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4 Dead, Including Child, in Mass Shooting in California Office Complex; Derek Chauvin Trial Resumes after Emotional Testimony; Biden Unveils $2 Trillion Infrastructure Plan. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 01, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New video dominated testimony Wednesday, including this police body camera footage showing the initial moments of George Floyd's arrest.

[05:59:35]

CHRISTOPHER MARTIN, CUP FOODS CASHIER: That's why I would have just not taken the bill, this could have been avoided.

CHARLES MCMILLIAN, EYEWITNESS TO GEORGE FLOYD'S DEATH I just can't understand it (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: New cases are climbing. The national daily average up a quarter in the last week.

DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE (voice-over): By the fall, I think there's a good possibility we'll be vaccinating teenagers 12 and up.

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: We are so close, so very close to getting back to the everyday activities, but we're not quite there yet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Thursday, April 1, 6 a.m. here in New York. John Avlon is with me. Great to have you.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST/ANCHOR: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: We begin with breaking news: another mass shooting. Four people, including a child, have been killed in an office complex in Southern California. Another victim is in critical condition.

Police say the suspected gunman is in custody and injured. The motive is not known at this hour, but the epidemic of gun violence in America has claimed at least two dozen lives in just the last two weeks. So we will go live to the scene with what we know.

AVLON: And America is gripped by the Derek Chauvin murder trial. Today we'll hear from more witnesses for the prosecution after heart- wrenching testimony and never-before-seen video of George Floyd's deadly encounter with the police.

Jurors hearing Chauvin's voice and his reaction after George Floyd was taken away from the scene in an ambulance. One eyewitness breaking down on the stand after seeing Floyd's pleas for help.

Much more on the trial in a moment, but we begin with CNN's Kyung Lah, live in Orange, California, on America's latest mass shooting -- Kyung.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, John.

This is where investigators are still here. This is an office park that I'm standing in front of where the shooting took place. There are about six businesses that we can see listed here. And investigators are trying to figure out exactly why all of this happened. At this point they don't have a motive.

Here is what we do know. That there are apartments and homes all around this area. Right around dinnertime, people here say that they heard a round of gunfire, an exchange of gunfire of some sort.

Then, shortly after that, police sirens. And then, when officers arrived, more gunfire.

We now know that second round of gunfire were officers shooting and exchanging gunfire with the suspect. The suspect was wounded and taken to the hospital.

But officers here say that the end result, four people have been murdered, four innocent people. Among them, a child. We don't know if it was a boy or a girl and the age of this victim.

There was one gun involved.

And John, just offering a little perspective on the state of gun violence in America, this is in the -- you know, since the Atlanta spa shootings, this is the 20th mass shooting, the 20th shooting where four or more innocent people have been killed, and that's just in two weeks -- John.

AVLON: Thank you so much. We'll be getting more information as that comes in.

Meanwhile, the Derek Chauvin murder trial resumes in just a few hours after more emotional testimony. For the first time, jurors saw body cam video of George Floyd's deadly encounter with the police, and they heard Chauvin's reaction after Floyd was taken away in an ambulance.

CNN's Josh Campbell live at the courthouse in Minneapolis with more.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you. Good morning to you, John.

Jurors continued to see new evidence in the murder trial of former office Derek Chauvin. It was an emotional day in court yesterday as witnesses to the final moments of George Floyd's life recounted and relived that experience.

One thing is clear: each new piece of evidence that's been introduced is taking its toll on those called to testify.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMPBELL (voice-over): More emotional testimony in the Derek Chauvin trial Wednesday from eyewitnesses were just feet away from the final moments of George Floyd's life, like 61-year-old Charles McMillian, who took the stand and broke down in tears as the prosecution played this body cam video.

GEORGE FLOYD, DIED IN POLICE CUSTODY: Mama, mama.

MCMILLIAN: I felt helpless. I don't have it in me (ph) to understand him.

CAMPBELL: McMillian, who frequently walks in that Minneapolis neighborhood, happened upon the scene and testified he saw officers arresting Floyd. He is heard urging Floyd to cooperate with police as they tried to get him in a squad car.

MCMILLIAN: Let them get in (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So were you trying to just help him to --

MCMILLIAN: Make the situation easy.

