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Juneteenth Rallies Nationwide Amid America's Racial Unrest; Mayor Initiates Firing of Officer Tied To Breonna Taylor's Death; AMC Reverses Course, Will Require Theatergoers To Wear Masks. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired June 19, 2020 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Also, see you on Monday as well. Brianna Keilar picks up our coverage on a busy news day right now. Have a good weekend.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: I'm Brianna and I want to welcome viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.

A monumental day, June 19th or Juneteenth, a day that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States now at a critical time in the nation's history as the country is wrestling with systemic racism and police brutality. The demands for change echoing across cities and towns now for weeks. It's now central to the Juneteenth marches and the rallies that are under way right now.

You are looking at some live pictures here from New York that we're taking. We have correspondents on scenes like this across the country. And we're going to take you there live.

First though, spiking coronavirus numbers coming out of Florida, the state that some health experts fear will become the next epicenter of the pandemic. Florida is reporting nearly 4,000 new COVID-19 cases just today. That's a record single-day increase for the state.

Arizona also seeing an alarming upswing in cases. It's one of 23 states seeing upward trends in new cases from one week to the next. Arizona has more than 43,000 infection being as across the state and more than 1,200 deaths. And the department of health there is urging people to wear masks in public.

CNN's Kyung Lah is in Scottsdale, Arizona for us. And, Kyung, how are folks there responding to wearing masks?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly we're seeing a response in just the last day or so, where we're just in our travels around the area, seeing a few more masks, but this has been a very slow change. And part of it is going to be driven by the numbers.

There is a new daily record as far as new infections in the state, it is a nearly 30 percent increase from just yesterday. The number of new cases here, 3,246. It is following a dramatic increase in cases in just the last couple of weeks. ICU bed usage remains high at 84 percent. So why this increase?

So we were out in Tempe, Arizona just in those happy hour hours, and we spoke to some young people, the bar that we saw was very, very busy. And there didn't seem a lot of concern when it came to the issue of masks. Here is what some of them told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, there is coronavirus, obviously, but I think Arizona is handling it bad and they don't really seem to care. We're kind of like free and open and we don't necessarily have restrictions. So this is going to continue to get worse here until we do something about it.

LAH: You're not wearing a mask though?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I'm into the wearing a mask. I think masks are good, but I think they kind of act as a placebo to some extent. I have a family, personally, who has been lost to coronavirus, so like I should be wearing a mask, but I don't -- not when I'm with my friends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: And if you are smacking your forehead right now, wondering what this young man is thinking, that is exactly what an E.R. doctor did when we were describing what we saw at the bars, he described them as social -- as selfish social Darwinists and that these masks, if everyone in the State of Arizona were to wear them, that would lower the transmission immediately, Brianna.

As far as that statewide mandate, that is something that the governor here says he will not do. It is something that he is leaving it up to the mayors. Brianna?

KEILAR: Yes. I was just wondering sort of what he was thinking. And he doesn't seem like he means it maliciously and yet the effect is -- he said he knows people who have been lost. He could know more people who are lost because of that.

Kyung Lah, thank you from Scottsdale.

We have some and more breaking news right now, an extraordinary move, Apple is closing some stores in several states as we see a spike in cases. We have CNN's Cristina Alesci on this story. Cristina, tell us about this.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is not so much of an extraordinary move because the company when it said it was reopening its stores did say if they found any kind of issues or resurgence of cases in specific areas, they would go ahead and shut down their stores.

They just put out a statement, we just got it, Apple saying, due to current COVID-19 conditions in some of the communities we serve, we are temporarily closing stores in these areas. We take this step with an abundance of caution as we closely monitor the situation and we look forward to having our teams and customers back as soon as possible.

And here is the thing, Brianna. Companies are having to figure this out on their own. They are not turning to local or state or federal governments. They are taking these actions, they are hiring infectious disease experts, they're building out their own dashboards to monitor what's happening.

And just to give you some more context on the stores that are closing down, we have stores in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Arizona.

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Sound familiar? Those are the cases where there have been concerns about the rising number of coronavirus cases possibly tied to reopening too early.

