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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Top U.S. General Predicts "Significant" Casualties If Russia Invades Ukraine; Ukraine President Thanks Biden For Support But Says He Knows The Situation With Russia Better Than Anyone Else; CNN Exclusive: Jan. 6 Committee Subpoenas Former W.H. Deputy Press Secretary; Jan. 6 Committee Subpoenas 14 Tied To Fake Electors Plot; VA Gov. Asks Parents To Use Tip Line To Report "Divisive" Teaching; Small Alabama Town Police Chief Resigns Amid Allegations Of Over- Policing, Trumped-Up Charges. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired January 28, 2022 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEN. MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: -- it would be horrific, it would be terrible.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russia has built up increasing in just the last 48 hours, according to the Pentagon. Both the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, again, warning Putin, diplomacy is his best option.

LLOYD AUSTIN, DEFENSE SECRETARY: A move on Ukraine will accomplish the very thing Russia says it does not want. A NATO Alliance strengthened and resolved on its western flank.

STARR (voice-over): Those comments come after a dust-up between the U.S. and Ukraine over the call Thursday between President Biden and Ukrainian President Zelensky. A senior Ukrainian official tells CNN that the call did not go well, with Zelensky calling the threat from Russia ambiguous and Biden disagreeing, saying, an invasion next month is virtually certain.

The White House saying that's not true. A spokesperson telling CNN, "President Biden said there is a distinct possibility that the Russians could invade Ukraine in February.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think you'd have to go back quite a while into the Cold War days to see something of this magnitude.

STARR (voice-over): Zelensky insisting a new invasion is not for sure.

PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINE (through translation): I'm the president of Ukraine. I'm based here. And I think I know the details deeper than any other president.

STARR (voice-over): A diplomatic solution as uncertain as ever. The Russian Foreign Minister says he sees no room for compromise as the U.S. is rejecting the demand that no new countries be allowed to join NATO.

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translation): The response is so full of itself. I feel ashamed for the people who wrote these texts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: So, what could be the next step? Well, 8,500 or so U.S. troops remain on a heightened state of alert and President Biden could, could put them into Europe with the agreement of those nations at any time. Jake?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: All right, Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us. Thank you so much.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky today seeming to take a thinly veiled shot perhaps at President Biden. Zelensky insisting that he knows the situation facing his country better than any other world leader. CNN's Matthew Chance joins us now live from Kyiv, Ukraine. And Matthew, what else did you hear from President Zelensky today about this escalating situation?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a whole range of issues addressed by Presidents Zelensky at this press conference, this news conference for members of the foreign media. He called on the United States not to create panic amid that buildup of Russian forces near his border. And he gave warnings. He said this before, but he did it again.

Warnings, this idea that the U.S. has been putting out there that the invasion could be imminent, is having a real impact on the Ukrainian economy. He also set out as some of the things that he wanted Washington to do when I asked him what more could be done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: In your conversations with President Biden, what are you telling him that you need most of all from the United States that it is not doing to help you better confront and deter Russia? What are you asking for that he's not giving you?

ZELENSKY (through translation): We discussed what are sanctions after the event. Now, this is a question not only for President Biden. So there are many countries who still discuss there are some preventive measures that can be introduced to make sure that there is no alleged escalation for Russia.

What we mean is, there should be security guarantees. When we're talking about NATO, we should go deeper into detail. I know that some members of NATO don't like this, but we want to have something specific. We need to have something that we can count on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: All right, security guarantees, sanctions, NATO, these are all the kinds of things that Ukraine has said time and again that it wants implemented before a Russian invasion. They're all things, though, that the United States as resisted or pushed back on, Jake.

TAPPER: Matthew, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin earlier today emphasized how important it is that you as allies can trust America. Do you get the sense that Zelensky trusts the United States?

CHANCE: I think they want to, but I think they also have this sense. And you get this from them when you speak to them privately that they are just a small pawn in a much broader geopolitical game. And I think there's a suspicion in the corridors of power here, that, at some point, they may be sold down the river for the sake of a broader agreement between the United States and Russia.

