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Black Lives Matter Protesters March for 17th Day; Pres. Trump Talks of Dominating the Streets; Three Top Law Enforcement Officials, All Black, Not Invited; Trump: Using Force on Protesters Like "Knife Cutting Butter"; U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Regrets Role in Photo Op; Trump Threatens to Move Military into Seattle; Trump to Hold Rally on Juneteenth in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Trump Steadfast on not Renaming Military Bases; Biden Concerned Trump May Try to Steal Election; Pandemic Rages as White House Task Force Absent; U.S. Surpasses 2 Million COVID-19 Cases as Hospitalizations Rise in Some States; Key Model Projects 170,000 U.S. Deaths By October; Health Experts Stress Importance of Wearing Masks; Johns Hopkins: More Than 2 Million COVID- 19 Cases in U.S.; 2,000+ Complaints Since 2013 Against Minneapolis Police, But Few Officers Have Been Disciplined; Black Lives Matters Movement Spreads Across U.K.; Museums Finding Ways To Remember COVID- 19 Crisis. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired June 12, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN HOST: Thanks for your company everyone. For the 17th straight day, the message "Black Lives Matter" has resonated in American streets, all in the name of justice for George Floyd.
Protesters in New York City briefly blocked access to the Holland Tunnel, one of the main arteries, between Manhattan and New Jersey.
In Seattle, Washington, demonstrators have taken over several city blocks after police temporarily withdrew from a local precinct. The mayor says the area resembles a block party and poses no threat to public safety.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PROTESTERS: No peace. No racist police. No justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And in Dallas, Texas, where you see on your screen there, President Trump spent much of Thursday there, protesters chanting no justice, no peace, as police officers looked on.
Now while in Dallas, President Trump spoke of, quote, dominating the streets with compassion. He was there for a roundtable discussion with faith leaders and law enforcement representatives. But three of the top law enforcement officers in the area, all of them black, weren't even invited. Dallas County Sheriff, Marian Brown, was one of them. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIAN BROWN, DALLAS COUNTY, TEXAS SHERIFF: When you initiate a conversation and you purport that conversation to be about racism and policing in America, and you fail to include the top three law enforcement officials in an area where you are speaking, I think that says a lot, and that causes one to raise the brow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Amid the nationwide protests after the killing of George Floyd, Mr. Trump lauded the police, describing the ones using excessive force as bad apples. And instead of addressing racism, he focused on officers targeted in the line of duty. He also warned against labeling, quote, tens of millions of decent Americans as racists or bigots. And he described using force to clear protesters as, quote, like a knife cutting butter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: They went in, and it was like a knife cutting butter, right through (a bomb). There were some tear gas and probably some other things, and the crowd dispersed, and they went through. By the end of that evening, and it was a short evening, everything was fine. But if you're going to have to really do a job, if somebody is really bad, you going to have to do it with real strength, real power. I said, we have to dominate the streets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, all of this, coming as the top military official in the United States said he now regrets his role in that infamous presidential photo op last week near the White House. The Joint Chiefs Chairman, General Mark Milley, becomes the latest U.S. military official at odds with Mr. Trump's handling of protesters. CNN's Jim Acosta reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This is a no-apology tour for President Trump, who is still standing by his administration's response to the protest following the police killing of George Floyd.
PRES. TRUMP: We have to have law and order.
ACOSTA: At a church in Dallas, the president took time to voice his concerns about officers who were targeted in the line of duty as much of the nation's focus has been on police brutality.
PRES. TRUMP: They get shot for no reason whatsoever other than they're wearing blue. They get knifed. You saw that the other night. It was a horrible thing.
ACOSTA: Contrast that with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, who's expressing regret for his part in the president's tour of Lafayette Square where protesters were gassed and pummeled for Mr. Trump's photo op at St. John's Episcopal Church.
Milley, who was dressed in combat fatigues that day, told graduates from National Defense University, he crossed the line.
GEN. MARK MILLEY, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned, uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I've learned from. And I sincerely hope we all can learn from it.
ACOSTA: Don't tell the president, who's boasting it was a big success, tweeting, "Our great National Guard Troops who took care of the area around the White House could hardly believe it how easy it was. "A walk in the park", one said. The protesters, agitators, and anarchists (ANTIFA), and others, were handle very easily." Milley doesn't sound like he is on the same page.
GEN. MILLEY: The freedom is guaranteed to us in the constitution, allow people to demand change, just as the peaceful protesters are doing all across the country. That is why we serve in the military.
ACOSTA: But the president is warning of more harsh tactics for protesters in Seattle, tweeting, "Radical Left Governor Jay Inslee and the Mayor of Seattle are being taunted and played. Take back your city now. If you don't do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly anarchists must be stooped immediately."
[02:05:10]
Inslee noted the president's typo, firing back, "A man who is totally incapable of governing, should stay out of Washington state's business. 'Stoop' tweeting."
And the mayor tweeted to Mr. Trump, "Go back to your bunker."
