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Trump Stokes Racial Divide In Bid For Re-election; Sprinter Accuses London Police Of Racial Profiling; U.S. CDC To Release New Guidance On Reopening Schools. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired July 07, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Paula Newton.
Just ahead rising COVID cases, are forcing some states to re-examine their plans.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We opened up in ways that were not sustainable and now we are having to turn that curve or we are looking at our hospitals being overwhelmed in the next 10 days to 2 weeks.
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NEWTON: From Arizona to Florida, the numbers are soaring.
So why aren't people social distancing?
Australia is not taking any chances, shutting down a state border to help contain a major outbreak.
Later, our interview with the British sprinter who is accusing London police of racial profiling.
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NEWTON: The this hour we start in Australia, which is taking drastic measures to stop a growing outbreak of coronavirus around Melbourne. They are applying stage 3, stay-at-home restrictions for the next 6 weeks. The premier made the announcement earlier, after almost 200 new cases of the virus were reported on Monday.
The outbreak has prompted New South Wales to close its border with Victoria for the first time in 100 years. Anna Coren joins me now from Hong Kong.
So how extraordinary is this, they have never had to do this in any measure?
And why do they believe they have to take these drastic measures now?
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We just heard from the Victorian premier who said that Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, will go back into lockdown stage 3 lockdown. The plan is, to isolate great greater Melbourne from the rest of the state, which has relatively few cases.
They have seen a spike in cases in the capital of Victoria, 191 new cases today. That is a record for the state. And I know that may seem small, compared to cases in the rest of the world.
But Australia has tackled this virus extremely aggressively and it thought it had this pandemic under control. It goes to show, that the coronavirus, is now in stage 2. There is a second wave happening in Victoria. So the premier taking this action, lockdown for greater Melbourne, that will last 6 weeks.
People are going to have to stay at home, except for essential workers. And you can go out and get necessities but the premier said it might feel like an eternity. But this is what is required for health officials to get the situation under control.
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DANIEL: I think a sense of complacency has crept into us as we let our frustrations get the better of us. I think that each of us know someone who has not been following the rules as well as they should have. I think each of us knows that we have no choice. But to take these very, very difficult steps.
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COREN: And, Paula, it's not just complacency, it could just be doing the wrong thing, such as the contracted security guards, who are in charge of returning Australian citizens, who arrive from overseas, they had to do 2 weeks quarantine, in a government hotel.
But there are reports that the security guards were socializing with these returned residents and some reports went as far as to say they were having sex with the Australian residents returning from overseas.
Then obviously, these people have gone back to their families and the virus has spread. And now a judicial inquiry is underway as to how the spike has occurred but there are 9 public housing blocks that are in complete lockdown. They have been like that now for days.
Obviously these people, in those blocks, you're talking about lower social economic, refugees, immigrants, a lot of them do not speak English, so there have been a lot of problems there but now it is not just these suburbs, these 12 suburbs.
It is gone now for the whole of Melbourne, which is a huge, huge move but obviously one that they felt they need to make.
NEWTON: Melbourne alone, affecting 5 million people and, like you said, for 6 weeks. Big news retracting there and coming in from Australia. Anna Coren, thank you for following this in the hours to come.
And Americans packed beaches without a face mask in sight.
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NEWTON: Some health experts warn that the United States is in, quote, "a coronavirus freefall." The U.S. is approaching another milestone, 3 million infections, more than 130,000 Americans have died. The U.S. account for a quarter of the infections worldwide. The nation's infectious disease specialist warns this could just be the beginning.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We are still knee-deep in the first wave of this. And I would say this would not be considered a wave, it was a surge or a resurgence of infections superimposed upon a baseline.
The European Union, as an entity, it went up and then came down to baseline. Now they are having little blips, as you may expect, as they try to reopen. We went up, never came down to baseline. And now we are surging back up. So it is a serious situation, that we have to address immediately.
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NEWTON: So here is a look at those trends that Dr. Fauci was talking, the U.S. compared to other countries, they peaked and then went down but the green line, the United States, it just keeps going higher.
Now that picture may not be surprising considering the behavior of some Americans over the weekend. There were large gatherings of people who are not following health guidelines. Scientists say world health leaders should be talking more about how the virus may be floating through the air. CNN's Jason Carroll has more.
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JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What pandemic?
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GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): We get complacent. We get cocky. We get a little arrogant. That is a real threat.
CARROLL (voice-over): Across the country, July 4 gatherings with no social distancing or mask wearing, like this party in Diamond Lake, Michigan, at a water park in Wisconsin, this speedway outside Denver and on Fire Island, New York, where crowds gathered on the beach during the day and at a pool party at night.
