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NEW DAY SUNDAY

Global Cases Top 16 Million, U.S. Adds More Than 65,000 New Cases; Florida Surpasses NY, Has the Second Highest Number of Cases; McConnell Hopes to Send Next Relief Bill to House Within Three Weeks; Memorial Services Honor Civil Rights Icon Rep. John Lewis. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired July 26, 2020 - 07:00   ET

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


[07:00:00]

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Five hundred bucks to see themselves in cardboard.

Now, Victor, Abby, I, too, have my cardboard cutouts.

(LAUGHTER)

WIRE: I am a huge fan. As you see, I ran out of ink because you have a big head like me. Plus, I need a little bit more printer ink.

(LAUGHTER)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: You're going to need more ink for Victor's head for sure.

(CROSSTALK)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Coy.

WIRE: All right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As we watch cases and deaths spike nationwide, we're also seeing a massive push to get kids back into the classroom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We as parents feel like we just left got in the dust.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NIAID: When you talk about forcing teachers to come back to school, you better be careful about that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many days of good-byes for former civil rights icon and Congressman John Lewis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you merciful master for the boy from Troy, who was the conscience of Congress.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurricane Hanna made landfall as a category 1 storm on Padre Island, Texas, with sustained winds of 90 miles per hour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next one is coming in. Doesn't end up like this one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right. Top of the hour now. It is Sunday, July 26th.

Good morning to you. I'm Victor Blackwell.

PHILLIP: And I'm Abby Phillip, in for Christi Paul this morning. Thank you for being with us this Sunday morning.

BLACKWELL: So, overnight, the total number of coronavirus cases, confirmed cases around the world surpass 16 million, more than a quarter of those cases here in the U.S. The U.S. added more than 65,000 new cases yesterday.

PHILLIP: And Florida, the epicenter of the U.S. now has the second highest number of cases in the entire country, passing New York yesterday, and coming just behind California.

Americans in all 50 states are waiting to know if more economic relief is coming. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he's hoping to get the GOP's new relief bill to the House in the next two to three weeks. The federal unemployment benefits expired this week.

BLACKWELL: And North Korea is reporting now its first suspected case of COVID-19. State media is reporting that Kim Jong-un convened an emergency meeting and the patient and the people in recent contacts are now quarantined. We're going to start with CNN's Polo Sandoval with a look here at the U.S.

Polo, good morning to you.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Yes, it seems that health experts are noticing these grim patterns almost on a daily basis here, Victor and Abby. When you look at the last four days or so, U.S. COVID-related deaths topping 1,000 for four straight days, first time we see that since May. And now, these projections out by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suggesting that we could see another 175,000 people die due to the virus by mid-August.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Florida on Saturday became the U.S. state with the second highest official coronavirus case count, passing New York, once the epicenter early on in the pandemic. The number of people being hospitalized in Florida up a staggering 79 percent since the July 4th holiday. Nearly half of Florida's COVID-19 deaths are linked to long-term care facilities. At least 50 Florida hospitals Saturday reporting they reached ICU capacity.

MAYOR DAN GELBER, MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA: Every day in Miami-Dade County, about 200 people go in the hospitals because they're too sick. Twenty to 30 of them will likely die. A good portion of them will end up two weeks on -- in ICU and another portion on ventilators and survive.

SANDOVAL: Despite that and surging case numbers, there's a push to reopen bars in Florida. We're also learning heartbreaking details about Florida's youngest victim, Kimora "Kimmie" Lynum. She was just 9 years old when she died last week. While Florida now tops New York in cases, Texas now sits close behind New York with 380,000 cases of the coronavirus. Texas Saturday afternoon reported more than 8,100 new cases and 168 deaths.

MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER, HOUSTON: We have reported 386 people who have died in the city. Not the county, but in the city of Houston. 151 of those deaths came just in the month of July. We have had more people to die in July than March, April, May, June combined.

SANDOVAL: Leading the nation now in confirmed cases of COVID-19, California. And Friday, 159 people died of the coronavirus in California. But most deaths there in a single day. Arizona hit the highest daily death toll on Saturday.

Meantime, thousands not only in that state face a cutoff of unemployment benefits as Congress fights over the details of a relief bill that could cause pain for many people in Arizona and other states.

