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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Pence Says Trump Is Wrong, VP Has No Right To Overturn Election; Sources: Interview With Rep. James McGovern (D-MA); Biden On Jobs Numbers: "History Has Been Made Here"; Minneapolis Officials Release Police Body Camera Footage Of Deadly No-Knock Raid; New Online Game Sensation Moving To New York Times. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired February 04, 2022 - 20:00   ET

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

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: So, proceedings today took a very bizarre turn.

Right before the verdict, the jury foreman sends a note to the Judge saying, quote: "We have one juror who is refusing to look at the evidence and is acting on a feeling." The jurors were brought to the courtroom, instructed to deliberate on the evidence, not be swayed by sympathy and then they reached a verdict quickly thereafter and it was guilty.

Sentencing is set for May.

Thanks for joining us. It's time for Anderson.

[20:00:25]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening.

At the end of what by any stretch of the imagination has been a landmark day, the hallmark, a former Vice President standing up and saying his boss's claim that he could overturn the election was wrong, and even more remarkable, perhaps is that him saying that was a big deal at all.

Yes, he told the truth, which sadly in this moment, is news making. On the other side of the coin today, from the same party was this. The Republican National Committee characterizing the attack on the Capitol as, quote: "legitimate political discourse," and punishing two members for serving on the Committee investigating January 6.

There is also this, a CNN exclusive that the Committee has evidence casting doubt on another party member's fuzzy account of his role on that day, Jim Jordan, the same lawmaker Republicans tried to appoint as a member of the Committee, in spite of the possibility he could be implicated in what amounted to an attempted coup.

It has been quite a day for democracy and what remains of what used to be known as the Grand Old Party, redeeming it somewhat, both the party and the day, Mike Pence who once called January 6, merely quote "one day in January." Well, this afternoon, while speaking to the Federalist Society, he broke with the former President who is now openly praising the insurrection and dangling pardons for the rioters. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: January 6 was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol. Lives were lost and many were injured. But thanks to the courageous action of the Capitol Police and Federal law enforcement, violence was quelled. The Capitol was secured and we reconvened the Congress that very same day to finish our work under the Constitution of the United States and the laws of this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: The former Vice President also spoke to his role that day taking direct aim at the former President.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENCE: The only role Congress has with respect to the Electoral College is to open and count votes submitted and certified by the states. No more, no less. But there are those in our party who believe that as the presiding officer of the Joint Session of Congress, that I possess unilateral authority to reject Electoral College votes.

And I heard this week, President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election. President Trump is wrong, I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Just a reminder, this has never been in doubt until the former administration or for that matter until 147 Republican lawmakers either to please the President pandered to their constituents or simply because they truly believed they could cast votes on the sixth to overturn results in contested states.

Now, remember, too, Mike Pence being able to overturn the election isn't something the former President dreamed up a year ago and has since thought the better of. He said so explicitly, just this week.

So given the climate, what Mike Pence said today constitutes a brave stand, as does this, from the rare few at today's event, and within the party willing to actually speak the truth about the election out loud on camera to our Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDY FITZGERALD, REPUBLICAN VOTER: Joe Biden won the election. So, I don't -- you know, I don't know what more I can say. I mean, Joe Biden won the election. The role of the Vice President in that is very ceremonial. They counted the electoral ballots, the members of Congress voted to certify, Joe Biden won the election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: We've got a full report from Randi in our next hour. The sad fact is, though, what he told her and what Mike Pence told the crowd is, at this moment, not within the Republican mainstream.

Here is what it is today, the Republican National Committee formally censured Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for serving on the House Select Committee.

The resolution obtained by CNN accuses the two of -- and I quote, " ... participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse." That's what the R.N.C. says. That's what they're calling this.

It's hard to imagine this is legitimate political discourse. Then again, it is also hard to imagine Josh Hawley, a sitting U.S. senator raising his fist in solidarity that day to the gathering mob.

But there you have it, and yes, those were the exact words of the resolution that was adopted, R.N.C. Chair, Ronna McDaniel subsequently tried to scuttle away, scurry away from them by putting out a statement adding the words, quote: "That had nothing to do with the violence at the Capitol." Her uncle, Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney tweeted this today and I quote: "Shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol. Honor attaches to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for seeking truth, even when doing so comes at great personal cost."

[20:05:20]

In this Republican Party, that is a brave tweet. That's about it. He is an outlier in the party that once nominated Mitt Romney as its presidential candidate. He is now an outlier.

