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Florida Governor Says Cases Have Stabilized; California Hit Hard, Has Most COVID-19 Cases in US; New COVID-19 Cases Soaring Across the US; Health Expert in Brazil Slams Bolsonaro's "Bad Example"; Experts Warn of High Infection Rates on African Continent; Fierce Competition to Come Up With COVID-19 Vaccine; Experts Fear Americans May Refuse COVID-19 Vaccine; Police And Protesters Face Off In Portland, Oregon; Supporters Of Arrested Governor March in Defiance Of Putin; Hanna Makes Landfall As Category 1 Hurricane; 100 Days Until US Presidential Election. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired July 26, 2020 - 01:00   ET

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

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[01:00:52]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN HOST: The coronavirus continues its ruthless march across the globe. Brazil and the US leading the world with another day of soaring numbers.

Also, anger on the streets of America. We have the situation in the flashpoint city of Portland, Oregon for you.

And also, a hero's final journey. America begins a long said goodbye to the late Congressman John Lewis.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to CNN Newsroom. I'm Michael Holmes.

And let's start with Brazil. It recorded more than 50,000 new cases on Saturday for the fourth straight day. The country already has the second highest case count in the world according to Johns Hopkins. That's not stopping the President Jair Bolsonaro from taking off his mask in public.

Mexico's president meanwhile, says a mask isn't, quote, scientifically proven to help, so he just might wear one. Health experts, of course, disagree, strongly. Meanwhile, that country, Mexico just reported more than 6,700 new cases and has the fourth highest death toll in the world.

And it seems the threat is not over in Vietnam. For the first time in 100 days, it has a locally transmitted infection after fighting the virus extremely successfully.

The US reporting more than 64,000 new cases on Saturday, months into this pandemic. States still setting records for infections and four deaths. Let's have a look at what is happening in some of those states like California which has the most cases in the US But first, let's go to Florida which is rethinking about opening bars even as hospitals are overwhelmed.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis maintains that the number of COVID-19 cases in his state have stabilized. Look, if you look at the numbers this past week for at least four days, the number of cases hovered at around 10,000. But in the past two days, they've exceeded 12,000. I asked an infectious disease expert for her take and she says it is too early to claim victory. She said, Rosa, you've got to look at the hospitalizations, you've got to look at the number of ICUs being used, and we did. Across the state of Florida, the number of hospitalizations have increased by 79 percent in the past three weeks. This is according to stay data.

Now, I'm in Miami Dade County, the epicenter of this crisis in this state. It accounts for 25 percent of the now more than 400,000 cases in this state and ICUs right now are operating at 137 percent. What that means is that there are more patients than there are ICU beds. What the county is doing is they are converting beds into ICUs.

Now we've got a look at ventilator use. The use of ventilators has increased by 62 percent in the past two weeks. As for the positivity rate in this county, it's at 19.7 percent. The goal for that county is not to exceed 10 percent. Well, the 14-day average right now is 19.4 percent.

Now this week, we also learned that the state of Florida has a shortage of nurses. We learned from the state that 51 hospitals from across the state have asked for help. They're asking the state of Florida to deploy more than 2,400 nurses.

Now, despite all these facts and figures, we also learned today in a tweet that Florida is thinking about reopening bars. Take a look at this. This is from the Florida secretary of business and regulation. He tweeted, quote, next week, starting Friday, I'm going to set meetings throughout Florida with breweries and bars to discuss ideas on how to reopen. We will come up with a safe, smart, and step-by-step plan based on input, science and relative facts on how to reopen as soon as possible.

[01:05:05]

Now I'm not sure what relev -- relative facts are, but here are the relevant facts involving the state of Florida right now and the reopening. Florida closed bars a month ago, that's when cases exceeded 9,000. Well, that record has been broken. It was broken two weeks ago when the state of Florida in one day exceeded more than 15,000 cases.

And the other important data point is to look at the positivity rate because that indicates spread. In the past two weeks, the state of Florida has had a positivity rate ranging from 13 to 18 percent.

