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CNN NEWSROOM
U.S. Breaks Record for New Daily Coronavirus Cases; Brazil Reports over 45,000 New Infections as Bolsonaro Tests Positive; Australia's Health Authorities Taking Drastic Move to Contain the Virus; Israel's Public Health Director Quits; Trump Pressures Governors to Reopen Schools; U.S. President Pushing for Schools to Reopen; U.S. May Send International Students Home if Classes Go Online; Canadian Leader Skips Meeting with U.S., Mexican Presidents to Celebrate Trade Deal; Niece's Book Claims Trump Sees 'Cheating as a Way of Life'; TikTok Leaving Hong Kong in Wake of National Security Law; English Football Making Effort to Boost Management Diversity. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired July 8, 2020 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I am Paula Newton.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, the United States sets another grim record on its way to 3 million coronavirus cases. And the country's most respected scientist says things are far from over, while President Trump says the U.S. has quote, "really done things right."
Australia puts its second largest city back on strict lockdown for 6 weeks, as the country fights to get its coronavirus cases under control again.
And it is yet another book that the White House doesn't want you to see. Why Donald Trump's niece says the family life helped turn him into what she calls the world's most dangerous man.
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NEWTON: More breaking news: a new surge in coronavirus cases bearing down. The U.S. has broken its own record for new daily cases. Johns Hopkins University reports more than 58,000 infections on Tuesday alone. The nation is closing in on 3 million cases in all, more than 130,000 people dead. And cases are rising fast in more than 30 states.
And this could just be the beginning. The leading projection right now has the headline that the death toll could top 200,000 by November. But one expert tells Anderson Cooper there is a way to save tens of thousands of lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If people would wear masks, if we can get up to the Singapore level of 95 percent of people wearing masks through for example mandates, that can reduce the death toll by November by about 45,000 deaths. So if states start doing that, then our forecasts will definitely come down.
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NEWTON: It sounds so simple, doesn't it?
Meantime, around the world, 11.7 million cases are confirmed with more than half a million people dead of the virus. The World Health Organization says that, since April, cases have doubled to 200,000 a day and it says the virus is only speeding up.
We can clearly see signs of that acceleration right here in America's Sun Belt and it's so bad that dozens of hospital intensive care units are already filling up. Erica Hill has our update.
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ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cases surging in the Sunshine State, more than 7,300 reported on Tuesday, 43 hospitals in Florida report their ICU beds are now at capacity. Nearly 3 dozen more are closed.
Yet the governor is pushing forward with plans to open schools next month, touting his State's efforts to prepare for the long haul.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): The whole point of the curve, flattening the curve was to make sure we had enough healthcare capacity. We're in a way better position today to be able to do that.
HILL: Restaurants in Miami-Dade County told to pull back as hospitalizations there surge. And that curve the governor mentioned, looking more like a steep cliff. Though it's not just Florida; Arizona now has the highest number of cases per capita in the country.
DR. PETER HOTEZ, BAYLOR COLLEGE: In Arizona, the cases are rising so rapidly that we cannot even do contact tracing. The epidemic is out of control in the southern part of the United States.
HILL: Texas just reported more than 10,000 new cases, its highest single day increase. Houston's mayor urging the state's Republican Party to cancel its upcoming convention in his city scheduled for July 16th.
MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER (D-TX), HOUSTON: I believe canceling the in- person convention is the responsible action to take.
HILL: The Texas GOP is still planning to hold the event adding a mask requirement for attendees. Meantime, the Texas State Fair cancelled for the first time since World War II. The governor now saying he allowed bars to reopen too soon.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): You have to wonder if they should have ever been open at all because bars really aren't made in a way that promotes social distancing.
HILL: California's state capital closed after at least five assembly members tested positive. And a new study finds so-called silent spreaders may account for as many as half of all cases.
DR. LEANA WEN, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: Even the states that are doing well right now should be on guard because they could be next.
HILL: Erica Hill, CNN, New York.
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NEWTON: Dr. Armand Dorian is a physician and chief medical officer at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital, he joins me now from Los Angeles.
Thanks for joining us. The numbers are just staggering, really. They are hard to fathom.
How frightening is this for you and your hospital?
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DR. ARMAND DORIAN, USC VERDUGO HILLS HOSPITAL: It's frightening but it's more disappointing because, you know, I guess you could say the virus fooled us once, shame on the virus. But now the virus has fooled us twice, shame on us.
Because we know now where the virus was going to go and how the trajectory was going to go higher. We know more about the virus. Now we shouldn't be fooled. We know that stay-at-home worked and we know that masking works. Yet with all of those things that we know, we still cannot control it.
