candor can be interesting in a political campaign and we heard it today. >> we're told the president's speech will last about one hour on the south lawn of the white house. about 1,500 to 2,000 people have been invited to sit there and listen to the president. that's it for me. i'll be back in an hour to continue special coverage. "erin burnett outfront" starts "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com "outfront" now, jacob blake, the 29-year-old wisconsin man shot by police, is conscious and talking. this according to andrew yang. he just spoke to blake's father and i'm going to speak to andrew yang about what he learned from him and what the families wants you to know. prosecutors file six charges including homicide against the 17-year-old over those deadly shootings in wisconsin. and several prominent republican senators declining an invitation to trump's acceptance speech at the white house tonight. why? let's go "outfront." good evening.

the breaking news, new details about jacob blake, the 29-year-old black man shot seven times in the back by police in wisconsin. blake is now cuffed to his hospital bed, blake's family telling this is insult to injury. he's paralyzed, can't walk, and they have him cuffed to the bed. why? asked about that, the governor of wisconsin said he couldn't imagine why yang would be cuffed to the bed. blake's first question after he woke up was, quote, daddy, why did they shoot me so many times. andrew yang is going to be with us in just a few moments and you will hear what blake's father wants you all to know. we are awaiting answers on blake is constrained to his bed and why he was shot so many times. we are waiting for the president

to say something. he has said nothing about this, today he was asked repeatedly about the case. >> [ inaudible question ] >> i want to note the reporter there did mistakenly say blake had been killed, but the president, as you saw, would not respond to anything there. blake is, of course, alive in the hospital. trump silent on the shooting of yet another black man by police. and that silence is glaring because he has been willing to speak about some of the reaction on the first night or two to it. >> we will put out the fire. we will put out the flame, and we will stop the violence very quickly. >> and yet trump has not condemned the 17-year-old trump supporter who's accused of shooting and killing two people -- killing two people -- in kenosha on tuesday night. we're going to have a lot more on that coming up. first omar jiminez is "outfront" in kenosha, wisconsin.

there are so many unknown details in the blake case, so many things that don't make sense from the data points we've been given. what more are you learning tonight? >> reporter: right now at this point we know the wisconsin department of justice is piecing through this investigation, trying to get it to a place where they can turn it over to the kenosha county district attorney's office and they would decide whether to pursue charges. they've identified one of the officers, officer rusten sheskey, but say there are two other officers who have yet to be named that the doj is looking at in regards to that. just a few moments ago governor tony evers and the lieutenant governor wrapped up a press conference where they said they spoke to the jacob blake family. they were horrified of the fact they were hearing from the family he was handcuffed, especially as we have heard from those who have spoken to him that he is conscious. another thing they spoke about is about what we may see

tonight. they, of course, we are under that new curfew that is set to go into place an hour from now which is an hour earlier from what we started this week with. and governor evers specifically had words for the outside agitators, he describes them, saying if you are coming to the city of kenosha with long guns, stay home, alluding to what we saw two nights ago where two people were killed and another was injured over an incident with a long gun. as far as what we're going to see moving forward through the rest of the week about the issues brewing here and the pain, lieutenant governor barns said that the problem -- and he took it very personally of what happened two nights ago with the shooter. he said, the problem here is there are questions about whether jacob blake had a knife or was potentially even going for a knife in the front door of his vehicle, when he says, there is clear video of the shooter on tuesday walking away from the scene, walking past police, and being able to do so freely.

and he says when that's the case, then you really have a problem, erin. >> yeah. all right, omar, we're going to have much more on that in just a moment, everything we know about that alleged shooter. i want to go to andrew yang, former presidential candidate, political analyst now for us. andrew, i'm glad to talk to you, unfortunately under these circumstances. i know you did just speak to jacob blake's father. what led to that conversation, andrew? >> someone reached out to me and said that their family would like to hear from me. and of course i said -- like i would be thrilled to lend whatever support i could. and it was heartbreaking, erin, where jacob blake's father said he was glad to see his son awake but that his son's first question or first words to him were daddy, why did they shoot me so many times? and he described that he remembered being shot five times, and he didn't remember

the sixth and the seventh because he must have gone into shock or lost consciousness. he's also describing how his son is handcuffed to the bed is angry about that. his message to us was to say, my son is a human being. it made me very heart broken. how is it we're having this conversation, that his son's humanity is in question because he was treated so brutally by the officer in the situation? so, as a parent, i mean, i shared what i could in terms of the grief. but it's unthinkable what his entire family is experiencing right now. >> it is. can i just ask you, andrew, about this because it's disturbing and it makes no sense. and when you talk about humanity, you know, i know we had heard from his uncle that he was handcuffed. and now jacob blake's father is telling you that his son is restrained. but obviously we know at this point that he is paralyzed.

