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Trump's Sister Bitterly Criticizes Him in Secretly Recorded Audio; Trump Pushes Conspiracy Theories as House Rebukes His Handling of the USPS; Trump to Hold News Conference on "Major Therapeutic Breakthrough"; World Tops 23 Million COVID-19 Cases, U.S. Still Worst Affected with Cases Rising; Russian Opposition Leader in Stable Condition in Berlin Hospital; No End in Sight for Deadly California Wildfires; Universities in 15 U.S. States Report Coronavirus Outbreaks; Argentina Grapples with Covid-19 and a Grim Future; Steve Bannon's "We Build the Wall" Scandal; Protesters in Thailand Demand Monarchy Reform. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired August 23, 2020 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): "He has no principles. You can't trust him."
Words we've heard from many a Trump critics but this time the critic is his sister. Details on the secret recordings.
Also massive flames ripping across the state of California and the weather is not helping. We will have a live update for you.
And a seismic shift: young people in Thailand speaking out against the world's richest monarchy.
Hello and welcome to our viewers from all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
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HOLMES: Well, things might have gotten a bit more complicated in the Trump family in the last few hours. Earlier this summer, we saw some damning accusations about the U.S. president Donald Trump from his niece, Mary Trump, in her bombshell book. You see it there.
Now "The Washington Post" is reporting that she secretly recorded Mr. Trump's sister, Maryanne Trump Barry. And it would appear she is no fan of the president, at least when speaking, as she, thought privately.
The retired judge reportedly calling her brother "cruel" and seemingly confirming her niece's claim that Mr. Trump had a friend take his college entrance exam for him. This is all according to transcripts and audio excerpts obtained exclusively by "The Washington Post."
Earlier, CNN's Wolf Blitzer talked to "The Post" reporter who got the story.
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MICHAEL KRANISH, "THE WASHINGTON POST": These are tapes that Mary Trump, who, as you mentioned, wrote the best-selling book about her uncle, Donald Trump.
In the book, she doesn't say the source of some of her information. Maryanne Trump Barry, the president's older sister, there are quotes from her in the book but it's not said how she got these quotes. It was presumed that there were some conversations.
In fact, Mary Trump recorded 15 hours' worth of conversations with her aunt. Many of these conversations, in fact are not reflected in the book in the story, posted on washingtonpost.com tonight, there's an example in the lead where I talk about some quotes that she made about the president's immigration policy and other examples.
Plus, there's audio of this conversation posted online. So you can hear yourself exactly what the president's sister is saying. It's not the second hand, uses her own words.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Tell us some of the things that, you know, you've heard on this audiotape.
KRANISH: Right. Wolf, you know, one example is, for example, Mary Trump heard that her brother, the president, had said on FOX News that maybe I'll have to put her, meaning Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, she was a federal judge at the time to the border because there are a lot of refugees coming into United States.
And at the time, as you recall, children being separated from their parents and being put in these cramped quarters.
And Maryanne was talk -- gave a conversation with her niece, Mary, and she said, "It's all about the base. All he wants to do is appeal to the base. He has no principles. None. None. And his base, I mean, my God, if you're a religious person, you would want to help people, not do this."
So there are a lot of quotes like this that are very candid. As far as we can tell, Maryanne Trump Barry did not know she was being recorded by her niece. I reached out to her yesterday and again today to let her know. I did not hear back from her. So I don't have a comment from her.
As far as I know, she also has been commenting on things that she was quoted in saying in the book by her niece.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: CNN has reached out to Maryanne Trump Barry for comment. President Trump did comment. The White House putting out a statement. I'll just read for you.
Quote, "Every day, it's something else, who cares. I miss my brother and I will continue to work hard for the American people. Not everyone agrees but the results are obvious. Our country will soon be stronger than ever before."
Not really addressing what his sister said there.
Now I want to talk more about this with CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein.
