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Video Showing Police Breaking Up a Fight Between a Black Teen and a White Teen in New Jersey Mall Prompts Outrage; FAA Chief Steve Dickson Resigning Next Month; Vice President Harris Heads to Munich for High-Stakes Diplomatic trip; NYC Mayor Criticizes Media for Unfair Coverage, Asks for Diversity; Capitol Police Watchdog Testifies on Post-Jan 6 Recommendations; Congress Invites Britney Speak on Conservatorships. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 17, 2022 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chill. Brian, get up. Leave. (BLEEP) oh, no. (BLEEP) (BLEEP). Yo, it's because he's black. Racially motivated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: I mean, I just am struck -- and I was struck this way with the witnesses around George Floyd how kind of clear-headed and calm they are. You know, you hear that girl say, yo it's because he's black. But one thing, Richard, that I want to bring up. You said it's a dog and pony show in terms of the police doing all of this training. Haven't police departments around the country been more conscious ever since George Floyd's death? Haven't there been more trainings? Hasn't all of our awareness been heightened? I mean, you make it sound as though, you know, they're just sort of doing it for show. Aren't they really trying to get to unconscious bias and trying to change some things in police forces?

RICHARD T. SMITH, PRESIDENT, NAACP NEW JERSEY STATE CONFERENCE: Well, one would think so but at the end of the day it's not working for everyone. The NAACP years ago, we put our money where our mouth was in New Jersey and we paid for a training of over 200 law enforcement officials on implicit bias. We spent the money to train now. As you said, you know, hopefully that these police departments are providing the training necessary, but apparently, it's not reaching each and every officer. And some of this is innate, you know.

So, we have some good police officers, but at the same time if you look at these two officers you clearly know what their mind-set was and just by the immediate reaction when they entered the Bridgewater Common Mall. They saw a white youth and a black youth. Now, stop, pause and park. yesterday I received some information, oh, brother president, he's not white. He's Hispanic. Well let's be clear, when the police officers entered the mall, they never walked up to him and said are you Hispanic, are you Cuban, are you Dominican, are you Puerto Rican? That's not what they said. They didn't do that. What they thought they saw was a white youth and a black youth.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

SMITH: They considered the white youth to be the victim.

CAMEROTA: And very quickly, what are you calling for?

SMITH: Well, we want a thorough and independent investigation into this matter, and if they think they're going to sweep this under the rug, they got another thing coming. Because we'll sue them if we have to. But at the end of the day, we would like to see the officers removed because we don't think that they have a place on the force.

CAMEROTA: Richard Smith, thank you very much for your time. We really appreciate it. We also want everyone to know CNN did reach out to the other teenager involved in the incident for his response, but we have not yet heard back.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: The FAA administrator says that he is resigning. Why he's walking away and what it means for the plane and train mask mandates and issues with unruly passengers.

[04:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Federal Aviation Administrator Steve Dickson is resigning at the end of the month. The FAA chief told employees he wants to spend more time with his family.

CAMEROTA: Dickson's departure comes less than three years into his five-year term as his agency deals with a surge in unruly passengers and the controversial rollout of the 5G technology around airports. Joining us now is our aviation correspondent Pete Muntean. So, Pete, what do we know about his departure?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, this is an interesting time for this to happen especially given all of the news of the Federal Aviation Administration has been making lately. Just consider the unruly passenger incident on commercial flights alone. 6,480 incidents since the zero-tolerance policy was put into place by FAA administrator Steve Dickson in the beginning of last year.

He's really been the front man for the issue, not to mention the return of the Boeing 737 Max. He actually performed some of those test flights himself and the impact of the pandemic on air travel. Maybe the most disproportionate impact of any industry out there and the federal transportation mask mandate. In fact, Dixon was just on The Hill only a couple of weeks ago talking about the FAA's handling of the 5G cell service rollout because airlines had pretty serious safety concerns. Dickson about halfway through his five-year term as FAA administrator was nominated by President Trump back in 2019, and he says this is all about family, nothing more.