so, i don't understand. was he able to tell you anything about that? >> his father actually used the word "chains," erin. he said, why is my son chained up? there's obviously no reasonable explanation for why someone who is paralyzed from the waist down would have handcuffs on. but his father actually used the word "chains." >> so, you asked jacob blake's father -- jason blake, sr., if there was a message you could share on behalf of the family. i know he wanted you to share everything you shared with us. but i know there was something else he told you. what was it. >> he said that he wants to see that there is one system of justice in the united states of america and not the two that he's seeing right now. one system has his son being shot in the back seven times, and the other has an active shooter with a weapon out just walking right by police immediately after killing two people. and so, you can sense the

frustration and anger in his voice when he talked about how his son was treated relative to how this young shooter from illinois was treated. >> and you know, just to that point, right, president trump has talked about the violence and he's going to put out the flames, right? he has not boasted anything about jacob blake and what happened to him, being shot seven times in the back. did blake's father talk at all about that? and i know there have been those trying to have president trump reach out to the family. were you able to get any information about that? >> his father did not mention the president's name to me, and certainly i did not get the sense that they were waiting, some kind of outreach on trump's behalf. his message was really about his son's humanity and how it seems to have been called into question by this brutal shooting that we all saw in front of us.

that was the main message is, my son is a human being. it was very, very heartbreaking and devastating. >> i can only imagine. incredibly devastating. and this thing about being restrained and chained is extremely disturbing, bizarre, and incomprehensible really. we need to get more information on that. andrew, i appreciate you coming on and sharing that conversation with all of us. thank you. >> thanks, erin. and we do have breaking news now in the case against the 17-year-old. new charges against him. he allegedly shot and killed two protesters in kenosha. kyle rittenhouse charged with six criminal counts including two charges of homicide. wisconsin's lieutenant governor speaking about rittenhouse moments ago. >> if it's the case that this person is being celebrated as a vigilante, as a militiaman, then that's ridiculous. >> so, what happened? drew griffin is "outfront." >> reporter: this video appears to show 17-year-old kyle

rittenhouse carrying his long gun, flagging police who give him a bottle of water. he told the right wing "daily caller" sometime before the shooting he was there to keep the peace. >> part of my job, i'm running into harm's way. that's why i have my gun. >> kyle rittenhouse appears to be a want to be cop, a former ka dead whose social media posts include support for police, referencing blue lives matter, and asking friends to donate to a non-profit called humanizing the badge in lieu of gifts. on the night of the shooting, he posted video in the protest area. a short time later chaos erupts. footage appears to show a man who seems to match rittenhouse from the earlier video being chased by a group, falls, is

struck by protesters, then turns his gun and fires. as one victim lies on the street, the gunman stands up, walks away. when it's over, two people are dead, one seriously injured. the gunman casually walks away, holds his hands over his head as police seem to ignore him and the gun slung across his chest, even as protesters identify. >> that dude just shot someone right there. that dude right there. >> rittenhouse surrendered in his hometown about 20 miles away. he is charged with first degree intentional homicide, but police are saying little else. >> we know there are people out there trying to cause trouble and fire things up. >> reporter: at a news conference, officials gave no additional details on the shootings that took place during the protests and also refused to answer a single question about jacob blake, the man shot seven times in the back by kenosha

police. >> any explanation? >> reporter: kyle rittenhouse's online profile showing affinity for guns, one shooting targets, another assembling an assault rifle. he apparently attended a trump rally in late january. >> this president doesn't preach. this president gets it done. >> reporter: posting a video that showed he was in the very front row. court records show when he was in middle school, kyle's mother said he was bullied so badly she asked a court to issue a retraining order. it didn't happen because they didn't show up for court. >> rittenhouse is being held on a fugitive warrant. he has an extradition hearing tomorrow morning in which wisconsin seeks to bring him back to wisconsin to face now six charges against him.

