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Minnesota Attorney General Warns Winning A Conviction Will Be Hard; Court Hearing For Three Charged In Ahmaud Arbery's Murder; New Questions About President Trump's Health. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired June 04, 2020 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And so today, as you watch these four officers in Minneapolis get charged, finally, for this -- for excessive force, what are your thoughts?

KADIATOU DIALLO, MOTHER OF AMADOU DIALLO KILLED BY NYPD IN 1999 (via Cisco Webex): First of all, thank you for having me.

I would begin by sending my condolences to the family of George Floyd for not only losing his -- their brother, their husband, their cousin, and now they have to watch this horrible video on and on again. I cannot even imagine.

Every tragedy is connected. Each time there's tragedy happen, we, as families in communities of black and brown people -- we go back to reliving our tragedies.

And those peoples are human. Their humanity is very much what needs to be talked about. Their life has been taken by those who are supposed to protect us and they're taking lives that they have no right to take.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

DIALLO: I suffered more than 20 years ago when my son was gunned down with 41 bullets.

My son was a Dreamer. He came to America to achieve education. He was doing all the right things. He was saving money for college. Unfortunately, his life was robbed by those officers who took his life.

Each time there's tragedy happen we are connected because every tragedy is connected. We grieve and we are shocked, and we are saying to our self here we go again. How can we cope with this? How can we make this moment?

And people ask us how we are doing all the time. And frankly, when this happened, I turned to my faith and to my son's soul. And I find peace by doing just that and transforming my pain into opportunities for young people.

CAMEROTA: Well, that is obviously very generous of you to be able to try to transform your pain into giving back to other people.

But when you say that every tragedy is connected, I think that the protests show that now. The -- you know, the protesters -- there comes a time when enough is enough and there's a tipping point and I don't know if you feel that this is that time. Do you think that anything has changed since 1999 when this happened to your son?

DIALLO: Going back -- fast-forward, we thought that we had progress.

But then again, the only change that happened is the video. Now we have social media. People are aware.

Can you imagine if this video didn't exist what would have been told to the public? And this young woman who took the camera and filmed this scene is for me -- in my opinion, is a hero.

I think that I have hope because today, young people -- both black, brown, and white, and all ethnicities around the globe -- are marching in the spirit of brotherhood. And the Dreamers who dream for just society are linked and connected and protesting. And I want to say that I pray that those young Dreamers who are really asking for just world (ph) to be seen by law enforcement.

All the time we talk about sensitivity training from the law enforcement community, but I realize that the only thing that is missing is the law enforcement community to be told that they have to listen to black and brown people and ask them how they would like to be seen and understood. That, to me, is important to be implemented because our children are doing all the right things. They continue to be harassed and brutalized.

So if law enforcement community accepts how they can be seen, how they can connect with the young people in the neighborhoods, that can also help us with more progress.

[07:35:00]

And again, I said these young people are so powerful today. They can use their voices. And they're powerful because they can even elect someone in office.

They have to use that through the spirit of Amadou. I hope they can connect to the light of my son's legacy and continue to do right because we need them.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

Well, we hear you and we appreciate -- we appreciate your thoughts and we appreciate how hard all of this is and how interconnected all of it continues to be, even after these decades.

Kadijatou Diallo, thank you very much for being with us and sharing your thoughts, and our thoughts are with you.

DIALLO: Thank you. JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, in just a couple of hours, three men charged with murder in the death of Ahmaud Arbery will appear at a preliminary court hearing. Georgia's governor has a strong warning for anyone who might try to disrupt the proceedings.

CNN's Martin Savidge live at the courthouse in Brunswick, Georgia. Martin, what do we expect today?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Morning to you, John.

Well, those who support seeking justice for Ahmaud Arbery, the first steps begin today and they begin inside the courthouse behind me here. It's a preliminary hearing and usually those are routine and brief. This one, though, is now expected to be either one of those for a lot of very complicated reasons.

First and foremost, all three defendants -- and remember, they're charged with felony murder here -- are going to be in the courtroom but electronically connected to the county jail where they remain under arrest. And then, all five attorneys for the three will be there -- two each for the McMichaels as father and son, and one for William "Roddie" Bryan. He's the man who took that video.

