The freeman foundation. By judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. And by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. On bbc news. For viewers in the u. K. And around the world. The u. K. Prime ministers top aide, Dominic Cummings, insists he will not resign and defends driving hundreds of kilometers during the height of the lockdown. I have offered to resign. Anchor President Trump commemorates fallen veterans in the usa, but he has been criticized for his behavior over the weekend. U. K. Government s announced it begin to reopen venues in june as lon as efforts to contain coronavirus continue. And spain said it will lift its orders, lifting the two week coronavirus criteria denying foreign travelers on july 1. Welcome to the program, good to have you with us. If you are here in the u. K. , there is one story everyone has been talking about all weekend. Thats Boris Johnsons chief aide, Dominic Cummings, taking a 400 kilometer trip to durham at the height of lockdown restrictions. Today we heard from him in a rare public media appearance. He said he will not resign, despite calls for him to come and that he didnt regret his decisions. He said he took them because he and his wife were becoming too ill to take care of their child. Heres some of what he had to say. I understand these vis. I know the intense hardship and sacrifice the entire country has had to go through. However, i respectfully disagree. Including the circumstances i found myself in. The rules, regarding small children and extreme circumstances allowed me to judge my situation about the circumstances i found myself in. With all the complexity of t situation, i accept that there is disagreement about this. Anchor it was quite an extraordinary rest conferee, and expressed by Dominic Cummings. Prime minister Boris Johnson also fronted questions in the past hour at the daily Coronavirus Briefing and is Still Standing by his man. It would be wrong of me to try to comment further. People have to make their minds up, bo me, he came across as somebody who cared very much about his family and he was doing the best for his famy. As he said himself, reasonable people may disagree about some of the decisions that he took, but i dont think people can disagreebout what was wrong through his head at the time and the motivation for those decisions. As i say, my conclusion is that i think he acted reasonably, legally, and as i said yesterday, with integrity and with care for his family and for othe anchor the central accusation against mr. Cummings is a simple one, that he defied a we also as a clear and enforceable lockdown rule. Stayed home, and especially if you have virus symptoms, because if you do not, people will die. Despite that advice, while they were both concerned they may be infected, mr. Cummings says that he and his wife drove 400 kilometers to his parents house to selfisolate because they needed childcare support from family. But mr. Cummings stressed that he did not break the lockdown rules, one state pointing out the part of the guidance that justified his actions. The guidance says if you are living with children, im reading the actual guidance, to thbest of your ability, however, we are aware that not all these msures will be possible. What we have seen so far to do our best to follow the guidance. You know as well as i do that the deputy chief medical offer discuss this, if youve got a child thats four years old and neither of you can look after him, the guidance doesnt say youve just got to sit there. As ive said, i think i behaved reasonably, given all the circumstances and the Different Things i had to try to weigh up. Anchor heres one analysis, saying the central problem, if as he said he had no symptoms and his wife did not have covid symptoms, whgo in such haste if neither were sure they had covid . If they suspected she had covid it was against the rules to travel. Toward the end of his isolation period in durham he drove at his wife and child to a castle. He said it was to test his eyesight, which had been hazy for a few days, to make sure he could safely make the journey back to london. The journey is in a short one, we should add. It only lead to more questions. Im wried about my eyesight and fear i cant drive safely, so what do i do . I put my fouryearold in the back of the car and drive 30 miles to the castle and walk along the river. I think a lot of people will struggle with this explanation. . On sunday the 12th, i said to my wife, ive been cleared by doctors to go back to work. Sheaid, and i think it was personally perfectly reasonablea few days ago you could barely stand up. You said that your eyesight was hazy and seemed to be weird. I dont know if we should embark on the journey and find out halfway through that you cannot drive that far. So we should get in the car and see if you can actually drive. The only way to avoid it would to just say could stay in durham. Which i could have done, but i didnt think was the right thing to do. Anchor so who is Dominic Cummings . He is mr. Johnson closest advisor on downing street. He was the key