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Jacob Blake's Father Says Son Has Not Been Treated Like a Human; Trump Condemns Violent Protests, Stays Silent on Jacob Blake's Shooting; Activists Gather for Another March on Washington, 57 Years Later; Major League Games Postponed As Players Protest Systemic Racism; Hurricane Laura Pummels Lake Charles, Leaves Tremendous Damage. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 28, 2020 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And part of that needs to be clarifying, where he agrees with some of these protest movements and where he doesn't because I think that's authentic to him. It also happens to -- it has the benefit of being true and it can help electorally.

These movements are going to grow. They're going to do what they're going to do. I'm proud of the athletes, I'm proud of the people in the streets who are doing it the right way, but Joe Biden needs to show some strength.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Van Jones, thank you for tying up a long week for us. Great to see you.

And CNN's coverage continues right now.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: A good Friday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

In the span of a few days of protests, of violence and politics, we have seen the nation's sharp divisions exposed. This morning, the 17- year-old charged with killing two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, will be in court for the first time. Kyle Rittenhouse is facing multiple homicide charges -- there he is with his weapon -- accused of shooting and killing two people and injuring another during a protest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

We are learning more about the moments leading right up to the deadly confrontation and what Rittenhouse did right after.

We're also hearing this morning emotional words from the family of Jacob Blake. This the man shot multiple times in the back by police in front of his children, pictured there. This morning, Blake's father told CNN about the first time he spoke to his son in the hospital and this remarkable fact. He is handcuffed by his leg to his bed, though he's paralyzed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACOB BLAKE SR., FATHER OF JACOB BLAKE: When I got to his side, he grabbed my hands and began to weep and he told me that he was hallucinating and then he said, I love you, Daddy. Daddy, I love you.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. That's -- it must be so hard to see him in this condition.

BLAKE: Yes. Then his next question was, why did they shoot me so many times? And I said, baby, they weren't supposed to shoot you at all.

CAMEROTA: I mean, of course you don't have an answer to that and none of us have been given an answer to that. And I mean --

BLAKE: But we -- we spread a lot of love in there. And he knows where I live, and he just said, I didn't think you were going to be able to come, and I just reassured him I'm not leaving.

CAMEROTA: And he didn't think you'd be able to come because you live in a different state?

BLAKE: Yes. And so many things that bothered me but when I walked into that room, you know, he's paralyzed from the waist down. Why do they have that cold steel on my son's ankle? He -- he can't get up -- he couldn't get up if he wanted to. So that's a little overkill to have him shackled to the bed. And I -- that just makes no sense to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: The doctors question that practice as well. After days of unrest, history is coming today in our nation's capital. Thousands are expected at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial -- they're already gathering now -- for another march on Washington 57 years after the original one demanding civil rights and economic opportunity. This one calling for much the same along with police reform.

And against this backdrop, President Trump accepted the Republican Party's nomination, painting a dark picture of a Joe Biden presidency, defending his response to the pandemic. He made no mention of the Blake shooting that sparked protests this week, though campaign spokesman told us on this broadcast yesterday that he would. Why is that?

Several stories developing this morning, first let's go to CNN's Shimon Prokupecz for more on what Jacob Blake's family is saying about his condition.

So tell us. I mean, we heard that detail from his father. He's shackled to his bed, though he's paralyzed from the waist down. What do we know about his condition? I mean, do we know that he'll make it through?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yes, that's still -- you know, it's a great question, Jim, that the family still has. They're not certain that he's still going to make it through. He's heavily sedated, he's medicated, and for now, the doctors believe as he said that he's paralyzed.

What an emotional morning that was and certainly continues to be for this family who along with many of us here, reporters and people really -- the citizens, the people who live in Kenosha wanting to know exactly what happened.

We don't have the basic answers yet from the police like the father said. And like Mr. Blake Jr. himself asked his father, why did they shoot me so many times, we still don't have answers to those questions.

