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Two Dead, One Injured in Clash between Protesters and Armed Vigilantes in Kenosha, Wisconsin; Hurricane Laura Forecast to Hit Gulf Coast as Category 4 Storm; First Lady Expresses Sympathy for Coronavirus Victims. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired August 26, 2020 - 07:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: May have involved armed vigilantes.

[07:00:02]

The sheriff there even using the words, militia. People may have moved into that city to counter the protests following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

Right now, police are looking for a man with a long gun. We want to show some video that was posted on social media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He shot that guy in the stomach.

We're getting shot all around us. Everybody is getting shot everywhere.

Take this. Take this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: It has now been three days since Jacob Blake was shot in the back seven times in front of his children, leaving him partially paralyzed. He is still hospitalized this morning. Police have still not explained what happened.

And this morning, we do have new video of the moments that led up to the shooting.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN NEW DAY: All right, we also have important hurricane news for you at this hour. Hurricane Laura is rapidly strengthening. It's now forecast to become a dangerous Category 4 hurricane today, as it bears down on the Gulf Coast.

This is a look at the storm from space. Hundreds of thousands of people are evacuating in Texas and Louisiana.

But we begin with our top story. CNN's Sara Sidner live in Kenosha, Wisconsin. What have you learned, Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We have new video to share with you. It is extremely disturbing, where you see the man with a long gun here in Kenosha, as protests had broken out between police and protesters who are here in the name of Jacob Blake, who was shot seven times by police.

You see the man running down the street. This is after he allegedly shot someone in the stomach at a gas station. He's walking down the street, he's running, actually. He ends up tripping and falling. And then what transpires is you see him firing at people, as they are coming up and what appears to be trying to grab him to stop him. You see one person fall on the ground. You see another gunshot go off. You can hear a lot of yelling.

And after he gets back up with the rifle strapped to his body, you will see then police rolling towards them. People are screaming at police, this man just shot someone. And as he's walking by with his hands up, but he has his gun there, police just roll right by him. And people are continuing to yell that this man shot somebody. It is extremely disturbing video.

We should also mention that the sheriff has spoken to one of the local reporters here at the Milwaukee Journal and said that there are vigilantes, as he called it, in the streets and that he is not sure if this person is a member of a militia, but there are also members of militia, he told The Journal, in the streets, as well.

And so this is now becoming an issue of people coming into Kenosha, armed and taking what they see as matters into their own hands, as protesters are right to stand up against police and police brutality, as they see it here, in the name of Jacob Blake, who was shot seven times in the back by an officer. We have also seen that disturbing video play out in front of the world.

We have still not heard any kind of explanation as to what is happening with the investigation. We have heard from no law enforcement authorities, talking about where that's going. We have also not heard from them, talking about what has happened in the streets overnight.

The protests, again, blew up overnight with lots of tear gas being sprayed and people going back and forth with police here. We are standing in the square where much of this has gone down, but this happened along a road near a gas station on 63rd, which is just a few blocks from where we are. People traumatized, again, because as we now understand it, there are two people who have been killed in that shooting and there are others who have been injured. John and Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Sara, thank you very much for all of that reporting. Stay safe. We will check back with you through the program.

Joining us now is CNN Law Enforcement Analyst, Charles Ramsey. He is a former Philadelphia Police Commissioner and the former Washington, D.C., Police Chief. Commissioner Ramsey, great to have your expertise with us.

It is mayhem. I mean, the videos show it is mayhem on the streets of Kenosha, because there were peaceful protests, then there was some looting.

[07:05:00]

Now, armed people, vigilantes, as they're called by the sheriff, have showed up to -- I don't know -- protect their own businesses and -- I don't know what they're trying to do, but people have been shot. Two people are dead this morning as a result of all of this.

