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Wisconsin Police Shoot Black Man in Back, Sparking Protests; Speakers Blast Democrats, Offer Dark View of U.S.; Opening Speakers Pitch Trump As Protector of America; Speakers Glossed over Trump's Coronavirus Failures; Pompeo to Address RNC While on Middle East Tour; Study: Hong Kong Man Became Infected with Virus Twice; Berlin Hospital: Russian Opposition Leader Poisoned; U.S. Gulf Coast Braces for Second Strong Storm in Days. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired August 25, 2020 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is what parts of Kenosha have become on a second night after Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a police officer. These images come in stark contrast to what has largely been peaceful demonstrations over the course of the afternoon and into the evening.
It was in the nighttime when projectiles were going back and forth that things began to take a turn, but all of it coming as expressions of pain over what has become an all too familiar story.
(voice-over): Two police officers with guns drawn in Kenosha, Wisconsin, closely follow a black man, Jacob Blake, as he tries to get into the driver's side door of his car door. One grabs Blake's tank top and then -- seven shots are fired as Blake is hit multiple times in the back.
Three of his children ages 3, 5, and 8 were in the car as Blake goes limp. Shortly afterwards officers can be seen giving some sort of aid to Blake. He was later flown to a nearby hospital and is in serious condition.
Police say they were responding to a domestic incident call. But it remains unclear what sparked the shooting and the video doesn't show the events leading up to it. There's no way to hear what's being said as the event unfolds, but Blake family attorney Benjamin Crump says that Blake was leaving the scene after breaking up a fight between two women. It's not clear from the video if both officers opened fire. Neither have been identified.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice's division of criminal investigation which is leading the probe into the incident says both are on administrative leave. All officers are cooperating the department said.
And in a statement to CNN the Kenosha Professional Police Association says as always, the video currently circulating does not capture all of the intricacies of a highly dynamic incident. We ask that you withhold from passing judgment until all of the facts are known and released.
Overnight violent protests erupted with angry demonstrators setting fire to vehicles. That anger spilling over into early Monday morning as dozens from the community confronted sheriff's deputies at the scene.
In a statement to CNN, Blake's uncle said the shooting is outrageous. Who was he threatening? He had a tank top and shorts on. He had no weapon. He was going back to the car because the children needed to be checked on. Police were called for a domestic disturbance, but Jacob had nothing to do with the fight. This has got to stop.
Wisconsin's lieutenant governor, Mandela Barnes, echoing that.
MANDELA BARNES, WISCONSIN LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: And let me be clear, this was not an accident, this wasn't bad police work, this felt like some sort of vendetta being taken out on a member of our community.
JIMENEZ (on camera): There had been a curfew in place starting at 8 p.m. local time, into the overnight hours towards the early morning. But it didn't stop demonstrators from coming out and making their voices heard. And well there's still a lot that we don't know about that led up to the shooting, what we do know is there is a lot of pain in this community over how this unfolded -- Rosemary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Thanks so much for that, Omar.
Well, CNN's Sara Sidner spoke with the uncle of Jacob Blake and here's part of what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JUSTIN BLAKE, NEPHEW JACOB BLAKE SHOT BY WISCONSIN POLICE: We want justice and we're going to get justice. We're going to demand justice, but we're going to do that without tearing up our own communities.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What did he say to you when you first talked to him?
BLAKE: That it was going to be all right and it is. But what's all right when someone's life was just totally changed. Thank God he's alive. So, we're just praying for a great recovery, that he may have a great quality of life and that his father, my brother, can enjoy him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The family of Jacob Blake is urging protestors to demonstrate peacefully.
Republicans slammed Democrats and ignored President Trump's failures with the coronavirus pandemic on the first night of their convention. Speakers zeroed in on themes that would resonate with Mr. Trump's base. Painting the Democrats as the radical left who wanted to destroy the country. And the party stoked fear notably in a speech given by a St. Louis couple who were charged with a felony after pointing guns at Black Lives Matter protestors outside their mansion earlier this summer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK MCCLOSKEY, TRUMP SUPPORTER: It seems as if the Democrats no longer view the government's job as protecting honest citizens from criminals but rather protecting criminals from honest citizens.
