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Connect the World
Brazil Nears Two Million Confirmed Cases; U.S. President's Niece, Mary Trump Calls For Trump To Resign; President Donald Trump Turns Conference Into Campaign Event; AFRICOM: Russian Actions Complicate Libyan Ceasefire Efforts; Qatar To Have Four Games Per Day. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired July 15, 2020 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do think the fall and the winter are probably going to be one of the most difficult times that we've experienced in American
public health.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More people were reported dead from COVID in the past 24 hours in Florida than ever before.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you swab and then you get the results back in seven days. That's not ideal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first U.S.-made vaccine they found - they did seem to produce these antibodies. What we don't know still is just how much
that's going to protect somebody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're seeing 224,000 deaths by November 1st and driven by the big upsurge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is on cast becoming a public health issue. This is a Homeland Security issue. People don't feel safe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Well, I want to begin by saying something you don't normally hear at the start of a news program, because
even though we talk about the enormity of this pandemic, until it actually affects you or your loved ones, it's still really difficult to understand,
isn't it?
For example, how do you comprehend a figure of more than 67,000? That, of course, is the record number of cases America has just reported in a single
day. Or if you're watching on the other side of the world, what does it mean to you that around a dozen U.S. states are seeing record
hospitalizations?
How can we truly grasp the severity of one of America's top experts, comparing what we are living through to the 1918 flu when so few of us,
quite frankly, were alive to see it. Because unfortunately for all of our anxiety and precaution, until you really know, you don't which is why we
are again starting our program with the global COVID-19 crisis?
We spoke about the United States extensively in the last hour. Let's turn to South and Central America now. Brazil is our second highest number of
cases and deaths in the world. President Bolsonaro voiced solidarity with Bolivia's leader, the later country seeing record infections and both
leaders have tested positive.
Venezuela and Colombia are among the nations locking down. More on what that means for tens of thousands of migrants in a few moments while Mexico
is extending border restrictions with non-essential travel with the United States likely to be blocked until at least late August.
Well, Brazil is, in many ways, the front line of the COVID-19 crisis in Latin America as cases there near 2 million. Bill Weir is in Brasilia, as
close to the compound of the President as you can get. It's just off in the background there.
Bill, it does seem, even though these numbers are ridiculous, it does seem that it still isn't being taken seriously at the top by the President. What
are your sources telling you?
BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting, Becky, that the number one and two countries in the world that are dealing with the worst
curves of COVID-19 also live in a perpetual state of mistrust.
There is an epidemic of lying, frankly, that comes out of the White House and out of the Presidential Palace. It's been proven again and again and
again, and the latest example, this week, President Jair Bolsonaro got on the phone with CNN Brazil and said, I'm going crazy under quarantine, I
need to get out of here, I hate this and I'm going to be retested.
Well, the palace yesterday refused to confirm or deny that ever actually took place, but we have a source close to one of his doctors that says
Bolsonaro never even requested that test. There is a protocol involved. He has the team of some of the best doctors in the country here, he has his
own personal intensive care unit should the need ever arise.
[11:05:00]
WEIR: And the only real reason to take one is if he thought the first one was a false positive, but it's just another example of the information that
spreads out. And for those supporters of President Bolsonaro, and I suppose it gives them sort of a psychic way out of this whole crisis.
As you said, if it doesn't touch you personally, you're taking the word of those around you, and if you look at the countries that's handled this the
best from Taiwan and Vietnam to those in Northern Europe, it's a shared sense of responsibility and trust in institutions and a belief that they're
all in this together. So that is certainly lacking here in Brazil.
WEIR: Bill Weir is in Brasilia for you. The virus that having a massive impact on migrants in South America, particularly those from Venezuela,
Stefano Pozzebon is covering this story from Bogota, Colombia with the very latest view from the region and quite literally that U.S. he overlooks the
city, Stefano?
STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Yes, Becky, this is perhaps one of the most dramatic aspects of the effects the pandemic is wreaking along the whole
region of South America. What's happening to the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants that have left the country that have left Venezuela in
the last three or four years, and essentially sprawled all over South America, in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina.
What's happening today when most of these countries are now in lockdown in order to prevent the spread of the virus? Well, Becky, a good number of
them are trying to go back. And last week we were able to travel from here where I am in Bogota to the border with Venezuela the City of Cucuta which
by the way Becky is 15 hour drive for us journalist who are driving on with all the credentials in place.
