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New Day Sunday
Ten Million COVID-19 Cases Worldwide, Nearing 500,000 Deaths; Official Says Russian Intel Offered Cash To Taliban Militants To Kill U.S., U.K. Troops; Biden Brands Trump Presidency "A Gift To Putin"; Florida Sets New Daily Record With 9,585 New COVID-19 Cases; Trump Campaign Postpones Pence's Events In Florida And Arizona. Aired 6-7a
Aired June 28, 2020 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:15]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have made a truly remarkable progress.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here in the United States, over 125,000 have perished.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The scientists, the doctors tell us on that on our current trajectory, our hospitals are going to be overwhelmed by mid- July.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): This is a way to indicate that you want to protect others.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think wearing a face mask as great presidents, prime ministers, dictators, I don't see it for myself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were some very, very strict rules that we're supposed to adhere to. And he just didn't follow it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The restaurants are mobbed right now. They've got live music. They've got lots of stuff going on.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good Sunday morning to you. You are watching NEW DAY. It is June 28th. I'm Victor Blackwell.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Bianna Golodryga in for Christi Paul. Great to be with you again, Victor, for day two this morning.
BLACKWELL: Good to have you.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
BLACKWELL: All right. Just in the last couple of minutes, this breaking news into the "CNN NEWSROOM" from Johns Hopkins University 10 million now total cases of coronavirus and almost 500,000 deaths across the world.
The United States adds more than 42,000 cases. That was just yesterday alone. Only two states now in the U.S., two states, Connecticut and Rhode Island are reporting a decline in daily new cases.
GOLODRYGA: And leading the wrong way again is Florida with more than 9,500 new cases yesterday alone adding up to more than 18,000 in just 48 hours. Meantime, the Trump campaign says it is postponing two events featuring Vice President Mike Pence in Florida and Arizona out of an abundance of caution.
BLACKWELL: Also this morning, the Trump administration is being criticized for its response or lack of a response to the disturbing report that Russian intelligence officers offered cash rewards to the Taliban if they killed U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Former Vice President Joe Biden condemned the president's relationship with Vladimir Putin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESUMPTIVE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: His entire presence has been a gift to Putin. But this is beyond the pale.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: So, listen, we've got all of this coverage for you this morning. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is standing by in London. Sarah Westwood is at the White House. Polo Sandoval is in New York. We'll start there.
Polo, good morning to you. Another day --
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
BLACKWELL: -- of alarming reminders that the U.S. is struggling to get a hold of this virus.
SANDOVAL: Certainly struggling, Victor. At least a handful of states yesterday reporting their largest single-day increase in terms of COVID cases. The result has been a grim record breaking weekend. Here in New York though certain night and day difference as the state reporting its test positivity rate of less than one percent yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Over half of the country seeing coronavirus cases surge this weekend. This was the U.S. a month ago, this is it today. Red highlighting the states seeing increases.
Florida continues to shatter its record of daily COVID cases. On Saturday, that figure surpassed 9,500 people. That's already more than Italy ever saw in a single day when that country was considered the global epicenter of the pandemic in March. And the Sunshine State is also on track to beat New York's highest single day increase from when the Empire State was the nation's ground zero of the pandemic, a title Florida may soon have. Miami-Dade's mayor ordering beaches in the city to close for the Fourth of July holiday.
MAYOR CARLOS GIMENEZ (R), MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA: Without a doubt we've seen a huge spike in the 18 to 34-year-old group and the 35 to 44-year-old group. Those two groups have really spiked way up.
SANDOVAL: Yet as the numbers rise, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is doubling down on his decision not to call for a mandatory mask order. This as the Senate's most powerful Republican leader Mitch McConnell promotes the use of face coverings in sharp contrast to President Trump's refusal to wear a mask in public.
MCCONNELL: This is a way to indicate that you want to protect others. And we all need during this period until we find a vaccine to think of us as protecting not only ourselves but others.
SANDOVAL: Texas also seeing increased cases, maintaining well over 5,000 new cases a day since Thursday. In a push to reverse the uptick, the governor ordered bars closed and said in hind sight he reopened them too soon.