This audio of Trump's sister, it's all very salacious. But, you know, the airing of family dirty laundry aside, will it change anything when it comes to the election or how Trump's base feels about him?
I'm going to guess your answer.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Those are two separate questions, right?
I mean, look, this is his closest living relative, who has known him the longest. And her comments about his personal unfitness to be president are coming on the same day that 73 former national security officials in Republican administrations.
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BROWNSTEIN: Including former heads of the CIA and FBI and a top counselor, Condi Rice, in George W. Bush State Department, are all saying he's unfit to be president. A few days after the head, the chief of staff of his own Department of Homeland Security, said he's unfit to be president and we had a former Republican presidential candidate make that case at the Democratic convention as well as our colleague at CNN, Charlie Dent, a former Republican congressman, say the same.
It's not that all of this has no effect. I mean, there's a reason he is losing the popular vote by 8 or 9 or 10 points in the polls. And he is on track, potentially, for the worst showing among college educated white voters of any Republican nominee ever.
But he's not out of the game. I mean, we are not in a moment where we are looking at Nixon, McGovern, Reagan-Mondale. There is somewhere between 40 percent and 45 percent of the electorate concentrated among blue collar whites, evangelical whites, rural whites, that either don't care or don't believe it.
But in either respect, believe he is kind of their sword against all -- or their shield, their wall -- against all of the changes in American life they don't like. And because that base is very hard to dislodge, he is still in the game, at least, in the Electoral College, if not the popular vote.
HOLMES: They will put up with anything, essentially. I mean, let's talk about that. Because I saw you tweeting earlier. I guess, national polls might be good for Joe Biden at the moment.
But the battlegrounds they are far from, you know, sort of a slam dunk. And you tweeted the other day, and we'll put it up for people to read. If Biden wins the most votes, Democrats will have won the popular vote in 7 of the last 8 elections. Something no party has done since the formation of the modern party system in 1828. And yet, it might not be enough to win the White House.
So Joe Biden can't be feeling too cocky.
BROWNSTEIN: No, I mean, look. It's a larger issue in terms of a crisis of democracy in the U.S. when you have the possibility that Republicans will have held the White House, roughly half the time over a period where Democrats will have won the popular vote 7 out of 8 elections in all likelihood, which, as I said, has never happened in American history.
Same point about the Senate. Republicans have held Senate about half the time over the last 40 years. They have represented a majority of the country over only 2 out of those 40 years.
So the basic issue that Biden faces is that, right now, his popular vote lead, I think, is enough to win the Electoral College. But if it tightens somewhat, he's got the same challenge Democrats had in 2016, which is the constituencies that are attracted to Trump, the constituencies where Trump is strongest, are overrepresented in some of the tipping point states, particularly in the Rust Belt like Wisconsin.
And there's always the chance that Trump can lose the popular vote but hold on to the Electoral College.
And I will point out, Michael, that even though Biden's lead is quite strong at this point, Trump is edging back toward 60 percent among non-college whites in the national polling right before the Democratic convention. And that was the constituency that allowed him to squeeze out Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
HOLMES: And one thing that Democrats showcased well at that -- their virtual convention, is the growing diversity of America. I know you talk about and write about this a lot in "The Atlantic."
Broadly speaking, the Trump base is very white, they are very old, they're very angry. With the RNC convention about to start, is Trump even trying to make that tent bigger?
BROWNSTEIN: No. I mean, this is the first president, really, we have had who not only has failed to try to expand his base but rather than trying to expand his base, he has used the parts of America that are most resistant to him, really as a foil to try to mobilize his course of orders.
I mean I have said many times that he governs as a wartime president for red America, only with blue America rather than any foreign adversary as the target.
And you can see in this messaging going forward, where he is basically saying to the suburbs, the cities are your enemy. And without me as a human wall between you and them, marauding mobs of kind of whispered Black people are going to come out and threaten you. The fact that he is having, at his convention, come speak, the white
couple, that brandished weapons at Black Lives Matter protesters outside of their house in St. Louis, who are now facing felony charges in their home county.