Cheney and Kinzinger, outcasts, despite being rock ribbed conservatives and the likes of Congressman Jim Jordan who we alluded to at the top of the broadcast, and we'll discuss a bit later in the program, they are the ones now who speak for today's G.O.P.

Joining us now, conservative lawyer, "Washington Post" contributing columnist George Conway.

So George, clearly this was former Vice President Pence's strongest rebuke of the former President. I wish we played the applause at the Federalist Society because it wasn't as if there was a rousing standing ovation and he was carried out on the shoulders of the members of the Federalist Society after that.

GEORGE CONWAY, ATTORNEY: Well, I don't know, I'm not able to judge the amount of applause on the video, but I will tell you this that the conservative lawyers for the most part, agree with Pence and were appalled at what happened on January 6th, and have no qualms about that -- about saying that.

And that's what happened with, you know, Bill Barr. Bill Barr went in and, you know, to his credit, you can criticize him for other things, but to his credit, he told the President that no, you can't seize the ballot boxes or voting machines and he told the President to his face in the Oval Office, President Trump, that you lost the election, and there is no basis to claim fraud. And, you know, he got screamed at for it.

And then you have also all the lawyers at the Justice Department other than one who basically threatened to resign if Trump put into place as acting Attorney General the one guy who was supporting the stupid and foolish electoral fraud claims.

And that's why Trump had a lousy set of lawyers yet again, because the real lawyers, the real conservative lawyers and the real law firms wouldn't help him. And so yes, you know, I don't think that -- I think that it makes absolute sense for Pence to pick this audience, to make this statement at this time.

COOPER: Do you think -- well, I mean, the context, obviously of this is also important. I mean, this week alone, we've seen Pence aides testifying one by one cooperating with the January 6th Committee to an extent where there are some things that you apparently wouldn't talk about, we found out that the Committee is going to receive Pence's records from the National Archives.

How do you think the former President is going to react to Pence's comments? Or what does this do to Pence's standing, you know, for his own presidential ambitions?

CONWAY: Well, I think we already know that. We already saw that because I think what really triggered this speech this week was the former President's statement that he issued over the weekend, where he basically said that the person who should be investigated as Mike Pence for not overturning the election.

I mean, once he basically admitted -- Trump admitted that he was trying to overturn the election, and then he -- you know, an incredible example of psychological projection, he is urging an investigation of Mike Pence, which is completely insane.

And I think that's, you know, there's no -- there is no upside for Mike Pence in kowtowing to Donald Trump anymore if Trump is going to be saying that, and Trump -- you know, and to his credit, again, Pence did what he did on January 6th was to follow, which was to follow his oath of office and the Constitution of the United States.

And it's just better for Mike Pence in the eyes of history to take ownership of that in a more emphatic way, which is what he did today to his great credit.

COOPER: Does it make any sense that the R.N.C. put out this official resolution equating a violent attack on the Capitol with you know, the -- I want to get the wording exactly right, with legitimate -- I forgot the wording -- legitimate political discourse, and then Ronna McDaniel coming out later and say, which, you know, had nothing to do with the violence that occurred that day when in fact, that's what they're investigating. They're investigating the attack on the Capitol.

CONWAY: Right. I mean, what Ronna Romney, or excuse me, Ronna McDaniel said was complete nonsense. I mean, if they wanted to make clear a difference between legitimate political discourse and the violence at the Capitol, they could have been more specific in the statement that they issued in the censure that they issued, but they didn't.

And the fact of the matter is, they are just lumping everybody together including the insurrectionists and that's what Trump has been doing, by you know -- he is talking about pardoning these people.

[20:10:10]

And he is not making a distinction between the people who have been charged with seditious conspiracy and people who have just happened to watch the rally and then went home. And the fact of the matter is it goes -- I mean, the criticism, I think, from the Republican National Committee is that somehow, the January 6 committee has exceeded its mandate and gone beyond what happened that day, but it hasn't really and you can't not -- you can't just look at what happened within a couple -block radius of Capitol Hill for two hours on January 6th, because it didn't just happen, you know, accidentally, and it didn't just happen randomly.

And, you know, I don't know who they're talking about when they're talking about legitimate political discourse. Are they talking about the people who were breaking glass and assaulting police officers and throwing fire extinguishers at them and dragging them down a concrete stairs? Are they talking about the people who put up the gallows and said, "Hang Mike Pence"? Are they talking about the people who signed fake electoral votes and submitted them to the National Archives and to the Congress of the United States at the behest of the Trump campaign?

