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Beirut Protesters Call for a "Revolution"; Trump Signs Executive Orders Extending Coronavirus Economic Relief; Ohio Governor Tests Positive then Negative for COVID-19; Doctor: Biker Rally a Potential Super Spreader Event; Brazil Second Only to U.S. Coronavirus Infections and Deaths; U.S. Tops 5 Million COVID-19 Cases; U.S. Postmaster DeJoy Says Election Mail Will Not Be Slowed Down; Main Opposition Candidate Hides on Eve of Crucial Presidential Vote in Belarus. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired August 09, 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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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Anger boils over. Violent clashes in the streets of Beirut as protesters demand answers after Tuesday's deadly explosion.

The U.S. on the cusp of having 5 million coronavirus cases. But a biker rally in the state of South Dakota still going ahead.

And polls have just opened in a key election in Belarus. President Alexander Lukashenko faces the greatest challenge to his three decades-long rule.

Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

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M. HOLMES: We begin in Beirut, Lebanon, a city now in tatters and deeper than ever in turmoil. Protesters angry over Tuesday's massive explosion clashing with police on Saturday, throwing stones and storming the foreign ministry.

Police responding with tear gas. A member of the Lebanese security forces was killed and hundreds of people were injured.

The demonstrators say authorities ignored explosive materials at the port for years; 158 people confirmed dead in the blast with 6,000 wounded.

For more on this let's turn to CNN's senior international correspondent Arwa Damon, joining us now live from Beirut.

There was a lot of violence, a lot of protesting. But this universal anger.

What are the chances, you know the country well, that this tragedy could lead to real change for the long-suffering people of Lebanon?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Michael, look, those calls for change from the population started well before this horrific explosion.

Because the economy here has been in such a downward tailspin that, according to international NGOs, the vast majority of Lebanese were in need of some sort of humanitarian aid.

So people were already fed up and disgusted with the ruling political elite. Add on top of it, something of this magnitude, so unnecessary. These lives that were lost. This just, simply put, should not have happened.

This has pushed the rage felt by the Lebanese population to an entirely new unprecedented level.

And we saw that being expressed on the streets yesterday with the takeover of some ministries, including the foreign ministry, the ministry of environment, the ministry of economy, the bank authority that many blamed for their financial situation and the country's broadening situation.

But that being said, even though we did hear from the prime minister that he would be calling for early elections, that there is some move perhaps at least initially toward some sort of lasting change, let's keep in mind that this is not something that happens overnight.

You're talking about having to draft entirely new electoral laws, potentially significant changes to the constitution, should long-term change actually be able to happen.

And then, Michael, you're talking about completely dismantling an entirely corrupt sectarian-based system that has been vibrant, active and effectively ruling this country for decades at this point. So by all accounts, it is no easy path ahead for this population that has already been through so much.

M. HOLMES: It's also ingrained. And I know -- I mean, I know you. You've lived in Beirut for many years. Your parents, I know, live there.

I'm curious, when you go and walk around and see what is behind you, and I know you've been right down there too, what is it like for you personally to see your former home in this situation?

DAMON: I still can't fully wrap my head around this or wrap my head around the sheer neglect and incompetence that led to this kind of an explosion. And if you speak to any of the Lebanese, they'll tell you the same thing. You know, when it's war, when it's the targeted assassinations, yes, of course, those are also difficult to comprehend.

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DAMON: But this, this is even harder than that. Right next to me is spray-painted, "My government did this."

A woman walked by, looked at what was happening, wiped her tears and moved on. I mean, this is gutting, Michael. It is soul-shredding. And there is no way to rationalize or justify what actually happened. So it's not entirely surprising that people's rage can no longer be controlled.

But that being said, and as devastating as it is to walk through these familiar areas, you also see this extraordinary effort by the volunteers, this reminder of the beautiful spirit of Lebanon, that so many of us who live here or who visit here, fall in love with and that is people coming together to support each other.

