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Jacob Blake's Family Organizes March In Wisconsin; Police Union, Blake Family Offer Conflicting Accounts; Intel Chief Tells Congress It Will Get No More Briefings On Election Security; Trump Takes Questions From Reporters After Touring Hurricane Damage; Trump Responds To Intel Chief Telling Congress It Will Get No More Briefings On Election Security; Interview With WNBA's Renee Montgomery Who Is Sitting Out The Season To Fight For Social Justice Reform. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired August 29, 2020 - 17:00   ET

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

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[17:00:00]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

And we begin with a surprise announcement. 66 days before the election, the nation's top intelligence office says it will no longer give in-person briefings on election security to members of Congress. Lawmakers will only get written reports, which means they won't be able to ask the typical questions.

Now, this change coming amid warnings that both Russia and China are trying to interfere in the election process.

It also comes at a time of racial reckoning for the country. These are pictures out of Kenosha, Wisconsin, this afternoon, where Jacob Blake's family has organized a march. He's the black man shot seven times in the back by a police officer. Blake's family now strongly disputing a new account of what happened by the police union, and we should warn you, this video is disturbing.

The union claims Blake, seen here, fought with officers before the shooting, before this video, even putting one of them in a head lock. They say Blake had a knife on him, which he refused to give up.

Now, Blake's uncle calls their version of events insulting and garbage. The family attorney insists Blake did not pose an imminent threat. Meanwhile, Blake remains in the hospital where his father says he was shackled to his bed until just yesterday.

CNN's Sara Sidner is in Kenosha, where members of Blake's family have been speaking. She just had a chance to speak to Jacob Blake's father. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Talk to me about these two justice systems. You talked about two justice systems. What did you mean by that?

JACOB BLAKE SR., JACOB BLAKE'S FATHER: I mean, it's obvious, sweetheart. It's obvious. The man walks down the street and kills two people and blows another man's arm off. Had that been a black man, he'd have been dead right on the spot. He'd have never been able to make it back home. He'd have never been able to make it home. He made it all the way back to Illinois, Antioch, Illinois.

SIDNER: When you hear -- from his attorney has been talking -- his attorney has been talking. His attorney used these words. He said, he is going to be a heroic figure for coming here to Kenosha and protecting businesses and life.

BLAKE: And taking life too, right? He took life, life that wasn't his to take. He took it. So, how will he be -- how will he be famous, infamously famous? You know, they make a big deal out of Scar Face, right, but he killed a lot of people, right? So, he's infamously famous. Is that what -- that's what we're talking about? It's okay for him to be infamously famous, but then someone else that's black, he's the worst, I don't get it.

SIDNER: And I know you don't want to get in a back and forth with the police union, but they came out, the police association, and they're not the investigating agency.

BLAKE: They mean nothing.

SIDNER: But they came out and they made a lot of allegations. Do you think that the officer was in imminent danger at the time of the shooting?

BLAKE: How can you be in imminent danger when a person has nothing in their hand? What was he, Superman? He could see the knife through the walls of the car? The police union means nothing to me. It's a bunch of cats that pay a bunch of dues to have a title, a union. They do nothing but support their bad cops. He's a bad cop. It didn't take seven shots to find out that.

The first shot told you that the second one was coming. The third shot told you that the fourth one, he's trying to kill him. The fifth shot said, dang, man, how many more times you going to shoot? By the time the seventh shot got there, it's attempted murder. He showed he was no threat after the third shot. Now, my son won't be able to walk for the rest of his life.

SIDNER: You think that this officer should be charged with attempted murder?

BLAKE: He should be charged with attempted -- he should be charged with attempted murder because he didn't kill him. So if we would have killed him, he would have had murder one but it was an attempt. See, you've never shot at a Blake before. He's strong as steel.

SIDNER: Can you tell me what you think about the fact that his local attorney says they are dropping the warrants? They have vacated the warrants and they did that after you spoke about what was happening. BLAKE: It was bull shit. It was just something to put my son in -- I'm sorry for saying that. It was just to keep my son in shackles.

[17:05:00]

It was to keep us out of the hospital. But when they let me in and my son was paralyzed from the waist down and shackled, what -- what could it be? He was going to get up and run away? Or maybe he was going to karate kick somebody? Or maybe they were scared that -- of what? Why was my son shackled? Why was my son shot and then shackled? You shot him and you put him in a bed and then you shackled him?