So this is Apple taking a very aggressive step here, Brianna, but I'm going to give it to you straight. A lot of these companies are very worried about liability, getting sued if somebody gets sick. They know that they have deep pockets and they are a huge target for lawsuits. So that's probably what's driving the decision here. And we've seen a company (INAUDIBLE), talking about Ford having to shut down some plants after reopening to clean them.

So this is the new reality that we're living in and it is a huge disruption for businesses to operate this way, Brianna. And as much as the president wants to get to normal and wants the economy functioning like it was pre-COVID, it's very clear from this instance and a number of others that I've been reporting on, it's not going to happen anytime soon.

KEILAR: Yes, Cristina, thank you for that report about Apple.

Florida is now reporting its biggest single-day increase in coronavirus cases since the pandemic began. And that is just the beginning of what's become an alarming trend for the state. It averaged 2,408 new per day over the last week. This is more than 2,400 people who are becoming sick each and every day. And that is up 90 percent from the previous seven-day period. A huge spike, you're seeing it there, up 90 percent.

Joining me now is Rick Culmer. He owns Kiwi's Pub and Grill in Altamonte Springs, a suburb of Orlando. And, Rick, you shut down your restaurant after reopening. Tell us why.

RICK CULMER, OWNER, KIWI'S BAR AND GRILL: We had reports that there had been customers who came in and they had turned up with a positive result for coronavirus and were in the hospital. So I was actually out of town, but we decided that we would change some of the policies, we get a little bit stricter than what the governor had given us and go back down to 25 percent of our occupancy.

While we were discussing that, we found out that more customers had tested positive and then we found out that some of our staff had shown symptoms as well. So we decided that we better shut down immediately and reassess.

KEILAR: Because your concern was that your restaurant was kind of becoming this like Petri dish, right, of spread?

CULMER: Yes, actually. Well, our restaurant but I think the whole area is risky right now.

KEILAR: Definitely. And so what have you -- what reaction have you gotten from customers? What are you hearing from other business owners, because it's -- really, it's not just you in this situation?

CULMER: Well, I thought that we were going to really take a lot of flak for it, but everyone has been very supportive and they understand where we're coming from. I've talked to a couple of other restaurant and bar owners in our area and I've started a Facebook web page called, Hospitality United, for other restaurant and bar owners so we can get the together and discuss ways to make things better, make them safer, and most of all to pass information on to our customer, staff and the public, because it is kind of hard to get accurate information right now, even if you Google where to get a test for coronavirus, you kind of get the runaround just by Googling it.

So it's just the way it is to sort of keep everybody appraised of what's happening and see if we can help out.

KEILAR: As you mentioned, the guidance that you were getting didn't work for you, right? You adjusted, even trying to be a little more conservative in your approach, and even that wasn't sufficient. So if the guidance that you are getting from the state is not working to keep your customers and your employees safe, what do you need then from the governor?

CULMER: I think information is the most important thing. You know, there is an awful lot of speculation about what the disease does and how it reacts and how good masks are and things like that. Personally, I'd like to see people wearing masks and setting an example of that because I'm from New Zealand and down there, they originally got the coronavirus about the same time as we did here in the U.S. But the prime minister said we're going to go hard and we're going to go early, and she did and they pretty much eliminated coronavirus down there.

It was tough, but it was only for a short amount of time and now they have a normal lifestyle again. I don't see that happening here for a really long time, I don't see an end in sight the way we're doing it right now.

KEILAR: With the back and forth, and you're responding as you are. Rick, thank you so much. There's so many people in your position, so it's really important to hear what you're going through.

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CULMER: Yes, thank you, you're welcome. Bye. Have a great day.

KEILAR: Just in, a hearing for the Atlanta officer charged in Rayshard Brooks death. See what happened there.

Plus, a major development in the death of Breonna Taylor, who was shot by police while she was sleeping. One of the officers is set to be fired but the reason is a mystery. We're still waiting for that.

And nationwide rallies commemorating Juneteenth, the end of slavery. We're going to take you there live.

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KEILAR: We have breaking news on the deadly police shooting of Breonna Taylor. Louisville Kentucky Mayor Greg Fisher is initiating the firing of Officer Hankinson.

