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Trump Pushes Law and Order Message on Wisconsin Visit; Facebook Says Russia Is Targeting American Voters Again; U.S. States to Receive Low-Cost Antigen Tests; Belarus Election Crisis; Some Russian Teachers Raise Concerns over Vaccine. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired September 02, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hi, everyone. I'm Robyn Curnow. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from CNN's world news headquarters here in Atlanta.
Just ahead on the show, Donald Trump visits the scene of the latest high-profile police shooting, where he defended law enforcement and denied there is an issue with systematic racism.
Back to class as well. Schools around the globe reopen with new rules designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
And we are tracking not one but possibly two powerful typhoons forecast to roar across East Asia.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow.
CURNOW: Good to have you along.
So with just over two months to go before the U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump paid a visit to Kenosha, Wisconsin, a city still reeling from the violence surrounding racial justice protests.
The president did not mention the name Jacob Blake, the African American man shot in the back seven times by Kenosha police. Instead, he doubled down on his law and order message in a clear effort to win votes. Jeremy Diamond reports from the White House -- Jeremy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A thing like this should never happen.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight. President Trump surveying Kenosha, Wisconsin, a week after police here shot a Black man in the back seven times.
But the president all but ignored that tragedy, instead lamenting the property damage caused by riots that followed the shooting and delivering political remarks.
TRUMP: Reckless far-left politicians continue to push the destructive message that our nation and our law enforcement are oppressive or racist. They'll throw out any word that comes to them.
DIAMOND: Also taking credit for a National Guard deployment he did not order.
TRUMP: This ended within an hour, as soon as we announced we were coming and then they saw we were here. This ended immediately.
DIAMOND: Falsely claiming federal troops marched into Kenosha and ended the unrest. The reality, all National Guard troops in Wisconsin are under state control.
As for Jacob Blake, Trump addressing the situation only after questions from reporters.
TRUMP: I feel terribly for anybody that goes through that. As you know, it's under investigation. It's a big thing happening right now. I guess it's under a local investigation.
DIAMOND: Blake's uncle saying above the fray.
JUSTIN BLAKE, UNCLE OF JACOB BLAKE: We're not going to get caught up with him. He wished we would and we're not. We're here to heal Kenosha and push forward our agenda for getting little Jake justice.
DIAMOND: Today, Trump denying the existence systemic racism in policing.
TRUMP: No, I don't believe that. I think the police do an incredible job and I think you do have some bad apples.
DIAMOND: A day after he compared the police officer who shot Blake to a golfer cracking under pressure.
TRUMP: you know, a choker. They choke.
Shooting the guy -- shooting the guy in the back many times, I mean, couldn't you have done something different?
Couldn't you have wrestled him?
I mean, in the meantime, he might have been going for a weapon and you know there's a whole big thing there. But they choke. Just like in a golf tournament, they miss a three-foot putt.
DIAMOND: Trump also making excuses for Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year old charged with killing two people during Kenosha protests.
TRUMP: He was trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like. And he fell and then they very violently attacked him.
DIAMOND: And while Joe Biden delivered blanket condemnation of any violence... JOE BIDEN (D-DE), FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to stand against violence in every form it takes.
DIAMOND: Trump refusing to condemn violence by his supporters.
TRUMP: That was a peaceful protest. And paint is not -- and paint is a defensive mechanism. Paint is not bullets.
DIAMOND: Trump is also spinning new conspiracy theories. Controlling
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Who do you think is pulling Biden's strings?
TRUMP: People that you have never heard of, people that are in the dark shadows.
DIAMOND: And then there was this:
TRUMP: We had somebody get on a plane from a certain city this weekend. And, in the plane, it was almost completely loaded with thugs wearing these dark uniforms, Black uniforms with gear.
A lot of people were on the plane to do big damage.
DIAMOND: The president providing no evidence to back up his strange claim.
TRUMP: This was a firsthand account of a plane going from Washington to wherever. And I will see if I can get that information for you. Maybe they will speak to you. Maybe they won't.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Joining me now from Washington is Sabrina Siddiqui, a CNN political analyst and national politics reporter for "The Wall Street Journal."
Sabrina, great to see you again. I want to get your take on the political benefit to the president.
Did he get what he wanted from this visit and why?
SABRINA SIDDIQUI, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It is too soon to say. But what we do know is that President Trump has seen an opening in the escalation of these racial justice protests, trying to pivot away from the coronavirus pandemic, which has really been at the center of the campaign so far, and push this message of law and order.
