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President Trump's Bad Week; Atlanta Officers Arrested; U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Surpass 118,000, New Cases Up In 23 States; California Orders Mandatory Masks As Coronavirus Cases Rise; Fauci Warns Football May Not Happen At All This Year. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired June 18, 2020 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: The other officer facing charges is out of jail, after surrendering earlier and posting bond.

Also tonight, President Trump is in a familiar attack-and-deny mode, as he's dealt a series of new blows by the U.S. Supreme Court, his former national security adviser, and health experts refuting his brazenly false claims about the coronavirus.

We're covering all of it, including Mr. Trump's insistence that the virus is dying out, when it clearly is not. The U.S. death toll now topping 118,000, with new cases on the rise in 23 states. The president's new home state of Florida reporting more new cases in one day than ever before and threatening to become a new epicenter of the pandemic.

First, let's go to CNN's Ryan Young. He's joining us from Atlanta.

Ryan, both officers in Rayshard Brooks' death have not surrendered. What more are you learning tonight?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They have surrendered.

But, Wolf, we're getting critical information about this case, talking about officers in this city. One unit, Zone 6, last night, there were so few officers showed up, they actually had to move some of the critical information and equipment from that area to make sure that no one could take over that zone.

They were worried about protesters showing up. Then we learned just in the last five minutes or so, in Zone 1, which is the area of Atlanta, only one officer arrived and two sergeants. They had to move other resources throughout the city to cover that area.

So you think about this. Right now, officers are using their bodies to make a protest against what the city has done so far.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG (voice-over): After nearly a week of emotions, anger, and tension, both responding officers charged in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks have surrendered. Former Atlanta police Officer Garrett Rolfe is being held without bond

stemming from 11 charges, including felony murder. His attorneys told CNN his use of force was justified.

BLITZER: Critics say you overcharged. How do you respond to that?

PAUL HOWARD, FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIA, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Well, I have to say, that's just not true. What we did is we charged based upon the facts.

YOUNG: Officer Devin Brosnan turned himself in earlier today and has since been released on a signature bond. Brosnan is charged with aggravated assault for allegedly standing on Brooks' shoulders, which he denies.

His attorney says Brosnan put his foot on Brooks' arm for less than 10 seconds to make sure he couldn't get access to a weapon.

DON SAMUEL, ATTORNEY FOR DEVIN BROSNAN: He's disappointed in the system, to be honest with you. He dedicated his life to law enforcement. He knows that the system will work eventually, whether it's the DA's office, or the GBI, or if it has to be a jury eventually. But it's going to be a rough couple months.

YOUNG: On Wednesday night, hours after the charges were announced, officers across Atlanta refused to respond to calls in three of the departments six zones. Others walked out or called out, according to the police union.

The Atlanta Police Department denied claims of a walkout but acknowledge a higher than usual number of call outs. CNN spoke to a handful of officers who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution. One telling CNN: "We are one bullet away from dying and one mistake from an indictment."

Another saying: "The morale is the lowest it's been in 18 years. This is because of the mayor and the DA."

MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D-GA), ATLANTA: Across the country, morale is down with police department and I think ours is down tenfold.

YOUNG: Despite this, Atlanta's mayor says the city has shown its commitment to the officers through a pay raise and bonuses.

BOTTOMS: This has been a very tough few weeks in Atlanta.

YOUNG: In a newly released interview filmed four months before his death, we're hearing from Rayshard Brooks in his own words, the challenges he faced after being released from jail. He had no money, in need of a job, and had a mountain of debt.

RAYSHARD BROOKS, SHOT BY ATLANTA POLICE: We can't get the time back. We could make up for it. I'm not the type of person to give up.

YOUNG: Months before his death, he talked about his struggle with a previous arrest, where he pleaded guilty because a public defender told him he could get 10 years behind bars.

BROOKS: It hardened me at a point to like, hey, I have to have my guard up, because the world is cruel. It took me through saying different things in the system. It just makes you hardened, to a point.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG: Wolf, another point we want to make here, when district attorney Paul Howard was talking to you about 40 minutes ago, he did say on your show that they would not be seeking the death penalty. So that's some new information that we do have.

I also want to say this. This is becoming more political, because the governor, Brian Kemp, has actually released a statement supporting officers across the state. And he was talking about the guidelines and how we should be giving them some more credit for the work they do on a day-to-day basis.