[07:05:00]

REP. RUBIN GALLEGO, ARIZONA: We're all about making sure that the working class of this country are actually taken care of. We're not going to stick to strict ideology and in the process somehow destroy family incomes and family stability. So, of course, we'll look at compromises.

SANDOVAL: As cases and deaths spike nationwide, a massive push to get the kids back into the classroom come this fall. The CDC has new guidelines coming down hard in favor of reopening schools. With the new school year just around the corner, families and communities are weighing whether to send their children back for in-person learning.

DR. ABDUL EL-SAYAD, EPIDEMILOGIST & PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERT: For parents, it's really important to prepare, to know where your kid is going to go every day. If we have to dial back on that like in the spring, this could be really, really devastating for parents. So, we want to forecast what the best possible knowledge what the future is going to look like, rather than what a administration's political priorities are for what they want them to look like.

SANDOVAL: All this as new CDC analysis showing coronavirus symptoms can stick around for weeks, even those who are otherwise healthy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: This morning, there are mayors across the country that are taking a good hard look at their policies right now and considering a second stay-at-home order, in places like Los Angeles and Houston. But here's the frustrating part, though, Abby and Victor. There are many municipalities where the state government may not allow them to enforce the stay-at-home orders. Texas is a prime example. Just heard from a mayor who said they lost more people in March, April and May -- rather, more people in July than those three months combined.

BLACKWELL: Polo Sandoval for us there in New York, thanks so much, Polo.

PHILLIP: Let's bring in Dr. Abdul El-Sayed to talk about this. We heard from him in Polo's report. He's the epidemiologist and public health expert.

So, I mean, let's start where you stopped in that report, on schools. Right now, the CDC has put out those guidelines for schools. They're focused -- their focus seems on the psychological impact on children. But, you know, I wondered about some basic, you know, public health practices, testing, contact tracing.

Did you see a real plan within the CDC guidelines to help schools figure out how they can manage to contain outbreaks if they occur within their schools once they reopen?

EL-SAYED: There's some really good public health recommendations, both around mitigating transmission and also directives about what to do if it happens. But it really does accentuate the point that we're not doing a good job of testing and contact tracing outside of schools and to think that somehow when we still have limitations in our contract-tracing capacities across almost every state in the United States and we're still limited in our testing capacity that somehow schools will figure out how to do this when health departments and the CDC itself has not I think is more wishful than it is realistic.

And, secondarily, the psychological consequences are real. It's true, kids need to be in school. It helps them cognitively. It helps them socially. It helps them emotionally.

But what would happen if we didn't do this right, we didn't bring down transmission in the communities that surround schools and then we had to pull the kids back out of school for the second year in a row? Think about the psychological consequences of that.

And so, we have to have a realistic picture as we walk into this. There's a lot more about what's happening outside of schools than inside of schools. And the psychological consequences are not just limited to the benefits of going to schools.

Of course, we send our kids to school for that reason in the first place. They also include what might happen if we have to pull them out.

PHILLIP: Yeah, yeah, I mean, so much of the country, what's happening outside of schools is this dual reality. You've got places in the southern part of the U.S. dealing with these rising cases and then you've got places like New York where they really have been able to put a hold on this virus. But they're struggling to keep it that way. Over the weekend, they said they're seeing more cases in younger

people, they're stepping enforcement in bars and congregate spaces. A question to you about bars, this is coming up everywhere. Do you feel like we're at a point now where it's not safe to have those kinds of settings open really anywhere in this country if we want to keep this virus in check?

EL-SAYED: Well, the science tells us that this virus makes a field day of spreading in enclosed tight spaces where there are a lot of people and there's not good ventilation. Bars need that. And so, we have to ask the question of do we want bars more or do we want schools more?

Because if this completely, you know, unnecessary, although I understand there's a large part of the economy that's driven by this. But let's be honest. Bars aren't the most necessary part of our society. But if they're driving transmission, when we're making decisions about whether or not we want to send our kids to school and all the things that pattern after that, about what parents can and can't do, who are burdened or unburdened by having to care for their child and help them to get on the Zoom school every day, these are questions and tradeoffs that we have to decide we're going to have to make.

