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Protests Erupt over Decision in Breonna Taylor Case; Trump Says He May Overrule FDA on Vaccine Guidelines; Canadian PM: Second Wave Underway in Most of Country; U.K. Reports Highest Number of Daily Cases Since May; About 380 Whales Die in Tasmania's Largest Mass Stranding; Trump Says He May Overrule FDA On Vaccine Guidelines; Protests Erupt Over Decision In Breonna Taylor Case; Biden Urges Louisville Protesters To Avoid Violence. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired September 24, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN HOST: Protests grow across the U.S. after not a single police officer was directly charged with the shooting and death of Breonna Taylor. Also, the transition of power, President Trump refusing to commit to a peaceful transition if he loses the election. What does that mean for American democracy?
And the plane politics, President Trump saying he may over rule the FDA when it comes to vaccine guidelines, undermining public trust of that agency in the middle of the pandemic. Hello everyone. I'm Michael Holmes and this is CNN Newsroom.
Welcome everyone. Anger and frustration being felt right now all across the U.S. as protesters in a number of cities are demanding justice after grand jury decided not to charge Louisville police officers directly with the death of Breonna Taylor. That 26 year old was shot and killed by police in her own apartment back in March when they executed a no knock search warrant as part of a drug investigation that had nothing to do with her.
Louisville Police say two officers have been shot amid the unrest on the streets. The incident apparently caught on the department's own live stream on Facebook.
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HOLMES: You hear the gun shots there. We're told the two offices are being treated for injuries, a suspect is in custody. Members of Kentucky's National Guard are also being deployed to the city. Meanwhile in the nation's capital, Washington DC, hundreds gathering outside the White House and they have also been marching through the city. Protesters also taking to the streets right here in the city of
Atlanta, police could be seen firing tear gas and a number of demonstrators have been arrested. Let's go now to CNN's Stephanie Elam who joins me now from Los Angeles. Steph, last time hour when we spoke, the crowds were out. What are you seeing now?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes and what happened after we talked last time Michael, is that the protest pretty much got split into different heads and at one point, the police did show up and they made it very clear that protesters could not go down this one street.
There was a little bit of a scuffle back and forth between the police and the protesters who were yelling at them. The police standing there in line. We actually stopped to watch that so now we're behind them. You can see that behind me you saw the police officers were there, they've made their way down the road.
They're coming out in full force now to make it very clear that in downtown, they are shutting down these streets and ending these protests. They are blocking off streets as we are coming around, walking back and making it clear that these are not ways that people could go. I have to tell you for the most part what we saw are people who wanted to be out here, protesting because of the fact that none of the officers were directly charged in the death of Breonna Taylor.
We did see some people spray painting things on walls. We saw two men trying to break something at a police station. I was actually just - into the box. But really that's - it didn't break and then some men came along who were part of the protesting group and stopped them and told them not to do that and yelled at people to make sure that if you see someone acting up, that you get them and you make them stop.
So it was a very large crowd out here tonight. The helicopters from the police department have been out as well. I can still hear sirens. I can still hear the helicopter so they're still in the process of monitoring this but clearly tensions are high, a lot of yelling at the police especially when we walk by the headquarters for the Los Angeles Police Department which is here in downtown Los Angeles. We saw people spray painting there and we also saw them yelling at the cops that were standing there as well, Michael.
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HOLMES: All right, thanks for that Stephanie. Stephanie Elam there on the streets of LA for us. Appreciate it. And CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has more now on the grand jury's decision that reignited these protests in Louisville and all across the country.
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SHIMON PROCUPEKZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Outreach in the street after a controversial grand jury decision in the police killing of 26 year old Breonna Taylor in March. Three Louisville officers were involved in a gun battle with Taylor's boyfriend where she was shot multiple times and only one was indicted.
DANIEL CAMERON, KENTUCKY ATTORNEY GENERAL: The fatal shot was fired by Detective Cosgrove.
PROKUPECZ: Detective Cosgrove not indicted.
CAMERON: Sergeant Mattingly was the first and only officer to enter the residence.
PROKUPECZ: Sergeant John Mattingly not indicted either.
CAMERON: According to Kentucky law, the use of force by Mattingly and Cosgrove was justified to protect themselves.
PROKUPECZ: Only former detective Brett Hankinson was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment not to Taylor or her boyfriend but to the apartment next door. Back in June Hankinson was fired and reprimanded by the interim police chief in a letter. It accused him of wantonly and blindly firing into Taylor's apartment through a curtain.
