democracynow--2020-07-28--A Vaccine by November? Science Journalist in Vaccine Trial Casts Doubt on Rosy U.S. Projections

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : After months of denial , President Donald Trump made his second-ever public appearance wearing a mask in North Carolina Monday , where he said a coronavirus vaccine could be available by the end of the year .
He made the comments while touring a Fujifilm plant that has been repurposed to make vaccines .
AMY GOODMAN : President Trump did not wear a mask during his news conference , and overnight he tweeted to his more than 80 million followers , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about a mask .
Hello ?
You don ’ t need a mask.
” Well , the first major COVID-19 vaccine study launched in the U.S. Monday .
In a collaboration between the drugmaker Moderna and the National Institutes of Health , 30,000 people will join a clinical trial this summer to determine the vaccine ’ s safety and effectiveness .
Top expert and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases , Dr. Anthony Fauci , said results from the late-stage study could be available as early as November @ @ @ @ @ @ @ late-stage study Monday that will involve 30,000 people from the United States , Argentina , Brazil and Germany .
This all comes as a vaccine being developed by Oxford University has triggered an immune response .
For more , we go to London , where we ’ re joined by a science journalist who participated in Oxford ’ s vaccine trial .
Richard Fisher is a senior journalist for BBC Future .
He wrote about his experience in a piece headlined “ Coronavirus : What I learnt in Oxford ’ s vaccine trial.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Now !
Talk about why you decided that you would be injected .
RICHARD FISHER : Hi there .
Hi .
Thanks for having me on .
So , for me , it was both a personal decision and a journalistic one .
So , I wanted to do something that helped the collective effort to get us closer to a vaccine .
I mean , I ’ ve been relatively fortunate in this pandemic , in the sense that I ’ m not a frontline worker .
I don ’ t work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or drive a bus .
I ’ m a journalist who works behind a desk , working at home , so my level of risk is very low compared with many others .
And so , I just saw an opportunity to kind of like help a study that I admired for the pace and speed at which it ’ s moving along .
The second reason is a kind of journalistic curiosity one .
I report and write about clinical trials and how science works from the outside , but I ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And so , in a kind of like method journalism kind of way , it was a great opportunity to actually see what it ’ s like inside a clinical trial and what the process is like for the individuals who do volunteer .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And could you take us through some of the process , once you started the trial ?
Because this is an unusual situation , where even before the trials are fully completed , we ’ re finding countries like Brazil this week announce that they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for initial doses of the vaccine .
RICHARD FISHER : Yeah .
I mean , the actual experience with the Oxford trial has been excellent so far .
I mean , the way it works is you sign up on the website , fill out a form , a questionnaire asking you about your medical history , and then , from there , you go to an initial screening appointment .
And in my case , it was in the hospital in Tooting , South London , where my daughter was born .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ there many times .
And it was a repurposed neurology ward that had been kind of like set aside for the vaccine trials .
And it was a — I mean , visiting hospitals at the moment is certainly different to when you go to see the birth of your child .
Everyone ’ s wearing masks , a strong smell of bleach everywhere .
But once into the vaccine trial , they talk you through .
They want to inform you , make sure that you know everything about the trial .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
They explain the possible side effects .
They also talk about what you won ’ t be able to do , what you will be able to do .
You know , for example , I can ’ t give blood for the next year .
If I was a woman , I would be asked to use contraception .
And so , they ’ re very careful to make sure that you have full knowledge of everything that is going on within the trial and the potential side effects , mild @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may not experience .
And so , it ’ s a very thorough process at the start .
And then , the following week , in my case , I went along and I had the vaccine — well , I should say I don ’ t know whether I actually have the experimental vaccine .
It ’ s a 50-50 chance .
So , in the Oxford trial , there ’ s 10,000 of us , and we ’ re split into two groups .
And half will get the experimental vaccine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other half get a vaccine that ’ s been developed for — sorry , a vaccine that is already developed for meningitis and sepsis .
And so , I don ’ t know which vaccine I have , nor does the doctor who injects you , either .
And that ’ s to make sure that the actual results of the trial are fully robust in a double-blind study .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And how long was the process of the actual trial , before the preliminary results were announced ?
RICHARD FISHER @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
So , it ’ s in various different phases .
So , the preliminary results were based on the initial thousand people who volunteered in an earlier phase of the trial .
So , a clinical trial , as many of your audience will know , moves through various different stages .
A vaccine is tested with animals first , and kind of the basic safety is understood , and then there ’ s a small initial trial .
And that ’ s the results of which that was announced a week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ very promisingly , that there was no severe safety problems and also that there was an immune response generated in the bodies of the people that had the vaccine .
So , that ’ s very promising .
But what needs to be done now is expanding out into Phase 2 , Phase 3 , which is what ’ s happening with the Moderna trial , as well , in the U.S. at the moment .
This is about kind of testing safety and efficacy at scale .
In order to kind of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to an entire country , to the entire world , to billions of people , you need to test over a large scale .
You need a lot of people , and in a lot of different kind of environments , experiencing the — different lives , the virus in different ways .
And only then can you kind of like gain the confidence over time to know whether a vaccine is both safe — because you may see very rare side effects in a larger group of people — and then , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
So , this is part of , like , science , like the long term , the long haul of developing a vaccine .
I think it ’ s often kind of thought that you can just throw money at the problem and get a vaccine quicker .
And it ’ s certainly true that , like , we are accelerating vaccine development at the moment .
I mean , Operation Warp Speed is an example of that in the U.S .
But there needs to be patience , because only time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scale .
And this is something that , like , is a challenge for the regulators .
And at some point down the track with these vaccines rocketing through the trials , a regulator is going to have to say , “ Yes , this is OK. We can roll this out.
” But a queue is going to instantly form of people who want this vaccine .
And everybody in the world needs a vaccine at the moment .
So there ’ s huge political , social pressure on these scientists .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ heavy burden to carry .
I mean , I think it ’ s fascinating from the point of view of the scientists .
Many of them were working in different fields before this pandemic .
You know , they were working on coronavirus vaccines , but not necessarily thinking about a pandemic of this scale .
So , now they have the expectation and hopes of billions of people around the world on their shoulders .
So I have huge admiration for the scientists involved in this work .
AMY GOODMAN : Richard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your thoughts on President Trump , you know , going to North Carolina yesterday , and before the big name of pushing for a vaccine , which is called Warp Speed , Operation Warp Speed , he talked about the various vaccine programs , but then , last night , tweeted , “ You don ’ t need [ to wear ] a mask , ” as if going for a vaccine in the months to come means that — and as he said yesterday , states should be reopening , schools should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the future .
Your brother is a doctor in the intensive care unit nearby where you are .
Can you talk about the connection between these two things ?
And then , if you could respond to a poll by Associated Press that found that half of Americans say that they would get a COVID-19 vaccine , but about 30 % said they weren ’ t sure , and another one in five said they would refuse to get a vaccine ?
Maybe part of their concern is that word “ Warp Speed.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
There ’ s a lot to unpack , but if you could ?
RICHARD FISHER : Yeah , it is .
I mean , those statistics about people refusing a vaccine , that is worrying , because , you know , I think the safety of these vaccines is being tested in many , many people , and I would worry if people turn it down based on kind of minor side effects and concerns that they may have read on social media .
I mean , if you ’ re somebody @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , I just would suggest reading — going to authoritative sources , reading journalism from the BBC or magazines like New Scientist or STAT News , based in Boston .
I mean , this will tell you about , like , how the vaccines actually work and what the process is .
The question of , like , the wearing masks , I mean , I know this has been hotly debated over here in the U.K. , as well .
I mean , it ’ s only just been the case that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And this certainly is not the political question over here that it is in the U.S .
The science suggests that wearing a mask reduces your risk .
It can ’ t keep you safe .
I mean , there ’ s no such thing as being totally safe during a pandemic , but it ’ s about reduction of risk .
If something reduces your risk just a little bit , and also it reduces the risk of the people around you , then I think it ’ s something that ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ very easy thing to do , for me personally .
And I don ’ t mind wearing a mask .
As for the vaccine , I mean , we ’ re still a way off .
I mean , it ’ s coming , but the typical timeline for vaccine development is measured in years , not months .
I mean , I must admit I was surprised to hear Anthony Fauci suggest that the vaccine might come October , November .
I mean , that ’ s much faster than I expected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more qualified than me to answer that question , but I think it ’ s worth remembering we ’ re in it for the long haul .
I mean , this disease will be around for a long time .
It ’ s also the case that we shouldn ’ t hold out hope that the first vaccine will be what ’ s called a sterilizing vaccine .
So , many people think of a vaccine as something that it will just wipe out , and that ’ s it , and you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t be able to get — you won ’ t catch disease .
But some of the preliminary evidence suggests that it may take more than one vaccine , and the first one might not necessarily wipe out the disease .
People may still be able to , for example , be protected , which would be fantastic — that would be of huge importance — but they could still pass it on .
And that ’ s something that would still allow the disease to spread to those who haven ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t have a vaccine because they ’ re vulnerable for other reasons , and , for example , if they have cancer or — AMY GOODMAN : Twitter has removed a tweet that was retweeted by President Trump , that falsely said there ’ s a cure for coronavirus .
He retweeted a tweet that said , “ Covid has cure .
America wake up.
” But , Richard Fisher , before we go , I wanted to ask you — you spent a year here with a Knight Fellowship looking at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Can you make the connection between attitudes like these when it comes to coronavirus and denial of the climate crisis , for example ?
RICHARD FISHER : It ’ s definitely the case that there is , embedded in the structure of like our political systems , for any politician of any kind of party , that the incentives are there to kind of please the base and the voters in the next election , rather than make decisions that benefit society five , 10 , 15 , even 50 years down the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this has been something that ’ s been embedded within democracy for many years .
So , the question is more just how can we incentivize politicians to do things that benefit the next one .
You know , so if a politician knows that their term is coming to an end , why would they do something that they won ’ t get the political credit for ?
And that ’ s a challenge for politics generally , I think .
There are efforts to kind of think about that and think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our politicians make decisions that affect future generations , but it ’ s a tough problem .
And I think it ’ s particularly acute at the moment with the rise of populist politics , because when you have politicians doing things that only speak to their base , then that very much leads to short-termism over , like , the longer-term benefit for society .
AMY GOODMAN : Richard Fisher , I want to thank you for being with us , senior journalist at BBC Future , volunteer in the COVID-19 vaccine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ll link to your piece , “ Coronavirus : What I learnt in Oxford ’ s vaccine trial.
” In fact , Richard doesn ’ t know if he got the vaccine or a placebo .