In his statement, a note to FAA employees in an email it late last night, he says: After sometimes long and unavoidable periods of separation from my loved ones during the pandemic, it is time to devote my full time and attention to them. As I wrote in my letter to President Biden, it is time to go home.

Dickson has been lauded by even some of his biggest detractors on Capitol Hill. Now we will see who will fill his shoes. Could it be Captain Chelsea Sullenberger? That's a name that's been tossed around by some reports out there. We'll have to wait and see. It'll be a pretty high-profile role especially given how big this has been for the FAA in these last couple of years.

CAMEROTA: Well, that would certainly be interesting. Pete Muntean, thank you.

[04:40:00]

So, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is blasting the media accusing the press of unfair coverage of his administration. We discuss the specifics next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: More on the breaking news now. A judge has just decided that former President Trump, his son Don Jr., daughter Ivanka must all comply with subpoena requests.

And we have this new tweet from the New York Attorney General, Latisha James, responding to the judge's decision. Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump must all comply with this court order and testify before my office within 21 days. No one is above the law.

BLACKWELL: A short time ago Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in Munich for security talks over the escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Vice President Harris will meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky and the NATO Secretary-General.

CAMEROTA: CNN senior political correspondent Abby Phillip is here to discuss this and more. Abby, great to see you. What does the Vice President hope to accomplish in these conversations?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alisyn and Victor. I mean, this is a really important trip for Vice President Harris largely because of when she's going. I mean, we are on the brink by all accounts of a potential war in Europe and she would be the highest-ranking official in that region at the time.

This is going to be an opportunity for her to speak for the United States government, to demonstrate that she speaks for President Biden in a fast-moving situation in which the stakes frankly could not be higher. You know, for Vice President Harris, this last year has all been about her and her staff and the president, frankly, saying she is so close to President Biden. Well, this is a moment for that to be put in action and I think it's important for her especially given she has very little foreign policy experience prior to this point to show that she can handle this global stage and the pressures of really what could be an impending war.

BLACKWELL: All right, Abby let's turn to New York City Mayor Eric Adams. He is, in his words, not comfortable with the coverage from the New York media. I going to tell you first what he said yesterday. He said -- and this is a quote.

Diversify your NEWSROOM so I can look out and see people that look like me and say we're going to write stories based on the prisms that we had. That's not what we are getting.

That's what he said to reporters in front of him. Then he followed up after there'd been reporting on what they called a rant. This is what the mayor said today.

[04:45:00]

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MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D) NEW YORK CITY: When you hear something comes from my mouth, you use a predisposition of your life to interpret what I say. And then when I express something based on my observation, it's called a rant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right. So that's Tuesday and Wednesday actually. Now listen, a lot of politicians just don't like their coverage. That's not new. And New York is not an easy media market but is there something here?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean he's probably right about diversifying newsrooms. I mean let's be honest. That's probably true. But has he talked to the other guy who had his job who got really, really tough coverage in the New York media?

You know, Eric Adams is dealing with a media environment that is by its very nature combative, and I do think that on some level he's just reacting to what happens inevitably when you become mayor of this city especially in these tense times, crime is a big issue and so on and so forth. And he is a very polarizing figure among Democrats. He's going to get tough coverage and he's responding to that.

Now that might be a separate question about whether the New York media is diverse or not. Frankly, it probably isn't. There probably needs to be more diversity. But I think that regardless, he would probably be getting tough coverage in part because he is a figure who is -- he says this, he is challenging his own party, challenging the status quo. That going to produce some tough coverage.

CAMEROTA: Also, I thought it was interesting what he was saying because basically he was telling the local press that they were being too negative. That he had gone to Albany and had this wonderful meeting and then he had to read headlines how he like bombed out in Albany and that you know, whatever. He didn't like it, he thought it was too negative. But I didn't understand necessarily the part where he was saying that that was about race. I mean he was saying you don't all have my lived experience.

PHILLIP: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And that's why you're doing this. But I don't -- do you know that connection or can you explain?

PHILLIP: I think he was probably implying that the description of him as ranting was based on a stereotype of black people when they are expressing, you know, anger or when they are expressing disappointment or when they are expressing themselves are being portrayed as, you know, we've heard, the angry black woman, the angry black man, so on and so forth. I think that might be what he was saying.