NEWTON: In terms of the implications for the hospital where you are now, California has been one of those places where it's been puzzling. Because California did seem to do everything right.
Why do you think the surge is happening even in your state?
And do you feel threatened by states that are finding itself in the middle of a surge?
DORIAN: Yes, by the way, state borders mean nothing because the virus will travel where humans travel. And as people cross state lines, so will the virus.
But having said that, California's interesting, where we have multiple hotspots in one. Los Angeles County where I am, my hospital now has a small protective field because in a 5 mile radius, it's quiet.
But 5 miles over , it's at capacity. So it's a very interesting dynamic and it provokes anxiety but it also creates more frustration from the physician and the health care worker standpoint because we sacrificed so much to try and bring that curve down. And we just gave it away in 2 seconds because of people wanting to go out to the bars.
NEWTON: We've heard time and again from medical professionals like yourself, who have sacrificed so much, to be away from your own families and compromising your own health. I have to ask, you it's a good time to take stock of the virus itself, right?
What has surprised you about the community spread and how it is growing?
DORIAN: There are two main characteristics about this virus that are extremely surprising. One is the asymptomatic spread. Normally, what we are used to and what we've always been taught is, once you have symptoms, you can be infectious. That is a game-changer with COVID-19.
You can spread even before you know you are sick. The second thing, it's quite easy to spread, so it's not that difficult for one person to be in a room for a little bit over 15 minutes with others and others will get it. So both of those two things combined have really been shocking with this pandemic.
NEWTON: And as we wait for a vaccine, it's the only hope at this point in time. I think many people were expecting that there would be treatments by this time. When you see what's happening with those treatments or even the learning curve for doctors and hospitals like yours, has there been progress?
DORIAN: Yes, there definitely has been progress but we don't have a cure. We don't have the ability to stop the infection from wreaking havoc if you are the chosen one. Some medications like remdesivir and some steroids can actually help.
But here's the problem. The problem is we have an answer right now and it's distancing, masking and hand sanitizing. But even when something is so simple and affordable, we have a difficult time doing it because people, wearing a mask is helping others, it's not helping themselves.
So the concept of leaning on me or each other to help each other, we're having a tough time with that.
NEWTON: What do you think will turn it around?
DORIAN: That's a very tough question. I think we are going to get to a point where, unfortunately, the government is going to step in and mandate stay at home. And that is when I don't think we're going to get compliance by everybody.
So I'd rather have us not have to have a mandate and instead come to grips with, don't wait until it's your family member who is sick, don't wait until it's somebody you know who's in the ICU, because if you wear a mask from now, you can actually help save lives.
How easy is that?
I had to go to school for 20 years to be able to have the honor to help save lives. You can save a life by just putting on a mask. NEWTON: Before I let you go, the United States gave formal notice
that it's withdrawing from the WHO. The process itself will take a full year.
But what is at stake?
And do you believe the United States or anyone else needs an international body navigating this, especially where you find yourself, right on the front line in a hospital in California?
DORIAN: Of course we do.
Is this not proof that viruses travel all over the world?
And if we don't have an early presence and are on top of things from day one, sometimes -- it doesn't matter if you are really smart or have technology, once things get out of hand because you're too late, it's too late. So we need a presence around the world.
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DORIAN: And we have to get back to being the leaders in medicine, the leaders in health and the leaders in diplomacy.
NEWTON: Given the latest and staggering numbers, it will be interesting to see how much that modifies behavior in the United States. Dr. Armand Dorian, thank you so much, live from Los Angeles.
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NEWTON: More than 3 million of all confirmed cases in the world now come from Latin America and the Caribbean. That's according to Johns Hopkins University. And that's almost a quarter of the global tally. Countries like Peru, Mexico and Chile are seeing some of the largest outbreaks in the region.
But Brazil has more than 1.6 million cases and is by far the worst hit. Brazil's president has consistently downplayed the threat of the pandemic. But on Tuesday, Jair Bolsonaro announced that he has tested positive for COVID-19.
He is one of a staggering 45,000 new cases confirmed on Tuesday, it's unbelievable. Health officials also recorded more than 1,200 new fatalities, about twice as many as the day before.
CNN Brazil's Leandro Magalhaes joins us now from Brasilia.
And thanks for joining us. Bolsonaro has repeatedly played down this virus and really called it "a little flu."
What is his posture now, now that he has tested positive?
