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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Tear Gas And Arrests In Second Night Of Protests Over Police Killing; Blinken And Austin Meeting With NATO Allies In Brussels; FEMA Overwhelmed With COVID Funeral Expense Calls. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired April 13, 2021 - 05:30   ET

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


[05:30:00]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone, this is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Laura. I'm Christine Romans. It is just about 30 minutes past the hour this Tuesday morning.

And we begin in Minnesota. Facing twin tragedies in the Twin Cities, anger spills over late into the night.

A thousand members of the National Guard, to keep the peace, called in after police killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop. Protesters in Brooklyn Center -- that's just north of Minneapolis -- they threw bottles, fireworks, bricks. Police responded with tear gas. But peaceful protesters were out much of the day.

JARRETT: On Monday, officials released the bodycam footage of Wright being shot. We want to warn you, as we must too often here, this video is disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIM POTTER, POLICE OFFICER, BROOKLYN CENTER POLICE DEPARTMENT: I'll tase you. I'll tase you. Taser! Taser! Taser! Holy s***! I just shot him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: The police chief calls it an accidental discharge but that's little comfort to the people who knew Daunte Wright, including the mother of his young child.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHYNA WHITAKER, MOTHER OF DAUNTE WRIGHT'S CHILD: He just made you feel better when he came around. And I'm just hurt that he's gone but I can't believe it. I didn't get to say goodbye to him and oh, just to see him again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: CNN's Josh Campbell is live in Minneapolis for us. Josh, good to see you this morning.

You know, I thought it was pretty interesting that authorities released the bodycam footage so quickly, and the cause of death and manner of death coming out really fast.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, very quickly, Laura, indeed. And that's not something that we see in a lot of cases where there's often this bureaucratic administrative period that they have to get through which obviously, leaves a community asking questions about what exactly transpired.

Nevertheless, even after the release of that video, we saw last night a second night of protests with some demonstrators and officers clashing outside of a police station in Brooklyn Center just outside of Minneapolis. As you mentioned, it turned violent at some points. Some of these peaceful protests hijacked by rioters who were launching bricks, bottles, and fireworks at some of the officers. That leading to the police to come out launching tear gas to try to disperse that crowd.

Of course, a curfew was in place that was obviously disregarded by so many of these demonstrators at, again, the second night. That, obviously as we have been saying, follows this tragic police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright.

And again, talking a little bit about that video, one thing that we learned about yesterday from the police chief is that their assessment is that this was, in their words, an accident -- an accidental discharge. The police chief there saying that one of the officers had thought she was trying to deploy her Taser but instead grabbed her service weapon and fired one shot that ultimately led to Wright's death -- again, after that controversial traffic stop there.

Now, Wright's aunt spoke out taking issue -- taking exception to the idea that this was somehow an accident. Take a listen to her comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAISHA WRIGHT, AUNT OF DAUNTE WRIGHT: To sit here and people are trying to drag my nephew's name through the dirt, it don't mean nothing. It don't mean nothing. He didn't deserve to die.

My nephew was a damn good kid. He loved his family and we loved him.

An accident? An accident? No, come on now. Everybody in this world saw that gun. You mean to tell me you thought it was a Taser?

I've owned over a 20,000-volt Taser. They don't feel nothing like a gun. Nothing like a gun.

So you all tell me how would you all feel if you all got that call? That was my nephew. That was my blood.

That was like my heart. My brother is my heart. Katie is my heart.

My mother -- my mother shouldn't have to be burying her grandchild. My brother, my sister -- they shouldn't have to be burying their son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: Just truly heartbreaking there. You can see, you can hear, you can feel her anger, her anguish.

Now, the officer who fired that fatal shot has been placed on administrative leave as this shooting remains under investigation.

Of course, this entire community here -- the Twin Cities -- continues to remain on edge. Yet another fatal encounter with a person of color and law enforcement here in the Twin Cities -- Christine.

ROMANS: Yes -- you know, and Josh, the Derek Chauvin trial is just 10 miles away -- another police killing of an unarmed Black man, George Floyd.

Josh, tell us about that emotional testimony yesterday from Floyd's brother. It was just really, really remarkable. And what are we expecting in court today?

[05:35:02]

CAMPBELL: Yes, absolutely. The prosecution, in this final element of wrapping up its case, called to the stand George Floyd's brother, Philonise Floyd, who really talked about George Floyd as a person.

Now, this is something that's unique here in Minnesota. You don't often hear people come to the stand in an effort to talk about the character -- the person that the victim was. But they have that on the books here in Minnesota and prosecutors availing themselves of it, bringing Philonise to the stand, again just humanizing George Floyd and talking about how he is missed, talking about how the community loved him. Just truly heartbreaking there.

