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Florida Teachers Union Lawsuit Against Governor DeSantis Is Back In Court Today After Meditation Falls Apart; Postal Service Backs Off Changes; Critics Say Damage Is Done; At Least 20 Democrat Attorney General Announce Plans To Sue USPS Over Changes They Say Disrupted Mail Service; Home Important Chains Report Sharp Sales Increases Amid Pandemic; Belarus Opposition Urges EU Not To Recognize "Fraudulent" Election. Aired 9.30-10a ET

Aired August 19, 2020 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:30:00]

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Does not include safety protocols. They say that the constitution in Florida also requires that students be offered a good education, a high-quality education by the State of Florida. And they argue that that is exactly what this emergency order is going to do.

Now, as you mentioned, Poppy, school districts in this state are already returning to the classroom and we know that at least three school districts in this state have been impacted by COVID-19 so far in the counties of Baker, Bradford and in Martin.

Now, in Martin County, more than 320 students are in quarantine. We were monitoring a school board meeting that was held yesterday. And one high school student there was very eloquent in speaking out against the return for in-person instruction. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYLE RAMOUS, STUDENT AT SOUTH FORK HIGH SCHOOL IN MARTIN COUNTY, FLORIDA: There's one thing that I value even more than in-person education. And that is human life. Therefore, I pose this question to you. How much is one life worth?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now, Poppy, next up in this virtual court is a witness from Hillsborough County, a school board member from there, Poppy, you and I have talked about the case there in Hillsborough County. That county decided to start school virtually, but then was pressured by the state to reopen for in-person instruction. So we'll see what happens there? We'll be monitoring for you.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: Rosa, thank you very much. Let us know what does happen in court? In a few minutes we will speak to the Superintendent of Miami-Dade County public schools. We'll talk about that, employees also testing positive previously, what does that all tell us for when they open? JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: California now, CNN's Stephanie Elam she is in Los Angeles. This as California's fight against the Coronavirus intensified by record-breaking heat, two dozen wildfires Stephanie, how are officials juggling three emergencies and is that affecting the response to the health crisis?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you have a lot of people who are evacuating in Northern California right now, Jim, because of the fires. Overnight really precarious for many people up there when you look at these fires that have churned through some 150,000 acres or so here.

So if you think about when people have to get out of their houses, where are they going, where are they going to be? Can they socially distance themselves? These are things that they're taking into account. On top of the fact that people aren't probably not going to want to hang outside since we have had this excruciating heat wave over California for the last few days.

All of this precipitated some of these wildfires because of the lightning strikes that have started these blazes. It's a very difficult situation here, why because it's 2020. I just feel like 2020 is the reason for all of this.

Now taking a look at the virus here remember last week we were going through that backlog of cases well now we're moving past that but still seeing comparison numbers looking a little off here. Overall the numbers here in California are looking better. The state reporting that there was 100 deaths yesterday 4,636 cases, now that's coming from the state and overall, looking at 632,000 cases or so there.

There are now though 41 counties that are on the monitoring list. Last time we talked about this there were 38 counties the changes there is that now we have seen Santa Cruz County and San Diego County coming off of the list, but now we have also seen a couple of counties that have been added.

Here in Los Angeles just to give you an idea that things are better, hospitalizations are down 37 percent in the last month. So things looking better on that front but still so much to be concerned about here in California.

SCIUTTO: Yes, I mean, you see an immediate effect in the outbreak when those mitigation measures are taken. Stephanie Elam thanks very much.

Well, the Post Master General has backed off some of the recent changes to the postal service, cutting of services, et cetera. But Attorneys General from several states say he's got to reverse the changes already made. They're talking about a lawsuit. We're going to speak to one of those AGs next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:35:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. After facing intense public pressure, the Post Master General, Louis DeJoy, is backing down to some degree, announcing that he'll suspend highly criticized changes made to the postal service until after the November election. That includes removing mail processing equipment, mailboxes, you might have seen that.

But some U.S. Postal Service Union Leaders say some of the changes have already been made, sorting machines already taken out, et cetera and cannot now be restored by the November election.

Several Democratic Attorneys General plan to sue over those changes and joining me now is one of them Massachusetts Attorney General to Maura Healy. Thanks so much for taking the time this morning.

MAURA HEALEY, MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL: Good to be with you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So the Post Master General suspended any further changes until after the election, but some changes have already been made. I'm curious, what damage in your view has been done, if any, based on the changes already made at the Postal Service?

HEALEY: Yes, Jim, it's a great question. And that's precisely what we're trying to figure out right now and make sure that we make right. I mean, from our perspective, every American should be behind a free and fair and safe election so Post Master General DeJoy has come out with the announcement.

