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Protests Erupt Over Lack of Charges in Breonna Taylor's Death; Trump won't Commit to Peaceful Transfer of Power after Election; Man who Attacked Police Now in Custody. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired September 24, 2020 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:15]

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. Top of the hour. I'm John King in Washington. Thank you so much for sharing your day with us.

A very busy news day it is, including more anger and frustration on America's streets. The Breonna Taylor case, the current flashpoint. Protests in Louisville and many other cities last night after a Kentucky grand jury did not file any charges directly related to Taylor's death during a police raid on her apartment back in March. One officer was charged with wanton endangerment for spraying gunshots during that raid but an attorney for Taylor's family calls it another protect the police outrage.

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BENJAMIN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR BREONNA TAYLOR'S FAMILY: If they want an indictment, they would get an indictment. If they want to exonerate these police officers, as they so often do in America when they kill black people, they exonerate them. And we just cannot have these two justice systems in America, one for black America and another for white America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We'll go live to Louisville in just a few moments, but we begin with a moment of testing for America's democracy. In a raw display of power lust by President Trump. In just 40 nights we'll be counting your votes, the peaceful transfer of power is a staple of our American democracy, but this president makes clear he might not honor the results if they show him losing.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll have to see what happens, you know that. I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster.

QUESTION: I understand that, but people are rioting. Do you commit to making sure that there's a peaceful transfer of power? TRUMP: We want to have get rid of the ballots, and you'll have a very -- we'll have a very peaceful -- there won't be a transfer frankly. There will be a continuation. The ballots are out of control. You know it, and you know who knows it better than anybody else, the Democrats know it better than anybody else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: What the president says right there about mail-in voting is a lie, but he is brazenly transparent about his strategy. Trump campaign lawyers are furiously mounting legal challenges to new pandemic voting rules across the country. The president makes clear he not only wants a new Supreme Court justice confirmed before the election but that he expects that justice to side with him in post-election challenges.

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TRUMP: I think it's better if you go before the election because I think this -- this scam that the Democrats are pulling, it's a scam, this scam will be before the United States Supreme Court. I think it's very important to have a ninth justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The bulldozing of tradition and norms did not stop there. Just hours before the White House briefing yesterday, top government scientists made clear on Capitol Hill that they would not bow to presidential or any other pressure to rush a coronavirus vaccine to market. Now there are long-standing legal and regulatory steps for vaccine approval, but the president insists this, too, is up to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, I'll tell you what. We're looking at that. That has to be approved by the White House. We may or may not approve it. That sounds like a political move. I think that was a political move more than anything else.

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KING: John Harwood live for us at the White House. John, this is the I alone presidency. We have known from the very beginning this president believes he has powers well beyond what he actually does, have but to see a president of the United States, and he's hinted at this before but standing at that lectern, the podium in the White House briefing room, saying I may not honor the results of the count. That begins 40 nights from now was stunning.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John, I think it's very important that you linked what he's doing about the election trying to discredit lawful ways of voting because he is losing with the FDA remarks yesterday which are really part of a broad range of actions the president is taking that challenged the integrity of the government as he tries to bend the government to his will. Think about the ways this has happened. Ever since the impeachment he has purged the government of people that he thought were critical of him. He just announced yesterday that he was replacing the Intelligence Community inspector general who -- a position that referred the whistleblower to the Congress with a former Devin Nunes aide. Of course, Nunes had tried to undercut the Russia investigation.

He installed at the Department of Health and Human Services, Michael Caputo, someone not qualified on health issues but a loyalist to Trump who then set about with his adviser to interfere with CDC guidance. He's now taken a leave of absence. The president's indicated he's going to make liaisons with various federal agencies, report directly to the White House rather than those agencies.

Think about the Justice Department, Bill Barr has joined him in trying to discredit the election along with the other actions Bill Barr has taken to serve of the president, cutting short the census, interfering with the postal service, the president openly saying he wanted to deny funds to prevent them from processing mail ballots.

[11:05:11]

This is a president who is trying to exert every lever of power that he has over the government, and there's a cost to the proper administration and the integrity of the U.S. government as a result.

KING: Without a doubt. Exercise every power he has and exercise some powers he does not have. But we should see.

