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Hurricane Laura his Coast as Cat 4, Weakening as It Move Inland; 17-Year-Old Arrested in Fatal Shooting During Kenosha Protests; Tonight, Trump to Accept Nomination, Deliver Address from White House. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired August 27, 2020 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: A very good Thursday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

The breaking news this morning, right now, Hurricane Laura is moving inland after hitting the Gulf Coast as a powerful Category 4 hurricane. It is continuing to weaken as the morning wears on, but it has already made its mark as the most powerful hurricane to hit Louisiana in more than a century.

The state just reporting its first death now, a 14-year-old girl, who was killed when a tree fell on her home. It is early. They are just getting out there to get to some of the more remote areas. The governor says the damage is extensive. You can see some of it here, trees uprooted, homes destroyed.

The lieutenant governor told me in the last hour this will also impact the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Remember, you've got both these things going on at the same time.

President Trump is heading to FEMA later today to be briefed on the emergency response to the storm. CNN's Gary Tuchman is in Lake Charles, Louisiana which saw some of the worst of this.

Gary, tell us what you saw particularly with storm surge and with wind? Those are the two big concerns as the storm came ashore.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Jim. This is the Calcasieu River in the middle of the city. Yesterday, we were doing live reports from here. This was very placid, and the beach went out to where you see the grass. Now, the water is covering the beach.

However, in the last half hour that we've been here, I can tell you the water was here before, so it's already going back in, and that indicates what has happened. There was great concern that this river would flood, which it did, and then it could create a storm surge up to 20 feet here in Lake Charles, population 78,000. We've gone around a bit in the city, we haven't seen any storm surge like that, whatsoever, and that is positive news.

What isn't positive is what you just talked about, the 14-year-old girl who died. That's the first known death. The governor's office told us that happened in Vernon Parrish, which is to the north of us, where the storm wasn't as strong. We're greatly concerned we'll see more casualties.

Search-and-rescue teams are now out of the water. They are out in helicopters. They are out on the roads looking for people who need help. But right now, we do know of that one girl who has been killed.

We can tell you it was a long and crazy and harrowing and frightening night. For part of the night, I was on the 12th floor of the hotel, 120 feet in the air, roughly. And it kind of felt like being in Dorothy Gale's house in the beginning of The Wizard of Oz. You felt like the hotel was just going to fly away.

And I can only think of the people who didn't evacuate. And a lot of people -- people , you know, took this seriously. They weren't walking around, Jim. But a lot of people were scared to evacuate because of COVID-19. We've never had a pandemic in modern history during hurricane season. So a lot of people were scared to leave.

And I'm just thinking these people and these houses in the middle of the night with their children, if I feel that at a hotel that's shaking and making noise like an airplane or like train, what are they going through? It really was a terrifying night for a lot of people and we certainly hope for the best as the police and the National Guard go out looking for potential victims.

SCIUTTO: Let's hope they don't find more. I know they tried to but people in hotels as opposed to shelters, but, apparently, a lot of people stayed home. Gary Tuchman, thanks very much.

All right, let's see what the latest track of storm is. CNN's Chad Myers, he is in the CNN Weather Center. Chad, where is it headed and any more sense of how it affected some of the more remote areas of the coastline?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Sure, and that's the key, because we're looking at all these gauges, and the gauges are in the towns, gauges are not the wildlife refuges. That's where the biggest surge was likely. And it really doesn't matter. We have a nine-foot surge in Cameron Parrish and the houses are basically at sea level. So if the winds and the waves are a foot over your house or ten feet over your house, it doesn't really matter. I mean, the house is destroyed one way or the other.

But biggest story, I think, the wind damage that occurred in Lake Charles. It is significant. The storm did not have any time to slow down from landfall into Lake Charles proper, and the wind damage is catastrophic, if you want to use that word that we were talking about, the surge damage. So this turned into a wind event, not so much a surge event. Now, for the people of Cameron Parrish, where 4,000, 5,000 people live, it was a surge event, it just wasn't what they were thinking about 10 to 12 feet.

[10:05:07]

We're also watching this here. This is New Orleans, big storms here coming off the Gulf of Mexico. Each one, Jim, could spin up a tornado. So there will be hours and hours and hours of that. And then where does it go, you ask, somewhere in Little Rock, probably somewhere around 70 miles per hour and then farther to the east from there.