But for many of these migrants it's three, four, five days walking trip at more than 3,000 meters above sea level. Once they get to the border, the
border is, of course, shut because there's no passage between the two countries Venezuela and Colombia's government do not recognize each other.
They don't speak to each other at the moment.
And only a limited amount of those migrants are allowed to cross every single day into Venezuela. So for many of them the results is essentially
just waiting for days sometimes even for weeks right there next to the border.
And it's dramatic aspect. And what they find on the other side is Venezuela, which is among the worst-equipped countries perhaps in the world
to deal with the pandemic. We've covered, Becky, many times in the last few years the crisis of the - in Venezuela.
So literally this brings a new significance to the phrase between a rock and a hard place. These are people who are stuck between very difficult
conditions, Becky.
ANDERSON: Very good point. Stefano thank you for that. I want to get to Mexico now and to Matt Rivers who is in Mexico City with more. Matt the
restrictions being imposed there to combat the spread of the virus.
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What we learned on Tuesday, Becky, was that border closures, land border closures, specifically, both between the
United States and Canada and the United States and Mexico that have been in place for all non-essential travelers going back to March 21st are now
going to be extended once again through at least August 21st.
Each month all three countries reassess the status and, clearly, it wasn't hard to look at what might happen this month and say, well, things are not
getting better in the United States, they're getting worse. Things are not getting better here in Mexico, they're getting worse.
Canada has its outbreak largely under control, but it is certainly scared of the disease spreading from the United States northward. So it's not a
surprise than that these restrictions have been put in place.
But there is one key loophole to all of this is that flights are still operating between these three countries, and I know that firsthand because
I just flew yesterday, on Tuesday, from the United States back here to Mexico City.
Yes, the airports were emptier, yes, there were sanitary marries in place, but the plane - both flights were quite full that I was on. People are
still clearly traveling and in an interesting note we look at the arrivals board in Mexico City, 15 flights from the United States landed in Mexico
City yesterday.
And in Cancun, a very popular destination spot for Americans, 27 flights landed on Tuesday that originated in the United States. This at a time when
the outbreak in Mexico just continues to get worse, the 7-day moving average continues to really spike, and it was just yesterday, Becky, that
Mexico recorded its second highest daily increase in newly confirmed cases.
That is a trend that is not slowing down, and yet the economy here reopening, borders, you can still fly between them even if the land borders
remain closed. Becky?
[11:10:00]
ANDERSON: That's the story in Mexico. We've been through every region for you there. Thank you, Matt. Lockdowns around the world aren't just hurting
the economies, they're also trapping people in violent or dangerous situations.
We've been alluding to some of this with the narrative from our correspondents there on the ground. The International Rescue Committee
warns that border tightening and movement restrictions are preventing refugees from fleeing violence or they are forcing people to take more
dangerous routes.
Have a look at this on the U.S.-Mexico border, the report says 20,000 asylum seekers are awaiting immigration hearings because courts are closed.
Rohingya refugees are being turned away from Malaysia because of border crossings and closures stranding them at sea.
20 to 50 of them have reportedly starved to death. And the report says 21,000 migrants have been stranded in the African region. These figures
from the International Organization for Migration will be OIM. The IRC also warns of an existential uptick in gender-based violence across Latin
America because of the pandemic and some countries by more than 60 percent. Stay tuned this week CNN's Matt Rivers takes a close look at how women in
Mexico are being trapped by the pandemic?
The debate continues over when and how to reopen schools around the world, particularly those in the U.S.? Leading infectious disease expert Dr.
Anthony Fauci says that local officials should decide on a plan based on how badly COVID-19 outbreak is in their area? Here's what Dr. Fauci said
about that on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: As a principle, we should try as a default to get the kids to
stay in school. However, that's going to vary from where you are in the country and what the dynamics of the outbreak are in your particular
region.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: There are, of course, still a lot of unknowns about what are going on and what that means for the spread of disease in the schools?
Meanwhile, the White House is pushing for schools reopening everywhere. President Trump has threatened to cut school funding if in-person classes
don't resume in the coming weeks, and that is despite the fact that teachers and parents there have both expressed deep concern.
A new "Axios" poll shows most American parents say it will be too much of a health risk to send their children back to school in what is known as the
full semester that's across the board for Blacks, Hispanics and White regardless of their political leanings.