[07:10:03]

And I get it. Folks like to go out and they like to have the freedom of going to the bar and socialize. But as a society, we recognize that we being borne down on by a virus that's been bearing down on us for almost six months now. And we've got to decide what we want more.

And my argument is that we have to ask, are bars necessary? Because if they're necessary, then maybe we should be making the sacrifice to keep them open. But at this point, it's hard for me to fathom that they are necessary when we're asking whether or not we get to send our schools in the fall.

PHILLIP: Yes, I mean, on that point, Florida, that's one of the places we've been talking about. In that state, state officials said they're going to be -- setting up meetings with breweries and bars to discuss ideas for how to reopen. In that state, in Miami-Dade County, they're seeing a 12 percent increase in COVID hospitalizations. They're seeing a 62 percent increase in patients on ventilators.

We only have a few seconds left, Dr. El-Sayed. I mean, is that responsible for the state of Florida right now?

EL-SAYED: I understand that Florida's economy is largely driven by tourism and bars are a big part of that. But, right now, we've got to put the most important things first. And my argument is that this is probably not one of the most important things. That people are getting sick and dying because of this disease.

PHILLIP: Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, thank you so much for being with us as always.

EL-SAYED: Thank you, Abby.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about federal response. Senate Republicans could unveil their plans for the next stimulus package sometime next week.

PHILLIP: The proposal was supposed to happen last week. But Republicans just couldn't agree amongst themselves on a range of issues, including enhanced unemployment payments for unemployed workers.

CNN's Sarah Westwood is over at the White House for us.

Sarah, what are you hearing about how close Republicans really are to an agreement on all of this?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Abby and Victor, the White House and Senate Republicans have been saying for a few days, that they have a fundamental agreement. They're just going over some of the fine print before putting out the language of the bill that they're going to propose. But there are still some holdups, and one of the biggest sticking points there is, as you mentioned, those enhanced unemployment insurance benefits, that extra $600, that Americans who've been out of work have been getting weekly.

That effectively expired last week, although it doesn't officially expire until the 31st. And whether and how to extend is -- has been a point of discussion between White House officials and Senate Republicans. But White House officials are now saying that they don't want to continue with a one-size fits all payment, that they want to move closer to a wage replacement system, up to 70 percent of a person's lost wages.

Take a listen to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on the Hill yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE MNUCHIN, TREASURY SECRETARY: We're not going to use taxpayer money to pay people more to stay home. So, we're going to transition to a UI system. That is based upon wage replacement. We've talked about approximately 70 percent wage replacement and we're just going through the mechanics of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: Now, Senate Republicans had initially hoped to put out this proposal on Thursday. Now, a GOP aide tells CNN that that could come on Monday.

And keep in mind that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to keep to a pretty aggressive timeline here. He wants to get that bill passed through the Senate through the House as soon as two to three weeks from now. That's a pretty heavy lift, because this is just the opening offer from Republicans. Democrats and Republicans are still really far apart on what the eventual stimulus will look like. Democrats want something in the neighborhood of $3 trillions, while

Senate Republicans and White House officials are saying they're looking at something closer to $1 trillion, so really far apart on that when it comes to that enhanced unemployment insurance. Democrats want to extend it into 2021. Obviously, Republicans are talking about scaling back that program a little bit.

So, a lot of work still to be done before Congress gets the relief to the American people, weeks of work ahead. When Senate Republicans and the White House still have differences even just among themselves -- Abby and Victor.

BLACKWELL: Sarah Westwood, thanks so much there at the White House for us.

Several cities across the country saw more violent protests overnight.

PHILLIP: Yes, and at least 45 people in Seattle after police say protesters threw rocks and bottles and fireworks at officers. Others set fire to a portable trailer at a construction site and in Portland, groups like the Wall of Moms and the wall of veterans provided a barrier between protesters and federal agents.

BLACKWELL: Property damage in Oakland, California. Police say protesters knocked over barricades, threw objects at police as well. The glass door at police headquarters was shattered in the demonstration.

And now to Austin, Texas. One person was killed during protests there. Police say that the victim may have been carrying a rifle and approached a suspect vehicle. The suspect was in the vehicle, shot the victim. The investigators say that the suspect is cooperating with the investigation.

