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Erin Burnett Outfront
WH Task Force Members Break With Trump, Contradicting The President On Testing, Severity Of Coronavirus: Fauci: We're Going To Be Doing More Testing, Not Less; Trump Again Calls Coronavirus "Kung Flu"; FBI: Noose Found In NASCAR Garage Was Not Hate Crime; Funeral Held For Rayshard Brooks; Tennis Champion Djokovic Has Coronavirus; Obama, Biden Make First 2020 Election Appearance Together. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired June 23, 2020 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: He says his pops was the sweetest coolest guy you ever met and he says if you knew him, you were blessed. May they rest in peace and may their memories be a blessing.
Erin Burnett OUTFRONT starts right now.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, the breaking news, the nation's top doctors breaking publicly with the President on everything from testing to the severity of coronavirus itself. Dr. Anthony Fauci calling coronavirus a "forest fire".
President though in Arizona tonight with a crowd of thousands even as the state reopens with record high cases and deaths today. An ER doctor from Phoenix tells me he's seeing a surge and a big increase in young patients to the ER.
Also breaking, former President Obama in his first event with Joe Biden. We're going to hear from someone inside that private event. You'll hear what the President had to say. Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, Trump against the doctors and it's now all out in the open, it's testing, it's masks, it's the virus itself. It's starting with testing. The President today says he wasn't kidding when he ordered or he said when he said he ordered officials to slow down testing. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were you just kidding or do you have a plan to slow down testing?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't kid, because we're going to have more cases. By having more cases, it sounds bad. Here's what I say, testing is a double edged sword.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: At least he admits he wasn't kidding. We told he wasn't kidding last night, even though his own team, of course, said he was just joking in multiple television interviews on every single network, but he wasn't kidding. He thinks more testing is bad for him.
Now, of course, more testing does save lives and it will get the American economy back on track faster. And tonight, hours after the President said he wanted testing slowed down, his top doctor publicly, completely contradicted him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: To my knowledge, none of us have ever been told to slow down on testing. That just is a fact. In fact, we will be doing more testing, so it's the opposite. We're going to be doing more testing, not less.
DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: We're continuing to try to enhance testing. It's a critical underpinning of our response.
ADMIRAL BRETT GIROIR, HHS ASSISTANT FOR HEALTH: My purpose in leading is to increase the number of testing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Increase. Testing needs to go up. It saves lives and it allows the economy to reopen. And here's the most important three words, stay that way. And more testing does not explain why there has been a rise in cases.
If you look at the facts, according to the Director of the CDC, one of the gentlemen you just saw there, Dr. Redfield, the country is now conducting five to 600,000 tests a day. And yet when you look at the chart, you could see the percentage of new cases is actually down significantly from a high of the pandemic when the United States was testing 150,000 people a day.
And hospitalizations are up in many states, including Texas where they are up 10 percent in a day. Dr. Fauci also sounding this alarm just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: The first thing that we would need to do is to try as best as possible to get the complete outbreak under control so that everything is at such a low level, that when there are cases that come up, you can contain them as opposed to mitigating we essentially chasing after a forest fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Chasing a forest fire. And yet days ago, the President seemed to suggest that that this was over, this was basically extinguished.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If you look, the numbers are very miniscule compared to what it was. It's dying out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OK, it's not dying out and the President surely knows that or at least he would if he listen to his doctors or how about this, actually even talked to his doctors. Because in a stunning exchange with lawmakers today, the members of the coronavirus task force, one after the other had this to say about the last time the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, spoke with them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: About two and a half weeks ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was about two and a half weeks ago as well, maybe three weeks ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been some time since I spoke about the pandemic response.
REDFIELD: As I mentioned before, the interactions and discussions I have with the President I'll keep to myself, but I do meet with the task force.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Two and a half weeks ago. The President going it alone at a time when more than 120,000 Americans have already died from the virus. ICU admissions are surging in double digit number of states.
Erica Hill is OUTFRONT live in New York tonight. And Erica, the reality on the ground does not reflect what the President says it is.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, it certainly doesn't. The reality on the ground is that the cases are not going away. This is not just appearing and a lack of testing would also not mean a lack of cases, as you know.
In fact, what we're seeing is not only a surge in the number of states, but we're seeing a significant increase when it comes to community spread.