[09:05:08]

And then the father described in his conversations with his son the moments in the shooting about how Blake Jr. was counting the shots, the number of times police were firing at him and how he wanted to just protect his kids that were in the car. Here is more of what Mr. Blake Sr. said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLAKE: His main concern when we were talking were his sons, he was, in his mind's eye, he just wanted to get -- he wanted to get his sons out of harm's way. But before he could get them out of the car, he said he was just counting shots. He said he was counting. And I guess he went -- he lost consciousness around number four or five. But the oldest in the car was 8 and the youngest in the car was 3.

CAMEROTA: And have you talked to them?

BLAKE: Oh, they're with me every day.

CAMEROTA: What do they say? What -- how are they coping with this this morning?

BLAKE: The oldest every day his question is, Daddy, why did the police -- they call me Papa, and all my grandkids call me Papa or Papa. So he said, Papa, why did they shoot my daddy in the back? Where's daddy?

They want their father. Because he was a part of their life every day. He's a person. He's a human being. He's not an animal. He's a human. But my son has not been afforded the rights of a human. He's not been treated like a human. He's a father. He's not a deadbeat dad. He's a father. He's with his children every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: And, Jim, all the emotion there really you can see in the father and the mother who has spoken as well. Really still trying to get answers exactly, Jim, on what happened here. And now it's on the D.A. It's on the local investigators to put that pressure on them to get those questions answered.

SCIUTTO: What do we know, Shimon, about a weapon, no weapon? The lawyer told us two days ago there was no weapon, the police claimed there was a weapon in the car. Witnesses talking about a weapon in the woods nearby. Tell us what we know.

PROKUPECZ: Right. So what we know from the police -- from the attorney general who is now investigating this that there was a knife recovered. The explanation -- there's no explanation as to what this knife, where it was, they say it was in the car but there's no indication -- at least not yet that it was being used in any threatening manner or that Mr. Blake was trying to get to it and somehow was using it in a threatening manner against the police which would then justify them perhaps firing on him the way they did.

We have no indication of that. Again, as we see from the video, they shoot Mr. Blake in the back as he's going in to the car. There is a part that we don't see, but we still don't have key answers in those moments from the authorities.

SCIUTTO: Yes. A lot more to learn from this. Shimon Prokupecz, thanks so much.

Well, remarkably last night the president made no mention of the police shooting of Jacob Blake. This despite the fact that his campaign spokesperson told us yesterday on this broadcast that the president would.

CNN's John Harwood joins me now. John, why? Do we know why the president didn't go there?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, because, Jim, the president has got to change the equation in this election. After nearly four years of his presidency, reality is not his friend. We've got a pandemic raging across the country. It's killed 180,000 people. We've got disorder in the streets. We've got very large unemployment. And so what the president's got to try to do is create a different picture to motivate his supporters and maybe win some new ones back.

And what that picture is, is essentially to alarm and make afraid his supporters especially older white, rural, small town Christians, and the message is the Black Lives Matter and antifa mob is coming to get you. Now there were moments in the convention where they tried to soften that a little bit.

You have a lot of people offering testimonials that no President Trump, whatever you think he's not a racist, and he's friendly to women, and these are designed to curb some of his deficit among suburban women. Maybe attract even some black male voters, but the core of it is a very visceral appeal to fear and the question is, how much at this stage of the campaign can that change the race?

[09:10:02]

Opinions are pretty hard about Donald Trump, but there are few variables that will decide whether he could shake up the deck. One of them is going to be Joe Biden's response, which Van Jones was talking about in the previous hour, and also what exactly happens on the streets of the United States. Does this disorder become so appearing out of control to voters that they respond to the president's message that I can tamp this down? We're going to have to watch. SCIUTTO: John Harwood at the White House, thanks very much.

Now to the gravity of this historic day. 57 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. outlined his dream and now, amid nationwide demands for racial justice so many decades later, thousands including family members of Jacob Blake are expected to gather to march and speak just as King did.

