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300,000 Residents Displaced from their Homes; Deadly Blast is the Latest Crisis to Strike Lebanon; Republicans with Trump Ties Help West's Bid for President. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 06, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. I'm Robyn Curnow, thanks so much for joining me this hour. You're watching CNN live from CNN's World News Headquarters here in Atlanta. So we are following the two big stories this hour. First off, now anger in Beirut, finger pointing begins to who is to blame for the monster blast that rocked the city. And as coronavirus cases rise here in the US and around the world, Donald Trump still seems to be betting on the virus simply going away.
So we do begin in Lebanon where authorities have declared Beirut a disastrous city after that devastating explosion that has claimed 135 lives so far. We know that search and rescue crews are looking through rubble for survivors right now, as dozens of people are still missing. More than a quarter of people have been displaced from their homes. State media reports 90% of Beirut's hotels have been damaged.
Now take a look at this, before and after images show the scope of this destruction. Lebanon's economy minister says there's not one apartment, not one business across the capital that wasn't impacted. The investigation into what caused the blast is focused now on a warehouse full of chemical, volatile chemicals seized from a Russian ship years ago.
Well, Arwa Damon has more on that from Beirut. Arwa?
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ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nothing prepared up for this, 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate exploding, sending shockwaves so strong and so vast many who survived say they thought doomsday had arrived. Prayers for lost, to fear and chaos. Life's iconic moments swept away in an instant. And in its aftermath, an apocalyptic wasteland, that destruction on such a scale, many here cannot even find the words to express the depth of their emotions.
With more than 135 dead, 5,000 wounded and dozens of others still missing. There is shock, horror and deep sorrow, coupled with anger and demands for answers. How is it that such a massive amount of dangerous explosive material confiscated in 2014 was stored in an unsecured warehouse, despite multiple warnings from the head of customs.
The Lebanese government said that many port officials will be put under house arrest, and --
MICHEL AOUN, LEBANESE PRESIDENT (through translation): And to hold accountable those responsible and flicked on them the most severe punishment.
DAMON: But there's little faith in this country's rulers, and a nation where corruption dominates, and the people suffer at the hands of the political elite. US President Trump offered his condolences, floating the idea this may not have been an accident, but offering no proof.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: It looks like a terrible attack.
DAMON: And then, his own secretary of Defense refuted that claim.
MARK ESPER, US DEFENSE SECRETARY: Most believe that it was an accident as reported, beyond that I have nothing further report on that. It's obviously a tragedy.
DAMON: It is a tragedy, the largest in a chain of money, a failing economy, the spread of COVID-19 that have crippled this nation. Three- hundred thousand people have been displaced. Damages are estimated to range from $10 billion to $15 billion. How do you recover from something like this? Physically, emotionally, or as a nation? Arwa Damon, CNN, Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Well, CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is following all of these developments from Istanbul. Jomana? Hi, good to see you.
And I know that there is still search and rescue, what kind of hope is there that some folks might be still found alive beneath the rubble?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Robyn, as time goes by, you know, hope would be diminishing, you know, for so many people who may have -- are either underneath the rubble or who may have been killed. You know, according to Lebanese authorities they say that hundreds of people are still missing. They warned while the official death toll stands at 135 people, it could be much higher than that because of those who are unaccounted for.
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And according to the charity, Save the Children, they say there are also children unaccounted for. You can imagine what a painful, agonizing situation and wait this is for the families who lost contact with their loved ones, at about 6:00 pm on Tuesday. And they still do not know what has happened, desperately searching for them at hospitals, posting on social media, photos of their loved ones, trying to find out were they killed, are they still trapped underneath the rubble. And then, you have the issue of the search and rescue operations with Lebanon's limited capabilities with their emergency. Workers really working with very little, you know, considering the country's financial crisis, the impact it's had on basic services. And, you know, things like power, electricity that has been lacking in the country.
So Lebanon has really turning to the international community for help, for support, whether it is with a search and rescue operations. We understand that a number of different countries are sending in teams to help and go through the rubble to help Lebanese authorities to search for survivors or dead bodies, Robyn.
And then, you have the health sector in that country that is stretch to its limits. It was already struggling with the country's financial crisis. It was struggling with the COVID pandemic, you know. Just hours before this blast, hospitals were saying they were about to reach capacity. These are the government hospitals.
And then on top of that, you know, you had the blast, which took out a number of government hospitals, at least three that were taken out of service. So you have several hospitals dealing with thousands of wounded. Some of them really seriously injured. And they do not have the critical supplies, the medical equipment they need to deal with this disaster.
