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White House Reeling From "The Atlantic" Report; Protesters, Police Clash For Fourth Night In Rochester; Harris Won't Trust Trump's Word Alone On A Vaccine; Americans Desperate For Economic Help; Holiday Weekend Draws Racial Justice Protesters Across The U.S.; Typhoon Haishen Batters Japan During Pandemic; India Records Highest Single-Day Spike Of COVID-19 Cases; Balloon Illusionist Floats High Above Earth. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired September 06, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Angry denials: President Trump strongly pushes back on a damning report in "The Atlantic" but CNN has startling new information on the story.
Plus race tensions: protests are up across the U.S. demanding change. We will look at how it could impact the presidential election.
And tourism in the face of a pandemic. Local businesses in Hawaii say they may not survive long enough to see visitors return. Our guest this hour fears for the worst.
Welcome to you, our viewers in the U.S., around the world, I am Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
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BRUNHUBER: We will have those stories in a moment. But first we are following breaking news out of the U.K. Police in Birmingham, England, have declared a major incident after reports of several people being stabbed. Police say they are not speculating at this point on the cause of the incident. Details are scarce at the moment. We don't know how many people have been injured or how serious the injuries are.
West Midlands Police says that emergency services are on the scene, we will have more details as they become available. Stay with us for that.
CNN and other news organizations have now confirmed some of the shocking allegations in "The Atlantic" magazine, that U.S. president Donald Trump privately denigrated American war dead in a trip to Paris in 2018.
The president and his allies have insisted the allegations are false but a former senior Trump official confirmed to CNN that the president spoke in crude and derogatory terms of U.S. Marines who died in World War I and are buried near Paris. Another source says the president, who received multiple deferments
for military service, has also questioned the service of Vietnam veterans, suggesting they didn't know how to avoid the draft. We have more from CNN's Jeremy Diamond at the White House.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: While the White House is still reeling from this report in "The Atlantic" magazine that President Trump referred to American soldiers who lost lives in a critical battle in World War I as losers and suckers as he was deciding not to attend a ceremony at a cemetery where some of those war dead were buried.
And now, a former senior administration official is confirming to my colleague, Jim Acosta, that the president did indeed refer those American war dead in crude and derogatory terms.
Now, of course, President Trump and the White House have vehemently denied the story insisting that the president has the utmost respect for veterans and service members. And the president even said what kind of animal would refer to a dead American service members in such a fashion?
But nonetheless, a former senior administration official confirms to CNN that the president did indeed make those comments. And another source familiar with his remarks has now told CNN that the president has also repeatedly questioned why Vietnam war veterans would've served in that war, suggesting that those service members did not know how to get out of the draft, how to work the system, much in the way that the president himself.
We know that president Trump received multiple educational deferments to avoid serving in the Vietnam War and he ultimately received a medical deferment after he got a doctor's note claiming that the president had bone spurs, making him ineligible for military service -- Jeremy Diamond CNN, the. White House
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BRUNHUBER: James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence under President Obama, has been a frequent and harsh critic of President Trump. He's also a retired 3 star general in the U.S. Air Force, who served 2 tours of duty during the Vietnam War. Here's what Clapper had to say about the allegations.
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JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER U.S. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: It's insulting, it really is. It never occurred to me to try to avoid it and, in fact, I saw duty in Vietnam because I thought it was the right thing to do as a professional Air Force officer. So I went and served.
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CLAPPER: And I went back for another tour. I'm certainly no exception. I had the good fortune that I wasn't killed or wounded, unlike so many others.
And I just can't help but think of the families of those who lost their lives and paid the ultimate price for their service in Vietnam. And then to hear that from the commander in chief, it's very, very troubling.
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BRUNHUBER: There were more demonstrations in the U.S. on Saturday against the police killings of Black Americans. Activists marched outside of Churchill Downs racetrack during Saturday's running of the Kentucky Derby, demanding justice for Breonna Taylor.
Police killed her in a raid at her home in Louisville in March. Protesters aim to shift attention from America's most famous horse race to her case. They say they will keep up the fight for justice.
