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Civil Rights Icon And U.S. Lawmaker John Lewis Dies; U.S. Fails To Get Pandemic Under Control; Poll: 64 Percent Distrust Trump On COVID-19; Eventual Vaccine Critical To Get Herd Immunity; Oregon State Leaders Demand Federal Authorities Withdraw From Arresting Protesters; Mary Trump Attests To The U.S. President's Racism; Some Latin American Countries Breaking COVID-19 Records. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired July 18, 2020 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A legend lost: U.S. Congress man and civil rights icon John Lewis dies at 80.
Coronavirus cases climb across the U.S. as an unpublished White House report revealed red zone states that it says should roll back reopening.
And a showdown on the streets of Portland, Oregon. How officials are trying to get the troops out.
Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Kim Brunhuber.
Civil rights icon and U.S. lawmaker John Lewis --
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BRUNHUBER: -- He was 80 years old. Lewis marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. Later becoming a Congress member for the Georgia district which includes much of Atlanta. As Martin Savidge tells us, whatever the role, Lewis was steadfast in one thing.
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MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Throughout his life, John Lewis stood for people's rights. Born on an Alabama cotton farm into a segregated America, he would not only live to see an African American elected president but he would be a major part of making it happen.
JOHN LEWIS, CIVIL RIGHTS ICON: Tonight, we gather here in this magnificent state in Denver, because we still have a dream. We still have a dream.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Lewis, growing up, was angered by the unfairness of the Jim Crow South. He credited Martin Luther King Jr. for inspiring him to join the civil rights movement. Eventually, Lewis would become one of its most prominent leaders.
As a student, he organized sit-ins at lunch counters. In the early '60s, he was a freedom rider, challenging segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South. The embodiment of nonviolence, he frequently suffered beatings by angry mobs.
Lewis, 23 years old at the time, was the youngest speaker at the 1963 March on Washington.
LEWIS: We do not want our freedom gradually but we want to be free now.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Then two years later, led a march for voting rights in Selma.
On the Edmund Pettus Bridge, he and many other marchers were met by heavily armed state and local police. They were set upon and beaten, Lewis suffering a fractured skull. It would be forever remembered as Bloody Sunday.
The images of brutality shocked the nation, galvanizing support for the Voting Rights Act signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson.
Lewis never lost his young activist spirit, taking it from protest to politics. Standing up for what he believed was right, Lewis was arrested more than 40 times by police, according to his congressional office.
LEWIS: I'm on my way and we're going to win this race.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): He was elected to city council in Atlanta, then to Congress in Washington, representing Georgia's 5th District, fighting against poverty and for health care, while working to help younger generations by improving education.
He reached out to young people in other ways, co-writing a series of graphic novels about the civil rights movement, winning him a national book award.
In a life of so many moments and great achievements, it was the achievement of another in 2008 that perhaps meant the most, the election of president Barack Obama.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states. We are and always will be the United States of America.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): A dream, Lewis admits, was too impossible to consider decades before, even as he fought to forge his foundation.
LEWIS: This is an unbelievable period in our history. Martin Luther King Jr. would be very pleased to see what is happening in America. This is a long way from the march on Washington. It's a great distance from marching across the bridge in Selma in 1965 for the right to vote. SAVIDGE (voice-over): In 2011, after more than 50 years on the front
lines of civil rights, Lewis received the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, placed around his neck, by America's first black president.
Lewis wasn't content to just making history, he was also dedicated to preserving it.
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SAVIDGE (voice-over): Considered the impetus of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.
And he never stop stirring up "good trouble," as he liked to call it, boycotting the inaugurations of George W. Bush after the contested 2000 election and vocally opposing Donald Trump in 2017, citing suspicions of Russian election meddling.
At a protest against President Trump's immigration policy, the congressman, by then an elder statesman of the Democratic Party, riled up the crowd, with words he had lived by as an activist, as a lawmaker, as a leader.
LEWIS: We must never, ever, give up. We must be brave, bold and courageous.
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BRUNHUBER: Former U.S. president Barack Obama said this, "Not many of us get to live to see our own legacy play out in such a meaningful, remarkable way. John Lewis did. And thanks to him, we now all have our marching orders: to keep believing in the possibility of remaking this country we love until it lives up to its full promise."
