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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Charging Decision Expected in Officer's Killing of Daunte Wright; Defense Expert Says Chauvin's Use-of-Force on Floyd Was "Justified"; CDC's Decision to Pause J&J Vaccine Leaves States Scrambling; Biden to Withdraw All U.S. Forces From Afghanistan By Sept. 11. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired April 14, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:27]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Will the now former officer who shot and killed Daunte Wright face criminal charges? We expect to find out today.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: America's longest war will finally end. U.S. troops will leave Afghanistan in the coming months. What it all means for the future of both countries.

ROMANS: And an emergency CDC meeting today about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Did health officials recommend pulling it too quickly after a handful of bad reactions?

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world, we have reports from Minneapolis, Afghanistan, Capitol Hill and Johannesburg. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

And I should say we don't know if those reactions were because of that vaccine. Very important to note that it is not clear. Doctors have been telling us it could be unrelated. So not really clear it's a reaction to the vaccine.

Good morning.

JARRETT: Yes, yes, really, really important, to be clear on that.

Good morning to you, Christine. I'm Laura Jarrett.

It's Wednesday, April 14th, it's 5:00 a.m. here in New York.

And we begin in morning in Minnesota where we expect to find out today if charges are coming against the former Brooklyn Center police officer who shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright.

Protests continued for a third night, hundreds of demonstrators remained mostly peaceful, but there were some skirmishes at the end of the night.

ROMANS: Before that, the Brooklyn Center protesters knelt for nine minutes and 29 seconds to honor George Floyd. His killer, former officer Derek Chauvin is on trial ten miles away in Minneapolis.

Now the city of Brooklyn Center is coping with big changes here.

CNN's Josh Campbell is live in Minneapolis.

Good morning, Josh.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, good morning to you.

As you say we are expecting a decision possibly as early as today about whether that officer who fired that fatal shot will be charged. It's worth pointing out that so much of this case has been moving so rapidly, not only the idea that we could possibly have a charging decision today but also as we mentioned the release of that body camera footage which you don't often see release so quickly.

Again, we're waiting for that decision whether that officer will face charges. This comes after yesterday a press conference that at times raised more questions than it answered but we did glean some information and that is the police chief there in Brooklyn Center has resigned as well as the officer that fired that fatal shot, although it's unclear right now whether the mayor has actually accepted that officer's resignation.

So, still some questions there and of course the community here continues to demand answers. Regardless of whether the officer is still on the force, they want that officer to face charges. We're waiting for a decision from prosecutors.

Finally, yesterday, there was an emotional meeting between the families of George Floyd and Daunte Wright. Of course, the 20-year-old shot there in Brooklyn Center. An emotional meeting, those families coming together, surrounded by protesters, demonstrators, those calling for racial justice, demanding an end to police brutality.

Of course, Laura and Christine, those two families bonded by circumstances that no family ever wants to face. That is losing a loved one to what appears to be excessive use of force by police.

ROMANS: All right. Thank you so much. Josh Campbell, keep you posted.

Laura?

JARRETT: All right. In the Derek Chauvin trial, a use of force expert testifying for the defense team Tuesday said the former Minneapolis police officer was, quote, justified in his actions when he bore down on George Floyd's neck last May.

Now, remember, the jury has already heard from the current Minneapolis police chief, Medaria Arradondo, there, who testified that Chauvin's actions absolutely violated department policies, but the defense called former Police Officer Barry Brodd who defended the type of restraint Chauvin used on Floyd known as prone control.

ROMANS: That's where a person's face and front of their body are against a surface. He said even with Floyd handcuffed on the ground that wasn't use of force, a claim the prosecution then ran with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROSECUTOR: What part of this is not compliant?

BARRY BRODD, USE-OF-FORCE EXPERT: So I see his arm position in the picture that's posted.

PROSECUTOR: Right.

BRODD: That, you know, a compliant person would have both their hands in the small of their back and just be resting comfortably versus like he's still moving around.

PROSECUTOR: Did you say "resting comfortably"?

BRODD: Or laying comfortably.

PROSECUTOR: Resting comfortably on the pavement?

BRODD: Yes.

PROSECUTOR: At this point in time when he's attempting to breathe by shoving his shoulder into the pavement?

BRODD: I was describing what the signs of a perfectly compliant person would be.

PROSECUTOR: So attempting to breathe while restrained is being slightly noncompliant?

BRODD: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:05:01]

ROMANS: Testimony resumes in a few hours. Closing arguments are expected as soon as next week.

JARRETT: CDC advisers meet today to discuss Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine. The agency recommended suspending the single-dose shot after it found six cases of people who developed rare blood clots after receiving the vaccine.

