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WHO Reports Record Number of New Coronavirus Infections; Robert Trump, Younger Brother Of President Trump, Dies At 71; CDC Acknowledges Kids Do Spread COVID-19; Trump Shifts Blame To Democrats For USPS Problems; Biden And Harris Prepare For Democratic National Convention; France Steps Up Efforts To Fight COVID-19; Protesters In Bolivia Cry Out As Country Is Hit By Dual Crises; Arizona Republicans Abandon Trump. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired August 16, 2020 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Despite the outcry, despite the facts, Donald Trump is doubling down on his false claims about mail-in voting.
Also --
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's very selfish and I don't think he's conservative.
ALLEN (voice-over): People who once supported the president are now campaigning for Joe Biden. Hear what changed their minds.
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ALLEN: Also this hour, what will it take to keep college athletes safe?
At this point, it's anyone's ballgame. Opposing sides in the world of college football.
We're live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Natalie Allen. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
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ALLEN: Thank you for joining us. Our top story, U.S. president Donald Trump's younger brother has died; 71-year-old Robert Trump passed away late Saturday at a New York hospital.
He served as an executive with the Trump Organization and for a time oversaw its Atlantic City casinos. Mr. Trump is expected to attend his brother's funeral but no details have been released so far. CNN's Kristen Holmes is traveling with the president in New Jersey. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump's younger brother, Robert Trump, passing away late Saturday night, a night after President Trump had gone on an impromptu visit to New York City.
The press had known he was going to New Jersey at the last minute. They told us he was going to a hospital in New York to visit his brother, Robert. We had known he had been seriously ill but not clear what illness he had. He had been in and out of the hospital since the spring.
The White House issued a statement on behalf of President Trump. It is clearly an emotional and sentimental statement here.
It says, "It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight. He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed but we will meet again. His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace," the president said.
Clearly there, you can see the strength of their relationship. The president said on numerous occasions that Robert supported his candidacy for president 1,000 percent.
Again, it is unclear exactly what the illness is that Robert Trump passed from. We are waiting to hear more information from the White House. It is, again, his younger brother, who had been ill since around the spring, passed away late Saturday night -- Kristen Holmes, CNN, traveling with the president in Bridgewater, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Ivanka and Eric Trump reacted to the death of their uncle in posts on Twitter.
Shortly after the announcement, Ivanka Trump tweeted, "Uncle Robert, we love you. You are in our hearts and prayers, always."
And Eric Trump wrote, "Robert Trump was an incredible man, strong, kind and loyal to the core. Anyone who encountered him felt his warmth immediately. He will be deeply missed by our entire family."
Now to the battle against the coronavirus and evidence the world is still losing ground. The World Health Organization has received reports of a record number of new cases in a 24-hour period, more than 294,000.
And you're looking here at figures in the United States, figures that are just as grim. More than 1,000 deaths have been reported for the fourth straight day. That brings the U.S. death toll to, as you can see, 169,483.
Here in the hard-hit state of Georgia, the governor is now reversing course after a spat with Atlanta's mayor and is letting cities impose mask mandates with some restrictions. His executive order says they cannot be enforced on private property or at polling places and it says local governments can't fine businesses or fine violators more than $50.
The CDC warns that COVID-19 cases in children in the U.S. are steadily increasing. That is, of course, frightening news for parents who are trying to decide, many of them, what to do about school.
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ALLEN: Cristina Alesci has more on what top experts are saying about how the virus is impacting our kids.
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CRISTINA ALESCI, CNNMONEY CORRESPONDENT: That's right, new CDC guidelines that parents might want to consider as they weigh whether or not to send their children back to school this fall.
The CDC now acknowledging children do transmit the virus in places like homes and summer camps. The CDC also noting the number of cases among children is rising: now 7.3 percent of all COVID-19 cases are among children. That is up considerably since CDC's last guidance, which was at 2 percent for children with COVID.
Also the CDC noting that the lower rates in children could be attributable to school closures in the early part of the pandemic and that's why it was lower for children.
Now given the new guidance, it is entirely appropriate to be questioning public officials, including governors and mayors, who have put forth plans to reopen schools or allow them to reopen.
In New York, particularly, the governor last week announced the fact that schools can reopen here. We have reached out to the governor here to see if these new CDC guidelines factor into the decision or change the plan at all. We have not heard back from them.
