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Tuberville Continues Hold On Over 300 Military Nominees; Philadelphia D.A. Speaks On Fatal Police Shooting Of Eddie Irizarry; Body Cam Video Released In Fatal Police Shooting Of Eddie Irizarry. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired September 08, 2023 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Holding goes up. He's a single senator doing this. His battle is over another issue, Women's Reproductive Rights and whether the Pentagon is going to end up paying for travel for service members who go out the State to get a legal abortion. I do want to ask you about why you think Senator Tuberville is doing this? Is it just about that niche issue or is there something else there? And what's your frustration with it?

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): No, it's just about that issue. And look, he's doing it again. And I say this, he doesn't believe in democracy, right? He doesn't believe in the system of government that we've set up. Yes, you have a vote, you lose, you move on. What he and the Freedom Caucus believe is, if you don't get what you want, do as much damage as you possibly can to the government.

That's an incredibly destructive approach. And this case is incredibly destructive to the defense of this country, to the national security of this country. To not be able to have top leaders appointed to their positions really undermines our ability to protect this country, bottom line. And look, I know he doesn't support the travel policy, Joe Biden want, OK.

Joe Biden put that policy in place. If Senator Tuberville doesn't like that, well go support a Republican candidate for President next year, go to the ballot box and make your case. But to undermine the ability of our country to defend itself, just because you didn't get your way on one piece of policy is destructive and wrong.

Now, personally, I wish the Senate would change their rules so that one senator doesn't have that kind of power. So that we actually would have a democracy where you have a fair vote, the result comes out and you go forward.

SIDNER: Right.

SMITH: Now, the Freedom Caucus, Senator Tuberville, you know, they don't care, they will do as much damage as they can if they don't get their way. And it's really bad for this country.

SIDNER: I just want to really quickly lastly, ask you about the polling that has come out. You talked about the fact that President Biden is the President. He has an agenda, he is trying to get through and -- but this new polling is saying in 2024, that there are serious concerns by Democrats about his age and about whether or not he can lead the nation in the next four years. If he is reelected. What are your thoughts? Are you worried about the polling?

SMITH: Two things about that, first of all, objectively, President Biden is doing a really good job. The economy is strong, unemployment has stayed low, even as we've reduced inflation. He's helped build the coalition to defend Ukraine against Russia. Top to bottom, I mean, it's hard to see an argument that Joe Biden isn't on top of what he's doing as President, and he's capable of doing that going forward.

Second, it's really important to remember all of us running for office, we have flaws, nobody's going to be perfect. If you ask a question to dissect someone, what do you like, what don't you like? There's going to be criticism, that's the nature of it. But I come back to the fact Joe Biden's doing a good job. And he's in a strong position to run next year, and we'll go have that election. I mean, it's always going to be difficult, but I think the President have well positioned to run for reelection.

SIDNER: Representative Adam Smith, thank you so much for coming on today. With all that is going on. I appreciate your time. Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're standing by for a press conference out of Philadelphia. Officials in Philadelphia are going to be giving an update to say an important update about a deadly police officer involved shooting. The District Attorney expected to release the body camera video from the encounter which could be very important as there's been a discrepancy in what was initially reported from police and what the real story was and shows on this video, according to officials. The officer involved has now turned himself in to police today. We'll have an update for you coming up.

[11:35:00]

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LARRY KRASNER, PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY: That we're body worn cameras.

BOLDUAN (voiceover): Let's take you to Philadelphia, where we're going to listen into officials who are making an announcement of big developments and showing this body camera video from the police involved shooting from last month, listen.

KRASNER: We're going to show this video, moves about 10 minutes, moves about 12 minutes. We will show the most relevant portions. But so that we are clear and consistent with the family's wishes. This press conference will not conclude until you have the opportunity to watch all of it, all of each one. So, while we will immediately play a shorter portion. The entirety will be made available to you today.

For those of you who would like to obtain an electronic copy of these videos, you need to email our Chief Communications Jane Row (PH) at jane.row@phila.gov. She will vet those requests and she will provide video. Once we have completed showing the most relevant portions of the video, we will then be discussing the charges that have been brought in this case.

Obviously, many of you are familiar with the fact that ex-police officer Mark Dial has turned himself in this morning to face the charges we will go through those charges. And then, we will consistent with our obligation to try this case in a courtroom, not in the media. We will be hearing questions and we will be providing answers where we can.

