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Daughter Of COVID-19 Victim Blames Trump For Father's Death; Democrats Take Aim At Trump In Convention Opener; In-Person Church Services Suspended In South Korea; Senator Bernie Sanders Urges All Democrats To Back Biden; U.S. Senate Committee Releases Final 2016 Russian Interference Report; Barcelona On Verge Of Hiring Ronald Koeman. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired August 18, 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)
MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can and they will if we don't
make a change in this election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First of all--
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: The U.S. Democratic National Convention kicks off with a plea for left, right and center to back Joe
Biden and end the Trump Presidency. We'll discuss with Democrat Andrew Yang.
Plus as coronavirus cases climb in Argentina, thousands of angry demonstrators take to the streets to protest lockdown measures. And in
Belarus, factory workers heckle the president known as Europe's last dictator while thousands continue to demand he resign.
Welcome, everybody. This is "Correct the World." U.S. Democrats opened their first ever virtual convention yesterday, Monday, with dual messages.
An all-out attack on U.S. President Donald Trump and his response to the coronavirus pandemic and a message of inclusiveness with speakers ranging
the gamut from left wing progressives to centrist Republicans who are supporting Joe Biden against Donald Trump.
That will continue tonight with appearances by the Democrats' old guard, Former President Bill Clinton, and the progressive wing standard bearer
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Joe Biden's wife Jill will also speak on tonight's state delegations formally nominate her husband for
president.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama was the final speaker Monday night, spending a big part of her 18-minute speech attacking President Trump's
coronavirus response, but she also praised Joe Biden's humanity, and that was a common theme throughout the night. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
M. OBAMA: I know Joe. He is a profoundly decent man guided by faith. He was a terrific vice president. He knows what it takes to rescue an economy,
beat back a pandemic and lead our country. And he listens. He will tell the truth and trust science. He will make smart plans and manage a good team.
And he will govern as someone who has lived a life that the rest of us can recognize.
JOHN KASICH, FORMER U.S. REPUBLIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're being taken down the wrong road by a president who has pitted one against the other.
He's unlike all of our best leaders before him who worked to unite us, to bridge our differences and lead us to a united America. I'm a lifelong
Republican, but that attachment holds second place to my responsibility to my country.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT): My friends, I say to you, to everyone who supported other candidates in the primary, and to those who may have voted
for Donald Trump in the last election, the future of our democracy is at stake.
The future of our economy is at stake. The future of our planet is at stake. We must come together, defeat Donald Trump, and elect Joe Biden and
Kamala Harris as our next president and vice president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, the night's most dramatic speech wasn't delivered by a politician. It came from a woman whose father died of COVID. She says
President Trump is to blame.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTEN URQUIZA, DAUGHTER OF CORONAVIRUS VICTIM: In late May, after the stay-at-home order was lifted in Arizona, my dad went to a karaoke bar with
his friends. A few weeks later, he was put on a ventilator, and after five agonizing days, he died alone in the ICU with a nurse holding his hand. My
dad was a healthy 65-year-old.
[11:05:00]
URQUIZA: His only preexisting condition was trusting Donald Trump, and for that he paid with his life. The coronavirus has made it clear that there
are two Americas, the America that Donald Trump lives in, and the America that my father died in. Enough is enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, I want to bring in CNN Political Commentator and Former Democratic Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang who was added as a convention
speaker after initially being left out. He speaks on Thursday and he joins me today in New Jersey. Thank you for being with us.
What did you make of day one? There was a lot of Trump isn't capable, Trump isn't rising up to the occasion of COVID, unless here's why you should be
voting for the democratic candidate. Do you think it will be effective? It didn't quite work in 2016.
ANDREW YANG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, there are four days of the convention, Hala, and day one was about projecting unity, and as you said,
inclusiveness where you had moderate Republicans like John Kasich and Susan Molinari and Bernie Sanders, Michelle Obama gave a tremendous speech
highlighting what many Americans are thinking and feeling.
The fact is Michelle Obama is so powerful a messenger because she doesn't seem political. She just seems like a parent who is concerned about the
direction the country has been headed in, and that's the way most Americans are feeling about what's happening right now.
72 percent of Americans believe this is the worst time they've ever experienced which is a terrible climate for an incumbent and one reason why
Trump is on track to lose in November.
GORANI: Yes, but I wonder, is it possible, I mean, is it conceivable that when you look at how Democrats are approaching this election that they
might be making some of the same mistakes they made four years ago by focusing more on Trump than on their own platform?