And you see in this video, Commissioner, police cars in the background. They're trying to show up and quell this. But what do police do when they show up at a scene like this and there are people armed and they don't know who's who, where do they even begin?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, it is a very difficult situation. First of all, the sheriff would be the person that would have a good handle on whether or not these were counterdemonstrators, vigilantes, militia, or what have you. I can tell you now, that's not counterdemonstrators.

Those are people who are there to take the law into their own hands. Anytime you have people show up to a protest armed with firearms, nothing good can happen. And you're starting to see this more and more. And it's very unfortunate and now you've got a tragedy on top of a tragedy.

But when you have a chaotic scene like that and police are responding, probably to a call of shots fired or a person shot, you don't know who's who. You don't know what's going on. And so, yes, it is chaotic.

There is decent video though, of the individual running down the street. Hopefully, that will lead to an identification and an arrest. But they've got to clamp down on this. I know there's a curfew, but they've got to enforce that curfew. They need more police out there. They need National Guard out there. They need to really double whatever the numbers they are right now. They need to double or triple it, because they've got to lock this down.

CAMEROTA: So that shooter, whoever the shooter is responsible for the two deaths, is at large this morning, as far as we know. And as you say, the sheriff has said that they think that they'll get him very soon. I believe they've probably been able to I.D. him from the videotape, but they don't have him yet as far as we know.

But I just want to describe one vignette that the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal, Journal Sentinel, has reported on this morning. And just have you explain how police would deal with this, they say that police showed up at a business, a dry cleaner, and they saw armed men on the roof. And they said, you can't be up there, come down here, and the armed men said, this is our business, we're staying here, no. It's an open carry state, they say it's their business.

What do police do then?

RAMSEY: Very difficult. That's the challenge. I mean, you know, you've got these open carry states, and certainly, I'm in Pennsylvania, and we've had situations with people, you know, openly carrying. And, you know, to just stop and challenge an individual to find out if they've got a permit or whatever, you wind up with lawsuits, you wind up with all kinds of issues. Somehow, we've got to find a way to get the right balance, to support people's Second Amendment rights, but at the same time, to protect the public at large.

Having armed people on a rooftop with probably no training at all, no telling what they might do, I mean, that's just a tragedy waiting to happen. And you saw it unfold in Kenosha last night, with armed individuals showing up, shooting randomly. Now, whether or not the guy running down the street is responsible for the homicides or not, I mean, I don't know. They'll sort all of that out.

But my fear is that demonstrators now will show up armed, feeling that they've got to protect themselves. You've got the vigilantes out there armed. I mean, that's a bad situation, and hopefully it doesn't spread to other cities in America, but we're starting to see this thing more and more.

CAMEROTA: Commissioner Charles Ramsey, we really appreciate you explaining to us what a challenge police there have on their hands. We'll check back with you. Thank you very much.

RAMSEY: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Johhn?

BERMAN: All right. Joining us now is Patrick Salvi Sr. He is one of the attorneys representing Jacob Blake's family. And I know Jacob Blake is in the hospital, as we speak, again, he was shot in the back at least seven times by police. Before we get to his condition, Counselor, I do want to ask you about what the heck happened overnight there.

Again, the sheriff in Milwaukee, sorry, in Kenosha says that people who fashion themselves as belonging to a militia have been patrolling Kenosha's streets in recent nights. He did not know if the shooter was involved with such a group. They're a militia, the sheriff said. They're like a vigilante group. Do you have any idea of what's going on in the streets of Kenosha?

PATRICK SALVI SR., JACOB BLAKE FAMILY ATTORNEY: No, I really don't, John. I think it's very unfortunate. And one thing that's been constant from the family, especially from Jacob's mom, has been a real call for calmness and peaceful protests and absolutely discouraging any sort of violent behavior.

So, from the family's perspective, it's very unfortunate and they continue to discourage any sort of violence, whatsoever.

BERMAN: Can you give us the latest on the condition of Jacob Blake this morning?

SALVI: Yes, I can. He underwent a very long surgical procedure yesterday afternoon and last night.

