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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Seventh Day of Testimony in Derek Chauvin Trial; Biden Gives Update on U.S. COVID Vaccination Goals. Aired 4-4:30p ET

Aired April 06, 2021 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:08]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: So we continue watching. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for being with me.

THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.

(MUSIC)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

At any moment, we expect President Biden to come before the cameras and update the nation on the status of coronavirus vaccinations in the United States and we'll bring that to you live when he does that.

But, first we're going to start today with the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who, of course, has been charged with murdering George Floyd last May.

Today, we heard from the lieutenant who trained hundreds of officers including Chauvin on how to properly use force against suspects who are resisting arrest. He says Chauvin putting his knee on Mr. Floyd's neck was not an authorized use of force that he taught and that a neck restraint could render someone unconscious in less than ten seconds.

The instructor did concede that Officer Chauvin's technique could have been part of some other police training, of course, as CNN's Josh Campbell reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One by one, veteran members of the Minneapolis Police Department took the stand. Each part of the department's training force.

Today's testimony added to the chorus of police department witnesses, including the chief who have said Derek Chauvin's use of a knee on George Floyd's neck was not part of their training.

STEVE SCHLEICHER, PROSECUTOR: Would it be appropriate and within training to hold a subject in that prone restrained position with a knee on the neck and a knee on the back for an extended period of time after the subject had stopped offering any resistance?

LT. JOHNNY MERCIL, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE: No, sir.

SCHLEICHER: Or has lost their pulse?

MERCIL: No, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you don't have a pulse on a person, you'll immediately start CPR.

CAMPBELL: But the defense pushed back with this image.

ERIC NELSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR DEREK CHAUVIN: This is a specific kind of photograph that demonstrates the placement of a knee as it applies to prone handcuffing, correct?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.

CAMPBELL: While the witnesses emphasized a focus on minimal force and prompt medical care --

SCHLEICHER: How soon should be the person be put in the side recovery position?

MERCIL: I would say sooner the better.

CAMPBELL: The defense asserted rules can be fluid.

NELSON: There's no strict application of every single rule, agreed, or every single technique?

MERCIL: That is correct.

NELSON: Have you had people say, I can't breathe?

MERCIL: Yes, sir.

NELSON: Have you ever been trained or trained others to say that if a person can talk, they can breathe?

MERCIL: It's been said, yes.

SCHLEICHER: Do you train officers that if a person can talk, that they can breathe?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, sir.

CAMPBELL: At times, the witnesses contradicted each other.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just because they are speaking doesn't mean they are breathing adequately.

GEORGE FLOYD: I can't breathe.

CAMPBELL: And in a trial defined by numerous graphic videos of George Floyd's final moments.

NELSON: You would describe sometimes that the public doesn't understand that police actions can hook really bad.

SGT. KER YANG, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE CRISIS INTERVENTION COORDINATOR: That's a correct statement, yes.

NELSON: And -- but they still may be lawful even if they look bad, right?

YANG: Yes, sir.

REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: Here we are now in the shadows of a courthouse praying for justice.

CAMPBELL: During the trial's lunch break, George Floyd's family joined the Reverend Al Sharpton outside the courthouse.

PHILONISE FLOYD, GEORGE FLOYD'S BROTHER: After we get the verdict and we get this conviction, we will be able to breathe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMPBELL (on camera): Now, Jake, the jury is currently hearing from an expert witness called by the prosecution, an officer from the Los Angeles police department. We are still early in this trial, but today was arguably the best day yet for the defense. They were able to elicit some information from some of the prosecution witnesses, including one officer who testified that there have been instances in the past where a suspect claimed to either be injured or unable to breathe which ended up to not be the case.

Of course, in the U.S. criminal justice system, all the defense has to do is raise doubt in the mind of one juror in order to threaten the prosecution's case -- Jake.

TAPPER: Josh Campbell, thanks so much.

Let's discuss all this with former federal prosecutor, Shan Wu, and former police chief, Cedric Alexander.

Cedric, when we're talking about the use of force, is it right that there's blanket definition for what's acceptable and what is not acceptable? The witnesses today said the appropriate use of force changes based on every situation and every suspect. That might help Chauvin's defense.