LEANDRO MAGALHAES, CNN BRAZIL CORRESPONDENT: Hi and thanks for having me, Paula. Since the beginning of the pandemic, president Bolsonaro has been saying that Brazil is going through a big health crisis but he has also indicated that it is an economic crisis. During the first interview that I did with him in the beginning of the
year, he told me that he was very concerned about the economy. Millions could lose their jobs which would increase the impact of the health crisis.
In different occasions he also defended that people in situations of vulnerability should be in isolation, such as elders.
But when talking about his position as president, you would say that he should not be afraid to go out in the streets and meet his people. However, president Bolsonaro often talks and behaves in ways that are not well received by many people. In addition, he often criticizes part of the press. He often says the press misuses his words and against the Brazilian population, Paula.
NEWTON: Do you get the sense he is taking this seriously?
MAGALHAES: The situation in the country is very polarized in Brazil. Bolsonaro was elected by 54 million voters. He still has support of those who voted for him. Many still believe that he is the right man for the job, to combat corruption here in Brazil.
On the other hand, another part of the population is against his government and his style and his (INAUDIBLE). They also believe the president is neglecting a pandemic response. According to president Bolsonaro, however, they have powers in the country that are trying to arm his government by creating an economic crisis.
He includes state governors and politicians that are not supporting him.
NEWTON: In terms of the reaction of having the president of the country now ill with COVID-19, how are people reacting?
People you hear from on social media or on the streets, in the cities and towns and Brazil?
MAGALHAES: He uses a lot of social media and the population is very polarized in Brazil.
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MAGALHAES: President Bolsonaro has his public -- his public. But I believe that it is not a big population that is defending him. But he has his public and social media. Brazil now is very, very polarized, divided about the situation, the action of the president.
NEWTON: Yes, it has been noted that he is actually wearing this positive test as a badge of honor and very confident that he will get through it. I'm sure everyone around the world prays that he does.
Leandro, thank you so much for your insight. We really appreciate it.
MAGALHAES: Thank you very much. You are welcome.
NEWTON: A resurgence of coronavirus in Melbourne, Australia, is forcing the country to take drastic measures. Coming up, we will take a look at the new lockdown impacting millions.
Plus, once praised for its response to the coronavirus, Israel is now struggling with a spike in cases. The country's public health director is calling it quits.
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NEWTON: To Australia now, where millions of Melbourne residents are preparing to enter another lockdown as authorities scramble to prevent a second wave of the coronavirus.
Starting at midnight local time, residents can only leave homes for essential trips, including getting food, going to work, exercising and caregiving. The spike in cases in the state of Victoria has already forced the government to shut down roads in and out of New South Wales.
For more, Anna Coren joins me now from Hong Kong.
You have been following the story. I know the prime minister just spoke again. It seems like they are serious in terms of enforcing the lockdown. Right?
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. They are not mucking around. They have been taking this seriously from the get-go and have been tackling the pandemic aggressively.
That's why this spike in Melbourne, Victoria, has really created a great deal of concern and alarm. You were showing pictures a short time ago of the border between New South Wales and Victoria. That is now completely closed.
Permits have been handed out for those who live on the border. These border towns where lives are very much integrated can cross over the border. As for Victorians coming to New South Wales, that is no longer allowed.
That 6-week lockdown for Melburnians will begin as of midnight tonight. The idea, the plan is to contain the spread of this spike, this outbreak in greater Melbourne. We heard from the prime minister, Scott Morrison, a short time ago when he addressed the media. He said this is serious but not surprising, that we are experiencing these spikes.
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COREN: He said Australians are all in this together, we are all Melburnians. They went through this once back in March and they can do it again, referring to the lockdown and that Australia will prevail. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COREN: Having aggressively tackle the pandemic compared to other countries, Australia thought it had flattened the curve. That was until COVID-19 reared its ugly head again, but this time, with a vengeance.
For the past week, cases have been surging in the state of Victoria, a record 191 new cases on Tuesday prompting the Victorian premier to take drastic action.
DANIEL ANDREWS, PREMIER OF VICTORIA: The public health team have advised me to reimpose states to stay-at-home restrictions and staying at home, except for the four reasons to leave for a period of six weeks.
COREN: It's deja vu for the more than five million residents of Melbourne.
ROHAN BURGESS, VICTORIA RESIDENT: We have to do what we need to do to
make sure everybody is safe in Australia and in particular, our local community.
COREN: They went through a two-month lockdown back in March, but as the state reopened, residents drop their guard.
ANDREWS: I think a sense of complacency has crept into us, I think each of us know that we've got no choice but to take these very, very difficult steps.