And teachers unions and medical organizations in the states chiming in on the idea that schools are on track to safely reopen, dismissing that as
fantasy. As I said a lot of unknowns about how kids are impacted by COVID- 19? What that means for the spread of disease in the school? CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta now with a look at some of the various studies during the
rounds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So it's kind of feel and look different for the kids when they get back here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: When it comes to reopening the country, there is probably no single issue that is more controversial right
now than schools.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: So are you looking forward to the first day of school?
KEITH EVANS, PRESIDENT, WESTMINISTER SCHOOL: I am. We have a group of students out there that are eager to get back to see one another.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: I don't relish the decision that Head Masters like Keith Evans have to make about his 535 faculty and staff members and nearly 1900
students at the school, which includes my three daughters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: The cafeteria is going to feel very different as well?
EVANS: Cafeteria is going to absolutely feel different and this will be - students will come in and they'll grab lunch and go and eat in their
classrooms and that kind of thing where we can maintain distance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: No surprise, physical distancing a key part of the CDC guidance. Also recommended, wearing masks, teaching good hand hygiene and not sharing
supplies like books and pencils.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: If you could have anything you wanted that you don't have right now, what would it be? What would you like to have?
EVANS: We are really blessed with some great buildings and square footage here. That is the constraining factor, I think, in every school space. If
you can get the social distancing right and fit your program into it, it feels more normal and it works better. But this school was designed to have
students six feet apart anywhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: Many other schools don't have that kind of space. And truth is that problem alone in classrooms, hallways, on buses may prove too much for
some schools to open this fall. But perhaps even more vexing is that more than six months after the first U.S. cases of Coronavirus, we still can't
definitively say what role do kids play in transmission?
[11:15:00]
DR. GUPTA: One study found children carry just as much virus as adults and maybe just as infectious. But others have found differently. In one French
study, a nine-year-old boy with symptoms of COVID-19 exposed over 80 classmates at three schools. None of those children contracted it.
In New South Wales, nine infected students and nine staff across 15 schools exposed a total of 735 students and 128 staff to COVID-19. Only two
secondary infections resulted, one possibly transmitted by an adult to a child.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. BENJAMIN LEE, PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: With this virus, we now have lots of evidence that suggests that children are not drivers of
the pandemic, they are far less susceptible to getting infected with the virus, and when they are infected, they're less likely to pass it along.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: Enough evidence to persuade pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Benjamin Lee to Co-Author this commentary in the Journal of
Pediatrics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. LEE: The likelihood of children spreading the virus or transmitting it is still relatively low. However, in areas where there is a lot of
transmission in the community, that could potentially increase the likelihood that an infected adult could step into the school setting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: Exposure from wherever is a concern for many teachers. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis, nearly a quarter of all teachers in
the United States have health conditions that make them more vulnerable to the Coronavirus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVANS: We're planning for all of that as opposed to staying focused on students who have a more narrow band of risk in this, and so what it has
meant was that from the very beginning, we maximized, kind of, the safety protocols. We said we're going to do the absolute limit of distancing,
masking, sanitizing and so forth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: There are plenty of examples around the world where schools appear to have reopened safely. Germany, Norway but there is also reminders
that when social distancing restrictions were lifted early, like in Israel, large outbreaks followed the return to class.
In the end, it is a balance. No doubt closing schools can help curb this pandemic. How much? One model said closing schools would reduce COVID-
related deaths by 2 to 4 percent in the UK. That's a lot or a little, depending on how much virus is already in the community?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. LEE: We need to move the conversation not towards whether schools should open or not but towards how can we open the schools to ensure that
they can open and remain open?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: How to do that is a challenge?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVANS: We are planning and we're moving toward a particular end, but we're also eyes wide open, ears wide open, understanding how this is evolving,
and we understand, you know, next week everything could change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, as for international students in the U.S., they can now breathe a sigh of relief. The Trump Administration has rescinded that
policy that would bar international students from staying in the U.S. if their universities only offered online courses due to the pandemic.
