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Connect the World
U.S. Reports 1,000-Plus COVID-19 Deaths In A Single Day; Anti-Trump "Lincoln Project" Launches Ads Against President; Banksy-Funded Boat Helps Rescue Migrants In Mediterranean; Schools Across Russia Reopening This Week; Germany: Navalny Poisoned With Chemical From Novichok Group; Pope: Lebanon Cannot Be Abandoned To Itself. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired September 02, 2020 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.
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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: It is 5:00 pm in Berlin, 6:00 in the evening in Moscow, 7:00 pm here in Abu Dhabi. We begin with breaking
news out of the German Capital. The government there claims they have found evidence that the Russian Opposition Politician Alexei Navalny was poisoned
with a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok Group.
Now Navalny was taken from Russia to Berlin late last month showing symptoms of poisoning. The Kremlin has responded by saying it is not
received any direct word from Germany on this latest matter that is according to Russia's test news agency. I want to bring in CNN's Fred
Pleitgen was standing by for us in Berlin where, of course Mr. Navalny is in hospital. What's the latest?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Becky, he's actually in the hospital not very far from here at the - which is
Germany's only first and foremost hospital for cases like that one. But you can really feel here in Berlin the anger on the part of the entire German
government.
In fact, they put out a statement earlier today saying that it was not just Angela Merkel who had been talking about this, but really her entire
cabinet had been debating this whole issue and obviously also what to do next. I want to show you some of the key lines from the statement that they
put out.
They said that it was actually specialists from the German military that were called to assist the folks there at the hospital where Alexei Navalny
was treated. One of the things that we have to know is that the German military has one of the best toxicology departments pretty much in the
entire country, maybe the entire European continent.
And they said that there was unequivocal evidence, as they put it, of a chemical warfare agent, a chemical nerve agent I should say of the Novichok
Group. Obviously Novichok was the same chemical agent that was apparently used to poison - and his daughter Julia in 2018 of course leading to all
sorts of things that happened around that.
The German government for its part has said that this is obviously an outrageous thing that has happened. They are very angry about this, and
they also said it is now up to Russia to provide clarity as to what exactly happened and how exactly this could happen?
One of the things that I found out a couple minutes ago, Becky, is that the German Foreign Ministry did in fact earlier today call in the Russian
Ambassador and once again said that Russia needs to explain itself.
Just a couple minutes ago in the run-up to us going live right now, there was a press conference by the German Foreign Minister and by the German
Defense Minister, of course because the German military is involved in all of this as well, and they once again said that there needs to be clarity.
The way that the Germans are going to move forward now, they said, is they're going to talk about this with the European Union, with the European
neighbors. Obviously everything happens on a European level, with NATO as well and then also with the organization for the prevention of chemical
weapons.
Obviously now that Novichok has been found, without a doubt, the Germans say, all of this of course takes on a whole new dimension as far as the
attack on Alexei Navalny is concerned and the of course also the response that we believe that we're going to see from the Germans, from the
Europeans, from NATO and possibly from others as well. Becky?
ANDERSON: How is Navalny doing, Fred?
PLEITGEN: Well, there really has been very little in the way of change that has been announced. As a statement today said, he was delivered here to
Germany. Obviously he fell ill in Omsk, in Russia, and then it took a couple days to actually be able to Medevac him out.
That was also something where a German organization called Sinema for Peace (ph) actually played a very large role. He was then Medevaced out by a
German Medevac plane to here, to Berlin, to the - hospital.
Essentially what that hospital has been saying for the last week and a half or so, is they say that he is still very much in a coma, that he is in
stable condition, and that his life is no longer in jeopardy. So right now the big question here on everybody's mind, and it's not something the
doctors have said anything about yet publicly, because of course they would talk to the family first, is really not whether or not Alexei Navalny will
survive?
But what exactly the consequences the long-term consequences of all of this are going to be, whether or not he is ever going to be the same as he was
before? But he is still very much in a coma and very much being treated at this hospital in Berlin which, again, is the premier hospital for cases
like this in this country, Becky.
ANDERSON: Fred Pleitgen is in Berlin. Fred, thank you, and we'll get the Russian perspective for you from CNN's Matthew Chance a little later this
hour. To the Coronavirus pandemic now and the troubling new numbers out of the United States that country recorded 1,067 deaths from COVID-19 on
Tuesday.
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ANDERSON: Why is that number so concerning? Well, 1,000 deaths a day was a common occurrence a few months ago as states lifted lockdowns and people
gathered for holiday parties and other somber events. Now in September, it has been reached and exceeded again, and it comes amid dire warnings about
an alarming spiking of cases in America's Midwest.
