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Fatal Shooting During Protests In Portland; Jacob Blake's Father: Shooting Was Attempted Murder; ODNI No Longer To Brief Congress On Election Security; Rallies Against COVID-19 Restrictions Across Europe; Pro Athletes Take Action After Blake Shooting. Aired 2- 3a ET

Aired August 30, 2020 - 02:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world, I'm Michael Holmes.

We want to get to some breaking news straightaway coming into us from Portland, Oregon, where one person has been killed near a new round of protests. Police say they found a person who had been shot to death downtown.

Now this was near the scene where Trump supporters and counter protesters had turned out and there had been some earlier clashes that were reported between those groups. And there was a lot of social media video of those clashes.

Now what's not clear is if the shooting was related to the protest or not or if it was some sort of separate incident. Police have not yet confirmed on that. Portland, of course, has become a flashpoint in the demonstrations over racial injustice. I want to bring in now CNN security correspondent Josh Campbell on for more. He's on the line from Los Angeles.

Josh, what have you been hearing on this and what has happened? There's been a lot of action in Portland last few hours.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: That's right, Michael. Obviously the city has been a lot of focus in United States for well over more than 2 months. Now there be nightly clashes between protesters and law enforcement, both federal and local law enforcement officers.

But today took a bit of a different turn and that these protesters were just anti law enforcement. As we speak right now, there is also a large group of pro Donald Trump protesters who are now also inserted into the mix.

Earlier this afternoon, hundreds of Trump protesters outside the city of Portland and indicated on social media that they were going to be going downtown. Police in fact put out an alert, said there was a caravan headed downtown and asking people to stay off the streets.

The caravan started clashing with demonstrators. Police said they made a number of arrests with these clashes been between the pro Trump movement and also those who have been calling for federal law enforcement to leave the city, calling for racial justice.

Now it's worth pointing out in the city of Portland, the overwhelming majority of protesters have been peaceful. But you do see those violent factions of protesters. And now just a very volatile, violent situation where you have these 2 groups clashing now.

There has been a report now of one death. Police are investigating that as a homicide. They said they were in the downtown area, they heard gunshots, they raced to the scene and they found a victim, who is deceased. It's unclear as to whether it was one of the pro Trump people or one of the counter demonstrators.

But it's already turned very deadly down there. That continues under investigation. This is the scene we've seen so much here, violence but really taking a different turn now. We have this large group of pro Trump now coming downtown.

It's worth noting, one of our colleagues from "The New York Times," who's been posting video on social media. In one instance, you actually see the caravan of pickup trucks coming downtown, some protesters were throwing objects out of the truck.

In one instance, somebody on the back of a pickup truck had a American flag and a pro trump sign actually opened fire on the crowd. It was a paintball gun, wasn't lethal but still very dangerous and can cause injuries. You can see this person firing indiscriminately into the crowd.

Just a chaotic night shaping up in Portland now, with one person dead. We don't know how long this will go. Police will try to clear up the area and get everyone back. Whether that will lead to more violence, it's just a cycle we've seen night after night.

HOLMES: "The New York Times" reporter was actually hit by one of those paintballs as well. It was fairly dramatic video, these clashes. It was an organized caravan of cars by the way. They met up at a big shopping center just outside the city and had a pre-arranged route through the city.

There were dozens and dozens of vehicles. Local media video of those vehicles driving through. As you say, the protesters were clashing with the vehicles as they drove through.

You spent a lot of time in Portland covering these protests. Now President Trump has been slamming Portland's Democratic leaders and the protesters who have caused damage night after night.

[02:05:00] HOLMES: I'm wondering, does this hurt his messaging, now that there are videos of his own supporters, driving around firing paintball pellets into the crowd?

CAMPBELL: Yes, it would appear that the president has no moral standing right now to describe what is happening important now as a one-sided scene of chaos and destruction. For weeks, you had people would stage at night and attack a federal building, throwing projectiles, trying to light it on fire. That was the focus of the president's messaging.

In fact, what he was trying to do was trying to describe the entire city of Portland as under siege, which it wasn't. We're largely talking about one city block area downtown.

