can attack anywhere. get fast relief here with primatene mist. available over the counter for mild ashtma. primatene mist. breathe easy again. and good evening. a lot to get to tonight from hopeful news on vaccines with all the appropriate notes of caution that are going to come with it to everything on the president's mind, it seems, except the pandemic. and even when he was talking about the pandemic, the one that, today, recorded the single-most cases in a 24-hour period around the world, according to w.h.o. the one which has now taken more than 93,000 lives in this country alone. threatening governors in a way he thinks will help his re-election. we will talk about that tonight because it's a strange thing to be obsessing over in the middle

of a pandemic, as is sidelining the nation's top health experts. at the very moment, all 50 states are lifting outbreak-related striksz restrictions in one form or another. dr. anthony fauci did not. dr. deborah birx did not. cdc director robert redfield, they did not either. or he did not either. according to a senior administration official, informal conversations have been taking about, quote, what to do, unquote, about dr. redfield. another source telling cnn he's worried he might have a target on his back, and that senior official tells us the director's fear is not unfounded. late today, the president -- >> yeah. i do. i do. it's fake news, kaitlan. fake news. therefore, you can report it on cnn. it's perfect for cnn. >> well, the president has of course said similar things about people that he then goes on to fire. but regardless whether dr. redfield's job is safe or not,

neither he, nor his public health experts, are front and center at such a significant moment. the last coronavirus task force briefing was on the 27th of april. that's 23 days ago. remember those briefings before the president hijacked them? they actually had a lot of good, scientific value. scientific information, given by dr. fauci and dr. redfield and dr. birx. so, now, the governors, mayors, although dr. redfield didn't really show up much of those briefings. wasn't really welcome, it seems, to present as much back then. mayors, school superintendents, and the public at large are instead hearing primarily from a man taking the drug his own fda warned against taking. the man who suggested doing experiments injecting fellow citizens with disinfectant. now, if it counts for anything, the cdc's long-awaited reopening guidelines, they have come out with very little fanfare. they were posted at the very latest last night but no one knew to look for them until the cdc sent e-mail about it this

morning. and of course this is after all 50 states have reopened, in one form or another. just to be clear, a good number of these states do not meet the cdc's guidelines of two weeks of declining cases for reopening at all. those were the white house guidelines as well. according to data from johns hopkins university, 18 states, new cases are twending upward. 15 states, the cases are steady. and, in 17, they are trending down. new polling suggest the public is concerned. and his repeated claim this is what the country wants to do. take a look. new polling from quinnipiac, 50% of republicans saying they would prefer a slow reopening even if it means worsening economy over the opposite. new polling is even more specific. it shows 83% of americans either somewhat or very concerned at lifting restrictions in their area will lead to new infections, and 53% saying they're very or extremely concerned such steps will cause a spike in cases. but now that this all appears to

be well underway, guidelines or not, the question is will people stick to the guidelines and what they, themselves, can do to keep others safe, such as this from the cdc's own tips for social distancing and i'm quoting now. cover your mouth and nose with a cloth face covering, including when you have to go out in public, for example, to the grocery store. they continue, keep at least six feet between yourselves -- your and others, even when you wear a face covering. the president, as you know, says he doesn't see himself wearing a mask in the white house, even though his staff is now required to. as for the vice president, today, he was batting about 500. he wore a mask at an event in florida, at which he was actual actually delivering masks. however, ats a restaurant later as for social distancing, not so much there. doctors fauci, birx, and redfield do wear masks in public, at least they were the last time we got a glichlgs mps them. cnn's nick watt joins us from los angeles. so what are we learning about some of the changes that are in store?

>> well, anderson, here, in los angeles, today, the big change was car washes were allowed to reopen. and we've been here all day watching these guys wearing masks. trying to social distance, as they're washing and disinfecting people's cars. the governor of california says los angeles, 10 million people, probably a few weeks behind some of the other counties in this state. that are moving a little faster. like, orange county, which interestingly, about a couple of weeks ago, we saw big protests down there against lockdown. and, today, orange county reported its most deaths, its most new cases, since all of this began. but that is really going to be the reality across the country. we're going to be playing a game of cat and mouse, a game of stop and go, with this virus, for some time to come. >> retail reopens in miami beach today, but not the beaches or the hundreds of bars and restaurants.