Are they -- is it legitimate political discourse for John Eastman and that fellow in the Justice Department, Jeffrey Clark, to basically make fake theories to overrule the Constitution and overrule the 12th Amendment and overrule the Electoral Count Act of 1887? You know, those two guys.

I mean, you know, is it legitimate political discourse, those two who have now pledged the Fifth Amendment before the January 6th Committee? I don't think so.

And so, you know, it's hard to know who they're talking about here who is engaging in legitimate political discourse, who is somehow being harassed by the January 6 Committee.

If somebody was engaging in legitimate political discourse on January 6 and the days leading up to that, they have nothing to fear from the January 6 Committee or anyone else.

COOPER: And I mean, to have, you know, that Mitt Romney is now such an outlier in the Republican Party, a man who was the nominee for the party is just extraordinary. I mean, Romney, Bill Cassidy, you know, also speaking out against the censure of Kinzinger and Cheney, but the majority, just silence. It's just, I don't know, it's stunning.

CONWAY: It is stunning and sad. I mean, we've gone from you know, cowardice to depravity really in the Republican Party and the R.N.C. It's just horrific.

COOPER: George Conway, I appreciate you being with us as always, thank you.

CONWAY: Thank you, Anderson.

COOPER: Coming up, we have new exclusive CNN reporting that seems to establish what one January 6th figure has been notoriously reluctant to pin down, namely exactly when did Congressman Jim Jordan speak with the former President on January 6th?

And later, what to make economically and politically for President Biden of today's unexpectedly strong job numbers?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:17:15]

COOPER: We have exclusive new reporting tonight on what the House January 6 Committee knows about Congressman Jim Jordan's conversations with the former President on the day of the attack. As you may know, the Congressman who was one of the key figures in the scheme to overturn the election either can't quite or won't quite say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: On January 6, did you speak with him before, during, or after the Capitol was attacked?

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): I'd have to go -- I spoke with him that day after, I think after. I don't know if I spoke with him in the morning or not. I just don't know. I'd have to go back. I mean, I don't -- I don't -- I don't know when those conversations happened. But what I know is I spoke to him all the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: So obviously, a little confused there or hazy, however, whatever adjective you want to use to describe it.

Now, here is in October during House contempt proceedings against Steve Bannon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMES MCGOVERN (D-MA): When did you speak with the former President on January 6th? Did you talk to the former President before, during, or after the attack on the Capitol?

JORDAN: Of course, I've talked to the President. Of course, I've talked to the President. I've been clear about that. I talked to him all the time.

Of course, I talked to the President. I talked to him that day. I've been clear about that. I don't recall the number of times.

MCGOVERN: Was it before, during, or after the attack on the Capitol?

JORDAN: I talked to the President after the attack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: So later in the hearing, Congressman Jordan told Republican Congressman Tom Cole, quote, "I may have talked to him before, I don't know. But all I'm saying is I had nothing to do with any of this," which still doesn't really clear it up.

However, there is new reporting that might, CNN's Paula Reid joins us now with that. So what did you learn, Paula?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, while Jordan's recollection of that day has been inconsistent at best, two sources now tell CNN the House Select Committee has records now that show Jordan spoke with the former President for 10 minutes on the morning of January 6th.

Now remember that afternoon, Jordan took to the House floor to object to the certification of Biden's Electoral College win less than an hour before pro Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol. And these records were actually given to the Committee after Trump lost his bid at the Supreme Court to keep them out of the Committee's hands, and they reveal a request from Trump to get Jordan on the phone from the White House residents that morning, followed by this 10-minute call.

COOPER: And what is Jordan saying about it?

REID: Well, Anderson, our colleague, Annie Grayer asked Jordan about this today and he told her he had multiple calls with Trump on January 6th, but he could only confirm that he spoke with Trump after he left the House floor. He did not remember whether they spoke that morning.

Now a lawyer for Trump and his spokeswoman did not immediately respond to our requests for comment.

COOPER: And I'm sorry, do we know exactly what time this call was? The 10-minute call?

REID: Not at this point. We know that it was in the morning. We know that Trump left the White House at around 11 not -- around 11:00 AM. But I don't think we know specifically from the call logs the time of the call.

COOPER: And what could be the fallout here?

[20:20:08]

REID: Well, Jordan has refused a request to voluntarily cooperate with the House Select Committee's investigation, and in their letter requesting his cooperation, the Committee specifically said I wanted to talk to him about communications with the President, as well as asking him about meetings he had with White House officials and Trump in the weeks leading up to the attack. And look, the Committee is still weighing whether it wants to take the

next step and issue a subpoena of their colleague. But interestingly, Anderson today, the House Rules Committee Chairman, Jim McGovern tweeted that this CNN reporting directly contradicts Jordan's testimony to the Rules Committee last year. And he tweeted suggesting it might be time for Jordan to go before the January 6 Committee and speak honestly about what happened.

