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Don Lemon Tonight
U.S. Reports More Than 58,000 Coronavirus Cases Today; President Trump On Coronavirus Pandemic: We Are In A Good Place; Florida Tops 213,000 COVID-19 Cases As State Moves To Open Schools Next Month; Arizona Sets New Record High For Daily Coronavirus Deaths; Sen. Kelly Loeffler's Comments About Black Lives Matter; Many States Are Allowing Mail-In Voting Despite President Trump's False Claim It Encourages Fraud. Aired 11p-12a ET
Aired July 07, 2020 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[23:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon, 11:00 p.m. here on the East Coast and we begin this hour with some breaking news. A staggering figure -- staggering. The U.S. seeing a record number of coronavirus cases today. More than 58,000. That is the highest count of new COVID-19 cases in a single day since the pandemic broke out.
One top medical expert calling the spread of this virus in this country a full blown public health crisis and disaster. Now nearly 3 million confirm cases in the U.S. More than 131,000 deaths. The forecasting model at the University of Washington now predicting more than 208,000 American deaths by November 1st.
Tonight, cases surging in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California. Hospitals in Texas and Florida flooded with critical COVID-19 patients, and President Trump ignoring the spreading virus and publicly disagreeing with Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is warning the country is knee-deep in this disease. Trump actually claiming, and I quote -- I think we're in a good place.
Well, let's talk about all of that now. Astead Herndon is here, he is a national political reporter for the New York Times. And Dr. Jonathan Reiner is the Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Program at George Washington University Hospital.
Gentleman, I'm grateful to have both of you on. Good evening. Dr. Reiner, you first. We have known about this virus for months and today the country recorded the most new cases in a single day -- 58,699. Shamefully. It feels like that we're back at the beginning of this pandemic.
DR. JONATHAN REINER, DIRECTOR OF CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION PROGRAM; GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: And it didn't have to be this way. I think if you look at the states that have succeeded in really dropping the number of cases dramatically, places like New York and New Jersey, Massachusetts, they did it through extensive testing, they close down for a very long time and they didn't open until they were ready to open.
In fact, New York is just in the front of the process of slowly opening now. The states that are in trouble now through the south and southwest did not do that. Testing was inadequate, and they opened, you know, while cases were even starting to rise. And now they need the will to close. They need to political will to close. They need to political will to get the entire population to wear masks.
We can do this. This is not rocket science, Don. We could put this pandemic down. We need to separate politics from science. We need to listen to the public health docs and the physicians, who know how to do this. We have to stop listening to people who have a political conflict of interest and listen to the professionals. We can do this, and we can do this in short order if we have the political leadership that allows the professionals to do this.
LEMON: Well, Dr. Reiner, speaking of that, you know, Dr. Fauci says that this country is still knee-deep in a first wave of this pandemic. This is how the president responded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think we are in a good place. I disagree with him. You know, Dr. Fauci says don't wear masks and now he says wear them. He said numerous things. Don't close off China, don't ban China, and I did it anyway. I sort of didn't listen to my experts and I banned China. We would had been in a much worse shape.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: A good place -- clearly that's a lie. How dangerous is it?
REINER: Well, super dangerous. Hypocrites once said that, you know, science gives us knowledge and opinion gives us ignorance. You know, we're getting knowledge from Tony Fauci and we are getting ignorance from the president of the United States.
The president has only one goal right now, and his goal is to get re- elected, and the only way he can do that in his mind which I think is wrong, but in his mind, is to pretend like nothing is happening here, to open the country widely, to get schools open, to pretend like nothing is happening in this country.
Whereas the only way to put this pandemic down is to do some harsh things, to do some painful things, to close the economy in certain places, to test -- you know, orders of magnitude more than we're testing now. To get the entire country to wear a mask, to get the country understand that we're in a new normal.
You can't go back to normal until we have a vaccine. So, we need to learn how to live smart. But this president isn't wired for that. So that's not going to happen. So, we need to get new leadership to step forward now. Maybe the governors started to see hints of that. Who can lead us in the correct direction?
[23:05:07]
LEMON: Astead, what does it say to you that the president is going after have Dr. Fauci now?
ASTEAD HERNDON, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, NEW YORK TIMES: I mean, from a public health perspective obviously this is not what folks want from the president and from -- but from a kind of political view, which is where I come from, this is what we have seen from him, particularly when people become kind of more famous in his eyes or take up a portion of the spotlight in which he thinks should be reserved for him.