But when we come back , we ’ ll look at the government program pumping billions of dollars into vaccine development .
Who ’ s profiting ?
Stay with us .
AMY GOODMAN : Wintley Phipps performing “ Amazing Grace ” yesterday in the Capitol Rotunda for the late Georgia Democratic lawmaker John Lewis .
John Lewis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ body is laying in state in the Capitol Rotunda .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: After months of denial, President Donald Trump made his second-ever public appearance wearing a mask in North Carolina Monday, where he said a coronavirus vaccine could be available by the end of the year. He made the comments while touring a Fujifilm plant that has been repurposed to make vaccines.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And we’re here, actually, today to discuss the exciting progress that we’ve achieved under the Operation Warp Speed, our historic initiative to develop, test, manufacture and deliver a vaccine in record time. And that’s what it is: in record time. Likewise, therapeutically, we are very, very advanced. You’re hearing about it, and you’ll be hearing about it a lot more in the next two weeks.
AMY GOODMAN: President Trump did not wear a mask during his news conference, and overnight he tweeted to his more than 80 million followers, “I know you people want to talk about a mask. Hello? You don’t need a mask.”
Well, the first major COVID-19 vaccine study launched in the U.S. Monday. In a collaboration between the drugmaker Moderna and the National Institutes of Health, 30,000 people will join a clinical trial this summer to determine the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness. Top expert and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said results from the late-stage study could be available as early as November. The company Pfizer also launched a late-stage study Monday that will involve 30,000 people from the United States, Argentina, Brazil and Germany. This all comes as a vaccine being developed by Oxford University has triggered an immune response.
For more, we go to London, where we’re joined by a science journalist who participated in Oxford’s vaccine trial. Richard Fisher is a senior journalist for BBC Future. He wrote about his experience in a piece headlined “Coronavirus: What I learnt in Oxford’s vaccine trial.”
Richard Fisher, welcome to Democracy Now! Talk about why you decided that you would be injected.
RICHARD FISHER: Hi there. Hi. Thanks for having me on.
So, for me, it was both a personal decision and a journalistic one. So, I wanted to do something that helped the collective effort to get us closer to a vaccine. I mean, I’ve been relatively fortunate in this pandemic, in the sense that I’m not a frontline worker. I don’t work in a shop or in a hospital or drive a bus. I’m a journalist who works behind a desk, working at home, so my level of risk is very low compared with many others. And so, I just saw an opportunity to kind of like help a study that I admired for the pace and speed at which it’s moving along.
The second reason is a kind of journalistic curiosity one. I report and write about clinical trials and how science works from the outside, but I’ve never actually been part of one. And so, in a kind of like method journalism kind of way, it was a great opportunity to actually see what it’s like inside a clinical trial and what the process is like for the individuals who do volunteer.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And could you take us through some of the process, once you started the trial? Because this is an unusual situation, where even before the trials are fully completed, we’re finding countries like Brazil this week announce that they’re putting down $287 million for initial doses of the vaccine.
RICHARD FISHER: Yeah. I mean, the actual experience with the Oxford trial has been excellent so far. I mean, the way it works is you sign up on the website, fill out a form, a questionnaire asking you about your medical history, and then, from there, you go to an initial screening appointment. And in my case, it was in the hospital in Tooting, South London, where my daughter was born. You know, I’ve been there many times. And it was a repurposed neurology ward that had been kind of like set aside for the vaccine trials. And it was a — I mean, visiting hospitals at the moment is certainly different to when you go to see the birth of your child. Everyone’s wearing masks, a strong smell of bleach everywhere.
But once into the vaccine trial, they talk you through. They want to inform you, make sure that you know everything about the trial. So they explain the science to you. They explain the possible side effects. They also talk about what you won’t be able to do, what you will be able to do. You know, for example, I can’t give blood for the next year. If I was a woman, I would be asked to use contraception. And so, they’re very careful to make sure that you have full knowledge of everything that is going on within the trial and the potential side effects, mild and severe, that you may or may not experience. And so, it’s a very thorough process at the start.
And then, the following week, in my case, I went along and I had the vaccine — well, I should say I don’t know whether I actually have the experimental vaccine. It’s a 50-50 chance. So, in the Oxford trial, there’s 10,000 of us, and we’re split into two groups. And half will get the experimental vaccine being developed at Oxford University. The other half get a vaccine that’s been developed for — sorry, a vaccine that is already developed for meningitis and sepsis. And so, I don’t know which vaccine I have, nor does the doctor who injects you, either. And that’s to make sure that the actual results of the trial are fully robust in a double-blind study.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And how long was the process of the actual trial, before the preliminary results were announced?
RICHARD FISHER: Ah. Well, I see. So, it’s in various different phases. So, the preliminary results were based on the initial thousand people who volunteered in an earlier phase of the trial. So, a clinical trial, as many of your audience will know, moves through various different stages. A vaccine is tested with animals first, and kind of the basic safety is understood, and then there’s a small initial trial. And that’s the results of which that was announced a week or two ago, that suggested, very promisingly, that there was no severe safety problems and also that there was an immune response generated in the bodies of the people that had the vaccine. So, that’s very promising.
But what needs to be done now is expanding out into Phase 2, Phase 3, which is what’s happening with the Moderna trial, as well, in the U.S. at the moment. This is about kind of testing safety and efficacy at scale. In order to kind of have the confidence to deliver a vaccine to an entire country, to the entire world, to billions of people, you need to test over a large scale. You need a lot of people, and in a lot of different kind of environments, experiencing the — different lives, the virus in different ways. And only then can you kind of like gain the confidence over time to know whether a vaccine is both safe — because you may see very rare side effects in a larger group of people — and then, secondly, like whether it actually works.
So, this is part of, like, science, like the long term, the long haul of developing a vaccine. I think it’s often kind of thought that you can just throw money at the problem and get a vaccine quicker. And it’s certainly true that, like, we are accelerating vaccine development at the moment. I mean, Operation Warp Speed is an example of that in the U.S. But there needs to be patience, because only time will tell whether a vaccine works at scale. And this is something that, like, is a challenge for the regulators. And at some point down the track with these vaccines rocketing through the trials, a regulator is going to have to say, “Yes, this is OK. We can roll this out.” But a queue is going to instantly form of people who want this vaccine. And everybody in the world needs a vaccine at the moment.
So there’s huge political, social pressure on these scientists. I mean, it’s a heavy burden to carry. I mean, I think it’s fascinating from the point of view of the scientists. Many of them were working in different fields before this pandemic. You know, they were working on coronavirus vaccines, but not necessarily thinking about a pandemic of this scale. So, now they have the expectation and hopes of billions of people around the world on their shoulders. So I have huge admiration for the scientists involved in this work.
AMY GOODMAN: Richard Fisher, I wanted to ask about your thoughts on President Trump, you know, going to North Carolina yesterday, and before the big name of pushing for a vaccine, which is called Warp Speed, Operation Warp Speed, he talked about the various vaccine programs, but then, last night, tweeted, “You don’t need [to wear] a mask,” as if going for a vaccine in the months to come means that — and as he said yesterday, states should be reopening, schools should be reopening, for this promise in the future. Your brother is a doctor in the intensive care unit nearby where you are. Can you talk about the connection between these two things? And then, if you could respond to a poll by Associated Press that found that half of Americans say that they would get a COVID-19 vaccine, but about 30% said they weren’t sure, and another one in five said they would refuse to get a vaccine? Maybe part of their concern is that word “Warp Speed.” Is this going to be safe? There’s a lot to unpack, but if you could?
RICHARD FISHER: Yeah, it is. I mean, those statistics about people refusing a vaccine, that is worrying, because, you know, I think the safety of these vaccines is being tested in many, many people, and I would worry if people turn it down based on kind of minor side effects and concerns that they may have read on social media. I mean, if you’re somebody who is unsure about having a vaccine, I just would suggest reading — going to authoritative sources, reading journalism from the BBC or magazines like New Scientist or STAT News, based in Boston. I mean, this will tell you about, like, how the vaccines actually work and what the process is.
The question of, like, the wearing masks, I mean, I know this has been hotly debated over here in the U.K., as well. I mean, it’s only just been the case that masks have become compulsory inside shops. And this certainly is not the political question over here that it is in the U.S. The science suggests that wearing a mask reduces your risk. It can’t keep you safe. I mean, there’s no such thing as being totally safe during a pandemic, but it’s about reduction of risk. If something reduces your risk just a little bit, and also it reduces the risk of the people around you, then I think it’s something that’s worth doing. It seems a very easy thing to do, for me personally. And I don’t mind wearing a mask.
As for the vaccine, I mean, we’re still a way off. I mean, it’s coming, but the typical timeline for vaccine development is measured in years, not months. I mean, I must admit I was surprised to hear Anthony Fauci suggest that the vaccine might come October, November. I mean, that’s much faster than I expected. I mean, he’s more qualified than me to answer that question, but I think it’s worth remembering we’re in it for the long haul. I mean, this disease will be around for a long time. It’s also the case that we shouldn’t hold out hope that the first vaccine will be what’s called a sterilizing vaccine. So, many people think of a vaccine as something that it will just wipe out, and that’s it, and you can’t — you won’t be able to get — you won’t catch disease. But some of the preliminary evidence suggests that it may take more than one vaccine, and the first one might not necessarily wipe out the disease. People may still be able to, for example, be protected, which would be fantastic — that would be of huge importance — but they could still pass it on. And that’s something that would still allow the disease to spread to those who haven’t had it or those who can’t have a vaccine because they’re vulnerable for other reasons, and, for example, if they have cancer or —
AMY GOODMAN: Twitter has removed a tweet that was retweeted by President Trump, that falsely said there’s a cure for coronavirus. He retweeted a tweet that said, “Covid has cure. America wake up.” But, Richard Fisher, before we go, I wanted to ask you — you spent a year here with a Knight Fellowship looking at the problem of governments focused on short-termism. Can you make the connection between attitudes like these when it comes to coronavirus and denial of the climate crisis, for example?
RICHARD FISHER: It’s definitely the case that there is, embedded in the structure of like our political systems, for any politician of any kind of party, that the incentives are there to kind of please the base and the voters in the next election, rather than make decisions that benefit society five, 10, 15, even 50 years down the track. So, you know, this has been something that’s been embedded within democracy for many years. So, the question is more just how can we incentivize politicians to do things that benefit the next one. You know, so if a politician knows that their term is coming to an end, why would they do something that they won’t get the political credit for? And that’s a challenge for politics generally, I think. There are efforts to kind of think about that and think about like how our decisions and how our politicians make decisions that affect future generations, but it’s a tough problem. And I think it’s particularly acute at the moment with the rise of populist politics, because when you have politicians doing things that only speak to their base, then that very much leads to short-termism over, like, the longer-term benefit for society.
AMY GOODMAN: Richard Fisher, I want to thank you for being with us, senior journalist at BBC Future, volunteer in the COVID-19 vaccine trial at Oxford University. We’ll link to your piece, “Coronavirus: What I learnt in Oxford’s vaccine trial.” In fact, Richard doesn’t know if he got the vaccine or a placebo.
But when we come back, we’ll look at the government program pumping billions of dollars into vaccine development. Who’s profiting? Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: Wintley Phipps performing “Amazing Grace” yesterday in the Capitol Rotunda for the late Georgia Democratic lawmaker John Lewis. John Lewis, the first African American lawmaker whose body is laying in state in the Capitol Rotunda.