Nonetheless, you have to remember we're in an election year and the president has tried to portray his Democratic opponent as soft on crime. The scene we've seen from Donald Trump is going after the Democratic cities, including the city of Portland, saying that the elected leaders there, the Democrats, are unable to take keep the peace. And really going after these protesters, calling them hoodlums and thugs.

But now you have his own people, his supporters coming in and clashing with demonstrators, shooting paintballs into the crowd. It really takes that messaging away from him and we have yet to see what will. Happen we haven't seen the president come out and condemn this type of violence.

We've known for well over 2 months now since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which really set off a lot of these calls for racial justice, and most of these people protesting, you did have incidents of riots and looting, the president's own attorney general at the Justice Department trying to portray these protesters as far left. Going after the group Antifa and really trying to lay this on those who are left of center as against the United States.

But here the video tells a different story tonight. It's not just folks that are against the president, he has his own people out there who are clashing. We have not heard yet any indication from the president condemning the violence that occurred there tonight. It's unclear whether that will be taking place anytime soon.

HOLMES: I want you to give your thoughts. We should emphasize from people that we don't know yet whether this death, this apparent homicide in Portland, was related to the protest or not. It may have been or it may not have been.

But regardless, well, that is still unclear, the nation has been fixed on Kenosha, which is 2,000 miles away I think where those 2 people were killed and a young man who was armed with a long weapon has been charged in that.

Generally speaking, with your law enforcement chops, what does this say, this continued violence say about life in America right now? CAMPBELL: Yes, it is a very violent time right now in the United States of America. There are number of different reasons. We've reported on murders increasing in several U.S. cities. We've reported on aggravated assaults increasing in cities. There's a long list of reasons why law enforcement officials think that is. It has to do with the pandemic to other factors as well.

But it's very clear that it's just a very toxic and dangerous time. As you mentioned, one issue that has continued to garner a lot of attention is what took place there in Wisconsin, following the police shooting of a Black man. You have protests and then people coming out, one 17 year old arrested and charged with the murder of 2 people.

This person said he was there trying to protect property and he's been described by others as a vigilante, someone who is coming out and trying to pretend to be a law enforcement officer. The details are still unclear as to what took place that night in Wisconsin.

But one thing is clear, that person is being charged with the death of 2 people. It's just a very toxic time, where you've had people who are supportive of the president and then Republicans and people to the right-of-center who've come to that is guy's defense. He's actually amassed quite a lot of funding online, funds raised for his legal defense efforts, people calling him calling him essentially a hero.

So just the overlay of this toxic time, an election year and obviously very polarized time, people in the United States cannot even agree upon security, public safety. There seems to be a political angle to everything, not only what happened in Wisconsin but now we're seeing in Portland.

We have supporters of Donald Trump clashing with counter demonstrators and now, at least according to Portland police, turning very violent and making arrests.

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CAMPBELL: And as you mentioned, there's also one death tonight. We don't know if that's related, we're still working on that. But just a very chaotic scene in Portland and it's a pattern, unfortunately, that we've seen in so many cities this year.

HOLMES: Absolutely. Josh Campbell, we really appreciate you being on the line and filling us in.

Just to update people what we're hearing, the Portland police have confirmed that they are investigating a homicide. It happened in downtown Portland and this was after a shooting. It was a gunshot incident. The officers found the victim with a gunshot wound to the chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel when they arrived.

Again, we don't know if it was related to protests that have been ongoing over the recent hours.

I want to bring in now journalist Sergio Olmos. He's been on the ground in Portland.

Can you shine any more light of what's happening there tonight, Sergio?

SERGIO OLMOS, JOURNALIST: Thanks for having me. So this is the 93rd consecutive night of protests in Portland, Oregon. Tonight, there was a Trump caravan that started outside the city and came into the city. Hundreds of vehicles, thousands of people. There were some fist fights in the street and just now a man was shot and the police are pronouncing it a homicide.

HOLMES: Now were you on the street when this caravan started?

I've been seeing local news and social media video of this. It was an enormous caravan of cars gathered in a shopping center, I think it was, just outside the city. Then paraded through the streets, where there are protesters. And then the inevitable happened.

We've actually seen video of a man on the back of a truck with a blue "Oregon for Trump" flag finding a paintball gun into the protesters and what looked like pepper stray being sprayed from trucks into the crowd.

