Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Pro-Democracy Media Mogul Arrested In Hong Kong; Explosion Devastates Beirut, Ignites Mass Riots; Australia's Deadliest COVID Case Day; Rioters In Belarus Clash With Government; U.S. President Touts Plan to Extend Economic Aid; U.S. Schools Cope with Reopening as Virus Spreads. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 10, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. And welcome to our viewers joining us all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes.
And coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM.
Beijing goes after one of its most vocal critics. Media mogul, Jimmy Lai, arrested under Hong Kong's new national security law.
Anger at Lebanon's government boils over in Beirut. Protests there turning violent for a second night following last week's deadly explosion.
And in Australia, Victoria has its deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic.
Welcome everyone. We begin in Hong Kong where police have made one of the highest profile arrests under the controversial national security law.
Media mogul and democracy proponent, Jimmy Lai, taken into custody on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces. Police say that they've arrested six other people and they raided the offices of Lai's newspaper.
For more, CNN's Will Ripley joins me now from Hong Kong.
A high-profile arrest. What's the accusation? And is it more message than supposed offense?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are still waiting, Michael, to learn the details of these charges under the national security law that Mainland China imposed on Hong Kong less than two months ago.
But we do know that Lai, along with the six other people arrested, could face anywhere from three years to potentially life in prison if convicted.
Some trials might even happen in the Mainland, away from public view, with no jury and a panel of judges and just a statement at the end about how it turns out. It is the kind of thing that is chilling for pro-democracy activists and it's chilling for journalists who here in Hong Kong for decades have enjoyed the luxury of operating independently as a free press.
And now you have these images of police officers in uniform raiding the offices of "Apple Daily," which the newspaper owned by billionaire Jimmy Lai, which for many than 20 years has been an outspoken and fierce critic of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong government, of the Mainland itself.
It was a supporter of the protest movement last year, even offering protesters whole pages that they could rip out of the paper and bring to the protest with them.
And the fact that now you have the owner of this paper facing charges under the national security law, others arrested and police not ruling out more arrests.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association has called it shocking and sad just in the last hour. Saying this poses a very serious threat, Michael, to freedom of the press here in Hong Kong.
HOLMES: I was just about to ask you that. Speak to that.
What is the sense there among the media community, the media industry about the future of an independent media?
RIPLEY: Well, there are questions about whether reporters for news outlets like CNN and others might have issues with getting their visas renewed. Because the visa office is one place that authoritarian governments often go when they want to punish reporters for stories that they're not happy with.
But also there's the possibility of having police enter your home without a search warrant, potentially going through your phone, through your social media posts going back years. Your contacts, anybody who you've interviewed.
Looking for evidence that journalist are colluding to try to undermine the national security of Hong Kong and Mainland China. And so it has very serious implications.
I think a lot of news organizations have been taking a wait and see attitude to see how it's enforced.
But the fact that in less than two months you've had the elections postponed in Hong Kong by a year where pro-democracy parties were expected to do badly -- of course, the government's blaming that on the pandemic -- but the fact that you have the elections postponed, a number of pro-democracy candidates disqualified and now a growing number of arrests under this new law.
Certainly a lot of reason for a lot of people to be concerned.
HOLMES: Absolutely. Will Ripley there in Hong Kong for us. Thank you, Will. Well there is no calming the anger in Lebanon in the aftermath of Tuesday's massive explosion in Beirut.
Demonstrators were out for a second day demanding the entire government step down immediately.
A fire broke out at an entrance to Parliament Square and protestors broke into the housing and transportation ministry offices before police cleared the area.
Sam Kiley had this report from the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: About 30 or 40 yards down the street that's barricaded there is the outer cordon for the Lebanese Parliament.
The demonstrators are absolutely dead set, they told me, on getting into more and more government buildings.
To try and demonstrate that the government itself is really a chimera, it is hopeless, it is a sort of joke.
[01:05:00]
They're obviously bombarding the police.
On the other side of this barrier, there's a whiff of tear gas in the air. The crowd is building more and more steadily.
