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Slow Europe Rollout Prolonging Pandemic; Millions Celebrating Easter Under Restrictions; Crisis In Tigray; Atlanta Mayor Fears Boycott Over New Voting Law; Jordanian Prince Restricted To Home; Taiwan Train Derailment Victims' Families Struggle With Loss; George Floyd Murder Trial Resumes Monday; Ancient Pharaohs Relocated To New Home. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired April 04, 2021 - 03:00   ET

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

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Paula Newton.

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, crisis in Tigray, the United States reactions to a CNN report on alleged atrocities in Ethiopia.

A new coronavirus daily record but this one is actually good news.

Plus a parade fit for a pharaoh, as Egypt moves some royal mummies to a new home.

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NEWTON: So today is Easter Sunday and millions around the world are again celebrating Christianity's holiest day under various levels of COVID restrictions. And that includes Italy, which has imposed a three-day lockdown.

Easter services at the Vatican are being scaled way back for the second year in a row. The papal mass begins next hour and we'll have more on that in just a moment.

First, the situation in the United States is a bit more relaxed than in other places right now, thanks in part to an aggressive vaccine initiative. More than 4 million doses of vaccine were given over the last 24 hours alone and that is a daily record.

For Americans still unsure about whether to get vaccinated, health experts say the shots are the surest, quickest way to get back to normal. Here's what Dr. Anthony Fauci told our Jim Acosta.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF COVID-19 MEDICAL ADVISER: The thing we can do is what we're doing with the vaccines. We're really, really pushing on that. And, you know, there was an announcement a couple days ago about the COVID-19 community corps, where we're essentially engaging trusted messengers from the community, be they people who are trusted church leaders, clergy, athletes, entertainers, people in the community, to get people to get out there and when vaccine becomes available to you, to get vaccinated.

I agree with you completely, Jim. It's a tough sell to get people who have COVID-19 fatigue to just continue to abide by the public health measures. It's not going to be easy. I hope we have a degree of success. But in the meanwhile, you and I are talking about this, but every day, 3 million to 4 million people are getting vaccinated. That is going to be the solution, Jim. That's the solution.

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NEWTON: There are, in fact, ample signs that Americans are ready to put the pandemic behind them. The Transportation Security Administration says more than 1 million passengers are now passing through U.S. airports each and every day. And that is the highest level since the pandemic began.

We want to begin our coverage now with the Easter Sunday that it is now at the Vatican.

Our CNN's Delia Gallagher, it is gorgeous behind you. Yet, Delia, empty for yet another Easter. This is supposed to be a time of renewal for Christians all over the world. And yet the pope knows what's at stake here, especially as Europe has started yet another round of lockdowns.

What is his message?

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, interestingly, his message last night at Easter vigil was one of renewal. This is the Easter weekend for Christians. It's the weekend that celebrates renewal, the resurrection of Jesus and new life.

The pope said, actually, renewal is possible. He said, from the rubble of our hearts, God can create a work of art. So certainly a message of hope that you're going to hear again today on Easter, which is quite fitting, from the pope at Easter time.

Another message which he's been focused on this weekend, just on Friday, he went to the vaccine center, where he has offered to vaccinate 1,200 homeless and marginalized people at the Vatican. Of course, that's a major focus for the pope, always has been.

But particularly when it comes to vaccinations, he wants to make sure that governments around the world are also remembering to vaccinate those people who might fall between the cracks of the health care system -- Paula?

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NEWTON: Yes, and that's been an interesting thing that's occurred, of course, because both the Vatican and the U.N. have been pointing out that many marginalized individuals all over the world and many Christians, in fact, have not -- don't have a hope of seeing a vaccine for a very long time.

And even in Europe, Delia, this has been so difficult. I'm struck by the fact that you have St. Peter's Square empty behind you. And Italy really isn't doing very well again, again, in a fairly strict lockdown for yet another Easter.

GALLAGHER: Well, that's right. What we've been noticing here, Paula, keep in mind, two years ago, this square would have been filled with -- was filled with thousands of tourists, flowers, so on.