[06:05:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have many friends in the service industry in Montrose and they're all getting sick, and all the bars are closing. And we knew this was going to happen. And, yet, our state and federal government is allowing it. And it's wrong.
SANDOVAL: Public health experts in California are warning the state's hospital system could be overwhelmed without immediate action to slow the COVID spread. California saw a single day increase of over 6,000 cases that's prompting Disneyland to push back it's reopening.
And, yet, the real COVID stats may be even higher according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Saturday, the agency released an antibody study suggesting the total number of COVID cases may be six to 24 times greater than what we're seeing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: But for now, we do have those numbers that have been released now indicating that the nation has already surpassed 2.5 million coronavirus cases. And as that happens, there is a promising sign of return to normalcy here in New York.
Again, today as mass will be celebrated again at Saint Patrick's Cathedral for the first time since March it certainly will not be a normal worship though, Bianna and Victor. There will only be about 25 percent capacity inside the cathedral and, of course, social distancing measures will be in place as well.
GOLODRYGA: We know how fragile that return to somewhat of normalcy really is given what New York has experienced just a few months ago. Polo Sandoval, thank you.
Well, let's bring in Sarah Westwood live from the White House. Sarah, the Trump campaign announced that it was cancelling events in Florida and Arizona this week. Why?
SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Good morning, Bianna.
Yes, Vice President Mike Pence had been scheduled to participate in a bus tour in Florida as part of a campaign effort, but those events in Arizona and Florida have been scrapped. It's just another sign that the campaign, that the White House, they are starting to recognize that with cases spiking, particularly in those state, but in other areas across the country this is getting more serious.
I want you to take a listen to what Vice President Mike Pence said about masks and social distancing and the importance of that in an interview that will be airing later today, putting the burden on state and local officials for enforcing things like wearing masks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN DICKERSON, CBS HOST: Why not ask people to wear masks?
PENCE: Well, we believe people should wear masks wherever --
DICKERSON: Why doesn't the president say that?
PENCE: -- social distancing is not possible, wherever it's indicated by either state or local authorities. The president has worn a mask. I wore a mask on several occasions.
We issued guidelines to reopen America. And since that day, nearly two months ago, we've made it clear that we want to defer to governors, we want to defer to local officials --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WESTWOOD: So, you can see there the vice president not issuing a very forceful call to action for Americans to wear masks. That's a very different tone than you've heard from the administration's own public health experts, like Dr. Anthony Fauci who said that people have a societal responsibility to wear face coverings. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is one of the highest ranking Republicans so far to come out and encourage people to wear masks forcefully. I wanted to ask you to take a listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCONNELL: Until we find a vaccine, these are really important. I see various events on television in which people are clearly not wearing masks, not taking this seriously and not doing others a favor. We need to get past that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WESTWOOD: And that's a sharp contrast with President Trump who not only has not worn a face mask in many of the times that he has appeared in public but he has also characterized mask wearing as a sign of weakness, Bianna and Victor. BLACKWELL: All right. Sarah, stay with us for a moment. We want to come back to you as we get new details from intelligence officials in Europe who've confirmed to CNN that Russian officers put bounties on American and British troops serving in Afghanistan.
GOLODRYGA: That's right. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins us now. And, Nick, you actually spoke with intelligence officials. They confirmed that reporting.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's an extraordinary but also complex story. The heart of it though is something very simple. The European intelligence official I spoke to says that Russian military intelligence officers offered money to Taliban fighters in Afghanistan to kill American or other coalition fighters. A remarkable new development in what is still America's longest war.
Now, the European intelligence official called this callus, shocking and reprehensible but also said he was bewildered by Russia's motivation here. Because obviously, to be caught in something like that is an exceptional geopolitical mess to find yourself in.
I should point out the Russian embassy in Washington has said this is not true and used the #BlameRussia to dismiss the initial reports that emerged about this story in "The New York Times." And the Taliban have also said they had nothing to do with this. That they're focused on peace talks and don't need foreigners to tell them how to conduct their military operations.