erin. >> thank you very much, drew. i want to go to carol, 20 year army veteran with first aid training, at the protest, performed cpr tried to save one of the victims allegedly shot by rittenhouse. i appreciate your time. you heard shots, you ran to tried to help one of these victims, a victim that did not survive. tell me what happened. >> well, basically i had come down here because i wanted to see the peaceful protests. and just in the manner of walking around, all of a sudden i heard a hail of gunshots. so, instead of running away from the gunshots, i decided to run towards the gunshots because i saw a person down on the ground to my left, one to my right. i wasn't trying to pick or choose, so i just ran to a

particular person. he was face down. there was so many people around him screaming and hollering. i said, please, can you back up? i turned him over so he was face up and felt his pulse to see if i can feel a pulse. he had no pulse. so, i started doing cpr on him, hoping to get some sort of reaction or pulse for him to breathe. he did not. his eyes were rolled back in his head. it was the worst thing i think i've ever seen in my life. >> and i know -- look, you did everything you could to try to save a life. carol, i think everyone's trying to understand what happened here. and there have been some -- tucker carlson over at fox is one of them who have been saying well, the shooter may have been acting in self-defense. does that fit with anything you saw? >> it is not. >> that's a categorical answer. so, let me just ask you, carol,

the video, again, this is the video posted to a milwaukee-based right-leaning website. there's a person who appears to be rittenhouse walking next to a police officer. there's other armed men as well, and there's police in an armored vehicle. let me just play the video here again, carol. >> you are trespassing leave. we've got a couple. we will give you a couple. >> we appreciate you guys, we really do.

>> okay. so, carol, what you hear there is the police talking to the -- what appears to be mr. rittenhouse, saying we appreciate you guys, hey, thank you guys, giving some water to him and some other members of this militia. we understand -- we believe this was before the shooting, although we're not 100% sure. when you see that friendliness between these two groups, my question to you is being on the ground there, did it appear to you that police needed help from these militias, anything that would explain that sort of extremely friendly supportive relationship? >> i don't know why that would happen. it seems a little strange. i happen to actually see these particular individuals passing when i passed by them. each and every one of them were armed to the teeth.

one particular gentleman had a wrap of bullets -- there had to be 50 bullets around his chest -- all supporting assault rifles of some sort or another, people carrying bats standing in front of this convenience store. it was -- i've never seen anything like that. so, that's scary. and to know that police would, i don't know, consider being -- not, i don't know, friendly to them. they weren't at that time doing anything in particular. so, i don't want to step on their shoes either. they were saying that they were protecting this particular business. i'm not sure if that's the right way to protect a business. i don't want to step on them in any way, shape, or form. each person has the right to do what they feel. i just hope they would do it in a safe manner. people having guns out in the public in broad daylight, i don't think that should happen.

i understand it's everyone's right to carry a gun, so please do not get me wrong in any way, shape or form. i just think it is asking for trouble sometimes. but, yes, if you do need it and you have to protect your life, i would want something to protect my life as well. so, i don't know. >> carol, i really apreepreciat you're taking the time and, i know, giving us your honest answer to everything. carol who was there performed cpr on one of the victims. g categorical there's no way that shooting she saw was in self-defense. we appreciate your time and i know you did everything you could for that life. next a number of prominent republicans have declined invitations to the rnc acceptance speech tonight that is slated to last slooes an hour. the president about to give a speech to a crowd of up to 1,500. and this picture of the white house where you can see that's where people are going to be

sitting. you may notice there's absolutely no social distancing. and the president and his team slamming nba players over their boycott tonight. >> they have the financial position where they're able to take a night off from work without having to have the consequences to themselves financially. so, they have that luxury, which is great. so you only pay for what you need? i should get a quote. do it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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about this? >> reporter: the white house is saying they understand. they know that not every lawmaker is going to be able to make it to the president's speech tonight. about a dozen republican seine to rs have confirmed through their offices they're not going to be in attendance later on at the white house. i will tell you, it is interesting one of the republican officials i just spoke with a short while ago said that coronavirus considerations were very likely to be a part of the determinations of some of these lawmakers not to attend. erin, you know, senator ted cruz, senator john cornyn, they're going to be in texas tonight because they're dealing with the aftermath of hurricane laura. senator tim scott said he had another engagement this evening. but senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is not going to be here tonight. he is up there in years and he has been taking the coronavirus outbreak very seriously, encouraging people to wear masks much more than the president. but one of the things we can tell you about the setting here tonight on the south lawn of the