democracynow--2020-07-28--Headlines for July 28, 2020

Headlines for July 28, 2020

The reported U.S. death toll from COVID-19 tops 148,000 .
President Trump ’ s national security adviser , Robert O ’ Brien , has become the highest-ranking U.S. government official to test positive .
O ’ Brien abruptly left the White House on Thursday , but his staff reportedly only learned why from media reports on Monday .
It is unclear when O ’ Brien was last with President Trump .
In related news , the world ’ s biggest Phase 3 clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine study began in the United States on Monday .
The vaccine was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases .
Thirty thousand people are expected to participate in the trial .
On the same day , Trump traveled to North Carolina to visit a Fujifilm facility working on a COVID-19 vaccine and pushed states to reopen despite the recent surge in cases .
President Donald Trump : “ I really do believe a lot of the governors should be opening up states that they ’ re not opening , and we ’ ll see what happens with them .
But a lot will have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ therapeutically , I think you ’ re going to have some great answers , vaccine-wise likewise.
” Overnight , Trump retweeted to his more than 80 million followers a video that said , “ I know you people want to talk about a mask .
Hello ?
You don ’ t need a mask.
” The University of Notre Dame has announced it will not host the first presidential debate on September 29 due to the pandemic .
The debate will now take place at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland , Ohio @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This comes as schools across the country are deciding whether to resume in-person classes .
In Florida , over 300 children have been hospitalized from COVID-19 .
The number has increased by 23 % over the previous week .
Meanwhile , in California , the COVID-19 death toll at San Quentin State Prison has reached 19 .
In other coronavirus news , former presidential candidate Herman Cain remains hospitalized .
He tested positive in early July after not wearing a mask at President Trump ’ s indoor rally in Tulsa , Oklahoma .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ African American cancer survivor .
After Trump ’ s Tulsa campaign rally , there was a major spike in COVID-19 cases there .

The reported U.S. death toll from COVID-19 tops 148,000. President Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, has become the highest-ranking U.S. government official to test positive. O’Brien abruptly left the White House on Thursday, but his staff reportedly only learned why from media reports on Monday. It is unclear when O’Brien was last with President Trump.
In related news, the world’s biggest Phase 3 clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine study began in the United States on Monday. The vaccine was developed by the biotech firm Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Thirty thousand people are expected to participate in the trial. On the same day, Trump traveled to North Carolina to visit a Fujifilm facility working on a COVID-19 vaccine and pushed states to reopen despite the recent surge in cases.
President Donald Trump: “I really do believe a lot of the governors should be opening up states that they’re not opening, and we’ll see what happens with them. But a lot will have to do with the fact that, therapeutically, I think you’re going to have some great answers, vaccine-wise likewise.”
Overnight, Trump retweeted to his more than 80 million followers a video that said , “I know you people want to talk about a mask. Hello? You don’t need a mask.”
The University of Notre Dame has announced it will not host the first presidential debate on September 29 due to the pandemic. The debate will now take place at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, co-hosted by The Cleveland Clinic.
This comes as schools across the country are deciding whether to resume in-person classes. In Florida, over 300 children have been hospitalized from COVID-19. The number has increased by 23% over the previous week.
Meanwhile, in California, the COVID-19 death toll at San Quentin State Prison has reached 19.


democracynow--2020-07-29--Civil Rights Icon Bernard Lafayette on His Friend John Lewis, Freedom Rides & Practicing Nonviolence

