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E.U. Released List of 15 Countries Allowed to Enter; Coronavirus Cases Explode across the United States; COVID-19 Boom in Latin America Centers on Mega Cities; China Tightens Its Grip on Hong Kong; China Researchers Discover New Swine Flu with "Pandemic Potential"; Italy Has Flattened Coronavirus Curve; Trump Denies Seeing Intelligence on Russian Bounty Plot; The Horrific Lingering Effects of COVID-19; India to Ban Chat Apps; British Prime Minister Unveils New Economic Deal; Pro Sports in the Age of Coronavirus. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired June 30, 2020 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
HALA GORANI, CNN HOST (voice-over): Hello and welcome. I'm Hala Gorani.
Ahead this hour on CNN, reality tempers optimism in the coronavirus fight as the world emerges from global hibernation. Flare-ups as far as
California, England and China are threatening the great reopening.
In the middle of the pandemic, China passes a controversial Hong Kong security law. CNN is live over the next two hours in Hong Kong and Beijing.
Plus as if the coronavirus was not enough, a new flu-like virus is identified in pigs in China. Why doctors say it might not be anything to
worry about for now.
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GORANI: All right. We're going to start with some breaking news out of the European Union. We have been talking for several days about E.U. leaders
meeting, regarding what countries will be allowed into the E.U., countries that the E.U. estimates are managing their COVID pandemic numbers well.
Now there is a decision that is made and our Fred Pleitgen is in Brussels with more on that.
I understand the E.U. has established a list confirming the U.S. -- that U.S. citizens though are not on that list, confirming the countries that
will be allowed into the E.U. Tell us more, Fred.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right and this list came off a couple of minutes ago. So there
are 15 nations on the list that the E.U. deems it's safe to allow citizens from them back into the European Union. Some interesting things on the
list.
For instance, China is on the list, so Chinese will be allowed to come. But there needs to be reciprocity, that China needs to allow E.U. citizens back
into China as well. Then we get to the whole complex of the United States which, of course, has been talked about a lot over the past couple of
years.
The United States did not make the list but then if you look at the list very carefully, there are a lot of countries on the list who are
significantly less wealthy than the U.S. whose health care systems are less well funded, such as Georgia, Montenegro, Rwanda and Serbia have all made
the list because they essentially are deemed by the European Union to have been -- to dealing better with the coronavirus pandemic, to being more
efficient at beating back the coronavirus pandemic than the United States.
And of course, Hala, one of the things that E.U. officials have been saying time and again is that all of this has nothing to do with politics, that
all of this is only due to scientific criteria. They want to see the number of new infections going down in these countries.
They want to make sure that all of that is pointing in the right direction. And right now with the surges that we're seeing in the United States, we
have been talking about the curve of new infections in the U.S., that simply isn't the case.
So therefore, American travelers, who we always point out, are extremely important for tourism here on the European continent, are going to be
lumped in with travelers from Brazil and from the Russian Federation and won't be allowed back here to Europe at this point in time -- Hala.
GORANI: All right.
And what would it take for the E.U. to, you know, include the U.S., Russia, other countries on that list of countries whose citizens will be allowed to
travel to the Schengen zone?
PLEITGEN: Well, there are several criteria out there. On the other hand, the number of new infections per 100,000 of the population, that's
something that needs to be below a certain threshold.
And generally, the European Union is saying again that all of these are scientific criteria. But in general the amount of new infections needs to
point downward. That means that there needs to be fewer people who are getting new infections of the coronavirus. And that needs to be a
significant trend going on for at least two weeks.
If we look at the United States, that simply is not the case and, therefore, the U.S. is going to have to wait. Now the E.U. says that this
decision is going to be looked at again every two weeks. They'll take a look and once again see whether or not other countries can be included.
So certainly there's a chance that American travelers can come back. But the situation that the U.S. needs to change. One of the things I have been
hearing, as I speak to European officials, a lot of them are actually quite concerned about the coronavirus situation in the United States, not just
the fact that you have these new infections but also the fact that many things that are being viewed as public normality here in a lot of European
countries.
[10:05:00]
PLEITGEN: For instance, like wearing masks when going into public places, like for instance, physical distancing, certain lockdown measures, are
things being politicized in the United States.
That has European officials very worried and so, therefore at this point in time, the scientific criteria is telling them that U.S. travelers simply
can't be let back into the European Union at this point in time.
But they have a worrying eye for the development of the pandemic in the United States as well and all that that means for the recovery from the
pandemic but also the economic recovery globally from the pandemic as well -- Hala.
GORANI: All right. Thanks very much, Fred Pleitgen in Brussels with that breaking news.