Rosa Flores, CNN, Miami.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Los Angeles County, they are testing fast and furiously, including here at the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. They moved people through in cars and on foot, and the numbers in L.A. County rising. This new batch shows that 3,628 new people have tested positive for COVID-19. There have been 53 new deaths.

Now, we need to clarify that L.A. County was warning all along that they expected a spike in cases because there was a backlog in the system. They just hadn't counted all the cases due to a glitch. And the 10 percent positivity rate is also better news.

But, there's still this sort of underlying thing that haunts people in the medical profession. And that's when some people talk about hoaxes or perhaps this is just the flu. Well, let's talk to the dean of this university.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DEBORAH PROTHROW-STITH, CHARLES R. DREW UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE AND SCIENCE: We can stop this pandemic. We can definitely slow it down. We could probably stop it by doing a better job of personal responsibility and hygiene. Washing your hands, using sanitizer, wearing your mask, social distancing, those things work. They absolutely work and we just need everybody to do it. This is not a political issue, this is a health issue. And it's just something we all need to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And the hospitalizations steady here in L.A. County, they're just above 2,000. And Mayor Garcetti has threatened further shutdowns if these numbers do not improve.

Reporting from Los Angeles, I'm Paul Vercammen. Now back to you.

HOLMES: All right, let's turn now to Dr. Jorge Rodriguez in Los Angeles, an internal medicine and viral specialists. Good to see again, Doctor.

You know, it's interesting, cases in the US have doubled in six weeks. I mean, the southern US has a quarter of the world's cases, Florida 50 hospitals at full ICU capacity. I mean, what does that show to you particularly when we talk about testing levels being too low, results too slow?

DR. JORGE RODRIGUEZ, INTERNAL MEDICINE AND VIRAL SPECIALIST: Both? I think we haven't been testing enough. We haven't done a good job in educating people. We haven't done a good job in motivating people to try to prevent this from spreading. So, you know, I vacillate between getting mad and getting sad, just because sometimes it appears so overwhelming a task. So obviously, we need to test more, we need to know where things are going. But more than that, we need to somehow flick that switch to make people realize that this is a problem that we all face. And it has been said it's not political, not at all.

HOLMES: There's even talk, I mean, in Florida of reopening bars. I mean, this is mind-boggling. What are your thoughts on suggestions of a total reset regarding closures in some parts of the country as some are suggesting? RODRIGUEZ: Listen, I think in the best of all possible worlds, that would be ideal. But unfortunately, we don't live in the best of all possible worlds. In this country, we have four things lacking. One is inspirational and clear leadership at the federal level starting with a president. And without that, we're not going to accomplish anything. We don't have a Churchill or we don't have a Roosevelt in order to tell the people to do this because we will succeed. That's number one.

Number two, the scientific infrastructure has failed us from the beginning where we don't have enough testing, and even then -- even now, I mean, it has not been corrected. Thirdly, if you're going to close up, do you need a financial plan so that people do not lose their livelihood, can feed their families.

And fourth and most sadly, I don't think that the part of the United States has the resolve to do this. Listen, in Europe and Asia, I think it's different because several countries have gone through decimation through war and they know that they have to pull together to succeed. Unfortunately, there's a portion of the population of the United States that in order to sacrifice to them, that's way too inconvenient.

So we --

[01:10:05]

HOLMES: Yes.

RODRIGUEZ: -- you know.

HOLMES: Yes, and infringes on their freedoms. I mean, it is. I mean, I see it in my own area.

I wanted to touch on this before we go, this wide-ranging debate on the reopening of schools in the US I mean, the education secretary basically says, returning to class should be the default for schools to reopen as normal which is extraordinary. The president's been pushing it for weeks. But, you know, you got a lot of polls out there showing that a lot of parents are reluctant. You know, I think more than twice as many cases today as we did a month ago, 38 states seeing increases. Does that sound like the right time to send kids back to classrooms and teachers for that matter?