I know there are four more days left, and also there is this huge, huge challenge, which is that this convention is virtual, there is no in-person
campaigning. So Kamala Harris as VP, she's not going to be shaking hands and kissing babies. How do you overcome that?
YANG: Well, it's certainly a learning experience for all of us, because this is the first virtual convention, I believe, in American political
history. The message that Democrats are sending is in large part a winning message around change.
The fact is right now Donald Trump is presiding over the loss of tens of millions of jobs, over the loss of 170,000 American lives and counting, and
so if you're running on a changed message in one of the darkest times in history, that's a very, very winning message.
GORANI: One of the things you've said is that Democrats need to start connecting with middle America again, and this is part of, I guess, the
challenge of energizing the vote, especially in battleground states that when you were campaigning in person, when you were running during the
primary, you felt that the perception was coming from some voters in battleground states, that the Democrats were a party of elitist liberals.
That's the perception, not necessarily a reality. But how do you flip that? How do you overcome that with a virtual convention and no in-person
campaigning?
YANG: You could see some of those efforts last night where they're talking to small business owners and folks who reflect small town America and main
street businesses that are struggling right now. And I do think this is an ongoing challenge for the Democratic Party to meet people where they are,
to speak with people in a way that touches them and reaches them.
This is something I feel Republicans have actually had a bit of an advantage in over the last number of years. But the Democrats right now are
in phenomenal shape and there is such an eager appetite for a different message.
Trump ran as a changed candidate in 2016 and now many, many Americans are looking for any reason to turn the page from this last number of months
under his presidency.
GORANI: But, Andrew Yang, that being said, and I think all Democrats would agree with what you're saying, but that being said, if you look at the
polls, they're not always accurate. But if you look at the polls, the trend is pointing toward a tightening, a major tightening of the race between
Trump and Biden. That has to be a cause for concern for Democrats.
YANG: Well, Democrats need to come together, we need to work and donate and volunteer and virtually knock on doors. There is a lot of work to do. I
mean, you have to win an election. But the fact that there is some tightening is something you would expect, frankly, from the fact that Joe
had such a sizeable lead, significantly bigger even than Hillary Clinton's lead a number of years ago.
[11:10:00]
YANG: So there is a lot of work to be done for sure. I'm confident that Joe and Kamala are on track to win if we put in the work, but the message has
to be that we should take nothing for granted, particularly because the integrity of this election may itself be contested based upon our ability
to count votes accurately and quickly.
GORANI: Yes and the left wing of the party as well. We have AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tonight. Some have said maybe the more progressive wing of
the party should be more front and center in order to energize voters, because this is, in many ways, about turnout for the Democrats. Do you
agree?
YANG: I do agree. I think Bernie did a phenomenal job last night, sincerely conveying that we need to come together, defeat Donald Trump and elect Joe
and Kamala. I'm on the record saying AOC should have more time tonight, because I think she's the reason why many younger Americans are even going
to tune in.
So they're going to tune in and see AOC convey a message. The other thing is that this medium, this virtual convention sets a very high bar for
speakers. And you have to give a platform to folks who can actually pierce through the medium and convey a real message, and AOC is definitely one of
those people.
GORANI: Just one last question on the format, and obviously because of the pandemic and the staggering death toll in the United States, it has to be
virtual but I wonder, as someone, you know, who understands tech more than most people, was there, do you think, another way to do this that would
have just conveyed more energy?
Because this just at sometimes it kind of looked like a big giant Zoom call. And I know because of the pandemic there is no in person there is no
giant arenas that are possible. But is there another way to do it, do you think?
YANG: Well, there is certainly at this point a public health necessity to make these conventions virtual. One thing I was saying to my wife last
night, Hala, it's very challenging - you know this because you do what you do. It's very challenging to fill eight hours of programming that's
compelling and conveys information.
It's just a monumental challenge. But the challenge lies on both sides, because the Republicans will have the same task next week. And to me, the
night's a success if there are a few things that you remember.
And there are certainly several things that people took away from last night in Michelle Obama's speech and Bernie's speech, in the story you just
conveyed of the woman who lost her father to the coronavirus. As long as you have a number of memorable moments from your night, it's a success.
GORANI: All right. Well, Andrew Yang, and you're right about the challenge of filling many hours of television and making it as compelling as
possible. Andrew Yang, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.
YANG: My pleasure, Hala.
