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President Trump Claims Coronavirus is Dying Out; China's Capital Put on Soft Lockdown; Portugal's Aggressive COVID Response Saves Lives; Two Police Officers Charged Over Rayshard Brooks' Death; Coronavirus Pandemic; WHO 84 Percent Of Africa's Cases Are In Just Eight Countries; Italy's Venice Contemplates It's Future After Covid- 19; Dreamers Celebrate Supreme Court Ruling; U.S. Supreme Court Blocks President Trump From Ending DACA; U.S. 2020 Election, Facebook Takes Down Trump Ads That Had Nazi-Style Symbol; Twitter Labels Tweeted Trump Video Manipulated Media; China Charges Two Canadians With Spying; Hong Kong Dissident Seeks Asylum In The U.K.; Former Hong Kong Dissident Warns Of A Cold War With China; America's Choice 2020, Protests Motivate Black Voters To Mobilize In Wisconsin. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired June 19, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It blows my mind. So, it's just another of the, kind of, the wonder --
(CROSSTALK)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Very special.
COOPER: Sanjay, thank you very much. Happy Father's Day.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COOPER: And the news continues right now with another father, Chris Cuomo. Chris?
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Troubling signs the pandemic is far from over in the United States. Coronavirus cases spike in many states, including where Donald Trump is planning to hold a massive indoor rally.
Closures and barriers outside a market in China's capital. CNN gets a firsthand look at Beijing's newest outbreak epicenter.
And seeking justice as the family of Rayshard Brooks prepares for his funeral. The two police officers charged in his death turned themselves in.
Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church, and this is CNN Newsroom.
Good to have you with us. Well, the Trump campaign is set to hold an enormous rally in Oklahoma
on Saturday. But experts fear it could become a super spreader of the coronavirus tense. Tens of thousands of people are expected to be packed shoulder to shoulder inside Tulsa's BOK Center. Face masks will be optional.
This as new cases in Oklahoma more than doubled in the past week. As one health expert told CNN, things could get pretty bad pretty quickly. And it's not just Oklahoma. There is a disturbing rise in infections in nearly half the U.S. right now. Ten states are facing their sharpest spike in new cases since the pandemic began. One of them is Florida, which president Trump now calls home.
Disease experts warn that state is on track to become the next large epicenter.
Well, for more on what's happening across the United States, here's CNN's Nick Watt.
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Face masks aren't now mandatory for most of California's 40 million people anywhere deemed risky. On a bus, for example, even waiting for that bus. We are seeing too many people with faces uncovered, says the governor, putting at risk the real progress we have made in fighting the disease.
In California and in nearly half our states, average new case counts are now climbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER HOTEZ, INFECTIOUS EXPERT, BAYLOR UNIVERSITY: And that I do not see any option other than to start reimplementing a significant level of social distancing once again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: And in Texas, the governor won't give mayors the power to make masked mandatory for all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER COMMISSIONER, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION: Well, down in those parts of the country you don't see mask wearing. Because you just have an experience of the same level of death and disease from COVID as parts of the northeast.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Florida once made incoming New Yorkers quarantine on arrival.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Fast forward 100 days. Now we are afraid they're bringing the virus to our state.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WATT: New York now mulling its own quarantine order for anyone incoming. Good news, New Yorkers can very soon dine out again on the sidewalk. Bad news, White House Task Force doyen Dr. Anthony Fauci now thinks football may not happen this year.
Make no mistake, this is no easy task, replied the NFL. We will make the adjustments as necessary to meet the public health environment as we prepare to play the 2020 season as scheduled.
Meanwhile, the man tapped to lead the White House vaccine effort now bullish about that ambitious end-of-year goal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUSTAVE PERNA, TRUMP NOMINEE TO LEAD COVID VACCINE EFFORT: What I thought was an aspirational goal 30 days ago when I was announced by the president, I recently come to the conclusion that it is more and more likely to occur.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: And the president himself thinks it's pretty much all over.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If you look, the numbers are very miniscule compared to what it was. It's dying out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: That is a lie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MARRAZZO, DIRECTOR DIVISION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: It's not true. It's hard to see how one could arrive at that conclusion when you look at the data that we have been talking about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: This past week, all of these states have hit record highs for new cases in a single day. Texas, Oregon, Oklahoma, Alabama, Arizona, California, and Florida.
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
CHURCH: And joining me now from Seattle, CNN medical analyst Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips. Always great to chat with you.
AMY COMPTON-PHILLIPS, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Great. Thank you for having me.
[03:04:57] CHURCH: So, president Trump has falsely claimed that the coronavirus is dying out and that Oklahoma's case numbers are very small and the spike has already ended.
Tulsa, Oklahoma of course, is where he intends to hold his 20,000 strong rally Saturday. What's your reaction to his false reading of the numbers, and of course his intentions to pack so many people together without masks?
