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Don Lemon Tonight

George Floyd Died But Calls For Justice Lingers; Defense Secretary Esper Nears The Exit Door; President Trump Did Not Spare A 75-Year-Old Protester; Nineteen States Are Seeing Spike In Coronavirus Cases Over Past Week; New Videos Emerge Of Deadly Police Encounters; Young People Talk About Growing Up Black In America. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired June 09, 2020 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: It is 11 p.m. here on the East Coast. This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon. Thank you so much for joining us.

Americans demanding justice for George Floyd on the day he was laid to rest in Houston. The video of a Minneapolis police officer with his knee on Floyd's neck shocked the nation, prompting calls for action on police brutality and systemic racism.

Hundreds of mourners gathering at a Houston church to honor Floyd. Family, friends, politicians, celebrities. Joe Biden, the former vice president speaking by video linking Floyd's death to the nation's enduring struggle for civil rights.

But President Trump didn't even mention George Floyd's name today. Instead he chose to slam a 75-year-old peaceful protester in Buffalo who was shove to the ground by police last week. Tweeting with absolutely no evidence that the man could be an antifa agitator, and writing, I watched. He fell harder than was pushed, could be a setup.

A setup? OK, see for yourself. You see the man, Martin Gugino shove to the ground, there he is, lying there, bleeding, he's been in the hospital for five days and two officers have been charged with assault, a setup.

Let's discuss now. White House correspondent John Harwood is here, the former advisor to President George W. Bush, Peter Wehner is here as well. Thank you, gentlemen. I appreciate your time in advance.

John, I'm going to start with you. By the way, Peter Wehner is the author of a book -- let's put -- roll his book back. It's called "The Death of Politics: How to Heal our Frayed Republic After Trump." OK? I want to make sure I get that in. So, again, good evening.

John, you know, we have been hearing there may be a presidential address this week on race and unity. Any chance that this actually happens?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Sure, there's a chance. Some aides have been arguing that it's a good idea but of course we all remember that last week they talked about listening sessions for the same purpose. Those never materialized, and one source told our colleague Gloria Borger today the whole idea of a unity speech is a farce.

And there's a reason for that. You know, I wrote a column over the weekend in which I quoted Pete's old Reagan administration colleague Peggy Noonan saying in a president character is everything. You can hire smart people but you can't hire, you can't rent a moral sense, decency, courage, vision.

Donald Trump does not possess those qualities. What he possesses instead are impulses to attack. They're divisive impulses. They're the opposite of unity. That's why Jim Mattis attacked him last week saying he doesn't even try to bring the country together. And of course, we saw that in that tweet that you just referred to.

So, yes, he can -- he can read words that other people write for him. Everyone would know that they don't come from his heart and it wouldn't be effective. That doesn't mean they won't do it. We all remember there are big speech on coronavirus. That did not go over very well either from the Oval Office.

LEMON: Peter, you know, I just can't be shocked by the president's tweets anymore but, I mean, this baseless lie about a poor man in the hospital is appalling and it's shameful. But is it more shocking so few Republicans, so few stand up or even, you know, even on a matter of common decency like this?

PETER WEHNER, FORMER ADVISER TO GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, yes and no. Yes, because they should do it, and any moral sentient party and individual would do it particularly somebody in the president's own party because there's more of an obligation to call out your own when they transgress in this way.

But it is not shocking. This is the Republican party with very few honorable exceptions. Mitt Romney is the most obvious of those has not taken drum ball at any point in this -- in this presidency. I mean, I think they threw their hat over this wall a long time ago. I think there's a lot of wishful thinking on the part of Republicans.

[23:05:00]

They thought they could control and contain him, that he would grow in office. Remember that phrase. It was tossed around early on. That was never going to happen.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Moderate. He would moderate.

WEHNER: Yes. Yes.

LEMON: Yes.

WEHNER: And the reason it was never going to happen is that, I think people have not accepted even to this day what I would say is the Rosetta stone for Donald Trump. the key interpretive vehicle to understand him, which is he is a person psychologically and emotionally unwell. He has a disordered personality. He clearly has a version of malignant narcissistic personality disorder.

If that is your starting point, if that's your premise then all of he says and all that he does won't shock you, but what is interesting is people cognitively may agree with that but it's still hard to accept. And it's particularly hard to accept that that kind of individual is the President of the United States.