GORANI: And watch CNN for coverage of night two - thank you - of the DNC starting at 1:00 am Wednesday morning here on London 8:00 am in Hong Kong
well of course some recap throughout the following day.
Donald Trump is pushing back on the Democrats attacks. Earlier in a series of tweets Mr. Trump slammed the Obama/Biden Administration and on Monday he
painted Joe Biden as radical during a campaign visit in Minnesota.
Of course, this despite the fact that Joe Biden has been in politics for decades and embodies very much the centrist position of the Democratic
Party he also called the Republican John Kasich a loser for supporting the Democratic ticket.
President Trump's strategy for reelection involves some controversial figures in the U.S. cultural wars. You remember the couple who pointed guns
at Black Lives Matter protesters earlier this summer. Well, they are scheduled to speak in support of President Trump at the Republican National
Convention next week.
Joe Johns is at the White House ahead of Mr. Trump's rally in Arizona in the coming hours. Traditionally, doesn't the other side in U.S. politics
kind of, you know, keep it low key during the other party's convention? That's not what Trump is doing, though.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right. It has been the history of these two extraordinary weeks that occur every four
years in the United States for the candidate of the party that is not participating in a convention to sort of lie low, if you will, until that
first convention is over.
But we're not seeing that from this president. It's clear, number one, that he feels like he's behind in the polls, so he has an obligation to at least
make a splash.
[11:15:00]
JOHNS: It's also important to say this is a president who very much who very much is into distractions when there is information coming out on the
other side that he may not want the people to hear. So the president made trips to two battleground states just yesterday and he's making trips,
essentially, to two more battlegrounds today.
That's not the only thing the president has been doing in advance of day two of this Democratic Convention. He is also very much on Twitter right
now, as he always is, but his tweets more and more are about the people who are participating in the Democratic Convention.
He's tweeted about Michelle Obama and her speech. He also talked about it here at the White House just a little while ago, calling that speech
divisive and making a point of taking a shot at Former President Barack Obama, suggesting that the only reason President Trump is in the White
House is because of the job that Barack Obama did, also suggesting Barack Obama didn't do a good job with one of the pandemics that the country faced
in 2009.
Of course, the facts belie that. So the president is doing what he does, creating distractions and also trying to make a splash, if you will, here
so that there will be some competing headlines about what he's doing while the DNC continues, Hala?
GORANI: Okay. Thanks very much, Joe Johns. Coming up, under a lockdown for several more weeks, thousands of protesters defy quarantine measures in
Argentina, and anger is growing there. And after the break, this is not a party from 2019. This is Wuhan last weekend as things returned to normal in
what was once the coronavirus epicenter.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Welcome back. Asian Pacific countries are entering a new phase of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the World Health Organization.
Younger people are now pushing the spread with Victoria, Australia, along with Japan and the Philippines, all reporting that more than half of new
cases are in people below the age of 40.
South Korea has suspended all in-person church services in Seoul after four days of triple-digit case numbers. Nearly 250 cases were recorded in 24
hours, and 75 of those were linked to religious rallies that were held this month.
And in what would be unthinkable anywhere else in the world, a pool party in Wuhan in a water park attracted thousands of people. Wuhan was ground
zero for the pandemic but seems to be on its way back to pre-pandemic times.
[11:20:00]
GORANI: Some experts in the U.S. say they have some good news on the COVID front. Researchers at Columbia University say faster test results and a
robust immune response may offer hope of curbing the pandemic.
Tests have been delayed and in short supply as the United States moves closer to 5.5 million cases. One of America's top health officials
acknowledges the U.S. response to the pandemic has fallen short.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE COORDINATOR: I wish that when we went into lockdown we looked like Italy. But when Italy locked
down, I mean, people weren't allowed out of their houses and they couldn't come out but once every two weeks to buy groceries for one hour, and they
had to have a certificate that said they were allowed. Americans don't react well to that kind of prohibition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: While many U.S. schools and universities that decided to return to in-person learning are struggling just to stay open, the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill says it will shift all undergraduate classes online.
This comes after 130 students tested positive in the first week since on- site classes began. Elizabeth Cohen, CNN Senior Medical Correspondent, joins me now with more. That has to be a disappointment for students. What
a world if you're a freshman starting college for the first time to have to just sit in front of a computer to take your classes.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, but it's better than getting COVID-19, right? Definitely, I have many friends who have
children who are college age, and that's exactly what they're saying.