not yet. >> this is to see how we do. we're -- we're a crowd-based city, so we want to make sure we don't draw too large a crowd. >> in new york city, they're now installing ultraviolet lamps on buses and trains that flash and kill the virus, during overnight cleaning to keep cramped commuters safe. and, starting tomorrow, in certain parts of the state, religious gatherings allowed, but ten people, max. >> as a former altar boy, i get it. >> and there's a renewed public education push. >> you drive through some of these communities, and you can see that social distancing isn't happening. ppe is not being used. and, hence, the virus spreads. >> as of this morning, when connecticut got rolling, all 50 states have, now, started reopening. yet, in at least 18, including kentucky, new case counts are going up. but the way we're reopening gives us the type of gradual and

safe reopening where we can do it, while watching the data, at the same time. >> boston now targeting june 1 to start. but taking more time than the rest of massachusetts before opening up, say, office space. >> for example, making sure that, when people go into buildings, they get temperature checked. they get asked some questions. some basic questions. making sure proper protocol in place for tracing. >> july 4th, still six-plus weeks away, is now the goal to have most businesses back open for the 10 million who live here, in los angeles county. maybe even movie production. >> the longer production remains shut down, the more industry jobs are in jeopardy of being cut. >> and, tonight, new concerns about the accuracy of the number of covid cases in florida and georgia. two states that were among the first to reopen. in florida, an official was removed from the team that publishes the number of cases and deaths online. and, in georgia's online report, an error and a confusing graph brought criticism the governor

claims the data was accurate, but arranged differently than people expected. >> and, nick, there's some good news out of california, where you are. >> yeah, there is. the state of california had rented a couple of entire hospital buildings, and they've just announced that, next month, they are going to close those down. they say that they flattened the curve and dealt with the initial, smaller surge in hospitalizations. but, they are going to keep a couple of other facilities, they say, on what they're calling warm shutdown status, just in case, anderson, the virus comes back and comes back hard. back to you. >> nick watt, appreciate it. thank you. joining us now cnn medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. also, former governor of kansas and secretary of health and human services during the obama administration. secretary, reporting the cdc director robert redfield may be

on thin ice. the president says not the case. is this really the right moment for tensions between the white house and the -- and the director of the cdc? it seemed like there were some tensions between him and dr. birx, as well. >> well, it's a terrible time for tension with the cdc, who are the gold standard epidemiologists, not just in this country but around the world. every country wants to have a cdc-like entity. they are the folks who track and trace, who tell us about the disease, who can help state and local officials monitor what's going on. and who, luckily, the guidance has been freed. i was pleased that the guidance, that is detailed and, industry by industry, area by area, has finally been released. not really publicized but it's out there. and so local officials can get their hands on it, and try and figure out what the national plan is.

the problem is, anderson, as you have alluded to and sanjay knows well. without support -- i mean, the president, ideally, would have touted the fact that cdc guidance is available. would be urging all governors in the country to follow the guidance. would be suggesting that we use this as a measurement for employers and schools and others to be safe and secure. and just the opposite is happening. the guidance is put out, kind of in the dead of night. we're not sure -- we didn't even hear from the cdc director. we're told he's on thin ice. it's very, very confusing. i'm joined with 19 other health officials today in putting together a piece on open safely, which actually suggests we follow the guidance. we follow what dr. birx has suggested. we follow what the white house has put out. but i'm really worried about the fact that we're getting a very different message out of this administration than we should be

getting. >> yeah. i mean, sanjay, the -- the guidance that the white house, you know, several weeks ago, put out about how to reopen, the three stages. i mean, that just seems to be kind of tossed out the window. for all -- i know, we asked dr. birx about that the last time we were able to talk to her, which was a couple weeks ago at a town hall. and, you know, she seemed to be indicating that, no, no, no, that's still, you know, the gold standard. but it's not being listened to, and not even by the white house or by the vice president, who is eating in a restaurant, you know, with the florida governor. >> right. i mean, you know, if -- so, if you look at the -- first of all, the gating criteria for states to reopen. it's pretty clear. i mean, 14-day downward trend. have testing in place. make sure you can find people. isolate them quickly so you don't -- we're going to have more people get infected as you start to open up. it's a question of making sure it doesn't go into spoe texpone growth so having those things in place helps with that. but you're right. i mean, the basic standards of

wearing a mask because you may have the virus, behaving like you have the virus so you don't spread it to other people, it's -- it's still shocking to see those images because people are not practicing physical distancing. they're not wearing a mask. i realize that there are people who get tested on a regular basis. but they could still be harboring the virus because, you know, you may be negative one day. you could be positive the next day. the tests do have a false-negative rate. there is all these things that people know about, so you do your best to be safe. that's the guidance. we're still in the middle of it. do everything you can to -- to not get people around you sick. it's ban it's basic, basic guidance. and, yet, you know, we're not seeing it sort of demonstrated by people who should be doing that, which is really frustrating because i think a lot of public health officials see those scenes. and you can't see the virus. but they see it in their mind. they see it moving around. they see a contagious virus potentially jumping from one person to the next and that's what we are trying to avoid. the guidance is out there now.

