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Protesters Break Curfew Nationwide On Night Eight; Mother Of Floyd's Young Daughter Shares Family's Heartache; CNN Projects GOP Rep. Steve King Defeated In Iowa Primary; Biden Sharpens Contrast with Trump, Vows to Heal Racial Divide; Campaign of Deception amid the Violence. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired June 03, 2020 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:00]

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: New York.

Shimon, we saw a lot of peaceful protesters were calling them. But the bad stuff was not over today, what did you see?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, now, there were pockets of bad stuff. Entire day -- I mean, we walked miles, the entire team here, our security we -- all of us walked miles up and down Manhattan today with peaceful protests, people chanting, people together.

It was a day where I really felt were you can really see people being excited to be outside again, because even walking through parts of Manhattan to the upper east side, through lower Manhattan -- you know, people were outside, spectators. Just people watching, we're lining up along the streets, almost like as if it was a parade or a march. And they were out and they were -- they were clapping.

Of course, at night, there have been some issues. But nothing like we saw last night, Chris. At this hour of the night, all we were hearing last night were sirens, police chasing looters around town.

And I want to show you just up the street -- I mean, there are police cars that are driving around -- you know, there are lights on but look how quiet it is. There is no one outside and that's how it's been for the better part of the night.

Behind me here is Union Square Park, which has been a gathering point here for many of the protesters. There was a lot of looting in this neighborhood, there's a lot of stores now boarded up. There's none of that here tonight. There has been some looting across Manhattan, but you know, it's important to say that they're just -- they're not seeing what we saw last night.

I will tell you we're told by the NYPD there were about 200 arrests tonight, and that's going to be curfew violations. There was some looting, we and our team witnessed a couple of those incidents. But overall, and I think it's important to note this, it's now starting to rain, so that's going to help things along as well. Things much different here tonight, much quieter and it looks like whatever measures maybe perhaps the NYPD undertook here has helped.

The other thing could be that there was so much looting last night, I mean, quite honestly, maybe there's just -- there's nothing left to loot. I mean, they hit so many stores here last night, so that could be it.

But I want to say that I think the tactics we have seen, different tactics from the NYPD today, different measures, streets closed, a lot more police officers and strategic locations, and all of that Chris, seems to have certainly helped them.

CUOMO: Yes, I think that the NYPD took a different strategy set from what happened yesterday. I think that was a big wake up call for them.

And what will be interesting to see in the coming day, they'll probably get the information before just about anybody is the arrests they make for looting, it's going to be interesting to see how many of those people are in databases of prior criminality as opposed to protesters. I think that we're going to learn that people who came out here for the right reasons are getting a bad name.

PROKUPECZ: Yes, I know, I think you're absolutely right. The other thing that's going to be interesting too, and you spoke to Chief Monahan about this. I asked him -- you know, how many of the looters are repeat looters, or repeat burglars who they are seeing. And he said they have -- they have not done that kind of analysis yet.

You know, look, a lot of the officers here have been critical of the new bail laws. And what's happening is is that these are considered there are burglary charges in some cases, considered to be minor under the law let's say. And what happens is they're not being held on bail.

So you know, the joke here in town among the officers is, a lot of them are getting released before the officers are getting home, and so they're going to do that analysis. We've heard that from the commissioner talk a lot about the legislation and the issues that he has with it, and so they're going to do that analysis. That's going to be another thing that's going to be interesting to see if people who are looting and we're doing this burglar as if they were getting out and then coming back and then getting re-arrested. That's going to be something interesting as well, Chris.

CUOMO: There's no question about it, they didn't like it when it happened, they didn't want my brother to sign it into law. This is something that is controversial and they're going to have statistics and we're going to see whether or not the law makes a difference the way it was intended to.

All right, Shimon, so it is 1:00 in the morning right after it now. Keep some eyes -- keep some eyes out there, your energy is impressive. I remember when I used to have energy like that, so stay safe with the team, thank you for making the interview with Chief Monahan a reality for us, that was because of Shimon Prokupecz and his team that we were able to get this key interview with the chief at the beginning of this evening where he laid out how they were doing things differently tonight. And he also explained why he took a knee with protesters and what his

position was on whether or not what will happen in Minnesota was wrongful, and he said that of 800,000 police officer (INAUDIBLE) I'd be surprised if you find one who doesn't think it was wrong.

