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Lakers, Clippers Vote to Boycott Rest of NBA Season; Hurricane Laura Slams into Gulf Coast with 150 Miles Per Hour Winds. Aired 7:30- 8a ET

Aired August 27, 2020 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Continues to move through your state. You are in training camp with the Orleans Tanks, do you intend to play?

MALCOLM JENKINS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, I think, you know, we're ways and ways on playing, and I think, you know, for one as an athlete, I'm very proud to see what, you know, the solidarity and the passion that these guys in the NBA are showing, and I think they're waking up not only, you know, other athletes around different sports, but our country.

And I think we're a long ways away to see what that means for the NFL. But I know for this moment, it's important that we, you know, let this breathe. And I think players are -- and let's be clear, it's a lot larger than just Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake or others who have been brutalized or lost their lives at the hands of police.

It's about these systems and really destroying systemic racism and dismantling any system that is not fair equitable for black people. And so the same systems that perpetuate, you know, a cycle of incarcerations, same systems that allow state violence against unarmed civilians, the same system that is taking generational wealth from black and brown people and haven't paid back a dime.

All those things are what we're fighting for right now, and this political landscape, I hope that, that turns into some kind of political engagement by athletes and by everybody to say that, you know, if you want the black vote, and whether you're a candidate who is living to be elected or being re-elected, if you want the black vote, these are the things that are at the top of the agenda for black people.

We haven't heard it yet, and I think until we continue to demand it, until black lives matters goes from just an idea or a goal that we're trying to attain as a society, and then is actually realized in the streets, we won't see any peace. And I think we'll continue to see athletes, entertainers as well as citizens disrupt the status quo until that's recognized.

BERMAN: Isiah Thomas, we saw Doc Rivers, coach of the L.A. Clippers in tears over this. We have seen LeBron James tweeted out, "f-this man, we demand change. Sick of it." The emotion here as they're in this bubble in Florida playing. Describe what you think they're probably feeling right now.

ISIAH THOMAS, NBA ON TNT ANALYST: Well, you know, W.E.B Du Bois spoke about the double consciousness of being classified as black or negro or colored in America. And the athlete -- we faced a double consciousness of being and treated with what we will call white privilege where white is a status in America and so is black is a status.

So when we're talking about eliminating these racial categories, what happens is, as an athlete, down in the bubble, whether you're in football, basketball or baseball, the athletes elevates to a white status, where he is granted certain rights and privileges, when he or she has on the uniform.

However, when they walk outside of the arena and they're living in society in terms of the duality and the double consciousness, then you are -- you are basically back to black status. And what black status in America means under this racial classified system, what black status means is that you have less civil rights, because we're fighting for civil rights, we fight for voting rights, we fight for privileges.

When you have white status, you are granted that at birth. You have birthrights. So we are fighting constantly in this America for birth rights. We want civil rights, we want equal rights, we want privileges where the classified white, John, is getting birth rights where he and she are granted those things.

So the duality of the -- of the -- of the consciousness of the athlete and then the citizen are always in conflict when you are classified black in this country.

BERMAN: I think people have pointed to what's happening in Kenosha, Wisconsin, as the difference in treatment there between what happened -- what police did with Jacob Blake shooting him seven times in the back, and the treatment that Kyle Rittenhouse, who is charged with firing his long weapon and perhaps killing two people, the different treatment that they received at the hands of the system. Malcolm Jenkins, I have heard or seen already -- I was surprised, maybe I wasn't surprised, criticism for what the NBA players are doing. People saying, well, what's going to get them to play? What do they want to see? What are they actually going to change by doing this?

So the Lakers and Clippers have voted not to play. Unclear yet what that means for the rest of the teams. Unclear yet if the playoffs will happen. But what change do you think would need to happen for them to feel right about taking the court again.

[07:35:00]

JENKINS: Well, I think that's going to come down to those individuals, right? And I think, right now, you've seen the Bucks make a statement -- try to educate themselves. But I think as a reaction to what is happening right now, and some of the feelings that were already bubbling before they went into the bubble, about, you know, is this the time for us to be playing a game when so much unrest is happening, when our people need leaders, they need voices.

But I do think that there's a moment in which you have to educate yourself on how best to approach it. And I think they are allowed that space. But right now, you know, you see really the anger and the frustration of what's happening.

And James Baldwin said to be relatively conscious in America means that you're to be black and conscious in America means that you're in a conscious state of rage.

And I think that the level of consciousness of black people in this country over the last few months has risen to a level that we haven't seen in a long time. And I think that rage and that demand to do better will come from not only athletes, but from many different stages. And you know, I applaud it and I encourage it and hopefully that momentum turns again, like I said, into some tangible things that we can get behind.