We have often seen this president turn on people even if they're members of his administration, even if they're folks who are trying to give him public health advice. You know, as much as we want kind of politics to be separate from it, it is engrained in what this political decision-makers are going to do. And so when you talk about states that have cases on the rise, there's really one of two possibilities here particularly for those Republican governors.
Either the White House is going to create space for them by encouraging them to kind of take those big measures to shut down the economy or these governors are going to have to go over what the administration says and kind of act independently. The third option is for neither of those things to happen and we see the pandemic and the virus going kind of go unchecked.
Those are the political realities. We have not seen the White House kind of take the role of politically leading not only from the kind of national perspective but from the Republican Party. If the president were to say, you know what, Republican governors go ahead and do this that would give them space to do this. Right now they have to go above and beyond the president and kind of create their own political will, which they don't really -- they don't feel like they have the political cover from their base to do so.
LEMON: Astead, here is what the president said about the death toll in the U.S today. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're at 130,000, we could be at way over 1 million right now, and I think it could have been 2.5 million or 3 million people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: By the way, he said 130. He's talking about 130,000 deaths, like it's a good thing there. And now it's over 131,000. This president, he just doesn't get it or pretending that he doesn't get it.
HERNDON: 130,000 dead Americans is an unimaginable toll and one that should not be diminished, even if the numbers could or maybe were originally projected to be larger. That is because of the drastic measures that many governors and cities took to really slow down that curve in places like New York, like California, other places across the country. And so just because that number has dipped because of -- just because that projection hasn't been met does not mean this virus is by any means over or somehow diminishes.
It has still taken and upended the very basic fabric of American life and that's what folks are looking for the president to number one, recognize, and then also respond to. This goes to the core of his re- election. Can he rise to that challenge? We have not seen that yet and the public opinion and response is consistently saying that the White House is failing on this for swing voters, for moderate, for the people he needs for re-election.
LEMON: Thank you, Doctor, thank you Astead. I appreciate your time.
Many Americans are waiting days even more than a week to get coronavirus test results. President Trump ignoring the problem, claiming that if we did less testing we'd have fewer cases.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The testing numbers are the highest they've ever been. We're almost up to 40 million in testing, and 40 million people, which is unheard of, far more than any other country. Many times what any other country has. And therefore we have more cases. Because we're doing more testing we have more cases. If we did half the testing we'd have far fewer cases.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, here with the truth about testing is CNN's Drew Griffin. Drew, it's good to see you. I hope you're doing well and being safe down there in Atlanta. President Trump is still boasting about testing even though there have been major missteps. Now we're hearing about this long waits for results and some places are still complaining about supply shortages. Where is the testing right now, Drew?
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I've heard you throw out your program tonight, Don, it seems like we are going back to square one in so many places. This is where we are in testing tonight. If you wanted to get a test in a lot of places in this country you're going get an appointment for a test in three to seven days then you're going get into a line like we saw in Miami, for instance, these long lines. There are also lines in Texas and in Arizona and all these places were people wait hours to get their tests.
And then you're going get a lab, if it's not point of care, sent off to your test results is going to be sent off to a lab, and the labs are telling us their turnaround times are doubling just from last month. These are the big labs, Quest and Lab Corp. So the end result is, if you had a test or you needed a test today, you might not get a result for 10 days. That is just not good.
[23:10:05]
HHS announcing they're going to do some surge testing in three hot spots -- Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, 5,000 tests a day, trying to relieve the pressure. And the HHS Czar of testing, Brett Gerard -- Admiral Brett Gerard, he did acknowledge this problem especially with the labs saying that we did anticipate that the lab capacity would at some point in time come close to reaching max. I'm not saying it's at a max now, but we are certainly pushing the frontiers. Don, when labs -- the big labs are telling us that their times are doubling, I think we are pretty much getting back to where we were, we're at a max.
LEMON: My goodness. Drew Griffin with the truth about testing. Thank you, Drew, I appreciate that.