You can see that here, all the red on the map. A White House report says cases in Iowa rose nearly 80 percent from the week before. But Donald
Trump, the president, has no interest, it seems, in talking about the pandemic unless it has to do with vaccines or treatments, and that has led
to a startling disagreement with government experts.
A medical panel at the National Institutes of Health says there is no evidence to support the use of convalescent plasma as a treatment, and that
is despite the Food and Drug Administration fast-tracking its approval and the president touting it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You have a vaccine which just like we have therapeutics which to me are even more important. You go into
the hospital yet and make people better that are to me a must. But and we just did the convalescent plasma.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, a group of anti-Trump Republicans are working to make sure Donald Trump, the current U.S. President, is not re-elected come November.
The Lincoln project is now backing Democrat Joe Biden and sharing why they believe Donald Trump has failed as Commander in Chief. And their ads don't
just target the president. Here is one slamming first daughter Ivanka Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With 135,000 Americans dead and our economy on the edge of a new great depression, Ivanka Trump has some advice.
IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: Find something new. Oh, of course, why didn't we think of that? It's so simple! How about jewelry design? Have
daddy loan you a few million to get started for fashion. Once you get millions in Chinese patents and trademarks, you can even get a job in the
White House. Just ask daddy.
The important thing is to find something new. I mean, who cares if you're about to be evicted or lose your health care or can't make ends meet. Try
something new. Can't feed your kids? Let them eat cake. Ivanka is worried about one thing. This November we will find something new, and it won't be
her daddy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, Sarah Lenti is the Executive Director of the Lincoln Project. She joins us now from Denver in Colorado. I just want to draw your
attention to the very latest Monmouth polling showing no clear leader in the crucial swing State of Pennsylvania. That must be of concern to you and
the project.
SARAH LENTI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE LINCOLN PROJECT: Yes - first, Becky thanks for having me on. There was a Monmouth polling and we expect polls
to tighten closer to the election, especially coming out of conventions. I saw another polling last week that had Biden up 7 to 9 points in
Pennsylvania.
There are a lot of polls out there and I think you have to look at the averages, but I think ultimately Biden will be OK in Pennsylvania, but
we'll continue pushing hard. That is one of our target states.
ANDERSON: Let's follow the money for a moment, then, shall we? The latest numbers that we have seen has Donald Trump with a campaign war chest of
more than a billion dollars, Joe Biden down around 7 million. How worrying is that to you?
LENTI: It's all about voter registration this time around; it's about where you're spending your money, what ads you're putting up and where? And
ultimately it is going to come down the leadership Becky. I think most people know that at the beginning of COVID, the president had very clear
information from the National Security Council, from his intelligence, about what was going on the end of January with the Coronavirus?
He chose to ignore it, to praise President Xi saying that he had it all under control. And then you know mid-March hit and we were fast on a move
with the pandemic. So there was a lack of leadership. I think as we get into the debates, and really, the campaign starts the day after Labor Day,
I think you're going to see a tempo pick up with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
And I think you're going to see a real difference as to who looks presidential and who has answers and who does not.
ANDERSON: Yep. Labor Day, of course, this weekend coming, so the campaign in earnest from next week, effectively, and we will gun toward the first of
what should be three debates. Have a listen to Donald Trump, the President, calling for something pretty unusual.
[11:10:00]
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TRUMP: Well, he's on some kind of an enhancement, in my opinion, and I say we should both I should take a drug test because we don't want to have a
situation where a guy is taking some kind of--
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: --like athletes?
TRUMP: No, no. I want to take one. I'll take one, he should take one. We'll both take a drug test.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: This is the ahead of debates, he says.
LENTI: That's so insane, I'm sorry.
ANDERSON: Nancy Pelosi is - claim on Joe Biden hold on. Nancy Pelosi has tried to call time on Joe Biden going up against Donald Trump. How do you
think Joe Biden will fare given Donald Trump's ferocious style of debate?
LENTI: I think he'll do just fine. Remember, Joe Biden has been - he has debated for 47 years. He debated at the presidential level two times over.
He knows what a presidential debate looks like. Remember, he was VP for eight years. I'm not worried about him at all.
He's not on drugs. We know the president went into Walter Reed this weekend. I have no idea what happened there. Fine, take a drug test. Who
cares? Biden should debate Donald Trump and I think he'll do just fine and look incredibly presidential and then we'll see what we've been dealing
with for the past four years. There will be a stark difference.
ANDERSON: So why do you think Nancy Pelosi doesn't want that to happen, or certainly seem to not want these debates to happen?
LENTI: She says that, but I think she knows in reality that there's no way you're going to have a presidential race and there is going to be no
debate. I don't know what was in her mind. I don't. I don't.