There had been a suggestion from some of the organizers -- there had been a suggestion from some of the organizers that there be less of a demonstration here now. That clearly is no longer the case.
That, of course, is a large new dose of tear gas fired by the police. They're trying to protect the government buildings.
Yesterday a number of government buildings were temporarily invaded by the demonstrators. They have sworn that that is going to be their new tactic.
Police and the Lebanese Army allowed the protesters to continue their rioting against the parliament access routes before clearing them in one massive movement with volley upon volley of tear gas.
They came from the other side of Martyr's Square down and, simultaneously bashing their shields together, they swept through sweeping out all of the protesters.
And then chasing them further with an armored personnel carrier and, of course, with volley upon volley of tear gas.
Sam Kiley. CNN, Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Beirut's governor said many of the bodies that have not been identified from the explosion could be foreign workers.
There are still a number of people missing and families obviously desperately hoping for answers.
Arwa Damon joins us now with more. And you've been looking into just one family's a heartbreaking situation.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SNR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Michael. It's absolutely gutting at the stage for anyone who's having to go through this.
To meet this family, we traveled about an hour and a half outside of Beirut to try to hear their story of how they were trying to search for their missing loved one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Michele 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.
Michele struggles to form words and sentences in Arabic, never mind in English.
Joe is an electrician at the port.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (In Arabic): Look, fire. Fire. Fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAMON: And this is the last video she got from him on Tuesday night.
Minutes later the entire building he was filming would explode.
Jennifer, Joe and Michele's oldest child, was in Beirut.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELE ANDOUN: So she heard the explosion and she start --
MICHELE TANOS: Crying.
ANDOUN: -- crying and shouting, "This is my dad's" --(In Arabic) --
(Caption: It was live on TV. She said, "This is where my dad works")
MICHELE TANOS: (In Arabic)
DAMON: Oh, she knew that's where her dad worked.
ANDOUN: Yes. She's clever.
TANOS (In Arabic): (Caption: "She said, "Oh, poor daddy. Oh, poor mommy.")
ANDOUN (In Arabic): (Caption: "Oh, poor Joe.")
DAMON: The entire family was frantic. Calling Joe nonstop.
ANDOUN: At midnight, Joe opened his phone for 21 second. Her father 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've figured 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.
DAMON: You think that's Joe?
TANOS: Yes. This is.
DAMON: You think one of those other people is Joe?
TANOS: Of course.
ANDOUN: No, we are sure. And he was filming from here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAMON: 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TANOS: Yes. And we have to keep searching.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAMON: Michele 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDOUN: He loved life in every detail. He wanted to go to America because it's better for his -- for Jennifer, Joy. For their future but not for him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAMON: The women are trying to shield the children from their grief.
CHILD: (In Arabic)
(Caption: My shoes smelled bad so they washed me).
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.
[01:10:00]
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 somehow still be alive.
At 4:00 a.m. they sent us a heartbroken message. Joe's body had been found.
And, Michael, you know this country very well and how the Lebanese over the decades had almost perfected the art of soldiering on, given their experiences with the civil war, with explosions, with bomb blasts, with running street battles.
But this? This is different.
HOLMES: I'm just struck by seeing that little girl there and kissing the photo of her father.
Speak to the trauma of this on the kids. What have you seen? The adults too, but especially the little ones.
DAMON: Look, you have the kids that are going to have to cope with the fact that one of their parents or one of their relatives is gone.
And how would that explain to them? How do you explain to a child that the government that's meant to protect you basically created these unsafe conditions that allowed for something like this to happen.
On then on the other side of that also you have the kids that survived this, the kids that were inside their homes when the blast swept through shattering windows, in many cases injuring them.
And there's an entirely different sort of trauma that derives from that kind of an experience taking place inside your home, your home that is meant to be safe. Your home where you go to sleep or where you play with your parents.
And so some doctors are saying that they have already been seeing signs of severe trauma and PTSD among children. That that is going to be something that aid organizations and others who want to assist this country are going to have to somehow focus on.