people should pay attention to it. >> go ahead. >> well, i was just going to say one of the -- if you read any of the documents about how to deal with difficult health situation with a pandemic, communication is one of the factors. it's not just testing. it's not just tracing. it's not isolation, social distancing. communication. a clear, concise, direct, consistent communication. we don't have any of that. so, yes, we have guidance. we have leaders who are defying the guidance in their personal modeling. and we have very different messages coming from state and local leaders. it leaves the public, really, kind of on their own to figure this out. >> secretary, i appreciate your time. sanjay, going to stick around. we're going to have more with him coming up. coming up next. some positive news on several potential coronavirus vaccines. but also, why caution is called

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like helping you understand what the recently passed economic package can mean for you. we're more than a financial company. we're a "together we can get through anything" company. now, more than ever. just a couple days after promising news on a vaccine being developed by a company called moderna raised hopes, not

to mention price of shares on wall street. there are two more announcements. one from innovia and the other from johnson & johnson. just as before, there is also reason for caution. cnn correspondent elizabeth cohen joins us. so what are you learning with these early results on the vaccine trials? >> anderson, i'm glad you used the word early. we could also use the word incremental. this is a marathon, not a sprint. there are lots of little steps along the way in these clinical trials that we usually don't pay attention to. but, because this is the pandemic, we are. so let's talk about johnson & johnson found. this was, i'm told by outside experts, a very well-done study. they took 25 macaques, and then they challenged them with the virus. they actually gave these monkeys the virus and they found they had developed antibodies from the vaccination, neutralizing antibodies from the vaccination and that, when they were challenged, they had very low viral loads, compared to monkeys who had not been vaccinated. matter of fact, for eight of them, they couldn't find any

virus, at all. so that is definitely a step in the right direction. that's what you want to see before you move onto human studies. innovio did something sort of similar but with guinea pigs and mice, they found when they were vaccinated, developed these all-important neutralizing antibodies. antibodies that prevent it from infecting human cells. anderson. >> and what are the big differences in testing mice and guinea pigs versus monkeys? >> you know, it's interesting because i think we've all been sort of trained to think monkeys are the way to go because they're the most like us. but, what several experts have told me, these are folks who have done vaccine trials themselves, they say that, really, it depends on the virus. that there's no need to have monkeys. you can use them sometimes. sometimes you're actually better off with a mouse or a hamster. you're looking for the animal that best mimics what happens to an adult. so i'm told, for covid, monkeys are fine. but other animals are fine, too. >> we should also just point out just because something may show results in an animal doesn't,

necessarily, mean it shows results in a human. can you lay out how many vaccine trials are actually being done right now? >> right. so let's look at all of them because that will show you that most of these will not work. so right now, according to the world health organization, there are eight vaccine developers in human clinical trials. actually, doing work in humans. innovio, the one we just mentioned, is one of them so that's eight. four in china. three in the u.s. one in england. and 110 are sort of on their way, or they hope they're on their way, to doing human clinical trials. we are not going to have 118 vaccines. vaccines are notoriously difficult. many, many start. few finish. these are very difficult clinical trials to run. most of these will fail. and i should say, and i certainly hope this isn't true, it is possible all of these will fail. we don't have a vaccine against hiv, despite several decades of trying. it is possible we might not have a vaccine against covid, either. >> elizabeth cohen, thanks very much and again just want to

point out animals even though they're primates, people are another. which is just one reason we're glad to have the perspective of director of the university of minnesota's center for infectious disease research and policy and with dr. sanjay gupta as well. sanjay, these trials that start on animals, as i said, they don't always translate into humans. so this news, again, should be taken with caution. >> right. absolutely. i mean, you know, were we not in the middle of a pandemic, i don't think we would be talking about this, at all. i mean, you know, i think it's one of these situations where i think people are looking for anything to hang on to. any glimmers of hope. and i guess i understand that, at some point. but we got to give a lot of caution like elizabeth was giving there because a lot of them won't translate into humans out of these 108 or whatever number of vaccine trials. most of them won't even progress onto the later phases. so we're hoping that they do. i will say that the -- you know, the moderna -- i wonder if dr. osterholm agrees with us but the