My son is a human being. He's a living, breathing, food-eating, sustenance-eating human. Not only is he a human, he's a human that takes care of his kids.

SIDNER: What do you say to all these people? You know, there are people coming out from everywhere and they all have something to say about this and they talk about some of the charges against Mr. Blake. What do you think about that? Does that have anything to do --

BLAKE: None of those policemen standing out there had any idea what charges my son had in his past, what kind of person he was. All they knew is there were three babies in that car, three babies, eight, six and three -- or eight, five and three. What point were they trying to prove? What type of fear were they dealing? Well, they dealt a lot of fear to them babies.

How many parents are out here? How many parents are out here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One mother here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A father here, a father.

BLAKE: How would you feel if that type of fear was put on your children and you were there and you were the one?

SIDNER: How are your grandchildren doing?

BLAKE: You all, I have to take this interview. I'm sorry.

SIDNER: Thank you, thank you.

BLAKE: I'll talk to you later.

REPORTER: How do you feel about the sheriff saying he never saw the video?

SIDNER: What do you think about the sheriff --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Again, that interview happened just moments ago. I want to go live now to Sara Sidner, who just wrapped up that interview with Jacob Blake Sr., Jacob Blake's father. Sara, what an interesting conversation. I just really feel for Jacob Blake's family. They're going through a lot right now. What was your big takeaway from your conversation with him, and what would the family like to see next?

SIDNER: Yes, the family wants to see, in their words, justice for Jacob Blake, first and foremost, but they also have been encouraging people to change policy by voting, not just marching in the streets. They have been very clear that they do not believe in violence in the streets, that they want this to be a peaceful reaction to the shooting of their son, Jacob Blake.

Jacob Blake Jr. talking to us about his frustration with two -- what he called two justice systems and he mentioned what has happened here in the streets of Kenosha, a 17-year-old white guy with a gun strapped across his chest who had just been accused of killing two people and injuring a third is able to walk down the street with the gun strapped across his chest and his hands up, walk towards police officers with the officers simply passing him by in the night.

And his son, Jacob Blake, who is a black 29-year-old father, is shot in the back after having an altercation with police, showed up to try and deal with a call that came in. And he said, look, I don't see an imminent threat to the police officers, so he believes that the officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times should be charged with attempted murder.

That, of course, has not happened. There have been no charges. The officers involved in that officer-involved shooting are on administrative leave at this point in time. And we know that the state department of justice has been investigating this, and that is because those are the rules of the road here in Wisconsin, that the local agency does not actually investigate local shootings. It goes directly to the state department of justice.

Another father and another family that had a son shot and killed fought for that and that helped change the law so that there is an outside investigation whenever there is a police-involved shooting.

But you heard him very adamantly saying that he believes that this was absolutely -- no matter what warrants were out for his son, he believes that the officers did not know about those warrants when they approached him. The police association has said that they did know about the warrants, which includes a third degree sexual assault and that the phone call that came in from whoever called the police actually was about him taking someone's keys and trying to potentially take this vehicle that had his three children in it.

[17:10:02]

We don't know all the full details of why, indeed -- what was going on in that domestic dispute, but indeed that police were there and you do see the video there. He was just very frustrated with how the whole thing went down, and he just believes, from his heart of hearts, that police did the wrong thing here, taking the ability of his son to potentially ever walk again.

And then to add insult to injury, he talked about his son being shackled to the bed and saying he's shackled to the hospital bed while paralyzed. He said that was just outrageous and was very upset until this Friday, police unshackled him, and the warrants that were out for him were vacated. Police then leaving the area where Jacob Blake, the hospital where they had been guarding Jacob Blake. His father, thankful for that but frustrated that he was ever shackled in the first place.

CABRERA: Sara Sidner in Kenosha, Wisconsin, thank you.

With us now to discuss, New York Times Op-Ed Columnist Political Commentator, Charles Blow and former Philadelphia Police Commissioner and CNN Law Enforcement Analyst, Charles Ramsey.

Commissioner Ramsey, we're learning more about what led up to Jacob Blake's shooting as Sara laid out some of the details. We're hearing this account now from the Kenosha Professional Police Association, the police union, which has been contradicted by witnesses, but the association says that Blake wasn't compliant, that he forcefully fought with the officers, put one in a headlock even, prior to what we see on the video, and that two officers deployed tasers on Blake that didn't appear to stop him.