So they are waiting for supplies that are coming in from different countries. Some had already started arriving. You've got a number of field hospitals fully equipped that are coming in from different countries, from regions, medical supplies, you know. It is very clear, Robyn, they cannot do this on their own and they desperately need all the help they can get from the international community right now.
CURNOW: They certainly do. And as you are speaking, we just had wire that dropped onto CNN. It says that a Turkish military plane carrying aid has arrived in Beirut. So that's good news, at least, on that front.
I know all of the outline, some of it, but if you could just give us more details on what this consignment of ammonium nitrate was doing there in those warehouses. And where -- what we know about this Russian ship, and why it landed up there?
KARADSHEH: Well, what we know, Robyn, is that this happened in 2013. This is a Russian-owned ship that was carrying this shipment of ammonium nitrate. It was headed to Mozambique because of financial disputes between the owners at the ship crew. It's ended up, it stopped in Beirut's port.
And then in 2000 -- and then, basically, it ended up stranded there. And the Lebanese authorities confiscated what was on board that ship, that consignment. And it ended up in a warehouse in 2014. And according to local port authorities, according to customs officials, they say that they have sent several memos since 2014, warning that they have this dangerous, hazardous material. That this is literally a ticking bomb. That they wanted, you know, the government to deal with it. They judicial authorities to decide what to do with this, but nothing had been done, they say. So this is one thing the investigation will be looking into right now, is what happened. This complete incompetence, this negligence by authorities, who is to blame for this, why was it kept their, why was it not secured.
And, you know, the issue is, Robyn, is like while the Lebanese authorities, the government is saying that they are investigating this. People don't really have much confidence in a government, and the consecutive governments that have failed them for years.
They do not, you know, the ruling elite in that country does not have the confidence of the people. So we are seeing rising calls now for an international and independent investigation that would be free of any sort of political interference in that country.
CURNOW: OK. Jomana, thanks so much for that update.
I want to take you now to Dr. Christian Chaccour. He was on-duty at one of Lebanon's biggest hospitals when this explosion happened. He joins me now from Beirut.
Doctor, first of all, how are you doing? Have you had any sleep?
DR. CHRISTIAN CHACCOUR, PHYSICIAN: Hello, Robyn, thank you for having me. We barely have any sleep since yesterday. I'm a lot better now, thank you.
CURNOW: And just talk us through those first few hours. You work in one of the biggest hospitals, what happened?
CHACCOUR: OK. I was on-duty. I was on-call. And we heard the massive blast. The building rocked, it moved, it really moved. So we knew the blast was close, and we knew the blast was huge. So we immediately rushed and checked on our patients in the maternity and on the newborns.
And afterwards, after we saw the damage in the hospital, we immediately rushed to the ER because we knew since the blast was about one mile away from the hospital, we knew that the patients would start arriving at the ER. And as we arrived at the ER, we saw the patients are arriving by boat, by car, by motorcycle, so our struggle began. That's when our struggle began.
We received in one or two hours about 400 injured. And by the end of the noon, the second day, we had treated over 800 patients in the ER. It was huge struggle.
CURNOW: You're struggle began you said, and what was that struggle? What kind of injuries were you dealing with?
CHACCOUR: I was a struggle because we were overwhelmed. The scope, the magnitude of the injuries and a huge number of patients. The injuries were mainly injuries, trauma, broken bones, broken ribs, and there also the cuts, the very deep cuts because of the glass. So there was no like injuries, it was mainly severe traumatic injuries.
CURNOW: And were any of the nurses and doctors, or staff at the hospital also injured? How are you managing in coping with the fact that you were also pretty close to the blast?
CHACCOUR: What really helped us was the fact that there were no injuries in the hospital, in the staff and other patients. But as I said, at some point and what really helped us in this fight and the struggle was that the whole staff, the whole hospital staff, on-call, off-call, those who were even in their homes, they arrived at the hospital to help and assist us.
We had the doctors, we had nurses, we had midwives, we interns, everyone was in the ER lending a hand. The students even there and they helped. So this -- we group as one and that really helped us.
CURNOW: You've, no doubt, I mean, you talk about this community response. You have no doubt saved so many people. How are you feeling now about the magnitude of this? And particularly the death toll, do you feel that it will rise? And how concerned are you about that?
CHACCOUR: I certainly hope that it won't, but we know for a fact it will because we still have many missing persons who are declared missing. We have people who are adrift in the sea. And yesterday night, they even -- they found a missing person who was alive and had drifted at sea for 24 hours. We still have people under the rubble as well, so it may rise.