Tonight, the United States nearing 3 million confirmed case of coronavirus. Cases surging in Florida, Arizona, Texas, and California. Here's CNN's Erica Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cases surging in the sunshine state. More than 7,300 reported on Tuesday, 43 hospitals in Florida report their ICU beds are now at capacity. Nearly three dozen more are close. That the governor is pushing forward with plans to open schools next month. Touting his state's efforts to prepare for the long haul.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): The whole point of the curve, flattening the curve, flattening the curve was to make sure we had enough health-care capacity. We're in a way better position today to be able to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Yet 43 hospitals in Florida report their ICU beds are at capacity. Dozens more are closed. Restaurants in Miami-Dade County told to pull back as hospitalization there surge. And that curve the governor mentioned looking more like a steep cliff. Though it's not just Florida. Arizona now has the highest number of cases per capita in the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER (D), HOUSTON-TX: In Arizona, the cases are rising so rapidly that we cannot even do contact tracing. The epidemic is out of control in the southern part of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Texas just reported more than 10,000 new cases, its highest single day increase. Houston's mayor urging the state's Republican Party to cancel its upcoming convention in his city scheduled for July 16th.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe cancelling the in-person convention is the responsible action to take.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HILL: The Texas GOP still planning to hold the event, adding a mask
requirement for attendees. Meantime, the Texas state fair canceled for the first time since World War II. The governor now saying he allowed bars to re-open too soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): You have to wonder if they should have ever been open at all, because bars really aren't made in a way that promotes social distancing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: California's state capital closed after at least five assembly members tested positive. And a new study finds so-called silent spreaders may account for as many as half of all cases.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. LEANA WEN, FORMER HEALTH COMMISSIONER, BALTIMORE: Even the states that are doing well right now should be on guard, because they could be next.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Erica Hill, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Erica, thank you so much. Coronavirus cases soaring from Florida Texas, to Arizona. We're going to go live to the hot spots, next.
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[23:15:00]
LEMON: So, here's our breaking news tonight -- almost 60,000 new cases of coronavirus across the country tonight. Florida is quickly becoming a national hot spot with more than 213,000 cases. Dozens of hospitals throughout the state also reporting that they have reached capacity for their ICU beds.
CNN's Randi Kaye has been tracking all of this. She joins us now from Palm Beach County. Randi, this is really serious, a situation in Florida is growing more dire by the day. What's going on with these hospitals?
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you just have to look at the data, Don, and you can see it really spells trouble for the state of Florida, certainly in Miami-Dade, that is the hardest hit county in the state. That is in really rough shape. Just in the last 24 hour they have had more than 1,600 people hospitalize for COVID. And if you look at the numbers in the last two weeks, they had -- their hospitalization haves gone up 90 percent. The ICU bed demand has gone up 86 percent and the ventilator usage has gone up 127 percent. The governor is now saying that he's sending 100 nurses and 47 beds to
Jackson Health. That is the largest health system in Miami, because they need it so much. But at last check, Don, we've noted that about 56 hospitals around the state have now officially run out of ICU beds, which means they have no space for anyone who needs a ICU bed. And this is really critical especially for Miami-Dade because they make up the 24 percent of all the cases throughout the state, so they really need those hospital beds, Don.
LEMON: And Randi, there are also some issues of who with how hospital data is being reported throughout the state. What is Governor DeSantis saying about that?
KAYE: Well, about a week ago he promised to under pressure that he would start releasing the number of hospitalizations of COVID patient statewide. The statewide numbers. Miami-Dade releases their own number, but the state is not releasing the full picture, so we can't let people know what the real picture is and the true number here in the state of Florida.
So, he promised about a week ago. He's been under pressure from reporters to do so. And today they pressured him again at a press conference and he started to point to maps and charts and reports on the state health department's website and said, it's all the information is in there. But Don, trust me, we have sifted through that, the information on the statewide hospital numbers for COVID patients is absolutely not in there. The bottom line is that we need to inform the public and the state isn't giving us the information to be able to do that.
[23:20:00]
LEMON: I know you'll keep pressing Randi. But even with the surge of cases, schools are set to open this summer?
KAYE: Yes, the Education Commissioner is now saying that schools will re-open in just a few weeks, in August. Though we open five days a week. Now we're talking about the brick and mortar, the actual building will be open to classrooms, it will be ready to go. It doesn't mean that they're going to be filled with students, of course.
The actual order from the commissioner said that he anticipated most students will return to brick and Mortar schools but they do leave the door open for parents to keep some of their kids home and used what they call innovative learning.
And also if health officials have concerns, if they think it's risky then they can also say that the children don't have to go back to school. But this is happening despite the fact that as you mentioned earlier, there's more than 7,300 new cases here in the state of Florida in the last 24 hours.