[19:05:02]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HILL (voice over): As more Americans leave strict shutdown measures behind, a stark warning that this freedom may be short lived.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: The next couple of weeks are going to be critical in our ability to address those surgings that we're seeing in Florida, in Texas, in Arizona and in other states.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HILL (voice over): A new daily high in Texas, cases topping 5,000 for
the first time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because the spread is so rapid right now, there's never a reason for you to have to leave your home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (voice over): Hospitalizations also spiking, up 177 percent in the last three weeks in Harris County. More than a third of all cases in California have come in just the past two weeks, Arizona announcing another daily high, nearly 3,600 new cases added on Tuesday, Florida not far behind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're really in a worse place now than we were before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (voice over): Twenty-five states trending in the wrong direction over the past week, nearly the entire western half of the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REDFIELD: We've all done the best that we can do to tackle this virus and the reality that brought this nation to its knees.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (voice over): More cities now mandating face coverings, but enforcing those rules at keeping people apart is proving difficult in some areas, especially among young people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't be the knucklehead who ruins it for everyone else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (voice over): Twenty-two percent of the cases in New Jersey are an 18 to 29 year olds. That's up 10 percent since April.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The testing is increasing but the percentage of those people who are positive is actually going much higher. So it clearly is being transmitted at a high level in a number of places.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (voice over): The University of Michigan scrapping plans to host a presidential debate this fall. Middlebury College will require students to quarantine at home for two weeks before arriving on campus and the EU considering a possible ban on travelers from the U.S. because we don't have the virus under control.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: If they're trying to prevent infections coming into their countries, America is going to be one of the top places that other countries are going to look to block in order to keep themselves safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: One other thing to note, Dr. Robert Redfield also saying today that this virus, Erin, has highlighted the under investment over the span of decades in public health data and that is something that clearly needs attention.
BURNETT: All right. Erica, thank you very much. A sobering report there. I want to go to Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Dr. Jonathan Reiner who advise the White House medical team under President George W. Bush and of course directs the Cardiac Cath Lab at GW.
So Sanjay, the President, he's on an island here and you hear these doctors one after the other. They haven't talked to him in weeks. The President says it's dying out. The guy in charge of infectious diseases in the United States says if we don't get controlled it by fall, we're essentially chasing after a forest fire. It should serve all of us to hear these messages be so polar opposite.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, there's no question. I mean, the public health community has been pretty consistent on this and look the numbers don't lie. We know that it's not dying out. It is a message that we've heard from this president since the beginning.
I remember I was at that White House press conference where he said there's 15 people, it'll be zero by next week and it's been sort of consistent in terms of how he's talked about this. But the numbers don't lie and I think that the idea that you suggest test less and therefore the problem will go away, obviously, reflects a lack of understanding or a lack of wanting to understand the problem.
If you test more, if you test at the right amount, the number should come down and that's what's happened in many places around the world where they've had adequate testing, they've been able to bring these numbers down. We're in a little bit of a tough spot right now as Tony Fauci described it, we're getting hit hard right now with these numbers and I don't know how you actually bring him down unless you start implementing some of these basic public health measures.
BURNETT: Right. And they're surging in some of these states as he mentioned, Florida, Texas, Arizona, among others. I mean, Dr. Reiner, the President was clear today. He said at that rally right that he told everyone to slow down the testing and so then all of the President's troops went out on national television and said he was just joking. He was just joking.
So then today he says he wasn't joking. But the people who are in charge when they were asked today, were you told to slow trusting down, they were adamant that they hadn't. Here they are.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, Congressman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So that's good. He didn't actually do it. He said he did it, he then lied about it and today said he did it again. They haven't talked to him in weeks. How do you put all of this together?
JONATHAN REINER, DIRECTOR OF CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION LABORATORY, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: Well, the President of the United States doesn't believe, apparently, in the two pillars of our pandemic response.
[19:10:06]
The need to test and the need to wear face masks. The President all along has doubted the necessity of testing. He didn't want the passengers from the Grand Princess to come to the United States because it would drive the numbers up. He said that testing is overrated.
And today, what he said basically is when we test we just find some people who don't have illness or they're asymptomatic. What he doesn't understand is that that's how we extinguish the virus. That's how you get people to quarantine. We contact trace their contacts, they stay home. That's how you drop the transmission of the virus.