ANDERSON: Fascinating. Russia seems to be once again targeting Americans on social media to meddle in this election. Facebook reporting that it's
removed a small network of fake accounts and pages after receiving a tip from the FBI. You are all digital. How big an influence do you see this is
having?
LENTI: The Lincoln Project or the Russia situation?
ANDERSON: The Russia meddling.
LENTI: Yes, well, it had a huge impact, we believe, in 2016, so we're very concerned about it. We within the Lincoln Project have our own group
looking at what's happening in this regard. We're in uncharted territory. Two decades ago you didn't have the situation where you were running
digital campaigns and you had people hacking in bots, so forth and so on.
So it is a real concern, and I think both campaigns definitely have their guard up, and so, you know, these are things, Becky, that we've yet to
conquer and understand, but it is something that we are all watching. Not only are we watching what Russia is doing and what's going to happen
digitally?
We're also very concerned about the mail here in the U.S. and people getting their ballots and people getting their ballots on time. That is a
huge concern just as much as the technology piece in the cycle. We're up against a lot.
ANDERSON: I was interested to hear a Former Adviser to President Obama joking the supporter to "Make sure you cancel your recurring donation
before the Lincoln Project starts running ads attacking President Biden, for raising taxes on oil companies in early 2021". What are your plans if
Mr. Trump loses? How will you direct your efforts?
LENTI: That's a good question, and it's one that we're going to focus on the day after the election. First of all, we're not convinced the election
is going to be decisive. We hope that it is on November 3rd. We can also see scenarios where if Biden wins, President Trump contests the election,
and that work will keep on going.
We'll keep on going until Joe Biden is sworn into office on January 21st. beyond that, we're not going to start running ads that cut against the
president. Our goal is to beat Trump and Trumpism. There is definitely a wing of Trumpism within Congress, within, you know, future I think
presidential people that aspire to be president, Ivanka, Don Jr., Tucker Carlson we're not going to stop this fight.
What Trump and Trumpism represents is not the Republican Party that all of us that work on the Lincoln Project grew up in. So we will huddle as soon
as this election is over. We are laser focused on the election, and then we will begin to think about really where we should go and where we'll be most
effective and just supporting America, our democracy and our sovereignty?
ANDERSON: The U.S. President seems to have one pillar and one pillar only when it comes to campaigning for this election, and that is as the law and
order president.
LENTI: Yes.
ANDERSON: He was in Kenosha, a place that's been the center of protests against racial inequality. Have a listen to just a short sound bite from
his press conference there, if you will.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe systemic racism is a problem in this country?
TRUMP: You know you just keep getting back to the opposite subject. We should talk about the kind of violence that we've seen in Portland and here
and other places. It's tremendous violence.
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TRUMP: You always get to the other side, what do you think about this or that? The fact is that we've seen tremendous violence, and we will put it
out very, very quickly if given the chance. And that's what this is all about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Let's be black and white about that. He basically dodged the reporter's question. The president saying that the violence and the
protests that we are seeing erupt in places like Kenosha is a taste of the anarchy that waits if Joe Biden wins the White House.
Now Joe Biden is fighting back against that narrative. In fact, while we have been speaking he has announced that he will go, for example, to
Kenosha. But some say quite belatedly. Not the fact that he'll visit Kenosha, but he's providing a counterargument to what is coming out of the
White House and Donald Trump. Do you think that he should have started this earlier?
LENTI: I do wish he had confronted earlier what's going on in Portland, what's happening in Kenosha? But let's recall Portland was the result of
what happened with respect to George Floyd. And let's go back. Charlottesville where the president said KKK, they're fine people.
What happened in Kenosha and the looting that we're seeing - well, Kenosha, I would say, is a direct result of the president, I can go there in a
minute, but the looting was a result of people being furious over what happened to George Floyd and the lack of response.
So Kenosha, you have two, you know, in St. Louise and McCloskey sitting in - with guns outside of their mansion threatening peaceful protesters. Then
you have a vigilante on the other side coming out, a 17-year-old Trump supporter, excuse me, driving to another state and shooting people. It's
ridiculous.
That's not because of Joe Biden. That's not because of people protesting in Portland. We should call a spade a spade. I think Joe Biden needs to call a
spade a spade. I think it would be important for him to--
ANDERSON: With just more than six weeks to go, let's see what he does do. George Conway, the husband of one of President Trump's now former closest
adviser, Kellyanne Conway, has just stepped down from the Lincoln Project. We're - we certainly had been told why; they want to spend more time with
their kids. Big loss to you guys?