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
The Quarantine Report .
I ’ m Amy Goodman , with Juan González , as we turn to look at civil rights leader John Lewis ’ s early years of activism and his pivotal role in the Freedom Rides of 1961 .
John Lewis had been heavily involved with lunch counter sit-ins in Nashville , Tennessee , when at the age of 21 he applied and was chosen to be among the 13 original Freedom Riders who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ segregation laws .
In this clip from the PBS documentary Freedom Riders , directed by Stanley Nelson , Congressmember John Lewis reads from his application to participate in the first Freedom Ride .
AMY GOODMAN : John Lewis was on the first Freedom Ride when it departed Washington , D.C. , on May 4th , 1961 , with seven Black and six white passengers .
Lewis was also among the first of the activists to face physical violence , when he and two other Freedom Riders were severely beaten by white supremacists in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more on the significance of these rides and John Lewis ’ s legacy as a young civil rights leader , we go to Tuskegee , Alabama , where we ’ re joined by his lifelong friend , co-conspirator , former roommate , Bernard Lafayette , a civil rights leader and scholar who participated in the Nashville-New Orleans Freedom Ride in 1961 , a leader in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee , which John Lewis headed .
Bernard Lafayette , now a professor at Auburn University in Alabama , welcome to Democracy Now !
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ with us .
Bernard Lafayette , we last spoke to you when Freedom Riders , the documentary by Stanley Nelson , came out at the Sundance Film Festival a few years ago .
But take us back , how you first met John Lewis , and take us back to the sit-ins and then the Freedom Rides .
BERNARD LAFAYETTE : Thank you very much .
And I want to , first of all , say that I really appreciate what you ’ re doing in terms of documenting history , because our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the particulars in how things changed , so that they can help to maintain those changes and make even more .
So what you are doing is extremely important , and I ’ m happy to be here to join you .
When I was a student at American Baptist College , John Lewis and I were roommates .
And we decided that we were going to participate in the workshops that Jim Lawson was conducting there in Nashville focused on the sit-ins .
And it was John who persuaded me to go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so many jobs on campus , I did not have time for another workshop .
But as John has always been , he ’ s very persuasive , and he ’ s persistent .
So I went to the workshops just to stop hearing John talk .
And lo and behold , I was completely consumed by the information and the strategy and that sort of thing .
So , it was John that really recruited me into it .
Now , one thing I want to say is that after the sit-ins @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way , we actually desegregated the lunch counters in Nashville in about three months .
We were one of the first student groups in our community , in different communities , that did that .
One of the things that did that was the fact that we had strategy .
We had Diane Nash as our spokesperson , because she had to deal with the media and be able to put it in such a way that it was appealing , because we had to try to win as many people over as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can not do it without winning the sympathy , if not the active support , of the majority .
So we got the majority of people in Nashville to really support what we were doing .
We had an economic boycott .
It was about 90 % effective .
And that was one of the things that showed us we had support from many different people .
So , the many — JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And , Bernard Lafayette , when you — for the younger people who are watching or listening to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what exactly were the Freedom Rides ?
What did you do on a day-to-day basis ?
And if you could talk about the work that you and John Lewis did to desegregate the Greyhound buses ?
BERNARD LAFAYETTE : Yes .
Well , after the sit-ins took place and we were able to desegregate the lunch counters , one of the places that we had the , you know , integration was the bus station itself , because we had lunch counters at the bus station , and so therefore we also sat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the Greyhound bus station was completely desegregated before the Freedom Rides started .
At Christmas of 1960 , John Lewis and I decided we were going to take the Greyhound bus , but we were going to sit on the front seat .
The Greyhound bus was still segregated , even though the station was integrated , in Nashville .
So , I sat behind the driver , and John sat behind the next seat in the front of the bus .
Well , we rode all the way from Nashville and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and I continued .
And we desegregated that bus .
So , when the Freedom Rides were announced by CORE , Congress of Racial Equality , there was no question that we were going to go on the Freedom Rides .
And so happened that John was 21 in February of that year , of 1960 , and I was not going to be 21 until July .
So , we applied .
John Lewis got accepted , but I didn ’ t get accepted because I needed parental permission , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
My father would say , “ I ’ m not going to sign your death warrant.
” So , there was already — before the Freedom Rides started , there was some question about whether or not we would survive .
Well , John went on the original ride , and , as mentioned , he was beaten up there in the first leg , in the first part of the Freedom Rides .
But we decided we were going to continue .
And the reason why the Freedom Rides continued is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and said , “ Let ’ s go.
” So we got permission to take over the Freedom Rides , so I didn ’ t need parental permission .
So , he and I got together , and he took the first group , and I had the backup group , because you have to have a backup group in case if the first group got arrested , the only way you can continue is to have some more people ready to go .
And so , we had strategy , and we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ability , and we continued that Freedom Ride from Birmingham on into Montgomery .
In Montgomery , we were met with violence .
And this was after we had traveled from Birmingham to Montgomery with armed guards .
The federal National Guards and all those people were surrounding us , because they had promised to give protection , the governor .
But once we got to the bus station , all of the protection disappeared .
And we were on the platform , and Jim Zwerg was beaten up , and John Lewis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the chest and had three broken ribs .
So , there was nothing you could do with broken ribs , so I went through the entire Freedom Rides with three broken ribs .
I didn ’ t tell my fellow Freedom Riders , because they might have insisted that I not go .
So I just kept quiet .
I quietly suffered the entire trip .
AMY GOODMAN : Can you describe what happened , Bernard Lafayette , in Rock Hill , South Carolina ?
Congressman Clyburn talks now about regretting that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ride bus when it came in , but his wife was pregnant , and she wanted him with her .
But the significance and the violence that you were met with ?
Was John Lewis in Rock Hill ?
BERNARD LAFAYETTE : Yes .
He was beaten up .
And that ’ s one of the further — first retaliation of the people who were against the Freedom Rides .
So , they survived that , and they went on .
And the bus got burned in Anniston , Alabama , and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were beaten , and that sort of thing , on the buses .
So , for the early part of the Freedom Rides , the violence had already manifested itself .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And I ’ m wondering if you could talk also about John Lewis ’ s leadership role .
He became chairman of SNCC and was later succeeded , in 1966 , by Stokely Carmichael .
And , of course , there was a major shift in SNCC at the time , Carmichael becoming more frustrated and disillusioned with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , after the '64 convention , goes in the direction of Black Power movement and eventually into the Black Panthers .
The importance of John Lewis 's maintaining his views on nonviolence , and why this was such a core of your activism ?
How did Lewis deal with the changing debates at that time over nonviolence and Black power ?
BERNARD LAFAYETTE : Well , first thing that is important to understand is that it was the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee .
It was made up of student leaders from various colleges @ @ @ @ @ @ @ together by Ella Baker , who worked for Martin Luther King , the Southern Christian Leadership Conference .
And these students were there , in Raleigh , because — at Shaw University , because Ella Baker was a graduate of Shaw University .
She was an older woman at this time .
But nevertheless , this was a school that was very receptive to this national conference .
And we formed that .
And Marion Barry , who was one of our students from Nashville , was the first chairman of SNCC .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ his master ’ s program , and he showed a good deal of leadership in Nashville , as well .
John Lewis showed leadership because he was the president of his class , and then he was the president of the student body , at American Baptist Theological Seminary .
So he had that leadership ability all the time .
But he didn ’ t promote himself ; others promoted him .
It was a student organization .
So , John was no longer a student .
Neither was , you know , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be the chairman , because he wanted to take the leadership of SNCC .
But SNCC was supposed to be for students .
And that ’ s the thing that happened that took it into a different direction , because the students no longer were students in those leadership positions .
So , the whole idea of Black power — now , let me — I don ’ t know — we don ’ t have time to do this , but let me give you a hint of what was happening .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Freedom Ride in Jackson , Mississippi , so we stayed up all night arguing with each other about nonviolence .
Now , Stokely also felt that Black people should continue to take the leadership of the voter registration movement and that kind of thing .
Unfortunately , Blacks who had been subjugated through segregation and oppression for so many years had carved out for — out of themselves and their experience , to be submissive to white folk .
OK , I ’ m breaking it down for you now .
OK ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ SNCC went into Mississippi and some places in Alabama and tried to recruit Black people to go down and register , they said , “ Get out of here with that mess.
” When white students went and told them they were going to come pick them up and they were going to take them to register to vote , they said , “ What time should I be ready ?
” AMY GOODMAN : Bernard Lafayette , we just have a minute , and I wanted to come back to today .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , was at Black Lives Matter Plaza , with the big words “ Black Lives Matter ” outside the White House , outside Lafayette Park .
You were youth leaders then .
You were very active in Selma with John Lewis .
What message do you , and , do you feel , John Lewis had , especially for young people organizing today ?
BERNARD LAFAYETTE : Well , that was one of the genius of John Lewis , is that he knew how to relate to people who were different from him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ values , different philosophies .
And that ’ s why he was such a great leader , because he didn ’ t put people down or ignore them or say a lot of negative things about them simply because they didn ’ t agree with him .
He found a way to make a way .
And he was always looking at synthesizing our approach rather than dividing .
AMY GOODMAN : Bernard , we are going to have to leave it there .
But before we go , I want to wish @ @ @ @ @ @ @ AMY GOODMAN : Bernard Lafayette , civil rights leader , scholar , longtime friend of the late Congressmember John Lewis , his former roommate .
We wish you a very happy birthday .