The E.U. agreeing on a list of 15 countries whose citizens will be allowed to travel to the E.U. from July 1st; 15 countries on that list, though not
included is the United States. And my understanding is that the E.U. will review possibly update that list every two weeks.
But for now the U.S. is not on the list, that includes Algeria, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand among others.
Let's take a look at what's going on in the United States and one of the reasons the U.S. is not on that list of 15 countries is, of course, because
so many states are seeing a surge in coronavirus cases.
And there have been mixed messages across the country that are doing nothing to slow the spread of COVID. That is the word from one former CDC
official in the country, Dr. Richard Besser, says the public needs a cohesive message about the measures needed to control the pandemic.
And adding to the confusion, at least 16 states are having to pause or roll back altogether reopening measures as cases surge across the country. Randi
Kaye takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More South Florida beaches will be closed this 4th of July, as local leaders watch coronavirus cases
surge across the Sunshine State.
MAYOR DEAN TRANTAILS (D-FL), FORT LAUDERDALE: We decided to close our beaches this weekend mainly because holiday weekends especially are known
for attracting large numbers of people.
KAYE: The Florida Department of Health reporting over 5,000 new infections Monday. Still, Governor Ron DeSantis has not made wearing masks mandatory
statewide.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): We left it to the locals to -- to make decisions about whether they want to use coercive measures or impose any type of
criminal penalties. You know, we're not going to do that statewide. KAYE: This as Jacksonville joins the list of cities now requiring them
in indoor spaces where social distancing is not possible, ahead of hosting the Republican National Convention this August.
Beaches in Los Angeles will also be closed this holiday weekend. Health officials citing nearly 3,000 new cases, the highest one-day total ever
reported in L.A. County.
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D-CA), LOS ANGELES: This year we have to think about saving lives.
KAYE: California's one of at least 16 states modifying or pausing their reopening plans.
And now in Arizona, bars, gyms, movie theaters and water parks will close for the next 30 days. Gatherings over 50 people are also prohibited. Still,
Gov. Doug Ducey stopping short of issuing a statewide facial covering requirement.
GOV. DOUG DUCEY (R-AZ): Our expectation is that next week, our numbers will be worse. It will take several weeks for the mitigations that we have
put in place and are putting in place to take effect, but they will take effect.
KAYE: New York and New Jersey's governors are looking to stop spikes from happening in their states yet again.
In New York city, Broadway will remain dark through the end of the year. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says he's considering slowing the city's
reopening, citing some troubling signs of people not following social distancing.
Meanwhile, indoor dining in New Jersey is postponed indefinitely.
GOV. PHIL MURPHY (D-NJ): This isn't a forever and for always. We've gone through hell in New Jersey. We've lost over 13,000 people. We're trying to
do everything we can to not go through hell again.
KAYE: This morning, one CDC expert warning, it may already be too late to control the spread of the disease across the United States.
DR. ANNE SCHUCHAT, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE CDC: I think there was a lot of wishful thinking around the country that, hey, summer,
everything's going to be fine, we're over this and we are not even beginning to be over this. We have way too much virus across the country
for that.
KAYE: In the past seven days, Miami-Dade County has seen 9,432 cases. The county says that that accounts for 25 percent of all of their coronavirus
cases since the pandemic started.
The county's also saying they want to keep their positivity rate at 10 percent. Meanwhile, in the last two weeks, the average positivity rate has
been 17.4 percent --Hala, back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: All right, thanks so much, Randi.
The coronavirus epicenter has traveled from China, to Europe and now the United States.
[10:10:00]
GORANI: And now cases are exploding in Latin America. Mexico, for instance, has recorded more than 220,000 cases and Colombia is reporting
its highest number of infections since the beginning of June. Our correspondent Matt Rivers has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When it comes to COVID-19 in Latin America, there is a lot of bad news out there, with many countries
continuing to report significant increases in new cases and deaths, many centered on outbreaks in the regions numerous mega cities.
For example, 97 percent or so of Argentina's new cases were found in the capital Buenos Aires as President Alberto Fernandez has reimposed a
lockdown in the region's metropolitan area. The President himself has been in isolation since June 17th due to the dangers of that increasing case
total.
Colombia has now surpassed China in its number of confirmed cases over 3,000 more positive cases reported Sunday has the country nearing 100,000
overall. Some are calling for the reinstatement of a total lockdown as a result, after the government allowed the economy to partially reopen
earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Chile registered more than 4,000 new cases for the second day in a row. The country has the third most cases in Latin America and a death
toll of more than 5,500. But its health minister did say deaths slowed a bit Monday declaring the country is quote, "maintaining a trend of emerging
improvement."