moderna vaccine trial, even though it's very early, they have eight patients who showed evidence of these antibodies. we have not had a vaccine like this before so it's a whole new way of thinking about things. there is a lot of innovation happening in medicine right now. again, we all hope that it works. there is no guarantee that it does. but some of the innovation, i think, is pretty fascinating and worth highlighting, anderson. >> yeah. yeah. michael, i mean, health and human services secretary alex azar was on the call with the president, governors, today and said that is a, quote, credible goal, his term, but not a guarantee. what do you make of that? >> well, i think you have two issues to deal with. and i think sanjay and elizabeth said it very well. we're really in the very earliest days of this vaccine world. i kind of liken it to being at churchill downs and the horses just cleared the gates and people want us to declare the winner. we have got a long ways to go to get to a finished vaccine. so we can make vaccines now, based on the products that are in research. but there is no guarantee that that'll be the product that

might make it, if any do at all. so i think the caution you are hearing tonight, on this show, is optimistic caution. we all want a vaccine. we hope we have a vaccine. but the only fair way to report this is, in fact, there is still a lot of hurdles to go before we're going to have a successful vaccine. >> yeah. i mean, sanjay, they are still very early, as dr. osterholm was saying. they're still very early in the stages here, of these trials. >> uh-huh. yeah. i mean, you know, so this -- this vaccine that we're just talking about, the mergessengera vaccine from moderna which is basically a blueprint of part of the virus. you give that to somebody and the body starts making this blueprint of the virus over and over again and generates antibodies to that. hope that makes sense to people. it is really fascinating but they have moved along pretty quickly. so they're in phase-two trials, essentially, now. to get into phase-two trials can often take years, not months. so they are moving along fairly,

fairly quickly. but, yes, there's still a long way to go. there is no guarantee that it will work, in larger percentages, larger percentage of the population. people who are vulnerable. elderly people, people with pre-existing conditions, they may respond differently. even if it does work, you may need a booster shot as well, which would then extend the timeline even further. and then you got to manufacture it. you got to distribute it. that one requires to be distributed at a particular temperature. that can be a challenge. you know, as you distribute it around the world. so there's lots of consideration. some of them, they're working on already, anderson. but this -- we're very much at the beginning, though. >> michael, i want to talk about this report that you and your colleagues put out today. calling for, what you call, smart testing. can you just explain what an effective testing blueprint looks like? because a lot of people have been talking, you know, focusing on testing, testing, testing. you say it should be smart testing. what does that mean? >> first of all, we all agree testing is a very important part

in responding to the covid pandemic so there is no question about that. but we've had so many people who have just said we have to do millions of toast squs millions of tests and millions of tests, without any understanding of what they are asking for or asking about. and what we're saying is that you have to understand that a test is not just a single thing that happens. you have to be testing the right population. why are you testing these people? today, if i tested any citizen in the state of minnesota for antibody, i'd probably find over half of them that have it are false positive antibodies. meaning that they don't really have it. if i'm testing certain groups that i need to have absolute certainty that i've screened out for the virus, like we just saw at the white house two weeks ago. we know that test didn't do that at all. those are not examples of smart testing. so you want the right test for the right person, at the right time, with the right result. let me give you an example on right result. we find, right now, that many people who go to these auxiliary clinics or drive-by clinics are getting incomplete information.

we can't even get back to them with the data about what the result was or to health departments to have any tracking information. so this has got to be part of a system. much more than just, if we're testing for 8,000 people today, we made it. it's like the dow jones average. we need to do smart testing, to test those who need it, and get the results back to them, and make a difference. >> well, it's pretty alarming, michael, that even in the white house, the testing they're doing, you're saying that's not smart testing. >> that was not smart testing at all. i mean, trying to use that test, as it was used, to protect the president of the united states is like giving squirt guns to the secret service, and saying protect the president. that was just not an effective use of that test because there were, clearly, examples where we could have false negatives. many of them. and so, again, testing is important. but you got to use the right test, and how you use it. and we've got to make sure that we got what we need for reagents. for example, many people are not aware of the fact that we're running these testing machines 24/7 right now, around the world. these machines were never made for that.

if you need spare parts today in the united states for these machines that are now running like that, they come from asia or europe. we just haven't thought about all the things that it takes to keep a testing system in place. and so that's what we are trying to come back to and say i -- i don't want to hear another governor say everybody go get tested. that is a wrong use of this test. what we are trying to do is use it where we're going to have the most impact in trying to stop the pandemic. where we're going to know what's going on in our kmucommunities are using it in outbreak situations like these hotspots so that we're effectively controlling them. that's different than mindless. just go get tested. >> michael, really fascinating report put out. appreciate it. sanjay, as well. want to apologize, also, for coughing twice. it's -- i have no symptoms. it's asthma, i get around this time of year. coming up next, what's on the president's mind until tin the of this pandemic that has nothing to do with the pandemic? we'll explain, ahead.

