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NYT: White House Asked About Adding Trump To Mount Rushmore; Nick Tilsen, NDN Collective President & CEO, Discusses Trump Wanting His Face On Mount Rushmore; California Health Director Abruptly Resigns In Middle Of Pandemic; CNN Follows Family Searching For Loved One After Beirut Blast; Kodak Stock Plummets After Government Loan Put On Hold. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired August 10, 2020 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:32:25]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: President Trump apparently thinks Mount Rushmore should include another president's face on it, his own. He tweeted this photo of himself last night after the 'New York Times' reported that the White House called the South Dakota governor's office last year to ask about how to add presidents to the monument.
And this year, when President Trump held a Fourth of July celebration at Mount Rushmore, the "New York Times" says Governor Kristi Noem him with a four-foot replica of Mount Rushmore with his likeness on it.
The president called "The Times" report fake on Twitter. But Noem herself mentioned Trump's Mount Rushmore hopes back in April of 2018.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTI NOEM, (R), SOUTH DAKOTA GOVERNOR: He said, Kristi, come on over here. Shake my hand. So I shook his hand. I said, Mr. President, you should come to South Dakota some time. We have Mount Rushmore.
And he goes, did you know it's my dream to have my face on Mount Rushmore.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
NOEM: And I started laughing. He wasn't laughing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I'm sure he's serious.
NOEM: He was serious. And within a month or so, he said it in public and got a lot of criticism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Nick Tilsen is joining us now. He's a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation and president and CEO of the NDN Collective, which is dedicated to rebuilding the Native American community.
Thanks so much for being with us.
NICK TILSEN, LAKOTA NATION CITIZEN & PRESIDENT AND CEO, NDN COLLECTIVE: Thanks for having me on.
KEILAR: So, you were among nearly 200 people who actually protested the president's July Fourth visit to Mount Rushmore. You got arrested for that.
What is your reaction to the latest news about the president reportedly wanting his face on Mount Rushmore?
TILSEN: Well, first of all, I think it's outrageous in general.
We started a conversation about the closure of Mount Rushmore because Mount Rushmore itself is a symbol of systematic racism and white supremacy in America. Because the four faces on that mountain were colonizers, slave owners. Abraham Lincoln wears one of the biggest masks and was one of the biggest executioners in the history of the county.
And the fact that we had started the conversation about closure in Mount Rushmore, because it's a symbol of white supremacy. And the president wants to align himself with those figure in history, at this point in history, it's egregious.
KEILAR: You protested, as we mentioned. You were arrested. You were detained for three days. What was that like/
[14:34:58]
TILSEN: Our focus of the protest was focused on the closure of Mount Rushmore and get our land back and focusing on the return of indigenous lands.
And the way that indigenous people are treating in the justice system in South Dakota is outrageous. The statistic is indigenous people in South Dakota are 10-times more likely to be jailed or imprisoned than white people. That was apparent in there. All of the inmates I've seen were Lakota people from this region. There are relatives in there.
This is a continuation of the fact that this is a system of white supremacy. We're trying to dismantle systematic racism.
So, when we have the president saying he wants to put his face on the mountain, this stolen land from indigenous people -- even the Supreme Court states that treaties of the supreme law of the land and the Black Hills is one of the most gross violations in the history of the country. It's egregious.
And the fact is, in this country, we should be actively having a conversation about the world we're trying to build. One built on social justice and equity. One that talks about black reparations and gives the land back to indigenous people. KEILAR: Do you think it's laughable that this is out there as a
possibility or desire of the president's or do you worry it's something the governor is telling Trump might be realistic?
TILSEN: I mean, I think it is laughable because we are leading a land- back movement to work towards the closure of Mount Rushmore. So the likelihood of us closing Mount Rushmore is 10 times more likely than the president having an opportunity to stick his face on it.
And so, that's my reaction to that, is we have a serious momentum. This is a land-back movement in this nation at this time in history.