LENTI: We love George and we miss him every day. We definitely feel he absence of his presence but we have seen no difference in support of and
with respect to our support base and enthusiasm, so I believe George will be back when things get settled with his family, and we're just going to
respect his desire to have time with his family right now.
ANDERSON: Yes. I hope to speak again. What a time to be talking American politics with six weeks and counting until this, one of the most important
elections in U.S. history. Thank you for your thoughts today.
LENTI: Thank you.
ANDERSON: Coming up on "Connect the World," street artist Banksy has commissioned a boat to save migrants in the Mediterranean. We're going to
get you on board the Louise Michelle up next.
And will back to school take us back to square one. Teachers in Russia speak about COVID fears with one union taking a very bold stance against
the Russian government's vaccine plan all that coming up.
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[11:20:00]
ANDERSON: This is the Louise Michel Former French Naval Vessel turned migrant rescue boat, aptly named after a French Feminist anarchist. The
ship was fought and funded by the famous street artist Banksy, and right now the crew has saved more than 300 migrants and refugees.
Well, the crisis has been an issue for European leaders for year now. According to the National Organization for Migration, thousands of migrants
and refugees have arrived in Europe in 2020. Nearly 500 people have died in the Mediterranean this year alone and many have disappeared along the way.
While the boat can only hold 120 people, members of the crew say European authorities seem to be ignoring their pleas for help. The boat's Head of
Operations saying in an interview, and I quote, the people have sat in a mix of salt water and fuel for days. It is night and European states are
not doing their "F word" job. They deny responsibility while we are trying to keep everyone alive.
Lea Reisner joins us now from on board the Louise Michel. Thank you for doing that. Can you firstly describe the conditions on board?
LEA REISNER, OPERATIONS COORDINATOR ON THE LOUISE MICHEL: Hey, thank you very much for having me. Yes, so I can probably do that. The Louise is a
30-meter vessel. We have a 10-person crew on board, and by now we don't have any guests anymore like we were able to disembark the people we have
rescued during the last days to another vessel from the governmental organization sea watch.
So right now we are actually sailing to refuel and does a crew change. We are filling up the ship at the moment, which is necessary, and trying to
kind of process the last very, very intense, emotional days.
ANDERSON: Just describe what's been going on, if you will.
REISNER: OK, so the situation is that we have set sail towards the Central Mediterranean two weeks ago, starting from the Port of Spain sailing
towards the Central Mediterranean. Right at our first day of mission in the Central Mediterranean, we were confronted with a small boat in distress
with seven people from Libya on board, which we stabilized which we could stabilized and then in the end conducted a rescue together with the vessel
of sea watch.
Just a couple days later, there was a distress call during the night where we were also able to speak to. The good thing about the Louise Michel is
that she is a fast boat which is different to the other vessels that operate in the Central Mediterranean at the moment.
So we were able to be there quite quickly and that was a good thing because the weather was picking up, so the situation became super unstable. We
found a rubber boat with more than 120 people on board. None of them were wearing life vests.
We had to swell waves of more than a meter. Also here we could stabilize the situation with life jackets and then in the end to rescue was conducted
by sea watch. Sea watch was then heading northbound to find a port of safety for the people they have rescued during the past days.
So we've been in the search and rescue zone in front of the Libya coast alone with this, yes, rather small vessel. We have been alarmed by the
monitoring aircraft the next day and we were able to come back to rescue of 89 people, also from a very flimsy boat.
Once we had them on board safely, we were also sailing toward the north to find a place of safety for those people, and, well while we've been on our
way north, we got another distress call - from again mover the monitoring air craft operated by sea watch about over crowded rubber boat which is not
moving anymore and taking in water with approximately 130 people.
[11:25:00]
REISNER: So thanks to the speed of the Louise Michel we've been able to be there. In two hours--
ANDERSON: Let me just ask you--
REISNER: --the situation was horrible--
ANDERSON: Let me just stop you there, because the scope of the work that you're doing has just been revealed by you just recounting what's been
going on in the last 24 hours or so. Where are these people from? How old are they? Are we talking about men, women and kids at this point?
REISNER: Yes, we are talking about basically, yes, all age, all gender. The youngest kid we had on board was not even six months old, I think five
months old, and we had also a couple of elderly people, a lot of people from countries like Sudan, from Ivory Coast, from Nigeria, so yes,
different parts of the countries.
But we also met people from Libya, because Libya is a country in a civil war which is again like getting worse. So, yes, it's very, very mixed, but
I think what is very clear is if these people wouldn't be black or people of color, calls would probably be answered different.
ANDERSON: Banksy, the artist financing this project, accusing European authorities of deliberately ignoring distress calls, is that your claim
here?
