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W.H.O. Says World Sees Highest Reported Number of New Cases; U.S. CDC Says Most States Fail to Fully Report COVID-19; Study: Lockdown Measures Prevented Up to 60 Million Cases in U.S.; Moscow Takes First Step to Full Reopening this Month; Police in California Called on Man for Dancing; Caught on Camera a Police Chase Ends in Death of Black Man; U.S. Prosecutors Seek Interview with Britain's Prince Andrew about Jeffrey Epstein. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired June 9, 2020 - 04:30   ET

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


[04:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: The World Health Organization says globally we have just had the highest number of reported new cases of COVID-19 in a single day, more than 130,000. Overall there have been more than 7 million to date and more than 400,000 people have been killed by the disease.

In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned the full picture is unclear because most states failed to follow federal guidelines asking to report probable cases as well. What we are seeing is more easing of restrictions. Erica Hill reports from New York City which began reopening on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL DE BLASIO (D), MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY, NY: This is a triumphant moment for New Yorkers, who fought back against this disease. This was the epicenter.

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New York City marks a major milestone, phase one of reopening.

Construction can resume at more than 30,000 sites. There's curbside pickup for retail.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it's fantastic.

HILL: Some 400,000 people expected to be back on the job, many commuting by train or bus, subway riders reminded to wear a mask and try to keep their distance. The city also says it will conduct 35,000 tests a day. Overall, New York state and much of the Northeast trending down when it comes to new cases over the past week.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): New Yorkers bent the curve by being smart.

HILL: The death toll is slowing across the country. Yet, in a dozen states, deep red on the map, there is a sharp increase. Overall, new cases are up in 22 states, including Florida, which added more than 1,000 cases a day for five straight days last week, Arizona, California, Texas and Michigan also on the rise. While testing is up, so is the number of people who are out. The TSA screened more than 400,000 people on Friday and Saturday, the most in nearly 3 months.

DR. RYAN STANTON, EMERGENCY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN: Where we've seen areas that have significantly increased have been areas that either, one, are very popular for a lot of people to flock to, or areas that opened up very early.

HILL: The CDC warning, large gatherings, including protests, could put people at risk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For me, the moment that I chose to protest, I was willing to die for this.

[04:35:00]

HILL: Officials urging protesters to get tested. A third of the new cases in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, announced on Saturday were traced to one person who attended several beach house gatherings on the New Jersey Shore.

And at least six colleges, including Texas Tech and Auburn, reporting athletes who returned to campus have tested positive. Many were asymptomatic.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: How many COVID cases will we except to have our college football this fall?

HILL: Tough questions, as Americans decide what they're willing to risk for a return to normal.

(on camera): A new modeling study published Monday in the journal "Nature," found that as many as 60 million infections may have been averted here in the United States because of different shutdown measures that were put into place. The lead author of that study noted the individual sacrifices that people have made across the country, the impact that it had. Saying it's one of the greatest gifts that have been given to humanity. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Another study that looked at emergency health measures taken by the U.S. and five other countries, shows they helped slow new infections substantially. Researchers at UC Berkeley found that travel restrictions, business and school closures, shelter in place orders and other protocols prevented an estimated, get this, 530 million COVID-19 infections, which they say would have resulted in about 60 million confirmed cases. The study looked at policies in China, South Korea, Italy, Iran, France and the U.S. implemented between January to April 6. Their research shows during that period policies in the six countries had a huge impact averting between 37 million confirmed cases in China to 4.8 million in the U.S. And in the U.K. the government is expected to release data showing the

death toll exceeding 50,000. That makes it the second worst hit country in the world after the U.S. As it stands Britain has recorded almost 290,000 confirmed infections. That's according to Johns Hopkins University.

To Russia now. In the capitol Moscow, it is the first day of restrictions being eased. The mayor says its stage one of three leading to a full reopening by the end of the month. The Russian capitol reported 2,000 new cases of coronavirus on Monday.

For more on this, our Matthew Chance. He's normally based in Moscow but he's following this story for us now from London. What do we know about how Russia is going about this -- Matthew?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean yesterday announced, Natalie, that it was going to be lifting some of these very tough and often very unpopular restrictions that it imposed in the Russian capital, which has been the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Russia. It's going to drop the whole idea of trying to electronically monitor people as they sort of go about their sort of business in the city. It's stopping doing all that. It's going to gradually reopen some more kinds of businesses like barbershops, confectionery, surgeons and things like that -- surgeries and things like that. And it's going to gradually sort of lift the restrictions -- in fact, it's already doing this. Lifting the border restrictions to allow Russians to travel a bit more freely. And even to allow some foreigners in some circumstances. For instance, those looking for medical treatment to go into Russia.