By the same token, he doesn't believe in face masks and we know now with certainty that that's the principal way we prevent person to person transmission outside the home. So how is it that our chief pandemic officer, the President of the United States doesn't believe in the two most effective tools to put in the pandemic down.
It's either that he doesn't understand which raises unfathomable cognitive questions or he's trying to promote a false narrative that everything is fine and we all have our heads in the sand.
BURNETT: So Dr. Sanjay, I'm just going to give you a chance in the context of what Dr. Reiner just said, right, which is - the whole point is that you need to test asymptomatic people to find out where it's spreading in the community and who's going to get it, who could become very ill or die. Can you explain to people why this is so important, because I think
we've all heard from a lot of people now who say, well, what's the problem with the young people just going out, they're not going to get it that badly, they're not going to die, why can't they continue with their college life and their life and the people who need to stay home stay home.
And there is a chorus of this and in a sense that's what's the president is reflecting. Why is that wrong, Sanjay?
GUPTA: Yes. This is a really fundamental point. I'm glad you're raising it. I mean, the concern is that this is a very contagious virus and even people who aren't having symptoms or who don't yet have symptoms can spread it. That is the whole term, asymptomatic spread, or pre symptomatic spread. And we know that that can be concerning.
We don't know how big a driver of the overall infection rate that is, but it clearly happens. So this idea that - there's two things, one is that younger people are far less likely to get sick. We know that, but they can get sick. So there's still a risk there and the question is always going to become how much are you willing to accept in terms of risk.
But the other part of this is that they can then spread it to people who are vulnerable. And by the way, elderly people and people with pre existing condition is vulnerable. But let's say I got a kid who's at home getting chemotherapy for something, you spread it to me and then I spread it to the kid. The point is that you don't know where the volume abilities lie.
So what has happened in many places around the world is you try and really reduce the infection spread, because that is how you, as Dr. Reiner said, that's how you ultimately are going to extinguish this. We don't have a vaccine yet.
We don't have a magic therapeutic yet. Yet these countries around the world have been able to bring this down among asymptomatic and symptomatic people, because of testing, because of face masks, because of physical distancing, bread and butter stuff. It works.
BURNETT: Yes. Well, thank you both very much. So it's just another reason why it confounds me that people don't understand how wearing masks can actually get this economy open and keep it that way. It's the most basic thing and it enables our economic freedom. It does not curtail it. Thank you, both so very much.
And next, President Trump holding an event in Phoenix right now, early pictures showing very little social distancing, few if any masks in that room, which is happening right now.
Plus, what the FBI is now saying about an alleged noose found in the garage of NASCAR's only top black driver. This is a very big development tonight.
And tennis star Novak Djokovic who you can see here dancing during the limbo now says he is sorry after he has tested positive for coronavirus.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:17:53]
BURNETT: Breaking news, these are live pictures out of Arizona. President Trump is speaking at the students for Trump event in Phoenix amid the surge of coronavirus cases in the state of Arizona. Today Arizona reported nearly 3,600 new cases, more than 2,100 new hospitalizations and 42 deaths. These are all single day records for the State of Arizona.
Just moments ago, the President on that podium with thousands in the room repeated the use of a racist expression to talk about the virus.
And Ryan Nobles is OUTFRONT in Phoenix. Ryan, he just referred to it as the kung flu, using the word kung flu twice where you are. The President also saying the plague is going away as he again uses that racially loaded term. What are you seeing there in terms of social distancing, masks, it looks pretty crowded?
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not a lot, Erin. In fact, hardly any at all. And this despite the fact that the City of Phoenix, its city council and its Mayor passed an ordinance this week specifically requiring anyone in a room like this within six feet of someone to have a mask on. The President doesn't have a mask on, very few if any people in the crowd have masks on. They also did not test temperatures on their way in and there is very little social distancing, so it's interesting.
I should point out, Erin, that the Governor of Arizona is here and he actually has a mask on so Erin.
BURNETT: Wow, that's very interesting. All right. Ryan, thank you very much. Everyone, you can see that room, an interesting - Gov. Ducey is wearing a mask and those who have been following this have noticed obviously, recently, he was refusing to wear one and then recently started appearing with one as he encouraged people in the state to wear them even though he would not give a Governor mandated order that people wear them.