[01:05:06]

CUOMO: All right, let's bring in James Gagliano and Jonathan Wackrow right now, it's good to have you both. Thank you, gentleman.

JAMES GAGLIANO, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: So let's deal with something that is hard. Jimmy, I'll start with you. The idea of figuring out who's in the crowd and who's making trouble. Our president sees this as very fertile political fodder for him. Boy, it's all the left, the left has to own it. This is bad, bad, bad. Every police officer I ask in every one of the cities when I say do you know who it is, can you say who it is and who it isn't, they all say no, that we definitely have the guy, faux guys with the masks running around, the anarchist, the Antifa offshoots. (INAUDIBLE) there are a lot of groups here. And we have reports of white supremacist organizations posing as others and coming in. And Anthony says there's no way you can say it's just some, it's always a mix of all the possibles looking for opportunism. Jimmy, your take?

GAGLIANO: You know, Chris, I'm looking at this from the perspective of having worked violent extremists and worked the drug cartels and worked white supremacists, and you know, I know that the Minnesota governor have floated that idea out there. I'm not seeing that. I'm not suggesting that there's not something like chatter on one of those racist sites like 4Chan or something like that, where you get all these races together and they talk about this, talk about that.

I'm looking at it from the perspective of the 35,000 -- you know, foot view down in trying to see what's going on and how this is working out. These groups, Chris, I mean, it's almost funny that we call them anarchists because they are so well coordinated. They know where the police are, they're using broadband mobile, they're using their cell phones to communicate with each other.

What they're doing is the police dispersed one crowd, they dissipate then they reconstitute where the police aren't and the police are left thinking how did that same group just metastasize back over there? Really really really difficult, Chris, and here's my only criticism and you've done a good job of pointing out the vast majority of these people are rightfully angry. They're angry about what happened last Monday. Jonathan and I talked about it, we're angry. It's unconscionable what happened.

But the peaceful protesters are not helping the police tonight. In New York City, when there's a curfew at 8:00 p.m. and they stay in town. When they do that, then the agitators can hide behind them, using these human shields and the police have a difficulty figuring out who is who.

CUOMO: I get it, but you know what they say Jonathan, they say I don't want a curfew. I should be able to protest as long as I want, this is America. And you're putting it on it to control my right but it does make policing harder, it gives good protesters a bad name and then, all of it comes down to where does it leave us at the end of the day.

Jonathan, what are your concerns in terms of what you're seeing on the streets?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, listen, you know, I just want to jump back to you to what Jimmy was saying in terms of like how do you bifurcate or identify the two different groups that we're dealing with here in terms of law enforcement intelligence.

And you know, what we're seeing is agitators are actually communicating via social media. There are -- they are a leaderless group that are sending out messages and they're coordinating via social media on how to actually get into the peaceful protests and seconded in there and then -- you know -- you know, act nefariously when the opportunity arises. So that's really the challenge.

So law enforcement actually is utilizing open source intelligence methods to try to understand who these groups are. They do know who a lot of them are right now and they know who those hostile actors are, it's just identifying what that next step is going to be. How are they going to -- you know, proceed in their -- in their actions to try to take this and leverage this moment of hurt across the country -- you know, for their own purposes in their own gain?

CUOMO: And remember, Jimmy, as you pointed out to me, a few riots ago, you know, that we were recovering together that they get to have it both ways. You can pose as a protester during the day, find an opportunity and then all of a sudden you go from a protester to a criminal. And that of course really besmirches the reputation of what the righteousness is behind protests that are going on all over the country.

All right, let me jump to break fellows, thank you for being up late for me. Thank you for giving me good information and helping my audience understand. Jimmy and Jonathan, thank you both very much.

So, flash point for this this time was of course Mr. Floyd killed in Minneapolis by officers, one with a knee on his neck for many minutes, three others standing by and watching.