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Yes. Unfortunately, this is one of those areas where I am speechless by our government response to the pandemic, to be honest with you. You know, we are still in the midst of this first wave. We've come down a little bit but now as you know, in so many states it's going back up again.
And in Oklahoma in particular, they are seeing a spike in cases. So, if you have an area with a spike in cases and then you put 20,000 people together in a closed environment, the risk of having explosive growth is huge. So, this is a really worrisome movement.
CHURCH: Yes, and of course he is giving those participants to sign a waiver so he is not responsible if they get sick, which perhaps reveals a lot there to.
So more than 118,000 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S., and now new projections show the state of Florida could become the next epicenter of the virus. Why is that happening at this time, and how can that state avoid this or alter the trajectory?
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: You know, if you look at a few cases examples, so look at Japan. Japan, you would have thought would have had a huge number of cases of COVID. And because people in Japan have the norm been wearing a face mask, they have very, very minimal transmission and a lot lower number of cases than we have here in the states.
You also look at the case of the hairdresser in Missouri who had had the disease, she was suffering with COVID, and kept coming to work cutting hair, and she did that for 80 some odd clients. But she was wearing a mask and her clients wore masks and none of them got the infection.
And so, we know it's possible. Think about all those grocery store workers that during the entire pandemic have been wearing masks and doing safe handwashing, disinfecting carts.
We know there are ways you can prevent the infection from happening. But when you have governors saying it's not important, when you have people like President Trump saying you know, it's not my problem, it's your problem, sign a waiver, come to my rally, it sends the wrong message.
If our leaders send the message that you wear a mask, you do physical distancing, you wash your hands, we would have a lot less than the 200,000 people dying. And those are 200 individuals dying from this germ, so it's really truly maddening. CHURCH: Yes. It is a concern. I do want to talk about masks in just a
moment. But also, on Thursday, top infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci called anti-science bias a problem for America. He said they don't believe science and that's unfortunate, because he says science is truth. And we know that of course. But president Trump is ignoring the science here and manipulating the numbers.
What could be the consequences of this effort to ignore the fact that this country is in the grip of a pandemic? And that -- that is due a lot of the time to the science being ignored here?
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: It's absolutely the issue with the science being ignored. The same thing in Brazil. And countries where people, where the leaders have ignored the science and tried to gloss over the fact that we are in the middle of the pandemic and that people are at significant risk from coming into contact with others. They are the countries who have suffered the most.
If you look at countries like Germany or New Zealand, my God, my goodness, they are just wonderful right? That they said let's deal with this early upfront dealing with it very, very concretely initially, and then that way we can open up without having so many numbers of our citizens die. Those are the countries doing really well.
And so, it's not a bad thing to use science to do this, it actually saves the citizens of the countries who used science to guide policy.
CHURCH: And that takes us back to the masks, because that is key here, isn't it? And masks have become so politicized that some Americans actually think it signals how people will vote in this country. California's governor has made masks mandatory across the state. Is that what needs to happen to avoid another round of shut downs, another wave of the virus? But if that is that even possible in this country because of the resistance from some portions of the population?
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: It is possible. It takes political courage. I think back to seatbelt use. So back in 1968, the government mandated that you had to put seatbelts in every car. But people didn't use them, they were just there.
[03:10:02]
And I remember growing up, nobody used their seatbelts. And it was in the mid-80s when New York was the first state that passed a mandatory seatbelt use law that the culture started changing. But people mandate it. States mandated it. Now 49 states have seatbelt laws, mandatory seatbelt laws. And you wouldn't think of getting in a car without putting on your seatbelt or driving somebody else without their seatbelts on. Right?
It took that mandate to make the culture change and to make seatbelt use normal. And I believe we need that kind of mandate to make mask use normal. CHURCH: As you say, they need the political will though, don't they?
Dr. Amy Compton Phillips, thank you as always for talking with us. I appreciate it.
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Thank you so much.
CHURCH: Well, a cluster of coronavirus cases in Beijing is growing. There have been more than two dozen new confirmed cases in the past 24 hours. The outbreak is centered around a food market in the capital. Chinese health officials say they have the outbreak under control and more than 350,000 people linked to the market have been tested.
David Culver has the latest now from Beijing.
DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Beijing health officials have labeled this most recent cluster under control. But it's come with widespread testing, we are talking hundreds of thousands of people in just a few days' time.
It's also coming with a return of the closures to things like gyms and restaurants and other public spaces. And we are seeing physical barriers go up, particularly around the market where this most recent outbreak began.
In fact, we drove past it, staying in the car for obvious reasons, but we can give you an idea as to what we saw driving by.
I'm going to give you a little look right here through the window. This is the outskirts of the market. You can see there are some folks back there with hazmat suits on. All of this is shot off.