And that's why people would say, you know, one day there's nothing that he does that shocks me and the next day he does something and they're shocked. This is deeply unwell person, and he's getting worse.

LEMON: You're channeling many in America. John, I want to talk about this tonight because also the Wall Street Journal is reporting that President Trump nearly fired the defense secretary, Mark Esper, over their disagreement about using active duty troops to stop protesters.

Esper was drafting a letter of resignation after supposedly a heated discussion with the president. There continues to be ramifications for this disgraceful attack on protesters that we saw just a week ago.

HARWOOD: Well, yes. And it's come not just from Mark Esper who stood up after he felt the blow back from his peers within the military and said he repudiated the idea of invoking the Insurrection Act that the president had been floating with and some Republican, Tom Cotton, a senator from Arkansas had been suggesting as well.

You had that very biting attack from Jim Mattis. You had retired marine General John Kelly who was the chief of staff in the White House saying he agreed with what Jim Mattis said You had a couple of chair -- former chairs of the joint chiefs of staff strongly criticize the president.

The military has sort of stood up in one voice unofficially and said there's something wrong with what this man is doing, he's going too far. And I think the American people have received that message, and you look at the polling and you see how his leadership has been repudiated in this incident, and he's falling farther behind Joe Biden in our poll, 14 percentage points.

LEMON: Well, right on, speaking of polls. Because, Peter, this is new CNN poll and it shows 42 percent of Americans call race relations extremely important to their vote for president this fall. That's now on par with the economy and healthcare near the top of campaign issues.

That has to scare the Republican Party considering their stance on racism, how they've been quiet about his reaction to what's happening out there on the streets and to being tone-deaf about George Floyd, tweeting this stuff out on the day the man is laid to rest.

WEHNER: Absolutely. It should scare them to death. But there's a lot that should scare them to death at this point. The Trump campaign is coming apart and so is the Republican Party and anybody who's up this year. The only thing I would say to that is because you're exactly right,

this moment what it's shown, what it's revealed is very important, but this is an art, this is history. Donald Trump, remember, what was it that Donald Trump did that propelled him onto the national stage as a Republican player?

It was nine years ago when he was pushing this lunacy racist conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not born in the United States. And so, this is who this man is. But more depressing than who he is because we know that is the fact this has resonance with some large segment of the base of the Republican Party.

If you think about what it is that led people to nominate in the Republican party Donald Trump in 2016 when you had 16 candidates which by any metric, any conservative Republican had ever used to nominate or vote for a candidate their stands on the policy issues, history of the conservative cause, dedication to the Republican Party, Trump would have been 100th out of 16.

But an awful lot of voters said we're going to push that aside and vote for him. The question is why. What was it about Donald Trump that they would jettison these deeply held convictions as supposedly deeply held convictions to vote for him?

I'm afraid the answer the cruelty, the crudity, and the appeals, the xenophobic native appeals and the ugly racist appeals. And that is a very -- it's a sad thing. It's bad for the country. It's bad for the Republican Party, but I think it's the reality of things.

And Republicans who wanted this party to recover better confront it and deal with it or it's going to be an even more downward spiral.

[23:10:03]

LEMON: Thank you, Peter. Thank you, John.

HARWOOD: And Don, if I could add to that.

LEMON: Yes, but I've got -- I've got to -- quick please.

(CROSSTALK)

HARWOOD: If I could just add to that. Some of the research -- all right. Some of the research in 2016 showed that the most notable characteristic of the core Trump voter was higher levels of racial resentment. And we can expect that to continue the closer America comes to being a majority minority country, those feelings intensify. But the people who hold them are a shrinking part of the electorate, those blue-collar whites.

LEMON: Yes. That whole economic anxiety thing was debunked. It's about losing status in society and as you said racial resentment.

Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

WEHNER: Thanks, Don. LEMON: I want to bring in now CNN's Senior Media Correspondent Mr. Brian Stelter. Brian, good evening to you. So please, sir, break down the president's tweet for us.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Good evening.

LEMON: Where did he get this crazy conspiracy theory?

STELTER: Yes, this is all about the president's poisoned wells of information. He takes in B.S., poisoned information and then shares it with his followers and the entire country.

This all started from a right-wing blog called conservative treehouse which traffics in hyper-partisan oftentimes made up information. There was a post from someone anonymously making up this claim about the 75- year-old peace activist in Buffalo.

