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Protests Turn Violent in Wisconsin After Police Shoot a Black Man; GOP Slams Joe Biden's 47-Year Record in Washington; Jerry Falwell Jr. Embroiled in Controversy Over Affair Allegations. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired August 25, 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]

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I was able to sit down and speak with his uncle, Justin Blake, who talked about getting that awful phone call that no parent wants to get.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN BLAKE, JACOB BLAKE'S UNCLE: This is like all the black parents talk about, is that phone call you don't want to get. And we got it. So, you have to sort of be strong for each other, let your faith lead the way, and so after talking to his mother, she and my brother are asking people in Kenosha and around this nation to protest. But protest non-violently. We want justice and we're going to get justice. We're going to demand justice. But we're going to do that without tearing up our own communities.

SIDNER: What did he say to you when you first talked to him?

BLAKE: That it was going to be all right. And it is. But what's all right when someone's life was just totally changed? Thank God he's alive. So we're just praying for a great recovery, that he may have a great quality of life, and that his father, my brother, can enjoy him.

SIDNER: What is your biggest worry for the health of Jacob who has lived through being shot seven times?

BLAKE: He's a hell of a young man. He's strong. He's a Blake. He's going to be OK. He's going to be OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So you hear his uncle there through tears, saying that he is going to be OK. And by all purposes, when you look at that video, it is unbelievable to most of us who have watched that, that Jacob is still with us and still alive. I do want to give you an idea of what's happening now.

The curfew is going to be lifted here in about an hour. It is quiet now. It was not quiet overnight where there were multiple buildings set on fire, cars set on fire across the city. Behind me, you will see where there were fires burning in the trucks here, the garbage trucks that have been posted up in front of the courthouse which is where police and protesters have pretty much squared off here in Kenosha.

We talked to several residents of this area, and, you know, you've got two different -- two different views of what's happening here. Some people are saying look, this destruction is necessary to get the attention of people about things that keep happening to black folks in the community at the hands of police. But you also have residents who are saying, this is our community, we have to live with this long after the protests have happened, and the destruction in the community is only hurting us.

And so you've heard there from the family of Jacob Blake saying, look, we are happy that you are protesting in his name. We are protesting too, but do so non-violently. That is what they are asking. If you're going to protest, protest non-violently. They're also saying that they will take and happy to take people's prayers because Jacob Blake is still in stable condition and still in the hospital dealing with multiple injuries.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Sara Sidner for us in Kenosha. Sara, I know you're getting information all morning long, so please keep us posted. Since the death of George Floyd, there's been this heightened consciousness in the entire country, particularly in the NBA in their restarted season to questions around social and racial justice. And overnight, we heard from star LeBron James on this police shooting in Kenosha and what it's like to be black in America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, LOS ANGELES LAKERS: If you're sitting here telling me that there was no way to subdue that gentleman or detain him or to just before the firing of guns -- then you're sitting here and you're lying to not only me, you're lying to every African-American, every black person in the community. Because we see it over and over and over.

Quite frankly, it's just -- in our community. And I know people get tired of hearing me say it, but we are scared as black people in America. Black men, black women, black kids, we are -- we are terrified.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining me now, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. Executive, thanks so much for being with us. Obviously Kenosha is a neighboring location to Milwaukee, but you put out a powerful statement after the shooting of Jacob Blake where you said, "make no mistake, Blake's wounds are the result of systemic racism." Explain.

DAVID CROWLEY, MILWAUKEE COUNTY EXECUTIVE: Well, I mean, when you think about the history of our police department, when you think about everything that we've been witnessing for generations, this is exactly what it is.

[07:35:00]

At the end of the day, you had an individual who some would basically say that was non-compliant. The fact that it took gunshots to stop that non-compliant person who was, from what we've heard in the community, who was actually coming to actually aid in a fight.

And so the fact is, is that, at the end of the day, what we're seeing is that black people are not being recognized for the -- for being humans. The fact that we can't walk in the park, the fact that we can't barbecue in a park, the fact that we can't bird-watch and continue to be harassed by individuals or by law enforcement, it is scary for us. And we need to make a change.

And being a young father and having three children, this is startling for me, and to know that his kids was also in the vehicle when he was shot lets you know that this was a true disregard of not only his life, but the traumatic experience his child -- his children even experienced.