CURNOW: Dr. Christian Chaccour, thank you very much for taking time to speak to us. Thank you for all your hard work. And I'll send you back, I know you've got a job to do.
CHACCOUR: Thank you very much. Thank you very much for having me.
CURNOW: So this ammonium nitrate, which is blamed for the explosion, arrived in Beirut over 6 years ago, on a Russian-owned vessel. And it never ever, ever left. I mean, it's just staggering if you think about it. So here's Nic Robertson on that investigation and what caused it to detonate now. Nic.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Too soon to know if this explosion was an accident or an attack. But what we do know about the devastating detonation that has killed more than 100 people and injured thousands of others is staggering. At its core, ammonium nitrate shipped into Beirut aboard this relatively small Russian-owned cargo vessel late 2013.
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The 86 meter boat MV Rhosus was Moldova-flagged, had arrived from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia via Istanbul, loaded with fertilizer. It was on route to Mozambique but ordered into Beirut for sea faring violations. The cargo, ammonium nitrate fertilizer, is so dangerous. US forces have the Afghan government banned its use in 2010 because it was being used to kill US troops. Once in Beirut Port, MV Rhosus' owner abandoned the ship and crew. According to the captain, he left us in a knowing dangerous situation, doomed to hunger.
The captain also telling Radio Free Europe, MV Rhosus was impounded for failure to pay fees. The 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate then shifted to a warehouse. Why so much and why it's such a dangerous bomb making precursor was still there six years later essential to the government investigation.
HASSAN DIAB, LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translation): Facts will be announced about the dangerous warehouse that has existed since 2014, meaning from six years ago. But I will not jump into any conclusions.
ROBERTSON: President Trump told reporters his generals think it was an attack.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: They would know better than I would, but they seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind.
ROBERTSON: Although hours later, the DOD dialed back the bomb theory, three US officials telling CNN they didn't know what the President was talking about.
However, Lebanese officials are still investigating. One intelligence officer said, the theory they are working on is the explosions were triggered by a bomb, a sprawling crew footage of the explosions searching for clues
One reliable regional intelligence source told CNN, the ammonium nitrate storage was well-known to Lebanon's international partners who'd pressure the government to get rid of it. Already in tatters economically, politically and medically, Lebanon long accordant of vex competing interest, has much at stake in figuring out who is to blame. If the investigation finds it was an attack, not an accident, the government may have a sliver of hope navigating the immense anger of people who have suffered so much only to be thrown into such a hell again.
Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
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CURNOW: So still to come here on CNN, the explosion in Beirut left thousands injured including a reporter and his young daughter. We'll hear from him in just a moment. Also stark warnings, though, from America's top coronavirus expert, and who also the a few glimmers of hope. All of that, next.
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[01:20:03] CURNOW: So the global death toll from the coronavirus now exceeds some 700,000 people. But there's a growing hope that a vaccine could be soon on the horizon. The top US infectious disease expert says tens of millions of vaccine doses will likely be available early next year. And Dr. Anthony Fauci says if we do have a vaccine, the virus will no longer be a pandemic capable of immobilizing the world and destroying economies. But he says, he doesn't think COVID-19 will ever truly be eradicated, this is because it's just so highly transmissible. The US president, though, does not seem to agree.
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TRUMP: It's going away now. It will go away, like things go away, absolutely. No question in my mind, it will go away. Please, go ahead. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
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CURNOW: Meanwhile, the virus just keeps on claiming lives, more than 158,000 in the US so far as Athena Jones now reports.
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ATHENA JONES, CNN US NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: America is number one in the most dangerous of ways, more COVID-19 cases and more deaths than any other country. The death toll topping 1,000 for the 10th time in 2 weeks.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: When you look at the number of infections and the number of deaths it really is quite concerning. I mean, the numbers don't lie.
JONES: All of this raising the stakes for school re-openings. Students in Chicago, the nation's third largest school district will be learning remotely for at least the first quarter, which ends in early November.
MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT (D), CHICAGO: Combined with the trends that we're seeing, the decision to start remotely makes sense for a district of CPS' size and diversity.
JONES: In Georgia where hundred of school employees in Gwinnett County and five in Marietta City Schools tested positive for the virus, a 2nd grader is now infected after attending the first day of school. A worried teacher in Milwaukee using home-made tombstones to protest in- person classes.
JOHN FLIESSNER, ART TEACHER, MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Should schools reopen, these are the people that would potentially die.