But there was a large swath of land that had 110-mile-per-hour winds or greater. There was a time in Lake Charles where the wind was gusting over 120 for one solid hour, like being in an EF-2 tornado for 60 minutes, usually they last, what, 45 seconds? This is just hour after hour after hour of damage. Wnd that's why the damage there with the wind damage in Lake Charles is so bad.

SCIUTTO: Yes, must have been a terrifying night for families there.

MYERS: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Chad Myers, thanks very much. We'll bring you updates as we get them from the ground there.

Other major stories we are following this morning, several developments out of Kenosha, Wisconsin, including new details about the 17-year-old boy arrested after shooting two people during a protest there, two are now down. Kyle Rittenhouse, you see him there with his weapon, charged with first-degree intentional homicide. His Facebook page showed an affinity for guns, for the police, for President Trump.

Reports indicate he was part of an armed militia working, they imagined, to protect property. This is a video here that shows him walking down the street with his weapon. The police investigating taken moments just after the shooting to confirm whether that is indeed Rittenhouse and what happens, how did police react when they saw him there. This as CNN learns that Facebook failed to shut down a page that was encouraging citizens, just like Rittenhouse, to take to the streets, even from out of state, to Kenosha.

Also raising concern this morning, comments from Kenosha's police chief seeming to defend the arrival of vigilantes in his town. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF DAN MISKINIS, KENOSHA POLICE DEPARTMENT: Everybody involved was out after the curfew. I'm not going to make a great dole of that, but the point is the curfew is in place to protect. Had persons not been out involved in violation of that, perhaps the situation that unfolded would not have happened.

So the last night, a 17-year-old individual from Antioch, Illinois, was involved in the use of firearms to reserve -- to -- excuse me, to resolve whatever conflict was in place. The result of it was two people are dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: To resolve whatever conflict in place, that 17 yearly, more on that in just a moment.

But, first, there were also new developments in the police shooting of Jacob Blake, which got this started on Sunday. Investigators are now releasing a rough timeline what have they say happened in the moments just before Blake, who you see there with his children, was shot eight times, his attorney says, they believe in the back.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is in Kenosha. He is following all the details. So, Shimon, what details are police releasing with this timeline here as well as talking about a knife in the car? Tell us what picture they are painting here now.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are painting still a picture as if they don't really know all the facts and everything that occurred here. They are painting a picture where they are still trying to gather information.

\Ultimately, it is up to the district attorney here on whether they are going to file charges against this officer who has been identified as Rusten Sheskey. That was one of the things that authorities here revealed, that was the new information. They also revealed that there was a knife, that there was this knife in the car.

What's not clear, Jim, is whether this knife was used in any threatening way. That is the big question. Just because there was a knife in the car does not mean that Mr. Blake was trying to grab it, was trying to use it in any kind of threatening way. We just don't know the answer to those questions.

We know that authorities, the investigators have talked to Mr. Blake. He admitted that had he had this knife in the vehicle so that is something that they know. We don't know if they've interviewed the officer who shot him. They would not reveal that information.

The other thing that's new here is that the Department of Justice, the FBI here have opened an investigation, a civil rights investigation that's going to work in conjunction with the local investigation.

But there's still are a lot of unanswered the questions. Few answers that have been given don't really explain why the officer shot Mr. Blake the way he did several times in the back, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Okay. So we have what followed. The shooting apparently, that's what he's charged with, the 17-year-old, he's now in custody. What do we know about why he was there, how local authorities are responding, but also is the Justice Department investigating the arrival of these armed militias?

[10:10:01] PROKUPECZ: Yes. That, we don't know. We don't know if the Justice Department is investigating the militia, right? We know they were on Facebook. As Facebook has admitted, they were promoting, they were encouraging people to come here with weapons to protect property, property that didn't even belong to them. But they were here. They were on the street. Police really couldn't do anything about it. It's an open carry state. They can walk around with their weapons as they please.

So, really, for investigators, they need to figure out, you know, was he encouraged in any way by this group? Did they somehow come across them on Facebook? We don't know even that. And therefore, that's why he came. Did he come here on his own or was this group somehow -- did they force him to come here? Did they encourage him to come here?