Several of those shops went through the neighbor's house. The officers were executing a no knock search warrant for a narcotics investigation but the Attorney General says a witness heard police knocking before they broke down the door.
CAMERON: Evidence shows that officers both knocked and announced their presence at the apartment.
PROKUPECZ: Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker said he never heard police announced themselves.
KENNETH WALKER, BREONNA TAYLOR'S BOYFRIEND: All of a sudden someone started beating on the door. They refused to answer when we yelled, who is it.
PROKUPECZ: Walker fired the first shot, hitting Mattingly in the lead. In a matter of seconds the three officers returned fire.
WALKER: 15 minutes later, Breonna was dead from a hell of police gunfire.
PROKUPECZ: Breonna Taylor's family and supporters were expecting stronger charges against the officers. Manslaughter. The family's Attorney Ben Crump calling it outrageous and offensive. The Attorney General urged the public not to politicize the decision.
CAMERON: There will be celebrities, influencers and activists who having never lived in Kentucky will try to tell us how to feel suggesting they understand the facts but they don't.
PROKUPECZ: But on the streets of Louisville, the National Guard has been called in to prepare for protests as the mayor announcing a three-night long curfew beginning at 9:00 PM.
GREG FISCHER, LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY MAYOR: We must plan for the potential for large gatherings. I urge everyone to commit once again to a peaceful lawful response.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: CNN's Shimon Prokupecz there and as we mentioned, those
protests did not stay peaceful with those two Louisville officers shot and wounded in the unrest. Both are in hospital and again the suspect is in custody.
Rashad Robinson is the executive director of Color of Change. He joins me now from Palm Springs in California and thanks so much for doing so. Good to see you. Your reaction to the decision? I know you feel that justice was not down but also what does it say about current justice and policing systems when it comes to African-Americans?
RASHAD ROBINSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COLOR OF CHANGE: Well, I mean this is why we have seen so many people rising up and speaking out. That's exactly why more and more Americans are recognizing that we don't have a justice system that delivers justice.
In fact, we don't have a system that's even broken. In fact we have a system operating exactly the way it was designed, to not deliver justice when black people are harmed and hurt by law enforcement and in fact, to consistently send a message to law enforcement that they can hurt and kill with impunity and not suffer consequences.
It's why we continue to fight for justice, it's why we're continuing to raise questions about how police departments are funding the role of prosecutors and the role of the media and so much more. I wish I could come on here and say that I was surprised but--
HOLMES: What's then the path forward? I know you said there's a need to you know I think you said, dismantle the institutions like police foundations and unions and so on. Explain that.
ROBINSON: Well, you know at every single time whenever we're fighting for justice, we have these folks that stand in our way, not simply stand in a way to say that our demands are too aspirational but tell us that the problem doesn't even exist.
I sat in the rooms with leaders of fraternal order of police where they said all the talk about racial profiling is new today so the type of gas lighting that makes us - that questions even the notion that there are problems in policing regardless of where we get at in terms of fighting for solutions and so when we talk about sort of dismantling structures, this is not about living in a world that isn't any consequences.
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It's about living in a world where there are consequences for all of us. That there is systems of justice and rules that service all of us, that police are not able to treat us like enemy combatants in our whole communities and in the case of Breonna Taylor, in her own home.
HOLMES: Yes. What questions do you have about the information the grand jury was given and we don't know what information was put forward and prosecutors control that information. Do you feel there was enough evidence to warrant charges? ROBINSON: So here's the thing if you or I or the viewers at home had killed somebody in their home, there wouldn't be a grand jury needed to arrest us, right? To put us behind bars, we wouldn't need all that process. In fact we would be arrested so we actually already start with two systems of justice, right? Where police officer to give it all this time to collaborate and collude with their unions, to develop stories, to identify, to hear sort of what the defense and the prosecution sort of information looks like.
We end up in a situation where the prosecutors in these cases need police in order to do their job day to day and so are going to find ways to work with police and so not only do we not know what happened in the grand jury but we have to question the use of the grand juries in and of themselves time and time again when black folks are hurt and harmed by police.
We saw it in Fergusson Missouri, we see it around the country that grand juries are deployed in order to create this sort of barrier between the prosecutor actually doing their job and bringing charges and bringing these things to trial in order to create these shields and then because of how the grand jury process works.
We don't even know how hard the prosecutor fought to actually get a conviction, whether or not this was something that they sort of put the time, energy and resources behind because what we did see all along the way was the police department trying to do things the prosecutor's office trying to do things to sow a gap in our minds about whether or not Breonna Taylor was worthy of our empathy, worthy of justice.