[02:05:00]
SIDDIQUI: Stoking fears around racial minorities and trafficking in a lot of the division that we really saw in his 2016 campaign.
A lot of it really depends, in terms of political benefit, on how the American public responds and what their priority is, going to the ballot box. It shows the president really doesn't have a lot left as his approval ratings have gone down amid the pandemic. It's not clear in the data that voters are thinking about crime or that they are even associating these protests with crime.
It's early yet. But so far the priority for voters in November is still the impact of the pandemic and the economy. So this is just Trump's play to change the subject.
CURNOW: But at the same time, Joe Biden is also trying to counter some of this messaging coming from the president. I know you are traveling with Joe Biden. He made some strong statements on Monday afternoon, which he has now turned into a 60-second spot that will be playing on TV in some key states.
Let's listen and I want to get your take on the other end.
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JOE BIDEN (D-DE), FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to make it absolutely clear, rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. It is lawlessness, plain and simple. And those who do it should be prosecuted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: Why did he make those comments?
And how does that play into his message?
And why was it important to say what he said?
SIDDIQUI: The Biden campaign had for days avoided wading into these protests outside of expressing support for the family of Jacob Blake, the Black man who was shot several times by police in Wisconsin.
But as there was a lot more focus on some of the violence and some of the escalation of those protests, the scenes of chaos playing out on TV, they felt the need to come out and more forcefully condemn any looting or rioting, even as the majority of the protests, especially during the daytime, have been peaceful.
And I do think what Biden wanted to make clear is that, as much as Trump is pushing this message that you won't be safe in Biden's America, that was a theme of the RNC last week, these images are actually unfolding in Trump's America.
So that was really the point of his speech, to rebuke this idea that it's the president who is the law and order candidate.
I think what Biden was trying to say is, it's the president, under the president's watch, that all of this chaos is actually unfolded. And that's the choice that voters have to make in November.
Do they want more division and more fear or do they want a return to normalcy and someone who will speak to what is at the heart of these protests, which is the calls for racial justice?
CURNOW: Speak to the heart of whatever it is. But it seems like the truth has certainly been muddied in these last few years, not just here in America but around the world. And this president again is backing conspiracy theories.
There are a whole bunch of new ones that Biden is also reacting to. He says the president flat out lies. He also said Trump failed to meet the moment in Wisconsin. These are very important statements.
But also the broader context of throwing conspiracy theories into the last moments of a campaign, what does that tell the voter?
SIDDIQUI: We have seen President Trump do this time and again, particularly when he is trying to nod to some of the more fringe elements of the Republican Party and that perpetuates some of these conspiracy theories.
I think what it will really come down to is these two campaigns are operating in a fundamentally different universe. The Biden campaign is putting all of its emphasis on the pandemic, the way in which it has paralyzed voters, with schools being closed in the fall, people not being able to go to work, people out of work, with unemployment going up, that that is going to be what motivates voters.
Whereas the Trump campaign believes maybe these protests could result in some kind of a pivot. And the answer to whether or not the Trump campaign is right in seeing opportunity in these protests, whether the Biden campaign is correct in the impact of the pandemic being at the core of election, that is something we won't know until voters cast their ballots in two months.
CURNOW: And November 3rd really seems not that far away. Sabrina Siddiqui, good to see you. Always good to get your analysis.
Russian Internet trolls are back at it again, Facebook offering the first public evidence, showing the same group, which interfered with the 2016 U.S. election, is trying to divide American voters in this year's race. Here is Donie O'Sullivan with the details.
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DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Facebook on Tuesday announcing that acting on a tip from the FBI, it had removed a set of accounts that it said were linked to the Internet Research Agency.
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O'SULLIVAN: That's the Russian troll group that sought to interfere using social media in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
A lot of concerns here in the United States that the Russian troll group is back again to interfere in November's election.
Now Tuesday's takedown all focused on an online magazine called Peace Data, which posed as a left-wing news outlet, a left-wing independent news outlet. And it wrote articles about U.S. foreign policy, about the presidential election.
And similar to what the Internet Research Agency had done in 2016, it attacked Democratic candidates, this year being Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris, from the Left, a tactic that analysts who have looked at these account pointed out which was something that was also done by Russia in 2016 as they tried to split the Democratic vote and support for Hillary Clinton.
The good news here is that these pages had relatively low traction. Facebook, the FBI and others seemed to catch them early on in their sort of infancy. And they had posted about other issues, not only just the election.
The bad news here is, of course, is that this is happening at all and that Russia is active in this pace, so close to November's election.