The president risks further inflaming tensions with his plans to hold a rally next week in Oklahoma, set for Tulsa, the scene of one of the worst massacres of African-Americans in the U.S. history.
The date of the rally, June 19th, also known as "Juneteenth", the day slaves in Texas were read the Emancipation Proclamation after the civil war. The White House says, Mr. Trump is well aware of that.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The African-American community is very near and dear to his heart. He's working rectifying injustices, injustices that go back to the very beginning of this country's history. So, it's a meaningful day to him.
ACOSTA: But the president is not budging on whether to rename U.S. military bases, honoring defeated confederate generals, even as some top republicans sound open to the idea.
KEVIN MCCARTHY, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER: It could be appropriate to change some.
JOE BIDEN, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He decided that he was going to pit us against one another based on race.
ACOSTA: Former Vice President Joe Biden who's blasting the president's handling of race relations says he has an even bigger worry about Mr. Trump.
BIDEN: It's my greatest concern, my single greatest concern. This president is going to try to steal this election. This is the guy who said that all mail-in ballots are fraudulent (INAUDIBLE) voting by mail while he sits behind a desk in the Oval Office and writes his mail-in ballot to vote in the primary.
ACOSTA: The president's upcoming trip to Tulsa is raising fears about spreading the coronavirus. And administration health officials said the president's rally will pose a risk for Trump supporters at the event. Trump supporters are being told they can enter the rally at their own risk. Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: The White House also under fire for its handling of the pandemic. Coronavirus task force briefings, well practically disappeared, haven't they? And the pandemic unit dissolved in 2018, still hasn't been reinstated. But the fight against the virus is far from over with more than 2 million cases in the U.S. and a threat of a 2nd wave. CNN's Nick Watt explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. LILNDA BELL, SOUTH CAROLINA STATE EPIDEMIOLOGIST: I am more concerned about COVID-19 in South Carolina than I have ever been before.
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She is not alone. In South Carolina, where the average daily case count just doubled inside of a week, is also not alone. In Texas, 2,100 were hospitalized yesterday, the highest number since this pandemic began.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NAT'L INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We are seeing the appearance of additional infections, particularly in the areas that are opening. If we handle them well, we could be OK. If not, then we really have a significant problem.
WATT: In Maricopa County, Arizona, a quarter of all of all of their COVID cases have come in just this past week.
KATE GALLEGO, PHOENIX, ARIZONA MAYOR: We have hit so many of the records you don't want to be hitting for COVID-19. From my perspective, we opened too much, too early. And so, our hospitals are really struggling.
WATT: A reminder of how bad this virus can be; a woman in her twenties with COVID just had a double lung transplant, a first.
DR. ANKIT BHARAT, CHIEF OF THORACIC SURGERY, NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: She smiled and told me just one sentence. She said, doc, thank you for not giving up on me. WATT: There is well known University of Washington modelers now say the daily death toll across the country will drop in June and July, stabilize in August, then rise sharply by October 1. They now project that nearly 170,000 Americans will be dead; killed by COVID.
DR. ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: And we won't be done, right? We'll have many, many more months to go. It's really stunning to me that we have this much suffering and death, and we're just not doing enough about it.
WATT: But what can we do as individuals?
ANDY SLAVITT, FORMER ACTING ADMIN., CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES: If you got the majority of people wearing masks, the virus really has no place to go.
WATT: Take this hair salon in Missouri whose six stylists potentially exposed 140 people to the virus, but none of them have since tested positive. Officials think that might be because everyone wore masks.
DR. JHA: If President Trump did one thing, if he wore a mask and encouraged his supporters to wear a mask for 3 weeks straight, he would be -- we would be sitting here 4 weeks from now, 5 weeks from now, 6 weeks from now with much of this virus behind us.
WATT: Here in L.A. County, we have seen the case count nearly double in this past month. But, on Friday, zoos, gyms, movie theaters, movie production, will all reopen again, but masks wear are and will continue to be mandatory in L.A. County whenever you leave your house. Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
[02:10:01]
HOLMES: Joining me now is Dr. Rob Davidson. He is an emergency room physician and the executive director of the Committee to Protect Medicare. Great to see you again, doctor.
First of all, I wanted ask what you make of what seemed to be some pretty alarming spikes of the virus in a number of states. What do you make of that?
ROB DAVIDSON, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: Well, I think it's emblematic of the fact that we are still in the first wave of coronavirus in this country, and we still have a president who has refused to accept responsibility, to ensure that we have enough testing. We're still testing about half or less of the number of patients we need to test every day, so we can adequately test and trace and isolate individuals to try to put out hotspots.
And we're seeing now, states that didn't previously have significant numbers are showing up with significant numbers as this country is reopening, you know, under the guise of a president who just hasn't taken ownership of this crisis.
HOLMES: Yes. No. And part of that is what we'll talk about now, quite apart from the racial imagery of Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, quite apart from that. What do you think about a rally, at all now, and to your point, you were just making? Tulsa's own 7-day infection curve is soaring right now.