COREN: But it's not just complacency. It's also potentially reckless and illegal behavior. Australian officials have launched a judicial inquiry into allegations of the outbreak in Melbourne could have been sparked by contracted security guards. Not following protocols and interacting with international arrivals and the government quarantine in a hotel.
The outbreak has led to a dozen suburbs in lockdown, while the residents of nine housing commission tower blocks are not allowed to leave their homes under any circumstance until everyone has been tested.
The 3,000 residents locked inside are primarily refugees and immigrants, relying on authorities to deliver food and much needed supplies.
AHMED DINI, MELBOURNE RESIDENT: We are waiting people to drop supplies to us, the SCS and emergency services. The situation is one of anxiety, it's one of a lot of people are scared, you know? These towers are basically are very cold cruise ships and a lot of us are sitting ducks.
COREN: And in a move that hasn't happened since the Spanish flu 100 years ago, the border between Victoria and New South Wales will be closed. Up to 1,000 police and military personnel will be deployed along the more than 1,000-kilometer border, a logistical challenge but one considered necessary to try to prevent the virus spreading across the nation.
GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES: This is unprecedented in Australia, that's why the decision of the New South Wales government is unprecedented. We've not seen anything like this.
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COREN: The prime minister also said that they are planning on slowing down returning residents to Australia. International travelers who are Australian residents are allowed to return to the country. They have to do 14 days of forced quarantine in hotels.
But he feels that the numbers that have been returning to Australia are overburdening the system. So it looks like they will cut back on overseas flights.
He was asked whether nationwide restrictions need to be imposed. He said that wasn't necessary at the moment. They seem to have things under control. But if the situation changed, they would have no hesitation imposing them.
NEWTON: Decisive and bold moves there. We appreciate you being on the story, Anna. Thank you.
Iran is reporting the most coronavirus deaths in a single day. They are 200 on Tuesday. The country also registered about 2,600 new cases. You can see that reflected in the graph there. Masks are required and public spaces in Iran due to the recent spike.
According to Johns Hopkins, Iran has more than 245,000 cases in all; nearly 12,000 people have died.
Israel's public health director has quit over the soaring rate of new coronavirus cases in that country. She says her warnings about returning to normal too quickly were in fact ignored. Israel won early praise for how it handled the pandemic but now its reopening strategy is under fire. Oren Liebermann has the latest.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If Israel's first wave of COVID-19 was a success story, the second wave appears on pace for a very different ending.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am still taking care of myself and washing my hands and not getting close to people so much. I hope it will be fine soon.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): As coronavirus cases surge across the country, the government has reimposed closures of public halls, pubs, gyms, pools and more. But with unemployment already at more than 20 percent, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to avoid another complete lockdown.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translator): Today, there are around 90 severe cases and the numbers doubling every four days. If we don't act now, there will be hundreds, perhaps thousands of severe cases in coming weeks, which will paralyze our systems.
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LIEBERMANN: When the country reopened in early May, Israel looked like an international coronavirus success story: low mortality rate, few new infections, hospital space. And Netanyahu was riding the first wave to high approval ratings.
Then came the second wave. Daily infections of increased 50-fold, 20 new cases a day are now 1,000 new cases. Active infections hit record highs. And Netanyahu's approval rating on the handling of COVID-19 has plummeted: 74 percent in May to 46 percent now, according to recent polling.
The national unity government, formed specifically to deal with coronavirus, appears more concerned with political squabbles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This government is crap and the prime minister is full of crap.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Sixty percent of Israelis fear for their financial future but worry that bad can still become worse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My heart goes out. I don't know how people are maintaining, people raising families, people who have lost their businesses. The last shoe has not yet dropped, unfortunately. So it is concerning.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): On Tuesday, the top public health official at the ministry of health resigned, saying her professional opinion was no longer accepted and warning the country is approaching a dangerous place.
"To my regret, for a number of weeks, the handling of the outbreak has lost direction," she wrote in her resignation. "Despite systemic and regular warnings in the various systems and in the discussions in different forums, we watched with frustration as the hourglass of opportunities runs low."
In late April, Netanyahu said Israel had been successful in its mission to combat coronavirus as he began easing restrictions and opening the economy. But the mission isn't over yet -- Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.
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NEWTON: The U.S. president is calling on schools to reopen in the coming weeks, despite criticism from some educators. Why they believe the move threatens lives.
Plus, Canada is crushing the coronavirus pandemic. Why that country wants to keep it that way. We will have that next.