REISNER: Yes, absolutely. I mean, I was just about to describe the situation we've been in two nights ago where we have been confronted with
this rubber boat which there was a person on this rubber boat which already died during the journey. The people told us they had been on sea for three
weeks.
So we found a dead body on this boat where people told us that three other people died during their journey whose bodies couldn't be recovered from
the sea. We were sending a mayday late call for this boat as well because the capacity of taking people on board of the Louise Michel was reached, we
are 30 meters long.
So our capacity is limited. We were sending out mayday relay calls, we were sending I don't know how many e-mails and I don't know how many phone calls
to the rescue Coordination Center in Malta, because this boat has clearly been in a search and rescue zone under European Maltese responsibility.
Those calls got ignored for more than 24 hours. In the end, it wasn't European authorities in the end coming to help us and to stabilize and take
the people on board, but it was another civil rescue ship. So, yes, this was absolutely the claim we do, yes.
ANDERSON: All right. The activist who prepared the Louise Michel for its first mission saw the project as a wake-up call for Europe. Do you feel the
same, and do you have any faith that Europe, European leaders, the European unit is prepared to do anymore?
REISNER: That's a very tough question. I feel that Europe, especially civilization foreign policies towards migration is rather getting worse
than better. In the end, I would say that we are that the European Union is in a war against migration, so what is happening is that Europe is trying
to externalize their borders further and further to the south to just put the suffering people further away from them.
At the moment, I do not really see any change to the better. I am doing rescues now and I don't get the feeling that it's getting any better at all
just yet Becky.
ANDERSON: Well, with that we're going to leave it there for the time being. We applaud your work. Stay in touch and we will continue to press European
lawmakers and policymakers on why it is that they are not doing more. Thank you.
Well, up next, breaking news this hour, Germany says there is evidence Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent.
We're live in Moscow on that story and more, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
ANDERSON: If you are just joining us, here is a reminder of our breaking news this hour. The German government says there is evidence that the
Russian opposition political leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaking on this as we speak. We are monitoring that for you and we will bring you any developments as they
happen. Matthew Chance is in Moscow with the perspective from there.
And as we monitor Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, authorities there have already said that they are demanding an explanation from Moscow. How
is the Kremlin responding, Matthew?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, not with an explanation in short. I mean, look the Kremlin has a track record of
categorically denying any wrongdoing, whether it's with this incident, whether it's with the poisoning with Novichok according to the British
authorities of Sergei stipple back in 2018 or a whole host of other sort of wrong doings that the Russian government has been accused of, particularly
over recent years.
What they're saying at the moment is that, look, we got no knowledge, is what the Kremlin is saying of this accusations that Alexei Navalny was
poisoned with Novichok. The German government has not officially informed us of those accusations along those findings by the clinic in Berlin.
And they're basically saying, look, until we get an official kind of notification by the Germans that this is what they found, they're not going
to issue a response, and that might not be today, it might not be until tomorrow.
What I can tell you is that allies of Alexei Navalny, his Chief of Staff for instance have been using social media to say look, the fact that it's
Novichok, the fact that the Germans say this evidence that this chemical nerve agent was used, that's tantamount to paraphrase the Chief of Staff,
Alexei Navalny. That's tantamount of Vladimir Putin leaving his autograph at the scene of the crime.
And so, supporters of Navalny are saying this is further proof, if further proof were needed for them. And I think it's fair to say that it wasn't
that this is all about the Kremlin sort of silencing its critics. It does have a history of doing that. This increasingly points to yet another
example of Kremlin involvement.
ANDERSON: Fascinating. Well, we will continue to monitor Angela Merkel's comments on this, and Matthew will continue to work his sources on exactly
what happens next as far as the Kremlin is concerned.
Let's transition to COVID-19 now, Matthew, because the country that you are in has just surpassed 1 million cases, this as schools open this week for
the first time in months, and there are concerns, as I understand it.
CHANCE: Yes, that's right. It's a grim milestone, isn't it, a million people confirmed as having COVID-19 in Russia. It's still one of the most
affected countries in the world in this global pandemic.
[11:35:00]
CHANCE: But it is also, I think, the only country that has approved a vaccine that which it says is effective against COVID-19. Now it's been
made available to key front line workers like doctors and teachers. But as we saw when we witnessed the opening of school for the first time since
March, few, if any, of those Russian teachers have actually taken up the vaccination offer. Take a look.
Starting school can be daunting, even without a pandemic. But Russia is putting on a brave show. It says it has a vaccine, after all, approved for
use on this COVID front line. But it's the first day of school here, the first time since March that Russian classrooms have reopened amid the
COVID-19 pandemic. It's very exciting for the kids.
