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The Lead with Jake Tapper

U.S. & Russia Reveal New Details for Biden-Putin Summit; Biden Tells Allies: America is Back; Biden Admin Unveils New Plan to Combat Domestic Terrorism; How Early Did COVID Hit United States?; New E- Mails Reveal Trump Efforts to Overturn Election; Videos Show Ocean City, MD Police Kicking, Tasing Teens After Stopping Them to Enforce a Boadwalk Vaping Ban; Afghan Translators Waiting for U.S. Visas Allegedly Being Hunted Down, Killed by Taliban. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired June 15, 2021 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:20]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Will Biden's opener be, so I heard you were hoping for the other guy?

THE LEAD starts right now.

Face to face. President Biden and Putin meet in less than 15 hours. We're learning new details about what will happen inside the room.

And then pressure campaign. The newly revealed emails showing how Trump and his allies hounded the Justice Department to investigate outlandish allegation of voter fraud.

Plus, a grim new milestone in the COVID pandemic as the CDC raises the threat level of a vicious new variant.

(MUSIC)

BROWN: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Pamela Brown, in for Jake Tapper.

And we begin today with our world lead, and the new details revealed about what to expect during President Biden's highly anticipated historic summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Tomorrow, the two leaders will meet face-to-face at a time when U.S.-Russia relations are at their lowest points since the Cold War.

It's still unclear if they'll meet without note takers but officials say they do expect the summit to last about four or five hours. Biden has been preparing intensely for the talks according to officials, also holding lengthy sessions with his team, consulting with G-7 and NATO allies for their input. And last month, we're told that Biden assembled a group of Russia experts, including former Trump officials to, brief him.

Now, as CNN's Phil Mattingly reports, officials are revealing what exactly the two leaders will be discussing. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've said, we'll focus (INAUDIBLE) that America is back, and which is why we're here in full force.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Biden capping off a week designed to reinvigorate America's closest alliances delivering a resolute message.

BIDEN: Europe is our national partner, and the reason is we're committed to the same democratic (INAUDIBLE) and are -- and they are increasingly under attack.

MATTINGLY: A message repeated directly nearly two dozen conversations with key U.S. allies in the G7, NATO, and today, the E.U. One carefully calibrated to be carried into the high stakes of his first foreign trip, his sit-down Russian President Vladimir Putin.

BIDEN: That's how to prove that democracy and that our alliance can still prevail against the challenges of our time, to deliver for the needs and needs of our people.

MATTINGLY: Biden arriving in Geneva for that sit-down, with relations between the U.S. and Russia at their lowest point since the Cold War. The two leaders set to participate in at least two meetings, a smaller sit-down with Biden, Putin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov participating, followed by an expanded discussion with five-member delegations.

The two leaders will not share a meal, officials say, and the talks are expected to last roughly four to five hours. The day will close with individual press conferences by each leader, an intentional decision by U.S. officials in an effort not to elevate the Russian leader.

The U.S. agenda is lengthy, and it will be delivered with clear intent, officials say, from firm warnings on cyberattacks, the imprisonment of opposition leaders and aggression in Ukraine, to areas of potential cooperation, like Afghanistan, arms control, and the Iran nuclear deal.

BIDEN: I'm going to make clear to President Putin that there are areas where we can cooperate, if he chooses. And if he chooses not to cooperate and acts in a way that he has in the past relative to cybersecurity and some other activities, then we will respond.

MATTINGLY: But everyone those areas of potential cooperation will come with significant skepticism from the U.S. side.

BIDEN: I verify first then trust.

MATTINGLY: Even as Biden signals begrudging respect for what Putin, a leader who has confounded U.S. officials for decades, will bring to the room.

BIDEN: He's bright, he's tough, and I have found that he is a worthy adversary.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY (on camera): And, Pamela, one of the most interesting element I think going into tomorrow is despite intensive negotiations between U.S. officials and Russian officials over how this sit-down will be structured, two senior administration officials have said they have left flexibility.

