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Tensions High Across U.S. Over Policing after Chauvin Conviction, New Police-Involved Shooting; Biden Will Commit U.S. to Reducing Emissions by 52%; Is It Possible to Govern in Hyperpartisan Gridlock? Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 22, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Finally this morning, another win for crowdsourcing. Levar Burton will be one of the final guest hosts in Season 37 of "Jeopardy." Over 247,000 fans signed an online petition supporting him.

[05:58:38]

The actor, already known for his TV roles on "Roots," "Star Trek," and "Reading Rainbow," says he was overjoyed, excited and eager to guest host. Other hosts will include "Good Morning America" anchors George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts and sportscaster Joe Buck. And of course, our very own Anderson Cooper has been hosting this week. My vote for the next one: Christine Romans.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: You know, Berman actually, I think he's very good at this, too.

JARRETT: I know. He's very -- he has a lot of feelings about how well he did.

ROMANS: Just ask him. All right. Thanks for joining us, everybody, I'm Christine Romans. Hi, John.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. NEW DAY starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Brianna Keilar alongside John Berman on this NEW DAY.

With tensions still high across America over policing, LeBron James is under fire for a tweet targeting an officer involved in a shooting.

Plus just in, President Biden revealing what changes are coming to the U.S. and your household to fight the climate crisis.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Once you get the coronavirus vaccine, what are your chances of being infected? A brand-new study may give us the answer.

And newly-revealed audiotape allegedly showing a Capitol officer directing units hours before the insurrection to only monitor anti- Trump protesters.

KEILAR: Hello and good morning to our viewers here -- (MUSIC)

BERMAN: Now.

KEILAR: Hello. Now go? Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. It is Thursday, April 22. And this morning tension over policing in America is still incredibly high.

One day after celebrating the Derek Chauvin guilty verdict, Minneapolis is in mourning yet again. Daunte Wright will be laid to rest today. This is 11 days after being fatally shot by a police officer during a traffic stop.

Police say the former officer now accidentally drew her handgun instead of a taser. She is facing a second-degree manslaughter charge.

Last night, Daunte Wright's family and members of the community gathered to mourn their loss. Wright's aunt will join us this morning.

BERMAN: Elsewhere in Minnesota, Derek Chauvin awaits a June sentencing date after being convicted of murdering George Floyd. Chauvin is being held in a restricted housing unit similar to this one for his own safety. And the Justice Department is launching an investigation of the police department that employed him.

Meanwhile, LeBron James facing a backlash for a two-word post about a separate police-involved shooting in Ohio.

Athena Jones joins us now, live from Columbus with that story -- Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

There is anger and frustration and a demand for answers here in Columbus this morning. Many people in this community feel this case is another example of police not valuing this young black girl's life.

Meanwhile, the police department law enforcement is stressing accountability. Interim police chief saying the department was able to release that initial body camera footage within about 5 1/2 hours, which is faster than they've ever been able to do so.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONES (voice-over): Anger and frustration in Columbus, Ohio.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'Khia Bryant!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ma'Khia Bryant!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'Khia Bryant!

JONES: With protesters gathering and demanding answers about the death of 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant, shot and killed by a police officer Tuesday.

NBA star and Akron, Ohio, native LeBron James also expressing his outrage over the shooting, sending a now-deleted tweet with a photo of a Columbus police officer at the scene of the shooting with the caption, "You're next. #accountability."

James later explaining why he removed the tweet from his account, writing, "I took the tweet down, because it is being used to create more hate. This isn't about one officer. It's about the entire system. I am so desperate for more accountability."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want full accountability and transparency in what happened to Ma'Khia Bryant.

JONES: This frustration shared by many seeking answers as an investigation is underway looking into the fatal shooting of the teen who police say attempted to stab two people with a knife.

MICHAEL WOODS, INTERIM CHIEF OF POLICE, COLUMBUS DIVISION OF POLICE: Regardless of the circumstances associated with this, a 16-year-old girl lost her life, and I sure as hell wish it hadn't happened.

JONES: The final minutes of Bryant's life unfolding in just seconds. Columbus police and city officials releasing body camera footage. And we warn you, it is disturbing, showing officer Nicholas Reardon responding to a 911 call from an unknown caller Tuesday afternoon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got -- it's these grown girls trying to fight us, trying to stab us, trying to put her hands on our grandma. Get here now.

JONES: The officer approaches a group in the driveway outside a home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's going on.

JONES: Bryant appearing to push a person to the ground before she moves toward another wearing pink. The officer firing four shots, killing Bryant.

Despite efforts to save her on the scene, the teen died.