But I want to start discussing the videos. First of all, I need you to know that the family of Mr. Irizarry, as well as their counsel were invited to our office for the purpose of reviewing these videos. They did review these videos, and we have very lengthy and detailed discussions about their wishes. While it was not their decision, what we would do, we were careful to talk to them -- to talk to them in detail, to talk to them after at their request.

They watched the entire videos even to check in the next day to make sure that this was what they wanted to do. And what they said to us was that they wanted the videos played in their entirety. They wanted no portion of these videos blurred. When they came in and before they had seen the videos, which I had seen multiple times, as well as the attorneys behind me, whom I will introduce in a moment.

I warned them repeatedly that this is extremely difficult to watch. That there is always some level of trauma, especially for family members associated with watching something that is extremely violent. Regardless of the warnings, they wanted to see it, which obviously we all understand, and they saw it. I hope anyone who is considering looking at these videos in the public, I hope that any adult will think twice and think three times about allowing children to see these videos.

And frankly, I hope any adult will think twice about watching these videos. Because in some ways and for some people they will be traumatic. Nevertheless, even though it is our decision, after long and close consultation with the family, we have decided to follow the recommendation. I also want you to know that the family repeatedly said to me, and families counsel repeatedly said to me, they do not want any criminal unrest. They do not want any rioting.

They do not want any looting. They do not want anyone to claim that what this video depicts or the nature of the case or the event itself justifies any criminal behavior that that would be a violation of their respect their love and their reverence for young Eddie Irizarry. They certainly can articulate better than I can. But that is what they said. And I hope that anyone who sees this video and feels strongly about it will follow their heart when it comes to the lawful, peaceful exercise of free speech under our constitution.

[11:40:14]

But I hope they will also understand that free speech is not a license to commit any crimes. We will be playing both of these videos and their most relevant portions and then at the conclusion of Q&A, we will play the remainder. We're not going to play them multiple times for you because you will have electronic access to the videos, and you will.

Those of you in the media be able to look at them at your leisure so that you can complete your important and necessary reporting. They will be played in this order. First, we will be playing the body worn camera of officer Dial. Officer Dial was initially, as you know, the passenger in the police vehicle and you will see some of that in the video.

SIDNER: All right. You're listening to Larry Krasner, he's the Philadelphia District Attorney explaining that he is about to show a video that is extremely graphic that the family did see, and the family wants the public to see. But because it is so graphic, because it is so disturbing. And because we have not seen it and know exactly what happened there.

We want to hold back for a second. We will bring it to you in a bit. But we also want to do it ourselves to make sure it is something that we can show our viewers. He's also said children should not be watching this video, it is that disturbing. Let us get over to CNN Brynn Gingras. She is the Chief Law Enforcement Analyst for us this morning.

We've also got, of course, John Miller. John Miller is here, and we will get to him in just a bit. Brynn, what did you hear in this press conference? This is a case of the shooting of Eddie Irizarry, 27 years old. There is body cam worn video that the public is about to say.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, rightfully, so, as the D.A. said there, it is disturbing video. I have been able to watch it from beginning to end its two police officers body cam worn video released in full as you just heard him say that the family did want that. And it's extremely graphic.

And what it does show though, Sara, is that within five seconds of police pulling over Irizarry and exiting the police vehicle, the shots were fired. And here's the thing that's so important and why I can only assume the family wanted this video released in full. It's because the initial accounts of what police said happened that day on August 14th, was that Irizarry was driving the wrong way down a one- way street driving erratically.

He was pulled over by police, police got out of the car, gave multiple warnings and shot him when he was outside of the car. It was only until Irizarry family attorney came forward with neighborhood surveillance video showing very clearly that Irizarry never even exited the car. And when they did a search of that car, they actually didn't even find any gun, they found two knives.

So, it was very, you know, clear that there was some sort of distrust that just immediately comes with that community because it was such a different story than what police had initially put out there. But again, what we see in those two videos are not really even commands. I will mention that we're going through it and trying to figure out exactly what was said. But multiple shots were fired within five seconds to our count, after police arrived there on the scene.