architect behind the successful voteleave Vote Leave Campaign of 2016 with the slogan take back control. He was so prominent in that campaign that he was portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch as the protagonist in the me nominated tv drama, brexit, the uncivil war. It also highlights has importance in the goverent. Special advisers are rarely at the epicenter of such a big controversy and rarely seen in front of the camera. Discretion is very much part of their code of conduct. Listen to this, special advisers must not take public part in political controversy. They must observe discretion and express comment with moderation, avoiding personal attack and would not normally speak in public. Dominic cummings actions and defense by Boris Johnson have wanted a Massive Public response. Mps have been posting some of the messages they received. Theyre not likely to be more powerful than this. Seven paragraphs of controlled fury. He writes, my wife died of covid19 on march 29. Hospital lockdown prevented me from seeing her for two weeks before her death. On the day she died, i could not be with her to hold her hand. I just sat by the telephone. I was not able to see her body. Since then, i have stayed alone in the house, leaving only to collect her ashes and belongings from the undertaker im for food, and post a parcel of condolence cards to her sister. He goes on, in other words, under severe inso and emotional distress, i, like the vast majority of the population, have complied with your governments instructions in order to protect my fellow citizens. He gave the bbc his reactionto mr. Cummings explanation. I got the distinct impression that the law is different depending on which side of number 10 downing street you are. I felt there are different standards and different laws for people who are in that area, not for people like me and my friends and my family. Anchor members of Boris Johnsons cabin and have shown their suprt for mr. Cummings throughout. The foreig secretary tweeted this, doc cummings gave a detail account of his actions and how he followed the rules applicable to his family. The cabinet met today it was totally focused on tackling c 19 and moving the country forward. Another said its clear now that allegations were made which were untrue. Dominic cummings acted legally and responsibly. Lets concentrate on work necessary to deal with the consequences of covid19. But at least 20 conservative backbench mps ve joined opposition in public calls for mr. Cummings to resign. So many people have expressed their concern on the manner in which mr. Cummings already behaved, which is understandable. But the way he flouted his own rules, there are thousands of people all over the country had childcare problems, with real fury and anger from constituents across the political spectrum, from across the different professions and jobs, that are absolutely furious that they have abided by the rules and regulations as i urged them to do, as the government tell them to do, to save the nh s and save lives and keep people safe. And they feel theyve really been taken for fools. I always thought dominic should be kept out of number 10, im sorry to say, and i think this will just keep rolling on and getti worse until he goes. Anchor joining us as our political correspondent. Did he do the job intended, do you think . A big question, you dont hold back, do you . I guess a simple way to answer it is, i think those people who think what mr. Cummings did was unreasonable and exemplify the whole idea of one rule for people who live and work in downing street and another rule for everyone else, i dont think his explanation will have change anyones minds. Those are sympathetic to him or sayi hes done some explaining. So what happens next . Does he survive . I think that depends on two things, really. I think it depends on levels of public anger, do they continue to be high and theres a lot of emotion out there, and a sense of hypoxia in the government, and is that feedthrough to ordinary people . Particularly to conservative mps. That will heighten pressure on the prime minister. What the government is hoping is that now they want people to focus on the next stages of the virus crisis, which is hopes and efforts to ease the lockdown in the coming days and weeks. I dont know what will work out, but those are the dynamics. Anchor and whether or not we think that enough has been said today that the spotlight would now shift onto the main task at hand, which is of course dealing with this pandemic. I think it probably will, in this sense, unless their own more details to come up about the particular trip, then you can sort of see that new stories have a certain sort of cycle and then they run out. In a way, i dont think that is necessarily the issue for the government. Im sure things will start to move on to the opening of retail outlets, but i think the issue that will be lurking there for the government to deal with this this issue of public trust and credibility. So you may see fewer sries in the newspapers about what mr. Cummings has and hasnt been up to, but