The Floyd family has been playing a large role not just in terms of seeking justice, but helping keep the peace while that goes on. We want to check in on that fight and where it goes from here, we have a voice for the family, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:14:33]

CUOMO: We can't lose sight of how we got here. The protests, the volatility, the violence, stop and look at your screen right now. This is George Floyd's 6-year-old daughter, Gianna, standing next to her mom in a press conference today in Minneapolis. George had a family. George had friends. George had fears. George had teams. I want you to listen as she explains Floyd's death will haunt her family forever.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[01:15:01]

ROXIE WASHINGTON, MOTHER OF GEORGE FLOYD'S 6-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER: I wanted everybody to know that this is what those officers took.

At the end of the day, they get to go home and be with their families, Gianna does not have a father.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: These situations are often what people want to make of them out of convenience. But at the end of the day very basically, they are about loss and hurt and pain.

Reverend Kevin McCall joins us now, he's a spokesperson for George Floyd's brother, Terrence this week called for protests to be peaceful, for communities to be kept intact so that people can live there once the pandemic passes. Welcome to PRIME TIME, thank you for being with us, sir.

REV. KEVIN MCCALL, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: Thank you for having me.

CUOMO: Reverend, what can you tell us about the state of the family emotionally and how they're coping?

MCCALL: They're devastated. They are still in the state of shock in terms of what happened. Terrence, we got back from Minneapolis on last night and Terrence didn't want to do anything today. He just wanted to rest and really hold his children close to him because he decided to really think about what transpired with his brother when he went to the scene where his brother was killed. So they're holding up and they still continue to be in a place of not peace, but more so unrest.

CUOMO: You know, the challenge here on one level is to get people to understand that this is their calls as well, even if they didn't know George, even if they're not black in America. And the obstacle to that challenge is often the optics.

Well, you know, we did something wrong. You know, Sara Sidner one of our reporter, her name -- her words echo in my head ever since she said them, this was over a $20.00. This was over $20.00 this police stop.

What do you want people to know about George Floyd and his family? People who are slow to want to accept that this is something that shouldn't have happened, that it wasn't about something he helped cause?

MCCALL: Many times, when these things happen, unfortunately, people always talking about what transpired. It's not about the victim in terms of what transpired, it's how did he get here in terms of him being dying, from him being dead. So, it's not about what the issue had -- the issue of him, the officer stood on his neck for minutes and killed him, so that's what's it about. So the question is when they're going to lock up the four -- other three officers, that's the question.

CUOMO: There is zero justification for how they carried out this -- you know, supposed arrest. Has the family gotten any -- I heard the other day that there had been like no contact between the victim's family and police for days after this? Is that true?

MCCALL: Yes, that is true. There was no contact in terms of that. They were still trying to figure out. It was the power of the people. The people put the pressure on the peaceful protesters put the pee -- the pressure on for the police chief to be able to respond, for swift justice to happen.

I mean, when this first transpired, the local D.A. said that it's too early to do anything, and then the next day it was a arrest made. And that was the power of the people that protest and was calling the D.A.'s office.

CUOMO: What do you think about the Attorney General Keith Ellison and his looking over the cases?

MCCALL: Well, we have faith in Keith Ellison in terms of looking over the case, Terrence have faith. We just want to continue to be able to stay in the race in terms of the justice fight. We don't want a swift -- we wanted swift justice, they're calling for swift justice, but they want to make sure that the justice goes in the favor of locking up the officers. And making sure that they are charged with the full of extent of the law.

CUOMO: What do you say to the men and women in your community who look at your hat and say, why are you calling for peace when we keep getting killed, we don't get jobs the same way, we don't get educated the same way, we don't get protected from viruses the same way, we don't get treated the same way in this country. Why do you have peace on your hat? We're not going to have peace here.

MCCALL: Well, it's interesting you say that, because you know, it seems like black people and brown people and Latino people has always gotten the wrong end of the stick. We have always been fighting for everything. We had to fight for the right to vote, we had to fight for women's rights, we had to fight for the voter's civil rights act. We had to always keep fighting. So when is that going to get the justice that we have?

[01:20:21]

MCCALL: You know, and as I was saying and it always happens, is that the struggle maybe long but the victory is certain. And if you keep your eyes on the prize and you do it peacefully and you turn your peace into a policy and then from policy to change legislation, then you can be able to get the justice that you need, and that's what we need.

In this case and cases across the country, we need peace, policy, and then legislation, and do it peacefully, it gives results. Martin Luther King did it and got results, and he was respected to this day.