Suzanne Malveaux, she joins us now from the National Mall. You know, that seems like a moment from history, from another era, and yet many of the things that motivated people to march them 57 years ago remain today. Tell us what you're hearing as you're out there on the mall this morning.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, you're absolutely right as thousands of people are lined up, five city blocks here in Washington. Just to try to get into the National Mall area. I have talked to many people including Martin Luther King III who say that the central issues today, the challenges, racial discrimination, police brutality, jobs, voting rights are eerily similar to what the issues and the challenges were 57 years ago.

I asked King what keeps him up at night. He said it is the fact his 12-year-old daughter has asked him, why do we still have to do this? I thought my grandfather put this to bed and he said, because we must.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): August 28th, 1963. The country rocked by turbulence over racial inequality. Violence against protesters met with the massive peaceful march on Washington for jobs and freedom, bringing more than 200,000 to the nation's capital to fight for African-Americans' civil and economic rights.

And now, a new generation of demonstrators are returning more than 50 years later with protests erupting around the country for months over the deaths of black Americans at the hands of police caught on camera.

JULIE JACKSON, MOTHER OF JACOB BLAKE: We really just need prayers.

MALVEAUX: The most recent case, 29-year-old Jacob Blake, allegedly shot in the back at least seven times by Kenosha, Wisconsin, police Sunday, leaving the father of five currently paralyzed and family aggrieved.

Nearly six decades ago, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. fiercely advocated for nonviolent change in his famous "I Have a Dream" speech from the Lincoln Memorial. King's eldest son, Martin Luther King III, reflecting on his father.

MARTIN LUTHER KING III, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: Dad would be very proud of the fact that tragically after George Floyd's death, the tragedy caused the largest civil rights demonstrations on the planet. Ever. I think that if he just showed up today, he would be greatly disappointed in the conduct of our behavior particularly the conduct that starts -- that is starting at the White House level. MALVEAUX: This gathering is being called the "Get Your Knee Off Our

Necks" march, a reference to George Floyd, the unarmed black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes during an arrest.

Floyd's killing sparked a protest movement nationwide calling for social and racial justice. This day also marks the 65th anniversary of the death of Emmitt Till, a 14-year-old black boy who was tortured and lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after being wrongly accused of offending a white woman. Till's cousin Deborah Watts sees similarities today in how one person's tragedy can become a bridge to change.

DEBORAH WATTS, PRESIDENT AND CO-FOUNDER, EMMETT TILL LEGACY FOUNDATION: There's a thick line and a bold line of injustice that has occurred unfortunately in our America, it's part of our DNA. And we need to figure out how to eliminate it and to figure out how to move forward.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: And Jim, this march of course very different in the tone and tenure because of COVID-19. The restrictions very severe. All people have to wear a mask and then they're given a green bracelet just to get into the National Mall area. All of us had our temperatures checked as well and then you are not allowed to leave the area. If you do leave then you will not be able to return. There's social distancing.

It is very hot out here, Jim, and a lot of people here are doing exactly what they should be, exercising those safety precautions and keeping their social distance. They are suggesting that live streaming or if you can watch on cable television that is just good as long as you're active. Jim?

[09:15:00]

SCIUTTO: Well, good to see them find those safety precautions. Suzanne Malveaux, good to have you there. Thank you. Still to come this hour, President Trump says his administration is following the science. So why were more than a thousand with very few face masks, no social distancing at his RNC speech last night? Plus, professional athletes taking a stand against systemic racism. What is the impact, will they help bring about real change?

And we'll be live in Louisiana, Hurricane Laura has left tremendous destruction in her wake, still some very bad situations on the ground there, we're going to tell you what we found coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. President Trump said last night that his administration is focusing on the science to fight the coronavirus outbreak. But he delivered those words in front of a crowd of more than a thousand people, few were wearing face masks, few if any following social distancing. We're not clear on how many in the crowd were tested in advance. All steps that health experts recommend. Total contrast to the guidelines sent out by his own coronavirus taskforce.

