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At This Hour

Officer Testifies About Separate Break-Inn Weeks Before Arbery Death; COP26 Draft Deal Has Unprecedented Reference to Fossil Fuels; Vicious Beatings, No Food for Days as Poland-Belarus Crisis Deepens. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired November 12, 2021 - 11:30   ET

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


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[11:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN AT THIS HOUR: So, testimony has resumed in the trial of the three white men accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery in South Georgia. A police officer is testifying right now about a separate break-in weeks before Arbery was killed.

Also today, one of the defense attorneys in this case issued an apology over comments that he made in the courtroom in front of cameras complaining about black pastors attending the trial. Watch what he said in court yesterday.

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KEVIN GOUGH, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: If we're going to start pressing, starting yesterday, we're going to bring high-profile members of the African-American community into the courtroom to sit with the family during the trial in the presence of the jury, I believe that's intimidating and it's an attempt to pressure could be, consciously or unconsciously, an attempt to pressure or influence the jury.

We don't want any more black pastors coming in here or other -- Jesse Jackson, whoever was in here earlier this week, sitting with the victim's family, trying to influence the jury in this case.

If a bunch of folks came in here dressed like Colonel Sanders with white masks sitting in the back --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Ryan Young is live outside the courthouse in Georgia for us, once again, today. Ryan, what is that attorney saying now?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that attorney says he's sorry if he's offended anybody, but he says on Monday he plans to put some more statements forward so the court can actually do something about this. For the record, Reverend Jesse Jackson hasn't been here.

Yesterday, Kate, I can tell you in court, it was kind of like really slow-moving because they played video for most of the day, 3 hours and 45 minutes of taped testimony. But it was that comment that really shook things up around here, because people didn't understand why a day later this was all being brought up.

And, of course, they have got a lot of social media presence and some of those reverends are taking heed to this and they'd probably be back. In fact, take a listen to Reverend Barber talking about what he heard yesterday in court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. WILLIAM BARBER, PASTOR, GREENLEAF CHRISTIAN CHURCH: It exposes a way of thinking, blackness means intimidation. Blackness means intimidation. And he wants -- and so by saying that and opening his mouth, he exposes that he sees blackness as a threat.

What we must focus on is why would he specifically spew blackness in here and connect it to intimidation, because that's at the heart of this case?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes. The officer who's actually giving testimony, I'm actually paying attention to this right now, they're going through body camera footage from some of the times they responded to that scene. And talking to Larry English, the man who was on that video yesterday, who's unhealthy enough not to be able to testify at this point.

But the reason why this is all going back and forth is that they believe one of the break-ins that happened earlier in that area actually was a white guy.

[11:35:03]

And there's a lot of people in this community who says that the break- ins were being assigned to a black man. So, it's going to that central figure of race, right? And that's what the conversation sort of have been centered around this entire time.

And yesterday, that comment in court really riled people up, especially in the community. So, at this point now, as we're watching this testimony, we do know Larry English was getting in contact with this officer all the time. Kate, it's been one of those things we've been watching slowly develop throughout the day. It will be interesting how this moves forward to the rest of the day.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Ryan, thank you so much for that.

So, I also want to turn now to this -- as this could be a very big day for Britney Spears, expected back in court today, and a judge expected to rule on the singer's request to terminate her conservatorship, meaning her 13-year ordeal may finally come to an end today.

CNN's Chloe Melas is outside the courthouse in Los Angeles for us at this hour.

Chloe, it was I think a little over a month ago the court suspended her father from acting as her conservator. So, now what?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Hey there, Kate. Thanks for having me. Well, I'm here today in front of the Los Angeles County Superior Courthouse, where Britney is expected to call in virtually, like she has in the past. And today is the day. Like you said, after 13 years, Britney should, at the end of this court hearing today, should no longer have a conservatorship, be in charge of her $60 million estate, be in charge of her medical decisions, something that she has pleaded, cried about to Judge Brenda Penny, that we heard in those emotional testimonies over the summer that she just wants her life back. And, Kate, that could happen today.

BOLDUAN: So, does this -- if that -- let's assume that happens today. Does this mean the end of the battle between Britney and her father?

MELAS: No, far from over. So, Britney Spears' new attorney, Matthew Rosengart, filed a 110-page petition last month that CNN obtained, where he wants to depose her father under oath. He believes that he mishandled Britney Spears' finances over the last 13 years. He also wants to seek discovery because there was a New York Times report that said that Jamie Spears placed illegal recording devices in Britney's bedroom. You guys might remember that. And he wants to ask her father under oath, did you do these things?

Now, Jamie Spears has denied doing this, denied any wrongdoing on all fronts. He says he still loves his daughter. And like you said, he was suspended as a conservator of her estate just about a month ago. But this legal battle, at least outside of this courtroom, is far from over.

BOLDUAN: We will be watching it right along with you, Chloe. Thank you so much for being there. I really appreciate it.

Coming up still for us, the climate conference in Scotland coming to a close. So, what did the nations agree to? What did they accomplish? We're going to go live to Glasgow.

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[11:40:00]

BOLDUAN: After nearly two weeks, the International Climate Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, is coming to a close today but the long- anticipated agreement among the nations attending is still being worked out and already being criticized as not going nearly far enough.

CNN's Phil Black has been following this, is live in Glasgow for us this hour.

Phil, what exactly is in this agreement?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, as we speak, almost 200 countries are closely scrutinizing going through this text to try and get a result that they believe is in each of their national interests. It is a slow, painful process. We've seen two drafts already but some clear themes and issues, and points have emerged already.