John Harwood, grateful for the live reporting at the White House for us.

Let's continue the conversation now. CNN correspondents, Dana Bash and Abby Phillip. Our CNN legal analyst Carrie Cordero.

And Dana, it is not supposed to be news when the Senate majority leader tweets that we will have an election on November 3rd and then we will have an inauguration on January 20th and we will have an orderly transition of power.

But Mitch McConnell tweeting that today, after Senator Mitt Romney and Congresswoman Liz Cheney, two other Republicans, mostly quiet among Republicans, but they're saying fundamental to our Democracy is what Romney says is the peaceful transition of power. Cheney says the peaceful transition of power is enshrined in our Constitution fundamental to the survival of the Republic. America's leaders swear an oath to the Constitution. We will uphold that oath.

And again, the Republican leader McConnell saying we will have this orderly transition. It is remarkable, in this case more Republicans than normal, coming out to saying, stop, Mr. President.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. And Mitch McConnell didn't wait to be asked in the hallway. He went to his Twitter feed and put that out, you know, rather unsolicited. I'm sure he was getting phone calls to his office.

He wanted to make a point, as did the -- one of the top Republicans in the House, the top female Republican for sure in the House, Liz Cheney, wanting to make a point. Mr. President, as you said, cut it out. Please don't even go there.

And, you know, it was stunning to hear the president say what he said last night. It's not as if he hasn't hinted by saying over and over and over again how fraudulent the mail-in ballot system is, which is, as you said not true, but the fact that he just put it out there in such a flagrant way that he might not be going anywhere, and effectively sending a signal to people that, you know, a non-peaceful transition is OK, is -- is remarkable. I mean, there's really -- we're running out of words to use.

The only thing I will say is that I know you feel this way as well. There has not been an inauguration that I have covered where I've not stopped and thought we should not take this for granted. That there is a peaceful transition of power in this country. Thanks to our Constitution and our Democracy. And the fact that we may not be taking that for granted. The fact that Republicans are coming out the way they are says it all.

KING: It does say it all. And let's connect the dots. First to you, Carrie, in the sense that the president is quite open. I want my Supreme Court justice confirmed before the election. I expect there to be post-election challenges. He calls it a Democratic sham. That's the president's language. And that's why we need a ninth justice. We cannot have a 4-4 court.

If you pick up a legal ethics book and you're the attorney, so please help me if I'm wrong, the president publicly saying something. That's like saying I expect my justice to vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. I expect my justice to vote this way on a corporate case.

It is not done in American politics. It is viewed as outside the bounds. And normally you would expect that justice to then have to recuse him or in this case herself. He promises to nominate a woman because it has been an open part of the process. And that's why the president picked you.

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it's also just not true, John, that we need a ninth justice. If there were some case that went to the Supreme Court regarding the election, if they couldn't reach a majority decision and the decision was 4-4, then simply the decision of the lower court would hold so there's no constitutional crisis. There's no mystery about what would happen. There's a process would be laid out.

But I also think it's really important that we keep the president's comments yesterday in the context of all the things that he's done over the last four years to damage our Democracy. John Harwood started the list, but I have more on the list. He has solicited foreign interference in the elections in the last four years and welcomed foreign assistance.

He's destroyed the Republican Party so that it is now just a cult of personality. It has no policy platform except for wanting conservative judges which is ironic given that so much of what he does flouts the Constitution.

He has politicized law enforcement so that if there were some public safety issue where the Department of Justice or the Department of Homeland Security needed to step in over the course of the next several months. He has politicized them so much that the public will not believe that they are acting legitimately. They are -- the public will interpret their actions as acting politically.

[11:10:03]

And finally, and we don't talk about this very much, but he has installed family members as senior government advisers which is something that we see in autocratic countries or failing Democracies in addition to the fact that he has subverted the Senate confirmation process for many of his senior government officials.

So, his comments yesterday should not be a surprise. He telegraphs exactly what he's trying to do repeatedly, and it's consistent with everything he has said and done for the past four years.

KING: And so, Abby, we're in another situation where some Republicans and more Republicans in this case, as I noted, including the majority leader, are pushing back against the president. We will see what all Republicans say. Senator Ben Sasse though trying to shrug it off, saying, oh the president says crazy things. You know, don't worry, we're going to have it orderly transition of power. No, a president shouldn't say crazy things about the most sacred gift of our Democracy which is that peaceful transition of power.