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TIMOTHY FINDLEY, PASTOR, KINGDOM FELLOWSHIP: We are tired of what we are seeing in Louisville, Kentucky. It seems as though everybody wants us to move on. What Black people are saying, what our allies are saying is, that we will not move on.
We want justice for Breonna Taylor. We want those officers indicted. We want the mayor to have accountability. We want there to be exposure that there have been 100 days of protesting. The first two days were difficult days; 98 days have been peaceful.
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BRUNHUBER: While the protests were mostly peaceful, some came armed. Police said they had to separate 2 groups from protesters and counterprotesters. They confronted each other, yelling and screaming. As CNN's Jason Carroll reports, protesters thought their messages got through.
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JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the demonstration ended where it began, at a park had just about a mile away from Churchill Downs. At one point their numbers were in the thousands. As they got to Churchill Downs, marched around the perimeter. And then just as the race got underway, they stood and they shouted and they voiced all of their concerns. They voiced their message, which is trying to get justice for Breonna Taylor.
There were some concerns about whether or not this protest would be peaceful, whether or not it would be nonviolent. We spoke to one of the organizers, who said this was a protest that went off just the way it should have.
FINDLEY: Me talking to you right now was a part of our plan. We wanted the world to see, we wanted everyone to see and understand that we are not happy, we are not satisfied with what the attorney general is doing, what the mayor is doing.
We want justice for Breonna Taylor. While that race was going on, people were forced to pay attention to what was going on outside of Churchill Downs. We did so nonviolently but we're going to continue to do. This
CARROLL: The Derby ran without fans so you didn't have the thousands upon thousands of fans who would normally be at the Derby as they were leaving. But no matter to the demonstrators who are out here today.
They feel as though their point still got across, which is to make sure that they are not going to let up on the demonstrations until they see justice for Breonna Taylor -- Jason Carroll, CNN, Louisville, Kentucky.
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BRUNHUBER: Police in Portland, Oregon, have declared a riot during the 100th straight night of protests in the city. Police accused protesters of throwing Molotov cocktails, engaging in violent conduct.
Authorities are warning people to disperse with tear gas. Portland has become an epicenter for the movement against racial injustice and police brutality.
And another night of unrest is gripping the city of Rochester, New York.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since you refused to leave the roadway, you will be placed under --
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): After hours of peaceful protests, demonstrators and law enforcement clashed for a fourth straight night. Police deployed pepper balls and tear gas.
Thousands flooded the streets, demanding accountability for Daniel Prude, a Black man who died in police custody in March. On Friday night, 3 officers were injured, 11 people were arrested in what police declared was a riot.
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BRUNHUBER: Now all of this comes as the New York attorney general announced on Saturday that her office will call a grand jury to investigate the death of Daniel Prude. CNN's Polo Sandoval has more on this from Rochester.
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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a fourth night of protests here in Rochester, New York. Peaceful demonstrators returning here to the very neighborhood where Daniel Prude encountered police in late March with their message demanding justice and word spreading very quickly among the community here about the attorneys general's announcement that she will be empanelling a grand jury.
That could potentially mean criminal charges as part of this investigation. Speaking to many members of the community here.
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SANDOVAL: Who believe that this is a step in the right direction but they also hope that this is just a start.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's absolutely a step in the right direction. I think it's what the community wants. Me, from my own personal perspective, I think it's unambiguously murder that happened. So I'm beyond excited to hear that. This is going to be expedited, that she's taken a lead role on this and that we're going to have justice behind. This
SANDOVAL: Local officials also reacting to yesterday's announcement, including one of the county officials who took to Twitter, writing, "We have all been left with too many questions and not enough answers."
And the attorney general announced she will move to empanel a grand jury is an important first step in getting those answers for Mr. Prude's family and our community rightfully deserve.
As for the seven Rochester, police officers they remain suspended by the City of Rochester -- Polo Sandoval, CNN, Rochester, New York.
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BRUNHUBER: There is much more ahead here on CNN, including an unusual promise by some companies working on the coronavirus vaccine. We've got that and the reason why it was necessary.
And the pandemic has hit Hawaii's tourism-based economy hard so we'll get the latest on the situation from a business in leader in Honolulu. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Coronavirus deaths in United States now top 188,000, with more than 6.2 million infections, according to Johns Hopkins. As you can see from this map here, cases are still rising in 17 states and they are only falling in 14.