[06:10:00]
An interesting detail in this European intelligence official said to me that actually the particular part of Russian military intelligence responsible for this is known as 29155. Another unit that are also accused of being behind the poisoning in Salisbury in the United Kingdom in 2018 or the Skripal father and daughter. I don't know if you remember that.
Most importantly here though the European intelligence official said to me that this offer of money had in fact resulted in casualties in the coalition. He wasn't clear on the nationality, the number, the date or the nature. But it does show that this offer didn't just disappear as an idea it caused something very real to happen.
The White House itself in its statements has not come forward and denied these reports about the intelligence. They have instead chose to try and correct "The New York Times'" reporting that suggested President Donald Trump and his Vice President Mike Pence, you heard from just there, were in fact briefed about it back in March. The White House says that is not true.
But a startling choice of kind of denial for the White House to put out, not confronting Russia's action, instead discussing whether or not Donald Trump was briefed about it. You have to wonder why he not be told about something like this and this yet again complicates matters in Afghanistan. That war continues. America's longest. Donald Trump very keen to get out. So, you have to ask why would Russia perhaps complicate matters by trying to ferment further American casualties. Very complicated matter here. Certainly it was not complicated because the strength of the allegations here. Russian military intelligence paid or tried to pay Taliban fighters to get them to kill Americans. A startling accusation itself.
BLACKWELL: Nick, before we head back to the White House, I want to know about the U.S. troops who have been targeted. Are we hearing anything from Downing Street about the British troops who have been targeted? Anything publicly?
WALSH: No. In short, no. Not at all.
And while it is clear that British troops were also possibly part of those targeted here as well, the Europeans intelligence official I spoken to speaks more about the wider coalition potentially having been targeted here. So, of course, one of the details that people were being -- trying to get the answer to is exactly who the casualties were that were caused by this alleged offer or payment of money by Russian military intelligence.
But it is startling, frankly, to see the depth of the allegations of Russian meddling in Afghanistan, the callousness frankly of them trying to ferment something like this. And at the same time, to the White House choosing to deny part of the report but not all of it. And Joe Biden, you heard there, strident in his response.
BLACKWELL: Nick Paton Walsh for us there in London. Nick, thank you so much for the reporting.
And let's focus now on Joe Biden, Democratic potential -- presidential candidate, I should say, the likely nominee, slamming President Trump on this Russia report. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Not only has failed to sanction or impose any kind of consequences on Russia for this egregious violation of international law, Donald Trump has continued his embarrassing campaign of deference and debasing himself before Vladimir Putin. He has had this information according to the "Times" and yet he offered to host Putin in the United States and sought to invite Russia to rejoin the G7.
His entire presence has been a gift to Putin. But this is beyond the pale. It's a betrayal of the most sacred duty we bear as a nation. To protect and equip our troops when we send them into harm's way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: A damning indictment there from Joe Biden.
Let's bring back Sarah from the White House. And, Sarah, 24 hours after the story broke. Now this really struck me that they waited 24 hours for the White House to finally issue a response saying that the president and vice president were never briefed on this intelligence. That alone is a stunning statement, but many experts aren't buying it.
WESTWOOD: That's right. And as Nick mentioned, the White House not choosing to deal with the actual root of the allegation there. They're not choosing to deal with the subject matter but just denying that the specific reporting that the president and the vice president were briefed on that intelligence, the White House statement even clearly said that it does not speak to the merit of the alleged intelligence. So, they're not denying that those bribes from the Russians did take place.
And the office of the director of national intelligence also issued a rare public statement on this sided with the White House saying that no such briefing took place. But again the intelligence director there also not denying the underlying allegations. And so the criticism here is more that the White House has been silent on the allegations themselves even though they have spoken out in response to the new stories at this point, Bianna and Victor.
BLACKWELL: Sarah for us there. Nothing from the president himself. Instead he spent the day playing golf and tweeting out about monuments, two Confederate generals. Sarah Westwood for us there at the White House. Thanks so much.
Breaking news now out of Louisville, Kentucky. One person is dead, a second person has been injured. This is after a shooting during a protest at Jefferson Square Park.