And one particular new development that we hadn't seen with this sort of operation in 2016 was the use of artificially generated images. Take a look at this Twitter account, which was also removed, belonging to a person purportedly called Alex Lacusta, who identified himself as the editor of Peace Data.
Now while the profile picture on that account may look like a real person, analyst and expert who look at these accounts said that that image is actually generated through using artificial intelligence technology.
It is a deepfake image, meaning the person in that picture does not actually exist. Now prior to this, an easy way to spot a fake account or one way to spot a fake account, would be if it had used profile pictures from -- had stolen them from a real person. Obviously, with this new development in technology, that is something that is no longer possible.
So it's just a few weeks to go until November's 2020 election, it's a good reminder to all of us to be careful what we encounter online and that, with new developments and technology, come new risk -- back to you.
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CURNOW: U.S. government health experts are pushing back on the latest supposed breakthrough treatment for coronavirus, which has been touted by President Trump. More now from CNN's Dianne Gallagher.
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DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A National Institutes of Health panel says doctors should not use convalescent plasma as a standard of care for COVID-19 until more study has been done.
This is a little more than a week after the FDA issued an emergency use authorization and President Trump praised it as a historic breakthrough.
TRUMP: It's had an incredible rate of success. Today's action will dramatically expand access to this treatment.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): But the National Institutes of Health saying, in a statement today, quote, "There are insufficient data to recommend either for or against the use of convalescent plasma for the treatment of COVID-19."
There are now three potential coronavirus vaccines in phase 3 human trials here in the United States but Dr. Anthony Fauci is cautioning that proven safety is far more important than speed when it comes to vaccines.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: You don't want a vaccine to be available widely to the American public unless it has been shown to be safe and effective.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): After saying that a vaccine could be authorized for emergency use or even approved before human trials are completed, FDA commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn now says he would consider resigning if he was pushed to authorize a vaccine before it was ready.
DR. STEPHEN HAHN, FDA COMMISSIONER: I think all options are on the table with respect. I hope we will not be in that position.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): If one is approved, is expected to initially be in short supply.
DR. RICHINA BICETTE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: A lot of the companies that are in phase 3 trials are also saying that they will have to do vaccines that are not single dose but double dose vaccines.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): So who gets it?
Today, an independent committee appointed to help advise the federal government released a four-phase proposal that starts with health care workers, first responders and people with conditions that make them especially vulnerable to COVID-19.
As testing totals decline, Admiral Brett Giroir, who leads U.S. testing efforts, announced $5 antigen tests will be sent out to states starting in a few weeks but also said he was tired of being asked about cheap, quick tests for every American.
ADMIRAL BRETT GIROIR, M.D., ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH: I don't live in a utopian world, I live in the real world. And the real world had no test for this new disease when this first started.
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GALLAGHER (voice-over): Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, responded on Twitter, saying, "That's what White House staff and major league sports get now. Sure, let's call it utopia when it's for the less privileged." The average number of daily cases and deaths have declined over the
past seven days as the coronavirus surge now appears to be moving from the South to the Midwest. But officials are concerned about what Labor Day weekend might bring, since cases spiked in many areas in the weeks after Memorial Day weekend and the 4th of July.
MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER (D-TX), HOUSTON: As we approach Labor Day, let me encourage people to be mindful. The virus is still looking for you. And so if you come together, then you will give it a home.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): Dianne Gallagher, CNN, Atlanta.
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CURNOW: Along with the devastating global death toll from this pandemic, there is the ongoing economic chaos. We all know about this. And the pain is being felt across the world. Brazil, which has the world's second highest number of cases, now officially in a recession. Its economy shrunk by a record amount in the second quarter.
And the pandemic has also pushed Australia into its first recession in nearly three decades. Let's go to John Defterios with more.
I want to talk about Australia first, John. This is a recession in Australia for the first time in nearly three decades.
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Yes, extraordinary, indeed. This is a sign of the times, the COVID-19 times. You have recessions on both corners of the world, in Latin America and Australasia.
As you suggested, Australia here, the worst performance in 30 years but it was fabled for avoiding the recession during the global financial crisis 2008-2010. Not this time around. The first quarter had a slight contraction, just below 0 percent, 0.3 percent. And now, this contraction of 7 percent.
And 2020 has been awful worldwide but particularly bad for Australia. They had the wildfires before the pandemic and then the COVID-19 set in. The state of Victoria, where Melbourne is, is in a state of disaster. Tourism has fallen as a result and their exports with China have dropped. They have tensions with Beijing right now. So the coal exports are very important, undermined by that reality today.