CAMPBELL: On Wednesday, the jury was presented body cam footage from all four officers. Much of it had never before been made public. The prosecution presented nearly every moment of interaction between the four officers and Floyd from several angles, including the initial moment when two officers approached Floyd while he was inside his car

Officer Lane draws a gun at Floyd.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) hands up right now.

CAMPBELL: Officers then remove him from his vehicle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step out of the vehicle.

FLOYD: Please don't shoot me, Mr. Officer. Please, don't shoot me, man.

CAMPBELL: Floyd is cuffed and walked to the police car.

FLOYD: I'm just (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

CAMPBELL: Chauvin's body cam footage shows his first interaction with Floyd before his body camera falls to the ground. A struggle ensues between Floyd and the officers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

FLOYD: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

[06:05:10]

CAMPBELL: Chauvin, the man wearing black gloves, places his hands around Floyd's neck as another officer tries to restrain him. You hear Chauvin's voice for the first time.

DEREK CHAUVIN, FORMER MINNEAPOLIS POLICE OFFICER: I can't control this guy, because he's a sizable guy. Looks like -- looks like he's probably on something.

CAMPBELL: It takes several minutes before you hear an officer raise concerns.

THOMAS LANE, FORMER MINNEAPOLIS POLICE OFFICER: Roll him on his side? I'm just worried about the excited delirium or whatever.

CAMPBELL: The jury also saw surveillance video from inside the Cup Foods showing George Floyd shortly before he was detained. Floyd was suspected of paying for cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill.

MARTIN: When I saw the bill, I noticed that it had a blue pigment sort of, kind of how a $100 bill had, and I found that odd, so I assumed that it was fake.

CAMPBELL: The cashier, 19-year-old Christopher Martin, told his manager his suspicions, and they tried unsuccessfully to bring Floyd back into the store. When that failed, one of his coworkers called the police.

Martin testified he feels guilty about what happened that day, a common theme felt by many of the eyewitnesses this week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why guilt?

MARTIN: If I would have just not taken the bill, this could have been avoided.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMPBELL: And again, that has been the theme we've heard from so many of these witnesses, expressing their regret, expressing their remorse, wishing this could have turned out differently.

It's still unclear whether or not we will actually be hearing from former officer Derek Chauvin, whether he will be testifying in his own defense, whether he will be expressing any regrets of his own.

The trial continues later on today. There will be more witnesses here as the wheels of justice continue to turn here in Minneapolis -- Alisyn. CAMEROTA: Josh, I was so struck by that, too, just the -- the circles

of regret. I mean, the ripple effect of regret of everybody who witnessed it that day, from a 9-year-old to a 61-year-old witness just thinking, What could I have done differently? I should have done something differently. I mean, it's just incredible, the consistency with that.

Thank you very much for all of the reporting. We'll check back with you.

Joining us now, CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers. He is an attorney. Also with us, CNN law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey. He's the former Philadelphia police commissioner and former D.C. police chief. Gentlemen, thank you very much for being here.

Commissioner, what struck you from the trial yesterday?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, there was an awful lot that struck me. The first thing, though, was showing the video of Floyd in the store.

For most people, myself included, the first time I saw George Floyd was when he was face down on the pavement with Chauvin's knee in his neck. This gave you a glimpse prior to any of that taking place.

What was his behavior? Was he being aggressive in the store? Did he -- you know, you got a chance to see George Floyd as a -- as a real person, not just a person being arrested at the time. And I thought that that was something that was pretty important.

The other part that was really important, in my opinion, was actually showing the point at which he was actually handcuffed. When he was taken into custody and soon after he got out of the car, he was handcuffed. That's important, because when you're talking about use of force, if you're using force against a subject that's already been handcuffed, then you know, there has to be a higher level of justification for that than it would be if you have an individual who is actively struggling, arms flailing and so forth.

That doesn't mean a handcuffed person can't resist. They can. They can kick. They can spit. They can do all kinds of things. But your justification has to be higher.

And so now we're starting to get, you know, kind of like a real timeline put in place in terms of what took place when, and I think that's important.