There's an army of cleanup volunteers, Michael. There are charities or individuals who came together, who are handing out food and water and doing medical first aid. So you're also -- you're struck by the sheer magnitude of what happened but you're also struck by this outpouring of kindness and support that you're seeing.

Which makes you realize that if this country can just get rid of the corruption, can just get rid of the ruling elite, can just get rid of the status quo, it can emerge into something vibrant, beautiful and spectacular.

M. HOLMES: Yes, beautifully put. It is a magnificent city with magnificent people. It's about the people over the governance. And that's going to be the crucial thing. I know you love the place. It is a wonderful city. Arwa Damon, thank you.

Joining me now is Karim Makdisi. He's a professor of international politics at American University of Beirut.

I actually wanted to start with something that you tweeted out on Saturday.

You said this, "Today is about anger against the criminal state apparatus and expression of grief after shock of the port blast and those who died needlessly. Tomorrow needs to be to about rebuilding a political strategy and unity so deaths not in vain. No to sectarian division and obvious traps being set."

A powerful tweet.

I mean, do you have confidence that this tragedy could lead to real political change for the Lebanese people?

KARIM MAKDISI, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT: Yes, good morning.

I think it has great potential. I think you saw yesterday and in previous weeks the mass protests and anger against this kind of political system that we're talking about and not just this government but successive governments over the past two or three decades that have led to economic collapse, financial collapse.

And now just to sum it up this massive blast, which really tore apart Beirut, has put 300,000 people out of homes, has really devastated people, devastated us in terms of the psyche, just psychologically. It is a massive blow to all of us.

And people are building up. And as you mentioned, this expression of people to people has been an amazing outpour of support, of solidarity, of an ability to show that Lebanese coming together can do a huge amount.

Now whether this can lead to political change is, of course, the big question. I think we need to move on from just calls of saying this is a terrible political system; these are criminals; these need to go.

We don't yet have the ability -- we've been protesting since last October and we've not been able to succeed in changing very much. Even now, even after this blast, there have been no government ministers that have resigned.

So we need to be more engaged and unify the political demands for all the protesters. It's still divided. We need to move on from anger to something where there's more a unified platform that can engage and push forward a positive agenda.

M. HOLMES: It's the ingrained nature of it all when it comes to Lebanon. The interesting thing that makes it so complex is there are 18 distinct religious groups in Lebanon. Each of them have competing agendas and patronage as well.

With that in mind, how do you change such a political culture, the patronage, the lack of transparency and ensure that months in now it is not just business as usual?

MAKDISI: Well, I really want to say firstly that this question of having 18 or even more sectarian groups, this is something which is very rich for us. This is a country and a region as a whole, which has had a long history of co-existence.

So this is not a negative. This is a very positive thing to have so many different groups, so much co-existence and people working together on so many levels. This is how rich our country and our history and our culture is.

Now it gets manipulated by those in power. It got manipulated historically and to this day. And it's not just the local elites kind of getting together and dividing people.

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MAKDISI: It also has been backed, again, historically until now, through international support of various groups.

So this coming together is extremely difficult to try to undo in this time of financial collapse and economic collapse. It's really important to kind of make this point that the variety and diversity is a huge plus for us. And it's something that we need to rebuild as fundamentally part of Lebanon kind of going forward. But taking it away from those politicians internationally and locally,

who would use it for their own benefit, for the patronage, for clientelism (ph), basically bleeding the country like parasites, and transform it into something more positive that we can build.

M. HOLMES: I totally agree. And you know, having been there myself and you're absolutely right, the 18 different groups is a complement when it comes to the people but not when it comes to the politics and the manipulation of it. The beauty of Lebanon is its diversity and how everyone gets along.

You've got a church next to a mosque and so on and so forth -- 30 seconds, if you could.

Do you have any faith that the government can handle the donations coming from the international community or should that be going to NGOs and not government?

MAKDISI: No, frankly, like most people I don't think we have faith in anything this government would do. Again, not just this government but any government over the past years because previous governments are the ones that stole all this international money.