CUOMO: I don't know how else to say it. Actions have come consequences.
CARROLL: In all, coronavirus cases surging in 32 states, California reaching new dangerous levels Sunday, with nearly 12,000 new cases reported. Texas saw its second highest day of new cases over the weekend.
The mayor of Austin says his city is two weeks away from running out of hospital beds.
MAYOR STEVE ADLER (D-TX), AUSTIN: We opened up in ways that were not sustainable. And now we're having to turn that curve.
CARROLL: In Florida, where they shut many beaches to discourage holiday crowds, a record for the most coronavirus cases in the United States in a single day on Saturday and more troubling numbers.
In Miami-Dade County, the state's hardest-hit, the positivity rate is at 26 percent. The goal is 10 or lower, hospitalizations up 88 percent, ventilator use up 119 percent. The mayor there today signing an emergency order rolling back reopening, closing restaurants for indoor dining and other businesses starting Wednesday.
MAYOR DAN GELBER (D-FL), MIAMI BEACH: We're starting to roll the carpet back up. It's pretty clear we have this real problem.
CARROLL: Health experts warned for months that more attention needs to be paid to how the virus transmits in the air. Now 239 scientists have signed a letter addressed to the World Health Organization asking them to be more up front in explaining that. Currently, the organization does not call COVID-19 an airborne virus.
DR. ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: The bottom line is very, very clear. Yes, there is aerosolized transmission. And people absolutely need to be wearing masks and they need to be wearing masks particularly when they're indoors.
CARROLL: And now some potentially encouraging news on the treatment front. The biotechnology company Regeneron announced today it is in phase three of clinical trials on a drug to prevent and treat coronavirus.
And this development. International students who are studying here in the United States may have to either leave the country or risk deportation if the school where they are studying decides to switch to online only courses, this according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A number of schools across the country deciding whether or not they're going to switch to online classes. Harvard already decided to switch to online classes. This is going to affect scores upon scores of international students studying here in the United States -- Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
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NEWTON: Doctors are still responding to President Trump's claims that 99 percent of COVID-19 cases are, quote, "totally harmless."
He said during his 4th of July speech, meantime the White House continues to defend the unsubstantiated comment.
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QUESTION: The president said that 99 percent of coronavirus cases are totally harmless.
Which members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force agree with that statement?
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KAYLEIGH MCENANY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: So what the president was pointing, to and I am glad you brought it, up was the factual statement, one that is rooted in science. One that was pointing out the fact that mortality in this country is very low.
The case fatality rate in the United States and as you can see, the mortality rate has gone like this. The case fatality rate and also, on the second chart you will see, hopefully they have up behind, me the case rates that and fatality rates in this country vis-a-vis other European countries, is much lower than let's say France and Italy.
What that speaks to is the great work that this administration, with therapeutics and remdesivir and dexamethasone and that is what the president was pointing out.
QUESTION: If you do not die, is it not harmless?
MCENANY: The president was noting the fact that the vast majority of Americans, who can track coronavirus, will come out on the other side of this and, of course, he takes it very seriously.
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NEWTON: Now earlier, CNN medical analyst, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, said Mr. Trump's claim dishonors those who have died and it is a danger to public health.
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DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Almost everything the president says about the coronavirus pandemic has been wrong. And either the president lacks the cognitive ability to absorb the data and to understand the science or he is lying.
There is no middle ground. But when the president say something, like he said today about 99 percent of people are left harmless by this virus, you really wonder about it.
The truth is about 20 percent of people will need hospitalization. About 20 percent of that, of those people, will need critical care. And if you end up on a ventilator, 80 percent of those folks will die.
And even in young people, as you mentioned, young people in their 20s, they are often left with very debilitating illnesses that can go on for weeks or months. This is nothing to be trifled with. And the president's statement, as I said a few minutes ago, are absolutely corrosive. (END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, considered a potential running mate, for Joe Biden, has tested positive for the coronavirus. She says her husband and one of their children are also infected. She says they decided to get tested, because her husband was sleeping more than usual.
She says it's scary, because they did everything they were supposed to do to stay safe.
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MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D-GA), ATLANTA: I'm still in a state of shock, because I don't have any idea how we were exposed. And we have all been very careful, you know, my kids have been careful. So I am stunned.
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NEWTON: Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has announced that he has been tested for coronavirus and has undergone a lung screening. They said he is good health and is expecting results in the coming hours. Jair Bolsonaro has often downplayed the pandemic and refused to wear masks but you did see him wearing a mask before he was tested.
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JAIR BOLSONARO, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I am avoiding approaching people, because I just came from the hospital. I did a lung x-ray and the lung is clear. I will take a COVID test now.