And one more fact here, Wolf. I was talking to a veteran police officer in the -- Atlanta police officer, an African American male, a dad of three kids. He was telling me that his daughter came to him last night and said: "Dad, I want you to be one of the good guys."

And he said it broke his heart, because he told his daughter: "That's why I got into this job, to serve the people in the city" before he went back out to work today, but he said it broke his heart that even his own kids are being touched by all the news that's around here painting officers in a bad light -- Wolf.

[18:05:13]

BLITZER: Yes, that is heartbreaking, indeed.

All right, Ryan Young reporting for us in Atlanta, thank you.

Let's get some more on all of this.

Joining us now, CNN anchor Don Lemon and CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson.

Joey, let me play for you that clip from my interview in the last hour with the district attorney Paul Howard in Atlanta. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD: I think it's clear that we're not asking for the death penalty. We simply cited that because, statutorily, that is one of the possible sentences, but we're not seeking the death penalty.

I don't think anyone rationally expected that we would ask for the death penalty in this case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Based on what you have seen, Joey, are these charges and potential sentences they carry, if not the death penalty, life without the possibility of parole, warranted?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I believe so.

And let me just be clear in saying that. Ultimately, a jury will make that determination, Wolf, right? That's what our system provides. We have 12 members that we sit in a jury box. They evaluate all the evidence, the facts, the circumstances, and they render a decision.

So we will allow that process to play out.

When I listened to his press conference yesterday, I heard three things. I heard facts. I heard, with regard to the facts, the evidence. I also heard issues concerning the law. And I heard also his concern about policy.

In terms of the facts, from his view, he was talking about the fact that he interviewed three witnesses from Tennessee, and there were seven other witnesses that he interviewed in Atlanta, and there were eight videotapes that he analyzed, and there was physical evidence in the cars.

And it seemed to me that it was pretty thorough with regard to his factual analysis. He also cited the law, which we talk about, which is that you have to establish that you were in immediate fear for your life. That is death or serious physical injury.

Number two, the force you used was proportionate to the threat posed. And, number three, that there was an issue of reasonableness. On all those three, he concluded, matching the facts, that, no, there was no immediate fear for life, number two, the force not proportionate, number three, unreasonable.

Last point, Wolf, well, and that's this. I was struck by his citing of policy. He talked about the fact that you have to indicate if you're an officer, what you're being arrested for. He also indicated that, if you cannot, under policy, fire a Taser at someone running away, clearly, that means you cannot fire a gun.

And then he also indicated as a matter of policy that you should be rendering aid. And so, what I saw and I heard at the press conference seemed to be a very thoughtful and very thorough review and analysis of the facts and charges that were predicated upon that.

And lastly, Wolf, I will say this. Again, whether they are sustainable in a court of law, people and reasonable minds can agree. But I don't see this as political. I don't see this as anything other than accountability effort by the district attorney with respect to what he observed happened and what his investigation revealed.

BLITZER: You know, Don, we just turned up part of that interview that Brooks did a few months before his murder. He talked about the struggles he faced, his effort to try to improve his life, despite a lack of support.

The president says there's less systemic racism in this country than before. But Brooks' experience and the way his life ended points to a widespread and ongoing problem, doesn't it?

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: It does.

And, listen, I think that the president and the people who are saying that there's no institutional racism or no systemic racism, and the president now saying there is maybe some, but, no, no, you can't have some when you're talking -- because you're talking about the whole -- systemic means of the system, not a particular part.

And we're talking about systematic racism, you're talking about something that is institutional, and either political or social, in a political and social realm, and that can play out for racism in housing, in politics, in health care, and so on and so forth.

This president's own history is really the definition of systemic racism, if you look at what it means, a racism expressed and practice of a social or political institutions. It can lead to such issues as discrimination in criminal justice, which means policing, in employment, in housing, in health care and political power and education as well.

We know what the president did when it comes to housing with his father back in the '70s. We know that he got rid of the president's -- former President Barack Obama's health care plan, or he's trying to get rid of that. And we know his ideas about politics and what that means for people of color.

So, getting back to what happened with Rayshard Brooks, Rayshard Brooks is emblematic of what happens in the system, that people are -- especially black men -- somehow get entangled or involved, either through a mistake of their own or for some other reason.