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NEWTON: With the pandemic spreading across the country, President Trump is pushing for schools to reopen, pulling out of World Health Organization and making even more false claims about the impact of the virus. Jeremy Diamond will explain.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We want to reopen the schools. Everybody wants it. The moms want it. The dads want it.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Tonight, President Trump pushing for schools to reopen, despite rising cases in more than half the country, arguing mental health and economic concerns outweigh the physical health risks and accusing those who want schools closed of playing politics.
TRUMP: They think it's going to be good for them politically, so they keep the schools closed. No way. So we're very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools.
DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, CDC DIRECTOR: It's very pragmatic.
DIAMOND: CDC Director Robert Redfield backing the president's call.
REDFIELD: The CDC encourages all schools -- all schools -- to do what they need to reopen, and to have plans that anticipate that the COVID- 19 cases will affect the curve.
DIAMOND: Senior officials say the government will provide financial resources and share best practices with local school districts, but today, those details were nowhere to be found. Instead, the CDC plans to release reopening guidance next week, but Vice President Mike Pence stressing that the CDC and task force guidelines are just that, not mandates.
MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In a word, Mr. President, you've made it clear to us we don't want to be the reason any school doesn't reopen.
DIAMOND: This as the president continues to downplay the seriousness of the virus.
TRUMP: If you look at the chart of deaths, deaths are way down.
DIAMOND: Claiming the U.S. has the lowest mortality rate in the world. But those aren't the facts. While fatality rates are difficult to
calculate due to differences in testing availability, CNN has found at least 14 of the 20 most affected countries are estimated to have lower death rates than the U.S.
And experts warn that deaths, which often come weeks after a surge in cases, could soon rise in the U.S.
And Trump isn't letting the virus stop him from traveling to one of the hardest-hit states, flying into Florida on Friday to get a briefing on drug trafficking before attending a fundraiser for his reelection campaign at a private home.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSES PRESS SECRETARY: We've traveled. We've done so safely, and we'll continue to do it.
DIAMOND: The briefing will be at the U.S. Southern Command in Miami- Dade County, which has seen a 90 percent increase in coronavirus hospitalizations over the last two weeks, raising questions about the strain on emergency response resources of a presidential visit.
While Trump continues to downplay the virus and flout CDC guidelines, Dr. Anthony Fauci today urging state and local officials to mandate masks.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I don't like to be, you know, authoritarian from the federal government, but at the local level, if governors and others essentially mandate the use of masks when you have an outbreak, I think that would be very important.
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NEWTON: Our thanks there to Jeremy Diamond for that report.
And the largest teachers union in the United States is slamming President Trump and the secretary of education for calling on schools to reopen. On CNN, the head of the National Education Association said the move could risk the safety of students and staff.
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LILY ESKELSEN GARCIA, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: This is a virus that kills people, and Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos are making a mockery of the danger that they would be in if you rush to this, if you do it wrong.
There is no infectious disease expert -- and that includes those pediatricians that said we have to consider the mental health of children. Of course we do. But they didn't say at the expense of their physical health, and they didn't say that you should do it under all circumstances. They said when it's safe and where it's safe.
And it -- it's just absolutely mindboggling to me to have Donald Trump have this press conference, this -- this publicity stunt about saying, I'm going to use my bully pulpit -- and he does mean bully -- to pressure people to do something before it's safe.
What we're asking for is the same consideration they gave Shake Shack. You know, when a business was looking at laying off workers, when a business was saying, How do we keep our business open, Republicans and Democrats, the same, threw money at them. Why isn't anyone talking about the resources that we're going to need to open schools safely?
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NEWTON: Now, she also criticized the president for frequently ignoring expert advice about the pandemic.
A U.S. immigration policy could force international students to leave the country if their classes are taught entirely online, something many universities have been considering during this pandemic.
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Now, last year, U.S. colleges enrolled more than a million international students, most of them coming from China, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Canada.
CNN's Jessica Snyder -- Schneider reports many of them could be affected under these new guidelines.
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JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An announcement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement that puts universities and, in particular, international students in a very precarious position. ICE announcing that if universities here in the United States go to all online learning once the fall semester hits, international students will be forced to leave the country or risk deportation.
Now, this is an announcement that comes just as universities here in the U.S. are announcing their plans for the fall, like Harvard University announcing that some of its students will come back to campus but that all learning will be done online.
Princeton University issuing similar guidance, saying that most of their classes will be online, too. Now, this announcement from ICE is really sending a shockwave toward the international student community. They are anxious about this and also confused about this, uncertain because there are more than one million international students coming here to the United States from countries like Saudi Arabia, China, South Korea, Canada, and all of them are wondering if, in fact, they're lucky enough to have universities that have in-person classes, what might happen if the pandemic worsens in the fall or winter, and then those universities shut down and go to online-only classes?
