Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

New York And D.C. Slammed With Snow and Rain; Dorian Johnson Says Officer Darren Wilson's Story Is Untrue

Aired November 26, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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


BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Just past the half hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Look at the stuff. It is rain. It is snow and isn't that nasty nick depending where you live here. Pretty tough this travel week, this eve of thanksgiving from the south to the northeast. Places like New York and D.C. are already getting a taste of both the snow and the rain.

In New England, some areas we are hearing could see up to one to two inches of snow, and so that is where we stuck Rosa Flores. She is live outside of Boston right along the mass turnpike with more there.

I see the cars going behind you. They seem to be a-OK. How are the conditions where you are?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the snow keeps falling. You are probably seeing it sideways on your screen right now. The temperature keeps dropping and so that the speed limits, Brooke.

Here is the skinny. The temperature is about 31 right now. The speed limit is 40 miles per hour. It started the day, 65 miles an hour, but between the New York state line and Westborough, which is east of us close to the Boston, down to 40 miles per hour, because of the conditions.

Let's take a look at the roadways right now. These are the westbound lanes of i-90 so all of these folks are headed towards New York. We have seen the slowdowns here, because of the treacherous condition.

But here is what makes this in particular very difficult. Usually, emergency crews that are able to treat the roads before it snow. This time, they could not do it, because there was rain and then there was snow. And if you treat the roads while it is raining, it turns it to runoff. It doesn't help at all.

So what are folks doing? They are planning ahead. We talked to one traveler and here is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got my parents back in Pennsylvania. They will give me a call if it gets real bad. I got family in New Jersey so can stop off there if it is really terrible like (INAUDIBLE) whatever. It is just you know, make sure you check the road, maintain a good distance in between other cars and, you know, if you hit a slide, go into it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now the national weather service is expecting one to two inches of snow from now until 8:00 tonight. The conditions are worsening. You can see in this video that you are taking a look at, plows heavy at work on these roadways to make sure that the conditions are better for the travelers. But Brooke, you and I know that when the conditions are this bad on the roadways, people have to pack some patience. They have to be -- leave plenty of room between, them, themselves, and the car in front of them, because it can get very slippery very fast -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes. If you think that you are going slow, my mantra, go slower.

Rosa Flores, thank you so much along the Massachusetts turnpike for me.

You know, we are talking so much about the road. It is not the only means to travel, of course, affected by this early winter storm. I have multiple airports being cancelled and delay flights. And how is this looking for the next 24 to 48 hours.

My friend, Chad Myers, is kind to say I am peeking to have, you know, huge windows, just off to my side. It is pitch dark here in New York at 3:30 in the afternoon. You can't even see there is lady liberty there sort of through the picture. What is the situation?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, the darker it gets, the colder it is going to be, and the more that is slash is going to freeze. And so Rosa was at the rest area, one to the east of Branford, just to the west of her a little bit. That rest area has five inches of snow on it. The farther you get to the west on the mass turnpike, the worse it gets. The slower it gets and the more the snow is piling up.

Now for Pocono summit, about Pocono, about six to eight inches, evening getting up to a bear creek a little bit more than that. That's in Pennsylvania. The snow is all the way back down to i-81. An 81 is a mess compared to 95 which is right now on the rain/snow mix line.

But as the sun sets, all of the rain/snow mix is going to change order to all snow, and that is going to start freeze. Bridges are going to go first, and then the rest of the road by. You are going to slow down to 25-30. So that is why we said leave early this morning if you can, because that is the warmest part of the day. We are now getting into the colder part of the day, and things are going to start to start slip the slide.

A lot of airport delays today -- New York, Philadelphia. Not so much for Boston yet, but I think that is coming as it change over to snow later today. Expect a two-hour delay at least almost anywhere now, because the planes are backed up. We have about 13 percent cancellations, Brooke, earlier today. There

were 13 percent empty seats on the planes still to come. And so, some of those people that got cancelled early are still waiting there for the next flight and that is what you don't want to do on thanksgiving eve. You don't want to sit there at the airport and eat airport turkey.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: That is a hard horrible thought.

And of course, you know, CNN at the airports. I'm sorry if you are sitting there stuck watching us. I hope you were able to get home or whatever it is you are heading.

Chad Myers, thank you very much. We will stay in close contact with you over the next 24 to 48 hours here.

Meantime, why I don't take you back to the main story of the week, the Ferguson protesters' new target here, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, have you heard about this? There is a growing chorus on twitter want to boycott black Friday. Why? What is the connection to the business community? Soledad O'Brien joins me live to explain that. That's next.

Plus, did the White House recommend that the National Guard stand on the sidelines as riots broke out in Ferguson? We will take you live to Washington for that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Some Ferguson activists have a brand new target, black Friday. This Friday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year, the movement is calling on shoppers to boycott black Friday picking up steam definitely on social media. The whole thing started with a group called "justice for Michael Brown leadership coalition."