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, FORMER PUBLIC SAFETY DIRECTOR, DEKALB COUNTY, GEORGIA: Well, the key about this is this. Certainly every incident is very, very different, but the reality of it is you have 9 minutes and 29 seconds of video there that demonstrates or suggest something very different I think to people when they see it.

The whole idea here in all of this is, yes, training can be very specific, but it can also be very useful if used correctly and with the right intent. And I think that's what we all have seen, witnesses who have come and who have testified.

[16:05:05 Those are experts in their areas who have testified that what they did on May 25th was not appropriate to any of their training, even -- even in this particular case that we all had an opportunity to witness. So, I don't -- to my observation to this, the defense is doing their job, but I don't think they scored that high of a point when you consider all the evidence that's been put before the court so far now.

TAPPER: All right. Interesting.

Shan, I want to get your reaction to what the use of force instructor said today, specifically about neck restraints in terms of the Minneapolis Police Department or MPD. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHLEICHER: Does MPD train in how to do it with a leg?

MERCIL: We may show the younger officers in the academy what that looks like, but we don't train leg/neck restraints with officers in service. As far as my knowledge, we never have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: That seemed pretty important for the prosecution.

SHAN WU, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It is, Jake, and I think the way that this is going it's pretty clear that the bulk of the expert testimony is gong to be that Chauvin did violate police procedure and training in this circumstance.

I agree with Cedric that the defense made some points today. Their point of view is that there are exceptions to everything. It's evolving fluid circumstance. I think that the difficult for that point that they are making is all that really compelling eyewitness testimony. Those folks don't come across as really hostile obstructionist crowds.

It will be interesting to see whether the prosecution recalls any of them later in the rebuttal case. If they do, that might signal the prosecution thinks the defense score some points, too.

TAPPER: And, Cedric, the testimony today fit into a larger pattern that we've heard from the prosecution. Derek Chauvin, he not only went outside his training but against his training as well as the guidelines of the police department in his use of force against George Floyd. There is, of course, a difference between breaking work rules and knowingly committing murder. That designation will be up to the jury.

ALEXANDER: Well, certainly it will be, but I think one thing that's very clear here, and it's already been stated, articulated and pointed out by those who are experts in their field, that everything that Chauvin did on that day he was not taught, particularly when they got Mr. Floyd down on the ground, pinned him down the way that they did.

And we also have to remember this, too, in all of this that we're hearing. Chauvin was not there by himself. He had three other officers there with him. Two of them were down at the legs, so they had an opportunity quite frankly to make sure that George Floyd had an opportunity to breathe, whether they believed it or not, because if you can remember even Officer Lane said shouldn't we turn him over so even lane had some doubt in what was happening. But, of course, Chauvin said no.

So I don't think that the defense scored any real points here today because here again, the overwhelming testimony that we have heard really is pretty straightforward, but we're going see as this trial continues.

TAPPER: Shan, as we hear all these witnesses talking about Derek Chauvin's behavior and his training, do you think the defense is considering letting Chauvin testify? As a defense attorney, would you let him take the stand?

WU: No, I wouldn't. It's tempting particularly in ma police officer case because we know that jurors tend to sympathize with the police. Don't want to convict them so it's much more tempting than the regular defendant situation where usually if you put your client on as a defendant they are going to get sliced and diced.

Here, however, I wouldn't do it because his reputation, even his demeanor in the courtroom is not very sympathetic. There are very charismatic defendants who can win a jury's sympathy just by sitting there. O.J. Simpson, for example.

But he's not one of them. I think he's coming across as pretty cold. His reputation is that he comes across as cold. I think he'd not do himself any favors by testifying. So, I wouldn't call him.

TAPPER: Cedric, even if the defense convinces the jury that this was an acceptable, allowable use of force, they still have to explain why none of the officers on the scene gave Mr. Floyd any medical aid. Have you heard any good reasons so far as to why that aid was never given?

ALEXANDER: No, I have not and even when I put myself and I think back over the course of my career in situations where we had to wrestle someone to the ground, we always remember one thing, and that is we still were responsible for the safety of that person, even once we had them in custody. So I don't think anything has been presented here so far that has been compelling enough on a defense side. But, here again, there's still a lot of testimony that's coming forward over the next couple of weeks.

[16:10:01]

TAPPER: Yeah. We're just at the beginning of this.