CUOMO: Yes, well, there's no question. Dr. King's message is as resonant and relevant as ever. His letter from a Birmingham Jail about his growing frustration with the white moderate, who'd rather see people go home and leave the streets in the name of order, but it's a toxic order. And that sometimes you have to have unrest and you have to have difficulty in order to change and create a new normal.

What does that mean to you in terms of the need for the majority to join the minority in this cost, or it will just never get done otherwise?

MCCALL: Well, it's good for the minority and majority is to join together because this has affected everyone. I mean, you listen, Chris. People are in their houses for three months -- three months dealing with COVID-19 with their left hand, and while in the place of dealing with that, they have to deal with police brutality with their right hand.

So they had a two deal with two viruses right before our eyes and this was a (INAUDIBLE) like a storm that was brewing that really turned into a tropical storm that really flowed over. And it's spilling over because people were sick and tired of just not getting the results and being beat up. I mean, you're getting beat up on two fronts, you're getting beat up for not wearing a mask in New York City and across the country, you're getting beat up for not having the proper health insurance and health disparities.

So it's a something that needs to transpire in across this country. So joining together is the best way you do so you can get a result that you need. You are better together than you're doing it by yourself.

CUOMO: One of Doctors King's dreams was what an amazing America we could have when we finally harness the strength of our diversity instead of fighting it. That is a dream I guess all of us have to still keep alive. But we're not going to get it done this way, we're not going to get it done by going from crisis to crisis and reliving the same challenge but not the solutions.

Reverend, please extend my condolences to the family, and please extend my invitation that if there's a message that I can help relay, I'm here to do it. But I'm not here to pressure them in any way, they've been through enough.

And Reverend, thank you for joining us tonight, especially at this hour.

MCCALL: Thank you so much.

CUOMO: All right, God bless Reverend.

Well, look, one of the things that people are being asked to do is to vote, your outrage vote vote. Tonight, there is voting going on, there is change coming at the ballot box. One of the most controversial elected officials who was a mainstay of Iowa politics was just voted out in a primary. We have the professor, Ron Brownstein with his perspective on what we

are seeing on the streets and what it may mean in November, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:28:03]

CUOMO: Another big story tonight breaking on our watch, CNN projects that nine term Republican Congressman Steve King of Iowa will lose his primary battle to State Senator Randy Feenstra. His primary fight was undeniably a referendum on King, who has a long history of racially offensive remarks.

His statement last year questioning why the terms white nationalists and white supremacist were offensive was what finally forced House Republican leaders to rebuke him and stripped of his assignments.

Let's bring in the Professor, Ron Brownstein joining us now. Ron, what do you think about the state of play in this country and whether or not it does play in to the November elections?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, good to see you back out and on your feet, Chris. Look, I thought today before we get to Steve King, the contrast between President Trump and Joe Biden today was extraordinarily revealing of I think the way each of them are going to be running in November.

Trump's turn back to the phrase, you know, I am your law and order president, kind of Nixon nostalgia where 52 years ago about we are a very different country is just a reminder that, you know, as we said before, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And whenever he is under political pressure, he turns back to the idea of cultural and racial polarization, even though it carries an undeniable price. He wants to mobilizes base but he continues to say and do things that I think add more hurdles for him in those white- collar suburbs that historically were Republican.

Then you saw Joe Biden today, and even though by historic standards, Biden's overall agenda -- you know, is pretty on the left end of the Democratic kind of spectrum by historic standards.

Today, I think you saw what he's going to run on which is almost a nonpartisan appeal as much as possible, that I am the healer, I am the unifier, I'm going to try to bring the country together. And in that light, it was striking to see the statement from former President George W. Bush today, who did not rebuke Trump by name, but wrote -- you know, five paragraphs that rebuked him in every clause, comma, and explanation point.

[01:29:55]

So the -- I think you see the contrasting messages that both candidates are going to use and this I think underscores -- I mean the turbulence that we are living through just underscores the importance of this fundamental divide. I mean Donald Trump has governed as the President of Red America, and he really has no ability to speak to constituencies beyond his coalition. I think that's painfully apparent in the last few days.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Well, we have been reporting fully what the President has been putting out there about the situation. Here is some of what his opponent put out today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can't breathe. I can't breathe. George Floyd's last words, but they did not die with him. He's still being heard, echoing all across this nation. They speak to a nation where too often, just the color of your skin puts your life at risk.