[07:15:01]

PHILLIP: And on the passing of congressman -- tributes are pouring in for another death of a true legend. The famed talk show and game host Regis Philbin who died of natural causes just a month shy of his 89th birthday. Philbin hosted numerous TV shows, including "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee" -- with Kathie Lee Gifford and later it was "Live with Regis and Kelly" when his co-host was Kelly Ripa. He was nominated for 37 daytime Emmy awards and won six during his career that span six decades.

BLACKWELL: He certainly will be missed.

Let's turn now to Hurricane Hanna, and hitting parts of Texas. Where it's headed next, we'll talk about that. Also, another hurricane could make landfall in the west very soon. We'll tell you where.

PHILLIP: And today, Congressman John Lewis will retrace the 1965 route of the civil rights marchers from Selma to Montgomery. A fight he never abandoned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. JOHN LEWIS (D-GA): I truly believe that the young people and women will get us there. We're not quite there yet. They will have some difficulties. They will have some setbacks.

But you cannot give up. You cannot give in. You will make it. They will lead us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:34]

BLACKWELL: Memorial service to honor the late Congressman John Lewis will continue today in Alabama. This is in just a few hours. Lewis will make a final journey across the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge.

PHILLIP: CNN's Martin Savidge is in Selma, Alabama.

Martin, we're on day two of six of commemorations for John Lewis. What do we expect to see today?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Abby. Good morning, Victor.

They're calling this the final crossing. It's obvious why. Congressman John Lewis' body will be loaded on a horse-drawn wagon. It will slowly make its way one final time across the Edmund Pettus Bridge this morning.

Yesterday, we talked about how the ceremony, the memorial in his hometown was personal with his family. Today, it is going to be how poignant, because this bridge and Congressman Lewis are forever entwined in history because of the events on Bloody Sunday in March of 1965.

I won't say it made him famous. He was well-known as being the youngest speaker on the march on Washington in 1963. But it did cement him into the conscience of America at a pivotal time of the civil rights movement.

And last night, I had the opportunity after a memorial service here to talk to Martin Luther King III who was, of course, the oldest son of Dr. King and I said he had the good fortune of growing up with John Lewis always around his home and I wondered what John Lewis was like in those candid moments.

Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN LUTHER KING III, HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATE: He was the same way all day every day. There never was a change in his composition and how he chose to relate to others, no matter what your station was in life. That's a phenomenal quality. It wasn't something that was turned on and off. It was who he was. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: It is a phenomenal quality. It was, of course, who he was. In fact, you get that so many times what do they know or remember of John Lewis. They will tell you, he was the real deal. And in today's age, that is quite a remarkable statement to make.

Once the caisson gets to the apex of this bridge, it will pause. There is a lot of reasoning that goes into the pause. You could also look at it from the vantage point of a young John Lewis, cresting that bridge and seeing what lay ahead as far as the state police that were there, there was an angry white mob, the danger that was just in front of all of them and yet, they all went forward.

It will be a remarkable moment as he crosses that bridge one last time. At the base of the bridge, he'll be met by his family and all will continue on to Montgomery where John Lewis will lie in state in the Capitol. It will be a most memorable day -- Abby and Victor.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PHILLIP: It will be a powerful moment. We're going to be bringing it to you on CNN.

Martin Savidge, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Martin.

With me now to talk about John Lewis, civil rights leader Bernard Lafayette. Mr. Lafayette was Lewis' roommate at American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee.

Sir, good morning to you.

BERNARD LAFAYETTE, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: First, just -- you know, you lost Congressman Lewis and C.T. Vivian on the same day.

How are you feeling this weekend?

LAFAYETTE: Well, it's been quite a struggle. And it's beyond my imagination that this could happen, but I've been able to adjust to it. To be very honest with you, I haven't had time to grieve, because I've been approached by the media many times, many different places. But I am very much cognizant of the fact that the experience losses in life and we also experience gains in life. And I feel like I will get over this just like we as a nation and a people will get over this coronavirus.

