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Erin Burnett Outfront

Andrew Yang Spoke With Jacob Blake's Family: He's Awake & Talking; 17-Year-Old Charged With Six Criminal Counts in Kenosha Shooting; At Least 12 GOP Senators Will Not Attend Trump's RNC Speech; Biden: Trump & His Allies Are "Rooting for Violence" in America; Setup for Trump's Speech Shows Chairs Close Together with No Social Distancing; NBA & NHL Playoffs, 6 MLB Games Postponed As Players Protest; Hurricane Laura Wreaks Havoc On Parts of Louisiana, Texas. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 27, 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: South Lawn of the White House between 1,500 and 2,000 people have been invited to sit there and listen to the President that will, of course, have live coverage.

That's it for me this hour. I'll be back in an hour to continue our special coverage. Erin Burnett OUTFRONT starts right now.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next the breaking news, Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old Wisconsin man shot multiple times by a police is conscious and talking. This is according to Andrew Yang. He just spoke to Blake's father and I'm going to speak to Andrew Yang about what he learned from him and what the family wants you to know.

And more breaking news, prosecutors pile six charges including homicide against the 17-year-old over those deadly shootings in Wisconsin.

And several prominent Republican senators declining an invitation to Trump's acceptance speech at the White House tonight, why? Let's go OUTFRONT.

And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.

OUTFRONT tonight the breaking news, new details about Jacob Blake. The 29-year-old black man shot seven times in the back by a police in Wisconsin. CNN is learning tonight that Blake is now cuffed to his hospital bed. Blake's family telling CNN, "This is an insult to injury. He is paralyzed and can't walk and they have him cuffed to the bed. Why?"

Asked about that tonight, the Governor of Wisconsin said he can't imagine why Blake would be cuffed to the bed. And former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang tweeting tonight that he has just spoken with Blake's father.

He said Blake's first question after he woke up was, "Daddy, why did they shoot me so many times?" Andrew Yang is going to be with me in just a moment and you'll hear what else Blake's father told him, what his father wants you all to know.

We are still, though, waiting for an answer from officials as to why Blake appears to be restrained, cuffed to his bed and why he was shot so many times. And we are waiting for any comment at all about this case from President Trump. It was four days ago that Blake was shot. Still the President has said nothing about that. Today, he was given the chance, asked repeatedly about the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you seen the video of the shooting death of Jacob Blake, Mr. President?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you been in touch with the family?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your reaction to it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: I want to note the reporter there did mistakenly say Blake had been killed, but the President, as you saw, would not respond to anything there. Blake is, of course, alive in the hospital.

Again, Trump's silent on the shooting of yet another black man by police and that silence is glaring because he has been willing to speak about the whole situation specifically about some of the reaction on the first night or two to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We will put out the fire. We will put out the flame and we will stop the violence very quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And yet Trump has not condemned the 17-year-old Trump supporter who was accused of shooting and killing two people, killing two people in Kenosha on Tuesday night. We're going to have a lot more on that coming up.

First Omar Jimenez is OUTFRONT in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Omar, there are so many unknown details in the Blake case so many things that at this point simply just don't make sense from the data points that we've been given. What more are you learning tonight?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now at this point, we know the Wisconsin Department of Justice is still piecing through this investigation, trying to get it to a place where they can turn it over to the Kenosha County District Attorney's Office and they would decide whether to pursue charges. They've identified one of the officers, the officer that pulled the trigger seven times, Officer Rusten Sheskey. But they also say there are two other officers that have yet to be named that the DOJ is looking at is probably the best word to use in regards to that.

Now, just a few moments ago, Gov. Tony Evers here in Wisconsin and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes wrapped the press conference where they say they spoke to the Jacob Blake family. And some of what you were touching on before you came to me, they were horrified at the fact that they were hearing from the family that he was handcuffed, especially as we have heard from those who have spoken to him that he is conscious.

Now, another thing they spoke about over the course of that press conference was about what we may see tonight. Of course, we are under that new curfew that is set to go into a place an hour from, which is an hour earlier than what we started this week with. And Gov. Evers specifically had words for the outside agitators that he described saying to them, if you are coming to this City of Kenosha with long guns to absolutely stay home.

Of course, alluding to what we saw two nights ago were two people were killed and a third was injured over an incident in a shooting with a long gun. And then as far as what we were going to see moving forward in the rest of the week about some of the issues that are sort of brewing here and the pain.

Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes basically said that the problem and he took it very personally at what happened, again, two nights ago with the shooter saying, the problem here is there are questions about whether Jacob Blake had a knife or was potentially even going for a knife in the front door of his vehicle. When he says there is a clear video of the shooter on Tuesday walking away from the scene, walking past police and being able to do so freely and he says, when that's the case, then you really have a problem. Erin.

BURNETT: Yes. All right. Omar, we're going to have much more on that in just a moment, everything we know about that alleged shooter.

[19:05:06]

I want to go now though to Andrew Yang. Former Democratic presidential candidate, political analysts now for us. And Andrew, I'm glad to talk to you, unfortunately under these circumstances, and I know you did just speak to Jacob Blake's father. What led to that conversation Andrew?

ANDREW YANG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Someone reached out to me and said that their family would like to hear from me. And, of course, I said like I'd be thrilled to lend whatever support I could. And it was heartbreaking, Erin, where Jacob Blake's father said that he was glad to see his son awake, but that his son's first question or first words to him were daddy, why did they shoot me so many times.

And he described that he remembered being shot five times and he didn't remember the sixth and seventh because he must have gone into shock or lost consciousness. And he also described how he's son is handcuffed to the bed and was very angry at that. His message to us was to say my son is a human being and it made me very heartbroken, because like how is it that we're having this conversation that his son's humanity is in question because he was treated so brutally by the officer in the situation.

So as a parent, I mean, I shared what I could in terms of the grief, but it's unthinkable what his entire family is experiencing right now.

BURNETT: It is. Can I just ask you, Andrew, about this, because it it's disturbing and it makes no sense. And when you talk about humanity, I knew we had heard from his uncle that he was handcuffed and now Jacob Blake's father is telling you that his son is restrained. But obviously, we know at this point that he is paralyzed. So I don't understand was he able to tell you anything about that?

YANG: His father actually use the chained, Erin. He said, why is my son chained up. And there's obviously no reasonable explanation for why someone who is paralyzed from the waist down would have handcuffs on. But his father actually use the word chains.

BURNETT: So you also asked Jacob Blake's father, Jacob Blake Sr. If there was a message that you could share on behalf of the family and I know he wanted you to share everything you shared with us, but there was also something else, I know, that he told you. What was it?

YANG: He said that he wants to see that there was one system of justice in the United States of America and not the two that he's seeing right now. One system has his son being shot in the back seven times and the other has an active shooter with a weapon out just walking right by police immediately after killing two people.

And so you could sense the frustration and anger in his voice when he talked about how his son was treated relative to how this young shooter from Illinois was treated.

BURNETT: And just to that point, President Trump has talked about the violence and he's going to put out the flames. He has not, though, said anything about Jacob Blake and what happened to him being shot seven times in the back. Did Blake's father talk at all about that? And I know there have been those who tried to have President Trump reach out to the family, were you able to get any information about that?

YANG: His father did not mention the President's name to me and certainly I did not get the sense that they were awaiting some kind of outreach on Trump's behalf. I mean, his message was really about his son's humanity and how it seems to have been called into question by this brutal shooting that we all saw in front of us and that was the main message, just my son is a human being. It was very, very heartbreaking and devastating.

BURNETT: I can only imagine, incredibly devastating and this thing about being restrained and chained is extremely disturbing, bizarre and incomprehensible really. We need to get more information on that. Andrew, I appreciate you coming on and sharing that conversation with all of us. Thank you.

YANG: Thanks, Erin.

BURNETT: And we do have breaking news now in the case against the 17- year-old. New charges against him. He allegedly shot and killed two protesters in Kenosha. Kyle Rittenhouse charged with six criminal counts including two charges of homicide. Wisconsin's Lieutenant Governor speaking out about Rittenhouse just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. MANDELA BARNES, (D) WISNONSIN: If, in fact, that is the case that this sort of person is being celebrated as a vigilante, as a militiaman, then that's ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So what happened? Drew Griffin is OUTFRONT?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT(voice over): This video appears to show 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse carrying his long gun, flagging police who give him a bottle of water. He told the right-wing Daily Caller sometime before the shooting, he was there in Kenosha to keep the peace.

[19:10:07]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYLE RITTENHOUSE, 17-YEAR-OLD SHOOTER: Our job is to protect this business and part of my job is to also help people. If there's somebody hurt, I'm running into harm's way. That's why I have my rifle, because I can protect myself, obviously.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN(voice over): Kyle Rittenhouse appears to be a want to be cop. A former youth police cadet whose social media posts include support for police, referencing Blue Lives Matter and including a post on his birthday in 2018 asking friends to donate to a nonprofit called humanizing the badge in lieu of gifts.

