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New Day Sunday

One Person Shot And Killed Near Protests In Portland, Oregon; Director Of National Intelligence To Congress: No More In-Person Election Security Briefings; Trump To Travel To Kenosha, Wisconsin On Tuesday; NJ District Transforms Schools For In-Person Learning; Russian Aircraft Intercept U.S. Air Force Bomber Over Black Sea; CNN Celebrates Modern Activists. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired August 30, 2020 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:05]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Portland police have in fact confirmed that they are investigating a homicide that happened in downtown Portland.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These protesters aren't just anti-law enforcement. There's also a large group of pro-Donald Trump protesters who are now also inserted into the mix.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's shock in Congress as the director of national intelligence says he's cutting off briefings on election security issues.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really comes down to one simple thing. The last time they gave briefings, members went out and talked to the press and disclosed information that they shouldn't have disclosed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a real step backwards. It's a real slap in the face to the American people who have a right to know what the intelligence community knows.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Picturesque, indeed. A beautiful shot of the capitol this morning. We'll head to Washington in just a moment to talk about the decision from the ODNI.

But we're going to start with the breaking news overnight. One person is dead after the shooting in Portland. Right now, police are trying to figure out what led up to the fight.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: We do want to give you a forewarning that the images you'll see are disturbing. If you have children in the room, may be a good time for them to leave. We don't want you caught off guard with what we're going to show here new video. So, here we go.

New video that CNN obtained from police responding to the victim or of police responding to the victim there. The victim being blurred out. It is not clear if the shootings tied to a clash between Trump supporters and protesters. We want to point out.

But CNN's Polo Sandoval does have the latest. This comes on the 94th straight night of unrest in that city, Polo.

So, the tensions have to be high and the weight has to be heavy for the people of that city. What have you learned about this particular incident?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christi, it's important to point out there's a lot of moving parts in it. So, let's sort of break down each one of those because obviously, what we don't know is as important as what we do know at this point.

According to Portland police, they responded to a shooting overnight in downtown Portland. They had found a man there in the downtown area that had been shot. In fact, some of the pictures we're able to show you, disturbing images but at the same time, we'll give you a better idea of what took place overnight. You can see medics evaluating this man. We've learned that he was eventually pronounced dead. Important to point out that "The New York Times" is reporting that the man was wearing a hat with an insignia that belonged to a far right group out of Portland.

The reason we mention that, at the same time the police officers were investigating this deadly shooting, there were clashes unfolding nearby between Trump supporters and what's believed to be members of the Black Lives Matter movement here. Now, we need to be clear, police haven't said if the shooting is directly linked to that at this point. We do hope to learn more.

But a little bit of background about these clashes that were happening between -- after an event on Facebook that described itself as Trump 2020 cruise rally and counter protesters. I want you to hear from a "New York Times" reporter Mike Baker who spoke to us overnight describing what he saw on the streets of Portland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE BAKER, NEW YORK TIMES CORRESPONDENT: Trucks going up one street and down another, in different directions, protesters sort of going different directions as well. So, it became a bit of an unwieldy situation where there wasn't a central location where the clashes were happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Just one of many accounts here and descriptions of these groups, essentially showing violence towards one another. Now, we should point out, we have reached out to Portland police trying to find out more about the victim, a possible suspect or suspects. We have not heard anything about that.

But just a short while ago, local police released a statement saying they're aware of multiple videos making their rounds online. They're looking through that right now. But at the same time, Portland police stressing the importance of allowing their detectives to try to investigate and find out what happened before, during and after the shooting.

But, again, at this point, as you said a while ago, Christi, this is now the 95th night that the people in Portland have been dealing with this anxiety, with this fears and this uncertainty amid this ongoing civil unrest that we've seen play out all summer long.

PAUL: Yeah, it's got to be tough. Polo Sandoval, we appreciate it so much. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: President Trump just weighed in on what's happening in Portland and again, blaming the mayor for what's happening in the city. The president retweeted a video. It appears to show his supporters, you see the mayor shooting paintballs and spraying something into the air.

This is the text. The back backlash going on in Portland cannot be unexpected after 95 days of watching an incompetent mayor admit that he has no idea what he's doing. The people of Portland won't put up with no safety any longer. The mayor is a fool, bring in the National Guard.