LEMON: Yes. And as I said, I know you'll keep pressing for that information, Randi. We would love to know, everyone would love to know. Thank you so much, I appreciate it.
KAYE: Yes.
LEMON: Texas today reporting its biggest single-day increase in new coronavirus cases, more than 10,000. And in Arizona State -- Arizona State Health officials announcing a record 117,000 excuse me, 117 coronavirus deaths just a day after the state passed 100,000 cases. And both states, concerns are growing over hospitals being overwhelmed.
Joining me now to discuss is Dr. Murtaza Akhter, an emergency physician at the Valley Wise Medical Center in Phoenix and Dr. Mina Tran, an emergency room physician in Houston. I'm so glad to have both of you on. Thank you so much.
Doctor Akhter, I'll start with you. Arizona health officials warning that only 10 percent of the state's ICU beds remain available. You have been forced to find ways to create new beds for patients? How? What's going on?
DR. MURTAZA AKHTER, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN, VALLEY WISE MEDICAL CENTER, PHOENIX: Don, thanks for having me. It's a very concerning situation, and we're having to make very tough decisions in the E.R. People love throwing around numbers and everybody's become an expert these days but let me put it to you this way. There are decisions I'm making in the E.R. that to put mildly are very tough.
I don't know how much more (inaudible) tell it to the people. It's actually become demoralizing. Emergency medicine is a stressful specialty, we signed up for it. I'm used to that. But it's not common to come off a shift and feel like I'm losing hope. And what's happening is I'm going to this shifts, making some very tough decisions and then driving home, and seeing people who are clearly not distancing, having the Fourth of July celebration, being in big conjugate settings, and it feels like what I'm doing is futile.
I don't know what more people need to hear. We are the worst state in the country per capita for new cases by far. We are the worst state in the country for percent of the tests that come back positive by far. And as you just mentioned, we just hit our record number of deaths. I don't know what more people need to be told, the status. (Inaudible) are seeing the same thing that public health experts are saying the same things and I'm seeing it in the E.R.
So, if you believe that COVID isn't dangerous, which is a preposterous thought, even if you believe that, just imagine if you're mother gets a gall bladder infections, well that will get better magically on its own, she needs a hospital. How good do you think her care will be if there aren't hospital beds around?
LEMON: Dr. Tran, I see the moment Dr. Akhter started speaking you were shaking your head in agreement. What were you thinking? What's going through your head?
DR. MINA TRAN, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN, HOUSTON: I mean, certainly, thank you for having me, first of all. I'm an emergency physician in Houston, and we are not at the level that Arizona is at, but we are getting there. And I'm also, like, in the front lines and we are seeing a very large uptick in the mammoth COVID related complaints that I'm seeing through in the E.R. I would say about 78 percent of my patients that I see nowadays are upper respiratory complaints or COVID related complaints.
LEMON: You started shaking in agreement when Dr. Akhter said that he was making decisions -- very difficult decisions in the emergency room and probably decisions that he wouldn't normally make. Are you having to do the same thing?
TRAN: Well, I mean, my practice is not going to change, you know, I am an emergency medical physician. I see patients, I treat them. Just because of the pandemic I haven't had to make very difficult decisions yet, like, you know, my colleagues in New York, but, I mean, I'm starting to read things about, like, you know, splitting ventilators.
And you know, when I have to make difficult decisions there are, you know, protocols that's out, but I haven't gotten there yet. So, I mean, Dr. Akhter probably can attest you in getting more information on his side.
LEMON: One more question for you Dr. Tran. You know, Dr. Akhter talked about this, about people you know, he's working all day, all night, or whatever his hours are in the emergency rooms and then he's going home and he's seeing people not socially distancing. We've seen images of crowded bars. Little social distancing. Do you think Texas began re- opening too soon?
[23:25:15]
TRAN: I think my colleagues and I do believe that we did open -- there are certain activities that are higher risk, obviously. And I think our governor did the most responsible and appropriate thing by closing down the bars last week. So, I think that contributed to a -- that large uptick in the Houston positive cases. So, yes, I do think in my opinion we did open a little too early.
LEMON: Dr. Akhter, what do you see coming down the pike and do you have the resources to deal with if it continues to way it is?
AKHTER: Short answer, Don, no. I try not to be an alarmist. I'm an emergency physician. I'm prepped for this. Dr. Tran and I are both think very hard for this, but we can't just build that overnight. We can't just hire staff overnight. And like I said, our numbers are only increasing. It's actually absurd that you can hear on the news that you're the worst state in the country, in a country that's not doing so well, by the way, no matter how you look at it.