So, that's going to be a major issue that I'm sure that the D.A. is going to further discuss when he talks about the one officer Mark Dial's charges that are now against him. We do know Mark Dial has turned himself in. His attorney says that he doesn't know what charges he's facing just yet. I assume he will know or does know at this point. We don't know if it's manslaughter, we don't know if it's murder charges. We'll have to wait and find out.

He says though, that he called them appalling, essentially saying that when he pulled over Irizarry, they gave commands and Irizarry instead went and pulled for some sort of weapon. And the officer in his mind retreated when he fired shots showing a clear indication that he rightfully was able to shoot those shots.

So, that is a little picture of a defense that we might hear as this case moves forward. But again, yes, the videos are extremely disturbing. We are going through them, be able to release bits of them. But that is why the family wanted the unedited body cam footage out there, because the initial accounts from police are so glaringly different than what actually happened.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Again, we are waiting to go through that video before we put some of it out so people can see what everyone is talking about here. We're also waiting to hear from District Attorney Larry Krasner on what the specific charges will be against Mark Dial, the now former police officer who has turned himself in.

John Miller who is with us as well as Brynn points out, one of the notable factors here and the reason the family as Sara and others have pointed out once this video out there, is officers initially said, this man, Eddie Irizarry, got out of the car.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Right.

BERMAN: The video shows he didn't.

[11:45:04]

MILLER: The initial story given by police officials was that he got out of the car, he lunged the officer with a knife. It was a clear kind of self-defense narrative. The mystery here, and this could be something particular to Philadelphia. I have investigated, I couldn't tell you how many police shootings at the scene.

And, you know, you would piece together the story from eyewitness's video canvases from other cameras, officer statements, which you would usually get through the union rep. on kind of an off the record. Here's what we think happened bases. Once we had body cameras, before we went out with a statement.

SIDNER: Right.

MILLER: We would review the body cameras literally on the scene. We would get them downloaded there we had a special vehicle. We would watch through them. We would have the officers account in some measure. And oftentimes, before we went out with a story, we would find there was a difference between the officer's account of what happened and what happened. And sometimes that's the way the officer remembered it.

SIDNER: Right.

MILLER: Because events unfolded quickly. Sometimes there were major differences. Sometimes they were perfectly together. In this case, the account given by police officials, and the body camera is so distant. You'll wonder, why would it take as many days as it did.

Now, to her credit, Danielle Outlaw, the police commissioner, after reviewing the tapes, came out with a public statement and said, this is not what we were told at the scene. The story has changed, the officer was brought up on charges literally because he wouldn't cooperate with the internal investigation. And the criminal investigation is what we're seeing unfold now.

SIDNER: Is now pending. I want to just quickly sort of talk a little bit about that discrepancy. That discrepancy is what gets people in the community so upset, so angry, so furious. Because they feel like there's a cover up, that has already happened. And so, why do police departments not do what you are suggesting.

You have body camera video, why would you go forward with this, if there was any chance that there was a major discrepancy? This is what happened with George Floyd, we all remember what we saw initially, and then, what we saw on camera.

MILLER: So, that is a perfectly logical question. And that's why between segments here, I'm going to have to dig into the procedure and Philadelphia for instance. And I don't know the answer to this. Is it the procedure that you get the officer's account, and then the videos go right to the District Attorney's office for review, and that there's a gap?

Does the officer get to review it before their account? There's a couple of wildcards here, is there a labor agreement about how soon it has to be turned over with them in the Fraternal Order of Police, but we've got to kind of figure out, what was the delay of days between knowing this is the officers account. And this is a bad story, because let's go to the videotape.

SIDNER: Right.

BOLDUAN: So, John, we're waiting still to get this video. And we know they're going to play it's the District Attorney. So, they're going to play the relevant parts first, and then they're going to play it in entirety. And we talked about how tough it is. He also talked about how involved the family was in viewing it and the decision to release it.

From your experience, how important is that as they move forward in this process? Because we know that the family, part of what happened in the intervening months since, you know, since last month when this incident happened. Is the family was demanding answers right from the get-go and probably didn't think that they were getting on.

MILLER: And the family, you know, hire their own attorney, have their own investigators went out. They obtained that video from a restaurant. And we haven't seen the body camera video, which is going to be the officer's point of view and will give us the best version -- the best version outside of being in the officer's eyes to see what he saw, what he thought, maybe what he perceived.