BERMAN: You know, we just heard LeBron James saying -- and I think he puts it in a perfect words which is, you can't tell me that there wasn't another way to subdue him rather than shoot him in the back seven times. And that will be the question that police face. Why didn't they do something else to try to subdue them? We have no answers. We really have very little information about what led up to this moment. So what questions do you have about the investigation?

CROWLEY: One is, is it going to be a fair one? I do know that the Wisconsin Department of Justice is doing a thorough investigation. But when you look at the 15, 16 seconds of that video, and you see the officers literally guns out, guns drawn, following him into that vehicle, for me, it lets me -- one, the question is, is how was he a threat? Because he wasn't shot before he got into the vehicle. And what was said during that whole time? And the fact that why was he actually being detained if -- the whole community who were out there saying that he was there to aid.

At the end of the day, we have to have a real stark conversation about the urgency in change. And I understand why there needs to be -- why there's so much urgency because we can't continue to see this. This is traumatic, we are witnessing this, we are experiencing this as people of color in this nation, and we have to do something about this. We have to look at how we are policing communities.

BERMAN: Yes, I was going to say, you said we need a conversation. Just a conversation at this point? What concrete changes do you want?

CROWLEY: Well, I think we need a lot of different changes. I mean, here in the state of Wisconsin, back on June 19th, Governor Evers, you know, introduced a legislative package with nine bills about the changes he wanted to see within our police department.

Whether we're talking about a statewide use of force code and allowing that to be public, just having all of our officers go through eight hours a year of training related to de-escalation and use of force. We need to make sure that we are hiring people who are policing our communities, are from these communities, but I would also argue that they also need to live in our communities.

You can't police and live in communities that you can consistently and constantly fear. Right now, this is about bridging the trust between the police departments and communities, and this is really about action.

BERMAN: Yes, I know you said you're the parent of children as well, and that's one of the things that I think jumps out to people here, the idea that there were kids in that car. And what message this sends to kids, children of color across the country. What do you think of that?

CROWLEY: When you think about our young people, I mean, right now what they have been seeing kind of consistently on the news is traumatic for them. They are afraid to go to school. They are afraid to even have any type of law enforcement contact. And for these -- for these -- for his children to witness that being in the backseat, I can just imagine how many years this will be with them.

BERMAN: Right --

CROWLEY: But I just hope that as we all look at this video, as we all think about Jacob Blake, that while we continue to pray for him and his speedy recovery, pray for his family, that more importantly that we go out here and we demand change. We work with our local officials, we work with our state officials, even federal officials to get the policy changes that we need to see. Systemic racism has been deeply rooted in our laws, our practices and policies.

And until we understand that and admit that, it's going to be hard for us to make those changes. And that's something that we've done here in Milwaukee County. We were one of the very first jurisdictions to say that racism was a public health crisis and we're focusing on our three objectives which is making sure that we intentionally include folks to be at the table.

Making sure that we bridge the gap not just with race disparities but also health disparities, but also making sure that we invest in equity. We have to make sure that we're investing in those neighborhoods that need it the most --

BERMAN: Right --

CROWLEY: And have historically been marginalized, and it's going to take all of us to rise to this occasion.

BERMAN: Executive, I've got to let you go, but very quickly, what's your reaction to what you've seen on the streets in Kenosha the last couple of nights?

CROWLEY: I think a lot of people always want to say, well, you -- I think at the end of the day, you can't tell hurt people how to respond to their hurt, to their trauma.

[07:40:00] And so we have to really focus on the policies and practices and laws

that need to be changed in order to put this country in the right footing.

BERMAN: David Crowley, we appreciate the discussion this morning, and we appreciate the work you're doing in Milwaukee County, thanks so much for being with us this morning.

CROWLEY: Thank you.

BERMAN: So, you heard Republicans overnight painting a rosy picture of the president's handling of coronavirus, more deaths, more cases in the U.S. than any other country in the world. We'll take a closer look at the facts, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Republicans at the RNC claimed President Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic has been a huge success, but more than 177,000 Americans have been killed. Doctors say that did not have to happen, that number never had to be so high. Republicans often go back to President Trump's travel ban from China in January.