And, I mean, at the same time, the U.S. is still Ukraine's biggest friend, its biggest supporter. And there is a kind of residual hope, I think, amongst many Ukrainian officials that the U.S. will do more before Russian tanks roll across the border.

[17:05:04]

TAPPER: All right, Matthew Chance reporting live in Kyiv. Thanks so much.

Joining us to discuss, former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers. He served as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee back when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Chairman Rogers, good to see you today. The top U.S. General warned it would be horrific if Russian forces were, quote, unleashed on Ukraine. You were chairman at the intelligence community when Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea. How likely do you think an invasion is?

MIKE ROGERS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY COMMENTATOR: Well, it certainly doesn't look good. When they started moving up medical and logistical units, that normally means they're preparing for some kind of sustained operation. If they were going to do these lightning quick in and out, they wouldn't need the size of the logistics. And again, the medical units to treat wounded following that.

So listen, I think he's setting himself up for that. And I think he's going down his calculus right now, he being Putin. What is my tolerance for the sanctions and other things that I think will happen? It's been made very clear by NATO and the United States, there will be no military action taken other than the weapons that we're providing to Ukraine.

So he's going to go through, Jake, and say, OK, can I get half of the country up to the Dnieper River where I could have most ethnic speaking Russians on the eastern part of Ukraine, and create a land bridge from Belarus to Crimea. And then he would have all of the Azov Sea. So I think he's got these options that he's rolling down and so could be big invasion. It could be a cyber-disabling attack, sabotage operations, a coup in which many people believe he's preparing for at any rate, and then that unconventional military activity that you see happening now in the four regions that he does occupy and arraigned. And that's Luhansk, Crimea and Sevastopol.

So he's got places in Ukraine today. He's well surrounded the eastern portion of it. He is prepared to do it. Now I think we need to understand what I think he's going through, what are my pain points if I do this?

TAPPER: General Milley also suggested today that if war broke out, the civilian population of Ukraine would suffer immensely. For a lot of Americans, this all seems very far away. And Ukraine is not a NATO ally. And so I guess the question is, what do you tell people when they say, what does the U.S. owe Ukraine? How can -- how much should we put on the line to prevent this?

ROGERS: Well, you know, obviously, freedom is at stake in a freely elected government on the border of Europe. You have Russia moving west. You know, we've seen this movie before.

Remember, Czechoslovakia, remember Hungary. So -- and people who fled that if you talk to those folks who've come to America, they'll tell you exactly why we should stand up for freedom and liberty, and then the sheer oppression that happened afterward. And so you -- if you let, you know, give somebody like Putin an inch, he's going to take a mile. Does that threaten the Baltics? He said he wanted the Baltics back. He thought that they were part of Russia. Do we just walk away from that as well?

And I'm not -- nobody is really suggesting military action, direct military action in Ukraine. But there are a lot of things that we can do with our allies in NATO, Poland, Romania, the folks who have a lot at risk here, because there -- they wouldn't be next to protect them. And remember, these destabilizing events will hurt us. Gas prices are going to go up. It's going to hurt you back home at the pump.

If gas gets disrupted to Germany in a very significant way, about 44 percent of all its consumption comes from Russia in one shape or form or another --

TAPPER: Yes.

ROGERS: -- that's going to impact the economy. So that's why, I mean, freedom, number one, we've got to make sure that we take totalitarianism and keep it pushed back. And then if that doesn't bother you, if the freedom of all those people who want to be free doesn't bug you, then maybe the prices that that'll inflict on you should.

TAPPER: Quickly if you could, sir, as you heard our correspondent reporting, President Zelensky told members of the press that he thinks American and British diplomats should stay in Kyiv, not flee. You compare them to ship captains who, on his view, should be the last ones to leave then he emphasized Ukraine is not the Titanic. What do you make of that?

ROGERS: He's trying to calm his country right now. And candidly, all of this hair on fire rhetoric about get out right now and hair on fire probably isn't helpful for what he is trying to accomplish. And candidly, you know, we have other ways to exfiltrate our key personnel there if something were to happen. And I do think for a show of symbolism, we should stay in Kyiv, we should stay engaged at that very high levels with the government there at all levels. Meaning, our consulate should be open, or our embassy should be open in a sign of solidarity.