MIT was one of two universities that brought a lawsuit against the movement and released a statement, and I quote them here, we at MIT are enormously
grateful that so many are paying attention and talking about the important role international students play in our education, research and innovation
enterprises in the United States. These students make us stronger, and we hurt ourselves when we alienate them. Many of those students will be from
the Middle East region where we are based here. In Abu Dhabi coming up on "Connect the World".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is utterly incapable of leading this country. And it's dangerous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And that is a family member. Mary Trump, Author of the latest tell-all book about the U.S. President speaking out for the first time
since the book's release. That's coming up. Plus, bail denied for former confidante of accused sex trafficker for Jeffrey Epstein details on
Ghislaine Maxwell's upcoming trial after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:20:00]
ANDERSON: Another day in the United States and it's another 24 hours of rising Coronavirus numbers since the upward trend continues. There is a
bleak new projection from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
This is a frequently cited model and it is predicting that more than 224,000 people will die in the U.S. by November the 1st of Coronavirus. In
the coming hours, the White House Coronavirus Task Force will be meeting to discuss the situation. This time America's top infectious disease expert,
Dr. Anthony Fauci, is expected to attend.
Well, for the latest in a stream of blistering tell-all books now about the U.S. President Donald Trump, his niece, Mary Trump, who is a clinical
psychologist, is speaking for the first time since the release of her "Too Much and Never Enough" book.
It's the first written by a member of the President's family and describes him as a sociopath and a textbook narcissist who embraces cheating as a way
of life. In an interview with ABC News, Mary Trump said her Uncle he is incapable of leading the country. Have a listen to what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY TRUMP, AUTHOR: "TOO MUCH AND NEVER ENOUGH": He is utterly incapable of leading this country, and it's dangerous to allow him to do so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Based on what you see now or what you saw then?
M. TRUMP: Based on what I've seen my entire adult life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Let's bring in CNN Political Correspondent Sara Murray. Sara, Mary Trump describing Trump in two ways both seemingly invincible and also
somewhat vulnerable. Do tell us about that apparent display of arrogance, as it were.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, you know her book is really about how the patriarch of this family, Fred Trump, created such
a toxic environment, and she kind of uses that to explain, relying a little bit on this clinical psychology background, why Donald Trump is the way he
is today?
She says he has to constantly project this strength, and he lies constantly about his accomplishments and everything, and it is all sort of this
broader effort to impress his long dead father. So it's sort of this devastating psychological profile of the President, but she also talks
about, you know, a couple interactions she's had with Donald Trump since he became President.
She refers to a visit she made, even at one point to the Oval Office just a couple months after Donald Trump won the presidency. Here's how she
described it in that interview with ABC News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
M. TRUMP: And I just remember thinking, he seems tired. He seems like this is not what he signed up for, if he even knows what he signed up for, and I
thought his responses, actually more enlightening than my statement when he said, they won't get me. And so far, it looks like he's right.
[11:25:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you were in the Oval Office today, what would you say to him?
M. TRUMP: Resign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: I don't expect President Trump is going to be resigning any time soon, he's obviously in an active reelection bid, but you can see why the
President didn't want this book to see the light of day and why the President's brother actually took Mary Trump to court to try to block the
book from being released and block her from being able to talk about it even though he was unsuccessful in his lawsuit.
ANDERSON: Mary Trump suggesting that Donald Trump paid someone to take his SATs, a college entrance exam for him. What else did she say about that?
MURRAY: This is one of the bizarre anecdotes in the book that has really gotten under the President's skin. You know the White House says it's
totally absurd, but in her book and that again in this interview, Mary Trump doubles down on this story that she was told by other members of the
family, that Donald Trump was going to Fordham University.
He wanted to get into the University of Pennsylvania, a more prestigious school and so he actually paid another kid he knew to take the SATs forum
because he knew he wouldn't have the grades to get in. Again, the White House denies that this ever happened.
In this interview with ABC News, Mary Trump says she's confident in this. She said she won't reveal who told her this story, but she says it's people
who were alive and who were aware of this at the time who have recounted it to her, and that's why she included it in her book.
ANDERSON: Fascinating stuff. Thank you, Sara. A U.S. Federal judge has denied bail for Ghislaine Maxwell. She is the former confidant and alleged
co-conspirator of accused sex trafficker and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Now while Maxwell pleaded not guilty, the court ruled that she will remain in
jail until her trial next year, stating that risk of her fleeing is quite simply too great.
CNN spoke to an Jennifer Araoz an alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein, who responded to the bail denial saying, I am once again able to take another
breath as Ghislaine Maxwell will be in jail until at least her trial date next year knowing that she is incarcerated for the foreseeable future
allows me and my fellow survivors have faith that we're on the right path.