[18:10:02]

And then they have a devil of a time trying to get out of the system. Instead of encouraging people to rehabilitate, sometimes, the system eats them up and makes things worse for them.

As we know now, according to his family and by my colleague Van Jones, who has done some research on this, he was running probably because he was on probation and he did not want to have interaction, or at least on his record that he had interactions with a police officer.

So, Rayshard Brown (sic) is really the definition of what happens to the system, meaning systematic racism, what can happen from systematic racism. So, the president should learn from this experience and the people around him and stop trying to deny that there is systemic racism in this country and accept it, and then figure out how to move beyond it, instead of being in denial about it.

It only hurts people like Rayshard Brooks and his family. It actually hurts police officers who have to operate in this system, and it hurts our country as well.

BLITZER: Before I let you go, I just want to point out that Don has a brand-new podcast that's coming out today, yes, "Silence Is Not An Option." It's really significant. It's going to be important.

I want our viewers to make sure they listen to the new podcast by Don Lemon, "Silence" -- once again, "Silence Is Not An Option."

Don, thanks so much for doing it. Thanks for joining us today. And, Joey Jackson, as usual, thanks to you as well.

Just ahead: President Trump in denial, as he claims, with a straight face, that the coronavirus is dying out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:16:01]

BLITZER: Tonight, new turmoil over the Trump White House, even for a presidency marked by chaos since day one.

The U.S. Supreme Court, the president's former national security adviser, and the facts about the coronavirus are clearly not on his side right now.

Let's go to our chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta.

Jim, you could say the president right now is on a losing streak.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Wolf.

The president is grappling with one of his worst weeks in office, as he continues to spread falsehoods about the coronavirus and faces yet another former administration official and former National Security Adviser John Bolton, who is describing Mr. Trump as an unfit leader.

Add to that another stinging loss at the Supreme Court, and the president is not exactly delivering on his promise of so much winning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): With 2020 shaping up to be a reelection nightmare, President Trump appears to be in denial when it comes to the string of crises overwhelming his administration.

Take Mr. Trump's response to concerns about the coronavirus at his rally this weekend in Oklahoma.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, because, if you look, the numbers are very minuscule compared to what it was. It's dying out.

ACOSTA: But that's not true, as the virus is spiking in states across the South in places like Florida.

DR. JEANNE MARRAZZO, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM: The potential for the virus to take off there is very, very nerve-racking and could have catastrophic consequences.

ACOSTA: The president is even questioning the value of testing for the virus, telling "The Wall Street Journal": "I personally think testing is overrated, even though I created the greatest testing machine in history."

No wonder one of the administration's top health experts, Dr. Anthony Fauci, worries about an anti-science bias in the U.S.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: One of the problems we face in the United States is that, unfortunately, there is a combination of an anti-science bias, that people are, for reasons that sometimes are inconceivable and not understandable, they just don't believe science, and they don't believe authority.

ACOSTA: Besides the virus, Mr. Trump's presidency is in a tailspin on a number of fronts, from the unrest in U.S. cities, to losses at the Supreme Court, to the biting comments from his own former aides like John Bolton.

After the Supreme Court ruled against his administration's plans to scrap the DACA program that shields young undocumented immigrants from being deported, Mr. Trump tweeted: "Do you get the impression that the Supreme Court doesn't like me?"

Doesn't sound like the winning he promised voters in 2016.

TRUMP: We're going to win so much, you're going to get so sick and tired of winning. You're going to come to me and say, please, please, we can't win anymore.

ACOSTA: As for Bolton, who is just the latest ex-aide to slam the president, the former national security adviser is alleging in a tell- all book that Mr. Trump sought China's help in the 2020 race and even blessed Chinese concentration camps for ethnic minority Uyghurs.

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I don't think he's fit for office. I don't think he has the competence to carry out the job.

ACOSTA: The president, who once said he only hired the best people, told "The Journal": "The only thing I liked about Bolton was that everybody thought he was crazy."

TRUMP: In terms of Bolton, he broke the law. He was a washed-up guy. I gave him a chance.

ACOSTA: The president is also defending his Lafayette Square photo-op, where he held up a Bible after protesters were pushed back with force, saying: "You have people screaming all over the place, and I didn't think it was exactly the right time to pray. So I went there, stood there, held up the Bible, talked to a few people, and then we left. I came back and I got bad publicity."

