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DOJ Findings Of Minneapolis Police Probe; Verdict In For Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting Trial. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired June 16, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:41]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, any moment now, Attorney General Merrick Garland will announce the results of a two year long probe into the Minneapolis Police Department. We have live pictures from the news conference that will take place. The federal investigation comes in the wake of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of former police officer Derek Chauvin.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Floyd's death, of course, sparked worldwide protests and calls for dramatic police reform across the country, particularly in Minneapolis. The DOJ has promised that the Minnesota probe would be far reaching, examining department policies, training, accountability, and more. Let's get straight to CNN's Adrienne Broaddus. She is live in Minneapolis. She is just off camera, which is why you don't see her. But, Adrienne, what are we expecting to hear from AG Garland?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We should hear from him in the next two minutes. Rahel, we are inside of the conference room where all the media has gathered. I want to paint a picture for you here. We just received a two-minute warning, and we will learn more about this two-year long investigation. It's likely it will reflect or mirror some of what we heard from the state's investigation.

You may remember the Minnesota Department of Human Rights also investigated the Minneapolis Police Department. And that investigation found the department had a history of racial discrimination, everything from traffic stops, even it found challenges with how the training happened within the police department. Now, back when George Floyd was killed, we saw the nation bubble.

We saw protests not only here in Minneapolis, but across the country. And for those who lived here, Minnesotans, especially folks who lived here in Minneapolis, what we saw on a national stage is what folks in this community had witnessed for years. And so we will find and see some of the findings. We will hear not only from Merrick Garland, but a list of others, including Mayor Jacob Frey and the Chief of Police Brian O'Hara, excuse me. And it's important to underscore he was not the chief of police at the time George Floyd was killed. Rahel?

SOLOMON: Adrienne, thank you. We will let you get back to that news conference, which is expected to begin momentarily. And we'll check back with you soon. Adrienne Broaddus, thank you.

BERMAN: Yes, she's sitting right there. That's why she's whispering. She's waiting for the attorney general to walk in. And we do expect him to be very prompt, so this could start any second now.

In the meantime, we want to bring in Areva Martin, a civil rights attorney and legal affairs commentator. And Areva, let's just be clear, we may have to stop, like, on a moment's notice if this news conference does start. What can we reasonably expect from this? We have seen in other police departments around the country, none of which have received, I think, the spotlight that Minneapolis has in the last few years. Ultimately, this consent decree with the federal government to have DOJ oversee a police department. What would that mean here?

AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: What that would mean is everything that this police department does going forward will be scrutinized by a monitor that will be appointed to oversee this police department. So everything from the training that is provided to police officers, the way that they make police stops, the way that they engage with the community, the way that they make reports, every aspect of policing will be under review.

And I think what we can expect from this press conference from the Attorney General is a pretty scathing report about the way the Minneapolis Police Department has conducted itself, the way that it has engaged in constitutional violations and other excessive force.

BERMAN: Attorney General Merrick Garland has just walked in. Let's listen to the Attorney General.

MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Good morning everyone. Here with me today are Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke, and First Assistant United States Attorney Ann Bildtsen.

I also want to acknowledge Mayor Jacob Frey, Council President Andrea Jenkins, Community Safety Commissioner Cedric Alexander, and Police Chief Brian O'Hara. Thank you all for joining us today.

On May 25th, 2020, George Floyd was killed at the hands of a law enforcement officer who was sworn to protect him. As Mr. Floyd died, other officers failed to intervene.

[11:05:09]

The Justice Department has since convicted four former Minneapolis police officers for their roles in the death of George Floyd.

As I told George Floyd's family this morning, his death has had an irrevocable impact on the Minneapolis community, on our country, and on the world. His loss is still felt deeply by those who loved and knew him, and by many who did not. George Floyd should be alive today.

Shortly after I was sworn in as Attorney General, I announced that the Justice Department had opened a separate civil investigation into whether the Minneapolis Police Department, the MPD, and the City of Minneapolis engage in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing.