You know, even if all of that is true, could shooting someone in the back seven times, like we see in the video, be justified?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: No. You know, listen, there's one video I saw from the passenger side that clearly showed there was a struggle. Resisting arrest by itself is not justification for use of deadly force. He's walking away from the officers. There's no imminent threat to the officers. He opens the car door, he begins to get in. Even if there's a knife on the floor, he's got his back to the officers, so, I mean, there's no imminent threat.

And, again, you know, in order to use deadly force, that's what it -- it has to be, an immediate or imminent threat to the life of the officer or another individual. And I just didn't see frit the videos that I have seen. Obviously, none of us have access to all the information, but video speaks volumes.

And, I mean, when you look at that, to then turn around with a different version, which is what the union is coming up with, is something that just is very unfortunate and I think inflames things even more.

CABRERA: Charles Blow, there was also outcry about Jacob Blake being handcuffed while in the hospital. The Kenosha County Sheriff's Department defended that, saying it was standard procedure to restrain those with felony warrants. They say Blake was wanted on a sex assault charge. That warrant was vacated yesterday and the restraints were removed.

Charles, the shooting happened this past Sunday. He's paralyzed from the waist down. The restraints just came off yesterday.

CHARLES BLOW, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You have to always remember throughout this entire process from the time they interact with him to the time he's shackled to the bed that officers are all the authorities have tremendous discretion, tremendous discretion. They cannot shoot you and that is not a violation of the rules. Very often, they can shoot you and that is also not a violation of the law.

Even though it is inappropriate in every way, if you can justify it some way that you felt like there was an imminent threat to you, you can justify it. That's why we see so few charges, so few arrests, so few convictions of officers, because the discretion is incredibly dangerously broad. That extends to treatment of people after the fact.

I'm not, in any way, convinced that they thought this guy was going to live. You shoot him seven times in the back. But he did live. And then the treatment of him is still inhumane in the hospital. He's not going anywhere. And they're very -- and the idea that the very next day they would vacate those charges, well, did that victim just evaporate, right?

So you have tremendous discretion. They could have vacated the charges at another time. Why now, right? If you believe there was justification for the charges, there's a victim. If someone was sexually assaulted, there's a victim. Now, are you being unfair to that person? You have tremendous discretion.

It just seems like black people never get the benefit or rarely or disproportionately do not get the benefit of that discretion.

[17:15:00]

CABRERA: Commissioner, your thoughts on the use of restraints?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, there is protocol when you have a person if there's a warrant and a person is in custody, but protocol doesn't lend itself to common sense. You know, I mean, a man is paralyzed, and, obviously, he's not going to get up and walk away. It's unfortunate that he's lost the use of his legs, whether that's temporary or permanent.

So, you know, that's one of those things where, you know, if they had really thought it through, they would have avoided the handcuffing, but it is protocol to have restraints on a person who is technically a prisoner because there's an outstanding warrant. But, again, protocol doesn't lend itself always to common sense.

CABRERA: Charles Blow, Jacob Blake's father keeps drawing this contrast between the way his son was treated by police and the way 17- year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who is accused of shooting three people during protests, was treated.

Rittenhouse's attorney had this to say, and I quote. he says, Rittenhouse will be acquitted. He will become a symbol of the heroic individual American, who, at certain times in history, must say, don't tread on me. What's your reaction to that?

BLOW: Well, in the videos that I saw, the young -- the man, young man, is walking towards the officers as they -- the vehicle's coming towards him. He appears to be trying to turn himself in. He's strapped with a weapon, saying that I just shot someone. He cannot get arrested. They won't even stop the vehicles to talk to this kid. He's saying, with a gun strapped to him, that I just killed someone. And if I just think back to all the other young people, Trayvon -- not Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice immediately comes to mind, playing with a toy gun, not confessing to killing anyone, not in the middle of any melee, saying nothing, 12 years old, and then three seconds, I mean, in one point whatever seconds, they said, drop the weapon three times in one point whatever seconds and they killed him.

It is hard to tell -- talk to black people and not get them to see that there are two very different systems of justice and systems of law enforcement in the way people are treated in this country because we keep seeing examples that illustrate to us that we are going to be treated very differently.