It went from this blog to One America News, which is a tiny cable channel that sometimes just runs normal news reports during the day but sprinkles in crazy right-wing conspiracy theories. So, they aired this package on One America News that repeated the lie from conservative treehouse all about this peace activist maybe being a member of antifa.

It's always with question marks. It's always with a mystery, a shroud of mystery so you can't quite disprove it, but this is clearly a cookie theory with no evidence to back it up.

So, Don, it goes from a right-wing blog to One America News to the president's Twitter feed and then of course, all the way around the world. And ultimately, it's about where he's getting misinformation from and then sharing it with the world.

LEMON: So, some people are connecting this to Russian trolls. Why is that?

STELTER: That's because the One America News reporter, if that's the right word, I'm not quite sure, has also worked for Sputnik in the past. Sputnik is Russian state media. It's a web site run by the Russian government. He's worked for both One American News and Sputnik, so it's a very mysterious sort of operation here.

We know that, you know, during the coronavirus crisis in the springtime this same reporter was out there claiming this was a plot of depopulation control by Bill Gates and George Soros.

This is Looney Tunes stuff, Don. I hate to talk about like it's objective and serious because this is crazy maddening stuff, but it's going straight to the president's brain and that's why I say it's a form of poison.

As Brendan Nyhan, the political scientist said today, you know, if you were a family member, if you had a family member who believed this stuff you would try to help them. But instead we gave them nuclear codes. You know, Nyhan's point is, you know, if the president were anybody else, he wouldn't be fit to run a company or a corporation or a non-profit board. If you're pedaling this kind of crazy information.

But, again, because this is a -- you know, the situation we're in here people just kind of shrug. Look at all the GOP senators today who just pretended not to see the tweet and pretended not to care about it.

LEMON: Nothing to see here. Move along, it's really shameful. And then but the amount of people who believe this stuff it's really shocking to me. And even when --

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: And that's why it matters. Yes.

LEMON: Even when you present them all the evidence otherwise and the fact check and on and on, they don't care because they want to believe it. And then there's the, you know, the president has this fixation obviously on scary words and terms, right? Unmasking it sounds scary but it's not as scary as it is. And then, you know, defund the police they pick up on that. And then there's this obsession on --

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: Antifa.

LEMON: -- so with antifa, how does that play into it?

STELTER: That's why this is really significant in the grand scheme of things. He is playing into antifa being the boogeyman, being behind these protests. You know, Fox News is still running riot point, acting like the riots are still happening today, that there's still looting happening today.

The president is playing to that same idea with some of his tweets some of his behavior. He's acting as if leftist agitators are attacking the country every hour of every day when in fact researchers say antifa, leftist group, anti-fascists, they actually are in small numbers mostly in major cities like Portland.

They are not behind these current -- they're not behind the unrest of late May and early June. In fact, NPR today went through all the research, went through all the people that have been charged so far and found no evidence of antifa connections.

But the president uses them as the boogeyman. That's what's today's tweet about Buffalo is all about. It's reinforced by right-wing media and it creates a really simple narrative for him. Not a true narrative, but a simple narrative, and like you said, Don, people want to sometimes buy into these conspiracy theories, these easy ways of viewing the world, us versus them because reality is actually a lot more complicated and a lot more hard to understand and figure out.

[23:15:00]

LEMON: Yes. Listen, this reminds me a few years ago, maybe five or six years back maybe, you know, there was this obsession that they had with the new Black Panthers, right, and now antifa is the new Black Panthers.

STELTER: Right.

LEMON: Right? And then there was, I'm sure there was something --

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: The new-new, right.

LEMON: -- before that and something before that. Eight corners or something. It was always like some boogeyman that they need to get people riled up and play on their fears. So anyways, thank you, Brian. Good to see you. Always a pleasure.

STELTER: Fears. Thank you.

LEMON: Thank you.

Next, I'm going to talk to a close friend of the peaceful protester the president smeared today. She's going to tell us who Martin really is.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So, the president took to Twitter today to amplify an unhinged conspiracy theory about 75-year-old protester Martin Gugino. Tonight, Gugino has been upgraded to fair condition after he suffered a head injury when he was pushed to the ground by police officers.

[23:19:58]

And in his tweet today the president alleging that the peaceful protester could be an antifa provocateur and suggesting that it might have been a setup.

Let's discuss now with Vicki Ross. She is a close friend of Martin Gugino and the executive director of the Western New York Peace Center. Vicki, thank you so much. I know you're reading that. It sounds like a generic sort of hospital update on how he's doing. How is he doing?