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NEWTON: OK, over the weekend, Mr. Bolsonaro, attended a party with several American officials, including the U.S. ambassador to Brazil. Have a look at the photo, as you can see, nobody was wearing a mask or social distancing.
Brazil is seeing one of the worst outbreaks on the planet. On Monday its death toll, rose to 65,000, after officials reported another 620 fatalities.
Just weeks after emerging from a nationwide lockdown, Spain is again telling citizens in two regions to stay at home. More now from Al Goodman.
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AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Al Goodman in Madrid, thousands of Spaniards are under new localized lockdowns. The first since the nationwide confinement order was lifted 2 weeks ago. In the northeast, authorities have sealed off the perimeter, with 200,000 people, after some seasonal farm workers there got the coronavirus.
In the northwest, some 70,000 people, are in a new kind of confinement after officials say that people going to the bars and congregating in bars there also led to a new outbreak.
Spain has beefed up its contact tracing, all of this as a new large Spanish scientific study, shows that 95 percent of the population, here does not have coronavirus antibodies. Which means they have not had contact with the disease. Meaning it is not widespread and the scientists say, that the so called herd immunity, is still far away.
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NEWTON: Thanks to Al Goodman.
Still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, they take action after a alarming spike in coronavirus cases. We will look at the restrictions. And a Middle East tourist hub, is welcoming back foreign visitors.
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NEWTON: Israel is reimposing tighter restrictions, more than 30,000 people have tested positive and 334 have died. Restrictions include the immediate closure of bars, clubs and gyms. And the number of diners at restaurants and worshippers at synagogues will be limited.
The prime minister says that Israel has to reverse course, to avoid a wider shut down later, that could decimate the economy. CNN's Oren Liebermann is live with us in Jerusalem.
It's a lot of stake here with the economy. But in Israel politics has a way of working its way into this.
For Benjamin Netanyahu, what is at stake?
And what is happening to his approval now that seems like the virus might be making its way back?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The prime minister's approval rating, when it comes to coronavirus, has plummeted. When it looked a couple months ago, like Israel had beaten this back, his approval rating was about 75 percent.
Now just a couple months later, it is below 50 percent. Back in mid May, it looked like they were through the first wave, there were only about 20 new cases a day and you get a sense of that from this graph here. As of yesterday there were more than 1,000 new cases a day, a 50 fold increase, from when it appeared that Israel had beaten.
Some health officials warn this is very much a second wave and the numbers are soaring. The new restrictions, are intended to stop Israelis, from gathering in big indoor areas. To stop large public gatherings is one of the key steps, to try to beat back the second wave. It is very much an attempt here, to prevent the surging numbers and we
are seeing it on both sides, the Palestinian Authority, is extending the closure of Hebron and urging the U.N. to close borders between the Israeli and the Palestinian authority.
They believe that's how cases are getting into Palestine. So you see it on both sides here, remember both of them had imposed early closures and early restrictions and had very much encouraged mask wearing.
But a couple months later, a couple months after what I say would be the high point of handling the virus, the numbers are very much, going in a dangerous direction and all the work that had been done to this point, may have been undone. Crucially at this point, Paula, Israel is dealing with its most active cases.
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LIEBERMANN: And that number keeps rising.
NEWTON: That graph explains it all, that's all you need to see. Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem. Thank you.
Dubai is welcoming back foreign visitors, as long as they test negative for the coronavirus. John Defterios is live with us from Abu Dhabi.
And it seems like a bold new a bold move, to reopen it.
It's been a risk though, isn't it?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: It is a bit of a risk but they call it a calculated risk. The officials I've been speaking to the last 48 hours, this is a hub, a bridge, if you will, between Asia and Europe. That's extended to the United States and Africa.
So the airport and tourism are extremely important to the Dubai economy. So I am not surprised, that they want to go with this first move and try to hold on to it. It is 11 percent of GDP.
They built the airline in 1985 and then the icons, the tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa, so I spoke to the chairman and CEO and they talked about the testing, on the ground and the airport and kind of the new hygiene levels in the sky at the same time. Let's take a listen.
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SHEIKH AHMED BIN SAEED AL MAKTOUM, EMIRATES GROUP: We have done whatever it takes to ensure people will come here. I think we did so many tests to make sure that we are geared for it. The airport, we're using the PCRs, people coming or leaving and also to make sure people leaving here.
It is our obligation, that we want to make sure and also to protect our staff around the airport and the city that to feel very happy to do what they've been learning over the last while. DEFTERIOS: There was the border crossing between Abu Dhabi and Dubai
was shut. It is now reopened.