Authorities releasing this slowed-down video, seemingly showing Bryant holding a knife in her hand, aiming it toward the person in pink. In the wake of the shooting, the mayor asking the community to wait as the city investigates whether the officer's actions were justified.

MAYOR ANDREW GINTHER (D), COLUMBUS, OHIO: We don't yet have all of the facts, but we do know that a 16-year-old girl, a child of this community, tragically died.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: And this officer is on paid leave while an independent investigation being carried out by the Bureau of Criminal Investigations -- that's part of the state attorney general's office -- is under way -- John.

BERMAN: Athena Jones for us in Columbus, Ohio. Athena, keep us posted.

Joining us now, CNN law enforcement analyst Anthony Barksdale. He's the former Baltimore City deputy police commissioner.

And Anthony, you know, as a former officer, you say you believe the officer's actions in this video we just saw are justified. Why?

ANTHONY BARKSDALE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: The officer used lethal force when he saw that another citizen, another person, human being, was in clear and imminent danger of being stabbed.

[06:05:08]

The officer used his service weapon to stop the threat. Officers are trained to shoot center mass, and that is your core, the chest area, your torso, and that is what he did to stop the threat.

So if we're looking at policing, the officer used his training. He also was in the legal area that's needed to use force. So I stand on that this unfortunate, tragic incident was justified from a policing perspective.

KEILAR: Anthony, I -- I understand what you're saying. I certainly understand up here. I think we all know a knife is a dangerous weapon, even if it isn't a gun.

But there are so many people who are looking at this as parents. I think of this as if this were my child, or I think of the girl who was in pink, if she were my child. She was so close to Ma'Khia. She also could have easily been shot. There were four shots.

I wonder what could have been different. Couldn't something have been different?

BARKSDALE: When you're going to use -- like I know that many say taser. Well, depending on the distance -- I'm not sure of the distance -- the taser doesn't always work.

And you're trying to -- if we look at the video, the knife was cocked back, and it was going -- it appeared to be ready to move forward. The officer had to use the best weapon that he had available, and that was his service weapon.

It is not pretty. I'm not saying -- I don't want -- Nobody wants this little 16-year-old girl dead. Nobody wants that. But that is the job that the officer, he took an oath. He's doing the job. And I'm sure that he didn't want that to happen.

In seconds -- I mean, look how fast this happens. He gets out, and he's says, what's going on, what's going on, and that fast it rolls his way, and the next thing, he has to make a decision.

And I've been trying to stress what officers go through when they're put in these -- in these situations. O-O-D-A. O-O-D-A, OODA. Observe, orient, decide what are you going to do, and then act. And this officer had to do all of this in split seconds.

And it is a tragedy. And I am not saying that this is just something society should just say, Oh, OK, she had a knife. No, I'm not saying that. I am saying that, per training, the officer did his job, and we need to start looking at each incident as its own incident.

BERMAN: I'm so glad you said that. I'm so glad you put it that way. Because we have to be able to say that, yes, things are a tragedy. Something can be tragic and not necessarily call into question the entire way that an officer responded.

And you say, look, we've got to look at each of these cases differently.

I just -- before we go, Anthony, your reaction to what LeBron James said, his two-word post, where he put a picture -- we're not going to put it up there -- and he said to the officer, "You're next."

BARKSDALE: You know, these situations are emotional. I know that LeBron and many of celebrities, politicians, just everyday citizens are tired. They're tired of it. And I understand.

This is America. He has every right to speak his mind. The one thing that I would just ask is that everyone take the time to see it for themselves and think of O-O-D-A. What would they do in that same situation?

KEILAR: Commissioner, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

BARKSDALE: All right. Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: The White House is taking on climate change, releasing details of President Biden's plan to address the climate crisis. He will commit to reducing greenhouse gases in the U.S. by as much as 52 percent.

The president is set to host world leaders at a virtual climate study today, which is Earth Day. CNN's Jeremy Diamond, live for us at the White House with this brand-new reporting.

And Jeremy, how did President Biden arrive at this figure? It's a big figure.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is. And since coming to the office, White House officials have been meeting with climate activists, business leaders and others around this issue to decide what this target that the U.S. needs to set would be.

And now President Biden will announce today that U.S. will aim to half U.S. emissions, as compared to 2005 levels, which is the baseline, which is actually the year that the U.S. had its highest carbon emissions levels ever.

So President Biden yesterday decided on this target, we're told, in a meeting with officials. He will not outline a roadmap for how exactly the U.S. will get to this target by 2030, but senior administration officials yesterday on a call with us described multiple pathways to be able to achieve this target. And they said that the president's climate task force will go sector by sector over the coming weeks and months to identify more specific targets. Now, President Biden today will not only talk about the need do this

from a climate perspective, but he will also frame this, as he so often does, from an economic perspective, talking about the millions of jobs that could be created by investing in a green economy, and with a particular emphasis, we should note, on blue-collar workers, many -- some of whom, at least, are concerned by this move away from fossil fuels. And of course, that cuts directly against some of the Republican criticism that President Biden may face for this.