It's terrible my child is not going to have the college experience I had. That is true, but it's better than your child catching COVID-19. Chances
are they will be okay, but you never know if your child is going to be one of the ones who become seriously ill or even die.
You also don't know if they're going to become infected and they'll be asymptomatic and bring it home to you or to other people. So what we're
finding in the United States is that universities are opening, like UNC, University of North Carolina, and then, shockingly, and I say that with a
great deal of sarcasm, the students get there and they find they have cases.
More than 100 cases in UNC among the students, and they say, oh, boy, who would have thought? Let's close down. So I think the next question is, what
did you think would happen? You're going to get a bunch of college students together.
What is going to happen? They're going to spread this virus. College students are not good at doing social distancing. Socially distanced
college students are an oxymoron. It's like jumbo shrimp. It doesn't happen.
GORANI: Let's talk about a vaccine, and by the way what Deborah Birx said was interesting, because it seems as though based on all the experience
we've had covering this. That if you're going to lock taste down, you have to just completely lockdown down, in the way Italy did, in the France did
as well for several months where you can only leave your house to go shopping once a day.
You need a certificate. That just doesn't work in the United States. You have protests against mask wearing. So really it seems like the solution is
a vaccine. Where are we on that?
COHEN: Well you know look, before I get to the vaccine, let me just make one note on what you said, Hala, because I think there is a lot of truth to
what you said. But I will also say that when I walk around here in Atlanta where I live, almost everyone is wearing a mask.
I think if you asked people a couple months ago, do you think you could get most people in Atlanta, Georgia wear a mask, the answer would be no. It is
amazing what people can do when there is good public health communication and they get why they need to do it. So Deborah Birx said we need to meet
people where they are.
What I would say to her is well maybe you could get people where you need to be. Like do some leadership that might actually be helpful. So now we
want to talk about the vaccine. So let's take a look at what Moderna, the first U.S. trial that is currently underway.
They are trying to recruit 30,000 people in the first three weeks, so basically from July 27th to last week; they recruited almost 8,400 which is
a good number. That could get them to 30,000 by the end or middle of next month pretty easily.
But the problem is they're not recruiting the right kinds of people. So when we look at coronavirus cases in the United States, 22 percent have
been among black people. But when you look at black people enrolled in trials, it's only 4.5 percent.
When you look at all the cases in the U.S., about a third, 33 percent, have been a among Latinos, but when you look at Latinos in clinical trials, it's
only 10 percent. That is not going to work. Clinical trials need to reflect the population who they're trying to help for a variety of reasons.
So I'm told that Moderna has been told by Operation Warp Speed, which is the government effort in the U.S. to get a vaccine, you have got to fix
this. I am told Moderna is working on it and that they are working hard to make this better, Hala?
[11:25:00]
GORANI: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks very much. Staying with COVID, Latin America is a major contributor in the nearly 22 million cases
worldwide. Five out of ten countries with the highest rates of infection are there in Latin America.
Brazil is the hardest hit. Dozens of indigenous protesters set up a roadblock in the northern sate Para on Monday, demanding medical help from
the government. A judge has ordered them to remove it. More than 400 in their tribe have contracted the virus.
Meanwhile, mass protests broke out in Buenos Aires against the Argentine government's handling of the pandemic. People are angry over quarantine
measures which have been until the end of the month, and they're showing it by gathering in large groups.
Argentina has nearly 300,000 confirmed cases. Stefano Pozzebon is following the demonstrations and he joins us from Bogota, Columbia. So what's the
latest behind these numbers? Just in the last few days, we're still seeing some records set in some countries.
STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Yes, exactly, Hala. It really seems that COVID-19 is going nowhere here in South America. It's here to stay, and
most of South American countries are still recording very worrying numbers.
But as you said, even after four or five months of social distance measuring and quarantines with cases not going down, people are really
tired of the economic effects of COVID-19, of the pandemic.
We talk a lot about the second wave taking place perhaps in Europe, but here, the biggest backlash, the biggest remaining effects of the pandemic
will be the economic malaise, and that's why more than 25,000 people took to the streets of Buenos Aires yesterday, 25,000 is a staggering number in
a country that still has a lot of social distancing measures in place.
And those 25,000 were not the poorest sectors of the economy. It's the middle class that's the most dynamic, which are the ones that have been
mostly hit economically by having to shut their shops, having to stay and work from home, and this is causing a lot of economic malaise all across
the South America.
Argentina is perhaps the tip of the iceberg today, but similar situations can be found in many countries around the world, in Bolivia, in Peru,
Ecuador and even here in Colombia, Hala.