[06:15:04]
Happened about 9:00 Eastern last night. Officers had cleared the park and have secured the area to investigate.
GOLODRYGA: Protesters where there demanding justice for Breonna Taylor. The 26-year-old black woman who was killed in her home by police who were serving a no-knock warrant. Now for weeks, the park has been the epicenter for protests over the killings of Taylor and George Floyd.
BLACKWELL: Now the communities say this incident will not stop the fight for justice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAXWELL MITCHELL, WITNESS: I'm going to continue saying her name. This place is going to continue to be Breonna Taylor Park to me. This sad incident in itself is an incident and we'll never forget what happened here today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: So far there's no information about arrests or possible suspect. We've not also been given the victims' identities.
Coming up, before President Trump's rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, look closely. There were stickers on seats there directing people to leave every other seat empty to encourage social distancing. But thousands of stickers were removed before the rally started. Why?
GOLODRYGA: Plus, working from home is a common practice today. But three years ago our next guest provided a horrifying and hysterical preview of what we could expect after his children crashed his live interview. The world's most viral work-from-home dad offers his advice for parent and what living in South Korea has taught him about surviving a pandemic.
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[06:20:38]
BLACKWELL: So, the "Washington Post" is reporting that ahead of President Trump's rally in Tulsa last weekend, his campaign directed the removal of thousands of stickers that read, do not sit here, please. You see people taking them off the seats in this video. The stickers were meant to keep people safe and establish social distancing.
GOLODRYGA: And you see them doing that with the police right there just a few feet away. Well, the Trump campaign communications director didn't address the incident saying only that the event was -- quote -- "in full compliance with local requirements."
At least eight staffers have now tested positive since that rally and several of the campaign's top officials decided to self-quarantine afterwards rather than go to the office.
Well, the number of coronavirus cases worldwide has just crossed a milestone. 10 million. We have reporters around the globe covering the impact of COVID-19 and the responses.
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SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Shasta Darlington in Sao Paulo.
COVID-19 cases in Latin America have tripled in the last month surpassing 2 million infections. That's according to the Pan American Health Organization. The group's director warns that governments are now under pressure to ease social isolation measures due to economic and political crises even though transmission is still increasing.
Brazil alone has registered well over 1 million cases. And on Friday, the health ministry reported more than 46,000 new infections and nearly 1,000 additional deaths. That, however, hasn't stopped several cities from relaxing restrictions. They're opening stores and shopping malls and even announcing plans to reopen schools.
DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm David Culver in Beijing.
More than two weeks after a cluster outbreak at a wholesale food market here in the capital city officials now consider this situation to be basically contained as they put it. Part of that effort has included mass testing sites. They've got about 130 sub sites here in Beijing alone.
They continue to require testing for what has amounted to hundreds of thousands of residents really. And of that, they have only reported about 280 cases from this most recent outbreak.
In all, since the start of the pandemic, Chinese health officials say they have conducted more than 90 million coronavirus tests. And while life carries on in parts of the city, more than two weeks into this cluster outbreak, several neighborhoods are still on strict lockdown here.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm David McKenzie in Johannesburg.
The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating across the African continent but it's being driven according to health officials by a select group of countries including South Africa. This country has more than 100,000 cases now with cases rising every day. They expect the surge of the pandemic to come in the coming weeks.
Now one of the biggest problems across the continent is the lack of testing. The WHO says it's going to try and shift up to 500 million tests to low and middle income countries over the next year. That should help authorities better understand the viral spread.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: David McKenzie and our reporters around the world, thank you so much.
Jamaica's governor general says he is suspending his personal use of a royal orders insignia because it depicts Satan as a dark skinned man. Here it is. The badge of the order image shows that Saint George fighting the dragon on one side and the white Archangel Michael trampling on Satan on the other. But Satan's depiction has caused a lot of anger in recent days.
GOLODRYGA: Looks like a decision that could have come a long time ago and that really makes sense right there. Well, Sir Patrick Allen has formally requested a revision of the image reflecting tolerance, inclusion and the effort to build a more just society.
While states wrestle with how to slow the coronavirus pandemic, where is President Trump? Coming up, how the president has spent his weekend so far?