RODRIGUEZ: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. And we're seeing now children that are starting to get this infection. And the reason we haven't seen them as they haven't been going to school. There are some places in the United States where it might be safe to do it in an organized fashion, but certainly not in Florida, certainly not in Texas. Why should we embark at the national experiment of using our children as guinea pigs? Let's wait until we get this under better control.

HOLMES: Yes, it does seem extraordinary. Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, really appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

Now, one of Brazil's top infectious disease experts says President Jair Bolsonaro is setting a, quote, bad example for the rest of the country. Why? Well, because Mr. Bolsonaro who has tested positive for coronavirus no less than three times has had several interactions with people without wearing a mask.

Here's Nick Paton Walsh.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: So much of the focus on coronavirus in Brazil over the past two weeks on one man, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who many accused of putting statements out that frankly have exacerbated Brazil's pandemic. Early Saturday morning, he put out a Twitter post saying that he had tested negative for coronavirus after three tests over the past two weeks that said he indeed had the virus. In that tweet photograph, he was seeing brandishing as he has done over the past weeks what seemed to be a packet of hydroxychloroquine. A medicine that doctors and scientists says useless, frankly, fighting the coronavirus and may even be harmful. But he's still been advocating for it, possibly even still in that post as well.

Afterwards, it seems he went on his motorcycle to visit a repair shop where he talked to fellow motorcyclists, was seen briefly not wearing a mask although he was wearing a visor and a motorcycle helmet at the same time that may have made that difficult. But he also talked -- but a familiar talking point, frankly, about how the damage that the lockdown does to stop the virus mustn't outweigh the damage the virus does itself. And in fact said contradicting earlier statements that said he experienced a fever. He said that he wouldn't even have known he'd had the virus unless it had a positive test.

Startling comments, frankly, to hear from a man who later went on Twitter to talk about freedom of speech case in the country here. A distraction for the terrifying numbers being seen in the country every day. Over the past three days every day we've seen over 50,000 new cases, 51,024 in 24 hours reported that ended in Saturday.

And that's according to one study that was government-funded, that cut the funding just this week. Those numbers may only be a sixth of the full picture here because to get a test, you have to have pretty bad symptoms here in Brazil. It's bad in the south, yet still through all of these increasingly bad numbers, the sort of positivity of President Jail Bolsonaro many says exacerbating the problem and many fear potentially that his visibly light symptoms and now positive -- negative diagnosis coming through this with good health it seems may in fact, encourage him to continue to play down the damage as far as he's doing that to Brazil.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Sao Paolo.

HOLMES: Health officials are worried about the rise in coronavirus cases right across South Africa. Just ahead, why they think it may be a dangerous warning of what's ahead for the rest of the continent. We'll be right back.

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[01:18:14] HOLMES: Welcome back.

The rate of coronavirus infection in South Africa is rapidly escalating and it is forcing officials there to take drastic action. But world health experts are afraid it might be a sign of things to come for other countries in the region. CNN's David McKenzie explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Freshly dug graves in Soweto. The death toll in South Africa has been low but COVID-19 is getting a second chance.

CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT: The coronavirus storm has indeed arrived as we said it would.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Coronavirus cases in South Africa are surging with more than 400,000 confirmed infections. A number that's been steadily rising since the country reopened parts of the economy nearly two months ago after a strict lockdown. And one that accelerated by more than 20 percent in just the past week. The spike is forcing the country to take measures to try and regain control of the virus. By shutting down schools again, re-imposing a nighttime curfew, and banning the sale of alcohol for a second time this year.

Health officials worry it's not the only country on the continent that will have to reverse course because of the pandemic.

DR. MICHAEL RYAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WHO HEALTH EMERGENCIES PROGRAMME: I think what we're starting to see is a continued acceleration of transmission in a number of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa will unfortunately be a precursor. It may be a warning for what will happen in the rest of Africa.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Experts say the rate of the increase is alarming. Within the last week, the WHO says Madagascar's cases have increased by half. Namibia jumped by 69 percent and Botswana rose by a 66 percent. Positive cases in Kenya have doubled in just two weeks.

[01:20:01]

Workers at a COVID-19 field hospital outside Nairobi say they are taking no chances and expanding the facility to care for a possible new wave of patients.