They agreed with the Russian team to leave flexibility for the two leaders to decide if they want to take any of these meetings into a different direction, perhaps even a one-on-one meeting. Whether that happens, well, that will largely be determined by the tone and substance of those first two meetings but it's something to keep an eye on tomorrow in its high stakes sit-down, Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Thank you so much, Phil.

And let's bring in CNN's Moscow correspondent Matthew Chance who is also in Geneva.

So, Matthew, today, Putin's spokesperson was asked about who would be involved in a possible prisoner swap. What did he say?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN MOSCOW CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, look, first of all, they don't want to talk about individual names right now, on the eve of the summit. But, it's well-known that the various players that are in play are two individuals who are American citizens, Paul Whelan, a former U.S. marine who is in prison for 16 years on espionage charges in Russia, and Trevor Reed who was imprisoned last year for nine years after, you know, apparently endangering the life of a Russian policeman.

And those are the people, the American citizens that are in Russian jails right now. It's a very emotional issue. You have seen very emotional appeals being made by the parents and relatives of those two figures, two both presidents, Biden and Putin, for them to come to some kind of a deal to try to get them released and returned home. But, of course, if that's going to happen, then the Russians will want something in return, and the Russians have got their own list of prisoners, Russian citizens in American jails that they want returned if there's going to be any kind of prisoner swap.

And those two people, the people who were most mentioned by the Russian foreign ministry, the Russian officials, whenever this issue is broached are Konstantin Yaroshenko, who is convicted of smuggling you know, conspiracy to smuggle large quantities of cocaine, and Viktor Bout, who's one of the world's most notorious arms traffickers and he's serving 25 years in a U.S. federal penitentiary.

The problem that has always been that U.S. officials say that the level of criminality of those Russians is far higher than the Americans in Russian jails. It's not an equal balance. But of course the final decision will rest with the two presidents when potentially they start that progress moving forward. It's already been in motion and here in Geneva tomorrow. BROWN: And both presidents want these summits to be successful, right? We have talked a lot about what a successful summit looks like for Biden.

What does a successful summit look like for Putin?

CHANCE: Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, the Kremlin says, of course, as the White House does, that there are areas of, you know, you can cooperate -- arms control, climate change, managing regional conflicts, things like that, and that's certainly true. You know, they have a point. That would be good for global diplomacy if Russia or the United States could work together on system of those issues like the Iran nuclear deal, for instance.

I think there's also a sense that the Russians want to put the brake a little bit on the runaway train that the U.S./Russian relationship has become. They don't even have ambassadors in each others' countries. But I think that, overall, the most important factor from the Kremlin point of view is symbolism.

This is Vladimir Putin at the top table diplomatically with the president. He's got a summit. It's not a meeting on the sidelines of some other venue. This is a one-on-one face to face with the U.S. president. That does enormous things for his credibility at home, and he'll be using it, I expect, to his full impact.

BROWN: And that's been some of the criticism against President Biden, giving him a platform.

Matthew Chance, thank you for that.

Let's discuss this a little bit deeper with Garry Kasparov, a Russian pro-democracy leader and chairman of the Human Rights Foundation. He's also a former world chess champion.

Garry, you have been a harsh critic of Putin. You just heard Matthew Chance talk about what a successful summit looks like for him. What do you think?

GARRY KASPAROV, RUSSIAN PRO-DEMOCRACY LEADER: Putin already got what he wanted, a summit. He might get more, of course, but the main exchange has already happened. President Biden gave the credibility of the United States to a brutal dictator.

Let's not forget, you know, Biden called Putin a killer, rightly so. And the president of the United States having a summit with a killer who attacked his country, the United States, on multiple occasions, it's only a sign of weakness, and it doesn't matter what Biden or the Democrats think about it. It's what Putin and his mafia and their cronies around the world think that matters.

If you care about the results, so, you just should separate the global effect, negative effect of the very fact of this meeting and some domestic politics.

