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New Day Sunday

More Than Four Million Cases Have Been Recorded Worldwide; Fauci Starting A "Modified Quarantine" After Virus Exposure; Teen, Two Children Die In NY Of Possible COVID-Linked Illness; Single Parents Struggle During Economic Crisis; Tensions Rise Over Policing And Race During Pandemic; Legendary Rock 'N' Roll Icon Little Richard Dies At 87. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired May 10, 2020 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: We'll take a look at how police across the country are enforcing restrictions.

The next hour of your NEW DAY starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: The nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, will be doing what's described as a modified quarantine for two weeks.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: These children happen to have the COVID antibodies or be positive for COVID, but those were not the symptoms they showed when they came into the hospital system.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to congratulate Dana White and the UFC. They're going to have a big match. We love it. We think it's important. Get the sports leagues back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: We want to wish you a good morning, wherever you happen to be today around the world.

And as you wake up, we want to give you the very latest. The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has surpassed 4 million as of this morning. More than 279,000 people have died. That's almost a third of those infected in the U.S.

BLACKWELL: More problems for the White House, with the virus inside the administration. FDA commissioner, Dr. Stephen Hahn, CDC director, Dr. Robert Redfield, they're now under a two-week quarantine. The top infectious disease director Anthony Fauci is starting what he calls a modified quarantine. All of them may have come in contact with one of the White House staffers who tested positive.

PAUL: New this morning, the city of Wuhan, yes, the original epicenter of the coronavirus crisis, is now reporting its first new case in more than a month.

BLACKWELL: And this is coming out of New York. We talked a bit about it going into the weekend, but we're getting more now about a teenager and two children under 8 years old have been killed by an inflammatory illness. State health officials think this may be linked to COVID-19.

PAUL: We want to begin this morning at the White House, though. CNN's Kristen Holmes is following the very latest from there.

So, Kristen, talk to us about Dr. Fauci saying that he's going to be under a modified quarantine. What does that look like?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christi and Victor. Fauci described this to CNN's Jake Tapper as more of a precautionary measure, essentially saying that he had not been in proximity to the person who tested positive while they were presumed positive, but just in case would be doing this modified quarantine, meaning he would be teleworking most of the time, staying at home, and wearing a mask.

And this is clearly not the narrative that the White House wants to have right now. Remember just last week, President Trump broke his self-isolation and went to Arizona. That trip was meant to really signal that the country was ready to reopen. We've seen states slowly working to reopen their different businesses. We know people are going back to work. That's what the White House wanted to be talking about.

And now the narrative is completely different. It is people are scared, and it's in the place where it's essentially the safest place in the country, arguably. People are still getting sick here. What does that say?

And what does it say if three of the top doctors on the front line fighting this virus are now quarantining themselves for 14 days? Why? Because they came into contact with someone who tested positive. Where? Here at the White House. So, it's clearly here a shift in narrative, what we are talking about.

Will anything actually change? That's the big question now. Well, on Friday, after the vice president's press secretary tested positive, a memo went out to all staffers, essentially said that they were taking stronger measures to protect them, to prevent the spread of coronavirus. That meant heightened cleaning in high touch point places. It also meant at some points they would be maintaining maximum staff teleworking.

One thing that wasn't mentioned, though, was masks. I want to show you a picture here from yesterday. President Trump meeting with some of his national security advisers as well as military advisers. No one here, except for one Secret Service person in the back, is wearing a mask.

They're all sitting around the table. We asked the White House, why is it that even after you have these cases of people so close to the president testing positive, that no one's wearing a mask? They said, well, everyone was tested every day. We know that that is true. The president and the vice president, part

of these precautionary measures after President Trump's valet tested positive, was to test them every day, to test everyone who's in close contact with them every day. But again, the vice president's press secretary was being tested every single day and still came back positive on Friday, causing a majority of his staff or a huge portion of his staff to actually have to leave a trip, deplane because of that.

So again, sending mixed messages here as they are pushing for the economy to reopen, but yet having this huge problem here back at the White House.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, many of the recommendations for the rest of the country not being observed there in the White House.

[07:05:02]

Kristen Holmes for us there. Thanks so much.

PAUL: Thanks, Kristen.

So, as unemployment in the U.S. is reaching historic highs, we're watching President Trump announced on Twitter last night, the U.S. is going to begin purchasing $3 billion worth of dairy, meat, and produce from farmers. Those products are expected to go to food banks and kitchens throughout the country.

