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U.S. Coronavirus Trending Down In 25 States; Dark Warning From Trump Kicks Off The Republican National Convention; Judge Blocks Florida State Reopening; Curfew Imposed In Kenosha, Wisconsin; Police In Wisconsin Shoot Unarmed Black Man Seven Times As His Children Watch From Inside SUV; Berlin Doctors Say Tests Indicate That Russian Dissident Was Poisoned; First Documented Coronavirus Reinfection Raises Many Questions With Few Answers. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired August 24, 2020 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: A Trump campaign source tells CNN that there will be surprises to come as well. I'll see you later tonight. You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @JakeTapper. Tweet the show @TheLeadCNN. Our coverage continues right now with Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. We're following breaking news.
The coronavirus death toll here in the United States has just topped 177,000 people. And the number of cases is now more than 5.7 million, although cases are trending down in 25 states.
Also, we're just hours away from the start of night one of the Republican National Convention as President Trump puts increasing pressure on his own health officials to rush coronavirus treatments and vaccines.
And an 8:00 p.m. curfew has just been announced in Kenosha, Wisconsin where a protest broke out over the police shooting of an unarmed black man in front of his children, an incident that was captured on video. We'll be talking to the man's attorney, Ben Crump, later this hour.
Let's begin at the White House. Right now, our chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta is with us. Jim, President Trump appeared in person in Charlotte, North Carolina as the Republican convention got underway today.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. President Trump is kicking off the Republican convention with more of his unproven conspiracy theories about mail-in voting in the upcoming election.
After promising an optimistic message at his convention, the president and his team are issuing dark warnings about what will happen if Democratic nominee Joe Biden wins the White House. The president is also guaranteeing medical breakthroughs in the battle against the coronavirus, as he knows all too well voters have rejected his handling of the pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): Three nights before his scheduled speech at the Republican convention, President Trump appears to be stealing the limelight from himself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE/FEMALE: Four more years! Four more years!
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you want to really drive them crazy, you say 12 more years.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The president dropped in on the pandemic paired down RNC in Charlotte where he resurrected his baseless conspiracy theory that Democrats are using mail-in voting to steal the election.
TRUMP: The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election. Don't let them take it away from you. Don't let them take it away.
ACOSTA (voice-over): With the president expected to appear on each day of the convention, a Trump campaign adviser summed it up by saying he just can't handle attention going anywhere but him. As polls show Americans have soured on the president's handling of the coronavirus, Mr. Trump and his aides are hanging their hopes on the release of a COVID-19 vaccine before the election.
TRUMP: The vaccines are going to be, I believe, announced very soon.
ACOSTA (voice-over): CNN has confirmed that on July 30th, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and other top aides told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer there is a possibility the administration could issue an Emergency Use Authorization for a vaccine before all trials are completed.
Pelosi reacted by telling White House officials don't cut corners. Over the weekend, the president appeared to pressure the Food and Drug Administration into approving the use of convalescent plasma for COVID-19 patients.
TRUMP: Well, I think that there might have been a hold-up but we broke the logjam over the last week to be honest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was there pursue on you, Dr. Hahn, to authorize this?
ACOSTA (voice-over): FDA commissioner, Dr. Stephen Hahn, would not answer whether he succumbed to that pressure, but later told CNN, "I've never been asked to make any decision at the FDA based on politics. The decisions the scientists at the FDA are making are done on data only." White House aides insists the treatment is not controversial.
PETER NAVARRO, WHITE HOUSE TRADE ADVISER: Convalescent plasma, I mean, that's like going after Bambi, you know. This is the most -- it's proven, safe, and effective. ACOSTA (voice-over): As for the fire storm over slowdowns at the post
office, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy conceded he has spoken to people close to the Trump campaign about the president's complaints about mail-in voting. Last week, DeJoy, a Trump and GOP donor originally testified that he had no contact with the campaign in his current role.
REP. GERRY CONNOLLY (D-VA): So you did have contact with the Trump campaign?
LOUIS DEJOY, POSTMASTER GENERAL, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE: For a good purpose.
CONNOLLY: But you did.
DEJOY: I'm trying to think of, when you say the Trump campaign, I have not spoken to the Trump campaign leadership in that regard. I've spoken to people that are friends of mine that are associated with the campaign.
