Return to Transcripts main page

At This Hour

Fmr. Officer Kim Potter Be Sentenced In Daunte Wright's Death; VP Harris Meets With NATO Leaders As Russia Threat Looms. Aired 11- 11:30a ET

Aired February 18, 2022 - 11:00   ET

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


[11:00:10]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. We do begin with breaking news. The family of 20-year-old Daunte Wright who was fatally shot by former police officer Kim Potter in a traffic stop last year, this family just delivering gut wrenching victim impact statements at her sentencing hearing. The words of Daunte Wright's mother, Katie Bryant, are heartbreaking to listen to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATIE BRYANT, DAUNTE WRIGHT'S MOTHER: A police officer who's supposed to serve and protect so much -- took so much away from us. She took our baby boy with a single gunshot through his heart, she shattered mine. My life in my world will never ever be the same. And I often replay that phone call in my head over and over again. And I blame myself because I should have told him that it was -- I shouldn't have told him it was going to be alright. I told him he was going to be OK. Just to find out a few minutes later, he wasn't.

A police officer that took an oath to serve and protect for 26 years, but not on this day. On this day, she did not protect. She failed Daunte, our family, and our community. The best way that I can explain it is what I feel every day since Daunte was killed is comparing it to a sinking feeling that a mother gets when she turns around and realize her kid is missing in a grocery store. And you can't see him, feel him, touch him, know if he's scared, safe, OK. She took her grandson, brother, uncle, cousin, friend. She took a son from his father, son from his mother. But most of all, she took a father from his son. Daunte was only 20 years old. He had so much life ahead of him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The judge in Minneapolis has that -- has been overseeing all of this. She is about to deliver the sentence to Potter. We will bring that to you live when it begins. But let's get over to CNN's Adrienne Broaddus who's been following this trial from the beginning, has been watching all of this play out today. She's joining me now. Adrienne, what else have we heard so far today?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, inside of that courtroom, so much pain, not only pain, there's also anger from both sides. The defense attorneys are speaking now showing support for Potter, showing cards and reading cards in support of Potter from people from the community, but emotional testimony from Daunte Wright's mother, Katie Bryant, not once calling Kimberly Potter by name, only referring to her as the defendant. Also noting when Potter testified in her own defense, back in December, she never called Daunte Wright by his name. She only referred to him as the driver.

Wright blaming herself for that call, she took for her son moments before he was shot and killed on that call when he was pulled over. She told her son everything would be OK. But the outcome was much different. Wright also offended by the mug shot Potter took moments after she was convicted. And that mug shot, you can see, Kimberly Potter smiling, right also telling members of the jury that there was no remorse. Talking about the day Potter shot her son when she was rolling around on the floor or the ground, excuse me, which was captured by body camera.

And she requested Chuck who was her union representative instead of telling her partners to go check on Daunte Wright, go see if he needs help. She was concerned about herself. Here's some more of what Katie Bryant had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYANT: How do you say you're sorry with no tears? How much time is my son's life worth? I know here today the defendant and her attorney, they're going to tell the court how salary she is. Her family will meet even give victim impact statements. And afterwards both the defendant and her family will be able to talk, hear each other's voices, hug, kiss, say I love you with her husband did on sentencing on verdict day.

The impact this has caused her family and herself is just a small passing. It's just a small storm that's going to pass compared to our life sentence without Daunte. Daunte Demetrius Wright, I will continue to fight in your name until driving well Black is no longer a death sentence. I'm proud to be your mom. And I love you Daunte.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROADDUS: Daunte's family pointing out that Potter was a police officer longer than Daunte Wright was alive. Katie Bryant saying, I will never be able to forgive you. Kate?

[11:05:11]

BOLDUAN: Adrienne, thank you so much. Adrienne is going to stick close by. We are continuing to watch as the sentencing hearing is going on. We'll bring you that live when it begins. Joining me right now in the meantime is CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, and also with us, CNN legal analyst Areva Martin. Areva, I was watching this morning, and I -- it struck me that you and I were listening together to equally, similarly gut wrenching victim impact statements in the sentencing hearing after the death of Ahmaud Arbery. I've been listening to Ahmaud Arbery's family, speaking about him. How do you reflect on what we've heard so far today from Daunte Wright's family? AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Kate. I had that same feeling this morning when I turned on to listen to the family. I thought back to that day that you and I sat here and listened to Ahmaud's mom, his dad, his sister, give that powerful testimony. If you remember, Ahmaud's sister talked about his blackness, how the defense tried to use his blackness to paint him as someone that was menacing. But she wanted the world to know that his blackness in many ways was his superpower, what made him special, what made him beautiful.