BERMAN: You talked about the political response to this. It's all happening right at the same time. I mean, the amount of things going on all at once is really astounding, but you have the Republican Convention going on and the Vice President of the United States last night who did not mention Jacob Blake's name, did not in any way address the police shooting of this man or George Floyd for that matter, and instead focused on what he calls law and order. I want to play what we heard from the former Vice President Joe Biden, who gave a rather extended remark and has spoken on the phone with Jacob Blake's family and also had this to say. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FOR 2020: You know, as I said after George Floyd's murder, protesting, brutality is a right and absolutely necessary. But burning down communities is not protest, it's needless violence. Violence that endanger lives. Violence that guts businesses and shutters businesses that serve the community. That's wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Talk to me about what the black community is hearing in all of this, Malcolm.

JENKINS: Well, I can tell you what we're not hearing right now, and what we're not hearing is the plan to dismantle these systems that have plagued us for centuries. And I think that's what we want to hear. We talk about, you know, how do we get black people to engage in this election to get out and vote. Well, you have to put the things that are plaguing us and the things that we face every single day, that we are out on these streets trying to make our voices heard about part of the dialogue of this election.

And so far, we've heard about law and order, and we've heard about how you know, one candidate is not the other, and therefore, you should vote for me. And I think you know, right now, black people -- I can speak for myself at least that I'm frustrated in the lack of things that I've heard from either candidate about how, you know, we alleviate this pressure from our communities. How do we rectify and not only just stop doing the things that cause damage, but how do we rectify and acknowledge the damage that has been done for centuries to black communities?

And it's very frustrating. And I think it's up to influencers, to athletes, you know, to black voices to really start to put those pressures and demand, you know, that -- those answers from our elected officials. The people that want our votes, the people that want us to support them, but what are you going to do for us is the question.

BERMAN: Malcolm Jenkins, Isiah Thomas, I appreciate both your time this morning. I really do think your voices are so important here and I hope people are listening. Thank you.

JENKINS: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, we are tracking Hurricane Laura, one of the most powerful storms ever to make landfall in the United States. Light is beginning to come up. We are just beginning to get a sense of the damage there. What's the response plan from the federal government? We'll speak to FEMA next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Hurricane Laura now the most powerful storm to strike Louisiana in more than a century. At this hour, it is moving in-land with ferocious winds and a potentially life-threatening storm surge. CNN's Gary Tuchman is live in Lake Charles, Louisiana, with some new video of some of the destruction. So, tell us what you're seeing around you, Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, first of all, I want to -- I do want to tell you that the sun rises here in less than five minutes, and it can't come up soon enough because I channeled the thoughts of many people here in southwestern Louisiana and the upper Gulf Coast of Texas, but this was the longest night ever.

Here's some of the damage. This truck tossed over like a toy. This casino hotel, you can see part of the building is peeled away. What happened here is especially scary, because the sheriff's department of police haven't gone out yet to look and see how people are doing.

And many people ended up not evacuating because they were afraid to because of the pandemic during this hurricane season. It's never happened in modern history before. So a lot of people were afraid to leave and we are very afraid of what they might see when they go to the houses and the communities here in Lake Charles and other communities here in Louisiana and also in Texas. It was a very scary evening. I spent part of the night in a hotel across the street from this one, the Golden Nugget Casino Hotel. I was on the 12th floor when we had the 125-mile-per-hour wind, when

you're 120 feet up in the air which the 12th floor was, the winds are even higher. It sounded like -- that sounds like reminding me back in 2003 when I was in Kuwait during the beginning of the Iraq war embedded with the U.S. Air Force, and I watched the U.S. Air Force planes take off one after another on the runway, and that's what it's like, the sound never ended, it sounded like planes flying through for hours when those winds were coming through.

[07:45:00]

So it was a very scary, frightening night, and the fact is that authorities here are very worried about what they might see when they go out to these homes, and they're more worried about Cameron Parish which is south of only 4,000 people live there on the gulf after Hurricane Rita, we went through there. Every single house was either heavily damaged or gone, and this storm was much more powerful than Hurricane Rita. John, back to you.

BERMAN: Gary, that's sitting water behind you that you were just standing by. What is that? What's the situation there?

TUCHMAN: So there is a river right next to me, the Calcasieu River to my right. It's about 500 yards away. Right now, it's a raging rapids river. Yesterday, it was very calm. So some of the water has flowed into this parking lot, into the streets. But it's far less than we feared. It's bad over there by the river, but behind us, it's not as bad as we feared.

That was the fear originally, John, that there could be up to a 20- foot storm surge in this city. So far -- and right like I said, the sun is literally coming up, now we can't see it, there's a storm in the middle of the end of this hurricane. But the fact is, we haven't seen or heard of any of the storm surge that was potentially feared, and that's the one piece of good news I can tell you at this time.