DR. DAVIDSON: Yes. I think this president is very concerned about his standing in political polls. And I think he is tired of dealing with the coronavirus, tired of the fallout from his lack of meaningful response to the, you know, the protests over racial injustice. And so, I think he just wants to get back out on the road and stoke his own ego. And I think that the -- that, you know, the consequences of that could be disastrous.
HOLMES: I was just about to say, I mean, you're seeing these rallies on television. Would you want to be anywhere near one?
DR. DAVIDSON: No. I mean, simply, I've been at several of the "Black Lives Matters" protests, and everybody is wearing masks and were outside. These are going to be indoor rallies. The president, himself, will not wear mask. I doubt that wearing mask will be mandatory or even recommended at these rallies. I guess we'll have to see.
And I think it could just be a breeding ground. And again, "Black Lives Matters" protests are about racial inequity and a public health crisis, in and of itself. These are simply political rallies to stoke the ego of a president who is worried about his chances in November.
HOLMES: Yes, political rather than medical in the narrative. I wanted to ask you about this. Some of the modeling designers are suggesting that, you know, even given the spikes, there is still, at the moment, an aspect of what they call, I think, seasonal protection in effect until, perhaps, August, but once that goes away, the risk of exponential growth returns. Do you agree with that?
DR. DAVIDSON: Yes. I think there's likely something to it. In the case of droplets spread of the virus, we know when it is more humid, those droplets end up being bigger, and perhaps they don't spread quite as far, perhaps 3 feet instead of 6 feet.
The other aspect is that more people are outside rather than inside. And we know that the virus can potentially aerosolize and indoors could be a mode of transmission, whereby outdoors one would be relatively protected. But again, this president having these indoor rallies is highly concerning.
HOLMES: Are you seeing, just generally, a sense of complacency around the country? I mean, you know, there are, you know, a lot of people wearing masks and taking care. But, you know, I know in my own life, seeing and interacting with people, who have seem to have become numb to this whole -- you know, they feel that the danger is perhaps overblown, that it somehow gone away. And there is still 1,000 people a day dying. Are you seeing that sort of complacency?
DR. DAVIDSON: Yes. When I go to the grocery store, it sure seems like less than half the people are wearing masks. We see people gathering in parks. We see people gathering together pretty much everywhere in this country. And I think a lot of that is because of all the hard work we did as Americans staying at home, socially distancing, we didn't see these massive spikes in places outside of New York, outside of Detroit, and New Orleans.
And so, I think people think it was perhaps overblown. But what they don't recognize is that because of this staying at home, because of the social distancing, that is why we were able to flatten the curve and not see hospital systems overwhelmed in many places. But, you know, we're seeing it now in Arizona, in Florida, in Texas, you said in Tulsa. These numbers are starting to go up. And I worry we're going to see more of these spikes coming on line soon.
HOLMES: Yes. And just quickly, one thing I know that you're concerned about too and it certainly bothers me, there's been studies as well showing that people who are uninsured or under insured are less likely to seek out treatment and so suffer from COVID a lot worse than others. Let's say they're less likely to seek treatment. They're more likely to have underlying factors because of lack of access to good medical practices as well. How does lack of insurance play into what we're seeing as well?
DR. DAVIDSON: As a 20-year emergency physician, I see that play out every single day when it comes to people having chest pain or stroke symptoms. And certainly, with coronavirus, we see people who haven't been able to afford their insulin or their blood pressure medication or afford to see their doctor, have these underlying conditions, putting them at much higher risk.
[02:15:15]
We also know that COVID-19 is a disease where you can feel fine one day. And within 24 hours, you can be severely hypoxic, possibly requiring a ventilator. We don't know how many people stay at home and ignoring their symptoms and end up being just another statistics of someone who died, you know, without a known cause. That is a huge concern for me in this country.
HOLMES: Dr. Rob Davidson, always great to have you on and your expertise. And thanks for the work you're doing. Appreciate it.
DR. DAVIDSON: Thank you.
HOLMES: Well, growing concerns of a 2nd wave of coronavirus in the U.S. sent Wall Street plunging even though the first wave isn't done yet. The Dow sank more than 1,800 points on Thursday. That is the largest sell-off since mid-March. The fall also coming on the heels of a dire outlook from the Federal Reserve warning the U.S. economy has a long road to recovery.
For more, CNN's John Defterios joins us me now from Abu Dhabi. You know, I saw John quite earlier that somebody said, someone finally told Wall Street, the world is actually a mess with pandemic, mass unemployment, recession, social unrest. I mean, this sell-off isn't unique to the U.S. in that the COVID is strongest there?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Yes, I think that is the case. There's a realization, Michael, that the 2 million cases here was a benchmark that everybody woke up to, and that the challenges lie ahead, particularly for the U.S. economy, unique in a sense that the steep sell-off of 6% did spillover to Asia earlier.