While hopes are growing for a vaccine that can end this pandemic, at least 3 pharmaceutical companies have made an unusual joint pledge. They won't seek approval for any treatment unless it has been proven to be safe and effective.
According to "The Wall Street Journal," Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson signed the pledge, aimed at calming worries about an early vaccine.
But will Americans trust a treatment that seems rushed to the market?
CNN's Dana Bash asked Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris about that very question.
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DANA BASH, CNN SR. U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you trust that, in the situation we're in now, that the public health experts and the scientists will get the last word on the efficacy of a vaccine?
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If past is prologue that they will not, they will be muzzled. They'll be suppressed, they will be sidelined because he is looking at an election coming up in less than 60 days. And he's grasping for whatever he can get, to pretend that he has been a leader on this issue when he has not.
BASH: Let's just say there is a vaccine that is approved and even distributed before the election.
Would you get? It
HARRIS: Well, I think that's going to be an issue for all of us. I will say that I would not trust Donald Trump. And it would have to be a credible source of information that talks about the efficacy and the reliability of whatever he's talking about. I will not take his word for it.
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BRUNHUBER: You can watch that entire interview with Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris. It's on today's "STATE OF THE UNION" right here on CNN at 10 am Eastern time, 2 pm London and 9 pm Hong Kong.
Well, with millions thrown out of work by the coronavirus pandemic, many Americans are desperate for help. But there are very few options. The U.S. Congress returns this week and will resume discussions on a new aid package. But the same divisions remain.
Meanwhile, real people feel their lives are hanging by a thread. Here is Vanessa Yurkevich.
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VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): On the streets of Harlem signs of business on life support.
TAMI TREADWELL, OWNER, HARLEM SEAFOOD SOUL: It's been like a ghost town out here.
YURKEVICH: Tami Treadwell is back with her food cart, Harlem Seafood Soul. After five months off the streets.
(on camera): What got you back out here on the street again?
TREADWELL: Needing to be able to feed my family.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Months into the pandemic more than 100,000 small businesses have closed. She's applied for grants from the city and a PPP loan, but hasn't received either.
TREADWELL: Responses I've gotten is that there isn't enough money or try back again maybe some additional funding will become available or you just don't hear anything back at all.
YURKEVICH: But even with a PPP loan for some it didn't go far.
LUISA SANTOS, OWNER, LULU'S ICE CREAM: As it was designed, we ran out of that money a little bit longer than a week it lasted but still we are way past that eight week point.
YURKEVICH: Luisa Santos opens Lulu's Ice Cream six years ago in Miami. She immigrated to the U.S. from Colombia for the American dream. Now, she's cutting her salary to keep her employees on part time and she's hoping Congress will pass a third stimulus bill for her small business.
SANTOS: We are good place in our economy and what we need is support, to get through the rough patch.
YURKEVICH: But the U.S. jobs recovery is stalling. Less than 50 percent of the 22 million jobs lost in March and April are back online. More than a million people have filed for unemployment each week except one since mid-March and the extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits have expired.
TREADWELL: I'm behind in my rent like everybody else. We're food insecure like everybody else.
YURKEVICH: Still some parts of the U.S. economy are thriving. U.S. tech companies have recovered and then some. The top five in the U.S. are now worth a collective $7 trillion. But there's a disconnect between Wall Street and main street. While stocks are hitting records, up to 40 million Americans could face eviction by the end of the year without a new stimulus bill.
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TREADWELL: If you leave us out, we're going to have barren streets. The economy's not going get up and running because we are the life blood of main street America.
YURKEVICH: The pandemic is also exposing a harsh reality for women of color. The highest rate of unemployment is among Latino workers ...
SANTOS: Thank you so much.
YURKEVICH: ... and black women in jobs deemed essential to COVID-19 recovery make up to 27 percent less than white men.
SANTOS: We are being affected more significantly than other business owners and we need that support.
TREADWELL: I know for a fact as a black woman that there has been a social and economic disadvantage for us for as long as I can remember. Please think about the street vendors who are out here, who are really just trying to make a good honest living.