GORANI: Stefano Pozzebon, thank you. We'll be right back after the break stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
GORANI: The crowds and cheers that are a staple of political conventions were not present Monday night as the democratic convention started. But the
rhetoric was as charged as ever including a short talk on President Trump by someone who knows the White House well, former First Lady Michelle
Obama. CNN's Jessica Dean has our wrap up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We have to vote for Joe Biden in numbers that cannot be ignored.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former first lady Michelle Obama wrapping up night one of the Democratic National Convention with an impassioned plea
to Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Donald Trump is the wrong President for our country. He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over
his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: The Former First Lady pulled no punches.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Whenever we look to this White House for some leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos,
division, and a total and utter lack of empathy. You know that I tell you exactly what I'm feeling.
You know I hate politics. But you also know that I care about this nation. If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can and they
will if we don't make a change in this election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: A source tells CNN Obama practiced her speech for weeks. And while a speechwriter helped her draft the speech, she knew exactly what she wanted
to say Obama imploring Americans to think of the next generation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: They watch in horror as children are torn from their families and thrown into cages and pepper spray and rubber bullets are used on peaceful
protesters for a photo op. sadly, this is the America that is on display for the next generation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Another top speaker, Senator Bernie Sanders, Biden's staunchest opponent in the primaries, gave a full-throated endorsement, speaking out
to his supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: Joe Biden will end the hate and division Trump has created. He will stop the demonization of immigrants, the coddling of white
nationalists, the racist dog whistling the religious bigotry. To everyone who supported other candidates in the primary and to those who may have
voted for Donald Trump in the last election, the future of our democracy is at stake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Four Republicans also endorsing Biden, including former Ohio Governor, John Kasich.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KASICH: I'm a lifelong republican, but that attachment holds second place to my responsibility to my country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: President Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic playing a big role throughout the evening, Kristin Urquiza spoke about losing her 65 year
old father to the virus, saying he contracted the virus after visiting a karaoke bar once Arizona's lockdown was lifted, because he believed
President Trump that it was safe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
URQUIZA: My dad was healthier 65 years old. His only preexisting condition was trusting Donald Trump, and for that he paid with his life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: But in the end it was Michelle Obama's speech, laying out the start choice all the night speakers presented.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: If we want to be able to look our children in the eye after this election, we have got to reassert our place in American history, and we
have got to do everything we can to elect my friend Joe Biden as the next President of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: That was Jessica dean reporting. Let's get more convention analysis and bring in CNN political commentator David Swerdlick. So David, what did
you make of the virtual convention, did it have enough energy for you? Did they overcome the COVID challenges?
DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, good to see Hala. I think they did have a successful opening night, the Democrats. They started with
a lot of vignettes with regular people. They went to some of their sort of stock politicians, which was a little bit of a lull in the evening but they
ended on a big note.
You had Senator Sanders there in that clip you played suggesting that, look, he's going to fold in with his left wing of the party to bag Joe
Biden, and then you had Former First Lady Michelle Obama capping it off.
She's arguably one of the most popular people in the world, certainly in the United States, winning Gallops' poll of most admired women in the world
the last two years. That's who Democrats wanted to showcase on that first night, to draw everyone's attention to focus people on what the stakes
were. And I think they got that. Not a lot of glitches.
[11:35:00]
SWERDLICK: And I don't think people were missing the crowd noise, because you didn't have all that shuffling of people on and off stage. It basically
worked. The test for Democrats will be tonight if they can maintain that momentum in night two with a different set of speakers.
GORANI: But I mean, I've heard mixed reviews. You're saying it worked, some people have told me they don't believe that it worked, that it was a bit
awkward, a bit flat, that you kind of needed the balloons and all of that, and the celebrity you know the singers and performers and stuff like that.
SWERDLICK: Sure.
GORANI: So I think it was kind of mixed, from what I have heard. But I guess strategically speaking, one of the things you've said and written is
that the progressive wing of the Democratic Party putting that front and center might be a good strategy to get to energize, kind of, the younger,
more progressive vote. Do you think they're doing enough of that?
SWERDLICK: I'm not sure if they're doing enough of that. I think last night having Senator Sanders on the first night to say, look, I'm unified with
Joe Biden was effective for Democrats. I am surprised that some of the younger, more progressive further left stars like Congresswoman Ocasio-
Cortez, who will speak tonight, don't have a more prominent sort of keynote role.