We're the worst state in the country and people for some reason think they're immune. I mean, you've got professional athletes who are getting sick. We had Ka Beeb, who was the world's greatest fighter some would say, the only person he's scared of is his father, his father died of COVID.
I mean if people like that can get sick and die of it. I don't understand why people are thinking their immune. And it's only going to get worse. And that's the scary part is that it's already bad and it's only going get worse.
LEMON: Well, doctors, wow, thank you, this is a sobering conversation. Thank you so much. I appreciate both of you joining us and be safe, please. And I hope someone who can help is listening. Thank you so much.
Backlash against a Senator who is the co-owner of the WNBA's Atlanta franchise after she opposed the leagues' black lives matter initiative. Star WNBA player, Natasha Cloud saying that we don't want her. Natasha Cloud joins me next.
[23:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Well, the NBA is responding to a letter from Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler, co-owner of the Atlanta WNBA franchise, after she spoke out in opposition to the league's plan to promote the Black Lives Matter message when the season begins in late July.
In a letter to the league, Commissioner Loeffler wrote, "In a time when polarizing politics is as divisive as ever, sports has the power to be a unifying antidote. And now more than ever, we should be united in our goal to remove politics from sports."
In a statement, the league said they will continue to use our platform, they say, to vigorously advocate for social justice. Senator Kelly Loeffler has not served as governor of the Atlanta Dream since October 2019, and is no longer involved in the day-to-day business of the team. Well, my next guest had more straightforward, a more straightforward response to Loeffler. We don't want her, is what she said.
Joining me now is Natasha Cloud from the WNBA Washington Mystics. I don't think you can put it planer than that. Thank you for joining us, Natasha. So, why did you say that? Tell me.
NATASHA CLOUD, WNBA PLAYER, WASHINGTON MYSTICS: We don't. We have such a powerful league built of so many strong, independent, powerful females, and we've found pride in ourselves in being inclusive, our league being a safe space for everyone, regardless of your religion, your background, your walk of life, your sexual preference, any of those things.
We are a safe place for a lot of people. And in this very moment, we are using that platform and that leverage and momentum that's behind this movement to continue to use our platforms and voices to be a voice for the voiceless. That also means supporting Black Lives Matter.
LEMON: Mm-hmm.
CLOUD: Our league is made up of 80 percent black females. This directly affects us. Every single day, when we take off those uniforms, we walk out into the world and we can potentially be George Floyd. Sure, we could be in our beds and be Breonna Taylor. So for her to come out and say that we are divisive and that Black Lives Matter movement is a divisive organization, I call her B.S. on that.
LEMON: Why do you think some people just don't get it? What are they not getting? What doesn't she get?
CLOUD: I don't know. I would love to have a conversation with her, as well. You know, not only is our league 80 percent black, but Atlanta in itself, they're starting five, it's all black females. So, to be a partial owner in that and, you know, cheer on the sidelines and support your players, but you don't support them when they take those uniforms off, that's a problem.
It's not only a Loeffler problem. That's America's problem. They look at us as athletes and expect us just to shoot and score and score touchdowns and not have an opinion on something that directly affects us.
LEMON: You have announced that you are not going to be playing this season because you want to focus on social reform.
[23:35:00]
LEMON: That has to be tough. Tell me about that decision.
CLOUD: It was super conflicting. We are a league made up of 144. I am a mid-major kid. It was really hard to get into the league, even harder to stay in the league. We are coming off a championship season. So, everything was kind of leading to, oh, this is going to be a great season again.
And then, boom, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, countless others, even after George Floyd. Lynchings are going on in our country in 2020. Basketball is the last thing on my mind. Again, this directly affects me. It directly affects my fiance. It directly affects -- it will directly affect our children.
And there is no -- I've never seen this much momentum, this much leverage behind the movement. And so for me, going into a bubble, I was taking myself out of having the impact that I want to have. I want to be on the front lines. I want to be in my communities of Philadelphia and D.C. and countless other communities around the country.
And to be impactful means to be present. And so for that, I wanted to sit down and tackle this head on 100 percent, two feet in, not one foot in, one foot out.
LEMON: I know we're supposed to be social distancing, but if you were here, I would hug you. Girl, you are -- you got it.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: You got it. You get what's going on. And I have to -- amen. I applaud you.