Now it's doing this unlike other countries at a time when it's sort of number of new infections of coronavirus isn't dropping dramatically but is actually staying quite stubbornly high. We just in the past few minutes had the latest 24-hour figures for Russia coronavirus infections and it's still eight and have thousand new infections in the past 24 hours. It's brought to nearly half a million, the number of people nationwide that have been infected with this virus.

Now what the Russian authorities say is that this is the start of their victory. They're declaring victory against the virus. But you know, critics are saying this is more politically motivated perhaps to bolster public support ahead of a vote, a constitutional vote that's going to be held on July 1st -- Natalie.

ALLEN: All right, Matthew Chance for us in London. Matthew, thanks.

As the world mourns the loss of George Floyd, newly released video shows a police chase ending in the death of a black man in Texas. We'll have that next.

[04:40:00]

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ALLEN: Police in northern California say they received a call from a woman who said, quote, an African-American man is dancing in the street and clearly something is wrong with him, end quote. Well, this newly released body cam footage captured the interaction that followed between a white officer and the black man who had admitted to dancing. Listen to part of the exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POLICE OFFICER: Listen, at this point you're detained. Do you understand?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure.

POLICE OFFICER: Don't reach for anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My key for my car.

POLICE OFFICER: May I?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no. What?

POLICE OFFICER: Listen, I'm trying to be clear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

POLICE OFFICER: You're dancing in the street.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what? I'm dancing in the street.

POLICE OFFICER: Yes. Hold on. You're not free to go. You're not free to go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why are you touching me.

POLICE OFFICER: Stand over here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get your hands off of me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: You are seeing that correctly. A black man was detained. He was later thrown to the ground, handcuffed and arrested after allegedly dancing in the street.

A reminder of the social context here. This is obviously a time of heightened scrutiny about police activity but it also comes weeks after a white woman called police in New York Central Park claiming to be threatened by an African-American man who had asked her to leash her dog. He was a birdwatcher there and was very popular for birdwatching. Outrage over that woman's decision to call the police led to her losing her job.

Now we go to Austin, Texas, where officials have released a video that sheds light on a police chase that ended in the death of a black man. This incident happened more than one year ago. The video captures the moment deputies stop their vehicles and confronted 40-year-old Javier Ambler. During the arrest Ambler, seen here in this photo, is heard saying multiple times that he can't breathe before he died. CNN's Ed Lavandera has more on this story and we warn you, the video of disturbing.

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ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On March 28, 2019, Williamson County Sheriff's deputies are pursuing 40-year-old Javier Ambler just after one in the morning. According to a sheriff's department incident report, Ambler failed to dim his car's headlights as he drove past a deputy.

[04:45:05]

The report says Ambler tried to flee leading officers on a 22-minute pursuit that ended up in the city of Austin. The incident report says Ambler crashed his car five times during the pursuit and that's where the officers body camera footage captures how the arrest turned deadly.

OFFICER: I need double cuffs.

AMBLER: I have congestive heart failure. I have congestive heart failure!

According to the documents obtained by CNN, Ambler exited his car with his hands up, he was not intoxicated and unarmed. Officers tried to handcuff Ambler but say he resisted and push back on the officers as he refused to follow the verbal commands. But the body camera footage captures Ambler in distress.

AMBLER: Sir, I can't breathe.

OFFICER: Flat on your stomach.

AMBLER: I can't breathe.

OFFICER: Flat on your stomach.

LAVANDERA: Multiple times on the video, Ambler is heard saying he can't breathe and that he's not resisting.

AMBLER: I can't breathe.

OFFICER: Stop resisting.

AMBLER: Sir.

Officer: You need to comply.

AMBLER: I'm not resisting.

OFFICER: Stop resisting.

LAVANDERA: Several minutes into the arrest officers realize Ambler is unresponsive.

OFFICER: Set up man. Hey, wake up. Come on. LAVANDERA: You can no longer hear him talking on the video. Officers then unhandcuff Ambler and can be heard administering CPR compressions until medical units arrive on the scene.