What signal does that send to the outside world, if we don't have a single policy within in the UAE, that Dubai, as a major final and tourism hub, is ready to open?
Has that been solved?
SHEIKH AHMED: I think if you think about Dubai have started sometime ago, also to do the lockdown. And we did it for the 24 hours and there is always that route that you see something like that happening. So it doesn't mean there is a difference between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
It is always the authority and what we think is right to be taken and I think there is no harm in doing that.
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DEFTERIOS: Sheikh Ahmed of Emirates Group, Paula.
He was suggesting here that after you've pumped $10 trillion to the global economy, it is the time for the private sector to engage. And they're going to be hosting the world expo in October 2021, delayed because of COVID-19. So I think it's a signal to reengage with the world and be a bridge builder on testing within the country but also the first to open up internationally. Paula.
NEWTON: The tourism industry, is it essential for Dubai, so they have to move ahead. John Defterios for us in Abu Dhabi. Appreciate it.
The coronavirus has kept the "Mona Lisa" and other piece of works of art out of public view for the last few months but that's all changing. CNN's Melissa Bell has more.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For nearly four months the Louvre museum was entirely closed. Today it finally reopened its doors. Not quite to business as usual, because, on an ordinary, day they will received 30,000 to 40,000 tourists, 75 percent of them from abroad. Today there were just 7,400 visitors today. The result that the museum had to put in place a special system, that you had to book and prepay your entrance on online. And also inside, they wanted to make sure that was never a crowd in front of any works. And there was a system put in place to monitor the flow of traffic. So this is the perfect time, to feast your eyes on works like the "Mona Lisa" and a sign France is slowly getting back to what it was -- Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
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NEWTON: The Hong Kong government is clamping down even harder and ordering schools to remove books, which might breach the new national security law in Hong Kong. The education bureau says administrators and teachers should review all materials including books in a timely manner.
The law Beijing imposed last week mandates penalties for secession, subversion, terrorism, collusion with foreign powers and it outlawed certain political views, such as support for independence from China.
Earlier Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, called the new law relatively mild but pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong clearly disagreed. And he told Ivan Watson, that the city's freedoms are being eroded.
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NEWTON: His remarks came shortly after pleading not guilty to charges related to protests last year.
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JOSHUA WONG, PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST: I was charged by organizing, inciting, and participating unauthorized assembly during the protest outside of Hong Kong police headquarters last summer.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I remember that day. There were thousands and thousands of demonstrators outside of the police station, and some were throwing eggs at the building, some were spray painting graffiti on it. I do remember you addressing the crowd, telling people to register to vote.
WONG: It's the responsibility of the government to hold the police accountable. And with the brutal crackdown that happened last summer, it is the reason for why people gathered outside of the police headquarters. Political prosecution exists in Hong Kong for almost a year already. Almost 10,000 people were arrested since last summer. And 1,600 of them, including me, were prosecuted.
WATSON: Hong Kong government officials say basic freedoms will be respected here under the national security law. What is your response to that assertion?
WONG: If basic freedom still exists under the national security law, how come the book I published when I was still in high school was banned in Hong Kong's public library?
It's not only about the political rights anymore. It's not only about the rights of the protesters. It's about the fundamental freedom or liberty that everyone cherish in this city that eroded and fade out already.
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NEWTON: That was pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, speaking with CNN's Ivan Watson in Hong Kong.
As if 2020 wasn't enough of a disaster, the bubonic plague may be back. Chinese authorities have placed the Inner Mongolia region on high alert after a suspected case. The plague is caused by bacteria and transmitted through flea bites and infected animals. It killed an estimated 50 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages. Modern antibiotics can prevent complications and death if they are
administered early enough.
President Trump is again trying a controversial campaign strategy that critics call race baiting. The White House is defending his efforts to inflame racial tension.
Plus London police accused of racial profiling after pulling over a black athlete and her family just outside of their home. We'll speak with Bianca Williams about her experience just ahead.
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NEWTON: While the pandemic engulfing the U.S. President Trump is choosing to focus on the racial divide. He's fanning the flames with new inflammatory tweets. Jeremy Diamond has the story.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump ramping up his divisive and racially charged rhetoric. The President, suggesting he disagrees with NASCAR's decision to ban the Confederate flag at its races, and falsely accusing NASCAR's only black driver of orchestrating a hoax after a member of his team found a noose in his garage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why is the president even suggesting that Mr. Wallace should apologize?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, look, the FBI, as I noted, concluded that this was not a hate crime and he believes it go a long way. Bubba came out and acknowledged that as well.