CLOUD: I appreciate it.
LEMON: The league is dedicating this season to social justice and will be wearing warm-up shirts with the phrases "Black Lives Matter" and say your name on them. Black Lives Matter will also be on the courts during games. But you say people shouldn't be distracted by the crumbs. Explain what you mean by that.
CLOUD: Crumbs, to me right now, are t-shirts, are posts on Instagram --
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Say it! Say it! Please.
CLOUD: Taking down statues of racist slave owners that should have never been put up, taking down names of buildings on college campuses that should have never been made that. That's crumbs. That's what they're giving to our community. That's what they're giving to us in order to -- here we go. We gave you what you wanted. This is us. We gave you what you guys wanted.
But no, I want crumbs. I want the whole play. I want my entire meal. I came for my meal. I'm hungry. So, that's why I say don't get distracted by the crumbs. I'm so proud of the "W," the women that went into the bubble. I know they're going to do big things and they're keeping the attention where it needs to be, whether it's having the names on the back of the jerseys or Black Lives Matter on the court. It's phenomenal.
But we need real change. Real change is defunding our police departments and allocating that money into our marginalized communities whether it's schools, hospitals, food, taking care of --
LEMON: You don't worry about that slogan, the whole defund the police department, because a lot of people are afraid of that slogan. They think it means getting grid of police altogether.
CLOUD: Absolutely not. You're going to have -- it's a spectrum. You're going to have people. There is always a spectrum for whatever reason in our country. You're going to have people that are like get rid of police. You're going to have people that are just saying defund them.
I'm one of those people that believe that do we need our police departments? Yes, we need them to serve and protect our communities. But I do believe that they need to be defunded and money needs to be taken out of police departments and allocated -- because especially in our marginalized communities, they're suffering.
LEMON: Yeah. I'm out of time, Natasha. But you were great. You should come more for us.
CLOUD: I'm preaching.
LEMON: No, we can do -- we will be right back. We have to. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
CLOUD: CNN! LEMON: I appreciate it. Thank you.
(LAUGHTER)
CLOUD: I appreciate that.
LEMON: The most trusted name in news. Natasha Cloud, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Listen, I want to make sure that you guys know about my new podcast where we talk about these issues that Natasha and I just talked about and deeper issues. "Silence is Not an Option," hard conversations about being black in America. Find it on Apple podcasts or your favorite podcasts. Now, we'll be right back.
(LAUGHTER)
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[23:40:00]
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LEMON: The governor of Massachusetts signing a bill allowing all voters to vote by mail if they want to do it this November, joining a growing list of states expanding mail-in voting. President Trump falsely claims that it is right allegation claims at the ripe for fraud.
CNN has done an extensive reporting on his claim. There is no evidence to support it. And with coronavirus surging, more states are moving to allow voting by mail. Here's CNN's Abby Phillip.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can safely go to the polls and vote during COVID-19.
(APPLAUSE)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump waging war against mail-in voting. But during the coronavirus pandemic, for voters like 36-year-old cancer patient Maria Nelson, it's not about politics. It's life or death.
MARIA NELSON, WISCONSIN VOTER: It's truly this fear for your health. And when you're a young mother like I am, you just have to look at your children and really say this isn't a risk that I'm willing to take.
PHILLIP (voice-over): Former Homeland Security Secretary and Republican Governor of Pennsylvania Tom Ridge, part of a bipartisan effort to push for expanded access to absentee ballots and a fix to growing number of problems emerging in American voting.
[23:45:06]
TOM RIDGE, FORMER UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We have four months to try to deal with this under these challenges. And the one thing we do know is the president of the United States could take the lead to provide safe and secure options for all of his fellow citizens.
PHILLIP (voice-over): This as President Trump, who has voted by mail himself, focuses on undermining the credibility of the election.
D. TRUMP: This will be, in my opinion, the most corrupt election in the history of our country.
PHILLIP (voice-over): Former Vice President Joe Biden claiming Trump's attacks on voting are part of a sinister plan.
JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's my greatest concern, my single greatest concern. This president is going to try to steal this election.
PHILLIP (voice-over): Meantime, in all 50 states, a patchwork of election rules in a sea of looming problems. Officials are now scrambling to recruit new younger poll workers as older workers who are more at risk for the coronavirus choose to stay home.