Of course, we are in a national lockdown for the next three days, tomorrow as well, because Little Easter is a big holiday as well for Italians. So Italians need to stay in their community of residence, in their city or town of residence. They can go out around their houses.

What we've been noticing here is one of the reasons Italians can go out is to exercise. So we've had a lot of people jogging by or riding their bicycles by the Vatican, because that's a legitimate excuse to be outside today. They can go to church but it has to be a local church, whatever's near their home.

So St. Peter's Basilica will be open in the afternoon after the pope's mass. But obviously that's meant to be visited only by local people. There are no tourists here right now and for the foreseeable future, unfortunately -- Paula.

NEWTON: Delia, as you were talking there were a few runners, just before you said that, that were in the shot. Perhaps it gave them some solace. Definitely a gorgeous shot there. Unfortunately, though, empty at St. Peter's Square. We'll wait to hear from the pope in the coming hours. Thanks so much, Delia Gallagher, at Vatican City.

Good news in the U.K.'s war on COVID. On Saturday, just 10 fatalities reported from the virus. That's the lowest level since September. And more than 5 million people have received their second dose of a vaccine.

All this comes as British prime minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce the next steps in easing restrictions. But there may be strong opposition from Parliament. For more, I'm joined by CNN's Salma Abdelaziz in London.

Salma, all eyes are on Britain and for good reason. I know many of us have been watching the numbers there, because it is so indicative of exactly what the vaccinations can do. And yet now we're also seeing Britain taking the lead on what are they doing, what will be normal.

How quickly will that be -- come to fruition?

Also the issue of passports, will they have vaccine passports?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: It's indeed kind of a very stark contrast right now. You see European countries like Italy and France putting in more restrictions, while the U.K. is trying to figure out what you do when you get to the other side of the mountain.

We are expecting an announcement tomorrow, in which government officials should explain for the first time how and when and if there can be foreign travel this year, how that will take place.

And that comes down to what is colloquially described as vaccine passports what the authorities have called a COVID certification at times. Today a cabinet minister, Michael Gove, releasing an article in an op-ed, arguing that foreign travel will inevitably require some form of vaccine passport.

So why don't we look at using that COVID certification, as he calls it, to help ease things inside the country, to help ease things domestically?

There's going to be a pilot program this month. Several events rolled out where they're going to try to test this scheme. People will have some form of a document, whether that be digital or paper.

It should indicate whether they've taken a vaccine, if they've had a negative result in recent days and if they have something called natural immunity which is essentially, if they've had a positive result in the last few months and therefore might have antibodies against COVID.

Officials want to see this trialed at sports events, conferences, nightclubs. The very first event, the very first pilot event, will be a comedy event in Liverpool on April 16th, where people will be tested before and after.

But of course, there's also a lot of practical and ethical considerations here as well, Paula. There are some people who can't take the vaccine for health reasons. Michael Gove, the senior government official I spoke with, did mention that in the article and said, we cannot use these passports for anything that's not kind of a voluntary event, like a sports match.

It can't be used for going to the grocery store, going to the pharmacy, anything like that. We have to be careful about where and when we use these. But these could allow for events and venues to reopen and portably even without social distancing.

NEWTON: It's been interesting to see how different countries are handling that. We just had a report also from the Netherlands.

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NEWTON: They said they were trying these experimental events. All of this is going to be a reality, likely sooner in Britain than most other countries around the world. Salma, I appreciate the update from London.

As Europe and the U.S. look to life after COVID-19, many countries, as we've been saying, still face huge challenges when it comes to vaccine access. Cuba, for example, faces a weakened economy and U.S. sanctions. But remarkably, it's still trying to develop COVID vaccines of its

own, a first for Latin America. Patrick Oppmann has more from Havana.

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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the first of an estimated 150,000 Cuban frontline workers, who will receive one of the island's homegrown vaccine candidates.

Ida Martinez is a dentist, sent by the Cuban government to help stop the virus' spread.