I am here today to announce the findings of that investigation. I am also announcing that the Justice Department, the City of Minneapolis, and the MPD have agreed in principle to negotiate towards.

Since opening the investigation, the Justice Department has engaged in a comprehensive review of MPD's policies, training, supervision, and use-of-force investigations.

Our review focused on MPD as a whole, not on the actions of any individual officer. We observed many MPD officers who did their difficult work with professionalism, courage, and respect. But the patterns and practices we observed made what happened to George Floyd possible.

As one city leader told us quote, these systemic issues didn't just occur on May 25th, 2020, there were instances like that, that were being reported by this community long before that.

The Department of Justice has concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe that the Minneapolis Police Department and the City of Minneapolis engaged in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the First and Fourth Amendments. There is also reasonable cause to believe that violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Safe Streets Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Specifically, we found that MPD and the City of Minneapolis engages in a pattern or practice of, using excessive force, unlawfully discriminating against Black and Native American people in enforcement activities, violating the rights of people engaged in protected speech, and discriminating against people with behavioral disabilities when responding to them in crisis. I will discuss each finding in somewhat greater detail.

First, we found that the Minneapolis Police Department routinely uses excessive force, often when no force is necessary, including unjust deathly force and unreasonable use of tasers. MPD officers discharge firearms at people without assessing whether the person presents any threat, let alone a threat that would justify deadly force.

For example, in 2017, an MPD officer shot and killed an unarmed woman who he said had quote, spooked him when she approached his squad car. The woman had called 911, 911, sorry, to report a possible sexual assault in a nearby alley.

We also found that MPD officers routinely disregard the safety of people in their custody. Our review found numerous incidents in which MPD officers responded to a person's statement that they could not breathe with a version of, you can breathe, you're talking right now.

We also found that MPD officers fail to intervene to prevent unreasonable use of force by other officers. Indeed, as outlined in our report, years before he killed George Floyd, Derek Chauvin used excessive force on other occasions in which multiple MPD officers stood by and did not stop him.

Second, we found that MPD unlawfully discriminates against Black and Native American people in its enforcement activities, including the use of force following stops. Based on our review of the data, MPD officers stop, search, and then use force against people who are Black and Native American at disproportionate rates.

The data showed, for example, that MPD stopped Black and Native American people nearly six times more often than white people in situations that did not result in arrest or citation, given their shares of the population.

[11:10:20]

We found several incidents in which MPD officers were not held accountable for racist conduct until there was a public outcry. For example, after MPD officers stopped a car carrying four Somali- American teens, one officer told the teens quote, do you remember what happened in Black Hawk Down when we killed a bunch of your folk? I'm proud of that. We didn't finish the job over there. If we had, you guys wouldn't be over here right now. As everyone no doubt knows, this is a reference to the 1990s raid by American Special Forces in Mogadishu.

Such conduct is deeply disturbing, and it erodes the community's trust in law enforcement.

Third, we found that MPD violates the rights of people engaged in protected speech, including by retaliating against protesters as well as members of the press.

For example, on May 30th, 2020, MPD officers encountered journalists who were sheltering at a gas station. One officer approached a journalist who was filming, while holding up his press credential and shouting, I'm press. The officer forcefully pushed the journalist's head to the pavement. And when the officer -- and when the journalist held up his press credential again, an MPD sergeant pepper-sprayed him in the face and walked away.

Fourth, we found that MPD, along with the city, discriminates against people with behavioral health disabilities when responding to calls for assistance. Assistant Attorney General Clarke will discuss these findings in further detail.

To the credit of MPD and city leaders, some important changes have already been instituted. Those include prohibiting all types of neck restraints and banning no-knock search warrants.

But as the report outlines, there is more work to be done. The Justice Department is recommending 28 remedial measures that provide a starting framework to improve public safety, build community trust, and comply with the Constitution and federal law.

