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Model Warns U.S. Could See 2K Daily Deaths by December; Bannon and Trump Have Spoken in Recent Weeks; What to Expect from Republican Convention; California Wildfires; Alexei Navalny Taken to Germany for Treatment; European Countries Report Spike in COVID-19 Cases; Steve Bannon's "We Build the Wall" Scandal; Liverpool Grapples with Historic Ties to U.S. Confederacy. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired August 22, 2020 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST (voice-over): A shocking new forecast predicts a huge jump in the number of Americans who will die from coronavirus unless people change their behavior. We'll have the details for you.
Plus, hundreds of fires burning and smoke polluting the air. California struggles to get wildfires under control. We'll tell you what's in the forecast.
And fighting for his life: Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny arrives in Berlin after a suspected poisoning.
Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to you, our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
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BRUNHUBER: A warning from health experts to the United States: the death toll could be nearly double by December unless Americans take the coronavirus more seriously.
According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 175,000 people have died out of more than 5.6 million infected. One influential model says things could get much worse. The deaths could top 300,000 by the beginning of December. That's at least 1,000 Americans dead every day for the next three months. And that number could rise to staggering heights after December begins.
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DR. CHRISTOPHER MURRAY, INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH METRICS AND EVALUATION: We have a worse scenario in what we release and that's many, many more deaths.
And in fact, by the time December rolls around, if we don't do anything at all, the daily death toll in the U.S. would be much higher than the sort of 2,000 deaths a day we would expect by December. It could be as high as 6,000 deaths a day. So it really depends on what we do, both as individuals and what governments do.
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BRUNHUBER: But the model also gives some help. It says the projected death toll could fall to 70,000 if people wear masks and stick to safety guidelines. A big if. All this as the U.S. begins a new school year, already there are outbreaks on college campuses. Meantime the director for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sounding a new warning about how middle America is handling the pandemic. Athena Jones has more.
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ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As college students head back to campus, coronavirus outbreaks at universities in at least 19 states, representing nearly 1,400 cases among students and staff, leading to concerns about scenes like this, a large gathering of students at Penn State that prompted the school's president to ask those flouting the rules, "Do you want to be the person responsible for sending everyone home?"
Mississippi's governor urging college students to be careful, since 18-to-29-year olds make up the highest proportion of cases there.
GOV. TATE REEVES (R-MS): We know that we have got a lot of work to do there. It's something that we will have to be constantly working on over the course of the next few months.
JONES: And while K-12 schools have faced challenges reopening in states like Mississippi, Florida and Georgia, New York, with its rock- bottom COVID test positivity rate, is in a good position to reopen schools. Even so, parents have questions. Governor Andrew Cuomo saying he'd have questions too.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): They're still working out what the plan would be. I would have a lot of questions. Parents do have a lot of questions. This is a risky proposition, no matter how you do it.
JONES: And with U.S. deaths from COVID-19 averaging more than 1,000 a day for 25 consecutive days, the CDC is now projecting nearly 195,000 COVID deaths by September 12, about three weeks away, suggesting that staggering death rate will continue, at least in the short term.
DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, CDC DIRECTOR: We are beginning, I think, to turn the tide.
JONES: Still, CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield, who estimates as many as 60 million people nationwide may have already contracted the virus, based on an infection rate of 10 to 20 percent, says we could soon see the number of new daily deaths begin to decline, as more people follow public health guidelines, like mask-wearing, handwashing and social distancing.
REDFIELD: Hopefully, this week and next week, you're going to start seeing the death rate really start to drop again.
JONES: New cases are steady or falling in 40 states, but Redfield warned, that positive trend isn't taking hold everywhere.
REDFIELD: Middle America right now is getting stuck. We don't need to have a third wave in the heartland.
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JONES (voice-over): Coronavirus cases are on the rise in states like Wyoming, Iowa and Illinois, with a new Emory University study suggesting so-called super-spreader events are driving transmission in rural areas.
Meanwhile, on the vaccine front:
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: No country can just ride this out until we have the vaccine.
JONES: A new sobering reminder from the head of the World Health Organization. The 1918 pandemic lasted two years. He hopes this one won't.
GHEBREYESUS: And even if we do have a vaccine, it wouldn't end the pandemic on its own. Progress does not mean victory.