On the night of the shooting, he posted video to his own Snapchat from the protest areas. You can briefly see the rifle he's carrying.

A short time later, chaos erupts. Footage appears to show a man who seems to match Rittenhouse from the earlier video being chased by a group falls, is struck by protesters then turns his gun and fires. As one victim lies on the street, the gunman stands up, walks away. When it's over, two people are dead. One seriously injured.

The gunman casually walks away, holds his hands over his head. His police seem to ignore him and the guns slung across his chest even as protesters identify him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That dude just some of my friends, that dude right here.

(END VIDEO CLIP) GRIFFIN(voice over): Rittenhouse surrendered to police Wednesday in

his hometown of Antioch, Illinois about 20 miles away. He is charged with first degree intentional homicide, but police are saying little else.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF DAVID BETH, KENOSHA COUNTY, WISCONSIN: We know that there are still people out there, instigators that are trying to cause trouble and fire things up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN(voice over): At a news conference Thursday, officials gave no additional details on the shootings that took place during Tuesday night's protests and also failed to answer a single question about Jacob Blake. The man shot seven times in the back by Kenosha police.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any explanation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any explanation of that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN(voice over): Kyle Rittenhouse's online profile showing affinity for gun, there's a video of him shooting targets, another assembling what appears to be a semi automatic assault rifle. His TikTok bio shows he's a supporter of Donald Trump 2020 and he apparently attended a Trump rally in late January.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This president doesn't preach (ph). This president gets it done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN(voice over): Posting a video that showed he was in the very front row. Court records show when he was in middle school, Kyle Rittenhouse's mother claimed he was bullied so badly. She asked the court for a restraining order against one of his classmates. It didn't happen because neither party showed up for court.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Erin, Rittenhouse is being held in juvenile detention in Lake County, Illinois on a fugitive warrant. He has a extradition hearing tomorrow morning in which Wisconsin sinks to bring him back to Wisconsin to face now six criminal charges against him. Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much. Drew. I want to go to Carol Badoni. She's a 20-year Army veteran with first

aid training, was at the protest, performed CPR to try to save one of the victims allegedly shot by Rittenhouse. And Carol, look, I appreciate your time. I know that you heard shots. You ran to try to help one of these victims, a victim who I know did not survive. Tell me what happened.

CAROL BADONI, SAYS SHE TRIED TO REVIVE KENOSHA SHOOTING VICTIM: Well, basically, I had come down here because I wanted to see the peaceful protests. And just in the manner of walking around, I ended up being on Sheridan, when all of a sudden I heard a hail of gunshots.

So instead of running away from the gunshots, I decided to run towards the gunshot because I saw a person down on the ground to my left. One to my right. I wasn't trying to pick or choose, so I just ran to a particular person. He was face down. There was so many people around him screaming and hollering. I said, please, can you back up. I turned him over.

So he was face up and felt his pulse to see if I can feel a pulse. He had no pulse. So I started doing CPR on him hoping to get some sort of reaction or pulse for him to breed. He did not. His eyes were rolled back in his head. It was the worst thing, I think, I've ever seen in my life.

BURNETT: And I know, I mean, look, you did everything you could to try to save a life. Carol, I think everyone is trying to understand what happened here and there have been some, Tucker Carlson over at Fox is one of them, who've been saying, well, the shooter may have been acting in self defense. Does that fit with anything that you saw?

BADONI: It is not.

BURNETT: That's a categorical answer. So let me just asked you to Carol the video again. This is the video posted to a Milwaukee-based right-leaning website.

[19:15:01]

There's a person who appears to be Rittenhouse walking next to a police officer. There's other armed men as well and there's police in an armored vehicle. Let me just play the video here again, Carol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, thank you guys. You need water? Seriously. (Inaudible) they need water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They need water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Come on, guys. Let's get out of here. Which way should we go (inaudible) ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible), thank you. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible), yes, you. You are a civilian and

you're in a (inaudible) you're trespassing. Please. Please now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) of us here. Officer (inaudible) ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got a couple. We got to save a couple, but we'll give you a couple. We appreciate you guys, we really do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take care.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: OK. So Carol, what you hear there is the police talking to the, what appears to be Mr. Rittenhouse, saying we appreciate you guys. Hey, thank you guys. Giving some water to him and some other members of this militia. We understand, we believe that this was before the shooting although we're not a hundred percent sure.

So when you see that friendliness between these two groups, my question to you is being on the ground there, did it appear to you that police needed help from these militias, like anything that would explain that sort of extremely friendly, supportive relationship?