I would like to thank both the prosecutors and the judge for taking his one step closer to seeing that justice is served. Well, her attorney Lisa Bloom
also responded in a tweet saying this is the first step towards restoring my clients' faith in the system. Denying bail ensures that Mrs. Maxwell
cannot continue to hide and flee as the consequences of her actions close in on her.
Watching "Connect the World" with me Becky Anderson. Still ahead, Coronavirus raging pretty much of the states. Why is the U.S. President,
then, continuing to downplay the crisis? I'll talk to Steven Collinson about that. Plus, we're going to hear from the NATO Secretary General about
how the International Military Alliance is coping with the worldwide pandemic. That after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
ANDERSON: Welcome back. It's half past seven in the UAE. I'm Becky Anderson for you, an update now on the Coronavirus. So specifically in the United
States which just set a new one-day record Tuesday with more than 67,000 now cases.
Almost 3.5 million Americans now infected cases on the rise on a week to week basis and two-thirds of the country more than 136,000 Americans have
died of COVID-19 and that number will go up. Model used by the White House predicts nearly a quarter of a million deaths by November.
With top U.S. infectious disease experts Dr. Anthony Fauci warns that there is a chance the impact of the pandemic could rival the 1918 flu pandemic
that killed at least 50 million people around the world.
While the virus weaved through the United States, the President there - falsely refusing to confront reality head on that sea opinion at least of
our White House Reporter Stephen Collinson who has written an article under the headline, "Trump offers denial and delusion as pandemic crisis
overtakes his presidency"
Stephen joins us now as a regular on this show. Tell us what you really think. What is that conceit if you're argument is?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Becky, you would think that in the teeth of the worst domestic crisis in the United States since
World War II, the President would fail duty bound.
And given that he is eyeing a reelection race in a few months politically bound to try and fix it and to make it better. What the President actually
has done all along is denied the seriousness of the virus. He has downplayed the crisis and he has made it pretty clear that he just wants it
to go away.
The President, I think, realizes that this is not going to go away before the election. It appears that his gamble in trying to force states to open
early has backfired spectacularly. As you say, we've had a - just today or yesterday we had a record for the number of new cases in the United States.
The virus is now infecting almost two times as many people as it was three months ago when we thought we were in the darkest days of this pandemic.
And the President basically has responded by trying to change the subject, ignoring the crisis.
And he responded yesterday with a meandering monologue of over an hour in the White House Rose Garden, an extraordinarily spectacle, basically
spending the whole time slamming his Democratic opponent in November, Joe Biden.
But it was barely coherent at times, and it was clearly not the action of a President that has this crisis under control and knows how to leave the
country out of it.
ANDERSON: Yes. I mean - I guess 52 minutes, as described by many as wild monologue bashing Joe Biden, his opponent in the 2020 election, is no real
surprise to many who have been observing this President over the last three years.
I mean, as far as CNN fact checkers are concerned, some 19 false or misleading claims during that anti-Biden bash, as it were. We shouldn't be
surprised with 100 days or so to go until this election that the President would be in full campaign mode at this point.
COLLINSON: Right. But you would also think that his chances of winning re- election hinge on getting this pandemic under control, and at least giving some impression to voters that he can take everybody out of this nightmare
that's getting worse month after month and doesn't appear to be getting better, you know, any time soon this year or next, even, at the rate things
are going.
So if the election comes down to a choice between whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden has a better idea of how to get America's normal life at least
together to some semblance of normality, you would think that even his own political interests, it would be behoove the President to try and do
something about the pandemic.
But that's clearly not the way the President's mind works. He's always tried to create these alternative realities that his voters can buy into.
The problem is that if you look at the polls and polls aren't always correct.
[11:35:00]
COLLINSON: But it's pretty clear that Americans right now think that Joe Biden is far better equipped to take the country out of the pandemic era
than Donald Trump. And if that is the question of the election, it doesn't seem that the President is going to be able to come from behind in the
three and a half months that remain until Election Day.
ANDERSON: Yes, no, you make a very good point. President Trump has taken another swipe at China, Stephen, after signing this Hong Kong sanctions
bill. Just have a quick listen to this to the benefit of our viewers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: This law gives my administration powerful new tools to hold responsible the individuals and
the entities involved in extinguishing Hong Kong's freedom. We've all watched what happened.