BLACKWELL: Since the start of the pandemic, farmers have seen a drop in demand, and that leaves them with excess product.

Listen there to Rob Larew. He's president of the National Farmers Union.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB LAREW, NATIONAL FARMERS UNION PRESIDENT: We're certainly encouraged. There's a lot of attention being given right now to not only get the bottle necks in the system flowing but also to buy up product where possible so that those who are hungry right now and needing food can certainly get it. Those issues are going to be gone. We're certainly going to have plenty of food. It's really the conundrum of making sure we connect the food to those that need it right now.

In terms of assistance, though, this is going to take a herculean effort to get farmers the help that they need and keep them on the farms. We have a lot of pressure, and it's going to take a lot of help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: You want to stay with CNN all morning. Coming up at 9:00 Eastern on "STATE OF THE UNION," Jake Tapper has White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Dr. Leonard Schleifer. Again, that's all coming up on "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper.

PAUL: There's an urgent push right now to learn more about this inflammatory illness that's appearing in children, and it may be linked to COVID-19.

BLACKWELL: So, we now know a teenager and two children under 8 years old in New York have died.

CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro is following this story. He is in New York.

Tell us what the state officials there, also the CDC, are learning and what they're doing to try to get some details about any connection to COVID-19.

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning.

Yeah, there are two important things to know about this. The first one is, health officials in New York are now saying that it's possible that COVID-19 could affect people much younger than we've usually talked about when it comes to this disease. The second thing to know about that is that one of the major hospitals here in the city who has dealt with those cases says that's a very, very rare instance. However, a scary one, and a possibility.

So, the governor said yesterday that this inflammatory disease that has tragically killed three young people, manifests itself a little bit differently than COVID. It's something that he's telling parents to be aware of.

Also, he is working with the CDC now to use New York hospitals or create national guidelines for other people across the country to look out for this. But in his press conference, he said you know, the real thing here is just the level of angst that this adds to an already stressful situation here in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: This is the last thing that we need at this time with all that's going on, with all the anxiety we have. Now, for parents to have to worry about whether or not their youngster was infected, and again, symptoms that don't even seem like the symptoms we associate with COVID-19. So, we still have a lot to learn about this virus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: So, as I said, the CDC and the New York hospital system are already working together to develop guidelines about this, but the main thing that the governor's office says and the other health officials have said here is, look, this is why we're social distancing. This is why we're trying to quarantine, because this disease can affect a far broader population than maybe we originally thought.

PAUL: And it's interesting coming right now, because, Evan, I know that there's some positive news to some degree to the numbers that are coming out of New York, but that also doesn't negate some of these vulnerable communities that we see still struggling. What do we know is being done?

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: That's right. Yesterday's press conference from the governor was sort of a mixed bag. In the sense, you have lower intubations, lower hospitalizations, lower cases, but ten more deaths than we had seen the day before. You know, it's a frustrating figure and one that the governor said was tragic.

The other side of it is we're learning more about the disease and how it's affecting the city, and we're finding out that it's affecting lower-income and minority communities, and the governor refocusing efforts to get PPE and testing into those communities to try and alleviate a problem that we've seen with coronavirus across the entire country.

PAUL: All right. Evan McMorris-Santoro, thank you so much. We so appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: The FDA is granting its first emergency use authorization for coronavirus antigen test. It's a nasal swab test. It will be allowed in some authorized laboratories, some testing locations.

[07:10:04]

It's often used for flu and strep throat checks.

Now, here's why this is different, because an antigen test looks for pieces of the virus. It's different from the more common genetics- based tests that require more chemicals, and those chemicals are harder to get in this pandemic. The FDA says the test can provide results in minutes, but there is a higher chance of false negatives.

PAUL: Listen, the reality of this virus is that it can be deadly. We see that, obviously, in the numbers, right there on the side of your screen. No one knows this better than the doctors and the nurses who are fighting this.

One of those doctors is anesthesiologist Dr. Ronit Sternberg. She says her main job is to intubate people and here's what she wrote in "New York Magazine": I'm thinking to myself, am I the last face these patients have seen? It makes me really sad and I feel sorry that it's me. I find myself asking God to forgive me.

So, Dr. Ronit Sternberg is with us now this morning.