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Police shot Taylor eight times during an exchange of gunfire with her boyfriend while executing a no-knock warrant in search of another person. Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT, was sleeping when the officers barged in. Her boyfriend thought that they were being -- someone was entering the house.

Lonita Baker is the attorney for Breonna Taylor's family. And, Lonita, thank you for joining us today. The shooting, it happened on March 13th, so this is three months. Do you know why this is happening now?

LONITA BAKER, BREONNA TAYLOR FAMILY'S ATTORNEY: I don't know why it is happening now. We are happy that it is happening now. And, you know, we said all along that the mayor has the ability to fire the officers involved. He has maintained that he does not have the ability to do that absent due process and the public integrity unit investigation being complete. He also said that the professional standards unit investigation being complete. We know that there has not been a professional standards unit investigation complete yet.

So we said all along that he had the ability to terminate them, so we are happy that he at least fired one of them today. We still want the other officers involved in Breonna's murder terminated as well. And we still want them prosecuted.

KEILAR: And so you say we are taking about the family, I assume you have spoken to them .What are they saying?

BAKER: I did speak to Tamika (ph) once we had the news that it was going to be announced that Brett Hankinson was being terminated. And she said this is the best news she's gotten today. So she is definitely pleased with that information. But we still have a ways for go and there're still a lot to be done until we have justice for Breonna.

KEILAR: The Kentucky attorney general is promising transparency in the independent investigation of Breonna Taylor's killing. I wonder if you have received any more information since he made that promise.

BAKER: Well, with the announcement that he made yesterday, that was the announcement that we expected to hear because he had communicated that with us. I don't know how far into the investigation they are. I do know that the FBI investigation is well under way. They were at the apartment doing some investigating there, interviewing witnesses, neighbors. So we do know that the investigation is taking place. And we're actually encouraged that there is, in fact, an independent investigation being completed.

KEILAR: You mentioned that you want the other officers to be held accountable. What message does it send to you and the family if they aren't?

BAKER: Well, we know that more than Brett Hankinson played a role in Breonna's death. We know that the lies that were contained in the search warrant, there needs to be some accountability for that. And then with the other officers that were present, and then any subsequent actions that would have, you know, lead to what would have been a cover up if the public did not start paying attention to what happened here.

We know that Brett Hankinson disappeared for for hours after the shooting. That's information that people didn't really put out there, but that's obstruction of justice. So we want every officer involved to be held accountable.

KEILAR: Lonita Baker, thank you so much. We are certainly thinking of Breonna's family. Thanks for joining us.

BAKER: Thank you.

KEILAR: And in Atlanta today, former Police Officer Garrett Rolfe waived his right to his first court appearance. He was denied bond. Rolfe faces felony murder and ten other charges in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks in a Wendy's parking lot last Friday night. After turning position in, Rolfe was transferred to another Georgia jail for safety reasons.

A top state department official resigning over the president's response to racial tensions.

Plus, as Tulsa braces for the president's rally despite serious health warnings from experts, the president threatening protesters who may show up.

And nationwide rallies commemorating Juneteenth, the end of slavery. We will take you there live.

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KEILAR: This just into CNN, movie theater chain AMC is announcing it is reversing course, that it will now require all patrons to wear masks when at their locations around the country. This comes after the CEO of the company said he would not require masks in an attempt to stay apolitical.

Our Chief Media Correspondent, Brian Stelter, joins me now. This is interesting, right, because the CEO initially said he didn't want to become political by requiring face masks, but whether you require them or not, it's going to be political and the backlash was quick. So tell us what happened.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Our colleague, Frank Pallotta, interviewed the AMC CEO. He said he was trying to avoid controversy, but, of course, there was immediate controversy about the decision to say that in some states where masks are not required, you don't have to wear a mask if you go to the movies.

Now, AMC is saying there was an immediate outcry and they recognized, quote, we did not go far enough on the usage of masks.

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We think it's absolutely critical that we listen to our guests and thus we are reversing course. So, now, across the country when theaters reopen starting July 15th, masks will be required.