BADONI: I don't know why that would happen. It seems a little strange. I happen to actually see these particular individuals passing, when I pass by them. Each and every one of them were armed to the teeth. One particular gentleman had a wrap of bullets. There had to be 50 bullets around his chest, all sporting assault rifles of some sort or another. People carrying bats standing in front of this convenience store.

I've never seen anything like that, so that's scary. And to know that police would, I don't know, consider being not, I don't know, friendly to them. I mean, they weren't, at that time, doing anything in particular. So I don't want to step on their shoes either. They were saying that they were protecting this particular business.

I'm not sure if that's the right way to protect the business. I don't want to step on them in any way, shape or form. Each person has the right to do what they feel. I would just hope that they would do it in a safe manner, people having guns out in the public in broad daylight. I don't think that should happen. I understand. It's everyone's right to carry a gun, so please do not get me wrong in any way shape or form.

I just think it is asking for trouble sometimes. But, yes, if you do need it and you have to protect your life, I would want something to protect my life as well, so I don't know.

BURNETT: Well, Carol, I really appreciate your taking the time and I know you're giving us your honest answers to everything. And I just wanna emphasize again to our viewers, Carol, who was there performed CPR on one of the victims, categorical that there was no way that that shooting from what she saw was in self defense. And I appreciate your time, Carol. Thank you so very much. And I'm so

sorry, I know you did everything you could for that life.

Next, a number of prominent Republicans have declined invitations to Trump's RNC acceptance speech tonight, which is slated to last at least an hour. Who is choosing to sit this one out and why?

Plus, the President about to give a speech to a crowd up to 1,500, one of his largest since the pandemic began. And this picture of the White House where you can see those were the people who are going to be sitting. You may notice that there is absolutely no social distancing.

And the President and his team slamming NBA players over there boycott tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JARED KUSHNER, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: They have the financial position where they're able to take a night off from work without having to have the consequences to themselves financially, so they have that luxury which is great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:23:21]

BURNETT: Breaking news, at least a dozen senators will not be attending President Trump's RNC speech tonight at the White House, where he accepts the Republican nomination for president. Some coming up with previous commitments, others like senators Cruz and Cornyn home in Texas because of Hurricane Laura. And one, Mitt Romney, only one was actually not invited.

By the way, it's coronavirus times. I don't know what previous commitments any of these individuals seriously had. Jim Acosta is OUTFRONT at the white house tonight. And Jim, I'm not trying to make light of it, I'm making the point that this is significant. It's more than 20 percent of Senate Republicans not going to be there. What is the White House saying about this?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The White House is saying they understand. They know that not every lawmaker is going to be able to make it to the President speech tonight. But you're right about a dozen Republican senators have so far confirmed through their offices that they're not going to be in attendance for the President's speech later on tonight here at the White House.

But I will tell you, it is interesting, one of the Republican officials I just spoke to about this a short while ago said that coronavirus considerations were very likely to be a part of the determinations of some of these lawmakers not to attend, Erin. Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. John Cornyn, they're going to be in Texas tonight because they're dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. Sen. Tim Scott has said he had another engagement this evening. But the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he is not going to be

here tonight, as you know. He is up there in years and he has been taking this coronavirus outbreak very seriously, encouraging people to wear masks much more than the President. But one of the things we can tell you about the setting here tonight on the South Lawn of the White House, Erin, is that they don't seem to be taking the coronavirus very seriously.

[19:25:01]

There are hundreds of chairs lined up for attendees to be sitting in. They'll be sitting shoulder to shoulder. Already tonight, we can see many of the attendees are not wearing masks and I can tell you from talking to a senior administration official earlier today that convention planners were not in consultation with the coronavirus task force, the taskforce that works for the White House about safety precautions for tonight's proceedings.

BURNETT: I have no words for that stuff at this point. All right. Jim, thank you very much. I mean, just look for yourself, everybody.

All right. I want to go now to Scott Jennings, who was a Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, Karen Finney, the former Communications Director for the DNC and our Political Director, David Chalian.

Scott, let me start with you tonight, though, because we're just getting this breaking news. More than 20 percent of Senate Republicans are not going to be there tonight where President Trump who is the leader of their party will accept the nomination. Now, I understand there's all sorts of reasons in each individual case. It's a big deal when 20 percent of your own party in the senate isn't going to show up at your nomination speech. Does this look bad for him, Scott?

SCOTT JENNINGS, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Truthfully, I don't think so. I mean, the Senate is not in session. They're all back home. A lot of them are doing small events. I heard you were discussing the Jim, Mitch McConnell I've seen in the press that he's out and traveling around and visiting rural hospitals, for instance, to talk about coronavirus.