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[06:28:44]
GOLODRYGA: We've been telling you this morning about a staggering milestone in the coronavirus pandemic. The world just crossed 10 million total cases according to Johns Hopkins. The current spike in coronavirus cases here in the U.S. is forcing many people to look at how the U.S. handled the outbreak from the very beginning compared to other countries. Well, the U.S. and South Korea reported their first cases of COVID-19 within a day of each other. Yet unlike the U.S., the South Korean government took action immediately once it became obvious how dangerous the virus was.
Here with me now from South Korea is Robert Kelly. He's a professor of political science at the Pusan National University.
Robert, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.
ROBERT KELLY, PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, PUSAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY: Thanks for having me.
GOLODRYGA: One of the reasons I wanted to have you on is because I was struck by an interview that you gave back in March talking about the differences between how the South Korean government and society as a whole was handling COVID-19 compared to what you were seeing in the U.S. And I want to show our audience some of the things you said.
You said the politicians got out of the way and the Korean CDC, Centers for Disease Control, is more or less pulling the strings and telling us all what to do. That was in march. You fast forward to where we are today. And you see where health officials like Dr. Fauci are being marginalized and sidelined here.
KELLY: Right.
[06:30:02]
GOLODRYGA: Talk about the differences and how you think that's helped South Korea weather the storm. There have been some flare-ups there but not nearly the scale that we've seen in the U.S.
KELLY: Yes, I think that is still basically correct. I'm not sure maybe I should have said, tell us what to do. I mean, it's not authoritarian, of course.
But, I mean, broadly speaking, the Korean population has sort of followed the lead of the government and the government has spoken with more or less one voice on what is it do. Particularly, I think, importantly, compared to the United States, is that, as I said then, and even more so, I think, now, is that politicians really have gotten out of the way.
I mean, you can get -- you can see the KCDC briefings, at least they used -- I don't know if they're sort of tapering off now, but they're all very sort of serious and down to earth and almost sort of drab and sort of the head of the KCDC became sort of like a local hero because of the way (INAUDIBLE) in a very sort of mature, intelligent way, giving us all sorts of good advice.
And you compare it, of course, to what you saw with the president's news conferences, which just -- and they just weren't even about corona after a while, right? And there's just been nothing about that. I mean, maybe this is me, the political scientist, speaking. But the most obvious difference to me, it seems, is not in the methodology, which I think is pretty well known, testing, contact tracing. Stuff like that. It really is political, right, which is that the South Korean government is taking this seriously and led a nationwide, well-mobilized effort and the U.S. government has not.
GOLODRYGA: Well -- and you talk about politics having a role here. You know, people early on, would you have suggested once you have a pandemic, politics moves to the side and people are focused on the medicine and the science. And, unfortunately, that's not what we're seeing in large parts of this country from the president on down.
You in that interview also said that you see in the U.S. where there's 30 percent of the country who thinks that this was a hoax or an overreaction. All of the stuff you hear on Trumpist media or Fox News, all of the conspiracy theories, there's none of that here, none of that.
Again, you said this in March, and this has only been exacerbated, I believe, over the past few months. Can you give us your perspective on the role of the media and conspiracy theories and a lot of this being propagated from the federal government and the president himself?
KELLY: Yes. Again, that's just one of the things you just haven't seen here at all. That analysis from a couple months ago still, I think, really holds up. I mean, basically, every major social actor here, any social block or proof of any significance with any real voice, in South Korea, social and political life has probably stood behind this, including the opposition party, I might add, right?
So the government has gotten behind this. There's been nothing but mixed messaging you've seen from the United States, and every other major social act you can think of, the newspapers, churches, unions, businesses, schools. I mean, everybody has broadly accepted in Korea that this is a big deal and that we should listen to the medical people telling us what to do.
I mean, they know and we don't, right? And we're not epidemiologists, right? So when they say wear masks, everybody has put on masks, right? I mean, there's just none of the sort of thing in the United States where masking has become some kind of like test of masculinity or something like that, and that's just absurd. I mean, nobody here talks like that at all.