ACOSTA (voice-over): DeJoy also claimed he didn't know who ordered changes inside the post office that led to complaints nationwide.
REP. KATIE PORTER (D-CA): If you did not order these actions to be taken, please tell the committee the name of who did.
DEJOY: I do not know.
PORTER: Will you commit to reversing these changes?
DEJOY: No.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The president is heading into his convention hemorrhaging Republican support with past GOP lawmakers announcing they're backing Joe Biden.
[17:05:00]
JEFF FLAKE, FORMER SENATOR OF ARIZONA: And because I am gravely concerned about the conduct and behavior of our current president that I stand here today proudly and wholeheartedly to endorse Joe Biden.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Mr. Trump is also losing a key aid in Kellyanne Conway who is leaving the White House at the end of the month. Then there are some in the Trump family who sound like they jumped ship.
MARYANNE TRUMP BARRY, SISTER OF DONALD TRUMP: This goddam tweet and the lying. Oh, my God, I'm talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories, the lack of preparation, the lying, the holy (BLEEP).
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (on camera): And other Republican -- prominent Republicans are lining up to back Joe Biden. Former RNC chairman Michael Steele just announced he is joining the anti-Trump group "The Lincoln Project," an organization whose members have made it their mission to get under the president's skin.
And there is a new development in the fight over the president's tax returns. Prosecutors in New York City have agreed to delay the enforcement of a subpoena for those records. The president's legal team is hoping a federal appeals court will ultimately block those returns from being made public, but Mr. Trump is fighting hard to keep those returns from being released, Wolf.
BLITZER: Certainly is. All right, Jim Acosta at the White House for us, thank you.
Now to the latest on the coronavirus pandemic. CNN's Erica Hill is working the story for us from New York. Erica, cases are trending down now in 25 states, but Americans are still dying in big numbers from COVID-19. This is a very troubling development.
ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is absolutely, Wolf. I mean, the good news if you can even call it good news, is that the average of daily deaths being reported has finally fallen below a thousand. It took nearly a month to get to that point.
I also want to update you on an important development out of Florida, Wolf. The Florida Teachers Union, the largest union there, had actually sued the state over this order that required in-person learning begin this month, that those schools reopen or risk losing funding for students who were learning online or not on campus.
Well, a judge has now just ruled that that order is in fact unconstitutional, the judge writing that the issue here was that local school boards need to make the decision with respect to opening brick and mortar schools and that the conditions about funding on an approved re-opening plan with a start date in August.
He said this was unconstitutional because it arbitrarily disregards safety and denies those local school boards, Wolf, the right to make their own decisions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALT MADDOX (D), MAYOR OF TUSCALOOSA: The truth is, is that fall in Tuscaloosa is in serious jeopardy.
HILL (voice-over): Bars in Tuscaloosa closed for the next two weeks as cases rise in the college town. Greek life feeling concern on a number of campuses.
The University of Kentucky retesting its 5,500 Greek life students. In Atlanta, a spike in cases at a Georgia Tech fraternity forcing all residents of that house into isolation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once we found out about that first exposure, we did prioritize keeping people who are not part of that living community outside of it.
HILL (voice-over): Weekend parties at the University of Kansas earning two fraternities there a cease and desist letter. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've kind of given up a little bit on the
fraternity and sorority members. I think it's just going to get worse.
HILL (voice-over): Kansas among the Midwestern states seeing a rise in new cases. South Dakota's numbers are also up. At least 26 cases in three states have now been linked to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally there earlier this month.
Much of the south is among the 25 states posting a decline in new cases over the past week. Average daily deaths finally under a thousand for the first time in nearly a month. Yet, even in areas doing well, concern remains.
New York announcing plans to offer voluntary testing at JFK and LaGuardia for arriving passengers as the mayor of Danbury, Connecticut, says travel, barbecues, and youth sports are fueling the spike in his town.
MARK BOUGHTON (R), MAYOR OF DANBURY, CONNECTICUT: This is a good time to pause, get our numbers down, and then we can maybe look at re- opening if at all possible.
HILL (voice-over): As more children return to the classroom, the WHO says kids under 5 shouldn't be required to wear masks. New York City's mayor making a push for outdoor learning.
BILL DE BLASIO (D), MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: In certain cases we can close off streets for a period of time. In certain cases we can make space available in local parks.