Because, again it's so wide spread, and the impact of this was so widespread that it's really being felt by so many children. HOLMES: Yes. Absolutely. And I know your own NGO is doing some
great work there as well.
I did want to ask you just one final question. About the politics of this. We've talked over the last few days about the anger, people want change, could this be a catalyst for change? The decades of patronage and corruption.
Is there any sense of how that might start, how that might look? That sort of wholesale change?
DAMON: Look, what the protesters are asking for is for the entire government to resign and then presumably some sort of election.
But if they have elections along the same electoral law that they do right now you're going to invariably end up with more of the same.
And the thing is, Michael, this is not the sort of change that's going to happen overnight.
Because you need change on the governance systematic -- system level, you need change in the electoral law, and you also need change.
But this is something that we might actually start to see in how people begin to vote. So that they're no longer really voting the way that they used to along sectarian lines but actually voting more for newer political parties. For technocrats.
And it's only there and then that we're going to begin to see this kind of change.
Because you're talking about uprooting a system that has been in place for decades and one that is entrenched in corruption.
So what this country really needs is new faces who, because of the older electoral law didn't necessarily have a chance to actually get seats in parliament. Allow them the space to be able to do that if they get the vote that they need. Which would then result in a much more inclusive government.
Because right now the government, basically, because of the current law that is in place, ends up being split between the two main political blocs.
HOLMES: Yes, exactly. Difficult to get that sort of engrained political system changed in a meaningful way. But hopefully this is the start of something.
Arwa Damon, great to have you there, my friend. Thank you.
HOLMES: Well, pledges are pouring in from around the world to help Beirut overcome this disaster.
Nearly $300 million has been raised through a virtual donors conference. But the French President Emmanuel Macron, and others are warning it cannot be a blank check. CNN's Cyril Vanier with more from Paris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sunday's donor conference for Beirut managed to collect a quarter of a billion euros in emergency humanitarian assistance.
Twenty-eight countries came together along with the United Nations, the European Union, the IMF and the World Bank to coordinate and amplify the aid that has already begun to arrive in Lebanon.
This money will go to the most urgent needs. Saving lives and providing food and shelter to some of the 300,000 people left homeless by the explosion.
Sanitation and water are also a priority because they've been disrupted in so many neighborhoods. And schools too.
[01:15:00]
According to the U.N., so many buildings have been damaged that 55,000 children may not be able to go back to school.
The French president had promised during his visit to Beirut earlier this week that the money would go straight to those who need it.
That was a big focus on Sunday, so the United Nations will be tasked with monitoring the funds to make sure they don't fall in the hands of a government that Lebanese protesters consider corrupt.
All of this money, 252 million euros, comes with no strings attached.
But donor countries made it clear that they are willing to go above and beyond and help Lebanon recover from its current economic crisis.
For that, however, the international community wants to see real change in the country. Fighting corruption, cleaning up the banking sector, providing basic services to its people.
The kind of political reforms that have eluded the country for so long.
Cyril Vanier. CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: CNN has meanwhile obtained a new, higher resolution video of the moment of Beirut's explosion.
Aguston Nemoth [ph] shot this video on his phone on the terrace of his home. He said he thought he heard loud fireworks and saw flames so he started recording.
About 15 minutes later, he said he heard a bigger explosion -- you see it there, it knocked him to the floor. He was actually worried at the time that his whole building would
collapse. And when he got back, the building had been, indeed, severely damaged.
But what you see there is quite terrifying as it rolls towards the camera.
Well, protests are erupting across Belarus after election returns appear to show a big and in the eyes of many a highly dubious victory margin for the incumbent president, Alexander Lukashenko.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: Belarus. Belarus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Thousands of people unleashing their fury in the capital city of Minsk and also elsewhere around the country.
Mr. Lukashenko, who has ruled for nearly three decades, has faced a wave of anger over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and also the economy.
Now despite that, official state-approved exit polls gave him an overwhelming majority of nearly 80 percent. His main opponent, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a former teacher,won nearly seven percent of the vote. But those were state polls.
One independent monitoring agent disputes that figure.