PATRICIA MCCLOSKEY, TRUMP SUPPORTER: These are the policies that are coming to a neighborhood near you. So, make no mistake, no matter where you live, your family will not be safe in the radical Democrats America.
REP. JIM JORDON (R-OH): Democrats won't let you go to church, but they'll let you protest. Democrats won't let you go to work, but they'll let you riot. Democrats won't let you go to school, but they'll let you go loot.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, NATIONAL CHAIR, TRUMP VICTORY FINANCE COMMITTEE: They want to destroy this country and everything that we have fought for and hold dear. They want to steal your liberty, your freedom.
[04:35:00]
They want to control what you see and think and believe so that they can control how you live.
DONALD TRUMP JR. PRESIDENT TRUMP'S SON: This has to stop. Freedom of expression used to be a liberal value, at least before the radical left took over. Now the Republican Party is the home of free speech, the place where anyone from any background can speak their mind and may the best ideas win.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Joining us now from Long Island, New York, via Skype is Michael D'Antonio. He is a CNN contributor and the author of "The Truth About Trump." Thank you so much for being with us.
MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (via Skype): Great to be with you.
CHURCH: Now you watched the first night of the RNC and listened to the various speakers, including Donald Trump. What did you think overall?
D'ANTONIO: Well, I thought that they were sounding many of the themes that candidate Trump sounded when he ran in 2015 and 2016, and it was very much a return to I imagine the 1960s when young Donald Trump was frightened by the protests in the American streets and the civil rights movement. Because he was right back at that law and order theme trying to scare the day lights out of Americans.
Suggesting, as George Wallace, the infamous racist did in the 1960s, that somehow the likes of Americans in the suburbs, and by that he indicated white Americans in the suburbs, were somehow in danger. And so that came through loud and clear to me. Was that he wanted his base to be excited and frightened and thereby motivated to somehow save themselves and save the country from this specter of Joe Biden.
CHURCH: Yes, there was certainly a lot of language of fear. Wasn't there? After the promise of hope and optimism. I did want to ask you because more people have died in the U.S. from COVID-19 than anywhere else in the world. It's the biggest issue in this presidential race. Although the RNC side stepped the issue. How likely is it that President Trump can turn his fortunes around with the sudden approval of COVID plasma therapy on Sunday and Mr. Trump promising a vaccine will come very soon, perhaps before the November election?
D'ANTONIO: Well, he certainly is trying to turn things around, and even the FDA's approval of plasma therapy for people in the first stages of coronavirus disease, it's important to remember that people must be given this within three days of having symptoms or it really doesn't work -- is a bit of a slight of hand because that therapy has been available, 70,000 Americans have received it. But President Trump loves nothing more than a good show and I think he times this announcement to advertise this so-called new therapy in hopes that it would give him some momentum.
And the vaccine issue is similar. Ironically, he's following Vladimir Putin down that trail with promoting a vaccine that may or may not be available. And the Russian people are not exactly flocking to receive the one in Russia that's been tested in such a limited way. So, he's obviously keenly aware of his difficulty in facing re-election.
CHURCH: Michael D'Antonio, thank you so much. A pleasure to talk with you.
D'ANTONIO: Thank you.
CHURCH: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will address the Republican National Convention Tuesday in a pre-recorded message. Pompeo filmed his address in Jerusalem where he's been meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Just last month Pompeo stressed to State Department employees they should not engage in campaign politics, but apparently, it is OK for him to do so. The State Department says he will make the remarks in his personal capacity at no cost to taxpayers.
And Oren Liebermann joins us now live from Jerusalem. Good to see you, Oren. So, what more are you learning about Pompeo's pre-taped address for the convention Tuesday night?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, I don't think we're too surprised by the contents of the speech. It will be what Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Trump administration view as President Donald Trump's sort of greatest hits on foreign policy from Jerusalem and moving the embassy, to the normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, to, for example, we've learned being tough on China.