YURKEVICH: This is why a stimulus bill is so critical. Because it can address various parts of the economy. It can help freeze evictions, help with student debt, unemployment and give money to small businesses. And when you put money into the hands of everyday Americans, they are more likely to spend and that helps stimulates the economy and provide more jobs -- Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, New York.
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BRUNHUBER: Like so many places, Hawaii is struggling during the pandemic. Its economy relies on travel and tourism. So the state has been especially hardhit. The University of Hawaii's Economic Research Organization has been tracking the impact on businesses.
Recent research found that between 6 percent and 15 percent of local businesses may have to close permanently. An earlier study determine the state's economy might not return to pre-COVID levels until 2029.
In a separate Yelp study, suggesting nearly 900 businesses on the island of Oahu have closed either temporarily or permanently.
To discuss this, we would like to bring in Sherry Menor-McNamara, who's the president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, which partners with the University of Hawaii to conduct some of this research. She joins us now live from Honolulu.
Thank you very much for being here with us. Those statistics we cited there are frightening.
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SHERRY MENOR-MCNAMARA, PRESIDENT, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE HAWAII: Thank you for having me here.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, thank you for coming. The Kauai Chamber of Commerce reported that more than a third of Kauai businesses could fail within the next 6 months.
How bad is this situation across the state?
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BRUNHUBER: We're having a bit of a delay, we should just tell our viewers. MENOR-MCNAMARA: -- states that have the lowest -- yes. OK.
Hawaii experienced one of the lowest unemployment rate in the nation pre-COVID-19. As soon as COVID hit our state, it went up to one of the highest in the nation, leaving more than 200,000 people unemployed almost overnight.
So as you can imagine, it's been having a devastating impact on our economy. We did partner with Hero (ph) on a couple of surveys and the most recent survives showed that 75 percent of businesses had to either cut positions or make other reductions. One in six businesses said that they cannot survive COVID. And about 40 percent said that they cannot reopen until tourism reopens in Hawaii.
BRUNHUBER: Wow. Now, so that was -- you know, there was a first shutdown. Now a second shutdown in Oahu. I imagine many business owners and the employees also, who depend on those paychecks, are scared that if the first shutdown didn't bankrupt them, then the second one will.
MENOR-MCNAMARA: Right. Unfortunately, we are forced to have a second shutdown due to our triple-digit cases. As you can imagine, many small businesses, local businesses, were on their last lifeline before the second shutdown. So they have already been in the dire situation. And when the second shutdown took place, with only two days' notice, you can imagine how they are going to get out of this.
That is what we are worried about, having our local businesses go away and essentially changing the fabric and livelihood of our communities.
BRUNHUBER: What about the federal programs that were supposed to help, like the Paycheck Protection Program, loans specifically meant to help small businesses?
Is any of that help getting to Hawaii?
MENOR-MCNAMARA: We received about $2 billion. So it did help many of our businesses in Hawaii. But many like businesses across the nation, they spent those PPP monies based on the original deadline.
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MENOR-MCNAMARA: So many have run out of money. And without additional federal support, as well as state support, unfortunately, I don't think many of these businesses will be able to survive.
Hawaii does rely on the tourism industry. It is our number one economic driver. And so if tourism doesn't reopen for us, then we will see a second wave of businesses shutting down, not only those directly impacted, such as accommodations, attractions, restaurants, retail; but a lot more that goes along the supply chain that support tourism already.
BRUNHUBER: You mentioned that you need more help from the state and federal government. We know the state is facing record shortfalls. They are asking for more money from the federal government. But all that is stuck in Congress.
It must be frustrating when you see, every day, businesses are wondering if they have enough money to last another day.
MENOR-MCNAMARA: Absolutely, Kim, and we have been hearing the stories every day. We get phone calls on a regular basis from small business owners, wondering what else they can do to keep their doors open.
So it definitely has had a devastating economic impact. They are in a dire situation. We need to do what we can to support our businesses, to sustain their operations during this most challenging time.
That is why it is so critical that we receive federal support, again, on a state level as well, providing financial relief temporarily so that they can continue to keep jobs in place, keep people employed during this time.
BRUNHUBER: All right, listen, we wish you the best of luck during this very difficult time. Thank you very much for coming on the show, talking to us, Sherry Menor-McNamara in Honolulu. We appreciate it.