[07:10:00]

It was primarily a spinal procedure, what's called a decompression of the spine, and stabilization. That involves, first of all, removing any to have the fragments of the spine that are no longer salvageable, and then the placement of hardware, screws, and rods in order to stabilize the spine.

Unfortunately, it's likely that it took place after the spinal cord was severely damaged, the full extent of which we won't know until the neurosurgeons have the ability to see how he progresses in days and weeks and undergoes rehabilitation. But you can imagine being shot at point-blank range, at least seven times, including into the vertebral body and into the spinal cord, it's going to cause severe damage.

And in addition to the other organs in his body, his stomach, his liver, his intestine, just catastrophic injuries, unfortunately, which, you know, you're going to expect when someone shooting you seven to eight times at point-blank range.

BERMAN: It's now, what, three days after the police shooting of Jacob Blake. what have you been told now, we are three days later, by law enforcement about the incident?

SALVI: You know, Kenosha has been very closed-lipped. We have not had the benefit of understanding what is the police officer's version of what happened. They want to find out from the family their version, but we have not been able to determine, you know, what is the explanation for this clearly excessive force. Anyone watching that video cannot understand why in God's name the officer starts shooting at point-blank range at Jacob, no reason whatsoever. So we're going to find out. We're going to find out.

BERMAN: But you haven't been told anything at this point. And, again, we are three days later. If this was not a police officer who shot an individual, how much would you know three days later?

SALVI: I think if it was not police officer, that person would be charged with attempted murder. I don't think there's any question, especially with the benefit of a video camera, which clearly shows the crime being committed. I mean, any fair-minded person taking a look at that video has to conclude that there was no justification for it. And from our standpoint, it appears to be a criminal act.

BERMAN: Yes. There is a second angle that was released yesterday, which we're going to play for people right now, which does show Blake interacting with police officers beforehand. I think we have that video, which we can play for people.

Again, it is chilling. And, remember, there were children in the car there. But did that video illuminate anything to you?

SALVI: You know, I don't think so. I mean, do you see really anything on the video that would, in any way, justify the shooting of Jacob seven times? As he's going towards his car, remember, his three little children are in the car. And there really isn't anything seen or any account of anything that Jacob did that would even come close to justifying the use of deadly force, not only the use of deadly force, but seven shots, you know, completely unacceptable.

And they are going to -- you know, they're going to have to give justice to Jacob and the intent of the legal team is to prosecute that and have Jacob compensated, in addition to the children.

BERMAN: Patrick Salvi, counselor to the family of Jacob Blake, we do appreciate you being with us this morning, and also voicing what the family wants to see in Kenosha, which is peaceful demonstrations and violence.

SALVI: Absolutely.

BERMAN: Thanks for being with us.

SALVI: Thanks John.

CAMEROTA: Okay. John, we have more breaking because Hurricane Laura is rapidly strengthening. It did so overnight. It is now forecast to become a Category 4 hurricane before it hits the Gulf Coast.

CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers has the latest forecast. This isn't what you wanted to see, Chad.

[07:15:00]

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, and this is the real deal here. Now, we're into Cat 2, heading to Cat 4. Storm surges now have almost doubled from where we were a couple of days ago. We're up to 15 feet in some spots. And that 15 feet water could go 30 miles inland all the way to I-10.

Here it is, 110 miles per hour, it has gained strength overnight and it's still doing it now. It is going to make landfall very close to the Texas/Louisiana border. If you're on the right side of that, it's going to be worse. If you're on the right side, a little bit better.

Right now, I don't see it hitting Houston as hard as it hit Lake Charles. But that could still change. We're still about, I would say, 18 hours from any kind of a landfall here. So things could go left or right.

Storms do wobble. They do just kind of make their own momentum and wobble around. But, really, Lake Charles, you're planning on the worst weather you've seen in decades, and maybe Beaumont and Port Arthur, as well, as the storm moves on up towards Shreveport.