But educators here in New York City, the largest school district in the country, now expressing a lot of unease about schools opening here and whether they have the right precautions and the right equipment to deal with the large influx of students, who would be coming back to school here.
But for now, at least as far as New York is concerned, it looks like full speed ahead on school reopenings -- back to you.
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ALLEN: On another issue, congressional Democrats are so alarmed by recent changes in the U.S. Postal Service that U.S. House leaders are considering calling lawmakers back from their summer recess.
With the U.S. presidential election just months away now and many Americans expected to vote by mail due to the pandemic, there is growing concern that some of those ballots might not be counted. The Postal Service has said it cannot promise to deliver all mail-in
ballots in time to meet state deadlines. Democratic representative James Clyburn, speaking with CNN's Ana Cabrera, framed the controversy as an attack on democracy.
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REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): For us not to make provisions for people to be able to participate in this democracy without having to run the risk of contracting a disease that could kill them.
I never thought that I would live to see the United States of America tolerate a tyrant.
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ALLEN: Most of the outrage is directed at Louis DeJoy, a top Republican fundraiser, who President Trump recently appointed postmaster general. On Saturday, a large group of protesters banged pots and pans as they marched past DeJoy's Washington residence.
But the president is standing by his appointment. We get more about it from CNN's Sarah Westwood in Washington.
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SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump on Saturday continued to cast doubt on the reliability of mail-in voting, despite experts repeatedly saying that widespread voter fraud in the U.S. is exceedingly rare.
Many states have relied on mail-in voting to varying degrees for years. Although the postmaster general Louis DeJoy has made changes to the post office operations, that critics say will hamper its ability to deliver mail-in ballots at the volume expected in November, the president praised his efforts.
He also sought to draw a distinction between absentee voting and mail- in voting.
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TRUMP: Louis is working hard. As you know, the Democrats aren't approving the proper funding for postal and the proper funding for this ridiculous thing they want to do, which is all mail-in voting, universal, you could call it, mail-in voting.
Again absentee voting is great. I'm an absentee voter. I requested and got it and sent in my vote. That's what we've had. Now they want to send in millions and millions of ballots and you see what's happening. They're being lost. They're being discarded. They're finding them in piles. It's going to be a catastrophe.
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WESTWOOD: And the president recently requested his own absentee ballot. But the distinction between absentee voting and mail-in voting is not black and white. And in fact the lines between them are pretty blurred.
Both are conducted in much the same way. Their ballots are delivered through the mail and only nine states and the District of Columbia are doing what the president was warning about, which is mailing every voter a ballot.
In most states, people will still have to request a ballot in order to vote.
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WESTWOOD: The president also is exploiting the likelihood that the election result may not be entirely clear on Election Night because it does take longer to count mail-in votes.
The president tweeted Saturday morning, "The Democrats know the 2020 election will be a fraudulent mess. We'll maybe never know who won."
Meanwhile, the Postal Service in late July warned 46 states and the District of Columbia, that their election laws are incompatible with the Postal Service operations.
For example, they said some of the deadlines that states have set for requesting and turning in their ballots just doesn't leave the Postal Service enough time to get those ballots delivered -- Sarah Westwood, CNN, Washington.
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ALLEN: President Trump had another chance Saturday to denounce the birther conspiracy theory about senator Kamala Harris. He said he would stop pursuing it but he didn't dismiss it. Instead, the president continued to praise the controversial professor who wrote an opinion piece for "Newsweek," questioning Kamala Harris' eligibility.
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TRUMP: I have nothing to do with that. I read something about it and I will say that he is a brilliant lawyer. I guess he wrote an article about it. So I know nothing about it but it's not something that bothers me.
QUESTION: But, sir, when you do that, it creates --
TRUMP: Why do you say that?
I just don't know about it. But it's not something that we will be pursuing. Let me be -- let me put it differently. don't tell me what I know. Let me put it differently. Let me put it differently. To me, it doesn't bother me, at all.
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ALLEN: Let's talk politics with Natasha Lindstaedt, professor of government at University of Essex. She's coming to us from Colchester, England, to talk about what is going on here.
Good morning to you.
NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Good morning.
ALLEN: First up, I want to begin with the virtual Democratic convention, which begins Monday.