JONES: And there is another sad sign that victory over this virus is not yet at hand. We learned that a 6-year-old girl in Florida's Hillsborough County has become the youngest person in the state to die from COVID-19 -- Athena Jones, CNN, New York.
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BRUNHUBER: Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden says he's prepared to take drastic science-based action, even shutting down the economy, to fight the pandemic in the U.S. He appeared with Kamala Harris on ABC News in their first joint interview since the convention.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I would be prepared to do whatever it takes to save lives because we cannot get the country moving until we control the virus.
That is the fundamental flaw of this administration's thinking to begin with. In order to keep the country running and moving and the economy growing and people employed, you have to fix the virus. You have to deal with the virus.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So if the scientists say shut it down?
BIDEN: I would shut it down. I would listen to the scientists.
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BRUNHUBER: With the Democrats' convention done and dusted, the spotlight shifts to the Republicans next week and President Trump is already giving a preview of how he plans to counter Joe Biden's messaging. Jim Acosta has the details.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eager to get back on the attack, the president took aim at the theme running through Joe Biden's speech at the Democratic convention that the trump administration has been a time of darkness.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They spent four straight days attacking America as racist and a horrible country that must be redeemed.
And yet look at what we have accomplished until the plague came in. Look at what we have accomplished and now we're doing it again.
Where Joe Biden sees American darkness, I see American greatness.
ACOSTA (voice-over): It was a carefully scripted rebuttal to a Biden speech that surprised even some Trump allies as nowhere near sleepy.
BIDEN: This is our moment. This is our mission. May history be able to say that the end of this chapter of American darkness began here tonight, as love and hope and light join in the battle for the soul of the nation.
ACOSTA (voice-over): And yet in front of a crowd of conservative activists, many not wearing masks, the president warned a Biden administration would lead to the same unrest on the streets that happened on Mr. Trump's watch.
TRUMP: I'm the only thing standing between the American dream and total anarchy, madness and chaos and that's what it is.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The president reprised his attacks on mail-in voting, predicting they will lead to chaos on election night.
TRUMP: And they all think I'm trying to steal an election. Just the opposite. I want the fair results of an election.
ACOSTA (voice-over): At a Senate hearing on mail slowdowns, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Trump ally, denied he's trying to rig the election for the president after recent revelations that processing machines have been removed at postal facilities across the country.
SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): Will you be bringing back any mail sorting machines that have been removed since you have become postmaster general?
Will any of those come back?
LOUIS DEJOY, U.S. POSTMASTER GENERAL: There's no intention to do that. They're not needed, sir.
ACOSTA (voice-over): DeJoy conceded he and Mr. Trump recently met, but insisted their conversation was not about the election. PETERS: Did you discuss those changes or their potential impact on the November election with the president or anyone at the White House? And remind you, you're under oath.
DEJOY: I have never spoken to the president about the Postal Service, other than to congratulate me when I accepted the position.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The president has yet to provide any evidence
there will be fraud on election night and yet he's vowing to send police officers to polling stations.
TRUMP: We're going to have sheriffs and we're going to have law enforcement and we're going to have hopefully U.S. attorneys and we're going to have everybody and attorney generals.
ACOSTA (voice-over): On the pro-Trump QAnon movement:
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Will you dismiss it?
Will you dismiss it?
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just did, John.
BERMAN: No, you didn't.
PENCE: We dismiss conspiracy theories out of hand.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Vice President Mike Pence tried to dance around questions about the baseless conspiracy theory.
PENCE: I don't know anything about that conspiracy theory. I don't know anything about QAnon and I dismiss it out of hand.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The president is doing some dodging of his own, insisting that he hasn't been speaking to his former chief strategist Steve Bannon, who has been charged with defrauding donors to a private wall project on the border.
But sources tell CNN Mr. Trump and Bannon have spoken in recent weeks, despite what the president has said.
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TRUMP: I haven't been dealing with him for a long period of time, as most of the people in this room know. I haven't been dealing with him at all.
ACOSTA: Over the weekend, the president will be gearing up for his convention next week. Aides are calling the theme to the convention a, quote, "return to American greatness," a title that suggests the president is still in damage control mode as the nation is still reeling from the pandemic -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: All right. So to discuss the dueling conventions, let's
bring in James Davis, the director of the Institute of Political Science and he joins me from Munich, Germany.
Thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it. So the general consensus, even among some FOX News personalities, is that the Democratic convention went fairly well and Joe Biden stepped up and satisfied the modest expectations.
