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House of Representative to Vote on Bill Stopping Operational Changes at and Providing Funding to U.S. Postal Service; Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) Interviewed on House Bill on U.S. Postal Service and 2020 Democratic Policy Platform; Homes Evacuated as Large Wildfires Devastate Northern California; WNBA Players Association President Nneka Ogwumike Interviewed on New Contract Negotiations; Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden States He Would Shut Economy Back Down if Advised by Scientists; Some Names of Speakers at Republican National Convention Released. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired August 22, 2020 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:37]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: You're looking live at Capitol Hill this morning, where in the next hour the House will vote, at least they're expected to, on a bill the Democrats say will prevent interference with mail-in voting.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Also a pandemic, a heatwave, and now raging wildfires, the triple threat impacting the state of California.

BLACKWELL: And Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden says that he'd take decisive action to contain the coronavirus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So if the scientists say shut it down?

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I would shut it down. I would listen to the scientists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: We're always so grateful to see you. Happy Saturday morning. It is August 22nd. I am Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. You are in the CNN Newsroom.

PAUL: We want to start with action on Capitol Hill as you see it there live right now. In the next hour, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on that rescue bill for the Postal Service.

BLACKWELL: So the bill would immediately send $25 billion to stop, Democrats say, some changes implemented by the postmaster general.

PAUL: CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is with us from Capitol Hill right now. What are you hearing from lawmakers remember, Sunlen. And good morning to you.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christi. The House now in session, and it looks like they'll vote likely in a few hours on this bill that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called all House members back, disrupting their summer recess. As you outlined, the bill, which is very narrowly focused just on the USPS and problems at the USPS, it blocks organizational and operational changes at the U.S. Postal Service through end of the calendar year, as well as extends $25 billion to the Post Office.

Now, important to watch this morning, of course the votes. We know that Republican leadership in the House, they have been advising members to vote against this bill. And while we of course do expect a handful or two of Republicans to vote for the bill, most likely this will come down party lines, meaning that with Democrats in the majority in the House, this bill will be moving forward today, but essentially that is the end of the road. Once they pass this today, it goes over to the Senate, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated he has no appetite to pass a bill that is a stand-alone bill, only focused on the USPS.

And of course, there was a veto threat last night issued by the White House, essentially saying the same, saying that if it spends money arbitrarily without tying that money to a broader coronavirus relief package. That is something Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has not wanted to do. She has wanted to focus, at least for this bill, just on the Postal Service. Back to you, guys.

BLACKWELL: Sunlen Serfaty there for us, thank you so much.

Joining us now, House Majority Whip. Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina. Leader Clyburn, good morning to you.

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Good morning. Good morning. How are you?

BLACKWELL: I'm doing well, thank you. Let me start here, picking up where Sunlen just left off, that from Senate Republicans, they say that this is going nowhere because, in their words, it spends money arbitrarily and is not connected to a larger relief or stimulus legislation. What's your response to that?

CLYBURN: Well, I think that's poppycock. The fact of the matter is this legislation that we're presenting today is already in the Heroes Act. We dealt with the same thing in the Cares Act. We have always been trying to support the post office in order for postal services to operate efficiently, effectively, and equitably, since we're talking about rural versus urban in so many instances. So what we're doing here now is taking pieces out of -- that's already over there, sending it back in an independent pieces of legislation, and hopefully they will take it out.

BLACKWELL: So let me understand this then. If it's already part of the Heroes Act and it's part of the Cares Act, is this a redundancy? If I'm hearing correctly, because I'm trying to work this out, this is the first time I'm hearing this from you, if the Republicans in the Senate say it is not part of a larger piece of legislation, but you already sent it over in a larger piece of legislation and they rejected it, now you're bringing into a single piece, and they're saying nope, it's not in the right form again. Am I getting this right?

CLYBURN: Partially. They never rejected it because they never put it on the floor. Mitch McConnell has rejected it. He laughed at it when we first sent it over.

[10:05:02]

And he is now saying the same thing for this legislation. He says he is not against the Postal Service doing its job. But the fact of the matter is they need the resources to do their jobs. We know that because of the virus more people are going to be voting, I might call it from home than they have usually done so. And we also know they will put their health at risk going to the polls.