And we just heard Daunte's mother say that she's got to fight for justice, until driving while black is no longer a death sentence. So a very similar theme to what we heard from Ahmaud Arbery's family. This notion that by virtue of just being an African American person, that makes you a target, that makes you someone that is more likely to be shot and killed by whether it's a police officer, or in the case of Ahmaud Arbery, vigilantes. So I was reminded of those statements, and again, how painful this is for the family, but also for the African American community that has had to watch these kinds of hearings over and over again.

And a cumulative trauma that so many people in the community feel this racial battle fatigue, because there is so wrapped into these cases is so much about race and stereotypes and how African Americans are treated particularly with what should be a simple encounter with police officers, a traffic stop that turns deadly.

BOLDUAN: Jeffrey, as we are listening to this, and we're going to -- we're continuing to monitor as the defense attorneys are speaking, how do victim impact statements impact actual sentencing?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: A lot. You know, when I started practicing law in the 80s, they were rare. There was a question of whether they were even allowed under the Constitution. But the Supreme Court starting really with the Oklahoma City bombing in in 1990 -- in 1995, when the victims became very outspoken. Victim impact statements became a part of the legal system. And judges take them very seriously.

In Minnesota, like many states, like the federal government, there are federal sentencing guidelines. I mean there are sentencing guidelines. And that generally sets the parameter and as I understand it, here we're talking about in the likelihood of six to eight years, but victim's impact, can be considerable and judges in our deferential personally and sometimes legally, to what they say.

BOLDUAN: Areva, what do you think of the possibility, you know, if Kim Potter would speak today, what impact do you think that would have?

MARTIN: I think it would have a big impact even on the family because we haven't heard her speak, well, we heard Daunte Wright's mom say, well, she did a couple things in her statement, she did not refer to Kim Potter by name, she referred to her as the defendant, because throughout the trial, we heard when Kim testified, talking about Daunte, she referred to him as the driver. She never referred to him by his name. So if Kim Potter was to speak today, one thing she didn't do in her testimony was apologize, was express the kind of remorse that I think this family wants to hear in terms of getting as close to closure. Nothing will bring them complete closure. But all families in these situations want to hear the person responsible for the loss of their loved one to look them in the eyes and say I am sorry, I feel your pain. I feel remorse. And that's one of the things that we kept hearing from the family members. They don't feel as if Kim Potter has expressed any remorse.

So if she does take the stand and try to influence the judge's decision with respect to the length of time that she will serve in jail, if any, I think that's one thing we should be looking forward, does she look the family in the eyes and say she's sorry.

BOLDUAN: And you can see from like a wider view of that courtroom, Jeffrey, I mean, their feet, just feet from each other where Kim Potter is sitting and where the family members are giving these remarks. It's -- that must be impossible.

TOOBIN: It's fraud. I mean, courtrooms can be ugly places. And the passion on display there is real on both sides. And you know what makes this case so maddening, so just upsetting is that there's really not much dispute about what actually happened. It does seem like Kim Potter thought she was pulling out her taser but instead took out a gun and shot Daunte Wright. Now that's different from the Ahmaud Arbery case, which was a horrible vigilante intentional murder. And the sentence will clearly be lower.

[11:10:25]

However, that doesn't make the pain of Daunte Wright's family any less the fact that the officer killed him by mistake rather than intentionally. And that's something that judge is going to have to weigh in imposing the sentence.

BOLDUAN: It's been impressive to watch this judge as well in really high profile case and how she's handled it throughout. We're going to stick very close with to this, everyone. We're going to be watching this. We will bring you the sentencing in any more important victim impact statements that are made in this courtroom. And we'll bring that to you throughout the hour. Jeffrey, Areva, thank you. They're both going to be sticking close with us.

We also have this we need to turn, though, as well. Coming up, new U.S. intelligence is now painting a quote unquote bleak picture of Russia preparing to invade Ukraine in just days. We've also just learned that President Biden will be giving an update. He'll be addressing the nation speaking on this crisis this afternoon. The breaking details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Breaking news CNN has just learned President Biden will address the nation on the crisis in Ukraine at 4:00 p.m. Eastern this afternoon. This comes as new U.S. intelligence is showing Russia is continuing with preparations to invade Ukraine possibly within the next few days. A senior U.S. official tells CNN the assessment is quote unquote, bleak.