The reason we are not stepping out of the car -- actually let's keep driving because I don't want to draw too much attention -- is because if we were to cross into this restricted zone, we would then be potentially flat and be put in the government quarantine.
How do they know that? A few ways. One is they could physically stop us and get our information. Another, is that they would see the tags of the car and they would mark that down and track us down. And another big data that we have been living by here, they would trace you through your cell phone.
We've heard several reports that people are being flagged because of where their cellphones were located geographically within those high- risk areas and then being contacted and told that they essentially need to be sealed off from the rest of the world.
Now part of that contact tracing has to do with smart phones and key words. This is what one of four now but I have registered four, it looked like. Pretty much every jurisdiction has one of its own. So, you end up collecting quite a few if you are traveling around China.
Meantime, I can tell you that while it's tedious to do that and sometimes redundant and seems a bit inefficient, according to government officials, it's been effective. David Culver, CNN, Beijing.
CHURCH: All right. So, let's go now to Hong Kong. Anna Coren is standing by there. She joins us now live. So, Anna, this new outbreak in Beijing offers a cautionary tale proving the virus can return at any time. We need to be vigilant. So, what is the very latest on this?
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Rosemary. China was declaring victory on the coronavirus and for more than 50 days, the capital itself had been virus free. And now this outbreak at the market, the Xinfadi market that David just drove past. Today, 28 new cases, 25 of those in Beijing. Taking the total number in Beijing to 100. And 83 in the past week.
This obviously started at this wholesale food market, which provides 80 percent of Beijing's fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, and seafood. Tens of thousands of people work there, visited there, until it was shut down on the weekend.
Authorities have so far tested 356,000 people we, which is a staggering number. And we heard from the CDC, China's CDC, and they said that the majority of the patients were people who had actually worked at the meat and seafood stands within this market.
Now the reason it's such a high number amongst those people is because of the conditions. Low temperatures, high humidity are favorable for the coronavirus. So that is why the people who work there are predominantly the patients.
But as we've been discussing, you know, Beijing is now on lockdown, soft lockdown. People obviously can still move around the city, a city of 21 million people.
[03:15:00]
Schools have been shut down, high risk areas, the residential compounds they have been completely locked down. It's virtually impossible now to get out of Beijing, Rosemary, unless you test negative for the coronavirus. Obviously, they do not want the spreading around the country.
CHURCH: Yes. Understandable too. Anna Coren joining us live from Hong Kong, many thanks.
Well, Portugal has one of the lowest death tolls for coronavirus in all of Europe. The country tested massively after locking down, and for months it has used a strategy an Oxford study calls a breakthrough. Using steroids to treat patients.
CNN senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen is in Lisbon, he joins us now live. Good to see you, Fred. So, this pandemic has put all nations to the test and some have surprised us with their success. Portugal is one of them. How did they do it?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right, Rosemary. Portugal certainly did surprise probably the scientific world, and certainly did surprised Europe. If you look at the beginning of the pandemic, the country with the most ICU beds in Europe was, and still is, Germany with about 29.2 per 100,000.
Portugal only had 4.2 ICU beds per 100,000 people. So, there are people who thought that Portugal was going to have a really hard time with this pandemic. It has managed to maintain a very low death toll. On the one hand, because of that mass testing, but they also believe because of the way that they treating people in ICU using those steroids. Here is what we found out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN: Francisco Fonseca is doing some heavy lifting, building his new beach bar. A miracle, he believes, since he only recently recovered from coronavirus, including seven days on a ventilator in a medically induced coma.
FRANCISCO FONSECA, COVID-19 SURVIVOR: It was really painful. Not the breathing itself, but the skin. I knew it was not my skin itself, it was like, the lungs.
PLEITGEN: Portugal seem set up to be devastated by COVID-19 with among the fewest intensive care beds per capita in the entire European Union. But so far, the opposite is true.
Portugal is seen as having been very successful in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and they say key points of their strategy where they closed down very, very early, and then they also did mass testing to try and mitigate the pressure on their medical system.
One possible reason doctors and coronavirus wards like here at Lisbon Central University Hospital, have, for months, been treating patients with steroids to combat inflammation in the lungs. The head of the ICU, Dr. Nunu Jermanu (Ph) tells me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): What we've seen with critical therapy is that we are able to reduce the inflammation and greatly improve the respiratory function of the patient.
PLEITGEN: About 60 percent of ventilated patients here are treated with steroids, including this 63-year-old woman who was able to leave the ICU just one day after we filmed.
A new Oxford study has found this type of treatment can reduce the risk of death for hospitalized patients. The World Health Organization calls it a potential breakthrough.