COOPER: Yes. Paula Reid, appreciate it. Thank you.

I spoke to Chairman McGovern just before airtime.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. When Jim Jordan was asked a similar question. The one you asked him in the same hearing by Republican Congressman Tom Cole. He said, quote: "I may have talked to him before. I don't know." Him in this case, obviously being the former President. Do you think Congressman Jordan didn't remember a 10-minute call with the sitting President of the United States?

MCGOVERN: Well, how can you not remember a call with the President of the United States? And I asked him very specifically, you know, did you talk to him before, during, or after? And he said after. And so he was very, very explicit.

And so, you know, it doesn't seem possible to me that anybody could not recall talking to a President of the United States. And so, you know, clearly there is a contradiction between what he said to me, and what we now know as a result of the January 6 Committee, and I think he owes it to the country to go before the January 6 Committee and answer some questions.

COOPER: It's also not just any day. I mean, in the past, Jim Jordan had said, well, I speak to the President, you know, every day, but every day is not January 6. January 6, obviously was an extraordinary day. And anybody who spoke to the President on that day, I would think would, of course, remember.

MCGOVERN: Right, and somebody who spoke to the President before the attack, came upon the Capitol, I'd like to know what they talked about.

I mean, every day, we learn more and more about what went on leading up to January 6, everything from the President wanting to use the military to seize voting machines to now finding documents that he tore up personally that are now being put back together.

I mean, there is no doubt that what happened on January 6 had its roots in the West Wing and what worries me is that we have members of Congress that are covering up for the President, or they may be complicit in this.

And so I think it is important for him to come forward and answer questions before the January 6 Commission. COOPER: Yes. And --

MCGOVERN: And you know, I want to know what -- you know, I want to know, all that he knows.

COOPER: You say you think it's important that he do it. Do you think he actually will, though? I mean, there is --

MCGOVERN: Well, look, I think he owes it to the country. I think he owes it to the country. Look, Anderson, I was the last person off the House floor on January 6. I assumed the Chair after Speaker Pelosi was whisked away. I saw these rioters trying to get at us by smashing the window in the Speaker's gallery.

So, what happened that day was terrible. People died, 140 police officers were wounded. Staffers Democratic and Republican staffers were traumatized that day. You know, for a member of Congress to turn a blind eye to that, to try to cover up or to get continue to pledge his allegiance to the former President is unconscionable.

He owes the American people the truth. We need to get at the truth.

COOPER: The list of unconscionable behavior is quite a long one, sadly, these days. Do you think there is a clear cut answer whether or not any Member of Congress can be subpoenaed by a congressional committee if it came to that?

MCGOVERN: Well, I'm not, you know, an expert on all of that. You know, I leave that to the attorneys, but just out of a sense of decency. You know, I'm going to tell you one of the reasons why I feel so strongly that people -- you know, one of the reasons I feel so strongly that Republicans will not take control of the House and the Senate in the midterms is because based on the behavior of people like Jim Jordan, Kevin McCarthy and others.

I mean, to do -- to have that happen is tantamount to turning the keys over to the insurrectionists. You know, Jim Jordan is the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee. If they were to take over, he would be the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, let that sink in.

So, he owes it to not only his colleagues to all those who suffered on that day, but to the American people to tell us what that conversation was about and anything else he knows that is important to the Committee understanding what happened that day.

COOPER: Congressman Jim McGovern, appreciate your time. Thank you.

MCGOVERN: All the best.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, coming up tonight, the surprising jobs numbers that President Biden is clearly thankful for. A live report from the White House and a conversation with John King about if the Biden administration can capitalize on it heading into midterms. That's next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:28:57]

COOPER: President Biden spending this evening at his Delaware home. He left the White House at the end of a far more encouraging week for the administration than it has had in quite a while.

Two days after the death of the ISIS leader during a U.S. military attack, the President celebrated monumental economic news at home. The economy adding a surprising 467,000 jobs last month and revised numbers, jobs numbers show employers added 6.6 million jobs during Biden's first year in office. That's the strongest first year record of any President.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our country is taking everything that COVID had to throw at us and we've come back stronger. History has been made here, but it comes alongside the largest drop in unemployment rate in a single year on record.