And I'm just not quite sure how to respond to that, sort of what to think. I mean, now that the American death toll is just sort of spiraling and the daily case load is spiraling. And what is it, 43,000 in the United States and with 62 in Korea, right? I mean, that's a 687 fold difference. I find that just sort of -- it's just sort of inexplicable.
GOLODRYGA: Yes, I agree with you and heartbreaking given the loss of life there.
Robert Kelly, before we go, if any of our viewers think you look familiar, they don't have to question themselves, you came to fame a few years ago when your children crashed a live interview. There's your daughter there. And this went viral. Who would have thought that this would become the norm for so many families now experiencing work from home disturbances from their children?
If anything, you can if you can give us one piece of advice for us adults working who are working with our parents just ten feet away -- there's your wife grabbing the kids -- what is that?
KELLY: Yes, that's lock the door. I know that sounds so prosaic. No, really, it sounds prosaic. But if you're going to have a work space in your home, and you've got start being able to sort of draw boundaries. And my wife and I are sort of always up in the air about how much to sort of make this space my office here, off limits to my kids, because they burst in. I mean, it's just outside in the hallway right now.
And so I think that's the most important thing that I've learned, is that if I'm not going to have people interrupt phone calls and webinars and stuff like that, my children -- if we're all going to be forced to work at home, my children have to learn stricter rules.
GOLODRYGA: Who would have thought you'd be a case study on working from home. But your children have been quiet, they haven't crashed this interview, so I guess they learned their lesson.
KELLY: We can have that if you want. They're just down the hall?
GOLODRYGA: Are they there?
KELLY: Well, they were at the beach, so they're wiped out. Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: We'll let them enjoy the beach day. Robert Kelly, great to hear from you, thank you for your perspective. We appreciate it.
KELLY: Thanks for having me.
BLACKWELL: When you want the kids to stay in the hall, they come in. When you want them to come in, they're out in the hall.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Dad, what do you want from me? You told me to be quiet.
[06:35:00]
BLACKWELL: That was good, all right.
So, from the beginning, the president has appeared to leave a lot of the coronavirus response up to the states. So where is the president's focus? He spent part of yesterday at his private golf club in Virginia a day after saying that he would stay in Washington to make sure law and order was enforced during the ongoing protests.
GOLODRYGA: Yes, there you see him golfing right there. So far this weekend, the president has raged against Black Lives Matter protesters and his presumptive Democratic rival this fall, Joe Biden, but he has not addressed the surge of coronavirus cases that we're seeing spike right now. BLACKWELL: With us now, Brian Stelter, CNN Chief Media Correspondent and Host of Reliable Sources.
Stelter, good morning to you. It's interesting, not only did the president not really focus on Twitter about coronavirus, he didn't say anything about this report from The New York Times and now CNN has confirmed about Russia targeting or paying the Taliban to target U.S. troops. It is remarkable what -- a no one is surprised, but what holds the president's attention.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Denialism takes many different forms. And, normally, on a Saturday, nobody would comment on the president going golfing. It would be expected on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.
But when he claims on Twitter that he's purposely not going to Bedminster, not going to New Jersey because he thinks he needs to keep law and order, which is a crock, but that's what he said, then the contrast to him going golfing in Virginia is notable and is newsworthy. And you layer on top of that his denialism about the pandemic and it's even worse.
I think that -- I always think back to 2017 when The New York Times said that the president told his aides, I think, about every single day of his presidency as an episode of a television show. And every day was a new episode with new themes and new characters. That has essentially been the way he's governed.
But here is the difference now in 2020. He has commercial makers, his ad makers from the Biden campaign and from the never Trump movement, the so-called Lincoln Project, the Super PAC that was spending a lot of money on ads against him. And you know what do they do every day? They make new T.V. episodes every day also.
So when I saw these pictures from Virginia, I thought to myself, well, there is the next. That's going to be the next ad from this never Trump PAC. They're going to be running these commercials, showing him golfing amid the pandemic. So I think that's what he's up against now for the next few months during this in our election.