Dr. Jermanu (Ph) says it's an effective tool that's helped keep the death toll for ICU patients at around 16 percent. But that's not all they're doing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We have a team that does outreach, that goes out of the ICU and observes patients, and what we do is we do early intubation and ventilation to the patients. So, any patient which has signs of difficulty breathing and criteria that needs ventilation, we don't delay the intimation and ventilation and we admit them early to the ICU.
PLEITGEN: While some other experts around the world say patients should only be placed on ventilators as a last resort, the medical professionals here say early ventilation and certain circumstances has been working.
And it certainly worked for Francisco Fonseca who hopes that now that his health has come back, tourists will come back to Portugal as well and help him jump-start his business.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN: And certainly, jump-start not just his business but the entire economy in here in Portugal which of course suffered a great deal from the coronavirus pandemic. An economy, Rosemary, that is very dependent on tourism. So, they do say, they believe it was extremely important to get through the crisis in a strong way to then be able to open up in a strong way and give people confidence actually come back to this country.
A little worry, though, that we also heard from Portuguese authorities. They have of course been opening up their country just like many other European countries as well, and they have seen somewhat of an increase again in coronavirus cases here in the Lisbon area.
So, one of the things they are saying is they want to open up, but at the same time they do have to be very, very careful about the way that they do that and not to risk a second wave of possible infections, Rosemary.
[03:19:57]
CHURCH: Yes. It is a great story of success and of hope. Great to see that package. I appreciate it. Fred Pleitgen bringing us that from Lisbon, Portugal.
Well, the fired Atlanta police officer accused of killing Rayshard Brooks is due in court just hours from now to face felony murder and other charges. But if he's convicted the prosecutor says there is one sentence he won't be asking for. New details, coming up.
Plus, we look at the history of Juneteenth and why the U.S. president is trying to take credit for making Americans aware of it. Back with that in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: We have some new developments in the case of two Atlanta police officers charged in the killing of a black man Rayshard Brooks. The prosecutor now says he will not seek the death penalty against fired Officer Garrett Rolfe who is accused of shooting Brooks. Rolfe is expected to make his first court appearance in the coming hours, while the other officer has been released on bond.
CNN's Ryan Young has more. RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After nearly a week of emotions,
anger, and tension, both responding officers charged in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks have surrendered. Former Atlanta Police Officer Garrett Rolfe is being held without bonds, stemming from 11 charges including felony murder. His attorneys told CNN his use of force was justified.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Critics say that you overcharged. How do you respond to that?
PAUL HOWARD, JR., DISTRICT ATTORNEY, FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIA: I would just say that's just not true. What we did is we charged based upon the facts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: Officer Devin Brosnan turned himself in earlier today and has since been released on a signature bond. Brosnan is charged with aggravated assault for allegedly standing on Brooks' shoulders which he denied. His attorney says Brosnan put his foot on Brooks' arm for less than 10 seconds to make sure he couldn't get access to weapons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON SAMUEL, DEVIN BROSNAN'S ATTORNEY: He is disappointed in the system, to be honest with you. He was dedicating his life to law enforcement, he knows that the system will work eventually, whether it's the D.A.'s office or the GBI or if it has to be a jury eventually. But it's going to be a rough couple of months here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: On Wednesday night, hours after the charges were announced, officers across Atlanta refused to respond to calls in three of the department six zones. Others walked out or called out according to the police union. The Atlanta Police Department denies claims of a walkout but acknowledge a higher than usual member of call outs.
CNN spoke to a handful of officers who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution. One telling CNN, we are one bullet away from dying and one mistake from an indictment. Another saying, the morale is as low as its been in 18 years. This is because of the mayor and the D.A.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D-GA): Across the country morale is down with police departments and I think ours is down tenfold.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: Despite this Atlanta's mayor says the city has shown its commitment to the officers to repay raise and bonuses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[03:25:00]
BOTTOMS: This is been a very tough few weeks in Atlanta.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: In a newly-released interview filmed four months before his death, we're hearing from Rayshard Brooks in his own words, the challenges he faced after being released from jail, he had no money, in need of a job, and had a mountain of debt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAYSHARD BROOKS, KILLED IN THE HANDS OF POLICE OFFICERS: We can't get time back, but we can make up for it. I'm not the type of person to give up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: Months before his death, he talked about his struggle with a previous arrest where he pleaded guilty because of a public defender told him he could get 10 years behind bars.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: It heartened me at a point, you know, to like, hey, you know, I have to have my guard up because the world is cruel. You know, it took me through seeing different things, you know, in the system, you know. It just -- it just makes you harden to a point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: That was CNN's Ryan Young reporting there. Rayshard Brooks' funeral is scheduled for next Tuesday, June 23rd at Atlanta's historic Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Well, the group -- a group of U.S. senators say they will introduce a bill to make today Juneteenth a national holiday. June 19th is America's oldest known celebration of the end of slavery.
Demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice are set to take place all across the country later in the day. So, what is Juneteenth? Well, on January 1st, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in the rebellious comparison.
But there weren't enough union troops in Texas to enforce it, so it wasn't until more than two years later, June 19th 1865 that union soldiers arrived in Galveston to announce the Civil War had ended and the slaves were free.
Well, U.S. President Donald Trump is taking credit for making Americans aware of the Juneteenth holiday. Mr. Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he surveyed people about the date and found nobody who knew what it meant. He said he finally learned of its significance from a black Secret Service agent before moving his planned campaign rally from Friday to Saturday.
He went on to say, and I'm quoting here, "I did something good. I made it famous. I made Juneteenth very famous. It's actually an important event, it's an important time. But nobody had heard of it."
Well, that certainly not the case, of course.
And coming up, some in Venice can't wait for tourists to come back. Others not so much. Why some Venetians don't want the city to go back to how it was before the pandemic. We'll have a report. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:30:00]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back everyone. You're watching CNN Newsroom, and I'm Rosemary Church. New cases of the coronavirus are rising rapidly around the world. Johns Hopkins University, reporting almost 8.5 million confirmed cases globally. And more than 453,000 people have died from the virus.
Two million cases over in the United States, far more than any other country. And infections are rising at about half the country, even as many states reopen. Countries such as Germany, and China, have renewed lockdown measures to contain clusters of new outbreaks.
The World Health Organization is feeling cautiously optimistic about the spread of covid-19 in Africa. The prediction that Africa would be devastated by the virus, so far, is not playing out. With most cases, contained to just a handful of countries. As Eleni Giokos explains from Johannesburg, it may have a lot to do with Africa's youth.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN MONEY AFRICA CORRESPONDENT: The vast majority, 84 percent of new cases across Africa, are still confined to just eight countries. The WHO announced on Thursday. That is good news for a continent that early on faced dire predictions of a surge in deaths. Thankfully, that is yet to materialize right now across Africa, there are over 268,000 cases and over 7,200 deaths.
DR. MATSHIDISO MOETI, WHO REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR AFRICA: We see, in the region that eight countries are responsible in the last week for over about 85 percent of the new cases. And this includes countries like South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, (inaudible), and Cameroon.
GIOKOS: Now, the WHO top models think that is in part due to early lockdowns, and of course, factors like Africa's young population. 70 percent, are under the age of 30. And, of course, the burden of lifestyle diseases like hypertension, obesity, as well as diabetes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The severity of the outbreak will be a little less severe, than we've seen in other countries.
GIOKOS: Sole predictions are just that and they caution, that the cause of the virus can change and demand hotspots. They are worrying developments, including clusters of cases in refugee camps in south Sudan. The WHO says that getting resources to these vulnerable places in the coming days and weeks, will be crucially important.
Meanwhile, lockdown restrictions across Africa, are being eased. As countries way up to economic impacts on livelihoods. Realizing, they are still very much at the start of the pandemic. Eleni Giokos CNN, Johannesburg.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The historic Italian city of Venice is struggling to come back from a near total coronavirus shut down. Some residents are waiting anxiously for the day tourism and their economy return to normal. But others are worried about the return of 30 million tourists each year and are not ready to give up their new found serenity.
CNN's Ben Wedeman has been gauging the mood in Venice. He joins us now, live. Good to see you Ben. So, the locals may well be enjoying the serenity, but of course, the economy needs the tourists. So, how is this going to work?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Basically, Rosemary, the idea is to get fewer tourists to come here, and have them spend more quality time in this beautiful city. Now other locations might be envious of Venice's normally huge number of tourists, but here, it really is a classic case of too much of a good thing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WEDEMAN: The tourists, a few of them, are back in Venice's Piazza San Marco. Many of the hotels and shops are still shuttered. The Gondoleiri idle, the cafes host more seagulls than clients.
We find it fabulous, says Mary Caroline Cosset from France. There are no way to the museums. The churches are all open. You can take your time.
But the economy of Venice, highly dependent upon tourism can't wait. Around 30 million visitors flock to the city last year. Venice, before coronavirus, teamed with tourists. And this is now.
This shop has been in Mario's family for generations. It couldn't be worse than this, he said. We reopened, May 23rd, and since, then we've made around 100 euros. That's just over $110, in almost a month.
[03:35:14]
Residents have become accustomed to life without the (inaudible) crowds. The prospect of an eventual return to a semblance of normalcy is bittersweet.
Veteran tour guide, Caterina Sopradassi misses the tourists, but savored the silver lining.
CATERINA SOPRADASSI, VICE PRESIDENT ASSOCIAZIONE SAN MARCO: It's really sad. In a certain ways, it's also really marvelous, because we can enjoy our city. And, we hope, we hope, that we are starting a little by little, and step-by-step.