And again, he's going to continue this because he doesn't want panic throughout Ukraine. And right now, if you listen, if you're a front -- in the United States we're thinking, you know, what -- we're not exactly sure what to think of it.

[17:10:06]

If you're in Ukraine right now, you're thinking, oh my god, the (INAUDIBLE) are coming over the border in 20 minutes. You know, I just lost maybe we ought to flee, create some chaos, creates chaos in their economy. All the things candidly that Putin is trying to do, which is cause problems in their economy, make them less interesting to invest in by Western (INAUDIBLE). And so, if you take all of that wrapped up together, you got to be careful that we're not giving Putin exactly what he wants.

TAPPER: Former Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

What exactly is going on behind closed doors as the White House team vets potential Supreme Court picks? Well, someone who has been in the room where it happens will join me live next.

Plus, breaking news. The January 6 Select Committee is expanding its targets from Trump's White House. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:13]

TAPPER: In our politics lead, a partisan battle already unfolding on Capitol Hill over President Biden's future Supreme Court nominee. Democrats are using their private and public channels to express their preferences for a pick. While Republican senators led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are rather prematurely warning against a pick from the, quote, radical left.

Here to discuss, CNN's Abby Phillip and Rakesh Kilaru, who clerked for Justice Elena Kagan and also worked in the Obama White House on the team that vetted would be Supreme Court Justice Merrick Garland, now the Attorney General. Abby, President Biden promised to name a black woman. There's already a shortlist that we've all been reporting about. How much political pressure is Biden really under to pick one of these judges over another?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: A lot. I mean, to put it shortly, but at the same time, Jake, I mean, look, they're not exactly a bending Biden's arm on this. He has been pretty clear. He is going to pick a black woman.

He said so this week when he was, you know, sort of thanking Justice Breyer at the White House. And I don't think there's any reason to believe that he's going to back down on that at this point, after all this time. Not to mention, all of those women are extremely qualified to be on the court. And I think most reasonable, rational, normal people agree that after, you know, 115 Supreme Court justices, just one, maybe just one might need to be on the Supreme Court.

So I don't think this is a really difficult political step for him to take. And, in fact, that might actually put some Republicans in a tough spot, when they would have to sort of argue against this. I think many of them are already, you know, making clear that a lot of this -- their opposition to this idea has to do with race.

TAPPER: Rakesh, walk us through what's going on behind the scenes right now. Biden's team is starting to vet possible nominees. There's kind of like a list of three that we think are really the top ones. How much does political pressure play a role? Or do the veterans just go in and just like try to find any possible landmines, you know, just in case Biden picks any of them?

RAKESH KILARU, FORMER CLERK FOR JUSTICE ELENA KAGAN: It's kind of all of the above. There's an extensive vetting process that I have to think happen before this vacancy even have opened up. A president always wants to be ready for a Supreme Court nomination. And so I'm sure that lawyers in the White House have taken a close look at a lot of potential candidates.

What I imagine is happening right now is a lot of very fast-moving action to try to figure out who the right person is from a political, from a legislative and from a legal perspective, in particular, making sure there's no, as you said, red flags in the background.

TAPPER: So, Abby, Congressman Jim Clyburn, the House Majority Whip and the Dean of the South Carolina delegation, he's publicly supporting Judge J. Michelle Childs of his home state of South Carolina. Clyburn helped put Biden in the White House by supporting him announcing his endorsement right before the South Carolina primary. Bob Woodward reports that Clyburn endorsed Biden on three conditions and one of those conditions was it Biden pledged to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court. So, how much do you think Clyburn's influence will play in this process?

PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, I think this is where you're going to see the political pressure, which one of these women. And I think Clyburn's voice really is very loud in this White House. He's someone who's been a little bit of a political Northstar for this President.

And as you said, this was a condition. He was the one who urged President Biden to make this public pledge during the campaign at a presidential debate in his home state of South Carolina. What I think is interesting also about Judge Childs is that she -- the argument for her is not just that she is Clyburn's pick, but also that she brings a sort of socioeconomic and geographic diversity to the court that might be lacking.