Now, we're expecting later on today that the defense is likely to start its case. We're now moving into that second phase of the trial. We expect the defense to call use-of-force witnesses of their own and perhaps some law enforcement experts, as well, and medical experts to try to refute some of that damning testimony we've heard so far that really paints a picture of what transpired here last May where we saw -- everyone saw now on that infamous video with this officer kneeling on George Floyd for over nine minutes -- Christine, Laura.

JARRETT: Yes, interesting to see what kind of defense they put on after that parade of witnesses from the prosecution.

ROMANS: Thanks, Josh.

JARRETT: Josh, thanks to much for getting up.

All right. In Washington, the Biden administration moving away from a campaign promise to create a national police oversight commission. An aide says the White House consulted with civil rights activists and police unions. They said a commission would actually stall momentum for broader legislation here. The priority now, pushing the Senate to pass a bill banning officers from using chokeholds or entering suspects' homes without knocking.

ROMANS: Yes, those no-knock warrants, which have been a real problem.

All right. President Biden's proposed corporate tax increase to pay for his infrastructure plan getting no support from the Business Roundtable. A new survey found a majority of its CEO members believe the 28 percent tax rate would negatively impact their businesses.

But fact-check here. Economists point out companies have been paying less for years, even before the 2017 tax cuts.

This is the effective corporate tax rate. Taxes is a share of earnings. It's been falling for 50 years and is at historic lows.

At the same time, public spending on infrastructure has been at a bare minimum for years, hardly enough to keep up with maintenance, let alone build out investments that make the U.S. more competitive.

Companies want the U.S. to have good infrastructure and want it to be more competitive. Right now, it looks like they might be negotiating a bit, trying to talk -- jawbone down that 28 percent corporate tax rate the president's talking about.

Meanwhile, one group urging lawmakers to raise the tax rate is targeting major companies with small tax bills.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAX MARCH T.V. ADVERTISEMENT: Tell Congress it's time to put the people first and make corporations like FedEx pay their fair share.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So this group, Tax March, is launching an ad campaign targeting FedEx and Nike. A report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows Nike and FedEx, among others, paid little to no tax in 2020 on billions in profits. FedEx told CNBC last month it opposes a corporate tax increase.

Tax March said it plans to run a newspaper ad in Nike's home state of Oregon next week.

JARRETT: Jumping overseas now, Secretary of State Tony Blinken touches down in Brussels today. He'll be joined by Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin in talks with NATO allies. Both men will be looking to rebuild partnerships that deteriorated during the last administration.

Iran will be a primary topic. A mysterious blackout at an Iranian nuclear facility is now posing a threat to talks with Tehran.

Fred Pleitgen has reported extensively from Tehran. He joins us live from Berlin. Fred, what are you learning?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Laura.

We're getting some new information. The Iranians haven't officially commented on how bad, actually, the damage at that Natanz nuclear facility is, but it does seem as though the damage could be quite considerable.

We just got some comments in from the head of Iran's Parliamentary Research Committee and apparently what he said is that several thousand centrifuges inside that research center had become obsolete following that incident. That, of course, would be a lot.

Again, no confirmation so far from the Iranian government but it certainly does seem as though there may have been extensive damage to that facility.

One of the things that Javad Zarif, the foreign minister said -- he said that repairs at that facility were already ongoing and that a power supply -- an emergency power supply was now up and running so that there is no threat of any sort of leak of radiation or something else that could be harmful to the health of the people who work there and the people around there.

Meanwhile, the Iranians continuing to blast the Israelis. Last night, Javad Zarif, the foreign minister, writing a letter to the secretary- general of the United Nations calling this an act of war and saying that Iran reserves the right to retaliate.

Obviously, the Israelis, for their part, have not confirmed whether or not they were behind the attack. However, last night when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel met with Lloyd Austin, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, he did say that stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon would be Israel's and his main priority. The Iranians, of course, are saying they don't want a nuclear weapon.

[05:40:00]

But you're absolutely right. The big question is what does this mean for the talks in Vienna to try and bring the U.S. back into the nuclear agreement? And there, the foreign minister of Iran also said that Iran would continue in those talks. In fact -- or just earlier this morning at a press conference, he said that he believed that this incident strengthened Iran's hands in those talks.

Both the U.S. and Iran have said they want to get that -- they want to save -- salvage the nuclear agreement -- Laura.

JARRETT: Yes, the timing here so important.

Fred, thank you so much for that -- appreciate it.

PLEITGEN: Yes.

JARRETT: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JARRETT: Welcome back.

