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President Biden and The First Lady Mourns with the Families in Uvalde, Texas; Justice Department to Review Law Enforcement Response in Uvalde; President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Visits Kharkiv; E.U. Discusses Embargo on Russian Oil; Biden, First Lady Comfort, Grieve With Families In Uvalde; Hospital Treats Mass Shooting Victims For 2nd Time In Five Years; Clashes Erupt Over Controversial Jerusalem Day March. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired May 30, 2022 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[02:00:00]

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. You are watching "CNN Newsroom" and I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead, the U.S. Justice Department will review the police response to the Texas school shooting. We will analyze the gaps between the detailed training they received and the lack of action on that tragic day.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits troops on the front lines while the country's military says it has begun a counteroffensive against Russian forces in the south.

Plus, COVID concerns on Memorial Day in the USA. Why case counts are at least fife five times higher than at this point last year and should we expect a summer surge? We'll take a look.

UNKNOWN: Live from CNN Center, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: And thank you for joining us. And for the second time in as many weeks, U.S. President Joe Biden and the First Lady mourned alongside grieving and devastated families who lost their loved ones in a mass shooting this time in a Texas town of Uvalde. The Bidens laid flowers at a memorial outside Robb Elementary School where 19 students and two teachers were killed last week.

Mr. Biden and the First Lady also attended mass where Jill Biden could be seen reaching out and touching the hands of several people as they walk up the aisle. Outside the church, some who had gathered urged the president to do something to which he responded, "we will." Take a listen.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

CHURCH: CNN's Arlette Saenz is following developments and has more now from Uvalde. ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden spent

about seven hours on the ground here in Uvalde, Texas on Sunday trying to offer some sense of solace and comfort to the families grieving the loss of those 19 young children and two teachers gunned down here At Robb Elementary School last Tuesday.

The president and first lady spent about three hours meeting with survivors of that shooting as well as the families of the victims. And CNN spoke with one of the family members who was in that meeting. Vincent Salazar who lost his young daughter, Leila Salazar and talked to us about his conversation with the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VINCENT SALAZAR, FATHER OF UVALDE SCHOOL SHOOTING VICTIM: It was really just all about my daughter. You know what I mean? That's all we talked about. I mean, you know, like I said, they were very gracious and showed compassion. And that's all what we are here for. You know what I'm saying? He listened to everything and we listened to him. He shed some tears and we shed some tears.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: The president also spent some time here in Uvalde meeting with first responders and law enforcement who responded that day of the horrific shooting. But even as the president had those moments grieving with the community, he also faced some calls to action. When he visited the memorial site here at Robb Elementary, he had the opportunity to take in each of the life-size photos, read the names of each of these children who were gunned down in that massacre.

But there were also some demonstrators both here and at the Catholic church, Sacred Heart Catholic Church who were urging the president to do more, to make -- take some type of action to try to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again. The president mouthed back to them saying "we will." Of course, there are so many questions about what exactly that action could look like in Washington and in state legislatures.

The president himself has said that he does not think there is much more he can do on the executive level and the White House is pushing for Congress to act. There are those early discussions among a bipartisan group of senators to see if they can reach some type of compromise when it comes to gun safety measures.

But there are so many questions about whether that will actually come to fruition. But it is clear here in the community that there is frustration and that they do want to see more from this president, more from their elected officials when it comes to trying to keep their children safe in schools.

But here in Uvalde, Texas on Sunday, the president's main focus was really trying to extend that comfort to these grieving families dealing with these gut-wrenching losses. Arlette Saenz, CNN, traveling with the president in Uvalde, Texas.

[02:05:00]

CHURCH: And we are learning more about the terrifying moments surrounding the shooting from survivors and their families. CNN's Dana Bash had a heart wrenching conversation with a mother and her 9-year- old son who survived the massacre. Daniel Ruiz recounted horrifying images that may haunt him for the rest of his life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL RUIZ, SURVIVED TEXAS SCHOOL SHOOTING: He just like shot like four bullets into our class, but like, her nose broke and then our teacher got shot in her leg and her torso, but she's alright.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: He was never in your classroom because your teacher, is it right that your teacher locked the door and broke the key?