But ICE is not budging. They're saying that this has long been their policy, that international students can't come to the United States if they're doing online-only classes.
So there's a big question mark lingering as we head toward the fall semester. And of course, this is just the latest Trump policy that is restricting legal immigration. It was just last month that the Trump administration suspended visas, employment-related visas. And now it looks like they are doing the same with student visas.
So again, international students who are doing online-only classes at their universities here in the U.S. will not be allowed to remain here in the United States. That sending shockwaves toward that student community.
Jessica Schneider in Washington.
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NEWTON: The Mexican president is getting ready to meet with his American counterpart in Washington. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador left Mexico City Tuesday on a commercial flight, it should be noted. That's after he tested negative for the coronavirus.
Now, his visit with President Trump is to celebrate the implementation of the new free trade deal, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement. Now, it went into effect this month.
And of course, that key partner, Canada, is skipping the event. Now, the Canadian prime minister cited scheduling conflicts, but it is worth noting that Trudeau has been taking the virus very seriously, and he said himself that, principally in his mind was the health and safety of his staff. Take a listen.
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NEWTON (voice-over): He would have likely been forgiven for skipping the handshake, but in declining an invitation to the White House, Justin Trudeau is sidestepping a minefield of COVID etiquette and politics.
For starters, President Donald Trump and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador have refused to wear a mask in public. Trudeau doesn't seem to leave home without one.
And it's no trivial thing, but insight into how each country is fighting the virus.
For Trudeau, it would have been like risking a lunch with neighbors you know aren't taking the virus seriously.
SCOTTY GREENWOOD, U.S.-CANADA BUSINESS COUNCIL: The opportunity for awkward moments is endless with the potential trilateral meeting with world leaders right now, and particularly these three world leaders, given their different values system and their different approach to the pandemic.
NEWTON: The COVID curves are moving in opposite directions in the U.S. and Canada. The surge in cases in the U.S. means Canadians are on edge and even more cautious.
One poll shows the vast majority of Canadians want the U.S.-Canada border to remain closed to nonessential traffic. Anyone who does enter Canada has to quarantine for 14 days. And, yes, it's enforced by both health officials and police. Trudeau might have been exempt after attending the trade meeting at the White House but not his staff. Health and safety were a concern, and he said as much last week.
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: We're also concerned about the health situation and the coronavirus reality that is still hitting all three of our countries. We're going to continue to work with -- with the U.S. on seeing whether that summit makes sense for us, and we will let you know as soon as we've made a decision.
NEWTON: The decision was no. In a statement to CNN, Trudeau's office said he would be "in Ottawa this week for scheduled cabinet meetings and the long-planned sitting of Parliament."
For weeks, Canada has been logging just a few hundred new positive cases of COVID-19 per day. Just like the U.S., though, some younger Canadians are skirting rules. Twenty people have so far been infected after this night out near Montreal.
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But here's the difference. Contact tracing at such low numbers is viable. And in most cases, thorough.
Add to that a growing list of cities and towns now making masks mandatory.
Skipping a trip to the White House was arguably an easy call for Trudeau. And like most Canadians, he won't be crossing the border unless absolutely necessary.
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NEWTON: President Trump, meantime, tried to block its release, but now a scathing tell-all book is hitting shelves next week, literally. Why his own niece claims the president cheated his way through life.
Plus, time's up for the popular social media app TikTok. Yet, don't tell my kids or anyone at this point in time. A lot of controversy with this app. We'll tell you all about it when we come back.
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NEWTON: So U.S. President Donald Trump's own niece isn't holding back. In an explosive tell-all book, Mary Trump paints a scathing picture of the president. She's a clinical psychologist and accuses him of being a sociopath who cheated his way through life.
CNN's Sara Murray has the details.
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SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a scathing new critique of President Trump, and this time it is coming from his own niece. CNN obtained an early copy of Mary Trump's book, and in it, she writes
about the toxic culture that Fred Trump, the patriarch of the family, Donald Trump's father, created. She says that's why Donald Trump is the way he is.
And she describes her uncle as a liar, a cheater, essentially a sociopath. You know, at one point in her book, she writes, "The lies may become true in his mind as soon as he utters him, but they're still lies. It's just another way for him to see what he can get away with, and so far he's gotten away with everything."
Mary Trump includes a number of embarrassing anecdotes from the president. It's clear that there is bad blood in this family. It goes back decades.
One of these anecdotes is actually when Donald Trump was younger. He wanted to get into the University of Pennsylvania. And she says he paid another kid to take the SATs for him.