DIAMOND: But Wallace did back on June 24, saying he was relieved after the FBI determined the noose had been in the garage since last year. This afternoon, Wallace tweeted, "Always deal with the hate being thrown at you with love, adding, even when it's hate from the President." The White House Press Secretary also trying to claim that Trump was not expressing support for the Confederate flag.
MCENANY: I spoke to him this morning about this and he said he was not making a judgment one way or the other.
DIAMOND: South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, a loyal Trump supporter, backing NASCAR's decision.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): They're trying to grow the sport. The Confederate flag is not a good way to grow your business.
DIAMOND: And defending Wallace.
GRAHAM: Well, I don't think Bubba Wallace has anything to apologize for.
DIAMOND: Trump's tweet built on the inflammatory rhetoric he delivered in a pair of Independence Day speeches, which he painted racial injustice protesters as fascist, trying to end America as we know it.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders to face our most sacred memorials and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities.
We will never allow an angry mob to tear down our statues, erase our history, indoctrinate our children, or trample on our freedoms.
DIAMOND: After trying to recast this fight to protect Confederate monuments as an attempt to --
TRUMP: Protect and preserve our history, our heritage, and our great heroes.
DIAMOND: The President's race base appeals unmasked by his own tweets, signaling a campaign strategy to stoke fear among white Americans, just like in 2016.
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NEWTON: That was our Jeremy Diamond. Now, earlier I spoke with CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein, and I asked him why President Trump seems to continue to do some race-baiting.
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RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: The President's vision has always been that he will mobilize the voters in America who are most uneasy about the way America is changing, demographically, culturally, even economically, and that has been his coalition. It's primarily people who live outside the big cities, older, blue-collar, Evangelical Christian, whites.
The problem he's got is that by itself is not enough to win. And in 2016, he added to that what I call the coalition of restoration, five or six points of voters, right of center voters, suburban white-collar voters who normally vote Republican who may have been uneasy about some of the ways that he talked about race, but were willing to give a business guy a chance. They didn't like Hillary Clinton, they wanted lower taxes.
What's very clear, Paula, is that last piece of his coalition is breaking away in big numbers. And rather than trying to win it back by moderating some of this language and behavior that drives them away, he is doubling down on a vision of winning by turning out even more of this coalition of restoration. The problem is everybody else hears what he's saying too, and he risks sparking large turnout on the other side as well.
NEWTON: And yet, since you say that it is a strategy, it's not just instinctual or that he's just really speaking out viscerally and can't help himself. OK, it's a strategy. From what you see and I know you know the numbers on this so well. Is the turn -- is that turnout of turning up more of those people going to be enough? Can it still be a winning strategy? I mean, it really is the question, right? There's no question that there are a lot of voters in that category who didn't vote in 2016. Half of all the eligible voters who didn't show up in 2018 were non- college whites, the blue-collar whites that he's -- that he's aiming this at, and in those key Rust Belt states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. There at least half of the non-voters. So, there is theoretically a pool of people for him to appeal to.
But when you are down as low as he is, you know, right now, he's in the low 40s, it's very, very hard to make it up with differential turnout. And historically, you know, American political consultants will tell you that any message that is polarizing and lacerating enough to massively increased turnout on your side tends to rebound and massively increased turnout on the other side.
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NEWTON: Certainly, an ominous signal from the Wall Street Journal. You know, they had this editorial called Trump's speech at Rushmore, one of the best of his presidency and precisely because of this division. But he said, as you can see there, one of the best speeches of Mount Rushmore, Mr. Trump is trying to rally the country in defense of traditional American principles.
But what the editorial went on to say, which to me was just much more insightful, was that they pointed out the progressive elites are courting a backlash here. And in that, do you see a you know, a warning for the Biden camp?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, there's no question that kind of the reconsideration of America's racial history can be -- can go too far in the sense of involving violence, or unsanctioned actions of tearing down statues, and there will be a backlash against that if it continues.
Joe Biden is not going to wade into those waters. I mean, that's not who he is. I mean, he's a guy who is going to be -- he was the nominee 50 years after he first won elective office. No one in American history has ever been the nominee of their party 50 years after they first elected office for the first time.
And you know, that's -- this is not a guy who has been a revolutionary at any point in his life. And the big -- I think the biggest dynamic here is that, you know, Trump is trying to replay in many ways, the Richard Nixon playbook from 1968, when he ran on lawn order, and convinced many white-collar suburban white voters and blue-collar or just suburban white voters in general, that he would keep them safe against disorder in the cities.
The difference now, Paula, is if you look at polling, it's pretty clear that a lot of those same voters, the equivalent 50 years later think that Trump is making them less safe, because the way he is exploiting division and inciting more racial tension increases the risk of violence.