Every day is an episode but every day is also an episode for his opponents. And they're making these incredibly powerful commercials. And they're putting them out very quickly. So there's already been a new commercial about this story, about Russia targeting U.S. troops. They already have that commercial on the web. And you know what they're doing? They're buying air time on Fox News in D.C. just to make sure the president sees these ads.
So I think when we see him going golfing, the optics of that during a pandemic are troubling. But you have to know, those pictures are also going to be used against him.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And you talk about -- just listen to the last guest that we had, Robert Kelly, where he talked about the impact, the Trump television and Fox News has on the pandemic and how parts of the country are responding to a pandemic and whether or not to wear a mask. So you can see the president's role there as not only the commander in chief but as a producer in the back of his mind, always looking for that next spot.
STELTER: Yes. I'm so glad that Robert made that point. Because I think it's sometimes strange for us in the United States to try to imagine what is it like elsewhere in the world? What is it like when there's a different kind of leadership, a more competent leadership, a leadership not addicted to television? It's a great perspective to recognize.
It's not normal what we're seeing right now in the U.S. with this Fox News president in chief.
BLACKWELL: Yes, it certainly is not. Brian Stelter, good to have you, sir.
GOLODRYGA: Good to see you.
STELTER: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: And, remember, Stelter will talk with top Facebook Executive Nick Klegg for an exclusive interview on his show. Reliable Sources airs at 11:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
GOLODRYGA: And coming up, some airlines are saying it's back to business as usual. Is it? They're also booking flights to capacity ahead of the busy 4th of July weekend. What are they doing to keep passengers safe during the pandemic? That's coming up.
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[06:40:00]
BLACKWELL: 17 minutes to the top of the hour now, and air travel is starting to make a comeback. And that means the planes are getting more crowded.
GOLODRYGA: This comes as the Trump administration reaches a deal with airline executives on contact tracing of passengers. CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean has the details.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: More and more people are flying on commercial airlines even in spite of this pandemic. And what's so interesting is that you have a greater chance of boarding a flight that is completely full.
American Airlines has joined United Airlines and saying it will sell every seat on board its aircraft. Both airlines are giving the passengers the opportunity to rebook if a flight is completely full, free of charge, both airlines also saying that they will warn passengers if a flight is going to be full.
This is a critical period for commercial airlines. July 4th is typically one of the busiest holidays for air travel. But it begs the question, what to do if a passenger tests positive for coronavirus. That came up during a meeting between airline executives and Vice President Pence on Friday.
A source tells CNN that Pence has given airlines the go-ahead to move forward with a contact tracing app.
[06:45:00]
It is what airlines wanted. They said there was no possible way that they could collect all the possible information needed to pass on to public health officials. Airlines are working on a December 1st deadline.
Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.
GOLODRYGA: Aviation is starting to make a comeback.
And when we come back, the love-struck couple determined not to let the coronavirus get in the way of their big day. We'll be right back with their story.
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BLACKWELL: So we're four months into this, you know, pandemic has paused a lot of things that we enjoy, concerts and sporting events, graduation ceremonies.
GOLODRYGA: Well, it's also taking a big toll on wedding bells. I know a couple who had to put their wedding off. Some people still find a way to say love in an unusual way, right?
CNN's Tom Foreman talks with some of the happy couples that are still determined to tie the knot.
[06:50:00]
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They knew that they both love the wedding crashers, knew what her dress looked like, which colors they'd use. Kelsey Gibson and Alex Ferrara knew they were going to have a perfect wedding. Then in the Michigan cold, the worst crasher of all came calling.
KELSY GIBSON, WEDDING AFFECTED BY PANDEMIC: It's so crazy. We would have never thought that this would ever happen.
FOREMAN: The pandemic swept away the pomp, the party and the promise of 200 guests sharing their special moment.
ALEX FERRARA, WEDDING AFFECTED BY PANDEMIC: And then there came the day when the honeymoon got canceled. It just -- it kept progressing, as if one item, like dominos falling.