The largest reduction in childhood poverty ever recorded in a single year and the strongest economic growth this country has seen in nearly 40 years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: But the President also noted that the economic clouds still hanging over the country from inflation and his approval ratings of course remain on underwater. Our chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins joins us now.

So was the White House expecting the report to be as positive as it was?

[20:30:05]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Not even close. They were actually pretty relieved today when this came out Anderson because they've kind of been preparing reporters behind the scenes saying that they did not believe this is going to be a good jobs report. Because look at when the data was collected, it was in peak of January when COVID cases were about 800,000 per day, you were seeing millions of people stay home from work, workers not going out and seeking work. And so, they were very worried it was going to be another one of those bleak jobs reports.

And you've seen, you know, month to month over the last several months, it's been really unpredictable. And economists have often been way off in their predictions. They were way off in a good way, this time. And it was much higher than the administration thought. And you definitely sensed this sense of relief from officials today talking about these numbers.

COOPER: Yes. And clearly, the President wanted to sell the success of the numbers to the American people. How does the White House plan to, I guess, make the most of this?

COLLINS: Well, I think this is a jobs report where the President can come out as he did today for about 20 minutes and tout it and talk about not only what these numbers show saying there are a lot of good indicators here, but also talking about the things that he's done that he believes has contributed to this talking about the American Rescue Plan that was passed once he first took office, talking about the infrastructure plan that was passed in the fall, the effects that you're going to see from that, and trying to say this is proof that my plan the economy is working.

But Anderson of course, what they have to do with that is also talk about the domestic legislation that is stalled on Capitol Hill, the Build Back Better Plan that we know, Senator Manchin said he would not vote for in December. He recently said the plan as it is, is dead are going to have to basically start from scratch, if they want to do a smaller version. Of course, the President today also acknowledged the inflation numbers, and we are expecting to get more consumer price data next week, those numbers are expected to be very high. And that has been a main concern for people.

And so, the President noted today, gas is a lot higher than people normally expect it to be groceries are a lot higher than people expect them to be. And so he says they're working to address that. But the question of how quickly those numbers can come down and what is actually in his capacity to do will affect the way that he sells the numbers that came out in this report today.

COOPER: Hey, Kaitlan stay with us, want to bring in our chief national correspondent and host of "INSIDE POLITICS" John King. John, could a strong labor market be a sign of hope for this White House in the midterms?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a sign of hope Anderson. And if you're the president, if you're his team, or if you're Democrat, February 4th looks a hell of a lot better than January 4th, in the sense that not only do you have the new job numbers from last month, but you have those revisions. So there's a bit of momentum here. Is one jobs report going to fix the president problem? Absolutely not. So what can he help? He needs another one, and another one, and another one. Kaitlan just talked about the unpredictability. We've been on this roller coaster, everybody, whether you're Democrat or Republican, Independent, no matter what you do for a living, you're exhausted, you're anxious, you're frustrated from COVID and from the economic domino effect of COVID.

And so, what does the President need, he needs three or four or five of these in a row 500,000 new jobs a month, the unemployment rate at 4% or lower, and then he needs the COVID numbers to keep coming down aggressively as well. So that we're in February now, let's say where are we Easter Sunday, we're already Memorial Day are the numbers are the jobs numbers continue to be great at the COVID numbers significantly down, then maybe the President can get a little bit of a reassessment of rethought for the American people. But it's great to have a jobs windy, your back. Is problem right now, as Kaitlan no pressure was quite candid about today, there's a wind at his back from jobs. But there's a kick in the teeth from inflation.

COOPER: And Kaitlan, I mean, we've heard from a number of veterans in the Obama administration lately that they feel there wasn't enough done to highlight the progress they had made before the 2010 midterms. How much is that on the mind of the White House and wondering as they move toward the midterms now?

COLLINS: I think it's absolutely on their mind. And you heard the President say today, you know, talking about the job numbers that you saw overall, for 2021. He was saying if you can't remember the last time you saw that, it's because you've never seen it, because it's never happened before. Because it is record shattering. But that's also because we saw record shattering job losses, because of the pandemic. So they're competing with those two things.

But I do think the White House is trying to hammer home, this message of here is something positive, something positive, something positive. There's also inflation. But they want to talk about the several good indicators that you have here because they don't feel like that's showing up in the numbers. Though you've heard people David Axelrod has talked about this. You can't tell people how to feel, they feel how they feel. And if people feel bad about the economy, that is something that you as the President, as the White House have to deal with.