And bad news ahead, I think, because the central bank of Australia is suggesting the third quarter doesn't look promising and everyone is worried about the caseload spiking in the fourth quarter.
For Australia, they're is in a wider group, is the best way to put it. It's a developed economy and all developed economies in Europe, United States are facing the same fate. Many economies in that category are worse than -7 percent.
CURNOW: Let's talk about Brazil, as well, also entering a recession with this record fall in GDP. Obviously, COVID-19 is still a real concern there. DEFTERIOS: Absolutely. I am not surprised at all, looking at the
caseload. The death toll is 120,000 and they are almost at 4 million cases.
And the painful and tragic irony of all of this is that Jair Bolsonaro is insisting on keeping the economy open to avoid a recession. And this is the worst by far, 9.7 percent for Brazil. That's the worst in 40 years in the country right now.
If you are looking for a silver lining, apparently we are seeing from the central bank of Brazil that they see some stability in the third quarter. There were concerns at the height of the pandemic that we would see contraction for the year of 8 percent to 9 percent because of their strains on the budget here and the medical system.
Because of the slight recovery, we are looking at a contraction of 5 percent. But no one can say the Bolsonaro strategy was successful, because it has been a very painful one for the Brazilian people. That's for sure.
CURNOW: It's devastating for an emerging market the size of Brazil. A contraction of nearly 10 percent devastating, terrible.
What's next?
DEFTERIOS: They are so commodity dependent in Australia. Brazil is the same, particularly in the agricultural sector. It has discovered major oil and gas deposits. But because of the global recession we have seen prices come down as well as the demand.
So there is no easy way out. And Bolsonaro is talking about it with his economy minister there, pressuring him to open up the taps and spend a lot more here in the second half.
CURNOW: John Defterios, thank you.
Just ahead on CNN, dozens of students detained in Belarus. We will have the latest on the government's crackdown on dissent.
Plus, South Korea is bracing for impact as Typhoon Maysak nears a landfall. A check on the forecast when we come back. You're watching CNN. Don't go away.
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CURNOW: I want to take you to Belarus now, where the government is cracking down on students protesting last month's presidential election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CURNOW (voice-over): Take a look at this video. It appears to show masked security officers in camouflage striking several students and dragging them into vans on Tuesday in the capital, Minsk. A human rights groups as at least 40 students were detained. Demonstrators say the August vote was rigged in favor of longtime president, Alexander Lukashenko, often called Europe's last dictator.
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CURNOW: The trial of 14 suspects in the terror attacks on the "Charlie Hebdo" magazine and a kosher grocery store in Paris will begin in the coming hours. The French satirical magazine is republishing the controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad that were at the heart of this massacre back in 2015.
President Emmanuel Macron defended the magazine's right to publish the cartoons.
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EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): I think that a president of the French Republic never has a right to pass comments on the editorial choices of a journalist or a member of the editorial staff, never, because there is a freedom of the press that you quite rightly care deeply about.
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CURNOW: The magazine will include a tribute to the 12 people who were killed, a police officer and four men at the supermarket were also killed a day after the "Charlie Hebdo" attack.
And right now, North and South Korea are bracing for not one but two typhoons in the coming days. The first just hours away from landfall. Typhoon Maysak has already swept through Japan, hitting the island of Okinawa and bringing heavy rain and winds up to nearly 200 kilometers an hour.
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CURNOW: Coming up, it is back to school for millions of children around the world. Ahead, how some countries are trying to protect students and teachers amid this pandemic. That story, next.
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CURNOW: You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I am Robyn Curnow.
We know that millions of students around the world are heading back to school. Countries are taking various approaches to protect their classrooms amid the pandemic.
In Russia, a teachers union is urging members to reject the country's coronavirus vaccine over safety concerns as students returned to class.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's health ministry has put strict guidelines in place. Besides mask wearing, schools are encouraged to stagger start times and hold classes outside.
France says some parents and teachers have voiced concern for reopening classrooms. But the government insists COVID-19 must not put lives on hold.
Oksana Pyzik joins me now. She's a public health expert at University College London.
Good to see you. We know that many students around the world have not been at school for 6 months or so now.
How important do you think it is that they start going back?
Even if COVID continues until next year?
OKSANA PYZIK, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: It's an absolute priority for children to return to school, for education. But we know that this is linked to every aspect of development. And the people who are at greatest risk right now are the most disadvantaged groups.
[02:30:00]
And if we take a global view, about 400 million children are no longer accessing free meals at school. And UNESCO estimates that 30 million may never return to school once all of this is over.