She doesn't have an Ivy League degree. She is someone who, you know, working class parents. That's the type of background that a lot of Democrats want to see, not just to diversify the court in terms of race and gender, but also in terms of the overall background of these potential nominees.

TAPPER: I've heard not only Democrats, but Republicans talk about that.

PHILLIP: Exactly.

TAPPER: Let's have fewer Ivy Leaguers, because that doesn't represent the country as a whole. Rakesh, how many people are involved in the process right now in terms of advising and picking and vetting and what advice would you give them?

KILARU: Beyond the most senior folks, I have to think it's a team of like 15 to 20 people. There are lawyers who are doing the vetting. There are communication folks who will introduce the nominees to the public, and there are legislative folks who are thinking about how the nomination process will unfold.

To the extent I have advice, I would say it's to move quickly. Obviously, you want to make sure you've picked the right person and you want to make sure that that person is ready for the fire storm that may come their way. But there are so many pitfalls that can go wrong between nomination and confirmation. And I think speed is your friend and sort of smoothing those over.

[17:20:09]

TAPPER: Abby, how much does getting a new justice in place before the midterms help Democrats in November, or do you think, ultimately, it might not have any difference at all?

PHILLIP: You know, I think I veer a little bit more on the side of might not have much influence, partly because for Democrats, the court has not usually been a huge motivator. Now, I do think it's important to voters, Democratic voters that Biden keep this promise. It's important that they -- that he keep most of his promises, frankly, but this is an important one.

And so, for Biden, it's a Do-No-Harm approach. You don't want to undermine your support. I think this helps him sort of stay firm with black voters in particular, but it's not going to resolve all the political problems that they can face them between now and November.

I do think, though, that, you know, these history making moments do matter to black voters in particular, especially in times like this, frankly, when many of them feel like progress is stalling. So it's not for nothing, but it's not everything at the same time, I think.

TAPPER: Right. It's not going to bring down prices at the pump.

PHILLIP: Right.

TAPPER: Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

Breaking news, another member of the Trump White House just got an invitation. It's not really an invitation you can say no to. That's next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:25:49]

TAPPER: We have some breaking news for you. In our politics lead this Friday afternoon, the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection is issuing a subpoena the former White House Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere.

Let's get straight to CNN's Gloria Borger with this exclusively -- exclusive reporting. Gloria, what does the committee think it can learn from Judd Deere?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: They think they can learn a lot. Judd Deere is someone the committee is interested in because he has first-hand knowledge of Donald Trump's behavior before and during the January 6 attack on the Capitol because he was there in the White House. And the letter we've obtained to Deere says that the committee has reason to believe he was involved in formulating the White House response to the attack as it occurred.

But specifically, Jake, the committee is very, very interested in a January 5th staff meeting in the Oval Office with the President, which Deere reportedly attended. Now, the letter uses an account from the book "Peril" in which Trump listened to the crowds outside and said, there's a lot of anger out there right now. And the letter also refers to documents the committee has obtained itself portraying the President is repeatedly asking, "What are your ideas for getting the RINOs" -- that's Republicans in name only -- "to do the right thing tomorrow? How do we convince Congress?"

And so, Deere is just the latest in a wide net of people in the Trump orbit to be subpoenaed as the committee really tries to get inside Donald Trump's state of mind.

TAPPER: And Gloria, the committee also issued subpoenas today for 14 individuals tied to the --

BORGER: Right.

TAPPER: -- tied to this fake elector push --

BORGER: Crazy.

TAPPER: -- after the election.

BORGER: It's this crazy scam is kind of like the gang that couldn't shoot straight, except it's very serious and very dangerous. And so they issued these 14 subpoenas for Republicans in seven states, who served on bogus states of Trump electors. So they were part of this crazy plan.

And let me tell you how it was supposed to work. Just in case House Republicans succeeded and didn't certify the actual electoral votes won by Joe Biden, these people were going to just step in as pro-Trump electors. Obviously, Mike Pence certified the election and the bogus certifications wound up guess where? At the National Archives. So now the Justice Department is looking into this to see if there was any criminal wrongdoing.