white house, erin, is that they don't seem to be taking the coronavirus very seriously. there are hundreds of chairs lined up for attendees to be sitting in. they'll be sitting shoulder to shoulder. a lot of attendees we can see already are not wearing masks. convention planners were not in consultation with the coronavirus task force. the course that works for the white house about safety precautions for tonight's proceedings. >> that's -- you know, i have no words for that stuff at this point. jim, thank you very much. just look for yourself, everybody. i want to go to scott jennings who is special assistant to president george w. bush, karen fenny, and david chalian. scott, let me start with you tonight because we're just getting this breaking news, more than 20% of senate republicans are not going to be there tonight where president trump, who is the leader of their party, will accept the nomination. i understand there's all sorts

of reasons in each individual case. it's a big deal when 20% of your party is not going to show up at your nomination speech. does this look bad for him, scott? >> truthfully, i don't think so. the senate is not in session. they're all back home. a lot of them are doing small events. i heard you discussing with jim, i've seen mitch mcconnell out traveling around visiting rural hospitals to talk about coronavirus. so, i don't -- i would not expect people to get on a plane and fly back to washington to listen to a speech, especially when this is not aytra dish nal convention. most of the speeches have had no crowd at all -- >> scott, you have the majority leader who takes coronavirus seriously, who's going around to hospital to visit people who might be sick with coronavirus and not showing up for the nomination of the presidential nominee. i know you've got to try to spin it, but i don't see how that doesn't look good, how it's not a statement. >> if this were a normal

convention, i would imagine most of them would be in the convention. it's not a normal convention. virtually no one is in washington. just doesn't concern me. >> david. >> i'm kind of with scott on this, erin. i don't see this as a huge problem. two reasons. one, i think sort of what the political class does is not necessarily reflective of something larger in terms of what's going on with the republican party and the republican party support of president trump. and we had heard when the party was first looking at charlotte and then when it was moving to jacksonville, at that time time we heard a lot of members weren't going to be attending the convention. out of these coronavirus concerns. i think the pictures you're showing on the south lawn are a concern in the way that people are not socially distanced there and people are not wearing action manies. i would imagine a lot of those senators who chose not to come for the speech probably are thinking maybe that was the wise health decision to make.

>> yeah. i see what both of you are saying. i think if they know what they're saying. i hear you. it's not going to -- it's not going to sway anybody's point of view or anything like that. but if they wanted to be there, they would be there. you just heard president trump is going to address racial unrest tonight in his speech. that's jim's reporting. his chief of staff mark meadows says he has seen the video of ajacob blake and the shooting seven times in the back. but the president has not spoken publicly about the jacob blake case. does he need to address it specifically tonight? >> looks like we have a bit of an issue. karen, can you hear me? no. i'm sorry. okay. so, scott, i want to ask you something a bit different because if i can get her back, i want to ask her that question. the former vice president joe biden accused president trump and his allies today for basically rooting for the violence we have seen in cities

across this country. here's what he said. >> these guys are rooting for violence. that's what it's all about, to prove that you should be scared. >> you think he's actually rooting for violence, that he wants violence because -- >> absolutely. >> okay. so, kellyanne conway then, scott, came out today and said this. >> the more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the clear choice on public safety and law and order. >> i don't know if she meant for it to come out in the way it did, but it seemed to make the case joe biden is making. is he right? >> no, he's not right. i don't know anyone who wants violence and chaos in the cities. that's a highly irresponsible comment. the analogous argument would be for republicans to say, fine, democrats are rooting for the

coronavirus to rage on. if someone said that, you would be excoriating them right now. that kind of statement is for some fringe pundit to make. that's not for a presidential nominee to make. i think it's highly irresponsible and i don't think it's true. >> what do you think is going to happen tonight? he was asked about jacob blake and refused to comment, but he did comment on he was going to put out the flames. this is a big -- he has a big decision to make tonight. >> yeah. i mean, and the reporting suggests he is going to address jacob blake, the shooting, the police-involved shooting with jacob blake. it's how he addresses it. mike pence addressed kenosha last night as part of a statement on violence in cities but didn't actually address the systemic racism at play with police brutality against black people in america and sort of the path forward on that. i think to listen tonight to how donald trump addresses this