But if you take a look at the markets now, the Nikkei index is bouncing back from a loss of better than 2%. Hong Kong has had a loss, but at 1% but that's been a stable number, same thing with Shanghai with a very minimal loss. Seoul has had a very good rally in South Korea for the last month, and it had the high valuations, which finally came down.
But I would suggest, Michael, not bad considering a 6% fall on Wall Street that the contagion wasn't radical and spilling over. We see that commodity prices because there's concern about U.S. demand going forward. Oil is down now 10% over a 2-day period, but again, the losses are not that severe.
Then, we hear from key economic advisers to the president, Larry Kudlow, who works in the White House who suggested, it's just a bad market day, you know, to put it in context of what we've had over the last 2 months in terms of rallies.
Steve Mnuchin was suggesting, we can't look back. We got to look forward when it comes to the economy. We can't lockdown again because there are other implications for the healthcare system beyond COVID- 19. Let's take a listen to him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE MNUCHIN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: We can't shut down the economy again. I think we've learned that if you shut down the economy, you're going to create more damage and not just economic damage, but there are other areas. And we've talked about these medical problems and everything else that get put on hold.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEFTERIOS: As a result, everybody is saying, what were the price to earnings ratios on Wall Street? If you look at the NASDAQ, which is above 10,000, and corrected again, we're looking at a price earning ration or the valuations of around 27, not historically high, but right near the peak that we saw in 2016 and 2017 before we had a correction again. So, we were well overdue, and to close this gap between, Michael, as you're suggesting, Wall Street and Main Street.
HOLMES: Yes, absolutely. What about -- we heard from the U.S. Central Bank in Jerome Paul -- Powell -- what's he been saying? He was the man who poured cold water on the idea of this -- a V-shaped recovery.
DEFTEROIOS: Yes, I think that's his role, Michael, actually as the Central Bank chief to say, look, this is not going to be easy, negative 6.5% this year in recession, right?. We have unemployment at 13.3%. It's been edging down, but that's historically more than four times the average in the United States.
We wrote 16 before the month before, and our average is 4%, and that's probably going to remain at 9% by the -- into the year. And we're learning a lesson here, Michael. Those who started late or overlook the threat of COVID are paying the biggest price.
We've seen in the last 15 minutes, numbers coming out of the U.K. for the month of April, get this number and this is a correct number, negative 20% for the month of April. That's a monthly gauge of 15,000 companies in the U.K. They're suggesting that trade with the rest of the world has never been worse. And I think I have to kind of highlight here, again, they have Brexit in 2021, so they're dealing with a horrible crisis, high death toll, still cases coming in, exports are going down, then they have to contend with the negotiations with the European Union. And by all accounts, those don't look very solid right now.
HOLMES: GDP down 20.4% in a month.
[02:20:01]
DEFTERIOS: In one month.
HOLMES: (Inaudible). Good to see you. Thanks for that. I appreciate it, bearer of not glad tidings, John Defterios in Abu Dhabi.
Well, we have heard a lot about the impact of the coronavirus on the economy. But in Latin America, it is the economy that is making the pandemic worse. We'll explain that when we come back right here on CNN "Newsroom".
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HOLMES: There are now more than 7.5 million coronavirus cases around the world. The U.S. has the most, of course, by far, followed by Brazil, Russia, the U.K., and India.
Spain reporting no COVID-related deaths for the 4th straight day, Thursday. "La Liga" games resumed, but no fans in the stands.
The U.K. says its new tests and trace service is working well. More than 26,000 Brits advised to self isolate during the first week.
India now says more people have recovered from the virus than currently have the virus. According to the government, there are over 137,000 active COVID cases, but more than 141,000 people have recovered.
And Cuba's communist-run government announced a lengthy, multi-phase plan to reopen on Thursday. It declared the coronavirus outbreak to be, quote, under control. But according to Johns Hopkins University, Latin American and Caribbean countries have recorded more than 1.5 million cases of coronavirus; Brazil leading the way with more than 800,000 cases, almost 41,000 deaths. Matt Rivers with the latest.
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, for the first time since this outbreak began, the region of Latin America and the Caribbean is now reporting more than 1.5 million confirmed cases of this virus. Roughly, 1.3 million of those cases come from just 4 countries; Brazil with the most cases in this region by far, followed up by Peru, then Chile, and then here in Mexico. But part of the reason the cases continue to spike in this part of the world is because of the way many countries around here have their economy structured by some estimates more than 50% of all workers, in this region, are forced to participate in what's called the informal economy. These are people that don't get a regular paycheck from some company. They have to go out and work to earn a living. They have to go out because they don't have savings to fall back on. They don't have government subsidies to fall back on. Certainly, no sick leave or paid vacation to talk about. And so, that's why they have to go out and expose themselves to more risks.