And it is not out of the realm of possibility that this man will be treated as a hero by America for showing up and killing people. That is -- that would be a very big example of white privilege in this country, that you could do that, that you could drive home, that you could turn yourself in in another state.

CABRERA: I hear you. I hear you, Charles Blow. Thank you, and just to put a little button on it, you know, the police say the reason this 17-year-old walked past them was because he had his hands up and they didn't realize that he was the person that people were pointing to as the suspect in this case. They were responding to protests. They had heard shots fired, and so they paint a picture of confusion in that moment.

BLOW: He was literally saying, I just killed someone.

RAMSEY: Can I say something?

BLOW: He's literally saying, I just killed someone.

CABRERA: Quickly, please, Commissioner.

RAMSEY: I don't know how they do things in Kenosha, Wisconsin, but I've worked the streets of Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. You're responding to a call of shots fired, you see a guy walking down the street with a firearm, guess what? You stop him and check him out. I mean, I don't get it. I really don't. I think it's a very weak excuse. I have no idea why they didn't stop him.

But I'm here to tell you, I've never worked in a place where you would not have stopped him and at least checked him out to find out what's going on. I mean, he could be the guy firing the shots, which it turned out he was, and maybe you didn't know that at the time, but he's a guy with a gun, and you're hearing shots fired, you're responding to a call of shots fired.

So, I think that's poor, personally. I just think that's very poor. And I think it's very poor on the part of that police chief to try to justify it. There are some things you just can't justify. They should have stopped that kid and they should have checked him out if nothing else.

CABRERA: We're watching the video of him walking towards police with his hands up.

Commissioner Ramsey, I'm glad you were able to add your insight in terms of how law enforcement should respond in that kind of situation. Thank you for being here. Thank you, Charles Blow, for offering your perspective. I appreciate the conversation, guys.

RAMSEY: Thank you.

CABRERA: So, breaking news as we were reporting here on CNN -- first here on CNN. The nation's top intelligence official telling Congress today his office no longer will provide in-person briefings on election security.

[17:20:02]

This comes just weeks after warnings that Russia, China and Iran were trying to interfere, and we're just 66 days away from the election. We'll take you live to the White House, next.

Stay with us. You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

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CABRERA: Our breaking news first reported here on CNN this afternoon, the director of National Intelligence has just informed Congress that his office will no longer provide in-person briefings on election security just more than two months from the November election, and weeks after the nation was warned of threats from Russia, China and Iran.

Let's get straight to CNN's Jeremy Diamond live at the White House. Jeremy, why this sudden change?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's no question that this is a confounding change by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to no longer brief Congress in person on this critical issue of election security and on the issue of foreign interference in the 2020 election. This is an issue, of course, that is going to become more important as we approach the November 3rd election.

[17:25:03]

And so to not have those briefings is something that is already receiving criticism on Capitol Hill.

Now, here is the official explanation from the director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe. He wrote a letter just yesterday to top leaders in both the House and the Senate, in which he says, in order to ensure clarity and consistency across the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's engagements with Congress on elections, the ODNI will primarily meet its obligation to keep Congress current fully and currently informed leading into the presidential election through written, finished intelligence products.

He also goes on to say that he wants to make sure that information on these topics is not misunderstood or politicized. And he also suggests that it's in reaction to previous disclosures of unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information, though he does not name any specific leaks that have led to this decision.

Now, as I said, this is something that is getting roundly criticized by Democrats at least on Capitol Hill. So far, we have not yet heard any criticism as of yet from Republicans, but I suspect that that too could possibly come because, of course, it has been a bipartisan concern on Capitol Hill to address these issues of election security and, of course, they do like to be briefed in person.

Here is the statement from the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff. They write, this is shameful and coming only weeks before the election demonstrates that the Trump administration is engaged in a politicized effort to withhold election-related information from Congress and the American people at the precise moment that greater transparency and accountability is required. This keeps both the American people and the Congress in the dark when both are in need of information.

They also call it a shocking abdication of the DNI's responsibility to inform Congress about these threats, and interestingly, they say that there was actually a briefing that the DNI had planned to give to Congress in mid-September about election interference, but that briefing has been canceled, and that is when they were also told that they were no longer going to be getting in-person briefings.