They said they counted more than a million ballots. The agency says that Tikhanovskaya, she won 80 percent, not Mr. Lukashenko.
The state of Victoria in Australia reporting its deadliest day of the pandemic so far. We're going to have the latest on the restrictions and what officials are saying about reopening borders.
Also, a Georgia high school student posted this image online, it went viral. She got suspended.
Well, now the school is telling students to stay home for the next two days. We'll have the details next.
[01:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: The Australian state of Victoria announced 19 coronavirus deaths on Sunday, making it the deadliest day of the pandemic to date. Victoria reporting 229 deaths so far.
Angus Watson joins me now from Sydney, Australia to discuss.
Obviously, a lot of concern down under about these deaths in Victoria. Fill us in. ANGUS WATSON, JOURNALIST: There is, Michael, 19 deaths today as you mentioned. A record for Australia and, of course, the state of Victoria, as it's gripped by this vicious second wave of COVID-19.
Seventeen deaths yesterday which was also a record for its worst day in terms of deaths.
Today the people that passed away were between the ages of 50 through 90 and 14 of them were linked to aged care where, of course, there are 1,700 active cases in this aged care crisis.
So the concern that there could be more deaths coming is really a very worrying one for authorities there in Victoria.
Now to put that into perspective as well, Michael, just nine days ago, Australia was 200 deaths, its overall death toll. Today it's at 314.
So nine days it took to jump that -- tripling that number of deaths in the country due to this vicious second wave in Victoria, Michael.
HOLMES: With the lockdown -- it continues, one imagines it will stay locked down in Melbourne. What's the compliance been like?
WATSON: So Daniel Andrews, the premier of Victoria, today said that he was quite pleased with the way that Victorians are putting in a big effort to comply with this rigorous, this strict, stage four lockdown in the city of Melbourne which is going to cost the economy 10 to 12 billion Australian dollars, Michael. As non-essential businesses are shut down and people can't really leave the house for very much at all.
The Victorian premier says that the numbers that we're seeing today are a little down, and that's because of overall good compliance with stage three.
So he's hopeful that as the numbers reflect these stage four lockdowns come to pass in the next week or so that we might be seeing more success there.
Three hundred and twenty-two new cases of COVID-19 today, so some silver lining that the average daily number of cases is dropping. It's in the mid-400s, new cases per day at the moment, last week it was in the mid-500s.
So we're hopeful that as restrictions continue we'll continue to see a drop in the number of new cases each day, Michael.
HOLMES: Heading in the right direction, hopefully. Angus Watson in Sydney. Appreciate it. Thanks so much.
Well, in Brazil, Catholics honoring the more than 100,000 people who've died from coronavirus there.
[01:20:00]
The country's archbishop holding Sunday mass under the Christ The Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.
Infections and deaths continue to rise steadily in Brazil as many cities have been reopening shops and restaurants.
Meanwhile, Brazil's president attacking the media for how they're covering his response to the pandemic. Jair Bolsonaro tweeting that the country's biggest TV station was spreading panic and discord.
President Donald Trump says the executive actions that he signed over the weekend will help Americans financially hurt by the pandemic.
But some of those directives don't do what he says they will. We'll discuss.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, the U.S. now passing that staggering milestone of five million coronavirus cases.
Joe Biden, the likely Democratic presidential nominee tweeting that the number --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
-- "boggles the mind and breaks the heart."
And he says, quote, "it shouldn't have gotten this bad."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
President Trump, meanwhile, has been touting his new virus relief package which he unilaterally extended through executive action.
Jeremy Diamond with the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president has been facing criticism since he signed those executive actions on Saturday to bypass those stalled negotiations with Congress over coronavirus relief.
The Republican Senator Ben Sasse calling this "unconstitutional slop," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slamming this as "absurdly unconstitutional."
But the president for his part on Sunday as he was returning from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, he was taking quite a victory lap.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it actually works better if we do it the way we're doing it.
We've gotten much of what we wanted without having to give up anything. And that's very good.
[01:29:34]
You can't beat that. You can't beat the deal we made, we've got much of what we wanted and they didn't get what they wanted.