And not just international money, our money, our tax-paying money, money that's supposed to have gone to rebuilding the electricity sector -- we have no electricity for most of the day -- for the telecoms, for the infrastructure, for roads. All this has been stolen for 20 or 30 years.

So why would this government, which is an extremely weak government, be any different?

It's the same. There's a continuity in this kind of inability to handle and the kind of negligence and you could even push this forward and say kind of criminal conduct that began -- not this government but previous governments over two or three decades have been engaged.

So I don't have much faith but I think we need to push forward. Aid has to go to people, to civil society groups but on the big scale, the government has to be held to account for any money that comes in. That's for sure.

M. HOLMES: Professor Karim Makdisi. I really appreciate your time and our thoughts are with the people of Beirut there. Thank you so much.

MAKDISI: Thank you.

M. HOLMES: We'll take a quick break. When we come back on CNN NEWSROOM, U.S. president Donald Trump tries to take coronavirus relief for Americans into his own hands. Just ahead, why critics say his executive actions don't go far enough.

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M. HOLMES: Welcome back.

U.S. president Donald Trump signed four coronavirus relief measures on Saturday after Congress couldn't work out a deal. But that does not mean American companies and families should expect immediate financial help, far from it. CNN's Kristen Holmes explains.

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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump signing four executive actions today after those coronavirus stimulus talks stalled. I want to go through them because they're a bit complicated and there is a bit of nuance.

First, he talked about deferring student loan debt. That is a simple, straightforward memoranda (sic) that he signed today. The other ones a little more complicated.

One was a payroll tax holiday for people who made $100,000 or less.

Why was this complicated?

Well, one, companies are going to have to sign off on this. And there is no indication that they will or that they worked with these companies, the White House, to get this done.

But the other big problem here is that people eventually will have to pay that back. That means that people are facing an enormous amount of back taxes. President Trump said if he was elected he would dissolve these extra taxes.

But that would, again, mean that there is a potential for this huge amount of money to be hanging on Americans after November.

The third one I want to talk about was eviction. Now this was not a straight executive order on eviction moratorium, as we had believed it was going to be. Instead it's a little more nuanced.

President Trump in this order calls on agencies like the Health and Human Services Department to consider whether it was necessary to temporarily halt evictions. So clearly there's going to have to be some process there. And that means that that will lapse.

Last is the enhanced unemployment benefit. We've heard a lot about this and we have a graphic here to kind of break down exactly what President Trump is doing.

Americans who are unemployed were getting this extra $600 of federal assistance. That ended when those coronavirus stimulus talks stalled. Now President Trump is signing a memoranda (sic) for $400.

But it's not quite $400. If you look at this graphic, you can see here, the federal government is only offering to pay $300. President Trump is asking the states to pay the other 25 percent, which is, of course, $100.

Now as we know, a lot of these states are in a crippling financial situation after the pandemic. When asked about whether or not these governors would be able to pay this, here's what President Trump said.

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TRUMP: If they don't, they don't. That's going to be their problem. I don't think their people will be too happy. They have the money so I don't think their people will be too happy. But if they don't they don't but again, the states have the money. It's sitting there.

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K. HOLMES: Right. So unclear here whether or not it's actually going to be $400, meaning that it could have been cut in half from that $600 to now $300.

Now the Democrats have already put out a statement, Democratic leadership, Speaker Pelosi as well as Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, slamming these executive actions, calling them "narrow and weak" and saying this, that "Today's meager announcements by the president show President Trump still does not comprehend the seriousness or the urgency of the health and economic crisis facing working families."

So clearly here, already slamming them.

But the big question is when are these actually going to take place?

As I said, some of these require extra legwork, talking to companies, figuring out the back taxes as well as considering whether or not eviction or temporary eviction is necessary. So it's unclear when these benefits will actually get in the hands of Americans who really need them during this pivotal point.

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K. HOLMES: Kristen Holmes, CNN, Bridgewater, New Jersey.

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M. HOLMES: Thousands of people are packing into tiny Sturgis, South Dakota, for a biker rally. Only 7,000 people live there but they're expecting some 250,000 visitors over the course of the event. And residents are worried the out-of-towners could bring, yes, coronavirus with them. CNN's Ryan Young tells us what the bikers have to say.