TAPPER: And that's exactly why it's so serious all those Republicans in the House --

BORGER: All of them.

TAPPER: -- that voted against certifying the election --

BORGER: Absolutely.

TAPPER: -- because that was the plan. Gloria Borger, thanks so much.

Here to discuss, Democratic Congressman Pete Aguilar of California. He's a member of the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol attack. Congressman, so we know that Judd Deere, the former White House Deputy Press Secretary for Trump, issued that White House statement the day after the insurrection. What else do you think Deere can tell the committee?

REP. PETE AGUILAR (D-CA): Well, I think this is important for three reasons. One, Judd Deere was talking about a tainted election way before January 5th and January 6th. He continued to amplify that discussion. But as Gloria just mentioned, the meeting on January 5th in the Oval Office is something that we feel needs to be discussed. We want to hear his thoughts. What his takeaways were related to that meeting.

And we also think that he had a hand in formulating this strategy and some of the media discussions on the day of January 6, and the President's response to that Oval -- that Rose Garden address. So those are some things that we feel are important that need to be shared. Our mandate is to get to the truth, and we feel that having a conversation with Mr. Deere will help us do that.

TAPPER: Do you think Judd Deere had a hand in the strategy -- the overall strategy of pressuring Republicans in Congress to not certify the election so that these bogus electors would come in and the whole thing would be undermined? Do you think he had a hand in that?

AGUILAR: Well, we know that some people in the White House did. And I think it's important to find out if he was one of those individuals, that was having discussions and dialogue with these 14 other individuals scattered across seven states or with others.

[17:30:00]

Other members of Congress or others involved in this purported scheme. It's important to convey and we want to be able that we're -- we tell the full and complete truth when this is done.

TAPPER: From the fact that -- by the fact that your subpoena hang him should we take from that that you could not get him to come in willingly? AGUILAR: Well, this is one way that we operate. We have had public subpoenas. We have had non-public discussions with individuals over 400 total interviews that we've captured. But oftentimes, this is what's needed to take the next step. And it's to make sure that we have individuals telling the full and complete truth and that's what we're seeking to do here.

TAPPER: The committee also subpoenaed 14 Republicans from seven different states who served on these bogus slates of Trump electors essentially ready to step in. If House and Senate Republicans succeeded in denying the certification of the actual votes in Congress, is your goal with the subpoenas of these bogus electors to find out if if Trump had a hand in the plot?

AGUILAR: Yes, we want to know who helped strategize, who approached who. We want -- we think that that's important detail within these seven states. Was this strategy guided by party operatives or was it guided by the White House? Those are important questions that we have. So these are generally the individuals who signed those bogus, a slate of electors scattered across these seven battleground states.

What was the plan? What was the strategy? What were they told was going to happen? Those are some important questions that we feel need to be discussed.

TAPPER: Something like 147 House and Senate Republicans voted against certifying the votes from Pennsylvania and Arizona, including all three of the top House Republicans Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise and Elise Stefanik. Did -- do you think they knew about these bogus electors waiting in the wings?

AGUILAR: Well, we know that there were a lot of conversations, maybe not necessarily with those three of my colleagues, but with other Republican members of Congress. We know through public reporting that they were having discussions with rally organizers and those who attended the rally and those who helped strategize these plans. So we think that those are all important details to our investigation, and we want to make sure that we're asking all those questions and uncovering every stone that we possibly can in order to get to the truth.

TAPPER: A source tell CNN that a former top aide to Mark Meadows, the former White House Chief of Staff, a guy named Ben Williamson, answered the committee's questions this week for nearly seven hours. He did not plead the fifth. Former White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah tells CNN that she texted Williamson during the riots saying, quote, "Is someone getting to POTUS? He has to tell protesters to dissipate. Someone is going to get killed." To which Williamson responded, I've been trying for the last 30 minutes. Literally stormed in outer Oval to get him to put out the first one. It's completely insane."

How important is his testimony given that Mark Meadows has stopped cooperating?