It's a piece of paper in our view and we have got to go sue and verify and hear directly from him about what has and hasn't happened. We're just going to continue to hold him accountable. Now--

SCIUTTO: So Postal Service employees say that some of the changes have already been made and again, this gets to volume. You know, there are going to be more mail-in votes because many people are understandably concerned about going into the polling stations. Can changes made already be reversed by Election Day? It's only a couple months away.

[09:40:00]

HEALEY: That's exactly what we're looking for in our lawsuit, okay? So to the extent there have been changes made, and we know some changes were made; we want those immediately reversed and going forward we want to make sure that nothing is done to interfere with postal service operations.

You have covered this, you know, there are real time issues now with people receiving social security and unemployment and, you know, everything we depend on through the mail but obviously we need to protect the integrity of mail-in voting. So it's reverse the changes that you illegally, unlawfully made, and going forward, don't do anything to undermine operations.

SCIUTTO: As you know, this is a multi-front battle from the President of the Republican Party against mail-in voting in particular. President Trump's Administration, his campaign rather I should say is now suing New Jersey which has - the new system where all residents will be mailed a ballot, given the right to vote by mail.

The campaign says that this system will violate eligible citizens' right to vote. What is your response to the legal argument here against mail-in voting?

HEALEY: You know it's pathetic. What this is about is making sure that as few people vote by mail as possible because Trump and the Republican Party view to that their electoral advantage. We know - I mean, it's common sense; mail-in voting has to happen and in fact, regularly happen in many states in our country anyways.

But it has to happen here because of the Coronavirus pandemic. So, you know, this is just further evidence, Jim, of an administration that is trying to essentially do what it needs to do to try to steal the election and interfering with the Postal Service is one way.

Filing frivolous lawsuits in court is another way, but I can assure you us state attorneys general we're ready to go and we'll continue to see Donald Trump in court. Our job is to make sure we're doing everything we can for free and fair elections. We got to make sure you're voting for Jim, your votes count.

SCIUTTO: Well, as you know, the President has said publicly that more voting like this will be the end of the beautiful Republican Party as he said. I do want to end on this note because there have been so many questions raised out there and we know in this country that that has created confusion and fears about mail-in voting.

Should voters who are watching right now be concerned that their vote may not be counted if they mail in or are you and other attorneys general doing enough to guarantee the best you can that the votes are counted?

HEALEY: You know, Jim, I'm so glad you asked. Yes, go vote. If you have mail-in voting in your state does that. If you have in-person voting or early voting do that. The point is that part of what Trump is trying to do is to sow confusion and create chaos.

He does not want people to vote by mail, so the greatest way to fight back is to raise your voice and vote and that's what we're going to continue to do. We as state AGs have your back.

SCIUTTO: And steady up right folks to make, there - you could find exactly how you could do it when by what time best way to multiple ways to drop - you can mail it in or you can go to drop-in boxes there are elusive options. We'll continue to share that information as best we can on this broadcast. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey thanks very much.

HEALEY: Hey, great to be with you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Thank you.

HARLOW: All right, well in case you didn't see this last night, Lebron James and the Los Angeles Lakers - well, they did something else with the Red Maga Hats all in the name of social justice. You'll want to see and hear their message ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:00]

SCIUTTO: There is some good economic news, some retailers and small businesses owners struggled to stay afloat amid this outbreak. Big box retailers they're actually shattering sales records. Target just announced its strongest quarterly sales growth ever, remarkable.

HARLOW: Our Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans joining us now. Good morning. Can you put that into perspective for us?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

HARLOW: Is it just like growth kissing was so bad you know four months ago or is it year-over-year growth?

ROMANS: Look, but what this tells us about the consumer and about the economy is this. People wanted safe and convenient shopping. This was considered an essential retailer, target was. Their mix of products the CEO says is exactly what people needed when they were staying home in the pandemic.

And so the pandemic shopper - even got millions of new shoppers. The curbside pickup for online ordering was up 700 percent and the sales growth was unbelievable, the biggest sales growth increased ever about almost 25 percent.

Look at the online sales number there. So this was a big boom for target here. It also tells you there's a tale of two retailers here. The target for example Lowe's did very well, Home Depot did very well, Walmart did very well but we also know that JC Penney, Pear One, J Crew, Brooks Brothers and other long list of retailers who have filed for bankruptcy have announced that they're in big trouble.

That's the other side of that retail coin here. Another very important takeaway, and I want - I hope that Washington is listening because the sales were driven by the money in people's pockets from their stimulus checks and from those jobless benefits. People felt comfortable enough to spend money during the pandemic and that's incredibly important.

SCIUTTO: Stimulus checks made a difference. Christine Romans thanks very much. Well, in sports now, Lebron James and the Lakers have sent a message before the first playoff game, remarkable strategy here, Poppy.