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well, today seeing the largest single-day increase in global cases of coronavirus with more than 93,000 americans now having lost their lives, and states reopening with new cases still rising. and a majority of americans, from both parties, saying they'd prefer going slow. you would think that the president would be concerned about this and this, alone. you might think he would feel the weight of the responsibility he has for 350 million americans' lives. or, then, you might look at his twitter feed. quoting now. crazy bernie sanders is not a fighter. he gives up too easy. mayor pete and amy klobuchar to quit and endorse sleepy joe

before tuesday and gets pocahontas to stay in the race. now, if you are counting, that's three schoolyard names, one ethnic slur, all in a single tweet. twofer, maybe even a threefer. how about that journey forewoman? does anybody think that was fair? disgraceful. and guys like joe scarborough are allowed to walk the streets. that's the president of the united states, chief executive in the middle of a pandemic, attacking a juror for doing her civic duty. then, after using a slur to anyone with mental illness or caring for someone who maybe suffering from mental illness, the president repeats his thinly-veiled allegation against joe scarborough committing murder. won't elaborate on the allegation just say -- hit her head and died. that is what the medical examiner determined the authorities never suspect foul play. it is not a cold case.

being utterly heartless to this woman's family and to her memory. but that's what the president found time to do, today. he also promoted conspiracy theories about the former administration and, yes, he did tweet a bit about the pandemic. some of it was routine. some of it, not. he tweeted, and i quote, michigan sends absentee ballot applications to 7.7 million people ahead of primaries in the general election. this was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue secretary of state. i will ask to hold up funding to michigan if they want to go down this voter-fraud path. sent a similar tweet, by the way, about nevada. the issue is not really that everything he said in them is factually false. it is. the important part is his threat to withhold funding from the states, if they don't do his bidding. and today, a senior administration official left that threat hanging telling cnn, quote, no decision had been made at this time. discussions are ongoing. the words i want you to do us a favor, though. does that ring any bells? seems like a long time ago, doesn't it? so there's that. and there's, also, this. military members. they vote by mail.

so do students. so do entire states, which only do mail-in voting. so does the president of the united states. >> but the president, himself, has voted, just two months ago, by a mail-in ballot. there are several republican states that are also doing these mail-in applications for ballot. and so i'm confused, what is it that he thinks is illegal that's happening in michigan? he doesn't really specify. >> first, with regard to the president doing a mail-in vote. the president is, after all, the president, which means he's here, in washington. he is unable to cast his vote down in florida, his state of residence. so, for him, that's why he had to do a mail-in vote. but he supports mail-in voting for a reason. when you have a reason that you are unable to be present. >> perspective now from cnn's kaitlan collins who asked that question and cnn chief political correspondent dana bash. kaitlan, first, what do you make of secretary mcenany's response? it seemed ironic coming from the president, first of all, who

goes to florida quite often. i am wondering what you made of the response. >> i don't think it's surprising that the president votes by mail. of course, he doesn't live in the state that he now calls home. florida. but, the point, overall, was that the president cannot vote there but people and their concern in these states and why you're seeing this moving toward mail-in ballots and the applications that are happening is because people are concerned what it's going to look like when there are primaries and when the general election happens in november. it's not just november that's a concern for these secretaries of state. it's primaries that are happening before then and whether or not people should be standing in line, close to each other, for hours on end waiting to vote if, depending where we are, what progress has been made about the pandemic so far. so that's why it was so notable seeing the president go so hard after michigan today when you have seen georgia's secretary of state also make similar moves. and of course, the secretary of state in nevada is republican. they are moving to an all mail-in voting for their primary over the summer. so that was the question. you know, he's only singling out certain states, like michigan. and, later, in the cabinet room,

he tied it directly to polling. talking about a battleground state in michigan that he just got new polling in that has him up in michigan. so making clear there is clearly a political aspect for this. >> dana, what is the political calculation for the president here? >> it's so incredibly transparent. i mean, that is what is consistently remarkable about this president. is that he doesn't hide what he's doing. i mean, he is -- in a way that we used to have to peel -- >> says stuff out loud. >> always. we always, historically, have had to peel back the onion. what's really going on inside the white house? he does it on twitter. and, today, he did it in an extraordinary way. given the -- the amount of time that he used. minimal amount of time to really explode against a whole range of people, as you said. the thing about michigan and nevada, which he didn't mention, as kaitlan said, is that it is a