Now, the White House says that is absurd. They say it's false, and they're questioning why this book is coming out now.
Well, Mary Trump says that Donald Trump destroyed her father, her father Freddy Trump, who struggled with alcoholism and has since passed. She says she's not going to stand by while Donald Trump destroys the country.
Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.
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NEWTON: So the hugely popular social media app TikTok says it's pulling out of Hong Kong in the wake of the controversial new national security law.
CNN's Hadas Gold has details.
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HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This decision by TikTok to pull out of Hong Kong should really be seen as part of a broader messaging effort by TikTok to try to distance itself from China, despite the fact that it's owned by the Beijing-based company ByteDAnce, because Hong Kong is actually not a big market at all for TikTok. It's nowhere near, for example, India, which recently banned TikTok from the country.
[00:45:08]
But what TikTok is trying to do here is send a message to its critics that it's not in the pocket of the Chinese government. This despite calls from people like U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who called TikTok a security threat because of laws in China which require Chinese companies to work with the Chinese government when asked. And that's part of the reason why Mike Pompeo says they're actually considering banning TikTok in the United States. MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We're taking this seriously.
We're certainly looking at it. We've worked on this very issue for a long time, whether it was the problems of having Huawei technology in your infrastructure, we've gone all over the world; and we're making real progress getting that out.
We've declared ZTE (ph) a danger to American national security. We've done all these things. With respect to Chinese apps on people's cellphones, I can assure you the United States will get this one right, too.
GOLD: But TikTok has always maintained it never has and never will hand user data over to the Chinese government, even if asked.
And the move comes at the same time as some of the biggest Internet and social media platforms in the world, including Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn and even Zoom have said that they're going to stop processing user data requests from Hong Kong authorities as a result of this national security law.
Because this new national security law gives Hong Kong police the authority to demand these platforms hand over user data or that they've removed content from their platforms that the authorities deem to be somehow breaking this national security law, which keep in mind, can be something like calling for Hong Kong independence.
Facebook, for example, for its part, says that it wants to consult with human rights experts before they decide on their next steps forward.
Hadas Gold, CNN, London.
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NEWTON: Dipayan Ghosh is the co-director of the Digital Platforms and Democracy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School and is the author of "Terms of Disservice: How Silicon Valley is Destructive by Design."
Thanks so much for joining us. So you know, TikTok, front and center in geopolitics right now for so many reasons. Let's talk first about what Hadas was talking about, which was TikTok pulling out of Hong Kong.
You know, this is an app born and bred in China. I mean, in terms of optics, this is an interesting move, but materially, does it make much difference?
DIPAYAN GHOSH, CO-DIRECTOR, DIGITAL PLATFORMS AND DEMOCRACY PROJECT, HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL: This is a -- this is a really difficult move to -- to really interpret from a technical perspective.
Of course, we've heard about reports of TikTok really being invasive on the privacy front for quite some time now, especially over the last six months, this pressure has been building. And there have been insider reports and cybersecurity experts who have been engineering and started reverse engineering the app to try to understand how it works.
And I think what people have found is that TikTok is invasive to levels that, allegedly, are much further than, let's say, that the big American Internet applications go.
And, you know, I think that has caused a lot of concerns, and so TikTok is acting seemingly in favor of its users on the kind of surveillance front is a bit of a surprise.
NEWTON: Yes. A surprise -- surprise or perhaps a strategy move. And I want to get to some of the nuts and bolts of what you were talking about there with TikTok. At issue is whether it's essentially a Hoover of data, and that it collects and exploits that user data. I mean, to exaggerate the point, for the purposes of the Chinese Communist Party.
Is that really a statement too far?
GHOSH: You know, I think -- I think it's not -- not a statement too far. And if you think about the kinds of data that TikTok collects, technically speaking, the categories of data that that collects, that the company behind it collects, it's not very different from what -- what Facebook or Google collects. It's still, you know, location data, engagement data through the application itself, web browsing history, but it is done at a much more, let's say, liberal and invasive way.
And I think that that's what's been so alarming to cybersecurity experts, that beyond just kind of a basic collection that's done through the app in a way that might be, let's say, expected by the user. TikTok takes that kind of orders of magnitude greater, allegedly.
Given that, and given the fact that many Chinese technology companies seem to have these close connections with the Chinese government, I think people are -- are raising their eyebrows for the right reasons.
And there's no doubt, legitimate concern over TikTok and other Chinese technology companies sharing data, sharing other kinds of proprietary intelligence with the Chinese government at -- at the expense of its users.