But I think one of the things that they'll try to highlight in the coming months is look at the revisions that we got from the Labor Department today, saying, actually in November, December, there were 700,000 more jobs than we estimated initially. And I think that is something that the White House looks at because these jobs reports come out and you see the numbers and they're bad or they're way off and then they're revised upward later on. But that is of course after it's already in the mind of people, oh, here's what the jobs report looks like. Here's what the economy looks like.

COOPER: John, everyone knows you know, James Carville's it's the economy stupid. Employment and presidential popularity are not always closely tied. I just want to show a comparison here in the last two administrations a little over one year in former President Obama had a sky high unemployment rate but also a higher approval rating, then President Trump or Biden at the same time in their first terms. Former President Trump very low unemployment, extremely unpopular.

[20:35:19]

Could it be more true that low unemployment could help make a president popular, but not necessarily that does make them more popular?

KING: Yes. And I think that's one of the risks the Presidents have, Kaitlan went through the litany of statistics the President cited today and he's right to cite them because they're on his side. But it's not how most voters think. I had a voters feel. Right. I remember the '92 campaigns, that's what James Carville was using that slogan. The Bush team was -- they were furious because they thought we had come out of a recession and all the numbers supported them. And then President Bush kept citing those statistics people didn't believe it because they were tired Anderson, they didn't want to be lectured or Jawbone (ph) does (INAUDIBLE) likes to say, by a politician.

Its how do people feel. So watch the President's approval rating, watch consumer sentiment, watch the right track wrong track number, those numbers have to change for the President, the Democrats have a chance. History is against them in a midterm election. The math is against them, because their margins are so close in both -- in both the House where it's a handful of seats in the Senate, where it's no seat. So they need to change the psychology of the American people. And if you lecture them, that is very risky.

So the President needs months of this, he needs people to just exhale, feel better, and then think OK, I'm not as mad I don't need a pinata. The President right now is the pinata, everybody wants to hit something because they're so frustrated from two years of COVID. And he's the pinata he needs that air, if you will, out of people's anxiety by we get close to the election. Something else he could use Anderson, even if the economy goes perfect for Democrats, even if COVID gets better for the Democrats, history is against them. He needs some help from Republicans too. The big challenge for Republicans in this campaign, do they help themselves? Or do they make mistakes as they have in the past sometimes and help Democrats?

COOPER: John King, thank you. Kaitlan, before you go, I just got to ask you what's going on with the lighting behind you. Are you -- are you a disco?

COLLINS: A lot of people have been tweeting asking about this. It's because of the Olympics. The White House is lit up tonight and --

COOPER: OK.

COLLINS: ---it's kind of fun and festive, you know, on a Friday night we're hanging out we like to have some lights every now and then. So it is for the Olympics of course, Go Team USA.

COOPER: OK. I was wondering what was the White House on a Friday night, we want to know.

COLLINS: Also the disco, you know. They got to make some money.

COOPER: The President's away in Delaware and so they turn into a disco.

COLLINS: Exactly.

COOPER: OK. Kaitlan Collins, thank you. Right. John King as well, thanks.

Outrage is growing today after Minneapolis officials released body cam footage showing the deadly police involved shooting of a black man during a no-knock raid. Details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:41:11]

COOPER: Minneapolis pleased are facing increased scrutiny after city officials released body cam footage today showing the deadly shooting of a 22-year-old black man named Amir Locke during a no-knock raid Wednesday. His death is also bringing more criticism to the use of no- knock warrants especially after a similar incident in 2020 when 26- year-old black medical worker Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police in Louisville, Kentucky because they performed a no-knock warrant entry. But police said they did announce themselves. Her case pushed cities across the country to move to ban or rein in no-knock raids.

CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just before 7:00 a.m. Wednesday, the Minneapolis Police SWAT team uses a key to enter a city apartment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police! Search warrant!

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Then burst through the doorway. Searching the apartment police say tied to a St. Paul homicide investigation. Instead they found 22-year-old Amir Locke appearing to be sound asleep on the couch. Locke then seems to wake up when they kick the couch and body camera footage shows him holding a gun.

AMELIA HUFFMAN, INTERIM CHIEF, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE: You can see along with an individual emerging from under the blanket the barrel of a gun. The involved officer was just outside the frame in the direction that that barrel is emerging from the blanket.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): CNN has not been able to confirm where the officer is but as Locke begins to stand three shots.

HUFFMAN: The officer had to make a split second decision to assess the circumstances and determine whether he felt like there was an articulable threat that the threat was of imminent harm.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Locke's family said he was in legal possession of a firearm when he was shot. The family and their attorney criticized police procedure.