VICKI ROSS, MARTIN GUGINO'S FRIEND: Well, he has been in a lot of pain, and we've been very worried, but the fact he's now out of the ICU we're feeling very encouraged, but it's going to be slow. That's what they say, it's going to take a while.

LEMON: Well, we wish him well and we thank you for joining us. So, the president is --

(CROSSTALK)

ROSS: I'm (AUDIO GAP) I'm grateful to be here.

LEMON: Thank you. So, the president is smearing your friend. What did you think when you read that today, Vicki? ROSS: Well, of course I have to say not at all surprised because we

have seen such lying and misinformation regularly, just ridiculous statement out of the White House. So, this is baseless, ridiculous.

This man, Martin, truly his signature characteristic is nonviolent. His interest at the Western New York Peace Center where I'm the director or his devotion to the Catholic worker principles and people, to the Kings Bay Plowshares, et cetera, just show how much he's dedicated to true nonviolence of every kind.

So, the idea that he is violent in any way is ridiculous. As we know, Vergil said, you know, the more outrageous the lie, effectively -- the more outrageous the lie, the more people will believe it.

LEMON: When did you first see this video?

ROSS: I saw it at about two o'clock in the morning that follow -- on Friday, you know, two o'clock in the morning because I was so done in when I got home, you know, that I wasn't -- you know, I didn't see it until later.

LEMON: And then --

ROSS: And then it's been shocking and it's been crazy around here, you know, with the fall back -- fall out.

LEMON: Are you -- are you worried that the president may have essentially painted a target on your friend --

ROSS: Absolutely.

LEMON: -- and then he'll become the victim of threat to some sorts because that happens when the president tweets about you. I know that from experience.

ROSS: Well, because when we talk about who are the people who are violent? It's the president who is encouraging violence. It is his followers who are walking around with guns and who don't get called to account for it.

So, the racial difference, and also the firepower difference is incredible. But when we see the violence that has been fomented by the president in so many times and ways it's a very major concern. And he will be in the hospital, and he will be kept in the hospital until we can be sure that he's going to be safe and secure wherever he is.

LEMON: It's painful to put -- I have to turn away when they play that video. I mean it's painful. And just, again, you know, Vicki, you said the Erie County executive said that his condition has been upgraded from serious to fair tonight. And I read that earlier --

ROSS: Right.

LEMON: -- what the hospital said, but you are saying that he's been in a lot of pain. And the attorney says in a statement that Martin holds no ill will towards the officers. That doesn't surprise you, does it? ROSS: No, it doesn't because Martin is a loving person. And actually

nonviolence, the way that, you know, Catholic workers or we try to practice it -- as Dr. King said, or as Gandhi said, you know, not hating or blaming.

So that forgiveness, the fact that was done was like the military maneuver. The militarization of the police is a huge problem for us as a country, that the fact that tanks and all kinds of military equipment, apparatus, assault weapon and everything else are being held by our police on our streets, that is dangerous to us.

That's the danger. That's where the violence comes. And in fact we've seen in Buffalo when things ramped up because there was too much police presence we never should have had all those extra officers on the first protest, and it just erupted because of the fights like trees, it hits the roof when there's too many police around with a lot of weapons of mass destruction or, you know, just --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: With the tactical or riot -- tactical or riot gear. Let me ask you this, Vicki, the officers who pushed Martin they have been charged with felony assault.

[23:25:03]

ROSS: Right.

LEMON: Do you have faith in that process? And what brought -- and what about broader reforms do you hope to see from policing and just come out of this incident?

ROSS: Well, we're working very hard in Buffalo on that, and actually we were working on it very hard before this happened, the tragedy with George Floyd. So, we had our own incident in Buffalo and we had other previous history of incidents and death -- death and racist practices in Buffalo in the police department.

Not that there aren't some good police. There are great -- there are some community police -- you know, some people know how to talk to people. But we are working for reform and for drastic change.

We need some -- honestly, I believe we're at the fork in the road as Yogi Berra said. And when we take right now not just about the policing but in so many ways the way we handle things is going to make all the difference, and our democracy is certainly at risk, and our very survival is at risk with the nuclear weapons and climate catastrophe -

LEMON: Yes.

ROSS: -- and people are at risk with all the other things. So, I feel like we have -- we have a lot of work to do, but people are doing it.