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NEWTON: You say we can't be naive, right? They have to remember that any app, really, feeds off of, you know, what you call tracking and targeting business. And it's a model that we all know harvests that data to make money. You're saying in TikTok, in this case, it's much more alarming. Why?
GHOSH: Well, you know, I think, again, TikTok really takes the -- the good kind of form of data collection to a -- to a whole other level.
And what I mean by this is that, when we think about -- when we think about the -- the kinds of data collection that's being engaged in by the application, it's done in ways that Facebook and Google, for example, don't necessarily do. And in ways, again, allegedly, based on the analysis of experts, that
-- that it doesn't really come at the -- at the user's expectation. And this happens in basically every kind of category, whether -- whether you look at the users engaged in the app across the web ecosystem through location data, through third-party data brokers. And all of that is kind of collected and analyzed by TikTok to understand that behavior is an interest (AUDIO GAP).
NEWTON: I have to go. Before I go, as a parent, I have to ask you. There are children as young as 8 on TikTok. Do you believe it could pose a risk? At least from a data privacy point of view?
GHOSH: There's no doubt about that. And -- and it makes sense for tech companies to kind of collect data on -- on children and analyze that and try to keep them engaged as they -- as they come into, let's say, puberty age and into adulthood. They want to get kids online onto their apps and have them spending money, spending time, spending their attention on their application over others.
And I think there's no doubt that, especially in the case of a Chinese application that potentially has close connection to the Chinese government, there is -- there's serious cause for concern that, first of all, a corporate entity as powerful as TikTok, and second of all, one that potentially works with the Chinese government.
NEWTON: Right. Right.
GHOSH: Collecting data, I mean.
NEWTON: I'm going to have to leave it there. But I think you're blowing a lot of minds all around the world right now with this discussion, so it is one that we will continue.
GHOSH: Thanks so much.
NEWTON: Mr. Ghosh in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Thanks so much.
GHOSH: Thanks for having me.
NEWTON: And we will be right back after a short break.
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NEWTON: The return of English football has brought players to the pitch in Black Lives Matter attire, and it's put a renewed focus on leveling the playing field for everyone in the sport, including coaches.
"WORLD SPORT" contributor Darren Lewis has more.
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DARREN LEWIS, CNN WORLD SPORT CONTRIBUTOR: English football's governing bodies have announced a new scheme to boost representation in management. While almost a third of professional players across the country are
black or from other ethnic minority populations, those statistics are not reflected in managerial positions.
[00:55:07]
The EPL said its new scheme is aimed at broadening the base of coaches on 23-month placements, with a view to those coaches moving into the dugout.
DARREN MOORE, EPL BLACK PARTICIPANTS' ADVISORY GROUP: I would say to that that the numbers are alarming, that they are -- let's not go away from the fact that they are alarming, that there's currently only five serving within the game.
What this scheme does is it allows the individuals that's going to -- that are best selected to join them, and get their hands dirty in the clubs in terms of the coaching and analysis work. All the development of players and the development itself.
LEWIS: The EPL say six placements, which will include intensive training, will be handed out in Leagues 1, 2, and the championship, which sits just one below the Premier League.
Crucially, the coaching scheme does not extend to the Premier League, which is English football's top-tier competition. It is something of which campaigners have been critical.
TROY TOWNSEND, HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT, KICK IT OUT: I'm a little bit underwhelmed, if you want me to be totally honest. We've been in this space before, where we've spoken up about representation in coaching circles. But I'm not sure what this address is.
I'm just a little bit skeptical as to why the Premier League have not opened their doors up and why there seems to be an entry level for these coaches. You know, six coaches over 23 months. You know, best part of two years.
You know, it strikes a chord to me that we'll only go so far. And I'm just looking and wondering why it's only acceptable to have six coaches, and why we cannot progress something that's rolled out right across the leagues and has a little bit more impact, as well.
LEWIS (voice-over): At present, there is only one black manager in the Premier League. That's Nuno Espirito Santo, who coaches Wolverhampton Wonders. And across English football's 91 professional clubs, there are only five serving black or ethnic minority managers.
The Premier League and England's Football Association acknowledge more needs to be done to tackle the under-representation, particularly at a time when social movements and the current generation are pushing for change.
(on camera): Players across England have been taking a knee to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. It's this kind of action that has shown a light on the issues of systemic racism in both society and across the game.
Management and coaching, well, they're just two of the areas in dire need of change; and the success of the new scheme will be something that fans, players and campaigners will be watching very closely next season.
Darren Lewis, CNN, London.
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NEWTON: And thanks for watching. I'm Paula Newton. CNN NEWSROOM is back after a quick break.
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