Another U.S. official also now says that Russia has amassed nearly 200,000 troops in the region. He calls it the single most significant military mobilization in Europe since World War II. Ukraine is reporting a dramatic increase in shelling in the Donbass region, more than 50 violations of the ceasefire agreement so far today. This as Russia continues to work on building up a pretext for an attack just something Secretary of State Tony Blinken is warning about, again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[11:15:32]

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: Everything that we're seeing, including what you've described in the last 24, 48 hours, is part of a scenario that is already in play of creating false provocations, of then having to respond to those provocations and then ultimately committing new aggression against Ukraine. I think it's very important for us to shine a light on what we see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Vice President Kamala Harris and other Western leaders are meeting in Munich where the focus is squarely on this, the Russian threat. Let's begin our coverage this hour with CNN's Alex Marquardt live in eastern Ukraine. Alex, what's the latest there?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, you know, the Russian disinformation campaign has really been increasing over the course of the past few days and weeks. And now it appears to be kicking into a higher gear. We've been watching closely for exactly what Secretary Blinken was talking about there, a pretext, a made up excuse that Russia could use in order to justify an invasion of Ukraine. And now we have a very worrying situation where the heads of these two breakaway enclaves here in the Donbass region have just called for their citizens to evacuate and head to Russia.

They say that Ukraine is about to launch an offensive, that they've lined up their troops and weapons along their borders. So one of the leaders have called on the men of his region to take up arms and defend their land. Of course, there's really nothing to defend against there is no Ukrainian offensive that is planned against the eastern part of the country. We have all of these ceasefire violations, which you mentioned, Kate, 60 yesterday, which is the most in about four years.

We saw our colleague Clarissa Ward going over -- going out to that school that was shelled yesterday, it is still unclear who actually shelled it, but these examples are increasing. So there is some serious concern that these are being used -- that these incidents are going to be used in some way to justify Russian military action. We have heard from the Kremlin, Kate, President Putin has called what's happening in the Donbass, genocide.

And his spokesman just today saying that what is happening is a very dangerous situation, of course, it is only of their own making. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Alex, thank you so much for that. Let's go to Moscow now where Vladimir Putin is meeting with his strongest ally in the region, the president of Belarus. Their meeting coming as the two leaders not only wrapping up military exercises, but also planning to stage a massive nuclear, massive nuclear drills that they say, will include ballistic and cruise missile launches tomorrow. CNN's Nic Robertson live in Moscow for us covering all of this. Nic, what else do they say?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Kate, we've got the absolutely strongest and unequivocal indication from President Putin now that he has no intention of de-escalating his forces unless the leadership in Kyiv begins negotiating directly with those rebel leaders. That's under what President Putin sees the terms of the Minsk agreement has been calling out for international pressure from the United States, from Germany, from France to pressure the leadership in Kyiv to do that, to have those talks.

President Putin believes that if there is the negotiations under the terms that he perceives, it can put the -- it can put some of those leaders in the rebel held areas potentially in the government in Ukraine can weaken the government in Ukraine and potentially block it from joining NATO. That would be a measure that would stop for -- stop short of him using military force to gain control and influence in Ukraine. That has been his prepared -- preferred objective until now, it appears. He said today unequivocally that he would not de-escalate his military posture around Ukraine until those talks happen. These are his words right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIA (through translator): De-escalation around Ukraine should be based on fulfillment of Minsk agreements. All that Kyiv needs to do is to start negotiations with Luhansk and Donetsk leadership and start formulating humanitarian coordination. And the sooner it starts, the better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Putin appears to be reaching the point of his leverage and trying to push the Ukrainian leadership in the direction he wants to go. They've withstood it so far and the alternatives, perhaps that's what's beginning to build up on the borders, these exercises, these evacuations of civilians in the East right now.

[11:20:20]

BOLDUAN: Nic, thank you so much, really appreciate it. Let's go to Munich right now where Vice President Kamala Harris, she's holding high level talks with allies on this exact thing at the Munich Security Conference. The Vice President will be meeting with Ukraine's leader tomorrow. CNN's Natasha Bertrand, she is there. She's live in Munich. What -- Natasha, what's the latest that you're hearing from there? What are we hearing from the Vice President? NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, the Vice President spoke today with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg earlier today. She's trying to express unity. She's trying to convey that the United States stands with allies, with NATO allies and European allies in the face of this Russian aggression. And of course, you also just met with the Baltic States, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia to convey that same kind of solidarity that the U.S. is willing to engage with them directly as Russia poses that major threat and as they feel extremely threatened by Russia's provocations, near Ukraine.

So she's trying to convey that the United States is taking this extremely seriously that they are united front against Russia. But she's also realistic here. And she's saying that if Russia does, in fact make a move, then the U.S. is willing to impose severe consequences for that, take a listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We remain, of course, open to and desirous of diplomacy, as it relates to the dialogue and the discussions we've had with Russia. But we are also committed to if Russia takes aggressive action, to ensure there will be severe consequence in terms of the economic sanctions we have discussed. And we know the alliance is string in that regard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERTRAND: Now, the U.S. has been warning of this, they're saying that they are seeing signs in the last 24 to 48 hours of Russia laying the groundwork to stage some kind of provocation that would then justify an invasion. They're saying that they do not know whether Vladimir Putin has actually made up his mind to invade yet.