RUIZ: Uh-huh.

BASH: Did you see his face?

RUIZ: Yes.

BASH: Through the window?

RUIZ: Uh-huh.

BASH: Were you hiding under desks? Where were you in the classroom?

RUIZ: I was hiding under a table next to the wall that it goes to like the end of the wall to like the start of the wall, and this is like a very big table, but I could still see his face.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Horrifying memories for that young boy. And here is Daniel's mother speaking about the trauma her son is still experiencing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANNA RUIZ, SON DANIEL SURVIVED SCHOOL SHOOTING: The first night he really didn't want to talk about it obviously, which I mean was okay. I told him, you know, if you need to cry it out if you are scared, it's okay. He hasn't really stepped foot into his room since the incident. I am working on getting him, you know, counseling and therapy long-term because I know it's something that affects him. He does have a lot of night terrors. He does talk, scream and cry in his sleep and I'll ask him do you remember like, you know, what you were saying yesterday? And he'll be like, no.

BASH: Daniel, you don't remember any of that?

RUIZ: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: That is with him forever. And on Sunday, CNN spoke with an

NRA board member. Jim Acosta pressed Judge Phillip Journey on the NRA's track record of pushing for lax gun laws and the ease with which a teenager can purchase a military style rifle. Here is just a portion of that exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: How is it that an 18-year-old can buy an AR-15 style rifle and having 1,600 rounds of ammo with him like we saw in Uvalde?

PILLIP JOURNEY, NRA BOARD MEMBER: Well, it's -- he did not have any prior convictions. He didn't have any prior issues that would have kept him from purchasing one. It's my understanding from the news that he purchased it through a firearm dealer, he passed the background check because he didn't have any prior convictions.

ACOSTA: Right. But should an 18-year-old have an AR-15?

JOURNEY: That's how I bought it.

ACOSTS: Should and 18-year-old have an AR-15? What's he going to do with it?

JOURNEY: I don't know. Should an 18-year-old have one in the army?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURH: Not answering the question there. Well, U.S. House Democrat Ruben Gallego who served in the Marines Corps later disputed those comments as a false comparison.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RUBEN GALLEGO (D-AZ): They don't own those weapons. They're in an armory. Every bullet is accounted for. We do a background check before you get that weapon. There is psychological test also before you even get that weapon. You have to, at least in the Marine Corp, it's almost two and a half weeks of just dry firing before you have to shoot that one weapon.

You have to requalify every year. If you want to have those standards, I'm up for those standards. But for them to say that, you know, 18- year-old in -- that's grabbing a gun off the street of off some dealer is the same as an 18-year-old in the military. It's absolutely not even -- they're not even close to each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The U.S. Justice Department announced Sunday it will review the police response to the mass shooting in Uvalde. The delayed police confrontation with the gunman and the conflicting accounts from officials have compounded parents' anger and of course their grief. CNN's Paula Reed has the latest developments from Washington. PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: This review by

the Justice Department is a significant development because as we have seen officials in Texas have been under considerable scrutiny for how law enforcement responded to the shooting and these conflicting timelines that they've put out in the wake of this incident.

Now, this review was actually requested by the city's mayor and at this point, look, the Justice Department is just about the only entity that can come in and credibly and objectively analyze what happened here. In a statement, the Justice Department said, "The goal of this review is to provide an independent account of law enforcement actions and responses that day and to identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events."

Sadly, of course, we know there will likely be more active shooter incidents like this. Now this review is being conducted by the Justice Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing.