Right after Democrats sell, you know, kind of showcased the diversity of the country and diversity of the party. That pretty much tells you all you need to know about where the lines are drawn in American politics in 2020.
HOLMES: You know, we've got -- very quick -- a minute or so left -- you know, the RNC convention is about to start.
How will they go after Biden?
Because, I mean, his performance sort of took away the, you know, doddery old man who can't string a sentence together argument, at least for now.
How do you think they are going to go after him?
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BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think it would be some combination of ideology that he is kind of the Trojan horse for the far left. But I think most of it is going to be this culture war. You, know and it's a barely veiled racial culture war. He will pull back the thin blue line between you and chaos.
And I think it's an enormous gamble for Trump, both because crime is so much lower than it was a generation ago when Richard Nixon was doing this but also because so many people who live in the suburbs now see common interest with the cities and see a greater distance between them and the predominantly white rural places where Trump is so strong.
He lost 87 percent of the 100 largest counties in America in 2016 by a combined 15 million votes. I think the odds are he will lose them by even more despite this messaging and if he has a path to win it will be just turning out every last voter, as someone said, emptying the deer stands in rural America.
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HOLMES: Ron Brownstein, as always, a great pleasure. Thank you, sir.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, Michael.
HOLMES: Well, the U.S. House has passed a 25 billion dollar measure to block cuts and changes at the Postal Service. Democrats and some Republicans say they are trying to prevent any adverse impact on mail- in voting for the November election.
But the president has threatened to veto the bill, assuming it ever gets to his desk, which it probably won't. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux explains. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: It was a rare Saturday session when members of the House were brought back from their summer recess for this very important vote and it was an overwhelming victory for Democrats in support of the Postal Service.
The final vote tally, 257 yeses, Democrats 231. But the big story here, 26 Republicans joining those Democrats.
It was really an indictment of President Trump, a rejection of the GOP leadership's talking points of their position, that this was simply a scam, a sham, a hoax of some kind.
Republican as well as Democratic lawmakers hearing from voters and constituents that there were real problems that they were facing with the Postal Service and with those delays.
We actually have heard many anecdotal stories. But it really was evidence that was presented by the chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, Carolyn Maloney, who actually presented an internal document from the Postal Service, showing a 10 percent slowdown in the mail.
It really just wasn't getting to people in time. And there's a lot of concern about this and around this.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi describing this as an issue that touches on culture, that social justice, voting rights as well as health.
Using the example saying, look, this could be an issue, whether or not you get your packages from Santa Claus or letters from the Tooth Fairy or the 1.2 billion prescriptions that are delivered in the mail each year; 80 percent of the veterans' prescriptions going through the mail, that this is a serious issue.
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REP. KWEISI MFUME (D-MD): We are here because Americans who are Democrats and Republicans and independents are not getting their mail on time. We are here because there's been a 10 percent slowdown in the last 66 days.
We are here because sorting machines have been dismantled at an accelerating rate, not the normal rate, an accelerated rate all across America.
We are here because mailboxes, without density studies, are being snatched. If the first postmaster general looked back at this day, I'm sure Ben Franklin would be spinning in his grave.
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REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): This is all about politics. First, it was the Russian collusion, then it -- well, in this committee, it was the Michael Cohen hearing. I remember that. Then it was the Mueller report, then it was the Ukraine fake impeachment.
And now it's the White House is putting mailbox in cages and whatever you're -- whatever you're saying now.
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MALVEAUX: Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell immediately responding to the overwhelming support of this bill, the $25 billion slated for the Postal Service as well as a call for the halt of these operational changes that have actually caused these delays in the Postal Service.
He said that, no, the Senate will not be coming back early from their summer session. They will come back in September very likely. They will deal something which is a larger package of a coronavirus relief package. They will not be dealing with the Postal Service in a way that is piecemeal -- Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Washington.