Now, that being said, we still expect the Department of Homeland Security, the Pentagon, perhaps the FBI, who typically do brief Congress on these matters as well to continue doing so, but as far as the intelligence community or the director of National Intelligence, it's only going to be in writing. Ana?

CABRERA: Jeremy Diamond at the White House, more to come on that story, I'm sure. Thank you.

Meanwhile, the president is touring the storm-ravaged gulf this afternoon. He's visiting both Louisiana and Texas after Hurricane Laura struck those areas. At least 15 people now confirmed dead from that storm. We'll take you there live, next.

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[17:32:05]

CABRERA: We want to take you to Texas now where President Trump is taking questions from reporters after touring hurricane damage. This was just moments ago.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Why is the DNI no longer going to be updating the House and the Senate on election security issues in person?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I could have Mark answer that question.

Mark, please. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll be glad to answer it. I talked to Director

Ratcliffe and he's been giving briefings and he's going to ultimately give full briefings in terms of not oral briefings but full intel briefings,.

But it really comes down to one simple thing, the last time they gave briefings, a few members went out and talked to the press and disclosed information that they shouldn't have disclosed.

So he's going to make sure there's the proper tools for their oversight and make sure they contain it in a way that does not jeopardize sources and methods for the intel that they get.

(CROSSTALK)

D. TRUMP: Director Ratcliffe brought information into the committee, and the information leaked.

Whether it was Shifty Schiff or somebody else, they leaked the information before it gets in. And what's even worse, they leak the wrong information.

And he got tired of it. So, he wants to do it in a different form because you have leakers on the committee, obviously, leakers that are doing bad things.

Probably not even legal to leak, but we'll look into that separately.

But they were leaking the information as brought in.

You don't have that in Texas.

Ken, you wouldn't allow that in Texas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No way.

D. TRUMP: I guarantee Ken will not be allowing the leakers to be doing that.

So, we were -- he wanted to make sure that it doesn't leak.

Yes, please.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, question about Florida.

In June of this year, NOAA issued a report indicating that climate change is at least, in part, responsible for increasing sea temperatures, which then in turn lead to storms like Laura and Harvey.

In an area where petrochemicals and the energy industry are so critical, how do you balance that with, at the same time, attacking climate change so storms like this don't continue to ravage the gulf coast?

D. TRUMP: I tell you, you've had tremendous storms in Texas for many decades and many centuries and that's the way it is. We handle them as they come. All I can do is handle them as they come. And that's what we do. And nobody's ever done a better job of it.

And we love the people of Texas.

And, Governor, it's an honor to be with you. Thank you very much.

Ted, thank you very much. Great job.

Thank you, Dan.

Please?

(CROSSTALK)

D. TRUMP: Thank you very much, everybody.

CABRERA: OK, let's go live now to Gary Tuchman, who is in Orange, Texas, where we just heard from the president.

Gary, we heard the president address one of the major news stories we've been talking about all afternoon there, which is unrelated to the hurricane, and that is this new development with the office of National Intelligence no longer doing in-person briefings.

[17:35:01]

But when it comes to the hurricane itself, tell us more about the president's day there in Texas as well as Louisiana.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: OK, well, Ana, he's had a whirlwind day here in Orange, Texas, and then before that, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Just had a meeting at a command center with first responders and Texas political leaders.

Right where we're standing -- I need to tell you this -- this is heroic, private-enterprise heroism. The HEB Food Store chain is serving 3,000 meals tonight. There are hundreds of cars on the road, coming one at a time, to get hamburgers, French fries, a salad, lots of water and ice cubes.

And it's all very necessary because all the stores are closed. Restaurants are closed. And many people in Texas and Louisiana have no water.

People are desperate for these provisions. And HEB is providing them right now. That's really nice to hear.

Earlier today, the president was in Louisiana. That's the only place he went on the ground to see the damage.

He went in a neighborhood just south of downtown Lake Charles where there was immense devastation with homes and power lines on the road and trees in the road.

And we could tell you firsthand -- we've been here all week -- there are hundreds of neighborhoods like that in the city of 78,000. It's been decimated. We're very grateful at this point that the death toll is relatively

low. It's still tragic. It's 15. Twelve in the state of Louisiana, three in Texas.

But these winds were much more powerful than Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Katrina 15 years ago. And it's a testament to people who live here that they took this very seriously.

The president also had a meeting with political leaders and first responders in Louisiana.