[07:05:01]

That from the president of the United States.

PAUL: And we are 65 days away from an election that U.S. intelligence agencies warn Russia, China and Iran are trying to influence. Yes, the top intelligence office says it will no longer brief Congress in person on election security.

BLACKWELL: Instead, they're going to send over written updates. This change is setting off a confrontation with lawmakers.

Let's go to CNN's Sarah Westwood at the White House now.

A lot of reaction coming in.

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Victor, and Christi. Some strong reactions from Capitol Hill as lawmakers are protesting this move from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Intel officials were defending it yesterday, saying essentially this is to protect against unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information which they claim has happened after intel officials, members of the intel community have come down to Capitol Hill and briefed lawmakers.

President Trump addressing this in Texas yesterday, blames this on a desire to stop leaks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Director Ratcliffe brought information into the committee and the information leaked. Whether it was shifty Schiff or somebody else, they leaked the information before it gets in. And what's even worse, they leaked the wrong information. And he got tired of it. So, he wants to do it in a different form.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: Now, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff is one of many Democrats protesting this decision yesterday. He claimed that the president is only doing this move or authorizing this move in order to conceal the extent of Russians' attempts to help his re- election effort. Of course, the intelligence community earlier this month released a statement suggesting that Russia, Iran and China are seeking to interfere in the 2020 election. Lawmakers, particularly Democrats, have pushed for more information on it.

This could make it more difficult to get answers. These will be written briefings now. Won't have the opportunity to engage with the Intel Committee members the way they would in an in-person briefing.

Senator Angus King on CNN yesterday said the intel community has an obligation to share what it knows with Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ANGUS KING (I-ME): The director of national intelligence, as you indicated, made a commitment to Congress and to the American people to make clear in real time what was going on in terms of foreign interference with our elections. This is a real step backwards. It's a real slap in the face to the American people who have a right to know what the intelligence community knows. That's what they're there for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: The president's rival, Joe Biden, also weighing in last night with a statement. This is not how democracy works. But it is how American national security -- but it is how American national security and sovereignty works.

Now, of course, there are questions about how lawmakers are going to be able to try to get more information out of the intelligence community, because as you mentioned, they are still looking for more questions and more answers about what Iran, China and Russia are doing to interfere in this collection -- Victor and Christi.

BLACKWELL: Sarah Westwood, thank you.

For a unique perspective, let's bring in now Miles Taylor. He is a former Trump insider who served as chief of staff to former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

Miles, thanks so much for being with us this morning.

MILES TAYLOR, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY KIRSTJEN NIELSEN: Hey, Victor, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: First, let's talk. Your reaction to this decision that came late yesterday, that the ODNI will not be briefing the house and Senate Select Committees on Intelligence in person and will be sending over only written reports and the justification that we heard from the president and from the White House chief of staff.

TAYLOR: Well, let me start with this, Victor. I know John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence. I worked with him on Capitol Hill. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt that they are concerned about potential leaks.

This happens sometimes when there's briefings to Capitol Hill. You often have staffers that leak things out. As a result, you try to make the room skinnier. You slim it down to the core folks who need to know, and it's easier to have that accountability.

But what I will say with this, I unequivocally disagree with the decision. This is one of the top threats to the United States that we face right now. I have been on the receiving end of these types of reports.

In 2016, I was on Capitol Hill receiving real time reports from the intelligence community on Russian interference and I can say to you, those in-person briefings were vital. The information you get in those written classified documents is not nearly enough to understand what a foreign adversary is thinking and what they might be planning and understand how the U.S. government is going to respond.

That's why it's so critical that those conversations happen with the people on the front lines in the intelligence community. Just to send written product to Capitol Hill will put our members of Congress in a difficult position when it comes to holding the administration to account and making sure that we are deterring aggressively and responding to potential foreign interference in our democracy.

[07:10:11]

And let me add one last thing. I am certain right now, this is one of the top three threats we face to the United States. It was when I was left the Department of Homeland Security. We consider the foreign meddling to have gotten worse under Donald Trump's tenure. And again, as you note, there are more countries in the game, the Chinese and Iranians. It's not just Moscow that's trying to meddle.