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HOLMES: And just in the last hour or so, we heard the president will be holding a news conference on Sunday on what the White House is calling a, quote, "major therapeutic breakthrough" regarding the coronavirus.
He will be joined by the FDA commissioner, just a day after accusing that agency of dragging its feet on a vaccine or treatment for political purposes.
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HOLMES: On Saturday, Mr. Trump tweeting, "The deep state or whoever over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics. Obviously they're hoping to delay the answer till after November 3rd. Must focus on speed and saving lives."
Well, November 3rd, of course, is the election. Mr. Trump gave no evidence to back that up and now we have a news conference with a breakthrough with that same FDA.
Commissioner Stephen Hahn recently did acknowledge speed is essential in vaccine research but promising not to cut corners. We will know more tomorrow.
Meantime, on Saturday, the number of lives lost on the coronavirus topped 800,000 worldwide; 23 million people have been infected.
Numbers like these can be numbing. But remember, each of those 800,000 victims have loved ones whose lives are now shattered.
Cases are spiking in various parts of the world. In other areas, they're holding steady or even dropping. The U.S. still has by far the most cases and the most deaths. But no corner of the globe is unscathed. CNN's Kim Brunhuber with details.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST (voice-over): A festival in India to honor a Hindu god but with about 3 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the country, it's a more somber occasion than usual.
"Today there is a special prayer in the temple," a priest says. "We are playing praying that everyone is cured and that the coronavirus will end."
Prayers also in Baghdad, where Shiite pilgrims are gathering for the beginning of a holy month, despite calls from clerics to stay at home as COVID-19 spreads across the country. The number of cases here rising above 200,000.
This virus has no regard for religion or the people who practice it. The global death toll now more than 800,000. Some experts say some very down to Earth measures are what's needed right now.
In Bolivia, where infections have topped over 100,000, health care workers go door to door in the poorer errors of La Paz to test residents and hand out medical kits.
"I have shortness of breath," one woman says. "I've seen the doctor and she has tested me. One more month and I think I will be OK but a lot of people have died in the neighborhood."
Peru will soon begin phase 3 clinical trials of a vaccine developed by a Chinese company and is in talks to buy millions of doses of a potential vaccine. Its case count is the sixth highest in the world.
Lebanon is under a partial lockdown for two weeks after its infections doubled since an explosion rocked the city more than two weeks ago.
"Everyone has been mixing," one man says. "Corona has certainly increased. We have to take care of ourselves and fix our homes."
A curfew is in place with exceptions for making repairs, clearing rubble and giving out aid, a helping hand that much of the world affected by an unmerciful disease could use right now -- Kim Brunhuber, CNN, Atlanta.
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HOLMES: And now, an update on the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, after a suspected poisoning. His chief of staff says he's in stable condition under the care of doctors in Berlin. Navalny's family and coworkers managed to get him out of Russia but they had to fight to do that.
British foreign secretary Dominic Raab meanwhile says he's relieved that Navalny is now getting the care he needs and that there must be a, quote, "full and transparent investigation" into what started all this. Matthew Chance with the latest in Moscow.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He was evacuated from the Siberian city of Omsk on Saturday morning. Now Alexei Navalny is said to be unconscious but stable at the Berlin clinic.
Doctors there are now working to save his life and to find out what caused one of the Kremlin's most outspoken critics to fall so ill so suddenly. Navalny is a prominent anticorruption campaigner in Russia. He's pictured here drinking a cup of tea in an airport cafe on Thursday before boarding a flight to Moscow from the Russian far east.
After that plane was forced to make an emergency landing in the Siberian city of Omsk, (INAUDIBLE) was taken seriously along board, disturbing images are showing the opposition figure screaming with agony as medics carried him off the aircraft and took him to a hospital in a city where he was put on a ventilator to help him breathe.