HARLOW: For sure they did Andy Scholes joins us more this morning with "The Bleacher Report".

[09:50:00]

POPPY: Red, kind of like Maga Hats but a very different message.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Certainly was a different kind of message than those normal mega hats Poppy and Jim. And you know a big part of this NBA's restart in the bubble has been the continued fight for social justice, and Lebron and all of his Lakers teammates last night before their game, even after their game wearing the exact same hat as they continue to fight for justice for Breonna Taylor.

Lebron posting a bunch of his pictures on his Instagram. The hat it looks like the mega hats worn by supporters of President Trump, but the texts and the hats read "Make America", "Arrest the Cops who killed Breonna Taylor" with the words great again crossed out. Taylor was shot and killed in her apartment in March by Louisville police who were executing a no knock warrant and this is what Lebron had to say about those hats after the game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, LOS ANGELES LAKERS FORWARD: This is something that we continue to put our foot on the gas and continue to pressure. The situation is going on in Louisville, Kentucky, with this woman being killed by the name of Breonna Taylor, a woman who had a bright future and her life was taken away from her, and there have been no arrests, no justice not only for her, but for her family and we want to continue to shed light on that situation. It was just unjust and you know that's what it's about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And as for the game, Damian Willard and the Blazers upsetting the Lakers 100-93 to take a 1-0 lead in that series. Turning to college football, Alabama says they will have fans in the stands when they play at home in the season. They're going to limit the number to just 20 percent capacities so that's just over 20,000 fans there.

They're going to ban tailgating on campus. In the meantime, the Tennessee Titans and New England Patriots - the NFL teams to announce they will not have fans to start their seasons and here's a look at where all the NFL teams stand on having fans right now, 13 of 32 teams won't have fans when they open the season.

13 others still have not made a decision. You have six teams as of right now that says they will have fans in a limited capacity. So Poppy and Jim, it continues to just be a team by team decision. We'll wait and see if we have more announced that they are actually going to have fans because right now we've just got six.

SCIUTTO: The virus doesn't have favorite teams or behave differently from team to team. Andy Scholes thanks very much. Overseas, the opposition leader in Belarus is now speaking up about what she calls the fraudulent presidential election there. European leaders holding an emergency meeting over the crisis, the president here has been largely silent. We're going to have a live update from Belarus next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:55:00]

SCIUTTO: The Belarus opposition leader is calling on European leaders not to recognize the results of the recent election. She's calling the election fraudulent and is asking for support for what she calls an awakening of Belarus.

HARLOW: It is remarkable what has been playing out on the streets of that country. Protesters calling for a new election, the country's leader of 26 years is defiant and says truly over my dead body will that happen.

Our Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen joins us here this morning. Yesterday you were here with that protest that would never have happened just a few months ago.

FREDERICK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right. That protest certainly was extremely remarkable and something also that happened here last night when another 10,000 went on the streets, but what we're also seeing here, guys is that Alexander Lukashenko does appear to be trying to stage a comeback of security forces, if you will.

As you can see right now behind me, it's pretty empty, that's because a lot of the protesters have been dispersed. I was at a factory that makes tractors earlier today and all of a sudden, this is something we haven't seen in the past couple of days.

There were riot police there and security forces there and they were dispersing people. So clearly Alexander Lukashenko is trying to show that he can make a comeback and that he is still in charge. We're at the same time of course you do have these diplomatic efforts by the European Union.

And for the first time the Head of the opposition Svetlana Tikhanovskaya coming out with a statement in English polling on the EU not to recognize the election all this also as EU leaders like Angela Merkel like Emmanuel Macron of France are of course speaking with Vladimir Putin there to try and make sure or to try and dissuade him from any sort of moves, military moves here into this country that could of course further destabilize the situation.

One of the things that we've been talking about is that the U.S. the Trump Administration so far, absolutely a non-factor in all of this. It's really the Europeans who are trying to make headway in all of this and at the same time and of course everybody is looking towards the moves that Russia is going to make.

Right now the opposition is trying to show that it can still make a change. It is calling on the international community to not recognize the election that took place and still calling for change calling for Alexander Lukashenko to back down.

But at the same time we have to say it Lukashenko is still trying to project power here and we've certainly seen a lot more security forces around key areas today than we have in the last couple of days, guys.

SCIUTTO: Fred, is there a disappointment there among the opposition not to hear a more wholesome defense from the U.S. President of the Democratic process there? PLEITGEN: I think, quite frankly, they've moved on from that. I think there might have been some disappointment, but I think early on it was clear that there wasn't very much coming from the United States. I think there was one statement by Mike Pompeo from President Trump there really wasn't very much at all and in fact I haven't just heard anybody say about the two things they did say.

They're really looking towards the European Union they're looking towards Angela Merkel to see what happens in order to get some support.

END