"We've been working this whole time, in testing at the airport, in isolation centers. We are people at high risk. This will give us more protection."

Cuba is the first country in Latin America to develop two vaccine candidates that have advanced to the final phase III trials. The government said it couldn't afford to compete with richer countries for a limited supply of vaccines and in a biotech industry, first started 30 years ago by Fidel Castro, who was the island's best chance at controlling the virus.

OPPMANN: Cuba has bet everything on making its own vaccines. There really is no plan B. But if the vaccine candidates live up to Cuban scientists' predictions, this small, poor island will be on the cutting edge of vaccine research.

OPPMANN (voice-over): Cuba says its vaccines will comply with international standards and eventually the island hopes to sell or donate their vaccines to other countries.

But as the number of cases remain at record levels here and the economy is plummeting, Cuban officials announced a far wider test of the vaccine candidates that would involve millions of volunteers.

With this expanded study, just the vaccine candidate, not the placebo, will be administered, health officials said. Even if Cuban officials don't call it mass vaccination, they hope the campaign will bring the virus under control.

Most adults in Havana, the epicenter of the virus here, could be vaccinated by May, officials said.

"For 19 years and older, we will be working that population in this intervention, practically 2 million people."

While Cuban officials say taking the vaccine will not be mandatory, it will be, let's say, strongly encouraged by health officials going door to door and in slickly produced government videos like this one, which says recipients are being given not just a dose of a vaccine but of their country.

Vaccine experts consulted by CNN say, by carrying out mass vaccinations before Cuba had completed testing, the island's government risked wasting valuable resources and eroding the public's trust.

Officials at the clinic we visited said testing had already proven Cuban vaccine candidates were safe and effective.

"We were all convinced the vaccine works and it gives immunity."

The Cuban government says its universal health care system is one of the triumphs of the island's revolution. That system has suffered during Cuba's economic crises, though, and now may face its greatest test yet -- Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.

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NEWTON: Coming up, an update on the worsening crisis in Ethiopia and the growing international outrage over an apparent massacre in that country.

Also ahead, Major League Baseball's All-Star game has been pulled out of Atlanta. Georgia's governor is blaming cancel culture as he takes heat from the state's new elections law.

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NEWTON: Shocking video of an alleged massacre in Ethiopia's Tigray region is drawing harsh international condemnation. CNN and Amnesty International have verified the soldiers in the video are wearing Ethiopian military uniforms. They are shown apparently executing at least 11 unarmed men and pushing their bodies off a cliff.

The U.N.'s human rights chief says war crimes may have been committed. The U.S., Germany, France and other G7 nations are now calling for an international investigation. CNN's Nima Elbagir, who broke the story, joins us from London.

The video and your report was just so chilling. For months now, we've reported on the atrocities in Eritrea. In this video, we see men in Ethiopian military uniforms. The distinction is important.

Why?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, because the implication has been, when these world leaders -- and most notably President Biden's envoy, Chris Coons, when he went to Ethiopia -- the emphasis was around the withdrawal of Eritrean troops, which Ethiopia hadn't acknowledged were in the country until very recently.

What this video shows, when you see those young men, surrounded by Ethiopian soldiers, who are utterly brazen about asking the whistleblower, who we were able to verify was a soldier, when you see them calling the whistleblower forward and you see what happens to those young men in this video.

And what we were able to verify with families in the area and local villagers, that young men had been dragged from their homes prior to this massacre, it gives you a sense of the impunity of state actors, of Ethiopian soldiers carrying out an extrajudicial execution and brazenly filming themselves.

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ELBAGIR: That has to change the calculus for the international community. This isn't about foreign actors coming in, albeit at the invitation of the Ethiopian government. This is now about Ethiopian state actors, Paula.

NEWTON: What's interesting here, we had that G7 statement, yet it still seems something the international -- pardon me -- that Ethiopia could shrug off. The international community, the U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and others are calling for an independent investigation and they've been doing this for months.

But what more can the international community do?

