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Peaceful Protests Tear-Gassed For Trump Church Photo Op; Public Memorials For George Floyd Announced; Trump Threatens To Use Military To Dominate Protesters. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired June 2, 2020 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN RIGHT NOW: The president forcefully clearing the streets by Lafayette Park, clearing the streets of peaceful protesters. Police officers and members of the National Guard firing tear gas and rubber bullets on hundreds of people there.

Protests in several cities escalating as police officers in St. Louis and Las Vegas were shot. And one officer in New York was seriously hurt by a hit-and-run driver. New York Police arresting more than 700 people after storefronts were looted, bricks and bottles thrown by people, as you can see, through windows there. Today, the mayor is under fire for permitting an 11:00 P.M. curfew, too late, his critics say.

CNN National Correspondent Brynn Gingras is in New York. And, Brynn, the president and the New York governor both criticized the city's response to the violence overnight. Tell us what we're hearing from officials today.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, there's a lot of criticism right now, Brianna, against the mayor, against the city after seeing what broke out here. It was described as just chaos.

And the mayor did have a news conference this morning essentially saying that there were small groups of people committing the looting all across this city that were part of the bigger protests.

While they were bigger peaceful protests, I can tell you for sure walking around this city, seeing these areas, it's not possible to have just a small group of people committing these violent acts because there have been so many locations hit.

You have Herald Square flagship store that was broken into despite being boarded up, 5th Avenue, SoHo, as we saw the night before. That's what the mayor is getting really criticizing harshly about.

I want you to hear from the governor who gave a news conference and addressed this after the mayor talked this morning.

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GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Look at the videos. It was a disgrace. I believe that. I believe the mayor underestimates the scope of the problem. I think he underestimates the duration of the problem. And I don't think they've used enough police to address the situation. Because it's inarguable, but that it was not addressed last night, right? Facts, okay?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: The governor essentially saying this is a force that is the biggest one in the country. There are 35,000 officers at this city's disposal. They need to use them. They need create order in this city. This can't go on another night.

He said he's offered up the National Guard to help NYPD, but the mayor said today he does not want that offer. He does not want to bring in the National Guard at this point.

And I got to say, Brianna, I've been talking to a number of my sources, police who've been a part of these protests, even people who are higher than them, and they say that they really do need the support of city hall. They are exhausted. They are trying to control the city. They feel like they are outnumbered and they are hoping that they get that support soon.

But as far as that curfew, it was 11:00. Now it's 8:00. But even these officers I've been talking to said, these are people who aren't going to listen to the curfew. That curfew don't matter what time it is, it's not going to make a difference. So let's hope there is some change tonight. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. We will be watching. The world will be watching. Brynn Gingras, thank you so much in New York.

Now, back to Washington, where protesters were tear gassed so that the president could have a photo op. Police say they made 300 arrests. CNN White House Correspondent Boris Sanchez is in Lafayette Park. This is the site of the protest. There are now barriers that were put up there last night, Boris. Tell us what's going on.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brianna. Yes, a very different scene than even just a few hours ago. This intersection right outside Lafayette Park just at the doorstep of the White House was relatively empty just a few hours ago. Police have actually shut down traffic. They weren't even allowing protesters on the street. Now, obviously, they've taken to the White House.

And if you look over to our left, there is now a barrier that was put up overnight about an eight-foot tall fence that was put up to keep protesters, demonstrators outside of Lafayette Park. Really, what we watched last night about a half hour before that 7:00 P.M. curfew that was put into place by D.C.'s mayor, law enforcement violently pushed these protesters out of here effectively so that President Trump could come to St. John's Episcopal Church, a historic landmark in Washington, D.C. [13:05:09]

Every president, since James Madison has attended services here.

President Trump using the occasion to hold up a bible. Sources tell us that the president has been concerned about his support among evangelicals and among Catholics in regard to his response to the coronavirus pandemic. That's part of the reason that we saw the president go to the St. John Paul II National Shrine, the president clearly trying to court supporters even as there is massive unrest across the country, Brianna.

KEILAR: Boris, thank you for showing us the scene there.

The president is waging another Twitter war now against how governors and mayors are handling protests in their cities and states. He says they should be activating the National Guard and deploying them.

With me now is CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger and CNN Presidential Historian Tim Naftali.

Gloria, what's the president trying to accomplish here?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think what the president is doing is what he's done his entire presidency, which is reach out to his base rather than trying to unite the entire country. And in doing that and in staging this sophomoric stunt that he did last night by walking outside brandishing the bible and then walking back, what he did was call for law and order.

Today, we heard him tweet about the silent majority. Tim Naftali knows more about this than I do, but that certainly sounds Nixonian to me, going back to the '60s and the '70s and trying to recreate that moment for himself without realizing that the country has moved beyond the '60s and the '70s, that it's a very different country right now.

But all of this, Brianna, in the service of himself, in the service of what he believes will help his political fortune rather than what's calling and unite the country in this moment and creating, I believe, one of the lowest moments in American political history last night.

KEILAR: It is possible, Gloria.