We're going to have winds. Everywhere you see this purple has 110 miles per hour or greater, everywhere. And then all of a sudden the power is out, widespread power outages likely for days, likely what we saw with Isaias. And then here, 10 to 15 feet, that's the storm surge. How far does that go inland?

Well, because there's a bayou here. There's a lot of water-ish land here. This is going all the way to I-10, right up through and into Lake Charles. So there will be rainfall, maybe ten inches of rain. And we talk about this word a lot, rapid intensification. We're 35 miles per hour or greater, gain in strength in 24 hours. Well, we've had 45. But what other storms here have had rapid intensification in the gulf? Katrina, Michael, Rita, Charlie. Those are not names you want to associate with Laura, but that's where we are right now. guys?

BERMAN: That is an ominous list, Chad Myers, to be sure. I know you're watching the intensification and the track of this very closely. People need to pay attention. I appreciate it, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

BERMAN: More than half a million people in Texas and Louisiana are under evacuation orders as of this morning. The outer bands of the hurricane could start hitting soon. CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is live in Beaumont, Texas, with the latest from there.

Derek, what do you see?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. John, you and I have covered enough of these storms together to know that we can start a day off with sunshine and end the day with hurricane-strength winds.

And in Beaumont, Texas, in Jefferson County, where mandatory evacuations are underway, residents here are on edge, because they know what hurricanes can do. They remember Harvey, they remember Ike, they remember Rita, but this hurricane is different, because it's set against the backdrop of a global pandemic.

Now, businesses and residents have been preparing. Take a listen to this particular business, who went above and beyond, it's something I've never seen before in hurricane preparations. This is quite amazing. Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KERRY TYLER, BEAUMONT RESIDENT: It's two-tiers of Tiger Dam. We fill all of this with water. And then we obviously anchor it down to the concrete. And the goal is to keep the water on this side of the dam, obviously.

So, we've installed a bunch of these and our work has never been tested. So we hope we keep that record up. We're kind of an insurance policy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAN DAM: In essence, they're using water to block water from coming in, pretty incredible, a Tiger Dam, check it out.

We also heard from the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, yesterday, saying that just because a hurricane is approaching Southeast Texas doesn't mean that COVID-19 has fled the state. Remember, Texas is still a hot spot, even though there have been declining case numbers over the past two weeks. This is, of course, complicating measures, complicating decisions for residents here. Even though they have mandatory evacuations, they're still, in their minds wondering, do I evacuate or do I shelter in place to protect my family from this ongoing pandemic.

Storm surge, heavy rainfall, flash flooding, and, of course, the potential for 130-mile-per-hour winds, all where I'm standing right now, T-minus 18 hours. You know what it will look like by the end of the day. John, back to you.

BERMAN: All right. Derek Van Dam, you and your team, please stay safe. You have a long 24 hours ahead of you, to be sure. Thank you.

VAN DAM: Yes.

BERMAN: So this historic norm-shattering night at the Republican Convention, the president, the first lady, the entire apparatus of the government just destroying the lines between official business and campaigning. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

CAMEROTA: First Lady Melania Trump took the stage on the second night of the RNC, saying something we do not hear much from the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELANIA TRUMP, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to acknowledge the fact that since March, our lives have changed drastically. The invisible enemy, COVID-19, swept across our beautiful country and impacted all of us. My deepest sympathy goes out to everyone who has lost a loved one and my prayers are with those who are ill or suffering.

I know many people are anxious and some feel helpless. I want you to know, you are not alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Just the act of holding these political events at the White House erases a well-established line between campaigning and governing.

Joining us now is former White House Communications Director, Anthony Scaramucci. Anthony, great to have you here. What's been your takeaway from these couple of days so far?

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, I mean, let's just talk about that act. I think, once again, the president is pushing governmental norms and he's showing a careless disregard for the system of government that we put in for the last 244 years.

