the public school system in americ america. >> so if i gave you all the time over power and space, how would you address the public school in this country? >> that's such a tall order. it would be unique to every community. you can't just fix the kids. you have to fix the whole situation they live in and breathe every day. so fix the community. provide after school activity. money is great. the quality and funding would be awesome. >> a lot of people that look for public schools. why should my taxes pay for people in public schools, what do you say to those people? >> if we don't educate the younger generation, what do you do for income, for housing? what do you do to maintain a life? you can pay for a student in two ways. you can pay for their education now or you can pay for

incarceration later. >> thanks, i think you ended the whole show. welcome from all around the world, this is cnn "newsroom," i'm michael holmes. now, lebanon's prime minister says he will call for a bill of early response to tuesday's explosion that decimated part of beirut. demonstrators angry over cultural corruption, clashing with security force,. more than 230 people hurt in the fighting. a member of the lebanese security forces was killed. meanwhile, searchers are combing the debris from the blast.

150 people are confirmed dead. 6,000 injured. 21 unaccounted for. the international community has pledged to help lebanon with tens of millions of dollars along with emergency medical and food supplies. but the country was already in an economic meltdown and now there is a sense it has been pushed to the brink. cnn's arwa damon is in beirut. >> even standing here. it's still so hard to wrap your mind around the enormity, the prize of this blast. you can see a shift over there plane on to its side and this massive area right here, this is where the storm unit housing that ammonium nitrate once stood. they have dive teams in the water trying to presumably salvage anything that they can that would potentially help in

the investigation. they're still looking for the bodies of those that are listed as missing. although at this stage there is not that much hope that they would somehow be found alive. there was some hope that underneath the silo in the operation room there, because it is so far underground that perhaps they would be able to miraculously find someone alive. this has largely shifted from being a search and rescue operation to one of recovery and cleanup at this stage. there are still tons of people listed as missing. among them, firefighters responded to the initial blaze. there are people on the ground volunteers. >> he's briefing the search team right now, telling them be very careful as they are walking through eyes down all the time. for their own safety but also because they need to be looking

combing through all of this trying to find any sort of clues as to where there may be bodies or anything that looks familiar, anything that looks remotely familiar to what used to actually be here, put your hands up. lebanon has just been through so much. the country is near bankruptcy. the covid-19 crisis and now this. a complete and utter tragedy that defies lodge take need not to happen. when the explosion took place, there were people in this area. there are entire structured buildings. there was a duty free over there. all of it has been completely and utterly wiped out. the force of the blast spat out the contents of storage containers and largely buried them under the rubble. the twisted reflection of government failure, corruption

and negligence that ended up culminating in this. arwa damon, cnn, beirut. the united states is very close to hitting 5 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus. so far, more than 162,000 people in the country have died according to john hopkins' university. the united states has the highest case and death count in the world by far. about a quarter in each of those categories. medical experts say the trump administration's approach clearly is not working, saying there is no coherent federal strategy and there never has been. there has been too much mixed messages and a demonization of science. right now, there is a gigantic biker rally some telling cnn this is their right to not wear masks even in crowds. they say if americans don't wear masks or socially distance, tens

of thousands more people are going to die by the end of the year. meanwhile, the u.s. president donald trump signing four coronavirus relief measures on saturday after congress couldn't work out a deal. the signing event resembleing more of a campaign rally. [ applause ] >> one of the orders will provide as much as $400 in enhanced unemployment benefits, but the states will have to cover 25% of it and many of them just don't have the money and if they don't chip in, no one gets anything in those states. donald trump also signing a memorandum on a payroll tax holiday. an order on health and homeowners, it's urging departments to do something about it. it actually means nothing. there is also action deferring student loan payments. democratic leaders calling the orders weak and meager.

the u.s. postal service announcing a hiring freeze. just ahead, why democrats say all of what's happening at the u.s. postal service could hamper the presidential election in november. we'll be right back. >

. the u.s. inching closer and closer to 5 million coronavirus cases. so more states want the option of mail-in ballots. but president donald trump continues to sew distrust in and make false claims about mail-in voting. and he is blaming democrats in the process. here's what he said on saturday. >> they even want to force states to implement the controversial practice known as ballot harvesting. a very dangerous practice, meaning they would allow democratic party operatives to deposit thousands and thousands of completed ballots at the post office without any verification of who filled them out.