JONES: And there are new concerns about COVID-19 in children. A seven- month-old baby in New Jersey testing positive for COVID-19 after dying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God bless the seven-month-old. JONES: But there is promising news on the treatment front. Early stage data, not yet peer-reviewed, showed biopharmaceutical company Regeneron's anti-body cocktail protects animals from getting sick with COVID-19. And that getting the treatment could play an important role in fighting the virus.
Meanwhile, the state by state pitcher is mixed at best. New coronavirus infections steady or falling in most states, but daily death counts still rising in 22 states, hitting 1,399 nationwide on Tuesday, the 2nd highest one day death toll reported this summer.
FAUCI: As long as you have any member of society, any demographic group who's not seriously trying to get to the endgame of suppressing this, it will continue to smolder and smolder, and smolder. And that will be the reason why in a non-unified way we've plateaued at a unacceptable level.
JONES: Hawaii reporting its highest 7th day average for new daily nearly and 119, up some 146% from the previous week. Florida seeing its seven day average for new infection dropped by nearly a quarter, even as it become the 2nd state to pass the half-a-million case mark.
With infections raging across much of the country, New York City where a 5th of all new COVID-19 cases have been traced to other states, announcing quarantine checkpoints starting today for vehicles coming from states on the Tri-State Area's quarantine list, with fines of up to $10,000.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is serious stuff, and it's time for everyone to realize it.
JONES: Meanwhile, Dr. Fauci offering this simple advice to help make indoor environments safer from COVID.
FAUCI: We've got this big crisis and you're telling me to open up a window. Yes, I'm telling you to open up the window.
JONES: And one more thing about schools that could give officials and families, and really everyone pause, a new study finds that COVID-19 rates are significantly higher among minority children. Out of 1,000 patients tested at Children's National Hospital in Washington, just over 7% of white children tested positive, compared to 30% of black children and just 46% of Hispanic children. Athena Jones, CNN, New York.
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CURNOW: Dr. Armand Dorian is a Physician and the Chief Medical Officer of the USC Verdugo Hills Hospital. He's with us from Los Angeles. Doctor, hi. What do you make of the President's comments saying the virus will just go away?
DR. ARMAND DORIAN, PHYSICIAN: There's really nothing to make of that besides the fact that it's wrong. And I think the President is the first one of call-out things that are wrong, and that statement is wrong. This virus is not going away. It's quite infectious. We're hopeful that we will contain it until you have a vaccine.
But even when we do have a vaccine, considering its infectious nature, I think it will linger for a while if not, you know, we'll be hearing about it for the rest of our lives. The key is, for us to get a handle of it and not have this type of pandemic.
CURNOW: People are obviously trying to deal with this in different ways, and one of the wrong ways to do that is to drink hand sanitizer. We have the CDC warning that people shouldn't do that. Folks are dying. I know that you're in the emergency room. You're seeing people come into your hospital, why are people doing this? And this is not just in the US.
DORIAN: No, it's not. And this was a problem before, there's two big reasons. There's a misconception for some, we even heard the President say that disinfect on the inside. Drinking had sanitizer, let's put, set the record straight doesn't sanitize you. So number one, do not drink it.
Number two, it is a source of alcohol that some people used to actually inebriated themselves. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't understand the fact that the alcohol that's found in hand sanitizer can actually be extremely lethal. You can die from this, and we're actually, unfortunately, seeing that.
CURNOW: Yes. And some of the other repercussions, if you don't die, I think, you seem to have problems with your site as well. I mean, you have people being, you know, being blind by this.
DORIAN: Correct. One of the really tricky things about methanol, toxicity, and there's a certain type of alcohol called methanol that is found in certain hand sanitizers, is the fact that you don't even smell of alcohol on your breath. And so, if somebody ingested and they're embarrassed to tell the doctor, it's very difficult to diagnose. And one of the consequences is blindness.
CURNOW: Goodness. We also know how this pandemic is unequal. And we heard Sara Sidner, our correspondent, talking there, how about -- how this is hitting various minority communities, particularly here in the US, also in the UK, I understand. Are you seeing that as well in terms of people coming to your hospitals? And what can be done?
DORIAN: Well, first of all, we have to treat this as everybody is equal, and everybody can get infected, and everybody needs the same resources and everybody needs to mask. If we can get everybody on the same game plan, we will significantly help everyone. The problem with minorities is many. One is, they live in close quarters, and the potential for infecting is extremely higher. They also have a lot more employment in places where they are at higher risk.
So there's so many factors that come into play, but every single individual can do their part to help their neighbor, and it's by masking. And if we can all do this, you're helping the person next to you as well as helping yourself.
