Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Forensic Pathologist: Stress of Impending Death Put Additional Strain on Floyd's Muscles, Heart, "A Double Whammy" Along with Restraint; Prosecution Hands Out Photos of Floyd Autopsy in Courtroom; Pfizer Asks FDA to Expand Vaccine EUA to 12-15 Year Olds; CDC: 1 in 4 Adults Fully Vaccinated; Rep. Kinzinger 1st Republican to Call on Rep. Gaetz to Resign; Prince Philip Dead at Age 99. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired April 09, 2021 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: These witnesses have laid the foundation to help you understand that, no, when the person writes cardiopulmonary arrest, here's what that means, here's what their colleagues would interpret it to mean, here's what it doesn't mean, and here's what it did not did that happen.

And in fact, a powerful moment was the forensic pathologist, Dr. Thomas, who said, look, I normally wouldn't write asphyxia on these reports because it's not descriptive enough to actually show you the mechanism of death and what truly happened.

And so having that insight lets the juries know, oh, well, maybe the omission of something does not exonerate this defendant. It's just written for other medical professionals to interpret.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: I had to say, Laura, it's like you were reading the notes in front of me, all those things I had written down, as you just pointed out.

Laura Coates, Charles Ramsey, Dr. Christopher Happy, really appreciate all of you joining us with your expertise. Thank you.

Also, want to bring in now my colleague, Adrienne Broaddus, outside the courthouse in Minneapolis.

You've been following this trial. And I know we're starting to get some reporting from the pool reporters who were inside that courtroom.

We have photos. They were handed out photos, I should say, in the courtroom of the autopsy of Mr. Floyd. Do we know how those were received?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you, when the jurors received that packet containing the photos, we noticed -- our pool reporter noticed the reaction from the member of Floyd's family.

Once he opened that packet of photos, he spent a great deal of time studying the first image. It was an image of Floyd up close, so a tight photo. And it showed the abrasions on his face and Floyd's eyes were closed.

As that packet was being distributed, Chauvin kind of stopped writing. Throughout the trial, he's been taking notes. But at that moment, he stopped. He put his hands together in this motion and looked around as the packets were being distributed.

The mask shields his facial expressions. But we could see he raised his left eyebrow. Chauvin also received a packet. And when he opened the packet, he kind of peeked inside first before pulling the entire packet out.

And during today's testimony from the doctor who took the stand, who has ties to Hennepin County, she was compelling. If you were going to look at this, you could say that the prosecution is playing a game of chess. And this was a smart move by the prosecution, putting her on the stand.

But there was one point during the cross-examination where Nelson tried to stump her. Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC NELSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You would agree that one possible way that some of -- at least some of these of abrasions occurred would be when Mr. Floyd was initially put down on the ground?

DR. LINDSEY THOMAS, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: I guess they could, yes.

NELSON: All right. And not all of those abrasions necessarily occurred while Mr. Floyd was in the prone position, right?

THOMAS: That's hard to answer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROADDUS: So again, Dr. Lindsey Thomas another compelling witness for the prosecution.

Leading up to her testimony earlier this morning and even yesterday, there's been a lot of talk about the medical examiner taking the stand, wondering what the medical examiner would say.

Perhaps she gave us a prelude of what Dr. Baker will say, essentially, because she embraced his autopsy report and essentially agreed with his cause of death -- Erica?

HILL: Adrienne Broaddus, with the latest for us from outside the courthouse. Adrienne, thank you.

We will take you back into court when testimony resumes. Again, they're on a short lunch break right now.

Also want to get you caught up on other stories we're following on this Friday afternoon.

More than a quarter of adults in the U.S. have now been vaccinated. Experts say there's one group that's actually more hesitant than others to get the shot. Why?

Plus, embattled Congressman Matt Gaetz now facing a call to resign from within his own party.

[13:34:20]

And the royal family mourning the death of Prince Philip. We'll have the latest in a live report from Buckingham Palace.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: More than a quarter of the adult population in the U.S. is now fully vaccinated. That works out to more than 66 million people, which is pretty impressive.

And take a look at this graph. You can see the dramatic increase in vaccinations since they were started in January.

Eligibility has, of course, expanded greatly. CDC data shows more than a third of those 18 and over in this country have at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine.

And of course, in many states, 16 and 17-year-olds are also being vaccinated or will be eligible within the next couple of weeks.

And we're learning that Pfizer has just requested the FDA expand its emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine, expanding it to kids ages 12 to 15.

That's all good news. There's still some work to do, though, when it comes to hesitancy. It remains an issue, something Dr. Sanjay Gupta is looking into in a new special this weekend.

We should point out the surgeon general stating a short time ago that he doesn't think hesitancy is getting better, Sanjay. I want to get to that in minute.

But, first, let's touch on this latest announcement from Pfizer. They're asking now to expand the emergency use authorization to 12 to 15-year-olds, this could have a significant impact.