WEDEMAN: Visitors to the sites must have their temperatures checked, wear masks inside and maintain social distance. With the rebirth of tourism, many residents hope the city will not be destroyed in the process.
Environmental scientist, Jane Da Mosto, warns that Venice, already threatened by rising water, can ill afford a renewed flood of tourists.
JANE DA MOSTO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WE ARE HERE VENICE: It's not just a question of the impact of 30 million people on a very fragile set of islands in the middle of a delicate lagoon system it is also a question of, should all of those people be traveling across the world, across the country, for such short holidays?
WEDEMAN: The government of Venice is considering a city tax, to try and hold back the deluge of spendthrift day trippers. Lorenza Lain, manages a hotel in a 500 year old palazzo.
LORENZA LAIN, PRESIDENT, VENICE HOTEL ASSOCIATION: You have to be respectful, of all the guest coming into Venice, but also, people who come to Venice, should be educated to respect the city.
WEDEMAN: A city, navigating between the need to make a living and preserving a unique way of life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WEDEMAN: And Rosemary, nobody here really expects tourism this year to be anywhere near optimal levels. We are not talking about the 30 million that came here last year. But the expectation is that it won't be perhaps well into next year, when Venice celebrates its 1,600th year since its founding, when things will actually start to pick up. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Indeed. All coming to grips with this new normal we are dealing with. Ben Wedeman, joining us, live from Venice, many thanks.
Well, the U.S. Supreme Court has dealt another blow to President Trump's agenda this week, we will explain how a new ruling is lifting the spirits of America's Dreamers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Let them love, let them join the armed forces, let them go to college, let them become the great Americans that we know they will. I saw so many DACA kids and adults, on the front lines during the covid crisis in New York. Risking their lives for other people. They are what America is all about. The American tradition has always been to believe in immigration, and to believe in immigrants. And most Americans still do.
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[03:40:26]
CHURCH: U.S. Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer there, hailing Thursday's Supreme Court ruling, which for now, blocks the Trump administration from ending DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program. Chief Justice John Roberts, wrote for the majority in the 5-4 decision. It protects 700,000 so-called Dreamers from deportation. People who arrived in the U.S. as children and as undocumented migrants. The ruling says the administration failed to provide an adequate reason to end the program. Dreamers were delighted.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was like, oh my God, I was so excited. I cried a little bit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What just happened? Literally, for me, that was my reaction.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm in shock. I had prepared myself for every decision, except for a positive one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, it's so difficult to put into words, just the feeling of relief, for the past three years, we have seen the Trump administration take action, over action over action and try to deport immigrants including DACA recipients. And I think if you cannot celebrate the fact that 800,000 people are here, with their families, and that we have the opportunity to remain united with our parents and with our friends, and with our communities, in a place that we grew up. If you disagree with that then, that is not the kind of leadership I think that we need in this country.
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CHURCH: The majority opinion sends the case back down to the lower courts, which might not be able to deal with the case until after the U.S. election in November.
Well, Facebook has removed ads from President Trump's reelection campaign, for violating, what the company says, is its policy on organized hate. The ads, featured an upside down red triangle, which the Trump campaign, claims, is used by Antifa, the far left anti- fascist group targeted in the ads. The anti-defamation league says, the symbol is similar to ones that the Nazis used to classify political prisoners in concentration camps.
The ADL says some Antifa activists have used the symbol, but it is not particularly common. Facebook was criticized, last month, for failing to take action on Trump's posts. That Twitter had flagged for glorifying violence.
CNN's business anchor, John Defterios, has been following this story and joins me now, live, with more. So John, what more are you learning about Facebook taking down Trump ads for violating policy against organized hate?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, we have learned that Mark Zuckerberg, Rosemary, can no longer sit on the sidelines. This use of this upside down triangle, the red triangle cross an internal red line for Facebook. And as you suggested there in your lead in, we have to go back to June 1st, and a virtual, internal, town hall, where we had some Facebook employees show off that they do not like this position by Zuckerberg himself. They want him to get more involved. Others, just didn't show up at all.
And this followed a call that Mark Zuckerberg had with Donald Trump, where the transcript was not released. So, you can see the dynamics here within the company. This is from the Trump fund-raising group here which raises the questions about the internal ad policy of Facebook and to be clear Rosemary, that ad that actually had the symbol on it was pulled off after 24 hours, but there are several reports suggesting that there are two additional ads within Facebook, that are still running from the Trump organizing committee.
And again, because of the reach of Facebook, 2.6 million users, better than a third of the global population, this is going to start bringing to the for the ad policy from Facebook. When do they decide to reject, and what crosses the line, like we saw this time around? Is it just a symbol, or will they be more aggressive as we get closer to the November campaign here, or November election?