California senator Kamala Harris wrote, quote, "John Lewis was an icon that who fought with every ounce of his being to advance the cause of civil rights for all Americans. I'm devastated for his family, friends, staff and all those whose lives he touched. My friend, thank you for showing the world what good trouble looks like."
There were actually two major civil rights figures who passed away on Friday. Reverend C.T. Vivian, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom died Friday morning and then Congress man John Lewis. Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., says Americans need to keep their civil rights work moving forward. She told Don Lemon how to get started.
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REV. BERNICE KING, CEO, MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. CENTER: This morning, we're having (INAUDIBLE).
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
KING: Tonight, Congressman John Lewis, who my family affectionately called Uncle John. And you know as I think about it, I think it is sending a very loud message to this nation that we've got to get it right with the Voting Rights Act and with voting in general.
You know, my hope and prayer is that this will send a signal to Congress that it's time to restore the Voting Rights Act. These two men literally sacrificed their lives for preserving voting rights. And most of them beat on the head in Selma, Alabama, one of the steps of the courthouse by Sheriff Jim Clark and the other one on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
So it's a time for us to get that right and the time for those who have been indifferent and cynical about voting in this nation to really understand that people sacrificed and suffered and died.
Many people died, some people died. But these men, these gentlemen sacrificed their very lives, almost lost their lives, for the right to vote and so that's our citizenship right and it's a right we should exercise with dignity.
And we must fight voter suppression and once and for all do away with it.
But you know, Don, you know, John Lewis was one of very few people who really remained consistent and true to my father's nonviolence philosophy and methodology. He was a true non-violent warrior, through and through and a very pure heart. There are very few pure hearted people in this world. And he was a pure hearted man.
You know, his only motive was to stand up for what was right, to speak for those who could not speak for themselves. It was never about him. It was always about the struggle, the cause and justice and freedom. And, you know, we lost these kind of leaders.
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BRUNHUBER: And earlier, CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers also reflected on the civil rights legacy of John Lewis.
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BAKARI SELLERS (D), FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: People forget how long John Lewis has been in this game of justice and fighting for equality. I think he was 23 years old, if I'm not mistaken, was the youngest speaker at the March on Washington.
You know, his relationship in Snick with Marion Barry, with Julian Bond, he was a student of Ella Baker and Fannie Lou Hamer. There is so much that encompasses who this man is today.
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SELLERS: And not only that, but continuously speaking out, even as he is dying against Governor Kemp and Donald Trump and just saying that they are the antithesis of what he believed to be true American values.
And I've said something on this network often; I've said it on your show before. But a lot of times we confuse prejudice and patriotism. I want people watching this, Democrat, Republican, black, white, doesn't matter where you're from, to understand that the essence of the American story is John Lewis.
John Lewis' blood literally runs through the soil of this great country. John Lewis was beaten. John Lewis lost loved ones along the way. But he never stopped being the north star and he never stopped fighting for justice and he never stopped being the conscience of this country.
John Lewis also realized something that other people take for granted. As we're having this reckoning on race, he also realized that the election of Barack Obama was not the end or culmination of justice in this country but instead of the beginning of where we need to go.
So tonight is a tough night. However, we have so much to celebrate, Don. We have unfortunately done a few funerals together on TV. But you just know that Atlanta music. You just know that Atlanta whooping they going to do at that church down there and that sermon they going to have when they lay him to rest is going to be something that I just can't wait to be a part of because there is so much to celebrate in the life of John Lewis.
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BRUNHUBER: And sports legends, too, are paying respect to John Lewis. Basketball star LeBron James tweeted, "Rest in paradise, John Lewis, #CivilRightsIcon, thank you."
Coming up, coronavirus numbers are spiking in the U.S. and Americans continue to argue over wearing face masks. We'll have the latest on the pandemic and more after the break.
Plus, President Trump's niece is spilling family secrets in her new book. What she told CNN about her powerful uncle coming up after break.
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BRUNHUBER: Our other top story, the coronavirus pandemic. While Americans argue over face masks, COVID-19 is racing through the U.S. population with abandon. More than 70,000 new cases were reported on Friday for the second day in a row.
Alarming spikes are being reported in many states and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects another 18,000 people will die over the next three weeks.