The rationale, did the convention change anything?
Conventional political wisdom these days, the convention bounce is done or short-lived, especially when the opponent's convention is just days away?
JAMES DAVIS, UNIVERSITY OF ST. GALLEN: Well, I think that's right. I don't thing conventions really fundamentally achieve much. But the Democrats pulled it off in very strange times. It's the first time we've had such a virtual convention. I think they did a good job.
I think the goal was to reintroduce Joe Biden to the American people, to set out an agenda, a set of themes, of items they want to address, things that draw the contrast to this administration.
I think they did that. And they did it in an interesting way, through a series of personal profiles that highlighted things like the climate crisis, the COVID crisis, the health care crisis in general, the failure of leadership in this administration, gun violence, the problem with the economy, the fact that the working and middle class are not benefitting from the economy, questions of immigration.
Each of these was tied in an interesting way to an individual story and then that linked back to Joe Biden, the kind of person and leader Joe Biden would be.
I think by stressing those issues and by stressing the fact that we would return to a period of decency in American leadership, the Democrats did what they needed to do.
BRUNHUBER: Let's leave the Democrats aside for now. Let's look ahead to the Republican convention, the sense I'm getting basically is they'll put pictures of violent protests in cities like Portland and Chicago on a loop and say, coming soon to a city near you if a Democrat is elected.
What are you predicting from the Republicans?
DAVIS: I think they need to draw a contrast in both in style and substance. They have the advantage of coming second; that is to say, they can learn what the Democrats did in terms of a virtual convention. I think in terms of style, they'll probably try to have more events in front of live audiences, of whatever size they think is reasonable.
But in terms of substance, I think they are going to try and paint a very different picture of America, a picture that, interestingly enough, is the picture that's emerged under their leadership.
So they're going to try to make it appear that the country is out of control. You have to ask yourself, why is it out of control, if in fact, that's true, because that's happened under the Trump-Pence administration.
They're going to try to make Joe Biden out to be somebody who is beholden to a radical fringe element. But I think that's going to be very difficult. Joe Biden showed himself to be clearly in the mainstream of American politics.
He showed that he's a decent man. With Kamala Harris, he has a former state attorney general, a law enforcement figure at his side, somebody who actually has been -- has a history of putting people behind bars in jail.
It's going to be hard, I think, to make that case. But that's the case they're going to try to make, a radical Left under Joe Biden and more violence in American cities.
BRUNHUBER: But then does that appeal to the middle?
I mean, we saw the Democrats clearly trying to appeal to moderate Republicans and undecided voters, even featuring some Republicans in their convention like Kasich and Cindy McCain.
Will there be any similar outreach or just rallying the base?
DAVIS: They can't run on their record. There is no wall, there are no jobs, in fact 20 million less. The economy has not lifted the prospects of the working class or middle class.
And you're right, they need to go for that, I think, small group of undecided, white suburban voters, who will make a difference in some of the swing states.
If you can't run on your record, what are you going to do?
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DAVIS: I think the attempt is going to be suggest that, with a series of race-baiting whistle calls, that, if you vote for Biden, poor people are going to move into your neighborhood. Your neighborhood is going to become destabilized. Your property values are going to go down.
That's what they're going to try to do. I think Joe Biden tried to reach those same concerned voters, who aren't quite decided, on the fence, tried to reach them and say, look, you've got somebody like me from the mainstream of American politics, a trusted and decent guy, who cares about you and your family.
And I think if you have to put those two pictures next to each other, I think the Biden picture is the one that those suburban housewives, those middle class Americans who are on the fence, are going to go for. BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll see. I'm sure the Republicans will
disagree with that. And I'm sure their convention will be entertaining if nothing else. Thank you very much, James Davis, we appreciate your thoughts on this.
And as we said, next up, the Republicans. Tune in for our live coverage of their national convention. It starts on Monday evening at 7:00 pm Eastern. Of course, we'll also have full coverage and analysis on cnn.com.
All right. Coming up after the break, scorching temperatures and dire predictions that the worst may yet to come, as California firefighters battle more than 500 raging wildfires.
Plus, a frequent foe of Vladimir Putin has arrived at a German hospital. We'll have the latest on Alexei Navalny's condition and what is ahead for him. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Well, look at these terrifying and tragic images from California as firefighters, short on resources, battle hundreds of wildfires across the state. Those fires now scorched almost 1 million acres.
