tv CNN Newsroom Live CNN August 15, 2020 1:00am-2:00am PDT
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welcome our viewers in the united states who are joining us. i'm natalie allen. we are just months away from a u.s. presidential election amid a global pandemic. american voters are being put on notice that mail-in ballots may not be delivered in time to be counted in november. that warning coming in a letter from the u.s. postal service to nearly all 50 states, greatly compounding the issue, post office hours are being cut back. and thousands of sorting
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machines and drop boxes have been taken out of service. the postal service now says it will stop removing the boxes in western states until after the election. democratic lawmakers are furious and demanding answers from the head of the postal service, louis dejoy. we learned the agency's inspector general has begun a review of the changes and possible ethics conflicts. as president trump rails against mail-in voting as fraudulent, he and the first lady plan to, get this, cast their ballots from mail. kaitlan collins has more from the white house. >> reporter: even though it could be critical to carrying out the november election, president trump made clear today that his refusal to give the post office more funding is a direct shot at democrats. >> they want $1 trillion to go to their friends doing a bad job
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running certain cities and states doing badly. >> reporter: the president argued he wouldn't block funding for the u.s. postal service, if democrats maeet his demands. >> they are giving it to the american people. i would do that, sure. >> reporter: the effort is not just coming from the president. his top cabinet officials are issuing their own warnings. >> the idea of conducting elections by wholesale mail-in ballots is reckless and wrong. >> reporter: president barack obama accused the administration of intending to suppress votes. >> what we've never seen before is a president say, i'm going to try to actively kneecap the postal service to encourage voting. and i will be explicit about the reason i'm doing it. that's unheard of. >> reporter: cost-cutting moves are causing delays and concerns
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there will be widespread slowdowns. trump claimed he hadn't spoken with the u.s. postmaster general, an ally of his and long gop fund-raiser. >> i didn't speak to the postmaster general. >> reporter: but the white house is confirming that he met with him ahead of the tense meeting with democrats. despite being the most outspoken krcritic of voting by male, tru and melania trump have requested their own ballots. >> absentee good. universal mail-in, very bad. >> reporter: the president came under fire after he refused to knock down a statement that kamala harris can't be vice president because her parents are immigrants, even though she was born in the u.s. >> i heard today she doesn't meet the requirements. >> reporter: today, he was asked
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if he saw her addition to joe biden's ticket as a threat? >> do you see her as a threat? >> no. none whatsoever. >> reporter: the answer from trump the day before, wasn't surprising that he built his political career in part about sowing doubt about president obama's citizenship. >> my focus has been on the peace deal we were able to achieve here. >> she was born in oakland, california. >> yeah. >> that makes her a qualified candidate. why didn't the president take the opportunity to debunk that theory? >> i haven't had a chance to discuss that with him. but let his words speak for itself. >> reporter: it wasn't the only a conspiracy that the white house didn't disavow. trump welcomed a congressional
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candidate who has embraced a q-anonconspiracy. today, he avoided a question whether he agrees with marjorie taylor green. >> she comes from a great state. she had a tremendous victory. i did congratulate her. >> do you agree with her on q anon? >> and the president is spending the weekend at his golf club in new jersey. he stopped in manhattan because his younger brother has been hospitali hospitalized. the white house confirm ed thats why the president was going there. they have not confirmed details about his brother. and the president was asked by reporters that he was having a, quote, hard time. kaitlan collins, cnn, the white house. let's talk about these kw developments. he's a visiting professor of the london school of economics. good to have you on.
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let's begin with the controversy over mail-in balloting. is mail-in balloting on the line here? >> well, he seems to be taking it so by defunding the post office. some sorting machines removed. this aligns with a broader voter suppression and strategies that democrats have championed for a long time that violates the voting rights act of the 1960s. trim down the voters that are going against the republican party in key areas and thereby affect the election. it seems a clear strategy to do that. >> we're hearing more leaders, joe biden and hillary clinton, saying that trump is trying to
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steal the election and may refuse to accept defeat. is this something that america needs to be concerned about. hillary clinton said she wasn't trying to scare people, but in her words, trump would not go silently in the night, if he loses. he will try to confuse the american people, she said, even bring lawsuits. >> absolutely. that is correct. when there was a question to jared kushner, could the election be delayed because of the global pandemic? he was ambivalent on that front. trump wants an extension as a result. he said he wants to delay the election, though he has no power to do so. and more than that, it helps to explain the way in which he's handled the global pandemic itself within the united states. he seems to have done the exact opposite of what right-wing
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supporters of his thought he might do, which is rise above the political contention and parties and act as a unifier in an emergency for the country. many people thought he would take that opportunity. and in november, he would be more attractive as a candidate. he's done the opposite. he accepts not to accept the election result, tie up the country in a lot -- not only the courts, but mobilizing a large part of the federal law enforcement and the supporters, as well. >> that's a frightening thought. also, we're seeing from this president, birther movement round two, you could call it. president trump putting up a false theory that kamala harris may not legally be a candidate. what do you make of it?