So I would not expect people to get on a plane and fly back to Washington to listen to a speech, especially when this is not a traditional convention that most of the speeches have had no crowd at all. So this doesn't really concern me (inaudible) ...

BURNETT: Scott, you have the majority leader who takes coronavirus seriously, who's going around the hospitals to visit people who might be sick with coronavirus and not showing up at the acceptance speech for the nomination of his presidential nominee. I mean, I know you got to try to spin it, but I don't see how that looks good. I mean, how it's not a statement.

JENNINGS: Like I said, if this were a normal convention, I imagine all Republican Congressional people would be at the convention or most of them. It's not a normal convention. Virtually no one is in washington For this, so, again, it just doesn't concern me.

BURNETT: David?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I'm kind of with Scott on this, Erin. I don't see this as a huge problem. Two reasons, one, I think sort of what the political class does is not necessarily reflective of something larger in terms of what's going on with the Republican Party ...

BURNETT: That's fair.

CHALIAN: ... and the Republican Party support of President Trump. And we had heard when the party was first looking at Charlotte and then when it was moving to Jacksonville, at that time we had heard a lot of members weren't going to be attending the convention.

Out of these coronavirus concerns, I think the pictures you're showing on the South Lawn are a concern in the way that people are not socially distanced there and people are not wearing masks. I would imagine a lot of those senators who chose not to come for the speech probably are thinking, maybe that was the wise health decision to make.

BURNETT: Yes. No, I hear what both of you are saying. I just think if they know what saying, I hear you. It's not going to sway anybody's point of view or anything like that. But if they wanted to be there, they'd be there.

Karen, you just heard President Trump is going to address racial unrest tonight in his speech. That's Jim's reporting. His Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows says he has seen the video of Jacob Blake and the shooting, right, seven times in the back. But the President obviously has not yet spoken publicly about the Jacob Blake case in the four days since we've all seen that video. Does he need to address it specifically tonight?

It looks like we have a bit of an issue. Karen, can you hear me? No. I'm sorry. OK.

So Scott, I want to ask you something a bit different because if I can get her back, I want to ask her that question. But the former Vice President Joe Biden accused President Trump and his allies today of basically rooting for the violence that we have seen in cities across this country. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: These guys are rooting for violence. That's what it's all about to prove that you should be scared.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think he's actually rooting for violence that he wants violence because it ...

BIDEN: Absolutely. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: OK. So Kellyanne Conway then, Scott, came out today and said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE COUNSELOR: The more chaos, and anarchy, and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who's best on public safety and law and order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: I don't know if she meant that to come out quite the way it did, but it seems to sort of make the case Joe Biden is making. Is Joe Biden right, Scott?

JENNINGS: No, he's not right. I don't know a single Republican from the President on down who wants there to be violence and chaos in American cities. I think that's a highly irresponsible comment from a presidential nominee.

And I think, Erin, the analogous argument would be for Republicans to say, OK, fine, Democrats are rooting for the coronavirus to rage on. And if somebody said that, then you would be excoriating them right now.

So I don't like these sorts of outrageous - I mean, that kind of statement is for some fringe pundit to make. That's not for a presidential nominee to make.

I think it's highly irresponsible and I don't think it's true.

[19:30:02]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: David, what do you think is going to happen tonight? With the president, what he's going to address. Obviously, today, he was asked specifically right about Jacob Blake and refused to comment, right, but he did comment on he was going to put out the flames. This is a big -- he has a big decision to make tonight.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. I mean, and the reporting suggests he is going to address Jacob Blake, the shooting, the police-involved shooting with Jacob Blake. It's how he addresses it. I mean, Mike Pence addressed Kenosha last night as part of a statement on violence in cities but didn't actually address the systemic racism at play with police brutality against black people in America and sort of the path forward on that.

I think to listen tonight to how Donald Trump addresses this issue, and is it about sort of bringing the country together and the path forward in resolving or pushing towards resolution to what is clearly a crisis in America?

BURNETT: Karen, I want to ask you something here. I'm glad we have you back. I'm sorry about that. I know your shot close for a moment. President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner today said he is confident black voters will support Trump. He went off to explain what he sees as Trump's accomplishments in office. Here's Jared Kushner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JARED KUSHNER, TRUMP SENIOR ADVISER: People complained about the criminal justice system and the racial inequalities that existed. Well, he took on that issue and brought a solution. He got the historic criminal justice reform. Obviously, there's education. President Trump has been tight approximating to get people out of failed schools and into charter schools. He's found a lot of resistance from Democrats on that. In addition to that, he funded the historically black colleges and universities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So, what do you make of that, right, Karen? Criminal justice reform, that's true, funded historically black colleges, that's true. Does he have a point?