[02:10:04]

It has conducted similar reviews into how law enforcement responded to the terrorist attack in San Bernardino as well as how long police responded to the Pulse nightclub shooting. Now, I've read both of those reviews and it appears the way this will work is these investigators will go to the scene, they will try to talk to witnesses.

They will try to talk to victims, first responders, members of the community, gather any audio or visual evidence that exists and then analyze what exactly happened here. What went right, but more likely in this case, what went wrong. This is not a criminal investigation. This is just a review. This is not like the civil rights investigation that the Justice Department has conducted into police departments in Ferguson in Chicago.

Right now, they're just looking to analyze this event and help support law enforcement by distilling some lessons learned and best practices. But look, any time you have investigators who start turning over rocks, if they find any evidence of criminality, they can certainly pass that along. But at this point again, this is not a criminal investigation. This is just an after action review. Paula Reed, CNN, Washington.

CHURCH: Mike Baker is a national correspondent for "The New York Times" and Mike joins me now from Seattle. Thank you so much for being with us.

MIKE BAKER, U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: So, the Justice Department has announced a critical incident review into the police response in Uvalde and why it took officers nearly an hour to kill that gunman. It's rare of course for the department to do this and comes as families are not only grieving but they are very angry, understandably, that the police failed to go into the classrooms and take down this active shooter.

And you've been researching the training of these Uvalde officers and found that they received active shooter training just two months ago. So, what went wrong? Why didn't they follow that training?

BAKER: Yes, that's right. The training was really detailed. I mean, it wasn't just classroom theoretical training. It was, you know, roaming the hallways and sort of situational role-playing with a bunch of different agencies trying to assess how they would best confront a gunman. And that's what the training teach them to do, is to confront the gunman.

So, there is a lot of questions still right now about why they made that call. The incident commander has reportedly said that, you know, to the state police that they were treating it as a barricaded subject situation or hostage type of situation where they felt like they needed more time to assess before they -- before they went in to took out -- to take out the gunman.

CHURCH: Yes, and of course, you also found that the officers' training emphasized that the urgency to stop the gunman was so high that they should not wait for a tactical team. As you point out, they did wait. Their training also says a single officer may need to confront the suspect on their own and in so doing may risk their own life, but the guidance says innocent lives take priorities. No single officer did that. So, what should the consequences be for those officers and their chiefs failing to save these young, innocent children?

BAKER: Yes. I think there is a lot of questions about that right now. But what kind of investigations we're going to see? What kind of accountability might come of it? As you've said, there, you know, the emphasis in the training documents that potentially just a single officer arriving on the scene really needs to be prepared to lay down their life to defend innocent lives.

And certainly, in the situation of an elementary school where there are kids being killed. So, there is, I think -- I know certainly hearing from families, there's a lot of questions about whether this was done appropriately and what kind of accountability they want to see. And I think it's going to take some time, but it will be one that we'll be following closely.

CHURCH: And as you point out in your article, critically, this training states and I want to read this out, that a first responders unwilling to place the lives of the innocent above their own safety should consider another career field.

So, what needs to happen going forward to make sure that future police understand their role in these active shooting situations and that the lives of the incident come first, and if they can't accept that or they're not willing to do that, then they shouldn't be taking that particular job.

BAKER: Right. And it is something we have seen a lot since Columbine High School massacre in 1999. I mean, this was sort of a training that emerged that it was no longer a situation where police would stage a scene and secure the scene and then get their SWAT team in position go, got take a tactical move and take out the gunman.

We've seen since then that the preparation is really get inside no matter how many officers you have and stop the bloodshed.

[02:15:00]

Because as we know, with the types of guns that are being used in these types of massacres, the death count rises rapidly. The number of -- the amount of ammunition being taken into these schools is so high that deaths can pile up by the second. And so that call, that urgency is clear in there, but we've also seen since then, even though that training os clear, we've seen situations where these officers are reluctant to go in to make that confrontation. We saw that also in Parkland, Florida a few years ago in the school shooting there as well.