CURNOW: And as I said, you are an ER doctor, and I know that many doctors around the world, all of us, have been watching with horror what played out in Beirut. So, I wouldn't mind just getting your sense of expertise, what kind of injuries the doctors on the ground are dealing with there, and just your thoughts on that.
DORIAN: You know, this is something you never want to experience as a physician, specifically a trauma or ER physician. But this type of high energy explosion causes multiple types of trauma. The first is really, the first is - the air that kind of compacts, causing all the gas filled spaces in your body to literally implode or explode, like your lungs, your intestines, your eyeballs, your ears.
The second is shrapnel. Everything that flies around is like, you know, think of millions of knives flying at you. The third is the blast itself can toss you, or throw you, causing head injury, fracturing your hip. And finally, the fourth way that you can get injured from this is the chemicals, the burns that you'd suffer from as a consequence of the burn.
So you can imagine, there are so many layers of ways to get injured from an injury like this, or from an explosion like this. And we're just getting started. We are going to learn, unfortunately, so many problems that are going to come from this one incident. It is so tragic and my heart goes out to everybody in Beirut.
CURNOW: Yes, thoughts and prayers from all of us. Dr. Dorian, thank you for your expertise. Have a good evening.
So still ahead here on CNN, more and that blast in Beirut. Lebanon was already deep in crisis on several fronts, and in an instant everything got worse.
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CURNOW: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks so much for joining me this hour. I'm Robyn Curnow.
So the Lebanese cabinet is ordering Beirut port officials to be placed under house arrest as they focus on a warehouse full of ammonium nitrate as the likely cause of that huge explosion in the capital. We know at the moment at least 135 people are dead, 5,000 people have been wounded; many, many more are still unaccounted for.
Lebanon's economy minister says every apartment and every single business in Beirut was impacted. 300,000 people are homeless right now. Beirut's governor estimates the damage could be as high as $15 billion.
Well Dion Nissenbaum is a "Wall Street Journal" reporter who was at home with his young daughter when the explosion happened. He joins me now from Beirut. Good to see you.
How are you doing? I understand you and your daughter were injured. How is she?
DION NISSENBAUM, REPORTER, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Thanks.
So we are still in shock. She got out of the hospital last night, thankfully. She was one of the thousands that was injured. She had lacerations, deep lacerations on her leg, her arms and abdomen. A lot of stitches but thankfully we're all alive.
CURNOW: I understand your wife is a doctor, a Red Cross doctor and basically saved her own daughter's life. What happened? And those moments afterwards must have been horrifying.
NISSENBAUM: Yes. I have never experienced -- I have worked in Afghanistan and Gaza and covered suicide bombings many times, and never experienced the kind of blast that we experienced here in Beirut. I was at home with her, taking her to the bathroom, the first blast I heard it sounded like a car bomb.
I assumed it was a car bomb and came out into our living to call my colleagues to start reporting. And then my daughter came out of the bathroom naked and said what was that and then the second blast just completely engulfed us and our apartment and I had to dive to the ground and shield her body with my body as the glass and the wood just swept over us, three things out of our apartment building.
My wife was coming home and she was in the street tending to other people that were wounded. I can't remember if she called me or I called her and I just said, you've got to come home. You've got to come home. Megmon (ph) is injured, she is bleeding from her leg. I put pressure on the wound as I've learned from covering these kinds of things.
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NISSENBAUM: And there were no ambulances to call, we tried to call an ambulance. We had to run down in the streets. There were a couple of ambulances turned up. There were 12 to 15 people in the ambulance -- kids, old men, a woman had her -- her head was open. It was just chaotic, chaotic scene.
CURNOW: And how did you get to the hospital? What happened next and what did the hospital look like? You've all got an injured 4-year-old in your arms in the dark. I mean what played out then?
NISSENBAUM: So it took us -- it took 45 minutes first to get to the hospital because all of the roads were blocked with shattered cars and debris in the streets. So they tried to get out one way. People were trying to flag down the ambulances. People were opening the doors, jumping in, jumping out.
There was an elderly man. He was bloody next to us and my wife was singing lullabies to our daughter. Holding her in our arms. And we got to the hospital and I just -- we rushed in, thank God that we were able to get a bed. My wife because she's a doctor, you know, got her in, knew what to say, need to get people involved. Knew how to tell them what our daughter needed.
She wasn't the most critical, thankfully. There was a girl not much older than Iman (ph) who was on the floor, on a mat who was coding. She was basically there trying to bring her back to life.
There was a little girl on the bed with my daughter whose shirt was completely bloody. She had a bandage on all over her head. Her dad was on the floor right in front of her with his elevated, blood everywhere.
