Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

One of Officers Charged in Brooks Killing Turns Himself In; Facebook Removes Trump Ads for Violating Policy Against "Organized Hate" with Symbol Similar to Nazi One; Bolton Book Details Unflattering Portrait of Trump; Abby Broyles (D-OK), Senate Candidate, Discusses Trump Rally in Tulsa, Trump Saying Virus is "Dying Out". Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 18, 2020 - 13:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:32:23]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Arrest warrants have been issued for the two Atlanta police officers involved in the death of Rayshard Brooks. Officer Devon Brosnan, who is now on desk duty, turned himself in just a short time ago.

And then Garrett Rolfe, who has since been fired, has until 6:00 p.m. to turn himself in. Rolfe could face the death penalty if he's convicted of felony murder. Rolfe is facing 10 other counts as well.

This, as the top prosecutor in the case is revealing disturbing details about what the two officers did after Brooks was shot. The D.A. revealed a photo that he says shows Rolfe kicking Brooks after he'd been shot.

Rolfe's lawyer told FOX News that is not what is happening in this photo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANCE LORUSSO, ATTORNEY FOR FIRED OFFICER GARRETT ROLFE: My client never kicked Mr. Brooks. If there was a video of my client kicking Mr. Brooks, you would have seen it.

He shows a still and that one leg is planted and the other one's bent. He could be leaning down to try to give him first aid. It could have been when he was trying to evaluate whether he needed handcuffs.

This officer gave him CPR, monitored his pulse prior to that, talked to him to try to keep him breathing and called for EMS, and coordinated other efforts on the scene.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Brosnan faces three charges. One charge is aggravated assault for allegedly standing on Brooks' shoulder as he laid on the ground. But Brosnan's attorney said Brosnan was just trying to keep the situation under control. With me now is CNN's Ryan Young, live in Atlanta, and Joe Estead (ph),

a former police officer in Richmond, Virginia.

Ryan, you just speak to Officer Brosnan's attorney. Tell us what you learned.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. We were standing here getting ready to get a live shot when he walked by. That's how this conversation started.

There has been a larger conversation just about these charges. The law enforcement community is very upset in Atlanta with the charges the D.A., Paul Howard, here. They think this was too early, especially since the GBI hasn't finished their investigation.

But they were also surprised when they heard Brosnan was going to be a state's witness. And that's something his attorney said he's not exactly going to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ATTORNEY FOR OFFICER DEVON BROSNAN: The only allegation in these charges is he violated his oath of office by not following proper protocol, the use of force policy.

They say he never should have put his foot on Mr. Brooks' arms, which he did for a matter of seconds to stabilize, make sure there was no weapon nearby. He came upon a very chaotic scene.

That was not an assault. It was not an aggravated assault. He wasn't trying hurt him. He didn't turn him. He was just trying to make sure there was no weapon within reach.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:35:03]

YOUNG: We're waiting for the other officer to arrive here. There's two entrances to this jail so it easily could go around the back.

Of course, Officer Rolfe is facing much more serious charges. Once he arrives here, he won't be able to leave like the other officer did.

One thing we have to bring up right now is the manpower in the city of Atlanta. That's something being challenged all across the city right now.

We've learned through sources throughout the Atlanta Police Department that, last night, they were so worried about one precinct that they only had a few officers there that they cleared all the critical equipment out of that building and took it to another zone within the city to make sure, if protesters showed up, they wouldn't be able to take that critical equipment.

We've been told there have been more officers calling out sick throughout the morning. There are staff members like lieutenants and detectives now answering calls. At one point, more than 50 calls were not being answered throughout the city. T

his is something we'll have to watch throughout the next few days. These officers have been working three weeks nonstop. There's a lot of people talking about not working this weekend.

This is the critical point right now because, obviously, they were going to get a raise. The morale of the police department was pretty high until all these events have started happening back to back to back. You had the six officers fired for arresting the two college students and then this incident as well.

There's a lot of stress here. When officers call the help line to talk to mental health professionals, that number is not being answered and officers are having a hard time getting through. It's something we have to monitor over the next few days.

KEILAR: Ryan, thank you. Ryan Young in Atlanta.

Breaking news, Facebook has just taken down some Trump campaign ads for, quote, "violating our policy against organized hate."

CNN's Donie O'Sullivan is covering for us.

Tell us what was in the ads that were taken down here, Donie.

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER: Hey, Brianna. This is a major development. We know there's some tensions between the Trump campaign and Silicon Valley.