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and do you think that president trump floating a birther claim will help or hurt him? >> i don't think it will help him much than among people that already support him. they have a negative view of immigrants and so on. i don't think it will have a large influence. if the election is tight in november, it may be the 60% or so of independent voters who don't know much about kamala harris, it may be that some of them may be swayed. overall, the vice presidential candidate normally doesn't have a great impact on electoral outcomes. i can think of two vice president candidates who did. lbj in 1960 and a tight election, probably swung texas behind kennedy and probably s a sarah palin didn't do a great job for john mccain in 2008. but this could be a tight
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election. if the pandemic slows and the economy grows more, we could see the kind of african-american characteristics and indian-american characteristics may be in marginal areas be the difference, which would propel biden into the white house. >> right. we know that race is a big issue in this country. and her being the vice president candidate may affect that in a way. you mentioned her heritage. there were reports that people were questioning whether she fully represents black americans since her mother was indian and her father from jamaica. do you see that as an issue for the ticket, despite her nomination generating excitement from democratic corners. >> i think there will be fine textural discussions, if she's representing indians or hindus.
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does she represent african-americans? she identifies as an african-american, although attended hindu temples as a child, as well. she will probably sweep up a lot of those votes. it's the african-american constituency that will be the difference. in 2016, you'll recall, that we had two presidential candidates that were the most unpopular in history. there isn't such a view about the candidates on this occasion. fewer people are undecided about this. i think kamala harris, in a tight race, will swing the african-american vote, or increase turnout by african-american voters in contrast to 2016. that will probably play very, very well on november. if you like kamala harris, from the center to the right of the party, she's a law and order candidate as a california senator and a state prosecutor,
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attorney general and so on. she appeals to the suburban white gop women voters who are not happy with trump and probably wouldn't be happy with somebody further to the left. i think the democratic strategy is to sweep up the anti-trump volt as far as possible, with a reasonably popular candidate, biden, and i think this is a smart pick for 2020. many saying she was the common sense choice. we appreciate your insights so much. we'll be right back. e. i remember setting up shipstation. one or two clicks and everything was up and running. i was printing out labels and saving money. shipstation saves us so much time. it makes it really easy and seamless. pick an order, print everything you need, slap the label onto the box, and it's ready to go. our costs for shipping were cut in half. just like that. shipstation. the #1 choice of online sellers.
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british tourists in france scrambled to get back home before new u.k. quarantine rules kicked in. lines at calais and other ports were clogged because of crossing. it gave travelers 24 hours to get back without facing a two-week quarantine. we have reporters in both countries to talk about it. i'm joined by jim bitterman and
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scott mcclain in london. jim, you might have seen examples of the stampede of people trying to get out of france in time. >> it wasn't a stampede. but it was an extra load of the ferries and the planes leaving paris for london. the ferry people said the reservations doubled in a matter of hours. the eurostar people said that most seats were booked. there was an effort to get out of here. one thing that should be said, because there was so little notice, the people that wanted to get back home didn't have a lot of time to do it. this is all caused by the fact that the number of cases in france has been going up dramatically here, for the last three days, for example. they've set new records each day on the number of new cases being
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added to the coronavirus list. as a consequence, today, another thing that's happened is there's new zones going into effect, new zones of paris and marseille, where masks are required. half of the city is covered with the mask-wearing zones. you have to wear a mask if you're a pedestrian or out jogging or any sports. you have to wear a mask. this is likely to get worse if the numbers don't go in a better direction. >> a mask map. these are surreal teams. let's move over to scott. scott in london. jim touched on what was behind us. what can you tell us about this move by the united kingdom? >> sure, natalie. the u.k. is trying to get ahead of an uptick in cases that we're starting to see in europe, led by countries like france.