And that really sets back adolescent children, especially girls in low and middle income countries in particular. And it's has turned into a full blown educational crisis.
Yes, we have risk of coronavirus ever-present, but schools need to open. We have to coexist with this virus and take every safety measure possible.
CURNOW: Because people look at risk versus reward. And some teachers and teachers unions are being accused of putting their own health concerns above the mental and social development of a generation of children.
Should the argument -- or should it be such a binary choice?
PYZIK: We can understand that, of course, teachers may fall into high risk groups. And unlike children, adults can face the very severe form of the disease.
But interestingly, Public Health England has recently released some research that shows, at least in U.K. context, circulation was lower in schools than in other environments. On the other hand, two-thirds of viral transmission cases were amongst
teachers and from teachers to pupils.
So I think we can understand what the concerns of teachers will be given that there is going to be quite a lot of variance as to how certain schools and head teachers interpret safety guidelines. At least in the U.K... much of this flexibility will be allowed per school.
But my other fear is that of course this is going to widen disparities in schools like private schools where grounds are much larger, it will be easier to physically distance. and that other technological tools may be more readily accessible.
And teachers may have a feeling of greater safety in such environments than in, let's say, urban centers where classroom sizes are large and rooms are small and it is almost impossible to physically distance.
CURNOW: But from the data we're seeing particularly when it comes to wearing masks, you can put get on a crowded elevator and if you're wearing a mask, you're protected.
So shouldn't it become mandatory for teachers just to wear a mask? And this doesn't need to be cutting across inequalities or demographics.
In many ways, the poorest schools, the best way to get them into school would be for teachers in the class to just wear a mask. Certainly, far more equal than sending them home where there are no computers.
PYZIK: Certainly. However, some people may argue that if they're wearing a mask perhaps a visor would be a better choice. So that people, again, are able to engage as a teacher in a more effective format.
But that type of intervention, whether it is a visor or a mask or combination of both certainly would help.
However, we have to remember that there are still a significant amount of resistance to mask wearing amongst the population, a certain level of acceptability.
And in cultures where wearing masks has been a part of that for a longer period we see a higher amount of acceptability.
So I think there is some work to be done in terms of encouraging that intervention.
But even if we just use face masks alone, that's not going to a silver bullet solution. We also have to think about what we can do from a test and trace perspective.
CURNOW: Yes.
PYZIK: That's actually incredibly important. I would say above and beyond wearing a face mask.
So that opening the schools isn't the hardest part. It's going to be keeping them open for the foreseeable future that is the real challenge as outbreaks may occur either from students traveling from different parts of the world, et cetera, coming back.
To ensure that we act and bust up those clusters quickly, so that we only affect -- the children that are affected go into isolation and not the whole school.
CURNOW: (Inaudible). I think --
PYZIK: (Inaudible) improve test and tracing, that's not going to happen.
CURNOW: Yes. And I think that's certainly also proving out in many schools where they have gone back.
That these little cohorts keeping the kids in their classrooms and not moving around too much, it at least helps with contact tracing with this.
Oksana, really appreciate you joining us. This is a concern for many parents and teachers and students around the world.
Real concerns about a lost generation, perhaps.
Appreciate your perspective. Have a good day.
PYZIK: Thank you.
CURNOW: So sticking with this subject. Schools in Cuba are beginning to reopen in areas where authorities say the coronavirus has been contained.
But in Havana, the city is cracking down on infections that are on the rise.
[02:35:00]
Well, Patrick Oppmann has more from Havana. Patrick.
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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cuban students are returning to school for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. Except for here in Havana and other coronavirus hot spots.
Cuba just weeks ago had said they had thought they had the spread of the coronavirus under control. They were looking forward to opening schools on September 1st.
But then there was a second outbreak in Havana and surrounding areas and that has prevented Cuban authorities from reopening schools here in Havana. So about 300,000, more than 300,000 students, here in Havana will have
to continue distance learning, watching their lessons on Cuban state television.
While the rest of the island we are seeing kids returning to school for the first time although they will wearing face masks as it is mandatory for everyone in Cuba now to wear a face mask when they are in public.
And that there will be social distancing and more hygiene procedures when the students arrive to school.
Cuban officials say they feel it is safe for kids to go back to school here while they continue to follow the kind of measures that are now being put into place.
Here in Havana, though, we are seeing an increase of the lockdown measures starting on Tuesday.
Now people who live in the city of Havana will not be able to leave to go to other provinces so we will be on lockdown here.
And then for the first time of the pandemic, there will be a curfew at night from 7:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. every morning in Cuba's capital city.