The worst of them are burning in and around the San Francisco Bay area. California's governor is pleading for federal help and help from other states. He says all of California's firefighting resources are already in the battle. And it's not nearly enough.
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GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): The challenge that we're facing here in the state is now disproportionately impacting northern California. And that is because of close to 12,000 lightning strikes that we experienced over a 72-hour period.
Just a day ago, I announced that we are struggling to address the needs of suppressing some 376 fires in the state. That number has grown to about 560 fires.
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BRUNHUBER: Gravely ill opposition leader Alexei Navalny has now arrived at a hospital in Berlin for medical treatment. The NGO Cinema for Peace Foundation said that his medical flight from Siberia went well and Navalny is in stable condition.
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BRUNHUBER: He suddenly became ill Thursday on a flight to Moscow. Navalny has been in a coma and there are those close to him who believe he was poisoned. But Russian doctors who initially treated him dispute this.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Navalny's wife, Yulia, is traveling with him. These are pictures of her with him at the hospital in Berlin just a short time ago.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): In amateur video from the flight Thursday, where he fell ill, you can hear him there, groaning in pain as medics evacuate him. The plane made an emergency landing in Omsk, Russia, where Navalny was taken to the hospital.
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BRUNHUBER: Let's go to CNN's Phil Black in London, who's been following that plane that arrived in Germany a short time ago.
So what's the latest?
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kim, as you say, he's arrived, he's stable. The flight went well. And from his family's point of view, he's now receiving independent medical care they can trust.
From their point of view, that's key; they believe, beyond doubt, that someone tried to poison him with the intention of killing him.
Again, from their point of view, for as long as he was in Russia and receiving Russian medical care, their fear, their concern was that someone could seek to finish the job, either through negligence or perhaps through something more proactive because they already say that they think the Russian authorities deliberately delayed Navalny's release or transfer, if you like, his ability to leave Russia because they think there was an exercise to try to cover the tracks of the initial poisoning effort.
They believe he was held in Russia long enough to allow whatever poison in his system to dissipate to a point where it wouldn't be detectable by the time they arrive in independent care.
So they are hoping now he's in Germany soon enough to save his life and allow him to recover but also perhaps to also find some -- find some evidence that would allow doctors to determine exactly what it was that struck him down on that plane. BRUNHUBER: Well, presumably, if this was poison, this was meant to
have a chilling effect on him, on the opposition movement.
So what's been the reaction in Russia?
And more pointedly, assuming he survives and is in good condition, will he go back to Russia?
BLACK: Well, if this was a poisoning then, as his supporters very clearly do believe it was, yes, it was a message, basically saying no one is untouchable, that anyone who defies the Russia status quo, they're doing it at the risk of their own safety and their own lives.
Because among his supporters, there are those who believe because he's been so courageous and determined and effective in challenging Putin and the Russian political system that he was consistently endangering his life.
He believes he had been potentially poisoned once before this particular event. But also there's a counter theory that says he's so influential, his following is so strong, that to some degree, he was protected by this because, to get rid of him in some way, that would carry political consequences. That would make the Russian political system less stable in its own way.
But this will have a chilling effect on the Russian opposition, there is no doubt. Because of that warning, which says, very clearly, if you defy the system, this could also happen to you.
Navalny himself is a hugely determined man. And you would have to think, if he does recover, he will return to the fray, if you like, return to Russia and continue his work. But what will be left of the opposition when he does return, should he return, is very much an open question at this day.
BRUNHUBER: Thank you so much for that. We'll continue following the story, CNN's Phil Black live in London. Appreciate it.
Well, new coronavirus cases on the rise across Europe weeks after tough restrictions ended. Numbers are tracking up in Germany, Spain and France. We're going to have a live report straight ahead.
Plus, Beijing is letting down its guard, telling people they no longer have to wear masks outside. We'll explain why. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, Europe lifted strict lockdown measures weeks ago. But now new coronavirus cases are tracking upward in numerous countries. Germany reports its highest number of daily infections Saturday since the end of April, more than 2,000. Infections have been climbing there since late July.
And on Friday, Spain reported more than 8,000 new cases in 24 hours, one of the highest daily increases since restrictions ended.
Meanwhile, health officials in France warn that the virus spread is accelerating. Daily cases passed 4,000 Friday for the seventh consecutive day. For more on this, let's go to London to Milena Veselinovic.