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jim mentioned france. and spain, has seen a rise in confirmed cases, that they haven't seen for a long time. earlier this week, boris johnson made clear that the government had to be ruthless, were his words, as to deciding which country should be on this list of mandatory quarantine and which should not be. and he seemed to make good on the warning when the government announced that six countries would make it on. france and holland, the biggest among them and that set up a scenario where you had travelers trying to get back. there's more than 150,000 at the time. and so, the first eurostar train that arrives here, will arrive in ten minutes. every person on that train will have to quarantine. if they arrived last night or a train this morning, they
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wouldn't. the government is saying if you're going to book a holiday, the rules can change at a moment's notice. you should think twice about whether or not you still want to go because you may end up having to quarantine. this is a big deal for the airline in this country, calling it another devastating blow to an industry that is hurting in a historic kind of way. it wants to see testing on arrival, rather than a blanket quarantine policy of people coming from some countries. it's not just a risk from outside the country, it's alw ' within the country. the government has imposed stricter fines and penalties for people refusing to wear masks in public spaces. it's allowing places like casinos, bowling alleys, ice rinks and theaters indoors to open, as well. the london theater will not be able to operate given the social distancing requirements that will be in place.
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>> yes. as you say, this is an illustration of how quickly things can change in this era of this virus spreading. jim, can we expect to see retaliation from france? >> the transportation minister and several other ministers have said they are going to have reciprocal action against the british travelers coming from britain into france. but so far, not exactly what. if the case load is more favorable in britain than in france. it raises questions if they have the manpower to follow-up and enforce this kind of restrictions. they say there's going to be reciprocal action. but they haven't defined it. >> jim bitterman and scott
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heart damage, due to the virus, appears to be worse than previously thought. it says inflammation and injury to the heart occurs in 20% to 30% of hospitalized patients, contributing to 40% of the deaths. as athena jones reports, there may be hope on the horizon. >> reporter: tonight, new hopes for the coronavirus vaccine. results in the journal of the american medical association, indicating that early trials of a chinese vaccine shows it is safe. but more study is needed to see if it protects people from the virus. meanwhile -- >> we're in a bad place with this pandemic. >> reporter: the cdc is predicting america could see 22,000 covid-19 deaths in 3 weeks. 189,000 people would have died from coronavirus december 5th.
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a startling prediction made all the more concerning since deaths have passed the 165,000 the cdc predicted on saturday. >> the virus hasn't changed. it's doing damage to the country. >> reporter: new infections are steady or falling in 44 states, over the last week, the united states has added more than 365,000 cases. that's enough people to fill up atlanta's mercedes-benz stadium more than five times. california becoming the first state to report 600,000 covid-19 cases. and other states seeing higher positivity rates this week than last. georgia, where deaths are on the rise, is leading the nation in cases of over 100,000 people. "the atlanta journal-constitution" received the recommendations for the state, which argued on august 9th, there is widespread community spread. and the current policies are not
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enough. the report calling for a mask mandate and other measures. advice that brian kemp hasn't followed. the governor's office says he continues to rely on data. and this is about saving the lives and livelihoods of all georgians. >> places that do well on public health, can get the economy going much faster and better. >> athena jones, cnn, new york. let's talk about the developments with shawn griffith. she is emeritus professor and in the inquiry outbreak in 2003. thank you for coming on. >> good morning. let's talk about the united states being in a bad place. 200,000 deaths may occur by
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labor day. there's been 100,000 deaths per day for two weeks. what is your assessment of the situation for the united states? >> these figures are obviously worrying. more needs to be done to get on top of this. the unfortunate thing about this virus is it's continued to spread globally, and particularly in the u.s. you'll see from the experience of europe, that lockdown is really essential for controlling the numbers. health has to take precedence over the economy. once we get on top of the disease -- once on top or tf th disease, that can brought down to levels you can act on, it makes it an easierization to handle. it seems that the states are really worrying and worrying for the rest of the world. >> as we remain the worst effected country in the world,
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students are headed back to schools. there's outbreaks at two dormitories at a north carolina university. is there a safe way to reopen colleges here this fall? what do you expect? >> i think if we take measures to make sure the hygiene is there, make sure the social distancing. okay, it will be difficult. but you have got to do it. you have to socially distance. people need to wear masks. at least the older students. the theory about bubbles for teaching. how much can you change the way you teach to decrease transmission? all those measures have to be taken into place. going back to school is important, not only the education, but the social development and the futures of our children. students need to go back to colleges. you need to think about mask