[02:25:14]
And then also consider the way cities are structured in Latin America. This is one of the regions with the highest rates of urbanization in the world. Many, many people live in very tightly-packed quarters where social distancing simply is not an option. And despite the fact, though, that many people are back out working, they have to do so in order to survive, the United Nations is predicting a 5.3% region-wide contraction in the GDP as a result of this outbreak. That would be the worst such contraction since records began in 1900. Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
HOLMES: Countries in Africa are now reporting more than 200,000 coronavirus cases. And health experts say the rate of infection is accelerating in some of those countries. One-fourth of the cases are in South Africa. That's where we find our David McKenzie joining us now from Johannesburg.
Two hundred thousand, it's really, I suppose, a low number for a continent with a billion people. Why is that?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michael, it's a good question. It's less than 3% of the confirmed cases worldwide. And of course, it's a very diverse continent that has been hit by the virus in different ways. Not one of those -- the reasons behind that is because the virus experts came to the continent significantly later than some other regions like Europe and the U.S., Michael.
But there is also a major problem with testing in many countries in this region where it's woefully underrepresented. So, we don't know the full rate of infections. But scientists I've been speaking to this week from the W.H.O. in Africa say that, well, they would know -- they would notice because of things like cemeteries and hospitals filling up if there was a real spike in deaths in some of these countries. They haven't seen that yet. The one exception that you already mentioned is South Africa where there is, definitely, an accelerating rate.
HOLMES: I guess, when you look around, there are some countries that might have one, two, three ventilators. I mean, what worries African health officials the most?
MCKENZIE: I think that's a very good question. You know, ventilators were seen as a major issue in Africa and other countries, other continents at the beginning of this outbreak. Now, scientists believe this will be a smoldering outbreak across the continent with only a few hotspots, potentially. So, they really need to up their primary healthcare, not necessarily their critical healthcare.
That being said, you know, one scientist put it very well to me this week. Even if it's a far fewer cases, if the case is that there are only a few ICU beds per 100,000 people in many of these countries, those few cases could overwhelm the system. It's too early to say. I think South Africa will be a key test. You're seeing a rising number of accelerated cases, particularly in the Western Cape Province. And so, the next few weeks will be critical.
But scientists and modelists are saying, they could be part of the continent that are just not as badly affected by this because of a young population, a lack of some of the lifestyle, as they put it, comorbidities like hypertension, obesity. And so, they say, it's a complex virus that has a complex impact on different countries on the continent. We can't really, at this stage, give any sweeping assessment.
HOLMES: All right. David, good to see you my friend. Thanks for that. David McKenzie there in Johannesburg.
We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, dig into the records of police misconduct in the city where George Floyd died, and you'll find something astonishing. A CNN investigation uncovered a long history of complaints against Minneapolis police, and the very short list of incidents that resulted in actual discipline on our special report when we come back.
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[02:30:00]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. The CNN investigation into the long history of complaints against police officers in the city where George Floyd died is revealing a very disturbing fact that those complaints in Minneapolis only rarely ended up with officers actually being disciplined. CNN Senior Investigative Correspondent Drew Griffin digs into the story for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE FLOYD, DIED AT THE CUSTODY OF THE POLICE: I can't breathe.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: In the midst of this video that horrified our nation, a bystander called out a badge.
MICHELLE GROSS, COMMUNITIES UNITED AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY: I played it over and over and listen carefully and figured out for sure this was badge 1087. And at that point, then I knew that it was Derek Chauvin.
GRIFFIN: George Floyd had been dead less than 12 hours. Michelle Gross, who heads a Minneapolis group called Communities United Against Police Brutality was about to tell the world who killed him. GROSS: And so when I saw that name, I said, him. I wasn't surprised
because when you start to see those same officers over and over again with multiple complaints, their names lodged in your brain.
GRIFFIN: For two decades, her organization has been tracking complaints against Minneapolis police. The data is limited, the investigative details not public, but the outcomes are clear. Scroll down data from the city's own Web site, and you'll see complaint after complaint closed with no discipline.
Minneapolis police have racked up 2013 complaints in seven years. Of those, just 31 ended in serious discipline, just 1.5 percent.
GROSS: We have so failed to address police conduct in this community. It made it literally inevitable that somebody was going to die this way.
GRIFFIN: Derek Chauvin, whose knee was on George Floyd's neck has at least 18 complaints. Just two have ever led to discipline. His partner that night, Tou Thao has six, one still pending, five dismissed with no discipline.
In 2017, Thao and his partner were sued for using unreasonable force by a man who was punched and kicked so hard his teeth broke, though he had not committed a crime. The city and officers denied any wrongdoing, settled for $25,000, Thao remained a cop.
Minneapolis police have a long history of allegations of excessive force, lawsuits and even intervention from the Federal Department of Justice. Police Chiefs, City Councils, mayors come and go without fixing the problems that have built for decades.
R.T. RYBAK, FORMER MAYOR, MINNEAPOLIS: Well, if I had an easy answer about why we haven't gotten more done with police reform in Minneapolis, we wouldn't be in this mess today.