So, our members of Congress have to be involved, considering that this could have a big impact on the vote and also nationwide civil unrest if some of that information, or that misinformation rather, from those governments has an impact. So, it's crucial for members of Congress to understand this. Be involved and be personally briefed and I really hope Director Ratcliffe reconsiders that decision.

BLACKWELL: And we're just 65 days out from this election.

Let me talk about Kenosha. The president says he'll be going there on Tuesday after the shooting of Jacob Blake. The teenage vigilante charged with killing two people. The president answered the question after being asked about the former, has not said anything about the latter. What do you make of his decision to go there and the potential

motivation that sends him to Kenosha?

TAYLOR: Well, I would say this. In normal times, I think the president's inclination is the right one. We need the commander in chief going to these places where there's been civil unrest and issuing a calming message. Whether it is Portland or Kenosha or Minneapolis, our nation is being torn apart in the streets. And from a security perspective, we need the commander-in-chief to show discipline, leadership but more than anything, cool down the rhetoric.

So on paper, I'd say it's a good idea for commander in chief to get out there. My problem is that Donald Trump tends when he goes to these places to politicize the issue. We saw that with Charlottesville. In the wake of the attack in Charlottesville that really generated nationwide disagreement and concern about how the administration was focused on racially motivated and white supremacist violence, the president took a very political tone. That divided the country, that didn't provide sort of the healing message that was needed.

So, look, if the president can go to Kenosha and if he can -- if he can help tamp down the violence, the concerns regardless of where it's coming from, that will be important for the commander in chief to do. But at this point, it's long overdue for him to do this. The president of the United States, rather than using the White House as a political tool from the Republican convention needs to start using the White House as a tool to conduct his job.

We need an address from the president behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, talking about this discord that we're experiencing across the country and how we get beyond it. If he can go there and deliver a unifying message, it will good. But so far, I'm skeptical about whether the president is going to have an ability to do exactly that.

BLACKWELL: And when you mentioned cooling down the rhetoric, the acting DHS secretary has called people in Portland and Seattle and other places violent anarchists. So, he's not cooling it down either.

Let me ask you about your group, REPAIR, Republican Political Alliance for Integrity and Reform. And just -- I was thinking through this. You have gotten the deep state question before. But I want to put it this way.

You say that there are current members of the administration who will come forward closer to the election and the reporting I read that at least one expects to be fired.

Does this kind of teasing and angling of that support the president's narrative that there is a deep state that is conspiring against him and can be counterproductive?

TAYLOR: Well, first of all, I'd say this, Victor. More than anything, it shows this isn't so much a deep state. These are people the president hand picked to be around him. So beyond that, it's actually a damning indictment of the president's own leadership that there are folks like that, who feel the need to speak out. Most officials came into this administration not knowing Donald Trump

terribly well and they had the opportunity to give him a shot and a clean slate. I think what's alarming is that you've seen so many people have gone into the high level positions, try to understand who Donald Trump is and come away, frankly terrified of what they have seen. Those people need to speak out.

On the deep state question, the president uses that all the time, it's very dangerous rhetoric. Many Americans are starting to believe it, that there's secret conspiracies throughout the government to hurt the president. In fact, quite literally some people that there are secret conspiracy theories like QAnon. I oversaw a department with 250,000 people, at no point did I witness a conspiracy to deliberately undermine the president or disobey lawful orders from the president.

[07:15:10]

What I witnessed and what he calls the deep state is actually just people willing to speak truth to power to the president and tell him things he might not want to hear. But as commander in chief, he needs to hear it to make good decisions. So, that's what we're talking about when there's individuals in the -- they're worried about the Oval Office is becoming an echo chamber.

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

TAYLOR: And they want him to get the right advice.

BLACKWELL: Miles, quickly, when are we going to hear from these current administration officials? Are we talking weeks? Are we talking a month and a half?

TAYLOR: Well, we'll see. I mean, Victor, I'm going to be really honest with you on your program, and that is, every day, I'm having conversations with people who served as White House advisers, have served in the cabinet or presently serving in some of those positions. And the biggest takeaway is these folks, 90 percent of them feel the same as me. They're good security professionals. They want to be good silver servants and help the government.

BLACKWELL: All right.