The other thing, Jim, is the weapon, right? He's 17 years old. It's unclear how he got that long gun. That is something that investigators want to know. Right now, he's in custody in Antioch, in Illinois. He's going to appear in court on Friday there where they're going to have an extradition hearing. Eventually, he will be brought here where he's going to face charges as an adult for intentional murder. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Listen, it's not the first time we've seen armed people attempt to take the law in their own hands. Shimon Prokupecz, we know you'll stay on top of it. Thanks very much.

With me now is Charles Ramsey, he's a CNN Law Enforcement. He's also a former police chief in Philadelphia but also here in D.C. Chief Ramsey, good to have you on here. There's a lot to talk about. It's good to have your experience.

First, let's talk about, if you can, what new information police have released about the circumstances around Blake's shooting. They say, one, that they had attempted to tase him early on. That didn't work. Now, they say they believe there was a knife in the car. His attorneys say, witnesses say he never threatened the police with a knife and his attorney denied to me that there was any weapon. But that new information that you've learned, coupled with what you've seen in the video, does that change at all, your view, of the use of deadly force by police here?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, first of all --

SCIUTTO: Well, not deadly but grave force?

RAMSEY: The use of the taser, which is less lethal, makes sense during a struggle for them to have used that, so that's not problematic. As far as having a knife in the car, if, in fact, he did have a knife, and let's just say he did have a knife, unless he had the knife in his hand and was threatening the officers and they were in immediate danger of bodily harm, then the use of deadly force would not be justified.

So why he fired at the time he fired, I don't know. When you look at that video, the door of the car actually obstructs the view so I don't know whether or not he was able to get his hands on a knife or what kind of a knife. I mean, is it a pocket knife? Is it a butcher knife? What is it? I don't know. And so until we get more information, the use of deadly force in this case seems to be very questionable in my mind.

But I would like to add one thing. I'm very glad they took that young man into custody that committed those two homicides in Kenosha. It's important that that be resolved very quickly.

SCIUTTO: I want to ask your reaction to the Kenosha Police chief's comments on that because, yes, they have taken Rittenhouse into custody here, charged him, I should note, with intentional homicide, but the -- the police chief described Rittenhouse as trying to resolve some sort of conflict there.

We have video, which I believe, we could show now, of other members of the police force welcoming the arrival of these armed, untrained vigilantes, giving them water, et cetera. Should a police chief ever defend or welcome vigilantes? I mean, in this case even from out of state under any circumstances?

RAMSEY: Well, I don't know if he was actually welcoming. I certainly wouldn't. Let me put it that way. And it's unfortunate that you show police officers actually doing the same. That's just the opposite of what I would want to see, armed people. I mean, who needs a 17-year- old with a long rifle who calls himself patrolling and protecting anything? I mean, come on. At what point in time do we have common sense or any sense at all for that matter to think that this is a good thing? It's not a good thing.

People have a legal right to protest. They don't have a right to burn buildings and all that sort of thing. But protesting is a constitutional right. I mean, that hasn't changed. And sometimes it's difficult to handle and control these things, but the last thing you need are untrained people showing up heavily armed. Nothing good can possibly come from it. They are protecting properties. It's not even their property. This kid is from Illinois. I mean, come one, no excuse for murder at all.

SCIUTTO: It's an amazing thing to witness in this country. Charles Ramsey, great to have you on.

RAMSEY: It's crazy, it's crazy.

[10:15:02]

SCIUTTO: Yes, and it's not the first time we've seen it. It is not the first time that we've seen it.

RAMSEY: No, you're going to see it again. If we don't get a handle on it, you're going see it again. When you've get armed people going to state capitals and you see this sort of thing, and it's being even like touted by some members of the media even that say somehow that's okay. I mean, this situation is going to get worse.

And then if you have armed people on the side of the demonstrators versus people that are either counterdemonstrators or vigilantes, believe me, it's a bad situation.

SCIUTTO: It's a recipe for the wild west. Charles Ramsey, let's hope we don't get there. It's good to have you on. We appreciate your wise words.

All right, other major news we're following this morning, and, goodness, it just keeps coming, but what was it like to ride out hurricane Laura from home? Lots of families did. I'm going to speak with one Lake Charles, Louisiana man who hid under two mattresses.

And right now, final preparations are under way at the White House as the president plans to use the people's house as the backdrop to accept his party's nomination despite some criticism from Republicans a couple weeks ago. It's going to happen. We'll bring you more.