[07:45:00]

But since then what has he done? Let's look back at the timeline of President Trump's action and inaction. Joining us now is CNN White House correspondent John Harwood. John, great see you. Let's go back to what President Trump said in January, dismissing the severity of it, and again, that was January, not everybody knew what would be to come, but here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you worried by the pandemic at this point?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, we're not at all and we have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, that was wrong on every single level. It wasn't one person coming in from China. But that was January, OK? I think that the question is, what has he done since then? And here are the tweets where he's dismissed it every month since then, including the death toll.

So in February 26th, he said it's 15 people, within a couple of days it's going to be down close to zero. May 8th, this is going to go away without a vaccine, he said. July 19th, it's going to be under control. August 4th, about the death toll you'll remember, he said it is what it is. So, what's the truth about President Trump's action on this?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, Alisyn, the truth is, let's just start with the bottom line, his handling of the pandemic has not been a huge success. We have the worst record of any rich country in the world on this, and, further, the American people know it has not been a huge success.

The "AP" had a poll that came out as the Republican Convention opened that showed Donald Trump's approval rating on handling coronavirus was at 31 percent. What we have seen over the course of the pandemic that the president's principal pre-occupation has been preserving his political standing rather than dealing with the pandemic.

So he denied at the beginning, hoping not to upset financial markets. Then he acknowledged that there was a problem, but said the Democrats and the media were exaggerating it, that it was a hoax. Then he finally sprang into action to take some steps that tended to be late or half-hearted, and then after taking those steps and after many parts of the country shut down to try to curb the -- to flatten the curve which actually did happen, then the president got impatient with that, urged the reopenings that took place.

Then we've seen the virus come back up, and now the president's back to denial acting as if this isn't a huge problem. And then the final stage of it is where we are now, is that he is hoping, wishing, praying for a miracle. And in fact, John was -- when he was interviewing Vice President Pence last week, the vice president said, yes, we do think there's a miracle around the corner in the form of a vaccine. None of the public health officials think that is correct, but that's the stance that they're taking.

And so what the president was trying to do last night was to speak to some of those soft Republicans who have been disaffected with his performance, use the sound bites from people like Andrew Cuomo and Governor Murphy of New Jersey at different points, Nancy Pelosi at earlier points in the pandemic with some elements of praise or some things that sounded like what President Trump said, try to reassure them and then try to tell other people within the president's base that, yes, we have all done great. And there is a portion of the country that will stick with him on that subject.

CAMEROTA: I mean, one of things that has been an impediment according to governors, in terms of flattening the curve and bringing down cases and trying to avoid that huge death count is that they tried to shut down their states.

And President Trump got in the way. He didn't like that they were shutting down their states. Here are some examples, he tweeted "liberate Minnesota. Liberate Michigan. Liberate Virginia and save your great Second Amendment. It's under siege." I mean, that's when governors were trying to save the people in their states. That was his message.

HARWOOD: And Alisyn, the confounding thing about this is that when the president did take action and say we need to get control of this, and he acquiesced in lockdowns, then he -- while he was pushing to reopen, he said here's some criteria that states can follow in order to safely reopen.

And then he promptly ignored the criteria and tried to push the states past them. In addition to that, he has refused to consistently and strongly push a message of wearing masks which is one thing that public health officials after earlier having a different view or communicating a different message have now said is the single easiest and most comprehensive thing that we could do right now as the virus is coming back as we head into the Fall is encourage mask-wearing.

[07:50:00]

And when the president was at the White House last night at the RNC with healthcare workers, no one was wearing a mask. And they did not appear to be socially distanced in an adequate way. So, they're not communicating a consistent message on that, and that's one of the reasons why we're in such a difficult situation.

CAMEROTA: Well, his message also was that, it might help for Americans to inject disinfectant. So that was something that he felt more strongly about --

HARWOOD: Oh, lots of misinformation --

CAMEROTA: Again than that, and tons of misinformation, and we can show more --

HARWOOD: Lots of misinformation --

CAMEROTA: Of that all day long, but they didn't mention that one at the RNC. John Harwood, thank you very much for the fact-check --

HARWOOD: And Alisyn --

CAMEROTA: Yes, quickly --

HARWOOD: One last thing Alisyn, he's being pressuring the FDA to try to push these therapeutics and vaccines forward in ways that are concerning to public health officials. We don't know whether that's going to have any success or not.

CAMEROTA: Well, Stephen Hahn said that he didn't feel any pressure, political pressure to talk about that stuff. That was what he said in his statement last night, obviously some of the reporting suggests otherwise. But John Harwood, thank you very much for all the facts.

