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Audio of Breonna Taylor; Louisville's Mayor Talks about the Breonna Taylor Killing; New Polls Out on 2020 Race; Texas Mother Delivers Triples. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired July 10, 2020 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:30:00]
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Four shots after Walker fired that warning shot, again, with the gun he was licensed to carry. He also said that he recalls hearing more gunfire after he rushed out of the home because of his injury.
Taylor was hit eight times. Walker told police he tried to protect her and he at first didn't realize it was police officers barging into the home.
Another thing that's important to note. Walker was arrested and charged with attempted murder and assault. Remember those charges were dropped. In the audio, though, he told the investigator that when an officer asked if he was hit, he said no. And that officer responded saying this, that's unfortunate.
Mattingly (ph) and another officer had been re-assigned while an independent investigation continues and a third officer, Alisyn, has been fired.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Brynn, thank you very much for reminding us about this horrible case.
Joining us now is the mayor of Louisville, Greg Fischer.
Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thanks so much for being here.
Just horrible. The more that we hear about the Breonna Taylor case, the worse it gets. Why hasn't anyone been charged?
MAYOR GREG FISCHER (D), LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY: Well, Breonna's case is a tremendous tragedy, not just for our city, but for the country as well.
So there's been one officer terminated so far. Where the case is right now with Kentucky law is with the attorney general, Daniel Cameron, whose look at the case, deciding if any charges will be filed.
What I did was ask the FBI and the attorney general and our U.S. attorney to also look at the case to make sure that the truth comes out on this. Everyone should agree that we want the truth.
CAMEROTA: Yes. FISCHER: There might be different outcomes, but it's absolutely important that the truth comes out in this.
CAMEROTA: Mayor, it's been four months. It's been four months.
FISCHER: Yes.
CAMEROTA: Look at how fast things were able to happen after Rayshard Brooks, after George Floyd. It's been four months. Why is it taking so long?
FISCHER: Yes, the fundamental difference is that there's not body camera evidence in this. And while Louisville Metro Police Department has been a leader in the country with body cameras, on this warrant here because these were undercover narcotics agents. They did not have body cameras. Now, that has since been changed with the passage of Breonna's law. But if we had the body camera evidence, obviously things would move much more quicker.
But I'm as frustrated as anybody that this thing has taken so long. But that's the fundamental difference here, the lack of body camera evidence.
CAMEROTA: But -- OK. But now we have these transcripts. And here are some of the things that came out.
FISCHER: Right.
CAMEROTA: They knew that her home posed minimal threat. They had already been told that. Before they went in, they knew it posed minimal threat and that she would likely be home. They saw -- the police officers saw that somebody was watching TV. And in the transcripts it says that they, at some point, quote, fired blindly.
I mean, I don't know what more body cameras could tell us about that.
Do you think -- do you believe -- would you like to see someone charged?
FISCHER: Yes, the officer that fired blindly is the one -- has been terminated in this case. And that's why we take -- took the action we could when we could take it. The rest of all this case is now, as I said, with the attorney general. So that's where the facts are going to come out in this case as to what happened there. There were multiple police officers on the scene. They were each having their own conduct on there, and that's what's being evaluated by the attorney general right now.
CAMEROTA: But, Mayor, do you think somebody should be charged?
FISCHER: Well, that's what the attorney general is going to decide. Clearly the active termination --
CAMEROTA: But I mean you know the facts as well as I do. When you hear that, I mean just -- just from what you know, from the transcripts, the fact that she was shot eight times, the fact that there were no drugs in her home, the fact that her boyfriend, a witness, says that they didn't identify themselves. It was a no-knock warrant. What more do you need to know?
FISCHER: Right. Well, what we need to know is what the FBI and the attorney general came out. Look, this is a tragedy. I mean this -- Breonna Taylor should not be dead, OK? One of the officers was terminated because of the facts that indicated that could take place. The rest of this is with the AG. I'm as frustrated as anybody, Alisyn, about how long this has taken. But that is the course in Kentucky law under which this takes place.
CAMEROTA: When are we going to find out? When are they going to make a decision?