The mayor's office in Miami, Florida, says there are far more critically ill patients who need intensive care than available ICU beds. And as the U.S. cases surge, the debate over masks comes to a head in one state. CNN's Athena Jones reports.
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ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a new epicenter for the virus. Florida now leading the nation in cases per capita.
ALBERTO CARVALHO, SUPERINTENDENT, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: We are at the center of America's epicenter for COVID-19.
JONES (voice-over): The virus even forcing the temporary closure of part of the state's emergency operation center after a dozen employees tested positive. The toll on southern Florida particularly evident as hospitals in hard-hit Miami-Dade County have started to overflow. Intensive care units now at 119 percent capacity.
Coronavirus infections now trending upward in 38 states. With national coronavirus case numbers hitting new highs on a near daily basis, topping a record 77,000 on Thursday.
The nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci with a warning.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: People keep talking about the possibility of a second wave in the fall when you're having, you know, up to 70,000 new infections in certain areas of the country, that's something you need to focus on right now as opposed to looking ahead at what's going to happen in September or in October.
JONES (voice-over): And the debate over masks rages on.
FAUCI: Masks are important.
JONES (voice-over): Despite clear guidance from public health officials.
FAUCI: I would urge the leaders, the local political and other leaders in states and cities and towns to be as forceful as possible in getting your citizenry to wear masks.
JONES (voice-over): Colorado's governor now says data from cities with mask mandates convinced him to issue one statewide.
GOV. JARED POLIS (D-CO): The areas that had mask requirements had 15 to 20 percent more people that wore masks and even more importantly, they had substantially reduced spread of the virus.
JONES (voice-over): Meanwhile in Georgia.
DR. KATHLEEN TOOMEY, GEORGIA PUBLIC HEALTH COMMISSIONER: We continue to see outbreaks in workplaces, in businesses, in congregate settings, daycares, camps, fraternity houses, many churches.
JONES (voice-over): A legal battle over the mayor of Atlanta's mask order. GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): Mayor Bottom's mask mandate cannot be enforced. But her decision to shut her businesses and undermine economic growth is devastating. I refuse to sit back and watch as disastrous policies threaten the lives and livelihoods of our citizens.
MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D), ATLANTA, GA: What I see happening is that the governor is putting politics over people for the governor to sue us on a mask mandate when the CDC has told us that it helps save lives really speaks to the lack of leadership.
JONES: And there's more news on the mask front, one of the hardest hit communities in one of the hardest hit states. Starting Monday, people in Miami will no longer get a warning when they fail to wear a mask. They'll be fined for their first offense. The fine starts at $50 and increases with each additional offense -- Athena Jones, CNN, New York.
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BRUNHUBER: The White House is blocking the director of the CDC from testifying on Capitol Hill about how to safely reopen schools. A White House official says it is because Dr. Robert Redfield has testified over the last three months four times. The House Education Committee called the move "alarming."
This comes as the CDC also delayed releasing new recommendations for sending children back to classrooms. And there's more news on the mask front. Officials in Oklahoma City voted Friday to require face coverings in indoor public spaces.
And the U.S. Army post at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, issued similar orders for personnel. But the commander in chief is not ready to make the country cover its face.
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BRUNHUBER: Mr. Trump was asked on FOX News about opposition to a nationwide mask mandate.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, I want people to have a certain freedom and I don't believe in that. No. And I don't agree with the statement that if everybody wore a mask, everything would disappears.
Hey, Dr. Fauci said don't wear a mask. Our surgeon general, terrific guy, said don't wear a mask. Everybody was saying don't wear a mask, all of a sudden, everyone has got to wear a mask. And as you know, masks cause problems, too.
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BRUNHUBER: To discuss this, let's bring in Dr. Ron Daniels. He works at the NHS and is the founder and director of the U.K. Sepsis Trust. Thank you for making the time for us. Let's start in the U.S., the
country worst affected and the constant theme we're seeing, unreleased reports, CDC officials muzzled.
How difficult is it to fight this when the information is being suppressed?
DR. RON DANIELS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, U.K. SEPSIS TRUST: As someone external to the U.S. and we see this important White House report that as you say seems to have been stifled. This is publicly important information. We can't expect governors and individual states to make the right decisions if they don't have the right data.
We have seen this in a lesser way here in the U.K., where we had outbreaks and the local governors and councils have not had the information they needed. It is crucial this information be shared.
