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President Trump: The Only Way We're Going To Lose This Election Is If The Election Is Rigged; Fauci: Coronavirus Vaccinations Could Start In November Or December; Third Night Of Protests In Louisville Over Lack Of Charges In Breonna Taylor's Death; Lawyer Says Wisconsin Officer Shot Jacob Blake After Hearing Mother's Desperate Plea. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired September 26, 2020 - 06:00   ET

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

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's the only way we're going to lose is if there's mischief. We do want a very friendly transition, but we don't want to be cheated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to keep hearing this unless Trump actually wins the election.

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: By the time you get enough people vaccinated so that you can feel you've had an impact enough on the outbreak, that very likely, as I and others have said, will be maybe the third quarter or so of 2021. The availability and starting vaccination could very likely start in November or December.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump intends to nominate Judge Amy Coney Barrett to be the new Supreme Court justice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If Amy Coney Barrett is announced on Saturday and is confirmed, she could be on the bench for more than a generation.

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CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Look at that beautiful skyline and the city lights there in New York. Gorgeous day ahead for all of you waking up there. We're so grateful to have your company. We always are. I'm Christi Paul.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Martin Savidge in today for Victor Blackwell. Morning to you, Christi.

PAUL: Morning, Marty.

SAVIDGE: This morning, the President is undermining and delegitimizing the outcome of the election, saying the only way he will lose the election is if it's rigged.

PAUL: Now this comes after as, you know, weeks of attacks on mail-in voting and his refusal to commit to a peaceful transition. CNN's Sarah Westwood's live from the White House right now. Sarah, what else did the President say last night? And good morning to you.

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Good morning, Martin and Christi. And yes, last night we heard the President continuing to cast doubt on the integrity of the election, suggesting that we may not ever be able to trust the results of the election on November 3rd, obviously presenting no evidence for that.

But as you mentioned, that comes after a week in which the President did launch many attacks on mail-in voting and really raised a lot of concern when he refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power. That's something he doubled down on throughout the week even though he was receiving objections even from many members of his own party on that inflammatory claim, but the President last night suggested that he may be amenable to a friendly transition of power, but only if he feels he isn't cheated. Take a listen.

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TRUMP: That's the only way we're going to lose is if there's mischief, mischief and it'll have to be on a big scale. So be careful and we do want a very friendly transition, but we don't want to be cheated and be stupid.

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WESTWOOD: And that was at the President's rally last night in Newport News, Virginia. He was continuing to peddle a number of debunked theories about mail-in ballots. Him and the White House seized this week on news from the Department of Justice that it had opened an investigation into nine improperly discarded ballots in Pennsylvania and that, too, raised allegations of politicization from the DOJ because they disclosed in the course of an active investigation that some of those ballots were indeed for Trump.

But the President has been promoting that along with other theories to suggest that the election will be susceptible to widespread fraud, something for which, again, there is just no evidence.

Now, the White House attempted something of a cleanup perhaps if you can consider it that way by saying the President would accept the results of a free and fair election, but it appears that it's the President who wants to get to decide whether it's free or fair and he continued to suggest throughout the week that that may not be possible in his eyes if expanded mail-in voting is allowed to move forward. Last night in Virginia, we also heard the President making jokes about clinging to power beyond just a couple of terms.

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TRUMP: Let's see. Will we be president in 10 years? Only if we -- only if we add a couple of terms and oh, this -- now we have a story. There's your breaking news. I told you he's a dictator. We've been saying -- he will not give up power.

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WESTWOOD: Now, obviously later today the President will be unveiling his pick for the Supreme Court vacancy, significant for a lot of reasons, but one of them is that the President acknowledged this week that the results of the election could end up before the Supreme Court and if he's successful in appointing his nominee and getting that nominee confirmed before Election Day, that means that a third of the justices on the bench, if that happens, will have been appointed by Trump, Martin and Christi.