Russian doctors say they found no trace of poison in his blood or in his urine. But Navalny's family have accused the hospital of a cover- up and insisted that he was transported outside of the country.
While this incident has provoked wider national concern because there's a long list of Kremlin opponents who've been poisoned, shot or otherwise attacked. Some of have survived; others haven't been so lucky.
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CHANCE: The Kremlin has rejected any suggestion that it's connected with this incident and has wished Navalny a speedy recovery. But he is, for the moment, at least, yet another outspoken Kremlin critic who has been silenced -- Matthew Chance, CNN Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: We'll take a quick break on the program here. After we come back, a daring rescue by helicopter of 2 firefighters in California. We'll have the latest on the battle against hundreds of wildfires in that state.
Plus the U.S. Gulf Coast bracing for 2 separate tropical storms. A live report from the CNN Weather Center on the latest updates when we come back.
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HOLMES: Right now the entire state of California is on emergency alert in the face of what you see right there, raging wildfires. The White House approving a major emergency declaration after fires towards through about half a million hectares in the last month.
The warm, dry weather and a whole bunch of lightning strikes are contributing to the calamity as thousands of courageous firefighters risk their lives to save everything.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, guys, we're going to get you o/one of there, OK?
HOLMES (voice-over): Firefighters trapped on a ridge line in California, the only way out is up. A helicopter crew braves gusting winds to scoop them away to safety.
A close call here but it is a pitched battle across the state, to put out more than 500 fires, many caused by lightning strikes. Officials say two of the blazes are among the biggest they've had in almost 90 years.
More than 12,000 firefighters are battling the flames, many working 24-hour shifts. So far, it is not enough manpower to hold back the fires, which have burned an area bigger than the size of Rhode Island. Neighboring states are sending help but state officials say they need more.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): We've also reached out across the border into Canada for resources and support. Many of you here recall it was 2017 some of the best wildfire firefighters in the world from Australia. We also have requests out for that talent as well.
HOLMES (voice-over): Officials say there are too many fires right now to save some homes and nearly 120,000 people have been evacuated though some people are taking it into their own hands to protect their property.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we got here flames were all out in front. And halfway down my driveway, my house is set way back. So we just started getting to work. And we put the fires out and so far we've saved it but you never know.
HOLMES (voice-over): In previous fire seasons, prisoner firefighters have been used to help contain the blazes.
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HOLMES (voice-over): But authorities say there are fewer of those resources now because of early releases due to the coronavirus.
Forecasters say dry thunderstorms are in the forecast, which could bring more lightning and strong winds to the region, making the job of those trying to stop these ever-growing wildfires even more dangerous.
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HOLMES: The Gulf Coast of the United States is bracing for not one but two tropical storms. Laura and Marco churning their way towards the Gulf. Both are expected to reach hurricane strength before making landfall. Watches are in effect from Florida through to Texas and mandatory evacuations underway right now in parts of Louisiana.
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HOLMES: University students headed back to schools across the U.S. But this clearly is no ordinary year. Schools grappling with the ultimate challenge, how to keep them safe from coronavirus. We'll talk about that coming up.
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HOLMES: Welcome back to our viewers joining us all around the world, I'm Michael Holmes, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
U.S. universities are welcoming back students but schools in at least 15 states have already reported new cases of COVID-19, many of the infections traced to athletics or to crowded gatherings.
Syracuse University suspending 23 students for holding a large gathering on campus, calling it, quote, "incredibly reckless behavior."
You might remember seeing the scenes of a huge off campus party here in Georgia where most attendees were not wearing masks. They aren't mandatory in the state but University of North Georgia officials say they were disappointed by the video. Natasha Chen tells us more about what schools are doing to prepare.
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NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A number of COVID-19 clusters have formed at universities across the U.S. where students have been invited back for some form of face to face instruction. Some schools have gone completely remote with virtual learning only; others have a hybrid system, a combination of in-person and virtual learning.