And while COVID-19 keeps throwing punches across the continent, some smaller countries have managed to dodge the worst of it. In Uruguay, not
even 1,000 cases have been registered. And schools in the capital of Montevideo welcome students back to class on Monday.
And in what seems like the first time in a while, there's news not entirely related to coronavirus, as Mexico's President told reporters, he will go to
Washington to meet with President Trump.
There's no confirmed date yet, but President Lopez Obrador says he wants to go to mark the imminent implementation of the USMCA free trade deal, the
new agreement that's replacing NAFTA.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, Matt Rivers is joining me live.
So the question is meeting in Washington a good idea right now?
RIVERS: A lot of people say not. Consider the case numbers in both countries continue to go up. But perhaps more concerning than that is the
fact that the Mexican president recently spent a lot of time with and not socially distanced with Mexico's finance minister and he just tested
positive for the COVID-19.
The president said he has no symptoms but he said he'd consider doing so if that's what it takes to get a meeting at the White House.
GORANI: Right, well, I mean, because Mexico obviously has these high numbers. So does the United States.
What has been the response from Washington?
RIVERS: Well, so far, we haven't heard any confirmation. There's no date set yet. It's quite interesting, we listened to the Mexican president. And
today he didn't give any further information, despite saying yesterday that his foreign ministry would be providing more information about the date of
this meeting.
So it's very much in flux. We know that the Canadian prime minister is someone that the Mexican prime minister -- the Mexican president wants
there but Canada has not confirmed anything either.
So this meeting, you know, it seems very much in flux at this point. And it would almost be a little surprising if it happened simply to mark this
trade deal. I mean, on the one hand, you have President Trump, who wants to talk about anything but the coronavirus but, on the other hand, you have
hundreds of thousands of new cases in the United States.
If the Canadian prime minister doesn't come, would the Mexican president still go?
It's very much in flux. It just proves this new reality, where this would be a no-brainer in normally times, these three countries wanting to
celebrate the new free trade deal but these days it probably won't happen.
GORANI: Well, people are worried about other things right now. Thanks very much, Matt Rivers, live in Mexico.
China's top lawmaking body, the National People's Congress, has passed a sweeping new national security law for Hong Kong and many are afraid once
again that it's another step toward eroding the city's freedoms.
There is no draft of the law released before it was passed even. Details are still scant. According to the Chinese state news agency, Xinhua, it
contains six articles and 66 clauses. It reportedly criminalizes offenses like secession and subversion against the central Chinese government, so
these are obviously terms that are vaguely defined potentially, as well as terrorism and colluding with foreign forces.
Hong Kong's activists have vowed to protest the law on July 1st. That is the anniversary of the territory's 1997 handover from Britain to China.
Let's bring in Ivan Watson there in Hong Kong.
[10:15:00]
GORANI: So China really is moving forward with attempts, according to its critics, to kind of grab power and put a lid on protests and activism in
Hong Kong here.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Definitely, ramming through legislation that was written behind closed doors by members of the
National People's Congress in Beijing. It has been signed into force by the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping.
The chief executive of Hong Kong said that the law would go into effect sometime later today. It's after 10:00 pm here in Hong Kong and no one in
this city has actually seen the law itself or the contents of it.
The Hong Kong administration, members of which I have interviewed, have been trying to tell their society that this is going to be a good piece of
legislation for their city but have not been able to answer the most simple questions about the law.
Would it be enforced retroactively, for instance?
Which kind of judges would be able to rule on this?
Would members of the security forces in Mainland China set up offices down here in Hong Kong?
What kind of remit would they have?
The Hong Kong authorities haven't had any of the details, which is why this has cast a pall over the city. Leaders of several pro-democracy parties are
closing up shop here. One of the best known of them, Joshua Wong, quitting his own pro democracy party.
And chief executive Carrie Lam, who refused to take any questions today about this national security law, has insisted multiple times that it would
only target a tiny minority of people in this city of 7.5 million people.
Who are those people?
If anybody goes out and participates in a banned protest march tomorrow, as has been the tradition for decades, on the anniversary of the handover of
Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule, could they be prosecuted under this law?
And that is a big question mark hanging as we approach midnight here -- Hala.
GORANI: All right. Ivan Watson, thanks very much, live in Hong Kong.
Ahead, remember the swine flu outbreak from recent years?
Well, virologists have found a new strain.
Should we be worrying?
We'll explain in a moment.
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GORANI: Well, we already have our hands full dealing with COVID. Now there's a new strain of the H1N1 virus, also known as the swine flu, that's
surfaced in China. Researchers discovered that it can transfer from animals to people.
[10:20:00]
GORANI: However, this is the good news, there are no known instances of it spreading from person to person.