As you rightfully point out, the attack that we see in the video, that was brazen.

ELBAGIR: Yes. And this is the conversation that's now begun to be had, is that, up until this point, the U.S.-supported mechanism for investigating atrocities in the region was a joint mechanism, the Ethiopian human rights commission and the U.N. Human rights office together.

And they still maintain that is their position. But the issue really is that this is a state-appointed body. The Ethiopian human rights commission is a state-appointed body.

Should a state-appointed body be allowed, is it even capable of leading an investigation of this magnitude, where you now have complicity and culpability from state actors?

We're starting finally to hear dissenting voices. The head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the U.S., Gregory Meeks, responding to CNN's investigation, now starting to call for an internationally- led investigation.

It's the "led" bit that is crucial, Paula. He's essentially saying that Ethiopia should not be allowed to lead an investigation into atrocities, that now we have real compelling evidence; we have complicity of Ethiopian state actors.

We're waiting to hear back from the secretary of state in the U.S. and others, whether this is now going to be their call. That's going to be a big distinction for the international community.

Can Ethiopia be trusted to investigate atrocities that it is culpable in? NEWTON: Definitely an open question there. We'll see what their next steps are. Nima, thank you for your report. It was extraordinary but also very chilling.

Now the U.S. Capitol Police officers' union is calling on Congress to hire hundreds more police in the wake of Friday's deadly attack on the Capitol. The chairman of the union warns the department is understaffed and struggling to meet existing mission requirements.

Authorities say the suspect Friday killed one officer and wounded another after ramming a vehicle into a barricade. The wounded officer has been released from hospital.

Details about the attack remain scarce, though. Officials say it does not appear to be terror related. As CNN's Pete Muntean reports, investigators are looking into the suspect's social media posts and found some worrying details in them.

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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Investigators are, just now, digging into the past of 25-year-old Noah Green. And what may have inspired him to carry out the attack on the Capitol here, on Friday.

What's so interesting are his social media posts. We have discovered an Instagram account that appeared to have had belonged to Green, where he made a trio of disturbing posts leading up to that attack.

One of the posts says, quote, "I have suffered multiple home break- ins, food poisonings, unauthorized operations and mind control."

Another post, a meme, the image of the leader of the nation of Islam. The text around it says, "The U.S. government is the enemy of Black people."

A third post describes, quote, "terrible afflictions by the CIA and FBI."

Now Green went to Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia. Not all that far away from here. We are told he played football there and some of his fellow football players tell us they saw similar posts like the ones I just described on his Facebook account, some, as recently as only a couple weeks ago, on March 17th.

One of his fellow football players said, quote, "He was going through some stuff, for sure."

Security here, only getting tighter. In fact, you can see the high fence that is around the Capitol perimeter. That one up, not long after the January 6th attack. But now, there are new, concrete barriers behind it. Nothing here being taken to chance -- Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.

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NEWTON: The mayor of Atlanta in Georgia is warning the state's economy will keep paying a steep price for its restrictive new voting law. Keisha Lance Bottoms isn't happy Major League Baseball has pulled the All-Star game out of her city but she says that's probably just the beginning of the fallout if the law is not changed or repealed.

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MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D), ATLANTA, GA: I can't say that I like it but I certainly understand it. And it is really probably the first of many boycotts of our state to come. And the consequences of this bill are significant.

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BOTTOMS: Just as the legislatures and the governor made the decision -- the legislators and governor made the decision to go forward with this bill, people are making decisions not to come to our state.

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NEWTON: Leaders of the Atlanta-based companies, including Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines, have criticized the law. U.S. President Joe Biden called it Jim Crow in the 21st century. But the Republican governor, who signed the law, says opponents are spreading falsehoods about what it really does.

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GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): Georgians and all Americans should know, what this decision means. It means, cancel culture and partisan activists, are coming for your business. Major League Baseball, Coca-Cola and Delta, may be scared of Stacey Abrams, Joe Biden and the Left but I am not. I want to be clear. I will not be backing down from this fight.