And there was something very interesting that happened there. He praised his FEMA director, Peter Gaynor.

Listen to what the president said at the very end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

D. TRUMP: FEMA has delivered 2.6 million liters of water and 1.4 million meals.

And that's a lot of meals. So you're pretty busy, I guess, Pete, right?

That's incredible. Great job. Your people are incredible.

You know, I haven't had -- and Pete's done this now for a long time. I haven't had one complaint. With all the storms we've had in Texas and here, and -- I haven't had one complaint.

So you've done a hell of a job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Now, this is kind of coincidental. I'm old enough to remember, in 2005, after Katrina, a few days after, when President George W. Bush said to his FEMA director, Mike Brown, he said, quote, "Heck of a job, Brownie."

And now President Trump is saying, hell of a job.

It's obviously two different storms, two different magnitudes, but we hope for the sake of the people in Louisiana and Texas that it ends up being a hell of a job.

CABRERA: Absolutely.

TUCHMAN: The president will head back to Washington shortly -- Ana?

CABRERA: Gary Tuchman, thank you very much.

Up next, an historic week in sports, as multiple leagues cancel games in support of Black Lives Matter. We'll talk to one player who's opted to sit out the entire 2020 season in order to focus on social justice reform.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:42:00]

CABRERA: The NBA playoffs are expected to resume today, but only after players reached an agreement with their league to turn their unused arenas into polling locations for the November election, among other things.

Now, this agreement comes after players essentially went on a strike after the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

And other sports quickly followed. Baseball, hockey, the WNBA, all canceling games this week to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Now, if you've been paying attention, this boycott isn't surprising. Back in June, after the police killing of George Floyd, multiple WNBA players announced they would be sitting out the 2020 season.

And Renee Montgomery, of the Atlanta Dream, is one of those players. She joins us live.

Renee, thanks for being with us.

Considering you've chosen to sit out the season for this cause, do you think the NBA strike three days was long enough?

RENEE MONTGOMERY, WNBA BASKETBALL PLAYER: Yes, I do. Because I think it sent a loud alarm. It rang an alarm that the players were not going to just allow whatever was going to happen and just keep continuing business as usual.

So I think the players, you know, they had a plan. They decided that they didn't feel like playing that day so they didn't. And now they have some things coming out. As you mentioned, the arenas are now getting opened in multiple locations.

So if nothing else happens, that is good. That's a step.

CABRERA: It's progress.

This week, ahead of their game with your team, the Atlanta Dream, the Washington Mystics wore shirts honoring Jacob Blake. One the front, "Jacob Blake." On the back, they had drawn seven marks representing the seven bullet holes in Blake's back.

They also kneeled and linked arms with the three other teams scheduled to play that night.

At least four WNBA players, including yourself, have chosen to sit out the season, citing advocacy.

What do you think of the fact that it's black women leading this movement in sports? MONTGOMERY: You know, I love it. I think it's time. It's time to bet

on not just women but bet on black women.

I think that it's -- if you look at our history, that's been something that black women have done over time for a long time. And over the WNBA's history, it's something the WNBA players have done for a long time.

Me, being on the Minnesota team, in 2016, we wore shirts that said, "Change starts with us."

That following football season, that's when Colin Kaepernick started to kneel so 2016 was the year where things really started to get a light shed on it.

So this is not new to the WNBA and this is definitely not new to black women.

CABRERA: We always hear that saying, actions speak louder than words. You are putting your words into action and really taking up this cause.

I want to ask you about the White House officials, including the president, reacting to the NBA strike this week. And just take a listen to what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In my mind, it's absurd and silly.

If they want to protest, I don't think we care.

JARED KUSHNER, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think that the NBA players are very fortunate that they have the financial position where they're able to take a night off from work without having to have the consequences to themselves, financially.

TRUMP: They've become like a political organization. And that's not a good thing. I don't think that's a good thing for sports or for the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:45:03]

CABRERA: Jared Kushner, the second person you heard from there, he said he plans to reach out to Lebron James.

I wonder, if you had the ear of someone like Kushner or maybe the president, what would you tell them?

MONTGOMERY: Yes, I think everyone wants to split everything, right? They want the athletes to just be athletes. Just go play. Just do your job.

But people don't understand that what happens in America, the circumstances, the climate of America, that brings things into your work, you know?