But you see that room. There's no social distancing and very few if any masks. No temperature is taken on the way in.
OUTFRONT now, Dr. Murtaza Akhter. He has been treating coronavirus patients on a daily basis in the ER of hospital in Phoenix. Dr. Akhter, when you see what we just saw there, it's in Phoenix, in your state and it's a room of thousands of people and they're not socially distancing and almost no one is wearing a mask. President isn't wearing a mask.
[19:20:03]
You're going in the ER every day, what goes through your head when you see this? DR. MURTAZA AKHTER, E.R. DOCTOR, VALLEYWISE HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER: A
scene like that is really upsetting. I consider myself lucky that you guys have blacked out the screen for me, because I'd be really upset if I actually saw this happen. But this is what we expected is that people go to this rally, not wear masks and in particular not distance.
It is impossible to not spread an infection if you're not distancing, impossible and to do this during a pandemic is irresponsible putting it lightly. It's very dangerous.
BURNETT: So when we look at the numbers that I just shared in terms of new cases, in terms of hospitalizations and in terms of death, a record in each of those three where you are tonight, what are you seeing at your hospital doctor, Dr. Akhter?
AKHTER: Erin, I think we're going to keep breaking records and this isn't the kind of record you want to break. The cases are surging and people try claiming that it's because we're doing more testing, but if we were doing more testing, not only with positives increase but so are the negatives, especially as we're doing more widespread testing of less symptomatic people.
But instead, our percent, our fraction of positive cases increasing and increasing rapidly. And I'm seeing in the ER there are a lot more patients just a few weeks ago, a lot of them have what we call influenza-like illness. And basically everybody in testing is coming back positive for COVID. These are like preposterous numbers.
So, again, my experience is anecdotal, but it matches up with the state data. I'm concerned it's only getting worse and keep in mind that even once we plateau, which we're not even close to, in my opinion, but even once we plateau, the actual sickness, the compensation of the patients may happen a couple weeks later. So I think the worst of it is yet to come. That's the scary part.
BURNETT: And who are you seeing coming into the ER? Have you seen some shifts?
AKHTER: One of the things about the virus is unlike humans, the virus isn't racist or gender preference. It hits everyone, whatever age, whatever gender, whatever race. Now, there are certain groups that are more at risk. And the reason I bring this up is because in Arizona it's particularly important where we have a lot of retirees and a lot of snowbirds.
People in Arizona who are 65 and above and if they have COVID have a 58 times more likely chance of dying from it than somebody who's 45 or under, 58 times more likely. So as Dr. Gupta mentioned earlier, even if you think you're young, healthy and immune, for one, it's not exactly a good assessment, because I'm seeing young healthy patients who are coming in very sick.
But two, they can spread it to people who are at risk, whether immunocompromised or elderly or a plethora of patients, and we have a lot of those elderly patients here in Arizona, it's really concerning. I'm seeing all of them. And then obviously, the older ones even more likely to die, which is really, really upsetting.
BURNETT: So the President is holding the rally in this church, where he's got thousands of people. And the leaders of the church, the President said in an interview he had - I'm sorry, the leaders of the church said in a video on Facebook yesterday that they had a unique air filtration system, Dr. Akhter, that would kill they said 99.9 percent of COVID within 10 minutes. So when you come in our auditorium, 99 percent of COVID is gone, killed if it was there in the first place. You can know when you come here, you'll be safe.
They did pull that video down. The company that does the HVAC says that they have never heard of such a thing. But what do you make of that? These are the leaders of this institution telling people it's 99.9 percent safe.
AKHTER: Yes. That's upsetting on so many levels. As a physician, as a researcher, as somebody who's gone to the company's website where they said 99.9, but didn't have any research to back it up. Remember, they used a surrogate measure, they didn't actually use COVID in patients. They would need a big patient population to be able to prove that they never have.
And even if it were 99.9 percent effective, nothing about filtration is a novel first of all. OK, we've been filtering the air for years. But even if it were that effective, the only way it would work is if I'm standing a hundred feet from you and that if I cough or laugh, hopefully the filtration system picks it up between the hundred feet between me and you. But that rally is not a separation of a hundred feet. It's not even six feet.
So if somebody laughs and has COVID, the person next to him who catches that laugh now is sick. There's no way for this filtration system to magically like Star Wars zap it out.