AVLON: Bakari, one of the big questions for the defense, of course, is whether they will put Derek Chauvin on the stand. But yesterday for the first time, we heard something close to a rationalization for these unbelievable actions on Derek Chauvin's part, through his body cam. I want to play him responding to a complaint from Mr. McMillian.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCMILLIAN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

CHAUVIN: That's one person's opinion.

(CROSSTALK)

CHAUVIN: We've got to control this -- we've got to control this guy, because he's a sizable guy. It looks like -- it looks like he's probably on something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: So there we see him in close to real time rationalizing nine minutes and 29 seconds with his knee on George Floyd's neck, saying that he's a sizable guy and might be on something.

My question to you is that, given that one of the principles of policing is that, when the resistance stops, the force stops, how does that fear of a man who's prone, not showing a pulse arguably at that point, do anything resembling justifying the use of force from Derek Chauvin?

[06:10:07]

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, to me, you, and Alisyn, and probably Chief Ramsey, the answer would be it doesn't. However, you know, they're making that argument for the 12 jurors in the box and the two alternates.

And to hear him say that in real time at the moment actually goes to bolster the defense's case.

Look, I don't know if they're going to put him on the stand. Usually, these are decisions that are made at the last moments. They're made after the prosecution puts their case up. You don't put somebody on the stand who has a criminal record, or you know, in this case, you don't put somebody on the stand who, in normal circumstances, has that type of -- of pattern and practice, who has all of these complaints against him because they can be used on him again in cross- examination.

However, I don't see how this defense gets around not putting him on the stand, because even those words that you heard, jurors are going to want to know, what exactly you were thinking.

And they're going to have that question, that same question that you asked. So OK, you've got him under control now. You have to feel he has no pulse, he's not moving. People are telling you that. But you kept your knee on his neck. Explain that action to me. That is the question the jurors are going to have. That's one that I'm not sure Derek Chauvin has. That's one where the charge of murder also lies, as well.

Let me also point out one thing that jumped out to me yesterday, and I'd love to hear Chief Ramsey chime in on this. But the lack of de- escalation by this -- by these police was -- was astounding, was astonishing. From the moment they walked up to the car with the gun out, there was at no point in time an opportunity to give Mr. Floyd some commands, try to get him to calm down without ratcheting that situation up. And I think it was -- it was doomed from the beginning.

CAMEROTA: Well, I'm interested in that, too, Bakari. Because from the minute they walked in with that gun through the window, he, George Floyd, clearly, there's some sort of, like, flight-or-fight response that is triggered with him. And he's begging them, "Please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me." You know, he understandably, he becomes terrified. And it seems like there were things that they could have done to take his temperature down.

Chief, what should they have done?

RAMSEY: Well, again, you know, their approach to the car. I don't know what they're thinking at the time. You know, pointing a gun at a person in most departments is a reportable use of force. Any time you unholster your gun is usually reportable, although it's not necessarily considered the use of force as long as the gun is just at the ready. So I don't know what they thought they had. Three occupants in a car. They really don't know what they had.

The real -- the real problem with de-escalation, to me, is that once he get him back out of the car -- he does resist slightly trying to -- when they're trying to put him in the car. They pull him out on the other side, which I really don't understand why they took him out once they got him in. But that's a different thing.

Now they've got him down in a prone position. At what point in time does the resistance stop -- his legs flail for just a brief moment in time. And then, you know, you de-escalate. You stop. The force stops when the resistance stops. That's the real issue. That's the real problem in this case. And there's significant amount of time, more than five minutes, probably, when there is no resistance at all, yet the pressure continues on Mr. Floyd. And that's the period of time in which he actually is killed.

AVLON: Bakari, there's so many reasons this trial is riveting the nation. The abuse of force by the police, the conversation about de- escalation rather than escalation.

But also, I think, for a lot of white Americans, they're seeing the black lived experience in an indelible way, and I wonder if you'd reflect on that. We've seen it in just the trauma of the community, but I think that's rippling outward to the country, an important way for the country to reconcile, to reckon.

SELLERS: That's a brilliant question, John. And the reason it is s because you're seeing the pain and the anguish, the toll, the exhaustion that goes along with being black in America.

You see these individuals, a 61-year-old man break down on the stand yesterday. Just imagine everything that he's seen and lived in his 61 years. This image is now seared in his brain, as well.