As a striking poll result, by two to one college-educated whites said that having Trump as president made them feel less safe rather than more safe. And that's why I think this whole strategy kind of runs aground in any sense other than trying to massively turnout of his non-urban non-college white base.
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NEWTON: Ron Brownstein there. Now, British athlete Bianca Williams is accusing London police of racial profiling after she and her partner were pulled over and handcuffed near their home over the weekend.
Now, authorities say their car was stopped because it was seen driving suspiciously. But Williams and her partner tell CNN World Sport Contributor Darren Lewis, they were discriminated against simply because they're black.
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DARREN LEWIS, CNN SPORT CONTRIBUTOR: You never -- you're going to find yourself in a situation where you are handcuffed by police and you are in a situation as traumatic as you were.
BIANCA WILLIAMS, ATHLETE: Yes. And you don't ever think it -- think that here. They were literally pulling me away from my son who is three months old. They already pulled Ricardo out of the car and I was trying to stop them from -- I thought they're arresting Ricardo. I was trying to stop them -- do what I can to stop them from arresting Ricardo. I didn't understand why I had to be pulled out of the car and put in handcuffs and I don't -- somehow, I have to be taken away from my son.
You know, they could have just spoken to me nicely because he said, you know what, miss, calm down. We're just going to explain what we're doing and what the situation is and then -- I don't know, and then do something. But instead, they just put me in handcuffs and then said that we're detaining you and we're searching the vehicle for weapons and drugs.
LEWIS: Ricardo, where were you coming from on the that it had unfold.
RICARDO DOS SANTOS, BIANCA WILLIAMS' PARTNER: We were coming from training. I was on the way home from training probably about three, four minutes away from home. You know, I was already -- I was shocked. I was so exhausted. The thing that he gets to me is I know my area inside out, and I know when there's going to be traffic. I know how to get around that traffic. But I'm getting penalized for being street smart, per se. I've been here for over 20 years in this area.
That being said, that is my only crime. My only crime was knowing how to get away from traffic. This happens so often that I know and that's the bad thing. It shouldn't be so normal. It shouldn't be so common that I can tell, I can sense when they're going to -- when something is going to happen. It shouldn't be.
LEWIS: Bianca, what's your view on the way that they spoke to Ricardo?
WILLIAMS: They spoke to him as if it was nothing, as if he was worthless, and as if he was just -- like he was a scum. It was horrible. But they didn't -- they don't have any care at all.
LEWIS: And was that throw out? Was that --
WILLIAMS: That was -- that was until they found out were both athletes and then they started to ask him questions about what race do we that we did.
LEWIS: You're a European and Commonwealth gold medalist. You're also a mother. But is this now something that you have to get used to now?
WILLIAMS: Yes, especially now where we're raising a black boy. He's then going to be going school by himself and going to be doing things by himself. So then we're going to have to have to get used to enter and to teach him that he can -- he can be stopped by the police because of the color of his skin. You know, he's going to be accused of doing some -- accused of doing things. Yes, it's just -- you know, it's just shocking that we have to even tell our son these dynamics.
[02:40:25]
LEWIS: Let's just mention this. The police commander Helen Harper, she said that she is satisfied that there is no misconduct. She's looked at the actions of the officers. She says she's satisfied that there's no misconduct. What's your view on that?
DOS SANTOS: That it was what we expected. So -- because the video that was first put out by Linford Christie, it shows half of the story. You can say that I was probably in the car for five, 10 minutes, not listening to the police orders. If you saw that video that's what you can actually say.
And there's no proof that I did anything -- I did otherwise because the police have given me instructions. Hence why yesterday we let we put out the full video, which now shows that within four seconds of them arriving to my car, they come up batons blazing, ready to smash the window.
How can I communicate and or conversate to somebody or anyone, any human within four seconds of them wanting to assault me or assault my property? So she believed that that's perfectly normal and the way her offices reacted was absolutely OK, then she's not OK then.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: U.S. officials are taking more steps to reopen schools. But with Coronavirus cases rising, and with no end in sight, some parents and educators believe it could be way too soon. A public health expert weighs in. That's next.
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NEWTON: Millions of parents in the U.S. are trying to determine when or really even if their children should return to school in the coming weeks with Coronavirus cases still rising. Now, a source tells CNN the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will soon release new guidance on how students can safely return to the classroom. Now, we don't have the details yet, but we're told they're supposed to
include scientific data on why schools should reopen. But not everyone is convinced. The president of the National Education Association tells Politico, many school districts are unprepared. She says there are no plans. For most of these places, people are panicked and parents should be panicked.