BROWN: As we know, President Biden was the one that asked for this meeting. The White House has been downplaying expectations, but you have noted that every new U.S. president comes in and thinks that they're going to work something else out with Putin, or reset relations. That's not what this White House is saying they're going to do, but why has he confounded so many U.S. presidents over the years?

[16:10:06]

KASPAROV: Oh, we should ask U.S. presidents why they let it happen. But naturally, Bush 43 dealt with a newcomer. I still think he made mistakes but you can hardly criticize Bush for recognizing this threat coming from Putin in 2004, 2005.

Then we have Obama who made I think a great mistake of hoping for a reset, but he had hopes with Medvedev. We all knew he was a shadow of Putin, but still Obama had some hopes and, of course, the second term Obama was a public disaster.

And then we have Trump, but Trump was a different story because we all had reasons to expect that he was worse, a KGB asset. At least it looked so, but in this case, you know, everything looked like it was Trump's reputation at stake.

Now we have Biden. And Joe Biden was around for forever. He remembers Soviet Union. He dealt with KGB in its original form, and now, it's the reputation of the United States at stake.

When I heard about this prisoner swap, you know, I'm terrified, because we're talking about exchange of hostages for criminals. And if Putin gets it out of his meeting, yeah, that definitely sends a message that Vladimir Putin, as Matthew Chance correctly said, you know, sitting at the top diplomatic take got what he wanted, after 21 year of his dictatorship and after him violating every agreement he signed and attacking neighboring countries and again, attacking -- he keeps attacking the United States. The reason the attacks happened in the last couple of months after the summit was already announced.

BROWN: Right, with the cyber ransom attacks and that is something that we do expect to be brought up in these meetings. What will come out of it, we still don't know. And this opinion piece you wrote for CNN.com, you had said Putin's impunity will only grow unless there are rapid repercussions for his criminal acts. What kind of repercussions are you talking about?

KASPAROV: Naturally, you know, if you're dealing with criminals, if you're dealing with mafia, you have to stop them from being aggressive and attacking your interests. Biden wants to send a real message to Putin, he would be meet with Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, what Putin is invading. He would meet with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the real president of Belarus, living in exile.

And especially now when Lukashenko hijacked the plane and had a prisoner -- the young boy had been tortured and demonstrated on Belarusian TV, or Biden had a chance of meeting with the families of Putin's victims like family of Alexey Navalny.

There are many ways of sending message to Putin that America is back and America is serious, and it's not just words but acts. But so far, again, it's all about, you know, warnings. If Putin does that, oh, we will act.

We have been hearing it for more than a decade, at least. And now the warning to Putin, it's -- has no effect.

BROWN: All right. Garry Kasparov, thank you so much for sharing your perspective on this.

And coming up, the attorney general citing the insurrection as he lays out a new wide ranging plan to combat domestic terrorism. That's straight ahead.

Plus, teens tased by police for vaping. We're going to show you the shocking videos raising questions about police use of force.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:17:45]

BROWN: Turning to our world lead, President Biden's big moment on the international stage is fast approaching. His highly anticipated five- hour sit-down with Russian President Vladimir Putin is set for tomorrow. Will it echo the 1985 talks between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev who also met in Geneva, Switzerland, in their face to face meeting, or will it worsen the already fraught U.S./Russia relations?

Let's discuss with Julia Ioffe and our Chris Cillizza.

Great to see you both.

So, Julia, the White House says Biden met with a group of Russian experts earlier this month to prepare for the meeting. It appears that Biden is doing a lot of preparing, doing his homework. But what are the pitfalls he's like to face?

JULIA IOFFE, FONDING PARTNER & WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, PUCK: Well, the first pitfall is unlike Gorbachev, Putin doesn't want to cooperate with the Russians. Gorbachev needed help from the Americans economically. He wanted to open the Soviet up to the West. He wanted to integrate into the world order.