And then there will be testimony given by law enforcement -- presumably, Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The defense attorneys will be allowed to cross-examine and that's where we're going to listen carefully to see if they indicate any lines of what their defense will eventually be. Remember, they've said they will tell a very different narrative from what most people believe and think they saw that day.

And then on top of that, Wanda Cooper, Ahmaud Arbery's mother, is also expected to be in the proceedings.

And one last thing I will point out. The defense can, if they wish under Georgia law, call their own witnesses, and there's indications that at least one attorney does plan to call maybe as many as five. We don't know who they are but it definitely could add to the drama of the day.

There is a protest that is scheduled and you've already pointed out the governor of Georgia has said that he will not allow anything to disrupt this. He worries about outside instigators and so he says he has everything, all the way up to the National Guard, ready to move in if it's needed -- John and Alisyn.

BERMAN: Martin Savidge, I know you'll be there. Please keep us posted throughout the day.

SAVIDGE: I will.

BERMAN: So, an unexpected announcement about President Trump's physical. Why it's leading to even more questions about his health.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:42:02]

CAMEROTA: Protests continue across America for a 10th day, and it's a very different scene near the White House today compared to just 24 hours ago.

CNN's Boris Sanchez is there live. So how does it look today?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Yes, a very subdued scene this morning.

First off, we're able to access an area -- an intersection that we weren't yesterday. Around this time, just 24 hours ago, there was a line of agents from the Bureau of Prisons, federal agents from the Department of Justice, et cetera, lined up about halfway down the block. They were all holding up shields and riot gear. They were there, essentially, the entire day.

The curfew here in D.C. was moved from 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. last night and it came and went, largely, without incident. The protesters that were here were actually kneeling in front of that line of officers with these large military vehicles behind them -- ominous-looking -- blocking the view of the White House.

And really, they stayed here until about 3:00 in the morning without incident. That's when most of the protesters left. There is still about a handful of them here.

And then, the military police and the officers picked up and left. They opened up this block.

And this morning, there's really not much of presence of law enforcement compared to what we've seen the last few days. I've seen a handful of Secret Service agents, nobody in riot gear.

The massive eight-foot fence outside the White House, though, has been reinforced and expanded in some areas.

But other than that, really, a peaceful scene here this morning. We'll see how things go later today as protesters have been getting here around noon. We'll check back in then and see where things are, John.

BERMAN: I've got to say, the timing of all that very interesting, Boris, given the reservations that we heard from the Secretary of Defense yesterday.

Boris Sanchez, on the ground near the White House, thank you very much.

So, in the middle of all this, the White House released partial results of President Trump's physical. The results, sent in a letter from the president's physician, are raising new questions about the president's health.

Joining us now, CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He was former Vice President Dick Cheney's cardiologist. He's now a professor of medicine at George Washington University. Dr. Reiner, you know your way around the White House with important patients, so it's great to have you here.

Let me just put up some of what we did learn about the president's health, and it's limited. Seventy-three years old -- we knew that; 6'3"; weight, 244 pounds; resting heart rate, 63 beats a minute; blood pressure, 121/79. And then we got information about his cholesterol. That's what we see.

What's missing here that you would expect?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST, FORMER CARDIOLOGIST TO DICK CHENEY, PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY (via Cisco Webex): Well, a lot.

So, first of all, let's wind the clock back six months to November 16th, a Saturday afternoon. In an unannounced way, the president -- almost in an urgent way, the president and his motorcade traveled to Walter Reed on a Saturday afternoon for what the White House, at that time, billed was phase one of his medical exam.

[07:45:00]

Now, you need to know that the White House complex has a really -- a very extensive medical unit. Most of it's housed in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building within the overall print of the White House complex where the team there -- really, a fabulous team of military physicians and nurses and assistants can do just about anything you can do in a medical clinic or even in the emergency department in many places.