Even though Democrats want to send this message that they're uniting behind a consensus ticket, Biden and Harris, both sort of moderate centrists. I
still think they might be making a mistake by not highlighting some of the more progressive people who even if they don't match up ideologically with
Vice President Biden are representative to the energy and party.
To your point about last night, if these were the way that conventions had been done for all time, I would probably agree with those who were saying,
it was just okay. But considering this was the first time in our lifetime that you've done a sort of Zoom convention like this, I actually think they
get pretty decent marks, and they didn't set the bar too high that they can't sort of surprise people as the week goes on.
GORANI: But the republicans do have an advantage, right? First of all, Trump is campaigning even though, traditionally, the opposing candidate
lays low during the other party's convention. But they have an advantage in that they're able to kind of watch how the democratic convention plays out
and adjust their approach. Will it be the same, completely virtual?
SWERDLICK: I think we're still seeing how they're going to tweak it, and because, as you say, they have that advantage of going second, they sort of
have that home field advantage, they're going to take what worked from the Democrats and do that. And then they're also going to add things and change
things that they think didn't work for the Democrats.
And, of course, as everybody in the world knows now, President Trump is a showman, so they have that sort of advantage with him being someone that
even if you disagree with him, even if you, you know, find him to be appalling in some ways, which a majority of Americans in various ways do,
he is simply sort of a must-see TV, and people have a hard time taking their eyes away from him.
This is an election that's about turnout. People have mostly made up their minds. I think democrats are in a tough place, as you say, where, on the
one hand, if they were too showy, people would say it wasn't enough about politics. If they were too dry, people would say, where's the show?
So I think that they left themselves some room to improve, but I don't know how the rest of the week is going to go on any night that doesn't have an
Obama at the end of the night.
GORANI: All right. Thank you, David Swerdlick, good talking to you.
SWERDLICK: Thanks Hala. Thank you.
GORANI: The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee has just released its final report detailing the contact between the Trump campaign and Russians who
are trying to interfere in the 2016 election. The bipartisan investigation is more comprehensive than the Mueller report.
It goes further in terms of detailing activities that are not been previously known. Evan Perez joins us now. So talk to us about the big
headlines from this report.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well Hala, the big take away from this is that, the Trump Campaign was knowingly encouraging the
help of the Russian Intelligence Services during the time, during the 2016 this time, during the 2016 campaign.
And that's one of the things that I think the Mueller report, the investigation by the Special Counsel, was sort of afraid to go all the way
there and say this was a report that was written by Republicans and Democrats, it's a bipartisan report.
I'll read you just a part of what they say about Paul Manafort who, at the time in 2016, was the Chairman of the Trump Campaign, and they call him a
grave counterintelligence threat simply because he was in business with a known GRU agent, a Russian intelligence officer. I'll read you a part of
it.
[11:40:00]
PEREZ: It says the Committee found that Manafort's presence on the campaign and proximity to Trump created opportunities for Russian Intelligence
Services to exert influence over and acquire confidential information on the Trump Campaign.
It describes how Manafort was trying to send some of the internal campaign information to Konstantin Kilimnik who was a GRU Russian Intelligence
Officer, the report says, and that some of these activities, some of these contacts continued even after he was fired. He was trying to help get
people hired by the Trump administration, the incoming administration.
I think one of the big takeaways, Hala, from this report is simply that what the Russians were doing in 2016 they're trying to do again in 2020. We
just heard that from the U.S. Intelligence Committee, Community rather. And so, if there were no lessons learned from 2016, we're about to go through
the same thing again in 2020.
GORANI: All right. Evan Perez, thanks very much that news just in. Now, the international community, of course, is talking a lot about what's going on
in Belarus, these big protests against the sitting President who they accuse of rigging the election.
Well, the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the situation over the phone. She asked for political
prisoners to be released. She said they must be released immediately. Putin warned against any outside interference in Belarus.
The protests and strike movement there continues throughout the country. There are demonstrations like this one outside the jail holding the husband
of the opposition presidential candidate. And the crowd at the Belarusian President's speech Monday loudly booed him.
Tens of thousands of people have been protesting against Alexander Lukashenka's re-election for the past nine days. They said the process was
rigged. Still ahead, after 15 years the verdict in the 2005 assassination of Lebanon's then Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The verdict is finally
handed down. I'll speak to his eldest son, next.