This is a familiar pattern.
As cases rise, what countries are at most concern here?
MILENA VESELINOVIC, CNN PRODUCER: At the moment Spain is causing the biggest concern. In parts of Spain, health officials say that the virus is out of control. And in the capital of Madrid, local government has asked people living in the most affected parts of the city to actually stay home.
Spain has the highest virus infection rate out of the entire European continent, according to the European Center for Disease Control.
But other countries, France, Italy and Germany, have had their highest daily increases in virus cases this week since the peak of the pandemic in April. On Friday, Poland actually the highest number of increases in one day since the entire pandemic began.
In Greece and on Mykonos, authorities had to ban large gatherings and actually mandate the wearing of masks indoors and outdoor.
Here in Britain where I am, officials are worrying that the outbreak is growing in certain parts of the country. And Britain's second largest city, Birmingham, is teetering on the edge of a local lockdown because of a huge rise in infections there.
BRUNHUBER: Is this all just the familiar recipe of reopening and relaxing your guard?
VESELINOVIC: Well, the World Health Organization said that this is a consequence of societies reopening, people getting more relaxed after months of lockdowns and dropping their guard a little bit.
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VESELINOVIC: Infections have been rising steadily since these restrictions have been peeling off in the last few weeks. Experts are worried, as colder weather comes to Europe in the next few weeks and months, people will be spending more time indoors rather than outdoors and transmission might accelerate even further as it will coincide with the flu season as well.
BRUNHUBER: Another troubling aspect of the story. Thank you so much, CNN's Milena Veselinovic in London, appreciate it.
Brazil is reporting more than 30,000 new COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour period ending Friday. More than 1,000 deaths were also registered on Friday, bringing the nation's death toll to more than 113,000. Brazil's 3.5 million cases is the world's second highest tally after the U.S.
And just the opposite is happening in Beijing, where residents no longer have to wear masks when they go outdoors. The government is lifting the mandate after just 20 new cases were reported across all of China Friday. And no new cases in Beijing for the past 13 days. Let's bring in CNN's correspondent Selena Wang from Hong Kong.
Those pictures of a packed pool in Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus, it's unimaginable just a few months ago, setting aside the wisdom of a gathering like that, it speaks to an amazing turnaround.
SELENA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kim, those images were striking. Wuhan ground zero have not reported any new cases since mid-May. But those images are unthinkable, to see all of those massive crowds packed at this electronic dance music pool party, no masks, no social distancing as you can see from those images.
Meantime, life in Wuhan is getting back to normal; in Beijing they're getting more normal as well. According to government regulations people no longer have to wear masks in public as long as they're not in close contact with other people.
Kim, just months ago, back in June, the capital was grappling with a fresh outbreak leading to a wholesale market. The city immediately went to partial lockdown and started testing millions of its residents.
Even though people aren't required to wear masks. Some people still prefer to and some say it makes them safe and some feel that they're not sure if it's socially acceptable to go mask-free. Take a listen to what this 24-year old had to say.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I think I can take off my mask anytime. But I will need to see if others accept it because I am afraid that people will be scared if they see me not wearing a mask. But usually, when I'm running, I'm not wearing one.
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WANG: After months of enforcement it can take some time for people to adjust to this new reality. And, Kim in non-COVID times as well, masks are a sight in Beijing, especially on days when there's heavy pollution.
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. Well, it makes sense.
So I want to ask you about a U.S. intelligence report which suggested that China hid the full extent of the coronavirus outbreak.
What more you can tell us about that report and the reaction from Beijing? WANG: That intelligence report really provides more context and nuance to the claims that Trump and his officials have been making for months. They repeatedly slammed China for hiding the initial outbreak, allowing it to spread around the world.
That is also seen as part of Trump's election campaign strategy, to deflect blame, as the pandemic ravages America, killing more than 175,000 Americans.
Now according to officials with knowledge of this report, they say that local officials in Wuhan were hiding information about the outbreak to the central government. Experts have noted that, in China's opaque government system, local officials are known to hide information to Beijing because of fear of punishment.
One official, however, did tell CNN that they still think Beijing should be held accountable and that there may have been some groundwork laid out to place the blame on those local officials as a scapegoat.
Beijing, in response, has said that they did everything to be transparent to the international community.