The Trump campaign started running ads targeting the left-wing group, Antifa, calling them dangerous mobs running riot in the streets of America and calling on supporters to sign a petition to support President Trump's calls to make Antifa a terrorist organization.

The problem with the ad, in Facebook's view and in the view of many others was the ad contained an inverted red triangle. The Anti- Defamation League pointed out that that triangle is practically identical to that used by the Nazi regime to classify political prisoners in concentration camps.

Facebook put out a statement saying that they have removed the ad for violating their policies against organized hate. "Our policies prohibit using a banned hate group symbol to identify political prisoners or context that condemns or discusses the symbol.

That hate group, Brianna, that Facebook is talking about in the context of the Trump campaign is the Nazi Party.

KEILAR: The Nazi Party.

Has the campaign responded, Donie?

O'SULLIVAN: We have not got a response from the campaign since Facebook took down the images.

But earlier this morning, on Twitter, the Trump campaign pushed back on some critics to say Antifa were using this upside-down red triangle symbol and the Trump campaign seemed to have pulled the image from somewhere deep on the Internet. A lot of people were pushing back to say this is not a symbol often associated with this group.

It's a developing story and we're trying to learn more about where they got this image from. But obviously, in Facebook's view here, this is a hate symbol.

KEILAR: All right, Donie, thank you for that report.

Next, we're going to go through all of the damning allegations from former national security adviser, John Bolton, including revelations that he says show the president's incompetence and ignorance.

[13:39:11]

Plus, Bolton saying that President Trump agreed with China to lock up Muslims in concentration camps.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: It's really one damning allegation after another against President Trump spelled out in detail in a new book by his former national security adviser, John Bolton. The book is titled "The Room Where it Happened."

I want to tick through some allegations here.

Bolton says President Trump asked Chinese President Xi to help him get re-elected by buying U.S. agricultural products in key states, politically key states. That Trump told Xi to keep building concentration camps for Muslims in his country.

Bolton saying he can't identify one decision that wasn't motivated by his reelection concerns. And that he was willing to halt criminal investigations as personal favors to dictators he liked. And that Trump argued that Venezuela is part of the U.S.

[13:45:02]

Bolton said even some of Trump's own senior officials mocked him behind his back. That includes Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who Bolton said passed him a note declaring Trump is so, quote, "full of shit." That's something that Pompeo's aides have refuted.

He said that Trump was obsessed with getting an Elton John "Rocket Man" C.D. for North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-Un. And that he wanted to rescind U.S. sanctions on Russia. Bolton saying in an interview with ABC News that Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks he can play Trump like a fiddle.

Bolton said Trump asked if Finland was part of Russia. It is not. That he didn't know that the U.K. was a nuclear power. That Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu questioned by Jared Kushner was tasked with developing a Middle East plan. And that Trump said journalists should be executed for not revealing sources. Bolton said unequivocally that President Trump is not fit for office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: I don't think he's fit for office. I don't think he has the competence to carry out the job.

There really isn't any guiding principle that I was able to discern other than what's good for Donald Trump's reelection.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Joining me now is Max Boot, CNN global affairs analyst and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Max, I just went through a long line of some of the revolutions here. I wonder what you think broadly about what you've learned.

MAX BOOT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I have to pick my jaw up off the floor before I can comment, Brianna.

You have to understand how unprecedented this is. We've certainly had tell-all memoirs in the past. Former aides like George Stephanopoulos have written books, even sometimes while the president was in office.

But we've never seen such a senior former official saying that the president they've served was fundamentally unfit and unethical and ignorant and, therefore, incapable of doing the job.

Of course, what Bolton is saying here does not come out of the blue. This really just confirms what we have heard from other officials, including John Kelly, Jim Mattis, Anthony Scaramucci and others who have left the White House and been completely appalled with what they have seen.

Here, Bolton has provided a fuller report of what he saw because he was a copious note taker.

This is a very damning indictment that Trump and his defenders will have trouble running away from because Bolton was one of them. You can't accuse him of being a part of the deep state.

KEILAR: There's many themes, but one sort of a through line is that the president doesn't value human life. OK'ing or supporting Chinese concentration camps for Muslims, saying journalists should be executed.

We've seen similar sentiments in Trump's public statements. Hydroxychloroquine, just take it. Trump saying you can't resist a police officer after Rayshard Brooks was shot. And his famous line about being able to kill someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it.

What do you think when you have a president who is not valuing life, like we have traditionally seen, I mean, most leaders do, presidents, most of all of the presidents, right? What does that do to America ears standing in the world?