Now, we should note, this is an ambitious target. Some environmental activists will say that President Biden is not going far enough, but when you compare it to the target that President Obama set when he joined the Paris Climate Accords, he set a target of 26 to 28 percent by 2020 -- 2025. Now this will be 50 to 52 percent by 2030 -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much for being with us.

Joining me now to discuss, CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir.

Bill, I have to say, that's a huge cut in nine years, 50 percent.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: It is huge.

BERMAN: I think we're at 12 now. We were trying -- we were looking at the EP numbers. We were 12 percent in 2019. So how do we get from 12 percent to 50 in nine years? How hard will that be?

WEIR: It will be the hardest thing we've ever done. It will be harder than World War II. It will be harder than the space race. It is taking an industrial revolution-sized, you know, economy and retrofitting it faster than you can blink, really.

I mean, there's about 2 percent of the cars on the road right now in America are electric. There's so much room for growth there. But that's just -- that's not really even some of the most carbon- intensive activity. We've got to figure out a way to make steel without burning coal. That means new hydrogen forms of energy in that space.

You've got to figure out how to fly planes that don't emit the kind of, you know, planet-cooking pollution that we're all so addicted to.

So it is a massive undertaking. And as you say, the lockdown here, for perspective, the United States led the world in reductions, which is only about 13 percent. The world total, less than 7 percent in the year of the COVID lockdowns, and that's a dramatic. That's not the way anybody wants to do this. We're telling everybody to park their cars and leave them there. You have to wind these things down.

But you know in a democracy, things take time. Even when it comes to buying electric mail trucks or, you know, making military bases more energy-efficient. These things take time. And invariably, once you run into partisan politics, these promises get watered down.

And just for perspective, though, a quarter of all of humanity's planet-cooking, heat-trapping pollution emissions have come since Joe Biden was sworn in as vice president in 2008. So humanity is really going in the wrong direction. It needs to put on the brakes, according to the signs.

KEILAR: You highlight some of the domestic challenges. We're all one world here. So Biden needs to convince other countries to do their part. How does he do that?

WEIR: And again, an amazing question, the biggest question. For perspective there, China added more new coal capacity in 2020 than the rest of the world decommissioned. They're -- they're promising that they will hit peak emissions at 2030, just as Joe Biden is saying we're going to half ours here in the United States. We're going to cut it by more than 50 percent. China is saying, we're going to still be roaring until the end of this decade, and then we'll sort of try to transition our way, either through innovation, by sucking that carbon out of the sky with technology that honestly doesn't exist at scale yet.

But these again -- we live in the -- sort of the golden age of climate promises. We went from denial for so long. We went from an administration where last year Earth Day was almost a day of mourning, considering the complete lack of inaction [SI]. Now to not only making up for that lost time but convincing all those other, you know, reasonably skeptical countries that we're in this for the long haul.

KEILAR: Yes. Bill, thank you for rising and shining with us today so early. We appreciate it.

WEIR: Any time.

KEILAR: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is now getting sued for the, quote, "anti-riot law" that he just signed into law. What opponents say this bill is really about.

[06:15:09]

BERMAN: Plus Nevada's secretary of state now debunking claims of voter fraud by Republicans. Hear how.

And is it possible to govern a gridlocked, hyperpartisan society? That small problem next on NEW DAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Learning our history and where we've been and learning to listen and understand where other people have been, that's always going to be at the -- at the heart of how we make a democracy like ours work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:20:03]

KEILAR: That was President Obama last night discussing how to overcome the deep divides in American society today. So let's talk a little more about this with CNN senior political analyst John Avlon.

And look, I don't mean to be a pessimist here, but it seems like no one is interested in finding common ground. They're not even interested in talking about it or talking to each other. How is this not an intractable problem?

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, I think the vast majority of the American people are interested in finding common ground. It's just the vast majority of folks in Congress aren't.

You know, you heard President Obama giving sort of a civics lesson there. And it's a fact of American history. We're a country based on constructive compromise. That's what democracy is, the art of reasoning together.

The incentive structure in our politics is so screwed up right now that it compels people in Congress to do the opposite.

That said, it's the only way you're going to get things done, is to try to find common ground. But all the dynamics, particularly closed partisan primaries, force folks to the extremes. Disinformation does it; hyperpartisan media does it. But that's the way you solve problems in a democracy. So if you really give a damn about the country, you find a way to do it.