Shan Wu, Cedric Alexander, thanks to both of you for your expertise. Appreciate it.

Any moment, we expect to see President Biden mark a new milestone for the COVID vaccine efforts in the U.S., and he will set a new public goal saying that every American adult will now be eligible for a vaccine by April 19th, that's just 13 days from now, and it's earlier than the previous deadline he had set May 1st.

We should note that more than 40 states have already stated that that's their goal.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins is at the White House.

And, Kaitlan, I'm trying to understand this announcement because the vast majority of states were already planning to meet this April 19th deadline. Is there something we didn't know about? Did that happen because the Biden administration had been previously pushing them behind the scenes?

Is this because the federal government has been ramping up vaccine sites? Is there more vaccine available because too many Americans are vaccine hesitant? What's going on?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, there are a few things at play. One, the White House is saying governors were heeding President Biden's call to hit that May 1 deadline. You can see there, he's going to be speaking any moment now, that May 1 deadline that he announced a few weeks ago and after that he already said -- let's listen in and hear the president himself on this.

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good afternoon, everyone.

I just visited a vaccination clinic in Virginia, at the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia.

The seminary and other houses of worship in the area are partnering with the community health centers to offer vaccination and vaccination sites. They are seeing these kinds of partnerships, where -- not just there, but we're seeing them all over the country. People are coming together across the different faiths to serve of those most in need with special focus on vaccinating seniors from all races, backgrounds and walks of life.

It's an example of America at its finest, and they are all meeting what Pope Francis calls the moral obligation. Get vaccinated, something which can -- he went on to say can save your life and the lives of others.

And I was at the seminary clinic to mark an important milestone as well. Yesterday, we crossed 150 million shots in 75 days, the first 75 days of my administration. On our way to hitting our goal of 200 million shots by the 100th day in office. That, of course, is the new goal I set after passing the original mark of 100 million shots in my first 100 days, doing it in just 58 days.

At the time, some said 100 million shots was too ambitious, and then they said it wasn't ambitious enough. Well, we've got keep moving. If I could raise it up higher, we have to do that as well. But we know -- we know what we have to do. We have to ramp up a whole government approach that rallies the whole country and put us on a war footing to truly beat this virus. And that's what we've been doing -- getting enough vaccine supply, mobilizing more vaccinators, creating more places to get vaccinated, and we're now administering an average of 3 million shots per day. Over 20 million shots a week. On Saturday alone, we reported more than 4 million shots were administered.

We're the first country to administer 100 million shots and the first country to fully vaccinate over 62 million people. But here's the deal. I promise an update to the American people every 50 millionth shot, and I'm already back to update you a little over two week -- two and a half weeks later.

I promised in the beginning that I would always give you the straight scoop, straight from the shoulder, the good and the bad. Well, here's the truth: the good news is we're on track to beat our goal of 200 million shots in the first 100 days. More than 75 percent of the people over the age of 65 have gotten shots up from 8 percent when we took office. That's a dramatic turnaround and critical because seniors account for 80 percent of all COVID deaths.

To help support my goal of safely reopening a majority of K-8 schools by my 100th day in office, I directed states in early March to make educators and children -- child care workers eligible for vaccines. And to get a goal of getting all who wanted the vaccination to be able to have one and to do it in the month of March.

I'm pleased to report, according to CDC estimates, over 80 percent of teachers, school staff and child care workers received at least one shot by the end of March. That's great progress protecting our educators and our essential workers.

And because our vaccine program is in overdrive, we're making it easier to get a vaccination shot.

[16:15:06]

Last week, I announced that by April 19th of this month, 90 percent of all Americans will be within five miles of a vaccination side and further good news is that we're getting more and more data on just how effective the vaccines are.

Dr. Fauci recently cited two studies from the "New England Journal of Medicine" that found fully vaccinated care workers, health care workers on the frontlines had extremely low infection rates, less than 0.2 of 1 percent compared to unvaccinated health care workers who had considerably higher infection rates.

So we're make incredible progress. There's a lot of good news, but there's also some bad news.

New -- new variants of the virus are spreading, and they are moving quickly. Cases are going back up. Hospitalizations are no longer declining. While deaths are still down, way down from January, they are going up in some places.