BERYL NEGESA, SENIOR NURSING OFFICER: It's temporary and it's the best. I think it's a best decision because it's an open air space and it's a big space where you can accommodate up to around 400 people.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Despite the increase in cases, the Democratic Republic of Congo is just beginning to reopen. But that didn't stop the celebratory mood at this bar in Kinshasa with one employer saying he's ready to welcome back his customers.

I'm putting the bear in the fridge, he says. It's been nearly four months because of the state of emergency, our business was stuck. And today, I'm very happy to start working again.

A grand reopening with an uncertain future but South Africa's example is any indication of what could be next for other African countries.

David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now, as so many countries dealing with surging COVID-19 cases, the need, of course, for a vaccine is urgent. And the race to come up with one is highly competitive. Nations already buying potential doses knowing they're taking a gamble.

Melissa Bell visits a lab that's in the competition.

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FABIEN PERUGI, HEAD OF PRE-CLINICAL RESEARCH FRANCE, VALNEVA: We have taken virus from patients, after we have to purify the virus.

MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The race for a vaccine has never been so fierce. Across the world, 166 potential COVID-19 vaccines are being worked on. Like Valneva SE here in Western France, the European pharmaceutical company has just sold 60 million doses of its potential future vaccine to the United Kingdom.

PERUGI: The aim is to provide by the end of 2021 60 million of doses and after to increase also the capacity.

BELL (voice-over): Valneva is hoping to be ready for clinical trials by the end of this year. Twenty-four other companies developing vaccines are already in that phase. And for now, many governments are hedging their bets.

FRANCK GRIMAUD, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF BUSINESS OFFICER, VALNEVA: All governments are absolutely aware that the pay order they are placing today is fully at risk. They place ultimately five to 10 pay orders on different programs. And they know that at the end, most likely only three will be successful.

BELL (voice-over): Which is why the British's deal with Valneva comes as part of a broader agreement with other companies. In July, the United Kingdom opted out of an E.U. vaccine alliance. It was created by four European countries to make up for the lack of coordination at E.U. level. European negotiations with the Valneva continue.

GRIMAUD: I think it was Kissinger who's saying Europe which is the phone number and it's exactly a little bit the same here. In US, there is one agency, Valda. A lesson to learn from these crises is that if we could have one centralized E.U. Valda let's say would make it next time very more efficient in terms of dealing with this kind of disease.

BELL (on camera): The four countries strong European alliance has now reached one deal for 400,000 vaccines with AstraZeneca. But it has yet to build the sort of portfolio announced by the United Kingdom on Monday. And Valneva's first vaccines will now go not to European countries but to the UK, their former E.U. partner.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, the race is on for a vaccine in America as well, but it doesn't exist in the recourse (INAUDIBLE). The best scenario is still that it's months away. And now a new fear that many Americans will have access to a vaccine but just won't get it.

CNN's Brian Todd with that.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's what millions of us have been hanging our hopes on to get past this crushing pandemic, to return to work, to school, to go back to our favorite restaurants and bars, to work out at the gym, a deployable vaccine for coronavirus which experts say could arrive late this year or early next. But experts are now worried that when it comes, many Americans will reject the vaccine.

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, FORMER US SURGEON GENERAL: Already surveys are showing us that nearly half of people are not inclined to take a COVID-19 vaccine, even if it was available today. That's a shocking number and it's deeply concerning.

TODD (voice-over): In May, one poll from the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs research showed only about half of Americans said they'd get the vaccine, 20 percent said they wouldn't, and 31 percent weren't sure. Other polls from CNN and the Washington Post and ABC News showed about two thirds of Americans said they would get the vaccine.

[01:25:01]

Still, experts are worried about any significant numbers of people rejecting the vaccine.

DR. PAUL OFFIT, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: If a large percentage chose not to get vaccinated, then we would never get (INAUDIBLE) immunity.

TODD (voice-over): Experts say there are several reasons that people don't trust a potential coronavirus vaccine.