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NEWTON: CNN's Natasha Chen has more on governor Kemp's reaction.

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NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On Saturday, governor Kemp doubled down on this voting law, saying Major League Baseball caved to cancel culture, bending to the Left. He said President Joe Biden and Stacey Abrams, have been lying to the American people about this law.

I asked whether lies about the 2020 election had anything to do with the urgency and timeline of passing this bill into law.

Is the timing of this based on your belief that there was some fraud in recent elections in Georgia?

KEMP: I've realized, people have all kinds of difference of opinions and beliefs about the 2020 election. But make no mistake, there were issues that happened on the election, like they do in every election.

CHEN (voice-over): Kemp also said MLB should have come to him with specific complaints about the bill and that he would welcome questions about the specifics.

So we did ask him about things like banning mobile voting centers, banning the automatic mailing of absentee ballot applications, specifying the number of dropboxes and location.

He chalked up a lot of that to improved election security. Of course, now you have pro athletes and politicians, like former president Barack Obama, chiming in, saying, they support MLB's decision here.

Whether you support or oppose it, it is local businesses who are really going to hurt from potential lost revenue. Cobb County, where we are located here, estimates that there's more than $100 million potentially lost because of MLB relocating this All-Star game.

MLB has said that it will continue to invest in local organizations in Atlanta as part of All-Star legacy projects as originally planned -- Natasha Chen, CNN, Cobb County, Georgia.

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NEWTON: Still ahead on NEWSROOM, high-profile arrests in a country known for stability. Why the Jordanian king's half-brother says he can't leave his home.

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NEWTON: And a warm welcome back for our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton.

To Jordan, where key figures in the royal family have been arrested for, quote, "security reasons." That's according to the country's state news agency. And the former crown prince says he's been restricted to his home. Jomana Karadsheh is monitoring this story from Istanbul.

Fast-moving events, yet this video, in which the former crown prince says that he is confined to his home, was really just jarring. Very, very strange.

What has been the reaction?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think one word sums it up, Paula, and it's shock. Everyone is really trying to make sense of what has been going on in Jordan over the past 24 hours.

Initially, reports came out, media reports, suggesting there had been some sort of a plot that was disrupted in Jordan, a security operation that basically entailed a sweep, arrests of several known figures in the country. A junior member of the royal family, a former top official, a former

minister. And suggestions that Prince Hamzah, the former crown prince of Jordan, had been under house arrest.

Soon after that we got a statement from the Jordanian military, basically denying he was under arrest but saying he was asked to cease activities and movements that could be used and exploited by those trying to target the stability and security of Jordan, saying that there is an ongoing investigation, that there has been -- there have been arrests of several figures in the country.

They didn't really specify how many people have been detained in this operation, suggestions that the numbers are higher than what the authorities had disclosed by naming two figures.

But, Paula, what is really critical here is that bombshell video, as you mentioned. Just after we heard from the military in that statement, Prince Hamzah sending these two videos, one in Arabic, one in English; one that was obtained by the BBC, another in Arabic to an Arabic media network, where he talks about his status, his situation, saying he was asked by the military chief not to leave his home, that his internet was cut off, communication is cut off, that this is possibly the last message he's going to be able to get out, saying that his security had been taken away, friends had been arrested, saying that the only reason he was being targeted is to silence him.

And he goes on in this six-minute video, lashing out at the ruling structure in Jordan, as he called it.

NEWTON: Midmorning there still in Amman. We'll wait to see what unfolds in the coming hours. Jomana Karadsheh, thanks for the update. We'll continue to check in with you.

Taiwan's president is expressing condolences and pledging to help families with the funerals of the victims of Friday's passenger train derailment. At least 50 were killed, dozens more injured in the crash.

Authorities believe a parked truck slid down a hill onto the train tracks, causing the accident. Meantime, families of the victims are struggling, as you can imagine, to try and come to terms with the loss of so many loved ones.