We're seeing other movie chains, Brianna, make similar decisions, similar calculations. But like you said, no matter what they decide, they're going to be on one side of this debate or another. This should not be a debate at all. Masks have been encouraged in New York City for more than two months.

Brianna, I took my three-year-old daughter for a walk this morning, we both wore our masks. She didn't have a problem with it. So why do so many adults have a problem with this? But, hey, I digress, this is going to continue unfortunately to be a political debate.

KEILAR: Yes, it's supported by science, right? There's a study shows almost 500,000 infections have been stopped, I believe -- or is it deaths, deaths of -- almost 500,000 deaths have been stopped by people wearing masks, which is a huge number, right? That could be your relative, Brian, so anyone's relative. So, it's so important, thanks for the story. We appreciate it.

We have some more breaking news to tell you about, this is out of Atlanta in the aftermath of the police killing of Rayshard Brooks. And with me now is CNN's Ryan Young live there for us. So you just came out of the hearing for the officer charged in the case. You also have some breaking news about Atlanta police officers who have called out from work today. Tell us.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Brianna. Look, our Dianne Gallagher was upstairs. I was downstairs waiting for her to come down. But we kind of knew how this was going to play out today. What we're told is Garrett Rolfe basically waived his first court appearance. We were told this yesterday from some of my sources.

But then today, the court, for some reason, had it scheduled it. And when it was time for him to appear, everything was waived so nothing changed there. That's because he's going to be in jail for quite some time because the indictment is not finish. This could take to October, November, maybe even stretching to January. But the critical thing that we should tell you right now, Brianna, is the fact that the sickouts continue. Police officers have decided to continue their protests throughout the city. In fact, in two zones throughout the city right now, there are so few officers that captain went up to the major crimes unit and said no more investigations right now, everyone gets ina uniform and get on the streets to help out with all the 911 calls. They are facing.

We've seen this over and over again. In fact, the Atlanta Police Foundation gave a thank you bonus to officers throughout the city of $500. But I am told officers are really upset. They want some clarity in terms of how they're going to move forward. They want to hear their new police chief step forward and say, this is what we're going to do as a police force.

And over and over again, I have sources who are basically sending me messages saying the rank and file is beyond upset, they are tired, they have been working 12 on and 12 off for more than four weeks. More sickouts are planned for this weekend, and especially when it comes to next week when the funeral will be held for Mr. Brooks. This is sort of evolving into a situation where a lot of people are worried about the safety of the city.

Now, I can tell you something in terms of management from the police department, they have been able to get other resources into the city to help cover all these calls. The mayor for her part has basically said she's had a great working relationship with the police department. That was true up until a certain point. July 1st was supposed to be a raise for these police officers as well. So there was a moment of happiness between the two.

But when the longtime chief steps down and there is a vacuum sort of a leadership, there are people who are so very upset right now in terms of what is going on. We're also hearing that officers are trying to find ways out of this department. There is a lot of metro areas around here who would like to have Atlanta police officers working. A lot going on in the city right now, Brianna.

KEILAR: Ryan Young in Atlanta, thank you for that report.

To Tulsa, Oklahoma now. President Trump moved his own rally set for today in Tulsa, now he is holding it tomorrow. And the city is celebrating Juneteenth.

CNN's Martin Savidge is joining us. Martin, this is a city with a horrific history of racist violence. I wonder what the mood is there, what the message is there today and how they are planning for the president's rally tomorrow.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, for those who are planning to participate and be at the president's rally, Juneteenth does not rate high as their concern. You can see right now, the streets are packed with everything that is Trump-related. In fact, this is the line for people that are trying to get into the rally, which is not for at least over 24 hours from now. And they have been in line here waiting in this town since last Saturday. So that shows you the amount of fervor here.

But, of course, here is the other news and this is new information. For the fourth straight -- not fourth straight in a row, fourth time this week, the Tulsa County Health Department is reporting a record 24 hour number of infections from coronavirus. It eclipses yesterday's record of 120. Now, it's 125 today. Every single day, it seems that there has been increased concern about the pandemic in this community.

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But you wouldn't know it by anybody here.