Putin doesn't want to do that. He wants to survive and stay at the top as long as he can, and his side, the Russian side, has signaled repeatedly that they will not make any concessions, that they don't really need anything from this meeting. They kind of just -- they're making a -- they're pretending they basically just agreed to the meeting because Biden asked for it, so it's kind of no (INAUDIBLE).

And, in fact, you know, they're sticking finger, their thumb in the eye of the U.S. and saying, you know, if Biden tries to talk about human rights, then the Russian side will bring up the January 6th rioters and the alleged violation of their human rights.

BROWN: Making the false equivalence there. It all raises the question, Chris, given the risks and potential

pitfalls with this meeting and the pact that the White House is already saying, we don't think we're going to have many deliverables if at all, what is the point of this? Do you think the White House has sold the purpose of this meeting enough?

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: I was listening to Garry Kasparov in the last segment and I was shocked he viewed it as the Russians already won because there's a meeting at all, which I think is important context.

I think Joe Biden wanted to come at it from two things. One, a point of strength.

[16:20:00]

We're asking for this meeting. We want a reset. There are things we can agree on and there are things we cannot agree on, and I'm going to tell you, those things we're not going to agree on from Joe Biden's perspective.

I think the other thing is just like this whole European tour thus far, there's an implicit -- not even that implicit, sort of an explicit comparison they're hoping between how Joe Biden looks at the European world community and how Joe Biden looks in a meeting with Vladimir Putin to how Donald Trump looked in the European community and how Donald Trump looked in a meeting with Vladimir Putin.

Obviously we're not going to have the joint press conference like we did in Helsinki in 2018, but at that moment there were a lot of lows. But that moment, at least in the world stage struck me as -- you know, he's undermining his own intelligence community while on stage with Vladimir Putin, saying, well, Vladimir Putin said we didn't get involved.

I think Joe Biden wants to say, I'm not Trump in a lot of ways, both with the carrot and the stick. And I'm going to reset

Now, reset --

BROWN: Rest, right.

CILLIZZA: -- we have been there many times before. I'm with Julia, I -- the attempt to make this a Gorbachev-like moment --

BROWN: Is not going to happen.

CILIZZA: Putin doesn't want to play ball that way.

BROWN: How much does it have to do with being able to shift back to China and focus on that? As you well know, the meetings with allies have been focused on China. The communique was all about China. I mean, how much of it is about, you know, lowering the temperature with Russia so they can refocus?

CILLIZZA: I think that's probably some of it. I think what Biden wants to get out of this is, I told him about the things that I thought were important -- you know, human rights and those sort of things. We talked about it. I said, I took a hard line. We tried to find common ground on nuclear arms. And then in some ways, put it off the table, which I think is a little bit dangerous as it relates to Russia.

But sort of take it over here, so now, we're going to focus on this thing. We have been talking about Russia four plus years in, large part because of Donald Trump and their efforts to meddle in the election. I think this is an attempt to say, let's handle it, let's pretty soon in my administration, six months in, and go from there to other things to your point, Pam, that I think are more pressing in Biden's mind, at least.

BROWN: And, Julia, this meeting is slated for five hours at least, around that time. This isn't just a quick pull aside. They're leaving time in case Putin and Trump -- Trump, gosh. Biden want to go and have their own meeting.

What do you expect will come out of it?

IOFFE: Well, I imagine, about four of those hours will be eaten up by Putin being late. You know, this is one of the stance he pulls constantly. He loves to be late to meet the British queen, the Pope, just because he can and he doesn't care. He thinks his time is more valuable. I'm kind of joking.

I do agree with Chris that the way the Biden administration set this up, where at first it's the G7 meeting, the NATO summit, and then this long conversation with Putin, it does show this huge departure from the Trump presidency, and it does show what, you know, some observers have pointed out, that, you know, Putin is trying to project strength, the bullying strength of an autocrat, but America's showing it has strength because it has a ton of allies, which Russia frankly doesn't have.

BROWN: Right, which was notable that Biden said during the press conference yesterday that the allies he had spoken with there had said they support this meeting. They support the timing of it. He clearly wants to go in strongly positioned.