Incredibly, the president is claiming success for raising awareness about the Juneteenth holiday dedicated to remembering the end of slavery, as that was the original date for his Tulsa rally, before he postponed it, saying: "I did something good. I made Juneteenth very famous." The president insists his rally will be safe.

TRUMP: No, we will go there. Everyone is going to be safe. They have to be safe. They want to be safe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: The president concedes there is a chance a small percentage of the people at his rally in Tulsa this weekend may contract the coronavirus.

And, as it turns out, the topic of his rally did not come up at the latest meeting of the Coronavirus Task Force over here at the White House, the one place where actually experts would have been able to tell the president, aides to the president, that an indoor political event in the middle of a pandemic, especially with a large crowd, is a very bad idea -- Wolf.

[18:20:10]

BLITZER: A very bad idea, indeed.

All right, Jim Acosta, thank you very much.

Let's bring in our chief political correspondent, Dana Bash, and CNN legal and national security analyst Carrie Cordero.

Dana, when you look at these failures, disappointments over the past few days, from the racial unrest, to the coronavirus response, both Supreme Court losses, a stunning rebuke from a former top adviser, is this one of the president's worst weeks yet?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's not a great week, that's for sure.

And I have not found anybody in the president's orbit who would disagree with that, which is why they are looking so keenly ahead to this weekend, to this rally that he's going to hold, as a way to try to reset him politically for the campaign to come.

And despite the controversy and the risks, and everything that goes along with having this rally, physically having the rally, just the notion of him engaging is something that his aides are very much looking forward to, because people I have talked to admit that the racial unrest is bad for the president, because -- for lots of reasons, but mostly just on the raw politics of it, it really livens up and energizes the base in the party that wants him out.

And there lots of other things that are going on. What he really is desperate to do and what his campaign is desperate to do is to have him talk about bringing the economy back and try to stick to that message.

It's going to be very hard, given all of these outside events that are not going his way. BLITZER: Within just the past few days, Carrie, the U.S. Supreme Court

has handed down two major blows to the Trump administration, as it offered protections to dreamers and the LGBTQ community.

How significant are these Supreme Court decisions?

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, certainly the LGBTQ is a very significant decision, because that is going to impact real people and the protections that are afforded to them. So I think that is a really key and historic Supreme Court case.

The DACA case is a little more nuanced, because it's really an administrative law case. So, it didn't rule, the court really didn't rule on the merits of the DACA or say that the Trump administration could never rescind it. What the court said was that the way in which the government went about it, and the way in which the then acting secretary of homeland security rescinded it was arbitrary and capricious.

In other words, it was not based on legitimate reasons, and she didn't go about it in an appropriate way. So, the two decisions are different, and the second one being much more inside the weeds of how government works, and how the Trump administration is really not very good at government, or they wouldn't have had this bad decision, had they gone about changing the DACA process in a different way to achieve their policy objective.

BLITZER: You know, Dana, in the new book by John Bolton -- we have a copy of the book, as you can see right here -- this new book, "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir," the president's former national security adviser, he basically lashes out at the president on dozens and dozens of issues.

And he basically concludes, as he said in a TV interview, the president is simply not fit to be president of the United States.

But look at this. He's one of, what, more than a dozen former Trump officials who have come out publicly and become major critics of the president, all these individuals, as you can see from this -- what's on the screen right now, all these individuals hired by the president, but all of them removed or quit or whatever.

And they have come out and become bitter, bitter critics of his. What does that say to you?

BASH: Well, look, there are critics, and then there are critics.

John Bolton's book and the arguments he's making, I would argue, are in a complete league of their own. It is biting. It is unrelenting, and he is out for blood.

And the other people, except for maybe Anthony Scaramucci and perhaps one other on that list, were a lot more nuanced until maybe recently, when the president had that photo-op, that ill-conceived photo-op outside of a church across from the White House. So, John Bolton is saying what a lot of people -- from the inside,

what a lot of people who were warning about the president when he was a candidate inside the party said could happen.

I still think that the jury is out, Wolf, on whether or not it is going to make a difference at this point, given how much bad news and bad publicity and information has come out about this president in the past three-and-a-half years.

BLITZER: Yes, that's an important point as well.

[18:25:00]

Dana, thank you very much. Carrie, thanks to you as well.

An important programming note for our viewers. The president's former National Security Adviser John Bolton will join me here in THE SITUATION ROOM to discuss his new bombshell book.

