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All Three Arbery Killers Found Guilty of Federal Hate Crimes; U.S. President Joe Biden to Speak on Russia and Ukraine 1:00 PM ET; White House Deputy National Security Adviser: This Is the Beginning of an Invasion. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired February 22, 2022 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

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BENJAMIN CRUMP, ATTORNEY: This is because of Wanda and Marcus. So we'll take a few of your questions and -- but this moment really belongs to Wanda-Cooper Jones and Marcus Arbery. And you will hear first from the queen, Wanda-Cooper Jones.

WANDA COOPER-JONES, AHMAUD ARBERY'S MOTHER: I want to first say thank you to everyone who stood by us for this fight for justice for Ahmaud. It's been a very long, stressful fight for the members of the community, for the city of Brunswick, the state of Georgia, for the people who stood with us through the nation of the United States of America.

We couldn't have, we wouldn't have, we would not be standing here today without each and every one of you.

I want to address, I now want to address the members of the DOJ. I'm very thankful that you guys brought these charges of hate crime. But back on January the 31st, you guys accepted a plea deal with these three murderers, who took my son's life.

Marcus and two of Ahmaud's aunties stood before the courts and begged the judge not to take a plea deal, that the DOJ, that the DOJ went before the judge and asked them to take a plea deal with these guys.

Attorney Ben Crump just called these women, just call her name, Kristen Clark. As I traveled to Brunswick on that Sunday afternoon, I spoke to Kristen Clark and the lead attorney, Tara Lyons, begging them to please not take this plea deal.

They ignored my cry. I begged them. Even after the family stood before the judge and asked them, asked the judge to not take this plea deal, the lead prosecutor, Tara Lyons, stood up and asked the judge to ignore the family's cry. That's not justice for Ahmaud.

What we got today, we wouldn't have gotten today if it wasn't for the fight that the family put up.

What the DOJ did today, they was made to do today. It wasn't because of what they wanted to do. They were made to do their job today.

Yes, ma'am?

QUESTION: What role does this play today for you in any healing?

COOPER-JONES: Healing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She'll never heal.

COOPER-JONES: I, as a mom, will never heal. I want to go back to the DOJ. I told the DOJ that, yes, they were prosecutors. But one thing they didn't have, they didn't have a son that was lying in a cold grave. And they still didn't hear my cry. OK.

So again, we got a victory today. But there's so many families out there, who don't get victories because of people that we have fighting for us.

OK?

Yes, ma'am?

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) very emotional. (INAUDIBLE) can you talk a little bit about what it's like to speak with the jury (INAUDIBLE)?

COOPER-JONES: I'm very thankful that a good jury was selected. I wasn't worried at all that we wouldn't -- I knew Ahmaud's hands was in this from the very beginning. The way Ahmaud left here, I knew that we would get victory on the state level and in the federal level. I knew that from day one.

I do appreciate that they took the time out of their busy schedule to come there and listen to nonsense, because the way Ahmaud left here was pure nonsense. It was senseless. But I appreciate their time.

[11:05:00]

COOPER-JONES: And they gave us a sense of a small victory.

But we as a family will never get victory because Ahmaud is gone forever.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)?

COOPER-JONES: If they made the driveway (ph) decisions that the McMichaels made, they will be going to the same place that they're going. So they can make the same decisions but they will face the same consequences.

(CROSSTALK) MARCUS ARBERY, AHMAUD'S FATHER: Ooh, this a hot one.

I want to say a lot. Number one, we give all glory to God. Number one, (INAUDIBLE) because, without her, I wouldn't have three wonderful kids. I wouldn't have three wonderful kids. And I wouldn't have three wonderful grandchildren.

She is the reason (ph) so (INAUDIBLE) for her. I give all glory to Wanda. One thing I want to say. I'm thanking everybody who that stood by us in this town, what my family going through, losing Ahmaud because Ahmaud was a kid you can't place because the heart he had, that will be missed by him.

He loved this family. He called us every day. And he didn't have but one word to tell you.

Guess what that was?

I love you, Pops. I love you, Mama. He always told you that.

Now these times you don't hear that, I'm struggling with that every day. It hurt me every day, so I can imagine what they're doing to his mama and his sister, his brother, his little nieces because he was a family's boy. He loved the family. That's all he ever wanted, to be family happy.

He always, Pops, I want y'all to be happy. I say, of course, I'm all right. I'm going to be all right.

You know, I'm always love your mama. You always know that. No matter how it look. I ain't got no kid nowhere. This the only one that gave me kids. I didn't make none nowhere. And after her, I stopped. I ain't saying no more because I'm not mixing my turn off (ph). I'm not having no half brother and sister. I'm not having that.