As I noted at the outset, in an important step toward reform, the City of Minneapolis and MPD have signed an Agreement in Principle with the Department of Justice. This agreement commits the city and MPD to work with the Justice Department, the community, police officers, and other stakeholders to address the problems that we have identified. And this agreement commits all parties to the negotiation, to negotiate a legally binding consent decree with an independent monitor.

We are grateful to city and MPD leaders for their shared commitment to addressing these deep-seated challenges.

I also want to take this opportunity to address the officers of the Minneapolis Police Department.

Your profession is essential. The work you do on a daily basis is extremely difficult and often very dangerous. Your responsibilities are enormous and could not be more important. You are asked to keep your community safe, to uphold the rule of law, and to ensure equal justice under law.

For you to succeed, your police department must provide you with clear policies and consistent training that explain and re-enforce constitutional boundaries and responsibilities. It must give you the support you need to do your jobs safely and effectively. And its supervisors and chain-of-command must enable you to achieve the highest professional standards.

This agreement is an important step toward providing you with the support and resources you need to do your job effectively and lawfully.

And finally, to the people of Minneapolis, thank you for your partnership throughout our review process. During the investigation, the Justice Department met with many community members, including people who had encounters with police, religious leaders, advocates, and many others who want a police department that serves them better.

[11:15:04]

We also met with the families of people who died or suffered grave injuries during encounters with MPD officers. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. We could not have completed this investigation without your contributions. Please continue to engage these issues in the months ahead. Your involvement is critical to our success.

And finally, to the career staff of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia who conducted this investigation, thank you for your work, which will make Minneapolis a better place for all of its residents.

Today, we have completed our investigation, but this is only the first step. We look forward to working with the city and MPD to achieve meaningful and durable reform. I am now pleased to turn this over to Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta.

VANITA GUPTA, ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY GENERAL: Thank you, Attorney General Garland. I want to thank the city and MPD for their cooperation with our investigation. And I want to express my sincere gratitude to the many, many community members who shared their experiences with us during the investigation.

We opened this investigation following the tragic murder of George Floyd three years ago. And what we found is a pattern or practice of unlawful conduct that has compromised MPD's ability to serve and protect the people of Minneapolis. The findings laid out in today's report --

BERMAN: All right, you've been listening to the Attorney General of the United States, Merrick Garland, along with Justice Department officials and officials from the State of Minnesota, talk about the results of a two year investigation into Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department. What Merrick Garland announced is that this investigation found systemic problems in the Minneapolis Police Department that made what happened to George Floyd possible, patterns and practices, they say, that violated the first and Fourth Amendments and the Civil Rights Act.

They used excessive force when no force was necessary, discriminated against Black Americans and Native Americans, and also violated free speech. This was a sweeping report, a scathing report, and a report that will have consequences. I want to bring in CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez. Evan, what did you hear there?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, look, I think everyone was anticipating that this was going to be a blistering report, and this is exactly what it was. This was a police department that, according to the Justice Department's investigation, was providing unequal service to African Americans, to Native Americans in that community.

And I'll read you just a few of the important findings here. They said they reviewed hundreds of the police body cam videos. They looked at incident reports, complaints. They reviewed 19 police shootings from 2016 to 2022. And this is what they said, a significant portion of them were unconstitutional uses of deadly force. They said that there were shootings of people who were not really -- before they even were any kind of threat to any officers, in some cases, they were just a threat to themselves.

If you remember, of course, the Derek Chauvin who's the officer convicted of murder in the death of George Floyd, was kneeling on his neck for about nine minutes. The Justice Department said that they looked at 197 times that neck restraints were being used between 2016 and 2020. Again, something that gives you a sense that long before George Floyd was murdered, this was a persistent problem that people in that community were having to deal with.

Just one of the shootings, the 19 shootings, that police shootings that they reviewed, they mentioned the attorney general mentioned one of them was a woman who had called 911 to report a sexual assault in an alley nearby. And when she when the police -- when she showed up to the police car to get help, the police officer shot her because he said she spooked her -- spooked him rather.