BURNETT: No. They're not even one foot away and we could hear them chanting. They are using their respiratory systems. Thank you very much.
AKHTER: Oh, they're definitely based on what I'm hearing. Yes, it's very concerning.
BURNETT: Well, Doctor, I appreciate your time. I do, I know our viewers do as well and we wish you the best as we know what you are fighting right now. Thank you.
AKHTER: Thank you, Erin. Stay safe and thank you for spreading the message.
BURNETT: All right. And next, the breaking news, the FBI with a big update about the NASCAR's only top black driver and what appear to be a noose found in his garage.
Plus, Obama teaming up with Biden for the first time this year telling supporters they have a lot more work to do. We got video from this. It's the first time they've teamed up this year and someone who was there at the event and you'll hear what the former President had to say.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:28:56]
BURNETT: Breaking news, the FBI saying the noose found in a NASCAR garage not a hate crime against Bubba Wallace. The only black racer on NASCAR's top circuit.
Alexandra Field is OUTFRONT. So Alexandra, this is a headline, of course, everybody is now trying to find out what happened here. What did the FBI find?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Erin. They dispatched 15 FBI special agents who say there was no evidence at all of any intentional racist act, no evidence of a hate crime, no evidence even that Bubba Wallace had been targeted. NASCAR explains it this way saying that the FBI report concludes and photographic evidence confirms that the garage door pole rope fashion like a noose had been positioned there since as early as last fall. This was obviously well before the 43 team's arrival and garage assignment.
Therefore, no charges in this case. This is the end of it. The investigation now concludes. Of course, this comes after the NASCAR community, other drivers had rallied around Wallace. The discovery of this apparent news had come after Wallace had called on NASCAR to ban the presence of confederate flags at their events. NASCAR quickly followed suit.
[19:30:00]
Wallace, of course, had also recently been seeing debuting a car with the words Black Lives Matter emblazoned on it and he's certainly been at the race track wearing a "I can't breathe" shirt.
So, he's gotten an outpouring of support for the community. But the final word on this investigation is that no crime was committed, again a garage door pull broke apparently fashioned as that noose.
BURNETT: All right. And it had been there before anyone who would have known he was in that garage.
All right. Alexandra, thank you very much. Obviously, really good news that wasn't what it appeared to be and really good news, of course, that the community had rallied so strongly behind Mr. Wallace.
This comes as friends and family today say their final goodbyes to Rayshard Brooks, the black man shot and killed by Atlanta police officers in the Wendy's parking lot.
Ryan Young is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A somber scene as Rayshard Brooks is laid to rest. Hundreds filled Ebenezer Baptist Church to pay respects to the man shot and killed by an Atlanta police officer earlier this month.
AMBREA MIKOLAJCZYK, COLLEAGUE AND FRIEND OF RAYSHARD BROOKS: He radiated such a bright right that regardless of the cowardly act that took his life, his light will never be dim.
YOUNG: It was an emotional afternoon commemorating the life of the 27- year-old father.
JYMACO BROOKS, COUSIN OF RAYSHARD BROOKS: This is the family we come from. We didn't have a lot of anything, but we had a whole lot of love for each other.
YOUNG: And providing a backdrop for a larger conversation on racism.
REV. DR. BERNICE A. KING, CEO, THE MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. CENTER FOR NONVIOLENT SOCIAL CHANGE: This time the answer is not more diversity and inclusion. It's now time for Black Lives Matter.
PROTESTERS: Hands up, don't shoot! Hands up, don't shoot!
YOUNG: Brooks death comes during nationwide protests against systematic racism and police brutality, and less than a month after George Floyd died in the custody of the Minneapolis police.
REV. RAPHAEL G. WARNOCK, SENIOR PASTOR, EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH: George Floyd complied, Rayshard Brooks ran, yes, that's true. But they are both dead. And therein is the problem.
YOUNG: brooks was shot in the back by Officer Garrett Rolfe, one of the officers who responded to a call of a man asleep in his car at a Wendy's parking lot. Video of the incident shows him running away after resisting arrest and grabbing one of the officer's Tasers.
Rolfe is facing a felony murder charge. He says he heard a gunshot and saw a flash and fired his weapon fearing for his safety. Officer Devin Brosnan is charged with aggravated assault telling "The Atlanta Journal of Constitution" he would not have done anything different that night.