A country is crying out for leadership, leadership that can unite us, leadership that brings us together.

The President held up the bible at St. John's Church yesterday. I just wish he opened it once in awhile instead of brandishing it. If he opened it, he could have learned something.

They're all to love one another as we love ourselves.

I promise you this. I won't traffic in fear and division. I won't fan the flames of hate. I will seek to heal the racial wounds that have long-plagued our country, not use them for political gain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: So if Trump's play is to galvanize his base, the gamble for his opponent is whether or not the left, the Democrats, the left -- however you want to look at them, are too stratified to come together in an existential battle where it is either Trump or other.

Is the left able to accept Joe Biden as anybody but Trump? Or, will their purity test cause stratification?

BROWNSTEIN: You know, is I have written before, Joe Biden to me never solved the problem of fully unifying the Democratic Party and mobilizing the new Democratic coalition. But he may win anyway.

You know, it is possible that Joe Biden is never going to entirely excite younger voters, especially younger voters of color who after the last week maybe even more skeptical that the political system can really deliver change.

You know, looking at these protests in cities that are now run by very liberal Democrats, prosecutors and mayors, and yet, you know, many of these young people feel that nothing has changed.

Biden may never entirely solve that problem, but as I said, he may win anyway, because he is running better than any Democrat since Al Gore in 2000. In fact, in the ABC/Washington Post poll, He is running better than any Democrat in the last 40 years among older white voters.

He's leading seniors by 10 points in that ABC/Washington Post poll. That's unprecedented. In fact, that is something Chris -- we didn't even see in 2018. In 2018, we saw the erosion for Trump in the white collar suburbs, particularly among women, but also among college- educated white men.

Now, since then, he has continued to -- he's lost ground among older white voters. And that is partially around his response to the coronavirus outbreak and the suggestions by Republicans like Dan Patrick in Texas that seniors almost had a duty to die to get the economy going.

But I think it's also because they have seen other presidents. And they realized how aberrant this behavior is relative to what has come before.

Biden was alluded to that quite a bit in his speech today. So while Democrats historically, as you said, you have to expand the electorate to expand the map, Biden may be able to put places like Florida, Arizona and Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in a better position for Democrats not by turning out more young people, but by doing a little better among old people who reliably vote.

CUOMO: One observation, one question. The observation is, you know, what former VP Biden said last week about if you don't know who to vote for me or Trump, you're not really black. He was a week short on that statement.

If he were to say that right now in the midst of what is going on, it might have resonated differently. Look it was clumsy the way he said it, and it took license that he doesn't have and was insensitive. But look what happened a week later.

But you contrast that with what you are suggesting, what is happening right now means for the President, you say I think it hurts him in those suburbs. Why? Why doesn't it galvanize people, especially white America's fears that we need Trump? Look at how angry these people are getting. Look at this. Over one case that is so obvious. Why don't they just let them prosecute it. Why are they so angry? Doesn't that help Trump?

[01:34:55]

BROWNSTEIN: There is a risk. There is no doubt there is a risk, that there is a level of disorder that will drive away voters that Biden needs.

But you know, if I'm right that he is never going to generate, galvanize a huge turnout of younger, non white voters, he has to improve among white voters who usually vote Republican. And there is a risk that this can go too far and scare some of those voters away exactly the way you are describing.

But this is not 1968 -- Chris. It's a very different country. Demographically, it is much more diverse, it's much better educated. And attitudes about race are different.

I think, you know, Trump's Nixon nostalgia here as if he can run the 1968 playbook in 2020 just underestimates the extent to which broad segments of white America have come to realize, particularly I think since Ferguson that there are fundamental inequities in our system.

And a majority of Americans have said in polling that the President is a racist. I mean just think about that -- an extraordinary, you know, as harshly phrased as it can be. And I think that there is a treadmill for him that the more he kind of strikes this note of polarization and racial conflict to galvanize and mobilize his base, he adds to the doubts among many of these traditionally Republican-leaning voters, not only the white-collar suburbanites now but some of these older, 50-plus voters that he is simply too volatile, to divisive, and to belligerent to be their president.