[04:40:00]
Despite Trump's positive rhetoric for China at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
In terms of the speech itself, that's when this becomes far more interesting. Because former secretaries of state, as well as former employees of the Department of State had scrutinized and criticized this decision for the Secretary of State -- a sitting Secretary of State -- to deliver a speech while on an official visit. His offices said again, it's in a personal capacity and doesn't use taxpayer dollars. But listen to what Pompeo wrote in a cable that CNN obtained just last month. He wrote --
Presidential and political employees are subject to significant restrictions on their political activity. They may not engage in any partisan political activity, even on personal time and outside the federal workplace.
And it wasn't just Pompeo who had that opinion. The deputy Secretary of State in February said employees of the department must act as representation overseas to make sure they're not received as partisan. And the legal representation for the Department of State said last December, the Senate confirmed appointees may not even attend a political party convention or convention-related event. None of that has swayed the administration or of Pompeo. That speech expected tonight at the RNC -- Rosemary.
CHURCH: All right, many thanks. Oren Liebermann joining us live from Jerusalem. Appreciate it.
And to see that speech by Secretary Pompeo along with first lady Melania Trump and others, you can tune in to CNN for continuing coverage of the Republican National Convention. That's at 8 p.m. Tuesday in New York, 1 a.m. in London, and 8 a.m. in Hong Kong.
So how much immunity to COVID-19 do we have after recovering from it? That is one of the questions experts are asking for a study showing we could potentially get re-infected. We'll have the details for you on the other side of the break. Stay with us.
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[04:45:00]
CHURCH: We are tracking some concerning news about how coronavirus spreads. Researchers in Hong Kong say they have confirmed the first case of a patient that had COVID-19 twice. His second infection came more than four months after the first one.
And for the latest, CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins us now live from Hong Kong. Great to see you, Kristie. So, what all does this study reveal about reinfection of COVID-19 and of course, immunity?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and it is a landmark study. Researchers here in Hong Kong saying they have the first lab tested evidence of an infection of someone getting re-infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. Now according to the team at the University of Hong Kong, they say that a 33-year-old Hong Kong man was re-infected some four months after he first contracted the virus.
He first became sick in Hong Kong in March. He later tested positive for the virus on August 15th in Hong Kong at the airport upon his return from Spain via the U.K. with a completely different strain of the virus. A strain that was circulating in Europe between the months of July and August. And while he was infected the second time around, he did not show any symptoms of the virus. Now up to now there have been several reports in places like the U.S., Japan and elsewhere of presumed reinfections of the coronavirus.
But this reinfection was confirmed in a lab using genomic sequencing. Earlier I spoke to Professor Ivan Hung of the University of Hong Kong. He was one of the team members behind the study. And I asked what the greatest take away was. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. IVAN HUNG, PART OF RESEARCH TEAM BEHIND REINFECTION STUDY: Well, I think the most important message is that even though you have recovered from a natural infection, it doesn't mean you are immunized for life for that virus. And also, that you can see bed this virus is very smart. Because it keeps on mutating. So that means that even though you have recovered from a natural infection, you still need your vaccination and you still need to wear a mask and keep your social distancing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: Now according to Ivan Hung and his colleague, any potential vaccine may not be enough to provide lifelong immunity or protection. In fact, he says an annual vaccine may be needed. So, Rosemary, imagine that, in the event of a vaccine we have to take a shot every year. Back to you.
CHURCH: And of course. All right, Kristie Lu Stout joining us live from Hong Kong. Many thanks.
Well, doctors in Germany are confirming what many already suspected. A major Russian opposition figure was likely poisoned. Alexey Navalny is still in a medically induced coma after being moved to a Berlin hospital. CNN's Matthew Chance has more now from Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, German doctors are confirming what many expected, that Alexey Navalny, an outspoken Kremlin critic, was poisoned. Exact substance has not yet been identified. But the clinic in Berlin where Navalny remains in a coma, said the substance was of the type that acts on the nervous system. The statement said that Navalny is being treating with atropine, which is a medication that's an antidote to some nerve agents and some pesticides as well. The long-term effects of the poison, say Navalny's doctors, are still unclear. Well, there's been a joint statement from the German Chancellor and
foreign minister calling on Russia to, quote, clear up this crime to the last detail and to do so in full transparency. Those responsible must be identified and held responsible and accountable, the statement said.