So here is what they want. This is what they are asking. For the shoppers boycott malls, big box stores and only shop at local black or minority-owned businesses.

So joining me now is Soledad O'Brien, executive producer of CNN's "Black in America Series" and CEO of Starfish Media Group and -- let me take a breath, so much to talk about with you -- and you have an incredibly timely documentary that we are airing tonight on CNN, you know, it is called "BLACK AND BLUE" and it is focusing on young black men, aggressive policing which is so incredibly timely given what has happened this week in Ferguson.

But first, nice to see you and happy thanksgiving. And if we could just begin with this notion of why target the business community as part of this, you know, message and call to minorities across the country.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, BLACK IN AMERICA SERIES: You know, I think this call has actually spread out much further than just the Ferguson protesters and also their folks in entertainment and the arts and media, regular folks all coming together, what they are trying to do, they told me, is to leverage the platform, leverage the folks who follow them to have a message, and the message that doesn't just last a few days, certainly past black Friday and the message goes beyond when the media leaves Ferguson. And the idea is that black lives have value, and in fact, they are actually financial value of African-Americans.

African-Americans' spending value is about a trillion-dollars. African-America spends more on media. We watch your television, or we shop more online, we shop more offline, right? So there is a trillion dollars of value there. And I think the idea as Ryan Kugler who was the director of "Fruitvale station," a film about police brutality, the director (INAUDIBLE) who is working on a film about Selma, both said, you know, this is about empowerment actually.

So, not only a boycott, but also saying turns that day of shopping into a day of action. And there number of action. They have a web site called blackoutforhumanright.com where they list a number of action that you can take, some include screening for (INAUDIBLE), screening of "do the right thing," a film by Spike Lee, and other actions around the country. But the idea is not to just spend this money, but also think about ways to make actual tangible change that last beyond, you know, a court case, a decision of police brutality, a moment in time, but it is actual impactful change. And I think overall, the goal is to make the presence of the African-American dollar known and felt by its absence on black Friday, a day when many black people would be running to the mall.

BALDWIN: You know, you talk about the change, you talk about change in communities, and so, as it pertains to this documentary, you really focus on -- which is the story in Ferguson really called to light that the militarization of the police, given the images we saw back in August, stop and frisk policy, what did you find?

O'BRIEN: Yes. You know, we were really interested in telling the stories of individuals who were all within the system, whether it is the African-American police officer, it is the new police commissioner who is now been, you know, in his job for what ten months now, 11 months now, really trying to figure out how are they policing in a community that often feels like police are over-policing, in fact that they are always considered to be criminals.

Couple of young men that we talk to, one is a kid, really a teenager who has been stopped 100 times, stopped and frisked. And he says, you know, what it is like to be stopped in front of your college with your professors stopping by as the police are stopping you. He has not done any, you know, he has no track record of any kind of crime. And yet, he is consistently targeted just because of the way he looks or really some very difficult to watch videos of the young men named Luis. And you can see if he is just watching the police do a stopped of men on the sidewalk with a bicycle when suddenly they turn on him and he is pinned down and arrested.

To understand where people are coming from, I think to go really good insight in what we are seeing unfold right now in Ferguson. BALDWIN: We will be watching "Back in America," "Black and Blue" by

Soledad O'Brien airing tonight, 11:00 eastern here on CNN.

Soledad, I truly -- thank you very much.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: And blackoutforhumanrights.com is the Web site for anybody who wants more information about what the organizers are planning by the way.

BALDWIN: Got it. Black out for human rights. Soledad, thank you.

O'BRIEN: You bet.

BALDWIN: All right, And coming up next, he is the controversial witness who was with Michael Brown during the shooting back in August. You are about to hear what Dorian Johnson says about Darren Wilson's recent interview with ABC News.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: This is in part of the mantra to Michael Brown movement, Hands up, don't shoot. But in his interview with ABC officer -- with ABC News., Officer Darren Wilson says Brown (INAUDIBLE).

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: As you know some of the eyewitnesses have said that at that moment he turned around, he turned around and put his hands up.

OFFICER DARREN WILSON, FERGUSON POLICE: That would be incorrect.

STEPHANOPOULOS: No way?

WILSON: No way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So where did that come from?

Remember eyewitness Dorian Johnson who was with Michael Brown when he was killed was the first to give that eyewitness description. Here is what he told the grand jury back on September 10th, page 121 of the transcripts.

Johnson told the panel Brown had been shot twice. Let me read this to you. Quote "at the time big Mike's hands was up, but not so much up in the air because he had been struck already."

Dorian Johnson has responded to Dorian Wilson's interview speaking to Erin Burnett just last on "OUTFRONT." So Erin is with me now to talk me through exactly what he said.