But the camera from the restaurant shows the van pulls up as soon as he pulls over. His window is up, his door is closed. Mr. Irizarry that the passenger officer, rapidly comes around to the side gun drawn held out with one hand. And the sound -- because the restaurants a little bit further away than the body camera will be as muffled.

But what you appear to get on the sound is show me your hands, show me your hands and then six shots. What you don't see is anybody getting out of that car or lunging with a knife. So, this will be a much closer view and the sound is going to be much more telling.

BERMAN: And again, the video is being released. We're just going through it because the warning from the District Attorney is that it is really hard to watch, and we just want to make sure that before we put it out.

BOLDUAN: And the family said they did not want any of it blurred.

BERMAN: Yes. So, we're taking a look, we'll get into as soon as we can. Much more coming in on this including more from the District Attorney on what charges the officer here Mark Dial is facing, we'll be right back.

[11:50:00]

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BOLDUAN: President Biden arrived in India for the G-20 Summit this morning. On the agenda, huge issues, of course, as always like, climate change. And also, offering debt relief and more support for developing nations. And top of the agenda as well, is continued international support for Ukraine against the invasion from Russia.

Another a big issue though, is also who is not attending. This is the first G-20 Summit, the Chinese President Xi Jinping has chosen to not attend, since he took overpower. And also, not attending Russian President Vladimir Putin. Join me now for more at the stakes and what really needs to -- needs to and could be happening here at this very big summit this week --weekend.

David Sanger, CNN Political and National Security Analyst, of course, with the New York Times. David, talked to me about, as you've mentioned, to me, not just the two leaders who are not there, but the third that is also not there, President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. What does this mean?

[11:55:07] DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Kate, it really is pretty remarkable because President Biden has tried to turn every one of these big international gatherings toward the issue of building support for Ukraine, and isolating Russia. So, in this particular case, as you said, Xi Jinping is not coming. He's pretty preoccupied at home with financial problems, economic problems of the scale he's never seen before.

Putin didn't want to show up because he didn't want to face the condemnation. And they couldn't get the rest of the group to agree on inviting President Zelenskyy, who you'll remember was at the G-7 Summit in Hiroshima, early in the summer has been at these other events. There's going to be a struggle even to get a communique here that condemns Russia, because the Russians, and the Chinese will probably veto that.

So, it's not entirely clear whether President Biden will be able to take on the biggest issue. And that'll leave him with trying to make sure that they work on debt relief, as you said, grain and other food issues. And, of course, the bilateral relationship with India, as the President tries to deepen that. You'll remember that India's leader Modi was in Washington for a State dinner only two months ago.

BOLDUAN: Do you -- I've heard folks talking about the absence of Xi and Putin as actually affording a real opportunity for President Biden amongst the group. What are you hearing about that?

SANGER: It does in that they won't be there to push back. And, you know, that's particularly interesting about Xi Jinping. He did send his Premier.

BOLDUAN: Right.

SANGER: And they'll be active and all of this. But, you know, it was only a little more than a decade ago that China would come to events like this and be really the other big player. During the financial crisis in 2009, the first one that President Obama went to, it was China and the United States that sort of worked out a path forward. That era of cooperation is over. And obviously with Russia, we're back in something that is somewhere between a Cold War and a hot war.

Unfortunately, not with U.S. troops or NATO troops involve at this point, but a full-on conflict. So, what we're seeing here is the world fracturing into other blocks. And you've seen President Xi in recent times, gathered the BRICS meeting to try to bring South Africa, Iran, others more into their orbit. And that's the competition underway, particularly with India, which has been right on the fence on the war in Ukraine.

BOLDUAN: Yes, that's really in the spotlight now, with the G-20 Summit kicking off. David, thank you very much. It's always good to see you, I really appreciate it. So, we've got our eyes on New Delhi where the G-20 is now rolling out. Now, it's beginning, and President Biden is beginning this bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister there. And we also were keeping an eye on this press conference in Philadelphia that we've just been covering. And they're continuing to try to -- they're going they are unveiling and releasing body camera video in that deadly police shooting.

SIDNER: Right now, people are going through that video. It is horrific and we will be showing it to you once we get a very good look at it and are able to show you some of these clips. Thank you so much for joining us today. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "INSIDE POLITICS" up next.

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