Not a good situation. Their freedom has been taken away their rights have been taken away, and with it goes Hong Kong, in my opinion, because it will
no longer be able to compete with free markets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Stephen, I wonder whether you think that Donald Trump is close to having China where he said he would have them.
COLLINSON: Right. So he ran for election in 2016, promising to be tough on China. He turned out to be anything but. I mean, it's pretty clear that
Donald Trump really doesn't care that much about human rights and democracy in Hong Kong.
We know, for example, that in 2019, he told President Xi Jinping that as long as they were talking about a trade deal, he would keep quiet about
what was going on in Hong Kong. At that point Donald Trump's political goals relied on him trying to get this trade deal with China that he could
say was one of the great achievements of his presidency.
Given that he's messed up the management of the pandemic so badly, he's now using China as a scapegoat, saying almost they weaponized the virus and
they sent it to the United States. So Hong Kong now becomes a convenient peg for the President to up pressure on China, as he is doing over a number
of areas.
And he is, you're right, now perhaps being as tough on China as he said he would be because it's now politically useful to him. I think what's going
to happen, though, once this pandemic is finally over is the world is going to wake up in a new geopolitical era of confrontation between the United
States and the democratic west and China, and that's going to be a whole new crisis.
And President Trump is clearly making that crisis a lot worse, because it suits him politically at this moment. He doesn't have a particularly great
interest, I think, in safeguarding what is perhaps the world's most important relationship in stopping it spiraling out of control.
ANDERSON: Stephen Collinson is in the house always a pleasure sir. Thank you. Still ahead one of the world's largest military alliances feeling the
strain of COVID-19, I'm going to speak to NATO Secretary General about the pressures of the pandemic and about why he recently called on the alliance
to stand up to Beijing's bullying and coercion, that after this?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:40:00]
ANDERSON: The number of COVID-19 cases has topped 13 million around the world, with countries across six continents still struggling to get a hold
of what is this deadly pandemic. More than 578,000 people, more than half a million people, have lost their lives.
Sporting and entertainment events have been canceled, businesses and schools shut down, international borders, as we are all well aware, closed.
Even NATO had to cancel major military exercises as a precautionary measure to risk the spread of the virus.
The outbreak just one of many pressing issues now facing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg joining us now
from Madrid and you - we've seen NATO cancel a number of exercises. Just how do you see the Coronavirus and its spread affecting or impacting NATO's
readiness sir?
JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: Of course, the Coronavirus has impacted NATO, and we have taken preventive measures to prevent the spread
of the virus. But for now NATO has been able to uphold our military readiness, our military operations that are going on, Air police saying the
battle groups that we have deployed in eastern part of the Afghanistan naval patrolling and so on.
So NATO is an organization which has really planned for a crisis, and we have been able, of course, to uphold our readiness during the COVID-19
crisis.
ANDERSON: You just talked about Afghanistan, so let me just press a point here. Your organization released a statement yesterday urging the Taliban
to end the violence in Afghanistan.
You say, and I quote you here, the current level of violence driven especially by Taliban attacks against Afghan National Defense and Security
Forces remains, unacceptably high, causing instability and undermining confidence in the peace process. It's time for all parties to seize this
moment for peace. How do you envision that peace happening? What is the best political solution at this point?
STOLTENBERG: Well, the best political solution now is the full implementation of the agreement made between the United States and the
Taliban in February. I was present in Kabul when the agreement was signed, NATO allies to support the agreement. And this is about the Taliban
breaking all ties for the international terrorist organizations including Al-Qaeda it's about reduction in violence.
And perhaps most important it's about agreeing to launch and start in Afghan negotiations, because at the end of the day, peace forces in
Afghanistan has to be owned and led by the afghans themselves.
What we are doing is to provide support to the Afghan Security Forces so the Taliban understands that they will never win on the battlefield.
They'll have to sit down at the negotiating table and make real compromises and implement the agreement.
ANDERSON: I want to talk about Libya, there are a number of things I want to talk about. And I want to talk about Libya at this point and then I want
to talk about China. The Director of Intelligence for the U.S. Africa Command says that, they have imagery in intelligence to show how Russia is
continuing to interfere and complicate Libyan ceasefire efforts, adding that its state-sponsored Wagner Group is recklessly using landmines and
booby traps?