TAYLOR: But they've been really concerned about what they've seen from the president. So, hopefully, soon, you'll hear from some of these people, but they have been cowed in many places by the fear and the culture of fear that the president has created. So, we're trying to get them over the hump so these folks can just be honest with voters leading into November about what it's like to serve in this administration.

BLACKWELL: All right.

TAYLOR: And what to expect if we re-elect Donald Trump.

BLACKWLEL: Miles Taylor, thank you for your time, sir.

TAYLOR: Thanks, Victor, I appreciate it. Have a great day.

BLACKWELL: You too.

So, this conversation, especially on election security, will continue today. On "STATE OF THE UNION", Congressman Adam Schiff, he will sit down with Dana Bash.

"STATE OF THE UNION" airs today at 9:00 Eastern.

PAUL: And coming up --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACOB BLAKE SR., FATHER: He's a bad -- didn't take seven shots to find out that. By the time the 7th shot got there, it's attempted murder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: That's Jacob Blake's father who says the shoot of his son was attempted murder, as his uncles calls the police union's version of what happened, quote, insulting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:21:08]

BLACKWELL: President Trump scheduled to visit Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday. The White House says he will meet with law enforcement officials and look at some of the damage from the recent protests.

PAUL: Now, it's not clear if the president is meeting with the family of Jacob Blake.

On Saturday, Blake's family led a protest in Kenosha.

Here's CNN's Sara Sidner who talked to him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Kenosha, there was about 2,000 people who came out in support of Jacob Blake and Jacob Blake's family. His family leading a protest here in Kenosha several blocks that ended up at the courthouse where they then spoke. We heard from Jacob Blake's uncle, Justin Blake. We heard from Jacob Blake's sister, we heard from Jacob Blake's father as well.

All speaking about a couple of things. One, asking for peaceful protests, but two, telling people that they must vote. That is the next thing after protesting in the streets.

We also talked to Jacob Blake's father about what happened in this case and what he sees should happen going forward after the police association here in Kenosha made allegations against Jacob Blake that he was armed, that he was fighting with the police, that he had a police officer in a head lock and had to be tased. His father reacting saying what he sees certainly did not prove an

imminent threat to the officer who ended up shooting him in the back seven times.

JACOB BLAKE SR., JACOB BLAKE'S FATHER: How can you be in imminent danger when the person has nothing in their hand? What was he, Superman? He could see the knife through the walls of the car?

The police union means nothing to me. It's a bunch of cats that pay a bunch of dues to have a title, a union. They do nothing but support their bad cops.

He's a bad cop. It didn't take seven shots to find out that. The first shot told you -- the second one was coming. The third shot told you that the fourth one he's trying to kill him. The fifth shot said, how many times you going to shoot? By the time the seventh shot got there, it's attempted murder.

SIDNER: But no officer at this point has been charged in this case. We do know that there is an investigation underway. The state Department of Justice is investigating and saying that they are going to be doing an impartial investigation and that the police association does not speak for anyone other than the defense of the officers.

They are very adamant and clear in that they are the investigating agency in this case.

Sara Sidner, CNN, Kenosha.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: So, I want to share this moment with you. It's pretty moving. An 11-year-old little league football player inspired to take a knee during the national anthem to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

BLACKWELL: His name is Elijah. And he says once he attended the protests in Atlanta and he was motivated to make what he calls a bold statement. He said he had been thinking about kneeling but the decision to finally do it came across his mind when he was on the field.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

11-YEAR-OLD ATHLETE: I've been thinking about it for a good while now. Since the protests, a lot of things were flooding through my head. But the main thing was, again, I'm a minority. Will my team support me?

UIDENTIFIED MALE: I wanted to reassure him that he did nothing wrong, that it is important to voice his opinion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're so, so proud of him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Elijah is a straight-a student and has experienced racism in his life. Now, he says he just wants to make a difference and plans to have a career in leadership and community engagement.

PAUL: That is one smart 11-year-old.

BLACKWELL: Fantastic.

PAUL: Lofty goals and we wish him the best.

BLACKWELL: Excellent.

PAUL: Absolutely.

So, right now, there are schools across the country that are open. They are getting ready to. Some are offering virtual schooling, phased classes, maybe a hybrid.