SAVIDGE: A remarkable number. Sarah Westwood starting things off for us from the White House. Thanks.

PAUL: Thanks, Sarah. So Joe Biden's dismissing the President's latest attacks on the election process. The Democratic nominee says the President's refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power is a distraction.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The American people aren't going to be shut down in this election. They're going to vote, they're going to vote in large numbers and they're just not going to be denied. I'm confident, all the irresponsible, outrageous attacks on voting, we'll have an election in this country as we always have had and he'll leave.

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[06:05:05] SAVIDGE: Joining us now, CNN Political Commentator and host of "You Decide," the podcast, Errol Louis.

Morning to you, Errol.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Martin.

SAVIDGE: I got to ask you, I know the President is now saying that he was kidding, but this is really dangerous talk coming from the President for our democracy and I just have to get your thoughts.

LOUIS: Well, it's beyond talk, Martin, and it's happening right now. I think you can't say it often enough or more clearly enough for your audience that this is that moment that people feared when -- because it's not -- it's not just talk. I mean, the President, on a daily basis, says things that are simply not true, as Sarah Westwood pointed out, about the legitimacy and the accuracy of mail-in voting which we've done since the Civil War without problems.

So he puts out this make-believe information, but beyond that, they're suing. The Trump administration has launched lawsuits in at least five different swing states against the the mail-in voting system that's in place there. So that's phase two of it and then phase three, of course, is, as he said, he wants to try and get a Supreme Court majority in place that will uphold a close election if that's what it takes. So this is the moment that everybody feared. Democracy is under attack. We know from the FBI that there's foreign interference in this election, not 2016, this election and we've heard nothing, absolutely nothing, from this White House about how to defend against it. All of the pieces are in place. People should be very, very concerned and upset I think, Martin.

PAUL: So let's fast forward to after November 3rd because a lot of people have this image in their mind of what would it look like if President Trump actually refuses to leave the White House? I mean, who intervenes at that point?

I've talked to people who think, oh, I see people dragging him out kicking and screaming. That's clearly not going to happen, but what do we know about what could transpire after November 3rd if he has enough questions about how everything transpired in the election and refuses to step down?

LOUIS: Well, I hate to say it, Christi, but I wouldn't be too certain that being dragged out kicking and screaming is off the table. We do not -- we simply don't know what is going to happen. I'd say that the really -- the outer limit, the date to keep in mind, is January 21st where, by order of the Constitution, his term will end and the only question becomes, OK, who then becomes the next president? If the Electoral College and the other questions are not settled by then, then you have a real problem. So I don't think November 4th is the date to really be alarmed about. January 21st is more like it.

However, to answer your question, there are a lot of different moving parts and the confusion is part of the problem. The confusion, in fact, is part of the attack. We know this from the way and the methods that the Russian government uses to try and disrupt elections. Just confusion. Unclear what's happening in this state or that state, what the secretary of state is being challenged in court and says is being challenged in court in any particular state.

All this litigation that's being ginned up by the Trump administration continues to work its way through the court a newly constituted, perhaps, Supreme Court has to now take it up. So there'll just be a lot of questions that are out there and that is what Trump is aiming for, to make sure that we simply don't know and to try and make it uncertain who is supposed to be in charge and then the sources of authority are kind of up in the air and here, again, that is the whole point of the exercise to see if he can sort of slip through.

And we should keep in mind all of this assumes, and the President seems to be assuming in all of this talk, that he's not going to win, that he can't win fair and square, that the -- that the polls may have been right over these last few months, that he's behind in many, many swing states, that he's behind in the Electoral College count, that he's behind in the national popular vote and that he won't be able to win this election unless something unusual happens and that is what he is trying to create.

SAVIDGE: Errol, before we came to you, we of course played that soundbite from Joe Biden and he downplays this and seems to be very optimistic that the Constitution will carry us through. Is he being too optimistic?