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RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When we get to Sturgis, South Dakota, one thing you'll notice, right off the bat, the traffic has slowed here. This is a town of 7,000 normally. But right now this city is full of people.

Look all the way down the road here and I can tell you, this multiplies itself mile by mile. It takes a half hour to go a mile here, as thousands have descended on the city for the rally they say they wanted to be a part of.

One of the things that stands out here is a lot of people are choosing not to wear masks. They believe that's their right. And you do see some people wearing masks but we understand those are decisions they have made before arriving here.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are trying to kind of social distance. We haven't -- like when we went to the bar, just a drink here or there and then leave, if it's too crowded we really stepped out. So trying to still practice social distancing while enjoying the event.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One thing I know is I know how the people act. Look at everybody out here. They're ready to ride. Everybody's cooped up from the coronavirus. Everybody's ready to have fun. And hell, so am I.

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YOUNG: And there is an economic piece to all this as well. When you have so many people flooding into a city, businesses are counting on this weekend to make it. It's been a tough few months with the coronavirus.

There are people who traveled thousands of miles to be here. They wanted to see if they can make their year in this one weekend. And that's why they say it was all worth the risk -- Ryan Young, CNN, South Dakota.

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M. HOLMES: Some experts say the U.S. needs to rethink its national coronavirus testing strategy. They say symptomatic people are the ones being tested when others who don't show symptoms are contagious as well, of course.

And beyond that, there are those huge backlogs. And as our Randi Kaye reports, when the results come in, well, they're not always dependable.

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TRUMP: We have the best testing anywhere in the world.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If that's true, why are so many coronavirus test results wrong?

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: The FDA basically has created a "wild, wild west" environment for this testing where under their approval process and emergency basis, they have tests on the market that basically have a very, very wide range of results.

KAYE: Part of the trouble with the standard nasal swab test is the virus isn't always lurking in the nasal passage so a swab test may show the person is virus free, even though the virus might be in the lungs or maybe the intestines.

OSTERHOLM: The quality of these tests right now vary a great deal. And that's a challenge in terms of understanding if you get a negative result, is it really negative.

KAYE: Other factors that could affect the accuracy of the test include the stage of the disease. A Boston pathologist tells CNN there is window of about one week to catch the virus. Human error in administering the tests and how the swab is transported may also lead to a false negative.

(on camera): On top of all the inaccuracies, results are often delayed. Here in Florida, residents have waited days, sometimes weeks to get results, possibly allowing the virus to spread, which is why there is so much excitement about the so-called rapid tests, which return results in just minutes.

(voice-over): There are several rapid tests on the market but the president toted this one in March.

TRUMP: The FDA authorized a new test developed by Abbott Labs that delivers lightning fast results in as little as five minutes. That's a whole new ball game.

KAYE: Trouble is, Abbott's ID Now rapid test used at the White House has proven to be less accurate. Back in May, researchers at NYU found Abbott's rapid test returned a false negative nearly 50 percent of the time so they deemed it unacceptable for their patients.

On its website, Abbott said the NYU study is inconsistent with others that show Abbott's ID Now is more reliable. The FDA has received 176 reports of adverse events related to Abbott's ID Now test, ten state health agencies told CNN in July they specifically recommend or require individuals who test negative on the Abbott rapid device be retested.

Still, some experts, including scientists, believe, despite the inaccuracies rapid tests have shown, it's still better to have more tests. Quantity over quality, they say, may be our best hope -- Randi Kaye, CNN, Palm Beach, Florida.

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M. HOLMES: And I want to bring in Omai Garner in Los Angeles for more on testing. He's the director of clinical microbiology for the UCLA Health system.

Great to have you on.

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M. HOLMES: I mean, when we listen to the stories on testing, we just saw in the past week, the Ohio governor test positive ahead of a visit by the president and then test negative. It was a false positive. But that's the same test the White House is using to protect the

president, which begs the question, if the reliability of testing for the president isn't great, then what chance for the rest of us?