So you might ask, everybody is asking. What does that mean? I understand that people may find it confusing that the vaccination program is saving tens of thousand of lives but the pandemic remains dangerous.

Let me explain it in a single word, time. Time. Even moving at the record speed that we're moving at, we're not even half what through vaccinating over 300 million Americans. This is going to take time.

Remember, for a two-dose vaccine, it takes weeks from the time you get your first one until you're able to get your second shot which makes you fully protected. If you get your first shot next week in mid- April, you won't be fully protected until -- until May, late May. If you get your first shot in mid-May, you aren't fully protected until late June.

So, look, now on the one hand, June isn't that far away given how long this has been going on, but it isn't here yet either. So the virus is spreading because we have too many people who see the end in sight think we're at the finish line already.

Let me be deadly earnest with you. We aren't at the finish line. We still have a lot of work to do. We're still in a life-and-death race against this virus.

Until we get more people vaccinated, we need everyone to wash their hands, socially distance and mask up in a recommended mask from the CDC.

Think about it this way, better times are ahead and as I've said before we can have a safe, Happy 4th of July with your family and friends and small groups in your backyard. The real question is, how much death, disease and misery are we going to see between now and then?

In January, in just the month of January, we lost 95,747 -- excuse me, 95,774 Americans. In March, that was 37,172 Americans.

All told, I keep doing this I know, but I carry this card every day with my schedule on it and on the back I have a COVID update. The total number of deaths in the United States to date is 554,064 dead. That's lives that have been lost.

What we do now, we can determine how many people will save or lose in the month of April and May and June before we get to July 4th.

So, please, until we're further along in this accelerating successful but still growing vaccination effort, please wash your hands, practice social distancing and wear a mask as recommended by the CDC, get vaccinated when it's your turn.

While I'm asking the American people to do their jobs, here's what I'm doing -- we first started our vaccination program, there were real questions how quickly we could get shots in people's arms. Well, by the end of May, the vast majority of adult Americans will have gotten at least their first shot.

That's success. That's success that's going to save lives and get this country back to normal sooner.

[16:20:02]

But it's not enough. On March the 11th, I announced that I was opening up all vaccination sites to all adults by May 1st.

Many governors, Democrats and Republicans, responded and decided to beat that date which was good. Thanks to their hard work and the hard work of the American people, and the hard work of my team, I'm announcing today that we're moving that date up from May 1st to April 19th nationwide.

That means by no later than April 19th, in every part of this country, every adult over the age of 18 -- 18 or older will be eligible to be vaccinated. No more confusing rules. No more confusing restrictions.

My message today is a simple one. Many states have already opened up to all adults, but beginning April 19th every adult in every state, every adult in this country is eligible to get in line to get a COVID vaccination, and today in advance of that new national full eligibility date, I want to make a direct appeal to our seniors and everyone who cares about them.

While we have made incredible progress vaccinating three-quarters of our seniors and putting vaccination sites within five miles of 90 percent of the public, it still isn't enough. It's simple. Seniors, it's time for you to get vaccinated now. Get vaccinated now. To make it easier my administration is sending aid to community groups to drive seniors to vaccination sites.

We're incredibly grateful to all the volunteers, houses of worship and civic groups that are helping us in this effort. This is America. We take care of one another. We have to keep it up.

As I ask seniors to sign up for their shots now, I also have a message for people under 65. If you know someone over 56 who has not gotten this life-saving vaccine, call them now. Work with them to get their shots this week or next. Pick them up, drive them. It can be your parents, your grandparents, your aunt, uncle, your neighbors.

And, finally, even after we open vaccinations to all adults and put a site within five miles of 90 percent of the public, we know there are many people who still struggle to get access to a shot. We know that there are number of seniors and people with disabilities and people in many communities of color who may be isolated and lack access to transportation.

That's why we're ramping up transportation to vaccination centers and deploying more mobile units and pop-up clinics in the places close to where people live. That's why we're working with faith-based organizations and other community groups to host vaccination clinics, sign people up for appointments, get help. Help them get those appointments.

That's why we're sending even more vaccines to community health centers like the one I was at today that all together serve nearly 30 million Americans like the ones I visited today. Two-thirds of the patients at community health centers live at or below the poverty level. Sixty percent are racial and ethnic minorities.