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NEWTON (voice-over): The solemn chants inside the hall in eastern Taiwan are echoing the grief of dozens of families gathered near the site of the country's worst rail disaster in decades.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I'm full of regret. Raising my kid to where he is now. He graduated from college and recently passed an exam for a good company. He was on his way back for tomb sweeping day but ended up like this.

NEWTON (voice-over): Mr. Lu's (ph) son is among the dozens who lost their lives in the crash.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): A lot of people who died from the crash had standing tickets. My son seemed to have one, too. Standing ticket passengers usually focus on playing on their cellphones.

When the accident happened, they wouldn't have been able to react to what was happening. And would, immediately, have been heavily crushed.

NEWTON (voice-over): The express train with nearly 500 people onboard, derailed in a tunnel after a parked railway maintenance vehicle slipped down an embankment and onto the tracks, causing the unthinkable for so many families.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): During the crash, they were all thrown away out of their seats and thrown in the front. After that, Sister Chung Hu-mei (ph) woke up. After waking up, she saw that her husband was not breathing and had no heartbeat, beside her. And her son was not breathing and had no heartbeat, either.

She could not find her daughter. When she yelled, she found her daughter was under the iron sheets. She put her effort to move those pieces, one by one. But her daughter's voice became quieter and quieter. And then, there was no response.

NEWTON (voice-over): Some of the passengers did survive. But for their families, the news of the crash and the uncertainty of knowing who made it out alive was almost as horrifying.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Well, it's like this. My daughter was lucky. Cabin three had not entered into the tunnel. If cabin three entered into the tunnel, then it would have been very dangerous.

They took a long time to come out because it was so serious. The rescue team couldn't find a way to rescue them. That's why they took a long time. It took around two hours. It was horrible.

NEWTON (voice-over): Relatives of those who died held an emotional prayer ceremony near the crash site, shaded under a canopy of black umbrellas. Many openly wept as others called the names of their loved ones.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Coming up on NEWSROOM, all week, we've heard excruciating testimony in the murder trial of the officer accused of killing George Floyd. We'll talk about what we can expect in the days to come.

Also ahead, preparing for new arrivals that are thousands of years old. The mummies on the move in Egypt.

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NEWTON: The trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin resumes Monday, he's facing charges for the murder of George Floyd. The agonizing video of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes is seared, of course, into the minds of millions around the world. CNN's Josh Campbell looks at the trial so far.

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JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (voice-over): The family of George Floyd, kneeling, in protest Monday, just hours before testimony would begin in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer, accused of murdering their loved one.

Prosecutors opened with a video that sparked a worldwide movement, capturing Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck, which they say, killed him.

JERRY BLACKWELL, PROSECUTING ATTORNEY: You can believe your eyes that it's a homicide. It's murder.

CAMPBELL (voice-over): Chauvin's attorney argued the video doesn't tell the whole story, that Floyd died of an underlying heart condition and:

ERIC NELSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: The ingestion of methamphetamine and fentanyl and the adrenaline flowing through his body.

CAMPBELL (voice-over): New video from the scene and emotional testimony seem to drive the prosecution's case like from Charles McMillian the man, heard on body camera video, pleading with Floyd to give in to police.

CHARLES MCMILLIAN, WITNESS: I feel helpless. I don't have a mama, either. And I understand him.

CAMPBELL (voice-over): Also, heard for the first time since the beginning of the trial, Chauvin, himself, on police body camera footage, as he defends his treatment of Floyd to McMillian.

DEREK CHAUVIN, FORMER POLICE OFFICER: Got to control this guy because he's a sizeable guy.

(CROSSTALK)

CHAUVIN: And it looks like he's probably on something.

CAMPBELL (voice-over): Arguably, the strongest testimony for the prosecution came from members of the Minneapolis Police Department. Sergeant David Ploeger, now retired, was a supervising officer on duty. He was asked if Chauvin followed police protocol?

STEVE SCHLEICHER, PROSECUTOR: Do you have an opinion, as to when the restraint of Mr. Floyd should have ended, in this encounter? SGT. DAVID PLOEGER, RETIRED MINNEAPOLIS POLICE OFFICER: Yes.