Thank you so much, Julia Ioffe and Chris Cillizza.

Up next, an inside look at the emails that show how Donald Trump and his allies pushed the Justice Department to look into outlandish election theories.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:28:25]

BROWN: In our national lead, with all the scandal surrounding Trump's Justice Department, the DOJ under President Biden is putting its focus on combating domestic terrorism. Attorney General Merrick Garland today announcing the department's new strategy for stopping the enemy inside our borders, citing the insurrection as a glaring example. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The resolve and dedication with which the Justice Department has approached the investigation of the January 6th attack reflects the seriousness with which we take this assault on a mainstay of our democratic system -- the peaceful transfer of power. Attacks by domestic terrorists are not just attacks on their immediate victims. They are attacks on all of us collectively, aimed at rending the fabric of our democratic society and driving us apart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN's Evan Perez joins us now.

So, what is the DOJ's new strategy here?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're borrowing a strategy that they've used very successfully against international terrorists, which is taking a look at how to analyze one of -- we have -- some of the things that the Justice Department said they're going to do. They're going to analyze and share information, push that out to some of the state and local governments. They're going look to try to figure out how to stop some domestic terrorism recruitment and try to disrupt some of that activity before it gets to January 6th.

And, truthfully, you know, you remembered how we covered the ISIS and the rise of al Qaeda. We know they look at social media postings. And they were looking at that before January 6th.

The problem was that it still managed to surprise them what people said they were going to do, they ended up doing.

[16:30:00]

And so one of the things that I think they're confronting is how to manage doing -- doing these things that they do with international terrorist groups with a completely domestic picture, and not infringe on people's First Amendment rights.

You heard that from Attorney General Merrick Garland today, because he knows conservatives are particularly concerned that what the FBI and the Justice Department are going to end up doing is criminalizing free speech and some of the conservatives that are behind some of these ideas.

BROWN: All right, it's a tricky situation. We will be following that. Thanks, Evan.

And turning to our politics lead now, e-mails from President Trump's aides paint a much clearer picture of what was happening behind the scenes in the lead-up to the January 6 insurrection.

The e-mails proving Trump's aides pressured then acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to consider the big lie allegations that the 2020 election was stolen, as CNN's Paula Reid reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New e-mails from Justice Department and White House officials reveal just how former President Trump and his allies pressured then acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to pursue false claims the 2020 election was stolen.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was a rigged election. You look at the different states, the election was totally rigged.

REID: The e-mails released Monday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee show how White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows pressured the Justice Department at least five times to investigate conspiracy theories.

In one exchange, he wanted Rosen to arrange an FBI meeting with an ally of Rudy Giuliani, who was pushing a conspiracy.

RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY FOR PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: As a friend of mine says, I don't believe in conspiracies, but I also don't believe in coincidences.

REID: Rosen would not, e-mailing his deputy: "I flatly refused, said I would not be giving any special treatment to Giuliani or any of his 'witnesses.'"

The e-mails also reveal how the president directed other allies to press Rosen to join the legal effort to challenge election results. On December 29, Kurt Olsen, a private attorney e-mailed the Justice Department a draft of a lawsuit to challenge the election, claiming he had been directed by the president to meet with Rosen to bring a similar action, writing: "I have been instructed to report back to the president this afternoon after this meeting."

The e-mails indicate Rosen talked to Mr. Olsen and asked him for more information. The new documents also reveal how, on December 31 and January 3, former President Trump met with Rosen and other top Justice officials and pressured them to challenge the election results.

On January 1, Meadows sent him a YouTube clip pushing a theory Italy used satellites to move votes to Biden. Rosen forwarded it to a deputy and called the clip pure insanity.

On the same day, Meadows e-mailed about signature matches in Georgia. Rosen e-mailed a deputy, writing: "Can you believe this? I'm not going to respond."