BRUNHUBER: Thank you very much for that. Selina Wang in Hong Kong. Appreciate it.
A change from all the doom and gloom. Visiting hours at a hospital in the Czech Republic are quite a spectacle. Check this out; after restrictions on visitors to elderly patients were introduced due to the coronavirus, these horses stepped in to help.
They're a morale booster for lonely and stressed patients. A physiotherapist says the equine therapy enhances patients' mental health, which is a step towards physical healing.
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BRUNHUBER: I feel like we could use one of those here in the NEWSROOM.
Still ahead, they claim to be raising money for a private border wall to help President Trump. Now they're facing federal fraud charges. We'll look at what prosecutors say Steve Bannon and his associates did with the millions of dollars they collected.
Plus, a city in England is coming to terms with its ties to the U.S. Confederacy. We'll have later in the show. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: President Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon is among those charged with pocketing donations meant to pay for a private border wall. The saga that involves talk of a $1 million boat and a man who sells Trump-themed energy drinks.
CNN Drew Griffin takes a look at how the scandal allegedly played out and what the president and his family may have known.
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DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president seemed to have amnesia over his once close relationship to Steve Bannon and the president's own support for the project called We Build the Wall.
TRUMP: I know nothing about the project, other than I didn't like when I read about it.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): That doesn't seem to line up with what others recall Trump saying about the project, like Kris Kobach, former Kansas secretary of state and advisory board member of the We Build the Wall organization, who's repeatedly said not only did the president know about the project that raised $25 million in donations, but supported.
KRIS KOBACH, WE BUILD THE WALL ADVISORY BOARD: I've spoken to the president about this project on three occasions now.
Trump expressed clear enthusiasm for it. He wants it known that he stands behind this.
And he went further and he said I want the media to know that this project has my blessing. He was really making a point that he was behind this.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): A point echoed by the chief financial officer of We Build the Wall, Amanda Shea.
She's married to one of the men indicted and posted this photo of her and President Trump, last summer, saying she talked with "President Trump, who had a lot of questions about the wall built through We Build the Wall.
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GRIFFIN (voice-over): "He was impressed," she said.
Donald Trump's son, Don Jr., was apparently impressed too. The Facebook account of the group's Founder, Brian Kolfage, shows him with the president's son taking a private jet to an event last year, where Don Jr. praised the private wall effort.
DONALD TRUMP JR., PRESIDENT TRUMP'S SON: This is private enterprise, at its finest, doing it better, faster, cheaper than anything else.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Kolfage Andrew Badolato, Timothy Shea and Steve Bannon, according to prosecutors, worked together, to misappropriate hundreds of thousands of dollars of those funds for their own personal benefit, payments allegedly went toward a boat, a luxury SUV, a golf cart, jewelry, cosmetic surgery.
That boat is one Kolfage used in a Florida pro-Trump boat parade. When reports accused Kolfage of misspending funds, last summer, he and Steve Bannon joked about it in a video from the border project site.
STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: Welcome back. This is Stephen K. Bannon. We're off the coast of Saint-Tropez in Southern France in the Mediterranean. We're on the million-dollar yacht of Brian Kolfage. And Brian Kolfage, he took all that money from Build the Wall.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): The joke, not so funny now. Kolfage, a triple amputee Air Force veteran, repeatedly claimed he wouldn't take a single penny for running the operation.
BRIAN KOLFAGE, WE BUILD THE WALL FOUNDER: One hundred percent of your money goes towards the wall. It's not going to line someone's pocket. I'm taking $0 of a salary.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Reached by email, Friday, Kolfage told CNN, prosecutors "Lumped every purchase I've made, in the past two years, into the indictment, even before We Build the Wall, not taking into account the fact I have other sources of income to pay for things. Like Bannon said," Kolfage wrote, "It's a fiasco."
According to the indictment, the co-defendants conspired to pay Kolfage's salary with donors' money by using a second non-profit and hidden payments. Philanthropy expert Doug White says it's the type of alleged fraud that hurts all charities.
DOUG WHITE, NONPROFIT EXPERT AND AUTHOR: And that's what really breaks my heart. Here's an example.
If the allegations are true, of fraud, at its worst and they were defrauded out of maybe checks of $10 or $50, some many, many more dollars, but none of that should take place under the guise of having someone then take that money, or part of it to go live a lavish lifestyle. Absolutely has to be stopped.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): The others indicted Andrew Badolato, a 56-year- old Florida-based investor, who's been close to Bannon for more than 20 years.