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, no, of course not.

And I will say that the president's remarks tonight I will argue are part of why, going back to the beginning of this conversation, many Republicans will be able to say tomorrow, gee, I wasn't there, I didn't see it when the president talked about law and order in this despicable way that we heard from Mike Pence.

I mean, look, what Kushner is not telling you, if Donald Trump really wants to do something for the black community, he will come out tonight and he will order Mitch McConnell to sign the Justice in Policing Act, because -- to get it passed, to get it done. He hasn't taken a step on that, and look at the way our country is burning.

Listen to the voices of people who have been peacefully protesting trying to make their voices heard. You know, nobody is in support of violence. You heard Jacob Blake's mother so eloquently speak to this. You've heard Kamala Harris. You've heard Joe Biden talk about this. So, the fact that we haven't even heard Donald Trump call for peace, we haven't even heard any empathy for the three children who sat there and watched their father be shot seven times, where is -- I mean, this is the hypocrisy of this whole convention.

On the one hand they've been trying to say Donald Trump is so empathetic. He sure doesn't seem to be empathetic when it comes to the suffering of black people in this country.

BURNETT: All right. I'll leave it there. Thank you all three very much. I appreciate it, as always this week.

And next, Senator Kamala Harris, her strongest attacks yet against the president, this on his handling of the pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Donald Trump froze. He was scared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And the president and his team belittling professional athletes who are boycotting games in protest of the Jacob Blake shooting.

(COMMECIAL BREAK)

[19:37:43]

BURNETT: The president about to address about 1,500 people at the White House, one of his biggest audiences since the pandemic began. I just want to show you the scene again because you will see all the chairs are jammed in and the people are sitting in those chairs jammed in.

And Jim Acosta says most of them aren't wearing masks. That's how it goes, right?

This, as the Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris gave one of her blistering critics of Trump's handling of the coronavirus yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: President Trump, he got it wrong from the beginning and then he got it wrong again and again. And the consequences have been catastrophic. Instead of rising to meet the most difficult moment of his presidency, Donald Trump froze. He was scared, and he was petty and vindictive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: The U.S. death toll tonight is 180,523 dead Americans.

Nick Watt is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than 180,000 lives now lost in America to this coronavirus, multiple times the estimated death toll of our last flu season. And the economic hurt, another 1 million Americans filed for first-time unemployment last week.

Meanwhile, growing outrage after apparent White House pressure led to the CDC no longer saying asymptomatic people need a test after close contact with an infected person. The federal testing chief denies there was pressure.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: That is really bad advice. I believe there was political propaganda rather than public health advice.

MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D), LOS ANGELES: Often it's those silent spreaders that have done the most damage.

WATT: Today, this explanation from the White House.

MARC SHORT, CHIEF OF STAFF TO VICE PRESIDENT PENCE: The guidance that was updated is because there continue to be backlogs in the system with the testing, particularly for people getting tests for asymptomatic.

DR. DANIEL MCQUILLEN, SENIOR PHYSICIOAN, BETH ISRAEL LAHEY HEALTH, LAHEY HOSPITAL & MEDICAL CENTER: What it speaks to is that something that's not a secret to anyone, we don't really have enough testing at this point.

WATT: It's a secret President Trump continually tries to keep.

[19:40:03]

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have the best testing in the world.

WATT: We might be about to actually get better testing. The FDA just granted emergency authorization for a $5 15-minute test, could be used by tens of millions, say its makers.

Nationally, we are doing better in this battle, major metrics moving in the right direction for now. But on the state level, right now record average new cases in Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas and North Dakota, which is leading the nation in new cases per capita and past 10,000 total.

GOV. DOUG BURGUM (R), NORTH DAKOTA: Fifty-six percent of those have been asymptomatic. People who do not have symptoms can still be contagious in the sense they can still transmit this disease.

WATT: At least 21 new cases in North Dakota alone linked to that defiantly undistanced Sturgis motorcycle rally in neighboring South Dakota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: And that quick cheap test I just mentioned, well, Kayleigh McEnany from the White House just mentioned the purchase and production of 150 million of them, calling it a major development, of course just a few hours before the president's major speech on the South Lawn where, as you mention, Erin, doesn't look like they're going to be taking COVID-19 very seriously at all. Let's just hope there aren't any of those infamous asymptomatic spreaders among them -- Erin.

BURNETT: Yeah. Thank you very much, Nick Watt.

