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March on Washington Underway At Lincoln Memorial; Jacob Blake's Father: Son Is In Pain & Shackled To Hospital Bed; Trump Condemns Violent Protests, Stays Silent on Blake Shooting. Aired 11-11:30aET

Aired August 28, 2020 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Hello everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. Thank you so much for joining us this hour. We have three major stories that we are following at the moment. Happening right now, there are thousands are gathering at the steps of a Lincoln Memorial.

They're gathering there throughout the day for this year's March on Washington, marking 57 years to the day when Dr. Martin Luther King Junior delivered his iconic, 'I have a dream' speech. The focus today is social justice of course. The March was announced at the funeral of George Floyd and it comes just days after the shooting of Jacob Blake at the hands of police.

Jacob Blake is now paralyzed in the hospital still. His father was on CNN earlier today. And he said that his son is not only in pain but that he's also shackled to a hospital bed. Again, he's paralyzed and shackled to a hospital bed. President Trump, he made no mention of Jacob Blake at the - as he accepted the Republican party's nomination in front of a packed crowd outside the White House last night.

Instead, he continued to hammer away at his message that really has been his message since the 2016 campaign of law and order, painting a dark picture of America today, including in the city where Jacob Blake was shot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We must never allow mob rule. We can never allow mob rule. The Republican Party condemns the rioting, the looting, arson and violence, we have seen in Democrat run cities, all.

Like Kenosha, Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago and New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So we're going to get back to the President's remarks in just a moment but let's start with the march on Washington. Many speakers including members of the King family, families of victims of police shootings, they will be addressing the crowd this hour and throughout the day.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is there joining us now. Suzanne, what are you seeing and hearing there and what are we expected to see throughout the day?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Kate, it has been such an emotionally charged pre-program before the official program which is going to be undergoing in just minutes now. People who've been crying, people who have expressed rage but mostly just real frustration here.

I mean some very passionate and personal stories about people who've lost their loved ones. Mostly DC residents, a local program before this national one to begin. We are expected to hear from Rev Al Sharpton as well as Martin Luther King III and Ben Crump, the attorney who represents so many of those families of those loved ones till they've become household names now.

Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, many, many of those who are suffering quite frankly. I had a chance to talk to so many people here including a Martin Luther King III and he said about what his father would think about this moment having 57 years ago, given that famous 'I have a dream' speech.

He says his father would be proud of the people who've come here, who are fighting for justice but he would also be very sad that we're still at this place where our society is so broken. I asked him what makes them stay up at night. What keeps them at night?

And he said it's the fact that his 12-year old daughter has already asked him the question, why do we still have to do this. I thought granddaddy had put this to bed, put this to rest and he says it's because we have to, we have to continue this fight and Kate, this day also is significant because it's the 65th anniversary of the murder of Emmett Till.

You might recall it was back in 1955, 14-year old black boy in Mississippi tortured and lynched after being wrongly accused of befriending a white woman. I had a chance to talk to his cousin, Deborah Watt who is part of the foundation to keep his case alive and she says it's not good enough just to show up and be here. You have to - and call for change, you have to know what the change is and she said for the case of Emmett Till, it is still holding his accuser accountable who's still alive today.

And so that is the message. You don't have to be here physically. You can live stream or just watch but you must do something, moving forward after this March is over. Kate.

BOLDUAN: I was actually going to ask you really quick Suzanne, how are they accounting for social distancing there?

MALVEAUX: They are encouraging people to social distance. The regulations are very strict just getting into the mall area. You have to have your temperature checked, you have to have your mask on. They are encouraging people to stay 6-feet apart.

Some people in fact are doing that. Others are quite crowded in together. There is grids, the grids that are set up along the reflection pool, all the way to the monument and so there is some distancing but there's crowds as well. What we do see pretty consistently is everyone is - almost everyone is

wearing a mask which is a good thing but in terms of social distancing, that is a bit of a challenge here as people are reminded to try to be as safe as possible during this critical time, Kate.