CHURCH: Indeed. And John, Twitter has kept the pressure on the president when it comes to misinformation, flagging one of his tweets as manipulated media. What can you tell us about that?
DEFTERIOS: Well, I don't want to say third time is a charm, but this is the third time that Twitter has intervened against the president in over a month now. And this is under the label of manipulated media. The Trump retweet of the video, used a fake CNN graphics, so it is targeted at us, and suggested that America is not the problem, fake news is.
[03:45:03]
This not surprisingly encouraged a very firm reply from CNN itself. And then Jack Dorsey, the CEO, who's been very aggressive against the Trump campaign and his team, taking his action going forward. Now, you know, remember, that the Trump campaign put forward, not just these ads and the manipulation of this effort, but also, an executive order by Trump himself, wanting to intervene on social media.
And this prompted a reply from the federal communications commission, which is regulated in the states, and they said, the decision is ours alone. So, you have an executive order, but no action by the Trump government itself, the independent regulator.
CHURCH: John Defterios, thank you so much for your insight, always appreciate it. Well, a disturbing development out of Beijing in the past few hours.
Chinese prosecutors now a formally charge two Canadian citizens with spying. Canada says, China targeted former diplomat, Michael Kovrig, and businessmen Michael Spavor, in retaliation after Canada arrested the CEO of electronic giant Huawei in late 2018. The two Canadians have been imprisoned in China for a year and a half.
Meantime, just a little while ago in Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced his country is grappling with massive cyberattacks from what he calls, a malicious and sophisticated state based actor. And CNN's Nic Robertson, joins us now to talk about this, plus an interview, he's down with a former employee at the British consulate in Hong Kong, who is asking for asylum in the United Kingdom. Nic, a lot to cover here. Let's start with the interview you did with Simon Cheng. What all did he tell you?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, he was an employee of the British consulate in Hong Kong in had gone out for personal reasons to join the protests, the street demonstrations last year. And the British consulate, members of the British consulate asked him to report back and let them know what he saw when he was on a business trip for the British consulate mainland China not long after, when he was picked up by Chinese security forces.
I asked him about his treatment at their hands, and the British government, in its most recent report, just less than a week ago on Hong Kong said that it amounted to Chinese amounted to torture. China has rejected that. Simon Cheng, told us what he experienced.
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SIMON CHENG, FORMER UK CONSULATE WORKER IN HONG KONG: They asked lots of political questions. What is my role in the protests? What is the U.K.'s role behind the protests? They hung me up, and then I had been put at -- shackled, handcuffed, and blindfolded.
ROBERTSON: Did you ever believe that something like that, as a Hong Kong citizen, could happen to you at the hands of the Chinese state authorities?
CHENG: At that time, I can't imagine. And let alone that I worked for the British consulate, and I worked on a business trip, I can't imagine that.
ROBERTSON: Did you have any regrets about that?
CHENG: I have no regrets.
ROBERTSON: Why not?
CHENG: Because at that time, I think that I -- as a Hong Kong citizens, I wanted to left the British (inaudible) know about the voice of Hong Kong people, why those protester and (inaudible).
ROBERTSON: But this has completely change your life now.
CHENG: Yes, exactly. But, I live up to the principle. I stand for democracy, so, I do believe what I did was right.
ROBERTSON: Could you go back to Hong Kong now?
CHENG: No, I can't.
ROBERTSON: Why not?
CHENG: Because previously, that was when I was let out, the prerequisite is that I had to promise that I can't and I wouldn't speak out. But, I broke the promise, I spoke out. So, the retaliation would be that once I'm back to Hong Kong, they would've secretly attack me from Hong Kong, to mainland China, and I would not have a second chance. I do believe that if I was detained again, I wouldn't have a chance to go out.
ROBERTSON: You are in the U.K. now, you are trying to get asylum, what is happening?
CHENG: I've been experienced two rounds of interviews and very meticulous and rigorous, interviews. And now, I am waiting for the results.
ROBERTSON: Do you feel that the British government, because of what they have asked you to do and the trouble they got you, and that they owe you asylum?
CHENG: I do think that's the U.K. government need to take a kind of responsibility.
ROBERTSON: The British government is offering the holders of British national overseas passports, the possibility to come to the U.K., for an extended period. Is that the right thing to be doing? Should all Hongkongers, who want to leave be able to come here to the U.K., or other countries?
CHENG: I do think, at least now, seeing Boris Johnson's administration, taking great work steps, at least it shows correct and good aptitude, and saying as a government, we need to protect our people. So, I do think that is a good sign.
[03:50:09]
ROBERTSON: This is going to put the British government in direct conflict, much more with China if this happens.
CHENG: I do understand that the U.K. government may be in a bit of a dilemma to get along with the Chinese government, but in the future, I do believe that the cold war is approaching.