But all signs are pointing on the ground to the fact that they are preparing to launch an invasion, if that is in fact what Putin decides. Now, Biden will be speaking on this today at 4:00 p.m. He'll be speaking about the situation on the Ukrainian border and the efforts that the U.S. has been making at diplomacy. So we'll have to wait and see what he has to say.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Natasha, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Joining me right now is CNN national security analyst and former CIA chief of Russia operation Steve Hall and also joining us is CNN political analyst and columnist for the Washington Post, Josh Rogin, he'll be with us in just a second. Steve, I want to focus on when Natasha was touching on, which is what Tony Blinken said today, really making a point to clearly try and connect the dots of what has been kind of a flood of maybe seemingly smallish things happening in the last 24 to 48 hours. He calls it a scenario already in play of creating this false pretext for an invasion. What do you think of it?

STEVE HALL, FORMER CIA CHIEF OF RUSSIA OPERATIONS: Yes, it's really interesting how things would have shifted a little bit, Kate. So now you've got Putin in the Kremlin, essentially saying, look, all we're asking for is that the leadership in Kyiv, the Ukrainian government, negotiate with these people in Luhansk. And the other parts of the in the East, that are basically saying, you know, we want to be -- we want to have greater autonomy.

That's, of course, somewhat of a fallacy. These people in Luhansk and Donetsk are not actually separatists. These are Russian proxies. So Russia started this. And in the background of this, according to Blinken and others who have seen the intelligence is that you have the Russian saying things like we're concerned about genocide in these locations, because a lot of these people have Russian passports, which by the way the Russians gave them. So they are both setting a pretext for going in if they have to avert what they would call a, you know, some sort of humanitarian catastrophe.

But at the same time offering the Ukrainians a way out, hey, you don't have to look at an invasion. Just talk to the folks in Luhansk and Donetsk, which Ukraine, of course doesn't want to do. It's recognizing those regions as semiautonomous, which is not a good move for the Ukrainians.

BOLDUAN: Exactly. Josh, the President, President Biden will be offering an update this afternoon on the crisis we've just learned. What do you think is coming from him on this?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, it's very clear from the statements of Secretary State Blinken and Vice President Harris here in Munich, that the administration believes that they've set the table as much as they can. They have coalesce the allies, they put forth a unified front, they prepared sanctions. And what Biden is probably going to say is, it's up to Putin. It's Putin's move.

Now, that's all well and good, but inside the conference hall today I heard a dissenting voice that came from Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko who said, no, we need more weapons now. We need more help now. Please help Ukraine before the attack not after the attack. And the answer that he got from the foreign minister of Germany and the Secretary of State of the United States was, well, we did a lot already and after you get attacked we'll help you more. But for now, it seems like the West has made its move. And that's all the Ukrainians are going to get.

[11:25:15]

BOLDUAN: So Josh, I find it really interesting, because you wrote another great column about this today. And you wrote that in the conference where you are, the conference is 59-year history. It's never been more relevant than today. But what is likely to be accomplished? What can be, I mean, Russia is not attending.

ROGIN: Well, that's right. So there's no negotiations possible with Russia at the conference. But tomorrow, we'll have the Vice President of the United States, President Zelensky will be here, Secretary of State Blinken will still be here, Boris Johnson and a host of other leaders. And what could be accomplished is that they could all get on the same page that they could resolve their internal differences, rather than paper them over.

But what we've seen today is that there's only so far that the Europeans will go and the Biden administration is very serious about maintaining unity with the Europeans, but not very willing to go further and to answer the requests of the Ukrainian government. So that's a divide that will be brought out into open view tomorrow here in Munich. In other words, the West thinks it's got a great plan. There's only one country that disagrees with that. That's Ukraine. They're about to get attacked they think. They say they're ready to fight. But they want more help. They want more help. They want more weapons. They want more sanctions. And they're very frustrated that that's what came out of day one of the conference. We'll see what day two brings.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I can only imagine. Steve Hall, it's great to see you. Steve, thank you so much. Josh, thanks for being there. I really appreciate you jumping on.

Coming up for us, a black teenage boy is speaking out after police put him in handcuffs. Remember this video we showed you after putting hand -- putting him in handcuffs during a mall fight while white teenager involved in that same fight sat on a couch and watched on. What he just told CNN about it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)