BOOT: I think this is just leading to a collapse of America's moral standing. I think you're seeing a whole bunch of events, including our mismanagement of the coronavirus and the police brutality. This adds to a picture of a dysfunctional country led by an incompetent leader, somebody who has no right to be in the Oval Office.

You point out Trump's disregard for human life. Also Bolton talks about his disregard for our Constitution and the basic norms of governance.

The fact that he is asking a hostile foreign leader like Xi Jinping to help him out in his reelection campaign, which echoes the charges that he was impeached for, of trying to coerce Ukraine to helping him in his reelection campaign.

What that fundamentally shows to me is that he is not about America first. He is about Trump first. He puts his own personal interests ahead of the country.

That's, fundamentally, I think, the core of the picture that is a very deeply troubling picture painted by John Bolton where he says -- I think, one of the most damning things that Bolton says in his book that he is hard put to name a single Trump decision that was not taken in order to enhance his reelection campaign.

So it's all about Trump. Human life doesn't matter. Democracy doesn't matter. Human rights don't matter. The only thing that matters is Donald Trump to Donald Trump.

KEILAR: Max Boot, thank you so much for joining us.

BOOT: Thanks.

Just in, New York's governor suggests that he may quarantine people entering New York State as the virus continues to spread.

[13:50:01]

And the president's fans are already appearing at his rally site in Tulsa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: As cases rise in 23 states, including Oklahoma, officials are sounding the alarm on the dangers of President Trump's upcoming campaign rally in Tulsa. But the president falsely claims it's safe and says the virus is, quote, "dying out."

I am joined now by Abby Broyles. She is a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate in Oklahoma.

[13:55:01]

And, Abby, thank you for joining us.

You have been very outspoken about this rally. Tell us why.

ABBY BROYLES, (D), OKLAHOMA SENATE CANDIDATE: Hi, Brianna. It's great to be with you this afternoon.

You know, people here in Oklahoma are terrified for their lives, for their health. We have worked so hard in Oklahoma, staying home for months, keeping businesses closed to keep Oklahomans safe. The rally this weekend will undo so much of that hard work.

The people of Oklahoma didn't invite the president to come here. He has the support of a governor and our senior Senator, my opponent, Jim Inhofe, who have mocked this pandemic from the very beginning.

You will remember a few months ago, Jim Inhofe was asked a legitimate question by a reporter in D.C. Jim Inhofe is 85 years old. The reporter asked him if he was taking any precautions against the coronavirus. Inhofe said no and stuck his hand out and asked the reporter if he wanted to shake hands.

This is the mentality we are dealing with in Oklahoma. Two out-of- touch multi-millionaires coming to our state, putting our lives at risk for a photo-op in a desperate attempt to get reelected in November.

KEILAR: Jim Inhofe will actually be there for a photo-op. You challenged to him to shake hands with the crowd. Right? You challenged him to do that?

BROYLES: He thinks it's safe enough to hold a rally with 20,000 people. I'd like to know if he signed a waiver. He was trying to shake hands a few months ago. Sure, I think he should prove how safe it is by trying to shake hands this weekend.

KEILAR: Do you think that, given the racial tensions that we're seeing in America right now, and, of course, Tulsa's history of some of the worst racial violence, right, do you think that we're going to see unrest this weekend?

BROYLES: You know, I hope we don't see unrest this weekend. But I think the president and Jim Inhofe are coming here to create chaos. Because that is what they do.

I believe in the people of Oklahoma. This is where I grew up. This is where I spent 10 years as a journalist. I know we stand up and do what is right. I hope we will be peaceful this weekend.

It doesn't help when you have the president our senior Senator coming here on this particular weekend at a time when coronavirus cases are spiking right here in Tulsa County. KEILAR: The president admitted, Abby, that some people will get sick

from the rally. He stressed that it will be a small percentage. I wonder what your reaction is to that.

BOYLES: I think anyone getting sick is irresponsible and reckless. This arena packs in 19,000 people. But we aren't talking just about 19,000 people.

I know the president and Jim Inhofe don't believe in science and math, but I do. And this isn't 19,000. This is hundreds of thousands of people at risk.

All those people are going to go into our stores and our restaurants and our churches and infect so many more people. It's reckless to say otherwise.

KEILAR: Abby Broyles, thanks for joining us.

BROYLES: Thank you so much, Brianna. We'll see you soon.

KEILAR: We have more on our breaking news. The president said he made Juneteenth famous, that no one had ever heard of it. It, of course, is the date that marks the end of slavery. Don Lemon will join me live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)