[07:25:02]

Well, listen, there are some DIY projects and new technology in one particular school district in New Jersey. It's transforming classes. We're talking to the superintendent to see how they did this, how effective they think they can be.

Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: So, there's a school district in New Jersey. Like so many other school districts across the country, they're offering a hybrid program, virtual learning and face to face education as they go back. So, in order to provide a safe learning environment, this school district in Hazlet, New Jersey, has completely transformed the classroom.

I'm going to show you some pictures here. The superintendent of the town's public schools in Monmouth County, New Jersey, is with us, Scott Ridley.

Thank you so much, Superintendent, for being with us. We appreciate it.

SCOTT RIDLEY, SUPERINTENDENT, HAZLET TOWNSHIP PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Yeah, good morning.

PAUL: Good morning.

I know that you're at Cove Road School.

[07:30:02]

Walk us through some of these protections that you've implemented.

RIDLEY: Well, it was a transformation of significant stature. We've installed temperature-taking devices at all of our main entrances in all of our eight schools. We also installed hand sanitizers around all of our drinking fountains and all of our nurses' offices doors. We put Plexiglas on literally every one of our 2800 desks and in front

of all of our teaching desks as well. We used signage on the floors, doors, and the entrances and exits to make certain that students understood that they need to stay apart from each other when they entered the building.

PAUL: So when you were looking at what you believed to be most effective, who helped you consult to create this environment?

RIDLEY: Who what? I'm sorry.

PAUL: Who helped you consult to help create this environment?

RIDLEY: It's probably a shorter list who didn't help me. So, first and foremost are nurses. We have eight school nurses.

And then after that, our building and grounds maintenance department and then after that, all of our principals and following that, we created a restart committee comprised of parents, students, teachers, administrators and we met four Thursdays in a row for a couple of hours each Thursday and collected their ideas. We took all of that information and we transformed it into this plan.

PAUL: It's a lot of information and I think a lot of people are looking at it thinking how did you pay for this? What was the cost on this? Do you know the total?

RIDLEY: I don't know the total. I know the Plexiglas cost us $25,000. But I want to -- it's important to understand that we're a middle class, working community. We don't have excess budget at all. But when we closed down schools in March, there were certain expenses we didn't incur.

For instance, we didn't pay buses to transport our kids. We didn't have athletic events. We didn't have to pay for referees and we didn't have speakers come to the schools. There were a variety of business as usual events that got pushed to the side or not staged at all. We just kind of reshifted our funding.

PAUL: There's a video on YouTube. This is part of what we're showing right now where you said, this is your first time prioritizing something other than education. This year, you're prioritizing health and safety, obviously.

So, with that said, what is your threshold for determining whether you keep kids in the classroom? Is there a number? It's three kids, say, test positive, do you go back to virtual learning? What is your plan moving forward?

SCOTT: So the Monmouth County Health Department, Hazlet is in Monmouth County, sent out a 30-page guide that oversees all of those decisions. First and foremost, we respond to that. And in it, they have a chart that identifies if this happens, you do this. And essentially, it's with an increasing number of people testing negative that we would be forced to take action. But it's articulated by the plan that the county distributed to us and

just to give you a quick overview, if one kid tests positive in a class, and it's isolated incident, the school doesn't close. You may just -- we have our children sitting next to the same kids every single day. We would take out the one child and prioritize how significant a reaction we would need to have based on how many of the tests we get that are negative.

PAUL: Well, it is impressive. Everything that you have done to get to this point.

Superintendent Scott Ridley, we know that the mental health of these kids are just as important as their physical health. I know they want to get back to the classroom as well. Thanks for taking the time to walk us through it. Best of luck. Keep in touch.

SCOTT: Thank you very much as well.

BLACKWELL: Coming up, we've got new video of a Russian fighter jet coming dangerously close to a U.S. B-52 bomber. We've got the details of this, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:38:56]

PAUL: Listen, some stunning new video that was released by the Defense Department we want to show you right now. Take a look at what the DOD says is -- that's a Russian jet they say making an intercept of a B-52 bomber. This happened over the black sea in international airspace on Friday.

BLACKWELL: Your view is from the U.S. aircraft's cockpit. You see the Russian fighter jet crossing in front of it less than 100 feet of the nose. Apparently, this happened several times. Now, the DOD said the intercept caused. B-52 so much turbulence that it affected its ability to maneuver and could have caused a midair collision.

