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Interview with Former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA); Saying Goodbye to 2020. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired December 31, 2020 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:00]
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Priority as they always secure this area this time of year. But this particular one they have a new challenge of making sure people stay away. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF TERENCE MONAHAN, NYPD CHIEF: We are not going to allow people to stand on the street corner, stare up, don't come. Do not come to the area. If you think you're going to be able to stand there and watch the ball, you're mistaken. Don't come. Watch it at home; it will be a spectacular television show. Next year we'll all gather together and we'll fill Times Square but this year don't even attempt to come down there to watch it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRAS: And you know what, it's a little cold, it's a little rainy maybe it's a good idea to just sit on your couch and really just take that advice to stay home. Certainly, no matter what, at midnight, Bianna, we are going to be ringing in a new year however you choose to safely. Bianna.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: And that police chief means business. I'm going to take him literally there. Stay home, don't mess with him, don't mess with those folks there guarding Times Square. We can ring in the new year next year together. Brynn Gingras, thank you.
GINGRAS: Yes.
GOLODRYGA: Well, CNN's New Year's Eve coverage live from Times Square with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen kicks off at 8 o'clock Eastern. Some of the special guests include Mariah Carey, Patti LeBelle, Dion Warwick and Carole Baskin of "Tiger King" fame. Watch us from home and enjoy the night.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:35:00]
GOLODRYGA: GOP Senator Ben Sasse calling his colleague's ploy to object to the congressional count of Electoral College votes dangerous. But Missouri Senator Josh Hawley is defending his choice to challenge Joe Biden's victory next week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): Democrats have done this for years in order to raise concerns about election integrity. Now when Republicans, 74 million Americans have concerns about election integrity we're supposed to just sit down and shut up. I mean somebody has to stand up here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: One of those Democrats Hawley may be referring to is former California Senator Barbara Boxer. She objected to Electoral College results in 2005. Former Senator Boxer joins me now to talk about this all. Good morning. Great to see you. Happy New Year's to you. So let's start right there; in the 2004 race you objected to President George W. Bush's reelection victory in Ohio over Democrat John Kerry. So explain how this and what Senator Hawley is doing is different?
FMR. SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D-CA): Well there's no comparison to what Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones and I did in '05. Number one; John Kerry had conceded the race, we have a president here who's orchestrating kind of an overthrow of the election.
Secondly, we said up front, we had no interest; we said up front we had interest in overturning the election. All we wanted was to focus on voter suppression that we saw in Ohio. She came to me on behalf of members of the black caucus; she showed my photographs of African American voters standing in line in the rain with children in their hands, some of them in their arms for up to nine hours.
We found out that there were only two voting machines in some of these precincts whereas in the white areas there were 20. So all we said was we wanted to take an hour of the Senate's time - she took an hour of the House time, we said up front it was nothing to do with overturning the election. We didn't want to get any other votes; we just wanted to focus on what we called electoral justice. And after that was over - not that I was popular at the moment because senators were very angry they had to spend an hour listening to this.
But after it was over Senator Clinton and I and others wrote a very important bill to get more resources to local governments so they could put in more machines and make sure that people didn't have to stand in line for more than one hour (ph).
(CROSSTALK)
GOLODRYGA: And -
BOXER: And by the way that was never passed. The Republicans would not pass that.
GOLODRYGA: Well we should note, rightly, as you mentioned that Congresswoman Jones was there with you and that John Kerry did not join your argument. And he in fact conceded the election. But I wonder if now, given where things are, given that you have Senator Hawley say that there was precedent and this has been done before. Do you regret your actions then? If for no other reason than that many Republicans may use this as an example of this having been precedent?
BOXER: You know that's a great point. I do not regret it for one half a second. When Stephanie Tubbs Jones came to my office she had been a judge before she was a member of Congress. She had tears in her eyes because of what she saw. The fact that we took an hour to talk about an issue which then exploded on the scene; it was really a (inaudible) moment in a way. No, why would I regret spending an hour talking about the right to vote, not at all.
If these Republicans are going to lie about it and say it's the same thing, that's on them. That's on them. And I'm sorry they're doing this, this is ridiculous. Could I just say 60 different opinions issued by courts all across the country they - this is - this is a phony deal.
(CROSSTALK)
GOLODRYGA: No.