I want to go to Dr. Jonathan Reiner, director of the cardiac cath lab at G.W., also advised the White House under President George. W. Bush.

So, Dr. Reiner, you know, we see now, everyone gathering outside the White House, and we see all the chairs in a row, and we see social distancing and Jim Acosta says almost no mask that he can see. Then we look -- so that's tonight.

A second ago, I was looking at last night, the president and vice president mingling with supporters, following the vice president's speech, people crowding the barriers. I don't see any masks in this picture. There were some in some places, but obviously few and far between.

Melania Trump's speech seeing images of people mingling, no social distance. According to the White House, those who are closes to the president tonight will be tested. Don't worry about anybody else. How dangerous is this?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: So, I'm sitting right now in the hospital six blocks from the White House, a hospital that treated hundreds and hundreds of COVID patients over the last six months. And when I look at a gathering down the street purely for political purposes, purely to create a backdrop for the president, it's really maddening.

So, by protecting -- by testing the people in the front, the White House is just protecting the president. By packing in 1,500 people without requiring them to wear masks, which I'm sure is a violation actually of D.C. law right now, is endangering his supporters.

So, what he's saying by doing this -- and he's done this before. He did this in Tulsa and Phoenix and Mt. Rushmore. What he's saying is he cares more about the backdrop than he does about the people.

This is -- this kind of recidivist buffoonery has to stop. We're in a pandemic. We need leadership, and a leader wears a mask and tells his supporters to wear a mask. This is going -- this is going to kill people.

BURNETT: Well, I mean, look, I think you put it powerfully. They care about him as they should, he's the commander in chief, but unfortunately, they don't care about the rest of the people, and they should, because commander in chief should care about his people. Those are the facts.

The 150 million new tests that get announced today just before this speech -- obviously he's going to talk about that. Let me just ask you about that? And can I just ask you, like so suddenly, we get them tonight, 150 million rapid tests? I'm not going to get into how much they work. But suddenly we get them tonight right before the speech? Does that surprise you?

REINER: Right. You know, Sunday, we got the emergency use for convalescent plasma. Look, everything -- everything is timed with a political purpose here.

I welcome the tests. I think the tests are great. I think the tests are going to help us expand our outreach of testing.

The problem is that we have a massive mixed message. On the one hand this week, we have the CDC advising people who have had direct exposures not to get tested and now we have the release of this. Look, I want a consistent plan, and I want it from this administration.

We're just not getting it. We need to test more. I welcome the tests. But it's just a political jungle now, Erin.

[19:45:00]

BURNETT: All right. Dr. Reiner, thank you very much. As we see those people gathering on the White House lawn, 180,523 Americans have died tonight and yet there you have it, 1,500 people gathering without masks and without social distancing for speech by the president.

Next professional sports on hold again tonight, but the NBA appears ready to resume play this weekend. Why?

And at least six people are dead, more than 800,000 without power. Hurricane Laura ravaging the Gulf Coast. New details about how widespread the destruction is, and literally still come in as we're just getting footage of some of these devastated areas.

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BURNETT: Tonight, professional sports world coming to a halt for a second night as players protest the shooting of Jacob Blake by police. The NBA, WNBA, and National Hockey League postponing games that were scheduled for tonight. At least six major league baseball games cancelled at this hour.

[19:50:04]

President Trump and other White House officials attacking the NBA for the boycott that sparked all of this.

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TRUMP: They've become like a political organization and that's not a good thing. I don't think that's a good thing for sports or for the country.

JARED KUSHNER, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think the NBA players are very fortunate where they have the financial position where they're able to take a night off from work.

SHORT: In my mind, it's absurd and silly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, Shams Charania, senior lead NBA insider at "Stadium and the Athletic". He's also inside the NBA bubble in Orlando and breaking a whole lot of news on this front.

So, Shams, appreciate your time.

NBA players have a meeting with management tonight after they decided to resume the playoffs, the NBA saying that everything could resume as soon as this weekend. So, you know more than everyone what happened in that meeting. What are your sources telling you? SHAMS CHARANIA, SENIOR LEAD NBA INSIDER, WRITER, ANALYST FOR THE

ATHLETIC AND STADIUM: Yeah, Erin, so player reps from all the teams inside the bubble and the league office, the player association they all had a multi-hour meeting this afternoon where I'm told players challenged owners in terms of wanting them to be more proactive, not reactive and wanting them to put their actions -- their words into actions and put forth more of a game plan toward really creating change and not just doing it financially.

The NBA and MVPA created a $300 million fund for black communities but the NBA players want action right now from the owners and I'm told the NBA and MBTA will team up to work on initiatives that are created by the players.