PAUL: The latest out of Minneapolis. The former police officer accused of killing George Floyd is asking the court to dismiss his charges.

BLACKWELL: Attorneys for Derrick Chauvin are arguing that there is not probable cause to support charging him with murder. Instead, they say that George Floyd died from preexisting health problems.

PAUL: Video of the arrest shows him kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly eight minutes and it sparked protests around the world.

[07:40:04]

Well, the University of Alabama says more than 1,000 students on just one of its campuses have tested positive for COVID-19. That's since classes resumed less than two weeks ago. Three campuses make up the University of the Alabama system there. The Tuscaloosa campus has, by far, the most student cases. Both the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Alabama in Huntsville report ten cases each since cases resumed August 19th.

BLACKWELL: The dean of the college of community health sciences says that they're satisfied with precautions in place and that there's no evidence in person classes are responsible.

PAUL: Well, Monday was the first day of classes for the fall semester at Rice University. That's in Houston. The school reports that more than 9,100 tests have been conducted since August 1st. And 15 have come back positive according to the data dashboard as of Wednesday.

So, here to update us with the president of Rice University, David Leebron.

President Leebron, thanks for coming back. It's been, what, three, four weeks since you were here?

DAVID LEEBRON, PRESIDENT, RICE UNIVERSITY: Yes, yes, good morning.

BLACKWELL: Good morning to you. Back on the 1st, we discussed that there would be for asymptomatic students living on campus, there would be this reoccurring regular testing and at that time, you didn't know the schedule. What's the protocol now for the testing on campus?

LEEBRON: So, all students who are living or coming on campus, if they're off campus coming on campus at all for any purpose, all of them must be tested at least once a week. Then in addition, they're having additional surveillance testing until some students tested more than once a week, they might be tested twice a week at this point in time.

BLACKWELL: Are you satisfied with the numbers you're seeing, first weekend?

LEEBRON: Yeah. Since august 1st, isn't just the first week. Since the first weekend, we've had three or four students test positive. As you said, since August 1st, we've had ten students test positive. So that's an overall positivity rate of about 0.17 percent.

BLACKWELL: And the other five were staff members?

LEEBRON: Yes. I believe all of the other five were staff members.

BLACKWELL: OK. So, one other question that you were still working out on august 1st was that you had -- we now know, 1,555 students living on campus. There's a question if they would be able to have roommates and live together. Have you answered that question?

LEEBRON: Yes. I think we have close to 1600 students living on campus. We're operating roughly speaking maybe a little more than 50 percent of capacity. Some of them chose to have roommates. Most of them didn't have to have roommates. The vast majority didn't in terms of being in one room. But there are some with roommates and that seems to have worked out well so far.

BLACKWELL: So, let me ask you about the document. I printed it off from your website this morning. This is the culture of care agreement. It's five pages that students have to sign and it covers everything from social distancing and participating in contact tracing, where to wear a face covering, where to sit in class, what to clean and how long one should wash one's hands.

And in the last page here says that noncompliance with the expectations listed above may result in penalties or sanctions, including removal from campus without delay. There's an editorial written in the Rice student newspaper in which the authors write this. An emphasis on punishment disincentivizes students from disclosing any involvement they may have had in risky activities, a situation that places the greater community at higher risk. Why would a person participate in contact tracing procedures if they run the risk of being rusticated or expelled temporarily for breaking the rules?

What's your response?

LEEBRON: I think we've actually had terrific student compliance. We see that, voluntary reporting of health problems even though that might result in quarantining and after testing isolation.

I think the secret at Rice is a lot of the enforcement is really left to the students. This is not a lot of top down threats. We have a COVID court that is student-run. We have COVID ambassadors. Those are students.

What we see pretty pervasively is that the students really are stepping up to their responsibilities. It's part of what we call our culture of care, our values at Rice, our responsibility, integrity, community and excellence.

So it's really not dependent on top-down enforcement. As in any other area of behavior, we do hold our students accountable and ourselves accountable. We're seeing tremendous student compliance in terms of wearing masks and the other rules that we've put in place. Since we talked, in addition to requiring masks in buildings, we've actually required mask wearing throughout the campus for the time being, whether students are inside or outside.