GRIFFIN: R.T. Rybak was mayor of Minneapolis from 2002 to 2014. He changed the police chief three times. He says he fought for more transparency and complaints, fought to bring in minority officers, and better training to handle the mentally ill.
But when we see over and over again, the data, the complaints filed that went nowhere and continue to go nowhere, I really have to question whether or not there was a sincere attempt to restructure the Minneapolis Police Department.
RYBAK: It's the right question. Someone like me should stand before you and I have to answer that. I don't want to leave the impression I didn't try but I did not get the job done. And now it's time to get the job done.
GRIFFIN: Phillip Atiba Goff is the co-founder of the Center for Policing Equity.
PHILLIP ATIBA GOFF, CO-FOUNDER, CENTER FOR POLICING EQUITY: If we think the problem here is wow, policing is really bad in the United States, we missed the point.
[02:35:00]
GRIFFIN: What is the point? Goff says its entire swaths of communities, lacking grocery stores, lacking jobs, lacking good education, and he says, let's begin using data for far more than law enforcement.
GOFF: I'm talking about measuring everything that we need to ensure that those communities can be healthy, safe, and empowered to determine their own outcomes. Police are the spark. But the historic disinvestment of black communities, which is why they only have police to solve their problems, that's really the powder keg.
GRIFFIN: A powder keg that erupted with the protests, but had been building for decades.
The City of Minneapolis tells us that most of the complaints against its officers are low level and in fact in 300 cases, officers receive coaching instead of actual discipline. But how coaching is applied is unclear and it's certainly not transparent.
A former police chief of Minneapolis told us if one of her officers was coached for bad behavior even repeatedly, she wouldn't even know it. Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Just a few hours from now, the Minneapolis city council is set to discuss the future of its own police department. It is talking about radical reforms like maybe defunding or dismantling and rebuilding the current system. That is a rallying cry among protesters around the country but U.S. President Donald Trump says that a non- starter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll take care of our police. We'll take -- we're not defunding police. If anything, we're going the other route. We're going to make sure that our police are well trained, perfectly trained, they have the best equipment.
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HOLMES: Peter Beinart, contributing editor to the Atlantic Magazine and a CNN Political Commentator joins me now. Always good to see you, sir. Let's start with this defund the police. The thing is it's an unfortunate hashtag in many ways because it is not as blanket as the name suggests. It's not about abolishing bullies, it's about diverting budget money to social programs, right, about structural reform.
PETER BEINART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, that's right. I mean, there are some people who want to abolish the police, but by and large, the focus is on the fact that police budgets have gone up year after year while many programs for social services have gone down. And particularly during this budgetary crisis, I think many people are
saying that actually, it would be safer particularly for communities of color if the -- if the cities and states were to invest in those communities to create opportunity, rather than to spend it on police.
HOLMES: Yes. And then have police not go to some things better handled perhaps by social service, police probably be happy with that as well. I mean, I wanted to get to your article in The Atlantic. You write about how cities may have no choice but to defund the police and not in the way we're talking about of because COVID related issues. Tell us more about that.
BEINART: So cities across the country are facing a major budget crisis because revenue from various kind of taxes is down, the money they get from the states is down. And they were hoping that the federal government would pass a new set of piece of legislation to aid them of federal money, but the Republicans seem to be standing in the way of that. And in many cities, their budget year starts July 1st.
So one of the reasons that I think we are starting to see some defunding of the police is because there are major budget cuts in many cities across the board. And given the severity of the budget cuts in general, it's just impossible to kind of -- to shield the police from those.
HOLMES: Yes. And as I say, that's not the redirection of funds, that's just a cut. I mean, you also write about the role of the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. You write that he is "enabling budgetary crisis in city after cities." These crises in turn are making well-funded police departments an easier target. Explain more about that and his role, because he seems to you know -- well, he pretty much literally said to the states, you can be on your own.
BEINART: Right. So the Republicans have always been more skeptical of giving money to state and local governments, as opposed to giving it to businesses and in keeping with their general kind of anti- government view. They also seem to have this kind of view that that cities which are often in Democratic areas and Democratic state governors have been -- have been profligate.
And since the last jobs report was surprisingly strong, they've also taken that as evidence that perhaps we don't need another big infusion of government aid which would increase the deficit. And so, by stopping the Democrats in Washington who want to pass another tranche of aid, they are creating budgetary crises in cities.
Remember, cities in the states in the United States cannot run budget deficits. So if their tax revenue is down, they have to cut spending often by quite a lot. And in this environment with these mass protests, it's just very difficult for mayors to cut up funding for social services and education while shielding the police.
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HOLMES: Before I let you go, just quickly. I wanted to sort of tap your thoughts on what is going on in this country at the moment, particularly when you look at the race situation, but also this argument about, you know, military bases named after Confederate generals. I mean, it seems -- it seems to be a remarkable that we're in an age where, you know, banning chokeholds and getting Confederate traitors off military bases is considered you know, progress.