FISCHER: I hope soon. The attorney general has not given us any indication on that, but the city clearly wants justice. They want the facts to come out on this. So I hope between the attorney general and the FBI, that's what's going to take place. That's why I've asked all these folks to get involved with this. Breonna deserves this. Our city deserves this. And the country deserves this. This has been a tragedy for everybody.
CAMEROTA: Look, in the meantime, you were elected president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and this --
FISCHER: Yes.
CAMEROTA: And people are doing a lot of soul searching around the country about how to reform the police. I've read that you said that you want it to be -- that policing should be more about peacemaking in the culture and so what exactly does that mean? Do they give up weapons? Do they use funds elsewhere rather than buying more weapons or funding the police as much?
FISCHER: Yes. Yes, this -- clearly police reform is a national problem. So what we want is the right first responder to be showing up at whatever the situation might be. It is a mental health worker? Is it a domestic violence worker? It doesn't always have to be our police officers that -- we ask way too much of and then we invest way too much in our -- in our city and our country.
[08:35:06]
America seems to be happy investing after the fact when there's problems with incarceration and all these other activities. We should be investing before in people to minimize these type of activities and then we -- we also have to remove incentives for people to be involved with illegal drug activity. Poverty drives so much of this actions in our city -- or, excuse me, in our country. We're calling for replacing a minimum wage with a living wage. The majority of every mayor's office, Alisyn, the work we do is dealing with the effects of poverty. We have to eliminate poverty. We have to also eliminate the wealth gap between black families and white families. Ten times the wealth that America's white families have over black families. That's why the first act I did as Conference of Mayors president was to pass a resolution, with unanimous support, to support the commission to study and develop reparations for African-Americans. It is way pas time to deal with this wealth gap and income gap in America. And that is at the root of so many of the problems in our country and with our criminal involvement.
CAMEROTA: These are tall orders.
Mayor Greg Fischer, we appreciate you coming on and, obviously, we await a finding in the Breonna Taylor case.
FISCHER: Likewise. Likewise.
CAMEROTA: Thank you.
FISCHER: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: President Trump is choosing to focus on social issues and a culture war instead of the coronavirus pandemic. Why is his message of law and order not yet resonating with voters?
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[08:40:32]
BERMAN: So, new this morning, pretty sweeping condemnation on how the president is handling the coronavirus pandemic in America, which has now killed 133,000 Americans. A new ABC News/IPSOS poll finds that by two to one voters disapprove of what the president is doing. There's even more going on behind these numbers.
CNN's senior politics writer and analyst Harry Enten here with "The Forecast."
Harry, great to see you, on the most important issues of the day, the ones we assume that voters will choose with in November, the president under water.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: You've got that exactly right. I mean that IPSOS poll is the worst poll I've seen for the president on the coronavirus so far taken over the last four months.
But, you know, it's important, obviously, to put this into context because the president is going to be running against somebody else in former Vice President Joe Biden. And when it comes to the issue of the coronavirus, and you match up Biden versus Trump, who is trusted more on that issue? What we see is that the former vice president is trusted by double digits. And also on race relations, right, that's the other big issue of the day, what do we see, we see the former vice president trusted by double digits. Given those two double digit gaps, it's very difficult to imagine that the president will win unless something changes.
BERMAN: The president trying to turn the focus to the idea of law and order. I say trying because there's evidence it's not working. Why?
ENTEN: Yes, there's a lot of evidence. You know, there was a great poll last month that was taken by "The Washington Post." And what did it show? It specifically asked, do you want a president who's really going to be focusing on law and order or addressing the nation's racial divisions? And what we see is that voters, by a nine-point margin, said that they wanted a president who would be focusing on addressing the nation's racial divisions. And so the president is trying to change the subject when Americans don't want to change the subject, right? That's, to me, the sign of someone who really doesn't understand the electorate. Maybe he understood it in 2016, but he's not understanding it right now.
BERMAN: And even more interesting because even if he was right, and there's evidence that he's not, what are voters saying on the issue of law and order?