[07:20:01] I don't like talking about the president's acolytes, but I have to mention Secretary Pompeo for a second. The fact that he's the acting secretary of state and he's beaming in from Jerusalem, he really does no better. He went to West Point and Harvard Law School. And I think that these people have gotten their judgment miscued because of the president's recklessness.

And so I don't know where all of this is going to go, years from now, as people wake up from this. If you study what happened in the McCarthy era, there were people like this that did these things and lived to regret it and ended up like I believe the president will in November, on the ash heap of history.

So this is stuff we shouldn't be doing in our country. The diffusion of power, Alisyn, has made us all more powerful as individuals. And what the president is doing is he's concentrating the power in the White House.

I just want to make one last point. There were U.S. uniformed Marines that opened the doors for the president at a political event. I just want you to stop and think about that. I know there are members of the military that watch your show, active duty military, retired generals. If people don't speak out about this, he's going to continue to do it with greater impunity.

And so this is a very dangerous spot for the United States to be in right now with President Trump at the helm.

BERMAN: Look, he's not pushing the lines or the boundaries, he's obliterating it. There are no more boundaries between campaigning and governance. To see the secretary of state addressing a convention is something we just have not seen before. To see the naturalization ceremony inside the White House, to see the act of pardoning someone before a convention is absolutely obliterating the lines, which is interesting.

And the real question it raises, Anthony, is there nothing the president won't do to get re-elected. John Bolton has told us, he would do anything to get re-elected. I will not, I suppose, he was impeached for asking a foreign government to investigate his opponent. So to an extent, this shouldn't surprise us.

SCARAMUCCI: Yes. Well, I was trying to be nice by saying it the way I said it. You said it better than me. And I think problem with Ambassador Bolton, his book didn't get the play it deserved because of the controversy surrounding John Bolton. But if you read chapter eight of Ambassador Bolton's book, it is literally the orange jumpsuit chapter.

There's rank criminality going on inside the administration orchestrated by President Trump. 45, 50 years ago, when that was happening in the Nixon administration, there were brave patriots that spoke out about it, called it out and seek the removal of the president. We've got a group of people inside this party, the Republican Party, or formerly known as the Republican Party, the Trumpist party, that won't do anything like that, John. So, it will continue to get worse unless we can get a coalition, a beautiful, colorful mosaic of American people to bind together and show up at the polls and obliterate him. If he's going to obliterate our norms, we have to obliterate him at the polls and that's what we're all trying. And the very good news is, he's alienated so many normal Republicans that we have that chance.

The irony here is that Steve Bannon is ultimately going to be right. He said 3 to 5 percent of the Republicans switch sides here and vote for Joe Biden, it is over. And that's what we're working at right now. Look at those suburban polling numbers. The president has absolutely no chance to win if he can't move those numbers or move the numbers in the rural areas.

CAMEROTA: Well, Anthony, let me challenge you, because we just had Matt Lewis, one of our political minds on in the last hour, who said that he thinks that the optics of this convention will actually sway some minds or that it has been effective. I mean, case in point, the naturalization ceremony, right?

So you optically see President Trump smiling, all of these immigrants super happy, who wouldn't be? They're becoming American citizens. But what you don't know, if you haven't been paying attention, is that, you know, he's signed 400 executive orders to impede immigration, to stop asylum-seekers. So, I mean, even legal immigration, he's tried to slow down and impede.

But if you're just watching that moment, don't you think it's effective for the people you're talking about?

SCARAMUCCI: Yes, no. I accept that it's effective, but that's traditional convention campaigning. The stuff will tighten up for sure. I'll take you back to the Carter/Reagan campaign. It looked very tight to the last week. But let's just go over the list pending (ph) against the president. You've got 31 million people unemployed, he's obliterated the economy. You've got 180,000 people dead. And John pointed out last week, it will likely be 250,000 by Election Day.

So, sure, it will tighten up, Alisyn, temporarily, but it's just an overwhelming set of facts when you go to answer that proverbial question that Reagan brought up in 1980, are we better off than we were four years ago, very few people are better off.

END