People will not be able to leave their homes. There will be increased fines for people who are not wearing face masks, who are using public areas. Parks and other places will be off limits.
So some very tough restrictions, the toughest restrictions we've have seen yet.
But Cuban officials say they are hoping that by doing these new measures, by putting these new measures into place, it will allow Cuban schoolchildren here in Havana who have not been able to go back to school that they'll be able to return to school before the end of the year.
Patrick Oppmann. CNN, Havana.
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CURNOW: Thanks, Patrick there.
So U.S. President Donald Trump and his doctor are denying the president suffered a series of mini strokes.
New questions surround his secretive hospital visit last year.
That is coming up next.
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CURNOW: So the U.S. President Donald Trump is firing back in a baffling denial after new questions about his unannounced hospital visit last November.
The concerns were raised in a new book by "New York Times" reporter, Michael Smith.
And the book says: "Word went out on in the West Wing for the vice president to be on standby to take over the powers of the presidency temporarily if Trump had to undergo a procedure that would have required him to be anesthetized."
The White House has maintained that the president went to the Walter Reed hospital for part of his routine physical checkup.
[02:40:00]
Mr. Trump declared that he did not suffer a series of mini-strokes, though it's unclear why he actually said that.
Earlier CNN's Pam Brown spoke about this with White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins and CNN's Chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Now the president is is tweeting about this.
He said: "It never ends. They're trying to say that your favorite president went to Walter Reed having suffered a series of mini- strokes," he writes.
"Never happened to this candidate. Fake news. Perhaps they're referring to another candidate from another party."
That caused the White House physician, Dr. Sean Conley, to then put out a statement which he said was at the direction of President Trump where he said that he can confirm he has -- "not experienced Nor been evaluated for a (...) stroke, (...) mini stroke Or any acute cardiovascular emergencies, as has been incorrectly reported in the media."
So two things important there. I don't know of anyone who's reported that. And B., the president is now not denying that the vice president was put on standby last November when he made this abrupt trip to Walter Reed.
But instead he's turned the headlines to be the president is denying that he's had mini strokes.
Now, there could be many reasons for the vice president to have to be put on standby for a situation like that.
Dick Cheney was once put on it on 2002 when George Bush was going under a colonoscopy. It can be as routine as that or it can be a major circumstance that the White House isn't telling us about.
What's key here and what's critical for viewers to remember that this is all part of the White House not being fully transparent about what that trip was for and why the president went.
Something they didn't tell us back in November, except for the excuse that he was starting the first half of his physical. A physical, we should note, was completed five months later in April of 2020 --
PAM BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right.
COLLINS: -- when they then released the results of it.
BROWN: I remember vividly that weekend when he went, Kaitlan. The White House seemed -- we were all scrambling to figure out, OK, what is going on, something isn't really adding up completely here.
And, Sanjay, as Kaitlan pointed out, the president and the doctors were quick to point out -- the doctor, I should say, that the president didn't have an emergency heart issue or a stroke.
So they were really specific on those issues. But those wouldn't be the only procedures that would require anesthesia, right?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. They told us what he didn't have done but they didn't tell us what he did have done. So it's one of these things where we're sort of left to wonder.
What we can say is, as Kaitlan pointed out, this was an unusual visit.
I've covered four different presidents and really looked in detail about their various health concerns but also how they're cared for as president.
This was unusual. Walter Reed, not everyone there knew -- typically the hospital would be notified the president is coming.
Doctor Conley rode in the vehicle with the president, that's not the usual security protocol. Obviously, it was a quick unplanned sort of visit.
I will say this. When you go back and look at the timeline -- and we corroborated this with Dr. Conley -- sounds like he was in the hospital for just over an hour. Which is not very long.
The idea that, I think if he had had some kind of anesthesia or something like that, he probably would've been in the hospital longer.
So it's this idea that was there something that was alarming that sort of resolved itself as the president got the hospital or while he was there? Who knows?
We don't know and frankly, there's no requirement for them to disclose that either.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Well, that was Dr. Sanjay Gupta there talking with Kaitlan Collins and Pamela Brown.
Well, thanks so much for watching. I'm Robyn Curnow. World Sport starts after the break.
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[02:45:00]
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Hi there. Thanks for joining us this Wednesday. Welcome to CNN WORLD SPORT.
We're going to get started with all the very latest on the first grand slam tennis event of the COVID-19 era, taking place in New York City.
And no fans there at Flushing Meadows due to health and safety protocols. But we are already seeing, I tell you, compelling storylines breaking through.