That's next Wednesday, next Wednesday, in our 6:00 p.m. Eastern hour.

Just ahead: Florida just hit a record high for new cases in a single day. Could it be the next day U.S. epicenter for the virus?

Plus, as cases clearly are rising in Texas, the governor won't give local officials the power to require face masks.

I will ask the mayor of Houston about that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

BLITZER: More 118,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus over the past three months. And as new cases a rise in 23 states, many officials are now considering new restrictions.

CNN National Correspondent, Erica Hill, has the late breaking developments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Record single-day highs for new cases, just over 2,500 added today in Arizona, more than 3,200 reported in Florida.

DR. JEANNE MARRAZZO, DIVISION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM: Florida has always made the stuff of nightmares for me, I think, for me.

HILL: New modeling predicts that state could become the next epicenter. The president dismissing data.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you look, the numbers are very miniscule compared to what it was. It's dying out. DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: One of the problems we face in the United States is that, unfortunately, there is a combination of an anti-science bias. They just don't believe science and they don't believe authority. And that's unfortunate because, you know, science is truth.

HILL: Florida is one of ten states posting their highest seven-day averages for new cases, as 23 state reporting uptick in new cases over the past weeks. New York, among the 19, seeing a decline, as Governor Cuomo considers a quarantine for anyone traveling to his State from Florida.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): I have experts who have advised me to do that.

Who would believe this 180 turnaround?

HILL: Face coverings now mandatory statewide in California. Local officials in hard hit Texas and Arizona pushing for stricter regulations citing the science.

DR. COLLEEN KRATT, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT, EMORY UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: Wearing a masks, you're not wearing a mask shouldn't be how you're going to vote in the upcoming election. It's really about protecting yourself from an infection.

HILL: When it comes to infection, those with type A blood have a higher risk of catching the virus and developing severe symptoms. Type O has the lowest risk, according to new research just published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The nation's top infectious disease expert optimistic about a vaccine.

FAUCI: We'll going to move fast and we'll going to assume we're going to be successful. And if we're not, the only thing we've lost is money. But better lose money than lose lives by delaying the vaccine.

HILL: Football likely sidelined this season. Dr. Fauci telling CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, unless players are essentially in a bubble, insulated from the community and tested nearly every day, it would be very hard to see how football is able to be played this fall. 13 players at the University of Texas positive for the virus, according to the school. College football is slated for kickoff August 29th.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Here in New York City, phase two can come likely on Monday according to the mayor, and what that would include is outdoor dining, which could be really important, of course, in this city which has been limited to delivery and takeout.

Interestingly, we also heard from Governor Cuomo today about an executive order that any businesses violating the reopening guidelines and regulations could lose their liquor license, Wolf.

BLITZER: Erica Hill, in New York for us. Thank you. Let's get some more on the coronavirus pandemic right now. Let's bring in the Houston mayor, Sylvester Turner. Mayor Turner, thanks so much for joining us. As you know, today marks the seventh day in a row. Your State of Texas has reported a record high in coronavirus hospitalizations. These are not just new cases, but thousands of people in Texas are sick enough tonight to require care in a hospital. What more does your state need to do to address this clearly growing crisis?

MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER (D-TX), HOUSTON: Well, Wolf, what we know is that wearing of a mask, face coverings, social distancing, proper hygiene have worked. Look, towards the end of April to first week in May, we had definitely flattened the curve and we had very good numbers and things were moving in the right direction. Now, things are starting to swing upwards. You know, people are re-socializing, reengaging. The state has opened up even more. And now we are seeing more people heading to our hospitals and we are concerned.

And so, you know, local governments had been prohibited, for example, in putting in any restrictions about non-mayors across the State of Texas as the governor this week to impose greater restrictions or to allow us locally to impose some restrictions, like face coverings. And as of yesterday, I think the governor now is allowing local government authorities to at least should be able to require businesses and to require their employees and those visiting their businesses to at least put on face coverings.

[18:35:06]

BLITZER: And that is clearly a step in the right direction but it's just a step.

As you may have heard today, the California governor, Gavin Newsom, is now requiring masks be worn in public settings throughout the State of California. You have joined other mayors in Texas and asking your governor, Governor Abbott, to give you at least some authority to require that masks be worn in your City of Houston. Would Texans be better protected if Governor Abbott would follow California, the lead of California's governor?