BERMAN: All right, Gary Tuchman, please stay safe, please keep us posted. Again, just a few minutes until the light comes up, and you have a real sense of some of the damage there, we appreciate the work you're doing, give our best to the crew as well. Joining me now is Peter Gaynor; he is the administrator of FEMA. Thank you so much for being with us, Mr. Administrator --

PETER GAYNOR, ADMINISTRATOR, FEMA: Hello John --

BERMAN: Again, the light isn't even up yet, but I know you've got sources spread out all along the Gulf Coast. What are you hearing about the impact of this storm and the damage that has been done already?

GAYNOR: Yes, so a couple of things. I think power outages both in Texas and Louisiana, about 325,000, the majority of those in Louisiana. We're also understanding that the surge is not as bad as it -- we thought it was, which I think is a good sign.

Again, I think your reporter just said that it's sun rise coming up. So, we're going to need some few hours this morning to do damage assessments, to see what kind of damage happened overnight. But we expect heavy wind damage, especially those along the main track, you know, from Cameron Parish all the way up. Still a cat 2. Still inland, still dangerous.

I think one of the messages that we're trying to get across this morning is, you know, keep your family safe, right? If you're in a safe place, don't go outside until you hear the all-clear from your local officials. Stay out of the water. Stay away from downed power lines. Again, this can be a dangerous part of the storm, even after it passes. So, again, please use your best discretion, don't put yourself at risk because you could put -- unnecessarily so, put a first responder at risk if you're just out there sight-seeing. So again, just stay home and be safe.

BERMAN: Any reports of people trapped? Any rescues that you know of that need to be happening?

GAYNOR: I haven't heard yet this morning. We've got some indications again, mostly power outages. Some flooding, of course, and again, we're going to see some wind damage on structures. I think that's the -- that's the big thing we're going to see when the sun comes up.

BERMAN: Area of greatest need?

GAYNOR: The area of greatest need?

BERMAN: Yes.

GAYNOR: Well, again, I think until we get out there on the ground and see what the damage looks like, it will take us a little time to determine that, but we have plenty of resources in and around the impacted zone, not just me, but all the federal families and our great private partners like the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, and many others are ready to deliver aid to those impacted by the disaster.

BERMAN: In terms of the resources available, of course, on August 8th, the president signed that executive action allocating all, but 25 billion from FEMA's Disaster Aid Fund to deal with unemployment benefits there. Do you have enough money at this point?

GAYNOR: We do. But we do. And we've been stockpiling commodities like food, water, tarps, and all those things you need for a disaster season. We actually over-stocked this year because we knew it was going to be a higher-than-average hurricane season, so we're in good shape. We have plenty of funding from the Disaster Relief Fund. And so, no one should worry about that in Texas, Louisiana or Arkansas this morning.

BERMAN: All right, Peter Gaynor, FEMA administrator, we do appreciate your help, thanks for being with us. We know you have a long day ahead --

GAYNOR: Thanks, John --

BERMAN: Of you. CAMEROTA: OK, we are just getting our first look at the aftermath of

Hurricane Laura. More than a million residents along the Gulf Coast had evacuated before Laura made landfall. So homes are now destroyed, people are displaced. Joining us now is CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. So Sanjay, I mean, this is exactly what that area, of course, didn't need, obviously, the dueling crisis of people being displaced by this. I mean, they generally go to packed shelters, and of course, coronavirus --

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes --

CAMEROTA: So what as a doctor is your biggest concern this morning?

[07:50:00]

GUPTA: Yes, I mean, you know, this is something that Louisiana, Texas, they've been considering in the wake -- in the midst of this pandemic. We know that there was lots of medical resources brought over from Texas into Louisiana. We know that --

(CLEARS THROAT)

Excuse me, several of the hospitals shut down understandably during the hurricane, but three emergency rooms stay open. But they plan -- they have to think about this differently to your point, Alisyn. So in Louisiana, for example, they send out more buses than usual because they don't want people crowding together.

They're taking people sometimes to hotels that have been set aside for this instead of shelters to try and give people a little bit more opportunity and ability to physically distance. I will say that in Texas and Louisiana, thankfully, the hospital numbers have come down over the past few days. So as things start to open up and, you know, people start to assess how -- what kind of need there is in terms of hospitalizations, there should be hospital beds, but everything is sort of being planned, you know, with this pandemic in mind.

So, at these hotels, they set those aside, they're keeping the physical distancing protocols in place. They recognize that testing will essentially be non-existent for some time. So they're trying to plan for a surge testing in the days after when they can start doing testing again.