I have 100 percent faith the truth will come out. People will see this for what it is. They will understand I didn't do anything wrong.
But for many, the circumstances surrounding Brooks' death are a symptom of a larger problem.
GABRIEL MARTINI, FRIEND OF RAYSHARD BROOKS: No matter the race, let's treat each other how we wanted to be treated as people. Let's love everyone and fight for everyone's rights.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
YOUNG: Erin, if you think about this the most powerful voice today was the voice of the youth. That young lady spoke so much power into that room, so many people crying. When you think about this, brooks leaves behind three daughters, 8, 2 and 1 and you have a stepson he had. A lot of people are focused on the young people and what they felt moving forward. It was a tough day especially inside that church -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Ryan, thank you.
And next, I want to go to Reverend Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church. You just heard him in Ryan's piece delivering the eulogy.
And, Reverend, I appreciate your time. I mean, you know, watching you today, you've said that you have had to give these kinds of speeches far too often and yet you then said you hadn't lost hope. How come?
REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK, SENIOR PASTOR, EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH: Oh, we can't afford to lose hope. We have to keep fighting the good fight. And although it is a dark and difficult moment, I think that there are good reasons to have hope. And I'm inspired by the young people that Ryan and others referenced.
We are seeing an amazing coalition of conscience marching out on to American streets demanding that our country do better and that it rises up to its high idealism. And I'm encouraged.
I think that we will continue to see this kind of activism throughout the summer, and I'm hopeful then that it will translate into voting in November. That is a sure way of pushing forward meaningful change.
BURNETT: You know, as you know, a lot of people have tried to understand what happened there, and no one truly does yet. One thing we keep hearing about is that this had been peaceful for almost half an hour, right? Everybody had -- the officers and Mr. Brooks. And then suddenly Mr. Brooks runs away from police.
[19:35:01]
And in your eulogy, you said you understood why. Here is part of how you explain it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARNOCK: If your skin is the weapon and your complexion is the crime, what do you do to stay alive? Comply like George Floyd or run like Rayshard Brooks? I'm not asking for a friend. I'm asking for myself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: It's deeply personal for you.
WARNOCK: It is. I grew up in public housing down in Savannah, Georgia, and I spend a lot of time now as a pastor in the community and just moving around as an African-American man myself. I know what it's like to be marched through a grocery store as a teenager accused of shoplifting simply because I had my hands in my pocket. You know, it was a chilly day and marched through the grocery store and then released without an apology. I know that pain and that humiliation.
And we're seeing these kinds of things show up in every day -- this is part of everyday African-American life. But in recent days, we're seeing a public conversation about it across races and I think that's important to help (ph) -- important.
BURNETT: So, you know, you talk about the protesters and your hopes this will continue through the summer and there will be real change. You know, the president came out today with retweeting a video appearing to show a black man harassing a white man. His comment was look what's going on here. Where are the protesters? He then retweeted another account linking to a clip of a black man pushing a white woman into the side of a subway car asking, quote, where are the protests for this?
What do you say to the president and those images, Reverend?
WARNOCK: He is the divider in chief. He is engaged in the politics of division because he has no vision.
And what we have to do is we have to rise above those who engage in looting and those who tweet about shooting as the president did a few weeks ago. He hasn't been helpful and I've long lost any expectation that he would be helpful.
The truth is we've been dealing with these issues before Donald Trump was president. We as a nation have to look deeply inward. This is an inflection point. I think some issues are coming to the surface that have always been there. But thanks to cell phones and cameras everywhere, people are beginning to see it and I'm encouraged by the response that we're seeing in the streets and also at the ballot box.
Last Tuesday, we saw an amazing turnout in the Georgia primary that surpassed 2016. I think there's a lot of passion out there and commitment. And the more people participate, the healthier our democracy.
BURNETT: Well, Reverend, I appreciate your time and I thank you very much. You know, as you mentioned, the ballot box, it is election night now in two key states.
And these are really big races to watch. There could be big upsets in both. We're going to talk about that after a break.
And former President Obama returning to the campaign trail appearing with Joe Biden for the first time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT: There's nobody I trust more to be able to heal this country and get it back on track than my dear friend Joe Biden.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:42:31]
BURNETT: Tonight, we're watching two major races in Kentucky. Voters are deciding who is going to take on the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
And in New York, a powerful committee chairman could lose the seat he has held for more than 30 years after an embarrassing hot mic moment.