All this as the president repeatedly claimed that a vaccine would be available by the end of this year if not sooner. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen joins me now with more. Elizabeth, I know Dr. Fauci, and of course, he's very conservative as he approaches this outbreak, has said that it is possible to have a vaccine as soon as the end of this year or early next year. Was the president exaggerating the time line last night?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, that every expert I've talked to including Dr. Fauci has basically said essentially their bottom line is that, that is an exaggeration.

They think maybe we could get an approved vaccine by the end of the year, but that's not November 3rd, that's you know, December or more likely January, February, March. And here's the reason why, Jim. This vaccine requires two doses. They are Moderna, which is the first U.S. trial out of the gate is still giving some people first doses and it still has to give people second doses.

They're not going to be done giving people all their doses if you sort of look at the rate they're going until early to mid-October. You then need to wait a couple of weeks for that vaccine to kick in. And then -- and this is -- this is the tough part. You have to see if these people get COVID-19 or not.

You just have to kind of sit around and wait. Do they get infected and do they get sick? You can't rush that. Now, you could be unethical and you could do something really dangerous and say, oh, let's not wait for them. It's -- we gave it to them, they didn't drop dead, let's put this thing on the market. You could do that, but that is terrible science. That is --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

COHEN: Terrible public health. You're putting people in danger and you're putting out a vaccine that may not do anything. Various scientists including Dr. Francis Collins; the head of the NIH have said, not on my watch. Let's hope that they hold to it.

SCIUTTO: We'll be watching, we know you will, Elizabeth Cohen, thanks very much.

COHEN: Thanks --

SCIUTTO: All right, so let's speak to an expert, someone who does follow the science, Dr. Michael Osterholm; infectious disease expert, director at the Center for Infectious Disease, Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Osterholm, always good to have you back to help us --

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH & POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Thank you, good to be with you -- SCIUTTO: Wade through all this. All right, let's talk about the

vaccine for a moment. The CDC Director Robert Redfield, he's now asking states to waive any requirements that might get in the way of distributing vaccines by November 1st, of course, that's two days before election day.

Given the pattern of this administration, often getting involved in the science, right? Pushing for instance hydroxychloroquine before there was any evidence that it helped and other steps. Are you worried that the federal government is pushing the timeline of the vaccine for political reasons?

OSTERHOLM: Well, I think we all want a vaccine as soon as possible to impact on this horrible pandemic. But as Elizabeth just laid out, if we're not ready for a vaccine to be out there because we don't have the data to show that it's safe and effective, it will really create a major crisis because I think most public health leaders will stand up and say no, which will then terribly confuse the public in terms of should we get those vaccine or not?

SCIUTTO: Yes, OK, so that's the vaccine. Let's hope we follow the science. Let's talk about testing because there was alarm expressed by you and others when the CDC suddenly changed its testing guidelines to say that people who have been exposed to someone who you know has the virus, normally the testing would have been required --

OSTERHOLM: Right --

SCIUTTO: At that point or highly recommended, no longer necessary. Now, the CDC director, he tried to clarify that guidance last night. I read it a number of times, I don't know how it clarified the guidance because at least on the website, it remains the same new guidance. What's happening here, and what's the significance of it in your view?

OSTERHOLM: Well, you know, if you can screw up a message, this is a classic example of how to do it. First of all, let's be really clear, people should be tested if there are contacts for cases, we don't want to test from the first day or two because of course, they won't yet be in showing the virus there. But yes, we want to.

They made this recommendation without really consultation from public health or medical experts outside of the government. They put it on the website quietly without any announcement of why they decided to do it. And now they're walking it back without changing the wording.

I mean, if you're in the public relations class, you'd know class 101, this is exactly the opposite way of doing it. So the bottom line message here for the public, yes, you should get tested if you're in contact of a case three to seven days after that contact. That's important regardless of what the CDC says --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

OSTERHOLM: In writing or they say in person.

SCIUTTO: As you know, the president said repeatedly, he thinks more testing is bad, that it just exposes cases, it makes us look bad. That's the only reason there are more infections in this country -- not true. But the president said it, seems to believe it.