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[10:20:00]

SCIUTTO: Right now, we are getting a look at some of the damage caused by Hurricane Laura after it made landfall tomorrow night as a powerful Category 4 storm. Officials urged people to evacuate as forecasters warned the storm surge would be unsurvivable.

My next guest though did not evacuate. He said took cover under a makeshift barricade made out of mattresses. Tolor White Jr. joins me now from the phone from Lake Charles. And good morning. We're glad you're safe this morning. Tell us what you witnessed last night as the storm pass the over you.

TOLOR WHITE JR., RODE OUT HURRICANE LAURA AT HOME IN LAKE CHARLES, LOUISIANA: Good morning, sir. Again, as I -- you know, I told a couple of people, I really didn't witness much. Again, you know, I'm a pest control worker, as I explained, and that's why I didn't take the mandatory evacuation. You know, once this thing blows over, as I said, every time there's any type of major weather event down here, as soon as it's over within a couple of hours, a couple of days, we're going to start getting mosquitoes and the rodents and the snakes and everything else. So I basically stayed because I knew my services were going to be needed.

So, basically, all I did was I just went on and I barricaded myself. You know, made my little barricade and I had it in my strong room. And at that point I just sat down and started cross a crossword puzzle and I dozed off. And I guess about 0115, I heard a big bang which woke me up and I decided to go out and see what it is and the roof was gone.

And so I'm taking a look at many so of the damage that's out here now, but it's nothing that's insurmountable.

SCIUTTO: Goodness, gracious. Well, I'm glad you have a strong room in there.

What does the neighborhood around you look like? Other homes destroyed? What do you see when you look out your front door? WHITE: Well, there's one subdivision here, Canal Place, they are looking extremely well. Again, they have got some pretty strong construction out there. So I don't see any -- with the exception of some shingles and things like that, they are missing.

There are a lot of trees that are down, and you can see on each -- there's a creek on each side of us. You can see the waters beginning to ride so the surge is beginning to move in from the gulf.

SCIUTTO: Got you. I know that in your case, you have a job to do there, and that's why you stayed in your home. Did you find that your neighbors and friends were reluctant to leave because they were worried about the pandemic, going to shelters, for instance?

WHITE: No. The only people that I found that, you know, that -- like in this condo, I think I've come across like maybe six people. And they either didn't want to evacuate because, you know, like -- some of them are like me, you know. They rode Rita out and there wasn't a big problem. This was a lot worse than Rita. But they either didn't evacuate or they didn't have the capacity to evacuate.

I've already checked on a couple of those elderly folks and they are okay. As a matter of fact, they had a law enforcement office came in and he's already evacuated them out.

SCIUTTO: Right. Well, listen, Tolor, I'm glad you're safe. I know you've got a lot of work to do now. We wish you the best of luck. We wish you and your neighbors the best of luck.

WHITE: Well, thank you, sir.

SCIUTTO: All right. Well, history tonight at White House, President Trump will deliver his RNC acceptance speech from the south lawn of the White House. Should the White House be used as a political prop? Republicans express some concern early on. I'm going to speak to the Trump campaign, next.

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[10:25:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

Tonight, President Trump will accept the Republican nomination and make his case for a second term. He will do so from the White House lawn, marking the first time a sitting president has accepted a nomination from the White House since FDR did so via radio some 80 years ago.

I'm joined by Tim Murtaugh, he's communications director for the Trump campaign. Tim, thanks for taking time this morning.

TIM MURTAUGH, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, DONALD TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN: Sure thing, Jim. Good to see you.

SCIUTTO: So, first, you're aware of events in Kenosha. Will the president directly address the shooting of Jacob Blake in his comments tonight?

MURTAUGH: I think he will. He'll talk about what happened in Wisconsin and I think he'll broaden it and talk with what we've seen in cities and states all around the country over the last couple of months. And the president understands that people absolutely have the right to protest and he's also very concerned about fair and safe communities and safe policing, which is why he's taking the action he has.

But he does not think that it is appropriate for cities across the country to erupt into violence, as we've seen.

[10:30:00]

And I think you've seen the president take appropriate steps today. I know you're reporting that the DOJ is conducting a civil rights investigation. And the president spoke to the governor of Wisconsin yesterday.

END