Nonetheless, virus experts are monitoring all of this for any signs of pandemic potential. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins me now from Atlanta with more.
So we shouldn't be worried quite yet, Dr. Sanjay?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hopefully not have to be worried at all, even going forward. But this is what virus hunters
and surveillance experts do, Hala, they look for these things. And they're looking in animal populations, looking for viruses that they think may be
particularly concerning.
And, you know, in this case, they have been swabbing these pigs for some time and they find all these different viruses. Some are present one year,
gone the next year. This particular virus, which, as you mentioned, is a descendant of H1N1, the swine flu from 2009, they found a descendant
they're calling the G4 virus.
It showed up year after year in the pigs. So then they started to look at the people who are working with pigs, swabbing their noses and throats as
well. They found in 10 percent of people they had evidence of this particular virus.
So therein lies the pieces of data that we need. It's present in animals; it did make a jump from animals to humans. But two important pieces, again,
that you mentioned. One is there's no evidence that then it's spreading from human to human. And now you have some five years that this virus has
been present. Then it really hasn't taken significant hold in the human population.
So eyes on it, being very careful, obviously, learning a lot from what we're going through right now. But seems to pose little risk as things
stand.
GORANI: Well, an expression I learned in the South, the United States that I use a lot, let's not borrow trouble just yet. So far it's not an issue.
It's been identified and epidemiologists are looking at it.
But we have corona and the numbers are surging.
How worried are you when you look at the U.S. map and the trends across the country?
GUPTA: Yes. I mean, Hala, I'm concerned. You know, I think that if you go back and you look at what things look liked in March, then you compare it
to April again, this has clearly gotten worse in the United States.
You know, I'm a frontward looking guy. I don't like to look in the rearview mirror but you look at the United States, this was not inevitable. Places
around the world are dealing with the same virus and they got it under control.
The issue, up until a few weeks ago, while the problem was worse, it was still controllable. It was localized in certain areas. Now you're starting
to see red all across that map. And I can't really point to a single part of the United States now and say they're not vulnerable. They're OK, they
have kind of gotten through this.
GORANI: Yes.
GUPTA: I think we'll have some tough days ahead still and we'll need some aggressive therapy. If the country were a patient, I'd be telling that
patient they need some aggressive therapy at this point.
GORANI: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks very much. We'll be talking about the situation in the U.S. a little bit later. Appreciate it.
Well, word of this new strain of flu only adds to doctors' concerns about a second wave of COVID-19 spreading around the world. Several months in,
doctors are still learning about the coronavirus. How it affects the body and also the mind. We will be talking about that a little bit later.
So remember in the early days of the pandemic, when all eyes were on Italy. Italy was really the epicenter of where this virus was causing so much
devastation. But Italy happens to be now a country that people look at as a success story. because it has managed to get past the worst of it with some
very, very drastic measures.
Now it's the U.S. people look at and say, be careful, this could be pretty disastrous over the next few months. Italy though, not as much. And that's
where we find our Ben Wedeman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Italy was the canary in the coronavirus coal mine. Proof that the virus would not
stay in China, I saw it firsthand.
(on camera): You just need to look at the death notices here. This woman died on the 7th of March. This man died on the 8th of March. This woman
died on the 7th of March.
(voice-over): Americans looked on in horror. The U.S. surgeon general warned them to take heed.
JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: We have the same number of cases now that Italy had two weeks ago.
[10:25:00]
ADAMS: And we have a choice to make. Do we want to really lean into social distancing and mitigation strategies and flatten the curve or do we just
want to keep going on with business as usual and end up being Italy?
WEDEMAN: Comparing the two countries from the start of their respective outbreaks, it's clear American cases spread much faster. Today Italy has
flattened its curve, the United States has not. And while the death rate in Italy was slightly higher, American health experts say it's just a lagging
indicator.
DR. ASHISH JHA DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: It is turning out that America took it less seriously than Italy. And while we did lock
down maybe a little earlier, we just -- we didn't sustain the lockdown. We didn't really ramp up our testing as much as we needed and then we opened
up way too early and way too aggressively.
WEDEMAN: Just like Italy before them, some American hospitals are now running out of beds reliving Italy's mistakes. But the government in Rome
took on a centralized response.
We managed, the Prime Minister says, to get through the lockdown because we developed a national plan.
JHA: What we have right now in the United States is a President that -- federal government that has decided to throw in the towel and let every
state figure this out on their own.
WEDEMAN: Life in Rome is slowly returning to normal. The cafe is crowded with patrons sipping aperitivo.
(on camera): Why didn't the United States see what was happening here and learn those lessons?