HILL (voice-over): A Zoom outage today reminding many just how reliant we've become on technology. Atlanta public schools on their first day back among those impacted.
Meantime, the president praising the FDA's Emergency Use Authorization for convalescent plasma to treat the virus. Just days after several experts warned more data is needed.
ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL HEALTH: If we're going to get through this pandemic and we're going to take care of people the best way we can, we've got to let science drive that, not a political timeline.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL (on camera): Speaking of the science, a lot of focus on a study out of Hong Kong where we've learned that a 33-year-old man had now been infected twice first in March with the virus where he did show symptoms and then was actually tested and found to be positive a second time in August. He was returning earlier this month to Hong Kong from travel in Europe.
[17:10:02]
He was asymptomatic when tested and that second time and found to be positive, Wolf, but obviously this raising a lot of questions as we still learn so much about this virus every day.
BLITZER: Yes, still so much unknown. Erica Hill in New York, thank you very much. Let's get some more on all of these developments. The former FDA commissioner Dr. Mark McClellan is joining us. Dr. McClellan, thanks so much for joining us.
And as you know, the president, he actually accused what he called the deep state over at the FDA of interfering in the approval of convalescent plasma, but then said he broke the logjam to get this Emergency Use Authorization.
You're the former FDA commissioner. In your time at the FDA, did you ever get political pressure from the White House to take a step like this?
MARK MCCLELLAN, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: Well, Wolf, the issues that FDA deals with are ones that really matter to people, especially ones like this, unmet medical needs in a pandemic. So there is always going to be pressure, but it's very important to remember that the agency has science at its heart and is doing a tremendous amount of work to make progress.
Just in the case of this pandemic, we've seen more than 25,000 people enroll in multiple vaccine, large trials already. And this is just months after the pandemic began. That's a record pace and that's because of the actions of people at the FDA. So, we need to support them.
BLITZER: But would anyone at the FDA do what the president has alleged namely purposely slow down a potential treatment or a vaccine to simply try to hurt the president's chances of getting re-elected?
MCCLELLAN: The actions at the FDA are driven by science and by driven -- and driven by the fastest way to make progress on this pandemic. And that's true for actions on vaccine development.
It's true for the therapeutics that we already have available like the antiviral drug remdesivir. And there are more actions like that underway at the FDA. We need to support the agency now more than ever, Wolf. It makes a huge difference at times like this.
BLITZER: But let me just press you a little bit, Dr. McClellan. When the president on Saturday tweets the deep state or whoever over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics, obviously they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed and saving lives.
And then he tags @SteveFDA, Dr. Stephen Hahn, who is the head of the FDA. That's pretty extraordinary. And then the next day Dr. Hahn appears with him at a White House news conference and announces the Emergency Use Authorization has been approved.
MCCLELLAN: Yes. I would just emphasize that the FDA staff is really accelerating progress on vaccines. They've laid out clear written guidance for what companies need to do to show that vaccines are effective. They've helped set up the trials that already are enrolling tens of thousands of people to test these vaccines and get the evidence that we really need as quickly as possible.
So, I think the more that we can support the staff at FDA that are making a tremendous difference in this pandemic, the faster we'll make real progress with treatments that we know are safe and effective and can really get us out of the pandemic effectively, Wolf. If people aren't confident about using vaccines, we're not going to get past the continued deaths and cases that we're facing now.
BLITZER: And if people think there is some political motive, they won't be confident in getting those vaccines. And speaking of vaccines, it comes as we're learning the White House actually raised the idea of an Emergency Use Authorization for a coronavirus vaccine, not a therapeutic, a vaccine before phase three trials were complete.
Today the president said a vaccine announcement will be coming, in his words, very soon. How dangerous is it, Dr. McClellan, when political considerations seem to be influencing what could be life-or-death medical developments?
MCCLELLAN: Wolf, I still have a lot of faith in the ability of the FDA to use its authority to do Emergency Use Authorizations the right way. And that is a special approval that FDA -- a special authorization that FDA can do in an emergency when there's no alternative and you have some suggestive evidence that a treatment is safe enough and could be effective to make it available sooner.
And that's the case with convalescent plasma. The announcement yesterday, that's a treatment that we know is quite safe for people to use. It's been widely used. There are questions about how effective it is, but because it might help and can't harm, that's a reasonable use for an Emergency Use Authorization.