Their teachers were meant to be among the first to benefit from Russia's new Coronavirus vaccine. But what we're learning is that few, if any, have
taken up the offer to be vaccinated. We were given access to one of Moscow's top schools where some measures like testing and teachers in face
masks have been implemented.
But no one we spoke to here had taken the Russian vaccine, even though teachers along with doctors are meant to have been given first access after
the vaccine was fast-tracked to approval before completing phase III human trials.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: There is some concern that it might not be safe, it might not be effective. Have you heard that concern amongst your colleagues, amongst
teachers, that they're worried about the vaccine?
MARIA ZATOLOKINA, DEPUTY HEAD, SCHOOL 1363: Actually, we haven't discussed it yet, but I think that every teacher understands how important to be safe
and to create a safe environment for our students to be healthy. That's why I hope that we are responsible of people and we should be vaccinated.
CHANCE: Are you going to have the vaccine?
ZATOLOKINA: Yes, of course.
CHANCE: Definitely.
ZATOLOKINA: Definitely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: But there are others who say they are definitely not. One Russian Teacher's Union has started an online petition calling on members to reject
the vaccine outright on safety grounds and expressing concern that vaccination currently voluntary should not be made mandatory unless
clinical trials are complete.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YURI VARLAMOV, TEACHER, "UCHITEL" UNION MEMBER: Before the end of all testing, they cannot make it mandatory. But I know that in some schools, in
some state bodies, people are talking about mandatory status of this vaccine in the end of this year.
CHANCE: Do you think that's sort of political decision? Do you think it's important for the Russian authorities to make sure everybody has this
vaccine, whether or not it works, whether or not it's safe?
VARLAMOV: Yes, true, that's a very political decision, because skills of government to make the life of people safe are a very important point in
Russia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: And so, is showing Russia's widely criticized vaccine to be a success. Teachers can refuse it now, but not, perhaps, for much longer.
Becky, what this really under lines is the danger of fast-tracking a vaccine. If you cut short human trials and don't do everything in your
power to illustrate that it's safe and effective, it's just not going to be picked up by the general public, back to you.
ANDERSON: Matthew Chance is in Moscow. Thank you, Matt. Well, in the U.S., President Donald Trump constantly talks about the progress the country is
making in the fight against the Coronavirus. But contrast that positivity with these dramatic numbers.
More than 1,000 people died of COVID-19 just last night in the United States. After about seven months in, where is the U.S. in its battle
against the virus, then, and what have we learned since it all began? Dr. Sanjay Gupta with his report.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: A disease we hadn't even imagined a year ago is now the third leading cause of death in the United
States. And as much as we've learned about it, so many mysteries still remain.
Yes, we better understand the risk factors and they are stark. People 85 and older 20 times more likely to die than people in their 50s, 60 times
more likely to die than people in their 40s add in cancer, in the largest review to date, 13 percent of those with cancer and COVID-19 died within a
month.
[11:40:00]
DR. GUPTA: Obesity increasing risk of death three to four times relative to those of normal weight. And those with diabetes were three times more
likely to be hospitalized.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The hospital is on lockdown.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: And yet there are still too many stories like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was it. I never got to say I love you, nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: Nicole Buchanan's husband Conrad was just 39 years old, healthy, in the prime of his life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: You know, you got so many people who do well, and then some
people who just bingo, they're on a respirator, they're on ECMO, and they're dead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: Through it all, the virus has been pretty constant, but how we react to it has considerably changed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELISSA MCKINLAY, PALM BEACH COUNTY COMMISSIONER: We've just got a lot o young people that were ready to get back out, want to go to restaurants,
want to go to bars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: Here's the part that makes little sense. When there were fewer than 5,000 confirmed cases back in March, we started to shut things down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We would much rather be ahead of the curve than behind it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: But now there are more than 6 million people who have been infected and they are pushing to open things back up. And even though we've
been told nearly 70,000 Americans could possibly be saved by the end of the year if we just wore masks in public--
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please wear masks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: It seems too much to ask. And that's why models now estimate that 1,000 people will die every day for the rest of the year. That's an
American losing their life to this disease every minute. And sometimes there are those truly stuck in the middle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been treated as COVID for 97 days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: They even have a name now, the long haulers. The most basic question is still unclear. If you get this disease, how likely are you to
die? Researchers estimate that likelihood is about .6 percent. That's still six times more than the flu. We have made incremental strides with
therapeutics, the antiviral Remdesivir, the steroid Dexamethasone.