BRUNHUBER: So you know, in the U.K., there's a different response, when you compare the response in countries that have fought COVID-19 successfully. You see the patchwork response in the U.S., with different states going in different directions.
How possible is it to fight this state by state?
Or does the country eventually need a national strategy?
DANIELS: Well, there has to be a top level national strategy of course. My personal view and I would not normally say such positive things, is that the approach of the White House has been sensible. This does need to be devolved.
If you look at the way cases have waxed and waned from state to state and we hear about Florida being hard-hit now, really the United States is behaving like 50 small countries and two small principalities.
These are individual local measures; this is not the case that the virus has spread in the same way throughout the entire country.
BRUNHUBER: But you certainly hear many local officials and governors and even many medical experts saying we do need top-down in position of certain measures to give them cover on things like making masks mandatory and things like that.
Isn't there a place for strong national measures here?
DANIELS: There is if the public can't behave. You know, again, as an outsider, in the United States, there has been some social distancing. People accept masks. They are uncomfortable. There is no adverse consequence, apart from you can't see the facial expressions.
But there are other states in which people are declaring their right not to wear a mask. If that is presenting a barrier to mask wearing, and it is a balance. It is a balance between the rights of the person to act in a free way and moral duty to others. It is your moral duty to protect others and show you respect others. BRUNHUBER: On the COVID-19 front, there is some hopeful news. That's
on the treatment side of things. I want to play a clip from Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health.
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DR. FRANCIS COLLINS, DIRECTOR, NIH: So we will have, if one of these trials shows success, tens of millions of doses of that vaccine ready to go by the end of 2020, the end of this calendar year. That's never been done at this speed before.
One of the things I'm worried about is, there's a lot of skepticism in America about the vaccine. And something like 25 percent of people say, I'm not sure I would take that vaccine.
It'll be really critical to do that if we're going to develop the level of herd immunity across the country so that this doesn't come roaring back.
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BRUNHUBER: That leads to a couple of obvious questions.
On the first clip, do you share his optimism about treatment?
DANIELS: So yes. Vaccines are about prevention rather than treatment. Certainly we have multiple organizations taking vaccines into the next phase of clinical trials. Many going into phase three, which is where they're testing the efficacy of the drug.
This is not just testing if it is safe but is it effective at preventing the disease. The safety profile has been established. We now need to establish if these work. There's multiple companies around the world, in the U.K., Imperial College, Oxford University.
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DANIELS: There's some of the big pharmaceuticals as well as many great organizations in the U.S. We will have a vaccine sooner or later.
We hope it's sooner but we can't guarantee it'll be this year.
BRUNHUBER: I want to point out, when he was talking about a couple of months, he was talking of treatments and not necessarily vaccine. He is optimistic about a successful vaccine by the end of the year.
The second part of the clip you heard him say, you know, there are many vaccine skeptics.
Is there a danger of a paradox, that people are literally dying to get it and a significant portion of Americans with access who won't want it?
DANIELS: At the risk of inflaming social media, we have to take control. There's a responsibility of the social media companies as concerns the anti-vaxers. Vaccines have been effective in eradicating polio and we are not going to win against COVID-19 unless we have broad uptake of vaccines.
There are two drugs that two trials have shown to be effective in improving and they are available now, the steroid dexamethasone. And the antivirals seem to shorten the length of illness for people in hospital. So that is good news. It's encouraging.
BRUNHUBER: We'll leave on that positive note. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.
Federal authorities are arresting protesters in Portland, Oregon, and state leaders say it is making a tense situation more dangerous. We'll talk about that next and find out who President Trump is blaming for the current social unrest in the U.S.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
The U.S. attorney for Oregon is requesting an investigation into federal authorities who are arresting protesters in Portland. Videos show unidentified masked officers were detaining people. They are calling for an end to racial inequality and police brutality. Oregon's governor and Portland's mayor are demanding the federal troops leave, saying their actions are abuse of power.
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GOV. KATE BROWN (D-OR): I was very clear with the secretary that having federal officers here is like pouring gasoline on a fire. This is appalling. When we need help from the federal government, testing supplies and personal protective equipment, they are MIA.
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BRUNHUBER: Josh Campbell is in Portland and shows us what is going on.