belief, a strong belief in the president's political orbit that, if there is mail-in -- if there are mail-in ballots, the democrats will do better. and republicans will do worse. that is the political belief. that is why he said what he said. not just that. i remember, anderson, talking to one of the president's friends as this was beginning. one of those weeks where he was really going at it with the dworcher dwor governors. and this person said the governors better be careful because this is a guy who will withhold money, especially to blue-state governors or governors he doesn't like, if they continue to push back against him. and there we have it. that's exactly wlhat he did today. >> kaitlan, i mean, it seems the president can basically just using his usual playbook. pick an enemy. distract from what is going on. certainly, with the pandemic, the death toll. and just focus on something, which he's focused on before, which is conspiracy theories about voter fraud.

you know, he, still, is claiming there were, you know, millions of people voting illegally in california. millions of illegal immigrants voting against -- against him and voting for hillary clinton. >> yeah. these are two of the tactics you see the president use often when something that he doesn't like happens. he threatens to withhold funding, or he says whatever is happening is illegal. he did both of those today when it comes to michigan. though, later when he was pressed and when the white house press secretary was pressed, which funding was he considering withholding? the president did not answer, neither did the press secretary. and he even said he doesn't think he is going to have to withhold funding after all. and they tried to craft this excuse that he was actually just sending a message to the office and management budget director, who the press secretary acknowledged the president had seen today. so why would he need to tweet to send that message? of course, withholding funding is another thing the president has threatened before when it comes to sanctuary cities, when it comes to nato. you have seen it time and time again, not just with michigan today. and the question, we're even

seeing it right now with the w.h.o., the world health organization, play out. oftentimes, the president doesn't really follow through on those threats so that's the question here. you know, is this just a political tactic? is he being serious and he is going to withhold funding for a state going through the pandemic pretty severely right now? and the white house wasn't able to give a lot of details on that today. >> dana, i mean, he clearly sees a political advantage in going after michigan repeatedly. the governor of michigan, as well. >> uh-huh. absolutely. i mean, it makes you think, as -- as a political observer, particularly of the map, whether or not he's doing this because he thinks michigan is a goner. or because this is the best way in that critical state, was critical for him in 2016, he wouldn't be president without winning michigan in a very surprise victory there. or is it because he sees the -- the protests, he understands that the only way that he has a chance there is to get the base

out, plus whatever voters are out there that might have come his way. or at least stayed home four years ago and might be interested in voting for him, if they don't like the governor. i mean, those are the calculations that go through his mind. but i really do think, having said that, in this particular case, it's a twofer. the governor has made him mad because she is on tv a lot criticizing him and the administration. in many ways, she has a point because she was looking for important materials to fight the pandemic, that she didn't get at the beginning. and, then, number two, she is in the running to be the potential running mate for joe biden. and, look, i mean, she is a woman of power. and we have seen the president go after women of power, especially in the other party. >> yeah. kaitlan collins, dana bash, thanks very much. appreciate it. there is breaking news about the pandemic and its effect on college athletics. ncaa now says division i

athletes can begin training on campus beginning 1st of june. straight ahead, i'll talk with charles barkley about that and about a live celebrity golf match and charity event for covid relief. it's coming this weekend and why -- why it matters. we'll talk to charles in a moment.

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breaking news in world of

college sports tonight. the ncaa says college athletes in football and basketball at division 1 schools can begin voluntary training on campus beginning june 1st. as for professional sports, there have been almost no live television sporting events since the shutdown in early march. turner sports is going to televise a high-stakes golf game with $10 million promised to covid-19 relief. we should mention that turner sports, like cnn, both are owned by at&t. and, among the commentators, nba legend charles barkley, who joins me now. charles, you know, i am not a huge sports fan but i am a huge charles barkley fan. so, first of all, what's your reaction to the breaking news that division i football and basketball student athletes can participate in on-campus voluntary athletics, beginning june 1st? other sports diecisions are expected soon. are you surprised? do you think it's safe? >> i don't think it's safe, number one. but those are the two moneymaking sports. i don't think it matters as much