So we are trying to make it convenient for people to vote, and make it safe for them to vote. He says that's a concept that he buys into. There's splendid. That's what we're trying to do now, fund that concept. But what we also want the American people to understand, it's not just about voting. It's about veterans getting their benefits checks. It's about Social Security checks going out on time. I have seen and I have personally experienced -- I dropped something in the mail 12 days ago, and as of yesterday I was told it had not been received. And that's running the risk of me paying a bill that has not been paid on time. I had to call my daughter yesterday and go down to the bank to pay this bill because they have not received the check. I put it in the mail myself, and I'm getting that same complaint all over. There are people who are telling me that their mortgage payments have been late. They have had children on the Internet trying to pay bills that they usually pay by mail.

So this stuff is widespread. And it's not just about voting. It's about people being able to stay connected to each other. And that's what the Post Office has always been.

BLACKWELL: Congressman Clyburn, let me ask you this. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell was on this morning with me, and she told me that there will be a substantial number of Republican votes for this. No one better than to ask the majority whip. Do you have a count or an estimate how many Republicans will cross over and vote for this?

CLYBURN: No, I don't. I have always been trying to whip Democrats trying to get to 218. I do know there are more than 218 Democratic votes for this. I have no idea. I'm told there are some Republicans who will vote for it. But that is beyond the 218, and I don't get too occupied with whipping votes on the Republican side.

BLACKWELL: Do you believe that Louis DeJoy should resign?

CLYBURN: No question about it. I don't think he should have been appointed in the first place. The Postal Service is a postal service, and it ought to have people experienced in providing service. When people bring their profit-making motives into the government, that is a problem. I have been saying for three or four decades, ever since I've been in public office, that we ought not be running government like a business. Businesses are there to make a profit, government to provide service. That's why so many students are over their heads in debt now, because we started trying to make profit off student loans. We ought to start making a profit off a people and provide service.

BLACKWELL: Congressman Clyburn, let me switch to the convention at which you spoke and nominated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris this week. I want you to listen to, this is Nina Turner. She was national co-chair of the Bernie Sanders campaign, and she was on with Anderson Cooper yesterday. Let's watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NINA TURNER, CO-CHAIR, BERNIE SANDERS 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: I think what was missing from that is really the whole tail part in terms of how the poor, the working poor and the barely middle class in this country, are going to be taken care of. What is the vision for the provision, Anderson? That was missing.

There is so much suffering going on in the country. The Democratic Party has an awesome opportunity to be the party that is going to stand in the ready position and implement policies, not just words, but policies that will help to lift the least of these in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The vision was missing. Policies, not just words. The convention focused a lot on Joe Biden, decent man, good man, someone who understands you. Did the convention, did the party fall short, as Ms. Turner suggests, of policy?

CLYBURN: The first thing this party did before we ever got to convention was to adopt a platform. A vision of this party is there embedded in the platform that we presented to the American people. Now we're going to get a chance over the next several weeks to flesh out that platform for the American people. And there is a tremendous vision there. I would ask anybody who wants to know the vision of the party to go online and click onto the Democratic Party platform. I can just tell you --

[10:10:00]

BLACKWELL: Congressman Clyburn, let me interrupt here, because if you had such a large audience, more than 100 million people watched live on air, to then send them to a website to read what you really want to do, isn't that ineffective? Shouldn't that have been part of every night, giving specifics of policy?

CLYBURN: It was part of every night. It certainly was a part of what I had to speak about. I stood there in front of, across the street from Emanuel AME Church, across the street from, down the road from Gaston (ph) Walsh (ph), and I talked about the vision of this country and what we're doing, wish to do to bring in order to bring that vision to fruition. Speaker after speaker after speaker spoke to that. Joe Biden himself spoke to that. He may never have used the words and phrases that you may be more

familiar with or you may want to hear, but policy was throughout his speech. And he talked about the vision for the future of this country, for leaving the country for our children and grandchildren.

But the first thing you've got to do is create a climate within which you can get policy developed. That's the problem we've got now. We're after each other's throats. We don't have a climate within which people can sit down around the table and find common ground. That's the first thing you've got to do. I have been in this business a long time, and I know climate is very, very important.

BLACKWELL: Representative Jim Clyburn, Majority Whip, thank you so much, sir.