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JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: We're here in Portland, Oregon, where this community continues to demand answers following the release of a very controversial video on social media, depicting several heavily armed tactical officers moving toward a man, taking him over to a nearby unmarked vehicle and then taking him away.
That caused widespread outcries from some of the protesters who've been calling for an end to the excessive use of force by police officers. We have been trying to determine who these officers were.
I reached out to a number of federal agencies, asking them whether these teams belonged to their departments. We heard from none of them on Friday. We finally got a statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, indicating the agents seen on the video belong to that agency.
That statement said CPB agents had information indicating the person in the video was suspected of assault against federal agents, for destruction of federal property. Once CPB agents approached the suspect, a large and violent mob moved toward their location.
For everyone's safety, CPB agents quickly moved the suspect to a safer location for further questioning. It is worth pointing out we don't know what happened before the video or after the video that was posted on social media.
The statement from law enforcement saying this person they were seeking to question they believe was involved in some type of criminal activity. We don't know what happened to this person.
I reached out to see if the individual was charged or released. So far, we have heard nothing. That's not stopping protesters here in Portland continuing to come together. As you see behind me, this is the 50th day of protesters who have gathered outside the federal building calling for an end to the surge in federal resources we have seen in town and also calling for racial justice and the end of excessive use of force by police -- Josh Campbell, CNN, Portland.
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BRUNHUBER: Oregon's Democratic senator Jeff Merkley pointed out on Twitter, authoritarian governments, democratic republics and unmarked authorities after protesters.
U.S. President Trump is blaming Democratic state leaders and protesters for shootings and violence in the country. He spoke with Chris Wallace of FOX News.
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CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: You have seen deaths in New York, deaths up in Chicago ,shootings.
How do you explain it and what are you going to do about it?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I explain it very simply by saying if they're Democrat run cities, they are liberally run, they are stupidly run.
WALLACE: Liberal Democrats have been running cities in this country for decades.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Poorly.
WALLACE: Why is it so bad right now?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: They've run them poorly. It was always bad. But now it has gotten totally out of control. And that is really because they want to defund the police. And Biden wants to defund -- WALLACE: Sir, he does not.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Look, he signed a charter with Bernie Sanders.
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WALLACE: -- says nothing about defunding --
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Oh, really?
It says abolish. It's says the fund -- let's go.
WALLACE: All right --
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Get me the charter, please.
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BRUNHUBER: As Chris Wallace said, there is no mention of defunding the police in that policy document put together by Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders' team. In fact, Joe Biden has called for strong investment in community policing and more funding for police overall.
And adding to the conversations about racism is Mary Trump, the niece of President Trump. Her new tell-all book is out. It's called, "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man."
Earlier, Mary Trump spoke with CNN's Chris Cuomo about her uncle's alleged racist behavior.
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CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: You've heard him use language and express ideas that are bigoted, period?
MARY TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S NIECE: Yes.
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CUOMO: And you think he does so with animus, that he has a problem with black people?
M. TRUMP: Yes. Also, he thinks it will work with his base. It's operating on both levels.
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BRUNHUBER: Now the White House denies the claims.
By the way, Mary Trump is a psychologist. She said the president is psychologically damaged because of his upbringing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CUOMO: Was he known as the smart one?
M. TRUMP: No. He hasn't changed much. And I think, you know, if we only knew him now and extrapolated backwards, it would be pretty obvious.
Donald is a psychologically deeply damaged man based on his upbringing and the situation with his parents. He is not going to get better. And he is without question going to get worse.
CUOMO: What is your biggest concern?
M. TRUMP: That he be allowed to continue unfettered throughout this extraordinary confluence of crises we're facing at the moment. And I do not see him at all to be improving. And in fact, every day it seems to be getting worse.
It is very, very concerning and I truly hope that the American people see it that way and, you know, make the right choice when we're able to make that choice in November.
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BRUNHUBER: At least three police officers are being investigated for manslaughter in France in a case similar to that of George Floyd in the U.S. Cedric Chouviat's last words were the French for "I can't breathe." Melissa Bell reports that his death is forcing a national conversation in France about police use of force.
And please be aware that this report contains graphic images.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is no shortage of video of Cedric Chouviat's January 3rd encounter with the police. A simple police check near the Eiffel Tower that led to an argument and then to Chouviat being pinned down and allegedly held in a chokehold.