CHURCH: Mike Baker, thank you so much for talking with us and for writing your article. It is critical.

BAKER: Thank you.

CHURCH: Outraged and heartache after Uvalde doesn't mean the mass shootings have stopped. Police say seven people have been injured after a shooting on a Nevada interstate on Sunday near Las Vegas. They said earlier a suspect is still at large and in Tennessee.

Authorities say a mass shooting in Chattanooga on Saturday was the result of an altercation between two groups of people. They believe there was an intended target nor was it gang-related. Two of the six wounded were in critical condition and most of those shot were teenagers. During a press conference, the mayor asked parents to be responsible and keep guns away from children.

And the suspect in a mass shooting at a Memorial Day festival in Oklahoma is now in police custody. Authorities say the 26-year-old turned himself in on Sunday afternoon. Officials say one person was killed and at least seven others injured. Charges against the suspect have not been announced yet.

And still to come, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits troops in eastern Ukraine. His first appearance outside Kyiv since the war began. We'll explain why he made this move now.

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[02:20:00]

CHURCH: We are following major developments in Russia's war on Ukraine. On Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited troops on the front lines in the Kharkiv region. The area has faced intense bombardment during the war. Mr. Zelenskyy was there to assess the damage and on the troops in Kharkiv with medals.

Meantime, the Ukrainian military says it has launched a counter offensive in the southern region of Kherson. It published this video of strikes and claims Russian forces were pushed back nearly 10 kilometers. That's about six miles. CNN has not verified this report.

And Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he will hold separate phone calls today with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts. He's trying to encourage the parties to maintain channels of dialogue and diplomacy and bring peace to Ukraine.

So, Let's turn now to CNN's Paula Newton with more on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to Kharkiv as Paula reports his trip comes at a critical time in the war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On his first known trip beyond the capital since the Russian invasion, Volodymyr Zelenskyy got a firsthand view of the destruction in the eastern city of Kharkiv, touring residential areas that came under relentless Russian bombardment for weeks. Those strikes continue. Nine people were killed in Kharkiv in Thursday night. One of them, a baby.

Zelenskyy said the government would have to find funds to rebuild areas destroyed by three months of Russian shelling. He also went closer to the front lines surveying the wreckage of battle in an area where Ukrainian forces have pushed back Russians to within just a few kilometers of the international border.

Zelenskyy also presented medals to soldiers telling them, "You risk your life for all of us and are safe. Thank you for defending Ukraine's independence."

Fighting continues across eastern and southern Ukraine. Russia's Ministry of Defense released video of the Russian flag being hoisted over the townhall in Lyman, a town in Donetsk. That's the gateway to the larger city of Sloviansk.

Russia continues to use artillery and airstrikes against the town of Bakhmut as they try to push further west and fulfill President Vladimir Putin's objective of taking all of the Donbas. But the Ukrainian military says it has launched a counteroffensive in the seven regions of Kherson. It published video of artillery strikes and claimed that Russian forces were pushed back nearly 10 kilometers. There is no way for CNN to verify the claim.

Meantime, Ukrainians are still trying to flee Russian occupied areas with hundreds of vehicles stranded for days at a Russian checkpoint at Zaporizhzhia. There are still few safe ways for civilians to reach Ukrainian-controlled territory.

These women begged for help in getting evacuated saying there are many babies and young children among the hundreds trying to cross. Inside Russian-held Melitopol, a small gesture of defiance, Sunday, a rare noble dissent. But the Russians are trying to consolidate their grip in the south. This is sign being put up outside Melitopol saying "Forever Russia."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And that was CNN's Paula Newton reporting.

Well, Nada Bashir joins me now live from London. Good morning to you, Nada. So, Russia's foreign minister, Lavrov, says that Moscow's priority is to liberate Donetsk and Luhansk. What does that reveal about Russia's goals and what's more did he have to say on this?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Look, Rosemary, several weeks after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began, we heard from western intelligence pointing to the fact that Russia seems to be refocusing its efforts on the east.