And so, it's laughable because there's no way that the president is going to get a space on the mountain on our sacred lands.
Because what will happen before that happens is we're going to get our land back and we'll create a national conversation about the role that national monuments have played in perpetuating incorrect history and perpetual violence to black and indigenous people of color in this nation.
KEILAR: Nick, thank you for joining us. Nick Tilsen. We appreciate it.
TILSEN: Absolutely, Brianna. Thanks for having me on.
KEILAR: Airport traffic may be down due to coronavirus but the number of guns seized at TSA checkpoints is way up.
Plus, Georgia announces a massive new testing plan as the state struggles to get its COVID cases under control.
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[14:41:55]
KEILAR: California's health director has abruptly resigned after Governor Gavin Newsom announced an investigation into a glitch in the state's reporting system, causing coronavirus cases to be underreported. California now has the highest number of infections in the country.
CNN's Stephanie Elam is joining us from Los Angeles to talk about this.
Stephanie, tell us what's we're learning about this resignation and what exactly this glitch is.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Brianna, we don't know for sure that the reason Dr. Sonia Angell has resigned is because of this glitch. We do know the state is working through this.
What I can tell you about Dr. Angell is that she's been in this position since October of last year. Not very long at all. And that this news came out late yesterday. So, obviously this is surprising to many people.
We are expecting to hear from the governor shortly. So, we'll hope to hear more information on why this happened.
About this glitch, what they're saying has been happening since July 25th is some of the cases were not being entered into the data system properly. Therefore, there's an undercounting of the number of cases reported in a day. And that was going on to impact contract tracing and the like.
They're saying, in that period -- the problem has been fixed now. But they're saying, in that period, there were some 250,000 to 300,000 cases not accounted for. Some could be duplicates, some positive, negative. There could have been other disease that were tested within that.
That's why each county is now going through to make sure they can certify this. And they've built in redundancies to fix this. But that is a huge issue.
At the same time, California just put out new numbers now. These numbers are coming from the state. And they're saying that, right now, they are recording 66 new deaths and 7,700, a little bit more than that, new cases here. So, total cases of almost 562,000 here in California.
We usually do see a lower number on the weekends coming off of the weekends, because some of labs don't report until the weekday. That's important to keep in mind, Brianna. But obviously, lots of questions about what's going on in Sacramento.
KEILAR: Stephanie, thank you so much.
[14:44:06]
There's breaking news coming out of Lebanon where protests over that massive deadly explosion in Beirut led to the resignation of the government.
And CNN is on the ground with a family as they search for their missing loved one. He sent this video moments before the blast.
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KEILAR: We have some breaking news out of Lebanon where, a short time, the government announced it is resigning. This comes less than a week after a powerful explosion killed more than 160 people in Beirut.
CNN has just obtained new video of the moment the blast happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (EXPLOSION)
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KEILAR: Days of violent protest followed the explosion. Demonstrators accusing the government of incompetence and corruption.
The United Nation secretary-general is calling for, quote, "a credible and transparent investigation" into what happened.
In the meantime, tens of thousands have been displaced and there are still people who are unaccounted for.
CNN's Arwa Damon met one family desperately searching for their loved one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michelle hasn't slept in three days. Neither has her sister-in-law with whom she shares the same name and a love for Joe, husband and brother.
Michelle struggles to form words and sentences in Arabic, never mind in English. Joe is an electrician at the port.
(SHOUTING)
DAMON: And this is the last video she got from him on Tuesday night. Minutes later, the entire building he was filming would explode.
(EXPLOSION)
DAMON: Jennifer, Joe and Michelle's oldest child, was in Beirut.
MICHELLE ANDOUN, JOE'S SISTER: So, she heard the explosion and then she started --
MICHELLE TANIOS, WIFE OF JOE: Crying --
(CROSSTALK)
ANDOUN: Crying and shouting. This is my dad's
TANIOS: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
(CROSSTALK)
ANDOUN: It was live on TV. She said, this is where my day works!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, she knew that's where her dad worked?