But, Lord, I'm fixing to tell you, I give all glory to God and we got justice for Ahmaud. We got in the federal and the state. So all the ones that (INAUDIBLE), because I'm going to tell you something. You (INAUDIBLE) better fight like this family did. I'm telling you, justice for Ahmaud.

CRUMP: Wanda, Marcus. We'll take a few more questions and a few more questions. All right.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. We've been listening in to this press conference after the breaking news, which is a Georgia jury has found all three men, who murdered Ahmaud Arbery, guilty of federal hate crimes charges.

Let's go to the ground as we have been listening to this press conference. Nadia Romero has been on site, following this trial as it's been unfolding.

Nadia, tell us about the verdict that came in just a short time ago.

NADIA ROMERO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, this verdict, Kate, is something people have been waiting for all across the world. We had people who were on the sidewalks here outside of the courthouse who didn't know anyone personally inside but they knew about this trial and they were waiting for that verdict.

They said this was history. So people who weren't even connected to the McMichaels, to Roddy Bryant or the Arbery family were invested.

And then we had that verdict come down, the jury convicting the three men on all counts: guilty of interference of rights, on kidnapping, on using the gun in a violent crime, guilty, guilty, guilty.

That's what the jury decided, agreeing with the prosecution that the men had hate in their heart, that they had said and done racist things and had killed Ahmaud Arbery simply because of the color of his skin.

And it only took them about 3.5 hours or so of deliberation -- 2.5 hours last night, just an hour today -- before telling the judge they were ready with their unanimous decision.

And when that decision was read, we saw the response from the defendants, Travis and Gregory McMichael holding their heads down, Gregory McMichael letting out a big sigh after that verdict was read.

And we now have so many people who are talking about this verdict, who have been waiting for it, tomorrow being the two-year mark since the death of Ahmaud Arbery, many people breathing a sigh of relief outside the courthouse as well -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: No worries, Nadia, thank you so much. Stick with us, Nadia. Let me bring in chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin and CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson.

Joey, we just got in a statement from the presidency of the NAACP, saying this.

[11:10:00]

BOLDUAN: "Two years ago today, none of us knew of Ahmaud Arbery. But two years ago tomorrow, his story shook the conscience of our nation and world. Ahmaud Arbery was lynched in broad daylight. And today's verdict brings us one step closer to justice."

What's your reaction to the verdict, Joey?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, there's no question about that.

Good to be with you, Kate and Jeffrey.

This was a case, Kate, that may not have happened. We should recall there was a 74-day delay, 2.5 months, which led ultimately to the arrest of the defendants in this case. This was a case that the first district attorney noted, "Nothing to see here," issued a letter indicating they were acting because of a citizen's arrest law and acted in self-defense.

Another district attorney, who is under herself indictment for failing to uphold her oath in office. And then you look to this actual verdict and it's a case that may not have occurred but for, as we heard Wanda Cooper-Jones, Ahmaud Arbery's mother, say they fought and fought and fought.

So the reaction is that people who are not of goodwill, people who are going to be racially disparaging, people engaging in activities motivated by racial hatred and animus need to be held accountable.

Final point, at the state level, w didn't hear about all of this racism.

Why?

Because (INAUDIBLE) of whether or not they engaged in this activity. This federal case was all about racial hatred.

And some of the things we saw, Kate, text messages, social media, et cetera, of what they believed, their values, beliefs and principles, prosecutors did an amazing job connecting that to what they did on that fateful day two years ago tomorrow.

It was the right call, it needed to happen and the Justice Department needed to get involved. And they did and the unanimous jury found them guilty of all counts.

BOLDUAN: Jeffrey, Wanda Cooper-Jones has been a force throughout, Ahmaud's mother. In speaking, you could see her standing there. She said she was thankful for the Justice Department and what they did. But she was not happy.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: No. The two -- there were two cases here, just to remind people, who may not have been following this as closely as we have, is that there was a state case, where the three defendants were convicted and already sentenced to very long terms.

But at the same time, there's this federal case, which, under the same set of facts, they were charged with violating Ahmaud Arbery's civil rights; that is shooting him, killing him because he was Black. And that was the conviction today.

The family of Ahmaud Arbery, led by his mother, were very insistent that there would be both cases, not just the state case but the federal case as well. There was, at one point, it looked like there was going to be a plea deal in the federal case.

The family objected. The judge said I'm not accepting the plea. I want to have this trial.

The trial has just been completed. And just, again, to remind people who are not following this closely, it is extremely unlikely that any of these three defendants will ever see the light of day again, between the sentences in the two cases.

BOLDUAN: Because they were already all facing life in prison. TOOBIN: One of them was not. One of them, it was a very long sentence

but not life. Two of them were -- did get, effectively, life. But when you add in these federal sentences, which have yet to be imposed -- because the conviction was just today -- I think it's clear that none of them will get out.