And that does it for our broadcast .
I ’ m Amy Goodman , with Juan González .
Stay safe .
Save lives .
Wear a mask .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González, as we turn to look at civil rights leader John Lewis’s early years of activism and his pivotal role in the Freedom Rides of 1961. John Lewis had been heavily involved with lunch counter sit-ins in Nashville, Tennessee, when at the age of 21 he applied and was chosen to be among the 13 original Freedom Riders who rode buses across the South to challenge segregation laws. In this clip from the PBS documentary Freedom Riders, directed by Stanley Nelson, Congressmember John Lewis reads from his application to participate in the first Freedom Ride.
REP. JOHN LEWIS: I wish to apply for acceptance as a participant in CORE’s Freedom Ride, 1961. I’m a senior at American Baptist Theological Seminary and hope to graduate in June. I know that an education is important, and I hope to get one, but at this time human dignity is the most important thing in my life, that justice and freedom might come to the Deep South.
AMY GOODMAN: John Lewis was on the first Freedom Ride when it departed Washington, D.C., on May 4th, 1961, with seven Black and six white passengers. Lewis was also among the first of the activists to face physical violence, when he and two other Freedom Riders were severely beaten by white supremacists in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
For more on the significance of these rides and John Lewis’s legacy as a young civil rights leader, we go to Tuskegee, Alabama, where we’re joined by his lifelong friend, co-conspirator, former roommate, Bernard Lafayette, a civil rights leader and scholar who participated in the Nashville-New Orleans Freedom Ride in 1961, a leader in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which John Lewis headed.
Bernard Lafayette, now a professor at Auburn University in Alabama, welcome to Democracy Now! It’s great to have you with us. Bernard Lafayette, we last spoke to you when Freedom Riders, the documentary by Stanley Nelson, came out at the Sundance Film Festival a few years ago. But take us back, how you first met John Lewis, and take us back to the sit-ins and then the Freedom Rides.
BERNARD LAFAYETTE: Thank you very much. And I want to, first of all, say that I really appreciate what you’re doing in terms of documenting history, because our young people can take advantage of understanding the particulars in how things changed, so that they can help to maintain those changes and make even more. So what you are doing is extremely important, and I’m happy to be here to join you.
When I was a student at American Baptist College, John Lewis and I were roommates. And we decided that we were going to participate in the workshops that Jim Lawson was conducting there in Nashville focused on the sit-ins. And it was John who persuaded me to go to the workshops, because I had so many jobs on campus, I did not have time for another workshop. But as John has always been, he’s very persuasive, and he’s persistent. So I went to the workshops just to stop hearing John talk. And lo and behold, I was completely consumed by the information and the strategy and that sort of thing. So, it was John that really recruited me into it.
Now, one thing I want to say is that after the sit-ins in 1960 — and, by the way, we actually desegregated the lunch counters in Nashville in about three months. We were one of the first student groups in our community, in different communities, that did that. One of the things that did that was the fact that we had strategy. We had Diane Nash as our spokesperson, because she had to deal with the media and be able to put it in such a way that it was appealing, because we had to try to win as many people over as possible. To make changes, you cannot do it without winning the sympathy, if not the active support, of the majority. So we got the majority of people in Nashville to really support what we were doing. We had an economic boycott. It was about 90% effective. And that was one of the things that showed us we had support from many different people. So, the many —
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Bernard Lafayette, when you — for the younger people who are watching or listening to this show, could you talk about what exactly were the Freedom Rides? What did you do on a day-to-day basis? And if you could talk about the work that you and John Lewis did to desegregate the Greyhound buses?
BERNARD LAFAYETTE: Yes. Well, after the sit-ins took place and we were able to desegregate the lunch counters, one of the places that we had the, you know, integration was the bus station itself, because we had lunch counters at the bus station, and so therefore we also sat in at those lunch counters. So, the Greyhound bus station was completely desegregated before the Freedom Rides started.
At Christmas of 1960, John Lewis and I decided we were going to take the Greyhound bus, but we were going to sit on the front seat. The Greyhound bus was still segregated, even though the station was integrated, in Nashville. So, I sat behind the driver, and John sat behind the next seat in the front of the bus. Well, we rode all the way from Nashville and got off at Troy, John did, and I continued. And we desegregated that bus.
So, when the Freedom Rides were announced by CORE, Congress of Racial Equality, there was no question that we were going to go on the Freedom Rides. And so happened that John was 21 in February of that year, of 1960, and I was not going to be 21 until July. So, we applied. John Lewis got accepted, but I didn’t get accepted because I needed parental permission, and my parents wouldn’t give permission. My father would say, “I’m not going to sign your death warrant.” So, there was already — before the Freedom Rides started, there was some question about whether or not we would survive.
Well, John went on the original ride, and, as mentioned, he was beaten up there in the first leg, in the first part of the Freedom Rides. But we decided we were going to continue. And the reason why the Freedom Rides continued is because John Lewis came back to Nashville and said, “Let’s go.” So we got permission to take over the Freedom Rides, so I didn’t need parental permission. So, he and I got together, and he took the first group, and I had the backup group, because you have to have a backup group in case if the first group got arrested, the only way you can continue is to have some more people ready to go. And so, we had strategy, and we had experience, and we had leadership ability, and we continued that Freedom Ride from Birmingham on into Montgomery.
In Montgomery, we were met with violence. And this was after we had traveled from Birmingham to Montgomery with armed guards. The federal National Guards and all those people were surrounding us, because they had promised to give protection, the governor. But once we got to the bus station, all of the protection disappeared. And we were on the platform, and Jim Zwerg was beaten up, and John Lewis was clobbered. And I got kicked in the chest and had three broken ribs. So, there was nothing you could do with broken ribs, so I went through the entire Freedom Rides with three broken ribs. I didn’t tell my fellow Freedom Riders, because they might have insisted that I not go. So I just kept quiet. I quietly suffered the entire trip.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you describe what happened, Bernard Lafayette, in Rock Hill, South Carolina? Congressman Clyburn talks now about regretting that he didn’t meet the Freedom Ride bus when it came in, but his wife was pregnant, and she wanted him with her. But the significance and the violence that you were met with? Was John Lewis in Rock Hill?
BERNARD LAFAYETTE: Yes. He was beaten up. And that’s one of the further — first retaliation of the people who were against the Freedom Rides. So, they survived that, and they went on. And the bus got burned in Anniston, Alabama, and the others went into Birmingham. And they were beaten, and that sort of thing, on the buses. So, for the early part of the Freedom Rides, the violence had already manifested itself.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And I’m wondering if you could talk also about John Lewis’s leadership role. He became chairman of SNCC and was later succeeded, in 1966, by Stokely Carmichael. And, of course, there was a major shift in SNCC at the time, Carmichael becoming more frustrated and disillusioned with the white liberal establishment of the Democratic Party, after the '64 convention, goes in the direction of Black Power movement and eventually into the Black Panthers. The importance of John Lewis's maintaining his views on nonviolence, and why this was such a core of your activism? How did Lewis deal with the changing debates at that time over nonviolence and Black power?
BERNARD LAFAYETTE: Well, first thing that is important to understand is that it was the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. It was made up of student leaders from various colleges and universities. And they were pulled together by Ella Baker, who worked for Martin Luther King, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. And these students were there, in Raleigh, because — at Shaw University, because Ella Baker was a graduate of Shaw University. She was an older woman at this time. But nevertheless, this was a school that was very receptive to this national conference. And we formed that. And Marion Barry, who was one of our students from Nashville, was the first chairman of SNCC. He was a graduate student working on his master’s program, and he showed a good deal of leadership in Nashville, as well. John Lewis showed leadership because he was the president of his class, and then he was the president of the student body, at American Baptist Theological Seminary. So he had that leadership ability all the time. But he didn’t promote himself; others promoted him. It was a student organization. So, John was no longer a student. Neither was, you know, Stokely Carmichael, but Stokely wanted to be the chairman, because he wanted to take the leadership of SNCC. But SNCC was supposed to be for students. And that’s the thing that happened that took it into a different direction, because the students no longer were students in those leadership positions.
So, the whole idea of Black power — now, let me — I don’t know — we don’t have time to do this, but let me give you a hint of what was happening. Stokely and I were cellmates of the Freedom Ride in Jackson, Mississippi, so we stayed up all night arguing with each other about nonviolence. Now, Stokely also felt that Black people should continue to take the leadership of the voter registration movement and that kind of thing. Unfortunately, Blacks who had been subjugated through segregation and oppression for so many years had carved out for — out of themselves and their experience, to be submissive to white folk. OK, I’m breaking it down for you now. OK? When Black students who were part of SNCC went into Mississippi and some places in Alabama and tried to recruit Black people to go down and register, they said, “Get out of here with that mess.” When white students went and told them they were going to come pick them up and they were going to take them to register to vote, they said, “What time should I be ready?”
AMY GOODMAN: Bernard Lafayette, we just have a minute, and I wanted to come back to today. His last public appearance, John Lewis, was at Black Lives Matter Plaza, with the big words “Black Lives Matter” outside the White House, outside Lafayette Park. You were youth leaders then. You were very active in Selma with John Lewis. What message do you, and, do you feel, John Lewis had, especially for young people organizing today?
BERNARD LAFAYETTE: Well, that was one of the genius of John Lewis, is that he knew how to relate to people who were different from him and who had different orientations, different values, different philosophies. And that’s why he was such a great leader, because he didn’t put people down or ignore them or say a lot of negative things about them simply because they didn’t agree with him. He found a way to make a way. And he was always looking at synthesizing our approach rather than dividing.
AMY GOODMAN: Bernard, we are going to have to leave it there. But before we go, I want to wish you a very happy 80th birthday.
BERNARD LAFAYETTE: Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: Bernard Lafayette, civil rights leader, scholar, longtime friend of the late Congressmember John Lewis, his former roommate. We wish you a very happy birthday.
And that does it for our broadcast. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. Stay safe. Save lives. Wear a mask.