[13:40:02]

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, this -- as you know the Pfizer vaccine has been authorized for people 16 and older. So this would dramatically increase the number of school- age children who might be able to get this vaccine.

So this is the application process. Nothing is set in stone.

But what Pfizer has told us -- and again, this is coming from the company, the FDA will have to verify this -- is that they did this trial and a few thousand people, aged 12 to 15.

And what they found, as they prescribed it, 100 percent efficacy. That means out of those two and a half thousand, roughly, children, there were 18 people who developed COVID and all of them were in the placebo group and none in the vaccinated group. That's good.

They also tested antibodies. And they found the people who got the vaccine were developing a strong antibody response, even stronger than they saw in the older-person trials.

So this is, you know, potentially good news. Again, we have to see if this data holds up. The FDA has to review it.

You've got to keep in mind, Erica, kids are less likely to get sick. With the vaccine, you're always giving it to healthy people.

But the authorization is about risk benefit. If you're less likely, the risk is already lower in this age group, you've got to really demonstrate the benefit of this. And that's the case that Pfizer is going to try to make.

HILL: That's the case they'll try to make. We know that kids can pass the virus on to someone else.

And as we're talking more about vaccinations -- and you and I talk about this a lot -- one of the concerns is not just getting enough people vaccinated, because you want return to pre-pandemic life.

But it's because these variants are faster spreading and, in many cases, shown to cause severe disease are dominance in the U.S.

And the best example we can look at is the real concern on the ground in your home state of Michigan right now, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Right, yes. I mean, I think this is worth paying attention to. You know, we don't know if this is going to be an isolated situation in Michigan, or if it's reflective of how things may transpire across the country.

But let me show you a graph that I think tells an important story here to your point, Erica.

We looked at what was happening sort of the end of December, the week ending December 23rd. It's a little hard to read this. But the left is the week ending December 23rd. The majority in red there where people 70 and older, hospitalizations happening at that time.

Now you look at the week ending the end of March, this year, and the difference now is that the green, which is people ages 40 to 69, is the largest group of people now being hospitalized.

That tells a story, Erica. It tells us a couple things. There has been an impact seemingly of vaccinations on the older age group. That's a smaller percent of hospitalizations. That's good. That was the intent.

But it also sends a message to anybody who's -- you know, especially people age 40 to 69, look at that, people are going to the hospital. Maybe you thought, hey, I'm young enough, I don't have to worry about this. These variants are more transmissible, possibly making people more

sick. And as good as we're doing with the vaccinations -- and we are doing well -- there's still a lot of people out there who haven't been vaccinated.

That's a message. You know, a few more weeks, get the vaccination numbers up, and, hopefully, we can shrink all of those categories down.

HILL: Yes, it's absolutely a message. And I do think that graph is so important for us to look at. It illustrates it so well.

We've talked, and you and I talked earlier this morning, there's new findings on vaccine hesitancy among Americans. As I said, we're told it's getting a little bit better.

But that's also a large part of what you're looking at this weekend in your special. And I just want to share a little bit of that and have you tell us more about what we can expect.

Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHANTING)

DR. PAUL OFFIT, IMMUNOLOGIST & DIRECTOR, THE VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA,: We put an "X" on your back and become, like in many pollical situations, a target of hate.

GUPTA: Did you anticipate that hatred?

OFFIT: No, I didn't anticipate that hatred. It surprised me, actually.

(CHANTING)

GUPTA (VO): And honestly, it surprised me as well. Dr. Paul Offit, after all, is a respected pediatrician, a vaccine researcher, and an advocate.

OFFIT: I mean, I get hate mail, I would say, on a weekly basis. I've been physically threatened and physically harassed. And I've had three legitimate death threats, the kind that get investigated by the FBI.

GUPTA: Over the years, critics have called him everything from a terrorist to a mouthpiece for big pharma. Pushing vaccines, they say, because he receives profits from the ones he developed.

One post said, "Offit should be prosecuted for crimes against our children." Another, "I will hang you by your neck until you are dead."

Offit tells everyone he's not motivated by money, but rather driven by memories. OFFIT: I mean, my parents were children of the '20s and '30s. They

saw diphtheria as a killer of teenagers. They saw polio as a crippler.

[13:45:02]

I was a child of the '50s and '60s. I had measles. I had mumps. I had German measles. I had chicken pox. I know what those diseases felt like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: I'll tell you, Erica, I'm just hearing Dr. Offit talk about the fact that because he talks about vaccines he gets these kinds of threats. It was quite jarring to hear that. And again, legitimate threats.

We had started filming this documentary, Erica, before COVID because of vaccine hesitancy, which pre-dates this pandemic, as you well know. It was the measles outbreak in Brooklyn and in Minnesota and in L.A. that really got us interested in this.

Now the topic seems more relevant than ever. Why -- where is the anti-vaccination movement coming from? How is it getting funded? What's the message? That's what we really tried to look into for this documentary.