Just moments ago, up on Capitol Hill, the president on his own FBI Director Christopher Wray saying, we see no evidence of any widespread voting fraud - mail-in voting fraud. Yes, we'll keep an eye on individual states when allegations pop up. But I know you've spent some time on this.

Again, when you connect the dots, the president keeps demeaning, delegitimizing, criticizing and lying about mail-in voting which actually increases turnout and can be done quite efficiently. At the same time, he's assembling this team of lawyers to challenge, challenge, challenge, and then he says, well, the election might not be legitimate. This is all part of a buildup.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. It's a systemic chipping away at the process and it begins with the fact that months ago the president began politicizing the way people vote. That is not normal. We now see a sharp partisan divide between who is going to vote in person and who is going to - on Election Day and who is going to vote early or by mail. That was largely created by the president's rhetoric.

And so now you see the second step of that which is the president saying the only way that he thinks that this ought to go is that those ballots should be thrown out. That's what he said at the beginning of his answer to the question. Throw out those ballots and we won't have to have a transfer, a peaceful transfer or otherwise. So, we've got to put all of this in context. This is happening in the context of a massive legal battle being played out in the courts to delegitimize the changes that are being made to allow more people to cast ballots by mail and many states in this country. And now the president is saying after the election we're hoping to take it to the courts, and I can't confirm that I'm going to step aside if that process comes to a conclusion and I'm not the winner.

I think it -- it's the bigger picture here and -- and it's also in addition to the fact that the president has also said he'd be willing to push back Election Day. So, it's one of many, many, many comments to this effect.

KING: It is mind-numbing to hear a president of the United States, of any party, of any name, standing in that building saying throw out the ballots, just throw out the ballots. It is remarkable and stunning. Carrie Cordero, Abby Phillip, Dana Bash, appreciate the reporting and insights there. We'll continue on the story.

Obviously, up next for us, the grief and outrage across the country, that after no charges, no officers were charged directly in the March death of Breonna Taylor.

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[11:17:37]

KING: Devastated, outraged and heartbroken, those words being used today to describe the family of Breonna Taylor and their reaction after the decision by a grand jury in Louisville, Kentucky yesterday to charge nobody in direct connect to her shooting. That shooting, of course, happened at the hands of police back in March.

One of the three officers involved was charged, but he was charged with indiscriminately firing his weapon into the other apartments nearby back during that March raid. Protesters took to the streets of Louisville, Kentucky to voice their dismay and their anger over this grand jury decision. Those protests turning violent at one point as police clashed with the demonstrators.

There were more than 100 arrests in Louisville and two police officers were shot. Both are recovering and the man who allegedly attacked those officers is in police custody. It was not just in Louisville where we saw protests last night. They turned out in cities from St. Paul, to Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte. Protesters voiced their disbelief and to voice their calls yet again for police reform and accountability.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is live for us in Louisville with the very latest. Brynn?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, good morning. We just got an update from the mayor here of Louisville and the police chief about those activities that turned violent last night during those protests which were largely peaceful, but as you even mentioned, there were over 100, actually 127 arrests made by police last night. There was some looting. And then, of course, we also know about those two officers who were shot.

The police chief says one of those officers was a major, been with the force for a long time. He's actually the person who is leading the ground effort for the Louisville metro police department with protests, and he was shot in the hip. Now he is going to be OK. He was actually released from the hospital at this point.

The second officer was a shot in the stomach, the abdomen and underwent several surgeries or at least two according to the governor earlier this morning. And he is going to be OK but he's still being hospitalized.

We also know and we knew last night that someone has been arrested for this. We know the name, 26-year-old Larynzo Johnson and he's now been charged with two counts of assault and 14 counts of wanton endangerment. And again, there were a number of instances that police were responding to last night, 127 arrest in all.

Now, we also, again, like I said, heard from the mayor who again called for peace, called for protests but for the fact that they should be peaceful. And again, tonight, we're going to see a curfew here in Louisville at 9:00 and the National Guard is here. Everything is still boarded up in the downtown area.