ED YONG, SCIENCE WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: Lots of people are going to resist the very idea of getting it because they've been told for months, years now not to trust experts.

TODD (voice-over): Until recently, President Trump went against the advice of his own Task Force experts and rejected mask wearing. And during the pandemic, he's questioned the guidance of America's top scientists on reopening the country.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Dr. Fauci has made some mistakes, a little bit of an alarmist.

TODD (voice-over): But the mistrust of a vaccine cannot be placed only at the president's feet. Experts say the very name of the project to push the vaccine through fuel skepticism.

OFFIT: I think when people hear the term warp speed, they assume that steps are being skipped. They assume that there are corners that are being cut, and that therefore there's may be a vaccine because it's being made so quickly that's less than (INAUDIBLE). It may have poor safety qualities or effectiveness columns.

TODD (voice-over): Doctors acknowledged the vaccine likely won't be a magic bullet for coronavirus. That even after it comes out, it could be several months before we know how effective it is. But they have a simple stark message for those who are rejecting it.

OFFIT: The choice not to get a vaccine is a choice to take the real and very serious risk of being infected by this virus and being asked to suffer and/or be hospitalized or die from this virus.

TODD (on camera): Dr. Paul Offit says a crucial part of this vaccine program is for the president, the Task Force, any leaders involved in this to be as transparent as possible with the public about the vaccine even before it rolls out. And that means being honest with Americans about what our leaders know and don't know about the vaccine every step of the way.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: A quick break now. When we come back here on CNN Newsroom, protesters and police facing off in Seattle and in Portland. What's the situation at the moment? We will be live in Portland for you after the break.

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[01:30:00]

HOLMES: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes, I appreciate your company.

Now in Seattle on Saturday, there was violence and confusion as protesters and police clashed. Police tweeting that at least 16 people were arrested and three of their officers were injured. And police and protesters continue to face off in Portland, this after federal agents used flash bangs and tear gas to try to break up a crowd outside the federal courthouse late on Friday night, as has happened on several other nights as well.

A CNN news team said that before that happened, they launched a crowd of peaceful protests which chanting "black lives matter." CNN Correspondent Lucy Kafanov has been following these events for us in Portland. She's there now.

We check in with you last hour, what's been happening since?

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The crowd is growing bigger, Michael, more and more people taking to the streets. You know, we've seen these sort of self-organized marches from different parts of the town. All of the people congregating in front of the federal courthouse building which is become the new flashpoints of the racial justice protests. Protester now entering their 60th day.

There was really a powerful movement when a group of veterans march up to the street with cheers and claps from the crowd. They lined themselves up information in front of that federal courthouse saying that they are here to protect the demonstrators, to speak out against injustice, to use their bodies to try to protect the Black Lives Matter protesters.

We had a chance to speak with one of them, a retired new US Navy veteran Don Thomson. Take a listen to what he has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON THOMSON, VETERAN, US NAVY: We're all born here. This is our streets. That's our fence. It's on our property. Take it down. It's already been ruled illegal. Take it down and leave our town. Our police were doing a fine job and they are still doing a fine job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAFANOV: And it's interesting, Michael. There's no central organization for this. You know, the people that you see on the streets are ordinary citizens united and inspired by what they've seen on the ground, perhaps outraged. Now more recently, a reaction to what they describe as the excessive use of force by the federal agents here in Portland.

One of the biggest concerns has been the behavior of those federal agents. They've been deployed to the streets extensively to protect the federal building, but the behavior that we've seen, folks walking around in military fatigues, seizing demonstrators or people on the streets in unmarked vans, detaining them without probable cause. This is something that outrage, not only demonstrators, but city and state leaders.

The protesters are suffering two setbacks yesterday for, one, a federal judge denied the state the time to get an injunction to stop this kind of federal police action to get agents to, for example, identify themselves. That was blocked by a federal judge.

And also, a US attorney here announcing federal criminal charges against 18 people, that those crimes including assaulting federal officers. But by and large, Michael, you can see behind me, these are peaceful demonstrators. They are coming out day after day. The central message here is still trying to demand racial equality, trying to demand police reform.