ENTEN: This, to me, is the most fascinating finding. Put it on a pin. Put it on your wall. And here it is. When matched up against the former vice president on who is trusted more on law and order, the former vice president actually wins more voters by a seven-point margin say they trust Biden over Trump on law and order. So even if the president got to change the subject somehow, it wouldn't necessarily be beneficial to him. It's a losing strategy. I just look at all the polls (INAUDIBLE), John, and it is a losing strategy. I don't really get it. It looks like he's flailing.
BERMAN: Now, the president -- this is something the president has tried to do in the past. Maybe he had some success with it in 2016, but he did try it again in 2018. What does history tell us?
ENTEN: Yes, you know, the president trying to change the subject on to something he'd much rather discuss is something we saw in the 2018 midterms. Remember the caravan, right, the caravan coming up from the south and the president was all doom and gloom about that. Well, he started talking about that in mid-October of 2018, right, when his party was losing, when they were potentially going to lose the House of Representatives. Take a look at the generic congressional ballot. It showed about an eight-point lead when he really started talking about the caravan. What was the final result in the House of Representatives races? It was Democrats winning by nine points. So there was no difference. In fact, if anything, Democrats actually slightly improved their ground.
So when you look at history and you look at the one real example during the Trump presidency where he tried to change the subject to more fertile ground for him, it, simply put, did not work, John Berman. It didn't work.
BERMAN: Twenty-five seconds left, Harry. I just want you to reiterate the initial point here, which is that right now it's hard to imagine anything besides the pandemic mattering. More and more Americans dying every day. The caseload growing. So what should we consider when thinking about that?
ENTEN: I think what we should consider is that the president is down by ten points. He's down by ten points because 20 percent plus say the most important problem is a non-economic issue in the coronavirus. It would almost be like FDR saying during World War II, oh, don't worry about World War II, don't worry about what's going on overseas. This is a real problem affecting everyday Americans. And unless the president can change their minds on how he's handling the coronavirus, he's going to lose and he's going to lose bigly.
BERMAN: Harry Enten, it's great to see you. Thank you so much for digging into the numbers.
ENTEN: Shalom my friend. Good chavez (ph).
BERMAN: So a mother delivering triplets after battling coronavirus in isolation. She'll join us with her remarkable story. Look at those kids. That's next.
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[08:49:07]
CAMEROTA: A Texas mother was 28 weeks pregnant with triplets when she tested positive for coronavirus. She spent weeks isolated from her husband and son before giving birth, we're happy to say, to three healthy babies.
Joining us now is that mom, Maggie Sillero, and her doctor, Dolar Patolia.
Great to see both of you. Congratulations, Maggie. I mean, as a mother of twins, my hat is off to you, triplet mom. That is incredible.
But before you tell us how everybody is today, just take us back to that moment, that moment on May 8th when you found out that you tested positive. What went through your head?
MAGGIE SILLERO, GAVE BIRTH TO TRIPLETS AFTER BEATING CORONAVIRUS: A lot of emotions. I was very worried, scared at the time. But at the end of the day, I knew I was not going to be alone and I had a lot of support and a lot of care from a lot of nurses.
[08:50:01]
So I was not worried at the time. I knew I was in great hands.
CAMEROTA: And, Dr. Patolia, Maggie had no symptoms. At the point where she tested positive, she was asymptomatic. But what would have happened, what was the plan for her delivery if she had gotten symptoms, if she had deteriorated?
DR. DOLAR PATOLIA, MAGGIE'S OB/GYN: So the plan would be to manage her symptoms. Our goal was to keep her asymptomatic. If she developed symptoms, address the symptoms. Keep the babies healthy. Keep the babies in as long as possible.
CAMEROTA: And, Doctor, do -- are we seeing that children born to mothers who are positive, that the babies get it or no?
PATOLIA: So we do not have much experience with Covid-19 and pregnancy. There are not many reported cases of babies testing positive right at birth. But there are reports of indirect effect on the babies while the mom is pregnant, even after she has recovered from Covid.
CAMEROTA: Maggie, you were 28 weeks pregnant when you tested positive. What was the next month like for you?