CLYBURN: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Christi.

PAUL: So there are two tropical storms that could turn into hurricanes, and they are threatening the gulf coast. They're both expected to make landfall next week. We're going to tell you what we know about that. Also, on the other coast, fires are forcing evacuations in California this morning. The latest on both of those stories.

BLACKWELL: Plus, how much the president owes adult film actress Stormy Daniels. A court has ordered him to pay up. We'll tell you why.

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[10:16:02]

PAUL: A California court has ordered President Trump to pay more than $44,000 in legal fees to adult film star Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels. The order was issued earlier in the week, but it was just made public yesterday.

BLACKWELL: She sued the president in 2018 to try to be released from her nondisclosure agreement. The president's legal team made a deal out of court, but Daniels still had to pay legal bills, or she racked up the bills, at least. Daniels said she had an affair with the president back before he was in office, 2006, 2007, while married to Melania, which the president denies.

PAUL: So California is under a state of emergency this weekend as all of the people there, many of them, I should say, are forced to evacuate their homes and try to seek shelter because of the raging wildfires we have been watching.

BLACKWELL: And this is happening during rising cases of COVID-19 across California. Firefighters are struggling to contain more than 500 fires that were mostly started by lightning and spread because of high temperatures.

Let's go now to CNN's Paul Vercammen. He is live from Napa Valley. Paul, we can see evidence of what these fires have done near you, but what's the situation this morning?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, Christi, the situation is they're trying to get a handle on all the blazes, a record set in California as at one point more than 900,000 acres were burning after all of these lightning strikes. And what the strikes and fires left in the aftermath, devastation. Look behind me, as far as you can see, I'm in Lake Berryessa in Napa County. We have charred remains of houses up on this ridge right here in the foreground.

This is the lightning complex of fires, a complex because many fires hit at once in a very, very, very small concentric circle. And here we've had 314,000 acres burned, some 560 structures completely destroyed. This is now the second largest wildfire in California history, it's that devastating. And so this weekend firefighters are trying to catch up, get ahead of things because they are promising that on Sunday in the afternoon we possibly could have more lightning strikes. So pins and needles here in California, which has already been devastated by wildfire. Back to you, Victor, Christi.

BLACKWELL: So much there. Paul Vercammen for us, thanks so much.

PAUL: Thank you, Paul.

We have some new information we want to give you that we're just getting in here. The coronavirus pandemic, just minutes ago another disturbing milestone has been reached. The number of people who have died in total across the globe has now surpassed 800,000. And we're all, I know, trying to figure out how to live and stay safe and go to work and have our daily routines, and that includes people in sports leagues. From Little League through pro sports, they're trying to decipher ways to return safely to play.

The WNBA is one league that is set up in a bubble for its teams. This is obviously the effort to keep players and staff safe. Our next guest was key in negotiating how that worked. Fast Company named her one of its most creative people for leveling the field, also noting her efforts in crafting the league's new collective bargaining. It is pretty spectacular. So we have Nneka Ogwumike. She is power forward for the L.A. Sparks and president of the WNBA Players Association. Nneka, we are so grateful to have you here. Thank you.

NNEKA OGWUMIKE, PRESIDENT WNBA PLAYERS ASSOCIATION: Thank you so much for having me, Christi, I appreciate it.

PAUL: Absolutely. We appreciate you as well. So talk to us about what it's like in the bubble? I know there was a bit of a dicey start to it.

OGWUMIKE: Yes, coming in, even as someone who has been through every step of the process, there was still a lot left to be imagined when we got here. We're very thankful for IMG Academy here in Bradenton, Florida, for hosting us and providing such great hospitality.

[10:20:05]

But right now, we're kind of on this, kind of feeling a little bit more like a home away from home. We have been here for about six weeks. Games are in full swing. We're halfway through the season. And we test every day. And it's our new normal.

PAUL: OK, so, Nneka, I wanted to just bring to light some things that you've done this year. As I said, you're president of the WNBA Players Association. Just a couple of weeks ago, as I understand it, you helped secure what is described as one of the most progressive collective bargaining agreements in women's sports, a nearly 83 percent raise, pay raise, and paid maternity leave for all the players. That's in addition to many other things. A lot of people are sitting back, going, how did you make that happen?