TURNER: Well, what I can tell you is that we know scientifically that the wearing of masks, face coverings, work. That we do know. There was a point in time, for example, when there was a requirement in Houston Harris County and the lines were very long, people were asking for a mask, coming to the mask distributions. But when the requirement was eliminated, then those lines stopped and people were not asking for them.

Look, no one is trying to jail anyone. No one is even trying to impose civil penalties. What we were doing, for example, in Houston, we were saying to our police officers, instead of citing people, we were giving the people a mask. But when there's no any requirement was in place, people were responding. Once you eliminate that, then people simply were walking around, engaging in large group, and they weren't having the face coverings, and now we're seeing the number of hospitalizations start to go up.

So we need to get on top of it and we need to get on top of it very quickly. And what the governor allowed local authorities to do the other day was a step in the right direction. We need to go a bit further.

BLITZER: Mayor Sylvester Turner of Houston, good luck to all the folks in Houston, good luck to all the folks in Texas right now. The numbers are not encouraging. Thanks so much for joining us.

TURNER: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Be sure to join Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper for a new CNN Town Hall, Coronavirus, Facts and Fears. That airs later tonight, 8:00 P.M. Eastern only here on CNN.

Just ahead, new cases are on the rise in 23 states. We'll discuss that and all the latest developments on the pandemic with the former acting director of the CDC, Dr. Richard Besser.

Plus, is the NFL season in jeopardy right now? Dr. Anthony Fauci says the league needs to make major changes to keep players safe.

Stay with us. We have the late breaking developments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

BLITZER: We're back with breaking news on the coronavirus pandemic. As the U.S. death toll rises in cases, spike right now at 23 states, California just issued a new order on face masks.

We're joined now by the former acting CDC Director Dr. Richard Besser. Dr. Besser, I want to start with this new development out of California. The governor there, Gavin Newsom, is now requiring all people in the state to wear masks in most public settings. Should other states be doing the same thing?

DR. RICHARD BESSER, FMR. ACTING DIRECTOR, CDC: Well, you know, Wolf, we're in a situation where in some states, people believe that the coronavirus pandemic is over or it's overblown to begin with. And when you are in that kind of situation, there are times where you have to make things that people should be doing voluntarily with requirements. Wearing mask, hand washing, keeping six feet apart, these are things that we know from a public health perspective are going to cut down on risk.

There's a lot of other things that need to be in take place if we want to make sure that everyone truly has the opportunity to protect their health, but making sure that people wear masks is a good step.

BLITZER: Certainly is. Florida has just set another record with more than 3,000 new cases in one day. Scientist are now warning it potentially could become the next epicenter here in the United States. How concerning is what we're seeing happen over there in Florida? BESSER: Well, you know, one of the big things that concerns me, the numbers is going up really concerns me. But I want to see those numbers broken down by neighborhood, by race, by ethnicity. We know across the country that black Americans, Latino Americans, lower income Americans have been hit really, really hard.

And so who is this hitting in Florida and what's being done to ensure that as lower income workers go back to work, that they have the personal protective equipment. They have standards in place that are going to limit the risk to them. Because they don't have a choice, they don't have that luxury of staying home and working remotely. They have to go to work to put food on the table and to pay the rent.

BLITZER: You know, you have the president of the United States now saying that the virus, in his words, is, quote, just dying -- is dying out, that's simply not true, is it?

BESSER: You know, these are really early days. You know, any of the surveys in communities that have looked to see what percent of people have had this, it's very, very low. And so, this is the first wave. What you see with waves of infectious diseases is they hit different communities at different time.

So New York, in New Jersey, where I am, we've been hit really, really hard and the numbers are now coming down. But there are many places in this country where they're just seeing these rises. And if they don't take the same kind of measures that have been taken elsewhere, you could see the healthcare system get overwhelmed, you could see people lose their lives. They don't need to. They could be protected and save if the measures were in place to protect everybody.

[18:45:00]

BLITZER: The president is also saying that there's only, in his words, a very small percentage of attendees who could catch the virus at his political rally this Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

There'll be 19,000 people inside that arena for a long time, a lot of screaming, a lot of shouting going on. And they'll all be relatively very close to each other.

What do you make of that?