And it's hard for me to say having not reported on what transpired in Albany. But you know I mean I think he was trying to imply that those descriptors that were being used were based on stereotypes that are applied to black people when they are behaving in ways that are pretty much the same as what white people would be doing but they wouldn't be described as ranting, for example.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Abby Phillip, thank you.

CAMEROTA: Real helpful, thank you.

PHILLIP: Thanks, guys.

BLACKWELL: All right, happening now the Capitol Hill Police Inspector General is giving his final review of the January 6 attack to members of Congress. We will tell you what he's saying.

[15;50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Right now, the Capitol Police Inspector General is answering some tough questions on Capitol Hill about the failures of the department on January 6th and the changes being made in the wake of the attack.

CAMEROTA: CNN's Whitney Wild is in Washington following all of this. So, Whitney, what have you learned?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, this hearing is designed to square the last year of review. Because what has become abundantly clear, is that there are different perceptions about not only where the department is in its progress toward becoming a better, more reliable and, frankly, more secure department between the OIG Inspector General Michael Bolton and the Capitol Police leadership.

There is, for example, the IG, Michael Bolton, says that the department has completed only 39 of 104 recommendations and he also says the department, frankly, has miles to go in terms of changing the cultures, the operations and the training there.

Capitol Police leadership contends that they haven't just completed 39 recommendations to bolster their operations and training, but instead have either completed or began 90 of those recommendations, so clearly very different views in where the department is in its evolution to a better place on where it was January 6, 2021.

But here is the key difference. There is also a difference in perception about what this department should be. Here's IG Michael Bolton in his hearing with what he envisions is a better way to reform the department.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BOLTON, INSPECTOR GENERAL, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE: We need to quit thinking of ourselves as a police department, that we're going out and policing, that we are a protective agency. That our number one duty and our mission in all training, no matter what it is, is going to be driven by that mission of protection.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: And this is the key issue. What is the department? What should it be?

That is the tension that the IG has with this Capitol Police leadership right now, because the reality is the Capitol Police Chief does not feel that that is the right path for the department. He believes that this is a Police Department.

And I'll point you to this. The IG is a former Secret Service man. The Capitol Police Chief now, a former long-time local chief. Two very different backgrounds, very different views about where this department should go.

So as the IG wraps up his investigation this nearly year-long investigation that has explored many flaws in this department there's still this remaining question about the future of Capitol Police. Back to you.

CAMEROTA: Really interesting, Whitney Wild, thank you.

OK, so could Britney Spears be heading to Capitol Hill? Well, she's been invited to testify about controversial conservatorships. We have more on that, next.

[15:55:00]

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CAMEROTA: Britney Spears may be back in the limelight, not in Vegas but on Capitol Hill. The pop star was invited by members of Congress to speak about conservatorships after her very public legal battle to be freed from her own 13-year arrangement that gave her father control over much of her life.

BLACKWELL: So, she posted the letter and a response on Instagram. She acknowledged that she received it a month ago.

Here's part of what she wrote: I was immediately flattered and at the time I wasn't nearly at the healing stage I'm in now. Because of the letter I felt heard and like I mattered for the first time in my life.

Now she did not say whether she'll actually go to Washington.

CAMEROTA: I feel like that was very poignant what she said when she said I feel heard and like I mattered for the first time in my life. She is a global superstar and for the first time in her life because they acknowledged what she went through, the pain she went through, she felt like she mattered and felt heard. That is very poignant to me.

BLACKWELL: You know, you were half of the team that did the Britney documentary on this conservatorship. And when we learned over time just how restrictive it was for a woman, what, who's 38, 39 now?

[16:00:00]

CAMEROTA: Oh, yes.

BLACKWELL: Unbelievable.

CAMEROTA: And she lost 13 years of her life. I hope she goes to Capitol Hill. I think that it would obviously bring huge star power to the issue and I just think that she should -- this is part of her healing process.

BLACKWELL: Yes, all right, we'll see what her decision is.

"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.