A vaccine is very different. You're giving a vaccine to millions of people who are healthy so you need to be confident even if we're going to use it in emergency circumstances that it isn't going to cause important safety side effects and it is really going to provide some benefit to people.
[17:14:56]
What FDA has said is that they could potentially see an emergency use after the data from those big clinical trials have been completed enough that they can be confident that the vaccine is really safe and effective enough. But that's very different than bypassing large-scale trials for vaccines, which is what we need right now and is what FDA is working hard to get completed.
BLITZER: And the American public has to be confident that the vaccine, if it's approved, is safe and effective. Dr. McClellan, thanks so much for joining us.
MCCLELLAN: Thank you.
BLITZER: Up next, the first night of the Republican National Convention gets underway in just a few hours. We're taking a closer look at what we can expect.
Plus, there's breaking news. A curfew now ordered in Kenosha, Wisconsin following the police shooting of an unarmed black man in front of his children. His attorney, Ben Crump, will join us live.
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[17:20:00]
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BLITZER: We're just hours away now from the first night of the Republican National Convention. But President Trump kicked it off today issuing dire and unfounded warnings as he appeared in person in Charlotte, North Carolina. Let's dig deeper with our chief political analyst Gloria Borger and our CNN political correspondent Abby Phillip.
You know, Gloria, the president today in those opening remarks, and I listened to them, he attacked mail-in voting, said Democrats are "using COVID to steal an election." What does that tell you about his focus -- his focus for the rest of this week?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it tells me that he is not exactly on the same page as the people planning his convention. The people planning his convention want to make it optimistic and uplifting. They want to close the empathy gap with Joe Biden. And they want to portray the president as somebody who feels your pain, understands your problems.
Instead, what we heard from the president today was more of the same that we've been hearing for months. He's full of grievance. He was talking about a rigged election before one vote had even been cast, he described the Democrats as cheaters, and Joe Biden is a captive of the radical left.
So, unless the president is going to get on the same page as these folks, I'm not sure that it's going to help them very much to have him appear on stage every single day, say, during the dayside when he's kind of untethered and can say what he wants, as opposed to in the evenings when perhaps they have him more on prompter.
BLITZER: You know, Abby, the president just last night, he vowed to deliver, in his words, a very positive message during the course of the Republican convention. But clearly that's not what happened in these initial remarks earlier today. So what do you make of his surprise appearance? He spoke, what, for well over half an hour.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as Gloria said, this is the president unscripted. And he is known even among his aides for being very hard to keep on message, very hard to keep focused on what they're trying to accomplish this week during the convention, which is both defending him against what the Democrats put out there last week during their convention, and also trying to create an image of the president as a competent leader, as someone who is, as Gloria said, empathetic, and as someone who actually has a vision for the country. But when President Trump is not on prompter, he is not on message. And
it is, I think, going to be a challenge for them to balance his desire to be in front of a crowd and to be the subject of adulation and applause and laughter with the need to really be focused this week because this is a big platform.
This is their big opportunity to reset the narrative going into November. And if they don't use that time wisely, it could end up being wasted. You could see the president undoing all of the work of the nights before during the day when he has this microphone and no direction whatsoever.
BLITZER: You know, it's interesting, Gloria, the New York attorney general is now investigating whether the Trump Organization improperly inflated the value of the president's assets. There's also the surprising departure of Kellyanne Conway, the recordings of the president's older sister, and Steve Bannon actually getting arrested. It's not necessarily the way the president would want the lead-up to this convention.
BORGER: Of course not. And you're not even mentioning all the books, the other books that have been written. I'm kind of wondering whether there's anybody from the administration who hasn't written a book about Donald Trump or who hasn't spoken out.
You know, you have his former chief of staff. You have his former Secretary of Defense, and the list goes on and on. And I think in this day and age right now, people are just kind of saying, okay, it's more the same and it's become normalized to a degree. And so they're not paying a lot of attention to it.
Obviously, for any other politician at any other moment like this, this would be completely deadly. But for Donald Trump, it has kind of become routine, unfortunately. And I think people who support him sort of say, okay, yes, we know that about Donald Trump but, and the people who don't support him will roll their eyes and say, well, this is why I'm not supporting him.
BLITZER: Gloria, thank you very much. Abby, thanks to you. Both of you will be back of course throughout our coverage tonight.