And so we can't actually trust this process because this process wasn't done in a way that anybody who's family deserve justice would believe trust or respect.
HOLMES: Yes, I mean there are tens of thousands of these no knock warrants executed a year, I mean the U.S. is distinctive that it is a nation full of armed people, I mean there's - if you have somebody comes breaking in your door, probably a good chance somebody's going to shoot back at you.
It's just an extraordinary situation, I wish we had more time, we do not. Rashad Robinson, thanks so much.
ROBINSON: Thanks for having me.
HOLMES: Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is urging people protesting the Breonna Taylor decision to make their opinions known but not to through violence.
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JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One thing I want to make clear, protesting makes a lot of sense and it's clear people should be able to speak but no violence, no violence. My heart goes out to Breonna Taylor's mom. The last thing she needs is to see violence in the streets so protest peacefully, no violence. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And Biden later tweeted this message, "Even amidst the profound grief and anger today's decision generated, violence is never and can never be the answer. Those who will engage in it must be held accountable. Jill and I are keeping the officers shot tonight in Louisville in our prayers. We wish the, both, a swift and a full recovery."
Now responding to the unrest in Louisville, President Trump tweeted quite praying for those two police officers shot tonight in Louisville, Kentucky. The federal government stands behind you and is ready to help. Interestingly though the president did not weigh in on the merits of Taylor's case nor her death when I asked about Wednesday, instead praising Kentucky's Attorney General Daniel Cameron as a rising star in the Republican Party and praising himself when asked for his message to the black community.
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REPORTER: Mr. President, do you believe that justice was served in the Breonna Taylor's case? In Kentucky and what is your message to the Black Community who believe that perhaps justice was not served by the decision that was rendered by the Grand Jury in Kentucky?
DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, my message is that I love the black community and I've done more for the black community than any other president and I say with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln.
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HOLMES: Now on the upcoming election, President Trump refusing to commit to a peaceful transition of power, just have to think about that, a non-violent handover is a cornerstone of American democracy.
Mr. Trump's stunning refusal to promise to uphold that tradition goes further than his previous remarks that he wasn't sure whether he would accept the election results which were pretty stunning in themselves. The president repeating his false claims that mail-in ballots lead to fraud.
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REPORTER: Mr. President, real quickly. Win or lose all in this election, will you commit here today for a peaceful transferal of power after the election and there has been rioting and looting, rioting in Louisville, there's been rioting in many cities across this country red and your so called red and blue states, will you commit to making sure that there is a peaceful transferal of power after the election?
TRUMP: We're going to have to see what happens. You know that. I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster.
REPORTER: I know that but people are rioting. Will you commit to making sure that there's a peaceful transferal of power?
TRUMP: We want to have to get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very trans - you'll have a very peaceful, there won't be a transfer frankly, there'll 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.
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HOLMES: CNN White House Correspondent John Hardwood joins me now. Good to see you John. I mean Donald Trump predicted the U.S. Supreme Court will decide the outcome of the November election so he's decided that laws that haven't been broken will be broken and won't guarantee a peaceful transition of power.
You are a DC guy, you ever heard anything like this?
JOHN HARDWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No I haven't Michael and it's a dangerous game the president's playing. The peaceful transfer of power is the hallmark of American democracy, it's characterized every transition that we've had.
Even when Richard Nixon in 1974 became the first president, forced to resign his office, peaceful transition of power at that time and so the idea that the president is raising the specter of resisting that at a time when if you look at American cities during protests, you have what looked like armed malicious patrolling in Louisville tonight where there were demonstrations.
We saw it in Portland, we saw it in Kenosha. That's dangerous and people could lose their lives because of this loose talk from the president. Now do I think the president actually intends to try to resist the transfer of power if he loses the election as polls indicate he will, I doubt it.
He's full of it most of the time with his rhetoric and there's no particular evidence that he's bold or brave enough to try something like that. Never the less, that doesn't make it any less dangerous and it's why Mitt Romney condemned that rhetoric tonight.
HOLMES: Yes, remember this is the president who said the only way he could lose is if the election was rigged. I know you're not on the hill but have you heard congressional Republicans saying anything about this state of affairs or would you like these to see them running down the corridor, tomorrow saying. they haven't heard them or they have a meeting to get to?
HARDWOOD: We're likely to see a whole lot of the latter, maybe a little bit of the former. Mitt Romney, the senator from Utah, Republican presidential nominee in 2012, who happened to be the only senator to vote - Republican senator to vote to convict the president on the House impeachment charges. He spoke up tonight, said that rhetoric was unacceptable and it's a real test for Republican leaders as to how far they're willing to let President Trump go. Now it's one thing when you're in the rhetorical stage now, obviously will be a different one if we get post-election and the president is trying to under-cut or prevent the election results from being recognized.