Important to note here as Christine did at the top, not necessarily the case that those blood clots were caused by the vaccine, but this move immediately raised questions about whether the FDA overreacted since we are talking about literally six cases out of nearly 7 million doses given in the U.S. so far, and it all left states scrambling to pause planned vaccinations forcing some sites to actually shut down.

ROMANS: Super important to note that so far the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is not a big part of the federal rollout because of various production delays. The White House says the pause will not have a significant impact on its vaccination plans because it has he secured enough Moderna and Pfizer doses for 300 million Americans. But it comes at a critical time. COVID variants are spreading and health officials are trying to combat lingering vaccine hesitancy.

JARRETT: This morning, Johnson & Johnson is pausing vaccinations in all of its COVID clinical trials and delaying its vaccine rollout in Europe.

We get more now from our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Laura, Christine, later today, vaccine advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will meet to discuss what to do with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Yesterday, the FDA and the CDC announced that they were putting a pause on the J&J rollout following reports of blood clots after people got vaccinated.

In the United States, nearly 7 million people have already received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The FDA and the CDC pointed to six cases, six people who experienced rare and severe brain blood clots, one of those people passed away. They were all women ages 18 to 48, and they all experienced symptoms about 6 to 13 days after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

As you can see, these blood clots were extremely rare, six cases out of nearly 7 million people vaccinated. Still, people who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the past week should be aware of these signs.

The FDA and the CDC say to contact your health care provider if you develop any of these symptoms within three weeks of getting the J&J vaccine. Severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain and shortness of breath.

The vaccine advisers will take a look at the data and advise on next steps. They could recommend continuing the pause or they could recommend some kind of a warning or they could also recommend that people under a certain age shouldn't get the vaccine -- Laura, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Thank you, Elizabeth, for explaining that so well.

You know, there is good vaccine news this morning. The FDA says a decision to green light the Pfizer vaccine for children age 12 to 15 could happen within a few weeks. That would hopefully make it easier to get those students back in actual classrooms by the fall. Moderna says it's vaccine remains more than 90 percent effective against COVID for at least six months and 95 percent effective in preventing severe disease. Pfizer recently announced similar results.

JARRETT: President Biden will withdraw all troops from Afghanistan the deadline now set for the 20th anniversary of the 9/11.

We are live in Kabul next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:12:32]

JARRETT: After 20 years, America's longest war will finally come to an end. Today in the same White House treaty room where former President George W. Bush declared the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom, President Biden will announce the withdrawal of military forces from Afghanistan this September, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11. The decision enormously fraught and complicated as U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Jack Reed put it, there are no good options in Afghanistan.

ROMANS: So what does this withdrawal mean for national security, for the future of Afghanistan and what about the human sacrifice for our service members and their families?

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh was based in Afghanistan for part of the war. He is back in Kabul this morning.

And 20 years later, almost 20 years later after 9/11, it's just -- the blood and treasure spent in this part of the world and no good options is where we are 20 years on, Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yeah, absolutely. And I think it is really down to Joe Biden's instinct that he has always had that this war didn't have a good final outcome that we're in this situation with a deep symbolism of declaring that American troops will be out before the 20-year anniversary it can be said that they've been involved in here.

What lies ahead in the next few months is extremely key not just for the legacy for Americans who have left lives, limbs even, parts of their life here in this country and the many Afghans who have died, too, in this awful ongoing war, but how the society here forms itself ahead. We may see peace talks which the Biden administration are making part of their strategy here take some shape in the months ahead, although the Istanbul summit he has called for Saturday a week is something the Taliban have said twice in the last 48 hours they are not going to attend yet.

That may change, that may take shape, but they are militarily certainly in the ascendance here, a very violent few years frankly in the past in which they're taking lots of rural Afghanistan often held back only by U.S. air power.

The Afghan government, well, they are the odds frankly with how the U.S. sees this process moving forward in terms of peace. The U.S. and the Taliban are discussing a transitional government where they hope everyone will get together and work out the way forward and then hold elections. The Afghan government won those elections first.

That has to be overcome before this peace process can move forward. So there is a risk here, frankly.

[05:15:02]

That's now the third president in a row who has kind of said they're leaving, Donald Trump the most emphatic so far, is going to find himself stuck with that promise and a Taliban less likely to want to negotiate something that's favorable to the United States.

ROMANS: You know, Nick, after 20 long years here, it's hard to say if the U.S. and its allies won or lost here but it certainly did not deliver what was promised.

Post-withdrawal what gains are safe and what's in jeopardy? In particular, I'm thinking of a generation of girls who have been told that they will be able to live more freely in this post-9/11 world. What happens next?