What did you see of that?

OLMOS: So I was there when that started in that mall. There were fist fights in the streets, on the freeway onramp coming into the city. There were fist fights downtown when the caravan would have a long possession on the street.

Counter protesters, Black Lives Matter protesters would stop their vehicles, put emergency lights on and not let them go forward. You can see videos, that I shot, of people fist fighting in the streets. There's bear Mace all over the place.

And I'm standing right outside of the crime scene, where a man was shot and he's dead now. This happened maybe 30 minutes ago.

HOLMES: What were the police doing at this time?

A lot of the videos I saw of these clashes between the Trump supporters and the protesters, I didn't see any police.

OLMOS: So when the caravan came into the city, there were fist fights and immediately the Portland police responded and diverted the Trump supporters back onto the freeway.

And then curiously, they let them back into downtown. And that's when things started evolving. When they came into downtown, that's when the counter protesters and Black Lives Matter supporters came out. And that's when you start seeing the fist fights, the up close confrontations. Portland police did not declare this an unlawful assembly or a riot.

We have now so many protests here and they have been very quick to declare unlawful assembly when they see crowds engage in what they call criminal activity.

With this, which is very curious, which is what we saw last Saturday, when conservatives came out to rally and fist fights erupted with Black Lives Matter protesters, they didn't declare either of those a riot or an unlawful assembly.

This is now the second time that Portland police have kind of avoided the clashes between Left and Right. But when the protesters (INAUDIBLE) police headquarters or police precincts, we see very quickly unlawful assembly or riot being declared.

HOLMES: Yes, that is a good point. Those other classes that you referred to last week, where Trump supporters were clashing with them, the police were standing back. It wasn't until the Trump supporters had left that police moved in and then declared an unlawful assembly.

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OLMOS: Just to jump in, they actually did declare an unlawful assembly. It was DHS, Department of Homeland Security, who declared an unlawful assembly because they came onto a federal park. The Portland police didn't declare anything.

HOLMES: Yes, but they let them go at it until the Trump supporters left.

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HOLMES: And then as you say, Homeland Security declared the unlawful assembly once the others had left, which was interesting.

This event, what do you know about it?

From what I was hearing, it was on Facebook, it was called a Trump 2020 Cruise in Portland. And the route was actually posted on Facebook.

OLMOS: Yes. Everything you said is correct. What you should know about the broader picture here is that we've had 92 days of Black Lives Matter protests. But in the last few weeks, the kind of conservative, right-wing and some elements of the extreme right wing, like Proud Boys, they have entered the arena. They want to have a say in the conversation. And they're holding their own events on the weekends now.

They are attending daytime rallies, Black Lives Matter protests are largely at night. On day 93, I think, what we see is that conservatives are now engaging in the same kind of mass demonstrations that Black Lives Matter protesters have been doing.

HOLMES: What are your concerns? You've been observing this. That sounds like a bit of a recipe for disaster.

OLMOS: Well, look, I think what you see in Portland is not indicative of the city but probably of something happening throughout the country. You do have -- we are in a semi state of lockdown because of the pandemic.

Schools are closed, lots of layoffs, high unemployment. And you see people taking to the streets for those social causes. You see a lot of people able to be out here.

The concern going forward is, if we have these clashes and police continue to avoid the area, what does that mean?

Tonight, a man has been shot.

What does that mean tomorrow when one side sees that on Facebook and tries to come out again?

We don't know. But it's day 93; tomorrow's going to be day 94.

HOLMES: Yes, exactly, and I know you've been there throughout.

Those you talk to, are they concerned, if this does move into a new phase of Black Lives Matter protesters versus police or whatever it becomes, Black Lives Matter or the Left versus the Right, in a civilian sense -- and let's face it, particularly in a country where so many people are armed, what are more people in Portland telling?

Initially, we would always point out that the protests were around a city block or two. And it wasn't the whole city as the president was referring.

Are there concerns that this could really get out of hand?

OLMOS: Yes in terms of whether this is a city under siege, it definitely is not. It's a couple of blocks downtown. I'm a few blocks away. There is a man who was shot right outside here.

But people are eating burritos right next to me. And people are just having a regular Saturday night here.