DIAMOND: The President on Sunday also answering questions about those enhanced unemployment benefits that he signed in an executive action on Saturday. According to that executive action, $400 per week would go to unemployed Americans, $300 of which would come from the federal government. But that is only contingent on states agreed to administer this program, and also agreeing to pony up that $100 per person to bring it to a total of $400.
But the President on Sunday suggesting that there could be a situation where the federal government would pick up 100 percent of the cost. Not clear if that would be on the $300 or on the $400. But the President suggesting that if certain governors make that request of him that that is indeed something that he would consider approving.
But of course the devil is in the details and we have yet to actually see those details from the White House.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN -- the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And Eleni Giokos has been covering the stalled negotiations, and this new action by President Donald Trump. She's live for us in Johannesburg. Yes what he has quote-unquote ordered is one thing. But there's a lot of smoke and mirrors involved. Right?
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. I mean look, the real collateral damage here, millions of Americans that have seen benefits and protections expire at the end of July. These talks have been ongoing for around two weeks. And that's after we saw actually saw within the Republican Party itself, there were major points of contention.
And right now we know the biggest issue is the enhanced benefits program. That's an extra $600 a week in the hands of vulnerable Americans. We know Republicans want to scale it back. They say it's a disincentive to get back to work. And of course, when talks fell apart on Friday, President Trump intervened by signing executive orders and wanting to scale that $600 a week back to $400 a week.
Now the language here is really important because you (INAUDIBLE) to put the bills here. So we know it's going to come from federal money but also cash-strapped states, many of whom are coming under so much pressure are going to have to pay for 25 percent of that enhanced benefit. Many say (AUDIO GAP) and we could actually see some legal hurdles here as well. We know the Democrats are opposed to this.
HOLMES: Yes absolutely. The payroll tax holiday if you like, which you know, let's face it, even most Republicans are not in favor of and for two reasons. It doesn't help in this situation, it's irrelevant to this really in many ways.
And b, payroll tax funds, social security and Medicare -- that's a good way to annoy the elderly.
GIOKOS: Yes, absolutely. And It's actually just creating another funding gap, isn't it? And you're saying it's smoke and mirrors. You bring that into the play we're talking about eviction protections -- again new polls there and the language because you don't actually blanket protection for vulnerable Americans. And then you look at the overall numbers there, Michael, and you brought the Democrats hoping about a package worth over $3 trillion. You've got Republicans saying, over $1 trillion and you've got a huge depth in itself.
And if we really break detail -- it's really evident in health care, in education and then your hunt's benefit program as well. So finally consensus when you've got so many points of divergencies tend to be really difficult.
And then we look at the economic date and yes, we had a better than expected unemployment figure for the month of July but it's still above 10 percent. And it's still more -- a higher level than what we saw during the global financial crisis.
You'll probably look at what's ahead of us, you're talking about the United States hitting that C5 million mark when it comes to COVID-19 cases. That's is dealing business. It's also derailing plans in terms of getting the economy back on track. This is not a v-shaped recovery. It's very fragile getting enhanced. And it's money into he hands of the consumer -- it's going to be absolutely vital going forward.
HOLMES: Absolutely. Yes, consumer spending or going through the floor otherwise.
Eleni Giokos in Johannesburg. Good to see you, thank you Eleni.
Well, joining me now for more on this, Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst and senior editor at "The Atlantic". Always a pleasure, sir.
Let's start with those executive orders, not bills as the President said. I mean is it a case of this is a President who thinks he's been given these vast new powers and he's going to use them? Speak to the precedent and the legality of a president making such decisions.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: This is a president who said the constitution, you know, says I can do whatever I want. As is often the case however, Michael, there's a little less than meets the eye here in these executive orders.
The eviction protection is really an aspirational executive order, and the payroll tax is kind of fascinating because the President can't unilaterally cut the payroll tax, what he's doing is differing the collection of the payroll tax.
[01:34:58] BROWNSTEIN: So unless Congress passes legislation somewhere down the
road, all Americans are doing would be delaying their paying of it. And for some that might be a benefit but ultimately people will have to pay this tax next year.