[07:45:08]

BLACKWELL: OK. So in researching for the conversation, there was a tweet that caught my attention from E.J. I want to read it for you. I loved Rice University's library materials pickup system this summer. Discontinuing it as a library reopens to students is a bad call. The pandemic is nowhere close to over. We need to make library access possible to those trying to limit their presence on campus.

Now, from what I understand, this system would allow the student to go to an online portal, one search and then enter the materials they want, go to a specific place, pick them up. I went to a library website there. It shows that the pickup ended on Monday. And now students have to, quote, visit the library to retrieve materials.

Why require people who either don't want to or for health reasons should not go into the library and participate when there was a system that mitigated that risk? Why end that? LEEBRON: Well, I'm not sure. I'd have to talk to the librarians about

that. I'm sure if there are folks who couldn't come to campus, we would find means to get them those books. I'll have to look into that and see why they may have made a change. The campus library is safe to come to. We have a lot of precautions in place there.

BLACKWELL: All right. President David Leebron of Rice University -- good to have you back. Good luck to the semester.

LEEBRON: Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Thank you.

Christi?

PAUL: So, there's a girl scout troop taking the battle against the coronavirus pandemic into their own hands, so to speak. You know those delicious Girl Scout cookies you love, they've helped a group of ladies do something they've never done before. We'll tell you about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: This year is the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote in the U.S. Our new CNN series, "Represented" celebrates the suffragette spirit by spotlighting modern activists in action and today, we meet Tarana Burke, a simple phrase, me too.

You know it started this global movement against sexual violence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TARANA BURKE, ACTIVIST: Trans women, disabled women, women of color, black women, people who are generally pushed to the margins in every other area are also at the forefront of the people experiencing sexual violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TARANA BURKE, ACTIVIST: Transwomen, disabled women, women of color, black women, people who are generally pushed to the margins in every other area are also at the forefront of the people experiencing sexual violence.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tarana Burke promoted the phrase "MeToo" in 2006 as a declaration of unity, bringing attention to sexual violence and harassment endured by marginalized women.

BURKE: It was inspired by my life, by being a black girl survivor who did not have a pathway to the healing process.

BALDWIN: In 2017, actress Alyssa Milano tweeted about Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein's widespread harassment and urged women to share their own stories of abuse with Burke's #metoo.

BURKE: You had 12 million people in one day who came forward to say this thing has affected my life.

BALDWIN: The movement was a reckoning for a number of high profile men and it led to new pushes for stronger victim's rights. But Burke points out, there's still a lot of work to do.

BURKE: You cannot simply legislate for progress. If we don't have a cultural shift in this country, those laws and policies won't make a difference.

CROWD: Stop the violence.

BURKE: We believe you unnamed survivors.

CROWD: Yes.

BURKE: And we care.

This is a people's movement. It's a survivor's movement for anybody who has experienced sexual violence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[07:50:05]

PAUL: CNN is exploring the past, the present and future of women's right in the U.S. and around the world. Be sure to check out more of this at CNN.com/represented.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Actor Chadwick Boseman's home state of South Carolina is lowering its flags to half-staff to honor his memory. The "Black Panther" star's family announced he died Friday at the age of 43 after a four-year battle with colon cancer. The statehouse tribute will last from sunrise to sunset today.

In Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Lakers -- well, I should say he's in Orlando, LeBron James paid tribute to Boseman before the start of Saturday's resumed playoff game. James crossed his arms across his chest for that Wakanda forever salute. Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton did the same thing, and dedicated his pole position lap to Boseman.

PAUL: So, in this week's "Human Kindness", the Colorado girl scout troop found an honorable way to spend the money earned from selling girl scout cookies that we all love. They just it make personal protective equipment for a local elementary school. This is just outside Denver.

These girls said the struggles that are associated with reopening schools amid the pandemic is exactly what inspired them. So they bought the material to make sneeze guards, re-useable masks and mask lanyards.

Good for them. Thank you for what you do. That's some outside the box thinking and some good work there. There are good people in the world. Do not let anybody tell you otherwise. Thank you so much for spending your morning with us. We hope you make

good memories today.

BLACKWELL: "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.