That being said, these Black Lives Matter protesters have been largely popular (ph) in the city. It's a very liberal city. Outside of Portland, it's very rural and very conservative and the protests have not been popular.

So one thing to note is that a lot of people who drove into Portland, some of them are not from Portland. They're from the surrounding areas. So there is that dynamic of rural versus city, liberal versus conservative.

And also the people of color here are saying, these are mostly white guys who are coming in and saying all lives matter. So there are multiple layers here but there's definitely tension in the air.

HOLMES: Sergio, it's been great to get your thoughts and please, if you will, just stay with us, stay on the lone with us. We're going to take a quick break and we will be right back.

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HOLMES: All right, welcome back. We're continuing to follow breaking news out of Portland, Oregon, where police are saying at least one person has been killed in a shooting on Saturday evening there.

The police are saying that the officers found the victim with a gunshot wound to the chest. Medical personnel arrived; they determined the victim was deceased. Now what we don't know is if that is directly related to ongoing protests in Portland.

Those protests have taken a decidedly ugly turn in the last few hours after a Trump 2020 Cruise rally in Portland was advertised on Facebook. That led to dozens, perhaps hundreds of vehicles gathering just outside the city and then parading through the city, a lot of pickup trucks, a lot of people in the back of the pickup trucks.

Protesters on the side of the road were challenging the Trump supporters. There were fist fights, there were arrests made. And there is video where "The New York Times" reporter Mike Baker has posted online, where you can see at least one occasion where a man in the back of a truck with a Trump sign on the back fires a paintball gun at rapid fire into the crowd.

Other vehicles also in this parade were spraying what looks like pepper spray but we're told by Sergio Olmos in Portland it's bear Mace, spraying that into the protesters, the counter protesters in the side of the road. Bit of an ugly turn. Let's talk to CNN law enforcement contributor Steve Moore.

Steve, what do you make of this?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: I mean, when you have law enforcement stretch to the point that they can't keep 2 competing groups apart, this is what's going to happen. The defunding of the police, the backing down of enforcement leaves a vacuum, a law enforcement vacuum.

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MOORE: Time and time again, we have learned that when law enforcement doesn't or isn't allowed to do their job, vigilantes will do it for them.

So if you want vigilante justice, just continue to restrict the police and keep them from enforcing laws because that's the reason police were created in the first place, is to stop citizens from enforcing the law themselves.

HOLMES: How does it complicate things for law enforcement?

Up until now, it has been law enforcement versus protesters on one side. Now if this is a new development or a continuing development, where you have Right versus Left, that complicates things further from a law enforcement standpoint does it not?

MOORE: Yes. Sure in some ways, it's a relief to them for the protesters to be throwing rocks at somebody else than the police. But at the same time and not all protesters are doing that but a significant number are doing that every night for the last 3 months.

What we have here, let's look at it in just pure pragmatic numbers. You don't have enough officers to maintain riot police every night for 90 days and still give people days off, allow them to sleep, to go home. They are running out of resources.

Even if the Portland police or the Portland City Council did not put down some draconian rules on the police department, they still don't have enough resources. And so what's going to happen is that emboldens people on both sides.

The people coming in on a daylight parade supporting their views, which is as legitimate as somebody at night supporting their views, they are going to conflict. And nobody is going to be there to stop them and it emboldens both sides.

HOLMES: Steve Moore, really appreciate taking the time. I want to go back to Sergio Olmos, who's still on the line and has been important out on the scene, on the streets.

I was actually just looking at your Twitter feed, Sergio. There's still a sizeable crowd in the area outside the federal courthouse, something you posted about 45 minutes. Ago what is the mood there in the street. Set the scene for us now?

OLMOS: Right now, they're chanting Black Lives Matter outside the courthouse. When the person who was shot, when that news broke, nobody was sure who it was and protesters thought it was one of them.

As you said early with Mike Baker, "The New York Times" reporting that the man was killed at a (INAUDIBLE), which is a far-right group here, basically the Trump side. So tensions are real high because, on social media, they're talking about who killed this man, why did they kill him?

And police are saying, they are treating it as a homicide.