BORGER: Or presidential history, I should say. Yes.

KEILAR: American presidential history, which is Tim NafatlI's forte. So, Tim, let's talk about when you see how this fits into how other presidents have handled protests.

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, I think it's helpful at such a difficult, dramatic moment to contrast the behavior of our president yesterday with what another president did.

The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, and the day after the first four nights of riots took place in Washington, D.C., Lyndon Johnson wrote a letter to the two leaders in the House, Speaker McCormick, a Democrat, and Gerald Ford, the House minority leader. And he said, at a moment like this, all good men should ask themselves what more can I do to achieve brotherhood and equality among all Americans? A few days later, the House passed the Senate open housing bill, the civil rights bill of 1968.

We talk about bipartisanship in this country and I think we often misunderstand what that means. It doesn't mean you have an ideological bridge among the parties. It's the people of conscience exist in both parties and share some basic principles.

In 1968, you had a Congress and a president who understood there was a deep problem in American society and that the disorder couldn't be solved by cracking down and restoring order, that the disorder was a reflection of a virus, a political virus, racism. That's missing now.

And the president yesterday decided that the way to calm the waters was to show dominance over one park, Lafayette Park. It was a stunt. But it was a stunt that reflects his understanding of our political moment. His understanding that he has a party behind him that does not recognize that there are structural inequalities, that the COVID-19 virus hit harder certain neighborhoods because of legacies. No.

What he saw was that he could get the support of people and possibly be re-elected simply by pretending he's a dictator. That's the moment we're in. That's what makes him so different from all of his predecessors in the modern era.

KEILAR: And, Gloria, to that point, I mean, when you think -- there were things that he, I guess, utilized here over the last day to create this kind of aura of a dictatorship, not yet at the same time, you know, this is a country that is deeply entrenched as not a dictatorship.

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So he can create this look on television in a moment and he seems to push the envelope on this every day. But even with people around him, either being complicit or silent in his tactics, the machine of the country doesn't really work in this way, and I think in terms of, you know, a president's only in power for eight years.

BORGER: Right. Well, the governors as you know, Bri, are pushing back. The governors are saying, we don't want your federal troops. We can handle this on our own, thank you very much. And the president cannot force them on the governors.

And the cameras are rolling, Brianna. We saw what happened in Lafayette Park last night. We saw peaceful protesters being gassed so the president could take a stroll. And so he could pose for the cameras because he was apparently upset, according to our reporting, that there was -- that he had been spirited away to the bunker the other night because of the demonstrates in Lafayette Park. He didn't like that imagery.

So he had to create the strongman image of himself, marching across the park, no masks in the middle of a pandemic, of course, and then just holding up that bible rather than reading from it, rather than quoting scripture, rather than praying, but just holding it up as if to send some kind of signal, maybe to his evangelical supporters, I'm with you.

Everything this president does have a meaning insofar as his own political fortune come November. It is not about uniting the country, it is about uniting his base behind him.

KEILAR: Yes. And it is a symbol. Look, we know he's not well-versed in the bible, right? We've seen that in the past when he's addressed religious crowds and talked about the bible, so just to be clear on that.

Gloria, thank you so much. Tim Naftali, thank you.

We're learning that there was deep concern and discomfort among some at the Pentagon over president's threat to use the military as his own personal police force against protesters. And the Virginia governor chose to not send his state's National Guard groups to counter protesters in D.C. We'll tell you why.

Plus, the family of George Floyd is told to expect more charges soon against the other three officers involved in his death.

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KEILAR: Memorial services have been announced for George Floyd. There will be two public services. The first of which is Thursday in Minneapolis. And these are organized by the National Action Network.

A second public and private memorial service planned for next Monday and Tuesday in Floyd's hometown of Houston. These were announced by the family. They will be paid for by boxer Floyd Mayweather.

Meanwhile, the results of an independent autopsy are in and they contradict the official medical examiner report except on one issue. Both reports call Floyd's death a homicide, but they differ on how exactly he died.

Let's bring in CNN's Omar Jimenez. He's in Minneapolis with more on these dueling autopsies. I mean, this is really important, right? What is the truth when it comes to the death of George Floyd? And here, we have these two different reports which we've seen in other cases as well, Omar.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brianna. It's going to play a major role on how the actions in this case are viewed. We're at the intersection where George Floyd's final moments played out eight days ago now. And as you may be able to hear, the mood is more a celebration of life as officials are trying to piece together how that life was lost.

So you mentioned the dueling autopsies we are seeing. Both of them concluding that the actions that were taken or what happened to George Floyd was a homicide, but when you look at the independent autopsy commissioned by the family, that one attributes the death to asphyxia. But when you look at the Hennepin County medical examiner's autopsy report, that one is attributing it to heart failure, essentially.

I want to also mention, I should note, that there was fentanyl and meth that was in the system, but it did not say how much was in Floyd's system and whether that had a direct impact on his death. And we talked about the effects that it could have moving forward. It really would affect how they look at the criminality and the actions taken here either for the officer or former officer already charged in this, Officer Derek Chauvin. But then also the three that have not faced charges just yet. Those decisions are still pending.