But it's never the less incumbent on them to speak tonight and it's worth pointing out Michael, that the way the president is trying to undercut the legitimacy of the election, the way he's raising questions about the peaceful transfer of power, the discord that he is arising or creating with that kind of behavior is precisely what Vladimir Putin in Russia according to our intelligence agencies are trying to foment in the United States.
And remember they helped elect Donald Trump in 2016, he welcomed that help, he's taken some actions in American foreign policy to benefit Russia and it's pretty striking spectacle that he is behaving in this way just five weeks before the election.
HOLMES: These are extraordinary times. John Hardwood, thanks for taking the time.
HARDWOOD: You bet.
HOLMES: We'll take a quick break. When we come back President Trump also is threatening to ride regulators when it comes to approving a coronavirus vaccine and there is plenty of politics involved.
Also one of the Kremlin's most prominent critics out of the hospital, more than a month after he was poisoned. Now will Alexey Navalny go back to Russia? More on that when we come back.
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TRUMP: That seemed to be extremely political. Why would they do this when we've come back with these great results and I think you have those great results. Why would we be delaying it but we're going to take a look at it and ultimately the White House has to approve it.
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HOLMES: The White House has to approve it. Well President Trump there accusing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of playing politics when it comes to stricter guidelines for approving a coronavirus vaccine. Despite having no medical expertise of course whatsoever he is now threatening to overrule that agency.
On Wednesday, its commissioner though vowed, "The FDA will not authorize or approve a vaccine that we would not feel comfortable giving to our families and he says the FDA will not bound to any political pressure." The agency considering new rules that will likely push the vaccine
approval past Election Day and that of course is not what President Trump wants to hear. He has repeatedly said the vaccine could be ready by November 3, which happens to be Election Day.
During a Senate hearing on Wednesday, a Republican who actually contracted the virus challenged the need for restrictions aimed at curbing its spread. Rand Paul basically saying herd immunity is the way to go is suggesting that's how New Yorkers contained the pandemic.
But the country's top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci defended the U.S. response saying, shutting down was the only way to stop the explosion of infection as he put it. Here is part of their testy exchange.
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SEN. RAND PAUL, (R-KY): They're no longer having the pandemic because they have enough immunity in New York City.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NDAID: I challenge that senator. Please Sir, I would like to be able to do this because this happens with Senator Rand all the time. You were not listening to what the director of the CDC said that in New York, it's about 22 percent.
If you believe 22 percent is herd immunity, I believe you're alone in that.
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HOLMES: CNN's Erica Hill now looks at some of the other headlines from the Senate hearing and brings us the latest on the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S.
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ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Science and politics in the hot seat.
SEN. PATTY MURRAY (D-WA): Dr. Redfield how is it a document published on CDC's website was not drafted by CDC's scientists nor underwent the agency's strict scientific review process?
DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, DIR, CDC: Senator, the original testing guidance of August 26 had a full engagement of individuals of CDC.
HILL: The head of the CDC pushing back on suggestions the agency is not in control amid shifting guidance on testing and the virus itself.
MURRAY: If I want the best guidance on the latest science so I can protect myself and my family can I trust CDC's website to give me that information?
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REDFIELD: Yes, we are committed to data and science and that will be the grounding of how we make these recommendations.
HILL: That with the FDA also promising politics won't interfere with the vaccine.
DR. STEPHEN HAHN, COMMISSIONER, FDA: Science will guide our decisions. FDA will not permit any pressure from anyone to change that.
DR. LEANA WEN, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: I hear the right words but I want to see the appropriate actions that follow. 22 states seeing a rise in new cases over the past seven days, almost the entire western half of the country including former hot spots like Texas and Arizona.
DR. JEANNE MARRAZZO, UNIV OF ALABAMA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: The numbers are the numbers you can argue with them and they are not going in the right direction.
HILL: Minnesota and Wisconsin reporting sharp spikes over the past week. Governor Tony Evers tweeting, "this is a new and dangerous phase of the pandemic," extending the mask mandate through late November.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some people are OK with it, some people that don't even believe in COVID.
HILL: The virus is real so is the science that masks work.
DR. JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: I've got Democrats who want me to condemn people who are out of the presidential rally. I've got Republicans who want me to condemn people who are going to vigil and at the end of the day, the virus doesn't care about your politics so what I would say to everyone, politics aside wear masks.