The real I think meaning of what's happening here is that Republicans in Congress who raised the roof and kind of, you know, said the constitution was being lit on fire when Barack Obama used executive orders particularly in his second term on issues like providing legal status to young people brought here illegally by their parents. They are with the exception of Ben Sasse that Jeremy Diamond noted, they are kind of, you know, not raising or blinking an eye at this or raising an eyebrow at this.
And they are, I think, as with the diversion of funds to build the border wall earlier they are setting a precedent that it is highly likely the next Democratic president would be more than happy to exploit.
HOLMES: And Republicans won't have the gall to criticize for given what's going on with this president.
On that payroll tax, too, in a purely political sense payroll tax funds social security --
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
HOLMES: -- and Medicare. There's an election coming on. You want to annoy all the voters, there you go?
BROWNSTEIN: Well look, I mean, you know, the ultimate impact as we're saying is unclear in the sense that he may only be deferring the tax unless Congress agrees to cut it. But of course, the President said he wants to permanently, you know, forgive these payroll taxes for these months.
And you're right, that provides the Democrats an enormous opening to say with justification that if he gets his way he's endangering the funding for Social Security and Medicare.
And viewers should understand that the most important change in the electorate since 2018 has been the movement away from the President from the president among older voters largely around the coronavirus. In 2018 we saw a big movement among white collar, college-educated suburban voters. That problem is remaining. But now there is an additional difficulty for the President among seniors that was not there in 2018.
That's why when those two things combined with the underlying problems he's always had among younger voters and non-white voters, that's why he's in such a precarious position right now.
HOLMES: They're moving away from him; one presumes they're moving towards Joe Biden.
Speaking of which, handicap the Joe Biden VP pick for us. What's your read a, on the best pick; and b, how has he handled this.
I think he's handled that process very poorly. And I think it gives Democrats a lot of anxiety about some of his ability to navigate the very complex environment he will face if he wins in November.
One thing that's striking about this process is you've had a lot of old white men in the Democratic Party criticizing young, nonwhite women as part of this process. Chris Dodd, the former senator who Biden somewhat inexplicably put near the center of this process, Ed Rendell the former governor of Pennsylvania -- they've been very critical of Kamala Harris and of some of the other potential choices.
I think the vice president has kind of, you know, has not shown the decisiveness that he needs here. Having said that I would be surprised if he did not take an African-American woman. I know there's a lot of interesting -- Gretchen Whitmer the governor of Michigan, Elizabeth Warren the senator from Massachusetts.
But black women were essential to his victory in the primary. Strong turnout among them is essential to him. He's going to win in November. And the fact that there are so many prominent African-American women in the center of consideration, if he passes over all of them I think that would look very conspicuous.
And in the end, of those women you would say Karen Bass has shown herself, the congresswoman from California, not sufficiently vetted to really put on the national ticket. Susan Rice he has a good chemistry with. She's a very talented woman but her expertise is foreign policy and this not an election about foreign policy. In the end I think he kind of ends up with where he started, that the most logical pick, whether he gets there or not is Kamala Harris, the senator from California and a former presidential candidate.
HOLMES: Kamala Harris. Yes, indeed and you put it well. I mean at the end of the day, politics in America old white guys. Well put as always. Ron Brownstein, thanks very much.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me, Michael.
HOLMES: Last year White House aides asked South Dakota governor about the process of adding the President to Mount Rushmore. That's according to "The New York Times". When President Trump visited South Dakota last month for a Fourth of July celebration, the governor reportedly gave him a small replica of Mount Rushmore with his face added.
Now, the President toyed with the idea of having his face added to the carving at a rally in Ohio a few years ago. A senior Trump campaign adviser tells CNN, this is a serious time and someone might have gotten ahead of themselves in talking about.
We're going to take a quick break here on the program.