for basketball because basketball doesn't start until november. but, obviously, football is -- you know, starts in august. i just want these kids to be safe. but, you know, anderson, hey, listen. it's a lot of money at stake. but i -- i do not think it's safe. i would not want my kid, until we know more about what can happen, we need to wait until we're closer to a treatment or a vaccine. but listen. money is going to run this thing. and that's really unfortunate. >> well, what about -- you know, i talked to the baseball commissioner last thursday. sanjay and i. you know, he was talking about getting the season going this summer. no -- no -- no fans in attendance. what about playing with no fans? is that -- is that feasible? is it -- does it -- i mean, what's that like for players? >> well, i've never had the pleasure -- misfortune. but i think it would -- with no

fans. i mean, it would. the fans are very important. they're significant. they work two ways. sometimes they give you energy, that you never knew you had. and, sometimes, somebody -- some of the fans on the road are riding you so hard, that makes you rise up. so i would never want to play a sporting event without fans, personally. >> i want to turn to this weekend's event. it's going to be the second time, the match between tiger woods and phil mickleson has been played. how did the rematch with the additional tom brady and peyton manning, how did that come about? >> well, you know, we're trying to do something. you know, it's really -- you know, doctors and these first responders. they are truly heroes, with teachers, firemen, and policemen. but, man, we really miss sports. you know, it's been really weird not having sports because, anderson, without sports, all we have to do is talk about reality. and obviously, reality right now is not great. it's not great for a lot of people. especially -- especially, my

thoughts and prayers to the people in the hospitality field. but it's going to be awesome. you got four of the greatest athletes in the history of sports. i mean, personally, i think tiger is the greatest athlete -- greatest golfer to ever live. you've got phil mickleson, in my opinion, one of the five to ten greatest golfers ever. you have got tom brady, who is the goat in football. and you have peyton, who is one of the three or four best quarterbacks ever. they're going to raise a lot of -- $10 million is a lot of the money for charity. it's going to be a lot of fun. and i cannot wait. >> and, now, are you going to get involved? like, i sense this is something that you might actually get involved with somehow. like, i can't see you just standing there, commenting. i feel like you, somehow, is -- get roped into this. i feel like side bets are going to be made. there's going to be side competitions going on. >> well, no, actually, you know, i work with --

>> oh, no, did we lose him? >> if i'm -- the 18th hole, anderson, and if i the reason i call them cheats, if i make birdie, they should donate $500,000 to a charity. if i make par, they should donate $300,000 to a charity. so call your boss up there and tell him to quit being cheap but i will at least try to make bogey and give $200,000 to my favorite charity and give it two food banks, but i got to make bogey so i'm a little nervous, because i'm not the best golf ner the world, but i guarantee you that i'm going to make bogey. >> all right. well, you got a couple of days to practice. $10 million donation, if we spread it out among different

charities, working on the covid crisis, you said the money you're going to raise is going to go to the food bank. it is incredible what we have seen, the need from food banks, there are some incredible food banks out there, and they are, you know, they have event, and you get 10,000 people coming to them, you get cars lining up for miles and miles and miles, it's stunning to see in this country, what is going on, economically, the devastation. >> well, you know, it's unfortunate that when we have something like a pandemic and it really didn't take that much. america is by far and away the greatest place in the world but the gap between the rich and the poor is really, really sad and it's obviously magnified now. you know, you look at the hospitality industry, they've been closed for two months but they also have two prongs coming out. number one, people are not going to have money to go to restaurants. and also, people are going to be afraid to congregate, anderson.

so the hospitality, they are going to be really struggling, and a lot of it is not ever going to come back and a lot of those people work, they are the ones who are at the food banks and we got to do everything we can to help them. >> yeah, it's also incredible, and i saw you were talking about this on the special, this is like an x-ray machine that shows the inequalities and injustices that existed before, it magnifiys it and it really kind of shows, lays bare, in new york city, all of us who are able to stay at home, and are only able to do that because there are folks who are not getting paid a lot of money, working in grocery stores risking their lives, delivering package, risking their lives, picking up the trash, risking their lives, i mean it just, to me, it is such a reminder of who really is essential in this society, and

it ain't me. it's people out there who are actually doing stuff that makes all of us able to work from home. >> well, you know, anderson, if you look at the numbers, black people and brown people, they make up over 50%, they don't make 50% of the country, but they make up 50% of the covid infections and viruses in this country. and there's a couple of reasons why. black people and brown people, they can't social distance. a lot of us, like growing up, i lived in a two bedroom condo with a mother, grandmother, and in the projects, with a mother, grandmother and three brothers. we can't social distance. and also you have these people that are amazing working at these meat packing factories. they have to go to work because they live paycheck to paycheck. one reason the people who work in these hotels that's the one thing that scares me about we're all going to try to play sports. they said they're going to keep the players in a bubble but what about the maids? the maids aren't going to be stuck in a bubble.

