Pence Misleads Americans as Some States Set Virus Records; Senate Republicans to Unveil Police Reform Bill; Prosecutor Could Decide on Charges Today in Brooks Killing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vice President Mike Pence is playing down any concerns over a second wave of the virus.</s>MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (via phone): Make sure and continue to explain the magnitude of increase in testing.</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We're seeing increased testing, but the increased case counts are outpacing that increased testing.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, I'm signing an executive order encouraging police departments nationwide to adopt the highest professional standards to serve their communities.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I appreciate the discussion happening, but it -- that's not enough. That's not true reform.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's progress. It's the caboose. It's not the engine, but it's on the right track.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.</s>ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, June 17, 6 a.m. here in New York. Jim Sciutto joins me. We begin with the Trump administration trying to put a new spin on the coronavirus pandemic, trying to spin it as a success. Vice President Mike Pence, the head of the coronavirus task force, published an op-ed Tuesday that doctors say is riddled with misinformation. Here are the facts. This morning, 21 states are reporting an increase in new cases. Ten of those are -- ten states are seeing a spike of 50 percent or more. Florida, Texas, and Arizona setting records for most cases in a single day. Arizona and Texas also reporting a spike in hospitalizations, meaning more people are getting seriously sick. We do not know the number of hospitalizations in Florida or Oklahoma, because those numbers are not shared in the same way, but local officials are concerned about what they are seeing.</s>JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: A senior CDC official tells CNN that the vice president is, quote, "cherry-picking data" to fit his and the president's narrative. The American people need facts. The last White House task force, coronavirus task force briefing was more than seven weeks ago. Dr. Anthony Fauci admits in a new interview that he has not talked to President Trump in two weeks. Meanwhile, we're hours away from Senate Republicans unveiling their police reform bill this morning, as protests continue across the country, calling for real and lasting change. Let's begin our coverage with CNN's Rosa Flores. She is live in Miami. So Florida, it's in the numbers, Rosa, is it not, a rise, a sharp rise in cases in Florida. How are state officials there reacting?</s>ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, state officials here are very concerned, of course, but Governor Ron DeSantis really not focusing on that and, instead, focusing on testing. But back to the Trump administration downplaying, continuing to downplay the pandemic, despite the fact that 21 states are seeing upward trends this morning, and despite the fact that medical experts say that this first wave is far from over.</s>FLORES (voice-over): Here in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis is continuing to reopen the Sunshine State, despite seeing its highest single-day increase of confirmed coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic.</s>GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): No, we're not shutting down. You know, we're going to go forward. You have to have society function.</s>FLORES: Florida will now host the Republican National Convention and could be the temporary home of the NBA and the WNBA. But as crowds return to public spaces like restaurants and malls, a warning from one woman who says she's one of 16 friends who tested positive after visiting a recently-reopened bar in Jacksonville.</s>ERIKA CRISP, TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID-19: At the time, it was more out of sight, out of mind. We hadn't known anybody who had it personally. Governor, mayor, everybody says it's fine. We go out. It's a friend's birthday. It was a mistake.</s>FLORES: At least 21 states are seeing an uptick in daily new coronavirus cases over the past week. This as Vice President Mike Pence made stops in Iowa without wearing a mask. The leader of the coronavirus task force downplaying the severity of the disease as President Trump encourages states to ramp up their economies more quickly. Pence writing in a "Wall Street Journal" op-ed, "The media has tried to scare the American people every step of the way, and these grim predictions of a second wave are no different. We've slowed the spread, we've cared for the most vulnerable, we've saved lives. That's a cause for celebration."</s>DR. ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: The problem is the pandemic is not done with us. Unfortunately, it's still in the early days. If we do not want to end up with hundreds of thousands of deaths across the country by the time this all -- this whole thing is over, we've got to change course and really move towards suppressing this virus.</s>FLORES: On a call with governors Monday, the vice president making this claim.</s>PENCE (via phone): In most of the cases where we are seeing some marginal rising numbers, that's more a result of the extraordinary work you're doing expanding testing.</s>FLORES: But according to Harvard researchers, the United States needs to do at least 20 million tests per day to safely reopen by late July. The current rate is roughly 500,000 tests daily. And with the president still set to hold a campaign rally in Tulsa, Pence falsely claiming that numbers in Oklahoma are on the decline.