[01:39:54]
HOLMES: When we come back on the CNN NEWSROOM, a Georgia high school, the same one in that viral photo of a crowded hallway, is temporarily moving classes online after, yes nine students and staffers contracted the coronavirus. We will have an update just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Around the world parents and government leaders are weighing options when it comes to sending children back to school. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants them back in the classroom by September, saying it is. quote, "economically unsustainable, and morally indefensible to continue to keep kids at home. Well, here is a look at how other countries are looking to reopen their school.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Fred Pleitgen in Berlin as Germany continues to reopen schools and bring children back into classrooms. Now all German states have opted for in-classroom learning, but of course, all of this is happening under special pandemic measures. Most German states are making masks mandatory for both students and staff when they enter school buildings.
And all of this is happening as Germany is dealing with a new spike in coronavirus infections. The country recording more than a thousand new infections on two subsequent days this past week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm David McKenzie in Johannesburg.
Here in South Africa, they have closed schools for at least a month, to try and curb COVID transmission.
In Kenya, they took an even more drastic step. They have shut down the entire school year of 2020. They said this was to stop COVID-19, but also because they saw during the lockdown that online learning was impossible for many of the poorest students. Despite charities and teachers doing what they could, it was just not fair. So they took that the drastic step, all of the students, millions of them, the entire school year is over. They will have to do it all again, next year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:44:57]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Elliott Gotkine in Jerusalem outside one of the country's most famous schools.
Back in May when the education system was reopened here, Israel had managed to push the number of daily COVID cases down to single digits. Schools were reopened across the country and then began Israel's second wave. In fact, on a per million population basis, the country now has one of the worst outbreaks in the world. Disease experts say that the reopening of the school system was largely to blame. In fact, at this school alone, more than 150 pupils came down with the virus and more than 25 members of staff.
The concern now is that when schools reopen in September, that could give renewed impetus to the coronavirus pandemic here in this country that it seems to be struggling to control.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And our thanks to our correspondents all around the world for chiming in there.
Now, just one week into the new school year in the U.S., a high school in Georgia is telling students to stay home. We're talking about North Paulding High School, which reported nine cases of COVID-19 among students and staff, after a student named Hannah Watters tweeted this image last week, showing her classmates in a crowded school hallway between classes.
Watters now says that she is receiving threats from other students. On Sunday, the school superintendent told parents that classes would be held online only, at least for Monday and Tuesday of this week in an effort to stop anymore spread and to disinfect the school.
Watters not comforted by that effort.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANNAH WATTERS, STUDENT, NORTH PAULDING HIGH SCHOOL: The fact that we already have nine cases just at the end of that week is very concerning because even then, we don't know how many people those nine people came in contact with and how many people aren't taking tests yet, so they don't know and then they come back possibly this week too. So it just is going to spread like wildfire in that school.
We could have delayed schools so that we can find more safety measures to follow. And the school, they could've found more plans for all the students and teachers and staff members, but they kind of sent us into school and used us as guinea pigs to see what would happen later on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Joining me now is Dr. Shetal Shah, professor of pediatrics at New York Medical College. Really appreciate your time and your expertise on this, Professor. I think a lot of parents -- you know, we all agree kids should be in school. And for some children, it is where they get their nutrition as well.
But given the spread of COVID in the U.S., including at schools, what do you think is the right time for a school district to reopen the classrooms? What is the point?
DR. SHETAL SHAH, PROFESSOR OF PEDIATRICS, NEW YORK MEDICAL COLLEGE: I think we all agree that school is really the ideal place to nurture children from an educational, social, an emotional standpoint. But we really have to understand that while we're pursuing that goal, we really have to balance that with the risk of spreading COVID-19.
So when people say what is the right time to open schools, it's a very common question that all pediatricians are getting right now, there really is no specific right time. I think what you can do is create a group of factors and take those factors into consideration, in deciding when you should open schools.
You need a low positivity rate, so there's low levels of circulating disease in their community. You need widespread testing, so you know that that positivity rate is accurate. And you also need a school environment that is really conducive to public health measures that we know work like social distancing.
HOLMES: They're such common sense things and yet in many cases, that is not what is happening. I mean I think the COVID percent positive rate in Georgia is around 11 percent. And schools are reopening and infections are spreading.