they're going to go home. you've got people who work in room service. they're going to go home. that's why i'm really concerned about the season starting again, because i would hate to see any of my players and anybody in my family get sick. >> also, the inequities that have existed in health care for people of color, for black americans, hispanic americans, which have been long -- you know, that's well reported out, well-researched, how patients are treated differently based on doctors perception of them, even inherent biases. it's startling to see all that stuff just amplified in this, and i just hope that, you know, whenever this dissipates we don't just kind of go back to the way things were before that we take, you know, what we have seen and act accordingly moving forward.

i mean, at least in how we treat people and who we view as essential in a society. >> well, the one thing we got to do obviously we've got to work on the economic model between the rich and the poor. but the one thing we've got to do when this thing gets better we've got to make sure everyone got health care. president obama tried to do obamacare. president trump has struck a lot of it down, but we've got a lot of work to do, economically, but the one thing i hope for out of this, man, we've got to make sure everybody, rich, poor, black, white, jewish, hispanic, everybody got great health care. >> like i said, i don't know much about sports. i feel like i don't really know who the characters are. i feel like if i just took a couple of weeks and studied who everybody is playing i would get more into it. but it amazes me how it does unite people and bring people together. and if you love sports you can talk about it with anybody, you can talk to anybody anywhere you

go, and i feel like that's really -- i think people are just crying out for something that brings us all together. i mean, i'm going to watch this golf tournament. i don't even know anything about golf. >> and i've said earlier i've always said unless you're a policeman, fireman, teacher doctor, someone in the armed services those are important jobs and significant. i want to add first responders and nurses to that right away also, but let me tell you something. i've learned something through this pandemic. man, we need sports. are they the most important thing in the world? not even close, but the one thing they do, they take your mind off all the other crap that's going on in the world. and you just need a break. whether it's golf, whether it's nascar, whether it's hockey, whether it's tennis. you just need to get away from reality, man. because i don't mean this in a bad way. reality sucks for a lot of people. >> well, also to see somebody

doing something just physically extraordinary and intellectually extraordinary on a court or, you know, on, you know, whatever the grass is where people play golf, it's a cool thing to be part of and feel like you're a part of. this is sunday 3:00 p.m. eastern, and you're having it on tiger woods home course. >> it's happening on tiger woods home course. the first nine, they're playing best ball. the second nine, they're playing alternate shots. to watch the best athletes in the history of civilization play golf and everybody should tune in just for the hilarity of it. >> charles barkley, i will definitely be watching. i love talking to you always.

thank you very much. >> hey, thanks for having me and congratulations on being a father. >> thank you very much. and i said this to you during the break but it really meant a lot for me to hear from you. thank you. sunday 3:00 p.m. eastern, simulcast. and finally tonight as we try to every night we want to remember and honor more people who have lost their lives in this pandemic. they were married for 56 years. harvey was born and raised in brooklyn. marjit was from hungary. she lived through the holocaust. she was sent to a series of concentration camps including auschwitz. before she was liberated in 1945. two years after that, she moved to new york. that's where she met harvey. they married in 1953. they had two kids. with harvey's help and support marjit dedicated her life to teaching young people about those who died during the

holocaust. marget feldman was 90 years old and harry feldman was 91 years old. renny johnson wasn't able to be with his family when he died from the coronavirus. he had five children and they all gathered together every day outside his hospital window in new hampshire. they wanted him to know they were there. they made signs for their dad telling him they loved him and missed him. they also made signs for the nurses who were caring for him. every day the nurses at the medical center would look for the family and always wave to them from inside. after rene passed away the nurses posted two signs from the window where they usually waved. the signs read he's at peace, we are so sorry. rene's family said they found great comfort in these nurses knowing their dad was well-taken care of up until the end. their dad was 65 years old. that's it for us. i want to hand it over to chris for "cuomo primetime."

thank you, anderson. i am chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time." please join me tonight not spending anymore time about this nonsense about the president refusing to acknowledge anything should have been done differently in the handling of the pandemic. why is the media going after it, who cares? have you ever heard him take responsibility for any mistake? what did you expect him to say? he has three tools in the face of criticism, deny, lie and defy. and then he has a rotation of robotic mouthpieces that parrot the same thing that he says. look, in november this president will be weighed and measured by you. that's then. right now forget about what he says. what matters is how we're reopening and what needs to be done to make it faster and safer. let's focus on that, all right? i've got the governor of new york here tonight. he says if you want to do that