The pressure campaign ramped up as the president tapped Rosen to replace outgoing Attorney General Bill Barr, who stepped down in December 2020. Barr, one of the president's closest allies, said publicly in December that he did not see evidence of widespread voter fraud.

(END VIDEOTAPE) REID: Today, CNN asked Mark Meadows if it was appropriate for him to be pressuring Rosen to investigate false claims of voter fraud. Meadows declined to comment.

The Oversight Committee has also asked Meadows to sit for an interview, but he would not say whether he would agree to testify before the committee he wants served on -- Pam.

BROWN: All right, Paula Reid, thanks so much.

Well, a new study now adding to evidence that COVID-19 was circulating in the U.S. earlier than first reported -- that story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:38:19]

BROWN: Turning to the health lead now: how it started and how it's going.

New evidence that COVID-19 arrived in the U.S. in 2019. A National Institutes of Health study says the virus was here weeks earlier than the first reported cases in this country. And, today, a vaccine expert is warning, unvaccinated Americans are putting themselves and the country at great risk, as a new powerful COVID variant spreads, as CNN's Nick Watt reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NORM LANGER, OWNER, LANGER'S DELI: It's coffee time.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The countdown to 8:00, Langer's Deli prepping to open its dining room for the first time in more than 15 months.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

LANGER: We will be able to put a smile on all my employees' faces and all of my customers' faces.

DANIEL SMITH, WAITER, LANGER'S DELI: I have been off since March of 2020.

WATT: Across California, no more capacity limits or social distancing in restaurants and stores, and, most places, no mask required for the vaccinated. This, the most populous state in the nation, was the first to tell it's nearly 40 million people to stay home.

And that was more than 450 days ago.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): We need to bend the curve in the state of California.

WATT: A grim-faced governor then grinning now at Universal Studios.

NEWSOM: We are here, June 15, to turn the page and move beyond wearing these masks.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

WATT: And Disneyland once again welcoming visitors from out of state.

Over in New York state:

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): This is a momentous day.

WATT: -- 70 percent of adults have now had at least one dose.

CUOMO: It means that we can now return to life as we know it.

WATT: As of lunchtime, New York state COVID restrictions are no more.

[16:40:05]

The virus has now killed more than 600,000 in America. More will die, but how many? We watched the Delta variant ravage India. The CDC just changed it from variant of interest to variant of concern.

DR. PETER HOTEZ, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: But I'm extremely worried because the Delta variant is so aggressive in terms of transmission. Anyone who's unvaccinated right now is at very, very high risk, especially in the South this summer.

WATT: Roughly 55 percent of adults in America are now fully vaccinated, but the rollout is slowing, and it's uneven geographically, demographically.

ANDY SLAVITT, FORMER SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISER FOR COVID RESPONSE: If you have more than roughly half of the population vaccinated, it's not as if half the people you know are vaccinated and half aren't. Either just about everybody you know is vaccinated or everybody you know isn't.

WATT: In these states, as of this morning, more than 60 percent of those counted by the CDC were fully vaccinated, in these states, under 45.

SLAVITT: They're going to be really subject to potential outbreaks. And those outbreaks are not going to, hopefully, have quite the wildfire spread as we saw 2020, but they're still going to impact those communities pretty strongly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: And the reason that California can do all this, open up, is because it has done very well getting people vaccinated.

But no one's declaring victory out here just yet. Norm, who runs this, owns this place, still asking people to mask up when they're moving around. The message is very much, yes, this is great, but let's not go nuts just yet -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Nick Watt, thanks so much. Well, time is running out to help thousands of Afghans who risked

everything to help the U.S., as we learn some are being hunted down and killed as we speak.

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:46:03]

BROWN: In our national lead, shocking video going viral right now showing police kicking and tasing black teenagers in Ocean City, Maryland, after the teens allegedly violated a vaping ordinance.

And as CNN's Brynn Gingras reports, the video you're about to see is disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A teenager vaping, leading to this chaotic, shocking scene. You see an Ocean City, Maryland police officer, kneeing a teenager multiple times in his side.