There was, you know, a photograph of a crowded hallway that has made the news lately at a high school here in Georgia. And that school is now shut down because -- for a couple of days at least, because of the spread.
The CDC and the WHO -- they are saying 5 percent positivity rate.
And the other question I guess is how does the school, operation wise, you know, realistically, put into play the sensible guidelines you outlined?
DR. SHAH: Yes. Well, that's really going to be based on discussions with teachers, local public health officials, and the parents themselves.
Here in New York, we're using also that 5 percent benchmark. Our current positivity rate is a little less than 1 percent. So our governor has given each school district a green light to reopen as long as regionally, that level remains low.
But how do you specifically implement that is going to be based on each individual district because every district has a different number of students, and every district has a different school where the ability to space students out varies.
[01:49:54]
HOLMES: This past week, Donald Trump said children are, quote, "basically immune" from coronavirus. While the WHO warned that, you know, the infected are starting, in fact, two skew younger. And the numbers show more young people getting affected. I think the Academy of American Pediatrics says cases among U.S. kids rose 40 percent from the first half of July to the second half.
I mean what sort of potential for spread is there in schools when kids, clearly, are getting infected? DR. SHAH: Sure. There are a couple of things that we know about the
virus in children as opposed to the virus in adults. But we really need to understand that understanding your local disease rates and the local epidemiology here is really crucial.
If you are in a place where disease rates are spiking, or rising steadily, it really should give local administrative officials pause and cause real concern about whether or not of school should reopen.
HOLMES: I wanted -- I did want to ask you something else because I was reading up on your background, and a lot of your work has been -- part of your work has been in immunization. I'm just wondering that, you know, when and if a vaccine comes along, how concerned are you that people won't take it? There is, after all, a sizable anti-vaccine movement, particularly in the U.S.
And you know, it's tough, Doctor, say to get people to get their flu shot, let alone this.
DR. SHAH: Yes. This is going to be a major concern. There are news reports that say approximately 50 to below half to two-thirds of people, will accept coronavirus vaccination which leaves a large portion of the population unimmunized.
That is not going to be a very effective public health strategy for a vaccine that is expected to be at best 75 percent to 80 percent effective. So what that means is that we're not going to be able to relax our public health measures, our public health protective measures, even if there is widespread vaccination.
It also means that there is going to need to be a widespread, public health, education campaign, across the country. So people really understand the importance of getting vaccinated.
HOLMES: Dr. Shetal Shah. I really appreciate it, Professor. Thank you so much.
DR. SHAH: Thank you.
HOLMES: And you are watching CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.
[01:52:14]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Professional sports are coming back in fits and starts in the U.S. And this weekend, we saw another step forward with golf's first major of the year.
CNN's Patrick Snell with that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS WORLD: This was the stuff that dreams are made of for Collin Morikawa. When it mattered most, the young Californian, producing a moment of brilliance in just his second appearance in a golf major. A stroke of genius, that settled the 102nd PGA championship which at one point had seven players tied for the lead late Sunday at 10 under par
But Morikawa who incredibly has only been a professional for just over a year, produced a sensational drive at Harding Parks, 294 yards par 4 16th hole. An historic shot for the ages from the 23 year old American of Japanese heritage. Albeit one, in front of no fans.
Surely, one of the greatest drives of all-time, and one that ended just seven feet from the hole in this, the first major tournament of 2020, following the sport's month's long shut down due to the pandemic. Then, with nerveless, school precision, he rolled into the Eagle putt, on route to a famous two shot victory.
Morikawa's only faux pax on Sunday coming with the same Want to Make a trophy which for a brief moment was just a little too hot to handle. His accompanying facial expression, absolutely priceless.
Well, this already, Morikawa's third PGA tour victory. And he wins the PGA Championship would you believe, at the very first time of our asking, a truly live changing moment for this prodigious gulfing championship that's left him California dreaming this weekend in San Francisco.
Patrick Snell, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Good for him. Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. There is more CNN NEWSROOM though after the break with Kim Brunhuber.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