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wearing and social distancing. make sure hygiene and think about how to do this differently. we talk about the new normal. we need to create the new normal for kids so they can continue to learn, continue to interact socially. >> there is an onus on these students to comply with the safety measures. also, though, let's talk about hopeful news. hopeful news on a few fronts. the chinese trial lacks promising. what is your hope for the timeline? >> we have two candidate vaccines that are doing well at the moment. they are using technologies. and both are promise iing and hopefully there will be a vaccine probably not until early
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2021. the progress is good. it may not be 100%. we must keep up all of the research we're doing on the virus. now, if you are sick, there are treatments, like recommemdesivi which is helping in reducing the impact of the disease. if we get a vaccine and get it distributed appropriately across the world, is the best hopeful scenario. we don't have a vaccine yet. and it isn't going to be a silver bullet. once we have vaccines, we will be able to help to control the disease more than we have at the present time. >> very hopeful that that happens, of course. we always appreciate your expertise and your time. thank you so much. >> thank you. we mentioned schools reopening. the pandemic may transform the way teachers teach and students learn. that's what the director for the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention says about
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schools reopening in the u.s. he also said the cdc will soon have recommendations for working to keep everyone safe. for those on the front lines, as schools reopen, there is widespread worry. for more about this, cnn's bianna golodryga. >> there will be unchartered waters. something we never had to face. and the uncertainty is frightening. >> reporter: dineen has been a nurse for nine years in bucks county, pennsylvania, and splits her time between two middle schools. but it's taken a pandemic to finally give those in her profession the recognition say deserve. >> the nurses were the forgotten entity in the school. we're the ones that when there's a sniffle and a cough, we will be asked the questions and asked to step up and make everyone feel safe. >> thousands of nurses like her
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across the country, are the front lines of defense against covid-19. >> it's a daunting task. the weight on the shoulders is extreme sometimes. >> reporter: preparation and training involves following state and local guidelines, for many districts, includes temperature checks and quarantine rooms for students having contracted the coronavirus. but she acknowledges that will only get her so far. >> i don't think i'll be prepared until it happens. >> reporter: the national association of school nurses warns that campuses are unprepared for outbreaks due to a lack of funding and nurses. >> it isn't that there's a full-time nurse down the hallway. >> reporter: nearly a quarter of u.s. k through 12 schools lack a licensed nurse. more jarring, according to the most recent figures, there's just o1 nurse for every 500
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students. are nurses equipped for such an endeavor? and are we relying on them too much to be? >> where i've seen, this aspect, the school nurse aspect has not gotten the huge amount of attention, other than language around ppe to people. >> reporter: and one school nurse in georgia, quit her job in a district that's declined to mandate masks. >> the board's decision to make a mask a, quote, personal choice, and that social distancing wouldn't be practical, was not only a concern for myself and my family, but i could not imagine giving care to my social needs community of students. >> reporter: the nasn has asked congress for $208 billion for school districts to prioritize the health and safety of students and staff, that would include hiring thousands of additional nurses. the average age of a school
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nurse was between 47 and 55 in 2015, which puts many at a higher health risk for covid-19. >> i fight if i should come back to school or want to come back to school. the nurse part of me wants to be able to help. the mom and grandmother part of me, wants to keep my family safe and not expose myself to a possibility of bringing it home. next here, we turn to a disputed presidential election. opposition leaders in belarus are calling for peaceful protests following the violent backlash over the outcome of the election. we'll have a live report from minsk to tell you about it. we live with at&t and we are well past the honeymoon phase.
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there, marking japan's surrender, marking world war ii. ben wallace laid a wreath there in london, symbolic for the united kingdom's war dead. it's a somber anniversary in japan. the emperor expressed deep remorse over japan's militaristic pass. app situation leopposition belarus have called for peaceful protests this weekend. thousands descended on minsk on friday, demanding changes on what many say was a rigged presidential election. 6,700 people have been arrested. and one person has been killed. many protesters who were detained say they were beaten, tortured and humiliated while in
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custody. fred pleitgen are in minsk for us. times may be changing. but we know people are angry and questioning the outcome of this, fred. hello to you. what's the latest? >> hi, natalie. there are signs that the opposition here is revitalized and reenergized. and yesterday, a lot of the protests we saw in the city, they seem to reflect that. the crowds are bigger than they had been the days before. a lot of people lost the fear, the big fear they had of authorities over the past quarter century here in this country. you look at the mood on saturday morning, it is somber. the police we are right here has been a demonstration over the last couple of days. this morning, there's a vigil for a protester that was killed at this site. his funeral is going on right now.