To reach them, we're investing nearly $10 billion to expand testing, treatment and vaccinations from the hardest hit yet most underserved communities.

Let me close with this. We've vaccinated more people than any other nation on Earth. The vaccines have proven to be safe and effective. That should give us real hope, but it can't let it -- we can't let it make us complacent.

Despite the progress that we're making as a nation, I want every American to know in no uncertain terms that this fight isn't over. This progress we've worked so hard to achieve can be reversed. Now is not the time to let down. Now is not the time to celebrate.

It's time to do what we do best as a country -- do our duty, our jobs, taking care of one another. And we can and will do this. But we can't let up now.

My hope is before the summer is over, I'm taking to you all about how we have even access to more vaccines than we need to take care of every American. And we're helping other poor countries and countries around the world that don't have the money, the time, the expertise because until this vaccine is available to the world and we're beating back the vaccine -- the virus in other countries, we're not really completely safe.

So we've made great progress. I'm still looking forward to the prospect that we keep the pace we're on and we listen to one another and take the progress that I've talked about, and to be able to have a 4th of July, an Independence Day on July 4th as I defined about three weeks ago.

I want to have an Independence Day, an independence from the COVID, so you're able to get in the backyard with a small group of people, friends and neighbors and celebrate Independence Day because you've been vaccinated, because you're safe, because you're in the clear.

May God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

REPORTER: Mr. President, in Vienna, how are the Vienna talks going?

BIDEN: I'll report on that later.

REPORTER: Mr. President, do you think the Masters golf tournament should be moved out of Georgia?

BIDEN: I think that's up to the Masters.

Look, you know, it is reassuring to see that for-profit operations and businesses are speaking up about how these new Jim Crow laws are just antithetical to who we are.

There's another side to it, too. The other side to it, too, is when they in fact move out of Georgia, the people who need the help the most, people who are making hourly wages sometimes get hurt the most. I think it's a very tough decision for a corporation to make or a group to make, but I respect them when they make that judgment and I support whatever judgment they make.

But it's -- the best way to deal with this is for Georgia and other states to smarten up, stop it. Stop it. It's about getting people to vote.

(CROSSTALK)

REPORTER: Despite your personal efforts even now, there are many Americans who are very reluctant to take the vaccine, especially in red states. Why the White House hasn't used a more forceful campaign like advertisement on television, for example, to convince Americans to take that vaccine so that we can beat the virus (ph)?

BIDEN: Well, we are. We are doing that.

And, by the way, the number of people who are reluctant to take it continues to diminish, continues to diminish across the country as they see their neighbors, particularly in communities that have been very -- now, there's a different group of people. There's a group of people who have been reluctant because of past -- how can I say it -- past wrongs that have been done to them, experimentation, not sure that they are being told the truth, et cetera.

But then there's another group that seems to me to be -- I probably shouldn't characterize it, but Mitch McConnell keeps speaking to them which I give them credit for, saying the idea, he said, the polling data shows Republican men, particularly young men, don't think they should have to take the vaccine. It's their patriotic right not do it, their freedom to choose, and he's saying, no, no. Take the vaccine. Take the vaccine.

And I'll add a phrase he didn't but I think he believes. It's a patriotic responsibility you have.

Last question?

REPORTER: Mr. President?

REPORTER: Mr. President, have you spoken to the Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell yet?

BIDEN: I have not.

REPORTER: Can you say why? Do you plan to speak to him?

BIDEN: I'm not -- look, I think the Federal Reserve is an independent operation, and starting off my presidency, I wanted to be real clear that I'm not going to do the kinds of things that have been done in the last administration, either talking to the attorney general about who he's going to prosecute or not prosecute, and under what circumstances or the Fed telling them what they should and shouldn't do. Even though that wouldn't be the basis upon which I'd be talking to him.

So I've been very fastidious about not talking to him but I do talk to the secretary of the treasury.

Thank you all very much.

REPORTER: Mr. President, you mentioned 554,064 American dead from COVID-19. A lot of families want to know how this happened. How it got here.

I mean, you had a chance to speak to any of your international partners, any of it (ph), President Xi, who I know you go way back with. Have you had a chance to ask him if these reports are true that China may have misled the world at the beginning?

BIDEN: No, I had not had that conversation with President Xi. Thank you.

[16:30:00]