Footage captured by witnesses show the police trying to resuscitate the 42-year-old delivery man who went into cardiac arrest and died in hospital two days later. For months, his family and lawyers campaigned for justice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We are not in the United States but we are getting more like the United States by the persistence of police brutality and by the denial that goes with them.
BELL (voice-over): But more than six months on, three of the four police officers involved have been placed under formal investigation after transcripts of audio recorded on Chouviat's phone during encounter were leaked to the press.
Those revealed that Chouviat had said seven times that he was suffocating. All four police officers denied any wrongdoing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Of course they didn't hear the words "I'm suffocating." They were spoken into a microphone that was up against his mouth. They were struggling to handcuff him. They did not hear that.
BELL (voice-over): The case has also led to calls in France for the chokehold technique allegedly used to be banned. But facing pressure from police, the interior minister is delayed plans to ban it, leaving Chouviat's father to appeal directly to President Macron.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Mr. Macron, you must stop the use of the chokehold because you are a murderer if you allow it to happen. The chokehold is murder.
BELL (voice-over): Chouviat's family say their only luck is that so much footage of the incident exists. But beyond the investigation itself, the question is how much it is likely to change things in France?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But see, the difference in terms of awareness in the United States with George Floyd, it is a game changer. In France, it is still not a game changer. So we still have a long way to do. But we're going to do it.
BELL (voice-over): Recent protests inspired by events overseas but focus on local cases suggest that here, too, an important conversation has at least begun -- Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
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BRUNHUBER: A historic church has caught fire in Western France. Crews responded early Saturday morning to flames and smoke at the 15th century Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul in Nantes. Officials say the fire has been contained and didn't reach the roof but the organ was destroyed.
The city's mayor tells a CNN affiliate that flames broke out in three places and now an arson investigation has been launched. It was just over a year ago that the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was badly damaged in a devastating fire.
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BRUNHUBER: Confirmed cases of COVID-19 are spiking in Latin American countries, even breaking records. Coming up, an overview of the troubles the continent is experiencing.
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BRUNHUBER: Many Latin American countries are really struggling with the coronavirus. Numbers keep rising as records are broken. Some countries worry their health care system may collapse if things get worse. CNN's Matt Rivers has more.
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MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than 3.5 million total cases, roughly 150,000 deaths and counting. Many outbreaks across Latin America and the Caribbean are improving and top regional health officials are not mincing words.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We witness another record breaking week as regional hotspots reported their highest ever daily case counts.
RIVERS (voice-over): Hotspots like Brazil, which now has surpassed 2 million cases for the first time, among those, its president and coronavirus skeptic, Jair Bolsonaro, who twice tested positive this week.
He says he is feeling fine and wants to get back to work. The more than 75,000 Brazilians who have died from this virus do not have that opportunity.
Meanwhile, Mexico, with more than 37,000 deaths, trails only the U.S., Brazil and the U.K. in total deaths worldwide. But this graph shows a clear trend. Mexico likely set to overtake the U.K.'s death toll in just a matter of weeks.
Plus, troubling signs in smaller countries throughout the region. In Guatemala, where cases are 6 times taller than they were six weeks ago, doctors told the IFP they fear hospitals could collapse, amidst calls for greater help from the government.
This doctor says what is killing us is not the virus; it is the indifference of the state. It is the indifference of the health authorities.
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RIVERS (voice-over): And in Bolivia, the number of cases is more than five times higher than it was on June 1st, the Bolivian president announced she and at least 7 cabinet ministers have the virus as videos like this continue to circulate, overwhelmed authorities are unable to collect the bodies of suspected COVID victims.
This neighbor says, "We are asking the authorities, please, you cannot leave a body here. More than 12 hours have passed and this is a risk for the families that live nearby."
Coronavirus tragedy is something that South American neighbor, Chile, is familiar with. Its more than 320,000 cases among the highest in the world but this week it reported less than 2,000 new cases in a day, twice, for the first time since mid-May. It's good news in a region that could use some-- Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
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BRUNHUBER: Britain's prime minister wants the country to think about getting back to work in their actual offices as soon as August 1st. Boris Johnson says if workplaces are COVID-19 secure, employers should be able to decide if it is time to go back to the office. He also hopes the country can start a significant return to normal by
November at the earliest. Britain's chief medical officer warns it's likely that social distancing measures will be in place for a long period of time.