Great to talk to you. All right, Jerry Falwell Jr. is in trouble. He says he -- his wife had an affair with the pool boy, but then the pool boy says other things about that affair and Jerry Falwell Jr.'s involvement on it. There's a lot of sordid details and I look forward to telling you about them, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:55:00]

BERMAN: Developing this morning, confusion over the future of Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr., the evangelical leader resigned and then withdrew his resignation after reports surfaced of this complicated architecture of extra-marital relationships in his marriage. CNN Athena Jones joins us now with the very latest on this. Athena, what have you learned?

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Well, is he in, is he out? This resignation followed by a swift un- resignation is likely just prolonging the inevitable. Liberty University saying in a statement that it wouldn't be in their best interest to have Falwell continue to serve as president. It's hard to see how the university's position on that changes. Board members are set to meet later today to discuss this matter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERRY FALWELL JR., PRESIDENT, LIBERTY UNIVERSITY: I'm going to vote for Donald Trump because I believe he's the best qualified to be president of the United States.

JONES (voice-over): Jerry Falwell Jr. lending a helping hand to then candidate Donald Trump in October 2016 after "The New York Times" reported allegations that Trump touched women inappropriately without their consent. A claim Trump denied.

FALWELL JR.: I'm one of the 85 percent or so of evangelicals who supported him.

JONES: One of Trump's most prominent evangelical supporters standing by him again in 2018. The President of Liberty University may be in need of his own defenders. A man Giancarlo Granda confirming to CNN that he had a years long extra-marital affair with Falwell's wife after the couple met him on a trip to Miami eight years ago.

And that Jerry Falwell enjoyed watching from the corner of the room while the pair had sex. Jerry Falwell admitting his wife had an inappropriate personal relationship in a lengthy statement to CNN, but denied being involved at all, let alone having watched.

"Becki had an inappropriate personal relationship with this person, something in which I was not involved." In a statement that referred to the quote, "fatal attraction type situation" and included multiple references to scripture, Falwell said the affair led to stress, weight loss and reflection.

He said he has forgiven his wife and is seeking professional help to address the emotional toll. "Reuters" first reported, Granda's side of the story, also publishing texts supplied by Granda who told "Reuters" the liaisons happened multiple times per year at hotels in Miami and New York and at the Falwell's home in Virginia.

A June 2020 exchange published by "Reuters" shows how the relationship between the Falwells and Granda had deteriorated sometime after the couple and Granda invested together in a local property. Granda allegedly writing to Falwell, "it really is a shame because I wanted to reach a peaceful resolution and just move on with our lives, but if conflict is what you want, then so be it."

Jerry Falwell allegedly replying, "you should by now understand that I will not be extorted. I have always treated you fairly and been restrained in response to your threats because I did not wish to ruin your life. Going forward, stop contacting me and my family." Granda denied the blackmail accusation.

FALWELL JR.: We must unite behind Donald Trump and Mike Pence.

JONES: Falwell, whose January 2016 endorsement of Trump helped him win the support of white evangelicals, a key voting bloc had already been on an indefinite leave of absence from the staunchly conservative university. After posting this photo on Instagram with the woman he says is his wife's assistant, which he later said on meant in good fun. A troubled moment for an influential conservative voice who nabbed a coveted speaking slot on the final night of the Republican Convention in 2016.

FALWELL JR.: Thank you.

JONES: And who told out-front in 2018 --

FALWELL JR.: We're all sinners. Nobody understands that better than evangelicals, that's why we're Christians --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So --

FALWELL JR.: Because we believe we all need forgiveness.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: Now, it's important to note that this is not a criminal matter, but it's still no worthy to see yet another important ally of the president facing this unflattering situation, and it is a far cry from four years ago when Jerry Falwell had a prominent speaking slot on the RNC stage. John?

BERMAN: Yes, and Athena, I will note that sexual relations outside of a biblically ordained marriage between a natural-born man and natural- born woman not permissible at Liberty University and students there are warned to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Athena Jones, thanks so much for being with us this morning. NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Biden has had 47 years to produce results, but he's been all talk and no action.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They want to destroy this country and everything that we have fought for and hold dear.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Most of the people who spoke tonight think Joe Biden is an existential threat to the country.