First of all, Dr. Sternberg, thank you so much for the work that you do.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: I hope you know how much we support you and we're so grateful for what you're doing. And I know these families are grateful as well. Talk to us about -- you were so beautifully candid and vulnerable in this interview with "New York Magazine". You wrote something else that really struck me. You mentioned that it seems almost like sci-fi because you double-gloved and you're gowned and you're running around, and you almost don't feel human at times.

And I want to read something you wrote. You say: I always try to make sure I know my patients' names. And even when I intubate them, I say to myself, thank you for letting me be part of this because everyone I learn every -- because everyone a lesson from and they teach me a lot about myself.

I love how you find the gift in what you're doing, because I know how hard it is for you. What have you learned about yourself through this?

DR. RONIT STERNBERG, ANESTHESIOLOGIST: Mostly, I feel that I'm grateful to be part of this team, given that this is a very difficult time. I'm a part of the team that's helping these patients get back to their families and get back with their life and get back to their work.

When I have a patient in front of me that is going for surgery or I'm about to intubate, I look at them as a whole person, a person who comes into this hospital at a difficult time, but they also have a story. And part of being a physician is making it personal, because you actually become a part of this person's life. And I think of that when I'm working with a patient. Each one of them teaches something, teaches me something about myself.

And I try to leave something of myself with the patient. Maybe I tell them a joke, they find it funny. Maybe they actually remember me after they wake up. But they give me something that I learn more about myself.

And even if it's just a part of medicine or about an intubation or things that I could have done differently, and I find that gift very special, and I hope that when they leave the hospital and they go home, to be part of their treatment in recovery I think is something totally amazing.

PAUL: You leave a part of yourself in that room, you said. And you mentioned in this article a woman with stunning blue eyes. And you said, it was something that you noticed on one of your worst nights there in the hospital. What happened?

STERNBERG: So, basically, this article is a summary of pretty much that awful, awful night. I came into the emergency room. They had paged that they needed some help with airways. And I just walked into the space and I had never seen so many patients on stretchers in every possible corner.

And I was intubating another patient next to this woman who was really struggling with her breathing, and I did say to myself, I know she is going to be next. And I was cleaning my glide scope between the intubation and they called me to intubate this woman. And at the time, she had went into cardiac arrest and they were doing chest compressions.

And as I'm getting ready to secure her airway or place the tube for ventilation, I look down, and she's looking up at me, and I'm a believer that the eyes are the soul. And she looked at me with these absolutely gorgeous blue eyes. And I was absolutely taken aback.

I mean, I was focusing on what I'm doing, but I'm looking at her and I'm like, she's looking into me and I felt that she should be with her family. They are the ones that should be there next.

[07:15:03]

I wanted her to know that I was doing my absolute best and so were the people around me -- an amazing team -- that we were doing our absolute best to help her get well, that she could actually be with her family, hopefully.

PAUL: You are doing so, so -- there are so many moments you're doing important work that nobody else can do. And I know that you probably don't even understand that yet in this moment. It might be something that you look back on. But when we do look back on this moment in time, this season, what do you hope will be the story at the top of the stack?

STERNBERG: I think when we look back at this, the way it's written in history in the archives, I think that it should be a testament of human spirit and what we've done to get something that we've worked together to get through something like this. Now that things have calmed down and ICUs are slowly being taken down and converted back, I think to myself, this is an amazing feat that we as human beings and everyone who was involved has accomplished.

And I think, like I said, it's a testament to the human spirit and all that we can do, as long as we don't give up our dreams and our hope and our faith that things can get better. And that's how I hope that we all remember this.

PAUL: And the lessons that we learn through all of it and how it changes us.

STERNBERG: That's right.

PAUL: Hopefully to even be more human, because we understand the vulnerabilities of that.

Dr. Ronit Sternberg, again, thank you so much for what you do. Thank you for sharing so beautifully with us and with "New York" magazine. I encourage everybody to read it. Take good care of yourself.

STERNBERG: Thank you so much. Thank you again. I appreciate it. Uh- huh.

PAUL: Thank you.

It's amazing.

So, this Mother's Day, millions of Americans are out of work, and they're struggling to provide for their families.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to fail at not being able to take care of myself and my son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Now, listen, the challenge is even harder if you're single. Coming up, we hear from some of these single moms who are trying to make ends meet during an unprecedented time.

BLACKWELL: And we remember the legend, Little Richard. He died yesterday. He was 87 years old.