HILL: I'm looking forward to it. As you said, it just stops you in your tracks that he's had three credible death threats that need to be investigated. A man who has done so much for so many and really is just one of the kindest.

And we all look forward to speaking with him as one of our experts of CNN. Although, not as much as we always look forward to speaking with you.

Sanjay Gupta, thank you, my friend.

(CROSSTALK)

#: I will be watching this weekend.

Sanjay's special report airs tomorrow night at 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.

Just ahead, while under investigation for sex trafficking, Congressman Matt Gaetz is preparing to address a Women for America event in Florida. This, as Republicans begin to break their silence. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:51:24]

HILL: Congressman Adam Kinzinger says it's time for Matt Gaetz to resign. He is the first Republican to call on his colleague from Florida to step down.

The Justice Department is investigating Gaetz over allegations including sex trafficking and prostitution. Gaetz has denied the allegations against him and says he absolutely will not resign.

Manu Raju joining from us Capitol Hill.

Manu, really no surprise that Congressman Kinzinger is the first to come out against Congressman Gaetz. But there is this notable silence from Gaetz's allies on Capitol Hill.

Do you think the statement will change anything?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm not sure if it will change anything, Erica. But the silence is, indeed, notable. Because Gaetz was never particularly popular among his House Republican colleagues.

He has some allies. Only a couple have come out in his defense. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said that he believes Gaetz -- he stands by Gaetz.

As well as Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is, of course, the controversial freshman Republican from Georgia, also coming out in his defense.

But it's been quiet from a number of Republicans who tell me privately that there's no reason to stick their neck out, because given that these allegations are very serious and there's uncertainty about where this leads to, very few want to defend his conduct, not knowing what could ultimately come out.

Now the big question will be whether the House Republican leaders will take any action against him.

Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, who has also been quiet, has noted, when he's been asked, that these are serious allegations and that he would talk to Matt Gaetz.

But it's unlikely they will strip him from committee assignments because House Republican conference rules say, when any of them is indicted of a crime, that's when they lose committee assignments.

Doubtful that will happen beforehand. I'm told by Republican sources that simply does not appear to be in the cards.

But one thing, Erica, Republicans and Democrats have been in recess on the House side. They do come back next week. There will be a lot of questions to ask, some of his critics, some allies, do they defend him? Where do they see this going?

Including the one person, Liz Cheney, who is a member of the House Republican leadership, the person Gaetz went after, went to Wyoming to try to rally opposition to her after she voted to impeach Donald Trump. What does she say?

Those are the questions that will be asked next week -- Erica?

HILL: I know you'll be asking them.

Manu, appreciate it at always. Thank you.

[13:54:00]

Prince Philip, the duke of Edinburgh, dead at the age of 99. New details ahead about how the royal family will pay tribute amidst the pandemic. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: The announcement there at Buckingham Palace of the death of Prince Philip at the age of 99. The duke of Edinburgh was married to Queen Elizabeth II for more than seven decades. He's Britain's longest-serving consort.

His death comes after a period of poor health. He had been hospitalized due to infection last February and underwent heart surgery last month.

CNN correspondent, Anna Stewart, joining us live from London.

This news really only a few hours old there. I'm sure, in many ways, it's still sinking in for folks.

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really is. And yet, we have seen people gathering outside the gates of the palace, laying flowers, wanting to pay respects. Flags are flying at half-mast across the U.K.

It's a feeling of a nation falling into a national mourning here. A really somber mood.

And people wanting to talk about Prince Philip, how they remember him. Here is what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: He was a big symbol for a lot of people in England and it's nice to pay our respects to him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Deep respect for the queen. I love her. I think she is a wonderful woman. And I'm very sad for today because she has lost her life partner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he embodied everything about the country really. And I think he just overall just royal --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This morning I was in tears. It's just so sudden in our news about him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he was a complicated man but he was very hard working and she loved him. And I think it was plain he loved her. I think that's wonderful. And it was a very, very long love story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: People's thoughts, of course, with Her Majesty, the queen, her husband of 72 years. And who can forget when she said on her golden wedding anniversary he was her strength and stay for all of those years?

Now what happens next? Well, people have been told not to gather outside the royal residences due to the pandemic. England is in partial lockdown. A virtual condolence has been set up online by the royal family.

And the next step, of course, Erica, is the funeral. What happens next? There will be severely changed as a result of the pandemic.

We do have a few details. It will be held in Windsor at St. George's Chapel. We don't know the date yet. We do know it's a state funeral. And it's likely to be very much changed as a result of the pandemic.

Perhaps more details, though, tomorrow.

HILL: Anna Stewart, with the latest from outside Buckingham Palace, thank you.

[13:59:54]

Our special coverage continuing in just a moment. We'll continue to bring the latest from the trial of Derek Chauvin. As well as more developments out of the U.K. And, of course, the latest on the coronavirus.

Our special coverage continues now with Brooke Baldwin.