HILL: Preliminary findings from the CDC show more than 90 percent of the country is still susceptible to the virus and while vaccine trials are moving forward, Johnson and Johnson single dose vaccine just moved into phase 3. Experts stress a vaccine will not immediately end the pandemic.
DR. JAMES HAMBLIN, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: Even if there is a vaccine that becomes available to some people say in January which would be wonderful if everything goes extremely well, that is not going to change the game.
HILL: Erica Hill, CNN New York.
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HOLMES: A little later in the program, we'll take a closer look at the race for a coronavirus vaccine and discuss whether Americans will even take the drug once it becomes available. Out of the hospital but not quite out of the woods, Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has been released from inpatient care at a Berlin hospital but the effects of his poisoning mean lots of rehabilitation ahead.
CNN's Matthew Chance reports from Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOT INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, after 63
days in a German clinic being treated for Novichok nerve agent poisoning, 24 of them in intensive care, Putin critic Alexey Navalny has now been charged after doctors treating him said his condition had sufficiently improved.
Navalny posted a picture of himself on a park bench with a message saying doctors have told him, a complete recovery is possible but he said, he still needed daily physical therapy and he's still not regained complete control of his body, saying he couldn't throw a ball for instance with one of his hands.
Russia's leading opposition figure had been campaigning in Siberia last month when he was suddenly taken ill on a flight back to Moscow, forcing the aircraft to make an emergency landing so he could get urgent treatment. He was later made to fly to Germany where doctors said, he had been poisoned with a Novichok chemical nerve agent.
The Russians have denied any responsibility and rejected international calls for an investigation into the poisoning. In a statement, announcing his discharge as an in-patient, doctors at the Berlin clinic say that it was still too early to gauge the potential long term effects of what they called his severe poisoning.
While his team say the opposition figure intends to return to Russia to continue his work, the Kremlin says he's welcome to come back and that they wish him a speedy recovery. Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
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HOLMES: Well coming up here on CNN Newsroom, outrageous and offensive, just some of the reaction from Breonna Taylor's family after no officers were charged directly for her death. We'll hear from one of their attorneys, next. Also still to come, new coronavirus measures set to take effect in parts of the U.K. and the latest infection numbers shows just how badly they're needed. We'll be right back.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM everyone. I'm Michael Holmes.
More now on our top story.
Mass demonstrations sweeping across the U.S. Protesters demanding justice after a grand jury ruled no officers would be charged directly with Breonna Taylor's death. The 26-year-old was shot and killed by police in her apartment during a drug raid in March.
Violence broke out in Louisville after the announcement. Police say two officers have been shot in the protests. Both taken to a hospital. A suspect is in custody.
Now the grand jury charged one officer with wanton endangerment for blindly firing shots that went to an apartment next to Taylor's, not for direct involvement in Taylor's death.
Kentucky attorney general says the investigation found two of the officers actions were justified.
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DANIEL CAMERON, KENTUCKY ATTORNEY GENERAL: According to Kentucky law the use of force by Mattingly and Cosgrove was justified to protect themselves. This justification bars us from pursuing criminal charges in Miss Breonna Taylor's death.
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HOLMES: Lawyers for Breonna Taylor's family say it is outrageous no officers were charged directly with Taylor's death.
Attorney Lonita Baker spoke earlier with Wolf Blitzer.
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LONITA BAKER, ATTORNEY FOR BREONNA TAYLOR'S FAMILY: This is offensive and it is egregious. There is sufficient evidence, if the grand jury felt it sufficient that Brett Hankinson placed three neighbors in danger with his reckless behavior, then they had to have thought and found that he also placed Breonna Taylor at risk with his reckless behavior.
You can't separate the two. Breonna Taylor was unarmed, we know that based on Sergeant Mattingly's own statement in which he said the female that was in the apartment was unarmed. So if he knew she was unarmed the other officers knew she was unarmed including Officer Cosgrove who Daniel Cameron has said his actions were justified.
However, in Kentucky, it is clear that when using self-defense you cannot -- it's not a justifiable defense when you put other people in harm of the person who you claim to be defending yourself against.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Because the Attorney General --
BAKER: Breonna --
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: You heard the Attorney General Cameron say that the officers were just firing their weapons because Breonna Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker actually shot first. He fired the first shot and injured one of the police officers.
So what is your response to that?
BAKER: My response to that is he needs to continue to research the law on self-defense in Kentucky. You cannot defend yourself such that you put other innocent persons at risk
[01:34:51] BAKER: And Breonna Taylor was unarmed. She was an innocent person that
night. She should not have been fired upon and she should not have been fired upon after she was already down.