ROBERTSON: The cold war with China?
CHENG: Yes, exactly. A cold war will be approaching. And China, at the end of the day, gets to show their true muscles. That's going to be asserted and even stronger. They will expand.
ROBERTSON: Do you think China is beginning to show its true hand to the world about how it plans to handle Hong Kong going forward and its international relations?
CHENG: Yes, I do believe that China now showing what actually they are. We hope that they can leave the hand from Hong Kong. Let Hongkongers to enjoy the autonomy, because that can protect their prosperity, and let Hong Kong flourish. However, now, as you can see in a sense of the authoritarianism. They cannot control, they cannot self-constrain their power. Once they can see any space they can occupy. They have lots of power and they will expand their rules over Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: So what he is talking about there is the new national security laws on Hong Kong. And he fears that if protesters speak out the way that he is, now if they do that in Hong Kong, then they will be subject to that national security law, and could face the same kind of treatment that he had, questioning and indeed tortured.
China denies that there were acts of torture there, but I think if you look at this in the bigger context at the moment, that the world is facing over its relationship with China, you have, just yesterday, Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister here, in a phone conversation with Scott Morrison, both of them registering their concern about that new national security law in Hong Kong.
The British Prime Minister, saying that it breaks the terms of the joint declaration in 1984. The China issue was an issue with G7, Foreign Minister's conversation just a couple of days ago. It was a subject of the E.U. and U.S. foreign minister conversations at the beginning of the week. So, this is a big issue. That national security law, is it crossing a redline, how is it crossing the redline and what will the response be? This seems to be the position we are in at the moment.
CHURCH: All right. Many thanks to our Nic Robertson, joining us there from 10th Downing Street. I appreciate it.
And you are watching CNN Newsroom, we'll be back in just a moment.
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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. In 2016, President Donald Trump, narrowly won the state of Wisconsin by 23,000 votes. While some black voters, stayed on the sidelines in that election, many now tell CNN Jeff Zeleny, that this November, they will make their voices heard.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Mariah Smith has been marching, and come November, she will be voting.
MARIAH SMITH, TEACHER'S AIDE: If you don't go up and vote, you are voting for Trump. Period. That's it. There is no other way around it.
ZELENY: With tributes to George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, painted across Milwaukee, along with murals and signs calling for peace and justice. The soundtrack of American politics, is now animated by protest. With anger towards President Trump resonating far louder than adoration for Joe Biden.
[03:55:06]
PRENTICE MCKINNEY, MILWAUKEE ACTIVIST: There is a time when you go to the polls to vote for something, and then, there is a time when you go and you take a stand against something.
ZELENY: Prentice McKinney, has been watching these demonstrations closely, stirring memories from 1967, when he helped lead a fight for fair housing in 200 straight days of marches. These images, seared into his mind, like coming face to face with two policemen outside of the mayor's office.
MCKINNEY: I came in love.
ZELENY: In today's protests, he sees broader diversity with the unifying purpose.
MCKINNEY: Part of the universal appeal of this movement, is because of Donald Trump. Because, people realized who, and what he is.
ZELENY: Here in one of the nation's most segregated cities a summer of unrest is now part of the presidential race that will test whether protesters have awakened a political movement.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are people that are like, I don't know Trump was racist, what do you mean he's racist? Point to something very clear, and specific, and we can point to this moment just a few moments ahead of the presidential election, about how he is treating our community.
ZELENY: Angela Lang, founder group To Mobilize African Americans after Trump narrowly carried Wisconsin in 2016. When turnout among black voters and others, substantially fell. Since then, there are some signs of change. In April, David Crowley was elected as the first African American Milwaukee County Executive, a seat once held by Republican, former governor Scott Walker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This election matters because people know that we need absolute change.
ZELENY: The Trump campaign, is not seeding black voters, opening a Republican field office here on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, with a quote from the slain civil rights leader in the window. David Bowen a Democratic state representative, said voters should not be fooled.
DAVID BOWEN, DEMOCRATIC STATE REPRESENTATIVE: It's very offensive to the standpoint that nothing in this administration, or that he has done really lines up with those words.
ZELENY: Protests in Milwaukee are approaching the third straight week. Organized by Frank Sensabaugh, who said he intentionally did not vote, four years ago.
Are you planning to vote this November?
FRANK SENSABAUGH, MILWAUKEE PROTEST ORGANIZER: This November, yes, I actually do plan to vote. This November, I think it's going to be more serious of a vote.
ZELENY: And that gives hope to McKinney, that these young demonstrators will keep their eye on November.
MCKINNEY: I think they will be there. I think that is what Trump is afraid of.
ZELENY: Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Milwaukee.
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CHURCH: And thanks so much for joining us, I'm Rosemary Church, and I'll be back with more news in just a moment. Do stay with us.
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