[02:24:56]

And now we are hearing over the weekend from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Russia's priority in this invasion is to, as he put it, liberate the Donetsk and Luhansk region. Now, the Russian federation recognizes these regions as independent states and according to Lavrov, in his words, they are seen as having priority on the idea of self-determination, of self-defense.

That is what -- that is the message that the Russian federation is putting forward and has long put forward since the beginning of its military invasion of Ukraine. That, of course, stands in contrast to what we've heard and what we know from the Ukrainian government from western government and NATO officials and really stands in contrast to the fact on the ground.

We've heard from President Zelensky -- he gave a nightly address over the weekend and reaffirmed that the Donbas region will once again be Ukrainian. That the Ukrainian armed forces and government will continue to defend the Donetsk and Luhansk region despite the escalation that we are seeing in Russian military bombardment.

But there has been a lot of pressure as well from European leaders calling on Russia and on President Putin to come to the negotiating table. We heard earlier in the week from a Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, who referenced these negotiation calls, said that they were frozen, but also called on the Ukrainian government to acknowledge Russia's claim on these regions saying that they want the Kyiv government to recognize Russia's territorial demands in Ukraine. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Alright. We'll watch to see what happens with that. But also, Nada, E.U. ambassadors failed Sunday to reach an agreement on banning the import of Russian oil. What is the lates on these and its possible consequences if agreement can't be reached?

BASHIR: Well, look, we've got an extraordinary meeting of E.U. leaders beginning this afternoon and going on into tomorrow. But we saw E.U. ambassadors meeting yesterday. They will be meeting again this morning to discuss the potential banning of Russian oil coming into Europe. Now, we've heard from the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen repeatedly sending out this message, that the European member states want to gradually phase out their dependence on Russian oil to a total stop.

And of course, there are some difficulties in that because there are a number of countries in the European region which are highly dependent and this varies between the different states that we've heard from E.U. officials that those technicalities really still need to be ironed out today. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Alright, Bashir -- Nada Bashir, many thanks for bringing us up to date on those issues. Appreciate it.

And still to come, the emotional and physical trauma in Texas. CNN speaks with a medical team that helped treat victims of the elementary school shooting in Uvalde.

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[02:31:07]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: U.S. President Joe Biden and the first lady met with grieving families and laid flowers at a memorial in front of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The site of last week's horrific mass shooting. 19 students and two teachers were killed. The Bidens also attended mass and met with first responders and local officials.

Well, this latest tragedy has shaken the community of Uvalde but also medical personnel in San Antonio who helped treat the victims. Some of those healthcare workers also treated the injured in another mass shooting in Texas nearly five years ago. CNN Lucy Kafanov speaks with members of one trauma unit about the impact of the experience on their staff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get the glide scope in there please.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At San Antonio's University Health Hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of us will be in a level one alpha as one came. Anesthesia is on their way. Blood bank is on their way.

KAFANOV: Doctors and nurses prepared to receive the most critically wounded. It's one of the busiest trauma centers in the nation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have yours lay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I got it. Hang on --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Perfect.

KAFANOV: And CNN got exclusive access inside as pediatric trauma medical center director Dr. Lillian Liao and her team demonstrated preparations for a mass casualty event. DR. LILLIAN LIAO, DIRECTOR, PEDIATRIC TRAUMA MEDICAL CENTER: Anesthesia is here. Go ahead and get up there with Kelly so we can back her up in case it becomes a difficult airway.

KAFANOV: Today, it's a drill.

LIAO: This is one of the teams that we formed. And the day of the mass casualty event we formed multiple teams such as this.

KAFANOV: But it wasn't a drill on Tuesday when a teenage gunman burst inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Murdering 19 children and two teachers injuring at least 17 others, officials say.

LIAO: It's devastating. You know, I think the same thing that every other person in this country is thinking, you know, how horrible their last moments were, right? And what that scene looks like.