OMAI GARNER, UCLA HEALTH SYSTEM: Yes, you know, it's a great point. I think the challenge with clinical testing in almost all arenas is that no test is going to be perfect. And so there will be an error rate, be it false positives or false negatives.

And if you're performing very, very large numbers of tests, even if the error rate is around 1 percent or 2 percent, which it is for a lot of clinical diagnostics, it's inevitable that we will have false positives and false negatives.

M. HOLMES: There are and you make the point, there are so many tests out there.

Has the process, the availability and the quality of testing improved to where it should be this far into the pandemic?

What would effective testing look like?

GARNER: I will say that we've made incremental improvements since March or April. But we're nowhere near where we need to be.

Now I will say that the typical test that's performed in a laboratory does have good sensitivity and specificity, meaning its accuracy is very, very good. But there aren't nearly enough of those tests for the need across the country. In fact, it isn't even close.

M. HOLMES: Yes. Good point. A lot of people have been saying the same thing. I'm curious what you think, what damage is being done in terms of politics prevailing in the absence of a federal plan. I mean, everything seems so ad hoc; even swabs and the reagents are in short supply.

How has that lack of a federal strategy hurt the efforts to have effective and reliable testing?

GARNER: You know, to me at least in the laboratory that I run, one of the major problems, the shortage of the tests.

And part of the challenge of not having a national strategy is that states or even hospital labs have to compete directly with one another for what is a shortage of resources and a shortage of tests; whereas if there was a national strategy and that national strategy involved ramping up and then distributing tests, I think that it would end up being better.

We would have more tests available, especially for those places in the highest areas of need. There are places across the country, as you mentioned in the story before, that people are waiting 7-10 days to get a test result. So clearly there isn't enough tests.

And I believe a national plan would have been able to help with that, especially if it was impacted, let's say, or started in March. We could have been in a much different place than we are now.

M. HOLMES: Yes. Exactly. The delay is -- that's crazy. I mean, I had a test because it was down the road and it was free and it took seven days. That's kind of pointless.

One of the dozens of authorized tests, of the dozens of authorized tests, I mean, most of them are these sort of complex laboratory procedures that you mentioned; the PCR, I guess, that detect the genetic material. And that's great.

But only a handful of these quick and simple ones, these, I think they're called point of care setting, like if you're in a doctor's office or urgent care clinic, why can't point of care testing become the norm?

GARNER: I think point of care testing can definitely help fill a gap. The understanding is there aren't going to be enough complex laboratory tests to fill the need. And so we do need more point of care tests.

The challenge is that they are not as accurate. But they're definitely better than no tests at all. So if they're used in the right patient population or, let's say, they're used consecutively to test the patient, they definitely can achieve a higher accuracy and potentially fill a really great need across the country.

M. HOLMES: Really appreciate your thoughts on this. It's such an important issue. Omai Garner in Los Angeles. Thanks so much.

GARNER: Thank you. Appreciate being on.

M. HOLMES: We'll take a quick break here on the program. When we come back, in Brazil, people flocking to beaches, bars and other public places, even as the death toll continues to mount. We'll talk about that after the break.

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M. HOLMES: And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes.

The U.S. is very close to hitting 5 million confirmed coronavirus cases. So far, more than 162,000 people we know in the country have died.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the United States has by far the highest case count and death toll in the world, about a quarter of the world's totals in both of those areas.

Medical experts say the Trump administration's approach clearly isn't working, saying there is no coherent federal strategy; there never has been. There's been too much mixed messaging and a demonization of science.

And right now there is a gigantic biker rally going on in South Dakota. Some tell CNN that it is their right to not wear a mask in these crowds. But medical experts and researchers say, if Americans don't wear masks or socially distance, tens of thousands more people are going to die by the end of the year.

The country with the second highest case count in the world is Brazil, more than 3 million infections. And the outbreak has taken a staggering number of lives there, too, a grim number that took only a few months to reach. Here's Matt Rivers.