According to police, officers were enforcing the town's smoking ordinance on the boardwalk when 19-year-old Brian Everett Anderson from Pennsylvania allegedly refused to stop vaping and show ID. Police say he then became disorderly.

The video recorded by a bystander begins there. When Anderson says he told police he wasn't resisting arrest. He spoke to ABC News this morning.

Another teen appears to be tased. A third member threw a bike at them.

BRIAN EVERETT ANDERSON, ARRESTED ON OCEAN CITY BOARDWALK: They shouldn't have swarmed us the way they did.

GINGRAS: Another teen appears to be tased during the scuffle, while authorities say a third member of the group threw bike at them.

JAHTIQUE LEWIS, ARRESTED ON OCEAN CIOTY BOARDWALK: I get a bike thrown at me, so I grabbed the bike and threw it to the side.

GINGRAS: The incident escalated to arrests, sparked by an infraction that normally carries up to a $500 fine. Ocean City's mayor is saying in a statement, it was only after the individuals refused to provide identification that this became an arrestable offense, adding the officer's actions are under investigation.

Governor Larry Hogan calling it a disturbing video.

GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R-MD): We're just anxious to get the initial investigation so we can have all the facts.

GINGRAS: It's not the only incident in the city being called into question. Another video from last week showing the moment 18-year-old Taizier Griffin was tased. Ocean City police say they stopped the teenager for the same smoking violation, used a taser after he became disorderly and allegedly threatened to kill officers.

JESSICA BARBER, TAIZIER GRIFFIN MOTHER: He was not resisting. He was not giving any issues to police officers.

GINGRAS: The events combined, causing outrage from the state delegation, the state speaker tweeting: Vaping on the boardwalk is not a criminal offense. Black and brown children should not be tased while their hands are up. Officers should not kneel on the back of a minor. Vaping should not yield a hog tie.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GINGRAS: Now, the teens arrested on the boardwalk in that first video faced a number of charges, including resisting arrest, assault, and disorderly conduct. They were released without bail being set. Now, as for that other teen, Taizier Griffin, in that second video, his friend that recorded the second incident said was in no way a threat to police.

But you've got to remember, Pam, all of these controversial moves by police are coming in a state that really has been ahead on police reform, new laws were passed earlier this year and they are set to go in effect very soon -- Pam.

BROWN: OK. Brynn, thanks so much for that.

And also in our national lead, we are learning a deadly shooting in Georgia yesterday happened all because of a dispute over a face mask. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says an employee at the Decatur grocery store, 41-year-old Laquitta Willis, was shot and killed by the suspect. The owner of the grocery store saying Willis had simply asked the man to pull up his mask.

A reserve deputy working security at the store fired at the suspect who returned fire. Both were injured and taken to local hospitals.

Well, thousands -- thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. need help themselves. The call for action up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:54:13]

BROWN: The buried lead now. Time is running out for thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. military. As America ends its longest war, translators left behind are begging the Biden administration to cut through red tape and grant them special visas to come to the U.S.

Today, independent Senator Angus King told reporters the president's hair should be on fire over this situation, but for some, it is already too late, as our Jake Tapper reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A family in mourning after their worst fears became reality.

Fareed (INAUDIBLE) Ali Khan murdered by the Taliban. His family says targeted for one simple reason. He worked for the U.S. government in Afghanistan.

CNN has not been able to independently verify the attack, but documents confirm Khan worked with Americans in Afghanistan for nearly two decades. And this isn't an isolated incident.

"Stars and Stripes", a new site affiliated with the U.S. military, reports that one Afghan man that worked for the U.S. 12 years was believe to have been killed by the Taliban while waiting for his visa for nearly a decade. Those tragic deaths and others like them renewing attention on what lawmakers, military leaders, and human rights activists have been stressing for some time now. The United States government, the Biden administration, needs to rescue the Afghan men and women who risked everything to help the U.S. effort before it's too late.