HOLMES: Yes, indeed. Sergio Olmos, really valuable to have you there on the spot. Keep reporting will keep up with you on. Twitter thanks very much.

OLMOS: Thank you.

HOLMES: We will continue to monitor events in Portland. A very worrying development. There will be right back after the break.

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HOLMES: And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Michael Holmes.

We have more now on the breaking news out of Portland, Oregon. It has been a chaotic night. Supporters of President Trump converged on the city in a huge caravan of vehicles, dozens, perhaps hundreds of vehicles.

They went through the streets, drove around the streets and, of course, the inevitable. Clashes with other protesters on the side of the street. Extraordinary scenes of people and Trump-flagged vehicles firing paintballs into the crowd, bear Mace as well. Protesters on the side of the road throwing things at the trucks.

Quite an extraordinary chaotic scene. Now police are investigating whether a person found shot to death nearby was related to that violence or not.

Portland has, of course, seen protests practically every night since George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. That was more than three months ago now.

Now the White House is saying President Trump will go to Kenosha, Wisconsin, this week. That is a site of the police shooting of Jacob Blake and the protests there ever since. Mr. Trump expected to meet with law enforcement and tour some of the damage from recent unrest.

Now we don't know if he will meet with the man shot by police, seven times in his back, or that man 's family. On Saturday, Mr. Trump focusing on the violence again after the shooting and again, took credit for calling in the National Guard which, of course, is done by the state governor, not the president.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The success as you know, we were finally able to get the go ahead from the local authorities to send in a National Guard. We sent in the National Guard and within a few minutes of the guard, everybody cleared out and it became safe.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No justice.

PROTESTERS: No peace.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No justice.

PROTESTERS: No peace. HOLMES: Now Jacob Blake's family and supporters held a rally in

Kenosha, this was on Saturday night. Blake, of course, in the hospital, paralyzed from the waist down. The marchers demanded an end to police violence and systemic racism. CNN Sara Sidner was there.

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SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here in Kenosha there was about 2,000 people who came out in support of Jacob Blake and Jacob Blake's family. His family was leading the protests here in Kenosha, several blocks, that ended up at the courthouse where they then. Spoke we heard from Jacob Blake's uncle and his sister.

We heard from Jacob Blake's father as well, all speaking about a couple of. Things one, asking for peaceful protests but two, telling people that they must vote. That is the next thing after protesting in the streets.

We also talked to Jacob Blake's father about what happened in this case and what he sees should happen going forward after the police association here in Kenosha made allegations against Jacob Blake.

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SIDNER (voice-over): That he was armed and he was fighting with police, that he had a police officer in a headlock any had to be. Tased his father reacting saying what he sees certainly did not prove a intimate threat to the officer who ended up shooting him in the back seven times.

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JACOB BLAKE SR., JACOB BLAKE'S FATHER: How can you be an imminent danger when a person has nothing in their hands?

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 caps that pay a bunch of dudes 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, the second one was coming. The third shot should've told you that the fourth one, he's trying to kill him. The fifth shot damn, how many more times you going to shoot?

By the time the seventh shot got there, that's attempted murder.

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SIDNER: But no officer at this point has been charged in this case. We do know, of course, there is an investigation underway.

The State Department of Justice is investigating and saying that they are going to be doing an impartial investigation and that the police association does not speak for anyone, other than the defense of the officers. They are very adamant and clear in that they are the investigating agency in this case -- Sara Sidner, CNN, Kenosha.

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HOLMES: U.S. intelligence has warned that Russia and other foreign powers are actively working to influence the upcoming election but now the Trump administration is changing what it does with that information, who it tells, who it shares it with. Just over 2 months from Election Day, all of that change is raising a lot of concern. CNN's Jeremy Diamond with the details from the White House.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, on Saturday we learned that the office of the Director of National Intelligence informed congressional leaders that they will no longer be receiving in-person briefings on this critical issue of election security and foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election.

Of course, this coming 66 days before that presidential election. And as this issue really comes to more to the forefront, certainly a perplexing decision that is really drawing a ton of condemnation from Democrats on Capitol Hill.

But first the president on Saturday was asked why this decision was made. Here's his. Answer

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TRUMP: Director Ratcliffe brought information into the committee and the information leaked. Whether was it was Shifty Schiff or somebody else, they leaked the information before it gets in.