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GORANI: Welcome back. A guilty verdict, a single one, has been handed down in the 2005 assassination of then Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Hariri and
21 others were killed when a bomb struck their motorcade in Beirut 15 years ago. So here is what the UN back tribunal found. It found that the lead
defendant was guilty of homicide and committing a terrorist attack. This is Salim Ayyash (ph).
But the other three suspects were acquitted, all four suspects were tried in absentia their whereabouts are still unknown. And the tribunal also
found no evidence of high level involvement in the assassination from Hezbollah or the Syrian regime. Now I'd like to get some reaction the
eldest son of Rafik Hariri, Bahaa Hariri, joins me now. He is live in London.
[11:45:00]
GORANI: Could you give us your reaction to this verdict issued by the UN back to tribunal in the Netherlands. Only a single individual found guilty
in the assassination.
BAHAA HARIRI, ELDEST SON OF RAFIK HARIRI: To me, a closure it's a very painful moment. I would like to give my deepest condolences to all my
family, my brothers and sisters. After 15 years, unfortunately I was there when the assassination happened, so it's all memories. I'm very satisfied
with the verdict.
As you know, the court said very specifically that it didn't happen in a political vacuum. This is - the assassination, it's a political
assassination, and they were very clear to giving a direct evidence towards that statement. So, yes, it's true that Salim Ayyash was a senior also we
have to emphasize that he was a senior member of Hezbollah and directly related to --.
GORANI: Yes. So, are you on any level disappointed that in terms of pointing the finger at Hezbollah itself that there was no link made, no -
the tribunal did not come to the conclusion that Hezbollah itself was behind this assassination?
HARIRI: You know, the court's mandate is extremely clear that they have to give beyond a shadow of a doubt that the accused are guilty. And, you know,
in courts we need to respect that very much so.
But to me the most important is to realize that the court also made it extremely clear that there was no political vacuum, that this assassination
is a political assassination, especially after the third Bristol meeting where Rafik - was very clear that serious interference, and Walid who was
Foreign Minister at that time, cannot interfere in daily Lebanese politics.
So the indirect - it's very clear that it's a political assassination more than anything. There was no political vacuum. It's a very clear message to
where the court pointed the finger. So I am satisfied--
GORANI: You are satisfied. There is the question of them not being present, of Hezbollah saying they would never, you know, send these individuals,
these suspects, and now Salim Ayyash who has been found guilty to the Netherlands. Is that a source of disappointment for you?
HARIRI: We are in a complete financial collapse, complete economic collapse. As I pointed before, Hala, with your colleague that what happened
in Beirut port, and they're in full control, we're not going to speculate, and now this judgment. I'm fully disappointed to the very least to say this
relation between Hezbollah and their warlords and their supporters that led us to this.
Am I surprised? No. I'm not surprised to what he's going to say. But at the end of the day, we all know they have to - I think September 15, as far as
I remember, and then it goes to the security council and then it's up to the security council to decide how to move forward with this.
GORANI: All right. And I know this is a painful time for you and your family, really bringing back some absolutely horrific memories for you of
the death of your father. Thank you very much for joining us, Bahaa Hariri, the eldest son of Rafik Hariri.
HARIRI: Thank you very much.
GORANI: We'll have more after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:50:00]
GORANI: All right, the latest on Champions' league action. Don Riddell joins us now live from Atlanta. Hi, Don.
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Hi, Hala, thanks very much. The Champions' League title this season is heading to either Germany or France
over the next two days. Teams from each country will go head to head in the semi-finals with the trophy awarded after the final in Lisbon on Sunday.
In the coming hours, it's going to be a really intriguing clash between Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig. Remember billion dollars has been cloud
into the PSG team. This is a trophy they desperately want. Leipzig have been playing for just over a decade.
Then on Wednesday its Bayern Munich against Lyon, Bayern feeling confidence I would say after scoring eight against Barcelona on Friday.
Meanwhile in Barcelona they have been picking through the rubble and the aftermath of that extraordinary defeat. It was humiliating. The result
continue disappointing trend for the Catalans who have now been knocked out in the quarterfinals of the Champions' League in four of the last five
seasons.
And before that, remember, they've won four times in the decade leading up to 2015. Barcelona have quickly sacked their manager Quique Setien after
just seven months in the job. They are set to appoint their legendary former player Ronald Koeman as his replacement with Koeman currently in
charge of the Netherlands.
But these remain very unsettled times at one of the world's biggest football clubs. If anybody knows what's going on there, it's Ernest Macia,
he is a sports journalist at Catalunya Radio. And as you can see, he joins us now.