SCHLEICHER: What is it?

PLOEGER: When Mr. Floyd was no longer offering up any resistance to the officers, they could have ended their restraint.

SCHLEICHER: And that was after he was handcuffed and on the ground and no longer resistant?

PLOEGER: Correct.

CAMPBELL (voice-over): The jury, also, heard from 35 year police veteran Richard Zimmerman, who testified it was totally unnecessary for Chauvin to kneel on Floyd's neck after he had been handcuffed, calling it deadly use of force.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once you handcuff somebody, that does affect the amount of force that you should consider using?

LT. RICHARD ZIMMERMAN, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEPARTMENT: Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How so?

ZIMMERMAN: Once a person is cuffed, the threat level goes down.

CAMPBELL (voice-over): Chauvin's attorney attempted to undermine Zimmerman's credibility, arguing that Zimmerman is a detective, not a patrol officer.

NELSON: And it would not be within your normal role of -- or job duties to do such a use of force analysis, right?

ZIMMERMAN: That's correct.

CAMPBELL (voice-over): During the week of testimony, a common emotion emerged from some of the eyewitnesses: remorse. Christopher Martin was the cashier who suspected Floyd handed him a fake $20 bill, an interaction that initiated the police response. The teenager was asked what he now feels about the encounter.

CHRISTOPHER MARTIN, CASHIER: Disbelief and guilt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why guilt?

MARTIN: If I would have just not took the bill, this could have been avoided.

CAMPBELL: Now one thing we have noticed from inside the courtroom is that this jury has been paying very close attention to the witnesses, to the exhibits, taking copious notes; no doubt, aware of the gravity of this case and the decision that, ultimately, awaits them as they will, eventually, render a verdict in this trial that's being watched around the world -- Josh Campbell, CNN, Minneapolis.

(END VIDEOTAPE) NEWTON: CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson joins me from New York. He's also a criminal defense attorney.

You know, it was so interesting to watch. I can't imagine, unfortunately, how torturous this was for the family.

[03:45:00]

NEWTON: Yet it seemed as if the prosecution brought new pieces of evidence into such sharp focus this week.

What did you think?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I really do believe that to be the case, Paula, for a number of reasons. I think what they did, how they structured their case, was even more compelling.

What am I speaking of?

They brought us first to the scene. At that scene, where you see Chauvin having his knee on the neck of George Floyd, you see a number of bystanders, all expressing concern and wanting to help.

You had an emergency medical technician there, off duty and doing nothing more but trying to intervene, trying to say, hey, look, I do this, check his pulse, what can I do?

You have her calling 9-1-1 when the police rebuffed her from doing so.

You have a person who is a wrestler, a mixed martial artist, there, saying, stop, what are you doing, speaking to Chauvin, at least let him breathe. You had people who were minors, yelling at the officers, saying, enough is enough.

You have the officers saying, get on the sidewalk, expressing no concern as to the well-being and health of Floyd as he laid there.

I mean, it was just so emotional, just to see all of that. And then on top of that, then they brought you, that is the prosecution, they brought the police body cam to see from their perspective what were they seeing.

What were they doing?

Those body cams, although the defense is preoccupied with this, the police were concerned about the crowd. In those body cams, you heard no concern by the police as to the crowd, none whatsoever.

And then you had EMS, emergency technicians, who arrived on the spot, who were on duty and they indicated he was dead when they got there, that is, George Floyd. And it was so compelling, it was so emotional, just to listen, to watch it all.

When you saw the testimony, not only the testimony but the photos, the pictures, the surveillance in the Cup Foods store of George Floyd, who seemed to be so full of life, so energetic, so just milling about and doing nothing at all.

And to see him dead an hour later, it was just, wow. So what an opening week for the prosecution. And it just really brought about emotion and brought about everything to bear in a very difficult and tragic situation that didn't need to happen.