Rocker Stevie Van Zandt tweeted: Rest in peace, Little Richard, the man who invented rock 'n roll. Elvis popularized it. Chuck Berry was the storyteller. Richard was the architect.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:21:55]

PAUL: So, new this morning, we want to tell you about the city of Wuhan, the original epicenter of the outbreak. It just reported its first new case since April 3rd. This is according to the Wuhan health commission.

BLACKWELL: Now, the patient is in critical condition. This man's wife also tested positive but was reported as asymptomatic. They live in a neighborhood where there were a total of 20 confirmed cases.

PAUL: The cause of the new infection is characterized as, quote, past community infection. China reopened Wuhan's borders after a 76-day lockdown on April 8th.

So, I know this is a number hard to grasp. More than 20 million Americans lost their job in April. It's hard to grasp because the numbers are overwhelming, buts it's important to point out, they're numbers. They're significant of real people behind that number. These are people who are really feeling the weight of this crisis from an economic standpoint.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and it's magnified if they are one of the bread- winners for their family, even more so if they are the only bread- winner.

We've got this story from Vanessa Yurkevich of some single parents who are feeling the strain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): More than 30 million Americans are struggling right now to keep their families afloat. Single parents struggle along.

CHANDI BOZEMAN, SINGLE PARENT: I don't want to fail at not being able to take care of myself and my son.

YURKEVICH: A quarter of U.S. children live with a single parent, more than three times the global average. Chandi Bozeman is one of those parents. She filed for unemployment for the first time after closing her salon in Dayton, Ohio in March. She was denied. Even as a teen mom, Bozeman said she never asked for help.

C. BOZEMAN: I've never filed for unemployment. And the minute that I do, the minute that I need the help, it's not there for me.

YURKEVICH: Katrina Harvey knows what it's like to make tough choices. When she was homeless in 2015, she sent her then-11- year-old son Carson to live with relatives.

KATRINA HARVEY, SINGLE PARENT: It was absolutely the hardest thing I've ever had to go through.

YURKEVICH: But in January, after years of saving, Harvey rented a new apartment in Orlando.

HARVEY: I can finally start putting money away and get ahead and, you know, this happened.

YURKEVICH: Harvey was furloughed from her restaurant job in March, and filed for unemployment. She received her first check last month. The money helps, but the fear of returning to her past never goes away.

HARVEY: I didn't want it to affect my son, you know? Because he went through all of those same struggles I did, you know? And so for him to be put back in a place where he feels uncertain, you know, then that can be really hard for him to deal with.

YURKEVICH: In Texas, Kim Willis is running a full household. She's taken in her twin daughters, back from college, and her 79-year-old mother who suffers from early dementia.

YURKEVICH (on camera): Is that tough?

[07:25:01]

KIM WILLIS, SINGLE PARENT: It is tough. But I'm the daughter for the job.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): But she was furloughed from her hotel job in March. It took 300 calls to unemployment, day and night, to get approved. Willis got her first check on April 17th.

WILLIS: I've been carrying the weight of being a single parent with my family. And so my logic was, OK, well, it looks like the government is the backbone to this family. So I need to get through.

YURKEVICH: Living quarters are also tight at the Bozemans. Chandi and Jamel are sharing a 1-bedroom, taking turns sleeping on the couch.

JAMEL BOZEMAN, CHANDI BOZEMAN'S SON: As long as my mother's OK and she's operating fine, I can adapt to anything. I'll sleep on the floor if I've got to.

YURKEVICH: Jamel also applied to a grocery job to try to help his mom, but Chandi doesn't want him to take on that responsibility. C. BOZEMAN: I'm not allowing him to work because I don't want my son subjected to the virus. He wants to help take care of me, and I won't allow him because it's my duty as his parent to protect him.

YURKEVICH: Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Such an important reminder for so many people to remember. You never know what somebody's going through, and that's why we need to show some kindness and support now more than ever.

So we're living through this pandemic right now, of course. A lot of us are wondering, I think most of us are wondering, what happens when it's over?

BLACKWELL: Yes. Can we get back to normal? And maybe a better question, will we want to?

Here's CNN's Fareed Zakaria.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Victor. Thanks, Christi. Good to see you.

So, the new special is coming up at 10:00 Eastern and Pacific this morning. It's called "The Post COVID-19 World."