We hear chants, say his name, George Floyd, say her name, Breonna Taylor, so many Black Americans who have been killed at the hands of police. That is the total points of this protest movement. Now, the federal further inflaming these tensions, Michael.

HOLMES: Yes, exactly. The crowds on the street and the anger have grown since those federal agents arrived. Lucy Kafanov, good to have you there. Thank you so much.

Joining me now is the Reverend ED Mondaine. He is the President of Portland's NAACP. I wanted to get you, I've read your op-ed in the Washington Post. You know, what we're seeing in places like Seattle and Portland, all started following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, of course, a global concentration on documented cases on police brutality against black men and women.

Now in your op-ed, you wrote this quote, "As the demonstrations continue every night in Portland, many people with their own agendas are co-opting and distracting attention from what should be our essential concern, the Black Lives Matter Movement."

[01:35:05]

Now, you call these protests as they are now a spectacle. Just explain what you mean.

REV. ED MONDAINE, PRESIDENT, PORTLAND NAACP: Well, the protests here in Portland are a welcome development from those of us who spent our entire adulthoods in the fight for a restored racial justice. But those protests were sparked by a video of a death of a man, we all know his name. And we ask people to say his name, George Floyd, at the hands of police.

For the first few weeks, we were chanting his name at the rallies, and holding up the mantle of Black Lives Matter. Now, while myself and the NAACP had denounced the involvement of federal law enforcement here in Portland. It seems to be the feds who are being protesters, not state violence against black people, and that has kind of turned this into the spectacle that we see.

HOLMES: And your organization has criticized "mostly white anarchists for inciting violence during the protests." I have also read plenty of black leaders welcoming the white presence, that it's been helpful in spreading the message. And that, you know, sort of any attention drawn to inequities as a step in the right direction. How do you bring the narrative back to what you see as the core issue?

MONDAINE: Well, you know, we know that onus for racism and the annihilation is on those that have the privilege and the power. The social justice movement cannot succeed without white allies. We welcome white allies as long as the focus stays on the black lives movement, and as long as we stay on point with why we are there in the first place.

HOLMES: Do you believe that some of those taking part in these protests are, in many ways, playing into the president's hands in terms of his narrative on, you know, chaos in cities and so on?

MONDAINE: No. Whatever else we might disagree on, criticism of the Trump administration is not one of those things. I can't speak to what I don't know, but I do know this. We are in times of a revolution, and in revolution, just like (son too) has reminded us that we are at war. And all war fair is deceptive. So, we know that the powers that be are in place to distract from the real issue of racial equality and justice.

HOLMES: There's something I didn't realize until I was reading up on this. Black people comprise, I think it's only 6% of the population in Portland. I'm wondering why one of America's whitest cities in one of the whitest states is having the longest running Black Lives Matter protest?

MONDAINE: Well, Portland has always been unique. In our current era, we have a well-intentioned group of progressives who want to do what's right, and just need to be refocused from time to time on the black struggle in America.

I think that Portland is the perfect storm. We have the right percentage of African Americans and whites proportionate to the world -- proportionate to the African American presence in the United States. And I think that with the progressive nature of our people, and with the kind of folk that we have living here, because I believe in them.

I think that this is the perfect place for racism to rear its ugly head, and we do the damage of annihilating it once and for all. And making a model for the rest of the world to see how we can get the job done.

HOLMES: Yes. I mean, that's well put. I mean, I'm curious too what the levels of racial disparity around, you know, wealth, health, health care, schools, and so on. And why isn't Portland more diverse? What's the reason for that? And I know that there are historical reasons. You went back to the early 1800, black people weren't allowed into Oregon.

MONDAINE: Well, yes. You know, this is the only state in our union that was incepted in racism. We weren't allowed to become stakeholders and, you know, as we know nationally, we see from 2000 homeownership in terms of African Americans are sinking lower and lower, and lower. Access is something that is necessary for thriving communities all over the world. So, the same disparities that are in New York are in Portland, are in St. Louis, are in Chicago, and they are all the same.