</s>PENCE (on camera): Oklahoma has really been in the forefront of -- of our efforts to slow the spread and -- and, in a very real sense, they flattened the curve.</s>FLORES: The truth is, Oklahoma has seen newly-reported cases increase since late May. A senior CDC official slamming Pence for selectively choosing data to highlight, telling CNN, "You can cherry-pick a handful of counties and use that as a way to say things are not as bad as they look, but that's not the reality."</s>FLORES: Now the coronavirus task force has not held a briefing since April 27. That's three [SIC] weeks ago. And in an NPR interview, Dr. Anthony Fauci saying that he has not met with President Donald Trump in two weeks -- Jim.</s>SCIUTTO: It's not the first time that happened. The same thing happened a couple of weeks ago in terms of that gap in communication with the president. Rosa Flores in Florida, thanks very much. In just a few hours, Senate Republicans will unveil their police reform legislation, their proposal. CNN has obtained an advanced academy of that bill. CNN's Joe Johns live with more from the White House. And Joe, you look at this. And what it is, it's about incentivizing police to do things like not use the chokehold, but not require them to do so.</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Right. It's all about carrot and stick. It incentivizes. It encourages the states to take certain action, but it stops short of the mandates with teeth Democrats have been asking for. As you said, on the issue of chokeholds, it incentivizes a ban by making federal money contingent on policy changes, but again, stops short of the outright ban on chokeholds that Democrats have been calling for. And the issue of tracking police officers with records of misconduct when they try to move from one department to another, it creates a system of record sharing, as opposed to the national registry Democrats have been asking for. And on that important issue of making it easier to sue the police in the event there has been misconduct, it's simply not in there. That's the so-called qualified immunity changes Democrats have been saying they want to see. Now, Democrats, apparently, do have the numbers to block this bill from advancing. They need -- the Republicans need 60 votes in order to get to debate on this issue. We also have to note that this comes after the president of the United States unveiled his own executive order that deals with some of these issues, including the question of excessive use of force. He would create a federal database. And he also would ban chokeholds, except when an officer's life is in danger. So there is a lot to do before the sides come together on these issues up on Capitol Hill. Back to you, Alisyn.</s>CAMEROTA: Thank you very much, Joe. So the lead prosecutor in the Rayshard Brooks case could decide as early as today if he will charge the two police officers involved in that deadly encounter. CNN's Dianne Gallagher is live in Atlanta with more. What do we expect, Dianne?</s>DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Alisyn, this is something that pretty much everyone in Atlanta has kind of been waiting, holding their breath for this day. Fulton County district attorney, Paul Howard, indicated that he would announce charges against the officers, if he chooses to bring them, beginning midweek, as early as today. So this has kind of been the date that everyone has had circled, waiting to exhale to see what's going to happen. Howard indicated that it could be murder charges, felony murder charges, voluntary manslaughter charges against the officers. And he says that he's looking at both officers. Officer Garrett Rolfe, of course, according to the investigation, is the one who fired those shots that killed Rayshard Brooks. He was fired from his job, as well. But Officer Devin Brosnan, he was just put on administrative duty. As far as we know, he did not discharge his weapon at this point, according to the investigation. Still, Howard said he's looking at those charges for both of the officers. And Brooks's widow indicated that she wants them both charged the same, because she says Officer Brosnan did not try to intervene and stop Officer Rolfe. And that's something that Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has addressed in these new executive orders here in Atlanta. It's very similar to the 21st Century Obama policing reforms that were put into place before. Those recommendations include a duty to intervene, as well as recommendations on use of force and also de-escalation tactics. She said that making sure the officers hold those other officers that they partner with accountable is important in their quest to make things better between the community and the police here in Atlanta.</s>MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D), ATLANTA: Our police officers are to be guardians and not warriors in our communities. There is supposed to be a partnership with our communities, and that trust has been broken. And we've got to rebuild and reimage and transform how we are policing in our communities across this country.</s>GALLAGHER: Now, if there are charges that are brought against the officers, Alisyn, you can expect a lot of discussion around the Taser that Mr. Brooks had in his hands. We've spoken with the police union. They believe that even the discussion of charges right now is premature, because they say that due process has not been given to the former officer and Officer Brosnan at this point. And they told us that they do plan to make that Taser a point of contention.</s>CAMEROTA: All right. We'll see what happens in Atlanta later today. Thank you very much, Dianne. Well, doctors say that Vice President Pence is misleading Americans about the coronavirus pandemic. So what is the actual situation in hospitals? That's next.