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New Day

No Police Officers Charged with Murder and Killing of Breonna Taylor; CDC: One in Five Cases of Coronavirus Infections this Summer were Young Adults in Their 20s. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 24, 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]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL CAMERON, KENTUCKY ATTORNEY GENERAL: According to Kentucky law, the use of force by Mattingly and Cosgrove was justified to protect themselves. This justification bars us from pursuing criminal charges in Miss Breonna Taylor's death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That's Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron after a grand jury's decision not to charge any of the police officers with killing Breonna Taylor. Joining us now is Benjamin Crump; he is the attorney for Breonna Taylor's family. Mr. Crump, thank you very much for being here with us. We have so many questions for you, and I know that her family does as well. What -- how are they processing the news of yesterday?

BENJAMIN CRUMP, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Alisyn, they are devastated, they are outraged, and most of all, they are heartbroken because like me and my co-counselors, attorney Anita Baker and Sam Aguilar, they are wondering if the Kentucky Attorney General David Cameron present any evidence on behalf of Breonna Taylor? And if so, what?

To yield a result like -- an endangerment charge on her white neighbor's apartment, but not a charge for the six bullets that went into her daughter? And he talked about transparency yesterday, Alisyn, the family is demanding that David Cameron release the transcript of the grand jury proceedings so the family and the community can see if there was any evidence presented on behalf of Breonna Taylor or if her life didn't even matter in those proceedings.

CAMEROTA: And is that customary? Can he do that? Is that what state attorneys do in terms of releasing the grand jury transcripts?

[07:35:00]

CRUMP: It is not customary, but they did it in Ferguson in the aftermath of the killing of Michael Brown Jr., and it showed transparency, because right now it appears to many people that this was a sham proceeding that there was an attempt to exonerate these officers more so than to hold them accountable, to let the evidence and the witnesses against them be presented in a court of law, so Breonna Taylor could have her due process.

CAMEROTA: Did Mr. Cameron call Breonna Taylor's family well in advance of that announcement? And did he fully disclose to them all of the nuances of what these charges were going to look like?

CRUMP: He talked to them about ten minutes before everybody in the world found out the decision. So it was a ten-minute, you know, notice, given to them, and it was just shocking to her family and as Attorney Baker and I discussed, no, they did not get into the nuances.

CAMEROTA: So, meaning, did her family understand if the charges against this one officer were not in connection to Breonna Taylor?

CRUMP: No, that was not explained to them. And you know, we had to inform them of that. And it just further -- the outrage, Alisyn, and the fact that Daniel Cameron did not apparently present at all any evidence about why the police were there, even in the first place, executing this dangerous, unconstitutional. We feel, unjustifiable, no-knock warrant that was based on a lie.

The fact that they didn't even tell the grand jury that the subject, the main subject of the search warrant was already in their custody. So, what did they present to that grand jury? That is the question everybody is asking. They talked a lot about this. One neighbor who they claimed said he heard the police knock and announce themselves. Well, Attorney Aguilar and Attorney Baker and I, we have 12 neighbors who say they didn't hear anything.

CAMEROTA: And did the grand jury not hear from them? Did the grand jury not hear from all of those people?

CRUMP: Apparently not! Apparently, they didn't hear from any of them! And the fact that this one neighbor who the police keep referencing, he gave two previous statements where he said, he did not hear the police knock and announce. So it's -- these facts that Daniel Cameron gets to choose what he is going to present to the grand jury and what he is not. And remember, the grand jury are lay people, just regular citizens. There's only one legal perspective.

One law team in that room. And whatever they want the grand jury to do, it has been shown time and time again, Alisyn, that is what the grand jury will do. If they want an indictment, they will get an indictment. If they want to exonerate these police officers, as they so often do in America when they kill black people, they exonerate them. And we just cannot have these two justice systems in America. One for black America and another for white America.

CAMEROTA: And Mr. Crump, I mean, we're out of time unfortunately, but what's next? What's going to happen next in this case?

CRUMP: Well, the FBI is investigating. The entire execution of this no-knock warrant and all the officers involved to see if there was civil rights violations that occurred against Breonna Taylor. And I'll just say this, Alisyn, not just for black people, but if you

are a parent of a daughter, if you're a parent of a child, you can't sleep peacefully, knowing that Tameka Palmer's daughter, Breonna Taylor was executed in her own apartment, and our legal system is trying to tell us it was justified and it is OK. Well, it is not OK. Black women's lives matter and Breonna Taylor's life matters.

CAMEROTA: Benjamin Crump, thank you very much for being on NEW DAY, we obviously will continue to follow every aspect of this story.

CRUMP: Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: A new report from the CDC completely debunks a common misconception about coronavirus. We'll tell you what it is, next.

[07:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Right. Developing this morning, President Trump issuing a direct threat to one of the cornerstones of our democracy. He is refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you commit to making sure that there is a peaceful transfer of power after the election?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, we're going to have to see what happens. You know that. I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster. And --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I understand that, but people are rioting. Do you commit to making sure --

TRUMP: Oh, I know, I know, you know, we want --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That there's a peaceful transfer of power?