JEFF STORMS, FAMILY ATTORNEY: No lawful gun owner could have survived this situation.

TONY ROMANUCCI, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: This is the definition of no- knock. Than seven seconds. Seven seconds that's it. And Amir had no choice.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): It's unclear if this particular breach was originally designated as a no-knock warrant. But attorneys also took issue with the timing before the shooting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police! Search warrant! STORMS: There is an no announcement prior to entering that threshold, and they give Amir no time to save his own life. And that's something that we don't see white citizens encounter. And the fact that it's happening in Minneapolis again, is beyond tragic.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): After the shooting, police say they immediately provided aid and officers carried Locke to the lobby to meet paramedics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 1280 ambulance on the seventh floor.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Locke was then taken to a local hospital where he died. Police now say he was not named in any search warrants.

HUFFMAN: But at this point is unclear if or how he is connected to St Paul's investigation.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): The subject of the warrant wasn't found in the apartment and the Minneapolis Police officer who fired his weapon, Mark Hanaman is on administrative leave per department policy. Locke's mother spoke out today expressing outrage over her son's killing.

KAREN WELLS, AMIR LOCKE'S MOTHER: I believe that he was executed by the MPD. And I want the police officer that murdered my son to be prosecuted and fired.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Police say they're now assessing whether proper procedures were followed and the mayor of Minneapolis is promising a full criminal investigation of the shooting.

JACOB FREY, MAYOR, MINNEAPOLIS: This video raises about as many questions as it does answer is truth and justice must be our guiding principles.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): As the interim chief and the mayor left the room. Activists expressed frustration.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are murderer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what we've been fighting against George Floyd was killed running away from accountability and transparency.

[20:45:06]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My son.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Locke's father trying to control his emotion, said his son was a law abiding citizen from a law enforcement family. And once the officer to be held accountable.

ANDRE LOCKE, AMIR LOCKE'S FATHER: He forced Amir to respond to protect himself as any law abiding citizen would do, and has the right to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Omar Jimenez joins us now. The mayor of Minneapolis has announced a moratorium on no-knock warrants. What's the latest?

JIMENEZ: Yes, Anderson, so he's putting a temporary hold on those no- knock warrants, except for in situations of imminent threat, or if they've been approved by the chief of police, which is stricter than what it was before. No-knock warrants were never banned in the city of Minneapolis but they were saved for high risk situations, which were determined by supervisors. In this particular situation, the interim police chief said that both a no-knock and a knock warrant were obtained for this and the decision was left up to the SWAT officers to decide what they were going to use to make entry. But the city would not comment on what decision factors, what decisions were made leading up to this particular breach.

Separately, the St. Paul Police Department announced that no arrests have been made in that homicide investigation that prompted what became this eventual shooting and that the corresponding warrant has been filed under seal. Anderson.

COOPER: Omar Jimenez, appreciate it. Thank you.

Ahead, change a pace that we all can use on a Friday night. America's obsession or at least maybe my obsession with the game Wordle I'm not alone Monica Lewinsky wrote a piece about her love of the game and I'm going to talk to her about it, next. We'll be right back.

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[20:50:54]

COOPER: OK, so just four months after its debut, Wordle may be the hottest online game of 2022. I don't know if you've heard about it. If you haven't, you're missing out. It is so popular, The New York Times has announced this week, it bought Wordle from its creator, a software engineer for an undisclosed price of at least a million dollars, seven figures they said.

Among those now devoted to the five letter six attempt mysteries Monica Lewinsky, the Vanity Fair, contributing editor and producer writes about her fascination and a new piece for the magazine titled, Why Wordle Is Our New Favorite Thing To Do In Bed In The Morning. And she joins me now.

Monica, it is lovely to have you on the program. I -- when I read your piece in Vanity Fair, I was so excited to know that I'm not the only one who is obsessed with Wordle. And it's all -- I mean, it's also recent, like we're also kind of newly in love with Wordle. I mean, it's only been a few months, and it's been around.

MONICA LEWINSKY, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR & PRODUCER, VANITY FAIR: Exactly, exactly. I mean, I think I'm on game 23, day 23. So I think and I know I could relay my stats exactly, but --

COOPER: We're still in the blush of like a new romance. And it doesn't we're not like the reality hasn't yet set in. And it hasn't really done things to harm us yet. So Wordle just seems everyone loves it. No one has turned against it yet. At some point, I feel like people are going to turn against it.