You see the young man who was the clerk, just trying to work every single day, making decisions as he goes; the guilt he has to live with.

You see the 9-year-old girl and the -- her cousin yesterday, or the day before yesterday, who testified.

But that anguish, it's rippled throughout the country. All of us feel that pain. All of us feel that anguish. All of us feel that level of exhaustion that you just want to break down.

Living this trial day by day, I tell all of my friends, you have to practice some self-care.

But that's why getting justice at the end of this is so, so important. Because what we cannot have is a community that goes through this pain and anguish again and again, it's cyclical, and then you have the same justice at the end.

And so that's when that anger boils out and roils out into the streets, because there's nowhere else for it to go.

[06:15:08]

And so the country, unfortunately, is seeing this firsthand. And hopefully, we pray, that there's some semblance of justice at the end of this trial.

CAMEROTA: Commissioner Ramsey, what are your thoughts on that? Because you've seen it from every angle. Obviously, black male and law enforcement angle.

RAMSEY: Well, I've seen it from every angle, and again, you know, I kind of go back to the opening statement of prosecution in -- in the trial.

You know, and that is, you know, what Chauvin and the three other officers did is not a reflection, necessarily, of the entire Minneapolis Police Department. There are more men and women in that department that do their job and do it well every single day, and they don't abuse the rights of people. And the same applies to the larger profession of law enforcement.

But having said that, there are some bad cops out there. There's no question about that. They abuse their authority, abuse the rights of people, and they've got to be held accountable for that.

But the thing that I hope at the end of the trial is that people don't just paint all of law enforcement with the same broad brush. I mean, I've spent 50 years in policing. I've seen an awful lot during that period of time. I'm 71 years old, and I happen to be an African- American male myself. So I have seen things from different perspectives.

But I'm proud to have been part of that profession, because the men and women that I've had a chance to work with aren't the Derek Chauvins of the world, and I just hope people keep that in mind.

CAMEROTA: Yes. We totally appreciate that also. And we do a lot of stories about the kindness that officers --

RAMSEY: You do, absolutely.

CAMEROTA: -- every day exhibit.

RAMSEY: You do.

CAMEROTA: And that's a real story, as well.

RAMSEY: That's right.

CAMEROTA: But thank you very much for making that point, Commissioner.

Bakari, thank you very much for all of your insights, as always.

OK. Coming up, there's a new twist in the saga involving Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz. We have brand-new details on the sex- trafficking claims and the alleged extortion scheme and the search for a missing FBI agent. All of it.

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[06:21:10]

AVLON: President Biden will hold his first cabinet meeting today, one day after unveiling the first part of his sweeping infrastructure plan.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond live at the White House with more -- Jeremy.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

President Biden unveiling that $2.2 trillion infrastructure plan yesterday in Pittsburgh. Not only sharing the details of that plan, including 20 -- repairing 20,000 miles of roads, 10,000 bridges, investing in clean energy across the country with a network of half a million charging stations for electric vehicles and other things; but he also framed his proposal in historic terms, talking about the need to go big here, and also making clear that this isn't just about the United States and repairing the infrastructure in the United States, but also framing it in terms the competition between democracies and autocracies in the world.

But more than anything, he talked about the need to go big and not tinker around the edges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's not a plan that tinkers around the edges. It's a once in a generation investment in America.

It's the biggest American jobs investment since World War II.

It's big, yes. It's bold, yes. And we can get it done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: Getting it done, of course, will be the challenge. President Biden not only faced immediate opposition from Republican leaders, who oppose the way that he wants to pay for this, using corporate tax increases, among other increases in corporate and business taxes, but also some Democrats. There's really some disagreement within the Democratic Caucus over the size and scope of this plan, as well as whether or not this will get at those state and local tax deductions that some Democrats want included here.

Now, President Biden will push ahead today, not with Congress but with his cabinet, talking about the infrastructure plan in his first cabinet meeting of his presidency. And in this meeting, this comes a week after the president's full cabinet was confirmed by the Senate. And I think that, unlike in the Trump administration, certainly, we won't see the same kinds of obsequious deliveries from the cabinet members that marked so many of those meetings in the past administration -- John.

AVLON: I think that's a safe bet. Thank you very much, Jeremy.