Most recently the FDA granted emergency-use authorization for convalescent plasma, that's donated antibodies from people who've been previously
infected. And of course we all wait for the vaccine which most say won't be available for the general public until next spring.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: You made a list the other day, and I'll just rattle them off for the audience. If we wore masks, if we kept physical distance, if we shut
down bars or at least indoor closely crowded situations, large gatherings and washed hands often, those five things.
DR. FAUCI: And outdoors is much better than indoors always. That's the point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GUPTA: If we did just that, within a few weeks we could be looking at the back side of this curve. But, astonishingly, disturbingly, it doesn't
look like we're going to lean into the basics. I often wonder what the history books will tell our great-grandchildren of this time.
We didn't learn the lessons quickly a hundred years ago during the flu pandemic and 675,000 people died in the United States. We have to apply the
lessons we've learned quickly so that we can do better this time around.
But I think it's worth making this point again, as much as we talk about the vaccine and obviously so many people want this vaccine, these simple
public health strategies have worked in many places around the world.
There are countries around the world that don't have a vaccine, nobody has a vaccine yet, that are already returned to some sense of normalcy. Just
got to apply these basics and we still have time to do it, because we're still very much in the middle of things.
ANDERSON: This just in, an update in our breaking story this hour. Alexei Navalny's Chief of Staff has just tweeted out a picture of Russian
President Vladimir Putin's signature saying, poisoning Navalny with Novichok is akin to leaving an autograph at the scene of the crime, an
accusation pointing right at the top of the Russian government.
We have not heard from the Kremlin yet on the news that the Germans say that the poisoning of the Russian opposition leader, who is now, of course,
in a hospital in Berlin, was with a poison from the Novichok group, the same poison group that was used in Salisbury against a former Russian spy
in 2018.
Live from CNN's Middle-East Programming Hub right here in Abu Dhabi. There is a lot more to come this hour. Remember the old saying if you love
someone, set them free. Well, that might not apply to football, especially when it comes to one of the sports' all-time greats. That story is up next.
[11:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Where in the world is Lionel Messi headed? Word surfaced last week that the Argentine football icon put in a request to leave his club
Barcelona. The latest twist, Messi's father/agent has arrived in Spain from Argentina to discuss his son's future. Over the weekend Messi didn't show
up for a Coronavirus test at the club's training center.
He believes a clause in his contract gives him a free out. The club says that out comes with a huge price tag. We've also learned from a club source
that the 33-year-old forward didn't attend pre-season training, either. Our next guest is an award-winning journalist who often writes about the
intersection of football business and politics, the man to talk about Lionel Messi.
In fact, Simon Kuper is in the process of writing a book about Barcelona football club in a recent column he reflected on the carrier of arguably
the greatest of all time, well, the goat (ph) is Messi's millions of fans refer to him saying "The essential underpinning of 15 years of routinely
brilliant football is a boring life" by which you mean what, Simon?
SIMON KUPER, COLUMNIST, FINANCIAL TIMES: Well, he lives on a hill in - which is a small town outside Barcelona. He doesn't even live near the
local beaches. He lives opposite his teammate Luis Suarez. He has bought a neighbor's house in construction that kind of large compound, but it's
actually quite an unremarkable big house. You'd hardly notice it.
And inside he raises his three kids with his wife, he drives them to the local English language school, and he has his very boring and predictable
life, while playing the best football in the world. It's a very calm and quiet place where he only really needs to think about one thing. And it's
where he's lived his entire professional career in Italy, which he plans now would be an immense uprooting for him.
ANDERSON: Yes, what happened? What went wrong with Barca and Messi?
KUPER: He have been warning for months that the team wasn't good enough anymore. They let the players get too old; they haven't been able to buy
good new players to replace them. And then on August 9th, they had a disastrous 8-2 defeat by Bayern Munich, which to everyone watching and many
of the players playing end of the era.
It was clear that the old team needed to clear out that it would take a long time to build a new team, they don't have much money to build, and
Messi decided he wasn't going to stick around for that. He's always said what messes him to him most is having a winning project. He doesn't believe
Barcelona have those and so, he wants to leave.
[11:50:00]
ANDERSON: Well, many people call this team FC Messi as oppose to FC Barcelona. And how does he get out of this contract? Is it clear now that
he will not be playing football in Barcelona this season? And if so, where will he be playing his football?
KUPER: He's not clear because there is a legal dispute. He says that, he's free to go, that in his contract he can end his contract with Barcelona at
the end of every season. He said he's done that. Barcelona said, no, you have to end it by June 10th.
Since you didn't do that, any club signing you will have to pay 700 million transfer fees which are more than three times the highest transfer fee ever
paid in football history. No club is going to pay that. So there is a legal standoff, it may end in a compromise that Messi is sold for say, 200
million odd. And then the most like your clubs will buy him, probably the only club that could afford him is Manchester City.