LOUIS: Well, look, I think it's up to all of us. I think he's playing the role that he should play which is to express support for the institutions that have seen us through the last couple of centuries. We've had smooth transitions of power, you know, even closely contested elections like the mess that happened in 2000. We were able to see our way through it, but that really requires all of us to support the institutions of democracy.

That means the media, that means Congress, that means the courts, that means making sure that, you know, your local boards of election are playing it straight and that includes standing up to intimidation by the Trump administration. So it's up to all of us to make sure that we don't get kind of carried away and think that it's all going to work out fine or that it's all going to fall apart.

[06:10:02] It's up to every person watching this who is a citizen. You've got to get involved and that, I think, is the most important take-home message. Joe Biden is not going to necessarily say that, but we should all be saying that to each other, Martin.

PAUL: Errol, we do know that we're all expecting to hear from the President today regarding who will take over Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat. It is believed to be Amy Coney Barrett and you wrote an interesting piece in "The Daily News this week about how fired up Democrats are compared to Republicans on this very issue. What has your research told you about this one issue, this SCOTUS appointment, that may shape the election on November 3rd?

LOUIS: Oh, you know, I was -- I as very interested to find, Christi, that although the conventional wisdom holds that Democrats don't take the Supreme Court openings as seriously as conservatives do, as Republicans do, that they don't plan for years in advance who they're going to try and aim at the Supreme Court and so forth whereas Republicans do and they have things like the Federalist Society which grooms them and vets them and promotes them and so forth, what I found and I was a little surprised is that Democrats are really fired up by this.

In poll after poll after poll, including a "Fox News" poll, all the polls that I've looked at all suggest that Independents and Democrats are very, very concerned about who the next justice will be, the process by which that person is appointed and the results of that nomination. So this may have backfired on those who wanted to pursue a conservative strategy of trying to sort of pack the court with conservatives for a generation.

Democrats, I think, have quickly awakened to the idea, the reality that the big ticket items that they want, whether it's the Green New Deal or preserving the Affordable Care Act or changing the way policing is done, any of the big ticket items that people talk about all the time, you know, gun control, none of it's going to happen without going through the courts and I think people are now aware that a generation's worth of Democratic ideas and ideals could really shipwreck at the -- on the front steps of the Supreme Court and so people are really fired up in a way that I haven't seen before. PAUL: All righty. Errol Louis, so value your perspective. Thank you so much for getting up for us ...

LOUIS: Thank you.

PAUL: ... this morning.

SAVIDGE: Yes. Thanks, Errol. As we just mentioned, sources tell CNN that President Trump intends to nominate conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court today. Barrett is currently a federal appeals court judge and a former clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia.

PAUL: She's also the mother of seven children, including two adopted from Haiti. Now, if nominated, the power to confirm Barrett lies with the Senate where Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the President's pick will receive a vote this year. We're going to have more coverage on that anticipated announcement throughout the day.

SAVIDGE: Still ahead, new information from Dr. Fauci on how soon the first coronavirus vaccinations could be given out and how long after that you can expect things to get back to normal?

PAUL: Also, the family of Breonna Taylor says their fight for justice isn't over. Now they want to know exactly what Kentucky's attorney general told that grand jury.

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SAVIDGE: Hard to comprehend, but the United States has now reported more than 7 million coronavirus cases. Vaccines remain the big hope for how we get back to our pre-pandemic routines and as we wait for a vaccine to be approved, Dr. Anthony Fauci says vaccinations could very likely start in November or December.

PAUL: Now, he'll also again be making it clear when we might actually see an impact from those vaccinations should that timeline hold up. CNN's Polo Sandoval following all of this for us. Polo, good morning to you. What are you hearing there this morning?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, guys. Good morning. Yes. There is a significant difference, right? between what Dr. Anthony Fauci has said here about the availability of that COVID vaccine and when most of the country would actually be protected, especially when you look at his latest remarks here indicating that possibly we could see up to 700 million doses available by April.