OGWUMIKE: It is refreshing to speak about the CBA. We had the opportunity to collaborate on such a new monumental agreement with our new commissioner in Cathy Engelbert, and I think that everything about it was historical, not just the signing of it and what we were able to agree on, but the process by which we came to the table, too. We're developing a new relationship with the league. It's more collaborative. And as you said, this new agreement had more changes than we've ever seen before. And we had working moms in mind. We had, of course, women in sports in mind. And I'm grateful we were able to communicate with all players to get a little piece of what everyone needed in this latest agreement.

PAUL: We know that there is a really strong activist tradition in the WNBA. I know we all have together watched the recent events when you talk about George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. How does that effect all of you individually and collectively, and how are you moved to do something?

OGWUMIKE: Quite frankly, as we were negotiating the terms of this bubble season, amplifying our voices was a nonnegotiable for us. It certainly was for me. As you've seen in the history of the WNBA, we have always spoken out about social injustices and try to be active members of our community. And so the bubble provided an opportunity for our movement to meet its moment.

And it's really been great for us to be able to band together with our social justice council, led by the first vice president Layshia Clarendon, and the work with the league, most notably Bethany Donaphin, and of course our executive director in Terri Jackson to be able to come together as a league, amplify our voices, bring awareness to those that are watching us, and also to those who have never seen us before, and understand that we've always been about this fight. We're a league of 70 percent black women, and we want to represent our communities as best as we can while we're playing in this new normal that we're experiencing right now.

PAUL: So let me ask you one quick thing before I let you go. In 2016, I know players were punished for wearing shirts that supported victims of police brutality or gun violence. And I know that this year, we have lawmaker Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, and also the owner of the Atlanta Dream, write a letter criticizing the league for promoting Black Lives Matter, for that movement. Do you think league officials did enough to push back on that? OGWUMIKE: I think that our league has a responsibility to address

those types of things, and as players, naturally, especially as WNBA players, we speak out about things. I feel as though we collaborated as players to not only display the types of people we want to be associated with and the types of people that represent us as a league, but also as citizens, which is why we were able to support our sisters in Atlanta with "Vote Warnock" shirts, and have conversations with the honorable Stacey Abrams, with Reverend Raphael Warnock and also with former first lady Michelle Obama, and not just to represent those in leadership who are representing our interests, but also to show that collectively we have a voice, and to show also that women really know how to get things done together. And hopefully we can provide that as an example for others that want to be impactful in their communities as well. But I look forward to seeing how else the league will handle it.

PAUL: You are showing that in a very way, Nneka, very good way. Good luck for the rest of the season. So grateful you could take some time to talk to us. Take good care.

OGWUMIKE: Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Up next, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and V.P. nominee Kamala Harris give their first joint interview. And you'll hear what Biden says when he's asked if he would shut down the country to contain the coronavirus.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you be prepared to shut this country down again?

BIDEN: I would be prepared to do whatever it does to save lives, because we cannot get the country moving until we control the virus. That is the fundamental flaw of this administration's thinking to begin with. In order to keep the country running and moving and the economy growing and people employed, you have to fix the virus. You have to deal with the virus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So if the scientists say shut it down?

BIDEN: I would say shut it down. I would listen to the scientists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Joe Biden there promising to put all options back into consideration to take on COVID-19 if elected president. He was there with Kamala Harris for their first joint interview since accepting the Democratic nominations for president and vice president.

Let's bring in now our guests to talk about this. We've got with us Republican strategist Brian Robinson and Maria Cardona, Democratic strategist and political commentator. Welcome back to you both.

[10:30:10]

BRIAN ROBINSON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Thank you.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Good morning to you. Maria, let me start with you. Do you think that plays into his favor? Obviously listening to scientists, but the potential for another shutdown if scientists call for it or say it would help control the coronavirus?

CARDONA: I think absolutely what plays into his favor, Victor, is that he is going to listen to the science, he is going to listen to the doctors, he is going to listen to the experts. And I think most people would tell you, and certainly it's the case for me, I would rather shut the country down than have to go to a funeral or have my family have one for me that we can't even attend because of COVID.