ANDERSON: Yes. Why would - I mean, to those, I mean, I'm a massive football fan. To those who are not, who have just heard you describe the amount of
money that Barcelona wants for a payout on this contract, why would anybody pay that sort of money, even if a club has to pay half of that, why would
they do it?
KUPER: Well, especially for a player who is 33, which, you know, most football is outside by that.
ANDERSON: Correct.
KUPER: They would do it, because Manchester City is essentially owned by the State of Abu Dhabi, the royal family, which has unlimited money.
Football's rules don't easily allow spending that money, but they see a way around it. And Messi really is not just the best in football, but by far
the best. The only player anywhere near him is Cristiano Ronaldo.
The distance between him and other players is similar say to Tiger Woods at his very peak and the rest of Gulf, or Michael Jordan at his very peak. I
mean, this man is extraordinary and he's been extraordinary for 15 years.
We can wake out. It's not that Messi can't do it. It's just that he does it every time he plays. And a player like that is irreplaceable. Even if you
had a billion Euros and you could find three guys to replace Messi, they don't exist.
ANDERSON: Will his dad, do you think, be successful in his dealings over the next, what, 24, 48 hours in Barcelona? He's his agent, isn't he?
KUPER: Messi is represented by a large group of people. His dad is the main spokesman, but they have a lot of lawyers working for them. I suspect that
Barcelona is right in law. Messi's advantage is that, he's the talent, and if the talent doesn't want to play somewhere, it's very hard to enforce it.
And he knows that in June, he can't leave for - so he says Barcelona, he can't say look, if you make me stay, in June, I'll walk out to the door and
you won't get a single euro from me. Why not compromise and let me go now for a very nice sum. Barcelona is in financial crisis because of the
Coronavirus, there will be no crowds in the stadiums, nobody coming to that clubs - and so on.
So they really could do with 200 million Euros or so to help them build a new team, because they don't really have many under 30 world class players,
which is what they need.
ANDERSON: Yes, and in your most recent column you write, and I quote you here, Messi's generation overstate their welcome, earning among the highest
average salaries in all of team sports among brilliant peers in the most livable spot in Europe. Why would they leave?
I thought that was a very good point. I think wasn't it that 8-2 dropping, I think there were six players on the field for Barcelona over the age of
31 which, sadly, when you get to my age seems very young. But for a professional footballer is aging.
Simon, it's an absolute pleasure, always is. Thank you very much, indeed. Keep your eye and your ears to the ground, and if you hear anything before
we do, let us know. We are fascinated to hear what happens with Lionel Messi next.
Well, Pope Francis is telling the world not to forget about Lebanon. Coming up, his message of hope as he greets crowds for the first time in months.
We are live for you in Vatican City, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:55:00]
ANDERSON: Well, there's Pope Francis without a mask smiling and chatting with crowds in a Vatican courtyard. That was just hours ago in his first
public audience in six months when Coronavirus lockdowns, of course, went into place.
And he's calling on the international community to help Lebanon rebuild after a devastating blast, crumbling economy, and of course political
upheaval. Delia Gallagher joining us from live from Rome. And what was - what was this first outing as it were in half a year?
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Becky, it was a really unusual day here at the Vatican not just because this is the first time
that people have gotten to see Pope Francis up close in nearly six months. He's been live streaming these audiences since lockdown.
But also because the Vatican changed the venue, it's no longer out to St. Peter's Square with thousands of tourists. It's in a small courtyard now
with maximum seating capacity of 500 people. So a rare chance for those people to get a little bit more up close and personal with the Pope. As you
mentioned, the Pope did speak about Lebanon.
And as an example of this more intimate setting, Becky, we're going to listen to his comments in a minute, but you're going to see a man standing
next to him holding a flag. He was a priest that was just there in the audience with the flag. The Pope saw him and called him out and asked him
to come up and stand next to him, while he was speaking about Lebanon. Here's a little bit of what the Pope had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE FRANCIS, HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND SOVEREIGN OF THE VATICAN CITY STATE.: After the repeated tragedies that the people of Lebanon know, we
have become aware of the extreme danger that threatens the very existence of the country. Lebanon cannot be abandoned to itself. I ask politicians,
religious leaders and the international community to commit themselves with sincerity and transparency to reconstruct the country, leaving aside
personal interests and looking at the common good and the future of the nation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: And, Becky, the Pope also called on people to join him for an international day of prayer and fasting for Lebanon on Friday, September
4th. Becky?
ANDERSON: Thank you, Delia. It's been a busy show. Stay safe. Stay well.
END