For hours it was like just people coming in, waves and waves of people coming to the hospital which itself was damaged in the explosion. And so the doctors here really did an amazing job of taking care of the people and I'm so thankful for them.
CURNOW: It's devastating to hear you talk like that. Did your wife then have to stay at the hospital? Did she work? What happened next? How did you manage the next few hours and days while Iman was in the hospital?
NISSENBAUM: My wife yes -- my wife stayed with our daughter and got her through the tests. She was admitted to make sure she didn't have any broken bones or internal bleeding. And thankfully, you know, my wife was able to stay with her. She didn't have to go back out to look after other people. And we were able to get her out of the hospital yesterday.
She went out on her own two feet at the hospital. She's an incredibly brave girl. And we're just grateful that we're safe now.
CURNOW: No doubt you are. Thanks for sharing that story. Lots of love to your family. Dion Nissenbaum -- thank you.
NISSENBAUM: Thank you.
CURNOW: So Lebanon was already a country in crisis before this deadly blast. Its economy was struggling. Its government was under fire when the pandemic hit. And now the nation must deal with this disaster as Nina Dos Santos now reports, Nina.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Beirut's deadly explosion could not have come at a worse time for Lebanon. The country has been in dire straits since last year when it's banking system, described as a Ponzi scheme, began to disintegrate pushing unemployment up, the currency down, and bringing thousands on to the streets in protest.
Even before the blast, half of Lebanon's population swollen by Syrian and Palestinian refugees was estimated to be living in poverty. Many were also living in the dark, thanks to rolling black outs.
Now aid agencies are sounding the alarm.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's an economic crisis, a financial crisis, a political crisis, a health crisis and now this horrible explosion. So there are many layers to what's happening in Lebanon that is constantly testing the ability of the Lebanese and the refugees who live in Lebanon to be resilient. DOS SANTOS: Much of the immediate concern comes from the supply chain.
The port of Beirut where the explosion occurred is the main maritime hub for a nation heavily dependent on goods from abroad.
60 percent of all imports pass through it and it's where grain is stored prompting fears of food shortages and a market ravaged by soaring prices and years of corruption.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the last few months, the Lebanese society has suffered greatly from an economic and financial crisis. And the Lebanese and the refugees who live in Syria have found it more and more difficult to buy food and to buy goods.
[01:39:56]
DOS SANTOS: With financial support from gulf countries drying up as Hezbollah plays a more prominent role in its politics, Lebanon defaulted on some of its debt in March. At the time the coronavirus also took hold.
It tried to gain a $10 billion loan from the IMF but those talks stalled last month and Lebanon's credit rating was cut to the lowest rank by Moody's, on a par with Venezuela.
Now, one foreign revenue driver, tourism, has also been badly hit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a disaster for Lebanon, for the economy and especially for tourism. We were maybe 5 to 15 percent occupancy of corona because of the political problem with the Arab countries. But unfortunately what happened yesterday is a real disaster.
DOS SANTOS: Straddling the geopolitical front lines in the Middle East, Lebanon is no stranger to turmoil or tragedy, but the effects of this massive blast will shake this economy to its already fragile foundations.
Nina Dos Santos, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Well, countries around the world are showing signs of solidarity. At midnight, local time on Thursday the Eiffel Tower went dark to honor the victims of the Beirut explosion. The city of Paris is also sending more than $118,000 in emergency aid to Beirut.
And then take a look at this. Israel is also showing support for its northern neighbor. Tel Aviv city hall lit up with the Lebanese flag to honor the blast victims. However some Israelis are criticizing the move as Israel considers Lebanon an enemy state.
Well, for more on that, let's go to journalist Elliott Gotkine who joins me now from Tel Aviv. Elliott, hi. Good to see you.
I mean it's a certainly a very symbolic statement by putting that flag up. ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Yes Robyn, that's right. Quite a
spectacle thing the Lebanese flag beamed on to the facade of city hall last night. We're used to seeing countries' flags being beamed on there when the city wants to show solidarity with other countries that suffered from natural disaster or terrorist attacks and the like.
But this is the first time we were told that the flag of an enemy state, a country Israel designates as an enemy state has been beamed on there. The mayor of Tel Aviv Ron Huldai saying that "Humanity comes before any conflict and our hearts are with the Lebanese people following this terrible disaster".