ANDOUN: Yes.
TANIOS: (through translation): She said, oh poor daddy. Oh, poor mommy. Oh, poor Joe. DAMON (voice-over): The entire family was frantic, calling Joe nonstop.
ANDOUN: At midnight, Joe opened his phone for 21 seconds before they heard voices, deep voices. That's what he said, and then nothing.
DAMON: Another call also seemed to have gone through on Wednesday for 43 seconds, but there was silence on the other end.
He must be alive, they thought. They had to get to him. Joe is strong, clever. He would have figured out a way to save himself.
They combed through videos shot by others from other angles looking for any clues to give teams locations to search.
(on camera): You think that's Joe?
TANIOS: Yes, this is.
DAMON: You think one of those people is Joe?
TANIOS: Of course.
ANDOUN: Yes, we are sure. Then he was ready to come here.
DAMON (voice-over): It's the building right in front of the grain silo. A building that is now buried.
But they still had hope. There's an operations room deep underground. They heard there are bunkers. Three bodies were pulled out, but no Joe. Maybe he's deeper in, deeper under, somehow still alive.
ANDOUN: Yes, and we have to keep searching.
DAMON: Michelle was born in the U.S. The children also have American passports. Joe was just about to get his visa. All that now seems like a different reality.
ANDOUN: He loved life. And every day, he wanted to go to America because it's better for his -- for Jennifer and Joy, for their future, but not for him.
DAMON: The women are trying to shield the children from their grief.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD (through translation): My shoes smelled bad so they washed me.
(LAUGHTER)
DAMON: Jennifer doesn't know daddy is missing. Joy is thankfully too young to fully understand. Maybe they will never have to tell the girls their daddy is dead.
That night, the fourth after the explosion, crews were searching around the clock, searching the area where the family believed Joe would be found, clinging to the hope that he would still somehow be alive.
At 4:00 a.m., they sent us a heart-broken message, Joe's body had been found.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Thank you so much to Arwa for that port.
Actor Antonio Banderas revealing he has tested positive for coronavirus. Hear what he's been through.
And Chicago on edge after a night of looting. Hear what officials are doing to fight it tonight.
And Kodak stock tumbling after the government just put $800 million loan to the company on hold. We'll explain why.
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[14:58:11]
KEILAR: Shares of Kodak plummeting on the New York Stock Exchange today, down some 40 percent at one point, after an almost $800 million federal loan to make drug ingredients was put on hold.
CNN's Alison Kosik is in New York.
And, Alison, there are several layers to the story. Tell us what investors are reacting to, exactly.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, we're seeing investors kind of rattled about regulators blocking that $765 million loan to Kodak because they're investigating allegations of insider trading and investigating how the company got this government loan in the first place to make drug ingredients for generics.
Now when this announcement was made late last month, we saw shares soar more than 2,000 percent over two days. So this stock has been on a wild ride.
And remember, this company, Kodak, has fallen off the radar since being an innovator in making that Kodak moment synonymous with taking a picture. So we haven't heard of Kodak for a very long time. And to see the price spikes raised some eyebrows on Wall Street.
So now there are questions about the executives, about the chief executive and CEO, about why he received stock options a day before this loan announcement.
Also, the Securities and Exchange Commission is going to be investigating the timing of this announcement. It wants to know why Kodak announced through a media advisory that this loan deal went through a day before it made the official announcement. Now Kodak did provide a statement to CNN saying it did not intend to
make those details public on a local TV station in Kodak's hometown of Rochester, New York.
But I want to point out this is an unusual deal with the government that leverages the Defense Production Act, which gives the government power to direct certain kinds of production in the name of national security.
[15:00:02]
And the Trump administration spoke very highly of this deal, though then -- President Trump specifically.