[10:40:00]
BOXER: And it's also - it's also an attack on democracy. It's not someone standing up and saying I don't want to turn the election over and everyone could my speech and her speech. We just wanted to call attention to the fact that people stood in line for hours and really it didn't - didn't really have a right to vote. There's no comparison.
GOLODRYGA: Yes.
BOXER: That's why I'm saying - that's like saying should we do away with all laws because somebody used it in - in - in the wrong way which is what they're doing. Of course not.
GOLODRYGA: We should know - we should know it's ridiculous what he's doing. He knows better and it's an attack on our democracy and there are probably million of voters who may now question the integrity of our election system because of that. But quickly, in the final seconds, should President Elect Biden say something? He's been very reserved for the most part about not lashing out and trying to work with the other side. But in terms of what is going to happen now, January 6, should he say something about what Senator Hawley is doing?
BOXER: I think that without making it a personal attack, Joe Biden has been very, very clear that the election is over, he's preparing to become president. He will be a great president. He's focused on the future, he's focused on the pain people are suffering. I wouldn't get into a fight with this senator who is misusing his power, who is comparing it to what I did, which is ridiculous. All people have to do is see the speech that I made, the speech that Stephanie Tubbs Jones made. There is no comparison. And maybe this is a moment for people to really look at -
(CROSSTALK)
GOLODRYGA: Yes.
BOXER: -- different ways we can use the laws that we have.
GOLODRYGA: Well, we are out of time. Former California Senator Barbara Boxer. But I know that this has revved you up. Thank you, so much for coming on and breaking it down for us. I appreciate it. And Happy New Year to you.
BOXER: You too.
GOLODRYGA: Well good-bye 2020, hello 2021. Australia rang in the new year this morning with a fireworks show over Sydney Harbor and just like other countries around the world this year's celebration was crowd free because of coronavirus.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:45:00]
GOLODRYGA: In the middle of a global pandemic this year, the nation was forced to confront systemic racism and inequality. Sara Sidner has more on how 2020 became a year like no other amid a national reckoning over race and policing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE FLOYD, MAN MURDERED BY POLICE: I can't breathe.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Those three words took the world's breath away. In 2020 the killing of 46-year old George Floyd pushed policing and race to the forefront of American consciousness.
UNKNOWN: (Inaudible) gentlemen.
SIDNER: All the moments leading to Floyd's death are captured on video. After he's accused of passing a counterfeit $20 bill.
FLOYD: I can't breathe. (Inaudible).
SIDNER: Video of his death viewed by millions across the world.
UNKNOWN: Breaking overnight; protestor clashing with police in Minneapolis.
UNKNOWN: The fire has started at the Third Precinct. We're watching it be set right now.
UNKNOWN: The mayor has just announced the four officers involved in the death of George Floyd are now, his words, "Former employees".
SIDNER: Protest were spreading eventually becoming the largest civil rights protest the world has ever seen. There were moments of solidarity. And moments of humility. The Minneapolis Police Chief removing his cap as CNN connected him with Floyd's family for their very first conversation. MEDARIA ARRADONDO, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE CHIEF: This is the Floyd family,
right now.
UNKNOWN: This is the Floyd family.
ARRADONDO: To the Floyd family, being silent or not intervening to me, you're complicit. So I don't see a level of distinction any different.
SIDNER: But those moments of togetherness were broken apart by bouts of police brutality during the protest against it. Burning and looting by some who took part in protest. And poor policing, one example, playing out live on air.
UNKNOWN: If you're just tuning in, you are watching our correspondent, Omar Jimenez, being arrested by state police in Minnesota.
SIDNER: As the protest for Floyd continued in the streets; names of other black Americans killed by police were hoisted up in the crowd. One, in particular.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: In the breaking news, this morning, questions around the country about how a black woman could be killed in her apartment by police and no one charged in her death. He name, as we know, was Breonna Taylor.
SIDNER: Police say they announced who they were before entering the apartment but her boyfriend disputes that.
KENNETH WALKER: There was a loud bang at the door, nobody was responding when (ph) we were saying who is it?
SIDNER: He fired his legal weapon thinking it was an intruder. Police say they fired only after being fired upon. All but one officer was charged. No one faced charges for killing Taylor.
UNKNOWN: According to Kentucky law; the use of force was justified.
SIDNER: Across the world people joined the chorus of voices pressing for charges against Louisville Police officers in her case.