BOLDUAN: And, Joey, this is, you know, looking in hindsight, of course.

But now after hearing this verdict, guilty on all counts across the board for these hate crimes, how does that plea deal that the prosecutors had reached with the, at one point -- the judge threw it out, obviously, because then they went to trial.

How does that plea deal look now?

JACKSON: Yes, the mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, very upset about that and very upset that prosecutors entered into the plea deal and not really valuing what she felt, which is that the matter should go before a jury and that the defendants should be held accountable and all the evidence should really come out.

And so it doesn't look so good for the Justice Department in ignoring the family. But at the end of the day, the Justice Department went; they had the trial; they put on evidence with respect to the racial bias of these defendants, what their thoughts were, saying some of the ugliest things, Kate, to others on social media via text messages to just so many people.

And then the question really was how they were going through that, as prosecutors connect those dots as to their feelings to this specific incident on this specific day on February 23rd, 2020.

And so the mother saying, no plea deal to be had. I want a trial. She got her trial and, certainly, there was a jury who reached a unanimous verdict, that hate had everything to do with this case.

[11:15:00]

JACKSON: And I think, certainly, that vindicates the mother's claims. Thank goodness for the judge, who said, I'm going to set aside that (INAUDIBLE) plea deal.

Last point, Kate, by a large measure, the judge set that plea deal aside, why?

Because part of the plea deal would have meant that the defendants would have served their time in federal court. Now Jeffrey can tell you that federal courts have a much different reputation than do state courts, right, there are some disparities.

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BOLDUAN: Federal prison versus state prison, go ahead, Joey, yes.

JACKSON: Exactly, federal prison, with respect to the federal prisons being country clubs, et cetera, not that this would ever be a joking matter. But that's what people say about them because they're a lot different than state prisons.

Judge saying, no, I'm not taking the deal, here we are. And I think Wanda Cooper-Jones, the father, the family certainly got their measure of justice today.

TOOBIN: Kate, if I just could add one point about this case, it's tempting at this point to say, look, the legal system worked.

Isn't that a success?

Think about how close this case came to not being prosecuted at all. As Joey pointed out, it was 74 days; there was a district attorney, who passed on this altogether. And fortunately, for the legal system and for the cause of justice, the video came out in public.

And it is an interesting question to ask, is with when and whether a Black man killed by white people, how often can they be prosecuted when there isn't a video?

We're talking about Derek Chauvin being convicted in Minnesota. These cases, they are successful when there are videos.

But how often do juries actually believe Black people when they don't have a video behind them?

That's a troubling question to think about.

BOLDUAN: Good to see you, Jeffrey, thank you.

Joey, thank you so much for jumping on. I really appreciate it.

As Jeffrey was just talking about, the case of the officers involved in the death of George Floyd, another federal trial we are closely watching. Closing arguments are underway in the trial of the three former Minneapolis police officers involved in the deadly arrest of George Floyd.

They're charged with violating Floyd's civil rights, for not intervening as Derek Chauvin murdered Floyd by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes.

Yesterday, the final officer took the stand in his own defense. Thomas Lane told the court that he asked Chauvin twice if they should reposition Floyd as he struggled to breathe. Both times the senior officer said no. Watching that very closely as well.

Still ahead for us at this hour, President Biden will address the Ukraine crisis this afternoon at the White House, we've just learned, after Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Eastern Ukraine. The very latest developments on this now escalating crisis. That's next.

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BOLDUAN: Now to the major escalation in the Ukraine crisis. A senior U.S. national security official telling CNN this morning that an invasion is underway. Listen to this.

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JON FINER, U.S. DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia's latest invasion into Ukraine.

And you are already seeing the beginning of our response that we have said will be swift and severe. I think the latest is important here. An invasion is an invasion and that is what is underway. But Russia has been invading Ukraine since 2014.

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BOLDUAN: That's the deputy national security adviser to the president, after Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into Eastern Ukraine, just hours after formally recognizing the independence of two pro-Moscow territories.

We've also just learned that President Biden will address the nation about this crisis today at 1 o'clock Eastern. His administration promising that it is going to announce, quote-unquote, "significant actions" against Moscow.

Other world leaders are also taking action in the face of Russia's new moves. Germany just announced it's halting certification of a key natural gas pipeline that would link the country to Russia. We have all of this covered for you. Let's begin with CNN's Clarissa Ward, live in Kyiv.

Clarissa, what's the latest from there?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So basically, Kate, we've heard from president Volodymyr Zelensky today. He's not using the "invasion" word and he said he does not believe there will be a war.

But what he said is he believes Russia is essentially creating the legal basis for further armed aggression against Ukraine. And what he might be talking about there, Kate, is these two areas that Russia has now recognized.