it will be sort of background noise. Why should i listen to the governments advice, why should i stay and follow the instruction of mr. Cummings didnt . I think thats a danger they face rather than more twists and turns for this particular story. Anchor i dont know what you thought about this, listening to Boris Johnson an hour after Dominic Cumming spoke today that you got the sense that he really wanted to have them home, but that message for the government not to be overshadowed by what happened today at the rose garden in downing street thats what governments do, right . They want the public to move on and the journalists and media to move on, and thats perfectly understandable. In the case of something quite as scary as the covid crisis, and obviously lots of people wi agree, but i think what you see come into u. K. Politics in the last few weeks, is not been just this crisis, but its that increasing criticism of the government. When you have the initial crisis and by large the people rally behind the government, opinion poll ratings are high, that sort of phases over. People are, many would say, entirely and legitimately questioning the governments handling and protecting health of government workers. Was the u. K. Too slow to bring in the lockdowns . All of those questions, is not quite going bac to business and politics as usual, but its bit more of that. Anchor thank you very much for that update. Stay with us here on outside source. Still more to come. In the u. S. , commemorations are underway for memorial day. President trump has been criticized for his behavior over the weekend. Anchor the first minister of scotland has said that mr. Cummings should be sacked. Here is some of what she had to say a little earlier. I think hes come to the wrong judgment. The reason why i think that matters is that the consequences of potentially as we go into the next phases of dealing with this crisis, as we start to lift lockdown restrictions and light less on rely less on the letter of the law and appeal to peoples good judgment, to trust in the advice were giving, and people say theres one rule for them and other rules for people in authority, theacrifices the people have made or the last few weeks are erased. Anchor welcome to outside source. The u. K. Prime ministers top aide, dominic cummins, has insisted he will not resign, and defends driving hundreds of kilometers in the height of the lockdown. Lets take you to america. Cod19 death toll there is nearing 100,000. It currently stands at 97,800 50, according to Johns Hopkins university. Today is memorial day, an annual holiday that honors those who have died serving in the military. These pictures show president anthe first lady to sit painting in a wreathlaying ceremony at the Arlington National cemetery in virginia. There, they went to baltimore to give a speech. Here is some of it. President trump in recent months, our nation and the world have been engaged in aew form of battle against an invisible enemy. Once more, the men and w of the United States military have answered the call to duty and raced into danger. Tens of thousands of Service Members and National Guardsmen are on the front lines of our war against this terrible virus. Caring for patients, delivering critical supplies, and working night and day to safeguard our citizens. Anchor mr. Trumps trip to baltimore comes despite the mayor of the city having said this the day before. I would like to make one final plea to the president to revisit his travel plans. Clearly i just told residents to stay home and not go out unless it is for essential jobs or tasks. If they see the president going out for nonessential tasks, why cant they . Its the its just not smart. I hope the president canceled his trip to baltimore and shows true leadership by serving as an example to the people of our country. Anchor in conast, the governor of maryland did welcome the president s vit, saying that now more than evee need to recognize americas heroes. That something the president has not been accused at has been accused of not doing. Trump tweets insults, promotes baseless claims and plays golf. Tweets mocking the former georgia candate for governor stacey abrams. I think we are able to show that tweet. Ridiculing House Speaker Nancy Pelosis looks, and he also went on to tweet, calling Hillary Clinton a very offensive word that we are not going to repeat her. He also tweeted a conspiracy theory, long debunked. Its not just one paper, here is the New York Daily News on sunday the headline, donnell plays golf as the death toll fr covid nears 100,000. What a putz. The fake and totally corrupt news makes it sound like a mortal sin. I knew this would happen what they dont say is that it was my first golf in almost three months. My guess joins me now from florida. Lets start with that trip to baltimore, despite the mayor asking him not to. Did you make of that, and also this i did that age he was perhaps not really adhering to the social distancing rules that he initially spoke about im not surprised he went to baltimore. Throughout this entire pandemic, President