KIM STAFFIERI, CO-FOUNDRE OF ASSOCIATION OF WARTIME ALLIES: We need to evacuate these people.

TAPPER: Time is running out. Today, these Afghan allies wait in unrelenting fear. They say they're sitting ducks as the Taliban and other militant groups target them to send a message about the penalty for having helped Americans.

Some 18,000 have applied for a special visa known as SIV to come to the United States, a program which the U.S. government created more than a decade ago. But layers of red tape and bureaucracy have slowed the process down to the point where many of the would-be recipients have been waiting for years.

Khan was one of the sitting ducks. He waited for years before the Taliban reportedly caught up with him.

STAFFIERI: I mean, they're all walking with a target on them right now. And the reports of the attacks are coming in daily at this point, the murders are happening now.

TAPPER: Kim Staffieri is the co-founder and executive director of Association of Wartime Allies which has helped Afghan allies through the visa application process. Her group is tracking more than 11,000 Afghans that worked for the U.S., all trying to get to America for their own safety. Staffieri says everything got worse after President Biden announced in April the U.S. forces would withdraw by September.

STAFFIERI: Since then, the entire dynamic has changed. Applicants are terrified. I wake up to a message pleading for help. We're going to be slaughtered. We are afraid we are going to be killed.

TAPPER: The Secretary of State Tony Blinken testified while approving visas is a priority, he doesn't think the situation will get worse. TONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: I wouldn't necessarily equate the

departure of our forces in July, August, by early September with some kind of immediate deterioration in the situation.

TAPPER: But advocates say Blinken must not be seeing what they're seeing.

STAFFIERI: All of the on the ground reports we're getting are direct contrast to that. These people are in danger now.

TAPPER: A sentiment echoed on social media by these SIV applicants who say, quote, the situation of Afghanistan is getting worse day by day, quote, the Taliban killed my brother, and I am sure they will kill me as well. And, quote, they will kill all.

One option pushed by advocates, evacuate these Afghans to safety, even while their visas are still being processed, some using hashtag, get them to Guam. Guam's governor saying the U.S. territory is open to being a temporary safe haven for these Afghans.

A few weeks ago, administration officials told CNN that the Pentagon was looking at how to evacuate thousands of Afghans at risk. With the head of Central Command, General Kenneth McKenzie, publicly announcing he could pull it off. All he needs is the green light.

GEN. KENNETH MCKENZIE, COMMANDER OF U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: From a Central Command perspective, perspective of the U.S. military, if directed to do something like that, we could certainly do it.

TAPPER: Joint Chief of Staff chairman, General Mark Milley, saying the U.S. must protect them at all costs, according to "Defense One", saying, quote, we recognize an important task is to ensure we remain faithful to them and that we do what's necessary to ensure their protection and if necessary get them out of the country.

But Blinken is not ready to commit.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, yes or no, is the administration planning evacuation of those people?

BLINKEN: Evacuation is the wrong word.

TAPPER: And when I pushed the White House press secretary on if Biden would commit to getting these allies out of Afghanistan before the U.S. withdrawal, this was her answer.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: You're asking me specifically about expediting departure of individuals out of Afghanistan. I just don't have more information on you than that, but that doesn't change the fact that these are individuals we want to help.

TAPPER: Afghan allies are left in limbo, hoping they don't meet the same fate many Vietnamese allies did after the 1975 evacuation of Saigon, an evacuation that young Senator Joe Biden was against at the time, saying quote, I do not believe the United States has an obligation, moral or otherwise, to evacuate foreign nationals. And that the U.S., quote, has no obligation to evacuate one or 101,000 South Vietnamese, unquote.

And now, thousands of Afghan allies and their advocates are praying Joe Biden has had a change of heart nearly 50 years later.

STAFFIERI: You campaigned on return to decency. Everything is in your hands, President Biden. And we need you to do the right thing.

TAPPER: Jake Tapper, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Our coverage continues with Wolf Blitzer live from Geneva, Switzerland.