CUOMO: Steve king arguably did not lose his primary because his opponent, the state senator, beat him over the head with being a bigot. He beat him over the head with being ineffectual. He actually because he lost his committee appointments.

He really didn't even mention it in any real way. What does that tell you?

BROWNSTEIN: Right. Well, it tells you two very -- it tells you two things. It's a very Republican district and in Trump's America he retains a lot of support. I mean I have always said to you that, you know, he mobilizes what I call the coalition of restoration, which are the voters and the parts of the country that are most uneasy with the way America is changing -- demographically, culturally and even economically.

But his political strategy is centered on the idea of squeezing bigger margins out of shrinking groups at the price of generating more alienation among the groups in society that are growing.

You know, in 2016, he lost 87 of the hundred largest counties in America. He lost them by a combined 15 million votes. That's where the economy is growing. That's where the dynamism is happening.

And I think it's highly likely that he will lose them by even more in 2020, not only because of these cultural issues, but also because they were the places hardest hit by their faltering response on the pandemic.

That means he's going to have to turn out even bigger margins in places that are not adding population, turn out more voters, expand his margins. And that becomes hard if you suffer any erosion at all among older whites because those places are very white and they're older.

CUOMO: So why do so many people still think he is going to win?

BROWNSTEIN: Because he can win without winning the popular vote, right? I mean it's entirely -- it's hard -- the polling is pretty clear and consistent that it's going to be very hard for him to get above 45 percent or 46 percent of the vote. But it remains within the realm of possibility that he could somehow, you know, squeeze out narrow victories in Arizona, Wisconsin, and Florida even if he loses Michigan and Pennsylvania and still hold on to the presidency.

Democrats are probably never going to get to a point where they can feel confident, entirely confident that would happen. But today, in part because of what I said, because of Biden's greater strength than any Democrat in 20 years among older voters, today Biden would probably win all three of those states -- Arizona, Wisconsin and Florida -- narrowly.

Again, you know, the historic model for Democrats that we saw in 2018 with Andrew Gillum and Stacey Abrams and Beto O'Rourke -- the idea was the way you expand the map is by expanding the electorate. But they all performed pretty poorly among whites over 45.

And it was Kyrsten Sinema in Arizona who didn't -- who wasn't as galvanizing for younger voters but performed much more credibly among middle-aged and older white voters who vote more reliably. She was the one who actually flip the Sunbelt State. And I think that's the model for what we may see for Biden in 2020.

He's not going to advance the long term Democratic project of transforming and reconfiguring the electorate. But he may win on a kind of throwback model of just doing a little better among older, blue-collar whites along with this shift that Trump has accelerated in the white collar suburbs away from the GOP.

CUOMO: Super, super quick -- how important is it who Biden picks as VP?

BROWNSTEIN: I think it is important. And I think he will be well served to go beyond that and give people a better idea than nominees usually do about who else he would be bringing into government.

There's only so much excitement he's ever going to be generating round the idea of making Joe Biden president. But I think he was his most effective ever when he talked on the (INAUDIBLE) night before Michigan, the last rally before the coronavirus shut down everything, about being a bridge to a next generation and stood on stage with Gretchen Whitmer, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker.

I think and a lot of Democrats and a lot of Americans would be excited about that kind of transition especially if you're looking at a clear picture like yesterday, right -- Chris?

[01:40:00]

BROWNSTEIN: Not only did the President go push out the protesters to go through the park, everybody around him was white, and that is not America anymore. There is a new America emerging -- a metropolitan, diverse America, and I think Biden can only go so far in embodying and recognizing that I think in his vice presidential pick and even beyond that, he needs to kind of acknowledge that he is a transitional figure.

CUOMO: Got to look like America.

All right. Ron Brownstein -- thank you very much. That is why I call you the professor. Thank you for the good word.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

CUOMO: God bless you and the family.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks.

CUOMO: All right. The President wants you to believe that this is all about people trying to hurt him and to hurt you. The looting, the violence -- it's all the work of the radical left. And that means Democrats. Democrats are behind all this. Democrats are trying to destroy America.