[11:05:00]

BOLDUAN: We can see behind you those chairs are spaced out there, making some accounting for it. Thank you Suzanne. We're going to check in with Suzanne throughout the day so there's also a court hearing for the 17-year old charged with killing two protesters following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. That court hearing just wrapped up a short time ago.

Kyle Rittenhouse faces two felony counts of homicide and one felony count of attempted homicide for allegedly shooting people on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin during the protests there. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is outside the courthouse with the very latest.

Shimon, what's happening there?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so the court hearing is over. It only lasted minutes Kate and Kyle Rittenhouse did not appear. It was all virtual, his attorney waved his appearance. It was an extradition hearing. The judge had it on the counter. They were going to decide whether or not Rittenhouse was going to go back to Kenosha where he's facing the murder charges and that assault charge.

That has now been delayed. The judge - the lawyer representing Rittenhouse, he's hired some new lawyers or some new lawyers are now working with him. They have asked for a continuance so in 30 days on September 25, everyone is going to come back to court and we'll see if they decide whether or not they're going to fight this extradition.

I should note that his attorney John Pierce who just started representing him and also Andrew Calderon who was appeared on his behalf have said that this is going - they are going to claim self defense here and that Rittenhouse was just trying to defend himself when he used that that AR15 style weapons to allegedly shoot the people that prosecutors have now charged him with.

So we'll be back here in about a month or so when we're going to decide when they're going to decide if Rittenhouse is going to head back to Kenosha to face charges.

BOLDUAN: With that kind of defense, you're going to anticipate they're going to need to lean heavily on the social media video we've seen. Blake's dad, Jacob Blake's dad says Shimon, that his son is shackled to his hospital bed even though he's paralyzed and no one seems to be able to explain why this is happened. Have you heard anything from officials?

PROKUPECZ: No you know, I've asked - I've emailed the District Attorney from Kenosha County to ask him about it. I've got no response. Police so far have not responded to that and the father this morning on CNN or New Day just emotionally describing what it's been like for him to visit his son and in that interview, he described feeling cold steel on the leg of his son and here he is describing that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACOB BLAKE SENATOR, FATHER OF MAN SHOT BY POLICE KENOSHA, WI: He's paralysed from the waist down. One leg had a cold steel on my son's ankle. He can't get up. He couldn't get up if he wanted to. So what - what was - that's a little overdue, to have him shackled to the bed. He's human being. He is 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: So we are still waiting for those answers Kate as I said from the prosecutor's office and from police on exactly why it is that he is shackled basically inside his hospital bed when he's paralyzed at this point and can't move.

BOLDUAN: Yes exactly. Shimon, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. You heard a little bit right there from Jacob Blake's dad. We want to play some more for you as it was quite powerful, impactful to hear how he describes what he and his family are going through. Jacob Blake Senior talking about the two Alisyn Camerota on New Day about the first time that he spoke to his son in the hospital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLAKE SR: I first see his eyes were squinted when I walked into the room and I thought they were squinted because he was in pain but 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 HOST: Yes, that - it must be so hard to see him in this condition.

BLAKE SR: 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.

[11:10:00]

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 SR: But we - we spend 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. Sometimes, you get a little a little angry. Sometimes more than a little angry because we've been going through this so long. So long. And it's only to brown faces, the brown tone people that get treated in this way. It's two - like my lawyers said, it's two justice systems because that

17-year old Caucasian shot and killed two people and blew another man arm off on his way back to Antioch, Illinois. He got to go home. He got water. They gave that guy water and a high five.

My son got ICU and paralysed from the waist down. Those are the two justice systems right in front of me. You have to understand that we don't prescribe to useless and violence. Violence and looting and burning. That's not going to bring Trayvon back.

That's not going to bring George Floyd back. That's not going to bring Tamir Rice back. That's not - I could go on and on. That's not going to bring them back. That's not going to make my son get up out of that bed and walk. Only God can get him out of the bed and make him walk. And if he does not, then that's God's will. My son's psychological wellbeing is important. He's going to have to fight a fight of his life, every day. His fight will never end because of seven shot.