[11:20:05]

So, there is a lot of frustration. There is a lot of emotion that came out last night, not only from the people marching in the streets but also from Breonna Taylor's family who even the governor said on our air this morning, they didn't get justice, didn't get any answers as to why none of these officers were charged in the direct death of Breonna Taylor. And that's what people want is just more answers.

In fact, Kentucky's governor said the attorney general should release the transcripts of those grand jury proceedings, which of course, are done in secrecy but just to give more information to the public as to what they were considering, what charges were in front of them and why did they come to the decision that they actually came to.

We know that there are possibly more answers that could come out in the future. Listen, we know that there's a civil lawsuit that's pending by Kenneth Walker, Breonna Taylor's boyfriend, so there might be some information that comes out of that.

We also know there's an FBI investigation in to how that search warrant was obtained. Were any civil liberties compromised in obtaining that search warrant. And also, the internal investigation by the Louisville metro police department.

But still -- there's still answers out there, right? And there's still a lot of emotion you can see this memorial still stands. And there's still people gathering. And we expect more protests, hopefully peaceful to happen as the day continues on today. John?

KING: Brynn Gingras, grateful, grateful to have the reporting live on the ground at this tense moment in Louisville, Kentucky. Brynn, thank you so much. We will keep in touch.

And joining me now from Louisville is Timothy Findley. He is a pastor, a community activist, and a resident of Louisville. Mr. Finley, grateful for your time today. You just heard Brynn explain the anger and the frustration.

This is your community. This is your community. I know you're disappointed with what we've heard from the attorney general and the grand jury yesterday. Largely peaceful demonstrations last night, but we can't sugar coat it. There was some violence and obviously, two police officers shot. What is your sense, your temperature check, if you will, on your community today?

TIMOTHY FINDLEY, PASTOR AND COMMUNITY ACTIVIST: Well, yesterday was extremely disappointing, very frustrating, so we're hurting. We feel as though our city was held captive for the last six months and to hear what came down yesterday.

I can't begin to explain the amount of trauma that people have been sent through and what they are feeling, but we're also motivated because we understand that if there's going to be change, we're going to have to have the mayor on down, there's going to have to be change at every position.

KING: One of the interesting wrinkles, maybe interesting is not the right word in this is that you have an African American Republican attorney general who is leading this investigation. There are a lot of people critical that he would in the middle of all that speak at the Republican National Convention on behalf of President Trump. When he explained all this yesterday, he said that he because of his life experience could understand the frustration you're talking about very well. Let's listen.

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DANIEL CAMERON, KENTUCKY ATTORNEY GENERAL: I understand that as a black man how painful this is and -- which is why it is so incredibly important to make sure that we did everything we possibly could to uncover every fact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Are you satisfied with the work of the attorney general, and if the answer to that is no, what must he do now to satisfy the feeling on the streets?

FINDLEY: Well, I'm absolutely not satisfied with the work. As a matter of fact, anyone who would stand with this president, anyone who would stand with Mitch McConnell, it doesn't matter who they are, they don't identify with my experience and I suspect the vast majority of black people in the country. If there's going to be change, if he wants to aid in healing this community, then I think we need to look at the criminal justice system and not just talk about reform.

We have to admit and acknowledge that the criminal justice system is not broken. It is doing exactly what it was designed to do, and that's why black people in America don't feel safe today. They don't feel safe -- they haven't felt safe yesterday. We have to change a lot of things that are going on right now.

KING: Pastor Timothy Findley live from Louisville. Sir, appreciate -- greatly appreciate your time and perspective today. We'll keep in touch as these next few days play out in your beloved city. Thank you, sir.

FINDLEY: Thank you.

KING: Thank you, sir.

Still ahead for us, President Trump threatens to overrule new stricter vaccine standards being discussed by the Food and Drug Administration.

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[11:24:40]

KING: President Trump says the United States is rounding the turn, his words, when it comes to the coronavirus and most of the metrics like hospitalizations are getting better. Let's look at the numbers though, and they tell us it's much more complicated than that.

First the 50-state trend map. Orange and red is bad. There's a lot of orange and red on this map. 21 states reporting more new infections this week compared to last week. 21 states heading in the wrong direction. More new coronavirus infections this week compared to last week. 21 states holding steady, that's the beige.