There are also serious complaints about Turkey's involvement there as there are complaints from Turkey about the involvement of others, not the least
the French, the Egyptians, and indeed, the UAE. What is NATO's position on Libya at present, and how are you as an alliance dealing with the
contradictions between members for example, Turkey and France?
STOLTENBERG: As our main message is that we need a UN-led peace process, and therefore NATO's strongly support the UN efforts to find the political
peaceful negotiated solution to the conflict the crisis in Libya.
[11:45:00]
STOLTENBERG: At the same time, we are of course concerned about the violence. We are concerned about the significant increased Russian presence
in Libya. This is part of a pattern where we've seen more Russian presence in the Mediterranean, in Syria and also in Libya, and of course it
undermines the peace efforts.
So our main message is to support the UN-led effort to try to find the political and negotiate the solution to the conflict.
ANDERSON: And I understand that, so with respect to - I would perhaps expect you to say that, I'm just wondering just how long NATO puts up with
Turkey as this internal irritant in the alliance?
STOLTENBERG: Well, there's nothing new in an alliance of 30 countries from both sides of the Atlantic with different history, different geography, and
different political partners in power. There are differences as there has been in NATO for decades. They - the crisis in '56 or when France decided
to leave the military cooperation in the 60s or the Iraq war in 2003.
There has been a difference between the NATO allies before. But NATO has always been able to overcome these differences, and united around the - to
protect and defend the - and - they're absolutely - also able to do that now despite the differences we see between some allies on the issue of
Libya.
ANDERSON: Yes. You will have to concede that Turkey is pursuing an increasingly independent policy. And that is at variance with many of
NATO's allies at present, isn't it, sir? On a number of issues, not least--
STOLTENBERG: So, NATO is a platform where we bring together 30 allies, and most of the time we agree and we agree on the most important thing, to
defend and protect the child there. Actually allies, European allies in North America, we are doing more together now when it comes to exercises,
when it comes to reinforcing our collective defense than they've done for decades.
But at the same time, sometimes there are differences. Sometimes they are not able to agree. But then NATO still provides a platform to sit down and
have open and frank discussions. And for instance, on the situation with Libya, we have discusses that and addressed that several times in NATO.
We agree on some issues related to Libya, the importance of supporting the UN efforts, the concern about the increased Russian presence, the
importance are also monitoring, following that very closely, and we have our sea garden and NATO military presence in the Eastern Mediterranean. But
on some issues, yes, we have not been able to agree, and that's part of being the alliance of 30 allies.
ANDERSON: Yes. And it's also part of the criticism that goes is NATO still competitive and relevant? You have said that NATO needs to stand up to
Beijing's bullying and coercion in Europe. Strong words from an alliance that critics say has been so focused on Moscow that it has simply missed
Beijing's growing clout across Europe. How big a threat is China?
STOLTENBERG: We don't regard China as an adversary, and we have seen that the rise of China also creates some opportunities, economic growth lifting
hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and we continue to engage with China. I met China's Foreign Minister not so many months ago.
But at the same time we of course have to fully understand and also respond in an appropriate way to the security consequences of the rise of China.
They now have the second largest defense budget in the world. We'll see how they operate in the South China Sea. We know they don't share our values.
We see that, for instance, in Hong Kong where freedom of speech, freedom of press, is now really - that those rights are really violated.
And I know it myself, I was promised in Norway when the Norwegian Peace Prize Committee awarded the peace prize to China's dissonant and China
tried actually to force NATO - Norway to regret that decision.
So we have seen how China tries to buy corrosion by also bullying to try to force countries all over the world to act according to their wishes? And we
cannot accept that.
ANDERSON: So I'm just going to leave you our viewers with this final question that in order to remain competitive, in order to remain relevant,
NATO must have a China strategy. What is it?
STOLTENBERG: We have a China strategy in the meaning that we are now, for the first time in our history, I was started to actually address the rights
of China. We made a decision in December after a leaders' meeting in London for the first time in the history that we have to also take into account
the rise of China.
[11:50:00]
STOLTENBERG: That's something new for this alliance because historically we have been focused on the Soviet Union and Russia. But there is no way NATO
can not address the consequences of the rise of China.
So just a fact that all allies agreed with that the leaders when they met in London is a very important new step showing that NATO is adapting to a
different and changing security environment shifting a global balance of power to the rise of China.