I know Daniel Cameron spoke of the fatal shot. Breonna Taylor was struck six times. It does not take six times to shoot an unarmed woman. So they were not entitled to self-defense. They were not justified under self-defense in this case. So he needs to do a little bit more research on the full scope of self defense in Kentucky.
BLITZER: The attorney general also says the investigation revealed that the police officers did knock and did announce their presence before they decided to reach the door. The attorney general says an independent witness actually can back that up.
But that's not what we heard from Kenneth Walker who told the 9-1-1 dispatcher, "I don't know what happened, someone kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend."
We also heard from Walker's attorney in the last hour here in "THE SITUATION ROOM" that other witnesses did not hear these police officers identify themselves. Do you have any more information about why those accounts are so different?
BAKER: I take Attorney General Daniel Cameron's one independent witness and raise him nearly a dozen neighbors who say that police officers did not announce themselves.
This is a situation where the prosecutor presented the case to the grand jury took as fact the statement of the police officers when that should have been a decision to be made by a jury at trial, not in a grand jury process. There's conflicting evidence -- the conflicting evidence that nearly a dozen neighbors -- dozen plus neighbors that said the officers did not announce themselves alongside Kenneth Walker who says the officers -- and he's always maintained like you said since the 9-1-1 call that they did not announce themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. Well, reaction to this case also pouring in from celebrity sports stars, politicians and rights activists. The basketball star Lebron James tweeting quoting, "The most disrespected person on earth is this black woman. I promise you I'll do my best to change this as much as I can and even more."
And James has long been outspoken about Taylor's case specifically, saying he was devastated by the decision.
The son of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., human rights advocate. He tweeted this. Quote, "This is a sad day for America and for justice. Today no one was truly charged for Breonna Taylor's murder and her family deserves much better. This is again why elections matter not just for the president." He said we must vote up and down the ballot by November 3rd. Black Lives Matter, he said.
The Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders writing quote, "Breonna Taylor's life mattered. The result is a disgrace and an application of justice. Our criminal justice system is racist. The time for fundamental change is now."
And the actress Viola Davis tweeted quote, "Bull decision. Black lives matter cannot be said enough times."
Now recapping one of the big headlines on the coronavirus, the U.S. President says he may reject the Food and Drug Administration's guidelines for a corona vaccine, undermining trust in the agency while in the midst of a pandemic. President Trump accusing the FDA of playing politics and says he might overrule its vaccine approval process. You heard that right, he's eager to get a vaccine out of course before the election in November.
Now this comes the same week as the United States COVID death toll surpassed 200,000, with the number of confirmed cases approaching seven million.
This centers of the U.S. -- the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and prevention warning that more than 90 percent of Americans remain susceptible to the virus.
Dr. Amy Compton Phillips is a CNN medical analyst and chief clinical officer for the Providence Health System. she joins us now from Seattle in Washington. Doctor, thanks so much for doing so.
I'm curious what goes through your mind when you hear the president accuse the FDA of playing politics and that he might overrule them when it comes to their stricter guidelines for a vaccine approval?
DR. AMY COMPTON-PHILLIPS, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, honestly, what goes through my mind is could this get any worse? We don't need to undermine our institutions that actually do a really good job at looking at data and deciding what's safe. And it helped us get this far in the pandemic.
What we need to do is really support the scientists and the individual that have dedicated their lives to making sure medicines are safe and effective. Let's support them, not undermine them.
HOLMES: You actually tweeted out a few days ago, and I wanted to just read it out. You said "The goal isn't to have a COVID-19 vaccine before the election, it is to have a vaccine when it's proven to be safe and effective."
Are you worried, when you listen to the president that that is not how things are going?
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COMPTON-PHILLIPS: I do. I want to know that our leaders are here to protect us as Americans, right? That they are there to ensure that we are pursuing life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, and the common good for all.
And that means that we are putting the need to have science go ahead of the election, and it doesn't feel to me like that's what we're doing at the moment. Let's make sure that the vaccine is safe and effective, and let the timing be what it is. Not worry about November 4th.
HOLMES: Yes. I guess when you got the president of the United States saying that the FDA is being political. I mean this is the body Americans that people know. This is the body Americans trust to protect them. What if the White House does push a vaccine past the FDA?
COMPTON PHILLIPS: Well, fortunately, in the couple times where it felt like there was political pressure, the FDA was able to raise its head and say, no, no, no, we are going to actually walk this back a little bit. And so, I hope that the power of the scientists, and the people who have made the FDA respected for all these years is strong enough to resist that political pressure. So, that is my hope.