Two young children one step closer this morning to being reunited with their families. Remember this surveillance footage of two toddlers from Ecuador being literally dropped over the U.S.-Mexico border fence? Well, the girls, three and five, are now in the care of Health and Human Services after 13 days in border patrol custody.

[05:45:05]

But the number of children in custody at the border is actually dropping, and quickly.

It's time for three questions in three minutes with Priscilla Alvarez, who covers immigration for CNN. Priscilla, great to see you this morning.

Thousands of children, as you've been reported -- been reporting -- are actually being transferred, finally, from border patrol custody to these shelters that are run by HHS. And that's an improvement, of course, but they're still in the care of the U.S. government -- not in the care of their parents.

So explain for our viewers why is it so hard to reunite these families. Is it simply just a matter of having enough people -- enough staff to make calls and do the background checks and all the things that are necessary?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Laura, that's right. The administration works with case managers and those case managers help children locate with parents or relatives in the United States. But to do so, that requires vetting, background checks, and making sure that child is going to a safe household. So on average, that can take somewhere around 31 days.

Now, it's a faster process if that -- if it is a parent who is sponsoring the child. And, in fact, the administration is trying to make that go faster through a fast-track release, as well as encouraging parents to come forward.

But as you mentioned, the children -- the number of children in U.S. Customs and Border Protection has dropped considerably. As of Sunday, it had dropped 45 percent.

That indicates some level of progress because children are moving out of the jail-like conditions in border patrol facilities into shelters run by the Health and Human Services Department where, again, they have the shelter space and equipment to care for the children and ultimately, those case managers that will get them with the parent or relative in the United States.

JARRETT: Just to be clear, when we're talking about reuniting children with their parents this is actually different than what the Trump administration did, breaking apart children and their parents. That's a whole nother group of kids facing that crisis and that's like a little under 500 children if I'm not mistaken. But, you know, we talk so much about this crisis on the border with Mexico, but you've done such great reporting on how most of the migrants that are crossing over are not from Mexico, they're from other places -- namely, what's known as the Northern Triangle. And now, there's actually a deal in place with some of those countries, something that the president had made a priority. Something he put the V.P. in charge of.

Tell us more about that.

ALVAREZ: White House officials said yesterday that the U.S. secured agreements with Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala to secure their borders. So what that means on the ground is simply more authorities on these country's borders so they reduce the number of migrants journeying to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Now, all of this is part of what you mentioned -- the Biden administration's effort to address the root causes of migration in Latin America and improve those conditions to ultimately stem the flow of migration. But one of those steps here out of the gate is securing agreements with these countries so that they can bolster the security and reduce the flow of migrants that ultimately travel from that region to the U.S.-Mexico border.

JARRETT: And finally, Priscilla, you have brand-new reporting this morning just breaking, if I'm not mistaken. Dozens of Democratic lawmakers now calling on the Biden administration to end reliance on these temporary overflow facilities to care for all the unaccompanied migrant children.

What do they want the administration to do, instead, if they're not going to use these shelters?

ALVAREZ: Laura, they want reform and they laid out in this letter to the secretaries of the Health and Human Service Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

So, some Democrats have been critical of overflow facilities, otherwise known as influx facilities, because they are not state- licensed and they have previously come under scrutiny. But the Health and Human Services Department will often rely on these facilities when their -- when their usual shelter network just can't meet the demand of children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border alone.

In fact, this year, the administration did open a facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, in addition to other pop-up sites across the country.

So the Democrats here are asking that they look at these facilities and reform them. Consider, for example, only allowing the duration of children -- or I should say the length of stay in these facilities to be no more than 20 days, that there be regular oversight efforts, and that they get the services that should be afforded to them, like legal service providers as well as in-person visitation.

So they laid this all out in a letter. So ultimately, while the Democratic lawmakers recognize the challenges facing the Biden administration, they also want officials to take the opportunity to reform the system --

JARRETT: That's right.

ALVAREZ: -- to essentially end reliance on overflow facilities, Laura.

JARRETT: Yes, they're going to be facing increasing pressure from Democrats in their own party as, you know, there's always the risk of getting sued as well. The ACLU has not hesitated to be outspoken on this issue so we will wait to see what happens.

And we know you will be on top of it, Priscilla. Thank you.

ALVAREZ: Thanks.

ROMANS: All right, 49 minutes past the hour.

He died serving his country. Today, Capitol Police Officer William "Billy" Evans will lie in honor inside the building he swore to protect. Evans was killed April second when a man rammed a car into him and another officer outside the Capitol.

[05:50:07]

He'll be honored today in the Capitol Rotunda with a congressional tribute.