And Navalny, a prominent anticorruption campaigner in Russia fell sick on a flight to Moscow last week forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in the Siberian city of Omsk where he was hospitalized. Russian doctors say they found no evidence of poisoning. Navalny's supporters say that was a coverup to hide evidence that yet another Kremlin critic has been brutally attacked.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And still to come, the U.S. Gulf coast is bracing for a second storm in just days and it's expected to be a much more powerful storm than the first. We will check where tropical storm Laura is headed next.
[04:50:00]
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CHURCH: We are keeping our eye on two storms threatening the U.S. Gulf Coast. Marco is now a tropical depression. It made landfall Monday as a tropical storm, but a much more powerful system could be coming later this week. Tropical storm Laura is on track to hit the region as a hurricane. It's already killed at least nine people in the Caribbean.
So, let's turn to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. He joins us now live. So, Pedram, tropical storm Laura posing the greatest threat here. What's the latest.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. You know, this storm is going to be a menacing one we believe here within the next couple of days. No, Rosemary, at this hour it is moving out of western Cuba. That is essentially the last land mass it'll interact with before it moves over the Gulf of Mexico and eventually of course, crosses into the United States within the next 48 hours.
But here's what we're looking at with this particular storm. When still sitting at a strong tropical storm which would be around 65 miles per hour. I would say hundred 10 kilometers per hour. But again, the ingredients firmly in place to support this storm system rapidly intensifying in the coming several days.
Notice the area indicated in 80-degree range Fahrenheit. There is about say, 26, 27 degrees Celsius across that region. The areas in the lower 90-degree Fahrenheit, that is closer to 32 degrees Celsius. That is where Laura is slated to head within the next couple of days versus where Marco goes of course. Marco to the north there in much cleaner water and a lot of wind shear as well. But the track of this particular storm does want to shift a little
farther towards the west. If that happens, we think of course, areas around Houston, potentially around Galveston Bay, certainly going to be an area of concern and points just to the east and too much of southwestern Louisiana as well.
[04:55:00]
And in fact, if you take a look at the storm, the National Hurricane Center already urging to not just be complacent seeing a category two on the map. Because they're saying that's the lower end of the potential for this particular storm and it could very easily intensify on approach to land. In fact, we think the strongest point of this storm would be right around or right before landfall. And some of the models suggest this could be up to a category three and a few even up to a category four.
At this point, a high-end category two is slated across this region which of course the impacts of such a storm even as that magnitude would be devastating. And you'll notice storm surge forecast up to 11 feet or around 3.3 meters. So, you bring this water up essentially the first level of many homes, that's the water level we expect across some of these areas on the coast of Louisiana and eastern Texas.
Of course, a lot of rainfall to be had across this region as well, Rosemary. As much as ten inches coming down across this area possibly as early as Tuesday and continuing all the way through Thursday. The landfall forecast, Rosemary, looks to be somewhere into the late evening hours of Wednesday possibly even early Thursday morning, into the overnight hours there Thursday. So, we're going to watch this, of course, as the forecast develops in the next few days.
CHURCH: Appreciate that. Of course, combined with the pandemic, it is a horrible combination. Many thanks to you, Pedram, for keeping a close eye on that. Appreciate it.
Well, California is battling the second and third largest recorded wildfires in its history at the same time. At least seven people have died, and more than a million acres have burned. Many of the blazes were ignited by what's been called a lightning siege. Earlier this month the affected area is larger than five New York cities. Altogether more than 14,000 firefighters are battling just under 30 major fires.
I would like to thank you for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. "EARLY START" is up next. You're watching CNN. Have yourselves a great day.
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