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MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know that the outbreak in Brazil is one of the worst in the world. And the data that we get just continues to back that up.

A horrible new milestone has been reached in Brazil, with the country's death toll now surpassing 100,000 for the first time. The overall number of cases in that country is also now topping 3 million for the first time.

This after some new information on Saturday from the country's health ministry recorded nearly 50,000 newly confirmed cases and just over 900 newly confirmed deaths.

Meanwhile, we did hear from president Jair Bolsonaro, who, from the get-go, has basically been flippant about the fact that tens of thousands of Brazilians have lost their lives. It was reacting to the news of 100,000 deaths that the president said, "We are going to get on with life and look for a way to get away from this problem."

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RIVERS: Now nearly 25 percent of all deaths recorded have come from the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, which just, on Saturday, surpassed the 25,000-death threshold. But despite that, the state continues to advance its reopening plan.

Since Thursday, bars and restaurants in the capital of Sao Paulo state can be open during the night. But the governor there said he is not going to allow in-person schooling to resume because he said any slip- up during this reopening could be fatal -- Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.

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M. HOLMES: Well, call it pandemic fatigue or burnout or just plain apathy but, in some places where coronavirus is raging, massive groups of people are getting way too close for comfort. Here's a look at some of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) M. HOLMES (voice-over): Crowded streets, packed bars: it's the weekend in Rio de Janeiro and people are partying like there's no pandemic. There are few masks, no social distancing, even though the country's death toll from the coronavirus is around 100,000.

"I know that I'm not doing the best thing in being here," one student says, "but at least I'm using a face mask. Those people are drinking, having a good time. They don't know where their cup came from."

But Rio isn't the only place where people are out and about without taking proper precautions. Crowds packing the seaside resort of Blackpool in northwest England, filling the promenade and the beaches, with people trying to escape the summer heat even though cases are on the rise across the U.K.

Paris is taking measures to crack down on scenes like this. As of Monday, masks will be required by everyone over 11 years of age in busy outdoor areas. Reaction so far: mixed.

"I find it unnecessary when there aren't many people," one resident says. "But when there are more people, it is good that people wear masks."

Vietnam is testing and testing again to contain an outbreak that began in the city of Da Nang. Officials say thousands of people who recently returned from the resort town will get more accurate swab tests instead of the ones they initially took. They say large-scale testing and strict community guidelines helped keep infections low once before.

"We got through the last time," one person says. "As long as all of us comply with these policies, we will get through this together."

Following the rules, heeding the science, right now, they could be the best options to beat back the coronavirus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. HOLMES: We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, the U.S. Postal Service announcing a hiring freeze. The head of the Postal Workers' Union tells us, after the break, how all of these changes could impact mail-in voting in November.

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M. HOLMES: The U.S. is inching closer to 5 million coronavirus cases so more states want the option of mail-in ballots. But president Donald Trump, well, he continues to sow distrust in and make false claims about mail-in voting and blames the Democrats in the process. Here's what he said on Saturday. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They even want to force states to implement the controversial practice known as ballot harvesting, very dangerous practice. Meaning they would allow Democrat Party operatives to deposit thousands and thousands of completed ballots at the post office without any verification of who filled them out, including a verification of signatures on the ballot, so you're not even going to have a verified signature.

Anybody, I could sign it, you could sign it, anybody in this room could sign it and that's going to count as a vote.

How can you do a thing like this?

So this is what they're asking for. This is what Nancy Pelosi and crying Chuck Schumer asking for, OK, that's ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. HOLMES: Mail-in ballots are verified, by the way.

President Trump's comments coming just a day after the U.S. postmaster general announced a management hiring freeze. But congressional Democrats fear the move and other moves, too, at the post office could cause delays in voting by mail and they want it investigated. CNN's Jessica Dean has more from Washington.

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JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More changes at the U.S. Postal Service. Under new leadership from Trump ally and donor Louis DeJoy, the U.S. Postal Service announced it will be instituting a management hiring freeze and requesting future buyouts.