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somber move at the moment. at the same time, we expect that after that is done, the protests will continue. the protests, very much nonviolent. and most of them led by women, who are holding up flowers and marched all the way to parliament, which is something that was unheard of, just a couple of days or hours before. you can see that alexander luke shen coe, the long-time president of this country, is becoming more and more embattled. at this point in time, we don't see signs that he is on the surge of possibly stepping down. the government said they would be willing to go into negotiations. but certainly, a transition of power not clear whether that's on his mind at this point in time. we don't see sight of that yet. >> people keeping up the pressure so far. we saw video, fred. a rare peaceful moment. a dozen of personnel lowering
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shields. what can you tell us about that? >> it was a big moment for this country. a big moment during the protests, as well. one of the things that had happened, as the protests started, after the election, as you mentioned. most people in this country believe was very much rigged. there had been a crackdown by security forces. there were beatings and mass arrests. people telling us about the fact they were tortured in detention facilities. people made to strip and humiliated on state tv. when the crowds yesterday, and we were at the forefront when all this was going on, marched towards the parliament forces and the security came out, people were afraid. the moment they did not do that was a moment of elation for the crowds and relief for the security forces, as well.
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you saw the protesters and the security forces embrace. and the crowds are backing down, continuing their protests at a distance, making sure that the security forces don't feel threatened, either, natalie. >> we like that part of the story. and cars and their horns very much part of this protest. fred polifor us. why kamala harris says her candidate for the u.s. vice presidency is inspirational for them and meaningful for the country.
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kamala harris gave her first interview friday since becoming joe biden's running mate, just days before the democratic convention starts. the nominee talked about the impact of the decision. >> joe biden had the audacity to choose a black woman to be his running mate. how incredible is that? and what a statement that makes about joe biden, that he decided
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that he was going to do that thing that was about breaking one of the most substantial barriers that has existed in our country. and he made that decision with whatever risk that brings. as much as anything, it's a statement about the character of the man we're going to elect as the president of the united states. >> one group who know kamala harris intimately are her alpha kappa alma sorority sisters. how they will help the candidate at the ballot box. >> reporter: kamala harris, vice presidential candidate on a major party ticket. the first black and third woman to do so. celebrated -- >> we were on a zoom call. >> reporter: -- by the sorority sisters watching one of their own step forward. >> the whole place. everyone is just, you know, screaming, and crying. completely overwhelmed, over the
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moon. so proud. >> we met them during harris' presidential run. >> we were all just right there together. all just, you know, regular girls. now, here's kamala. >> reporter: they were students at howard university, a historically black school that was formed when white schools shut out black students. the women formed alpha kappa alpha. a.k.a. has a membership of 300,000 women, the first black sorority in the u.s., established more than 100 years ago. >> you think about it, in 1908, people were just a few ticks off of emancipation. now, they find themselves in college. what are they trying to do? >> reporter: bound by the history the women forge their own paths, year after year. their lives weaving together. >> we were down at the senate. she had a normal swearing-in by
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vice president biden. he had sworn her in. >> reporter: this is a recent picture. >> yes. this was at her g.w. book event. we were there to support her. >> you're also a.k.a. >> yes, i am. >> she talked about being a member of alpha kappa alpha, and the room exploded. >> and my fans are in the room, as well. >> you can see by her response and our response, it's all-love. >> reporter: this isn't just a friendship or sisterhood, we're talking about political power. >> we have it. and we're going to leverage it. you'll see. it will make a difference. >> reporter: black voters of south carolina propelled joe biden to victory in the democratic primary. women have supported democrats more than any other subgroup. during her presidential run, harris reminded voters of the
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power of that vote, of the debate stage. >> capped date candidates have granted constituencies that have been the backbone of the democratic party. >> reporter: to social media. >> we can't forget what's happening to black women. >> reporter: taking the lessons of a sisterhood, learned deck sa decades ago, to a nation today. >> it says we can succeed, we can be ambitiouambitious, we ca be at the board room table and lead where women can aspire and say, i want to be like kamala. >> one of the sorority slogans is this, exemplifying excellence through sustainable service. i'm natalie allen. that's our first hour. wile be right back with another hour of "cnn newsroom." our top stories are after this. thanks for watching. we support memorable moments, concentration - in hectic times .
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♪ politics, a pandemic and the post office, americans are expected to vote by mail in record numbers this november, now, the u.s. postal service says it might not be ready. also, travelers, between france and the united kingdom face new quarantine rules this morning. we get reaction from london and paris. plus, some patients are recovering from coronavirus, so why are many still feeling the effects months later? these stories are all
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