These schools sometimes have very strict rules when it comes to wearing masks and social distancing but they still can't control 100 percent of student activity.
For example, we've seen where students have thrown some off-campus parties and in the case of Syracuse, at least 20 people have been suspended for throwing a party in their quad.
Florida Atlantic University begins their fall courses on Monday. And we spoke to one family who moved their son into those dorms. Here's what they told us about the virus concerns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's everywhere. I don't think there's any hiding from it and I think just trying to protect yourself, it's the best you can do. You know, I think the school has been good with as far as hand sanitizers, social distancing.
You know, they have a lot of steps in place so it's made me feel a little bit more comparable actually being here and seeing the steps that they are taking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHEN: On that campus, some of their safety measures include not having any in-person classes when there are more than 50 students per class and when there is face to face instruction, the number of students in the room is greatly reduced.
FAU did report three of their football players testing positive for COVID-19 and that's why football practice is temporarily suspended until they can review the next round of tests, which is scheduled for Monday -- Natasha Chen, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Irene Mulvey is president of the American Association of University Professors. She joins me now from Fairfield, Connecticut.
Thanks for joining with us. We have seen college after college report COVID cases on campus as the semester gets underway.
What are your main concerns?
What do you make of the data that's coming out?
IRENE MULVEY, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS: Well, there's two kinds of decisions being made right now. There is the decisions about teaching and the decisions about reopening.
And the decisions about reopening, I -- need to be made by -- are typically being made by senior administrative teams or a COVID-19 task force. And it's essential that they have faculty on those task forces in order to make sense of all the decisions because I don't think you could make a good decision without the faculty perspective in the room.
HOLMES: Absolutely.
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HOLMES: So your concern for your members, primarily, is what?
And what is not being done for them?
MULVEY: Our concern for our members is the health and safety of faculty, staff and everybody that works on campus communities. I think the faculty perspective is that step one is to make sure everyone is healthy and safe and so is everyone we touch.
Once that is put into place, faculty can figure out how to teach. I mean, there's all sorts of people involved in a residential college. There's faculty but there's also the custodial staff, that has to clean the bathrooms and the common areas of the residence halls.
And these people shouldn't be forced into unsafe conditions. So I think our primary consideration is that the health and safety of the campus community and the surrounding communities should be the number one priority.
HOLMES: You know, as a parent of one recent college graduate, with another one still at college remotely, I hear a lot about what's going on.
I guess the question, when it comes to spread on campus, is, how do you stop college kids being college kids?
They will party, they are partying and getting together and so on if they are on campus.
MULVEY: That's exactly right. I mean, decision-makers seem to think they are going to be able to control the behavior of college aged adults. But in my experience and perhaps yours as well, college age adults are going to behave like college age adults. And I think expecting anything less is kind of magical thinking.
HOLMES: Yes, I think you are right.
I was curious, your thoughts on this, you've had some schools lowering tuition and fees. Others are facing demands to do just that.
I'm wondering if you think there is a financial incentive for colleges to perhaps push in-person classes and if that can be driving some of the decisions, as opposed to making decisions based purely on science?
MULVEY: I am absolutely certain that there is a financial component to these decisions, which is why, I think, it's crucial that faculty are in the room when these decisions are being made because I think, if they are just being made with regard to the bottom line, this is just unconscionable. It's an unconscionable decision for the people that have to work in these campuses.
I mean, remote learning is less than ideal. We want to be in the classroom. We, faculty, want to be in the classrooms with our students. But we are in a global pandemic. And there are alternatives. Remote learning can work. It's -- every faculty member I've spoken to you said it's so much more work to do it well.
But it's possible and I think most institutions are prioritizing health and safety along with prioritizing the bottom line. But I think for as far as the American Association of University Professors and our members would be concerned, that the top priority should be health and safety. That should be driving all decisions.