The moves are exactly the kind of thing Democrats on the Hill have asked the USPS not to do.

SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D-IL), DEMOCRATIC WHIP: We are proud of our postal workers across America but they've got a hand tied behind their back with this new leadership.

DEAN (voice-over): Today congressional Democrats, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, called for the U.S. Postal Service inspector general to investigate operational changes at the USPS.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: We have little faith that they're not trying to politicize the post office.

DEAN (voice-over): The USPS says the measures were to cut costs. But postal workers and unions claim it's led to a slowing of the mail and could potentially impact vote by mail in the fall, something the postmaster general denies.

LOUIS DEJOY, U.S. POSTMASTER GENERAL: Despite any assertions to the contrary, we are not slowing down election mail or any other mail. DEAN (voice-over): In their letter, the lawmakers say the Postal

Service has become a political football and described the service's response to congressional requests as "seriously lacking."

They also want the IG to look into any business conflicts DeJoy may have.

DeJoy took the helm of the Postal Service on June 15th. He's the first postmaster general in decades to come to the job without any prior experience working within the U.S. Postal Service. He contributed about $1.2 million to the Trump victory fund dating back to August 2016, according to federal election commission filings.

TRUMP: I can't imagine the post office could do it, all of a sudden they're supposed to be dealing in millions of ballots.

DEAN (voice-over): Financials filed earlier this year by DeJoy's wife, Aldona Wos, who was nominated to be ambassador to Canada, also show potential conflicts of interest, including a financial stake in UPS, a Postal Service competitor.

They also show tens of millions of dollars of income and assets derived from holdings in shipping logistics company XPO, which acquired DeJoy's former company in 2014. XPO is a current contractor for the U.S. Postal Service. On Friday, DeJoy responded to accusations of political influence for the first time publicly.

DEJOY: While I certainly have a good relationship with the president of the United States, the notion that I would ever make decisions concerning the Postal Service at the direction of the president or anyone else in the administration is wholly off base.

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DEAN: A U.S. Postal Service spokesperson tells me that DeJoy has followed all ethics requirements for the Office of Postmaster General -- Jessica Dean, CNN, Washington.

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M. HOLMES: Joining me now is Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers' Union, that represents some 200,000 Postal Service employees.

Really appreciate your time on this important issue, Mark.

I wanted to ask what are the real world impacts of what the postmaster general has done, these cuts?

How has it sort of manifest itself in the day-to-day operations?

MARK DIMONDSTEIN, APWU: Well, the real world impacts are that he's put in some new policies soon after he took office. He came from the outside. He doesn't really understand yet the inner workings of the post office and he just arbitrarily has reduced the number of hours that employees can work. He's changed transportation routes. He's cut hours in retail units.

He's pulled out sorting machines.

And the result of all of these things combined is that mail is simply going to be slowed down. It's going to be delayed. That runs counter to everything the proud and dedicated postal workers stand for.

We treat the mail as if it's our own. We've -- that's certainly underscored during this pandemic, where we've been front line essential workers, proudly connecting the people of the country and with the rest of the world in this challenging time. So --

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M. HOLMES: We're talking about --

DIMONDSTEIN: We're getting reports from all over the country, Michael, that mail's being slowed down and it's very problematic.

M. HOLMES: And it's very problematic. A lot of people get their prescriptions by mail.

DIMONDSTEIN: That's right.

M. HOLMES: And their Social Security checks by mail. It's a very important thing. And you mentioned Trump appointed -- this is a former -- or a big donor to the Trump campaign who was given this job.

He says, OK, he says these are efficiency measures.

I mean, do you accept that explanation or do you think, as critics do, that this is a deliberate effort to weaken the post office ahead of the election and all of those mail-in ballots?

DIMONDSTEIN: We don't accept it. It's not called the United States postal business. And that's for a reason. It's called the United States Postal Service. We have an obligation under the law to serve everybody in this country, no matter who we are or where we live, from the most rural outpost to the densely populated inner cities.