Protesters across the U.S. are calling for racial justice on this holiday weekend. Just ahead, how the unrest may play out in the November presidential election. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: The holiday weekend is being marked in part by calls for racial justice all over the U.S.
In Louisville, Kentucky, protesters took their case to America's most prestigious horse race, the Kentucky Derby. They're hoping to bring attention to the police killing of an unarmed Black woman, Breonna Taylor, nearly 6 months ago.
In Portland, Oregon, police are calling the 100th night of protests there a riot, saying demonstrators were throwing Molotov cocktails.
And police deployed pepper balls and tear gas on crowds marching in Rochester, New York. This is the fourth night of protests there over the death of a Black man in police customer back in March.
But as the November presidential election approaches, president Trump has criticized the unrest, calling it domestic terror and portraying himself as the only candidate who can restore the peace.
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TRUMP: I am your president of law and order and ally of all peaceful protesters. When you enforce the law, order follows and we need order. These are not acts of peaceful protest but really domestic terror.
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BRUNHUBER: For more now on how this is playing into the race for the White House, let's bring in Natasha Lindstaedt, professor of government at the University of Essex.
Thank you very much for coming on to speak with us about this.
The president's reelection campaign is relying in large part on creating anxiety about urban unrest.
Does the violence that we're seeing have the transitive properties he is hoping for?
That the blame for the violence in Democratic cities will fall sort of indirectly on Biden instead of himself as president in the here and now?
NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: I think there's an interesting thing going on here. When we look at some of the most recent polls on how well Trump is handling the protests, how he is handling race relations and whether or not racism is a problem, on one hand, he is actually not doing very well on these questions.
There are more Americans that think he's not doing a good job, he's not making the situation better. In fact, only 13 percent of Americans, according to a recent Ipsos poll, say that his rhetoric is actually helping matters.
And the poll asks a number of questions, whether or not he's able to make you feel safe, make the country feel safer.
And Biden scored better on every single question compared to Trump. But we're also seeing a recent CNN poll that indicated that more Republicans feel that racism is not as big of a problem as it was in June. And more Republicans approve of the way that Trump is handling the situation.
I think it's also important to note that, if Trump is able to make the election about protests, about violence, about unrest, about chaos in our cities, that's going to be a lot better for him in the 2020 election than if the focus is on COVID, on the economy, on this recent story about denigrating people who served in battle.
So he really wants the narrative of this election to be that the country is so unsafe right now, if Joe Biden takes over, it's going to make it worse and the Democratic leaders and governors are the problem and that he is the only one that can resolve it.
BRUNHUBER: And you know, Trump really seems to be moving the needle in terms of voters' concerns. Law and order seems to have risen quite dramatically in terms of the rankings of people's concerns compared to 2016 and people's favorable views of Black Lives Matter movement has dropped considerably since June. So I'm wondering if painting Joe Biden as a captive to the violence
loving Left -- you know, Joe Biden condemned the violence on both sides. I'm wondering, is it worth the capital for Biden to distance himself further from all of this violence?
Or is that just basically a waste of time?
LINDSTAEDT: Well, I think Biden does need to keep coming in and urging for unity and trying to project an image of strength, trying to appear to be presidential and trying to convey to the American public that he is the leader that can heal the nation.
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LINDSTAEDT: And it's important for our morality that we have been lost under Trump. The country has become increasingly polarized and we need a leader to give us messages of unity rather than messages of division.
But he doesn't want to focus on this so much that it loses the attention on some of the other things that Democrats want to be emphasizing, which is the COVID-19 situation, of course, and the economy and how Democrats feel that they can get the country out of this mess rather than if Trump is leading.
BRUNHUBER: But do you think, you cited some of those polls, is that reflective of the fact that Trump may be paying a price for being so obvious and clear about stating that a rise in urban violence basically translates into more votes for him, as though he had an incentive to help stoke unrest rather than resolve it?
LINDSTAEDT: I don't think it's going to be a winning strategy for him. However, this is the only strategy that he has had. He had come into the election in 2016, he came into the campaign really trying to stoke fires, to create divisions, to sow chaos. That worked.