FOREMAN: They're not alone. Spring kicks off the wedding season each year in a big way, but not this time, according to a leading matrimonial website, the knot.com. JEFFRA TRUMPOWER, SENIOR CREATIVE DIRECTOR, THE KNOT WORLDWIDE: As we look at data, there were supposed to be a little over 500,000 weddings over the course of the last three months. So, tons of couples are rescheduling their weddings, getting married maybe virtually and postponing receptions for later.
FOREMAN: The Knot estimates the average couples employs more than a dozen vendors, dressmakers, photographers, caterers, limo drivers, many of whom rely on the wedding trade. So the industry is clawing its way back, embracing tongue in cheek ideas, like delay the date notices, and supporting small private services while awaiting the return of big celebrations.
TRUMPOWER: We are seeing I the minimony right now. Bakeries are sending mini wedding cakes. Forests (ph) are sending mini bouquets or maybe some centerpieces that the couple can enjoy.
FOREMAN: As for Alex and Kelsey, as his company started making made masks and she dove into her work in public health --
GIBSON: We talked to our family, we talked to our friends.
FOREMAN: They loaded up a few close friends some strict disinfecting rules and their puppy, drove to a lakeshore and got married anyway while they're families watched online. The virus made their big reception wait but not their love. And --
FERRARA: Our wedding was perfect in spite of the circumstances.
GIBSON: Our wedding was absolutely perfect even though it wasn't planned.
FOREMAN: Tom Foreman, CNN, Bethesda, Maryland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: That's a beautiful picture, and the puppy made it. What else do you need?
BLACWELL: I think that's great. They enjoyed their day. Sometimes we have 200 people there. It's not your day anymore. This was certainly their day.
GOLODRYGA: It was. Congratulations to them.
BLACKWELL: Absolutely.
So, a moment to transcend sports and race, professional athletes on the knee and in tears as the national anthem plays. We'll have a more in a moment by an entire league.
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[06:55:00]
GOLODRYGA: The first team sports returned to the U.S. this weekend and it was welcomed with incredibly raw emotion.
BLACKWELL: Teams in the National Women's Soccer League chose to kneel for the national anthem. Coy Wire is here.
Coy, it was a remarkable moment.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. Good morning to you, Victor and Bianna. Having played a pro sport and now covering them, one of the greatest things I see, it's how they can bring players and fans from different ethnicities, belief systems, socioeconomic backgrounds together cheering and working towards a common goal, right? And yesterday that was on full display. Take a listen.
The Chicago Red Stars' Casey Short sobbing uncontrollably, embraced by her teammates, Julie Ertz, as they both kneeled there in that moment of reflection before the late game. Women in the first game back using their platform as well. The Portland Thorns and North Carolina Courage with heads bowed, hands-on hearts wearing Black Lives Matters shirts, every single player kneeling there, in an effort to remind everyone of the fight for equality and the pose to end police brutality in America.
Eight of the league's (INAUDIBLE) gathering for action in the month- long Challenge Cup outside Salt Lake City, and the reigning champs, Carolina picking up right where they left off. A beautiful cross there at a stoppage time. It ends with the header by Lynn Williams sealing the win for the Courage in a match that featured six World Cup champs in the starting lineups. The Washington Spirit bet the Chicago Red Stars 2-1 earlier.
Now, to the NBA, where the players might be allowed to change their name on the back of their jersey to a statement on social justice when the season resumes in Orlando next month, this according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. Several players have said that they might not play when the season restarts, worrying that games could distract from creating change.
Finally, NBA star Kevin Love donating half a million dollars to his alma mater, and UCLA's psychology department to help fundamental mental health research. Love is saying, quote, I'm concerned about the level of anxiety that people are feeling, recent events, including the novel coronavirus outbreak have put our society under enormous stress, end quote.
Bianna, Victor, this has been so impressive to see amid the pandemic and social unrest. It has been sports leaders who have been among the greatest leaders with not just their words but putting money where their mouths are in that push to create change.
BLACKWELL: Yes. The athletes are motivating their coaches and the leagues and the commissioners to get involved and not just say things, hopefully change things, of course, those investments. Coy Wire, thanks so much.
GOLODRYGA: Thank you. WIRE: You got it.
BLACKWELL: Next hour of NEW DAY starts right now.
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