BESSER: Well, I'm greatly worried. You know, mass gatherings are risky. People coming in from all over the country, that's risky. The kind of activity that will take place at an indoor rally is risky. There are things people can do. So, wearing a mask, washing hands, that will help.

But it just doesn't make sense to pull people together for this reason, in a situation that will increase risks, not jus there, but potentially when people go home, spreading the disease to other communities.

BLITZER: It takes a week or two weeks, sometimes three weeks if you're going to transmit that virus to show up in other people as well. All right. Dr. Richard Besser, as usual, thank you so much for joining us.

BESSER: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Just ahead, will the coronavirus prevent the NFL from playing this year?

We're going to tell you what the league is now saying, and what Dr. Anthony Fauci is saying.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:56]

BLITZER: Tonight, one of the nation's most prominent coronavirus experts has a new forecast, and football fans aren't going to like it.

CNN's Brian Todd is joining us.

So, Brian, what are -- what are we hearing from Dr. Anthony Fauci?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Dr. Fauci is issuing a warning that tens of millions of football fans are just not going to want to hear. He's worried about how easily players could transmit the virus to each other and whether the NFL has specific plans in place to deal with the virus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): America's top voice on coronavirus is casting doubts on whether one of America's favorite sports can return this season.

Dr. Anthony Fauci telling our Sanjay Gupta: Unless players are essentially in a bubble, insulated from the community and they are tested nearly every day, it would be very hard to see how football is able to be played this fall -- a prospect that millions of fans don't even want to think about.

JERRY BREWER, SPORTS COLUMNIST, "THE WASHINGTON POST": It's going to be absolutely devastating for sports fan. This is for a higher percentage of sports fans the league and the sport that they cannot do without.

TODD: The NBA is planning to put players in a so-called bubble, resuming its schedule with all teams and no fans at a Disney resort in Orlando later this summer. Will the NFL consider that?

Responding to CNN today, an NFL spokesperson said: No. We have been preparing for all contingencies and we'll continue to make decisions based on the latest guidance from medical experts.

The league said separately, it's got a comprehensive testing plan in place but hasn't said if it will test players every day as Dr. Fauci recommends. The NFL still says it plans to play the 2020 season as scheduled. The

commissioner giving no detail, telling ESPN of stepped up safety measures.

ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: The protocols are stringent. They're designed to be that because they're protecting the safety of our players and our personnel, including coaches.

TODD: According to the NFL network, several players from the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans recently tested positive for coronavirus. The reports said both teams followed proper health protocols, but experts say football carries even more risk of coronavirus transmission than other contact sports like basketball or hockey.

DR. LARRY BRILLIANT, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: It's hard to imagine an activity that is more likely to spread coronavirus than the muscular and intense clashes that you see in football, the taking off of a helmet and putting it on, the exchange of people who are really almost at war with each other, yelling at each other. All of these things spread the virus a lot more than other sports.

TODD: It's still unclear whether the NFL will allow fans in its stadiums, if and when it starts the season. Even without them, epidemiologist Larry Brilliant worries about what can happen if the league doesn't plan things out in detail.

BRILLIANT: I think the most dangerous thing that could go wrong if football resumes too soon are the incremental increase in the number of people who would show up. There's trainers, then there's the friends of the football players, then there's the owners in the owner's box, and then there's the friends. And soon, this idea of there only be players on the field becomes 10-more-thousand people who show up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Then there's the timing of the season. Dr. Sanjay Gupta worries that when the season starts in September, there could be an uptick in coronavirus cases. And he says flu season starts in late September or early October, which could worsen things.

So, some tough decisions ahead for a league that doesn't let us in on many of its plans -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Not just the NFL, NBA, MLB, all of the major sports --

TODD: Right.

BLITZER: -- here in the United States.

All right. Brian Todd reporting, thank you.

More news just ahead.

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[18:59:16]

BLITZER: Finally, tonight, we profile two more casualties of the coronavirus. Barbara Birchenough of New Jersey was 65 years old. She was just days away from retirement when she was admitted to the same hospital where she worked as a nurse for 46 years. Her son describes her as a healthcare hero, who loved her newest hobby, being a grandmother.

James "Chucky" Means, Jr., of Nevada was 73. His son says he was a good listener who helped guide him without giving outright advice. He jokes his dad loved to eat and worked out so he could enjoy his favorite dishes.

May they rest in peace and may their memories be a blessing.

Thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.