Not seven shots because my son did something aggressive to anyone. It was the over aggressiveness of a Caucasian police officer with seven shots out his weapon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That's Jacob Blake Senior speaking about his son who is sitting now paralyzed in a hospital bed, trying to recover and fighting for his life. Jacob Blake Senior will be taking part he said in the march on Washington today. He said that it is important for him to be there especially, of course in light of what - as he's just described his family is going through right now and also his family's long history of fighting for civil rights.

So there are three other people involved in that fight that are not able to be there in Washington today either. The victims who were shot this week in Wisconsin while protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake and you should know their names as well.

Police say that 36-year old Joseph Rosenbaum was the first person shot and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse. He is survived by a fiance and a young daughter and there's also 26-year old Anthony Huber from Silver Lake, Wisconsin. His friends say that he died trying to protect those around him and police say he would have reached for the shooter's gun with one hand while all he was holding in his other hand was his skateboard.

As Huber tried to grab the gun, the suspect aimed, fired, killing him. A third man, 26-year old Gaige Grosskreutz. He was also injured shot in the arm. You should know their names as well. Coming up for us from NBA, WNBA to Major League Baseball to the NHL and beyond, the sports world takes a stand against racism and police brutality.

Where does this movement go now from here? Plus the message from health experts about coronavirus is very clear. Don't gather in large groups. Wear a mask, social distance so why then did this, you see these pictures happen at the White House last night?

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[11:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: In Washington, President Trump accepting the Republican Party nomination from the South lawn of the White House and if you watched his speech, you'd be forgiven if you thought the pandemic was over, not only from his words but just when you look at these pictures.

Speaking to a crowd at the White House, no social distancing measures in place, very few people wearing masks and face coverings at the White House. This despite the fact that his own coronavirus task force repeatedly warns people to not do that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: We're asking every citizen to not have large gatherings in their backyards until we have affective vaccine, to really curtail those gatherings when you bring people together.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: When you are in a large crowd, if you have the congregation of people that are much, much close to each other, you definitely increase the risk that you will either acquire or spread infections.

BIRX: It's not super spreading individuals, it's super spreading events and we need to stop those. We're asking people not to go to bars, not to have household parties, not to create large spreading events. We are asking people to distance learn at this moment so we can get this epidemic under control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:20:00]

BOLDUAN: But still the president hosts a gathering of more than 1100 people in the South lawn of the White House. Joining me right now CNN's Jeff Zeleny. Jeff, what is the White House saying about what they allowed to happen on the South lawn, last night.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, they're essentially brushing aside any concern or questions about the crowd. The President loved it. He loved being out there which was essentially a Trump rally on the South lawn of the White House.

You heard Dr. Birx say there, don't have large gatherings in your backyard. That's exactly what President Trump did. It was a very large gathering. People were very close together. Very few masks, just a handful of masks sporadically. Look, the White House is dismissing this, they're focusing on the president's message.

The President, I am told, loved the fireworks show. He loved the music. He loved all of it and he plans to start campaigning more aggressively so we'll see more scenes like this. The question is if we will see more positive test cases. Earlier this week when the RNC met in Charlotte, we're just learning this morning that four people tested positive from that meeting which there's also not much social distancing.

So perhaps we'll find out in the coming days, the result of last night but Kate, I think what it says even bigger than at the moment, it's a moment of leadership and how seriously you are taking this so I would not be at all surprised if that showed up in an advertisement from the Biden campaign because it draws a sharp contrast to how seriously both of these two candidates are taking this. Kate.

BOLDUAN: Jeff, thank you so much. Here with me now is CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leanna Wen, a former Baltimore city health commissioner. Dr. Wen, you can imagine what Dr. Birx could be saying about that crowd. You don't actually even need to imagine since we actually just played it. At the same time you can probably know that as we show on the other side of the screen, the march on Washington, Dr. Birx would likely have concerns about social distancing, social distancing there.