Vaccinations could, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, be ready at least by this fall here, but as you're about to hear from experts, it may be some time before we actually reach those pre-COVID times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FAUCI: In reality, by the time you get enough people vaccinated so that you can feel you've had an impact enough on the outbreak so that you can start thinking about maybe getting a little bit more towards normality, that very likely, as I and others have said, would be maybe the third quarter or so of 2021, maybe even into the fourth quarter, but the availability and starting vaccination could very likely start in November or December.

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SANDOVAL: So consider that and then also look at the national map here and some of those states that are continuing to see those increases. You mentioned, Martin, a little while ago that 7 million mark that we've already reached in the country. The confirmed COVID cases here in the U.S., that was reported as we continue to see about 23 states still seeing increases, many of those in the Midwest.

SAVIDGE: Florida's had a really tough time with the virus. Now the governor is allowing, apparently, restaurants and bars to reopen, even already talking about Super Bowl plans. I mean, what's the latest there?

SANDOVAL: Yes. It's never too soon to talk about the Super Bowl here and Governor Ron DeSantis making it clear that he believes that we could potentially see a full Super Bowl by February and this as those numbers do continue to increase there in the state of Florida. Here's a little bit about what the governor had to say just yesterday about that.

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GOVERNOR RON DESANTIS, (R) FLORIDA: I also want to be able to show we're going to be able to host the Super Bowl in February. We expect to do a full Super Bowl and we're going to show that we're going to be able to do that.

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SANDOVAL: You mentioned that phase three reopening that the governor is going to allow in the state of Florida, but this as that state actually placed second when it comes to the number of new COVID deaths, guys.

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SAVIDGE: Polo Sandoval, thank you very much for that update. You know, there is a new public service announcement that features Americans who have volunteered for COVID-19 vaccine trials and hope to recruit many more.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Marine Corps.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a flight attendant with American Airlines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I work at a grocery store and I want people to safely get their food.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to see again visible smiles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Almost half a million Americans have volunteered so far and stepped up to help fight COVID-19 by being a part of the vaccine clinical trials.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not a doctor, but I am a citizen of this great country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I want to do my part as an American.

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PAUL: Now, you heard that voiceover. Did you notice that voice sounds familiar? It's Harrison Ford. The actor partnered with the National Institutes of Health to narrate that new PSA.

In an exclusive interview with CNN, the attorney for the Wisconsin police officer who shot Jacob Blake last month in front of his children explains why his client fired those seven shots.

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SAVIDGE: Police in Louisville made 23 arrests during a third night of protests over the shooting of Breonna Taylor. While the protests were mostly peaceful leading up to the city's 9:00 P.M. curfew, police threw out flashbangs when a group refused to move onto the sidewalk.

PAUL: Now, demonstrators also marched in places like Los Angeles and Atlanta last night. Breonna Taylor was killed in March, remember, after three plain-clothed officers broke down her door searching for her ex-boyfriend who wasn't there. Wednesday, a grand jury decided not to directly charge any of those officers in Taylor's death.

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BENJAMIN CRUMP, BREONNA TAYLOR FAMILY ATTORNEY: If you want us to accept the results, then release the transcript ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right. That's right.

CRUMP: ... release the transcript so we can have transparency.

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PAUL: Breonna Taylor's family, you see there with their attorney Benjamin Crump, demanding transcripts of the grand jury proceedings. That attorney there says he is not giving up hope that the charges are possible at the federal level.

So let's talk to legal analyst Joey Jackson here. Joey, always good to have you here. We appreciate it. Is it an unreasonable ask at this point and is it unprecedented? Is there any precedence for releasing that information to the family?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning to you, Christi. It is not unprecedented and I think it's required and necessary under these circumstances. We should be mindful of the fact that their own governor in Kentucky who himself was attorney general has asked for the release of the transcripts. We know there are legal exceptions and it should not take the family going to court in order to get that done.