And look at what other first world countries have done. Other first world countries have had the virus as bad or worse than us. They shut their country down, and they are now opening back up, and they're doing it successfully. Why? Because they listened to the science. They listened to the experts. I am glad Joe Biden is putting this front and center, because that means he cares about not just the health of the economy but the health of the people who need to run the economy if it's actually going to be an economy that's going to really rise up and work, and work for everyone.

BLACKWELL: Brian, how does this play to all those Republicans that the former vice president was trying to attract this week?

ROBINSON: Well, I think what Republicans heard is that this would be another huge hit to our economy. If you look at the states that reopened earlier than Democratic states did, then you will see that their economies have bounced back a little faster than ones that held off on reopening their economy. One-sixth, almost, of small businesses have closed or will close because of this economic shutdown. And that kind of damage cannot be undone. We don't have another $3 trillion to $4 trillion to spend to prop up the private sector in this country. We've got to keep our economy going. And I think most Republicans also see that the people that they know who've had COVID had mild symptoms, many were asymptomatic, that this isn't the nightmare that the media --

BLACKWELL: You're telling me Republicans don't know anybody who died from COVID?

ROBINSON: I think there are a lot of people in a country of 330 million people who don't know anybody who died of COVID, yes.

BLACKWELL: Are you suggesting that Republicans know fewer? I'm trying to understand what you're suggesting here. But the people that had mild symptoms, how could you possibly know that?

ROBINSON: Well, because it is in the news. Look, 170,000 people have died in this country. And that is terrible. We don't want to see that at all. But if you look at the overall infection rate, many of these people are not getting terribly sick, hospitalizations are going down, fewer people being put on ventilators. It's not what it was in early spring.

BLACKWELL: More than 1,000 are dying a day and have died for the last 24 days. I want to move on. Maria, I will give you 10 seconds here, because I need to get to some other things.

CARDONA: This just bared, completely laid out the problem with Republicans. My colleague just said that he doesn't know anybody, his colleagues don't know anybody who died of COVID. Let me introduce you to many Latinos. Let me introduce you to many African American families who had many of their loved ones die, and they can't even go to the hospital and hold their hands. That is thanks to the incompetence of this president, to the fact that he had no idea how to deal with it, and worse, that he had no interest dealing with the virus when it first came to him. That is a complete and utter failure.

BLACKWELL: Let's look ahead to the RNC. We know that we're going to hear from the president a lot about judges next week. And this is one of the things that stood out for me at the DNC, right. We know that the president is going to talk about federal judges who have been appointed, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. We didn't hear a lot about that, Maria, at the DNC. Was this one of the things in the reach out to Republicans that they didn't want to remind you that potentially he would, or likely he would nominate, Joe Biden would nominate pro- choice judges? Why wasn't this as much a part of the convention as it has been in cycles past?

CARDONA: Because we are dealing with life and death situations, Victor, right now, this second. And that is what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have put forth plans to make sure this country is able to deal with this global pandemic and get the economy going in a way that works for everyone.

BLACKWELL: Maria, I would suggest there are a lot of people, there are a lot of people who were --

CARDONA: Hang on a second.

BLACKWELL: I am going to let you finish your comment, but there are a lot of people who justifiably see abortion as a life and death issue.

[10:35:06]

CARDONA: Yes, absolutely. So let me go on to say, I guarantee you that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will absolutely talk about the fact that we should have judges on the court that respect a woman's right to choose. That is going to be an issue that is front and center because it is an issue that is front and center with the Democratic Party.

And I know at the RNC, that is what will probably be front and center, because what they'll say is, look, President Trump might be a criminal, he might be cruel, he might be corrupt, he might be incompetent, but hey, he will get you your judges that are going to be able to tell women what to do with their bodies. Yay. BLACKWELL: Democrats had four nights, two hours a night in prime time

to say that when you had 100 million live over those four nights watching. That would have been the time when you had the audience to say it, but of course, they'll continue to talk over the next 10 weeks. I've got to get Brian back in.

CARDONA: -- Americans dead, when you have Americans from COVID, that's the priority.

BLACKWELL: Democrats talked a lot about more than COVID.