What do you expect from Team Biden and Harris in the uncertain times in the country's history?
Can they generate excitement without an audience?
Do you think they will reach out to disenchanted Trump supporters?
LINDSTAEDT: Right, well, I think with the upcoming convention, usually it's about highlighting rising stars, energizing the party and trying to make the case to the wider American public.
I think the convention will be unusual in that it will be more about the latter two things, really motivating and energizing the Democratic base but trying to make the case to the American public that the U.S. cannot handle another four years under Trump, that the U.S. is facing imminent disaster.
And it's really Biden and Harris that can pull the U.S. out of this mess, in particular because of the incredibly high unemployment rates and the mass spread of the virus. They are going to be trying to make a case about what policies they need to pursue to help Americans and they are the team that can do so.
ALLEN: Kamala Harris, as the V.P. candidate, has generated much excitement from Democrats.
What does she bring to the ticket for Joe Biden?
What will you be listening for from her?
LINDSTAEDT: Well, I think the choice was about trying to get energy to the campaign. And she has definitely done that. We are seeing early polls, the most recent Axios poll, showed that she is helping Biden.
Normally a V.P. pick doesn't really help much. But it looks like she is doing well with both wings of the Democratic Party, with Hispanics and African American voters and even independents.
She doesn't make much of a dent with younger people. She didn't do well with those who are 65 and older and not with whites in general. But she does seem to give a lot of energy, as we're seeing with all this campaign funding coming in.
And she really puts a contrast with Biden, who some think is very old and needs youth, needs someone who is young and also very capable. She is showing that and she will be a very effective surrogate for Biden on the campaign trail, fighting for what she thinks he is going to add to the presidency.
And I think it's about trying to appeal to a key demographic, an African American demographic. This a key base in the Democratic Party. And in 2008 and 2012, 66 percent of African Americans came out to vote when Obama was on the presidential ticket.
This compares with 2004 and 2016, only 60 percent. And some said this had a big impact in affecting Hillary Clinton's chances for winning. But it's also more about demonstrating that Biden can pick someone who challenges him, who will criticize him.
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LINDSTAEDT: She showed that early on in some of those Democratic debates. And by choosing Kamala Harris, he is demonstrating that he is willing to have people surround him who don't always agree with him.
ALLEN: Natasha Lindstaedt, we always appreciate your insights. Thanks for joining us.
LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: An intense heat wave is fueling wildfires on the U.S. West coast, leading to remarkable scenes such as this, a fire tornado in California. We have the latest advisories and the forecast straight ahead.
Also, a new mask mandate in Paris, just one of the major developments we'll have for you from around the world with the pandemic. Stay with us.
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ALLEN: Several wildfires are raging in the western U.S. now and things could get worse this weekend, as much of the region is baking in an intense heat wave. Almost 100 million Americans are under some form of heat advisory from Texas through the Rocky Mountains over to the West Coast.
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ALLEN: In Southern California, hundreds of firefighters are battling to control the Lake fire, as it is known. The spate of wildfires in the West have collectively burned more than 100,000 acres or 40,000 hectares.
(WEATHER REPORT) ALLEN: Authorities in Mauritius declared a major oil spill in the
Indian Ocean a forbidden zone after a cargo ship split in two Saturday.
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ALLEN (voice-over): Take a look and you can see the damage. Greenpeace Africa says volunteers working on the cleanup have been asked to stop their activities over safety concerns.
The Japanese owned ship was on its way from China to Brazil when it ran aground on a reef in late July. It has been leaking tons of oil into a pristine lagoon in the Indian Ocean since last week.
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ALLEN: At least five people have been skilled in shark attacks in Australia this year but a man in New South Wales wasn't going to let his girlfriend become the latest death. Police say the pair were surfing yesterday when a juvenile great white clamped its jaws on her leg.
So the man went into attack mode himself, pounding on the predator until it let go. The shark got away and now area beaches are closed as authorities try to track it down.
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JAMES TURNHAM, LIFE GUARD SUPERVISOR: Yes, when I arrived, that's what some of the surfers were saying, apparently that the shark bit the girl and wasn't letting go straightaway. So the boyfriend apparently jumped off his board and was having to physically get the shark off her.