WALSH: Yeah, I mean, women's rights here were a key plank of the U.S. strategy, some possibly thought if you look at how much rule Afghanistan functions, there wasn't a great deal of realism in hoping to change this country that quickly over a number of decades.

But some of the things you see around here in Kabul, a city that was hundreds of thousands strong but now millions strong at the end of the U.S. presence as it comes to an end here, because of the billions spent much of this country has been transformed but it's been transformed also in terms of hyper charging corruption as well and also the many lives lost here too. Daily Afghans are killed, Afghan security forces, we often don't know the numbers frankly transparently as much as we used to as well.

Then, of course, there are American soldiers seeing this moment and wondering what it was for. What their lost friends were for. There must be some comfort in that al Qaeda certainly isn't the force it was when Americans came in, some less comfort, though, in the U.S. declaration in January the 4th, in fact saying that they're growing in strength and cooperating with Taliban here as well. So, they are not gone they could still be a threat.

There is the enduring feeling when all wars come to an end and a force comes into a country in which it is not eventually normally has to leave. Occupations don't often end with a great positive outcome. Eventually, this moment comes and so there is that moment of trying to assess quite what the benefits have been, and I think many Afghans will see a huge amount of money has come in.

But, essentially, there are two forces that have always been warring in the past decades in Afghanistan, those in the north, those in the south, and the desire for the west to impose its will and root out the terrorism that found a safe haven here, that will probably continue as a dynamic even after U.S. forces leave.

You have to remember just because America leaves the war doesn't mean the war ends. Back to you.

ROMANS: Yeah. All right. Nick Paton Walsh in Kabul for us, thank you, live there. Thanks.

Laura?

JARRETT: The sports world remembering Daunte Wright at last night's basketball game. Your "Bleacher Report" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:22:16]

JARRETT: Minnesota sports teams returned to action on the court and on the field to honor Daunte Wright.

Andy Scholes has this morning's "Bleacher Report."

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Laura.

So, the Twins and Timberwolves both returning to action a day after postponing their games due to the shooting death of Daunte Wright. And the Timberwolves for their games against the Nets, before the team, both teams wearing custom t-shirts with the message "with liberty and justice for all" during pregame warm ups.

And after the game, players and coaches, well, they shared their anger and frustration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

D'ANGELO RUSSELL, MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES GUARD: We have a platform right here to bring awareness to it. There's nothing we can do from this conversation right now, I think the biggest thing is like I say bringing awareness and action going out.

STEVE NASH, BROOKLYN NETS HEAD COACH: I can't imagine what it's like to be African-American, to be an African-American parent, you know, it's -- it's unacceptable, you know, and it's devastating to put yourself in their shoes and it's devastating just to be a part of it. We're all a part of this community, civilization, culture and, you know, it's the same thing over and over again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Twins meanwhile holding a moment of silence in honor of Wright before their game against the Red Sox.

All right. On Monday the Indians lost to the White Sox and Indians first baseman, Yu Chang revealed he received several racist messages on social media after his throwing error caused his team the game. Chang, a native of Taiwan, shared the messages on Twitter. And in his post, Chang wrote: I accept all comments positive or negative but definitely not racism ones. He also posted the #stopasianhate.

A source tells CNN that Major League Baseball's cybersecurity department has been in contact with the Indians since being made aware of the post. All right. Washington Nationals team doctors are keeping an eye on

players after most of the team received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in St. Louis on Monday. The CDC called for a pause this distribution yesterday after six women reported blood clots. The Nationals, they've already dealt with the COVID outbreak on the team this season, they had to post own their first four games.

All right. Finally, the NFL says it expects all employees who work directly with players to get vaccinated unless they have a bona fide medical or religious reason not to. That's according to a league-wide memo obtained by CNN. The memo also outlined relaxed protocols for vaccinated individuals.

An NFL spokesman tells CNN players will not be required to get vaccinated, but they are strongly encouraged to do so.

[05:25:05]

All right. Christine, today actually marks 100 days until the Summer Olympics. So, getting closer and closer after having to wait an extra year.

ROMANS: Start your clock. All right. Thanks so much, Andy.

All right. Twenty-five minutes past the hour. Could New York Democrats be the biggest hurdle to an infrastructure deal? Oh, that old salt in the wound. We'll explain next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back. Just about half past the hour.

Call it SALT in the wound. New York Democrats want a key tax break back and they're threatening to pull support for President Biden's infrastructure deal if they don't get it.

On Tuesday, a majority of New York House Democrats led by Congressman Tom Suozzi and Jerry Nadler sent a letter to leadership saying they would oppose Biden's infrastructure plan.