Trump, while following some guidelines, has kind of almost made guidelines for himself. Weve seen that those around him have all worn masks, something that his own Coronavirus Task force had recommended that all americans do. However, last week we saw the president travel to michigan, and for most of the trip, he did not wear a mask, despite being asked to do so. So im not surprised that he went to baltimore, despite being told not to. I think another good thing to point out about that it is a democratic mayor who ask him not to come, so i think partisanship would have gone against that. I think this shows that he wants to not only make his own guidelines and rules about the pandemic, but he wants to put on her front and show that the u. S. Is somehow getting back to normal, that he wants to really push the u. S open, despite that fact that we are at 100,000 deaths from this virus. Anchor there was also criticism leveled at him for playing golf and not really marking memorial day he should. Also we had a number of pictures coming in of People Holding weekend parties. Memorial dayignals the start of the Summer Holidays in america. This was the scene in missouri at the lake of the ozarks, packed with partygoers there, clearly not social distancing. And this is daytona, florida, the state police intervened to disperse unauthorized crowds that had gathered on Daytona Beach. This was taken on saturday. Incredibly difficult to implement social distancing and you are seeing pictures like this in a number of states in america. Its incredibly difficult. I am abo 20 minutes south of Daytona Beach and its raining right now here, so not many people on the beach, but yesterday there was lots of traffic, lots of people moving in crowds, getting to be on the shore here in the southeastern part of the United States. I think it shows that people seem to think that once two mohs have passed, they are able to go freely about and live their lives. However, we are still seeing local and government officials saying hold on, put on the brakes right now. We need to continue to have the social distancing measures. Wear masks and be smart about this. In the southeastern portion of the United States or we have seen a lot of states and cities start to open up a earlier than other parts of the country, there could be a second wave in the summer or the fall. I hope we dont see the results of this, but we could see a very dire picture here a couple of weeks from now. Anchor thank you very much for that update from florida. The u. K. Has anounced it will be can it will continue to reopen venues in june as long as progress in containing coronavirus continues. Prime minister Boris Johnson made the announcement of short time ago. I want to give the Retail Sector notice of our intentions to reopen shops so that they, too, can reopen. It is our intention t reopen Outdoor Markets as well as car showrooms which often have significant outdoor space and where it is generally easier to apply social distancing. We know that the transmission of the virus is lower outdoors, and it is easier to follow covid secure guidelines in open spaces. That means we can also allow Outdoor Markets to reopen in a safe way that does not risk a second wave of the virus. Then, from the 15th of june, we intend to allow all other nonessential retail, ranging from Department Stores to small, independent shops, to reopen. Again, this change will be contingent upon progress and will only be permitted for those retail premises which are covid secure. Anchor Maurice Johnson speaking an hour or so ago. Countries across europe are continuing to ease their coronavirus lockdowns. Spain, germany, iceland, and italy have begun reopening. Spain will lift a quarantine for two weeks from july 1 and visitors from abroad must isolate themselves for two weeks to prevent the spread of the virus. Spains foreign minister had previously said the measure would be relaxed in july, without specifying the date. In greece, they have also gone lifting quarantine restrictions and attempt to boost the flagging Tourism Industry. Greeks are once again ablto travel freely to the countrys islands. The return of Domestic Travel is an important step toward restarting the Tourism Industry which makes up at least 1 5 of the greek economy. Very services are operating, but with reduced capacity, to ensure social distancing and passengers are having their temperatures check. Stay with us here on outside source. Do get in touch, we would love to hear from you on twitter. Stay with us, plenty more to come. See you soon. Narrator funding for this presentation of this program is provided by. Language specialists teaching spanish, french and more. Out business has been people and their financial well being. That mission gives us purpose and a way foard. Today and always. The freeman foundation. By judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. And by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Narrator youre watching pbs. Vo ready watch the best of anytime, anywhere, on nearly any device . 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