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ALLEN: The woman is in serious but stable condition in a hospital, with bites on her calf and thigh. And, hey, in my opinion, her boyfriend is a keeper.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, much more straight ahead.
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ALLEN: Including how the coronavirus and the delayed election are sparking protests in Bolivia.
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ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Natalie Allen. This is CNN NEWSROOM. Brazil reopened public attractions and theme parks on Saturday,
including the famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio. Brazil ranks second in the world still in total coronavirus cases. Fewer visitors are allowed to the attractions and precautions like temperature checks are in place.
South Africa is also easing restrictions as their case numbers are falling. Bans on alcohol and tobacco will be lifted. Restaurants and bars can reopen with strict hygiene protocols required.
And in Paris, police were out enforcing a mandatory mask rule Saturday after the city was declared a zone of active circulation. Let's go now live to CNN's senior international correspondent Jim Bittermann, near Paris.
Talk with us about what that active circulation is all about there, Jim.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is something worrisome for the authorities here. The number of cases every day now for the last four days has grown. Not only grown but grown exponentially.
Authorities here are quite worried about what they're seeing, what the trend lines are. Large parts of Paris, large parts of Marseilles have been put under a mask ordinance, basically people are -- have to wear masks out and about, whether they're walking or jogging, whatever, in these areas that have been specified.
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BITTERMANN: The only people excepted are bicyclists; they can still ride without wearing masks.
In any case, it shows that the government is moving in the direction that I think imposing mask orders just about everywhere. We are hearing from the labor minister that she's going to talk to the labor unions about wearing masks that work.
And we had a warning from the high counsel of health basically saying that people should consider wearing masks in private settings, in family gatherings and that sort of thing. So it is all moving in the wrong direction since May 11th, they have been relaxing things here. But now it looks like the numbers are not going in the right direction.
ALLEN: Right. It looks like, from what I can tell from our video, that people are adhering to it. Also, this weekend, the cause of the uptick in cases there, we saw the U.K. restrict travel from France and many people were getting out.
How did that go?
How has that gone over for France?
BITTERMANN: Well, it is pretty interesting, actually; the French government's official position is that it is regrettable that they impose this 14-day quarantine on travelers who are coming from France.
But we heard this morning from one of the former ministers of European affairs here, who is very close to the president, Macron, and she said on French radio this morning, she said the quarantine by the British government shows the British government, that has been very late in taking action against the coronavirus, it is now trying to demonstrate its effectiveness with delay.
So in other words, a little bit of bitterness there, less than diplomatic language, just underneath the surface among those party members that are belonging to the same party as the government here -- Natalie.
ALLEN: Certainly hope the new mask mandate helps out. Thanks so much, Jim Bittermann, for us there in Paris. We always appreciate you.
The coronavirus is fueling unrest in the South American nation of Bolivia. Protesters there say the country's leader is using the pandemic as an excuse to keep postponing elections. CNN's Stefano Pozzebon has more.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST (voice-over): A country facing two crises: the coronavirus and politics. These demonstrators in Bolivia are angry that the country's general election was postponed for a second time.
Supporters of former leftist leader Evo Morales say interim president Jeanine Anez is using COVID-19 to continuously delay the vote, giving her time to revive her political campaign, an accusation she refuses.
It's not the right time to go to the polls, the government says. More than a dozen government officials, including Anez herself, contracted the virus.
Tensions have been brewing since the presidential election was moved from September 6 to October 18. Protestors say they want elections to move back to the September day, assurances that the elections will not be postponed again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The government is using this as a pretext. Oxygen, drugs were already lacking a long time ago.
POZZEBON: It's been nine months since then-President Evo Morales resigned and left the country, amid allegations of electoral fraud which he denies. He and his supporters say it was a coup. Critics say democracy was restored.
In the tense days that follows, power fell to a senator, Jeanine Anez, who was sworn in with the mandate to call for a new election. The vote is yet to take place.
To voice their protest, Anez's opponents resorted to set up roadblocks through the main intercity roads, a common practice in the deeply polarized nation. Bolivia's health minister says the blockades are preventing the transport of medical supplies and oxygen needed for patients. And babies in the neonatal unit, led to more than 31 deaths. Protesters disagree.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We're letting in ambulances and oxygen and we're not stoning them. They're passing through with full confidence and we're opening the way.