We heard from the Minnesota attorney general, Keith Ellison, who is heading this investigation and says that while they are still trying to get all the pieces together to conduct as thorough an investigation as possible, he said that when we are ready, and that won't be long from now, we plan on taking the proper and deliberate action.

And until that's taken, we are likely to continue seeing protests, protests that here in Minneapolis have become increasingly peaceful over the course of the past few days, especially last night into today.

And it was yesterday afternoon the family of George Floyd came to, again, this exact location, Terrence Floyd, the brother, and said he has seen the images of violence and looting, but says, if he is not doing it, why are other people? We have to do this another way. Of course, we'll have the memorial on Thursday, Brianna, and funeral proceedings early next week.

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KEILAR: Yes, that was a beautiful moment yesterday with Terrence Floyd. Omar, thank you for your report from Minneapolis.

And just in to CNN, arrest warrants have been issued for six Atlanta police officers accused of using excessive force while arresting two college students. This was an encounter that was caught on police body cam. And I want to warn you, this may be very disturbing to you. It was disturbing to me.

Taniyah Pilgrim, who is a Spelman College student, and Messiah Young, a student at Morehouse college, were tased and violently yanked from their car by several Atlanta police officers Saturday night during this civil unrest. The couple said they were going to get food when they got caught up in traffic from protests. And they were trying to leave the downtown area when the citywide curfew kicked in. Two of the officers have already been fired.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher is following this developing story. She has more on the charges. This was very quick. Tell us about these charges, Dianne.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was quick, but I'm going to tell you, we were in the room with Taniyah Pilgrim and Messiah Young as the district attorney announced those charges against those six officers.

Messiah Young had a cast on his arm. His wrists and his arm were fractured. He needed 24 stitches. And the video they played it in there, both of them had to get up and leave because it was too difficult to watch. It was too hard for me to watch.

Those six Atlanta police officers, I'm going to read their names to you right now, Lonnie Hood, Willie Sauls, Ivory Streeter, Mark Gardner, Armond Jones and Roland Claud. The district attorney is charging each of them with various counts of assault, battery and damage to property.

And he said that he looked at the evidence. And he looked at things like after the fact they claim that a gun had been pulled on the officers. But during -- it's all caught on camera. Police body camera and a local news station, there's no mention of a gun whatsoever. No gun was recovered.

I want you to listen to what Messiah Young had to say afterward about how he feels about these announcements.

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TANIYAH PILGRIM, SPELMAN COLLEGE STUDENT TASED BY ATLANTA POLICE: I'm happy they're finally being held accountable and all I can say is I hope every police officer who thinks it's okay to drag someone, beat someone, do all this stuff because they're cops, I hope they're all going to be held accountable as well.

MESSIAH YOUNG, MOREHOUSE COLLEGE STUDENT TASED BY ATLANTA POLICE: I feel a little safer now that these monsters are off the street and no longer able to terrorize anyone else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: And, of course, that was Taniyah Pilgrim at the beginning.

Now, the police officers have until Friday at the end of the day, Brianna, to turn themselves in.

KEILAR: All right. Dianne, thank you so much for bringing their words to us.

President Trump wants to use the military to quell protests across the country, but what are the long-term consequences this extraordinary move could have on the military's relationship with communities of color and with all Americans?

Plus, reaction from religious leaders to the president's photo op at a church, including one bishop who called it baffling and reprehensible.

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KEILAR: As cities across the U.S. struggle to deal with protests, looting, and violence, President Trump is threatening to use the military as his own personal police force. He is promising to invoke an archaic law, the Insurrection Act of 1807, if state and city leaders do not restore order.

So if you're not familiar with this more than 200-year-old act, it's because it's rarely been used during our lifetime. Most recently, it was invoked in 1992 to quell the L.A. riots after four white police officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King.

Before that, it was used in the 1950s to enforce desegregation and in the 1960s to address riots in Detroit.

I want to bring in Col. Cedric Leighton. He is Colonel Cedric Leighton. He is a CNN Military Analyst. He's a retired Air Force Colonel.

And, Colonel, the U.S. commander in chief is threatening to use the U.S. military against Americans. You know, I know -- I've been looking on social media, I've been monitoring the conversation. There are a lot of people who don't see really what a big deal that is. They think it's just a step beyond using police officers, but it's not. So explain this to us.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Sure, Brianna. The big thing here is that using the military to quell a domestic insurrection or any domestic disturbance is really a very grave step. Law enforcement agencies, police agencies are designed to take care of issues like that, unless they are overwhelmed and then can't handle, in essence, can't handle the types of things that are thrown at them, whether it's from a riot or natural disaster or something like this.

So when you invoke something like the Insurrection Act, it's not putting people in from the military into the harm's way the way that it would be in harm's way in a foreign country, but what it is actually doing is it is using these people who are often not trained in the same kind of law enforcement techniques that domestic police agencies are trained in and putting them right in the middle of something.