Andy Murray, take a bow. We'll get to that in just a moment.
We're going to lead off though with another record-breaking occasion for American tennis great, Serena Williams.
Williams safely through her opener, as she continues her quest to tie Margaret Court's all-time record at 24 slam crowns.
She needs one more to do that having won number 23 over three years ago, the Aussie Open in Melbourne.
On Tuesday in the Big Apple, Serena, who turns 39 later on this month seeing off the challenge of her compatriot, Kristie Ahn, in straight sets to book her spot in round two.
Winning her 102nd career match at the U.S. Open to set a new record as well for Serena Williams in that.
And afterwards, Williams reflecting on a tennis major like no other these days.
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SERENA WILLIAMS, SIX-TIME U.S. OPEN CHAMPION, NEW YORK: The morale can be really low in the world with everything that's going on. So sometimes you just want to take your mind off.
People have been doing that for generations through sport.
And that's one of the reasons I was so supportive of U.S. Open was because I just felt it's such a good time to just back out there for athletes and the fans to kind of just disconnect and just be a fan.
And for athletes, do they do both best.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNELL: Now we just love great come back stories here on CNN WORLD SPORT.
And Scotland's Andy Murray really is just that. Let's reset for you. Murray, the 2012 U.S. Open champ, a two-time Wimbledon winner but someone whose spirit and very resolve were tested to the absolute limit.
Remember when he underwent career saving hip surgery? That was an early 2019.
Well, Murray with a stunning comeback against the Japanese player, Yoshihito Nishioka, in round one. The Brit finding himself two sets and a break down. Before he dug deep, really deep.
The 33-year old somehow managing to turn this match around. No fans here at all but the three-time grand slam champion really fired up for this occasion, full of adrenalin.
At one point, he even saved a match point. There's the emotion on Murray's face, you can see what this means to him.
Over four and-a-half hours for this epic encounter.
Great resilience here at Arthur Ashe Stadium considering Murray's last major single's match, by the way, that was at last year's Australian open in Melbourne.
This was a classic. Murray wins a five-set thriller.
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ANDY MURRAY, 2012 U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP: They have one in the locker room and they said it's for emergencies. And this is, for me, this is an emergency right now.
I mean, my body hurts, I need to recover as best as possible. So I'll ask and see if they'll allow me to use the ice bath here.
If not, I'll try and get back to the hotel as quickly as possible and get in one at the hotel. But, yes. I need to rest up and trying to recover as best as I can.
Because that's by far the most tennis I've played -- since 2019.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNELL: Terrific stuff. Well, afterwards Murray confirming that he was indeed allowed that emergency ice bath.
Next up for him the Scott will play the young Canadian, player, Felix Auger-Aliassime, as well.
Well, last week we witnessed a momentous few days for the NBA after players from the Milwaukee Bucks didn't emerge from their playoff games in the Orlando bubble in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year old african American man.
Now other games were then postponed prompting U.S. President Donald Trump to declare the league had become a political organization. Before he then tweeted on Tuesday: "People are tired of watching the
highly political NBA. Basketball ratings are way down and they won't be coming back.
I hope football and baseball are watching and learning, because the same thing will be happening to them.
Stand tall for our country, and our flag."
Well, in the aftermath of that walk out, the Bucks' senior vice president, Alex Lasry, saying that some things are bigger than basketball.
While on Tuesday, we heard from the franchise's head coach.
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MIKE BUDENHOLZER, MILWAUKEE BUCKS COACH: I have no idea if what President Trump said is true or not.
The ratings to our league and to our players and to all of us, of course they matter.
But at the end of the day, what's most important is that we continue to fight for change. We fight for social justice, we fight for the end of police brutality. We fight for the end of voter suppression.
Whether it's one person that's seeing and hearing us, or it's millions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNELL: Meantime, a thrilling finale in the playoffs Tuesday night as the Denver Nuggets look to become the first team since the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers to rally from a three-one deficit.
[02:50:00]
Well, Denver star, Jamal Murray, playing a key role for his team having made such a powerful social justice impact earlier in the week.
High drama to follow though. As Nikola Jokic, the Serbian star, with the final basket of the game putting the Nuggets ahead 80 to 78 against the Utah Jazz.
But wait. In the final seconds, how about this for heartbreak? Mike Conley for the win with one last shot but he misses the three-pointer.
And the buzzer -- Denver advance to face the L.A. Clippers in the Western Conference semifinals.
A night of high drama and high emotions there in the Orlando bubble. And that image really does speak volumes.