issue, and is it about bringing the country together and the path forward in resolving or pushing towards resolution to what is clearly a crisis in america? >> karen, i want to ask you something here. i'm glad we have you back. i'm sorry about that. president trump's son-in-law and senior adviser jared kushner said he is confident black voters will support trump. he went off to explain what he sees as trump's accomplishments in office. here's jared kushner. >> people complaint about the criminal justice system and the racial inequalities that existed. he took on that issue and brought a solution. he got the historic criminal justice reform. there's education. president trump has been tight approximating to get people out of failed schools and into charter schools. he's found a lot of resistance from democrats on that. in addition to that, he funded the historically black colleges and universities. >> so, what do you make of that, right, karen? criminal justice reform, that's

true, funded historically black colleges, that's true. does he have a point? >> well, no, of course not. and i will say that the president's remarks tonight i will argue are part of why, going back to the beginning of this conversation, many republicans will be able to say tomorrow, gee, i wasn't there, i didn't see it when the president talked about law and order in this despicable way that we heard from mike pence. look, what kushner is not telling you, if donald trump really wants to do something for the black community, he will come out tonight and he will order mitch mcconnell to sign the justice in policing act, to get it passed, to get it done. he hasn't taken a step on that, and look at the way our country is burning. listen to the voices of people who have been peacefully protesting trying to make their voices heard. you know, nobody is in support of violence. you heard jacob blake's mother so eloquently speak to this. you've heard kamala harris. you've heard joe biden talk about this.

so, the fact that we haven't even heard donald trump call for peace, we haven't even heard any empathy for the three children who sat there and watched their father be shot seven times, where is -- i mean, this is the hypocrisy of this whole convention. on the one hand they've been trying to say donald trump is so empathetic. he sure doesn't seem to be empathetic when it comes to the suffering of black people in this country. >> thank you all three very much. i appreciate it. as always this week and next, senator kamala harris, her strongest attacks yet against the president, this on his handling of the pandemic. >> donald trump froze. he was scared. >> and the president and his team belittling professional athletes who are boycotting games in protest of the jacob blake shooting. is now a good time for a flare-up?

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learn more at xfinity.com/education. the president about to address about 1,500 people at the white house, one of his biggest audiences since the pandemic began. i just want to show you the scene again because you will see all the chairs are jammed in and

the people are sitting in those chairs jammed in. and jim acosta says most of them aren't wearing masks. that's how it goes, right? this, as the vice presidential nominee kamala harris gave a blistering address of the handling. >> president trump, he got it wrong from the beginning and then he got it wrong again and again. and the consequences have been catastrophic. unste instead of rising to meet the most difficult moment of his presidency, donald trump froze. he was scared, and he was petty and vindictive. >> the u.s. death toll tonight is 180,523 dead americans. nick watt is "outfront."

>> reporter: more than 180,000 lives now lost in america to this coronavirus. multiple times the estimated death toll of our last flu season. and the economic hurt, another 1 million americans filed for first-time unemployment last week. meanwhile, growing outrage after apparent white house pressure led to the cdc no longer saying asymptomatic people need a test after close contact with an infected person. the federal testing chief denies there was pressure. >> that is really bad advice. i believe there was political propaganda rather than public health advise. >> often it's those silent spreaders that have done the most damage. >> today, this explanation from the white house. >> the guidance that was updated is because there continue to be backlogs in the system with the testing particularly for people getting tested for asymptomatic. what it speaks to is that

something that's not a secret to anyone, we don't really have enough testing at this point. >> reporter: it's a secret president trump continually tries to keep. >> we have the best testing in the world. >> reporter: we might be about to get better testing. the fda just granted emergency authorization for a $5 15-minute test, could be used by ten of millions, say its makers. naturally we are doing better in this battle, major metrics moving in the right direction for now. but on the state level, right now average new cases in hawaii, indiana, iowa, kansas and north dakota, which is leading the nation in new cases per capita and past 10,000 total. >> 56% of those have been asymptomatic. people who do not have symptoms can still be contagious in the sense they can still transmit this disease. >> reporter: at least 21 new cases in north dakota alone