DR. WALTER RICCIARDI, ITALIAN REP. TO W.H.O. EXECUTIVE BOARD: Very difficult to understand.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Dr. Ricciardi advised the Italian government throughout the crisis. He has confidence in American scientists, America's
leaders maybe not so much.
RICCIARDI: Some of the best researchers and professionals are in the United States. I think some decision makers underestimating the severity of
this disease.
WEDEMAN: Ben Wedeman, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: And a lot more coming up after the break. The U.S. president is under heavy scrutiny over hundreds of phone calls with foreign leaders. Why
some senior officials say the conversations make the president a national security threat -- coming up.
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GORANI: In Washington, shocking new developments over the U.S. president's potential threat to the safety of his own country. Both the White House and
intelligence officials tell CNN that Donald Trump was so unprepared for highly classified phone calls with world leaders that several senior
members of his administration considered him a danger to national security.
[10:30:00]
GORANI: Sources say he fawned over foreign adversaries like Russian president Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Erdogan but bullied some
American allies, particularly female leaders.
Mr. Trump reportedly told British prime minister Theresa May she was "weak" and called Angela Merkel "stupid." American journalist Carl Bernstein says
the president continually pushed his own personal interests in these phone calls and not those of the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: In his calls with Putin, he was almost slavishly seeking Putin's approval, trying to prop himself up.
"Trump is a great businessman," demeaning his predecessors, George Bush and Barack Obama, in foul terms, vulgar language, calling them incompetent.
But now that he, Trump, was there, that they could deal directly. But the overall tenor of the calls as well as the specifics of them show the
president of the United States, in terms of allies, bullying them, almost sadistically dealing with women on the call. Namely Angela Merkel the
German chancellor and Theresa May the prime minister of Great Britain.
Those calls with those women are described in almost sadistic terms by the sources. The spokesman for the German embassy here in the United States
confirmed that those calls are very aggressive and problematic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: All right. That was Carl Bernstein, whose reporting brought these accusations to light against the president and also the latest revelations.
And you're seeing some images there of the U.S. troops in Afghanistan as a source says Mr. Trump was indeed briefed on intelligence involving Russian
offering bounties for killing U.S. troops. The White House still denies that it knew about the intel.
We'll talk more about this with a long-time Republican Party member a little bit later.
Now back to COVID and, several months in, doctors are still learning about the coronavirus, how it affects the body when you're ill with it and the
mind as well. And some of the longer-term, lingering impacts of this horrific disease. Professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University, Dr.
Wesley Ely joins me live.
Thanks for being with us. So we have heard reports of delirium, which you usually would observe in much older patients, affecting people of all ages.
Is this something new for you in the ICU, in the ER you're observing?
DR. WESLEY ELY, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: Thanks for having me. As an ICU doctor taking care of these patients at Vanderbilt University, I'm seeing
firsthand how devastating this is for these patients.
The delirium or the acute brain dysfunction that these patients experience is absolutely horrifying. We have been studying it at out center, the
Critical Illness Brain Dysfunction Survivorship Center at Vanderbilt for 20 years and this by far is the worst delirium epidemic I have ever seen in
my entire career. It's horrendous.
GORANI: Yes.
And the --
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: -- to COVID, are you?
ELY: Yes. The two main categories of problems that lead to this in COVID really have to do with what I call the patient and the person. The virus
itself is invading the body and destroying the respiratory lining. That prevents the brain from getting enough oxygen.
And then you've got blood clotting going on throughout the body and the brain itself can't get enough blood because of the clotting.
The second category of problems has to do with things that we do to the patient, very profound effects of devastating sedation and narcotic drugs,
which help the patient stay comfortable and yet, at the same time, create this horrendous delirium.
Then you have a problem with the mobilization, just sitting in a bed for weeks on end and isolation from family. And these two things really create
this problem.
GORANI: And what happens when the patient recovers from the physical illness?
Are you observing longer-term cognitive issues in some patients?
ELY: Yes, we absolutely are. I think this will be the epidemic within the pandemic that the patients who go on to survive COVID will end up having
dementia, many of them, maybe a quarter to a third of them having an acquired dementia, which really is just a problem with their memory,
processing speed, difficulty going back to work and remembering people's names at parties.
It's super embarrassing for people but really disabling. And then a profound problem with PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder and
depression. These things, the dementia, the PTSD and the depression are a part of what we call PICS or post intensive care syndrome. And these are
the things that are going to affect people for many years to come.
[10:35:00]
GORANI: Right. The -- I have been reading as well that there -- what's unknown -- and since you're a pulmonary specialist maybe you can shed some
light on this and what you have seen in the ER and in your practice -- that there is potentially long-term scarring, fibrosis of the lungs, that could
be a consequence of being infected with COVID.