BURNETT: And, look, this is -- this is hard, right, because it's one thing to boycott and another thing to stay what's our end game, what are we going to specifically accomplish by doing it, right? They're tackling that.

They've now, of course, you know, I know you're saying that's what they're going to try to do. They are going to resume playoffs is the understanding.

Tennis star Naomi Osaka, a Japanese African-American has agreed to play in the semifinals of the western Southern Open. She had originally said she was boycotting. She originally reversed course a day later. She said the publicity was worth it to bring attention to the cause.

But I guess, you know, since the NBA really started this and has been leading this, what do players specifically define as an accomplishment. Like we boycotted and we're getting this, right? What do they define as success?

CHARANIA: Erin, they love really justice for what they believe and what obviously a lot of us do believe, unjust acts, right, of violence toward unarmed black people. And so that is their cause, and that is what they're fighting for -- social equality, racial equality, police brutality. These are all causes that they want to fight for and that they're passionate about. But that can take decades upon decades. It's not truly controllable in their hands.

BURNETT: Yeah.

CHARANIA: But what is controllable is their actions and what they feel like they might do on a day to basis.

BURNETT: Before we go, quickly, LeBron James tweeted before the meeting: Change doesn't happen with just talk. It happens with action and needs to happen now -- which goes to the point you and I were just talking about.

I know you reported James didn't initially want to resume playoffs, but he did change his mind. How come?

CHARANIA: Yeah, so the Lakers and Clippers both out of the 13 teams that met last night they voted not to play. But after a night of talking to people around him, people inside the bubble, there were a lot of meetings being held late in the night. I'm told up to 4:00, 5:00 in the morning, the next day today, it was a pretty clear consensus that they would resume the season.

BURNETT: All right. Shams, I really appreciate your time. Thank you very much. As I said, Shams has been breaking so much of this inside the bubble there in Orlando.

And next hurricane Laura now a tropical storm continuing to march north after leaving death and widespread destruction in the southern United States.

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[19:56:46]

BURNETT: Widespread destruction after Hurricane Laura tore through parts of Louisiana and Texas overnight, killing at least six people.

Martin Savidge is OUTFRONT.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, look, look, this roof -- the roof there a roof coming down. You can see it some on the ground there just raining down here in Lake Charles.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Roaring ashore with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour, Hurricane Laura was the strongest storm to hit this portion of Louisiana and far eastern Texas in over a century.

Laura's powerful winds tearing across Lake Charles, Louisiana, some 35 miles inland causing widespread destruction, homes and buildings torn apart. Roofs completely sheared off. Huge trees snapped in half.

And lampposts and street signs bent in half or completely torn from the ground. This video captured by one man who spoke to CNN after riding out Laura in this condo in Lake Charles.

TOLOR WHITE JR.: I heard a big bang and that woke me up, and I decided to go out and see what it is. This was a lot worse than Rita.

SAVIDGE: Tonight, at least six storm related deaths have been reported including a 14-year-old girl. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards says at least four were due to trees falling on homes. A scary situation near Lake Charles where a chemical fire at a plant sent huge plumes of smoke into the air forcing officials to enter a shelter in place order to people who lived nearby.

Meanwhile rising waters continue to be a concern for many.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Water's still rising right now but at a very slow place compared to Rita and Ike. SAVIDGE: The storms knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of

people in Louisiana and Texas. The Red Cross says more than 400 volunteers are now on the ground in both states. And the National Guard had been deployed to help with cleanup in Lake Charles.

In Texas, tornados are a major concern.

GOVERNOR GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: There's powerful winds knocking down very tall trees in east Texas as well as potential tornado activity. So people in northeast Texas still need to remain very vigilant right now.

SAVIDGE: One Texas meteorologist had a scary encounter with an electrical wire what was captured on video by CNN affiliate KXAT in Orange, Texas.

Luckily, he wasn't hurt, but the potential for dangerous even deadly conditions is far from over.

KEN GRAHAM, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: We're not done yet, so anybody well inland if you think this is just a coastal event, that's not true. We're going to see even at 1:00 a.m. Friday, so tomorrow morning still a tropical storm in Arkansas.

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SAVIDGE: Even as bad as it is the governor of Louisiana says it could have been worse. Remember the storm surge they talked about coming all the way up here to Lake Charles, that never materialized. But what the water didn't do the wind more than made up for -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Martin, thank you very much live there from Lake Charles.

And thanks to all of you for joining us.

Our special coverage of the Republican national convention and the president's nomination speech tonight continues now.