He just barely won in 2016 and it was really by very small margins in some of these states in the Midwest that he was able to pull out a victory. He's convinced that he needs to remain loyal to this base and continue to stoke these fires because it does resonate really well with his base.
What he thinks is going to happen is he can ensure that there'll be full voter turnout amongst his base and that he can depress voter turnout amongst people who might be likely to vote for the. Democrats
BRUNHUBER: But beyond that, I wonder if there's a power in images -- we're just showing some of the images now -- that transcends rhetoric. You can imagine maybe white suburban voters not being thrilled at the idea of being screamed at by Black Lives Matter protesters while they're trying to eat with their family.
Do you think that these images will have a visceral power to change minds in ways that maybe the political discourse can't?
LINDSTAEDT: Well, the question is whether it has power to change minds of people who are undecided, independents, people in the middle. I think it only really strengthens the feelings of those in the base, that they definitely have to get out and vote, that things are getting, worse and Trump is really their only savior.
The question on how this is playing out amongst those in the middle and I think amongst those who lean Republican, they are really questioning whether or not these movements and protests have gotten out of control and whether or not the Democrats are going to respond strongly enough to that.
But I don't think that's going to be enough to win the election for the Republicans. They're going to have to offer something else other than fear. Tactics
BRUNHUBER: Very interesting to see how this plays out in the coming weeks. Thank you so much for joining us, Natasha Lindstaedt, we appreciate it.
LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having. Me
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Well coming up, hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated as a dangerous storm moves towards the Japanese mainland. We'll get an update on Typhoon Haishen just ahead.
Plus health officials in India are worried. The country's coronavirus cases are rising rapidly so we will have all details on that after the break. Please do stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): What you're seeing there is Typhoon Haishen, battering parts of southwestern Japan. This was the scene on Amami Oshima island a bit earlier with winds that have topped 120 miles per hour. That's close to 200 kilometers per hour and equivalent to a category 3 hurricane.
Officials are worried residents won't evacuate because of the threat of coronavirus. This is the third major storm to hit the region in less than two weeks.
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BRUNHUBER: Joining us now is James Reynolds, a storm chaser who took those videos. He joins us on the phone.
James, those pictures are terrifying. What was it like to be out there and what are conditions like now?
JAMES REYNOLDS, STORM CHASER: Well, it's been a really wild day here on Amami Island from basically when the sun came up to around 1 o'clock in the afternoon, it was just full on wind and rain ripping off the ocean.
I'm glad to report that, over the last couple of hours, conditions have really improved. The storm is moving north so really the worst of it is over for us now.
BRUNHUBER: Well, that's good to hear. But I guess where it's going, weather experts are saying some areas are expecting winds strong enough to topple homes. Rain so fierce it's like pouring buckets of water on top of your head. Tell me how people are reacting to the warnings and how COVID might be complicating the evacuations.
REYNOLDS: Yes, this is like the absolutely worst year for anybody to be hit by hurricanes or typhoons with the whole COVID situation.
What I noticed with this typhoon and the previous ones that I have covered in Japan, people take them extremely seriously. There was way more preparation going on on this island that I've seen before during previous typhoons.
Many locals seem to be evacuating to hotels. Now I don't know whether they were choosing hotels over evacuation. But this is something I've never seen before.
BRUNHUBER: Well, all right, thank you so much for those pictures and for the information. James Reynolds, we appreciate it.
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BRUNHUBER: Turning to India now, health officials are alarmed as the number of COVID-19 cases has surpassed 4 million. The country reported its highest single day total Sunday, more than 90,000 cases. Our Vedika Sud has more from New Delhi.
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VEDIKA SUD, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): Congested streets, crowded markets. India's exponential increase in COVID-19 numbers has done little to deter people from venturing out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People thought that once the numbers started to go down, this was it. They had won the war and everybody was out. And everybody was out there without wearing a mask, without any social distancing, without any sanitizing, basically just game ended.
SUD (voice-over): While it took India 5 and a half months to surpass 1 million cases, it's taken the country just 50 days to add more than 3 million infections. Medical experts say one of the reasons for the big surge is aggressive testing. India would soon cross 50 million tests, reaching more than 1 million a day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) we achieved that target much more (INAUDIBLE).