How did he respond? ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST, ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT: So look. He's angry

and he's upset about what's happened. And what's interesting is that he has -- he's actually pretty eloquent, I thought, in how he described his feelings. I mean, as you saw, there were tens and tens of pages, two hours of testimony what he gave to the grand jury and here's a little bit of what he told me about how that happened.

BALDWIN: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DORIAN JOHNSON, MICHAEL BROWN'S FRIEND: I know exactly what I saw. I was there the whole time and I definitely saw my friend stop and put his hands up being compliant after being fired upon, after already being struck with a bullet wound from Officer Darren Wilson's gun. He had already shot my friend. So there was no way, I thought that he would even believe in himself that he could take on an armed police officer while he himself was unarmed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So, this is his view and he stands by it. He said this is what I saw and I know what I saw and he talked to me about -- I was hyperventilating. I was afraid for my life. But his version is the first shot happened, after that shot, Michael Brown turned around. He said he was already injured and that is why he says well, he wasn't able to put fully his hands in the air but one of his hands was up in the air. And that's when he said the officer continued with the 11 remaining shots.

BALDWIN: So he stands by his story and then you also had on it was a big show. You also had on Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin's mother who in a sense really could not just sympathize, but empathize with what Michael Brown's mother is going through. What did she share with?

BURNETT: And, you know, she was incredibly emotional. It is not that I didn't expect her to be emotional, Brooke. But she seemed truly heartbroken. And she said look. I said you know, were you shocked, but not surprised. And she said I wasn't surprised. There was a part of me that was hoping, but I wasn't surprised because we have now seen in her point of view that justice cannot be served.

And then we also talked about the fact that the federal government has not yet made a decision, right? I mean, how long has it been? We're talking about over a year now since they said we're going to look into whether there will be federal charges.

BALDWIN: Let's take a listen to you talking to Trayvon Martin's mother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SYBRINA FULTON, TRAYVON MARTIN'S MOTHER: You have to remember that it was a murder that was committed here and what do we expect him to say? We're not going to expect him to say things that is going to convict himself. And so, he's going to say whatever he needs to say in order to get out of this situation. He's going to say that he felt threatened. He's going to say that, you know, he was threatened by Michael Brown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: I mean, you know, this is the passion that she feels and it's the same passion that Dorian Johnson felt. And I think that the real frustration that Dorian Johnson has, people have said, look, you can't trust him because he wasn't honest at first about the convenience store robbery that happened right before. So they tried to take away from what he said.

But he is feeling is I have been honest about what I said. Instead, the prosecutor says well, there are some people who think that they know what they know, but they don't know. They find that to be incredibly demeaning. And Dorian Johnson's lawyer said he believes the prosecutor was apathetic and that in his fundamental view, Darren Wilson did not look at these two men as human beings the way he would have if they were white.

BALDWIN: Thank you. Thanks for sharing to big interviews on the show last night. It is worth watching you, Erin Burnett "OUTFRONT."

BURNETT: Good to see you and happy thanksgiving.

BALDWIN: Happy thanksgiving. Be here tomorrow. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The White House is denying the claim that it preventive Missouri's governor from sending National Guard troops to help stop Monday night's riots in Ferguson. That claim was leveled by Missouri's lieutenant governor.

Jim Acosta is our senior White House correspondent there.

And Jim Acosta, what are you hearing?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, not a whole lot, Brooke. But a senior White House official does tell me that they are basically saying that, no. That this claim from lieutenant governor of Missouri, Peter Kinder that Missouri governor Jay Nixon held back on deploying National Guard troops into Ferguson to prevent that violence Monday night was somehow politically motivated or came because of pressure from the White House. A senior White House official tells me, Brook, no, that is not true.

But at this point, what they are really doing is just pointing to what Governor Nixon said yesterday when he told reporters that that claim from the lieutenant governor of Missouri is absurd and here is what Governor Nixon had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JAY NIXON (D), MISSOURI: That is false and absurd and politics has nothing to do with whatever of the folks up here are doing. We are doing our duty. You have behind me a series of sworn officers. You have hundreds of people out there putting their lives on the line each and every night. Politics has not one bit to do with the tasks at hand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now, the Obama administration is trying to make something positive come out of that situation in Ferguson. We've been told by White House officials and in the coming days they're going to announce this administration effort to hold what they are calling stakeholders conversations between law enforcement civil rights leaders, people in various cities around the country to start talking about this issue, this trust gap that exists between minority communities and police departments. And so we can expect that to happen over the coming weeks

And of course, Brooke, the big question, will President Obama travel to Ferguson, Missouri? That is still a question not ruling in, not ruling it out, still under consideration, Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. Jim Acosta, thank you very much at the White House for us this afternoon.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. I will see you back here tomorrow while you are cooking those Turkeys. Turn on CNN.

In the meantime, "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.