Now, we know and understand that grand jurors are generally meeting in secret. there are a number of reasons for that, protecting witnesses, protecting the propriety and integrity of the investigations, making sure people don't flee.

Many of those particular exceptions with respect to why a grand jury transcript would be released are applicable here and many of the reasons to keep grand jurors secret don't apply here and so I think it would only be in accord with good business practice, it would be in accord of course with, I think, good societal practice.

Finally, Christi, we're in unprecedented times. You pointed to it there with Martin with regard to protests across the country, not only of course last night, but for months with respect to police misconduct, with regard to how -- excuse me -- police are treating people of color and so I think in this particular circumstance, that transcript should be released, people should know what was presented and I think it would lead to calm in the event it was -- it was presented appropriately.

PAUL: I think the overarching question that so many people have had is why did the charges not directly affect the death of or were not attached to the death of Breonna Taylor and do you anticipate federal charges coming?

JACKSON: So I think it was somewhat concerning. If you're -- if you're impaneling a grand jury in order to investigate Breonna Taylor, where are the charges as to her? Now, let's be clear briefly on what a grand jury is. Grand jury is there, Christi, not to determine guilt or innocence, not to establish proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, not even to be unanimous.

In Kentucky, of course, you have nine -- you have 12 grand jurors, nine of which must vote out an indictment and, you know, when it comes to actually what they did, what we're looking at there, the wanton endangerment, let's remember, to your question, that that pertains to what occurred in an adjoining apartment. Those charges relate to the shooting that was really indiscriminate.

You're just shooting and shooting and there were three people in an adjoining apartment including a pregnant woman who could have been endangered as a result of that and so your charge is to that. Where are the charges relating to what the conduct was to Breonna Taylor? When does firing 30 some odd shots lead from unreasonableness, right? To criminality? And so I think that eventually, you know, you have to get to the issue of what have you done to prevent -- to provide justice to her?

And finally, on the issue of federal charges, I don't see that and the reason I don't see that is because of the fact that in the federal level, what you're looking for is a willful intentional violation with regard to someone's civil rights. That doesn't come from reckless conduct, meaning shooting, shooting, you don't know who you're shooting at, right? You can't say it's a civil rights violation as to them or even careless conduct. It has to be willful and intentional violation of a civil right.

[06:30:01]

So I don't see any federal charge because I think we're less with of course what we know, which is the civil aspect of a case where the family was awarded $12 million. The mother having said, Christi, Listen, I'd take my daughter any day of course other than the money. And so, it's a tough circumstance indeed.

PAUL: Well, $12 million doesn't absolve anybody of what happened. How much of a difference does it make, Joey, because I had heard some reports that the proof was missing because they said shots were fired from inside the apartment first. To that you say what?

JACKSON: So, a couple of things. I think the first thing is, of course, we have to know and understand what actually was presented to the grand jury. And that's relevant because a grand jury is really controlled by a prosecutor. What information did you present?

How did you present it? What witnesses did you put forward? What ballistic report did you put forward? And what evidence with regard to what the police did when they got to the door did you put forward? We heard that there were a number of witnesses who said that the police may have in fact knocked, but they never announced themselves.

Now, it's critical if you're knocking and saying police, it's critical with respect to the response you're going to get from the occupants of the home. If you're knocking on someone's door in the middle of the night, it might be reasonable for them to grab that gun and shoot themselves. If you're knocking and you say police and they shoot, it's another matter.

And so, I think very important is what specifically did you present to that grand jury for them to reach their determination, and to your point, Christi, and finalizing this, you're so right, $12 million doesn't do anything as it relates to, you know, replacing the person who should not be dead in the first place. That's the tragedy of this all.

PAUL: Joey Jackson, always grateful to have your insight and your expertise. Thank you so much.

JACKSON: Thank you, Christi.