And the people we spoke to outside city hall last night were pretty supportive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are shocked and feel sorry for them. I want to help them. I came here to picture this -- take a picture of this flag. And I feel sorry for this country and for this terrible disaster.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really devastating what's going on and it's really affecting the whole world especially in Israel. Being an Israeli-American, seeing how my American friends are reacting and the Israelis are reacting like feeling so close. We're not far away compared to Americans but everyone is like taking charge and donating. And they've been saying like it shouldn't be happening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOTKINE: But not everyone is reveling in this newfound love for Lebanon. The Prime Minister's eldest son, Yair Netanyahu who's a prolific tweeter saying last night, "This is crazy. Displaying the flag of an enemy state is a criminal offense."
And those sentiments seem to be shared by one of Prime Minister Netanyahu's ministers, Minister for Jerusalem Rafi Peretz, who said that waving an enemy flag in the heart of Tel Aviv is moral confusion, Robyn.
CURNOW: Ok. Thanks for that update there Elliott, live there in Tel Aviv. Thank you.
So if you would like to help the victims of Tuesday's blast in Beirut we've made it easy for you, simpler. Just log on to our Impact the World Web site at CNN.com/impact.
We have told you some groups are still assessing needs. But you can count on us to keep you updated with the facts, of course. And also with this address. Remember it. CNN.com/impact.
And still to come here at CNN, the Kanye campaign. Kanye West is getting help. Is he getting help from some Republicans in his bid for the White House? Could they be hoping to turn the rapper into a spoiler? That's next.
[01:44:22]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CURNOW: So Twitter restricted President Trump's campaign from tweeting after it shared false claims about coronavirus. Now the tweet was a video of the President's interview on Fox in which he said children are almost immune to the virus, which is absolutely not true. A Twitter spokesperson said the tweet had to be removed before the campaign could tweet it again.
Hours earlier, Facebook removed the post from the President's main page for similar reasons.
And as the U.S. election approaches, President Trump is campaigning against mail-in voting, falsely claiming it could result in widespread fraud but his efforts are raising concerns within his own party as Kaitlan Collins now reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Three months out from the election President Trump is stepping up his attacks on mail-in voting amid concern from Republicans that he's discouraging his own party from casting their ballots.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's going to months or years. They will never be able to tabulate their votes because they are not set up for it.
COLLINS: Election officials in many states are now encouraging voting by mail because of the pandemic. While Trump is baselessly claiming that the virus will subside in 90 days.
TRUMP: But by November 3rd, that's, you know, time wise that's eternity, frankly, as far as I'm concerned.
COLLINS: Trump's campaign and the Republican Party sued the state of Nevada today in an effort to block a new law that would send mail-in ballots to every registered voter.
TRUMP: So Nevada, we are in court, we'll see how it works out.
COLINS: In that lawsuit, Trump and the GOP claim that the new law which is sponsored by Democrats would inevitably result in voter fraud. The state's Democratic governor says otherwise.
GOVERNOR STEVE SISOLAK (D), NEVADA: Everybody is limited to voting one time. It's totally safe.
COLLINS: There is at least one state where the President thinks it's ok to vote by mail, Florida, which is widely seen as critical to his reelection and is the same state where he now votes by mail.
TRUMP: You can't do a mail in voting. Now Florida's different sense that they've been doing, and they've had two very good governors, frankly. COLLINS: After initially planning to do so in Florida, the President
now says he may accept the Republican nomination from the White House.
TRUMP: We are thinking about doing it from the White House because there is no movement. It's easy.
COLLINS: The suggestion that he would give a major political speech from the White House has prompted even the number two Senate Republicans to ask, is that even legal? John Thune adding, "I think anything you do on federal property would seem to be problematic."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she agrees.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The state and local governments are suffering from the virus and the rest and we are talking about whether he can have a political event at the White House. He can't.
COLLINS: Meanwhile, Democrats are dialing back their own convention plans after Joe Biden announced today that he'll will accept his party's nomination remotely from Delaware instead of Milwaukee.
And the President continued his attacks on mail-in voting as he met with the governor of Arizona in the oval office. At first, he said he wasn't familiar at how Arizona does its mail-in voting. Then just moments later, he endorsed the matter as he's continuing to pick and choose certain states where he thinks it's ok and other states where he thinks it's not.
Kaitlan Collins, CNN -- the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Thanks Kaitlan for that.
[01:49:51]
CURNOW: So some Republicans with ties to President Trump are trying to get Kanye West on the general election ballot. So, why would they help the rapper in the run up to November? Because maybe, they think he could draw critical votes away from Joe Biden.
Take a listen to Jeff Zeleny.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KANYE WEST, RAPPER: I love this guy right here.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: President Trump embracing Kanye West two years ago right there in the Oval Office.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kanye, what did you guys discuss in your meeting today?