OK. Meantime, the new NFL season getting underway on September the 10th when Super Bowl champs, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans go head to head.
American football, in fact, fact another sport over here in the U.S. certain to attract renewed scrutiny during these times.
On Tuesday, the League's Commissioner Roger Goodell reiterating that the NFL stands with the black community, the players, clubs and fans pledging a social justice initiative that would honor victims of systemic racism and police brutality.
Goodell also revealing the league will imprint "End Racism" and "It Takes All of Us" in the end zones at each stadium for the forthcoming season.
There is a huge week on the U.S. golf circuit, as the PGA Tour season ender heads right here to Atlanta.
Why American player has earned the right to enjoy every single slice of life that comes his way these days.
Stay with us.
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SNELL: Hello. Welcome back, as we continue to wait and watch where, if anywhere, will football superstar Lionel Messi go next?
This Wednesday, it's being reported the father and indeed the agent of the Barcelona forward, Jorge Messi, is en route to Catalonia to discuss his son's future having left Argentina on Tuesday.
Now it's been over a week since the Barcelona forward, widely regarded as one of the best players in the sport's history, shocked the Catalan club by handing in a transfer request over the weekend.
The Argentine failed to show up for a coronavirus test at Barca's training center.
And in another development, on Monday, a club source, confirming to us the 33-year-old did not attend pre-season training.
Now onto one of golf's great comeback stories.
The American player, Brendon Todd, was once close to quitting the sport he loves. To open up -- wait for it, a pizzeria.
He didn't though. And he's probably thinking he made a very wise move indeed after finishing ninth in the recent Windham Rewards standings. Booking his spot in the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs which are poised to come what should be a thrilling climax in the coming days. Right here in Atlanta.
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SNELL: Every week on the PGA tour, a victory can truly be life- changing.
Brendon Todd's life changed after back-to-back wins and Bermuda and Mexico in November of last year.
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BRENDON TODD, THREE-TIME PGA TOUR WINNER: When I'm playing my best golf, I'm playing as well as anybody in the he world and I have chances to win golf tournaments on all different types of courses.
It's definitely the best season in my career so far. And it just happens to come off of a couple years where I wasn't playing well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[02:55:00]
SNELL: At one point the American temporary lost his playing status on the PGA tour, while missing the cut 34 times in 36 events.
Todd even dropped outside the Top 2,000 in the world rankings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: 2016, '17, '18 playing as poorly as I did, it was depressing. There's no doubt about it.
It was difficult to deal with the emotions that come with practicing so much in between events, and going to every tournament and failing.
SNELL: You used the word "depressing" there. Is depression is something that affected you at the time?
TODD: Yes, no doubt. It was something I was going through, I think, as a result of my play.
Golf kind of beats you up and let's your mind turn on you a little bit. So that was something I had to battle a little bit.
I'm fortunate to be married to a wonderful woman, Rachel, who always been very supportive of my golf career. And really never let me quit, which was amazing.
My whole family was very important throughout all that and they stuck by me and they never once wavered. They don't love me for my golf, they love me for me. Which is really important.
SNELL: At his lowest point though, Todd admits he did come close to quitting the sport. The frustrations, the struggles, even the isolation he felt at times through it all.
TODD: I did sit down with my financial manager and say what can I do besides golf to earn a living and support my family? Kind of the first thing that came up was maybe a fast food franchise or pizza franchise.
I love pizza. But at the end of the day, I still had a lot of belief in my ability, and had the right people around me to put in the work. And I worked my way out of the struggle. SNELL: The 35-year-old's a very different place though now, heading
into the PGA Tour's post season and the race for the coveted FedEx cup title.
Just rewards for a golfer who's learned to battle through all kinds of adversity.
TODD: I'm just tickled that the ability to play on a PGA Tour and pursue my passion. For me to achieve a Top 10 in a regular season this year is a huge accomplishment in my career. And it's something I'm very proud of.
Especially as close to my struggles as it has been, to come back and have a year like this. I almost feel fortunate that I've gone through some of the struggles that I have.
Because I think that it's made me a better person, it's made me a better golfer. And it just gives me more confidence going forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNELL: Thanks to Brendon there. We're following the season-ending Tour Championship every step of the way.
It all starts at East Lake on Friday. And at this time on Thursday, we'll bring you our one-on-one interview with PGA tour commissioner, Jay Monahan, on the state of the game in this most unprecedented of years.
Do make sure you join us for later Wednesday editions of WORLD SPORT there with Don Riddell. Stick around with CNN. Bye for now.
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