The national reckoning on race is front and center in both primaries.
Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On that much, Democrats agree. But as voters cast ballots today in Kentucky, they're divided over what kind of Democrat that should be.
AMY MCGRATH (D), KENTUCKY SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Get rid of Senator Mitch McConnell.
ZELENY: Amy McGrath is the favorite of the Washington Party establishment, but the decision is now in the hands of Kentucky voters.
STATE REP. CHARLES BOOKER (D-KY), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: We're going to win this race.
ZELENY: But State Representative Charles Booker insisting that a progressive candidate stands a better chance of defeating Mitch McConnell.
BOOKER: There is a mountain that's blocking your progress and that mountain is Mitch McConnell.
ZELENY: On another day of voting in America, a national reckoning on race is being felt across the political landscape with establishment figures suddenly on edge, the Senate primary in Kentucky and congressional one in New York are the latest signs the ideological tug of war is still very much alive inside the Democratic Party.
JAMAAL BOWMAN (D), NEW YORK CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: It's time for a change.
ZELENY: Jamaal Bowman, a Bronx middle school principal, mounting a challenge today against Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He's been in office for three decades.
Protests over racial justice and police brutality are now a central part of political reality too. In Kentucky, Booker's candidacy gained momentum after joining the protests after the killing of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, an EMT, in March.
BOOKER: I think people are more aware of how interconnected we are. I think they're more ready to receive the truth that injustice is pervasive and that structural racism is real.
ZELENY: And Bowman getting a serious look after Engel was caught at a hot mic addressing the protests following the death of George Floyd.
REP. ELIOT ENGEL (D-NY): If I didn't have a primary, I wouldn't care.
ZELENY: But Bowman and Booker won the backing of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and they're pushing the Democratic Party for bolder change.
Engel is supported by Hillary Clinton and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and McGrath by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.
While the primary campaigns end today, voting in the age of pandemic requires patience. Neither Kentucky nor New York plans to release full results tonight.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[19:45:04]
ZELENY: Now, Kentucky's Secretary of State Michael Adams told me today that he believes this will be a record setting turnout for a primary election largely because of absentee ballots and vote by mail. Now, that did not stop a bit of commotion here moments before the polls were closing and after. There were a few hundred people standing here behind me banging on the doors to be allowed to come in. A judge ruled that the polls should stay open 30 more minutes here just at this one location.
But, Erin, we will have the final results of this probably not until a week. But voting in the age of a pandemic, certainly so different when all emotions certainly are so high, Erin.
BURNETT: Yes. All right. Jeff, thank you very much.
Crucial races to watch and watch how they're executed.
OUTFRONT next, Barack Obama back on the trail for the first time this election with Joe Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: This is serious business. Whatever you've done so far is not enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And tennis star Novak Djokovic who wasn't social distancing now has coronavirus. He's speaking out tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:50:13]
BURNETT: New tonight, the number one ranked tennis player in the entire world, Novak Djokovic, and his wife both self-isolating after testing positive for coronavirus. This after he organized, he played in a series of tennis matches, ignored social distancing guidelines and he opposed taking a potential vaccine.
Christina Macfarlane is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When you're the world tennis champion, you don't want to be in the news for limbo dancing in a crowded nightclub but that's where Djokovic finds himself today testing positive for coronavirus after organizing a tournament that was meant to ease tennis out of lockdown. He said profits were supposed to be for people in need. Instead, it's led to Djokovic, his wife and three other players testing positive for COVID- 19.
In a statement, Djokovic said he organized the tournament because he thought he met all health guidelines and the virus was weakening.
He said: I can't express enough how sorry I am for this and every case of infection. Everything the organizers and I did in the past month we did with a pure heart and sincere intentions. We were wrong and it was too soon.
Around the tournament, the players high-fived and hugged and played basketball and football awaiting the court and then the nightclub visit.
Thousands of fans packed the event to see live tennis, with limited social distancing in place.
But this isn't the first time tennis is men's number one faced criticism for his views on the virus. In April, he said he was against the idea of being made to take a vaccine for COVID-19 in order to travel and compete in the future.