linked to that defiantly undistanced sturgis motorcycle rally in neighboring north dakota. >> reporter: and that quick cheap test i just mentioned, kayleigh mcenany from the white house just mentioned the purchase and production of 150 million of them, calling it a major development, of course just a few hours before the president's major speech on the south lawn where, as you mention, erin, doesn't look like they'ring g they're going to be taking covid-19 very seriously at all. let's just hope there aren't any of those infamous asymptomatic spreaders among them. >> thank you very much. i want to go to dr. jonathan reiner, director of the cardiac cath lab of george w. bush. we see no social distancing and

no masks that jim acosta can see. a second ago i was looking at last night, the president and vice president mingling with supporters, following the vice president's speech, people crowding the barriers. i don't see any masks in this picture. there were some in some places, but obviously few and far between, melania trump's speech seeing images of people mingling, no social distance. according to the white house, those who are close toast the president tonight will be tested. don't worry about anybody else. how dangerous is this? >> so, i'm sitting right now in the hospital six blocks from the white house, a hospital that treated hundreds and hundreds of covid patients over the last six months. and when i look at a gathering down the street purely for political purposes, purely to create a backdrop for the president, it's really

maddening. so, by protecting -- by testing the people in the front, the white house is just protecting the president. by packing in 1,500 people without requiring them to wear masks, which i'm sure is a violation actually of d.c. law right now, is endangering his supporters. so, what he's saying by doing this -- and he's done this before. he did this in tulsa and phoenix and mt. rushmore. what he's saying is he cares more about the backdrop than he does about the people. this is -- this kind of buffoonery has to stop. we're nin a pandemic. and a leader wears a mask and tells his supporters to wear a mask. this is going to kill people. >> i think you put it powerfully. they care about him as they should, he's the commander in chief, but they don't care about the rest of the people, and they should, because commander in chief should care about his

people. those are the facts. the 150 million new tests that get announced today just before this speech -- obviously he's going to uk at that about that. what is the impact of that. suddenly we get them tonight? i'm not going to get into how much they work. but suddenly we get them tonight right before the speech? does that surprise you? >> sunday we got the emergency use for convalescent plasma. everything is timed with a political purpose here. i welcome the tests. i think the tests are great. i think the tests are going to help us expand our outreach of testing. we have a massive mixed message. on the one hand we have the cdc advising people who have had direct exposures not to get tested and now we have the release of this. look, i want a consistent plan, and i want it from this administration. we're just not getting it. we need to test more. i welcome the tests.

but it's just a political jumble now, erin. >> dr. reiner, thank you very much. as we see those people gathering on the white house lawn, 180,000 americans have died tonight and yet there you have it, 1,500 people gathering without masks and without social distancing. next professional sports on hold again tonight, but the nba appears ready to resume play this weekend. why? hurricane laura rah advantaging the gulf coast. new details about how widespread the destruction is, and literally still come in as we're just getting footage of some of these devastated areas.

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second night as players protest the shooting of jacob blake by police. the nba, wnba, and national hockey league rescheduling skams scheduled for tonight. president trump and other white house officials attacking the nba for the boycott >> they've become like a political organization and that's not a good thing. i don't think that's a good thing for sports or for the country. >> i think the nba players are very fortunate where they have the financial position they're able to take a night off from work. >> in my mind it's absurd and silly. >> also inside the nba bubble in orlando and breaking a whole lot of news on this front. so appreciate your time. nba players have a meeting with management tonight after they zieed to resume the playoffs, the nba says everything could resume as soon as this weekend. you know more than everyone what happened in that meeting. what are your sources telling

you? >> so player reps from all the teams inside the bubble and the league office, the player association they all had a multihour meeting this afternoon where i'm told players challenged owners in terms of wanting them to be more proactive, not reactive and wanting them to put their actions -- their words into actions and put forth more of a game plan toward really creating change and not just doing it financially. the nba and mvpa created a $300 million fund for black communities but the nba players want action right now from the owners and i'm told the nba and mbta will team up to work on initiatives that are created by the players. >> this is one thing to boycott and another thing to stay what's our end game, what are we going to specifically accomplish by doing that.