HOLMES: Yes, it does seem there are other factors at play, which is very concerning. A lot of concern about your members, Irene Mulvey, I appreciate your time. Thanks so much. An important issue.
MULVEY: Thank you.
HOLMES: The pandemic is impacting economies and individual businesses all around the world but it goes deeper than that as well. By shutting down familiar restaurants, shops and other gathering places, it is often disrupting the very fabric of society and culture. Argentina's capital feeling that loss acutely. Rafael Romo reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice-over): A coffee machine breaks the silence in an otherwise quiet cafe. A single employee surrounded by upside-down chairs on empty tables keeps the place tidy.
The only other person at the cafe is Philippe Evangelista (ph). The owner of The Old Mailbox a Cafe in downtown Buenos Aires is sitting at his desk, realizing once again, he won't be able to make ends meet.
"It's a rather unusual situation, because the blinds are closed and the tables empty. The main thing about a place like this is people," Evangelista (ph) says.
It's the first time since opening 37 years ago that The Old Mailbox is closed. It's one of hundreds of cafes, bars and restaurants in Buenos Aires that have been forced to shut their doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This restaurant owner says they have been trying to survive by becoming a neighborhood market and offering takeaway and food delivery service.
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ROMO (voice-over): So far, he says, they've only been able to generate about 10 percent of their pre-pandemic sales. Argentina has been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Financial analyst Jonathan Loide (ph) says the pandemic and the quarantine measures worsened an economy that was already in recession. He points out there has been no real economic growth since 2011. The GDP has been falling for years and the annualized inflation rate, even before the pandemic, was 55 percent.
"Uncertainty is the word that best describes life in Argentina nowadays," Loide (ph) says.
The government just recently reached a deal with creditors who are owed $65 billion, roughly 20 percent of its crushing $323 billion total debt.
But President Alberto Fernandez says his priority is a venture involving Oxford University and AngloSwiss Lab (ph) in Mexico to manufacture a coronavirus vaccine that he hopes would put his country's economy back on track. But patience is running low. About 25,000 Argentinians took to the
streets of Buenos Aires Monday to protest a judicial reform launched by Fernandez, the economic crisis and the government's handling of COVID-19.
Back at The Old Mailbox Cafe, Philippe Evangelista (ph) fears developing a vaccine may take longer than the country's economy can withstand. He says one of his greatest fears is that life will change so much that people will never return to the little corner cafe that has been a gathering spot for generations of Argentinians -- Rafael Romo, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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HOLMES: We just want to let you know that India has officially passed 3 million confirmed coronavirus cases. This just breaking that barrier in the last hour or two. This is after recording some 69 new infections over the last 24 hours. We will have a new report for you in the next hour, live in India.
All right. Former Donald Trump campaign chair, Steve Bannon, has been charged, a case allegedly involving a wall, a $1 million boat and another man who sells Trump-themed energy drinks. We will dive right in -- coming up next.
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HOLMES: The pressure is on the U.S. president now that the Republican National Convention is right around the corner. But his opponent's lead in the polls far from being his only concern.
There are those tapes with comments from his sister that we told you about a little earlier in the program. Also Mr. Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, has been charged with fraud.
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HOLMES: Have a look at this. He joins these former Trump associates, who have all been charged in various cases. And Bannon isn't the only who's been charged in this particular case, either. CNN's Drew Griffin looks at how the scandal allegedly played out and what the U.S. 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.
"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.
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GRIFFIN: 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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HOLMES: And a big week ahead in U.S. politics. Tune in for our coverage of the Republican National Convention, starting on Monday night.
Young pro democracy protesters taking to the streets of Bangkok. They are demanding something unprecedented, even unthinkable in Thailand. Stay with us for that story and more when we come back.
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HOLMES: Welcome back.
NATO is dismissing claims that it's constructing a military buildup on the Belarus border. An alliance spokeswoman called the allegations by the embattled Belarusian president "baseless." The country has seen two weeks of protests now over disputed August 9th elections. Protesters and the opposition say it was rigged and are demanding a new poll.