Let's put up some of the speakers we know about the RNC. We don't have the full night to night rundown. It's Saturday. These thing starts on Monday. We don't know who is speaking when. These are some of the speakers. Some familiar faces here. There are some faces a lot of people will not know just by putting them up. The two people who are facing charges in St. Louis for pulling out guns as Black Lives Matter protesters walked down their street in a gated community. The Covington student who settled for reporting on him. What do these names, these faces, Alice Johnson, also released from prison as part of First Step. What does this tell us about what we're expecting to hear from the president, from the party, Brian, starting Monday?

ROBINSON: I think you look at those speakers, you are talking about a conservative America that feels like they are under siege by popular culture, by the media, by elites. And I think that that is a really strong feeling amongst these voters, and they respond very emotionally to it. And that is part of their allegiance to Trump is that in these culture wars, he is the guy who doesn't mind being politically incorrect and standing up to those who call conservatives names and look down their noses at them. It's a very powerful motivator.

But look, beyond those cultural issues, I think you're going to see a much more substantive convention than we saw this week where the main thematic was, hey, Joe Biden is a really nice guy. That was the only take away that you could have if you watched all four nights. That was the only consistent theme.

I think you're going to hear Republicans talking about Supreme Court justices, you're going to hear them talking about getting our economy going again, as opposed to the shutdown that Biden is promising in this interview. You're going to hear them talk about border control, versus open borders. You're going to hear a lot about socialism. It's going to be a much more substantive, issue-driven convention.

CARDONA: Conspiracy theories, probably, and more lies.

BLACKWELL: Do you think they can call him a nice guy?

ROBINSON: -- Postal Service conspiracy that the Democrats are placing.

BLACKWELL: Oh, so the Democrats are the conspiracy theorists, instead of the president says --

ROBINSON: They are now. They are now.

BLACKWELL: -- the president says the election is already rigged.

Brian Robinson, Maria Cardona. I wanted to get to that. We ran out of time. Thank you so much. See you next weekend.

CARDONA: Thank you, Victor.

ROBINSON: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right.

So with the Democratic National Convention behind us, it's the Republicans' turn, as we talked about. All week long we are covering the big speeches, important moments, and of course the president. It is all starting Monday night with special coverage starting at 7:00 p.m. eastern, live on CNN.

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:42:46]

PAUL: So breaking overnight, the Department of Justice says a former Army Green Beret has been arrested and charged with espionage now.

BLACKWELL: They say he leaked U.S. national defense secrets to Russian agents. Prosecutors say Peter Debbins met with Russian operatives on several occasions between 1996 and 2011. If he's convicted, he could face the maximum sentence of life in prison.

PAUL: All right, so all of you from Texas to Florida, a lot of you on alert as not one but two tropical storms could make landfall along the Gulf Coast as hurricanes next week.

BLACKWELL: Let's bring in Allison Chinchar, CNN Weather Center. Rare for two storms to be in the Gulf simultaneously. Not unprecedented, but very rare.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Truly very rare. We only know of two other instances in history where you've had two tropical storms in the Gulf, that was in 1933 and 1959. So it has been at least 60 years since it's happened. But we've never had two that reached hurricane strength. So that's really the question now is how strong do these get, and where do they go?

Right now, Marco is just near the Yucatan Peninsula, Laura right over Puerto Rico where we're starting to see some of those heavy bands arrive. Hurricane hunters are investigating Marco right now. They have been able to get some of those 60 miles per hour winds, so it is showing signs of intensifying as we go through the day today. Some of those heavier rain bands already starting to push into areas of Puerto Rico, but the bulk of heavy rain is still down to the south. So likely to start to see those rain bands pick up as we go through the day.

Here's a look at where they go. We do expect Marco to be into the Gulf by Monday, then continue up the Gulf Coast, likely making landfall Tuesday. Laura not too far behind, potentially making landfall on Wednesday. But again, the tracks of the two are very close. You even have some cities like Houston, for example, that are technically in the cone for both storms.

So one key point we want to make is a lot of people, let's say you live in New Orleans and you evacuate. You may go to Houston, you may go to Pensacola, or people in Houston may evacuate to New Orleans. You're going to have to reevaluate your evacuation plans, Victor and Christi, because we now have two storms, not one to take into account, so your traditional evacuation location may not be an option this time.

[10:45:03]

PAUL: All right, Allison, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: A six-year-old girl is now the youngest person to die in Florida from coronavirus. The state reported another 119 deaths on Friday.