[07:25:06]

BLACKWELL: Yes, you have so many rich memories. I want to go back to that roommate and some of those Philosophical conversations about how you would approach this nonviolent approach to civil rights protests. Tell me about the man you met then, the man you shared that space with

who eventually became this iconic figure in American and global history.

LAFAYETTE: Well, first of all, I want to describe John Lewis as my brother. Also, he was my -- you might say adviser in that sense, because he was a year ahead of me in school. But we were about the same age. He was only a few months older.

So I had the benefit of having someone who had taken the courses I had taken. So he was very helpful in making sure that I, you know, understood and that kind of thing. So, we (AUDIO GAP) common, that we're both from the South and grew up in a segregated communities and we experienced all kinds of injustices and that sort of thing. So we had a lot to talk about.

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

LAFAYETTE: We were very much young, the same young, had very much committed to the ministry that we're in.

BLACKWELL: I also read that he led you to activism. We talked during the break. I told you that I watched the documentary "Good Trouble". There is a segment here where you frame the lunch counter sit-ins in a way I had not considered.

So, let watch this clip and talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLKP)

LEWIS: It was a moving fear that was within me, that I was sitting there demanding a God-given right. In spite of all of this, I had to keep loving the people who denied me service.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They come in and they sit down, we're not used to them sitting down beside us. I wasn't raised with them, I didn't live with them. I'm not going to start now.

LAFAYETTE: First, we had to change. Since we were no longer going to accept segregated lunch counters, it was over with. We protested because we had changed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: You decided that you weren't going to accept. What we're seeing there is you all trying to desegregate lunch counters. In your mind, you already desegregated them and you went to say that what you were doing was giving them an opportunity to change, too.

LAFAYETTE: Yes. Obviously, it was not something that they were used to because we had segregation laws. In other words, it was within the right of the merchants to refuse us service if we sat down. Now, one of the things that sometimes people don't understand, and that is we were always allowed to go and order food to take out.

We could stand there. Because millions of people who came to order food were sent there by their own, you know, employers to get food. So it was not a problem not being able to eat. It was equal respect by allowing us to sit at the lunch counter and eat.

BLACKWELL: Yes, the equal accommodations there.

I mean, the idea that -- again, to say you had decided, all of you decided that these counters are desegregated and now this is your opportunity to accept it. It really changed how I looked at that period in American history.

Bernard Lafayette, thank you so much for being with us this morning. And our condolences on the loss of your two very close friends on the same day. Thank you so much, sir.

LAFAYETTE: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Abby?

LAFAYETTE: And we're only 100 days away from the presidential election. And this year, there is so much at play from the protest toss mail-in ballots and the current pandemic be. After taking a hit for the pandemic response, will the president's retreat last week turn around the polls for him?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:33:50]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: One hundred days until the 2020 presidential election. This year, the traditional hallmarks of an election year, the big rallies, the conventions, they're going to be very different because, of course, of the coronavirus pandemic.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah. And another thing that is going to be very different about this year is that the pandemic is going to be the single biggest issue in this race.

Joining us now, Julia Manchester, political reporter for "The Hill", Brittany Shepherd, national politics reporter for Yahoo News.

Ladies, thank you both for joining us this morning. Let's start there. I mean, this is really perhaps the most important statistic that we've probably gotten in the last several weeks. A FOX News poll showing 29 percent of voters say COVID is the most important thing that doubles the number who say the economy is the most important thing.

The president, if you take a look at some of these battleground state polls that we've gotten, is really underwater with voters falling behind Joe Biden by double digits in some of these key races -- Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Brittany, is there time for President Trump to turn this around?

[07:35:01]

He was hoping to run on the economy this year. It looks like voters have another idea.

BRITTANY SHEPHERD, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, YAHOO NEWS: Well, Abby, 100 days is a long time. We all know a lot (AUDIO GAP) pandemic, but the Trump campaign and the White House have a tall mountain to climb. Look, we know the Trump campaign is really banking on hitting Joe Biden very early on corruption and Hunter Biden, all the way back to impeachment. That was the cycle surprisingly enough. A challenge we've had, they haven't been able to land a punch, and because they were banking on also running on the economy, so many people are now unemployed, out of jobs, looking for work and unable to get money from the federal government.