And you know, trying to get through the hurricane like everything else in the midst of this pandemic. It's not easy, but I think that there's been a lot of capacity that's been sent over from central Texas into that area, to try and get people out of the danger zones into places where they can still have some space.

CAMEROTA: Sanjay, I want you to give us an update on the story that you and so many people found jaw-dropping yesterday, and that was that the CDC had changed their guidelines, sort of quietly --

GUPTA: Yes --

CAMEROTA: Without alerting anybody just on their website, that if you've been exposed to somebody who tests positive for coronavirus, they no longer believe you would need to be tested. Do you have an update on why the CDC did that, what we've learned in the past 24 hours?

GUPTA: Well, one thing that remains true, I'll just tell you first is that, I have talked to lots of public health people, a lot of people that you've interviewed over the last several months on the show just to sort of get their thoughts on this, the idea of not testing asymptomatic people are pulling back on that even, doesn't make sense.

I think you've heard that already. The reason being that so much of the spread in this country we now realize is coming from people who are asymptomatic. Symptomatic people should stay home, asymptomatic people are the ones who are likely driving a lot of spread.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, what we heard was that he was part of this -- these guideline recommendations that the coronavirus taskforce had signed off, that there was deliberation this past Thursday, August 20th about this before the sign-off. Well, I talked to Dr. Fauci yesterday -- and you'll remember, Alisyn, you know where he was this past Thursday. He was in the operating room under general anesthesia. So he was not able to deliberate and discuss these guidelines.

CAMEROTA: Yes --

GUPTA: And so it was very interesting because he was -- basically, his name was invoked, saying Dr. Fauci signed off on this, he wasn't part of those recent discussions on Thursday, August 20th. And I can tell you because I just want to read this exactly. He said, "I am concerned about the interpretation of these recommendations and worried that it's going to give people the incorrect assumption that asymptomatic spread is not of great concern."

It is. Look, Alisyn, I mean, these are worrisome times. You're hearing diametrically opposed things from members of the same taskforce here, in terms of what to do, and you're also hearing, you know, his name being invoked when he was under general anesthesia in the operating room. So people just need to sort of keep this in mind in addition to the larger point, which is, you can spread this virus even if you have no symptoms.

CAMEROTA: I mean, I don't want to suggest something sinister, but it sounds like a Tom Clancy novel or something. The person who would know best, who would be completely opposed to this, put him under general anesthesia and make the decision then. The timing -- I mean, of course, it raises eyebrows and of course, Dr. Fauci sounds like --

GUPTA: Yes --

CAMEROTA: His own eyebrows are raised by this. And so are we sticking with this? Is this the new plan? Is this the CDC plan now because I am hearing local hospital officials and governors saying we're not doing that.

GUPTA: Right. So, you know, with the first point, I think you're absolutely right, Alisyn. I can tell again, just -- you know, we've been talking about this for months. Dr. Fauci I think is the one person who has come out and said, look, we screwed up the testing. I think that was his quote at one of the Senate testimony hearings.

He was the first person to say, look, we got it wrong, and he has sort of re-enforced that over time. We have never gotten testing quite right in this country. We're still not testing enough overall. We're not thinking about assurance testing, Alisyn, this idea that I can have some assurance that I don't have the virus today, therefore I can go out in public.

[07:55:00]

Whatever it might be, we still -- we just never have gotten that right, and then to have his name invoked, saying he signed off on these testing protocols that he did not sign off on. I think, you know, is really -- is really worrisome. As far as the second part of the question, when you read these guidelines carefully -- these recommendations I should say, carefully, they say public health officials have the discretion to then, you know, do the testing on asymptomatic people.

I can tell you I called public health officials and I said, so how are you going to handle this? And many of them say, look, up until now, what we've typically done is we go to the CDC, we go to the CDC's website in fact, and we basically follow those recommendations.

So now, they're going to have to say, well, look, I don't agree necessarily with those recommendations, so we're going to have to figure it out a bit on our own. And it's sort of -- kind of reinforcing this patch-work-sort-of-approach that we've had in this country. We don't have a national strategy, and this is going to make that worse.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, we always appreciate your expertise, thank you --

GUPTA: Got it --

CAMEROTA: Very much.

GUPTA: Got it --

CAMEROTA: OK, so the sun is just coming up on the Gulf Coast, and we're getting our first look at the extent of the damage from Hurricane Laura. So up next, we talk to the one man, one man who had to evacuate his home as the storm tore through the area. We'll show you these pictures.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, good morning everyone, welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world, this is NEW DAY, and we do have breaking news. One of the most powerful hurricanes to ever make landfall in the United States is still battering Louisiana at this moment.