As you touched on, there is, for the first time, reference to phasing out coal power and fossil fuel subsidies. It's been weakened a little, the language, in the second version, but, crucially, it is still there and we will be looking to see if it survives into the final text.

Critically, the text also lays out a path forward and tells countries to come back in a year with deeper, stronger emission cuts targets before 2030. The reason that is vital is because the science says the world needs to cut emissions by 45 percent by the end of this decade to get a handle on climate change. And we are currently nowhere near achieving that.

Developing poorer countries are also happier with this most recent version because it significantly increases the financing from richer countries to help them adapt to what they're already experiencing, the current impacts of climate change and those that are inevitably going to follow in the years ahead.

Now, whatever the final text looks like, it is not going to solve climate change in and of itself, but it is really important for creating momentum, making incremental progress, and setting a path forward so that there remains a chance that the world can still achieve what the science says is necessary within a rapidly closing window of time. If this process collapses, so does hope, Kate.

BOLDUAN: At some point, the process cannot collapse because it just cannot. We will see what comes though of this agreement.

It's great to have you there, Phil. Thank you very much for your reporting.

[11:45:00]

So, coming up next for us, a CNN exclusive. You will want to see this and you will want to see these images, CNN taking you inside one of the migrant camps at the center of a dangerous border crisis in Europe.

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BOLDUAN: At this hour, thousands of migrants trapped in terrible conditions caught in between the European nations of Belarus and Poland, quickly becoming political pawns, with Russia looming over all of this and a humanitarian crisis now turning into a military standoff.

[11:50:15]

Russia and Belarus holding joint drills near the Polish border and thousands of Polish and Ukrainian troops deploying there.

CNN's Senior International Correspondent Matthew Chance is there inside one of these migrant camps.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CHANCE: It's a feat in itself getting to Belarus. I mean, you know, there's only a handful of television crews that have been permitted access at this extraordinary moment to come to the country.

And as far as I'm aware, and I would have been assured by the Belarusian officials, we're the only international crew that have been allowed to come to this migrant camp on the border of Belarus and Poland. I don't know whether -- I'm sitting on my cell phone, so I don't know if you can get a sense of the sort of depth of the camp.

There are 2,000 people that have come here from various parts of the world, in the Middle East, Iraq, Kurdistan and Iraq, and other places in the Arab world as well, a lot of people from Kurdistan. At least 200 of them, I'm told, are children, some of them just babes in arms. We see a lot of people here, if I can spin around here, look, chopping wood, getting ready to make fires, to get them through the very cold nights here on the border. 600 of them are women, the other 1,200 young men.

I'm going to flip the camera around to show you some interesting scenes there, a better look there at the sort of scenes that are playing out, unfolding here on the border between Belarus and Poland.

And if you just allow me to sort of walk you down here, we can actually see the razor fence -- you don't want me to show your fence, I won't do that -- the razor fence that's been erected by the Polish side to try to prevent the migrants that have flooded into Belarus from moving across into Poland, which is, of course, a member of the European Union. There you can see I think the actual Polish police and border forces who are standing there on guard all the way down this razor wire barrier to prevent migrants from breaking through. You can get a sense of how long this camp is as it stretches down into the distance, into the forest out of sight.

Here's an interesting scene for you, somebody I came across earlier, they say a lot of the migrants are from Iraq, from Kurdistan, they're building these makeshift shelters because the temperatures, as you can imagine, in this part of the world in the winter are dropping down. Let me drop in sight. They've built polythene shelter.

Hi, how are you? How are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fine.

CHANCE: Where are you from?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Iraq.

CHANCE: From Iraq. From Kurdistan?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, Kurdistan.

CHANCE: Excellent. All, right, thank you. Good luck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

CHANCE: All right. So, just a little sense of the scenes we're witnessing here.

I should tell you that, you know, both sides blame each other for this crisis. The western countries, including the United States, the European Union, and, of course, Poland say that Belarus is using these refugees as propaganda. It's actually encouraging them to come in and then essentially directing them, forcing them towards this border to put pressure on the European Union and to punish it perhaps for some of the support that E.U. has given to Belarusian dissidents and for the sanctions that its put on Belarus for its various crackdowns on its own opposition figures here in the country.

What the Belarusians say though, as well as some international aid agencies, I have to say, is that the Pols are not doing everything they can either to protect the rights of migrants and in some ways they're not living up to their obligations under international law. But, clearly, it is a very difficult situation.

I've got some news for you from the migrant services, 2,000 people in this camp at the moment, by the end of the week, there could be as many as 5,000 and there are thousands more, according to Belarusian officials, who are on their way.

BOLDUAN: Wow. Matthew Chance, thank you so much for reporting. Matthew is there and will continue to bring you all of his reports, right there in the middle of it. Thank you so much, Matthew.

We'll be right back.

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[11:55:00]

BOLDUAN: The top ten CNN heroes of 2021 are announced. One will become CNN's Hero of the Year. Let me introduce you to one of them, the founder of a Second You Foundation.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After surviving foundation, you come home thinking you're able to start over. You want to be part of society, but there's just so many layers of discrimination, boxes. You have to get through just to get an opportunity.

Society thinks, oh, you should just go get a job and it's not that easy.

[11:55:02]

Once you have a record, nothing is set up for them to win.

And up, one, good, right back under.

At the Second You Foundation.