And one thing I say, restorative justice is a way to handle these issues -- LEMON: OK.

ROSS: -- because it is such a big problem. It's not just one -- people ask me what would Martin want to have done with these officers, and I want to say that's what restorative justice is about. It puts the victim, the offender and the community together to just discuss what happened, what was the damage done, how can the damage be repaired. And this is --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Your -- I appreciate your passion, and thank you for joining us. We are out of time, and I have to say --

ROSS: Thank you.

LEMON: -- that's a really lovely piece of artwork behind you. Thank you, Vicki, and give our best to your friend. OK?

ROSS: I will.

LEMON: Thank you so much. And we'd love to have him on. Please invite him.

ROSS: Sure. When that date comes, we'll be glad.

LEMON: Tell him we'd love to have him on the show. Thank you.

ROSS: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: You take care.

ROSS: Thank you.

LEMON: Dr. Anthony Fauci says the coronavirus is -- this is a quote from him -- "his worst nightmare" and he is warning it isn't over yet, his words. Next.

[23:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Alarming concerns tonight over coronavirus spikes in the U.S. North Carolina breaking its record for the number of coronavirus hospitalizations, now at nearly 800 as 18 other states show jumps in cases. Dr. Anthony Fauci saying this, "it isn't over."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Now we have something that indeed turned out to be my worst nightmare, something that's highly transmissible in a period -- if you just think about it, in a period of four months, it has devastated the world and it isn't over yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, Andy Slavitt is here to discuss. Andy is former acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Andy, thank you. Alarming, what he said. And the sheer numbers, what we found out. It's a stark warning from Dr. Anthony Fauci. Clearly it isn't over yet with many states seeing these spikes compared to last week. Do you think Americans are letting their guard down and they need to be more vigilant?

ANDY SLAVITT, FORMER ACTING ADMINISTRATOR, CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES: I think so. I think we have to remember that nothing magic happened when we stayed home. It was a great sacrifice. And I know for a lot of people, it felt like they weren't sure what came of it. But there were some studies now which showed that around the world, there were hundreds of thousands if not millions of people whose either lives were saved or disease was delayed.

But that's the key thing, is once we come back out, if we come back to exactly our old habits, it's going to spread just as fast. So we have to be out and take the kind of precautions that are safe precautions. We can get back to normal life. We can live with this virus. But if you're in a place with these red areas like Arizona, North Carolina, Arkansas, you should be very, very careful.

LEMON: Yeah. You mentioned Arizona. The health department telling hospitals to activate emergency plans, and I'm talking about Arizona's coronavirus cases rise there. When you see what's happening in states like Arizona, North Carolina, how much worse could this get especially if there is a lag?

SLAVITT: Well, you're exactly right, Don. If the governor of Arizona decided to shut things down today, it would take about three weeks before case growth would start to flatten. And so you don't have that much time. So what I look at is I look at states that not only have case growth but have hospital capacity issues. There are three states that concern me right now -- Utah, Arizona, and Arkansas.

North Carolina has a lot of case growth, but they also have enough hospital capacity that I'm a little bit less worried. And of course, it also depends where in the state the problems are. So, you know, Arizona, if it doesn't act quickly, I think it is going to be in an emergency situation.

[23:35:00]

SLAVITT: We know how to deal with emergency situations. We did it in New York. But it's not pretty. It will mean bringing in a lot of extra resources. It will mean a lot of stress on the system. And I hope Governor Ducey doesn't view this through political lens that says, you know, this is over, we've got to be open for business, but says we can manage this but we've got to manage it responsibly.

LEMON: Mm-hmm. You know, more states are moving along with re- openings, with their re-openings. People are increasingly going out. We've had nationwide protests over a very important issue. Is it all affecting how people see the virus? SLAVITT: You know, I think so. I mean, I think as we get closer and closer to the election, I think people are going to use the coronavirus to spin whatever narrative -- political narrative suits them or helps them. And so I think people are -- Trump is obviously going to be very focused on the economy.

I think there is a way to peacefully protest, but only if people are allowed to peacefully protest and not hemmed in by police or sprayed with pepper spray or in other ways pushed together. But being outdoors, holding a sign, marching, those are very safe activities. The problem is that if someone is watching those activities, you don't agree with them, you then say, well, fine, I'm going to go outside and do irresponsible things because, you know, I want to send a political message.