POZZEBON: The government tried to solve the stalemate by ordering armed forces to guard the transport of 66 toes of oxygen to three cities. Arturo Murillo, the interior minister, with the task of restoring order in the country, told CNN he's trying to prevent a potential catastrophe.
ARTHUR MURILLO, BOLIVIAN INTERIOR MINISTER (through translator): To go out and fire some lead would be the politically correct thing to do, but we are not doing it.
POZZEBON: On top of medical supplies, the barricades are raising concerns of possible fuel and gasoline shortages in this fragile nation.
Protests the result of furies (ph) over the government's poor response to the coronavirus pandemic. Bolivia has over 91,000 cases and nearly 4,000 deaths.
The virus has overwhelmed morgues and hospitals and the spread is not slowing down -- Stefano Pozzebon, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: 2020 could be a game changer for Arizona politics.
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ALLEN: Next, why more and more Republicans say they will not vote for President Trump.
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ALLEN: President Trump and his allies keep pushing unproven claims about mail-in and drop-off voting. And now many U.S. states are pushing back, defending the systems they use as safe and secure. For more about it, here's CNN's Abby Phillip reporting from Connecticut.
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ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You can walk up or drive up. Either way, this is the newest way to cast your ballot in Connecticut.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is very simple. Fill it out, drop it off, no problems.
PHILLIP (voice-over): Drop boxes like these have been installed all around the state, one of several changes made to create more options for voting during the coronavirus pandemic. Here it has been pretty much uncontroversial, Connecticut secretary of state Denise Merrill says.
DENISE MERRILL, CONNECTICUT SECRETARY OF STATE: They're strongly in favor, strongly in favor, because it gives them more options.
PHILLIP (voice-over): But in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, Republicans are already challenging the state's use of drop boxes that allow voters to bypass the Postal Service altogether.
Arguing in the lawsuit that allowing ballots to be collected in drop boxes allows illegal absent and mail-in voting, ballot harvesting and other fraud to occur and/or go undetected and will result in dilution of validly cast ballots.
Meantime, President Trump continues to spread false claims of fraud with ballots submitted by mail.
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TRUMP: They -- in all the mailboxes -- and kids go and they raid the mailboxes and they hand them to people that are signing the ballots down the end of the street.
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PHILLIP (voice-over): Opponents say ballots could be stolen or vandalized in unsecured drop boxes.
PHILLIP: You've seen, so far, no evidence of fraud, tampering, vandalism?
MERRILL: No, no. The clerks empty these things a couple of times a day, actually, and they usually are in very prominent places. It would be really difficult to vandalize one of these boxes.
PHILLIP: You can't even stick your hand in the ballot box.
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MERRILL: That's right. They're bolted to the ground. I mean, it is really quite a secure system.
PHILLIP: This is just a regular USPS mailbox and normally you could just pull down this lever and put your ballot right inside. The opening is a little bit larger than the drop box but it is pretty much the same.
PHILLIP (voice-over): In Hartford, local election officials say they empty these boxes every hour in the days before Election Day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Insert the key, both keys have to be in. PHILLIP (voice-over): Ballots are taken here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The envelope contains a ballot. We timestamp it.
PHILLIP: This bar code you're scanning, what is that telling the system?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That John Doe has mailed his absentee ballot in.
PHILLIP (voice-over): That part of the process ensuring one person, one vote. But this year, drop boxes may be the next front in a partisan battle over vote by mail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To me, it's just another voter suppression, you know, we're supposed to enhance voters' ability to participate in an electoral process.
PHILLIP (voice-over): States like California, Washington and Colorado have used them for years. In Colorado, which votes almost entirely by mail, 75 percent of all ballots in 2018 were returned through ballot boxes or manually at polling locations, officials say.
And officials in Connecticut see little reason for the controversy.
MERRILL: It is a way of scaring the public and trying to make them doubt their election system. And it is very destructive.
PHILLIP (voice-over): Abby Phillip, CNN, Hartford, Connecticut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: As the partisan battles brew, the pandemic still means many U.S. voters will be voting by mail for the first time. Here's some advice to make sure your voice is heard.
First, get a ballot. And in many states it's an easy online application. You also have to mark your calendar. Most states require an absentee ballot be requested by mid- to late October.
Next, track your ballot. Many requests will come with a code. You can go to your secretary of state's website to see where you are in the process.