Joseph Allen joins me now. He's the director of the Healthy Buildings Program at Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health. And of course, we will talk about whether or not those school buildings are healthy in a way. But I just want to start with some news from CNN in terms of what the CDC is going to come out with this week.
And we understand the quote from them is going to be school should be the first open and the last close. I mean, I know we're learning as we go with this virus, but do you think we've made mistakes in terms of how we've handled the closures and how we may handle the reopening?
[02:45:50]
JOSEPH ALLEN, DIRECTOR, HEALTHY BUILDINGS PROGRAM, T.H. CHAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Well, look, you know, I think we made the best decision we could at the time. Remember, March, we had limited information about the spread of this virus, how kids transmitted, and so I do think it was an appropriate decision at that time to close schools.
Now, it's very clear at this point that we have to make better decisions in terms of reopening the schools. We've learned a lot. We know that kids are at low risk of getting this virus. We know that kids, if they get the virus, have a lower risk of adverse outcomes. Early evidence suggests that kids are transmitted last to adults.
And importantly, maybe most importantly, we've really learned that these basic steps are effective in controlling the spread of the virus for both kids and adults, and we can apply those in schools.
NEWTON: You know, you speak with a great deal of confidence and yet so much of that confidence is not instilled, whether it's in, you know, parents or educators at this point in time. I want to get to what you point out are the dangers of trying to think that we could carry on this at-home learning for much longer.
You say that there is a lot of what you say virtual dropouts, and it's through all age categories everywhere. Do you see the results that in fact, you know, this just doesn't work and kids need to physically be in school, at least for part of the time?
ALLEN: Yes. I mean, look, let's address the anxiety here. I understand this on both sides of this. I'm a parent too. I have three young kids. And the reality is that there are massive cost to the school closures. You mentioned virtual dropouts, where I am in Boston, 10,000 high school kids just didn't log in at all in May.
In Philadelphia, 50 percent of elementary school kids were making daily contact. We know that kids out of school are more sedentary. 30 million plus kids in United States rely on school for nutrition. UNICEF said that kids who are out of school due to lockdown are more likely to suffer from abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence. So there are massive costs to the school closures that I don't think we're always talking about in society.
On the other side of this, we know there are proven risk reduction strategies that can work in schools and we can put these in place to keep kids and importantly, teachers safe as well.
NEWTON: And what do you say to parents, perhaps like yourself, who really weighing the risk reward and thinking, does it really hurt for me to keep them out of school and August, September, whenever?
ALLEN: Well, I think that choice comes from a really privileged positions. So for those people who can say, well, I'll just leave my kids out for an entire year. My assumption would be they probably have the resources to do that. They probably have great Wi-Fi access and computers. And maybe they can supplement that with other tutoring and things like this.
The vast majority of kids, that's not the situation. In fact, many people have to work out of the home, so kids are sometimes being left home alone. It is absolutely critical to think about this from a societal standpoint and getting people back rather than some individuals who may have the luxury of saying, well, I'll just keep my kid home for the next year.
NEWTON: Yes. And it's such an important point, isn't it? Because it is a societal decision. And I think many people were happy to see the CDC or it will come out and say, look, schools are the priority, not restaurants and bars. Mr. Allen, thanks -- go ahead.
ALLEN: Well, you know, I wrote this. We have the national -- the American Academy of Pediatrics is on board this. The faculty I work with at Harvard School of Public Health are on board with this too. It's absolutely a priority. And to make it work, we have to treat it like a priority.
I think right now we're thinking too much like, oh, the kid will just come back in September as it was. That'd be a mistake.
NEWTON: Understood. Mr. Allen, thanks so much. I really appreciate your time.
ALLEN: Yes, thanks for having me, Paula. I appreciate it.
NEWTON: And as you can imagine, all of this is especially difficult on special education kids and their families, many of whom saw services absolutely vanished when states shut down. Now, with the pandemic physically separating students with disabilities from the support system of teachers, therapists, and aids, parents are really struggling. CNN's Laura Jarrett has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOANNE DE SIMONE, PARENT OF TWO CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS: I think that the general ed population gets to focus on this will be over in the near future, and we can move on with our lives even if it's a little bit different, except our future does not look like that at all.
[02:50:07]
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: As a mom of two kids with special needs, Joanne de Simone is no stranger to the challenges of parenting. But with schools close, she and her husband John are now on duty around the clock.
DE SIMONE: Good job.
JARRETT: Their son Ben has Lissencephaly, a brain disorder that puts him at an increased risk for complications if he gets COVID-19.
DE SIMONE: Until things dramatically change or there's a vaccine, he can't go anywhere.