But when you see the video from last night, the President of the United States going completely against the guidelines of his own coronavirus task force on social distancing and masking. What did you think, when you saw that crowd last night?

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Yes I was really worried. I was worried about the individuals who were there. I mean they're coming from all over the country. Some of them are coming from viral hot spots and I worry about the individuals who may have chronic medical conditions or older who may contract this virus.

I mean there could well be one or multiple super spreader events from that one gathering, when people go back to their home communities and may transmit it to others but I also worry about the message that this is sending to the American people. It's hard enough to send the message about consistent mask wearing, about social distancing.

People are experiencing quarantine fatigue and when they see the president of this country for whom many millions of people regard President Trump as their most trusted messenger, when they see the message coming from the president, they might not abide by these guidelines that we in public health are trying so hard to ask people to do.

BOLDUAN: Yes and I'm just looking at these pictures of the march on Washington as well. You're saying - and looking pretty close. There are a lot of people but we are seeing people wearing masks. Concerns you know, there's concern for all types of large gatherings like this. It doesn't - it doesn't matter where it is but the fact that it's a President of United States that's not enforcing it.

It's just - it gets to leadership like you said.

WEN: Well, it is important for us to state as you just did that, this is a virus that does not discriminate. It doesn't care why it is that we're having an events like this but here's what we know. We know that being outdoors versus indoors does help, that keeping physical distancing helps also and also that the amount of time that you're exposed is important too.

And of course, wearing masks. Wearing masks reduces risk of transmission by up to five times so I hope that everybody will be abiding by this public health guidance.

BOLDUAN: The White House announced something yesterday. I'm curious as to your thoughts on it that it's buying something like 150 million rapid Covid tests from Abbott laboratories. There's a we don't know about it, right?

We don't know how long it would take to roll out 150 million of those and also where they would be going. What impact do you think this though can have or this move will have.

WEN: Well, I'm very optimistic about this type of test, this new antigen test because even though it's not as accurate as being tested, we've been doing the molecular PCR test, it's much faster, could be done within 15 minutes. It's point of care meaning that you don't have to send it to another lab to process. You can get the result right where you are.

And it really could be game changing because it allows us to test asymptomatic people who don't have high risks so if it's used as surveillance when before you go to school, before you go to work, it could catch a lot more of the asymptomatic cases that we're currently not catching at all so even if it catches only 80 percent or even 50 percent of these cases, right now we're catching zero percent.

And so I think it will make a big difference in our ability to combat Covid-19 if it could be distributed rapidly in a widespread pattern.

[11:25:00]

BOLDUAN: We're talking about death projections and how they've changed and gone up and up and up pretty much consistently over a long period of time. The CDC just coming out with their new prediction that 200,000 people will have died by mid-September. I'm struck by how the president has all along really just dismissed the death toll.

You know very recently even just dismissing the models saying that it doesn't account for mitigation so he's not going to believe it when at that point it was projecting 134,000 would be dead by this month and we're looking at 180,000 dead at this moment and now 200,000 by mid- September.

People are lost in the numbers now, numb to the numbers now, what should the numbers be meaning to people at this point?

WEN: I think people should take away that it doesn't have to be this way. These are models. They are projections based on it what we are doing right now. That also means that if we take the right steps, if we are restricting these large gatherings, if we're not being indoors and we're outdoors, wearing masks, that has a big impact on these numbers and so the future here is not predetermined. It's up to each of us to do the right thing and up to our elected

officials to do what public health experts are advising them to do. Which is these types of measures that we know will reduce transmission and save lives.

BOLDUAN: Yes, don't be numb to it. Take I guess power in it. This isn't a predetermined future. This isn't a fate that we're all meeting - that we're all seeing. Thank you Doctor. Good to see you. Still ahead for us, more sports leagues are taking a stand and demanding change after the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Former NBA star and Wisconsin native, Caron Butler joins us next.

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