So all of the testing that we've received yesterday, which is basically just blood work and his vital signs, can be done in the White House easily. One only takes the president to Walter Reed for testing that cannot be done at the White House -- things like imaging or invasive tests.

So we don't know why the president went in this unannounced way in November. All of the testing that was done can easily be done in -- at the White House medical unit or even in the Physician to the President's Office on the ground floor of the White House, so this leaves a lot of answers.

BERMAN: Yes.

REINER: A lot of questions, excuse me.

BERMAN: Nothing in these numbers -- nothing in these numbers gives any insight as to why that trip to Walter Reed.

REINER: No, nothing at all. I mean, this is really just basic tests.

So what they've done is they've released what they want you to hear. They've given you, essentially, a couple of pieces of meat to chew on but the rest -- have left the rest of it unanswered. What we do know from the data they received is that the president has pretty difficult to control high cholesterol, so he's taking Crestor. The generic for that is Rosuvastatin. He's taking 40 milligrams. That's the most potent statin available.

And his LDL is 90. Now, that doesn't sound bad except we know that he has established coronary disease. We know that from a prior C.T. And the standard of practice in the United States would be to drive a patient's LDL down to less than 70. The Europeans, actually, are more aggressive and aim for an LDL of less than 55.

So the president's LDL of 90 indicates either -- you know, one of several things. Either that he has extensively hard-to-treat cholesterol, or that his diet is awful, or that his compliance with his medications is not so great -- probably a mixture of those.

But with an LDL of 90, most physicians -- most cardiologists would probably add a second drug to lower his LDL further and further reduce his risk of having a coronary event.

BERMAN: I think it's really interesting what you just said. They released what they want us to see. And even what they want --

REINER: Yes.

BERMAN: -- us to see, it's not great, right?

Two hundred forty-four pounds makes him obese. Only one pound gained from last year but he's in the obese category.

And then what you seem to be telling us is that even though the cholesterol is better than it has been in the previous years, that's even with the maximum dose of some of these cholesterol drugs.

REINER: Exactly. So, there's nowhere in that note that tells you that the president -- that this is all the president had done.

Two years ago when Ronny Jackson evaluated the president, he listed the number of consultants. I think he said there were nine different specialties evaluated the president at that time.

So typically, when the president has an annual physical it takes a long time to orchestrate the different consultants that you want to see the patient and they come in in this sort of very tightly choreographed manner. So a lot of people would have seen the president.

We've been given just a little bit of data -- just what they want you to see. They want you to see that his cholesterol is better and that his weight is not great -- but you can see that because he's photographed every day -- and that his blood pressure is good. That's all they wanted you to know.

BERMAN: Yes, and there's a lot we don't know -- what other tests were performed, are there mental tests taken? We know Dr. Jackson did some of that two years ago. We don't know if they've done them again. We just don't know.

What we do know is the president did a couple of week course of hydroxychloroquine after people inside the White House were exposed. The doctor told us yesterday they saw no side effects of the hydroxychloroquine.

Coincidentally, the first-of-its-kind study on hydroxychloroquine was released yesterday from the University of Minnesota. This is a double- blind, gold-standard study into the effects of this drug as a possible prophylaxis and it found no effect of it. That's an interesting finding given that after everything else we heard that was the one still unknown area.

REINER: Right. So finally, we're starting to see some randomized control trials, which are really the only way to understand whether these drugs work or not or whether they had adverse effects.

The good news in that study is that patients didn't seem to be harmed by taking it, but it really offered no benefit. There are some more studies that will add a little more insight into this. But what's been common in every single either observational or now-randomized control trial is that there's been really no hint of a benefit for using hydroxychloroquine either to treat a sick patient with Covid-19 or now, as a post-exposure prophylaxis.

BERMAN: Dr. Jonathan Reiner, thank you, as always, for your expertise.

REINER: My pleasure.

BERMAN: Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, John.

[07:50:00]

Meghan Markle is speaking out about the death of George Floyd and her personal experience as a young girl during the L.A. riots. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, is speaking out for the first time about the killing of George Floyd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGHAN MARKLE, DUCHESS OF SUSSEX: I wasn't sure what I could say to you. I wanted to say the right thing. I realized the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing because George Floyd's life mattered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Markle offering words of inspiration to a virtual graduation ceremony for her old high school in Los Angeles.