In the Wisconsin, Georgia, and Kentucky primaries this summer, fewer workers and the need for socially distanced polling locations mean fewer polling stations, and in some cases long lines. And everywhere, the crush of absentee ballot requests meant delays for voters like Maria receiving their ballot or worse.
MELODY MCCURTIS, WISCONSIN VOTER: I'm still looking for the ballot right now. It still never came.
PHILLIP (voice-over): Wisconsin organizer Melody McCurtis was forced to take a chance.
MCCURTIS: It was a major risk. When I actually went and stood in the lines, there was no physical way to be six feet apart. I'm standing in a pandemic zone at this point, and not by choice, basically by force.
PHILLIP (voice-over): Maria Nelson and Melody McCurtis are now plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking changes to Wisconsin's voting rules, one of dozens that have been filed across the country that could determine how voters can cast absentee ballots and vote in person in November. Meantime, despite Trump's claims, no evidence of widespread fraud has emerged.
RIDGE: Sometimes, I wonder if the president is more concerned about the outcome than he is about fraud.
PHILLIP (voice-over): All of this signalling election night uncertainty could quickly stretch on for days or even weeks.
RIDGE: We shouldn't be so focused on knowing that night. We might, certainly a possibility. But let's start talking about election week.
(END VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIP: A lot of election experts and political operatives I've talked to liken what we could expect in November to Bush v. Gore. They say it could take days, even weeks, to finalize the results of a close collection.
And that's one of the reasons why Tom Ridge is encouraging both Trump and Biden to not say or do anything that could further undermine public confidence in this November's election, even if it takes people longer than they're expecting or they're used to, to find out those final results. Don?
LEMON: Abby, thank you so much. I appreciate it. A Massachusetts detective fired after posting a picture on Instagram of her niece at a Black Lives Matter protest. Her colleagues say it was offensive. She says that she was in support of her niece and the movement. I'm going speak with her, just ahead.
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[23:50:00]
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LEMON: Tonight, Brazil's president is posting a video of himself taking hydroxychloroquine after testing positive for coronavirus. The president crediting this drug with his quick recovery despite multiple studies showing it's not an effective treatment. Bill Weir has our report tonight from South Paulo.
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BILL WEIR, CNN JOURNALIST AND ANCHOR (voice-over): After months of sneering at a little flu and waiting in the crowds of unmasks fans, Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro told his country today that he has COVID-19. But there was no sign of a president humbled.
I'm feeling very well, he said, and gave much of the credit to two doses of hydroxychloroquine, the controversial antimalarial drug first pushed by Donald Trump, then stockpiled by Bolsonaro, but unproven as a treatment for COVID-19. And he insisted that the millions of young people he is urging back to work can still feel invincible.
JAIR BOLSONARO, PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL (through translator): Younger people, take care. But if you are affected by the virus, rest assured that for you, the possibility of something more serious is close to zero.
WEIR: When you were health minister, did you try to warn him? Try to get him out of those crowds for his own health?
LUIZ HENRIQUE MANDETTA, MEMBER OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES OF BRAZIL, FORMER BRAZIL HEALTH MINISTER: Everybody did, not only the health minister, all the other ministers. We all advised him.
WEIR (voice-over): Dr. Luiz Mandetta was Brazil's health minister until Balsonaro fired him for trying to get the nation to stay distanced or stay home. But instead of the virus converting the president to science, Mandetta worries it will only amplify a pseudoscientific message of more malaria pills and less quarantines.
MANDETTA: His stands for it and makes the political standpoint. Well, I had the disease, look at me, I'm OK, I'm a superhero, I took this medicine, I really did well. I used to do this also. His message could be a disaster.
WEIR (voice-over): Meanwhile, the largest cemetery in Latin America is not large enough these days. And in his 25 years digging at Vila Formosa, Adenilson Costa has never seen fresh graves fill up so fast.
[23:54:58]
WEIR (voice-over): "There were four COVID families here this morning and we're shocked," he says. "Everyone is the same, 10 minutes max. No wake, no way to look in the coffin, because it is the last greeting they will ever give to the loved ones they lost, and there is no time for a ceremony."
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LEMON: Wow! That was Bill Weir reporting. Unbelievable. Just want to make sure that you know about my new podcast. You have to download it and check out the new episodes. "Silence is Not an Option," taking on some hard conversations about being black in America. You can find it on Apple podcast or your favorite podcast app.
And thank you, everyone, for watching. I'm Don Lemon. Our coverage continues.
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