KAFANOV: The trauma unit prepared to receive dozens of Uvaldes wounded.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here's the blood. The bloods have been checked.

KAFANOV: Nurse Colleen Davis recalled the agonizing wait for patience and a grim realization.

COLLEEN DAVIS, TRAUMA PATIENT CENTER COORDINATOR: After a while you start realizing more aren't coming and you start realizing why. And then the weight of that just kind of sets in and it stays with you for the rest of the day. And all the days after.

KAFANOV (on camera): Four of the victims were brought right here to University Hospital. Three little girls and the shooter's grandmother. But the doctors and nurses working here, it unfortunately wasn't their first mass shooting.

KAFANOV (voice over): Less than five years ago, a gunman slaughtered 26 people at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, just 34 miles southeast of downtown San Antonio. Dr. Liao was on duty.

LIAO: None of us anticipated that we would be involved in yet another mass casualty event. It's not something we imagined.

KAFANOV: Trauma nurse crystal Flores was working alongside Dr. Liao in 2017 as patients wounded in the church massacre began to flood in. She can't believe it's happened again.

KRISTELL FLORES, TRAUMA NURSE: I immediately got like this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach and they drove basically because it was even in the same location where we got notified from Sutherland Springs.

KAFANOV: Flores is haunted by the lives her team couldn't save.

FLORES: Just keep replaying things in my brain and thinking like, what if they would have gotten here like 30 minutes after the first notification probably would have stayed a lot of people but it's just very -- just what ifs, what ifs, what ifs and is just doesn't change the outcome.

KAFANOV: Like many of her trauma center colleagues Flores is also a parent.

[02:35:02]

FLORES: He just turned six and he's in kindergarten and today's his last day of school and I have a one-year-old. It's just harder. Just how do you tell them?

KAFANOV: Dr. Liao says she copes by focusing on the good for team, her family and her little ones.

LIAO: That's what you want to amplify at a time like this is amplified, being grateful, and the kindness that the world shows rather than focusing on the negative because that can really put you in a wrong place moving forward.

KAFANOV: She breaks down when talking about the invisible scars the surviving children will carry.

LIAO: You know, I kind of thought back to when I was 10 years old. And so, when I was 10 years old, my family immigrated to this country. And my biggest challenge was learning to speak English. And you just can't imagine what these children are going through. And it's really unfair, it's really unfair.

KAFANOV: Lucy Kafanov, CNN, San Antonio, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: An annual March for Jerusalem sparked violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

Coming up. The controversy around the demonstration and the blurred lines between peaceful and provocative.

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CHURCH: A controversial Israeli marched through Jerusalem sparked fresh clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians on Sunday. Thousands waved Israeli flags as the annual Jerusalem Day March set off from Damascus Gate. That main entry to the old city's Muslim quarter.

[02:40:03]

CHURCH: They made their way to one of the holiest sites in Judaism, the Western Wall. Some chanted death to Arabs, while others said they want peace. The March drew protests from Palestinians and clashes broke out across the region. Israeli police responded with rubber bullets, pepper spray and batons. The Red Crescent says 80 Palestinians were injured in Jerusalem, while more than 160 were injured in the West Bank.

Well, a leftist former guerrilla and a social media star are headed for the next round in Columbia's presidential election. Left wing Gustavo Petro will face off against the populist and self proclaimed king of TikTok Rodolfo Hernandez on June 19. Their run off comes after the first round of voting finished on Sunday. Petro is the front runner. He is promising to overhaul an economy hit by the fallout of COVID and quell social unrest and violence brought on by the drug trade.

Hernandez has run a colorful social media campaign and drawn comparisons to Donald Trump. He is promising to clean up corruption.

For our international viewers, World Sport is coming up next and for everyone here in the U.S. and Canada. I'll be back with more news in just a moment.

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[02:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)