In the early 2000s, Badolato and Bannon were also directors of a nasal spray company, called SinoFresh Healthcare. Executives there pushed to remove Bannon from the board for not investigating improprieties allegedly tied to Badolato.
Badolato went on to write for Bannon's Breitbart news site and he's repeatedly filed for bankruptcy, has faced more than a dozen state and federal tax liens.
The third conspirator, Timothy Shea, is accused of secretly filtering donations to himself and Kolfage, payments described as social media charges. The Denver real estate agent sells a pro-Trump energy drink that comes in a can with a picture of Trump in a superhero costume. The charges against the men, one with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one conspiracy to commit money laundering, are serious, with maximum sentences up to 20 years each. Steve Bannon has not pleaded guilty; the men were arrested, posted bail and will be arraigned later -- Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.
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BRUNHUBER: After the break --
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LAURENCE WESTGAPH, HISTORIAN: I feel like that's an excuse to commemorate individuals involved in keeping other people in chains.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): How Liverpool in England is linked to the Confederacy in the U.S. and its slave trade. Stay with us.
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[05:50:00]
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BRUNHUBER: Liverpool has a surprising link to U.S. slavery. And for years, U.S.-based neo-Confederate groups have come to the English city to celebrate their controversial history. But as CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reports, a local historian wants the city to confront its past.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): At the heart of this Liverpool cemetery lies a conflict --
WESTGAPH: I'm taking you to see the graves of two Confederates veterans.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): -- between historian Laurence Westgaph and his local government.
ABDELAZIZ: Who's built up these graves?
WESTGAPH: In 2009, the Sons of Confederate Veterans came to Liverpool to a ceremony in order to see the rededication of Avron Stevens Bullock's (ph) grave and that was paid by the Liverpool city council.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): The local council denied this to CNN. But two former officials attended the ceremony.
WESTGAPH: Just because we're in England, I feel like that's not an excuse to be able to commemorate individuals who were involved in keeping other people in chains. ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): The Sons of Confederate Veterans is a U.S.
based neo-Confederate group now fighting to preserve Confederate symbols in the U.S.
Over the years, the group has made multiple visits to Liverpool, even thanking the city council for their support and, in 2015, installing this plaque.
WESTGAPH: I find that one particularly egregious.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Jerry Wells' name is on the sign. He was a member based in Virginia and organized a week-long event in 2015.
JERRY WELLS, SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS: To let Liverpool people know that there was a support in Liverpool at that time for the Confederacy.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Wells says he coordinated with local officials. But the council denied involvement. The group raised the Confederate flag during their visit.
[10:50:00]
WELLS: In fact, we had a 60-foot second national flag flying.
ABDELAZIZ: Do you understand why some people might take offense to Confederate symbols?
WELLS: No. They were not fighting to keep anybody enslaved.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Tracey Gore wants to put those views in the past.
[05:55:00]
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): She heads Liverpool's new Race and Equality Task Force.
TRACEY GORE, RACE AND EQUALITY TASK FORCE: I'm quite sure that the city don't know the context and they don't understand the deep rooted racism and I think it's borne out of ignorance.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Appointed by Liverpool's mayor, Gore says it's time to change minds inside city hall.
ABDELAZIZ: What was the first that you heard of neo Confederate groups visiting Liverpool?
GORE: Last week when you telephoned me.
(CROSSTALK)
ABDELAZIZ: What was your reaction?
GORE: One of shock, yes, absolutely shock.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Liverpool city council deny any direct dealings with Confederate groups and say they oppose their presence.
Westgaph's search for the graves of his ancestors led him here, to a square where statues of at least two men with links to the Confederacy stand tall.
WESTGAPH: These memorials of individuals, who benefited from the enslavement of African people, are actually built on the bodies of enslaved Africans as well.
(CROSSTALK)
ABDELAZIZ: These are monuments built on top of unmarked graves.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): but he does not want to knock down the symbols of the past.
WESTGAPH: I'm not fine with tearing down so I would like to see interpretive plaques put on these monuments to tell people who these individuals were and the role that they played in slavery and the slave trade.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Westgaph is working with Gore to do exactly that and, for the first time, erect a public memorial to the victims of slavery -- Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, Liverpool.
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BRUNHUBER: That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Up next is "NEW DAY."