Finally, don't wait. The Postal Service warns ballots mailed late may not be delivered in time to be counted. For more on how to make sure your vote counts, you can go to cnn.com.
Some life-long Republicans are abandoning President Trump in a state that should be a shoo-in for the party. CNN's Miguel Marquez reports from Mesa, Arizona.
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MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Trump trouble in the Phoenix suburbs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's very selfish and I don't think he's conservative.
MARQUEZ: The president's handling of the pandemic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has just not been truthful about the coronavirus.
MARQUEZ: Making voters who typically vote Republican.
KATHY VARGA, REPUBLICAN VOTER: I have hope that we can take the party back from extremism back to the center.
MARQUEZ: Not only speak out but organize to defeat him.
BLITZER: Donald Trump wins Arizona.
MARQUEZ: Trump won Arizona by less than four points in 2016. He still has support in this battleground states.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love him.
MARQUEZ: But recent polls show Joe Biden with a narrow edge. Now, even some current and former Republicans are organizing against Trump.
CJ DIEGEL, AZ CHAPTER, STAND UP REPUBLICAN: You can't blame the president for the virus, but you can absolutely blame him for the complete lack of leadership and the mismanagement since that time.
MARQUEZ: C.J. Diegel runs the Arizona chapter of Stand Up Republic, the non-partisan political group cofounded by Evan McMullin, who ran as an independent in 2016.
DIEGEL: We want to make sure people know they have an outlet to permission, if you -- if you will, to go out and either vote against Trump or just not cast a ballot for him.
MARQUEZ: Diegel, a self-described lifelong Republican never thought he'd say this.
DIEGEL: I will be voting for Joe Biden this year because I'm so disgusted.
MARQUEZ: Kathy Varga says she voted for Donald Trump. She now volunteers for Republicans for a new president.
VARGA: I would like to see a president that can unify that country, that can show empathy for others.
MARQUEZ: Longtime republican, Daniel Barker, twice appointed a judge by Republican governors has started a political action committee. Its name is Its Message. Arizona Republicans who believe in treating others with respect.
DANIEL BARKER, ANTI-TRUMP REPUBLICAN: If we could make a difference, whatever it might be, so that Joe Biden won Arizona, that is our hope. For now, he's printing and distributing Arizona Republicans for Biden yard signs. Laura Clement is working with a group Mormon Women for Ethical Government. It started after Trump's election.
LAURA CLEMENT, ANTI-TRUMP FORMER REPUBLICAN: He was in denial and he only started wearing a mask like a few weeks ago.
[04:45:00]
CLEMENT: So, I think he only made it worse.
MARQUEZ: She too says she's voting for Biden.
The president and the pandemic in the Grand Canyon states a call to action for some Republicans to vote for anyone other than Donald Trump -- Miguel Marquez, CNN, Mesa, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: CNN will bring you live coverage of this year's all digital Democratic National Convention. It begins Monday, 8:00 pm Eastern time.
Then on Monday, August 24th, we'll be covering the Republican National Convention. Of course, you can check it out -- our daily coverage of the race for the White House, always at cnn.com as well.
College sports are on the verge of being sidelined in the U.S. due to the pandemic. Schools are weighing their options as more players test positive.
Is there hope for college football?
I'll talk with a sports reporter about that next.
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TRUMP: I want college football to come back. These are strong, healthy, incredible people.
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TRUMP: These are people that want to play football very badly. A great, great talent.
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ALLEN: U.S. president Donald Trump there on Saturday, reiterating his desire for college football to go ahead, despite the pandemic. College athletes like Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence rallied online with the #WeWantToPlay. But several schools are dealing with outbreaks. The University of
Oklahoma announced nine players have tested positive. Oklahoma's part of the Big 12 conference, which said this week it plans to move forward with its season.
The chief medical official with the National Collegiate Athletic Association talked about what the schools are up against.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. BRIAN HAINLINE, NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION: The pathway to play sports is so exceedingly narrow right now. Everything would have to line up just perfectly.
And that's why you see so many schools have decided they can't play sports. It's not just an individual school decision. There are very strict mandates the NCAA has put out. The schools must follow this.