BEINART: Right. I mean, the United States has never fully reckoned with its racist past in the way that many other countries have, certainly in the way a country like Germany had to because we were not defeated by a foreign power. And what happened was that all over South lost the Civil War.
After a very brief period in the 19th century, after the Civil War, African Americans had the chance to have some political representation. That was quickly quashed. And so the South never really had to wreck in, in a kind of profound way with the legacy of slavery. And so still, you know, more than 100 years later, those struggles are still happening in the United States.
The good news, I think, is that younger Americans of all races are more inclined to want to kind of see the symbols of white supremacy overturned. And we even find -- although Donald Trump is standing against this, we're seeing that even among Congressional Republicans, there are some folks who are breaking ranks and saying, after all, why should people who fought a war for slavery and we're traitors to the United States, those who are in a Confederate Army have forts named after them?
HOLMES: Yes, yes. And even a lot of members of the military are saying the same thing. He could end up standing on his own on this. Peter Beinart, always a pleasure. Good to see you.
BEINART: Thank you very much.
HOLMES: The U.S. President's first rally since states have started to reopen is about a week away, but it's already leading to major controversy. Both the location and the day have deep racial symbolism as CNN's Brian Todd explains.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
AMERICAN CROWD: It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
BRIAN TODD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At a rally of black activists in Tulsa, Oklahoma, noticeable tension over President Trump's upcoming visit to the city, where next week he'll stage his first political rally in months. Protesters are anxious about the date Trump chose for the rally, June 19, known as Juneteenth, the day which marks the end of slavery in the U.S.
LAUREN BETHLY, RESIDENT, TULSA, OKLAHOMA: Just knowing the comments that he makes and how he -- how he speaks to people, I just don't see it being very positive, especially not by our community.
TODD: But Senator Kamala Harris, a leading contender to be Joe Biden's running mate is decidedly more blunt, tweeting, "This isn't just a wink to white supremacist, He's throwing them a welcome home party." The White House staunchly defending the President's choice of Tulsa and that date. His press secretary saying African Americans are "very near and dear to his heart, and he wants to highlight what he's done for them."
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's a meaningful day to him. And it's a day where he wants to share some of the progress that's been made as we look forward and more that needs to be done.
TODD: Tulsa is also really from the kinds of racial tensions that the President has been known to stoke. A city police major being blistered by the mayor and black leaders for his comment on a radio show this week about the rates of police shooting African-Americans in Tulsa.
TRAVIS YATES, POLICE MAJOR, TULSA POLICE DEPARTMENT: We're shooting after Americans about 24 percent less than we probably ought to be based on the crimes being committed.
TODD: The major then refused to apologize. Speaking to CNN, Travis Yates said that he meant that systemic racism and policing doesn't exist. But he said he recognized racism does exist and calls it our "sin nature." He also said that he stands by his comments and added he was just quoting research.
And last week, Tulsa police were criticized when they arrested a black teenager and handcuffed another for jaywalking on a street that had no sidewalks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why are you putting handcuffs on my friend?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All he was doing was jaywalking. We just want to talk with him. And then he had to act a fool like that.
TODD: It all comes against the backdrop of a horrible moment in history that Tulsa has never recovered from. In 1921, a white mob massacred hundreds of black residents of Tulsa, torched several businesses and homes in a successful African American community. The terrifying attack depicted in the HBO series Watchmen.
One local African American leader believes Trump's rally will stunt Tulsa's progress in recovering from the 1921 massacre and the recent tensions.
PLEAS THOMPSON, PRESIDENT, NAACP TULSA CHAPTER: I'm sure the President is going to say something that's going to be divisive. This is just to throw cold water on all the days we were trying to do all the things we were trying to do and put a halt to the momentum that's going.
[02:45:08]
TODD: President Trump's campaign manager defended the Juneteenth rally in Tulsa, tweeting that "As the party of Lincoln, Republicans are proud of what Juneteenth represents, and the Emancipation Proclamation." But given the fallout over the President's handling of the George Floyd killing, and those two recent racially divisive incidents involving police in Tulsa, there's still a lot of angst in that city over the President's rally next week. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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HOLMES: The chants of Black Lives Matter is sweeping across the globe. And that is leading to a reexamination of one case in the U.K. What authorities are looking at, when we come back.
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HOLMES: French police officers lay their equipment on the ground in protest over recent reforms. The changes include a ban on controversial chokeholds. Calls for the technique to be banned during arrested growing louder, of course, especially after George Floyd's killing in the U.S. More police protests against the change are expected in France later on Friday.
And in the United Kingdom, Black Lives Matter is growing rapidly from its grassroots start. Protesters are marching not only for George Floyd but also for those in their own country. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reports.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: Here, they chant George Floyd's name, but they also call out to say her name. Belly Mujinga, a 47-year-old London rail worker who died of COVID-19 after allegedly being spat on by a man who claimed to have the virus. Police closed her case in May, after their investigation found insufficient evidence.
