: Scientists believe that understanding a bat's immune system can help develop a human battle plan for fighting these diseases on a global scale.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an opportunity. What is it about the bat's metabolism, unity, or physiology that they've got that we could use?

COOPER: That might actually hold an answer for treating virus.

[07:55:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If bats can handle thousands of different viruses, at a much higher load than humans can, let's find out why and use that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Anderson Cooper explores the world of bats, their importance to our ecology, economy, medical research. "BATS: THE MYSTERY BEHIND COVID-19" is tomorrow at 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, right here on CNN.

And the next hour of NEW DAY starts after a quick break. Stay close.

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