[01:40:00]

Portland's whiteness is largely a result of exclusionary -- of this exclusionary history that you talked about, that discourages black people from moving to Portland. And we are glad that the soul of many white Portlanders are now open to that idea of inclusion from that long ago hiccup, I would love to call it, or misguide, I would love to call it, just to be very giving of not being inclusive with African Americans.

HOLMES: I really appreciate the discussion, an important one to have. Thank you, Reverend ED Mondaine. Thanks so much.

MONDAINE: Thank you. HOLMES: The US presidential election now 100 days away and Donald Trump seems to be scrambling. We'll take a look at the state of the campaign when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Protests in Eastern Russia are showing rare public defiance against President Putin, marching in support of a popular regional governor who was charged with murder. CNN's Matthew Chance now on why these protests are unprecedented.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the third weekend in a row that crowds in Khabarovsk, in the Russian Fareast, have gathered in there thousands to protest against the central government in Moscow, and specifically President Putin. Demonstrations sparked by the arrests earlier this month of the regional governor, Sergei Furgal, who's been charged with the killings of two businessmen in the early 2000s, and attempted murder of another.

Locally, though, in Khabarovsk, have seen as a local champion against corruption and against the creeping power of the Kremlin. Thousands of miles away, in Moscow, he actually beat a Kremlin-backed candidate for the job of governor in elections back in 2018. And the suspicion among many of his supporters is that the murder charges have been brought against him now for political reasons, as Vladimir Putin sort of tries to tighten his grip across all regions of the country.

[01:45:06]

Now, there are two unusual things about these protests. First, that they're happening at all in such large numbers. Local authorities say six-and-a-half thousand people took to the streets on Saturday. Opposition figures saying it was much higher, as many as 100,000. Still, unprecedented numbers in this remote and usually placid part of Russia.

Secondly, the fact that police in Khabarovsk have simply allowed these protests to continue. They haven't tried to intervene in any serious way, and that in itself is highly unusual. Russia where dissent like this is usually stamped out very quickly indeed.

Now, of course, if either of those things were to change, if the protests were to spread to other towns and cities across the country, or the police were to move in to crack down, you could be looking at a much more serious situation. Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now, Hurricane Hanna made landfall on Saturday in Texas with sustained winds of 90 miles an hour. I want to show you the scene now in Port Mansfield in Texas as winds knocked down trees and, as you can see, torn roofs from buildings as well. The governor issuing disaster declarations fort 32 counties after more than a foot of rain fell in some areas. Joining us now with more from the CNN Weather Center is Meteorologist Derek Van Dam. What are you seeing, my friend?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Michael, what we're seeing is the impacts from a category one hurricane, equivalent to what you would expect to see with a landfalling storm of this magnitude. And you can see just how the wind really whipped up some of the rain and even some localized damage across the region.

But the main concern going forward is, going to be the potential for a localized flash flooding as the storm system continues to, basically, dissipate over extreme southern sections of Texas and into north eastern portions of Mexico.

This is the information, the storm actually made landfall around 5:00 pm Local Time. But if you look closely on the latest satellite imagery, there's still a very well-defined high as the storm slowly creeps inland. We will zoom into this area.

I remember, the ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, is its moisture source. So this is where he gets all of its energy, all of its strength. Well now that it's moved over land, we expect systems to dissipate, and that's exactly what will happen. But not before running or, excuse me, bringing itself dry basically. So it's going to take that moisture, picked up in the ocean, and dump it in a form of heavy rainfall across the land mass, which, of course, is Southern Texas and Northeast Mexico.

Look at the rainfall totals here that have occurred right on the Padre Island where the landfall took place. We're talking about over a foot of rain and in a 24-hour period. That is leading to localized flooding. We have the potential here, still, for hurricane gust tonight because hurricane force warning still hoisted by the National Weather Service for tropical storm warnings in place.