Is this one of your concerns?
ELY: That's a great question and I'll tell you that the entire body is undergoing such a dramatic inflammatory process during COVID that there
will be some scarring in lots of organs. The lungs will achieve some scarring, which will make people have difficulty physically.
But then the brain itself will have some scarring left over; when the cells get activated in the brain they'll stay profoundly activated for months.
They lay down the connective tissue, which is a scar.
That's why one of the reasons we'll have a long-term cognitive problem and may be made better by cognitive rehab. I say, get out your Scrabble
boards, your Sudoku and do a lot of math and word games. Some of those things could really offer some hope for patients down the line.
GORANI: Your state, North Carolina, is also seeing a big spike. And anecdotally in your ER, are you -- how are you coping?
ELY: Well, it's very hard to deal with this rise in numbers; 31 states in the United States 31 states in the United States are experiencing a rise in
numbers. We have to pull back on the reopenings and the patients, many of them thought we were done.
And we want the world to know, in Europe and in the Middle East and all over the globe, that this is a global pandemic which is now on the rise
again in many locations. And we have got to do everything we can to teach people the importance of masks, social distancing and really respecting
this disease.
Because lots and lots of people are going to die. And I see it firsthand in our ICUs, when the people are suffering on life support. Remember when
you're wearing the mask, you're not doing it out of fear. You're doing it to protect other people. And that's I think the important and selfless
piece of why you're wearing the mask.
GORANI: All right. Well, I'll tell you, that's great advice. I wear the mask to protect other people and myself. If everyone ends up wearing a
mask, hopefully, that will reduce the risk for everybody. Thank you so much, Dr. Wes Ely, for joining us.
ELY: Thank you.
GORANI: Developments over the U.S. -- thank you. The developments over the U.S. president's potential threat to the national security of his own
country. Joining me now is Jennifer Horn, the cofounder of The Lincoln Project.
You might have come across their political ads online. It's made up of former top level Republican campaign veterans whose goal is to defeat Trump
in November and it includes the husband of the president's close adviser, Kellyanne Conway.
You have been releasing staunchly anti-Trump ads. And before I get to the conversation, I want to show the viewers one of those.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): In the last year, flag draped coffins have returned from Afghanistan. Now we know Vladimir Putin pays a bounty for the
murder of American soldiers. Donald Trump knows, too, and does nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, Jennifer, our viewers could be forgiven for thinking this is a Joe Biden anti-Trump ad but it is an ad by The Lincoln Project, which is
a political action committee launched last December.
And in "The New York Times," the headline of the op-ed accompanying the launch was, "We are Republicans and we want Trump defeated." Talk to us
more about why you joined this initiative.
JENNIFER HORN, THE LINCOLN PROJECT: Well, good morning, Hala, thank you so much for having me. And I'm a part of The Lincoln Project because I believe
deeply that the current president of the United States poses an existential threat to the republic. He's a threat to the continuation of freedom and
the American democracy that we all have come to love for future generations.
And what we have seen -- this story that's unfolded in the past few days about the president having been briefed possibly more than once, possibly
multiple times about the fact that Russia, an ardent foe of the United States and of freedom, has been paying bounties for American soldiers'
lives in Afghanistan.
Nothing could highlight it more critically. I mean, I get goose bumps just thinking about it, that what a traitor to America, to our sons and
daughters who have served, to the very idea of what America is all about.
[10:40:00]
HORN: What a traitor Donald Trump is. He must be defeated. He must be.
GORANI: So your goal is essentially -- your main focus is November 2020 and defeating Donald Trump. But if you're successful, that means in January
of 2021 you might have a Democratic president, a Democratically held House of Representatives, even potentially a Democratic majority in the Senate.
But you are a Republican. You're a conservative.
HORN: That's right.
GORANI: You would be comfortable with that?
HORN: Yes. Under these circumstances, absolutely, I would be because more than anything at my core, I am an American. I'm a mom who believes in the
American ideal and I want to preserve that for my children and my grandchildren.
That will not happen unless both Donald Trump and Trumpism is defeated soundly by the American people at the ballot box.
If we're going to defeat Trumpism and make sure that this idea of what Donald Trump has created does not continue into our future, then we must
also defeat those people who have empowered him and enabled him and protected him during these presidency.
And that means, unfortunately, almost every single Republican sitting in the U.S. Senate today, with the exception of Mitt Romney. Not one of them
has fulfilled their obligation to their constituents when it comes to protecting and defending the Constitution.
GORANI: But that's what I was going to say.
Does that mean -- I mean, is the objective ultimately to rebuild the Republican Party?