SAVIDGE: There are new revelations in the police shooting of Jacob Blake, that was in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In an exclusive interview with CNN, the attorney for officer Rusten Sheskey says his client told investigators he used deadly force because he was afraid Blake while trying to flee the scene was attempting to kidnap the child in the back seat of the char.

PAUL: Officer Sheskey claims he heard a woman say quote, "he's got my kid, he's got my keys". Now, the attorney also alleges Blake was the aggressor and held a knife in his hand during the encounter.

SAVIDGE: You remember Jacob Blake was shot seven times, which his family says has resulted in paralysis from his waist down. The officer remains on paid administrative leave as Wisconsin authorities weigh whether criminal charges are warranted in that case. Still to come, health experts say a vaccine could likely be available by the end of the year. But there are still a lot of questions about how many Americans will get the vaccinations immediately. We'll have more on that, next.

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[06:35:00]

SAVIDGE: U.S. coronavirus cases have now passed an unbelievable number, 7 million. That was as of yesterday. Just days after the country surpassed 200,000 deaths. Another stunning number. At least, 21 states are seeing a resurgence now in infections.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said vaccinations could very likely start in November or December, but he still cautions that it may be a while before the country is back to normal. Joining me now is primary care physician and public health specialist, Dr. Saju Mathew. Good morning to you, doctor.

SAJU MATHEW, PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN: Good morning, sir.

SAVIDGE: You know what? OK, let's start with Dr. Fauci, he's now saying November-December, sounds really good except we should warn the public here, this is not likely going to be for the general public, is it? They're not first in line to get this.

MATHEW: Yes, that's right, Martin, good morning. You know, there's still a long way to go when we talk about if a vaccine will be ready and actually be able to be injected into the arms of the American population even if November and December might be a possibility when a vaccine is approved, you have to remember that you have to prioritize who gets the vaccine first. And typically, during a pandemic, you want to protect the most vulnerable, the frontline workers, the physicians. You also want to protect the vulnerable, and then only gets to a point where you start vaccinating the general population.

SAVIDGE: Healthcare has now become politicized as we all know. President Trump says that he can now override the FDA's new regulations on vaccine approval and the whole process there. Can the White House decide when that vaccine is deemed ready and safe, and what does that mean for its efficacy?

MATHEW: So, I actually looked into this because I was really shocked when the president sort of implied that he could change the guidelines, if you will, and expedite the process. I did a fellowship at the CDC after college, and I'm still in touch with some of the scientists, Martin. I spoke to them, and what they said is yes, there's a point where the FDA presents its guidelines, where it says, listen, we want this vaccine to be at least 50 percent effective. We want to make sure that we wait two months after the second shot is administered, only then can we either issue an emergency use authorization or a full approval. Well, guess what? They have to present those guidelines to a branch of the government called OMB, Office of Management and Budget.

[06:40:00]

And technically speaking, in that chain if you will, that is potentially where the White House can get involved. But the scientists and CDC reassure me that people will stick their neck out like Dr. Fauci and Dr. Hahn to make sure that this is safe and effective before it is actually officially administered to the population.

SAVIDGE: I want to ask you about this new study that came out this week, I found it pretty fascinating. It found that the coronavirus may have mutated to become more contagious. Now, the mutation did not appear to make the virus more dangerous or change patients outcomes, but indirectly, I guess it would be more dangerous or potentially deadly because of the fact that if it's more contagious, more people could get it, right?

MATHEW: Yes, that's right. So, Martin, we have known about this now for a while. When the virus actually traveled from Asia to Europe, it had mutated then already and then typically, the strain that we are seeing now in the U.S. after the initial attack, if you will, of the virus in North America mutated to this sort of new strain.

But studies have shown that while this strain is more contagious, interestingly enough, Martin, it is not killing more people. It is not more lethal. And the reason for that is if you think about it, this is a virus that gets into the body and mutates, almost like a cancer cell. And just because it mutates, it doesn't necessarily make it more powerful, it could be more contagious, but not more lethal. At least, that's what we're finding out right now.