[10:50:00]
Two grand jurors sued to speak out. Saying the Kentucky State Attorney General lied to the public about the charges he sought.
UNKNOWN: They said there were other possible charges that we considered but nothing that we could make stick.
SIDNER: And Taylor's family decided to fight in another way; politically. Alongside their attorney, Benjamin Crump, who had become synonymous with civil rights cases.
UNKNOWN: If we don't get out here and change the people that are in these positions they are going to continue to kill us.
SIDNER: The Black Lives Matter movement suddenly became one of the soul focuses of a nation as many Americans sheltered at home. Because all of this unfolded as the pandemic began ravaging the country. Particularly devastating the black community who were dying from COVID-19 at twice the rate of white Americans.
In Kenosha, Wisconsin two shooting incidents caught America's attention. Jacob Blake was shot in the back by an officer trying to detain him; his children watching from the back of a van. When police arrived on the scene for a domestic dispute they later said he had a knife and they recovered it from his van. And there was worry he might be kidnapping the children. Blake's family and attorney balked at the police story insisting he was unarmed.
UNKNOWN: Do Jacob justice on this level and examine your hearts. We need healing.
SIDNER: Instead fires and fury exploded in the streets.
UNKNOWN: The unrest here in Kenosha turning even more violent, even deadly overnight.
SIDNER: A white suspect shoots three people; two are killed, as protestors chase the alleged shooter, Kyle Rittenhouse.
UNKNOWN: And as he's walking by with his hands up, but he has his gun there; police just roll right by him.
SIDNER: Rittenhouse's attorney said it was self defense. He now faces charges of murder and possessing an illegal weapon.
UNKNOWN: There's two justice systems; there's one for that white boy that walked down the street and murdered those two people and blew that other man's arm off. And then there is a justice system for mine.
SIDNER: That same dynamic played out in Georgia. First in February, 25-year old Ahmaud Arbery chased down and then gunned down while jogging. When police arrived, Arbery's lying face down on the road. Initially police treat Arbery as the suspect and the white man who killed him as the victims. Social media erupts when the initial video was posted. It takes 74 days before the men are charged and arrested.
UNKNOWN: I want to see these people go to jail. Go to prison, whatever. They need the harsh time (ph) they can get (ph).
SIDNER: The man accused of taking his life said they thought they were chasing down a robber. One of the men recorded the killing but Arbery was simply jogging while black.
On June 12 another black man in Georgia dies at the hands of police. 27-year old Rayshard Brooks was sleeping in his car blocking a Wendy's drive through when police were called to the scene.
UNKNOWN: I can walk home.
SIDNER: For 40 minutes his interaction with police is calm but when police try to arrest Brooks he fights back appearing to try to use the officer's taser against the officers. While running away he is shot and killed.
The shooting added fuel to ongoing nationwide protest against systemic racism and police brutality. The police chief resigned, criminal charges were sought against the two officers. The cases, one after another prompted calls of dismantling police. But that idea doesn't stick.
What does get traction is defunding the police. At least a dozen cities plan to cut or did cut some police department funding to put it towards other community safety programs including those involving mental health care.
In September calls for a different approach to those in mental health crisis exploded after this Rochester, New York police body camera video is released from a March incident.
Police are seen putting a spit on Daniel Prude who said he had coronavirus. Prude was naked and clearly in distress. He was later declared brain dead as a result of officers holding him down even after he vomited into the spit hood.
No one faced discipline until the video went public. The police chief is soon fired.
UNKNOWN: We have pervasive problem in the Rochester Police Department.
SIDNER: The demands for police reform only heightened as 2020 came to a close. Police say they're under fire and under pressure as crime spikes in some cities. While many black and brown Americans say in 2020 they faced two epidemics; coronavirus and racism. Both disproportionately killing them.
[10:55:00]
SIDNER: As the first female black vice president and the man who served under the very first black president are poised to take office in January the black community, who played a major role in helping them get elected are demanding concrete change; policy not just words. Sara Sidner, CNN Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: And our thanks to Sara for that important look back. We should note that all of the suspects criminally charged have pleaded not guilty or denied the allegations in their cases. Well that does it for me this week. I want to thank you so much for joining me and allowing me to come into your homes. I'm Bianna Golodryga. Jim Scuitto picks up after a quick break. Happy New Year.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:00:00]