And what we've tried to do is step back and say to ourselves, OK, everyone's talking about the news of the minute, the news of the second, the tweet of the moment. What is really going to happen a few months from now, a few years from now? What is the shape of the new economy? What is the shape of the new political order? What is the shape of our society, our personal world being?

We have an amazing cast of characters. Tony Blair on politics and geopolitics. Larry Summers on the economy. Eric Schmidt on technology. Ariana Huffington on what this is going to be like for you personally.

And they have some surprising and thoughtful ways of kind of navigating this crisis and trying to shed some light. Some of it is tough. Some of it is quite optimistic.

You know the famous saying that the crisis is also an opportunity? A number of people are trying to look at this crisis and see what's the great opportunity?

Anyway, it's -- I've been thrilled by how it's come together, and I hope you'll watch.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Yes, we certainly will. It's going to be a fascinating conversation, Fareed. Thanks so much. We know it will not be the same after this is over. "The Post COVID-19 World," a "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS" special, airs this

morning at 10:00 Eastern.

PAUL: So, as we talk about reopening, and as states do so, police are hoping to make sure that it's done safely. The numbers, however, suggest that some enforcements are not enforcing distancing guidelines on an equal basis. We'll tell you what we've learned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:32:25]

BLACKWELL: The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says it's looking at additional video footage in the Ahmaud Arbery murder investigation.

PAUL: Yeah, now the footage, which the GBI didn't describe, by the way, was reviewed before the arrest of Gregory and Travis McMichael. Now, they were arrested a day after the GBI launched its investigation. They are still in jail. No bond, on murder and aggravated assault charges.

But there have been calls for police to arrest a third person in this case. The man you see there, William Bryan. He filmed the incident, immediately showed the video to police when they arrived. Bryan's attorney says his client was not involved in the chase and the death, and without that video, there would be no case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN GOUGH, ATTORNEY FOR WILLIAM "RODDIE" BRYAN: Mr. Bryan video- taped what was going on. And because he did that, there is a prosecution. OK? If he had not videotaped that incident, the only person who really could speak to what happened is dead and will never have that opportunity. So, that video is the prosecution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Now, Bryan's attorney says investigators haven't asked for his phone containing the original shooting video, and it's not clear if there is additional footage.

BLACKWELL: We're going to get back to that investigation in a moment, but we want to talk this morning about how police are enforcing the social distancing guidelines during the pandemic. There are new numbers that suggest that those recently cited for violations in New York City were overwhelmingly people of color.

With me now, criminal defense attorney and CNN Legal Analyst, Joey Jackson and Charles Ramsey, former Philadelphia police chief and CNN law enforcement analyst.

Gentlemen, thanks for being with us this morning.

Chief, I want to start with you.

You're a member of President Obama's task force on 21st century policing. I wanted to put up the numbers that we received from the Brooklyn D.A.'s office. And it shows that of the 40 people arrested in Brooklyn, 35 were black, four were Hispanic, one white. 97 percent people of color.

What do these numbers tell you about how officers are approaching law enforcement of these new guidelines, Chief?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, first of all, these are very uncertain times. I participated in President Obama's task force. Obviously, no one was even thinking of this kind of crisis.

[07:35:03]

I think, first of all, we have to recognize, this is a public health -- not your traditional policing initiative. And I think police enforcement ought to be the last resort, not the first resort to. If this were me, I would be trying to organize a different approach toward dealing with this entire thing, a whole-of-government approach, number one. Everyone ought to be involved in government. But also get community leaders involved in telling people the importance of social distancing, of wearing a mask.

The reality is that minority communities, black and brown communities particularly, are adversely impacted at a much higher rate than other neighborhoods. So, it's understandable that there should be more effort put in these neighborhoods, but the kind of aggressive policing that we saw in one video I saw from New York is just, in my opinion, not called for. That's not how you approach it.

There can always be some extreme circumstances where you have to make an arrest, you have to issue citations. But that should not be the first thing we do. And I think we really need to think of other ways to reach out to these -- that are impacted at a higher rate, which is legitimate, but at the same time, not be too harsh and hard on how we go about enforcing.

BLACKWELL: Joey, I read in the notes that you sent to our producer that one of the narratives that you point out is the lack of consistency within a state, across the states of enforcing these types of laws.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Without question, Victor. So, it's problematic.

First of all, the chief lays out an approach that I agree with strongly. And let's take a step back. When you look at this, there's no question we're in unchartered waters. There's no question this is new.