SAVIDGE: But what would that mutation or its ability to mutate like that mean then if you've got a vaccine that planned for a certain type of strain of that virus?

MATHEW: That's the big concern. You know, we keep talking about despite protein on COVID-19 II. So, if it mutates too rapidly, then yes, we probably might need a second shot or an annual shot like the flu vaccine. It's not going to be just a one-time COVID-19 vaccination.

SAVIDGE: And real quick. A group of black physicians are set to independently test the safety of COVID-19 vaccines. This amid the fears that, you know, politics again, gets involved in some way. What does this say about the level of trust here?

MATHEW: You know, that's the big three words that you've used, Martin, level of trust. We know for sure that, that trust has been eroded with everything that's happened with the FDA and the CDC and the White House. And now, we're trying to convince minorities -- and by the way, if you think about it, if you are African-American, you're three times as likely to be hospitalized and five times as likely to die from COVID-19. So, all the more reason we need minority populations to be recruited into these vaccine trials. But we can't forget about the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment where a lot of African-Americans are very doubtful about the government and medications and vaccines.

So, yes, on one hand, we need to convince people of color populations to be enrolled, but on the other hand, there's such a doubt as to whether this vaccine really is being targeted to minority populations deliberately.

SAVIDGE: Yes, so good to have your insights, Dr. Saju Mathew, thank you very much for being with us this morning.

MATHEW: Thank you, Martin.

PAUL: So the SEC kicks off later today with fans and with more questions about COVID, particularly after comments by the defending champs head coach. We are life for you from LSU's campus, next.

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[06:45:00]

SAVIDGE: It's another big day for college football. The SEC is kicking off today after delaying the start of the season due to, of course, COVID-19.

PAUL: Andy Scholes is live from Baton Rouge. Andy, I thought it would be a long time before we'd hear that, say that, I know it feels like a long time before I would say you're a lot similar, else for your home, the defending champion LSU Tigers. And the head coach is making a little -- few waves there. Yes?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Oh, yes, Christi, you know, coach always has a lot of interesting things to say. And you know, with the Mac, PAC-12 and Big 10 reversing course, I mean, all big major conferences in college football are going to be playing by November. A lot of excited fans here in Baton Rouge today as the SEC is going to kick off its season, and all of the teams are going to have fans in the stands in the SEC today here at Tiger Stadium. They're expecting around 25,000 fans for their game against Mississippi state. Over in College Station, Texas A&M is also going to have about 25,000 fans in the stands. And here's a look at all the SEC games that are taking place today.

All schools will be having a reduced capacity when it comes to allowing fans. Now, the Tigers here at LSU, they're the defending champs, and this is certainly being a different off season for the team coach Ed Orgeron, revealing earlier this month that the majority of his players have already had coronavirus, although he never gave an exact number. But coach O says he's just excited to get this season started finally. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED ORGERON, HEAD COACH, LSU TIGERS: Everybody lives for Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, Dead Valley, and never seen those Tigers play again. Gather around the TV, cook some gumbo, make some (INAUDIBLE), have some parties. Go back to doing the things we can, obviously, following the COVID-19 protocols. But get back to a sense of normalcy, I think it's going to mean a lot for the state of Louisiana and all the great LSU fans that we have out there, especially for our football team.

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SCHOLES: All right, to the NBA, the Celtics living to fight another day. Things weren't looking very good for them early on against the Heat, but Boston going on a 20-3 run in the third quarter. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combining for 59 points. Celtics win 121-108 to force a game six tomorrow night.