Another Bollywood actor in the coronavirus hospital ward, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and her family testing positive last week. She and her daughter had been in self quarantine in their home but were moved to a hospital in Mumbai on Friday after complaining of difficulty of breathing.
Now the whole family is there. A hospital sources told one news agency they're fine.
Still to come, we remember civil rights icon John Lewis and hear his own reflections on a life that changed the course of history.
First, listen to the young John Lewis from 1963, speaking words that still reverberate more than half a century later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEWIS: To those who have said, "Be patient and wait," we have long said that we cannot be patient. We do not want our freedom gradually but we want to be free now.
We are tired. We are tired of being beaten by policemen. We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jail over and over again. And then you holler, "Be patient."
How long can we be patient?
We want our freedom and we want it now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[05:50:00]
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BRUNHUBER: Returning to our top story, civil rights icon and U.S. lawmaker John Lewis has died. He was 80 years old. Lewis was a giant in the American civil rights movement that took hold in the 1950s and grew in the decades that followed.
He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in the 1960s, helping to organize a landmark voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and was among 600 demonstrators attacked by police.
Since 1987, Lewis represented Georgia's 5th congressional district, which includes much of Atlanta. Last December he announced he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer and now at age 80 has passed away. Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young has known Lewis since their days
as Civil Rights activists in the 1960s. Earlier Young spoke with CNN's Don Lemon. Young remembered his colleague and friend with a bit of levity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW YOUNG, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Going home is always good. You got to die, too. So you just as well get ready and live a good life so that you are ready when your time comes. You know now the day nor the hour. And I don't think anybody has spend 80 more fruitful years on Earth than John Lewis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: That was former U.S. Congress member and former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young.
Two years ago, CNN's Dana Bash accompanied Lewis to Selma, Alabama, for the 53rd anniversary of what became known as Bloody Sunday. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEWIS: This was sacred. This is hallowed. This is where people gave some blood. I gave a little blood on this bridge.
DANA BASH, CNN SR. U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fifty-three years after you all marched on this bridge, why is it so important to come back and to keep coming back every year?
LEWIS: This is the place that gave us the Voting Rights Act, made it possible for hundreds and thousands and millions of people to be able to participate in the democratic process.
BASH: You led a movement of young people back in the civil rights movement. There is a new organic movement of young people begging Washington and begging local leaders for change.
What do you see in the new movement?
LEWIS: Well, I see so much hope.
BASH: It was March 7th, 1965, that John Lewis marched across this bridge on Bloody Sunday. He got to the other side and he was met by a billy club.
But every year, almost every year since, he has been walking across, bringing people from all stripes, from all parties, all races and religions to come here to experience this with him. He's got a Republican on his left. He's got a Democratic senator on his right.
Listen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, John Lewis.
[05:55:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It takes a John Lewis to bring us together and remind us that progress, you know, is elusive. Every generation has to fight for it.
REP. BRADLEY BYRNE (R-AL): Compromise is the hallmark of America. That's how we came to be a country. And we somehow lost the ability to do that in certain issues. So I think it is like inspiration to go back to here, back to Washington and say, OK, let's try again because it may take several times before we get the compromise.
BASH: For young people who are just learning about your dad and about what he led, what is the most important thing for them to take away?
MARTIN LUTHER KING III, MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.'S SON: You know, I think the most important thing is to understand the concept of nonviolence. Many are very, very proud of the young people in Parkland who are leading, not following and waiting for something to happen.
This three-day civil rights pilgrimage crossed not only over party lines, it crossed generations. Teenagers also came on this journey. Charlotte Potes (ph) was one of them.
How can we wrestle with our parents that is respectful so we can aid them in seeing that normal children can fight in the movement and fight for justice as well?
LEWIS: Tell them that you've been touched by the spirit of history.
BASH: As someone who successfully led a movement as a young person, what is your number one bit of advice for the young people protesting and marching this month?
LEWIS: Just give it all you got and not get weary. Be hopeful. Be optimistic and take the long, hard look. We had some difficulty. They will have some difficulty. They will have some setbacks. But you cannot give up. You cannot give in. You will make it. They will lead us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: A legend has fallen but what a life.
That wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. The news continues.