And even Donald Trump's most ardent supporters, we're seeing in recent polling, have been less faithful to him and more skeptical that he is going to bank on the kept promises, delivered slogan with the campaign that's kind of been feeding them for the past three, four years.

And so, I think the challenge for Trump and the White House is developing messaging around the campaign that will stick. A big inflexion point for them is suburban voters. Actually, this month in July, they spent $18 million in ads to try to speak to those suburban older white women voters saying that law and order is on the ticket and that Joe Biden believes in defunding the police. We know that could be categorically false.

And so, in recent polling, we're seeing that those voters aren't accepting that pandering anymore, and not accepting that messaging. So, if the White House and President Trump is unable to create a narrative that sticks to November, I think they'll be in a lot of trouble.

BLACKWELL: Julia, you talked about the focus on Florida from the Trump campaign. The latest Quinnipiac poll there has him 13 points behind the former Vice President Joe Biden there. And a little more than a third of respondents in Florida approve of his handling of the pandemic.

The campaign canceled the Jacksonville portion. You know, typically, a convention in a state is supposed to help the candidate. Was potentially the cancellation a way to help the campaign?

JULIA MANCHESTER, REPORTER, THE HILL: Absolutely. You know, I think when President Trump made the calculation to move the convention from Charlotte to Jacksonville, he was thinking not only would he get the convention away from a state with stricter restrictions at the time but he would obviously be in a state that's critical in 2020 in November. However, what we've seen is there's a lot of different approval of not only the president's handling in Florida but also Governor Ron DeSantis' handling of the pandemic.

And we see that Governor DeSantis has tied himself incredibly closely to the president ever since he ran for governor in 2018. So, you're seen their approval ratings plummet in the state and also in terms of the coronavirus cases here, Florida is obviously a hotspot. And it would be a bad look to hold a convention where 7,000 people would gather. So, it was definitely an optics, but this move to move the convention

from Jacksonville or cancel that portion of the convention also coincided with this about face President Trump had this week. He was tweeting out pictures of him wearing a mask, calling it patriotic. He was bringing back those coronavirus task force briefings.

So, this is definitely an about-face for the campaign trying to change the trajectory ahead of November.

PHILLIP: Yes, poll numbers are really very clear what's going on there. But it should probably have been the number of coronavirus deaths that cause those about-faces.

Julia Manchester, Brittany Shepherd, we stay with us. We're going to come back after the break. We want your take on a lot of different issues. We've got a VP pick coming up, federal officers in Portland, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:43:37]

BLACKWELL: Let's back Julia Manchester, a political reporter for "The Hill", and Brittany Shepherd, national politics reporter for Yahoo News.

Brittany, let me start with you. A lot has changed in the country since Bernie Sanders ended his campaign with 3 1/2 months ago. We're about three weeks out until the Democratic convention. There's got to be a VP pick between now and then.

What does the campaign believe now that they have to accomplish, that they have to solve with the pick for the potential vice president?

SHEPHERD: Well, I think the Biden campaign has been straightforward. It's how do they unify the country and how do they strike their -- creating the soul of a nation. Joe Biden has said constantly both in public and in private during fundraisers that the character of the country is on the ballot. So, if they can get somebody who is not divisive looking into August and beyond the ticket in November. If they can look for someone who can speak to the cultural and economic issues currently.

We're not just dealing with a pandemic virus. We're also dealing with racial reckoning pandemic, not just from policing, but ordinary everyday conversations, and the Biden campaign is trying to both grapple with that in messaging, in campaigning and in policies.

So, having a vice president who can speak to those cultural issues are really important, because Joe Biden is an old person.

[07:45:02]

Not to say that old people can't be in these young conversations, but it's all about coalition building in an effective way. So, those two things are very important, and, of course, somebody who appeases Democrats writ large, you know, the Biden campaign is really banking on siphoning voters off of the Trump apparatus. We talked about that before the break.

So, being able to pick someone who is not going to alienate those Trump voters, also not going to alienate those Bernie Sanders supporters, you know, someone who's able to speak to relevant issues about climate change in a real way.

And, you know, that's a really tall order. We've heard so many names being thrown out in the last couple of weeks. And, you know, it's going to be down to the wire to figure out who is going to be a perfect fit. I think those are the checklist items we'll be looking at.