He said in a statement: I am no expert but I do want to have an opinion to choose what's best for my body. I'm keeping an open mind.
Now, a scandal that started in the Balkans could hugely impact plans for this year's U.S. Open which only announced it was going ahead next week. Players already weighing up competing in New York under new limits on where they can stay and who they can see.
But now that Djokovic is in self-isolation for 14 days, not the roaring return for tennis anyone thought.
Christina Macfarlane, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, President Obama appearing with Joe Biden for the first time during this election. I'm going to speak to someone who is at this event and knows them both well, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:55:44]
BURNETT: Breaking news, Barack Obama and Joe Biden appearing together for the first time this election. It's a virtual fundraiser just wrapping up moments ago where President Obama made a pitch why he believes Joe Biden should be the next president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Help is on the way, if we do the work because there is nobody that I trust more to be able to heal this country and get it back on track than my dear friend Joe Biden.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, Terry McAuliffe, former governor of Virginia, former chairman of the DNC, attending that fundraiser that ended just moments ago.
And, I know, Governor, you know both of them.
So, this is the first time they've appeared together this election. I know President Obama obviously waited to weigh in until the primaries were settled and now you've got coronavirus, but why did it take so long?
TERRY MCAULIFFE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, listen, I don't think it took long. I remind you that Joe Biden has wrapped up his nomination earlier than we've ever seen since 2004 and now we're beginning to layout the building blocks for the general election. This was a perfect time for President Obama to come out.
They had 175,000 people on the call. They raised about $7.6 million.
And, Erin, contrast that with Donald Trump who is out in Arizona. The state that had -- today has the highest level of COVID cases that it's ever had, he's out there putting all of his supporters in jeopardy. I mean, it's a public health threat, and the vice president and President Obama were doing the right thing today, talking to folks about character, honesty, what we need in the new government with Joe Biden and the White House.
BURNETT: So, interesting, you're saying 175,000 people on that call, $7.6 million raised.
MCAULIFFE: Yes.
BURNETT: Obviously, that's a significant number -- on both counts.
And -- but, you know, President Obama doesn't do a lot of these things. It's a rare political appearance for him. You know, at one point he linked nationwide protest to an opportunity to make real change in the country. He says if people vote for Biden.
Let me just play that clip for you, Governor, that you heard, so or viewers can.
MCAULIFFE: Sure, yeah.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: This is serious business. Whatever you've done so far is not enough and I hold myself and Michelle and our kids to that same standard. We have this unique chance to translate a growing awareness of injustice in this society into actual legislation and institutional change that can make a difference in people's lives and those moments don't come that often.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, Governor, you know him. When he says moments don't come that often, that this is a unique chance and how he thinks the situation now is more difficult than the one he inherited in the midst of a very, very deep recession, right, when there was fear there wouldn't be money in ATMs.
MCAULIFFE: Yes.
BURNETT: Right? We remember those moments.
Does this mean we're going to see a lot more Barack Obama and he mentions her and his children, Michelle Obama, on the campaign trail?
MCAULIFFE: Yes, there are going to be more on the campaign trail. Both are beloved in our party. You know, I think when President Obama and Michelle Obama, when they came and campaigned for me down in Virginia, there is nobody more popular to come in, motivate the base but to really layout the reasoning why Joe Biden, he and president Obama did that on the call today -- the honesty, the character.
He went very aggressively against Trump today on this call, talked about Trump, you know, not believing the science, and he really laid out the difference between a Biden presidency and what we have with Donald Trump today, and he was very aggressive on that and we need him to do it through the rest of the whole campaign trail.
But, you know, the stakes are so large and so important. In the beginning of the call, which was interesting, Jen O'Malley, the campaign manager, talked about the map a little bit, talked about Arizona.
Erin, Democrats have only won Arizona once since 1950. It is in play. That is why Donald Trump today is in Arizona.
Why is he campaigning there? Because he's in trouble.
And that's the point when Joe Biden won those primaries and I said on your show many times, I'm looking for a Democrat who can expand the electorate.
Joe Biden has done that and he's going to be able to reach out to independents, to reasonable Republicans to motivate the Democrats. He is expanding the base of this upcoming election.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Governor McAuliffe, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much, sir.
MCAULIFFE: Thanks, Erin. You bet. Thank you.
BURNETT: All right. And let's hand it off now to Anderson.