including a verification of signatures on the ballot. so you are not even going to have a verified signature. anybody. i could sign it. you could sign it. anybody in this room could sign it. and that's going to count as a vote. how can you do a thing like this? so this is what they're asking for. this is what nancy pelosi and crying chuck schumer are asking for. okay. it's ridiculous. >> virtually all of that was not true, by the way. president trump's comments coming just a day after the u.s. post master general announced a management hiring freeze. the congressional democrats fear the move could cause delays in voting by mail and they want it investigated. cnn's jessica dean has more from us from washington. >> reporter: more changes at the u.s. postal service. under new leadership from trump ally and donor louis dejoy the u.s. postal service announced it

will be instituting a management hiring freeze and buyouts. the moves are exactly the kind of thing democrats on the hill have asked the usps not to do. >> i am proud of our postal workers across america. they got a hand tied behind their back with this new leadership. >> reporter: toot dradz led by senator elizabeth warren called for the inspector general to investigate operation allege changes at the usps. >> we have little faith they're not trying to politicize the post office. >> the usps says measures were to cut costs. the unions say it's a slowing of the mail and could impact vote by mail in the fall, something the post master general denies. >> despite associations to the contrary, we are not slowing down election mail or any other mail. >> reporter: in their letter the lawmakers say the postal service has become a political football and describe the congressional requests as quote seriously lacking. they also want the ig to look

into any business conflicts to join they have. the joint took the helm shouldn't june 15th. he's the first post master general in decades to come to the job without any prior experience working within the u.s. postal service. he contributed about $1.2 million to the trump victory fund dated back to 2016 according to federal commission filings. >> i can't imagine the post office are supposed to be dealing in millions of ballots. >> reporter: financials filed by dejoy's wife invited to be conflicts of interesting including a financial stake in ups, a postal service competitor. they show tense of millions in income and assets derived from holdings and shipping logistics company xpo, which acquired the former company in 2014. it's a current contractor for the u.s. postal systems. on friday, dejoy responded to accusation of political influence for the first time

publicly. >> while i certainly have a good relationship with the president of the united states, the notion that i would ever make decision concerning the postal service at the direction of the president or anyone else in the administration is wholly off base. >> reporter: a u.s. postal service spokesperson tells me dejoy has followed all ethics requirements for the office of post master general. jessica dean, cnn, washington. >> joining me now is the president of the american postal workers union. a union that represents some 200,000 postal service employees and really appreciate your time on an important issue here. i wanted to ask, you know what are the real impacts of who the post master general has done? how has it manifested itself in the sort of day-to-day operations? >> well, the real world impacts are that these put in some new policies soon after he took office. he came from the outside. he doesn't really understand yet

the inner workings of the post office. he just arbitrarily has reduced the number of hours that employees can work. he's changed transportation routes. he's cut hours in retail units, pulled out sorting machines and the result of all of these things combined, the mail is simply going to be slowed down. it's going to be delayed that runs counter to everything the proud and dedicated postal workers stand for. we treat the mail as if it's our own. we've certainly underscored in this pandemic, where we have been front line essential workers proudly connecting the people of the country and with the rest of the world in this challenging times. >> we're talking about -- >> we're getting reports from all over the country of mail being slowed down. it's very problematic. >> it's very problematic. a lot of people get their prescriptions by mail and social security checks by mail. you mentioned trump appointed.

this is a form early or a big donor to the trump campaign who was given this job. he says, okay, he says these are efficiency measures. i mean, do you accept that explanation or do you think as critics do that this the a deliberate effort to weaken the post office ahead of the election and all of those mail-in ballots? >> we don't accept it. it's not called the united states postal business. and that's for a reason. it's called the united states postal service. we have an obligation under the law to serve everybody in this country no matter who we are or where we live in the most rural outposts to the densely populated upper cities. so it's not just a normal business where every letter somebody has to make a profit on. somebody has to make money. so we would much rather see the congress of the united states provide covid financial relief. the covid pandemic, the economic

impact of the pandemic is having a large negative impact on the postal service and the united states, the postal service runs normal times with no tax dollars and, therefore, the revenue has to be enough to be able to carry out or mission. we sort and deliver mail to 160 million addresses every day. so, what's happening is, it's certainly objectively is having an impact of weakening, of undermining the service. because it is the greatest service. >> the house oversight chair maloney says these are the president's attempts to prevent millions of americans have having their votes counted. i will ask if you agree we that in a political sense. as things stand right now, in light of the changes, do you believe that the u.s. postal service will be able to deem with the flood of mail-in ballots that will be heading out in november? >> i think generally, yes.