JARRETT: Ben's familiar way of life now completely upended. He used to get over nine hours of school, programs, and therapy every day. With online learning, though, it's eight hours per week.
DE SIMONE: We're struggling to try to keep him engaged. I don't have physical therapist's hands. I don't know what they're feeling.
JARRETT: At 21, Ben is now aging out of the educational system with no safety net, falling off the so-called cliff.
DE SIMONE: Which what everyone says like oh, they're falling off this cliff, right? And I'm like, Ben didn't mosey on over to the cliff. He just got shoved and we're falling.
JARRETT: All this while she also tries to manage the schoolwork and progress of his younger brother, Sebastian, who's on the autism spectrum.
DE SIMONE: I'm watching how long it takes him to do things. I don't know what this time is going to do to push him back.
JARRETT: It's a sobering new reality for the over seven million students who receive special education in the U.S. That's 14 percent of all U.S. public school students. Kids like Beck Williers who is visually and hearing impaired, and has been without his interpreter for weeks.
MICHELE WILLIERS, PARENT OF CHILD WITH SPECIAL NEEDS: The music teacher was trying to do a music class on Zoom. And I will tell you, my son asked not to be part of it anymore. He didn't know who to look at first. He didn't know -- where the teacher was, where his interpreter was.
JARRETT: His mom, Michele, still working full time herself, now sits by his side for therapy online. But she says he's missing the face to face interaction with Those who understand his needs.
WILLIERS: I've missed him. I've not seen him a long time.
JARRETT: And she worries about what happens if school doesn't reopen this fall.
WILLIERS: I don't know, mentally and emotionally if that happens, how we can continue to sustain like we are now. I think our child needs that environment. It could be a second pandemic in our society if people don't realize the importance of bringing school back at some level.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: It's such a stressful time for so many families. And our thanks to CNN's Laura Jarrett for bringing us that report. And a programming note for you now, and of course, if the kids could go back to school, then their parents can go back to work. And so, it's important to keep talking about that COVID economy. Richard Quest will have an exclusive interview with the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, Richard Clarida. They'll discuss the Feds' response to the Coronavirus crisis and the shape the global recovery. That's on "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" only on CNN.
Now, if Broadway was opened, theaters would be dimming their lights in honor of actor Nick Cordero. Family and fans are coming together to remember him and his last days fighting COVID-19.
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NEWTON: Broadway actor Nick Cordero died over the weekend from complications of COVID-19. But the journey to his last days wasn't made along, thanks to his wife Amanda, Cordero gained an even bigger following from those hoping, praying he'd recover. CNN's Jeanne Moos has more.
[02:55:06]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Broadway star Nick Cordero struggled for three months in the ICU in a coma up and down.
AMANDA KLOOTS, WIFE OF NICK CORDERO: But he is awake. Dada is awake.
MOOS: But more down than up.
KLOOTS: I am asking again for all the prayers, mega prayers.
MOOS: His ordeal documented by his wife, Amanda Kloots, from Bullets Over Broadway. Law and Order. His career was going great.
NICK CORDERO, ACTOR: This slide could be one of the great ones.
MOOS: Until it was cut short by COVID-19. God is another angel in heaven now, posted his wife. Nick had been young and healthy as Alec Baldwin noted.
ALEC BALDWIN, COMEDIAN: 41 years old. My God.
MOOS: Last June, Nick was looking at his newborn son Elvis in the ICU. This June, Nick was in the ICU himself. And through it all, Amanda shared the experience.
KLOOTS: He told me four times that he won't survive.
MOOS: He was put on a ventilator.
KLOOTS: His pulse gone for two minutes and they had to resuscitate his heart.
MOOS: They had to amputate away.
KLOOTS: It was a situation of life or leg.
MOOS: He communicated with his eyes.
KLOOTS: By looking up or down, yes or no questions.
MOOS: Amanda recruited an army to say prayers, created the #WakeUpNick, inspired people to sing and dance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wake up, Nick. Wake up, Nick.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wake up, Nick.
MOOS: Fans sent him artwork, a GoFundMe page for medical expenses zoom passed $850,000 and rising. Just a few days before his death, his wife spoke with CBS.
KLOOTS: So I grabbed his hand and I'm waiting for the day that he holds my hand back.
MOOS: That day apparently never came. He missed seeing his son's first steps. Nick Cordero was outlived by his one year old who will grow up hearing stories of how much he was loved. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Yes. I guarantee you he was loved. Nick was from my hometown of Hamilton in Canada and we all prayed very hard. And just another example of the loss of COVID right around the world.
I want to thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton. The news continues with my colleague Rosemary Church right after the break.
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