Coming up, very disturbing video of the police shooting of an unarmed black man in front of his children. We're going to get the latest on his condition from his attorney, Ben Crump, who is standing by live.
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[17:25:00]
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BLITZER: An 8:00 p.m. curfew has now been ordered tonight in Kenosha, Wisconsin after violent protests over the police shooting of an unarmed black man in front of his children.
[17:29:59] We will be talking to the man's attorney, Ben Crump, in just a moment. But first let's go to CNN's Omar Jimenez. He is in Kenosha for us. Omar, this incident was captured on video. We want to warn our viewers, the video is graphic, very hard to watch. But set the scene for us. Walk us through what you're learning.
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. Well, there are a lot of investigations playing out right now trying to figure out what led up to Jacob Blake being shot. But what we do know for sure is that people are angry, they have expressed that anger through demonstrations. And you look no further than the video to see why.
Again, a warning what you're about to see may be considered graphic. You see Jacob Blake walking around his car followed by at least two officers. And then as the door to the driver's side opens and he starts to get in the car, that is when the officer behind him opens fire seven times in a row from point-blank range, really as close as you can get as far as those shots go.
Now, as far as we know right now, Blake is still alive in serious condition. And as we understand from both his attorney and from a friend close to the family, that he is still in the ICU at this hour. But, again, a lot of anger and frustration over how this has unfolded as we still look for more answers for why. Wolf?
BLITZER: The officers involved, Omar, have been put on administrative leave. What are police saying about the shooting?
JIMENEZ: Well, police are frankly saying that they need more of the picture to make a determination. As you mentioned, these officers are on administrative leave. And as we understand, they are cooperating.
It's the Wisconsin State Department of Justice that is leading this investigation over the course of this. But you look no further than the statement put out by the Kenosha Professional Police Association who said, and I'm quoting here, "As always, the video currently circulating does not capture all the intricacies of a highly dynamic incident. We ask that you withhold from passing judgment until all the facts are known and released".
What we do know about what led up to this, at this point, is police say that they were responding to a domestic incident. Both the attorney for the family Ben Crump and an eyewitness says that this was someone who was trying to break up a fight between two women, but all of this, of course, is information that the DOJ at least here in the state is looking at. And, of course, many are anxious to see how all of this plays into further proceedings, Wolf.
BLITZER: And the Kenosha mayor just announced that the police department in Kenosha that police department does not have body cameras. They haven't had that budgeted, at least not yet.
All right, Omar, we'll stay in very close touch with you. Thank you very much.
Let's get some more on this very disturbing case. Joining us now, the Attorney Ben Crump. He's representing Jacob Blake and his family. He's also represented the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Thanks so much, Ben, for joining us. First of all, what can you tell us about Jacob Blake's condition? Do you have an update?
BEN CRUMP, ATTORNEY, JACOB BLAKE & FAMILY: Well, the only update is what was told to his family in the wee hours of the morning that he's in stable condition, but he's still in the ICU and they cannot tell at this moment what his prognosis will be.
BLITZER: What about his children? I understand his -- three of his sons actually witnessed the shooting, is that right?
CRUMP: It is correct, Wolf. And it's just shocking and outrageous and devastating to people like me who saw the video. Can you imagine the psychological issues these three babies are going to have for the rest of their lives seeing their father shot this many times in the back from the people who were supposed to protect and serve him?
BLITZER: Beyond the video, the terrible incident that we've seen in the video, what more, Ben, are you learning about how this unfolded?
CRUMP: Well, we are still waiting for the facts to be confirmed. But what it does tell us, whether it's George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, there is an issue with the culture and the behavior of policing in America, Wolf.
And if we don't have this systematic reform at this moment that America is crying out for, then we're going to continue to see hashtag after hashtag, protest after protest and cities burning all across America. Because we now are seeing it with our own eyes that there are two justice systems in America, one for black America and one more white America, and we are fighting for equal justice for all Americans.
BLITZER: Have you heard anything at all, Ben, from the police or the police union, about why he was shot seven times in the back? Have they given you any explanation at all?
CRUMP: None whatsoever. They continue to try to say were, that's only a snapshot. And it's a double standard because if the roles were reversed and they had Jacob Blake doing something nefarious, they would show that video and they would say that the video tells it all.
[17:35:12]
And now why is it different when everybody see that video, they say, well, don't rush to judgment. But yet that's what they do with people in our community on a regular basis, Wolf. All we want is equal justice.