SUD (voice-over): A significant increase in caseload has been reported from rural areas where the public health care system remains extremely poor and lean (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pandemic is spreading in the rural area. it is mainly affecting the 7 states of this country which are responsible for almost 75 percent of the. Cases
SUD (voice-over): India's health ministry has often courted low fatality and high recovery rates to explain these numbers. The medical experts say this has made people complacent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's because of the mixed messaging that we are putting out. we are not telling people exactly what is going on. We are giving them half of (INAUDIBLE) but not telling the exact gravity of the situation.
SUD (voice-over): Forced repeated lockdowns, economic compulsions (ph) have led the government to relax the restrictions with most restaurants and temples already reopened, subway trains will be back on track for Monday. Another possible hazard in the times of COVID.
With the fastest growing caseload in the world, India is on track to surpass Brazil's numbers and could soon be second only to U.S. in COVID cases -- Vedika Sud, CNN, New Delhi.
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BRUNHUBER: We will be back after this short break. Please do stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: They ran the 146th edition of the Kentucky Derby Saturday without fans in the stands. And as the local newspaper stated, yes, this was weird.
That vibe seemed to carry through to the horses. Thousand Words flipped in the paddock ahead of the race. Now the horse was OK in the end but wouldn't be able to take part in the Derby. This year's Run for the Roses belonged to Authentic, which pulled off a major upset over the favorite, Tiz The Law.
Well, if you've ever seen the movie "Up" them maybe you have dreamed about being able to fly off with hundreds of colorful balloons carrying you aloft. But for David Blaine, an illusionist known for his crazy, intricate
and death-defying stunts, well, that just isn't a fantasy. CNN's Jeanne Moos reports on his spectacular stunt.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's one thing to hold a balloon. It's another to let them hold you --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow. That is amazing.
MOOS (voice-over): -- suspended from around 52 helium balloons over Arizona. David Blaine is known for submerging himself --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just relax. We've got you.
MOOS (voice-over): -- starving himself, hanging upside down.
MOOS: This is your view of the world now.
MOOS (voice-over): His latest stunt performed live on YouTube seemed so simple.
DAVID BLAINE, ILLUSIONIST: It's like I'm going to hold a bunch of balloons and become a little dot in the sky.
MOOS: With his 9-year-old daughter --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not letting him go yet, guys.
MOOS: -- is crossing her fingers for Dad. And after handing off a weight, he's off --
BLAINE: Love you.
MOOS: -- on a flight that lasted just under an hour.
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MOOS (voice-over): To climb, Blaine simply dropped weights to lighten the load.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clear to drop. Clear to drop. They've got eyes on him.
MOOS: Seconds later, up he goes. He's not checking his watch. He's checking his altitude.
BLAINE: I'm at 5,150.
Can I put the parachute on now?
MOOS: And then he's up there dangling from balloons without a chute?
BLAINE: Parachute coming down.
MOOS: He then puts it on.
Blaine said he was inspired when his mom took him to see the 1956 film "The Red Balloon" as a kid. In the movies, balloons can hoist a house. But a human needs to check oxygen levels --
BLAINE: Toximeter at 93 and climbing.
MOOS: -- to guard against hypoxia.
BLAINE: I feel perfectly coherent.
MOOS: He was coherent with his daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you?
BLAINE: It's amazing. It's like magic.
MOOS: Though by their second chat --
BLAINE: I've got to focus now, so that's it.
MOOS: -- he took big breaths. At 21,000 feet, he was wearing an oxygen mask, but the breathtaking part was the release, at 24,900 feet, almost 5 miles up. At around 7,000 feet he opened his shoot.
His main worry?
BLAINE: Are there power lines?
MOOS: But the touchdown was perfect.
BLAINE: Yes!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!
Is he there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
MOOS: The stunt was reminiscent of the time a Canadian guy went soaring in a plastic lawn chair to advertise his cleaning business. But he ended up in the arms of the law, while Blaine ended up in the arms of his daughter -- Jeanne Moos, CNN --
BLAINE: That was awesome!
MOOS: -- New York.
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BRUNHUBER: No thanks.
That wraps this hour up a new CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more news. Please do stay with us.