But we also know that police commissioners and everyone else get their direction from the politicians, right? What direction is being given? And in that direction, what application are we doing within each states?

There are different guidelines, different rules, different regulations. There has to be consistency. There has to be uniformity. Let me be clear, the fact is, we know that almost 80,000 people in this country are dead. Hundreds of thousands in the world. We get that.

Certainly, there's a place for enforcement, right? We have to keep people safe. We have to ensure social distancing takes place. We have to know that everyone is OK.

At the same time, to apply those laws unequally in communities of color is problematic. Why do you look at statistics? Is it not a sensible approach for police perhaps to be handing out masks instead of summonses and making an arrest? Is it not a sensible approach to get our clergies involved, our communities involved, our, you know, businesses and other localities involved, right? Which may be dormant now, but you have leaders who can do outreaches in a community.

And so, to be making arrests, to be criminalizing it, to be giving summonses and to be unequally distributing this is problematic. We have to revisit it. And police have to get orderly and clear instructions with regard to what to do and when to do it.

BLACKWELL: Joey, let me stick with you. I want you to watch this clip from Miami. Grocery store -- I'm going to set it up here. Grocery store employees have told a potential customer that he cannot come in without a mask, and this is his response or reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're in violation of my constitutional and civil rights! You (EXPLETIVE DELETED)! There's no pandemic! I'm filing a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) lawsuit! I have a right to buy groceries without being forced to participate (EXPLETIVE DELETED) --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, he says that it's a violation of his constitutional and civil rights to require him to wear a mask. What's his case?

JACKSON: I think his case is that he has to go back to the law books. Here. Here's the reality. The reality is, as I mentioned before, there's a place for enforcement as it relates to this. We have, all of us have rights. We do.

But there are certain ways that our rights are prohibited and limited when we affect other people. If I came up to someone and sneezed on them during a pandemic, would that be appropriate? If I wipe my nose on a sleeve, as we've seen, a grocery store clerk, would that be appropriate?

Wearing a mask protects not only you, but it protects others. And so, yes, there needs to be enforcement.

My issue, though, is that enforcement needs to be uniform. So I don't see a place -- just like First Amendment. Oh, you're violating my First Amendment rights. Really? Well, the fact is, can I yell "fire" in a theater? No! It puts

others in jeopardy. Can I defame someone by spreading falsehood which affects their liberties and reputation? No.

And so, there has to be appropriate balance and a person like that has to get it. With almost 80,000 deaths and 275,000 across the world, I think, sir, this is no hoax and you need to put on a mask or face arrest.

BLACKWELL: Chief, let me wrap with you. One question on the Ahmaud Arbery murder investigation. We know that GBI is looking at additional video.

At the same time, we don't know if that video is what's being referenced by one of his attorneys, but Lee Merritt (ph) has put a statement out over Twitter saying his office is reviewing surveillance video which appears to show a person believed to be Arbery entering a property under construction, was there for three minutes, did not take something away from that property.

[07:40:14]

What's the significance of this, if any, in the investigation from your perspective?

RAMSEY: Well, listen, I don't know because I haven't seen it. I really don't know what it is that they have. Bottom line is that man should never have been killed. I mean, he's jogging down the street, t-shirts and shorts.

Even if he had been by a construction site, he's not armed, he's not a direct threat. There is absolutely no reason for this to have happened. And in addition to that, because of the connection of this one individual, George McMichael, with the police department and the district attorney's office, within 24 hours, they should have been turned over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation or some other investigative agency, because obviously, there's a conflict of interest there.

There's no way that they could in either real or perceived conducted a fair, objective investigation into this matter. So, the whole thing was mishandled, in my opinion. All of the facts will come out as time goes on. But the bottom line is, I have not heard anything or seen anything that would cause deadly force to be used by anyone, law enforcement or otherwise, in this case.

BLACKWELL: All right. Chief Charles Ramsey -- I still call you chief because you were chief in D.C. when I was living there -- Chief Charles Ramsey, Joey Jackson, good to see you, gentlemen. Thank you for being with us.

RAMSEY: Thank you, Victor.

JACKSON: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:46:10]

BLACKWELL: Fans around the world are remembering rock 'n roll legend Little Richard. He was 87 years old. He died yesterday. He battled bone cancer.

He was the architect of rock 'n roll, and his fellow legends knew it. Bob Dylan called him his shining star and guiding light.