Because the Republican Party right now is Trump's party. You look at his approval rating it's over 90 percent, he tweets about that often enough. Is
that the objective for you and other conservatives?
HORN: The objective is to defeat Donald Trump and Trumpism. And where that takes us after the Election Day in November, we'll have to see. If there's
a Republican Party worth saving at that point, great.
But the most important thing for people to understand -- and, in particular, for conservatives because I am a conservative -- for
conservatives to understand that the Republican Party is not the party of conservativism today. We're not the party of Republicanism today.
Donald Trump is no Republican, he's no conservative and what we have learned over these past couple of days he is no patriot, either. What
happens after the Election Day, we're all in to find out where that's going to take us. But we have to defeat Trump first.
GORANI: All right. Jennifer Horn, cofounder of The Lincoln Project, which, on Twitter, has more than 1 million followers and those ads certainly are
getting a lot of traction online. Thanks very much for joining us.
Coming up, India is trying to safeguard its digital border with China. Why TikTok and dozens of other Chinese social media apps are being banned
there. We'll be right back.
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GORANI: Well, if you enjoy using TikTok and live in India, the country is planning to ban the popular video sharing app. The Indian government says
that the app and others from China actually pose a threat to its sovereignty and integrity.
This follows escalating border tensions that led to a clash between the two countries earlier this month that left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead.
John Defterios joins us live from Abu Dhabi -- John.
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Yes, thanks very much, Hala. It's interesting, if you put this into context, they have had that
traditional border dispute carrying on for seven decades. That's something we're familiar with.
This takes the tensions between China and India in a whole new direction. It's primarily focusing on three major apps. One would be, of course,
TikTok, as you talked about, WeChat and Weibo and there's 56 others thrown into the bucket here, although we don't have a timeline.
For example, TikTok has nearly 200 million users but it's all about the data, Hala. It's where that data ends up, how it's mined by the Chinese
although the Indians have not declared it as having a major concern, just shutting down the apps. They say it's a threat to national security and
their defense.
The other things below the surface that we should start thinking about and perhaps that's what India's focusing on here, that the Chinese market is
not open to Indian or U.S. players like Facebook, WhatsApp or Twitter. They don't allow them into the market but they can reach into other markets and
mine the data.
One more issue for the gigantic Indian telecom players, the 5G technology. China has made it a national security priority and an industrial priority
to develop 5G. And the telecom players have the contracts with Huawei.
Does this spill into that with the technology?
Of course, you know the position of Donald Trump, even Boris Johnson in the U.K. wants to revisit Huawei. But it seems like this horse has left the
barn for a long, long time and there's no real replacements for India or the Middle East, who are dedicated to that technology.
GORANI: OK, John Defterios, thanks very much, live in Abu Dhabi.
The British prime minister Boris Johnson has unveiled an ambitious, quote, "new deal" to help Britain's economy recover from the pandemic and it
involves spending more than $6 billion in part to fund infrastructure projects, like hospitals, parks and schools.
In his speech today, Mr. Johnson likened his plan to the New Deal launched by the 32nd president, Franklin D. Roosevelt in the wake of the Great
Depression.
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BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: I'm conscious as I say all this that it sounds like a prodigious amount of government intervention. It sounds
like a New Deal. If that is so, then that is how it's meant to sound and how it's meant to be because that is what the times demand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, Nic Robertson joins me now from London.
And, boy, is the prime minister setting the bar high, comparing his program to the program that lifted the United States out of the Great Depression by
one of the great U.S. presidents.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, the economic comparison isn't quite there. What Boris Johnson is talking about is 0.25
percent of British GDP in terms of his investment and, of course, FDR's deal was much vaster in scale.
But the prime minister here, I think there are several ways to look at this. One of the ways is that he really wants to get beyond COVID-19 and
the pandemic and sort of raise the nation's aspirations out of that, getting back to work. And this is all about an effort by spending money. He
says it's cheap now to borrow the money.
This is a time to invest and it and invest it in jobs essentially that people will be able to take up if they're unemployed in other areas. It's
also an effort to get back to his messaging before the pandemic struck.
If we think back to the election last year, it was all about improving the hospitals and improving social care and improving schools. Today, $1.8
billion on the health care, $1.2 billion on schools, rebuilding -- regenerating in the hospitals and the schools, road repairs, bridge
repairs, rail networks. About leveling the country up.
[10:50:00]
ROBERTSON: So this was very much Boris Johnson getting back to his pre- COVID-19 message and trying to, you know, use that -- that charisma that he has and that ability to sort of project a vision of the future, to try to
lift the country. So I think he's trying to do several things there.