Is it true? Boy -- it sounds good for him, right? We have new reporting that shows what extremists on the right and left are up to and jhow a member of the first family went along, whether they realized it or not, with a right wing extremist agenda.

That new information and Andrew McCabe -- back with analysis next.

[01:41:15]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Don't be a sucker. Anyone trying to tell you that here is the group that's really behind the violence we're seeing on the streets -- they've never been in a crowd like this. I have and let me tell you. There are lots of different factions and there are lots of different people there for the wrong reason.

And that certainly goes for the President. He's trying to sell you something and he is doing it for the wrong reason.

Let's bring in Donie O'Sullivan with the story of one tweet that shows the cycle of confusion. First of all, it's nice to meet you, young man.

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How are you -- Chris?

CUOMO: Good. Better from me to you. Thank you for helping me out with this tonight.

Tell me the story.

O'SULLIVAN: Right. So we've heard the President blame pretty much exclusively left wing activists, as he would call them, for all the violence we're seeing on the streets across the U.S., particularly one group Antifa, which is an extreme left organization sometimes involved in violence.

With that in mind on Sunday -- what started circulating on Twitter was a tweet which I think we can bring up on the screen which was purportedly sent by Antifa America which says "Tonight is the night, comrades. Tonight we say F the city and we move into the residential areas, the white hoods, and we take what's ours."

So clearly a call for violence there. That tweet even though it was a pretty -- on a pretty small account with just a few hundred followers, it got major traction.

It got picked up by the President's son, Don Trump Jr. He shared it with his almost three million Instagram followers as proof that, you know, his dad is right and Antifa is a big threat. He took the tweet and commented and he said, "Absolutely insane." This is Donald Trump Jr. writing. "Just remember what Antifa really is -- a terrorist organization. They're not even pretending anymore."

Yesterday, we find out from Twitter that the account is actually not run by left-wingers, but by white nationalists, by white supremacists.

Now two things. That tells us that that does confirm suspicions that, you know, there are people on the far-right here trying to meddle and agitate in this way. That does not say -- you know, that does not tell us though that Antifa is in no way involved and is not involved in agitation on the streets.

And I should finally mention also that Don Trump Jr., there's no indication that, you know, whatsoever that he knew who was really behind this account. He, you know like a lot of us sometimes do fell for online misinformation.

CUOMO: It happened to say exactly what a supporter of the President would want it to say. Maybe you could've looked at it and said boy, it's a little bit too perfect for us. But it's not about holding him to account for it. He hasn't been elected.

It's about what's going on in this country and is -- and Donie, in a vernacular you would understand, there's often bad on both sides. Bad on both sides.

Donie -- thank you very much. Appreciate it.

So look, when you're dealing with fringe, you've got fringe on the left and the right. I personally have never ascribed any affinity between a radical left wing group or a radical right wing group and the Republicans or the Democrats.

Yes, I'm one of those who have transitioned to talk about left and right, but that's only because I think the parties have largely kind of become impotent. And that' sit's more a political thought than it is about political organization in this country.

But I've never really ascribed an affinity, and I don't know what the President wants to. Because if he really wants the Democrats to own Antifa or whatever is on the left, well then, he's got to own the right. Right, it's a reciprocal play.

Does he really want to own white nationalists? Maybe that's why he's always so soft on them. Maybe he does think that that's kind of the fair matchup of the teams. Andrew McCabe is here to help this sorted out. I'm not going to sully you with politics. I want to remind people, you've got a bestselling book, "The Threat: How the FBI protects America in the age of terror and Trump".

Are you surprised that the right wing white nationalists found a clever way to scare white people about the black man?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: No. I don't think that's surprising at all -- Chris. It's exactly what you would expect from these fringe extremist groups who see an opportunity now with this nationwide unrest, with these massive protests that really created an environment that's ripe for rioting and looting.

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MCCABE: And these are folks who are looking for any opportunity to throw some dirt on the other side. So to do it by posing as, you know, their opposite and trying to blame the other side for the violence I think is pretty typical.

CUOMO: I got to tell you. It's worked well.

On the political right, they talk about Antifa and Black Lives Matter and the radical left all the time. And you know who has benefited? Good play by this white trash, you know, these white nationalists and the bigots because they get defended.