So it's not just a normal business, where every letter somebody has to make a profit on, somebody has to make money on.

So we would much rather see the Congress of the United States provide COVID financial relief. The COVID pandemic, the economic impact of the pandemic, is having a large negative impact on the Postal Service.

In the United States, the Postal Service runs in normal times with no tax dollars. And therefore, the revenue has to be enough to be able to carry out our mission.

We sort and deliver mail to 160 million addresses every day. So what's happening is, it certainly objectively is having an impact, weakening, undermining the quality of service because it is degrading service.

M. HOLMES: I know you don't want to dive into politics but, you know, the House oversight chair Carolyn Maloney, she says these are the president's attempts to prevent millions of Americans from having their votes counted.

I want to ask if you agree with that in a political sense.

But as things stand right now in light of the changes, do you believe the U.S. Postal Service will be able to deal with the flood of mail-in ballots that will be heading out in November?

DIMONDSTEIN: I think, generally, yes. But anything that slows down the mail slows down everything we do, from the medicines you talked about to the checks to the retirement checks to the financial transactions and, yes, ballots.

Now the Postal Service doesn't run elections. The states throughout this country do. The Postal Service has great capacity to handle influx of mail. It happens during all different seasons. It really happened during this pandemic, where packages have gone up a lot while people were sheltered in place.

But it is troubling whenever mail slows down. We've been doing vote by mail as postal workers and the Postal Service for generations in this country. It's becoming more and more popular with each election cycle.

And clearly in this election cycle, with this pandemic, the Postal Service is the only way and mail-in voting is the only way that tens of millions of people will be able to safely cast a vote and have access to the ballot box. We work under the law that says prompt, reliable and efficient services.

[01:50:00]

DIMONDSTEIN: Prompt means quickly and that includes ballots.

M. HOLMES: There's a lot of people who are very concerned that this Trump-appointed postmaster general is slowing things down because there's going to be a lot of mail-in ballots over this election cycle. Hopefully it doesn't happen. Hopefully you get the support you need from Congress. Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, thanks so much.

DIMONDSTEIN: Thank you very much for having me on.

M. HOLMES: Quick break now. When we come back, he is the longest serving leader in Europe. But now, a young, stay-at-home mom poses a serious challenge to Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko. Details on Sunday's presidential election, when we come back.

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M. HOLMES: In Belarus, strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko has just battled his way through an unusually difficult election campaign. Polls in the country's presidential election opened a short time ago with workers like these in Minsk, wearing masks and face shields. As Salma Abdelaziz reports, even if he wins again, the tide in the country might be turning.

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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): It's his biggest challenge, yet. After 26 years in power, Alexander Lukashenko's iron grip on the people of Belarus appears to be waning.

After Lukashenko jailed or barred several of his main rivals from running, thousands of protesters poured onto the streets of at least 10 different cities. And one unexpected challenger is promising to meet their demand.

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SVETLANA TIKHANOVSKAYA, OPPOSITION CANDIDATE (through translator): People are tired. The people want change.

How long can you rule the people, against their will?

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Thirty-seven-year-old Svetlana Tikhanovskaya entered the race in place of her husband, Sergei Tikhanovskaya, after he was arrested in May. The former teacher admits she's no politician but her campaign has seen a surge in popularity.

TIKHANOVSKAYA (through translator): Now is the time when everyone must overcome their fear.

Do you think I'm not scared?

I'm scared, every day but I muster my courage, get over my fear, go to you and go for victory.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Nicknamed Europe's last dictator, the incumbent has long drawn international criticism for using secret police to crush any dissent. Now he faces mounting pressure over the country's economic situation and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

His critics accuse him of recklessly denying the implications of the global health crisis to disastrous effects, making this one of the country's most unpredictable elections in a generation.

But with the country's history of what critics have deemed unfair elections and alleged vote rigging, it remains to be seen whether this year's vote can successfully bring about real change -- Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

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M. HOLMES: Thanks for watching, everyone and spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. Do stay tuned, though, for another hour of CNN NEWSROOM after the break. I will see you on the other side.