The department found that black people were 6.5 times more likely to be stopped by police. Native Americans were stopped 7.9 times more likely than anyone else. And so at the end of this, going forward, you know, the department, I think, is giving some credit to the police there in Minneapolis, the city officials who have taken steps to reform the police department.

And now going forward, they expect to make more changes. They've already banned neck restraints. They've banned no knock warrants in that police department. But importantly, going forward, the city is negotiating with the Justice Department to have a monitor to have a court ordered monitor who is essentially going to help the police department make some of these changes and make sure these training changes that are being made stick and are brought forward and again make this police department more responsive to the community it is supposed to protect and serve. John, Rahel?

[11:20:35]

SOLOMON: And Evan, to that point, we saw the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, just to the left of AG Merrick Garland, so certainly something to watch. Evan, stand by for just one moment because I want to now bring into the conversation Areva Martin, of course a civil rights attorney and legal affairs commentator. Areva, I mean, blistering scathing what was your reaction?

MARTIN: Just really shocked, Rahel. We had gotten a preview from some media reports about the nature of the reports that Mary Garland would give. But I think the details, hearing those details is even worse than the media reports. The incident involving the woman who was trying to report a sexual assault, that she was shot and killed by a police officer because he was so called spooked, is just unimaginable.

And the excessive force, the racial profiling, the harassment of African Americans and Native Americans in this community, and then the comment about Derek Chauvin, that Derek Chauvin had a history of using excessive force, not, you know, including what he did, the murder that he did with respect to George Floyd. And just hearing these details and the level of insidiousness that was happening and the blatant attack on African Americans and Native Americans in this community is really shocking, really appalling.

I guess if you are looking for some silver lining, the fact that law enforcement is in agreement, the city officials are in agreement with working with the Justice Department to try to bring this police department into a level of constitutional policing. I guess that's the positive that's coming out of this press conference. But it's a pretty somber and pretty, I would say depressing report about the policing of a major city like Minneapolis.

BERMAN: Areva, standby if you will, because I want to pick up on what you were just talking about, the outcome here what happens next. The agreement, this consent decree between the city of Minneapolis and the Justice Department to essentially oversee what happens there. Evan, I know this exists in more than a dozen jurisdictions in the U.S. right now. But what exactly does it mean practically?

PEREZ: Well, practically speaking, John, what this means is that someone is, you know, usually somebody in that community will be brought in and they will work with the police department to review training. They will be, you know, I think sometimes these agreements are a little controversial because sometimes people believe that essentially you're bringing in an outsider to sit on the shoulder of the police officers just, you know, second guessing every single thing they do.

And that's one of the things I think certainly the Justice Department is aware of that criticism. You know, they're trying to make sure these things are limited in time so that you're not -- you don't have a police department that is having to deal with a monitor for years and years and for there to be some kind of progress in which a judge then decides to remove that monitor.

So what we expect here is that this monitor will, once a judge approves of the process, they'll review the training, they will continue talking to members of the community. There will be efforts to try to make sure that the changes that have already been made and that are going to be made going forward are ones that stick. The other thing that the police department there is dealing with is that they're down hundreds officers because morale is way, way down, something that the Justice Department report addresses, by the way, in this investigation.

They know that, you know, police officers want to do a good job and they also know that there's a lot of scrutiny there. And I think there was a whole level of, frankly, low morale that followed what happened in the George Floyd case. A lot of people were embarrassed by what happened. And so that's now the part of the job here is to how the police officers are being recruited so that the ones that come into the force are ones that are trained, that have the right mindset to be able to provide that kind of service that this community really needs, obviously.

SOLOMON: Evan, stand by for one more moment. I want to bring back Areva. Areva, we heard Garland say this investigation, these recommendations are only the first step. But what do you make in terms of some of the new recommendations training that we heard Garland talk about today?