HOLMES: When it comes to the public -- I mean, there was new polling out over the last week showing that 51 percent of people would get the vaccine down from 72 percent. I mean just speak to the growing public skepticism, what can be done, if anything, to convince the public that the vaccine, a vaccine, is safe? I mean even if one is genuinely safe, it doesn't matter if people don't trust it.
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: So, you are speaking exactly to why, in that original pandemic playbook they got thrown out, and, you know we started from scratch was rule number one is ensure that you reliably, consistently tell the truth, leading with science, and bringing the public along on the work, right? You don't over promise and under deliver. You don't miraculously say things are going to go away.
Instead, you say, this is what reality is, and these are the many miraculous things we can do to help intervene and stop the spread and the contagion from getting out of control. And so, instead of doing that, by promising miracle cures too soon, we politicized the process, and that's what happened now. And that's what's undermining the trust in our institutions versus we know the American public can handle the truth.
If we explain the science, they understand the science. And they go along on this journey with us because we are moving so fast to create a vaccine. It's blazing fast.
But if we don't have the trust of the public, that blazing fast vaccine is going to sit on a shelf, and be useless.
HOLMES: That's the thing, I mean in the U.S. in particular, but elsewhere around the world. There is already a sizeable anti vaccine movement regardless of coronavirus. I mean -- and this president once raised alleged links between autism and vaccines.
But then you throw out concerns that this process is being rushed, perhaps safety protocols might be short circuited. Do you worry not just about this vaccine, that not enough people will take it, but the vaccine trust in general for other things? Dr. COMPTON-PHILLIPS: It's trust across the board. It's trust in in
science, it's trust in our government, it's trust in our institutions. It is being eroded. It's being eroded by misinformation, and by campaigns against, you know, basically fundamental truths.
And so, I hope that through honesty, transparency, consistency, and being forthright with the public we can actually start repairing some of what's broken.
HOLMES: There has been damage done.
Dr. Amy Compton Phillips, always a pleasure. Thank you.
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Thank you.
HOLMES: Now the Canadian Prime Minister is not just warning of a second wave of the virus. He says it has already arrived. Infections in Canada have nearly tripled over the past 5 weeks.
Paula Newton with details on that and Justin Trudeau's response.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a very sobering message from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. And it is incredibly rare for a prime minister in Canada to address the nation in this way.
The issue is Canada's exponential growth of coronavirus cases. Now just a few months ago we were talking about Canada crushing the curve. In absolute terms, the numbers still aren't that bad, averaging about 1,100 cases per day and that would be for the last week.
At issue though is the exponential growth, and that is what is concerning everyone including the prime minister.
Take a listen.
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: It's all too likely we won't be gathering for Thanksgiving. But we still have a shot at Christmas. Together, we have the power to get the second wave under control.
[01:44:53]
NEWTON: Canadian thanksgiving in just a few weeks and really what the prime minister is hoping is that in six to eight weeks they might get this pandemic under control again.
At issue here has been young people. About two-thirds of all the new cases are from people under the age of 40 and everyone here right now are saying should be keeping those social contacts to a minimum. The problem has been that people have been doing things that they assume are harmless. Dinner parties, having friends over, and that has led to a lot of community transmission.
The exponential growth is what's really concerning people here. About 1,100 cases on average per day for the last week. It doesn't seem like a lot, but that trendline could continue to grow, and if it does, health experts fear that the caseload could grow four or five times in the next four or five weeks.
Trudeau telling Canadians, look, you have done it before, you can do it again. We need to crush that curve.
Paula Newton, CNN -- Ottawa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Now, the U.K. has recorded its highest number of new coronavirus infections since early May more than 6,000 cases confirmed on Wednesday alone. It is the third highest daily spike since the pandemic hit the U.K. and it comes just a day after the prime minister announced new measures to try to contain the outbreak.
Scott McLean reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced strict new coronavirus restrictions. And now new numbers show just how badly they are needed. The U.K. has reported more than 6,000 cases of the coronavirus, its largest single day tally since early May.
The new restrictions force bars to close early, and legally mandate that masks are worn in stores and shops. The prime minister ahs also promised that those rules will come with stricter enforcement, even allowing police forces to call in the military to help.
The London Metropolitan Police have not said if they will take the prime minister up on his offer of military assistance, but they do say that they will step up their enforcement efforts though the fines and arrests will still be reserved only for flagrant breaches of the law.
This second wave of the coronavirus here in the U.K. comes just a month before a government-waived subsidy program, currently sporting millions of Brits is set to expire. But Wednesday in parliament, the Prime Minister rejected opposition calls to extend it.