they're tackling that. i know you're saying that's what they're going to try to do. they are going to resume playoffs is the understanding. tennis star naomi osaka, a japanese affamerican has agreed to play in the semifinals of the western southern open. she had originally said she was boycotting. she originally reversed course a day later. she said the publicity was worth it to bring attention to the cause. since the nba started this and has been leading this what do players specifically define as an accomplishment. like we boycotted and we're getting this, right? what do they define as success? >> erin, they love really justice for what they believe and what obviously a lot of us do believe, unjust acts, right, of violence toward unarmed black people. and so that is their cause, and that is what they're fighting for. social equality, racial

equality, police brutality. these are all causes that they want to fight for and that they're passionate about. but that can take decades upon decades. it's not truly controllable iptheir hands, but what is controllable is their actions and what they feel like they might do on a day to basis. >> lebron james tweeted before the meeting change doesn't happen with just talk. it happens with action and needs to happen now, which goes to the point you and i were just talking about. i know you reported james didn't initially want to resume playoffs, but he did change his mind. how come? >> so the lakers and clippers both out of the 13 teams that met last night they voted not to play. but after a night of talking to people around him, people inside the bubble, there were a lot of meetings being held late in the night. i'm told up to 4:00, 5:00 in the morning, the next day today it was a pretty clear consensus they would resume the season. >> i really appreciate your

time. and john has been breaking so much of this inside the bubble there in orlando. and next hurricane laura now a tropical storm continuing to march north after leaving death and widespread destruction in the southern united states. what happens when 2 million people

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take theirs. it's your wireless. your rules. only with xfinity mobile. call, click or visit a store today. widespread destruction after hurricane laura tore through parts of louisiana and texas overnight killing at least six

people. martin savidge is out front. >> look, look, look, this roof -- the roof there a roof coming down. >> roaring ashore with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour, hurricane laura was the strongest storm to hit this portion of louisiana and far eastern texas in over a century. laura's powerful winds tearing across lake charles, louisiana, some 35 miles inland causing widespread destruction. homes and buildings torn apart. roofs completely sheared off. huge trees snapped in half. and lampposts and street signs bent in half or completely torn from the ground. this video captured by one man who spoke to cnn after riding out laura in this kaupdo in lake charles. >> i heard a big bang and that woke me up, and i decided to go out and see what it is.

this was a lot worse than rita. >> reporter: tonight at least six storm related deaths have been reported including a 14-year-old girl. the governor says at least four were due to trees falling on homes. a scary situation near lake charles where a chemical fire at a plant cept huge plumes of smoke into the air forcing officials to enter a shelter in place order to people who lived nearby. meanwhile rising waters continue to be a concern for many. >> water's still rising right now but at a very slow place compared to rita and ike. >> reporter: the storms knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people in louisiana and texas. the red cross says more than 400 volunteers are now on the ground in both states. and the national guard had been deployed to help with cleanup in lake charles. in texas tornados are a major concern. >> there's powerful winds knocking down very tall trees in east texas as well as potential tornado activity. so people in northeast texas

still need to remain very vigilant right now. >> reporter: one texas meteorologist had a scary encounter with an electrical wire captured on video by cnn affiliate kxat in orange, texas. luckily he wasn't hurt, but the potential for dangerous even deadly conditions is far from over. >> we're not done yet so anybody well inland if you think this is just a coastal event, that's not true. we're going to see even at 1:00 a.m. friday, so tomorrow morning still a tropical storm in arkansas. >> reporter: even as bad as it is the governor of louisiana says it could have been worse. remember the storm surge they talked about coming all the way up here to lake charles, that never materialized. but what the water didn't do the wind more than made up for. erin? >> all right, martin, thank you very much live there from lake charles. and thanks to all of you for joining us. our special coverage of the

republican national convention and the president's nomination speech tonight continues now. tonight the south lawn of the white house has been turned into president trump's political stage signs and all. he's about to cap the republican convention by accepting the party's nomination in a made for tv moment filled with spectacle, fireworks, giant signs with his name on it, and a tax ttacks on democrats. this hour joe biden hits back in advance. welcome to cnn's coverage, the final night of the republican national convention. tonight president trump will offer voters a stark choice between candidates, two visions of america and perhaps two versions of reality. wolf the president thinks he's his own best salesman and this