But as he said, very clearly, this is something that he wants to happen fast. He really emphasized the speed and I think he is tipping his hat to
the way he wants to trim down some of the bureaucracy around government in the civil service, to make things happen faster, to get starter homes for
young people, other homes, get them rebuilt faster and remove some of the red tape is what he spoke about.
So this is Boris Johnson getting back to his old agenda but wrapped in getting beyond COVID-19.
And I think just one other point, he was very keen to highlight the things where he thought the government got it right on COVID-19, having taken so
much heat for getting so much wrong, the Nightingale hospitals, building ventilators from scratch. These were just a couple of the areas where he
pointed out Britain had done well.
This was the prime minister perhaps on his best form of recent times, extolling the country to raise its eyes and get on with it.
GORANI: OK. Thank you, Nic Robertson.
Now major sports leagues around the U.S. are set to return after a long layoff due to the coronavirus.
How are they going to keep players safe?
We'll discuss that ahead.
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GORANI: Well, how can you play professional sports in the era of the coronavirus?
American leagues are trying to figure that out right now. And Don Riddell has more on that -- Don.
DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks very much. You know, this summer should have been a boon for sports fans with the European football
championships and the Olympics keeping us all entertained. Of course they were both postponed because of COVID-19.
Many of Europe's domestic football leagues have returned but will soon be over, meaning all eyes will be on the major leagues in the United States.
Here is what is supposed to happen. Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball and the NBA all have dates penciled in for a July return. The NHL
is also expected to come back some time next month. And the NFL has a start date for September 10th in Kansas City, with the Chiefs as the reigning
Super Bowl champions.
But with new and worrying spikes of COVID-19 cases in various parts of the United States and athletes also now testing positive, can and will those
plans all remain in place?
CNN correspondent Carolyn Manno joins us from Orlando.
How is this going to start?
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the tournaments will return on July 8th for Major League Soccer is a pivotal moment, a real turning
point in the path back from this here stateside.
The NBA is taking on a much larger task by doing it all under one roof, essentially in a bubble down in Orlando, Florida, as well, with well over a
thousand people. Disney employees coming in and out.
The NBA is trying to do their best to contain this virus, though it seems, with numbers being that high, the confirmed cases are going to be an
inevitability at this point, particularly with the surge in cases we have seen in Orlando.
But the stakes are very high for all of these sports as they continue to try to make a path here in the middle of the crisis really for sports to
come back. Adam Silver has been very progressive.
[10:55:00]
MANNO: He's made a number of decisions over the last couple of years that, quite frankly feel easy when you think about what he's tasked with now,
which is how do I weigh risk versus money?
And if this goes swimmingly and there aren't that many cases, it will be a great thing for the NBA but if not, to put it callously, it could be
disastrous for his legacy. So I think there's a lot to consider. Add into that, Don, the fact that social justice, racial inequality and police
brutality has weighed on the minds of all the NBA players and many are questioning if they actually want to play.
With that in mind, the league and the players association have worked to paint Black Lives Matter on all of the courts down here in Orlando, to
potentially allow players to wear George Floyd's name or another message of social injustice on their backs so they send a message, hey, we're with
you. We want you to play.
We want to use this platform but there's a lot of layers to this simultaneously. And I think everyone is going to be paying attention across
leagues to what other leagues are doing.
RIDDELL: Yes. Some players, with baseball in mind, they're now reporting to camps after what has been a really long, drawn-out battle over finances.
But much more important things on their minds. Several players are taking their families as a priority, including Ian Desmond of the Rockies in a
powerful Instagram post.
What did he say?
MANNO: Yes, absolutely. It was a very sincere message. It was nine pages long. He essentially explained how he is battling with this internally,
like so many other players are, that he's thinking about coronavirus and Black Lives Matter and that's what ultimately shaped his decision to opt
out of the season.
It's not a small decision but he said his priority needs to be with his family right now. His priority needs to be in Sarasota, Florida, right now.
I want to read you a little bit of what he had to say on Instagram because it was so poignant.
He said "Home is where I need to be right now. Home for my wife, Chelsea, home to help, home to guide, home to answer my older three boys' questions
about coronavirus and civil rights and life. Home to be their dad."
And that really speaks to, Don, what we're talking about here. His kids are asking questions and he's thinking about social injustice, too. And as a
biracial athlete, a kid growing up he was exposed to that stuff. It's important to him to try to make a change now.
RIDDELL: Yes, this is such a difficult time for so many different reasons. Carolyn Manno, thanks very much.
Hala, that's it for right now. Keep an eye on Barcelona for today. Lionel Messi could get to 700 goals. Back to you.
GORANI: I sure will. Thanks very much, Don.
That's it for this hour. I'm Hala Gorani. Kim Brunhuber is back with more after the break.
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