TRUMP: We want to have -- get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very trans -- we'll have a very peaceful -- there won't be a transfer, frankly. There'll be a continuation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Twice, refused to commit to the peaceful transfer of power. Joining me now, independent Senator Angus King of Maine. Senator King, your response?

[07:45:00]

SEN. ANGUS KING (I-ME): Well, John, you said earlier, the peaceful transfer of power is really at the essence of who we are as a country. It's -- I remember my first political science class in college, the professor said, what differentiates us from virtually all other countries throughout history is the peaceful transfer of power. And for him to say what he did last night is -- chilling is too mild a word.

And when you particularly couple that with "The Atlantic" article, which you also mentioned earlier, that has them talking about strategies for bypassing the voters in states with Republican legislatures like Pennsylvania. We've never experienced anything like this. In 1960 and in 2000, the two candidates that lost, Nixon and Gore, conceded when they still had opportunities to fight about the results because they said, this would be bad for the country.

And this president, that's the farthest thing from his mind. Apparently holding on to power is the only thing. And here's the other thing, John. We've got to -- the American people have to understand that what we hear about election results on election night is the halftime score. This year, it's very unlikely because of the huge number of absentee and mail-in ballots, we're not going to have a final -- a final count.

And the president is already setting up a situation where he's saying, if that happens, it's rigged! That's nonsense. In Maine, we often have elections where one candidate is leading in the early return areas and then the small towns come in and it flips. And you don't know that until the next morning -- when I was elected governor, I didn't know until 11:00 or 12:00 the next day. So this is really incredibly dangerous stuff and implicit, John, is an invitation to violence.

BERMAN: That's what I mean. If you are refusing to commit to the peaceful transfer, it is an implicit threat of violence. And you know, there will be. We've only heard from two Republicans so far this morning, as far as I can tell. Mitt Romney and Steve Stivers, congressman from Ohio who have come out and said, this is ridiculous, the peaceful transfer of power is what we're about. But I anticipate people saying, oh, the president doesn't mean it, what he meant was this. What's your response to that type of claim?

KING: Well, this is -- this is just one dot in a whole series of dots. He's been trying to delegitimize this election for a year. In fact, it goes back to 2016 when he said at his rallies, if I don't win, it's rigged. Of all the things he's done that I disagree with, John.

This is the worst. Because our system is based upon trust. It's based upon confidence that when the elections occur, OK, there may be a recount, but ultimately, you have a winner and a loser and life goes on. He's challenging that basic premise and the problem is, he's already talking about sending 50,000 people out to polling places. The thinly veiled suggestion there is to intimidate people in terms of their ability to vote. So this is -- we're at DEF CON 4 here on --

BERMAN: Right --

KING: In terms of the risk to our peaceful transfer of power, to our entire democratic system. This is -- this is really bad stuff.

BERMAN: The nuclear operations managers that I know will tell you, the DEF CONs actually get more serious as they get lower, not higher. So we may be closer to DEF CON 2 than DEF CON 4 at this point, but I --

KING: No, I was being generous. I was being generous.

BERMAN: I get your point, Senator King. And to -- you wrote an op-ed in "Time Magazine" on your point about what we as Americans need to anticipate on election night, and I think this is really important, it's something I've been trying to stress on our air for weeks now. You write, quote, "we need to understand that lack of closure on election night and potentially for days afterwards will mean that things are working, working as they --

KING: Right --

BERMAN: Should, to ensure that every vote is counted. Why is it so important to send this message?

KING: Well, because I think we're all conditioned to, you know, finding out who is going to win on -- by -- you know, about midnight on election night. That's -- you know, you get up in the morning, you have breakfast, you vote and then you tune in and 11:00 or 12:00 at night, you know who won. That's not going to be true this year.

It's very unlikely that they're going -- and there's going to be -- and here's the other -- here's the other thing, John. It now looks like from polling, that more of Donald Trump's supporters are going to vote in person, and more of Joe Biden's voters are going to vote by mail or absentee. So, the result is going to be the early numbers may well favor Donald Trump.

And he's going to say, look, I won, and now they're stealing it from me. Do you see? He's setting this up. And remember, this is a guy who has a hold over his followers like we've never seen in this country.

BERMAN: Do you want -- do you want Democrats --

KING: And if he says, don't wear a mask, they don't wear masks. And if he says, don't accept the results, they're not going to accept the results.

BERMAN: Do you want to send a message to Joe Biden voters, and maybe they should think about voting in person instead of the mail? That's been something that you've heard whispered or even said out loud the last couple of days.

[07:50:00]

KING: Sure. I mean, I think if you can and if you feel safe and if your town has the proper set up for voting, I think that's the preferable way, because if in fact that the polls are right and that Donald Trump is ahead at midnight and then gets swamp by the mail-in votes, that's going to give him the opportunity to claim-- to claim fraud. There's one really simple solution to this, John, you know what it is?

BERMAN: No, I'm waiting to hear.

KING: An overwhelming landslide.