PAUL: CNN entertainment reporter Chloe Melas is with us now.

And I think that's what's partly what's so striking. A lot of people know his music, but I don't think they understand. Even I didn't understand his influence on so many other rock 'n rollers.

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Exactly. I mean, good morning, Victor and Christi, and Happy Mother's Day, Christi.

PAUL: Thank you.

MELAS: Look, his influence on the music industry was tremendous, like you said, Victor. He was one of the fathers of rock 'n roll. Elvis Presley recorded his songs. You might not know that the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were some of Little Richard's opening acts. How amazing is that?

And Paul McCartney said that the first song he ever sang in public was, of course, "Long Tall Sally."

So, also, you probably remember all of the cameos Little Richard used to make on TV in the '80s, the '90s. We all knew him. We knew his screaming voice, banging on the piano. So, of course, tributes on social media from Hollywood began to pour in.

I'm going to read you some of those. Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones, he wrote on Twitter: I'm so saddened to hear about the passing of Little Richard. He was the biggest inspiration of my early teens. When we were on tour with him, I would watch his moves every night and learn from him.

So, moves like Jagger? He got them from Little Richard, right? So, Paul McCartney wrote: Little Richard came screaming into my life when I was a teenager. I owe a lot of what I do to little Richard and his style, and he knew it. He would say, I taught Paul everything he knows.

So many people. Viola Davis also went on social media and wrote: He was the originator, the innovator, the musician, performer, who influenced generations of artists, he has left.

Demi Moore, did you guys know that Little Richard actually officiated her wedding in 1987 to Bruce Willis? I did not know that. I had no idea! He was a man of many hats, right? And remember, he actually became a

minister later on in his career when he ended up leaving rock 'n roll and then he came back.

But she wrote: Remembering Little Richard today. Bruce and I were so lucky and honored to have him officiate our wedding.

I'm telling you, people, it was so shocking to learn of this news yesterday morning, but people have so many memories and have been playing "Tutti Frutti" and all of his songs all weekend long, including myself.

BLACKWELL: You know, the greatest gift, I think, from Little Richard, was beyond the music, which was great. It is the authenticity.

PAUL: Yeah.

BLACKWELL: Right? He was himself. And imagine, you know, all of the showmanship and the flamboyance in the 1950s.

PAUL: Yeah.

BLACKWELL: To go on stage and be yourself. It was a true gift. True gift.

PAUL: Yeah. That was courage and that was brave and that was authentic and that is what we need more of, no doubt about it.

Hey, Chloe, happy Mother's Day to you, too!

MELAS: Thank you so much! I appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: All right, we'll be back. Quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:53:33]

PAUL: It's also National Nurse's Week this week. Thank you for sharing your messages of appreciation of all the health care workers.

Ron says: Happy Mother's Day to all moms, especially to our mom and superhero Laura Erdman in Baltimore.

And Tracy tweeted this tribute to his best friends who are nurses, saying they're dedicated in what they do, helping to save lives and caring at the same time. I honor them and all nurses on the front lines.

BLACKWELL: Donna gives a shout-out to her husband. She says: Casper is a nurse working with COVID-19 patients in the state of Virginia.

And Carol says: Shout-out to my friend Anna Marie Lai and all the nurses who are administering COVID-19 tests in New Jersey.

Thank you to all that you are doing. PAUL: Amen.

BLACKWELL: And, of course, it's Mother's Day and we would like to, of course, thank two women, we say happy Mother's Day to Christi, but I also want say happy Mother's Day to my mom.

PAUL: Good man, good man.

BLACKWELL: Yes, happy Mother's Day, mom. She doesn't typically like her pictures on TV but I'll apologize later. A fantastic mother to a boy, even better mother to a man.

I can't wait until this is all over and I can come to Baltimore and we can hang out.

PAUL: Yes, I miss mine, too. Happy Mother's Day to my mom as well. Years and years and years ago, she taught me a great lesson about forgiveness when I was having an issue with somebody who I thought was a friend and she said, you have to forgive her, and I said, what are you talking about?

[07:55:03]

And she was absolutely right. It has served me so well. I thank her and I love her more than anything. Thanks, mom. Happy Mother's Day.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: And thank you to all of you moms out there. Go make some great memories today, and thank you for sharing your time with us.

BLACKWELL: "INSIDE POLITICS" with John King is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)