ANDERSON: And with that, I'll leave it there, sir. It's always a pleasure. A wide-ranging discussion and I appreciate that Jens Stoltenberg, the
Secretary General of NATO. This just into CNN, at least seven vessels have caught fire.
In a Southern Iranian shipyard, that is according to Iranian State media which adds there are no casualties. Fire fighters still on the scene -
trying to contain the fire, this is on the Persian Gulf, about 700 kilometers from Tehran.
Well, Tiger Woods' is about to play his first competitive tournament in five months, but ahead of teeing off the golf's megastar, take time to
comment on the Black Lives Matter Movement. Hear what he has to say up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Welcome back. While PGA Tour Golf has been playing for a month now, the Coronavirus hero Tiger Woods' has been on the sidelines, but not
anymore. Patrick Snell joins us. Tiger ready to tee-off from Thursday. Discuss more than just the sort of small issue of golf, didn't he?
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yes. You really did, Becky. Yes, thanks for joining us. Tiger is a global name, and when he speaks he has a platform.
This is his first competitive outing since February of this year. And the sport's 15-time major's winner Becky has also being given his take on the
ongoing Black Lives Matter movement.
Now he's competing in the memorial tournament in Ohio which gets underway on Thursday. Woods will be making his first PGA Tour appearance, this since
the death of George Floyd in late May in Minnesota. The 44-year-old Woods saying he believes the movement is a way to move society forward in its
search for equality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIGER WOODS, SEEKS ALL-TIME RECORD 83 RD CAREER PGA TOUR WIN: I think change is fantastic as long as we make changes without hurting the
innocent. Unfortunately, that has happened. Hopefully that doesn't happen in the future, but a movement and change is fantastic.
That's how society develops? It's how we grow? It's how we move forward? It's how we have fairness? And unfortunately we've lost innocent lives
along the way, and hopefully we don't lose any more in the future as we move to a much better place socially.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNELL: Powerful words, indeed there from Tiger Woods. Talk about making an impact, something Manchester United in England striker Marcus Rashford
continues to do both on and off the football pitch. The 22-year-old striker hit the headlines with his recent campaign against child poverty in his
homeland. And now Rashford is the youngest ever recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Manchester.
It was last month he forward successfully pressured the UK government to reverse its decision to not extent free school meal vouchers throughout the
summer holidays for children from low income families.
Rashford calling it a proud day for him and his family, adding, we still have a long way to go in the fight to combat child poverty in this country.
But receiving recognition from your own city means we are heading in the right direction and that means a lot.
[11:55:00]
SNELL: Well, four fixtures on the slide for this day in the Premier League including champs Liverpool and Arsenal. Meantime - Chelsea eking out the 1-
0 win over already relegated Norwich on Tuesday.
French striker Olivier Giroud with a game winner in the first half stoppage time there no marking at all the Blues in third place in the race for
Champions League places for next season. Therefore clear of Leicester and Man United both of whom play tomorrow.
And the Fiesta football awaiting fans during the group stages of Qatar 2022 an unprecedented number of matches per day will be taking place. This is
for the first ever World Cup to be held in the Middle-East.
Tournament organizers FIFA saying with the aim of providing all teams with optimal rest between their matches, the group stage will last 12 days with
four matches per day. The tournament's compact nature with no air travel needed to move between the venues will allow organizers for the first time
to optimize specific match demands for the benefit and the comfort of fans, teams and media.
The final itself taking place from the 18th of December in 2020 to the 80,000-seat Lusail Stadium just outside of Doha. Becky, I know where you'll
be in two and a half years time from right now I know, by the way, your beloved spurs kicking off in just about an hour from right now at New
Castle. I'm sure you'll be keeping an eye on that one.
ANDERSON: Absolutely, where we are because I'll see you there at the Lusail and then I need to close this show so I can go home and watch the game as
Nelson Mandela. Thank you, Patrick. Ones inspired us with sport has the power to change the world be that with Rushford's fantastic campaign and
all staying active through the many lock downs around the world.
Inspiring us all from our couches and bringing us together, it's wonderful to see sports being played again, even in empty stadiums. I am Becky
Anderson. That was "Connect the World." And to all of you wherever you are watching, have a very good evening.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: And you are watching CNN. I'm Becky Anderson. I want to hand over to my colleague John King for continuing coverage of the COVID-19 crisis.
END