And what's even, worse they leaked 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.

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DIAMOND: Now the president did not provide any evidence to back up his claims that members of Congress leaked information from previous and recent intelligence briefings. Of course the president there suggesting there were leaks while also saying that the information was false. So something there does not add up.

But again, Democrats on Capitol Hill reacting with extreme condemnation on. Saturday the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, calling this a shocking abdication of the administration's responsibility to brief Congress on intelligence matters.

Let me read the part of the statement.

They say, "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 Congress in the dark when both are in need of the information."

Now also in the statement, they also revealed that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence had actually suggested briefing Congress in mid September on election interference in an in-person briefing and then they canceled that briefing.

Now we have this announcement that they will no longer be briefing Congress in person on this matter, instead only providing a written statement of some kind on the latest conclusions of the intelligence community.

This is, of course, notable because we know President Trump has repeatedly been sensitive about this issue of election interference, particularly as it pertains to Russia interfering in the 2016 election, something that the president has never come to fully acknowledge.

Of course, there is this other issue about the mail-in ballots. The president recently suggested that mail-in ballots present an election security risk, that foreign countries might seek to interfere and take advantage of that situation, to twist the results of the election.

That is a concern that U.S. intelligence officials have repeatedly dismissed in recent weeks.

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DIAMOND: And, of course, the lack of these in-person briefings for members of Congress means they won't be able press those intelligence officials on claims like that by the. President -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And the U.S. is not the only country having a hard time convincing people to follow coronavirus restrictions. Protesters gathered across Europe to call out the rules that are likely saving thousands of lives. We'll have that just after the break.

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HOLMES: The United States is very close to reaching 6 million coronavirus cases and the country, of course, has more than 182,000 deaths. According to Johns Hopkins University, the biggest hotspots are still in the South of the country. Meanwhile, cases are flaring up on college campuses across the

country. The University of Alabama says more than 1,000 students on just one of its campuses have tested positive since classes resumed less than two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, protests against social distancing and mask wearing took place in Germany on Saturday. But as Fred Pleitgen reports, there has been a lot more at play than you might think.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tens of thousands of people came here to the center of Berlin to protest against the coronavirus restrictions of the German government.

However, the protesters didn't just come from all over Germany; they came from all over Europe. Certainly there were people holding the flags of many European countries and the flag of Russia as well.

Now the people here say they want to get rid of some of the coronavirus restrictions that have been put in place by the German government, like physical distancing, like for instance, wearing masks in areas where you can't physically distance as well.

Now the Berlin authorities didn't want this demonstration to take place. They originally banned this demonstration, however a court before the demonstrations started said that it can take place.

[02:45:00]

PLEITGEN: However in the middle of the demonstration, authorities came in and said the people weren't physically distancing and they weren't wearing masks so that's why the Berlin administration stopped this demonstration from happening.

But as you can see, many people here turned out and stayed until well into the afternoon to speak their mind and to say they believe that the coronavirus restrictions that have been put in place by politicians in Germany but in other countries as well are excessive -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

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HOLMES: Well, they took a stand for racial justice. Now the NBA is back in action. Why these players have more on their minds than winning a championship. That's after the break.

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HOLMES: An update now on our breaking news out of Portland, Oregon, where it has been a chaotic night and a deadly one as well. Supporters of President Trump converged on the city in a huge caravan

of vehicles and then fought with protesters on the streets. Now police are investigating whether a person found shot to death nearby was related to the violence.

[02:50:00]

HOLMES: Portland has, of course, seen protests practically every night since George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, more than three months ago. We will be bringing you more details on all of this at the top of the hour.

Athletes and others around the world paid tribute Saturday to "Black Panther" star Chadwick Boseman, who died Friday after battling colon cancer. The best known basketball player in the planet, LeBron James, honored him with the Wakanda salute ahead of the Lakers playoff game.

In fact, the NBA did resume its playoffs Saturday after postponing 9 games in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. And this powerful moment at the league's bubble in Florida on Saturday.

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HOLMES (voice-over): The Milwaukee Bucks and Orlando Magic kneeling during the national anthem."