AGUILAR: You know, I can't talk about any specific or individual interview that we've had. But I can tell you overall, we continue to learn important facts about that day. What was the President doing? How many people attempted to try to get him to intervene? But more importantly, why didn't he walk over to the press room? That's, you know, 25 feet, 30 feet away from his study?

Why didn't he make an address to tell these individuals to leave the Capitol? To tell these insurrectionists that they did not have his support. Those are important facts. And 187 minutes, he just stayed there. So what happened during that time is of interest to us. And so we are talking to individuals who were in and around the White House that day, and they have shed some light on some of those details that we will share when it's appropriate,

TAPPER: Democratic Congressman Pete Aguilar, thank you so much. Appreciate it, sir.

The tip line that is dividing parents and lawmakers in one state. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:38:15]

TAPPER: In our national lead today, putting a complaint in the suggestion box does not usually yield any results. In Virginia, however, it might be a different story. Two weeks into his term, Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, who wrote the discontent of parents with teachers in schools all the way to the Governor's mansion is now offering a tip line where parents can directly e-mail the Governor's office to complain about forced masking or any, quote, divisive subjects.

As CNN's Eva McKend reports, it's a move that has prompted some backlash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. GLENN YOUNGKIN (R-VA): We will remove politics from the classroom and refocus on essential.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER (voice-over): Virginia's Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, starting the job focusing on a key promise.

YOUNGKIN: We're going to embrace our parents not ignore them.

MCKEND (voice-over): Youngkin made what he called parents' rights, a cornerstone of his bid for governor, issuing several executive orders his first day in office, including one banning critical race theory from being part of the public-school curriculum. Despite not being included in Virginia Standards of Learning.

YOUNGKIN: I will ban critical race theory.

MCKEND (voice-over): The 74th Governor announced a tip line this week for parents to e-mail reports of so-called divisive concepts if they are taught in the classroom.

YOUNGKIN: It gives us a great insight into what's happening at the school level. And that gives us further, further ability to make sure that we're reading it out.

MCKEND (voice-over): Democratic delegate Marcus Simon slamming Youngkin's policy.

MARCUS SIMON, DEMOCRATIC DELEGATE: It does sound like the kind of thing that authoritarian regimes around the world do. It's ironic that the party of freedom is really trying to restrict the kind of ideas that can be taught in Virginia's classrooms.

MCKEND (voice-over): Critics have pointed to the fact that he sent his children to private schools in Washington, D.C. St. Albans and National Cathedral where anti-racism education was adopted as part of the strategic plan.

[17:40:08]

According to cathedral's website, Youngkin served on the governing board from 2016 to 2019. Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter telling CNN, "Youngkin stepped off the board after 2019 and that both schools changed a lot over the years." St. Albans, for instance, helps books like critical race theory and introduction on their diversity, equity and inclusion resource page. An Ibram X. Kendi's "How to Be an Anti- Racist" as part of a training session for teachers.

Suparna Dutta who appeared for Youngkin in this campaign video supports the tip line and pulled her son out of Fairfax schools last year in objection to how the impact of racism was being discussed.

SUPARNA DUTTA, FAIRFAX COUNTY MOTHER: Immigrants value educational law and parents, you know, spend money to feed, clothe and educate their children. and if they don't get the services they want, or they need, they should be able to complain and air their grievances.

MCKEND (on-camera): What was your reaction when you heard about this tip line?

DOMINIQUE CHATTERS, CHESTERFIELD COUNTY MOTHER: Immediately my first thought was, it's divisive.

MCKEND (voice-over): Dominique Chatters has four children in Chesterfield County Public Schools. She fears this reporting mechanism will lead to teachers watering down lessons about slavery, out of fear.

CHATTERS: It's an intimidation tactic, absolutely. I think that they'll give them pause, especially our newer teachers just starting out, not knowing how to navigate the classroom.