democracynow--2020-07-29--Rev. Warnock of Ebenezer Baptist Church on Legacy of John Lewis & Ongoing Fight for Voting Rights

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
The Quarantine Report .
I ’ m Amy Goodman , with Juan González , as we spend the rest of the hour looking at the legacy of the late civil rights icon , 17-term Georgia Congressmember John Lewis , being mourned by the nation as his body makes its way from Alabama to Washington , D.C. , to Georgia , with tributes along the way to the man known as the “ conscience of Congress.
” On @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the Georgia Capitol .
On Monday , he became the first Black politician to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol ’ s Rotunda , where he was honored by former colleagues , including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden .
Again , President Trump , notably absent , said he wouldn ’ t be attending .
John Lewis ’ s journey home to Georgia has highlighted many hallmarks of his remarkable life , starting in Troy , Alabama , where he grew up , on Saturday , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bridge on Sunday , where red roses were strewn on the spot where Lewis was almost beaten to death by police on that day known as Bloody Sunday , as he marched for voting rights .
Monday , a motorcade carried Lewis ’ s coffin , stopping at the Martin Luther King Jr. and Lincoln memorials and the newly established Black Lives Matter Plaza , which Lewis visited before his death , before making its way to the Capitol .
This journey ending Thursday with a private funeral at the Ebenezer Baptist Church @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr .
Still with us , Reverend Raphael Warnock , who ’ s the senior pastor at that church , at the Ebenezer Baptist Church , presiding over Thursday ’ s service .
Reverend Warnock , you were with John Lewis in his final days , before he died of pancreatic cancer , after his family called you to his bedside .
Talk about your experiences with him then and going back for years , his significance , what he has taught you .
REV .
RAPHAEL WARNOCK : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I received a phone call .
And it was evident to the folks who were around him that he was entering the last part of his journey .
He was , again , if you will , beginning to cross a bridge .
And so I made my way to his bedside .
I read some scripture , expressed to him my love for him and how much I appreciate and respect what he did for all of us .
And even in his weakness , he mustered the strength to say , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brother.
” And it was just deeply moving to be with him and with his family in those moments .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And , Reverend Warnock , ironically , the cause for which John Lewis fought for for all his life , especially of voting rights , is now — Georgia has become a ground zero for the repression of voting rights .
Could you talk somewhat about the problems , the enormous problems , of long lines and faulty voting machines and poorly trained staff of the recent primary ?
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lawsuit around voter suppression in Georgia .
Could you talk about that , as well ?
REV .
RAPHAEL WARNOCK : Yes , all of that is correct .
The irony of this moment is that even as we celebrate and honor John Lewis , the patron saint of voting rights , he hailed from the state which in many instances is ground zero for voter suppression .
We are still fighting against voter suppression in Georgia , but not only in Georgia , all across this country .
In 2013 , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which is a law , in a real sense , dipped in the blood of John Lewis and Hosea Williams and so many others who fought the good fight .
And even as we celebrate him , it has not been reauthorized .
The last time this bill was reauthorized , George W. Bush was president .
It passed the United States Senate 96 to 0 .
But in recent years voting has become increasingly a partisan issue , and there are those who are not embarrassed by making it difficult for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ John Lewis fought for this to the very last of his strength and breath .
The reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act passed the U.S. Congress .
I ’ m running against someone right now for the U.S. Senate who voted against it , Congressman Doug Collins .
But it passed the House , made it to Mitch McConnell ’ s desk , and that ’ s where it ’ s sitting , on Mitch McConnell ’ s desk , who stood the other day and offered pious platitudes about the greatness of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ carries John Lewis ’ s blood is sitting on his desk .
If he really wants to honor John Lewis , he ought to pass the bill .
He ought to put it up for a vote .
That ’ s how we honor John Lewis .
There is much conversation about changing the name of the bridge , and we ought to do that — he deserves it — but if we change the name of the bridge but people are still struggling to exercise their basic American franchise , then we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so , in this moment , in this hour , when we celebrate this great patriot who helped America to live into the fullness of its democracy , let ’ s reauthorize the bill , that now bears his name .
AMY GOODMAN : I wanted to ask you , Reverend Warnock , about comments of another senator , Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas , who ’ s proposed a bill that would cut federal funding to any public school that includes The New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning 1619 Project as part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after the year enslaved Africans were first brought to North America .
In an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette , Senator Cotton refers to slavery as , quote , “ a necessary evil upon which the union was built.
” In response , the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1619 Project creator Nikole Hannah-Jones tweeted , “ If chattel slavery — heritable , generational , permanent , race-based slavery where it was legal to rape , torture , and sell human beings for profit — were a 'necessary evil ' as Tom Cotton says , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not be justified if it is a means to an end.
” Your comments on Senator Cotton — if you were to win , he would be your colleague in the Senate — Senator Cotton ’ s statement that slavery was a necessary evil ?
REV .
RAPHAEL WARNOCK : Yeah , he ’ s a throwback .
And he represents the very kind of thing that we ’ re pushing against in a moment like this .
Listen , there will always be voices like Tom Cotton , unfortunately .
But I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do in this moment is not to center what he ’ s saying , but to focus on how we strengthen our democracy , to amplify the covenant that we have with one another as an American people .
One of the things that inspires me about John Lewis is that he never gave in to bigotry .
And he confronted it , but he also never gave in to bitterness .
He walked across that bridge knowing that he would imperil his very life by standing up for democracy .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jim Clark , and so he confronted him .
And in this moment , those of us who believe in what America is at its highest , who believe in the American ideal of freedom , of “ one person , one vote , ” those of us who believe in the dignity of our humanity and that that ought to be reflected in our public policy , which means that people ought to have access to healthcare , that children , regardless of their ZIP code , ought to have access to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ought to be able to vote , it ’ s up to us to stand in this moment .
And the Tom Cottons of the world , they will be handled .
I mean , one of the things you think about in this moment is , we ’ re celebrating John Lewis .
He confronted bigots .
Most of them , nobody remembers their names .
Nobody remembers even the names of the clergy , the moderate clergy persons , who wrote to Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963 and said that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ untimely and unwise.
” I guess they thought segregation was a necessary evil .
But everybody talks about the Letter from a Birmingham Jail .
Nobody remembers who that letter was written to .
You have to go up and research their names .
And so , I think history redeems the conscience of people like John Lewis , who stand up , who represent love and light and liberation .
And because of his deeds , he will be kindly remembered by history , and his sacrifice is etched in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , could you just give us the schedule of today and tomorrow , as John Lewis ’ s body is brought from Washington , D.C. , where it ’ s laying in state , to lay in state in the Capitol in Atlanta , and then the funeral tomorrow ?
REV .
RAPHAEL WARNOCK : Yes .
The service begins tomorrow at Ebenezer Baptist Church at 11 a.m .
It is a private service in terms of attendance .
Our sanctuary holds about 2,000 people .
Because of social distancing , we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ capacity of the church , because if Black lives matter , then we have to preserve lives at all costs .
John Lewis would want us to do the same .
But the service will be covered live by the media and live-streamed on the Ebenezer website , EbenezerATL.org .
So , we won ’ t all be in the same room , but we will all be together in spirit as we celebrate this great man , but , more importantly , as we press past this moment and reconsider the work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tomorrow , we weep , as we should .
But the day after tomorrow , we stand up , and we work for voting rights , for human dignity , for healthcare , for education for all of our children .
That ’ s the work to which John Lewis dedicated his whole life .
And if we owe him a debt of service and gratitude , we do that by standing up for the best of us , the best in the human spirit , the best in the American spirit , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ GOODMAN : Well , we want to thank you so much for being with us .
Reverend Dr. Raphael Warnock serves as senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta , which was the spiritual home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
He ’ s running as a Democrat for Senate in Georgia , and he ’ ll be presiding over Thursday ’ s funeral for Congressmember John Lewis .
When we come back , civil rights legend Bernard Lafayette , longtime friend of John Lewis .
The two helped start SNCC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He ’ ll talk about the Freedom Rides .
AMY GOODMAN : “ We Shall Overcome ” by Guy Carawan , The Montgomery Gospel Trio and The Nashville Quartet , from a collection of songs of Freedom Riders and sit-ins .

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González, as we spend the rest of the hour looking at the legacy of the late civil rights icon, 17-term Georgia Congressmember John Lewis, being mourned by the nation as his body makes its way from Alabama to Washington, D.C., to Georgia, with tributes along the way to the man known as the “conscience of Congress.”
On Wednesday, Lewis will lie in state at the Georgia Capitol. On Monday, he became the first Black politician to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol’s Rotunda, where he was honored by former colleagues, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Again, President Trump, notably absent, said he wouldn’t be attending. John Lewis’s journey home to Georgia has highlighted many hallmarks of his remarkable life, starting in Troy, Alabama, where he grew up, on Saturday, before moving on to the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Sunday, where red roses were strewn on the spot where Lewis was almost beaten to death by police on that day known as Bloody Sunday, as he marched for voting rights. Monday, a motorcade carried Lewis’s coffin, stopping at the Martin Luther King Jr. and Lincoln memorials and the newly established Black Lives Matter Plaza, which Lewis visited before his death, before making its way to the Capitol. This journey ending Thursday with a private funeral at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the spiritual home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Still with us, Reverend Raphael Warnock, who’s the senior pastor at that church, at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, presiding over Thursday’s service.
Reverend Warnock, you were with John Lewis in his final days, before he died of pancreatic cancer, after his family called you to his bedside. Talk about your experiences with him then and going back for years, his significance, what he has taught you.
REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK: Several days before John Lewis passed, I received a phone call. And it was evident to the folks who were around him that he was entering the last part of his journey. He was, again, if you will, beginning to cross a bridge. And so I made my way to his bedside. I read some scripture, expressed to him my love for him and how much I appreciate and respect what he did for all of us. And even in his weakness, he mustered the strength to say, “I love you, too, brother.” And it was just deeply moving to be with him and with his family in those moments.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Reverend Warnock, ironically, the cause for which John Lewis fought for for all his life, especially of voting rights, is now — Georgia has become a ground zero for the repression of voting rights. Could you talk somewhat about the problems, the enormous problems, of long lines and faulty voting machines and poorly trained staff of the recent primary? But also, your church is in a lawsuit around voter suppression in Georgia. Could you talk about that, as well?
REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK: Yes, all of that is correct. The irony of this moment is that even as we celebrate and honor John Lewis, the patron saint of voting rights, he hailed from the state which in many instances is ground zero for voter suppression. We are still fighting against voter suppression in Georgia, but not only in Georgia, all across this country.
In 2013, the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, which is a law, in a real sense, dipped in the blood of John Lewis and Hosea Williams and so many others who fought the good fight. And even as we celebrate him, it has not been reauthorized. The last time this bill was reauthorized, George W. Bush was president. It passed the United States Senate 96 to 0.
But in recent years voting has become increasingly a partisan issue, and there are those who are not embarrassed by making it difficult for people to vote. And so, John Lewis fought for this to the very last of his strength and breath. The reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act passed the U.S. Congress. I’m running against someone right now for the U.S. Senate who voted against it, Congressman Doug Collins. But it passed the House, made it to Mitch McConnell’s desk, and that’s where it’s sitting, on Mitch McConnell’s desk, who stood the other day and offered pious platitudes about the greatness of John Lewis, yet the bill that carries John Lewis’s blood is sitting on his desk. If he really wants to honor John Lewis, he ought to pass the bill. He ought to put it up for a vote. That’s how we honor John Lewis.
There is much conversation about changing the name of the bridge, and we ought to do that — he deserves it — but if we change the name of the bridge but people are still struggling to exercise their basic American franchise, then we’re still in trouble. And so, in this moment, in this hour, when we celebrate this great patriot who helped America to live into the fullness of its democracy, let’s reauthorize the bill, that now bears his name.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you, Reverend Warnock, about comments of another senator, Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who’s proposed a bill that would cut federal funding to any public school that includes The New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning 1619 Project as part of its curriculum, the initiative named after the year enslaved Africans were first brought to North America. In an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Senator Cotton refers to slavery as, quote, “a necessary evil upon which the union was built.” In response, the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1619 Project creator Nikole Hannah-Jones tweeted, “If chattel slavery — heritable, generational, permanent, race-based slavery where it was legal to rape, torture, and sell human beings for profit — were a 'necessary evil' as Tom Cotton says, it’s hard to imagine what cannot be justified if it is a means to an end.” Your comments on Senator Cotton — if you were to win, he would be your colleague in the Senate — Senator Cotton’s statement that slavery was a necessary evil?
REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK: Yeah, he’s a throwback. And he represents the very kind of thing that we’re pushing against in a moment like this. Listen, there will always be voices like Tom Cotton, unfortunately. But I think what’s important for us to do in this moment is not to center what he’s saying, but to focus on how we strengthen our democracy, to amplify the covenant that we have with one another as an American people.
One of the things that inspires me about John Lewis is that he never gave in to bigotry. And he confronted it, but he also never gave in to bitterness. He walked across that bridge knowing that he would imperil his very life by standing up for democracy. He believed in American democracy more than Sheriff Jim Clark, and so he confronted him.
And in this moment, those of us who believe in what America is at its highest, who believe in the American ideal of freedom, of “one person, one vote,” those of us who believe in the dignity of our humanity and that that ought to be reflected in our public policy, which means that people ought to have access to healthcare, that children, regardless of their ZIP code, ought to have access to a quality education, and that everybody ought to be able to vote, it’s up to us to stand in this moment.
And the Tom Cottons of the world, they will be handled. I mean, one of the things you think about in this moment is, we’re celebrating John Lewis. He confronted bigots. Most of them, nobody remembers their names. Nobody remembers even the names of the clergy, the moderate clergy persons, who wrote to Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963 and said that his actions in Birmingham were, quote, “untimely and unwise.” I guess they thought segregation was a necessary evil. But everybody talks about the Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Nobody remembers who that letter was written to. You have to go up and research their names. And so, I think history redeems the conscience of people like John Lewis, who stand up, who represent love and light and liberation. And because of his deeds, he will be kindly remembered by history, and his sacrifice is etched in eternity.
AMY GOODMAN: Reverend Warnock, could you just give us the schedule of today and tomorrow, as John Lewis’s body is brought from Washington, D.C., where it’s laying in state, to lay in state in the Capitol in Atlanta, and then the funeral tomorrow?
REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK: Yes. The service begins tomorrow at Ebenezer Baptist Church at 11 a.m. It is a private service in terms of attendance. Our sanctuary holds about 2,000 people. Because of social distancing, we’ll have about a tenth of the capacity of the church, because if Black lives matter, then we have to preserve lives at all costs. John Lewis would want us to do the same. But the service will be covered live by the media and live-streamed on the Ebenezer website, EbenezerATL.org.
So, we won’t all be in the same room, but we will all be together in spirit as we celebrate this great man, but, more importantly, as we press past this moment and reconsider the work to which he dedicated his life. Tomorrow, we weep, as we should. But the day after tomorrow, we stand up, and we work for voting rights, for human dignity, for healthcare, for education for all of our children. That’s the work to which John Lewis dedicated his whole life. And if we owe him a debt of service and gratitude, we do that by standing up for the best of us, the best in the human spirit, the best in the American spirit, in a moment like this.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we want to thank you so much for being with us. Reverend Dr. Raphael Warnock serves as senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, which was the spiritual home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He’s running as a Democrat for Senate in Georgia, and he’ll be presiding over Thursday’s funeral for Congressmember John Lewis.
When we come back, civil rights legend Bernard Lafayette, longtime friend of John Lewis. The two helped start SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He’ll talk about the Freedom Rides.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: “We Shall Overcome” by Guy Carawan, The Montgomery Gospel Trio and The Nashville Quartet, from a collection of songs of Freedom Riders and sit-ins.