LEMON: Yeah. You know, more than 112,000 people have died from the coronavirus. It is a lot of people. I mean, that is shocking. One model often cited by the White House projecting 145,000 people could die by early August. That's more than 30,000 deaths in two months. Have people -- do you think people have become numb to the scale of this?

SLAVITT: Absolutely. Look, Don, if I were on this show or others a couple of months ago, there would probably be a Chiron showing the number of deaths and the number of increases. I remember and you do, as well, I was on the show when we hit a thousand deaths, 10,000 deaths.

LEMON: Mm-hmm.

SLAVITT: We were horrified. But we're not marking these deaths. People are not -- flags are not at half-staff. We're not having funerals by and large although we are now at some places. The numbers are just kind of moving on. We've sort of accepted them. And my fear is that in places like Arizona, even a rising death toll, is that going to get the attention of the governor and should it even have to get that far?

LEMON: Yeah. You know the World Health Organization. You talked a little bit about them. We've been talking about them. Walking back what it said yesterday about asymptomatic transmission being very rare --

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: This isn't the first time the WHO has had to clean up confusing comments. Is this making it even harder to fight the virus?

SLAVITT: It is. I mean, look, a couple of things. First of all, the people at WHO mean well, and I think they -- I've talked to their communications team and many of their folks today. They say they probably overvalue transparency and allowing their scientists to talk and say what's on their mind. And I think in contrast to, you know, the president, you know, that transparency may say welcome (ph).

The problem is that people say things that are only their opinions, based on limited information, and then they have to come back and say, well, that isn't the official position of the WHO, she wasn't speaking for the WHO, she was just -- she wasn't really using data that is reliable.

And then it would affect (ph) they have to come back as I think many people urge them to do, and say, you know, gosh, this wasn't a really responsible statement. They did that with masks. They've done that before when they talked about antibodies.

And I would urge them as I did today, be humble, don't weigh the day. If you say something you didn't mean, come back and clean it up. Don't allow people to come on stage and speak for themselves, speak for the WHO. I tell them there are nine billion people that have cell phones that will tap at the cell phone and says WHO says, and whatever it says means a lot to people.

LEMON: Right.

SLAVITT: And so you can't just get up on stage and start talking as if you're talking to your scientific friends.

LEMON: Yeah, you're right. And then by the time they come back and correct it, the news cycle has passed, and this news cycle, a whole three news cycles have passed, and people have already made hay at their story. Thank you. I appreciate it, Andy.

SLAVITT: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:40:00]

LEMON: Just over two weeks after the death of George Floyd, new video shows another black man telling officers "I can't breathe" in a fatal encounter. It's one of many new videos. CNN's Martin Savidge has the story, and I warn you, what you're about to see and hear is disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE).

(SHOUTING)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is all too horribly familiar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Stop resisting.

[23:45:00]

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Even the dying words of the victim sound the same. But if you think you know these cases, you probably don't.

(SIREN) SAVIDGE (voice-over): March 28, 2019, Austin, Texas, sheriff's deputies pursuing 40-year-old Javier Ambler. Police say Ambler had not dimmed his headlights as he drove past the deputy, and then Ambler led them on a 22-minute chase when they tried to pull him over.

Body camera footage captures what happens during his arrest. Documents obtained by CNN reveal Ambler exited his car with his hands up. He was not intoxicated or armed, according to the incident report.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Hands behind your back.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Officers say Ambler resisted. Police attempts to restrain him and refused their commands. Ambler can be heard telling deputies he has a heart condition.

JAVIER AMBLER, TEXAS MAN WHO DIED AFTER ARREST (voice-over): Sir, I have congestive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Let me see your hands or I'm gonna tase you again. Other hand, I'm going to tase you again.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): The officer tased Ambler multiple times. The body camera video shows him going into distress. He's heard saying "I can't breathe" in the video.

AMBLER (voice-over): I can't breathe. I can't breathe.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Shortly afterwards, officers realized Ambler is no longer responsive. They removed his handcuffs and administered CPR. Javier Ambler is pronounced dead less than an hour later.

A district attorney investigation into the incident is ongoing. The Office of Professional Standards and the sheriff's office say the officers acted in accordance with department guidelines

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE) on the ground.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): February 29th of this year, Las Cruces, New Mexico. It begins as a traffic stop. Police say they learned after they stopped him that Antonio Valenzuela has an open warrant for a parole violation. According to the local district attorney's office, which is investigating, Valenzuela runs away, officers tased him twice.