Evans family said his death, quote, "left a gaping void in our lives that will never be filled."

JARRETT: A student is dead and a police officer injured after a shooting at a school in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Officers were called to Austin-East Magnet High School after a report about someone being armed. That person was found in the school's restroom and when he was ordered to come out he refused and opened fire. At least one officer returned fire.

The gunman was actually a student at the school. He died at the scene and authorities are not releasing his name right now.

ROMANS: All right, let's take a look at markets around the world this Tuesday morning. You can see Asian shares have closed mixed. Europe has also opened narrowly mixed here.

On Wall Street, futures barely budging here. Look, they closed lower on Monday. The Dow finished 55 points lower. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also fell a little bit.

But the next big event here is the consumer price index. That's due out at 8:30 a.m. It's a clue to how quickly prices are rising as the economy reopens and recovers.

You know, some had worried there's this spike in prices that could force the Fed to raise interest rates sooner than hoped. We'll get some clear evidence here in just a few hours. The scope of the economic rescue vast, from stimulus checks to eviction relief, student loan forbearance, jobless benefits -- and now, FEMA overwhelmed with calls for COVID funeral expenses. The hotline opened Monday. Families who lost loved ones to coronavirus can now get up to -- funeral expenses help from FEMA up to $9,000 in assistance per burial.

FEMA asked for patience while it works to correct those issues.

JARRETT: Minnesota sports teams postponing yesterday's games after the shooting of Daunte Wright by police.

Andy Scholes this morning's Bleacher Report. Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (via Cisco Webex): Yes, good morning, Laura.

So, the Minnesota Twins, the Timberwolves, and the Wild all deciding that yesterday was not the time to be playing sports after what happened in their community.

And the afternoon game between the Twins and Red Sox was the first to be postponed. The National Anthem had actually already been played with players on the field warming up when the decision was made.

The Twins released a statement saying the postponement, quote, "is in the best interest of our fans, staff, players, and community." The team also says it extends sympathies to the family of Daunte Wright.

Now, the NBA made an announcement soon after, postponing the fame between the Timberwolves and the Brooklyn Nets. The Monday night home game for the NHL's Minnesota Wild also called off.

Now, members of the Spurs and Magic locking arms on the court before their game last night. A moment of silence was also held before the National Anthem.

And coaches across the NBA speaking out about the events in Minnesota.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOC RIVERS, HEAD COACH, PHILADELPHIA 76ERS: We keep hearing this cancel culture stuff but we're canceling black lives. And I think, to me, that's a little more important in my opinion and we just -- it just keeps happening. We keep making mistakes on killing black people.

GREGG POPOVICH, HEAD COACH, SAN ANTONIO SPURS: It just makes you sick to your stomach. You know, it's -- how many times does it have to happen.

As sick to our stomachs as we might feel, that individual is dead. He's dead and his family is grieving and his friends are grieving and we just keep moving on as if nothing's happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SCHOLES: Yes. Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks, meanwhile, pulling himself out of last night's lineup in response to the shooting. After having a discussion with manager Aaron Boone, Hicks decided he was not in the right mindset to play baseball.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON BOONE, MANAGER, NEW YORK YANKEES: Aaron's hurting in a huge way and I think, in a way, felt like it was probably the responsible thing to take himself out knowing that it was going to be hard for him to be all-in mentally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, and Aaron Hicks no stranger to that Minneapolis community, guys. He spent his first three seasons as a big-leaguer there playing for the Twins.

ROMANS: Yes, that's something. All right, thanks --

JARRETT: I think a lot of people feel that way.

Thanks so much, Andy.

ROMANS: Yes, whether it's sports --

SCHOLES: All right.

ROMANS: -- or it's corporations, everyone's got to make a stand. Like, these are kinds of questions that you're asking for your employees and for your customers --

JARRETT: Yes.

ROMANS: -- where do you stand on this.

All right, thanks for joining us, everybody. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:59:09]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, April 13th, 6:00 here in New York.

I'm John Berman. Poppy Harlow here with me all week. Nice to have you back this morning.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good to be here.

BERMAN: All right. Why is Daunte Wright dead this morning? We know he was shot and killed by a police officer, but why? What does it tell us about race in law enforcement in America? What does it tell us about what has been learned the last year, 10 years, 100 years in this country?

The county medical examiner has ruled Daunte Wright's death a homicide after police claim that the officer who shot him appears to have accidentally fired her gun thinking it was a Taser. That is what the police say. We'll show you the body camera video of that deadly confrontation coming up.

There were protests overnight on the streets of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota -- some clashes with law enforcement. Officers deploying tear gas and flashbangs to enforce a curfew across four counties.