democracynow--2020-07-29--AG Bill Barr Grilled by House Lawmakers on Protest Crackdown, Voter Suppression & Pandemic Failures

This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : Attorney General William Barr faced questions from the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday in a confrontational five-hour hearing chaired by New York Congressman Jerry Nadler .
AMY GOODMAN : The hearing was delayed by about an hour because the chair , Jerry Nadler , was in a car accident , though uninjured .
In one of the hearing ’ s most contentious exchanges , Washington Congressmember Pramila Jayapal noted the discrepancy between Barr ’ s deployment of militarized troops in response to Black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who displayed white nationalist symbols as they stormed state capitol buildings in protest of public health measures .
AMY GOODMAN : That ’ s Washington Congressmember Pramila Jayapal .
With coronavirus deaths in the United States nearing 150,000 , and the last day , the largest spike in deaths — 1,200 — since May , Congressmember Cedric Richmond of Louisiana also questioned Barr ’ s opposition to voting by mail in November ’ s election .
AMY GOODMAN : In fact , the attorney general has voted by mail himself .
As lawmakers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Congressman John Lewis lay in state on the steps of the Capitol for a public viewing .
Today , we ’ ll look at the life of John Lewis , ahead of his funeral Thursday at Atlanta ’ s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church , which was the spiritual home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr .
But first we discuss this remarkable hearing with the Reverend Dr. Raphael Warnock , who serves as senior pastor at that church , the Ebenezer Baptist Church , and will officiate over Lewis ’ s funeral on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a Democrat for Senate in Georgia .
Reverend Warnock , it ’ s great to have you back with us .
In a moment , we ’ re going to talk with you about your dear friend , congressmember , civil rights icon , John Lewis .
But we want to start on this highly contentious hearing yesterday on the issue of voting rights and what the federal government has done in sending a surge of agents to cities that have major Black Lives Matter protests .
Your thoughts ?
REV .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s good to be here with you and Juan again .
We are witnessing what we have seen over the last three-and-a-half years under this administration .
And that is a kind of hostility towards communities of color that is unabashed and unembarrassed .
We are at an inflection point in this country .
In spite of the machinations of Donald Trump and those who do his bidding , including the attorney general , the good news is that we ’ re seeing a multiracial coalition of people pouring out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and large , nonviolently and saying that we ’ re concerned about the soul of our democracy .
And for William Barr , the top cop in our country , to somehow suggest that vote by mail leads to fraud is wrong on its face .
But it ’ s part of what we ’ ve seen with the Republicans as we ’ ve dealt with this whole issue of voter suppression .
They ’ ve used the language of voter fraud .
Everybody knows that voter fraud through voter ID , for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s really a way of trying to suppress the vote .
But it won ’ t work .
We ’ re pushing back here in Georgia .
And people are pushing back all across the country .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : And , Reverend Warnock , I wanted to ask you — in addition , during Attorney General Barr ’ s testimony , he made some remarks in terms of police abuse .
And he said , quote , “ The threat to Black lives posed by crime on the streets is massively @ @ @ @ @ @ @ misconduct.
” I ’ m wondering your response to that comment .
REV .
RAPHAEL WARNOCK : Listen , it ’ s a typical red herring that we hear from the likes of William Barr , Rudy Giuliani and others .
The point is , is that we entrust the police with state power , and they are sworn to protect .
And instead of that , people of color very often find themselves on the receiving end of state-sanctioned violence .
And so , the response to police brutality is that there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s crime in all communities .
And everybody knows that people typically commit crimes against those who are in the closest proximity to them .
So this is a typical red herring .
It ’ s a distraction .
And it won ’ t stand .
We have to continue to push back against police brutality .
And as we do , we are inspired by those who fought the good fight long before us .
We ’ re celebrating the life of John Lewis tomorrow at our church .
And I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , on a bridge in Selma , withstood police brutality in order to win for us the right to vote .
And all of these decades later , even as we celebrate him , we ’ re fighting against police brutality , and we ’ re trying to maintain and strengthen our right to vote .
And so , we can ’ t turn back now .
We have to be vigilant and focused and disciplined .
And it ’ s more important now than it ’ s been in a long time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elections have consequences .
We ’ re seeing , under this administration , that elections , quite literally , can be a matter of life and death .
And so folks are standing up , and I ’ m grateful to be a part of a coalition .
JUAN GONZÁLEZ : I also wanted to ask you about another aspect of the hearing , when congressmembers questioned Attorney General Barr on his characterization of Trump ’ s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as , quote , “ superb , ” and especially the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a series of Trump missteps , and , of course , where the president famously said that the number of coronavirus cases would go from 15 to zero .
REV .
RAPHAEL WARNOCK : Superb ?
You should tell that to the families of now nearly 150,000 Americans who are dead .
Superb ?
We have more than our share of the coronavirus cases .
In a real sense , this crisis is being handled in our country as if we were a country with no resources at all .
AMY GOODMAN : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to that clip of Hakeem Jeffries questioning Attorney General William Barr .
AMY GOODMAN : Again , that ’ s New York Congressmember Hakeem Jeffries questioning Attorney General William Barr .
And I wanted to add to Juan ’ s question , Reverend Warnock , on Trump ’ s handling of the coronavirus and take it right to Georgia , where you have this amazing confrontation going on right now between the African American mayor of Atlanta , Keisha Bottoms , versus the governor , who refuses to impose , for example , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Atlanta .
And he has now sued her personally , saying that she should not be able to speak to the press — this African American woman mayor should not be allowed to speak out .
REV .
RAPHAEL WARNOCK : Yes .
I mean , this is par for the course with this administration .
Listen , this COVID-19 challenge does not know political party .
They ’ re playing politics , literally , with people ’ s lives .
We have nearly 150,000 Americans dead , 4 million cases .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ And we ’ re seeing , in the case of Governor Kemp , as we see with William Barr , folks who are doing the bidding of this president .
And what we need is leaders who are elected to serve the people rather than their own interests .
And as you point out , yeah , the specter of literally robbing an African American mayor — or , attempting to rob her of the right of her own voice to speak on behalf of her own constituency is antidemocratic , and it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ GOODMAN : We ’ re going to break , then come back to our discussion with you , Reverend Warnock .
We want to talk to you specifically about John Lewis .
You ’ ll be officiating over his funeral tomorrow in Atlanta .
Stay with us .
AMY GOODMAN : Wintley Phipps performing “ Amazing Grace ” Monday in the Capitol Rotunda as the late Georgia Democratic lawmaker John Lewis lay in state , the first African American lawmaker to lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda .
When President Trump was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many others in paying respects to Congressman Lewis , he said , “ No , I ’ m not going .
”