Ernest thanks for being with us. This great club is in total disarray, and last Friday was the moment that highlighted just how bad things have
become. What do you think has gone wrong over the last few years?
ERNEST MACIA, SPORTS JOURNALIST, CATALUNYA RADIO: Well, I think this is the end of a generation, so Barcelona had an amazing generation of footballers
who as you said brought them to win many Champions' League in a certain period of time. - the best years of Lionel Messi. So, many good players,
some of them home-grown players, and these players were - too old.
And it's difficult to see these situation right now to see Messi suffering so much for us the best player in history trying to achieve more Champions'
League to make justice to his struggles to make justice to his history, but unable to do it. Because those players are gone, those were exceptional
players and it's very hard to replace them. Impossible, I would say.
RIDDELL: This has been coming as I said, so a few years ago they had a big lead against Romero and the Champion's League, they blew that, a big lead
against Liverpool and the Champions' League, they blew that. Then they shipped eight goals against Bayern Munich. So if it's been obvious to
everybody else, why have they not been able to address what's happening at Barcelona and perhaps try and turn things around a bit sooner?
MACIA: Well, they've been trying, too. Remember that Barcelona has spent a lot of money for the players a lot of money for - and a lot of money for -
these three player posted Barcelona more than 300 million pounds, which is a lot. That's why Barcelona tried to revert this tendency to the current
situation.
But as I said, you have to be very good at choosing which kind of player's suit best, the finals of Barcelona and of course it has no relation
necessarily with the money we invest.
RIDDELL: So Lionel Messi is Barcelona's biggest star. By foreign away, he's played for the club for his entire carrier. He's not got long left now on
his contract and there are rumors that he wants out now. What are you hearing?
MACIA: We are hearing that at this moment - until last week it was sure that he was staying in Barcelona, he wants to be a one club man. He loves
Barcelona and Barcelona owe so much to him but after the two-way nobody really knows.
As far as we know yesterday, Barcelona have not received any call from Messi wanting to leave the club, because I think that Messi wants to see
what happens? What's going on in the next few days to see whether Ronald Koeman can be a good coach to try to revert the situation or not?
[11:55:00]
MACIA: There will be elections next year, and then there is another thing, Messi is 32 years old, so it's not easy to change when you're that old.
RIDDELL: How much excitement is there about Ronald Koeman if, indeed, he is the man to come in and try and take things forward? Do you think people are
excited about him?
MACIA: No, I don't think the people are excited about him, although there is a consensus that if there is someone who more or less is accepted by
anyone, it is Ronald Koeman. But no, of course, people is not exited because of the situation is so worsening in many, many years.
RIDDELL: How badly have these defeats over the last few years, and in particular what went on against Bayern Munich last week, how badly has that
affected the mood and the physic of football fans in Barcelona? Is this being humiliating?
MACIA: It's being humiliating, these sailors, these set boxes are the worse or just one of these set box light last year against Liverpool is
humiliating. So you have to multiply this by three. So you can imagine, and you can imagine what's the sensation after being a winning team which I
think that this is what Barcelona was?
So you can imagine that this has helped to make this transition quicker. Otherwise probably it would have taken probably one or two more years. But
now there will be elections. This is the end, not just of a team, but this is the end of an era, and it will quicken teams.
RIDDELL: Yes, it's not just the Champions' League this year this is now the first year in 12 seasons where Barcelona haven't won any kind of trophy.
Ernest Macia great to see you again in the show. Thanks very much. Good insight.
MACIA: The same thank you very much.
RIDDELL: Okay. The final is all set for the Europa League, and Inter Milan will fancy their chances after crushing Shakhtar Donetsk in the semis,
Inter were just far too good for the Ukrainian opponents. But the first half only featured one goal that was a header from Lautaro Martinez in the
19th minute.
But as the game were on Inter assumed complete control. Martina scored again before supplying the pass for Romelu Lukaku who made it 4-0 and then
surely after that, Lukaku was on target with another.
He has now scored 33 goals in his debut season for Inter, and has scored in each of his last ten Europa League games, the 5-0 score line by the way
represents the biggest winning margin in a single semi-final game in the history of this competition. Inter will play Sevilla in the final.
And Hala, by the way, Sevilla has never lost the Europa League final. They've won it five times since 2006. So that should be a good game later
this week back to you.
GORANI: All right. Don thanks very much. I'm Hala Gorani, more news after a break.
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END