ZELENY: But now friends of the President are helping the eccentric entertainer with his latest act -- trying to get on the 2020 ballot himself. He says he is running as an Independent. Making his campaign debut last month in a bizarre, but largely overlooked South Carolina appearance where he denied trying to split the black vote.
WEST: The most racist thing that's ever been said out loud is the idea that Kanye West runs for president, that I'm going to split the black votes.
ZELENY: Tonight, that's exactly what Democrats fear he's trying to do with the help of Republicans with ties to Trump.
Lane Ruhland, a Wisconsin GOP lawyer who represents the Trump campaign in an unrelated lawsuit, dropped off West's petition and signatures at the state election board on Tuesday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many signatures did you collect?
LANE RUHLAND, WISCONSIN GOP LAWYER: No comment.
ZELENY: She declined to comment to our affiliate, WISN and to CNN. In other states, other GOP operatives are involved.
The Wisconsin Republican Party denied any role in helping West, saying "It appears that the Kanye West campaign made a smart decision by hiring an experienced election attorney. We welcome Kanye West and all other candidates who qualified for ballot access to the race."
So far Wisconsin, Colorado, and Ohio are battleground states where West petitioned and signatures are under review. He's already qualified for a half dozen more states that are either deep red or blue.
In a race between Trump and Joe Biden, Wisconsin is one of the most pivotal states. In 2016, Trump won by fewer than 23,000 votes after a substantial decline and turnout among black voters. This time, the Trump campaign is trying to improve its performance, placing a Republican field office in a historic black neighborhood in Milwaukee.
We met David Bowen, a Democratic state representative earlier this summer who voiced his suspicion of the Trump campaign's motives.
DAVID BOWEN (D), WISCONSIN STATE ASSEMBLY: I think their goal is to try to get just those few, but enough black votes in this election.
ZELENY: Tonight, Bowen telling CNN "It is sad to see a popular music artist like Kanye be used as a pawn to trick his own people and fans to vote for a fake campaign."
The extent of this campaign is an open question. His wife, Kim Kardashian, has voiced concerns about his mental health and has asked for compassion as they deal with his diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Yet, West has long sought attention by flirting with presidential ambitions, saying this five years ago.
WEST: I have decided in 2020 to run for the President.
ZELENY: Back then, Trump stoked West's ego.
TRUMP: Kanye West, I love him. Now, maybe in a few years, I will have to run against him. I don't' know so, I will take that back.
ZELENY: But now Trump has done anything but. When West declared his candidacy last month, the President joined the speculation that West could siphon support from Biden, especially among black voters.
At the White House today, the President insisted he had no role in West's candidacy.
TRUMP: I like Kanye very much. No, I have nothing to do with him getting on the ballot.
ZELENY: Jeff Zeleny, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: So ahead on CNN, a fairytale day quickly turned into a nightmare. The video of the Beirut blast captured at this wedding photo shoot.
[01:53:38]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CURNOW: 75 years after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan is still pushing for a world free of nuclear weapons. At memorial services which were scaled back because of the coronavirus survivors, relatives, and foreign indignities gathered to honor those killed and pray for peace.
The prime minister vowed Japan will continue working towards nuclear disarmament and urged encourage world leaders to do the same.
Meanwhile, a day of celebration turned into a series of terrifying moments at the Beirut explosion as that happened during a bridal photo shoot. And it was all caught on camera.
So take a look at this. The photographer says they heard the first explosion and thought they were a safe distance away. But moments later, another blast -- wow, look at that -- ripped through the city. The bride returned to the site the following day, and she said she's still in disbelief.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISRAA SEBLANI, BRIDE CAUGHT UP IN THE EXPLOSION: It had happened during the position. Here -- there's no words to explain what happened. I feel so sad.
Trust me what you are seeing now, the smile and everything wasn't there totally yesterday. I was shocked. I was wondering what happened. Am I going to die? How am I going to dies?
(END VIDEO CLIP) CURNOW: The entire wedding party thankfully was able to escape inside and no one was injured.
And amid the chaos and destruction, one grandmother in Beirut is bringing some notes of hope. Surrounded by debris, blown out windows, and punctured walls, May Abud Malki (ph) sat in her home, playing a range of classics on her beloved piano as her family and volunteers sifted through the rubble.
Take a listen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:00:00]
CURNOW: Hi. Welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. Thanks so much. This is CNN. I'm Robyn Curnow.
So just ahead, the aftermath of that monster.