So you are seeing some of the schools made decisions very early. Many others made them more lately. And some conferences are still waiting. I think they're waiting for that one possibility that maybe there could be a breakthrough. But the mandates are pretty rigid.
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ALLEN: Bruce Feldman is a reporter for "The Athletic;" he's also "The New York Times" best-selling author of "The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks." He's here to talk about the impact of this pandemic on college football.
Bruce, thank you for coming on.
How are you doing?
BRUCE FELDMAN, REPORTER, "THE ATHLETIC": I'm doing well. Thank you for having me, Natalie.
ALLEN: Sure thing. First up, clearly this has to be an agonizing decision, like so many others associated with sport and the pandemic. Some conferences have made the choice to suspend play.
What does the season look like so far this year?
FELDMAN: It has been pretty chaotic. I think what it has shown is there is no centralized leadership as it relates to college football. And so as you mentioned, a couple of the biggest conferences in college football, the Big 10, which has Ohio State and Michigan and a bunch of other Midwestern powers as well as the PAC 12, which is USC and Oregon and a bunch of schools on the West Coast, they both decided -- their medical experts told them they cannot play this fall.
And they're hoping, at least at this point, that they may be able to play in the spring. What that left is three other conferences in the Power Five who are still at this point have said they're going to try to play and wait until there is more information.
They're going to go through training camps, they're going to probably -- delay the start of the season, probably, 2-3 weeks later than normal. But right now, they're all bracing for when the regular students come back.
And they're hopeful there won't be too much of a surge that ends up spreading on back to their team, because it has been a challenge for them to ramp up testing and everything else that has been going on with the pandemic.
ALLEN: You mentioned the PAC 12 teams, you tweeted about a Zoom call with team members that was chilling and helped them make their decision to postpone. Tell us about that.
What happened on that call?
FELDMAN: So they had a Zoom call Monday night between all the PAC 12 coaches, their athletic directors and the commissioner Larry Scott. From our reporting -- and I talked to about half of the coaches in the league over the week for "The Athletic" -- they described to me what they thought was a very disturbing and chilling PowerPoint presentation that one of the medical experts walked them through on the concerns they had, especially as it relates to heart issues and stemming from COVID.
Several Big 10 student athletes have suffered from that. We don't know exactly how many. It has been reported there is at least 10 in the Big 10 alone. To my knowledge, there have not been any in the PAC 12.
But there are also some other concerns about several other athletes as it relates to that. Also they talked about how there are several hot spots that they identified within the PAC 12, that had five schools, they felt like they would need to ramp up testing to have it daily.
And that's something that some of these schools they didn't think would be able to do that until November.
ALLEN: Some players want to play. Others are bowing out. One even accused his team of lying about the situation, his coaches misleading the team to what the situation was. That shows you how complicated this is. And let's talk about the stakes here.
What kind of pressure do college teams face to play?
What is at stake for them?
What could be the repercussions of canceling or postponing their season?
FELDMAN: Well, first of all, we're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars.
[04:55:00]
FELDMAN: You're talking about huge TV contracts if they do not have a season in the 2021 calendar -- academic calendar year. So that's out in front.
When you have other sports that are back competing, the NBA, the NHL, MLS, WNBA, those sports have had a bubble. There is no bubble as it relates to college sports. Even Major League Baseball -- and they had some interruptions due to COVID -- but they pressed forward with the season.
Keep in mind the rosters in college football are at least twice the size -- baseball is more of a social distance for it as opposed to tackle football.
The other big piece of this is they're college athletes, they're not professionals. So I think those are the challenges that people have been sorting out. And I think when you talk about some of the student athletes involved, we have seen a lot of pushback, especially in the Big 10 among those athletes.
Some of their coaches as well as all the parents of the players saying, hey, listen, you have not given us enough of an explanation of why you have told them they can't play; whereas other conferences are saying, hey, you know what, we feel like, until we get more information, we're not going to shut it down.
So you have a real big disconnect and a lot of -- a lot of friction right now all over college football, especially. And, again, I think now it has become very politically charged on top of it. It is a big mess.
ALLEN: We appreciate your insights and your reporting on this. We'll continue to follow you on Twitter and see what you report next. Bruce Feldman, thanks so much for your insights.
FELDMAN: Thank you, Natalie.
ALLEN: And thank you for watching this hour. I'll be right back with another hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Our top stories right after this.