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Attorney General William Barr faced questions from the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday in a confrontational five-hour hearing chaired by New York Congressman Jerry Nadler.
REP. JERROLD NADLER: William Barr’s views of presidential power are so radically mistaken that he is simply the wrong man at the wrong time to be attorney general of the United States.
AMY GOODMAN: The hearing was delayed by about an hour because the chair, Jerry Nadler, was in a car accident, though uninjured. In one of the hearing’s most contentious exchanges, Washington Congressmember Pramila Jayapal noted the discrepancy between Barr’s deployment of militarized troops in response to Black Lives Matter protesters and armed militia members who displayed white nationalist symbols as they stormed state capitol buildings in protest of public health measures.
REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL: On two separate occasions, after President Trump tweeted, “Liberate Michigan,” to subvert stay-home orders to protect the public health of people in Michigan, protesters swarmed the Michigan Capitol carrying guns, some with swastikas, Confederate flags, and one even with a dark-haired doll with a noose around its neck. Are you aware that these protesters called for the governor to be lynched, shot and beheaded?
ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: No.
REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL: There is a real discrepancy in how you react as the attorney general, the top cop in this country. When white men with swastikas storm a government building with guns, there is no need for the president to, quote, 'activate' you, because they’re getting the president’s personal agenda done. But when Black people and people of color protest police brutality, systemic racism and the president’s very own lack of response to those critical issues, then you forcibly remove them with armed federal officers, pepper bombs, because they are considered terrorists by the president.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Washington Congressmember Pramila Jayapal. With coronavirus deaths in the United States nearing 150,000, and the last day, the largest spike in deaths — 1,200 — since May, Congressmember Cedric Richmond of Louisiana also questioned Barr’s opposition to voting by mail in November’s election.
REP. CEDRIC RICHMOND: You are aware that African Americans, Black people, disproportionately die from COVID-19, coronavirus, correct?
ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: Yes, I think that’s right.
REP. CEDRIC RICHMOND: And not that it would be the first time that African Americans would risk their lives to vote in this country, to preserve its democracy, but the suggestion is that them having the ability to vote by mail would somehow lead to massive voter fraud. But I won’t stick to that.
ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: I didn’t say that. I just stated, I think, what is a reality, which is that if you have wholesale mail-in voting, it substantially increases the risk of fraud.
REP. CEDRIC RICHMOND: But it doesn’t make it likely.
ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: That’s all I said.
AMY GOODMAN: In fact, the attorney general has voted by mail himself.
As lawmakers questioned Attorney General Barr, the late Congressman John Lewis lay in state on the steps of the Capitol for a public viewing. Today, we’ll look at the life of John Lewis, ahead of his funeral Thursday at Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, which was the spiritual home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But first we discuss this remarkable hearing with the Reverend Dr. Raphael Warnock, who serves as senior pastor at that church, the Ebenezer Baptist Church, and will officiate over Lewis’s funeral on Thursday. Reverend Warnock is also running as a Democrat for Senate in Georgia.
Reverend Warnock, it’s great to have you back with us. In a moment, we’re going to talk with you about your dear friend, congressmember, civil rights icon, John Lewis. But we want to start on this highly contentious hearing yesterday on the issue of voting rights and what the federal government has done in sending a surge of agents to cities that have major Black Lives Matter protests. Your thoughts?
REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK: Good morning, Amy. It’s good to be here with you and Juan again.
We are witnessing what we have seen over the last three-and-a-half years under this administration. And that is a kind of hostility towards communities of color that is unabashed and unembarrassed. We are at an inflection point in this country. In spite of the machinations of Donald Trump and those who do his bidding, including the attorney general, the good news is that we’re seeing a multiracial coalition of people pouring out into American streets, demonstrating, by and large, nonviolently and saying that we’re concerned about the soul of our democracy.
And for William Barr, the top cop in our country, to somehow suggest that vote by mail leads to fraud is wrong on its face. But it’s part of what we’ve seen with the Republicans as we’ve dealt with this whole issue of voter suppression. They’ve used the language of voter fraud. Everybody knows that voter fraud through voter ID, for example, is almost nonexistent. It’s really a way of trying to suppress the vote. But it won’t work. We’re pushing back here in Georgia. And people are pushing back all across the country.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Reverend Warnock, I wanted to ask you — in addition, during Attorney General Barr’s testimony, he made some remarks in terms of police abuse. And he said, quote, “The threat to Black lives posed by crime on the streets is massively greater than any threat posed by police misconduct.” I’m wondering your response to that comment.
REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK: Listen, it’s a typical red herring that we hear from the likes of William Barr, Rudy Giuliani and others. The point is, is that we entrust the police with state power, and they are sworn to protect. And instead of that, people of color very often find themselves on the receiving end of state-sanctioned violence. And so, the response to police brutality is that there’s crime in communities? There’s crime in all communities. And everybody knows that people typically commit crimes against those who are in the closest proximity to them. So this is a typical red herring. It’s a distraction. And it won’t stand. We have to continue to push back against police brutality.
And as we do, we are inspired by those who fought the good fight long before us. We’re celebrating the life of John Lewis tomorrow at our church. And I think of the fact that John Lewis, on a bridge in Selma, withstood police brutality in order to win for us the right to vote. And all of these decades later, even as we celebrate him, we’re fighting against police brutality, and we’re trying to maintain and strengthen our right to vote. And so, we can’t turn back now. We have to be vigilant and focused and disciplined. And it’s more important now than it’s been in a long time. We say all the time that elections have consequences. We’re seeing, under this administration, that elections, quite literally, can be a matter of life and death. And so folks are standing up, and I’m grateful to be a part of a coalition.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I also wanted to ask you about another aspect of the hearing, when congressmembers questioned Attorney General Barr on his characterization of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as, quote, “superb,” and especially the New York Congressmember Hakeem Jeffries running down a series of Trump missteps, and, of course, where the president famously said that the number of coronavirus cases would go from 15 to zero.
REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK: Superb? You should tell that to the families of now nearly 150,000 Americans who are dead. Superb? We have more than our share of the coronavirus cases. In a real sense, this crisis is being handled in our country as if we were a country with no resources at all.
AMY GOODMAN: Reverend Warnock, we want to go to that clip of Hakeem Jeffries questioning Attorney General William Barr.
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES: February, President Trump falsely claimed that the number of coronavirus cases would go from 15 to zero in a few days. Was that superb? Yes or no?
ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: I’d have to see the context in which it was said.
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES: Here’s the context. The number of cases didn’t go down to zero. It’s over 4 million. Let’s go to March. In that month, President Trump said, “I take no responsibility at all,” for the failure in testing. Was that superb? Yes or no?
ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: It was accurate. The problem with the testing system was a function of President Obama’s mishandling of the CDC and his efforts to centralize everything in the CDC when it didn’t have the capacity to test —
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Barr. That is inaccurate. That’s a myth. That’s a lie.
ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: It wasn’t until this administration — it wasn’t until —
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES: Reclaiming my time. In April, President Trump irresponsibly suggested that the American people inject themselves with bleach. Was that superb? Yes or no?
ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: That’s not what I heard.
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES: That’s exactly what he said. That’s what the American people heard. And you know it, and you can’t defend it.
AMY GOODMAN: Again, that’s New York Congressmember Hakeem Jeffries questioning Attorney General William Barr. And I wanted to add to Juan’s question, Reverend Warnock, on Trump’s handling of the coronavirus and take it right to Georgia, where you have this amazing confrontation going on right now between the African American mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Bottoms, versus the governor, who refuses to impose, for example, a mask mandate, though she did in Atlanta. And he has now sued her personally, saying that she should not be able to speak to the press — this African American woman mayor should not be allowed to speak out.
REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK: Yes. I mean, this is par for the course with this administration. Listen, this COVID-19 challenge does not know political party. They’re playing politics, literally, with people’s lives. We have nearly 150,000 Americans dead, 4 million cases. And Georgia is not doing well. And we’re seeing, in the case of Governor Kemp, as we see with William Barr, folks who are doing the bidding of this president. And what we need is leaders who are elected to serve the people rather than their own interests. And as you point out, yeah, the specter of literally robbing an African American mayor — or, attempting to rob her of the right of her own voice to speak on behalf of her own constituency is antidemocratic, and it’s beyond the pale.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to break, then come back to our discussion with you, Reverend Warnock. We want to talk to you specifically about John Lewis. You’ll be officiating over his funeral tomorrow in Atlanta. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: Wintley Phipps performing “Amazing Grace” Monday in the Capitol Rotunda as the late Georgia Democratic lawmaker John Lewis lay in state, the first African American lawmaker to lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda. When President Trump was asked if he would be joining so many others in paying respects to Congressman Lewis, he said, “No, I’m not going.”


democracynow--2020-07-29--Headlines for July 29, 2020

Headlines for July 29, 2020

The United States recorded more than 1,200 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday — the highest one-day toll since May , with @ @ @ @ @ every 70 seconds .
Arkansas , California , Florida , Oregon and Montana all reported @ @ @ @ @ as a new federal report warned 21 states meet the definition of a “ red @ @ @ @ @ steps are needed to slow transmission of the disease .
In Texas , a state @ @ @ @ @ by 12 % Tuesday after officials closed a loophole on how they report COVID-19 fatalities @ @ @ @ @ Texans are disproportionately more likely to die from the disease .
For those who survive @ @ @ @ @ increasing evidence of long-term organ damage .
A new study published by the Journal of @ @ @ @ @ that of 100 middle-aged patients who recovered from COVID-19 , 78 had structural damage to @ @ @

The United States recorded more than 1,200 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday — the highest one-day toll since May, with one person dying of COVID-19 every 70 seconds. Arkansas, California, Florida, Oregon and Montana all reported one-day record death tolls, as a new federal report warned 21 states meet the definition of a “red zone,” where aggressive steps are needed to slow transmission of the disease.
In Texas, a state tally of coronavirus deaths jumped by 12% Tuesday after officials closed a loophole on how they report COVID-19 fatalities. The data show Latinx Texans are disproportionately more likely to die from the disease.
For those who survive COVID-19, there’s increasing evidence of long-term organ damage. A new study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association found that of 100 middle-aged patients who recovered from COVID-19, 78 had structural damage to their hearts.