(SHOUTING)

SAVIDGE (voice-over): According to the district attorney, on the ground, Valenzuela continues to struggle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): I'm going to (bleep) choke you out, bro.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): One of the officers applies a chokehold, referred to as a vascular neck restraint or VNR. EMS is called to the scene and begins lifesaving measures but unsuccessful. The officer who used the neck restraint has been charged with involuntary manslaughter. His lawyer did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.

May 23rd, Garden State Parkway, New Jersey, 28-year-old Maurice Gordon was pulled over for speeding, according to the state attorney general's office, which just released this video. When Gordon's car won't restart, State Trooper Sgt. Randall Wetzel tells him to sit in the police cruiser to stay out of traffic. The officer offers Gordon a mask and the dash cam footage seems routine.

Then Gordon unfastens his seatbelt and appears to attempt to get out of the car. The officer orders him back and a struggle begins. According to the New Jersey attorney general's office, which is reviewing the case, Gordon twice tried to get into the driver's seat of Trooper Wetzel's cruiser. For the first, the officer uses pepper spray on Gordon. Then, after a second attempt, another struggle. Eventually, six gunshots.

(GUNSHOTS)

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Gordon collapses to the road and dies.

(On camera): We reached out to State Trooper Wetzel. So far, we haven't heard back. Meanwhile, the governor of New Jersey said that he will have that case go to a grand jury and they can decide whether or not to charge the trooper.

As to that death that occurred in Las Cruces, New Mexico, we did hear back from the attorney who represents the officer who applied the choke hold, and he defended his client, saying that he was in the middle of a violent struggle at the time. We'll continue to follow these cases and the many others like them. Don?

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LEMON: Martin, thank you so much. Appreciate that. You know, we ask young black men and women what growing up black in America is like right now. You've got to hear it from them, next.

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[23:50:00]

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LEMON: As people all over this country demand justice for George Floyd, we wanted to know what the next generation think about all of this. What does it mean growing up black in America? Listen to young people in their own words.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAYDEN COLLINS, TALKS ABOUT GROWING UP BLACK IN AMERICA: Growing up black in America is painful and oppressive. Every day, I feel as though things are just not changing. I constantly see people who look like me being murdered solely for the fact they have melanin in their skin. That is just crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE/UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Black lives matter! Black lives matter! Black lives matter!

NALIA GOMEZ, TALKS ABOUT GROWING UP BLACK IN AMERICA: I wish my black life mattered. I'm exhausted that I'm constantly fighting to prove my worth.

ZAKAI BECK, TALKS ABOUT GROWING UP BLACK IN AMERICA: I'm scared because not only do I have to worry about a global pandemic, now I have to worry about whether I would be able to return home from a job. You know, at first, it was gangs, and that kind of died down. But now the biggest gang is the police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE/UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

MATTHEW CAMPBELL, TALKS ABOUT GROWING UP BLACK IN AMERICA: Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, I have this constant fear that one day, my name will be added to that list.

DEJOIRY MCKENZIE-SIMMONS, TALKS ABOUT GROWING UP BLACK IN AMERICA: Growing up black in America is to be exhausted, outraged, and constantly defending my identity and my purpose.

[23:54:56]

PARIS ROBINSON, TALKS ABOUT GROWING UP BLACK IN AMERICA: It means how to explain uncomfortable experiences of myself to white people in my predominantly white school.

CAYLA LAMAR, TALKS ABOUT GROWING UP BLACK IN AMERICA: And I'm grateful to live through this history because I know that things can only go up from here.

ISABELLA CAVIENSS, TALKS ABOUT GROWING UP BLACK IN AMERICA: And I realize that my hair and my skin complexion make me who I am. It's what makes me beautiful. I refuse to let anybody define who I am. Being black in America means to empower yourself regardless of how much is being thrown at you. You always have to be brave because you have to know you have a community standing behind you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE/UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't breathe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shout it out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE/UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't breathe.

MALCOLM DORSEY, TALKS ABOUT GROWING UP BLACK IN AMERICA: Growing up black in America is being aware that even in our times of bewilderment and adversity, that we dig deep down and find our strength and resiliency for those things are rooted in the pain, the cries, and the prayers of our ancestors. We are their wildest dreams.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Our future is crying out to us, those young people. Thanks for watching, everyone. Before we leave you tonight, remember how we started? A change is going to come.

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