Scott McLean, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Coming up next here on CNN NEWSROOM. how a British farm became a biodiversity hot spot by putting the animals to work. We will be right back.
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[01:49:53]
HOLMES: Welcome back.
Call to Earth is a call to action for the environment to share solutions to critical issues. We are talking about things like global warming, or deforestation, plastic waste, of course.
It's a long term priority for all of us here at CNN. To work with you, our audience, to drive awareness, and inspire change, so we can engineer a sustainable future.
Well today, a British farm is transformed into a place of astonishing bio-diversity by letting the animals take charge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've seen this explosion of life. And life has come back because of a new habitat. It's been that's been created with a whole lot of bit animals.
There hasn't been any chemicals used on this land for 20 years. Everything from the soil up has changed and brought back life into this landscape.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nest (ph) is a 3,500 acre Estate in the south of England. It's the family home of Charlie Barrows (ph) and his wife Isabella Tree (ph) who have transformed it into a place of astonishing biodiversity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: and you see a little piglet there. I inherited the estate at age 21 in 1985. We are on this very poor agriculture land. So after 17 years of convention forming, I got to a point when I just felt that I couldn't go on because we actually were beginning to lose serious money and the future looked pretty bleak.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 20 years ago, the couple stopped dairy and arable farming. Instead, choosing to let nature take its course. The process pioneered by American and Dutch conservationists is called rewilding.
It's about kicking off natural processes again in the system, and then as human beings trying to stand back from it as much as possible. And let nature perform.
So, one of the things you can do is introduce free roaming herbivores, and all of them, the way they disturb the land, the way they trample (INAUDIBLE), and everything they do has a hugely important knock-on effect. There's a domino effect (INAUDIBLE).
The state has attracted many rare species, like turtledoves, white stork, and purple Emperor butterflies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the food plant of the butterfly, and we haven't now acres and of this plant. This butterfly is an incredibly rare butterfly. Here, you can see there are hundreds. This could be the most common butterfly in Britain if we allowed this plant to grow back into our lives.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Intensive agriculture and climate change have been two of the biggest drivers of a devastating loss of biodiversity worldwide.
The net success shows it is possible to reverse that process. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the things that (INAUDIBLE) has given people
is this feeling of hope because within 15, 20 years, quite a lot of rare species, their populations -- they're growing again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It has also helped bring in revenue from organic to meat sales and a glamping and Safari business and safari business which Bo says has helped double profits.
Once a lift of faith, rewilding has offered Nat (ph) as well as nature, a second chance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To see a landscape in your own country and what you've been missing suddenly comes to life has been this extraordinary revelation, the surprise, this feeling of joy that we can do it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: What a great story. Let's have more of that.
We will continue showcasing inspirational stories like that one as part of this CNN initiative. And do let us know what you are doing to answer the call with the hashtag Call to Earth.
[01:54:14]
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HOLMES: Marine conservationists are now facing a harsh reality after almost 400 whales died. They were beached off the coast of Tasmania in Australia, in the worst mass stranding in the state's history.
CNN's Angus Watson with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANGUS WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A desperate effort by rescuers to judge which of these whales are still alive before attempting to refloat them, and move each individually to the safety of deeper waters.
Over 450 of these pilot whales have been found stranded on Tasmania's treacherous coastline since Monday. Scientists are considering this as one event of mass beaching, as mysterious as it is sad.
KRIS CARLYON, MARINE CONSERVATION PROGRAM WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST: The animals that are still alive, we think we do have a chance with those, given that they are what you would call at the stage and we are pushing ahead with rescue at this stage.
WATSON: The situation was demoralizing enough on Monday. The discovery of around 200 more early on Wednesday, left the rescuers deflated. Hundreds are now dead, only a lucky few have been saved.
NIC DEKA, REGIONAL MANAGER, PARKS AND WILDLIFE SERVICES, TASMANIA: Certainly from the air, they didn't look to be in condition that would warrant rescue. Most of them appear to be dead, but we're waiting on advice from the ground crew before you make a final call on what we do.
WATSON: Scientists can't yet say how this happened.
CARLYON: As far as we know, this was a natural event, so we can accept that we are going to lose some animals.
This is such a tricky event, such a complex event, that any way we save, we consider, you know, a real win.
WATSON: Australia's rugged and remote southern island has seen grim mass beaching events before, particularly with pilot whales known as close knit and social animals. That doesn't make pictures like these any easier to see.
Angus Watson -- in Sydney, Australia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. I appreciate your company.
CNN NEWSROOM continues after a quick break with Robyn Curnow.
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