PHILLIP: Yes, and we're -- you said down to the wire. Actually, I would say probably four years ago right now, we already had a vice presidential pick for the Democrats.

Meanwhile, on the Republican side, President Trump is running on law and order. And what we've been covering on the streets of Portland and in major American cities, with federal officers on the ground there, it has become part of his reelection strategy, part of this pitch to suburban women, Julia. Where do you think this message is going?

On the one hand, you've got this law and order message, perhaps trying to scare suburban women, but on the other hand, if you look at the people, some of the women who Vice President Biden is considering picking as a VP, you've got several people with law and order credentials, Val Demings, Kamala Harris, you even have a mayor on that list, Keisha Lance Bottoms.

So, the balance of these two things, Julia, where do you think this leads us? Will suburban women go for the Trump message in this era?

MANCHESTER: Well, that's what we're really watching and polling shows us a mixed message right now. Polling of defunding the police and what's happening right now in terms of this racial reckoning we're seeing across the country shows what a majority of Americans strongly believe there needs to be a change when it comes to race relations and policing. However, they're less likely to embrace this idea of defunding the police as a whole.

So, we're seeing right now, Republicans and president Trump embrace that part of the polling that says they are unsure about defunding the police. You know, President Trump launched a $40 million ad buy here in Florida recently. And part of that ad buy is this one advertisement that shows someone calling 911 and they get this message saying that, due to defunding the police under Vice President Biden, they're unable to send an emergency throughout there to solve the issue.

So, you know, President Trump is very much capitalizing on that. However, I will say that that may rile up his base, but he definitely risks turning off the suburban women voters that have been tracking more and more towards Democrats over the past eight to ten years or so.

BLACKWELL: All right. Julia Manchester, Brittany Shepherd, appreciate the conversation. Enjoy the week.

MANCHESTER: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right. Hurricane Hanna made landfall in Texas. And some areas it hit already hit hard by coronavirus. We'll bring you live updates from the weather center.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:52:50]

BLACKWELL: Hanna, first Atlantic hurricane of the season, slammed into Texas yesterday. It since has been downgraded to a tropical storm.

PHILLIP: CNN's Allison Chinchar is in the CNN weather center following that and other severe weather threats here in the United States.

Allison, what are you seeing down there?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, I think, Abby, the key thing is even though it weakened a little bit, it's not done yet. We still have plenty of rain to go. You can see a lot of these outer bands on the radar still pushing in not only to Texas, but also into portions of Louisiana. So, keep that in mind.

The problem is we already had a tremendous amount of rain. Some spots picked up over a foot of rain. Widespread amounts 4 to 6, but still an additional 2 to 4 inches expected on top of what we already had. You also have had very strong wind gusts, Port Mansfield wind gust of 87 miles per hour yesterday. So, you have about 250,000 people across the state of Texas that are without power.

And it may be a little slow going to get that power restored, especially given we do still have more storms in the forecast for today. They will continue not only through this morning, but also into the afternoon.

But by tonight, that system finally does push down fully into Mexico. And until then, water spouts, isolated tornadoes will also be possible with some of those outer bands.

We're also keeping an eye on our other storm we're watching, this is Hurricane Douglas, making its way towards Hawaii right now. The target point at this point does look like best chance for landfall will be on the island of Oahu. It's going to skirt along the northern edge of that island, perhaps making landfall as a category 1 hurricane.

The main concerns with this particular storm are going to be surge, some very big rip currents and, again, even potentially some pretty heavy rainfall at times, especially for some of those northern islands there. Places like Maui, Oahu, and even Kawhi.

And, again, it's not the only thing, we're also keeping an eye on this potential system right here as 90 percent chance, Victor and Abby, of developing into a tropical system in just the next five days. And when you look at the long-term of where this storm might go, notice it does anticipate taking it towards the Caribbean. So, certainly, something we will have to keep a close eye on over the next couple of days.

[07:55:01]

PHILLIP: Yeah, we'll keep an eye on that, and all those other systems off the coast. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much.

And thank you all for starting your Sunday morning with us.

BLACKWELL: "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.