NEWTON: Yes, and when you say difficult and tragic, the family had to go through this. So did so many people in this country. Nia-Malika Henderson, one of our political correspondents in Washington, she wrote an op-ed from the heart, saying, I am not watching this trial, I cannot watch any more Black trauma.

We're going to tell you what she said. While her siblings, she said, agreed with her, her mother said, George Floyd is owed. Nia-Malika's comeback is, yes, George Floyd is owed but he's not owed by Black people, whose suffering is too often on a constant loop, so much as he is owed by a nation that so regularly has enabled that suffering to continue.

If you could just weigh in on this right now. I mean, what did the country go through this week by looking at so much and really going through so much of that torturous event again?

JACKSON: I think it's a great question. I think Nia's quote is particularly on point. I think when everyone watches this, you can't help but have a reaction that enough is enough. There are those times and points in history where there's a reckoning. There's a reckoning of accountability, where people are just demanding that justice has to come.

And it has to come now. And if you look at what occurred and you see, even in relating it to even the police themselves, two officers testifying, saying, hey, this is not what we're taught, this is not what we know, this has nothing to do with who we are, in essence, they're saying that.

And so why am I raising that?

Because even -- not only the communities throughout Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the country but the world see this as wrong. But the police and that blue wall of silence finally falling down.

So I think it talks to and speaks of a new era of accountability, where wrong is wrong and it's going to be recognized. And people having to look, having to observe, having to be forced to focus on this trial by seeing it for what it is.

And that looks a lot like more and more a crime committed at the hands of police. So the open question now is, will there be that reckoning?

Will there be that accountability?

You know what, forcing the world to watch this, it's gruesome, it's horrible, it's something we don't want to see. But perhaps we need to, to get to the point where we can get to a better place. So if there's anything to be said for that, I think if this gets us to

a better place and stops it and saves other people, then you know what, watch it we must.

NEWTON: Joey Jackson, thanks so much, really appreciate it.

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NEWTON: And we will be right back.

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NEWTON: A 21-gun salute in Egypt's capital Saturday to welcome new but very old residents to the neighborhood; 22 ancient mummies, including pharaohs, are being moved across the Nile River from the Egyptian Museum to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.

All that pomp and circumstance not only celebrated eons of Egyptian culture and history but, as Michael Holmes reports, it has brought hopes of reviving a tourist industry that the pandemic has all but dried up.

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A royal procession through Cairo. Some of the great kings and queens of Egypt who reigned more than 3,000 years ago still know how to draw a crowd. The land has changed; so, too, the people but these mummies are timeless; 18 kings and four queens embodying the ancient allure of Egypt, when it was once one of the great seats of power in the world.

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SAIMA IKRAM, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: It is a poignant moment to think of so many of Egypt's royalty going through the streets of this modern capital. In fact, they're going back to an ancient capital for a start.

HOLMES (voice-over): The theatrical 5-kilometer journey, lined with lights, chariots and costumed actors, could be watched live and was shown along with singers and an orchestra worthy of an epic soundtrack.

The mummies were transported on vehicles that looked like barges from the Egyptian Museum to their final resting place at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, where they were received by the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Seti I and Ramses the Great were some of the best-known of the mummies, which were encased in special capsules filled with nitrogen and lined with soft material to protect them from any damage along the way. Organizers hope the multimillion-dollar display, called The Pharaohs'

Golden Parade, is a reminder to tourists of the many treasures waiting for them in Egypt. The countries' tourism industry crumbled because of coronavirus, the number of visitors dropping to 3.5 million last year from more than 13 million the year before.

ZAHI HAWASS, EGYPTOLOGIST: The message is very important, we're going to tell the people through the parade of the mummies that Egypt is safe. We need people to come back.

HOLMES (voice-over): A throwback to the country's past, to help revive its modern economy and a chance for Egypt's eternal kings and queens to bask in glory once again -- Michael Holmes, CNN.

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NEWTON: That's it from me for this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. The news continues here after the break with my friend and colleague, Kim Brunhuber.