An additional 3 to 5, maybe even up to 8 inches of rain on top of what's already fallen. So, again, flash flooding a threat, potential for some spin up tornadoes tonight still a possibility as well, including the Port Mansfield Region. There's the storm system dissipating. This is forecast wind gust, and you can see it will be a distant memory here within the next 24 hours.

But you've got to buckle up, because we have an extremely active weather pattern taking shape over the next several days across the Atlantic. Hurricane basin, a storm system that subjected itself off the west coast of Africa, has a high likelihood of development over the next five days according to the National Hurricane Center.

Quick update on Hurricane Douglas, look at that line right towards the Hawaiian Islands. We have tropical storm warnings for the entire island nation, excuse me, island state. And then, of course, hurricane warnings for Oahu, including the city of Honolulu as the storm system is expected to bring the potential of category one equivalent winds, storm surge, and heavy rainfall to the region. Mike, back to you.

HOLMES: OK. I hope everyone is safe. I'm just thinking surf when you describe all of that. Yes, and I hope everyone is safe, and it all just past, slips on by. Good to see you, Derek.

VAN DAM: Nice to see you too.

HOLMES: Derek Van Dam there, all right. We are going to take a quick break, and we will be right back.

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HOLMES: US presidential election is 100 days away now, we're in the final stretch heading into November the 3rd. Now, the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has the advantage right now. And in some ways, it looks like President Trump is changing his tone, resetting if you'd like. But is that what's really happening or is he simply losing the political plot somewhat?

I want to bring Michael Genovese now via Skype from Los Angeles to talk about that, Political Analyst and Author of "How Trump Governs," and also President of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University. Good to see you, sir.

Yes, you know, despite what the press secretary says, Donald Trump's position on the virus have evolved in a number of ways on masks and reversing course on the Florida convention and so on. But a lot of people are wondering whether it's because of the virus, whether it's because of some plummeting poll numbers. Do you think he is retreating because Biden is surging?

MICHAEL GENOVESE, POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, clearly he's moving ahead by doing virtually nothing. And so the question is, what can Donald Trump do to move ahead, to make a dent. The situation with the virus is very fluid and so it's understandable that you see some shifts.

But I think that the real problem here is that, Donald Trump needs to completely change the conversation. And to do that, what he's doing is he's putting a lot of pressure on cities, especially with the Democratic mayors, threatening to send in federal troops.

And that's the change the whole terms of debate. We cannot argue that he's doing well on the economy or the coronavirus, so he's going to have to disrupt things and changed the conversation. He wants to make it into fear and crime on the streets, and anarchism.

HOLMES: You know, one thing that's been interesting is seeing you know, sort of a level of defiance, if I can use that word, growing, you know, given the unfailing loyalty and enablement that he's had to date.

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I mean, you've sport stars, entire baseball team is taking a knee. You've had the concerns over the federal law enforcement on the streets. You had Defense Secretary Esper and NASCAR breaking on the confederate flag debate, the general splitting on military base name. I mean, what is that tell you? Is the President holding his hold over the public narrative a little?

GENOVESE: Well, I think we're starting to see pushback where people were afraid to push back before, especially within the Republican Party. The great fear was that Donald Trump would tweet against you.

And now, we're seeing a lot of Republicans thinking, you know, maybe my political head is on the line as well. And If I go all in for Donald Trump, will that backfire on me? And so, Donald Trump is no longer, you know, the darling of the Republican Party, now some -- into question whether or not being on his side is --

HOLMES: All right. Michael Genovese, I really appreciate it. Sorry, it was brief tonight. Good to see you, though. We'll get you back really soon. All right.

Now, Regis Philbin was a part of American television for decades as a talk show host and a host of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." The icon died Friday night at the age of 88. His longtime co-host, Kathie Lee Gifford posting this pointed message on Instagram saying, "There are no words to fully express the love I have for my precious friend Regis. I simply adored him and every day with him was a gift. We spend 15 years together bantering and bickering, and laughing ourselves silly." He will be missed.

I'm Michael Holmes, thanks for spending a part of your day with me. Your days about to get better, Natalie Allen is here with more of CNN Newsroom after the break. I'll see you tomorrow.

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