CNN political analyst Seung Min Kim, she's White House reporter for "The Washington Post."

Let me begin with the Biden infrastructure plan here, because this is big, and he is framing it as a challenge for democracy, to compete with autocracies. But there's a lot of political headwinds, and this is just a plan. Let me start by playing Mitch McConnell's complaints about the bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): This is not going to be, apparently, an infrastructure package. It's like a trojan horse. It's called infrastructure. But inside the trojan horse is going to be more borrowed money and massive tax increases on all the productive parts of our economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: So that's the criticism from the right.

Now, let me read you the criticism from the left, courtesy of AOC, in a tweet. She wrote, "This is not nearly enough. The important context here is that it's $2.5 trillion spent out over ten years. For context, the COVID package was 1.9 trillion for this year alone, with some provisions lasting two years. Needs to be way bigger."

Given that incoming from the left and the right, what is the White House plan to move this forward into a passable bill?

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. That goes -- that's the challenge facing, you know, the White House right now and Democratic leaders, particularly in the House, where -- where they have very little room for error; and in the Senate, where they have basically no room for error in terms of keeping Democratic -- keeping the Democratic lawmakers together.

But right now, the public relations efforts starts with the big cabinet meeting today. Later this afternoon where -- where, you know, the president and each member of the cabinet will discuss the parts of the bill.

You already had, you know, senior cabinet officials and senior White House officials brief, you know, senators, members of the House on the legislation yesterday. And it's just going to be a very long messy process.

[06:25:06]

I mean, you had the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill go through Congress pretty rapidly, you know, just in the first, you know, 50 days of President Biden's tenure in the White House.

This is a much longer timeline. You know, we are talking months in advance. So it's going to be months of legislative wrangling and trying to get all Democrats onboard.

Because it's not only incoming from the left of the -- of the Democratic Caucus, as you mentioned with AOC's, but there are moderates in the conference who are concerned right now with the level of spending in the bill. And also, you have several House Democrats who want to reverse some tax deductions that were limited in President Trump's tax bill, you know, four years ago.

So lots of moving parts there. It's going to be a tough task for Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer.

CAMEROTA: Paging goldilocks.

AVLON: Let the $2 trillion sausage making begin. This is going to be complicated and ugly.

CAMEROTA: But in the meantime, Seung Min, can you help us understand what is happening with Matt Gaetz?

So there was, we now know, Department of Justice investigation into him for some sort of sex crime with a minor. OK? That started over the summer under the Trump administration.

Now he has come out publicly and said that he's the victim of some sort of extortion connected to that. Maybe that's true. Maybe that's a distraction. Maybe they're both true. We don't know. So -- but can we just go back to the original crime? What is it that they were investigating?

KIM: So he is being investigated by the feds for, you know, alleged sex crimes with a 17-year-old girl and taking her across state lines. Obviously, some very serious allegations facing Congressman Gaetz here.

And just in the last couple of days, the story has taken just kind of these complicated -- and essentially, these complicated turns. Because you have, you know, Congressman -- Congressman Gaetz's statement that his family is being targeted as part of an extortion attempt. And my colleagues at "The Washington Post" and other outlets reported last night that -- this new kind of wrinkle, this new kind of complication involving a long-held U.S. hostage in Iran and how two men had approached, you know, Representative Gaetz's father as part of this potential deal, and that is what prompted Congressman Gaetz's father to go to the FBI.

But yes, all of that kind of distracts from the initial allegations facing Representative Gaetz, which are very serious.

And also, there are political implications, as well, for the House Republican leadership. You know, Kevin McCarthy, the top House Republican, was asked about this, whether he would seek to remove Representative Gaetz from particularly the Judiciary Committee while he is being investigated by DOJ. And he said they're very serious allegations certainly, but right now, Congressman Gaetz said they're not true, and if they are true, then he will be removed from the committee.

So that's -- it's kind of a lower standard that members of Congress have been held to in terms of committee removal and other assignments if they are being -- if they are under federal investigation.

AVLON: All right. More story lines than a sick soap opera. Seung Min Kim, thank you very much.

All right. Millions of doses of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine were ruined because of human error at a manufacturing plant. So what impact will this have on America's vaccine supply? That's next.

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