MCKEND: Though this tip e-mail addresses drawn considerable attention around the country, with people decrying, it is essentially a tell on a teacher tip line, the Governor's office views this as a standard way to get feedback. The tip e-mail is getting clogged with spam and memes. There's also concern this all could lead educators who are already drained from this pandemic heading for the exits. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Eva McKend, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

It seems it's no longer about safety. CNN visits one small town where people say getting stopped by police feels more like a shakedown. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:46:35]

TAPPER: Topping our national lead, a black hole, that's how some drivers are describing a small Alabama town they say in Brookside, not far from Birmingham. Police officers use racial profiling to pull them over for bogus reasons, and they then rake in huge sums of money seizing the assets of those drivers. And as CNN's Nick Valencia reports for us now, the top cop suddenly resigned this week, just as state authorities stepped in to investigate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Less than 30 minutes north of Birmingham, sits the small town of Brookside, Alabama. It's a former mining town with no stoplights, no retail stores other than the Dollar General and no major crimes. A stretch of Interstate 22 runs directly through Brookside and the town has a lot of cops to policing. Brookside is only about 3 miles long and has just over 1,200 residents.

(on-camera): But the police here, they feel the need for at least three SWAT vehicles. Not only that, they also have a tank, which looks brand new.

(voice-over): According to the local media outlet AL.com, between 2018 and 2020 under Brookside Police Chief Mike Jones income from fees and forfeitures increased by 640 percent. The outlet says the money amounts to half of the town's total income, or roughly $1.2 million.

(on-camera): So do you feel like they tried to ruin your name?

REV. VINCENT WITT, BAPTIST PASTOR: Yes, it is. It is.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Pastor Vincent Witt says he is one of the countless victims of Brookside's alleged policing for profit. In 2019, he says he was unjustly pulled over for having temporary plates on his brand new car. He's filed a federal lawsuit against the town of Brookside for defamation of character and filing false charges.

WITT: They're policing for revenue. They're pulling people over for bogus charges.

VALENCIA (voice-over): 24-year-old college student Jori Jones said her interaction with the Brookside police felt like a shakedown. After being pulled over for driving without her lights just before dusk, Jones says her car was impounded and she was left stranded on the side of the road. Jone's attorney says she will also sue the police department.

JORI JONES, COLLEGE STUDENT: Even though I was pulled over, I was following the laws of the road.

VALENCIA (voice-over): The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office says for years there's been a slew of complaints against the Brookside Police Department. This week, Police Chief Mike Jones suddenly resigned.

(on-camera): Hey there. My name is Nick Valencia.

(voice-over): We went to Brookside to try to talk to who's in charge now.

(on-camera): So the town of Brookside does not have a current police chief?

(voice-over): But we're told they didn't have a new chief.

(on-camera): No comment.

(voice-over): The Brookside police then gave us this statement. "This will confirm that Mike Jones resigned as the police chief for the town of Brookside. Since this involves a personnel matter, the town has no further comment."

Brookside mayor was in the office, but he declined our request for an interview. Responding to the allegations of predatory policing, he handed us this statement in part saying, "To investigate and address the issues raised by recent news accounts of our police department, the town of Brookside requested the Alabama Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission perform a compliance audit of the Brookside Police Department and officers. The town continues to investigate these issues and will take any other appropriate action that may be determined necessary."

Leah Nelson with the social justice nonprofit Alabama Appleseed says Alabama doesn't generate enough revenue from taxation to public policy incentivizes cities and counties to get that revenue another way.

[17:50:09]

LEAH NELSON, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, ALABAMA APPLESEED: And the path of least resistance is very often ticketing people for low level offenses.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Brookside residents wonder if these old tactics will continue under a new chief.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: Hope not. CNN tried repeatedly to get in touch with former Police Chief Mike Jones, but he never returned our calls. The town still doesn't have a police chief. But the mayor says that he's directed the police to stop patrolling the interstate, unless it's to respond to accidents. He added that he met with the Office of Lieutenant Governor and he's fully cooperating. Jake? TAPPER: Nick Valencia, thanks so much for that report. Appreciate it.

Those Alabama drivers are not alone. According to a report from UNC Chapel Hill, black drivers in America are twice as likely as white drivers to be pulled over and four times more likely to be searched. In a new documentary, CNN Sara Sidner reports on the increasing danger of traffic stops in America and how some critics are demanding reform.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ending stops that don't reduce crime, but do cause trauma and increased distrust of police is the goal of a brand new law in Philadelphia.