BERMAN: I understand that --

KING: Then --

BERMAN: I understand that, but again --

KING: A lot of this goes away --

BERMAN: I have heard from Democratic lawyers that this is a -- that's a tough message to send because you're basically saying Joe Biden should be graded on a curve. And unless he wins in a landslide, then somehow the results of the election are in a question. Donald Trump could win by one vote, and that's OK, but Joe Biden needs to win in a landslide.

KING: Well, yes, listen, I totally agree, but he set this up. He said if I lose and particularly if I lose -- remember, he's talking about in that awful press conference last night, we've got to get rid of the ballots. Whoever heard of a president of the United States saying, you know, we don't want to count those ballots. And then he said we'll have a continuation.

That's really scary stuff. And I think the American people -- you have to take him at his word. This man, when he talks, it's what's in his head. He's not -- this wasn't something that was scripted. He's telling you what's in his head. And that's what makes this so chilling.

BERMAN: Senator Angus King of Maine, a pleasure as always to have you on, thank you so much.

KING: Yes sir, John.

BERMAN: We have new information from the CDC this morning on the effects of coronavirus on younger Americans. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:55:00]

CAMEROTA: A new report from the CDC finds that 1 in 5 new cases of coronavirus this Summer were people in their 20s, and some of them get very sick. But the idea that the virus only impacts older people is still a common misconception. CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the last nine months, the world has slowly been learning about a disease that didn't even exist a year ago. But there are still a lot of misconceptions about COVID-19.

TRUMP: Now, we know it. It affects elderly people, elderly people with heart problems.

GUPTA: Misconception number one, only older people are affected by this virus. The fact is, everyone's been impacted in some way by the virus, while older people are much more likely to die if they're infected, younger people are by no means immune. There have been over 840 COVID-19 related deaths in young people under the age of 30. At least 850 children, 17 and younger, have been hospitalized like 12- year-old Juliet Daly.

JULIET DALY, TWELVE-YEAR-OLD INFECTED WITH COVID-19: It felt like my legs were probably weak and I was pretty tired.

SEAN DALY, HAD COVID-19: She still have blue lips.

GUPTA: With younger people like Juliet, it could mean that their immune systems reacted too strongly, putting this cascade of information, aside the kind of a storm. In kids, this condition is known as multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children or MISC.

(on camera): In older people, it could be that their immune systems are too weak. Whether you're young or old, survivors also have something else to worry about. Their symptoms may linger and persist much longer than we first realize. In fact, those patients even have a name now. They are called the "long haulers".

(voice-over): Misconception number two, masks don't offer any protection against the coronavirus. You may have seen an image like this in your social media feed. But the truth is, once we learned that people could spread the virus, even if they had no symptoms, masks became a must.

Some studies have found that masks can reduce the amount of droplets that you breathe out by up to 90 percent. Take a close look at this video. This is without a mask. Now, with a mask, you can see how many fewer droplets are being expelled. And a surgical mask has something else, electro-statically charged fibers that can grab viral particles, kind of like a blanket, will grab your socks in the dryer.

Misconception number three. You can only catch COVID-19 if you've been in close contact with someone who actually has symptoms.

(on camera): You remember that choir in Washington state, out of 61 members, there was only one symptomatic person. After two and a half hours of singing, 87 percent of the participants became infected.

(voice-over): It was early evidence that the virus could spread not just through touch or through respiratory droplets, but through something known as aerosols, think of those as suspended viral particles lingering in the air for a while and also traveling much farther than 6 feet. Misconception number four. Everyone will be able to get a vaccine this Winter.

MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF ADVISER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: We'd have a few million in November and maybe 10 million, 20 million of each in December, that will be enough to vaccinate certain populations. GUPTA: Truth is, while everyone is hopeful, we're still not even sure

if the vaccine is going to work. And no one has yet seen all of the data. If a vaccine is authorized for emergency use, first people to get it are likely going to be healthcare workers and particularly vulnerable individuals. But for the rest of the general public, it's looking more like the middle of 2021.

There's still a lot we need to learn. But we need to stay focused on what science tells us can help us overcome this now. I'm as excited as anyone about the prospects of a vaccine. But in the meantime, there are simple and very effective things we can do ourselves to change the trajectory of this pandemic. Wash our hands, avoid large gatherings, wear a mask.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: One other thing that often comes up, Alisyn, is how many people have actually died of this disease this year. And you know, one thing that public health officials do is they look at something known as excess deaths. It's sort of a morbid thing to think about. But how many more? How many excess people died this year as compared to last year, the years previous? And Alisyn, it's right around 200,000 people excess deaths this year, and the biggest change as you know is COVID- 19.

CAMEROTA: Yes, and in fact, it's a little bit more than 200,000, Sanjay --

GUPTA: That's right --

CAMEROTA: And so, it means we might have been undercounting the deaths from COVID-19. And we'll talk more about --

GUPTA: That's right --

CAMEROTA: All of this Sanjay, thank you very much for that report.

GUPTA: Again, thank you.

CAMEROTA: NEW DAY continues right now.

BERMAN: To all our viewers in the United States and all around the world, this is NEW DAY. And this morning, the refusal to commit to peace in and of itself and it puts a threat of violence. My microphone is not on --

CAMEROTA: Oh, OK, I will read this. The president of the United States just refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. That of course is a bedrock of our democracy.