(on camera): According to documents filed with the state's Attorney General's office, Williamson County investigators ruled that Javier Ambler's death was a, quote, justifiable homicide and that the deputies acted in accordance and followed the guidelines of the department and used reasonable force the night they tried to arrest Javier Ambler.

We have reached out to the Williamson County sheriff's department but have not heard back. The district attorney in Austin, Texas, says she hopes to present this case for possible criminal charges to a grand jury. But that might not be able to happen until at least July or August.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Houston, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: And still to come here, the search for lessons and comfort after George Floyd's death by police.

[04:50:00]

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ALLEN: A source tells CNN that U.S. prosecutors have requested an interview with Britain's Prince Andrew about his friendship with the late sex offender and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The Prince says he has offered to help. But if help is wanted and help is been offered, why has there not been any progress. Our Max Foster looked into it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Our source tells us that U.S. federal prosecutors have requested cooperation from the U.K. government in their ongoing investigation into Epstein's alleged crimes and his associates. Now the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York wouldn't confirm or provide any more detail on that. But Prince Andrew's lawyers have come back to us saying that any pursuit of an application for mutual legal assistance would be disappointing. They said in a statement that the Justice Department had told them the Duke is not and never has been a target of their criminal investigations into Epstein and that Prince Andrew has on at least three occasions this year offered his assistance as a witness.

Prince Andrew's team criticized what they described as a breach of confidentiality and they suggested this was more about publicity for the Department of Justice. Epstein died in August 2019 whilst awaiting trial on federal charges that he abused underaged girls and that he ran a sex trafficking ring. Prosecutors have continued to pursue investigating of people who they believe helped Epstein carry out his alleged crimes. Prince Andrew is under pressure to answer questions about his

relationship with Epstein but also specifically about allegations made by one of Epstein's accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Now she alleges that she was forced into sexual encounters with the Prince while she was underage. In a 2015 federal court filing Giuffre alleged that Epstein forced her to perform sex acts with several prominent men, including Prince Andrew in 2001. All of the men have denied the allegations.

Now in November, the BBC interviewed Prince Andrew. And he denied ever meeting Giuffre. But later he did add that he was willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations if requires. Prince Andrew's team though provided zero cooperation, according to U.S. attorney Jeffrey Berman in Manhattan in January. And then two months later Berman added that Prince Andrew had completely shut the door on voluntarily cooperating. But Prince Andrew's team on Monday refuted that. They said that these statements were inaccurate and they never should have been made.

Max Foster, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: And we have this from the Koreas. A phone call with international implications. South Korea Defense Ministry says North Korea hasn't answered the military hotline for the first time since 2018. The silence follows a threat to cut ties that was first reported by the North's state news agencies. This has happened five times before since the hotline was introduced back in 1971.

While the world reacts to the death of George Floyd, residents in Minneapolis are finding comfort and strength in one another.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're right here by the job I used to work in on Lake and Union. Auto zone. No zone now. This is called the no zone.

SARA SIDNER. CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just across the street the Auto Zone is on fire so you can really see it's starting to billow.

[04:55:00]

MO ARDEN, MINNEAPOLIS RESIDENT: I knew my city was about to take it to another level. Like I just knew it was going to erupt. I've got a new attitude too. You know, my attitude is I'm not with the actions, I'm not with none of that, I'm only about growth and development from here on out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Congratulations.

JAMONTE FRANKLIN, NEW HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE: Thank you. Thank you so much. I went to Simley High School and I believe this cap on represents as a black man that I could do anything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that right. That's my niece. FRANKLIN: My mother has always taught me to always believe in myself

and always trust myself and my family.

TIWANDA FRANKLIN, JAMONTE'S MOTHER: Just to be able to bring him here and just and just to see this, it was you know, an honor for me and I made sure that he wore his cap. Because I wanted to show him how proud I am of him and just let him know that his community is following him. And this is what it's all about is the community coming together and being as one.

J. FRANKLIN: Tragic what happened to George Floyd but I believe my future is very bright and I can make a name for myself. And I'll stand up for injustice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's in the future? What are you doing next here?

J. FRANKLIN: Playing football, study exercise science.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good for you.

ARDEN: I'm proud of Minneapolis, Minnesota. You know this can be rebuilt but you can't bring the soul back, you know, and a soul is so precious.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Friends and family are having a final private memorial service for George Floyd and then he will be buried in his home state of Texas. His funeral at noon Eastern.

Thank you for joining me. I'm Natalie Allen. "EARLY START" is next here.

END