SILLERO: The next month when I found out it was going to be time to deliver, it was very shocking news. I could not believe the day was here. But I was super excited that the day had finally come. I was just hoping that the babies were going to be healthy. Looking out for their well-being. And, luckily, everything was a success. Babies are doing great. Progressing very well. So I'm super excited to have them all home soon.
CAMEROTA: And when are the -- so -- so let's -- let's cut to the case. You had a daughter and two sons.
SILLERO: Yes.
CAMEROTA: You were able to bring your daughter home from the NICU. You gave birth on June 4th.
SILLERO: Yes.
CAMEROTA: You were able to bring your daughter home. When will you be bring your sons home?
SILLERO: So I got the good news yesterday that the boys might be coming home tomorrow. So we're so excited to have them home. You know, finally I'll be reunited and finally call it a home sweet home.
CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh, what a thrill. I mean I just remember that, it's so nerve-racking. You know, my daughters were in the NICU for 32 days. They were -- those NICU nurses are angels, as you know, but it's really a nerve-racking time. And so I'm so glad that the babies are OK.
But during that month, between the time that you tested positive when you were 28 weeks pregnant, and the time that you actually gave birth on June 4th, then what happened? Did you end up developing symptoms and did you have to stay isolated from your other family members, your husband and son?
SILLERO: Yes, I was isolated for a month for everybody's safety. We were tested a couple of times and we finally -- I finally got my last two before delivery, my two negatives. So that was great news. I knew that if I was positive before delivery, there were going to be some possibilities of isolation. So that was my concern that I was not going to be able to meet the babies at the time of birth. But, luckily, everything went perfectly well. I got my two negatives. So did my family members. So it was good news. And, of course, my mom was there to be my support person at the time since my husband had not received his second negative. And just to be on the safe side, we made the decision to have my mom there and be my support person.
CAMEROTA: Gosh, it is complicated, Doctor. I mean in this age of coronavirus to not have her be able to be with her husband as she's delivering their triplets. It is complicated.
But, very quickly, do you understand what happened? I mean she had a positive test, no symptoms, then she had two negative tests. Were the tests wrong? Did she have an easy case? What do you think happened with her?
PATOLIA: So we know that asymptomatic patients who have Covid. She had multiple positive tests, so I am 100 percent certain that she did have the virus. And like Maggie said, she was fortunate to have two negatives before we had to go in and deliver her.
CAMEROTA: Well, we are so happy, Maggie, for you and that Isabella and Nathaniel -- I also have a Nathaniel -- and Adriel will be able to come home, we think, the boys, on Saturday. So you're going to have your hands full, literally and figuratively. But, congratulations, and we're so happy that everything ended well.
Maggie, Doctor, thank you both so much for the story.
SILLERO: Thank you.
PATOLIA: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: John.
BERMAN: Look, as a father of twins, even the word triplets makes me break out in hives.
So, musicians around the world are using social media and television to help raise spirits during the pandemic, but one Rock and Roll Hall of Famer took it a step further. During the early stages of restrictions, Jon Bon Jovi focused on feeding the hungry in his own backyard.
Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON BON JOVI, MUSICIAN: The Covid-19 epidemic has affected everybody. For me, it's slowed the world down. Record releases are trivial.
[08:55:00]
So this is the JBJ Soul Kitchen. One of three that we have here in New Jersey. There's an in need population here who depend on us.
Our doors remain open for takeout. Anyone who needs a meal knows that we'll provide them with that nutritious meal.
We're unable to have our volunteers, hence the all-star Hall of Fame dishwasher is back in business, and I'm here helping out five days a week.
My wife, Dorothea, took a picture of me washing dishes and she said, well, what's the caption? And I said, do what you can. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: To learn more about Jon Bon Jovi's do what you can efforts and to hear the song he and his fans are performing to lift spirits around the world, go to cnnheroes.com.
I'm surprised to could even tell this story because it's in our contracts that you get all New Jersey stories.
CAMEROTA: I know. I don't know how you did that one, but isn't he dreamy?
BERMAN: No comment. No comment.
Listen, have a great weekend, everyone. There's a lot of news this morning. CNN's coverage continues after this.
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