[09:25:00]

OSTERHOLM: Yes, you know, I think that --

SCIUTTO: Are you worried that there's political pressure here so that more people do not test positive?

OSTERHOLM: Well, I think there is, and I am very concerned about the hype over the last 24 hours about a new test from Abbott. It's come out that this particular test is cheap, it's quick and it's effective. Let me just be really clear about this. I would not want to use this test on someone with clinical disease. We know that this very same kind of test for influenza only achieves about 50 percent to 70 percent positivity among those who have influenza, and as such we don't even recommend its use for influenza --

SCIUTTO: Wow --

OSTERHOLM: I see no reason why this is going to be any different. So this new heralded testing is a little bit smoke and mirrors. The entire database was based on 102 people who were sampled out of what would be millions who would ultimately get this test. So I also worry that we can see a big drop in number of positives.

SCIUTTO: Yes --

OSTERHOLM: If I'm only picking up 50 percent to 70 percent of the positives that are really there when people actually have the actual illness. So even that is --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

OSTERHOLM: A challenge this week in how it's being touted in the public.

SCIUTTO: Yes, listen, there's a pattern here, right, letting the politics get in the way of the science. Folks, if you're listening, listen to doctors like Dr. Osterholm, don't listen to the politicians. All right, let's talk about the big picture here. You wrote an op-ed from "The New York Times" earlier this month, that the next six months could make what we have experienced so far seem like just a warm-up to a greater catastrophe.

There's a new model out from IMHE which has done most of these saying that upping the estimated number of deaths to 315,000 by December. And I know and you've expressed this before that the models are just that, they're models, they're not hard predictions of the future, but they give us something of a picture. But let's talk about your assessment here. Why do you believe the next six months could make what we've seen so far feel just like a warm-up?

OSTERHOLM: Well, first of all, just remember that only 8 percent to 10 percent of the U.S. population has been infected with this virus to date. And if you think about what it will take to get to what we call, herd immunity, this concept of when the virus transmission slows down is 50 percent to 70 percent of the population.

So this coronavirus forest fire has a lot of wood left to burn and we happen to be the wood, people yet not infected with the virus. And so, that's -- first of all, we have a lot of people that are still capable of being infected. Second of all, you know, right on this very show weeks ago, I said that we're going to watch college campuses come back into session and we're going to see an explosion of cases in young adults --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

OSTERHOLM: Exactly what --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

OSTERHOLM: We're seeing right now.

SCIUTTO: Yes --

OSTERHOLM: We're seeing the spreading of the virus from what happened in Sturgis. People from 61 percent of all the counties in the United States were at Sturgis, and now we're seeing hundreds and hundreds of cases being spread back out from that. A major super spreading event.

And then you add into all of that, the transmission that will ultimately occur to adults and children who are in contacts with these young adults, grandpa and grandma, mom and dad, older brothers and sisters. And what's going to happen is we're going to see more cases there, and then ultimately, we're going to get into the heating season.

SCIUTTO: Yes --

OSTERHOLM: We go indoors. Indoor air has always been our challenge --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

OSTERHOLM: With this virus --

SCIUTTO: That's true --

OSTERHOLM: And what are we doing? We're going there.

SCIUTTO: Yes --

OSTERHOLM: So, if you add that all up, Jim, that's our problem.

SCIUTTO: Goodness gracious. Well, you know, folks, just got to be smart, right? We've got to --

OSTERHOLM: Yes --

SCIUTTO: To take precautions where we can. Dr. Osterholm, always good to have you back, you're always welcome -- OSTERHOLM: Thanks, Jim --

SCIUTTO: I wish you the best -- the best this weekend.

OSTERHOLM: You too --

SCIUTTO: Find some good news out there, please.

OSTERHOLM: Both of us. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Well, President Trump, he painted a dark picture of a nation under a Biden presidency. Who is his message aimed at? We're going to have our final takeaways from the RNC just ahead.

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