But as events in America sparked protests in the U.K., the story of a black female essential worker killed by COVID-19 hit a nerve.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While everybody else is locked in their houses, when everybody else has been protecting themselves, she's still had her duty to deliver to the public. She still have to wake up early and leave her one daughter and go to work.
ABDELAZIZ: Mujinga's case resonated in part because of the work of this group, Justice for Black Lives, which was formed literally overnight by Social media. Rachel Mallam, one of its organizers, says she's never protested before this, but she was tired of seeing black lives lost without accountability.
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RACHEL MALLAM, JUSTICE FOR BLACK LIVES: I think Belly died because she wasn't protected the way she was meant to be protected by the British government, by TFL, by the health sector, by literally everyone in charge of the workers in the United Kingdom. So her death is on their hands.
ABDELAZIZ: In a matter of less than a week, Mujinga's case went from a call to action on Instagram, to a massive demonstration where Star Wars actor John Boyega spoke alongside Belly Mujinga's family. JOHN BOYEGA, ACTOR: Remember this face. Remember this face.
ABDELAZIZ: To an actual result. Authorities agreed to re-examine merging his death due to wider public interest. All this in a matter of days.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The NHS to be able to acknowledge their racism, medical racism.
ABDELAZIZ: With black people in the U.K. four times more likely to die from coronavirus than whites and other ethnic groups. These newly minted activists feel fighting racism is a matter of life and death.
MALLAM: We've had so many black people dying in the United Kingdom for the past few weeks because they're not listening to us. When we go out, we're protesting. We know we're at risk. We know we're putting ourselves out there. I have a little two-year-old at home that I could potentially put in a risk by going out and protested, but I'm protesting because of her. That's literally why I protest. I don't want it to go through the same things that we are going through on a daily basis.
ABDELAZIZ: Throughout this pandemic, Britain's black community has suffered disproportionately in isolation. Now as locked down eases, their stories and their grief are pouring out into the streets. Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
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HOLMES: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still to come, museums are looking at ways to remember the coronavirus pandemic for future generations. We'll look at how they plan to do it and what items they want to display after the break.
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HOLMES: Museums around the world are also looking at ways to document life during the COVID crisis. How will future generations remember this pandemic and what will it teach them? Cyril Vanier reports.
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CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Once bustling city streets sitting deserted, a conversation between generations forced to stay apart, grocery shopping dressed in a makeshift hazmat, the healthcare worker clearly exhausted on the front lines. These are some of the images that capture a pivotal time in history as museums and cultural institutions around the globe work to document the Coronavirus pandemic.
ELLEN HARRISON, HEAD OF CREATIVE PROGRAMMES AND CAMPAIGNS, HISTORIC ENGLAND: It's really important that for future generations, they're able to look back and see what had to happen in order for us all to be safe. And I also think it's a useful way of processing some of the really difficult feelings and frustrations that we all experience. VANIER: In late April, Historic England asked people for photos of
life on lockdown in their first call for public submissions since World War II. In one week, they received nearly 3,000 entries from around the country, illustrating a diverse collective experience.
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HARRISON: We've seen a lot of rainbows that's become a real symbol in the U.K. of kind of solidarity within this time. We've seen a lot of examples of people coming out to clap for carers. We've had some really lovely images of people communicating to the elderly relatives. And really pleasingly, we've seen a real example of the kind of British sense of humor.
One couple recreated the John Lennon and Yoko Ono bed-in but it has stay at home messages behind it. So it's really good to see that even in the face of this adversity, people are still keeping their sense of humor.
VANIER: Elsewhere, curators focus not only on visual display, but physical objects iconic of an unprecedented time.
MARGI HOFER, VICE PRESIDENT AND MUSEUM DIRECTOR, NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY: Certainly, a recurring object is face masks. they have become the most powerful visual symbol of the crisis. Also, they've come a political statement as well. Whether you decide to wear one or not can signal how you feel about the government's efforts to reopen.
And another category that is growing is objects that are made by businesses who have pivoted their production in order to serve the need during the crisis.
VANIER: The New York Historical Society launched their Coronavirus collection in March starting with a single bottle of hand sanitizer. Their focus is physical artifacts of the pandemic, evidence defining a painful time that may become instructive in the future.
HOFER: Look at how we are going back to the flu pandemic of 1918 for lessons learned from that experience. And we look at the public health measures that were taken and the government interventions that were taken or not taken for guidance on what might be the right thing to do now.
VANIER: Signage offering gloves to those who can't afford it, a playground cordoned off to keep children from gathering, computer screens used to socialize in the age of social distancing. These are the items and images that will tell the story of our unprecedented time, shaping how the world remembers the Coronavirus pandemic. Cyril Vanier, CNN.
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HOLMES: Thanks for spending part of your day with us. I'm Michael Holmes. You've been watching CNN NEWSROOM I'll be back with another hour of news in just a moment.
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