LEWINSKY: I don't know, maybe you don't know. It'll be an anomaly of sorts. But I think what's funny is it just we're in that place where it keeps becoming that thing of, oh, you know, now my mom is playing and, you know, I'm like, probably my therapist is playing. So I mean, it's just, you know, more and more people that you're meeting everybody is everyone's doing it.

COOPER: My doctor turned me on to Wordle and said that it was like good for your brain to play this game.

LEWINSKY: Yes.

COOPER: What -- the thing I like about it, and for those who don't know, it's how do you describe it?

LEWINSKY: It's addicting for those who don't know, right. So it's this, you get to choose the -- you get to choose your first attempt at a five letter word --

COOPER: Well there's a secret word. It's a secret five letter word, you have to guess what it is.

LEWINSKY: Right? And everybody -- and there are all these different strategies. I mean, what do you have a word that you start with --

COOPER: I do you.

LEWINSKY: -- today Anderson?

COOPER: Yes. So you have six tries, I don't know, I think we have my Wordle from today, you're only allowed to play once a day, which is the other thing I really love about it, that that it's not -- you're not allowed to obsess about it, and play, you know, endlessly. They just allow you to play once which I just I love that. In this age, we're like we want to do everything all the time. This is -- it's a very like kind of slow pleasure.

LEWINSKY: Yes, you get to savor it. I think that's instead of that it's the kind of world we live in now where it's that consumption of more and more, you know, you have something to look forward to. You really enjoy the simplicity of it. But I mean, I also find it if I wake up in the middle of the night, I'm sort of like, oh, god, I'm tired. I want to go back to sleep. But then there'll be that moment of, whoa, but there's a new Wordle. You know, so.

COOPER: So to your question. Yes, my strategy is I use the word arise or arose as the first is my first guest because it has from and I read that in I think was the New York Times had like a some hands on Wordle. And that was a suggested first word and I find it very effective. Do you have a first word that you use?

LEWINSKY: I usually use stare stare, S-T-A-R-E.

COOPER: OK.

LEWINSKY: So, because I used to be obsessed. I mean, I'm still obsessed but Wordle is my new obsession, puzzle obsession. But I love this. I love a puzzle that I was introduced to in the UK called Code Word.

COOPER: OK.

LEWINSKY: And that's it, like if Sudoku and crossword had a baby. And this -- the things I learned from there about, you know, I think everybody knows, OK, go for the vowels. But then there are also certain letters which are used, you know, way more often than others. So I find like, the A and the E are the vowels that get us the most the S, T and the R. So you kind of, you know, that landscape there.

COOPER: Yes.

LEWINSKY: Yes. It's -- I mean, I have the -- I don't know if you've had this frustration, but a few weeks ago, there was a rule that I didn't know was a rule or something you were allowed to do and it was I spent I mean not eight hours continuously but eight hours had passed I'm just like, what is this BP furred, you, know. And everybody on Twitter had had gotten in there posting their little images with other green squares. And I felt like such a loser.

[20:55:16]

COOPER: It's not that competition --

LEWINSKY: (INAUDIBLE).

COOPER: I left what I like about, I don't feel in competition with anybody. And by the way, when we put up our Wordle's, we didn't put the letters because it's still the ones we played today. It's still an active game. And so, we don't want to ruin it for other people who may play today's Wordle. And there's not an app you have to download. That's the other thing I like about it, at least for now until the Times, who knows what they'll do with it. But you just you Google Wordle and you can just play it.

LEWINSKY: Yes, it's, I love it. You know, I really I know next time I see we're going to have to see if Wyatt, how soon Wyatt will be able to.

COOPER: Well, but it's funny now that I know you play, I may be reaching out to you just for like, you know, just to compare every day, how we're doing at Wordle.

LEWINSKY: OK. Is there Jeopardy champion? I don't know that I want to be comparing with you.

COOPER: You know, there's some days Wordle just gets you and then -- but again, it's the one the one game a day that I like it's very, it's a -- it's like a -- just a -- it's like a palate cleanser.

LEWINSKY: It is. Yes, it is. It's and I and I also I really like I think one of the reasons people have warmed to it too, is there's just, you know, kind of in the essence and the origin story around.

COOPER: Oh yes.

LEWINSKY: This guy created it for his girlfriend and --

COOPER: I love that story.

LEWINSKY: -- you know, it's a sweet, grand gesture. So.

COOPER: Yes. Well, your article is still heavily in the funny. It's Vanity Fair. Appreciate it. Monica Lewinsky, thank you so much.

LEWINSKY: Thanks, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Wordle.

Coming up, Randi Kaye's report from the site of Mike Pence's speech today. The reaction from people there, that's next.

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