You have the borders of those areas, as they stand, and the borders of those areas as these pro-Russian separatist leaders would aspire them to be. Those borders, the way they aspire them to be, are significantly more expansive and include key cities currently held by the Ukrainians, such as Mariupol, (INAUDIBLE) Donetsk, Sloviansk and others. And so the question becomes, are we going to see a push with these

pro-Russian separatists and, potentially, of course, with Russian forces alongside them, to try to nibble away further into Ukrainian territory?

Now for the most part now, it's been largely quiet in that Donbas region today. We heard from the deputy Russian foreign minister, who's speaking to Russian news service Tass, said that there were no plans to send troops into Donbas imminently.

But we also know that President Putin had essentially ordered peacekeepers to go into that area. And of course, one man's peacekeeper is another man's soldier, depending on what perspective you're looking at it from, Kate.

[11:25:00]

WARD: So the worry is that you are going to see potentially imminently a build-up of Russian forces in that Donbas area. And that could then prove to be a sort of launching pad for further operations.

On the flip side, many are also saying that, potentially, this could also just be a moment for President Putin to pause and try to use the leverage he now has, as a result of making these aggressive moves, violating international law, essentially scrapping the Minsk agreement but still holding back from that kind of full-scale invasion that had been warned about by U.S. officials.

That's why Ukrainian leaders here are saying that very much what is needed now is a full-throated, unified response from the West.

We saw Germany today coming out, saying they would not go ahead and certify that Nord Stream 2 pipeline, that hugely consequential natural gas pipeline between Russia and Europe. That is a significant sanction against Russia.

The U.K. has also come out with a raft of sanctions that they have announced. And now all eyes here in Ukraine are on the U.S. to see what sort of sanctions President Biden may be planning to announce later on in the day -- Kate.

WARD: All right, Clarissa, thank you so much, on the ground in Kyiv for us.

As Clarissa was talking about, world leaders are condemning Putin's latest actions. The U.N. Security Council accusing Russia of violating international law. And the U.S., U.K., European Union all readying new sanctions. CNN's Nic Robertson is tracking this side of it for us, live in Moscow.

Nic, the West is united in trying to punish Putin.

What are you learning?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, European Union is sanctioning a number of Russian oligarchs, rich Russian businessmen in Europe. The U.K. has sanctioned five Russian banks and three Russian oligarchs. They say more sanctions to come.

That certainly seems to be the message from the European Union. Expect more of the same.

What we have heard from the NATO secretary general in the last half an hour or so is a very clear analysis of the situation of what's happening in those separatist areas.

We've heard Russian officials today, trying to create a level of ambiguity, as Clarissa was saying, Putin authorizing the use of Russian forces in those separatist areas. Then today officials saying, no, they hadn't been called for, they hadn't gone in.

The NATO secretary general saying that NATO has clear evidence that Russian forces have now gone into those separatist -- have now gone into those separatist areas. And at the same time here in Russia, you have President Putin, asking his federation council, a legalistic move here, as Putin is -- does often, to get permission to use his forces outside of Russia.

Now of course, that means, when he gets that permission, he can use them in the separatist areas and elsewhere in Ukraine as well. But this is what's happening behind the scenes, the sense of ambiguity.

But the British prime minister today, Boris Johnson, reading through the ambiguity and saying, what is happening is very clearly Russia moving forward toward a fuller invasion. This is Boris Johnson speaking.

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BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: By denying Ukraine's legitimacy as a state and presenting its very existence as a mortal threat to Russia, Putin is establishing the pretext for a full-scale offensive.

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ROBERTSON: So I think what we'll see is a unifying of the European- U.S. position and likely more and stiffer sanctions to come -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Nic, thank you so much.

So one of the strongest responses so far is coming from Germany. It is halting its approval of the critically important Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would bring natural gas from Russia directly into Europe. CNN's Matt Egan looking at this.

What does this announcement from Germany mean?

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR WRITER: This is a big deal. It shows that Europe is willing to punish Russia, even if that punishment is painful to Europe itself.

What is Nord Stream 2?

It's this 750-mile pipeline that's supposed to carry natural gas from Russia to Germany. And, remember, Germany and really Europe is in the middle of an energy crisis.

This pipeline is supposed to supply about half of Germany's annual gas consumption; also supposed to be a cash cow for Russia itself, maybe contributing $15 billion of revenue every year to Russia's state-owned gas giant, Gazprom.

But none of that is happening now because Germany has announced they're not going to certify this project. I think that all this shows the economic and financial risks around this crisis, because inflation is already really high. And it's easy to see how this situation could make prices go even higher, especially on the energy front.

Oil prices hitting $99.50 a barrel this morning before backing off. Remember, gasoline prices here in the United States are already --