BLITZER: Do you know, Ben, if there's any additional video, we know there's no body camera video, but maybe video from a police officer's dash camera or perhaps from other bystanders?
CRUMP: You know, we don't know, but several people have called my office who witnessed the incident. So we're hoping we can glean some further insight as to what happened to help show the transparency and then lead to the accountability. The family wants these police officers to be held accountable. The one that shot him, they want him terminated.
BLITZER: Well, the police officers are now on leave. So, what do you and the family want to see next? I understand termination is something you want, but do you want to see criminal charges? How far do you want to see this go?
CRUMP: Well, you want him to be held fully accountable, all the officers who were responsible for this unnecessary senseless shooting to be held accountable. Just like in George Floyd where officers, if they did anything to aid and abet, you want them to be held accountable. But most importantly, Wolf, what we want is a more just society where George Floyd has the opportunity to breathe, Breonna Taylor has the opportunity to sleep in peace, Ahmaud Arbery has the opportunity to run free. And now Jacob Blake has the opportunity to celebrate his son's birthday party like any father should without being shot by the police.
BLITZER: And do you know what was going on before the video actually captured him walking around the car, going to the car door and then being shot in the back seven times? What was going on that led up to that?
CRUMP: Well, as I said before, we are still waiting for the intricate facts to be confirmed. However, we know it was a birthday party for his 8-year-old son. In that car where he was shot, Wolf, was his 8- year-old son, his 5-year-old son, and his 3-year-old son. It was supposed to be a festive, joyous occasion. But can you imagine every birthday for the rest of his life now will always bring back these horrific and devastating --
BLITZER: Yes. I was going to say, you know, tomorrow marks what, three months since George Floyd's murder. Ben, what do you think it will take so you're not back here on this program representing another grieving family down the road?
CRUMP: You know, and it's funny because 48 hours ago in Lafayette, Louisiana, Trayford Pellerin was killed in the same manner of police shooting him in the back on video. I was talking to Senator Kamala Harris, and I said we have to have it start from the top.
And the United States Congress and President signed the law that George Floyd's justice and accountability act where we changed the entire culture and behavior of policing in America where when they interact with black people it's not shoot first and then just figure out how to justify it later.
No, we want you to protect and serve us too just like you protect and serve everybody else. Don't police us and then protect and serve other people. This is America and we have to have our leaders lead now, or these young people are going to continue to march and protest, whether they're in Portland, whether they're in Lafayette, Louisiana, and now in Wisconsin. And they are not going to be silent. They are not going to let them sweep the death of black human beings under the rugs like they have done for decades in America.
BLITZER: And our hearts, of course, go out to those three little boys who witnessed their dad being shot in the back. He's alive. Let's hope he has a full recovery. Ben Crump, thank you so much for joining us.
CRUMP: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Coming up, the latest on the Russian dissident now in a Berlin hospital. Was he poisoned? We're getting new information.
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[17:44:10]
BLITZER: There is breaking news coming into "The Situation Room" right now. Jerry Falwell Jr., one of the most prominent evangelical Christians here in the United States, is resigning as president of Liberty University founded by his father. The move comes after Falwell acknowledged what he calls an inappropriate relationship between his wife and a Miami man who says he had a years long affair with her with Falwell's knowledge.
Falwell alleges the man tried to blackmail him with the information. The man has denied that allegation in an interview with Reuters. A very disturbing development indeed.
Other news we're following here in "The Situation Room", doctors at a Berlin hospital, where the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny is being treated, today said the testing does indicate he was, in fact, poisoned. That's what supporters of his have feared after he collapsed last week while on a trip from Siberia. He was flown by private jet to Germany over the weekend.
[17:45:08]
CNN's Matthew Chance is in Moscow for us tonight. Update our viewers on the latest information. What can you tell us Matthew?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, before he was evacuated to Germany from Russia, Russian doctors here had said they found no traces of poison in the body, in the blood, in the urine of Alexei Navalny, that prominent Russian critic who was poisoned, who was fell ill last week. That's been contradicted though now in Berlin where he's been treated in that clinic. Doctors there say they have detected a poison in his system.