Meanwhile president Alexander Lukashenko says he will close factories where workers have demonstrated and has vowed to shut down the protests.
Four universities in Thailand are calling for more anti-government protests in Bangkok. The country's young pro-democracy movement demanding an overhaul of the government. It's even calling for reforms in the monarchy, which is unprecedented and can even result in sedition charges.
Jonathan Miller of the U.K.'s Channel 4 News has the latest from the Thai capital.
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JONATHAN MILLER, JOURNALIST (voice-over): Thailand's military controlled government managed to contain the pandemic but now democracy fever is spreading faster than COVID ever did.
It's proved highly contagious in schools. This afternoon, hundreds converged on the education ministry, rapping and clapping for freedom from dictatorship, white ribbons in their hair.
"The prime minister told us teenagers should stay out of politics," this girl says.
"I want to know why. We might be young but we have rights, too."
The education minister emerged from a camera cluster and sat down with them and debated. He's told students they should be free to express their opinions.
And they've taken him at his word. The three-fingered salute, borrowed from "The Hunger Games," now a sign of national defiance. These scenes from school assemblies as the national anthem plays, unthinkable before now.
Thailand's monarchy, a sacred institution, is protected by the strictest lese-majeste defamation laws in the world. But the semi divine king Vajiralongkorn is not as revered as his late father. And the protesters don't just want to take the army out of politics; they now want his powers curbed as well.
Galvanized by Hong Kong's student movement (ph), more than 10,000 protested at Bangkok's democracy monument, chanting for the government to go, demanding a new constitution and an end to the harassment of opposition activists.
Oh, and those sensitive monarchical demands as well. It's a youthquake and the royalist old guards outraged.
MILLER: Make no mistake.
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MILLER: What's happening here in Thailand is absolutely seismic. The demands have gone from discontent with an authoritarian government to calls for outright reform of the monarchy. These demands are as unprecedented as they are bold. The students are calling for reform of the monarchy.
This is dangerous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not really. We can't talk in like that in the public but that's why we must come here together for show our the people power together.
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MILLER: There's safety in numbers?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.
MILLER (voice-over): The king, the richest monarch in the world but the entire economy is in freefall. Thailand's also had more military coups than any other country. The current prime minister seized power six years ago.
Student leaders have been arrested, six more warrants issued on Wednesday for those calling for reform of the monarchy. This lawyer is being charged with sedition at his own bail. Thailand's young people are blazing a trail, he says.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When they didn't like something about the government, they say straight (ph).
MILLER (voice-over): This morning, I waited with Thai journalists for the PM, who has traded his uniform in for a suit. But he didn't want to talk.
MILLER: General Prayut, they are calling you a dictator, sir.
Are you going to give them democracy, sir?
Please come and talk to us.
MILLER (voice-over): Finally, this afternoon, General Prayut took a question.
MILLER: You say you are listening to the students and the protesters. They say you are not hearing them.
What is your answer to them?
GENERAL PRAYUT CHAN-O-CHA, THAI PRIME MINISTER (through translator) As to the monarchy issue, you have to understand how important the monarchy is to Thailand. So I will not address this matter.
Am I hearing their opinions?
By not meeting them, it does not mean I am not listening to them. I heard their demands from social media and from the newspapers. That's my way of listening. I have to handle this situation properly, to avoid it escalating. I know all of their demands.
But one thing I beg of them, don't touch the monarchy issue as it's respected by all Thai people.
MILLER (voice-over): Those who do and are charged and found guilty face up to 15 years in jail. Prime Minister Prayut is in a tough spot. These protests show little sign of dying down. Thailand's "Hunger Games" have begun. Right now, the odds are in the government's favor.
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HOLMES: Thanks for spending part of your day with us, watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Michael Holmes. But do stick around. I'll be back with more news in just a moment.