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HOLMES: Segun Oduolowu is the host of the syndicated news magazine television show "The List." He joins me now from Los Angeles.

Good to see you, it's been a while.

From what we've seen, with professional sport in the wake of these racial issues, it's been extraordinary.

What do you see as the role of sports in the racial argument, the debate?

SEGUN ODUOLOWU, HOST, "THE LIST": Well, I would say that sports plays a crucial role. Martin Luther King marched but the South was really desegregated when USC played Alabama and the USC running back, who was Black, scored 4 touchdowns.

And in that moment the Alabama coach said, I need players like that.

Sports has always had a crucial role in not only bringing people together -- Jackie Robinson desegregating baseball, there's Arthur Ashe and what he did for tennis, Serena and Venus Williams -- sports is a meritocracy, where the best player or the best athlete, the hardest worker, wins.

And for racial equality, that's what minorities are asking for. Judge us on our merits just as we will judge you on yours. HOLMES: Nicely put. What's been incredible, when it comes to the

sports world, has been the solidarity. The NBA obviously, the NFL, too.

It's interesting, I've been reading that only 8 percent of Major League Baseball players are African American but they called off games as well. The other one is the NHL, which has zero African Americans and less than 30 percent of the players are even from America. But they postponed games as well.

It just speaks to a remarkable level of sporting solidarity, don't you think?

ODUOLOWU: Yes, absolutely. This issue is not singular. It is universal, whether you are African American, African Canadian, whether you are Jamaican or you are from Nigeria or you are from London.

The fight for equality, based on -- to use Martin Luther King -- the content of your character, not the color of your skin, is a global thing.

So when you see these sports leagues stopping, they realize and recognize that this problem is not unique just to America; it is global. But because these sports are played in America and they have cachet in America, now America needs to see what life would be like if the sports world stopped playing and actually just starting speaking about the injustice that that they undertake on a daily basis.

HOLMES: When you think about it, many athletes -- I'm thinking Michael Jordan for example -- never or rarely spoke out about racial or political issues. I guess because of image, also endorsements and so. But now you see athletes wearing Black Lives Matter T-shirts, putting the names of dead men on their jerseys instead of their own.

And people like LeBron James saying eff off. There's a lot of bravery there, risking fan support, endorsement dollars to take a stand.

ODUOLOWU: Think about this for a second. How ludicrous it must be to call it brave, to ask for equality; to ask to be treated fairly is considered brave. You know, Michael Jordan, there's the long game and the short game. I've critiqued Michael Jordan, his practices before.

But he's the only Black owner in all of professional sports in America. He's the only one.

Are we to be surprised that the only one is the greatest player to ever lace sneakers?

So Michael Jordan's long game, the calculation of, you know what, I'm going to stay out of the fray. But when I get my opportunity, I'm going to own a team. I'm going to dictate terms. And this recent boycott in the NBA.

[02:55:00]

ODUOLOWU: A lot of the reason that it was smoothed over so quickly is because Michael Jordan can pick up the phone and call the players and speak to them on a level that other owners can't.

So I don't castigate Michael Jordan anymore. I appreciate the long game, I appreciate LeBron James that put not only his money where his mouth is by opening schools. But saying, if you're not willing to treat us fairly, if the only color to you that matters really is green, then we're going to stop playing and we're going to show you what the economic landscape will be without Black athletes.

It's shameful that, in order for Jimmy to play soccer or lacrosse in college, Jamal has to play football or basketball. And these athletes are starting to realize their economic power. And they're pushing back and they're saying enough is enough because, with basketball, they are the most visible.

LeBron James moves tremendous product and his voice carries weight and now they are basically saying, enough is enough. We have marched, we've peacefully protested. We've knelt and you kept Colin Kaepernick out of the NFL.

So insanity is the same doing the same thing and over and over again and expecting different results. Well, maybe now it's time to stop bouncing the balls. They used to tell us to shut up and dribble. OK, well, now we are not only not dribble but we're not going to shut up.

HOLMES: An extraordinary time and extraordinary scenes and admirable as well. Segun Oduolowu, thank you so much. Good to see you.

ODUOLOWU: Thank you so much for having me and, again, stay safe and be well.

HOLMES: Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Michael Holmes. Natalie Allen up next.