KEILAR: It sounds so easy. It sounds so easy when you put it that way, John Avlon. Let's talk about where there is a little -- not a little -- a lot of disagreement. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar was talking about police reform legislation and her frustration right now that nothing is getting done here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): I am tired about people talking about the filibuster. I'm tired of people talking about the narrow margins we have in the Senate. It is time for people to go beyond the press releases, to go beyond the press conferences, and to actually do the right thing in moving our country towards progress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So there is actually a compromise bill right now that's being worked on between Democrats and Republicans, but when you listen to progressives, it's very clear what they want to do is bypass Republicans. They're very frustrated with the filibuster. They're frustrated with President Biden, even, like Ilhan Omar is.

AVLON: Yes, being frustrated doesn't solve the fundamental problem of having a 50-50 Senate. So you know, the essence of evangelism is reaching out and winning people over through persuasion, and that's what the extremes don't particularly like to do. It's my way or the highway. That's the way democracy does work. You don't get everything you want.

Now, if you want to reform the filibuster, you know, that is actually -- it is clear that in the mid-'70s that goes off the rails when you start getting the silent filibuster. You can fix it, mend it without ending it. But just simply saying I'm tired of it, and we want to sort of bypass all these structural impediments like, you know, people who have been elected by the American people, it doesn't work that way.

BERMAN: I don't want to diminish, by the way, what you said. There may be some common ground on the police reform bill. We actually haven't heard a lot the last 24 hours about it, which as you know, it's a good sign in Washington.

KEILAR: Exactly. Stop talking.

BERMAN: If no one's leaking, they're actually working on it. So let's see if they come up with a compromise there.

And, John, there's also -- thank goodness there's outer space. Right? I mean, at least -- at least everyone can agree on the moon. Bill Nelson is now the NASA administrator, a former Florida senator, also a guy who happened to go to space in the space shuttle.

He said that, as far as he's concerned when he's running NASA, he wants to keep the goals that former President Trump put in place, getting them to the moon by 2024, which by the way, is pretty soon. But in general, the shared goals of space, you know, should we all just go to Mars together? Is that how to fix this?

AVLON: Yes. Yes, we should. You know what's not partisan? Space. Space travel. Space exploration. Remember, it was announced by Kennedy, pursued by Johnson. We arrived under Nixon. This is something that should transcend partisanship.

So when Bill Nelson says, I'm going to stick to that timetable, he's not saying I'm endorse Donald Trump's goals. He's endorsing American ambitions. And that's something that can unite us.

BERMAN: Space is cool. It turns out space is cool.

AVLON: It is cool. And we should be the first people on Mars.

KEILAR: We'll always have our moons over Miami.

AVLON: "Moons Over Miami" reference. Strong. I like that.

KEILAR: Oh, I'm supposed to ask you another question here.

So Nevada. I want to talk about the Nevada secretary of state, who put out a statement overnight in -- about the voting issues there. Let's look at what she said.

She says, quote, "While the Nevada Republican Party raises policy concerns about the integrity of voting, these concerns do not amount to evidentiary support for the contention that the 2020 general election was plagued by widespread voter fraud."

You know, to me, John, it's striking that -- that people still need to be saying this stuff in mid-April after everything we've seen and everything we know. AVLON: They do. There's a cancer in the country based on a kind of

denialism about the election, which goes to the heart of our democracy. So unfortunately, especially Republican election officials need to stand up and state the facts, and if it's unpopular, so be it. Because they need to deal with this problem. We need to deal with this problem. Keep doubling down on the facts. Don't let the denialists win.

BERMAN: Send them all to space.

AVLON: Alternately, space.

BERMAN: And Denny's. I'm unable to think about anything else since you brought up breakfast a moment ago.

KEILAR: I know. I'm very sorry about that. But she was so diplomatic in how she said this is total B.S. That's really what her statement said.

AVLON: Yes. And you know what?

KEILAR: But she was nice about it.

AVLON: We like the calling of the B.S.

[06:25:05]

BERMAN: All right, John. Thank you very much.

So Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is now being sued for the anti-riot bill he just signed into law. What does Miami's Republican mayor think about this bill? Plus, we'll ask him about the report that Nikki Haley was looking at being the potential running mate in 2024.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Developing this morning, an Orlando civil rights attorney has filed a federal lawsuit, challenging Florida's newly-signed anti-riot law, arguing that it's unconstitutional. Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis, signed the controversial bill into law Monday. The bill increases penalties for new crimes like "aggravated rioting" and "mob intimidation" during protests. It denies bail to any individual arrested for such offenses until their first court appearance. It prohibits damaging or defacing property deemed historic, including Confederate monuments.