PAUL: In the meantime, Florida Atlantic University's football team is suspending practice following what the team calls a, quote, small number of positive tests. CNN's Natasha Chen is with us from Florida with the very latest. So Natasha, good to see you. Do we know how many football players have tested positive?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christi, I'm on the FAU campus right now. And FAU Athletics told us that there are three football players who tested positive for COVID-19, and that's why they've paused the football practices until they can review the next round of tests, which is currently scheduled for Monday. FAU Athletics also says they've been testing athletes weekly since the beginning of preseason practice.

Now, of course, this is a struggle that all universities and colleges are having as students come back to campus. You can see right now at the FAU campus that there are lots of students going to the bookstore, preparing for class. In this case on this campus, there is a reduced capacity in the classrooms if there are face-to-face instruction courses, and no courses will be in person if there are more than 50 students. So a lot of it will be virtual.

And facemasks are required for students both inside and outside, and when they're around other people, which is why I have mine on right now. Of course, because we have seen clusters already at other universities and colleges, we know that there can be many rules in place at these schools, but ultimately it's going to be up to the students to practice those and make sure that they are safe and healthy.

BLACKWELL: Natasha Chen, thank you.

PAUL: Thanks, Natasha.

So this little boy was the victim of a crime. People in his community decided they needed to take action, though. Look at his face now. We'll show you what happened.

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[10:51:42]

BLACKWELL: In this weekend's Beyond the Call of Duty, a police officer in Arkansas did just that for a seven-year-old boy. Bryan Jeffery's bicycle was stolen outside of a Walmart before his birthday.

PAUL: So take a look at what that officer and the community did here. CNN's Alexandra Field has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(APPLAUSE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It has been quite a ride for the seven-year-old Bryan Jeffery, whose face just says it all. In mid-July, Bryan's beloved bicycle, a gift his parents worked hard to buy for him last winter, was stolen from outside a local Walmart just nine days before his birthday.

BRYAN JEFFERY, SURPRISED WITH NEW BIKE BY LOCAL DETECTIVE: I loved it because I got it for Christmas. But when it got stolen, I got sad.

FIELD: When an investigation turned up short, Tim Gray, a detective with Conway, Arkansas, Police Department decided to take matters into his own hands.

DETECTIVE TIM GRAY, CONWAY, ARKANSAS, POLITICAL DEPARTMENT: I thought, what a way for somebody to help out and get him a bicycle. Maybe not necessarily to right a wrong, but maybe correct it in the best way that I knew how. And it just broke my heart to see a little boy, a little kid have his bicycle taken.

FIELD: Gray helped spread the word about Bryan's bike over social media, and an outpouring immediately came from the Conway community which chipped in for a massive birthday celebration with a bounce house, a car parade, even a Batman cake. Of course, Gray also had the perfect gift up his sleeve.

CARMEN JEFFERY, MOTHER OF BRYAN JEFFERY: We're you shocked?

B. JEFFERY: Yes.

GRAY: His reaction was really priceless. His eyes were just wide. And you could tell he was overcome with emotion. And I kid around, I said there must have been some dust in there, because my eyes started watering up. It was just a real touching moment to see his reaction.

C. JEFFERY: At that moment, at that point in time, it was just -- it was overly exciting to feel like, man, I can breathe, I can smile, I can laugh. And it's all because we're helping this child be joyful as well.

FIELD: The turn of events came at a time when everyone could use a little cheer.

C. JEFFERY: I felt like I used my child to show the world, it's still some light here, it's still something to be happy about and to show the world that all police officers are not the same. They all have -- some of them have hearts pure as gold.

FIELD: Bryan says he didn't just get a new bike that day, but a new friend. The feeling is mutual.

GRAY: It definitely came at a good time. Law enforcement, like many other professions, very stressful, but it definitely came at a good time. And it was good for me, for my soul, for my heart. And getting to make a new friend like Bryan definitely is always a great thing.

[10:55:03]

It doesn't matter how old you are or how young you are. You can always -- the world is not so big that you can't have enough friends.

FIELD: Alexandra Field, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: I love what she said, go be a light. Definitely.

Thank you so much for watching with us today. We hope you make good memories.

BLACKWELL: Bianna Golodyrga, is up for the next hour. Enjoy the Saturday.

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