CNN's Max Foster is live at Windsor Castle with more. So, this is interesting to hear from her, Max.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. She admits to being very nervous about addressing this very sensitive issue but a source close to her tells me that ultimately, she felt compelled to address George Floyd and what happened there. But also, what's happened to countless other black Americans over many, many generations.

[07:55:07]

In particular, she referenced and apologized for the lack of progress since the L.A. riots in 1992, which she witnessed firsthand as a girl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARKLE: I remember the curfew and I remember rushing back home. And on that drive home seeing ash fall from the sky and smelling the smoke, and seeing the smoke billow out of buildings. And seeing people run out of buildings carrying bags and looting.

And I remember seeing men in the back of a van just holding guns and rifles. And I remember pulling up to the house and seeing the tree that had always been there completely charred. And those memories don't go away.

And I can't imagine that at 17 or 18 years old, which is how old you are now, that you would have to have a different version of that same type of experience. That's something that you should have an understanding of -- but an understanding -- an understanding of as a history lesson, not as your reality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Now, the Duchess says that the L.A. riots, like the current protests, were triggered by a senseless act of racism. But she also wanted to pay tribute to all of those standing in solidarity to what she describes as the current movement.

And she wants people to see this, really, as a new beginning -- a chance to rebuild. So as much as this is a negative story for her, she really wants this to be the real new beginning, which she'd hoped the L.A. riots would have been at the time.

CAMEROTA: And, Max, what about Harry? Is he speaking out publicly, lately?

FOSTER: Prince Harry has been doing lots of video calls with a lot of his causes and charities, trying to show that he's still involved there and listening to them. No public speeches from him, though. We have seen him out, as well, giving food parcels to people during the pandemic.

He hasn't addressed this current issue. I think, obviously, he sees his wife as the expert on that as someone who's biracial but also American.

CAMEROTA: Makes total sense. Max Foster, great to see you. Thank you very much.

John, just interesting to hear from them. People have been wondering when they would sort of make their first public statements or public appearances and it looks like Meghan is wading into that now.

BERMAN: Yes, and good for her. And obviously, she has a connection to this. She is and was and will be American as far as I can -- as far as I consider it, forever.

What's really interesting to me also, though, is just the international response to what's going on in this country -- the overwhelming international response. Huge demonstrations in cities around the world.

I'm a big soccer fan watching what these soccer players in other countries are doing now.

People can't understand -- people can understand the lingering injustice in the United States and they look at it with shock. And we're seeing it in ways we just haven't before.

CAMEROTA: And here, as well. So we'll see what today brings, and NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We felt that the proper charge would be second- degree murder and that it would be proper to charge the other three with aiding and abetting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is still a level of skepticism. We know looking at previous cases that oftentimes it is difficult to get a full conviction on a police officer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Massive, peaceful protests all across this country.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're seeing protesters now weaving their way through downtown Los Angeles. It is stretching as far as I can see.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What you're seeing from the president's tweets ignores the primary criticism Mattis made, which was withering.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all respected Sec. Mattis for his letter calling out the president's abuse of authority.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

BERMAN: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Thursday, June fourth, 8:00 here in New York. And overnight, some of the largest demonstrations we have seen yet across the country, in some cases in defiance of curfews.

And we do have major developments this morning in the legal case in Minnesota. The remaining three police officers involved in George Floyd's death arrested and charged.

And this morning we're hearing for the first time from a key witness who was there -- his longtime friend who was in the passenger seat the day that George Floyd was killed. He says Floyd did not resist police.

And despite the video showing a police officer with his knee on Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes, Minnesota's attorney general is warning it could be hard to get a conviction in this case.

CAMEROTA: Also this morning, former Defense Sec. Gen. James Mattis publicly criticizing President Trump. Mattis, a retired four-star Marine General, says the president is intentionally trying to divide Americans. He also talks about the recent actions of President Trump that have left him.

END