[06:50:00]

LeBron and the Lakers meanwhile can clinch their spot in the finals tonight in game five against the Nuggets, that's on our sister network "TNT". In baseball, the Miami Marlins are heading to the post-season, completing one of the most remarkable comebacks in baseball history, 18 Marlins tested positive for COVID-19 in the first week, forcing them to postpone ten games, and putting really the whole Major League Baseball season in doubt. But now, just a year after losing 105 games, they're heading to the playoffs for the first time since 2003. The Cincinnati Reds also clinching a berth in the expanded post-season. Four teams still fighting for the final two spots in the national league. The playoffs going to get started on Tuesday.

Now, here in Baton Rouge, masks are required to enter today's game between LSU and Mississippi state. And guys, they're actually making everyone go on their smartphones today and fill out a COVID-19 questionnaire saying, you know, you're not sick, you haven't been around people that are sick, you don't have a temperature, and if you pass the questionnaire, you get this QR code, and you have to have this scanned in order to go in along with your tickets.

SAVIDGE: Extraordinary times, Andy Scholes, thanks very much.

PAUL: Thanks Andy. So, a woman in Ohio was tased and arrested after allegedly refusing to wear a face mask. This is at a middle school football game. And you can see they caught it on camera, we'll show you more, stay close.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's over a mask, really?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's over a mask --

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SAVIDGE: Yes, how about something nice this morning. In a special series called "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE", CNN is highlighting people who are making a difference in the world through innovation and determination.

PAUL: Yes, so we want to introduce you to a young Dutch inventor who is tackling an environmental crisis.

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BOYAN SLAT, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, THE OCEAN CLEANUP: And I was 16 years old, I wanted to get my scuba diving license, and I was just really surprised because there are just some more plastic bags than fish. That then got me asking the relatively simple and benign question, why can't we just clean this up? I would say I've been an inventor all my life really, and that kind of started something. It got a bit out of hand. At the Ocean Cleanup, our mission is to rid the world's oceans of plastic.

[06:55:00]

DIMITRI DEHEYN, MARINE BIOLOGY RESEARCH DIVISION, SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY: The ocean is a very broad circulations of water masses. And over time, these currents pick up the pieces of plastic, and then they converge towards the great Pacific patch between Hawaii and California. The problem with plastics is huge, and what this young man has done is to waken us to this problem.

SLAT: We launched system 001 from the San Francisco Bay headed to the Great Pacific garbage patch. We put so much hope on catching plastic with that first system, and it didn't work and it broke down. We're just learning to work. The plastic is within arm's reach literally. Really, the idea is to kind of accept that and to say, OK, we're going to make mistakes, I think within a few weeks at sea, we learned more than years behind computers, doing simulations. What we're trying to achieve has by definition never been done before. In about half a year, we were already out again in the Great Pacific garbage patch with system 1B where it was successful in capturing the plastic.

We also need to stop new plastic from entering the oceans in the first place. Our research has found that just 1 percent of rivers is responsible for 80 percent of all plastic that's entering the ocean around the world. So by stopping plastic in rivers, we hope to not only address the big global plastic pollution issue, but also really help make life better for the people that live near these problematic rivers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Saying that they don't -- they don't fish here anymore, only downstream because here, the water is so contaminated that they can't use the river anymore.

SLAT: The interceptor is a fully solar-powered, an autonomous clean up system which basically uses the current of the rivers to collect the plastic. Quite satisfying. We have three interceptors cleaning rivers. One in Indonesia, one in Malaysia, and one in the Dominican Republic getting out tons of plastic every single day.

And in parallel, we brought the first plastic from the Great Pacific Irish patch back to shore to recycle into beautiful, sustainable products, with which we then aim to actually fund the continuation of the cleanup. When we started out, I thought that perhaps, the real problem wasn't necessarily technology, but more of the public willingness to make something like this happen. I learned that, that actually wasn't true. That people do really care. Obviously, it has been hugely humbling and inspiring to see the amount of people that are behind us and count on us to succeed.

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PAUL: Be sure to watch "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE" tonight at 10:00 Eastern. The next hour of your NEW DAY starts after a quick break.

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