I have staunch conservatives on a regular basis saying, hey, Neo- Nazis, Antifa, what's the difference? These guys, these Nazis are getting really good cover in this new comparison model. You say that's no accident.

MCCABE: I don't think it is. I mean I think we saw that in Charlottesville, right? The response from the President to Charlottesville is there were fine people on both sides. You don't see that same sort of language being imposed on the rioting and the looting that we see taking place in New York and the violence that we see in D.C. and other cities.

I think it's -- you know, look, I spent a lot of time, a lot of years in the FBI running our counter-terrorism programs. I can tell you what an organized, hierarchical, truly terrorist group looks like.

And Antifa is not that group. This is not a monolithic entity. It's a loose network of small groups of individuals who share an ideology. They share some political beliefs. They really don't like what they consider to be fascists or racists. They are kind of born through an effort to counter racist protests and political speech.

They don't like big business. They don't like capitalists. They're not real fans of the police. So a volatile group, but it's not one that is highly-organized. It's widely thought to be very small in numbers. And I should say there is also reporting out tonight that indicates that the FBI at least here in D.C. has not seen any indication of the involvement of true kind of Antifa-identified individuals and the violence that we've seen around the nation's capital.

So once again, I think what you see is the President doesn't ever let the facts get in the way of a convenient political narrative. And I think that is what he is pursuing with his constantly bringing up Antifa.

CUOMO: Well look, two things that should be pretty obvious. First one is, you commit a crime under the guise of being part of Antifa then you are a criminal. That's what you are.

And if you come out just to bust things up and it's not an expression of outrage in the moment of being pushed to that point of desperation like we see for many African-Americans and brown and black people in this country. But you're a criminal and you're there to cause trouble and you're there to mix in with a legitimate cause.

And if you're with Antifa then that's what you are and you can wave that flag and if they don't want to own you, that's on them.

The second thing is this. We get killed in this country by right wing extremists. Those guys are in your count. Those are the case count of threats that you guys are tracking down most often. And this battle between radical right and radical left has given those guys cover.

And the President has had to subtly and not so subtly sometimes move away from the idea of going after those groups because that's his political play. He can't be as angry at the right wing groups if he wants to blame the left wing groups.

MCCABE: That's exactly right. You have seen that time and time again with what the FBI refers to as racially motivated extremism which has been on the rise for the last three years.

We've seen it in mass shootings across the country. We've seen mass shooters who are referring back to racially-motivated extremists in other country and then in the attacks that they've waged. So there's no question of the lethality that that extremism poses to our nation.

But it's very hard to see the President or any of his Republican colleagues taking a strong stance against those attacks when they occur because it becomes wrapped up in the second amendment issues and everything else.

Whereas here you have a situation where you've got clearly criminal activity -- opportunistic criminal activity associated with these riots and there just seems to be a really reflexive kind of knee-jerk effort to start to blame this on people on the left. It's very hard to see this without some stench of politics around it.

CUOMO: Andrew McCabe -- you staying up this late to talk to me, you're the man. Thank you very much for doing it. The best to you and the family.

MCCABE: Thanks -- brother. Good to be here.

[01:54:46] CUOMO: And look, you know, in terms of how you want to feel about

this, you feel anyway you want, just look at the tweets. This president has to be coaxed, has to be forced, pushed by us in the media to talk about right wing extremism, to own its wrongs, to own its threat.

Look how he is with radical left groups. He sees some kind of advantage in pushing the left on the radical left and on being quiet about the actual groups that are trying to kill us in this country. Think about it.

Even today what he has been tweeting about looting and all of the stuff, he took a shot at shot at my brother about it. He took a shot at me in there, too. His facts were all wrong but it's not about the facts. It's about fear.

But just think about it. A President who is going to be quiet about bigoted, Nazi, right wing extremists just for political advantage. What a state of play in this country.

This is live picture from Portland, Oregon. 10:55 p.m. local there. Ongoing demonstrations in the streets, no major incidents to show and that is a good thing.

You may not like it but this is America, it's not about us liking things all the time, it's about the right to make your own statement. That's what's happening here. This is what America is, like it or not.

Thank you for watching.

Stay tuned. We have live coverage continuing here all night long on CNN.

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