They haven't identified the exact substance yet, but they're saying is a substance acts on the nervous system. They've treated him with atropine, which is an antidote to, you know, a whole range of poisons, including nerve agents that can be military grade, but also pesticides as well. And so, we're waiting for some clarity in the days and in the weeks ahead as to what this exact substance was.
There have been very critical remarks, though, around the world because of Alexei Navalny's condition. I haven't heard much from the Trump administration, but the German Chancellor, along with the foreign minister of Germany, have issued a very angry statement today for Russia, calling on Moscow to clear up this crime to the last detail and in full transparency. Those responsible must be identified and held accountable according to that German statements.
Of course, supporters of Alexei Navalny still hoping very much that he's going to be able to come out of this unscathed. But doctors in Berlin say it's still not clear what impact this poisoning is going to have on his health long term.
BLITZER: Matthew Chance in Moscow with the latest on this story. Thank you, Matthew very much.
Coming up, preliminary research out of China shows a 33-year-old man living in Hong Kong has been infected not once, but twice by COVID-19. Just ahead, we have the details, the implications. Stay with us.
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[17:52:00]
BLITZER: With the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus now passing 177,000. Researchers in China say a 33-year-old man living in Hong Kong is the first person confirmed to have been reinfected with the coronavirus. Representative of the World Health Organization, however, cautioned not to jump to conclusions about the findings, at least not yet.
CNN's Brian Todd is joining us. He's got new information, he's got details. What are you learning, Brian?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Wolf. This is a potentially serious setback tonight in our war against coronavirus. This new case you mentioned out of Hong Kong really does put into question that belief that so many of us have had that if you got coronavirus once, you couldn't get it again.
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TODD (voice-over): Tonight, researchers at the University of Hong Kong say a 33-year-old man living in that city who they studied, contracted coronavirus two separate times this year, about four and a half months apart.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This does seem to be initial evidence that at least some people could be infected more than once with coronavirus. We just don't know, at this point, how common it is, but it does seem to be possible that it can happen.
TODD (voice-over): The Hong Kong researchers call this the first ever documented case of reinfection of COVID-19. But experts around the world say more research is needed before drawing that conclusion.
DR. MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, TECHNICAL LEAD COVID-19: We need to not jump to any conclusions to say if -- even if this is the first documented case of reinfection. It is possible, of course. TODD (voice-over): As for why that may be possible, two studies last month out of Britain and Spain said that after people are infected with COVID-19, their natural immunity could diminish within months, meaning antibodies, your immune systems memory of the virus that could help fight it off again, could decrease after a month or two.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your body forgets they ever were infected. And they come back and get you again every year. You can be reinfected by the same cold virus every year and get the same cold.
TODD (voice-over): Doctors and patients in the United States have reported cases of recovered patients getting coronavirus again. But COVID testing has a lot of false positives, so in many cases, they haven't been able to actually prove reinfection. Dr. Clay Ackerly (ph), an internist in Washington, D.C. believes he had a patient who contracted the virus twice, though he says he can't prove it. Dr. Ackerly says his patient had the virus, cleared it, he says, then tested negative twice.
DR. CLAY ACKERLY, INTERNIST, WASHINGTON, D.C.: And in mid-June, had a family member who caught coronavirus again, came into the home and caught it second time from that family member.
TODD (voice-over): Bolstering the Hong Kong researchers claim according to experts, they tested not just for the fingerprints of the virus, the traces left over after an infection. But the Hong Kong researchers compared the genetic sequences of the virus from the man's first infection and his second infection and found significant genetic differences. So they believe he was infected two separate times.
If we can get coronavirus twice, what does it mean for a potential vaccine?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't yet know what this is going to mean for vaccination. If this will mean we need to be repeatedly vaccinated for coronavirus, but it will certainly have implications for how we design a vaccine and how we study that vaccine.
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[17:55:10]
TODD: Experts say if this case out of Hong Kong proves we can get reinfected, it's going to make it tougher for us to reach that critical mass of people who have immunity, so called herd immunity. Specifically, they say it's going to be tougher for us to get herd immunity through natural infections. So it will be important for us to get herd immunity through a vaccine and that means that the vaccines that are in development now have to be designed to help us do that. Wolf?
BLITZER: All right, Brian, thanks for that report. Brian Todd reporting.
Coming up, President Trump attacking his own health officials as he pushes the speed up potential coronavirus, vaccines and treatments just ahead of the first night of the Republican Convention.
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