ISAIAH THOMAS, PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL: I'm extremely excited to be able to introduce this ordinance today.

SIDNER (voice-over): In June, freshman city Councilman Isaiah Thomas introduced a bill that turns a handful of traffic infractions like minor bumper damage, or items hanging from a rearview mirror into secondary violations, which means a driver cannot be stopped for them alone.

THOMAS: I've been stopped in the city of Philadelphia more times than I can remember. Well over 20 times.

SIDNER (voice-over): He says one of the most humiliating happened here as a recent college grad.

THOMAS: We are in the Northwest section of Philadelphia.

So I remember the officers saying, you know you look guilty, get out the car. And they never talked about a traffic violation. So they searched me. And I think that's the part that kind of gets dismissed is when they searched us, right? That's a very aggressive search.

They check in between your butt cheeks, they're checking, you know, underneath your testicles, and they're seeing if you have drugs there. And then they put me in handcuffs and they put me in the back of the car. Then they search the entire car looking for guns and drugs.

Somebody called in for another crime and they ended up letting me out of the car. And just speeding up Yamaha (ph), working man with a college degree who didn't do anything wrong. I mean, what it does to your pride and your self-esteem in the moment, like you just can't get that back.

SIDNER (voice-over): His experiences and the experiences of his friends led him to push for the Driving Equality bill, which passed in November and goes into effect in early 2022.

THOMAS: We're looking at hopefully around 100,000 less traffic stops a year.

SIDNER (voice-over): That's important to Thomas because he says those stops take a large toll on black drivers with a very small, nearly non-existent return for the city.

THOMAS: We know that in the city of Philadelphia less than 1 percent of the time and a year where we examine, over 300,000 Motor Vehicle Code stops. Less than 1 percent at a time did that stop and that search lead to some type of contraband or an illegal weapon.

SIDNER (voice-over): That figure comes from the Defender Association in Philadelphia, a city dealing with a rise in violent crime.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: So what do police think of this? We were able to sit down with the police commissioner, the first by the way, black woman to head the Philadelphia Police Department. And she said look, we had a little bit of say in how to shape this particular bill that has passed and our officers will follow it when it goes into effect in the next few weeks. But the law is being put into place at one of the worst times.

As you know, Jake, I know Philly is your hometown. Her city has experienced the worst homicide rate ever in its history. And this may be taking away a tool and that's what she's worried about. Jake?

TAPPER: Sara Sidner, it looks great. Thank you so much.

Don't miss Sara's special report this weekend as she rides along to find out why driving while black in America can be deadly serious. The new CNN special report "Traffic Stop" Sunday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

A rural town in Georgia, an understated historical marker, baseball legend Jackie Robinson and a violent attack. That story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:58:55]

TAPPER: Now our buried lead stories we feel are not getting enough attention. A new marker was unveiled today at the place where baseball legend and civil rights pioneer Jackie Robinson was born 103 years ago this coming Monday. The marker is where Robinson's first home once stood near Cairo, Georgia.

The original marker put up in 2001 was shot up by a cowardly vandal with a shotgun in February of last year. The people responsible were never identified. But the Georgia Historical Society told CNN they have seen an increase in attacks on markers celebrating Black Americans.

In 2020, a plaque honoring Mary Turner, a pregnant black woman who was lynched, killed for decrying her husband's lynching into 1918 was also hit by gunfire. That marker was replaced in December.

The public unveiling for the new Jackie Robinson marker was earlier today. According to The New York Times, Major League Baseball donated $40,000 for the new sign and the second sign at a local library, directing people to Robinson's birthplace in Cairo. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947 when he became the first Black American to play in the major leagues in the 20th century.

This Sunday on CNN State of the Union, my colleague, Dana Bash talks to the top two senators on the Foreign Relations Committee, Democratic Chairman Bob Menendez and Republican James Risch, plus New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu. That's at 9:00 a.m. and noon Eastern.

Our coverage continues now with one Mr. Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room. Have a great weekend.