When the social climate affects your work, and the political climate affects your job, well, then, that's a time now where you're like, wait a minute, I need to show out on my job real quick and see what's going on.

So I think when the players and WNBA took a mental day, when the NBA took a day to boycott, and they made it clear that they're boycotting, they want you to know we're upset.

We don't want business as usual while this is happening to our brothers in the street and our sisters in the street.

So what I would say was this is, is a reality we're living. It's not just a political stunt. A lot of people think it was just a stunt. It's not a stunt. People are actually hurt. There are grown men crying on TV. It's not a stunt.

CABRERA: No. And it's life or death, I know, for a lot of people in your community.

Your team, the Atlanta Dream, is co-owned by Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, who's repeatedly spoken out against the Black Lives Matter movement.

If you do return to the game, do you think you can do so as part of the dream?

MONTGOMERY: Well, you know, someone asked me yesterday on CNN if what Senator Loeffler was saying affected me personally, and when I answered yesterday, I said, no.

But I should have clarified that, originally, it did affect me personally because I had interactions with Kelly before she became Senator Loeffler. So I was confused.

But now, you know, I understand that this is her stance and her political stance.

And so, for me, when I come back, I always tell people I opted out of this season because I wanted to focus, on this year, on social justice. So I'm definitely not thinking about next year just yet.

CABRERA: So do you think you'll play next season or are you going to, you know, make sure there's specific, concrete changes first?

MONTGOMERY: No, I think I'll play next season. That's what I talked about. I only opted out of the 2020 season because I think that this moment in time -- look, I opted out, what, two and a half months ago. Look how much has happened.

There's so much that's happened in this past week, in this past week, we had Mama Day, Jackie Robinson Day. We lost Chad Boseman. There's a lot going on this week.

So when I said I was opting out for one season, people thought five months is such a little bit of time. But look what's happened in just two months. Look at what's happened in just a week, a day.

So I feel like this moment is very important, and I wanted to be here for it.

CABRERA: I appreciate your optimism in all this. Thank you so much for speaking loud and proud.

Renee Montgomery, great to have you here.

MONTGOMERY: Thank you for having me.

CABRERA: A quick programming note. Disinformation, lies. CNN films presents: "AFTER TRUTH," a film that looks at how fake news is used as a weapon against democracy. "AFTER TRUTH," tonight at 10:00 on CNN.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:52:48]

CABRERA: This just into CNN. The University of Alabama now reporting more than 1,200 students of tested positive for the coronavirus. And this is just 10 days since classes began. We'll keep you updated on any changes the school plans to make in light of this.

New COVID numbers also in from South Carolina. That state reporting more than 1,200 more cases today with a positivity rate of nearly 17 percent.

Now, remember, health officials have said that rate should be closer to 5 percent to have even some return to normalcy like having children safely return to school.

I want to take a moment to recognize the NICU staff at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital in Louisiana. The staff there stayed behind to care for 19 babies throughout the storm.

During the night, the air conditioning and the water went out, but still the staff stayed. They took turns between sleeping and watching over the infants. They even had to move into the hallways when the winds got too strong.

Through all of this, they still managed to post Facebook updates so parents would know their little ones were OK. True heroes.

Speaking of heroes, when COVID-19 first hit, many animal shelters across the U.S. quickly emptied out as people wanted to quarantine with four-legged friends.

Sherri Franklin finds homes for senior dogs and has been working hard to find new ways to do this as safely as possible, especially during COVID. And this is as adorable as ever.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BARKING)

SHERRI FRANKLIN, "CNN HERO": When we got the shelter-in-place order for the COVID-19, we moved 86 dogs into foster homes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning, everyone.

FRANKLIN: We are having meet and greets, virtually, so that new doctors can meet their dogs before they actually touch them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How's that feel?

FRANKLIN: It's really been so heartwarming to actually see the first time the new adopter actually gets to meet their dog in person.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's your mama.

(CROSSTALK)

FRANKLIN: It's a great time if you've been thinking about adopting a dog. It's nice to be able to wake up and not focus on the bad news.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: They sure are cute, aren't they?

[17:55:00]

Sherri and her organization, Muttville, has helped more than 340 senior dogs find forever homes during this pandemic. You can see her full story at CNNheroes.com right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:00:04]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CABRERA: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks for staying with me. I'm Ana Cabrera, in New York.