but anything that slows down the mail slows down everything we do. from the medicines you talked about, to the checks, the retirement checks, to the financial transactions and, yes, ballots. now, the post am service doesn't run elections. the states throughout this country do. the postal service has great capacity to handle influx of mail. it happens during all different seasons. it really happened during this pandemic, where package versus gone up a lot while people were sheltered in place. but it is troubling whenever mail slows down. we have been doing vote by maim as postal services for generations in this country. it's becoming more and more popular with each election cycle and clearly in this election psych well this pandemic, the postal service is the only way and mail-in voting is the only

way tens of millions of people will be able to safely cast votes. we work under the law that says prompt, reliable and efficient services. prompt means quickly that includes ballots. >> there the a lot of people who are very concerned at this trump appointed post master general is slowing things down because there is going to be a lot of mail-in ballots over this election cycle. hopefully it doesn't happen. hopefully, you get what you need. the american postal workers union, thanks, so much? thank you very much for having me in. >> we will take a quick break here on the program. when we come back, how the pandemic has robbed london of much of its character were. can the city that survived calamities for hundreds of years bounce back from this slump? unl. you start with the network jd power has named the most awarded for network quality 25 times in a row. then, give people more plans to mix and match, so you only pay for what you need. verizon's unlimited plan is so reasonable,

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the coronavirus pandemic is bringing big changes of course to cities around the world and how we live and some of those changes could be lasting. cnn's phil black is in the heart of london, and he finds that what drew people to the city could now drive them away.

>> reporter: in a time not that long ago vast numbers of people migrated into central london every working day. now they're mostly gone. their towering offices loom empty, without purpose. streets famous for crowds, traffic, noise, energy are quiet and a bit sad. >> miss it. it doesn't feel right. the atmosphere's not here. the vibe isn't here. >> reporter: covid-19, working from home, endless uncertainty have all teamed up to silence one of the world's most vibrant cities. when office workers stay away, those who rely on them suffer. this once heaving street market is now just a quiet street. a stall owner, richie wicks, thinks it's going to get worse as the pandemic's economic pain bites harder. >> there will be tumbleweeds running through here. it will be like a ghost town. >> reporter: the property industry reports people aren't just avoiding central london,

covid-19 has triggered huge interest in leaving that skyline behind and moving away for all the things london can't easily provide. space, gardens, affordability. >> we thought we are going to stay for another two years, but i think the pandemic kind of accelerated our decision to move now. >> reporter: after months of working from home michael and agatha have decided to quit london because, well, why not? >> why do we need to be in the city at all at this point? working anywhere is the same as anywhere else now. why not move somewhere where you have a fantastic local community, you've got really pretty sights around you? >> yeah. and you can definitely get a huge garden in our price range. so that's good. >> reporter: how london has responded to covid-19 could reshape the city's social and economic fabric. but not for the first time. and not as remarkably as the change inflicted by that other notorious source of multiple pandemics, the plague.

london's last big outbreak in the 1600s killed an estimated 100,000 people. almost a quarter of the city's population. the great plague, great fires, nazi bombs, extreme crime and poverty. london's long history is a timeline of extraordinary violence, disease, and suffering. that long sweep of history tells us when londoners can afford to flee danger and hardship they often do. >> reporter: but the city's current wealth and status also proves they usually come back. >> these things happen, and it has to adjust, to reassert its economic power every time before it has done it. i don't think this is the one occasion when the whole world, it wouldn't just be london, would it, changes to a less urban -- a less urbanized form of existence. >> reporter: london in the time of covid-19 is a much diminished city. its story so far suggests it

will recover. but many lives and livelihoods will be dramatically altered before it does. phil black, cnn, london. >> thanks for watching. i'll be right back with another hour of "cnn newsroom" after the break. whether you need dinner for two. or a room with a view. fresh hay all day. ...or a ball to play. bribes to roll over. ...or an overdue makeover. get all your pet essentials right when you need them, with curbside pickup at petsmart. just order online, drive up, check-in, and pick up without contact. for our families and for our communities. when we spend taxpayers' money, we should use it to buy american products and support american jobs. it's time to help small businesses who will purchase clean energy technologies to fight climate change and enhance national security.

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anger boils over. violent clashes in the streets of beirut as protesters demand answers after tuesday's deadly explosion. the u.s. on the cusp of having 5 million coronavirus cases. but a biker rally in the state of south dakota still going ahead. and polls have just opened in a key election in