[11:25:00]

MARTIN: Well, I think, Rahel, as a result of public outcry, as a result of the activism on the street by so many of the activists that have been involved, Black Lives Matter activists included. There has already been some changes with respect to how policing is taking place in Minneapolis. Obviously, from this report, there is a lot of work to be done. Cedric Alexander, I know, was hired by the city of Minneapolis to come in to be a public safety officer to oversee the operations of the police department and its other agencies involved in public safety.

Cedric has an outstanding reputation throughout the nation. He was on the President Obama's Police Reform Task Force, that national task force that Obama convened, and he has a history of reforming police department. So I'm a little more encouraged knowing that Cedric Alexander is working with the Minneapolis Police Department. But clearly, there is so much work to be done and just a big shout out to those activists that have been working diligently to bring this to a head. Some of those activists have been asking for the Department of Justice to come in for decades. And unfortunately, it took the murder of George Floyd for us to be where we are today. But again, I'm going to be optimistic that this is an important step forward for this police department.

SOLOMON: No, it's a great point. Areva Martin, we heard. Thank you, Areva. Evan Perez, thank you too. We heard Merrick Garland start his comments saying the impact that George Floyd's death had not just on Minneapolis, not just the country, but around the world. Areva, thank you.

BERMAN: All right, we do need to shift now to some other breaking news. We have learned just moments ago that a federal jury in Pittsburgh has reached a verdict in the case against the man accused of killing 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history. There is a verdict. CNN's Danny Freeman has been covering this case outside the courtroom right now. Danny, where do things stand at this moment?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, like you said, we just got word literally within the past few minutes that the jury has reached a verdict. We're expecting to hear that verdict within the next 30 minutes from inside the courtroom. Attorney is going to be coming back to the courtroom momentarily. And I just want to say, John, this is a long time coming. This is almost four and a half years since that deadly day on October 27th, 2018.

And remember, this is a capital punishment case. Right now we're deciding the guilt phase, but then depending on the charges that are convicted or not convicted, coming up in 30 minutes, we will see if the death penalty is on the table and just want to run through some of these charges to illustrate to viewers what we're looking at. Robert Bowers, the defendant, he's charged charges, 22 of them are capital offenses.

We should have answer to those first capital offenses pretty quickly when the jury comes out in 30 minutes and reads their verdict, because charges one through 11, their obstruction of the free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death. The other capital offenses are the use and discharge of a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a crime of violence. Those are the ones that are specifically related to the 11 worshippers who were killed inside that Pittsburgh synagogue again nearly four and a half years ago.

There are other crimes that we're going to be looking for to see that verdict as well. There are hate crimes, several hate crimes resulting in death, and also hate crimes involving an intent to kill. And I bring that up because the jury has deliberated for just about five hours so far. Now they only asked one question, it happened in the 10 o'clock hour, and it was on the question of intent to kill with regard to some specific counts, not the capital charges, actually not the hate crimes. They were asking a free exercise of religious beliefs involving attempt to kill. And those charges were specifically related to some of the survivors of the synagogue who were not shot, were not injured, but rather were hiding. And the jury was basically asking if the defendant, Robert Bowers, needed to have knowledge the person was there when it comes to intent to kill.

The judge basically said, I don't have answer for you on that. Go back to the instructions, because the definition the judge said does not require knowledge of any specific fact. It remains up to you what -- whether Bowers acted on intent. So again, that was the only question. It was not on the capital charges. It was not even on the murder charges in this case. And those were 40 to 47. It seems like they got through all 63 very shortly thereafter.

And again, John, in less than 30 minutes now, we should have a verdict on the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial.

SOLOMON: And Danny, remind us, we know you've been following this from the very beginning in terms of the jury. I mean, they have heard some really emotional testimony throughout this trial.

[11:29:42]

FREEMAN: Yes, that's right, incredibly emotional testimony, and it's been grueling. And I'll say a few things. You know, first, not only was the testimony over the past several weeks grueling because we heard from survivors, we heard from people who were shot, we heard 911 calls that showed some of the victims their last moments.